HANOI: Vietnam's parliament on Wednesday (Feb 19) approved plans for an US$8 billion rail link from its largest northern port city to the border with China, boosting links between the two communist-ruled countries and making trade easier.

Vietnam's National Assembly on Tuesday approved a bold bureaucratic reform plan that will slash up to a fifth of government bodies, as the country tries to cut costs and improve administrative efficiency.

Vietnam will cut one in five public sector jobs and slash billions of dollars from government budgets, after the country's rubber-stamp parliament on Tuesday gave the go-ahead to a radical streamlining drive.