News from Southeast Asia directly to your inbox every weekday.
The Mekong Memo is proudly presented by:
Horton International is your premier partner for executive search in Southeast Asia. Whether you're a small startup or a global corporation, our reliable and effective recruiting solutions are tailored to meet your unique needs. With extensive experience and offices across the region, we excel at overcoming recruitment challenges and securing top talent for your organization.
Click here to learn how Horton can make your life easier.
The Memo is published weekdays - Cambodia (every Monday), Myanmar (Tuesday), Laos (Wednesday), Vietnam (Thursday) and Thailand (Friday). The Thailand edition is free in its entirety; the others usually abbreviated for non-paid subscribers.
Please go to https://www.mekongmemo.com/account to select country editions you would like to receive without affecting your overall subscription status.
To Lam Wants 10% Growth and Half the Provinces
An April 2026 National Assembly resolution sets a 10 percent yearly GDP growth target for 2030, in what’s a pretty big ask for an economy that is already $514 billion after posting 8 percent in 2025. To Lam is moving quickly as 63 provinces are being reduced into 34, almost 700 district units are gone, and the number of communes is being reduced from more than 10,590 to 2,321. The Ministry of Finance now controls roughly 70 percent of central government staff and nearly one-fifth of the National Assembly’s legislative workload. The government also wants to cut the Incremental Capital-Output Ratio from 6.4 to 4.5 while shedding about 20ish% of public sector jobs.
Read more: Vietnam Investment Review (US Treasury), Vietnam Investment Review (Finance Ministry), East Asia Forum (2045 target)
The $300 Billion Pitch
The Politburo's Resolution 10 sets a target of $200 to $300 billion in newly registered FDI by 2030, with three-quarters of the total expected to come from developed economies and sectors that have been under the spotlight like semiconductors, AI, big data, and biotech. A draft decree from the Ministry of Science and Technology proposes full land rent waivers for the entire lease term for “strategic” technology R&D centers. Ho Chi Minh City is offering monthly packages up to $4,600 for leadership roles in public science and technology organizations. The Intel backstory helps explains why the move is getting such a push. Hanoi lost a $3.3 billion Intel chip facility in 2023 after budget law blocked cash support to private firms, but two years later, after Intel abandoned alternative plans in Europe, it returned with $2.6 billion in new investment through the new Investment Support Fund.
Read more: Vietnam Insiders (FDI targets), VnEconomy (land rent), VnEconomy (Da Nang pay), VnEconomy (HCMC pay), TechNode Global (Intel)
Troops Sent to Finish the Airport
The army’s engineering arm, Truong Son Construction Corporation, sent hundreds of soldiers to Long Thanh International Airport in Dong Nai to work shifts because civilian contractors are short 7,000 laborers. Construction Minister Tran Hong Minh confirmed the deployment during an inspection when an Airports representative told him the project was about three-quarters complete and there was no room for further delays. The crunch is partly self-inflicted because the nearby Bien Hoa-Vung Tau expressway and the Ho Chi Minh City-Long Thanh-Dau Giay expansion are pulling from the same pool of engineers and machine operators. Contractors are now working round the clock with the help of three shifts and four rotating crews as part of a 180-day push. Trial operations are expected to be able to being in September and commercial flights may begin toward the end of this year. The original opening was supposed to be sometime in 2025.
Read more: VnExpress
China Eyes Vietnam’s Metro Boom
China Pacific Construction Group signed an MoU with Ho Chi Minh City's Department of Construction, the latest firm to get involved in the space built with Japanese money and then walked away from. Line 1, the nearly 20km Ben Thanh-Suoi Tien route that was built with Japanese loans money, took almost two decades to plan and 12 years to build before opening in December 2024. The city now wants 200km of urban rail done by 2030. CPCG, a Fortune 500 construction group, has already won three Hanoi contracts that broke ground this year, the Tu Lien and Ngoc Hoi bridges and Metro Line 5. Guangzhou Metro Group, which runs more than 1,500km of metro carrying almost 10 million riders a day, opened a Ho Chi Minh City office and is now working on Line 2's design and a feasibility study for Line 4.
Read more: VnExpress
EV Push Gets Real
Hanoi's People's Council passed a resolution which gives poor households up to VND20 million ($760) per person to replace their smoke-belching motorbikes with electric ones. The subsidy is a one-time deal per person, applies to a single motorbike or moped, will be paid out by commune-level committees via bank transfer, and runs through the end of 2027. As well as providing the cash, the city will make bus fares free within Ring Road 1 through 2027, with free rides citywide on buses and urban rail extended through 2030 for Tet, national holidays, and "special socio-political events." The city is encouraging EV adoption at the same time that operators are expanding their fleets - VinFast-linked Green SM signed on to help operator Huy Long roll out a 2,000-EV fleet for Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, and a handful of “central provinces.”
Read more: VnEconomy (subsidies), Electrive (VinFast)
Vietnam Devours Thailand's Lunch
Twenty-one million tourists visited Vietnam in 2025, a one-fifth jump from the year earlier, and the country has now overtaken Thailand for Chinese travelers, pulling in 5.3 million vs Thailand's 4.5 million. Hanoi is expecting $41 billion in tourism revenue this year and working hard to bring higher-spending visitors as visa-free access now applies to visitors from 39 countries. The latest pitch is pointed at medical and conference travelers instead of the well-worm traditional backpacker market. The health ministry expects medical tourism to grow from $700 million in 2024 to close to $4 billion by 2033. Domestic tourism is picking up too, and a five-day National Day holiday is expected to push another wave toward Da Nang, Phu Quoc, and Ha Long Bay.
Read more: Fortune (airports), Vietnam Insiders (holiday travel)
Compensation for Flight Delays
Decree 208/2026, issued June 15 and taking effect July 1, defines what carriers will owe passengers when their flights are delayed. After two hours, airlines will need to pony up drinking water or a voucher for some, plus arrange a rebooking for anyone who asks. After three hours, they are on the hook for a meal. After four hours, if the airline is at fault and the passenger declines a rebooking, they owe a full refund of the unused fare, in addition to separate advance compensation also owed to ticketed passengers. If the delay gets as long as six hours, a rest area during the day and overnight lodging is provided if the wait extends beyond 10 p.m. The decree also reaches onto the tarmac. If a plane sits with doors closed and no confirmed departure for more than three hours, passengers must be let off.
Read more: VnExpress
Lumber Finds New Buyers in Beijing
Wood product exports hit $7.12 billion in the first five months of 2026, up a little on the year, but the interesting bit is where the goods are now going. The US is still the biggest market (still takes about half of all exports), but demand has softened a little as China is picking up the slack. The EU is only about 5 percent of the buy, but is tightening environmental traceability rules.
Read more: VnEconomy
The Party Runs Till the Wee Hours
The Hanoi People's Council has approved a tiered night-economy framework that, in select zones, will let businesses operate until 6am (Thailand: paying attention?). The scheduling runs in three bands, with 6pm to 10pm for most venues, 10pm to 2am for approved commercial and cultural areas, and 10pm to 6am for a narrow set of locations that can clear the requirements for infrastructure, public security, and noise control. Licenses are required for everyone across the board.
Read more: VnEconomy
Partners in Everything But Pay
Vietnam's roughly 600,000 ride-hailing and delivery drivers are still classified as "partners," not employees, more than a decade after Grab arrived in 2014. The classification spares the platforms any obligation for social, health, or unemployment insurance. The market grew from $200 million in 2015 to $1.6 billion in 2020, but a 2021 survey found motorbike drivers make only VND7-9 million ($266-342) a month after expenses, often after working up to 13 hours a day. Almost a quarter working the 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. shift. Courts have already suggested the "partner" label shouldn’t hold. Judges in the Grab-Vinasun litigation, which ran from 2018 to 2020, found that Grab set fares, assigned rides to drivers, and reduced driver pay in response to customer complaints. The 2019 Labor Code says an arrangement counts as employment when work is performed under management, direction, and supervision, regardless of what the contract calls it.
Read more: VnExpress
Vietnam’s Bullying Problem
Vietnam's Ministry of Education told students to "absolutely not film, photograph, or share clips of school violence on social media." The backlash was vociferous, and immediate. A 2023 survey of 1,700 students in seven provinces found nearly 70 percent had seen or experienced bullying, verbal abuse, or social exclusion, and more than 60 percent said they didn't know who to turn to if / when it happened. Two weeks before the order was issued, a 14-year-old in Lam Dong province attempted suicide after being beaten and extorted by 13 classmates. He suffered spinal injuries in the attack. His teachers, allegedly, knew nothing. Between 2017 and 2022, authorities recorded 2,624 incidents of school violence involving more than 7,200 students. Critics said the new directive is "a bandage tied tightly over a festering wound."
Read more: UCA News
Tenth Grader Exposes National Security Flaw
A 16-year-old with no formal training broke into the Ministry of Health's National Immunization Information System, pulled 20 million personal records, and sold them through private online groups before Lam Dong Province police traced the trail back to his bedroom in Nghe An. He reportedly taught himself programming online, wrote his own software to take advantage of a security flaw, and walked away with a little more than VND 100 million (~$4,000), for the country's vaccination registry. Police have opened a criminal case.
Read more: VnExpress
That's all for this week, thanks for reading. Your voice matters to us. Feel we're missing something? Have additional sources to suggest? Don't hold back- hit reply and tell us what you think.
If you value the Mekong Memo, please consider buying (or gifting!) a paid subscription, sharing it on social media or forwarding this email to someone who might enjoy it. Please also “like” this newsletter by clicking the ❤️ below (or sometimes above, depending on the platform), which helps us get visibility on the Substack network.