Long Thành's Connection Problem
And GS Lâm's South Korea trip
Good morning! Hello to all new readers, and welcome to the latest free edition of the Vietnam Weekly, coming to you from very damp Ho Chi Minh City.
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Connection Problems
I wasn’t planning to cover airports again this week, but challenges facing the under-construction Long Thành International have become a prominent discussion point.
The major issue here is poor connectivity from HCMC to Đồng Nai, with just one expressway out to Long Thành (LT) that has only two lanes in each direction. Domestic media is covering this heavily, but the airport is set to open next year.
On Tuesday, VnExpress published an article noting how “experts” say LT’s “efficiency [is] at risk without easy HCMC connectivity.”
In this context, officials are now debating how to divide up flights between Tân Sơn Nhất and LT, with VnExpress outlining two options:
LT handles all international flights and some domestic connections, with TSN taking the remaining domestic passengers.
TSN handles all domestic flights and international routes under 1,000 km, while LT takes all long-haul routes.
The news outlet notes that the first option wouldn’t require transfers between the two airports, “a trip that can take 4–5 hours.”
This will be a major story over the next couple of years.
The South Korea Visit
General Secretary Tô Lâm undertook a state visit to South Korea this week, becoming the first national leader to visit Seoul since President Lee Jae Myung took office in June.
According to Reuters, the two sides agreed to reach US$150 billion in bilateral trade by 2030, up from US$86.8 billion last year. Several ministers accompanied GS Lâm, who also attended the Viet Nam-South Korea Business Forum and “emphasized the need to make science and technology development and innovation a key pillar in cooperation between the two sides.”
Numerous cooperation agreements between Vietnamese and Korean corporations were signed in areas including energy, digital infrastructure, manufacturing, and logistics.
South Korea has deep experience in semiconductors, nuclear energy, and high-speed rail, three areas that the Vietnamese government is aggressively pursuing.
Extra Links:
Vietnam wants to be the next Asian tiger and it’s overhauling its economy to make it happen (AP)
Between survival and betrayal (Mekong Review)
Trần Dần, the Literary Maverick Teaching Us How We Should and Can Be an Artist (Saigoneer)
Have a great weekend!
Mike Tatarski
