Overseas remittances to Vietnam are poised to decline slightly due to the COVID-19 pandemic. (Photo: baodautu.vn)
This year’s amount will make up 5.8% of Vietnam’s gross domestic product (GDP), the bank said in its Top Remittance Recipient update.
With the estimated amount, Vietnam will be one of the top 10 remittance recipients in the world, said the financial institution.
According to the National Committee for Overseas Vietnamese Affairs (COVA), approximately 5.3 million Vietnamese nationals are living, working and studying in more than 130 countries and territories worldwide, with more than 80% of them living in developed countries.
By October 2020, Vietnamese nationals from 27 countries and territories had invested in 362 FDI projects in the country, capitalized at USD1.6 billion.
Overseas remittances have amounted to more than USD71 billion during the past five years, securing an annual growth rate of 6%.
Eleven Vietnamese universities rank in QS’s top Asian universities 2021
Eleven Vietnamese universities were listed in the QS Asia University Rankings 2021 (QS AUR) released by the UK’s higher education marketing company Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) on November 25, Vietnam News Agency (VNA) has reported.
Eleven Vietnamese universities are listed in the QS Asia University Rankings 2021 (QS AUR) (Photo: PLO)
The highest ranking in Vietnam went to the Vietnam National University, Ho Chi Minh City (VNU-HCM), at the 158th place, closely followed by the VNU-Hanoi, at the 160th, and Ton Duc Thang University, at the 163rd.
The list also includes the Hanoi University of Science and Technology placed between 301st and 350th, the Duy Tan University between 351st and 400th, the Hue University and the Da Nang University between 401st and 500th, the Can Tho University between 451st and 500th, the Hanoi National University of Education between 551st and 600th, the Industrial University of Ho Chi Minh City and the University of Economy in HCM City between the 600+ range.
The QS Asia University Rankings 2021 compares 634 universities across the continent and is QS's most extensive independent comparison of the region's higher education system.
The table accounts for eleven key indicators of university performance, which capture academic reputation, employer reputation, faculty/student ratio, international research network, citations per paper, papers per faculty, staff with a PhD, proportion of international faculty and proportion of international students, proportion of inbound exchange students and proportion of outbound exchange students.
According to VNA, this year, the National University of Singapore (NUS) was named as Asia’s best university in the list./.
Vietnam – EU’s very important partner
Vietnam-European Union (EU) relations over the past 30 years have strongly developed in many fields of cooperation, from politics, security and defense to trade, science and technology and culture. Vietnam is a very important partner of the EU in Asia and the EU wishes to promote this relationship further, said Ambassador, Head of the EU Delegation to Vietnam Pier Giorgio Aliberti during an interview with the press.
Vietnam’s export to the EU sharply increased thanks to EVFTA (Photo: VNA)
According to the Ambassador, there is a big difference in the relationship between Vietnam and the EU within the past 30 years. Thirty years ago, the EU had 12 members, so far it is strong with 27 members. The EU is currently the bloc with trade activities as well as the largest provider of non-refundable assistance globally. “We have relationships with many partners around the world,” he said.
For Vietnam, the past 30 years have seen spectacular change. In 1990, Vietnam's GDP was just under USD100 per person, now it has reached USD2,700 per person. While Vietnam’s trade turnover with the world in 1990 was USD5 billion, this figure has now reached USD550 billion. Three decades ago, the Vietnam-EU bilateral trade turnover reached USD200 million, and now it is USD50 billion. This is a big highlight, showing the strong development of trade between the two sides in recent years. It can be said that Vietnam is a very important partner of the EU in Asia.
Vietnam and the EU share common policies; trust in an open economy, open society, people-to-people exchange and multilateral order. “As Vietnam is the country with the largest number of trade agreements in Asia, we look forward to promoting the multilateral trading system with you,” the Ambassador went on to say.
Regarding the bilateral cooperation in the years to come, he stressed that Vietnam and the EU can increase cooperation in many important areas, including the EU’s Green Deal which allows the two sides to cooperate in sustainable development in the fields of economics, environment and society; digital transformation – one of the priorities of both the EU and the Vietnamese Government; and the implementation of the Vietnam – EU Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA).
Congratulating Vietnam for successfully taking the position of the ASEAN Chairmanship 2020 during the context that the world is doing its utmost to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, he noted that Vietnam’s most remarkable results in the year of ASEAN Chairmanship is to promote the signing of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) and the adoption of 80 documents – the largest number ever adopted in ASEAN meetings.
He also confirmed that Vietnam had supported the EU’s greater cooperation with ASEAN./.