NDO/VNA – Senior officials of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and China held a consultation in Hangzhou, China’s Zhejiang province, on May 19 to review cooperation, discuss measures to promote partnership, and prepare for the ASEAN-China post ministerial conference this August. 

NDO – Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud announced on May 19 that the country would hold an emergency summit of Gulf Cooperation Council member states and leaders of Arab League countries in Makkah on May 30. 

The United States struck deals on May 17 to lift tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from Canada and Mexico, the three governments said, removing a major obstacle to legislative approval of a new North American trade pact. 

NDO/VNA – The Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) is planning to double official development assistance (ODA) for six members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) by 2023.  

The French government's tourism committee said on May 17 that France welcomed nearly 90 million foreign tourists in 2018, a new record for the country despite the Yellow Vest anti-government protests and the terrorist attack in Strasbourg. 

NDO – German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas on May 15 warned that tension between the US and Iran is very serious at the moment, calling for the international community to prevent the possibility of military escalation, according to foreign news and the Vietnam News Agency. 

NDO – In a telephone conversation on May 15, the US Special Representative for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), Stephen Biegun, and the Russian Deputy Foreign Minister, Igor Morgulov, emphasised that there must be adequate enforcement and compliance with sanctions against the DPRK until a complete, thorough and verifiable denuclearisation is reached, reported Yonhap and the Vietnam News Agency.