May your 2016 be filled with great things   A family is pictured on the Flower Street in Ho Chi Minh City's downtown area in this December 31, 2012 file photo. Tuoi Tre Dear valued readers, The year 2016 is about to start in Vietnam and many parts of the world, promising both hopes and challenges. In January 2016, Vietnam will hold its grand Party Congress to elect new leaders, after cities and provinces countrywide finished voting in their new leaderships that include many young, intellectual and passionate people in 2015. These leaders carry the public trust on their shoulders to lead Vietnam on a practical route to integrate with the region and the world. Today, December 31, also marks the establishment of the ASEAN Community, a regional arena in which Vietnam is definitely capable of competing. The foundation of the ASEAN Community is also an event anticipated by many young Vietnamese since it comes with not only challenges and competition, but also opportunities for the young generation to prove themselves. The ASEAN integration will be a stepping stone for Vietnam’s workforce to become part of a much bigger playground – the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement. So can we see these economic integration processes as a ‘launch pad’ for the country’s economy in coming years, an aspiration shared by both government leaders and Vietnamese citizens, especially at a time when Vietnam posted a ‘lucky’ GDP growth rate of 6.68 percent for 2015? As journalists, we see them that way, which will allow us to break positive and optimistic news to you in the New Year. We also hope that you will continue supporting us in such a positive and optimistic manner, as you did in the past year. 2015 was a great year for Tuoi Tre News, with our readership growing by 50 percent from one year earlier. Our Facebook page also reached a milestone of 10,000 followers as it was only a couple days away from the New Year. We appreciate and feel grateful to all readers for your huge support in reading us and sharing our stories to your friends and families, and look forward to continuing to have you as companions. You are always more than welcome to send us stories about Vietnam that will help the expat community here know more about our country. We would like to extend our special thanks to you for your remarks and wishes for us in June 2015, when we celebrated our fifth birthday. We appreciate all of your comments, suggestions, recommendations, and of course complaints, and are exerting effort to remedy the shortcomings you have showed us. It is our utmost goal to make articles published on Tuoi Tre News more and more informative and useful to readers, and to share your knowledge of, as well as love for, our country. Our New Year wish is that you readers will keep reading us and loving Vietnam – a friendly, optimistic and peace-loving country. We also wish for health and capability to produce more quality content not only in 2016 but in the years to come. The flow of information is also the flow of life and history. Let us all start a new year with a belief that all good things will come to us, our families, friends and other people around this world! Happy New Year!!! Tuoi Tre News