Vietnam to issue international driving licences

Hanoi, March 25 (VNA)- The Directorate for Roads of Vietnam will start to issue international driving licences in August. Nguyen Thang Quan, head of the directorate's Vehicles and Drivers Management Department, told online newspaper VnExpress that the directorate was compiling a circular with instructions on issuing international driving licences. The circular is expected to be completed by August. Under the decision, drivers can obtain the licence by paying a fee of 135,000 VND (6.5 USD) by wire transfer, he said. The international driving licences will look like passports and will be available in various languages including English, French, Russian and Spanish. This international driving licence will be valid in 73 countries. The Vienna Convention on Road Traffic is an international treaty designed to facilitate international road traffic and increase road safety by establishing standardised traffic rules amongst the participating parties. The Convention was ratified at the United Nations Economic and Social Council's Conference on Road Traffic in Vienna in 1968. It came into effect on May 21, 1977. By August 2014, Vietnam had ratified the convention.-VNA