Hanoi: The following is a brief review of the day's events as reported by the Vietnam News Agency. - Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong stressed the need to stay consistent in principles and flexible in policies and strategies while performing diplomatic tasks, in his remarks at the 32nd National Diplomatic Conference that opened in Hanoi on December 19. The leader elaborated on the principles of national independence and socialism, and stressed that policies and strategies should be adjusted flexibly, noting Vietnam stands ready to be a friend, and a reliable and responsible partner of all countries. Read full story - Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and his entourage arrived back in Hanoi on December 19 morning, wrapping up their working trip to Japan for the Commemorative Summit for the 50th Year of ASEAN-Japan Friendship and Cooperation and bilateral activities from December 15-18 at the invitation of Japanese PM Kishida Fumio. During the trip, PM Chinh had a busy schedule, with over 40 multilater al and bilateral activities. Apart from attending the Commemorative Summit and the Asian Net Zero Emission Community (AZEC) Leaders' Meeting, he engaged in meetings and discussions with leaders of participating countries, including those of Laos, Cambodia, Brunei, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, and the Philippines. Read full story - Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh visited the family of late Japanese Prime Minister Abe Shinzo on December 18, within the framework of his trip to attend the Commemorative Summit for the 50th Year of ASEAN-Japan Friendship and Cooperation in Tokyo. Chinh said that when Abe served as Japanese Prime Minister, the Vietnam - Japan relations saw strong developments, especially when the two countries upgraded their relationship to an extensive strategic partnership for peace and prosperity in Asia in 2014. Read full story - The signing of the Free Trade Agreement between Vietnam and Israel (VIFTA) on July 25, 2023, will create favourable conditions for Vietnam to export its key product s to Israel while helping enterprises to have an opportunity to access to Israel's advanced technology, contributing to cutting production, business costs while improving competitiveness of Vietnamese goods. The two countries started negotiations for the agreement seven years ago, with 12 negotiation sessions, and completed negotiation in April 2023. Read full story - Vietnam has effectively carried out its multilateral diplomacy, which helps turn itself into a modern country with increasing prestige in the region, according to Chairman of the Expert Council of the Eurasian Foundation for Support of Scientific Research Grigory Trofimchuk. In an interview granted to the Vietnam News Agency, he highlighted that Vietnam is located in the heart of Southeast Asia which the whole world is turning attention to in the context that Asia is now the engine of the global economy and politics. Read full story - World leading experts shared their views on 'Advancing Precision Immunology for the Treatment of Autoimmune Disorders' at a symposium in Hanoi on December 18. The event took place within the framework of the 2023 VinFuture Sci-Tech Week that kicked off the same day, bringing together leading scientists and experts in key technological domains, including semiconductor technology, precision medicine, green transportation infrastructure, and artificial intelligence. Read full story - The upcoming New Year holiday from December 30, 2023 to January 1, 2024 is expected to be a good start for the tourism sector, with localities, travel agents and accommodation establishments making thorough preparations to anticipate increasing travel demands. Product diversity, flexible time, and rich experiential activities are the common features of tours and destinations introduced by travel agents for this holiday. Read full story - Italian fashion model and television presenter Elisabetta Gregoraci has shared her impressions and experience from her recent trip to Vietnam, in a conversation with Silvio Vecchione, Honorary Consul of Vietnam in Naples city, southern Italy. Gregoraci, who has around 2 million social media followers in Italy, described Vietnam as a wonderful and captivating country that has always been on her wish list to visit. Delighted about her recent travel experience, she highlighted the diverse attractions and beautiful landscapes that Vietnam is offering. Read full story - Vietnam could consider extending the implementation of the economic support programme (2022-2023) into next year to allow its planned investments to be fully implemented, supporting aggregate demand, as the economy still faces headwinds, according to World Bank experts. In its Vietnam Macro Monitoring report announced on December 18, the bank stressed that efforts to restore confidence and promote a healthy development of the real estate markets will be key to supporting economic stability in the short term and economic growth in the long term./. Read full story Source: Vietnam News Agency