What you need to know in Vietnam today:

Politics

-- Vietnamese Deputy Minister of Defense Nguyen Chi Vinh and New Zealand Deputy Secretary of Defense in charge of Policy and Planning Tony Lynch on Thursday agreed to continue accelerating the exchange of delegations at all levels and maintaining dialogue and consultation mechanisms at the first Defense Dialogue between the two countries in Hanoi. Vietnam and New Zealand signed a memorandum of understanding on defense cooperation in 2013.

-- State President Truong Tan Sang on Thursday received Lao Justice Minister Bounkeut Sangsomsak in Hanoi, expressing his hope for further cooperation and experience-sharing between Vietnam and Laos’ justice ministries.

 -- General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Nguyen Phu Trong reaffirmed to General Secretary of the Communist Party of China Xi Jinping that the Vietnamese Party, State and people have continually treasured the amity with China and are willing to work with the neighboring country to deepen their comprehensive strategic partnership, during the official visit of the Chinese president in Hanoi on Thursday.

Society

-- The central province of Thua Thien-Hue will invest about VND9 trillion (US$405 million) in upgrading Hue City into a green urban area in 2016-30. Besides local resources, the province will seek finances from the central coffers and official development assistance (ODA) from multilateral donors like the Asian Development Bank, World Bank and OPEC Fund for International Development.

Business

-- The Vietnam International Retail and Franchise Exhibition opened in Ho Chi Minh City on Thursday, attracting the participation of over 170 businesses from 12 countries and territories. The event is held to update the latest trends on franchise in Vietnam, in the region and the world so that both domestic and international enterprises can seek investment and business cooperation opportunities.

-- The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will organize additional activities to boost commercial connectivity between Vietnamese enterprises and their Israeli partners, Deputy Minister Le Hoai Trung said at the “Meet Israel” conference, with the participation of 130 representatives of provincial agencies and businesses from both countries, in Hanoi on Thursday.

-- Vietnam wishes to collaborate with Iceland in developing clean energy and receive technical support and experience-sharing from the country, Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai said at a conference in Hanoi on Thursday. Vietnam’s total power generation capacity is expected to reach about 75,000MW by 2020, and the country is still using hydropower and coal-fueled thermal electricity as the two main energy sources.