What you need to know in Vietnam today:

Politics

-- The Vietnam Union of Friendship Organizations, the Vietnam-ASEAN Friendship and Cooperation Association and other Vietnamese associations meant to forge friendship with ASEAN member states on Thursday organized the “For an ASEAN Community of Solidarity and Development” program in Hanoi to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Vietnam’s membership in ASEAN and the 48th founding anniversary of the bloc.  

-- Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh on Thursday proposed initiatives to further the role of the ASEAN+3, the East Asia Summit and the ASEAN Regional Forum for peace, security and development in East Asia in his speech at the 22nd ARF Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, the ASEAN+3 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting and the fifth EAS FMM in Kuala Lumpur.

Society

-- The Vietnam National University - Ho Chi Minh City and New Zealand’s Auckland University of Technology on Thursday signed a memorandum of understanding to expand their current joint projects in research and education that began in 2004.

-- Vietnam will start issuing international driver’s licenses nationwide on October 1, when Circular 29/TT-BGTVT, which was promulgated in line with the 1968 Convention on Road Traffic that Vietnam signed, takes effect, according to the Directorate for Roads of Vietnam. Provinces and cities were asked to prepare facilities and staff to implement the issue of international driver’s licenses on schedule, said Nguyen Van Quyen, deputy head of the directorate.

Business

-- Vietnam will produce a total of 1.9 billion liters of fresh milk in 2015 and 2.6 billion liters by 2020, while annual milk consumption per capita is to reach 21 liters in 2015 and 27 liters by 2020, according to an announcement of the 2nd national congress of the Vietnam Dairy Association for the 2015-20 term, which took place in Ho Chi Minh City on Thursday. There are currently about 70 businesses operating in the diary industry in Vietnam.

-- Authorities in the northern province of Bac Ninh granted an investment license to Samsung Display Co. Ltd. on Thursday for an upcoming inflow of US$3 billion from the company to its plant in the locality. The Samsung project, located at the Yen Phong industrial park, will be operational within 2015 with an expected revenue of $1.5 billion, which and is projected to reach $40 billion in 2018 and $60 billion in 2020. It will also create 20,000 jobs for local residents.

Lifestyle

-- A Cham tower within the UNESCO-recognized My Son Sanctuary in the central province of Quang Nam was reopened on Thursday to tourists after nearly four years of restoration at a cost of over VND9 billion ($413,000), with support from Indian experts.