Vietnam and Canada have enjoyed robust trade ties thanks to opportunities brought by the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) that took effect in Vietnam from January 14, 2019, heard a conference held in Hanoi on March 23.

Ta Thi Tam, M.A. Institute of Anthropology Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences The worship of gods and goddesses, tutelary deities, and family ancestors plays a very important role in the spiritual life of the Dao Do (Red Dao), one of the Dao’s seven subgroups living mostly in the northern mountainous provinces of Lao Cai, Lai Chau and Cao Bang.

The State Bank of Vietnam is planning to apply on a pilot basis a regulatory sandbox allowing fintech companies to provide some banking services from 2021.

The Cham is a Malayo-Polynesian language ethnic group living mostly in the central provinces of Binh Dinh, Phu Yen, Ninh Thuan and Binh Thuan. Ninh Thuan province has the highest number of Cham people with more than 74,000 living in 22 villages across the locality.

Promotion means an act of commercial enhancement by a business entity aimed at boosting the sale of goods or the provision of services by giving specified benefits to customers. On May 22, 2018, the Goverment issued Decree 81/2018/ND-CP on commercial enhancement activities. Decree 81 took effect on July 15, 2018. New provisions on promotion in Decree 81 compared to previous regulations aim to create favorable conditions for business entities.

Around 72 percent of Vietnamese women have joined the workforce, bringing the country to the group of nations with highest percentages of women in the labor pool. Despite their great contributions to the national economy, women still face numerous barriers to employment equality.

Whenever spring comes, all Nung ethnic people feel excited in the boisterous atmosphere of lion dance. The lion dance of the Nung, which is believed to originate from Chinese lion dance in which performers mimic a lion’s movements in a lion costume, reflects the courage and nature-conquering process of the group. It also expresses their wish for bumper crops, prosperity and happiness in the new year.

The Ngai is a small Sino-Tibetan language group living mostly in the northern province of Thai Nguyen with a population of over 1,000.

The San Diu, which lives in northern mountainous areas with a population of nearly 147,000, celebrates quite a lot of festivals the most important of which is Tet, the lunar New Year festival.

The lunar new year festival is the biggest event in the year for the Bo Y, a small Tay-Thai language group living in the northern mountainous provinces of Ha Giang, Lao Cai, Yen Bai and Tuyen Quang.The new year festival, which lasts three days from the last day of the old lunar year through the second day of the new year, is dedicated to Bo Y ancestors and gods to pray for their support for a new year of peace, health and prosperity. In the middle of the 12^th lunar month, the Bo Y start storing rice and food to make offerings for their most important festival. The offerings include sticky rice dyed in red, banh chung (square sticky rice cake filled with green bean paste and pork), banh day (round pure sticky rice cake) and banh chay (round sticky rice cake filled with green bean paste).