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Vietnam among world's top 30 powerful countries (Source: chinhphu.vn)
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With a GDP of over 363 billion USD and a population of more than 98.2 million, Vietnam stands at the 30th position in the rankings, only after Singapore (26th position) among the Southeast Asian countries, said the Vietnam News Agency.
Meanwhile, Indonesia is ranked 33rd and Thailand 36th.
The ranking affirmed Vietnam's increasing position in the world arena. Over the recent years, Vietnam has also received high evaluation in terms of "soft power".
The US News & World Report's ranking of the world's most powerful countries is based on objective assessments of the level of influence of countries, foreign policies as well as political, economic and military strength of the countries globally.
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A corner of Ho Chi Minh City (Photo: NDO)
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This ranking is part of the annual "World's Best Countries" report, which covers 85 countries based on feedback from 17,000 participants.
According to the ranking, the US, China and Russia are the three most powerful countries in the world in 2022.
Vietnam records best-ever performance in digital economic development
Vietnam is speeding up the development of the digital economy, considering this a "breakthrough" step to promote the country's economic growth in the context of the 4th industrial revolution, according to the Vietnam News Agency.
Vietnam is viewed as a country with high potential for fast digital economic development and digital transformation trend across all fields.
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Photo for illustration (Source: vietnambiz.vn)
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It has set a target to post 31% growth in gross merchandise value (GMV) from US$23 billion in 2022 to US$49 billion in 2025, the highest growth in the region, according to the "e-Conomy SEA 2022" report released by Google, Temasek and Bain & Company in October.
Data from the Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC) showed that the ICT economy's revenue reached an estimated US$148 billion in 2022, representing a year-on-year increase of 8.7%.
The contribution of the digital economy to national GDP in 2022 accounted for about 14.26% of the total, with 7.18% contributed by the ICT digital economy.
The information and communications sector has hosted a national digital transformation scheme with the dual goals of developing digital government, digital economy and digital society; and forming strong digital technology enterprises.
According to the MIC’s Department of Digital Economy and Digital Society, the scale of Vietnam's digital economy has recorded growth in ICT digital economy, platform digital economy, and sectoral digital economy.
IT services contributed the most to the digital economy, accounting for about 30% of the total value. It was followed by e-commerce (14.3%), and hardware production (12.83%). Meanwhile, the digital content field recorded the strongest growth, up nearly 104% compared to the first quarter of 2022.
In 2022, Vietnamese digital businesses made inroads into foreign markets, including developed countries such as the US and Japan.
Notably, the total revenue of Viettel Military Industry and Telecoms Group (Viettel) in foreign markets hit US$3 billion, and the revenue of FPT Group reached US$1 billion.
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Vietnam records best-ever performance in digital economic development (Photo: VNA)
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The MIC has developed a strategy for digital technology industry development to 2025 with a vision to 2030. As of March 2022, the ministry had announced 35 national digital platforms serving digital transformation and the development of digital government, digital economy, and digital society, including 21 developed by domestic digital technology enterprises such as VNPT, Viettel, CMC and FPT. These have contributed to facilitating state management and public services.
Attention has been paid to upgrading digital infrastructure, smartphones, broadband internet, and cloud computing.
According to Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Manh Hung, ministries, sectors and localities have issued digital transformation programmes. As many as 500 million accounts have been registered so far for using made-in-Vietnam digital platforms - the largest-ever figure.
Sa Pa welcomes nearly 42,000 visitors during New Year holiday
The globally-renowned tourist resort of Sa Pa in the northern province of Lao Cai has received approximately 42,000 visitors during the three-day New Year break from December 31 to January 2, a figure 2.7 times higher than the same period from 2022.
Tourism services brought in VND126 billion in revenue, an increase of over VND80 billion compared to the New Year holiday from last year.
According to Hoang Thi Vuong, head of the Culture-Information Office of the township, the results highlight that there are signs of recovery ahead for Sa Pa tourism after enduring two tough years caused by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Local authorities requested that competent agencies ensure traffic safety, environment hygiene, and food safety in order to allow tourists to enjoy high-quality tourism products and services when visiting Sa Pa, she said.
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Sapa Church (Photo: VNA)
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Sa Pa has long been among the country’s leading destinations. Most notably, temperatures fall to -6 degrees Celsius on the first days of the New Year and was accompanied by drizzle.
The cold weather and sightseeing spots attracted many tourists during the holiday, especially young people./.