On October, 20th 2016, Lao Academy of Social Sciences (LASS) in collaboration with Korea Environment Institute (KEI), Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI), Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences (VASS) and Royal Academy of Cambodia (RAC) organized the joint capacity building seminars on ‘Sustainable Development Goals Implementation in Mekong Sub-Region: Integrating Smart Agriculture and Promoting the Role of Women’ in Vientiane, Laos.

The fifth annual international workshop on social sciences - “ Human resources development in social sciences in the context of global integration in Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia” was held in Vientiane, Laos on 19 October 2016. This international workshop is held alternately among three Academies of the three countries namely Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.

With a view to assessing the relationships between Vietnam and China after 25 years of normalization and hence, offering recommendations for enhancing these relations in a healthy, effective, sustainable and mutually beneficial manner in the coming years, in the morning of September 26th, 2016, Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences (VASS) held the international conference on ‘Vietnam - China Relations: 25 Years of Normalization and Prospects’.

On September 28th, 2016, with the agreement of President of VASS and under the sponsorship of Japan Foundation, Institute for Northeast Asian Studies (a member of VASS) organized the international conference on “Building a sustainable development society: Vietnam-Japan cooperation to ensure sustainable development’ at the hall 3D in the headquarter of VASS, 1A Lieu Giai Street, Ba Dinh, Hanoi.

The heritage of Han-Nom is the earliest and oldest source of Vietnamese handwriting, with the largest amount of books written, printed and carved in Han-Nom discussing all the aspects of Vietnam in the past, such as culture, history, beliefs, religions, philosophy, fine arts, liturature, languages, science and technology, and so on. Now, there are 35.000 volumes of book, 70.000 lacquered boards (updated 2016 data) in the Institute of Han-Nom studies, let alone other documents being stored in France, Japan, China, Taiwan, UK, US, Thailand and other foreign countries. The heritage of Han-Nom constitutes a significant part of the Vietnamese culture, depicting its magnitude and meaning. It is necessary and urgent for Han-Nom researchers to draw lessons from the past and single cultural elements out in the heritage of Han-Nom which are useful for the country’s development. For these reasons, with the agreement of the leadership of Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences (VASS), on 27th August 2016, the National Conference on ‘The role of Han-Nom in the contemporary culture’ was held at the theatre situated in the 3rd floor in the headquarter of VASS, 1 Lieu Giai street, Ba Dinh, Vietnam.