Businesses in Vietnam spend 28.6 million working days and VND14.3 trillion (USD629.2 million) annually to complete procedures related to technical checks on around 100,000 types of goods.

HCM City People’s Court on Monday opened a court trial related to the smuggling of cancer medicines and falsification of documents at HCM City-based VN Pharma Joint Stocks Company in 2013 and 2014.

Most build, operate and transfer projects in the transport sector have appointed contractors and not gone through tendering.

The Ministry of Transport has decided to increase service fees for all carriers using Vietnam’s airports from October, to cover investments in the airport network and improve service quality.

Deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue has released a list of State-owned enterprises from which the Vietnam Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam) must reduce its ownership between 2017 and 2020.

The Ministry of Finance recently proposed increasing value-added tax to 12% in 2019, from 10% in order to ease the high public debt. This has raised concerns from local experts.

Vietnam may issue permanent residence cards to foreign investors on Phu Quoc Island under a draft law on special administrative zones submitted to the government by the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI).