What you need to know today in Vietnam:

Politics

-- Belarusian Prime Minister Roman Golovchenko will pay an official visit to Vietnam from Wednesday to Saturday this week at the invitation of his Vietnamese counterpart Pham Minh Chinh, marking his first visit to the Southeast Asian country in his new position, the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs informed on Monday.

-- Vietnamese National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue met with General Secretary of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party Central Committee and President of Laos Thongloun Sisoulith and Lao Prime Minister Sonexay Siphandone in Vientiane on Monday, as part of his trip to attend the first Cambodia-Laos-Vietnam Parliamentary Summit and visit the neighboring country. 

Society

-- The Vietnamese Ministry of Health has called on local residents to stay alert to respiratory diseases as nearby countries, including China, Malaysia, Singapore, and Cambodia, have reported a surge in the number of infections.

-- Caps on the airfares of domestic flights will increase VND50,000-250,000 (US$2-10.3), or 3.75 percent on average, from March 1 next year.

-- The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Transport has issued a decision to elevate the vertical clearance of Binh Trieu 1 and Binh Phuoc 1 Bridges to seven meters each to facilitate water vehicles’ travel to neighboring provinces through them.

-- The administration in Da Nang City, central Vietnam has approved a project worth VND420 billion ($17.3 million) to develop a wastewater collection system in Cam Le and Hoa Vang Districts, the municipal administration office said on Monday.

-- The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Transport has said it will ban traffic on many streets in District 1 this weekend for the organization of the 2023 Techcombank Ho Chi Minh City International Marathon. 

-- The Department of Transport in Ho Chi Minh City submitted the prefeasibility report for the Thu Thiem 4 Bridge project across the Saigon River to the municipal administration on Monday. The estimated investment for the bridge is over VND6 trillion ($247 million), and its design includes a vertical-lift bridge.

Business

-- The U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) has signed a letter of interest with electric vehicle maker VinFast, considering the Vietnamese company's application for a $500 million loan for expansion, the Vietnam News Agency reported, citing the carmaker.

World News

-- “Britain announced plans to slash the number of migrants arriving by legal routes on Monday, raising the minimum salary they must earn in a skilled job by a third, amid pressure on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to tackle record net migration figures,” Reuters reported.

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