Catch up on the news in Vietnam today:

Politics

-- Vietnam is Switzerland’s key and priority economic partner in Southeast Asia, Swiss President Viola Amherd told a meeting with Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh Chinh in Davos on Wednesday morning (local time).

-- State President Vo Van Thuong and Vice State-President Vo Thi Anh Xuan have sent messages of congratulations to King Frederik X of Denmark on his coronation on January 14, according to the Vietnam News Agency.

Society

-- Police in Binh Duong Province, southern Vietnam have joined hands with the Chinese police to detain a 34-year-old Chinese man who is a subject of an Interpol red notice for trafficking 13 Vietnamese women, a local officer said on Wednesday.

-- The Ho Chi Minh City Pediatric Cardiology & Congenital Heart Disease Society organized the 10th Vietnam Congress of Congenital and Structural Heart Disease on Wednesday, bringing together some 200 international pediatric interventional cardiologists. The congress wraps up on Friday.

-- Motorcyclists will start to pay a fee for using the Rach Mieu Ferry service, which connects Tien Giang and Ben Tre Provinces in the Mekong Delta region, from January 27, three years after the ferry was put into operation.

Business

-- Vietnam exported chilies worth US$20 million in 2023, skyrocketing 107 percent year on year. China was the country’s biggest chili buyer last year, according to the Vietnam Pepper and Spice Association. 

-- Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh chaired a seminar themed ‘Vietnam - Leading Sustainable Investment in ASEAN’ in Davos, Switzerland on Wednesday morning (local time) on the sidelines of the ongoing 54th Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF-54). PM Chinh encouraged international partners to expand their investment in Vietnam and bring funds and modern technology to the Southeast Asian nation.

Lifestyle

-- People’s Artist Bach Tuyet, a 78-year-old artist of cai luong (southern folk music and stage performance), has been named in Forbes’ 50 Over 50: Asia 2024 list, which was released on Wednesday.

-- Hundreds of workers are busy taking care of the sunflower field and growing an additional 20,000 sunflowers at Saigon River Park in the Thu Thiem New Urban Area, located in Thu Duc City under Ho Chi Minh City, to welcome the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday in February.

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