A New Diocese Was Established In The Southern Vietnam

A new diocese has been established in the southern Vietnam province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau at the request of the Vietnam Catholic Church.
The Ba Ria diocese, which covers the administrative area of the province, is the 26th of the Vietnam Catholic Church.

The province was originally included in the Xuan Loc diocese. The Church requested that this diocese be split up into Xuan Loc and Ba Ria dioceses.

The Vietnamese government and the Vatican have reached an agreement on the division recently.

Work On Vietnam’s First Refinery To Begin Finally

Construction will begin on the much-delayed Dung Quat oil refinery – at US$2.5 billion, Vietnam’s largest-ever project – in the central Quang Nam province November 28, an oil official announced.

The project, which included, besides the refinery, a port, storage facilities, and pipelines, was designed to process 6.5 million tons of crude oil annually, or 130,000 barrels per day, Vu Khanh Truong of state owned oil and gas giant Petro Vietnam said.

Vietnamese American Restores Hue Royal Heritage to Grandeur

A Vietnamese expat from America has undertaken the recreation of Hue royal dress in Vietnam, costumes that once graced royalty under the Nguyen Dynasty (1802-1945).

Vietnamese American Trinh Bach in 1994, on a return trip to visit his mother’s home village in Ha Tay province, was deeply saddened by the degradation of ancient cloth banners in Hong Lien pagoda. It was this moving experience that inspired him to dedicate great efforts to restoring Vietnam’s ancient banners and dress, preserving this one part of Vietnam’s colorful heritage.

HCMC Plans Gala Events To Ring In Lunar New Year

A show featuring Asian traditional costumes will be held in Ho Chi Minh City in February as part of the city’s program to celebrate the Tet lunar New Year festival.

Vietnam Welcomes Three Millionth Foreign Tourist

dukhach_315_05.gifVietnamese tourism authorities threw a welcome party Friday for the three millionth international tourist to visit the country this year, a Japanese woman on her third trip to Vietnam.
Officials from the National Administration of Tourism were at HCMC’s Tan Son Nhat International Airport to greet Furuya Oakana as she stepped off the aircraft to visit a country she has fallen in love with.

VN Dpt. Trade Minister And VN Ambassador to the US On Vietnam

Vietnam has made breakthrough progress in multilateral negotiations on its admission to the World Trade Organisation (WTO). The WTO's Working Committee on Vietnam also highly valued the results of bilateral negotiations Vietnam have conducted with a number of countries, said Deputy Minister of Trade Luong Van Tu.

Vietnamese Buddhism Is Thriving, Remarks Top Buddhist Dignitary

The Vietnamese Buddhist community has expanded by ten times since the establishment of the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha (VBS), remarked a top VBS dignitary in his article run by the Sai Gon Giai Phong (Liberated Sai Gon) on Nov. 3.

Vietnam coffee festival to feature trading on London market

The Central Highlands coffee festival will be held in Daklak - Vietnam’s coffee heartland - from Dec. 2 to 5, where companies can trade coffee on the London market.
Computers with Internet access will be ready at the festival to facilitate transactions on the London futures (terminal) market, said Daklak chairman Nguyen Van Lang at a press conference in HCMC Tuesday.

The province will officially unveil the Buon Ma Thuot coffee trademark at the festival, aimed to expand markets and attract investment into processing, said Mr. Lang.

Vietnam, ”Far East's best tourism destination”

sapa-305-05_1.jpgVietnam was selected as the best tourism destination in the Far East region in 2005 at the Viaggiatori international tourism fair held in Switzerland from Oct. 28-Nov. 1.
The Vietnam News Agency quoted the fair organizers as saying that Vietnam was a “beautiful, friendly and safe place for holidaymakers” at the awards ceremony.

US Veterans Want Organized Tours to Vietnam War and Other Sites

Several US veterans who fought in the Vietnam War are calling for the launch of well-organized theme tours to Vietnamese sites where they operated, an ex-interpreter during the War has informed Thanh Nien.

Le Thanh Giai, in an e-mail to the newspaper, said many US veterans, inspired by the story of a young North Vietnamese doctor’s diary they read on Thanh Nien’s English-language website, www.thanhniennews.com, were hoping to return to Vietnam.

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