Ho Chi Minh City plans to become a smart city, and the task requires concerted efforts by the administration and information technology community, a city leader has said.
![]() |
Speaking at a March 10 meeting with information technology executives, Tran Vinh Tuyen, Vice Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee, said: “Information technology is the most important factor in successfully building a smart city, and the city would like to seek solutions and contributions from information technology companies.”
Nguyen Quoc Cuong, deputy director of the city’s Department of Information and Communications, said the city is drafting a master plan to build a smart city in 2017-20 that seeks to ensure a high quality of living and working and sustainability.
“The project should appraise the current digital capability, identify priority fields and then come up with a detailed roadmap to create the smart city.
“The smart city’s central mission will be the convenience of local residents, create an open playing field for all companies and take advantage of all international and domestic resources, and this will need close co-operation between research institutes, scientists, technology companies, and financial organisations.
“City authorities should pledge to support the task and the achievements should be measured based on international standards and the city’s peculiar conditions.”
The city has already begun to work on the smart city programme, creating a common city-wide database with an open eco-system and conceiving links between the smart city and its long-cherished administrative autonomy plans.
The smart city will comprise three technical aspects - a data collection system with cameras, censors, and devices for the Internet of Things and information technology system, a database system, and an analysis system.
“To operate a smart city will require professional managers and staff,” Cuong said.
Authorities would guide universities and research institutes in training requirements, he said.
“The smart city will not depend on any [particular] suppliers and have a unified architecture and easy connectivity between all levels of authorities, from city to commune.”
At the meeting, the IT business executives displayed many solutions for a smart city.
The Supreme People’s Court’s appellate panel had been scheduled to deliver its verdict on September 30 afternoon. However, before the verdict, defence lawyers and defendants asked the panel to postpone the hearing to allow them more time to prepare additional payments.
The International Day of Older Persons 2026, themed “The Age of Longevity: Rethinking Systems for Longer Lives,” highlights the need to develop healthcare, social security, labour-market and social-service systems in response to increasing life expectancy. For Vietnam, rapid population ageing is not only a demographic issue but also a development challenge.
The Vietnam Maritime Search and Rescue Coordination Centre on September 29 safely brought ashore an unconscious sailor from the Liberian-flagged MSC HERMES III, who was suspected of inhaling toxic gas, for further medical treatment.
This year, lessons will weave Vietnamese culture, history and everyday life into the curriculum, tailored to each age group.
Among the key transport and conference projects, the runway expansion at Phu Quoc International Airport has been completed, while the VIP terminal is 96% complete and Terminal 2 is 72% complete.
Both sides agreed to keep educating officials, Party members, youth union groups and the broader public, especially young people in both provinces, on the great friendship, special solidarity, comprehensive cooperation and strategic cohesion between Vietnam and Laos.
Standing Deputy Prime Minister Pham Gia Tuc on September 27 inspected Huu Nghi – Chi Lang and Dong Dang – Tra Linh expressway projects, urging local authorities, investors and contractors to speed up construction to connect the two routes before the Lunar New Year (Tet) 2027.
General Secretary and President Lam stressed that bilateral friendship and cooperation have been nurtured by people living and working in both countries, with the Vietnamese community in Canada playing an important bridging role.
Of the total, 631 were individual sets of remains, while 33 were recovered from eight mass graves. Personal artifacts were found with 298 sets of remains.
Vietnam plans to connect its national digital identification application VNeID with the electronic identification systems of Singapore and Laos, with a view to expanding the connection to other ASEAN countries.
Such assessments, however, need to be viewed in the context of Vietnam’s starting point in 1986 and the broader trajectory of its development. A country emerging from prolonged wars, facing severe socio-economic difficulties and economic embargo has undergone profound changes over the past four decades.
The floods have left three people dead, destroyed eight houses and damaged 111 others, while nearly 20,000 houses have been inundated, with more than 5,000 in riverside and low-lying areas of Hanoi and Ninh Binh currently remaining flooded.
The captain discovered water entering ballast tanks No. 4, 5 and 6 on the port side, causing the vessel to list slightly. Initial assessments indicated that the vessel may have struck an underwater rock formation while underway.
Publishing copyright is entering an entirely new phase. As AI becomes increasingly capable of generating text, summarising books, mimicking writing styles and producing content at enormous speed, ensuring copyright protection is becoming more difficult.
Authorities urged residents in the eight provinces and cities - Son La, Phu Tho, Lao Cai, Tuyen Quang, Thai Nguyen, Quang Ninh, Thanh Hoa and Nghe An - to remain alert for a high risk of flash floods and landslides on September 17.
Prolonged heavy rains from September 13–17 have caused flooding and landslides, damaging homes, crops, roads and infrastructure in Phu Tho and Thanh Hoa provinces, with local authorities mobilising forces for emergency response.
Quang Ninh city's Public Security Department warned individuals, agencies and businesses not to publicly disclose or provide personal information or bank account details on social media, and urged organisations and businesses to strictly comply with regulations on protecting customers’ personal data.
From a weekend support activity, the “Zero-dong stall” has grown into a widely recognised community initiative, helping ease living costs while fostering solidarity and compassion among local residents.
The continued recovery of martyrs’ remains provides valuable information and further evidence of those who fought and sacrificed their lives for national independence and freedom. It also encourages search teams to persist in locating fallen soldiers still lying on former battlefields, contributing to the effective implementation of the 500-day campaign and reflecting Vietnam’s long-standing tradition of gratitude.
Vietnam will launch nationwide screening for five groups of school-related diseases and health conditions among students from preschool through high school from 2028, including overweight and obesity, refractive errors, spinal curvature, oral diseases and mental health disorders.