Vietnam's export earnings expanded by an estimated 33% to US$19.2 billion in the first quarter of the year.

Vietnam needs cooperation and experience from marine powers in the world, especially the Netherlands and the seaport city of Rotterdam , said Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai. Deputy PM Hai made the statement at a seminar in Hanoi on Mar. 29 on the Rotterdam seaport model - a potential partnership with Vietnam .

The Ministry of Finance said that Vietnam will cut import tariff by between 1% and 6% for 924 kinds of goods, including agricultural, forest, and aquatic products, construction materials and electronic products this year.

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has requested the Hau Giang provincial People's Committee to establish a rice storage system as soon as possible by eliminating any current obstacles.

A pilot public-private partnership (PPP) legal framework, approved by the Vietnamese government last week, will bolster up private investment in local infrastructure sector.

Vietnam, the world's second largest rice exporter, will break its 2009 rice export record this year.

A project to boost exports to Africa, a location considered to be a potential market for Vietnamese goods in the wake of saturation in traditional markets, was ratified by the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT).

About 200 delegates, including 150 from delegates from other GMS countries, development partners, private sector and the Asian Development Bank (ADB), attended the 16th Greater Mekong Subregion Ministerial Conference with the theme of "GMS in the Next Decade: New Frontiers of Cooperation" in Hanoi.

Timber product exporters had signed export contracts totalling US$3 billion until the year end, $400 million higher than last year, said general director of the Viet Nam Timber and Forest Product Association Nguyen Ton Quyen.

In order to sell sliced cassava at good prices, farmers in Quang Ngai province are mixing cassava with sand.