The trend of eating insects Recently, FAO has informed that nearly two billion people in the world have been eating insects in different level.  There are about 1,900 kinds of insect that can be eaten and beetles, worms, butterflies are the most popular dishes besides bees, ants, grasshoppers and crickets. According to FAO, insects are not only low-fat, protein-rich food but it also reduces the emissions of greenhouse gases, creates jobs in developing countries and feeds millions of starving people. In Mr. Kien, an owner of a low-profile restaurant in Dong Da District, Ha Noi claims that insects are widely favored among consumers by saying ‘These dishes are not scary at all but delicious. Although my restaurant is small and located in a small lane without any sign, it still attracts a lot of customers everyday’. Although palm worm looks very horrible when it is alive, it is one of the most special dishes in Mr. Kien’ restaurant. ‘This food is so rare, we always run out. Especially, many customers prefer to eat them alive’ Mr. Kien says. Mrs. Huyen, Kien’s wife shares ant eggs is also a popular dish. To serve customers better, they learned how to cook from Muong and With a quite fascinating price, under 30,000 VND each dish, Mr. Kien’s restaurant is attracting more and more people even from outside Meanwhile, Miss. Thuy Anh, the owner of Kien restaurant in According to Ms. Thuy Anh, most people like insect foods including men and women; Vietnamese people and foreigners. In fact, many foreigners have visited her restaurant. Surprisingly, she also discloses the real reason she opened Kien store is that she can enjoy insect food, her secret passion whenever she wants. There are a variety range of dishes made from insects in Kien restaurant with the price from 75,000 to 120,000 VND. Ms. Thuy Anh has seen many people looked at bugs and worms at first and they were very scared but then; after they tried, they complimented and they kept eating them. Ms. Dung, a customer in Kien store, shares that she was invited to try insect foods by her friends and she was very scared after she saw them, she even vomited. But then, encouraged by her friends, she tried to taste, found it amazing and now she becomes addicted to this food. Now, FAO is calling restaurants, chefs and food writers for strengthening the propaganda of insectivorous habits against world hunger. If people consume insects instead of animals, the situation may be different.  Professor Bui Cong Hien and Engineer Dang Ngoc Anh say that insects are not only food but also source of medication. For example, flies eggs can prevent infection -- when bee venom, honey and the milk of queen bee can cure rheumatic, bronchitis and gastroenteritis. Besides, grasshoppers and locusts devastate crops while termites also damage many man-made products. Hence, in some cases, eating these insects can reduce the damage for humans very much. Dr. Pham Hong Thai says eating insects is good for our health because they are low-fat food. However, hunting insects unreasonably and freely can lead to the ecological imbalance. He advises that we should only use raised insects. Dr. Nguye Thu Cuc, former lecture in Can Tho University, thinks that insects are men’s enemy but they still play an important role in our lives. Preserving the balance in the nature is one of its functions. They also are primary supporters in biological censor and destroying worms. Therefore, we need to consider carefully in consuming insects to prevent from killing beneficial ones. In terms of health safety, Dr. Vu Quoc Trung says that many insects contain poison, for example scorpion and bug, which can be very dangerous. As a result, he advises that if we don’t know how to eliminate the poison properly, we shouldn’t eat them for our own good. Likewise, Dr. Nguyen Thi Thu Cuc considers insects are the reason for transmitting dangerous disease to people. We need to be very careful in terms of raising, hunting, mating and cooking insects to avoid poison. When most people cook insects as foods based only on old customs and their own experience, Dr. Pham Hong Thai suggests that the authority should research carefully and then announce which insects can be eaten without any harm for our health. NLD |
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Difficulties attack long distance transportation firms from all four sides Airlines have to reduce the airfare continuously, while road passenger carriers have scaled down their business or sell coaches to pay debts.
The passenger transportation firms are facing the biggest ever difficulties. Mai Linh, Phuong Trang and Thanh Buoi, the three biggest names in the field in Mai Linh, which has been operating for the last 20 years in the field with the assets of up to trillions of dong, has announced the plan to sell cars to pay the VND500 billion debt to shareholders. Prior to that, Phuong Trang gave up its business in Da Lat and brought the 60 cars here back to Explaining this, the representative of Phuong Trang said in the context of economic difficulties, the company has to shrink its operation, cut down unprofitable business types, while it needs to gather strength on long distance transportation. While Phuong Trang has nearly settled its problems and cut loss successfully, Thanh Buoi is still facing a lot of problems with freight yards and offices. Le Duc Thanh, Director of Thanh Buoi Company, usually fails to keep appointments these days with reporters, saying that he is busy going to local markets or attending meetings. The director may be busy dealing with the problems in Da Lat and Can Tho. In late February 2013, the Lam Dong provincial Transport Department asked Thanh Buoi to stop exploiting the coach stations in Da Lat City, because of the small area of the station which cannot meet the current required standards. In late April 2013, the company met troubles with the office in Can Tho, because it still had not got a license, though the office has been operating for the last 2 years. Thanh Buoi is a big service provider especially on the Da Lat – All Mai Linh, Phuong Trang and Thanh Buoi are the victims of their ambitious investment plans on many different business fields. Some years ago, when the real estate market was scorching hot, they all injected money in real estate projects. And like many other real estate developers, they have suffered from the gloomy market. Mai Linh provided taxi long distance carrier services and jumped into the education, real estate sector as well. Phuong Trang also had taxi fleet, provided long distance transportation and developed real estate projects. Thanh Buoi poured money into long distance transportation, tourism and real estate. In late April, Phuong Trang unexpectedly announced its plan to march towards the north. Le Cong Dinh, a senior executive, said Phuong Trang hopes to bring its transportation services to 63 provinces and cities nationwide. Preparing for the plan, in May 2013, the company would put 50 more high quality coaches into operation. By that time, it would have 550 big size coaches and 500 small sized vehicles. The big advantage Phuong Trang has when implementing the project is that Mai Linh, a big rival, is still busy with its problems and won’t think of developing business at this moment. However, the $200 billion plan of Phuong Trang, in the eyes of analysts, is so venturous. DNSG |
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Investigative leads in Sestak’s visa-for-money scam
Tuoitrenews
People queue to apply for a visa at the US Consulate General in HCM City Dong Khoi Street in this January 24, 2013 file photo. Tuoitre
From a confidential letter sent to the US Consulate General in Ho Chi Minh City last year, US State Department investigators have obtained investigative leads in their investigation of Sestak’s visa-for-money scam in Vietnam
In July 2012, the Consulate received a letter from a confidential source that claimed that a “facilitator” was soliciting bribes from applicants in exchange for the issuance ofU.S.
In the letter, the source claimed that between May 20, 2012, and early July 2012, between 50 and 70 people from a specific village inVietnam had obtained U.S.
In July 2012, the Consulate received a letter from a confidential source that claimed that a “facilitator” was soliciting bribes from applicants in exchange for the issuance of
In the letter, the source claimed that between May 20, 2012, and early July 2012, between 50 and 70 people from a specific village in
The source claimed that one could pay $55,000 in order to be guaranteed a tourist visa to the United States
All NIV applications are submitted electronically via the Department of State'sConsular Electronic Application Center
Therefore, for every application submitted through the CEAC, there are two associated IP addresses. DSS investigation resulted in the identification of five of the seven applicants named in the letter. All five applicants had visas approved by Sestak between May 20 and May 31, 2012. A review of these applications showed that they were connected to two IP addresses.
Four of the five applications had been accessed from what appeared to be a dynamic IP address beginning with the digits 216131.79, and which was later ascertained to be assigned to a Virtual Private Network (“VPN”) hosted by a U.S. Internet Service Provider (“ISP”), (“IP Address A”); or from what appeared to be a static IP address of 118.69.37.10 (“IP Address B”).
One application had not been accessed by either IP address A or B; however, this application, dated May 21, 2012, was for an applicant whose sister’s NIV application had been accessed by IP address A, and whose visa was issued by Sestak two days later, on May 23, 2012.
DSS review of adjudication statistics for the Consulate revealed that between May 1, 2012, and September 6, 2012, the Consulate as a whole approved 20,362 NIVs, and refused 11,024 NIV applications - an overall refusal rate of 35.1%.
During the same time period, Sestak approved 5,040 NIVs and refused 449 NIV applications - a personal refusal rate of 8.17%. Sestak’s refusal rate went from 30.3% in January to 6.4% in May, 11.3% in June, 9.35% in July, 3.82% in August, and 6.67% in September, which was his last month at the Consulate.
Three tainted IP addresses
DSS review of Consulate records revealed that many of the applications adjudicated by Sestak were accessed from one of three IP addresses (tainted IP addresses). Further investigation showed that the three IP addresses from which the applications were accessed were connected to co-conspirator 1, co-conspirator 3, and co-conspirator 2 and family.
DSS review of Consulate records revealed that approximately 425 NIV applications (for 419 unique applicants) had been accessed from IP Address A or IP Address B, between March 8, 2012, and September 6, 2012. Sestak conducted the initial interview for 404 of the 419 applicants and approved visas for 386 applicants.
Sestak tried to issue visas to an additional 11 of the 404 applicants that he initially interviewed, but the system kicked back the applications due to certain data mismatches; all 11 applicants were ultimately re-adjudicated and approved by other officers without further interviewing.
All NIV applications are submitted electronically via the Department of State's
Therefore, for every application submitted through the CEAC, there are two associated IP addresses. DSS investigation resulted in the identification of five of the seven applicants named in the letter. All five applicants had visas approved by Sestak between May 20 and May 31, 2012. A review of these applications showed that they were connected to two IP addresses.
Four of the five applications had been accessed from what appeared to be a dynamic IP address beginning with the digits 216131.79, and which was later ascertained to be assigned to a Virtual Private Network (“VPN”) hosted by a U.S. Internet Service Provider (“ISP”), (“IP Address A”); or from what appeared to be a static IP address of 118.69.37.10 (“IP Address B”).
One application had not been accessed by either IP address A or B; however, this application, dated May 21, 2012, was for an applicant whose sister’s NIV application had been accessed by IP address A, and whose visa was issued by Sestak two days later, on May 23, 2012.
DSS review of adjudication statistics for the Consulate revealed that between May 1, 2012, and September 6, 2012, the Consulate as a whole approved 20,362 NIVs, and refused 11,024 NIV applications - an overall refusal rate of 35.1%.
During the same time period, Sestak approved 5,040 NIVs and refused 449 NIV applications - a personal refusal rate of 8.17%. Sestak’s refusal rate went from 30.3% in January to 6.4% in May, 11.3% in June, 9.35% in July, 3.82% in August, and 6.67% in September, which was his last month at the Consulate.
Three tainted IP addresses
DSS review of Consulate records revealed that many of the applications adjudicated by Sestak were accessed from one of three IP addresses (tainted IP addresses). Further investigation showed that the three IP addresses from which the applications were accessed were connected to co-conspirator 1, co-conspirator 3, and co-conspirator 2 and family.
DSS review of Consulate records revealed that approximately 425 NIV applications (for 419 unique applicants) had been accessed from IP Address A or IP Address B, between March 8, 2012, and September 6, 2012. Sestak conducted the initial interview for 404 of the 419 applicants and approved visas for 386 applicants.
Sestak tried to issue visas to an additional 11 of the 404 applicants that he initially interviewed, but the system kicked back the applications due to certain data mismatches; all 11 applicants were ultimately re-adjudicated and approved by other officers without further interviewing.
Sestak gave 4 of the 404 applicants that he initially interviewed “soft refusals,” because they were missing documentation or had not paid certain fees required for their specific visa classes; all 4 of these applications were subsequently issued visas by other consular officers.
Of the 15 applicants initially interviewed by other officers, 13 were refused visas. Sestak overturned the refusal of one of these 13. Six others submitted new applications between 1 and 6 days after their refusal and were re-interviewed and issued visas by Sestak.
Of the 15 applicants initially interviewed by other officers, 13 were refused visas. Sestak overturned the refusal of one of these 13. Six others submitted new applications between 1 and 6 days after their refusal and were re-interviewed and issued visas by Sestak.
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BUSINESS IN BRIEF 29/5 Rubber companies in despair as price falls As rubber companies totally depend on export price, they are likely to fail in achieving their business targets for this year, with rubber prices currently at their lowest. Losing trend in the global rubber market started from 2012, mainly caused by the economic crisis, especially the sovereign-debt crisis in Europe which urged these countries to cut spending, seriously affecting automobile industry, leading to a slump in the rubber processing industry. Experts forecast that rubber prices would rebound in the first quarter of this year as global economy showed signs of recovery and However, things happened differently. At the end of the first quarter of this year, RSS rubber future price on Tocom trading floor fell 16 percent compared to that in the beginning of this year, due to the ongoing European debt crisis, slow economic growth in main rubber consuming countries, and high inventory in Currently, 90 percent of rubber production of For now, there are five rubber companies listed on the stock markets, including Phuoc Hoa Rubber Joint Stock Company (PHR); Dong Phu Rubber Joint Stock Company (DPR); Tay Ninh Rubber Joint Stock Company (TRC); Hoa Binh Rubber Joint Stock Company (HRC); and Thong Nhat Rubber Joint Stock Company (TNC). The area for rubber trees of most companies increased last year as they expanded growing area in As for TRC, according to a research by FPT Securities Company, this company has been putting all efforts in a project to grow rubber trees in an area of 7,600 hectares in Siem Reap. In comparison with total mature rubber tree areas in Vietnam of TRC of 5,407 hectares out of total rubber growing area of 7,300 hectares, the Cambodia-based project is considered as the most important project that affects the company’s development in the long term. The company has had land allocated by the Cambodian Government, but it is still waiting for an investment certificate from Although rubber growing area increased significantly, business performance in the first quarter for rubber companies remained slow as rubber export price declined. Of which, HRC saw a decrease of 97 percent in its income statement; PHR dropped 83 percent; and TNC plunged 75 percent. Hence, this year’s business result of rubber companies is expected to drastically drop compared to the previous year and the possibility that they will fail to achieve business targets looms large. VietinBank partners with Japanese Finance Corporation The Vietnam Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Industry and Trade (VietinBank) signed a cooperation agreement with the Japan Finance Corporation (JFC) in Under the agreement, JFC will introduce VietinBank to small and medium-sized Japanese enterprises (SMEs) and issue Standby Letters of Credit (SBLC) to guarantee the enterprises’ VietinBank loans. VietinBank and JFC also agreed to expand their information exchanges and supplementary service activities, as well as to introduce potential partners and share clients with each other. Last year, Vietinbank sold a 19.73 percent stake to the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ (BTMU), its Japanese strategic investor. Vietnamese Minister of Transport Dinh La Thang and Indian Minister of Shipping Shri G.K.Vasan served as the agreements signatories. The agreement is designed to expand maritime transport between It will also provide a foundation for both sides to cooperate in shipbuilding and cadre and crew training exercises. The agreement’s 18 articles aim to facilitate the transport of goods and passengers between Minister of Industry and Trade Vu Huy Hoang expressed his hope at a working session with former French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, who visited At the meeting, Hoang acknowledged the efficiency of French-invested projects in He noted two-way trade between Former French PM de Villepin said the government and businesses of Agricultural exports hit US$10.7 billion Agro-forestry and fishery exports fetched nearly US$2.2 billion in May, bringing their total five-month export earnings to US$10.7 billion, down 4.6% from a year ago. In five months, the fishery sector raked in US$2.2 billion from exports, a year-on-year decrease of 5.6%. The Coffee businesses delivered 697,000 tonnes to foreign importers, earning US$1.49 billion, down 23.2% in volume and 21.7% in value. Rubber earnings also fell 26.8% in value to US$759 million from exporting 287,000 tonnes, down 16.3% in volume. To the contrary, tea, pepper, cashew nut and timber products saw impressive export growth. Cashew nut exports increased 9.7% in volume and 0.8% in value to 85,000 tonnes and US$535 million. Businesses earned US$446 million from exporting 68,000 tonnes of pepper in five months, up 13.9% in volume and 9.6% in value. Five-month tea exports hit 48,000 tonnes, earning US$73 million, down 5.6% in volume, but up 1.3% in value. Timber export earnings also rose 10.4% to US$2 billion in the reviewed period. Vietnam invests in largest sugar project in Cambodia The largest complex of sugarcane, ethanol and thermal power plants in Addressing the ceremony, The main investment came from Kamdhenu Ventures Cambodia Limited (KVCL) whtin the framework of a joint venture between The factory, considered as one of the largest foreign-invested projects in Cambodia, has a total investment of around US$90.7 million, including US$25.3 million from KVCL and US$65.4 million from the Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV). Construction work started in late 2010 on an area of 7.635 hectare with latest advances in Japanese and Indian technologies. The sugarcane factory is designed to produce 3,500 tonnes of sugar per day while the ethanol and thermal power plants are expected to produce 30,000 litre of ethanol and 20MW per day respectively. Apart from its economic efficiency, the complex creates thousands of jobs and generates around US$23 million in revenue to contribute to Also on May 26, representatives from the five-star international fertilizer group - one of Exports to The Turkish Statistical Institute reported that Overall, between 2009 and 2012 Deflation deemed not too worrying Although the national economy is not quite out of the woods yet, we are not too worried about deflation, said Deputy Prime Minister Vu Van Ninh. Ninh played down the public’s increasing worries about the deteriorating health of the national economy after the General Statistics Office announced that the consumer price index (CPI) tumbled in May for the third consecutive month. On the sidelines of the National Assembly’s current session, he told the media that the low CPI is mainly the result of falling food and foodstuff prices. Deputy PM Vu Van Ninh is still upbeat about economic recovery in the long run (Photo:VNE) “The industrial production index has already improved, and inventories are no longer as high as before,” Ninh said. “Credit growth has also slowed, but it is still higher than in the same period last year.” He said the government is considering accelerating the VND30 trillion real estate bailout because the public has been complaining that the market is still stagnant. It is also planning to pool more resources to support the economy. The National Assembly’s Economic Committee has proposed loosening the financial and monetary policy to ease difficulties and stimulate economic growth. “Whether we loosen the policies or not should be carefully considered as specific inflation is low, but core inflation remains high,” said Ninh. According to the Deputy PM, “Although the world economy is showing signs of recovery, it has yet to fully ride out the recession. If the recovery is on track, material and fuel prices will eventually go up.” “The government will consider the NA Committee’s proposal to facilitate the national economy’s increased aggregate demand.” Ninh further elaborated on ways to mobilise additional resources for the national economy that will not affect the National Assembly’s set public debt ceiling targets and budget deficit levels. “The government manages its credit policy flexibly. It is fine if we meet this year’s 12% credit growth target and public debt is currently within safe limits.” The Deputy PM, who is also the former Finance Minister, said the government plans to mobilise more resources to help the country weather the storm and it will propose that the legislature ease the debt ceiling slightly. Five-month FDI hits US$8.5 billion Of the total, US$5.091 billion came from 398 newly licensed projects, up 5.8 percent, and US$3.426 billion was worth of additional capital from 160 operational projects, up 14 percent. The processing and manufacturing sector took the lead, attracting US$7.6 billion in newly registered and additional capital from 191 projects, according to the Foreign Investment Agency under the Ministry of Planning and Investment. It was followed by the real estate and wholesale, retails and repair sectors that attracted US$387.7 million and US$147.5 million in combined capital, respectively. The Foreign Investment Agency reported that US$4.58 billion worth of FDI projects has been disbursed, a year-on-year increase of 1.6 percent. FDI businesses are estimated to fetch US$32.741 billion from exports(including crude oil), up 23.3 percent against the same period last year and making up 65.56 percent of the country’s total export turnover. They imported US$28.674 billion worth of commodities, up 25.4 percent and accounting for 55.29 percent of total imports. Property investor seeks partners Pacific Property and Infrastructure Development Joint Stock Company (PPI) is calling for investment into its two property projects in The projects are the riverside complex Pham Duc Tan, chairman of PPI, said land had been cleared for the projects and investment procedures finished, but due to difficulties in the property market and difficulty in assessing capital sources, the firm was incapable of carrying out those projects on its own. Therefore, PPI had called for investors who had financial capabilities and wanted to co-operate with PPI to develop them. Partners can choose suitable cooperation models, but the prior solution is to set up a joint venture, Tan said. Work begins on tourism complex Delta-Valley Binh Thuan Co Ltd has started work on the US$400 million Thung Lung Dai Duong ( The project covers a total area of about 985ha in Tien Thanh commune and will provide entertainment spaces, parks, golf courses, restaurants, hotels, villas and trade complexes. It is expected to create 3,000 jobs when open. Suppliers attend food safety course Thousands of customers and food suppliers are learning about food safety at a mobile demonstration facility set up at Metro Cash&Carry Viet Nam stores in The demo facility will stay for two weeks at each of Metro's stores and then will tour around the country. It is expected that 30,000 customers, employees, suppliers and students will take part in the training from now until 2014. Launched last year, the training sessions are organised by the German Investment and Development Agency, Metro Cash&Carry Viet Nam, and Assist, a non-profit organisation.- Malaysia Airlines is offering package tours for three days and two nights to travellers from Each tour covers a two-way economy class flights, airport tax and transfer and accommodation at Equatorial Hotel and daily breakfast. The airline operates three flights a day to Economy class and business class tickets for its flights from MoU aims to boost energy efficiency The Ministry of Construction signed a memorandum of understanding with the International Finance Corporation yesterday on implementing the Building Energy Efficiency Code of Viet Nam. The ministry issued the code in 2005, aiming to improve energy efficiency in the engineering sector to reduce costs and greenhouse-gas emissions. However, according to Nguyen Cong Thinh from the ministry's Department of Science, Technology and Environment, the code has not been widely implemented due to a lack of both specific instructions and enforcement. Making the comments at the MoU's signing ceremony, Thinh said specific instructions will be published at the end of this year. About 15 per cent of energy consumption per square metre of floor space is expected to be saved by 2017 in new buildings. Thinh said. Authorities plan to have officials from construction departments in 63 localities along with teachers and students from the universities of architecture and construction in Ha Noi and HCM to be provided with more knowledge on energy efficiency. Deputy Minister Phan Thi My Linh said the four-year MoU, which is set to end in June 2017, aims to help Wendy Werner, the IFC's investment climate change advisory services manager for East Asia and the Pacific, said a greater focus on energy efficiency will help building developers reduce operating costs and contribute to low-carbon economic growth. According to Thinh, the engineering sector now accounts for about 36 per cent of national energy consumption. The MoU has been implemented in partnership with the Government of Switzerland. Petrol cuts help reduce CPI in May The consumer price index in May inched down by 0.06 per cent against the previous month, making it the second month this year to show a decline, said the General Statistics Office (GSO). The CPI in the first five months increased 2.35 per cent against December last year and 6.36 per cent against May last year. Director of the GSO's Price Derpartment Nguyen Duc Thang attributed the slight decline to two petrol price cuts late last month. Thanks to the cuts, transport prices declined 0.57 per cent in May. A 0.35 per cent reduction in prices of food and restaurant services also contributed to the index's slide in May, Thang said, adding that product prices even reduced during the country's major holiday seasons in May including International Labour Day and Hung King Death Anniversary. Housing and construction materials also saw a price reduction of 0.53 per cent while post and telecommunication was down 0.07 per cent in the month. In May, except for medicines and health-care services, prices of seven remaining commodities and services used to calculate CPI increased 0.02 per cent to 0.41 per cent. Prices of medicine and health-care services reported the highest rise of 1.58 per cent on the back of fee increase and rising demand due to summer diseases. As May was the second month for a CPI decline this year, some people were concerned it was a signal of a stagnant economy. Though the statitistics office hasn't released the country's GDP growth yet, enterprises said their production and business performance faced difficulties and they had to cut production due to high inventories. Industrial production growth was mainly dependent on foreign invested firms, which created a low added value for the country. Vietnamese firms were facing more difficulties and had to gradually narrow their production. However, experts recommended the Government insist on keeping the macro economy stable. A report from the Institute for Policy and Development said the country's GDP growth mainly depended on capital so that when the investment efficiency was low, it would cause a high credit demand and a high money supply, which were risks for high inflation. The institute warned that, in the short term, targeting to meet both high economic growth and low inflation at any cost, risks falling into a spiral of high inflation and low economic growth. VN eyes trade balance with China Domestic firms have been urged to boost exports to However, it said that only a few Vietnamese enterprises had successfully utilised opportunities to introduce their products and services to Chinese consumers. As well as facilitating exports to According to the deputy general director of the Ministry of Industry and Trade's Asia Pacific Market Department, Dao Ngoc Chuong, these conditions could support the industrial production and export processes. Chuong also encouraged firms to improve the value of Vietnamese exports for which The General Department of Customs said During the period, Since 2000, the structure of Vietnamese goods exported to During the eighth session of the This was an important agreement helping the partners in this sector, especially as Investors see many opportunities in The Lao stock market holds opportunities for Vietnamese investors, with a newly born securities firm and a recent memorandum of understanding between the Lao Stock Exchange and In March, Lao Airlines met with the country's Securities and Exchange Commission Office to formally announce its intention to list. There are currently only two listed stocks in the market: Banque Pour Le Commerce Exterieur Lao (BCEL) and electricity firm EDL-Generation (EDL-Gen). BCEL has fallen around 7 per cent since the beginning of the year, but EDL-Gen has risen 13.8 per cent. Also in March, the Lao stock market welcomed a new securities company, Lao-China Securities Co Ltd. It expects to deliver a variety of services including brokerage and underwriting by July. Another securities company – Lanexang Securities – is a partnership between Sacombank Securities (SBS) and the Lao Development Bank which opened in 2011. On May 10, the Lao Stock Exchange met with the Vietnamese bourses to work on developing securities products and exchange of information. Accordingly, investors in "The system will create more favourable conditions for Viet Nam – the 4th largest foreign investor the Lao stock market in 2012," a representative from the meeting commented. According to data from the Lao Stock Exchange, the current playground is dominated by foreign investors, who accounted for 58.46 per cent of the market last year. However, foreign ownership is capped at 20 per cent in The Lao government is considering increasing the cap following recommendations by its securities companies, but there has been no official decision. The Lao stock market has high growth potential. It rose more than 35 per cent last year, becoming the 8th fastest stock market in the world, data from the Lao Stock Exchange showed. As of yesterday, the LSX Composite Index had grown over 11 per cent since the beginning of this year. Gasoline import tax cut to 18% The Ministry of Finance on Thursday issued circular 70/2013/TT-BTC to adjust the gasoline import tax to 18 per cent from previous 19 per cent. The circular took effect immediately. Goods that are subjected to import tax are: gasoline, tetrapropylen; white spirit, and other solvents such as naphtha, reformate and alpha olefin. This is the first decline of gasoline import tax so far this year.- Bad debt causes bank shares to lose lustre Bank shares are losing their attraction due to low profits caused by increasing bad debt in many lending institutions. Although shares listed remain stable, it is not easy for them to rise in the sluggish market. Finance experts think local banks, especially the big ones, have potential growth. However they also predict that banks profits will be less, making their stocks less attractive. For example, Eximbank is considered one of the top banks with an expected dividend rate of 12 per cent. It plans to have pre-tax profit of VND3,200 billion(US$152.3 million) this year, an increase from VND2,828 billion ($134.6million) in 2012. However, bank chairman Le Hung Dung says the bank is under pressure to complete the above target. He said that if Circular 02/2013/TT-NHNN of the State Bank on bad debt classification and risk management in the banking system is applied this June, his bank's profits will definitely be affected. "In the first four months, Eximbank has only VND500 billion($23.8million) in pre-tax profit, failing to meet its target. If bad debts increase, Eximbank will have to reduce dividends. In the same situation, Sacombank only set its target of VND2.8 trillion($133.3million) this year. Sacombank chairman Pham Huu Phu said the current bad time plus debts made it hard to achieve high returns. Like Eximbank, Sacombank thinks it must spend more on the provisional fund. This year, Sacombank expects to have the dividend of 9-10 per cent. Despite complaining, Eximbank and Sacombank are still doing much better than other small banks whose dividend rate to shareholders were reduced significantly, even much lower than the saving rates of 7.5 per cent per year. Dividends in the Southern Bank in 2012 was 2.1 per cent, in the Mekong Bank 3 per cent and in Nam A Bank more than 3 per cent. Besides bad debts, the current trend of bank restructuring and mergers also directly impacts on shares of small banks, which merge to become stronger. Le Xuan Nghia, former vice chairman of the National Financial Supervisory Commission, said bank restructuring put so much pressure on small banks and the trend would increase in the near future. Nghia also said bank stocks could not gain points at present. TrustBank approved to rename Dai Tin Commercial Joint Stock Bank (TrustBank) on Thursday received approval from the State Bank of Viet Nam (SBV) to change its name to Viet Nam Construction Joint Stock Commercial Bank (Viet Nam Construction Bank). Accordingly, the southern-based bank shall register with the competent State agency; disclose information; amend related articles and clauses in its charter; register amended charter as prescribed. Viet Nam Construction Bank will focus activities on providing unique banking services to corporate clients operating in the fields of manufacturing and trading building materials and constructing social houses.- Travelport hooks up with Gallileo A global provider of transaction processing solutions and data for the tourism industry, Travelport, has signed a new contract with Gallileo. With this 10-year contract the company will continue being the national distributor of the former's technology and services. Gallileo Property price index falls The price index for residential properties fell in Ha Noi and The SPPI, based on Savills Meanwhile, the Ha Noi index was 108.3, a drop of 6.4 per cent points QoQ and 16.7 per cent YoY. The index has decreased for seven consecutive quarters by approximately 22 per cent since its peak of 138.7 in Q2/2011. Licensed software could pay dividends for economic growth A 1 per cent rise in the use of properly licensed software would add US$50 million to The study by Software Alliance (BSA) and INSEAD, one of the world's leading business schools, found that a 1 per cent increase in the use of licensed software would generate an estimated $87 million in national production, compared to $37 million from a similar increase in pirated software. The study, entitled the Economic Impact of Properly Licensed Software, draws on data from 95 economies, including 15 in the Asia Pacific. "Using properly licensed software reduces risk and creates operating efficiencies that go directly to the bottom line for enterprises," said Roland Chan, BSA's marketing director for Asia and the Pacific. Cloud security software helps protects business data Trend Micro, a global leader in cloud security, introduced a Worry-Free Business Security Version 8.0 in Providing fast, effective and simple security, the version 8.0 offers a comprehensive solution to help small- and medium-sized enterprises to protect their data from viruses, threats, and dangerous websites. The new version can be used for all Windows, Mac and Android devices. According to Trend Micro, the solution helps companies manage all of their devices from any location. It is powered by the Trend Micro Smart Protection Network, a worldwide early warning system that blocks threats before they can reach computing devices. "One of the important things is that the solution can block employee access to unwanted websites. It works with Windows 8 and integrates with Microsoft Windows Servers 2012," said Ngo Viet Khoi, director of Trend Micro in Little growth in bank capital, assets during first quarter Assets and capital owned by lending institutions showed little progress in the first quarter, although the data in March improved significantly compared with the previous month. This was reported by financial website cafef.vn, citing sources from the State Bank of In March, the total asset value of all institutions increased nearly VND137 trillion (US$6.5 billion) over February. It was up VND60.8 trillion ($2.9 billion) over the end of last year. Assets of State-owned commercial banks added about VND64.6 trillion ($3.1 billion) in March to reach VND2,200 trillion ($104.8 billion), but this value rose by only VND1.4 trillion ($66.7 million) from last December's figure. Assets of joint stock commercial banks rose sharply in March by VND42.9 trillion ($2 billion), but increased only VND16.4 trillion ($781 million) in the first quarter, reaching about VND2,180 trillion ($103.8 billion) on March 31. Central credit funds and joint-venture banks posted high asset-value growth rates in the quarter at 10 per cent and 7.3 per cent, respectively, but with small market shares, they couldn't help drive up total assets of the whole banking system. Total equities of lending institutions slumped more than VND10.7 trillion ($501 million) in the first quarter, although their combined ownership capital went up VND1.7 trillion ($81 million) in March. Equities of joint stock banks alone dropped by VND10.3 trillion ($490.5 million), making up 96 per cent of the total decline. Only joint-venture banks witnessed ownership capital rise by VND2.4 trillion ($114.3 million) in the quarter. Last year, the return on assets (ROA) ratio of the whole system reached 0.48 per cent and the return on equity (ROE) reached 3.97 per cent. The profitability indicators were 0.76 per cent and 11.37 per cent for State-run banks and 0.22 per cent and 1.36 per cent for joint stock banks, respectively. For financial companies, the indicators declined 0.48 per cent and 3.97 per cent, respectively. Capital city faces tax collection difficulties Capital city authorities are facing a tax shortfall from local businesses, especially in real estate, as the country continues to battle the global economic downturn, according to the Ha Noi Taxation Department. As of May, the city tax department had collected VND1.873 billion (US$89 million) in land use tax, just 61 per cent of the figure from the same period last year. Tax collection from land leases jumped by VND495 billion - an increase of 31.35 per cent over the same period last year - but only accounted for 45 per cent of the total estimated tax collection. Tax collection from non-agricultural land use is estimated to raise VND42 billion, accounting for 17.1 per cent of the total collection. The Ha Noi Taxation Department said it had continued to work closely with relevant agencies in managing State revenues in order to promptly collect arrears. The department predicted that if the real estate market remained sluggish, real estate businesses would not have enough money to pay their taxes. Promotions focus on city's SMEs The capital city plans to launch major promotional activities to stimulate consumer demand for products from small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs). A conference here yesterday was told that the Government would spend VND3 billion (US$140,000), including about VND1.2 billion from its budget, on the promotions. The small businesses operate in the fields of food, beverage, essential goods, fashion, garments and textiles, footwear, household devices, interior decoration, arts and handicrafts, automobile, motorbike, hotel and restaurant services. The conference was told that SMEs faced cumbersome administrative procedures, difficulties in accessing loans, production space shortages and high inventories. Trung Thanh Co general director Phi Ngoc Chung said that most commercial banks were devoted to large enterprises, making it hard for small businesses to access loans. He said that to take advantage of low interest rates, it was still hard for SMEs to meet all bank conditions. Municipal People's Committee vice chairman Nguyen Van Suu said that the capital would send seven teams, including representatives from departments and sectors, to work directly with local enterprises to remove obstacles to business development and foster growth in production. He said attention would be given to improving investment and business climates and creating more favorable conditions for firms. This would include trade promotion programmes to help reduce high inventories. Foreign firms expect benefits from trade pact A proposed trade deal between several Pacific rim countries is expected to benefit foreign businesses based in The news was released at a forum organised by the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) in The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), which is being negotiated, would make it easier to find partners once the tariffs are cut by the members, Josephine Yei, a representative of the Malaysia Business Chamber, said. The admission to the TPP would require Vietnamese authorities to improve the country's legal framework, which would enable Malaysian businesses to gain better protection and access to proper channels for handling trade disputes and arbitration, she added. But Malaysian businesses would still have some concerns since under the trade deal workers would have the right to set up unions and negotiate the provisions of their labour contracts with employers. In a country they find attractive because of the "easy access" to labour, they fear this could make things harder for them in the future, according to Yei. Considering the potential of the TPP, there should be more FDI coming into For instance, his organisation has noticed that some Taiwanese investors in the textile industry plan to enlarge production in "We have noticed some large investors conducting comprehensive feasibility studies for investment in this country. "They are looking at enhanced market access opportunities once tariff elimination or reduction under the TPP is in effect." Antony Nezic, vice president of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, said the TPP offers an opportunity to advance Canadian interests in the Asia-Pacific, which is one of the fastest-growing regions in the world and a key driver of the global economy. It also offers Junn Huyn Soo of the Korea Chamber of Commerce, who is also the chairman of the 500-strong Korean Textile and Garment Association here, said: "The essence of the TPP is to provide a winning strategy for all Pacific nations." The agreement would contribute to Last year the country exported textile and garments worth $15 billion, of which Korean firms accounted for around 30 per cent. Korean textile and garments firms plan to double their investment in The 17th round of TPP negotiations was held in Peruvian capital Lima from May 15 to 24, with negotiators planning to complete work on some chapters and accelerate progress on more challenging issues like intellectual property; competition/State-owned enterprises; environment; market access for goods, services, and investment; and government procurement. Also on the agenda are trade in services, rules of origin, competition, and labour standards. They hope to hammer out solutions to sensitive issues so that after the 18th round in July, everything will be ready for the political decisions that need to be made for a comprehensive agreement that can be signed this year at the October 1-8 APEC Leaders Meeting in Indonesia. The TPP will bring together the US, Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Viet Nam. In April, Japan indicated it wanted to be part of the TPP. New finance minister aims to balance budget Newly-appointed Minister of Finance Dinh Tien Dung has said that finance authorities would continue with tight fiscal policies to stabilise the economy, control inflation and accelerate growth. In what his termed "a major direction" for coming months, he said top priorities were to balance State budget revenues and spending, intensify fiscal discipline and guarantee transparency in policy implementation. "I'll spend most of my time studying measures to handle tax-revenue losses, assuring national financial security, innovating tax and fee policies, and enhancing price-management for essential goods such as petrol, electricity and public services," he said. He said the ministry would continue to help enterprises solve difficulties, assist markets and deal with bad debts. It would also promptly apply revised laws on corporate income and value-added taxes if they were adopted by the National Assembly. In a context that this year's State budget balancing goals were difficult to be achieved — according to a recent Government report before the NA — Dung said major solutions should be solving budget losses, economising expenses, and stimulating production, business development and consumption. He said social welfare and important projects would be given priority while cutting car purchases, meetings and the use of power, water and phones. Former State Audit chief Dinh Tien Dung assumed the ministerial office last Friday. Source: VEF/VNA/VNS/VOV/SGT/SGGP/Dantri/VIR |
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School's out, but kids should still be learning With the summer holidays fast approaching, parents are thinking about how to arrange a productive summer vacation for their kids. Nguyen Bich Ha, a mother in Ha Noi, has been asking friends and searching online for courses to enroll her son on.
"Last summer, we sent him to stay with his grandparents, but after two weeks, they sent him back, saying he was ‘too naughty'. My husband and I had to take turns to take him to our offices, and sometimes we left him at home alone," she says. Afraid that her son will spend too much time watching TV and playing computer games, Ha is determined to send him on a summer course. "I am still anxious. Summer camps are expensive, and if we send him to cheaper alternatives around the city, transport could be a problem." Hoang Thi Mai, a mother of two boys, says she dares not let them stay at home, afraid that they will be naughty and have an accident. This summer, she plans to send them to study chess, swimming and football, along with academic subjects at their teacher's house. "My children's timetable is full. The holidays can be stressful for parents and expensive, but it's something that we have to deal with," she says. Deciding whether to send children to extra classes during the holidays causes a headache for parents each summer. Psychologist Pham Duc Chuan from the Ha Noi-based Children Psychology Research Centre says parents cannot force their children to learn subjects they are not interested in during their time off. "To select summer activities for children so that they have a productive holiday, parents should look at several criteria such as their family's conditions and circumstances, their own wishes for what they hope their children to achieve, and most importantly, the children's needs and abilities," he says. According to Chuan, even for families who cannot afford to send their kids to summer camps, it is still possible for them to have a constructive summer at home. "In this case, parents need to work out a schedule with learning-games that their children will find interesting. You should start with small things that are easy to make but have educational significance. For example, parents can purchase magnifying glasses, magnets and measuring instruments for children to study science with. "You can give your children a small piece of land or a box, and teach them how to hoe the soil, sow seeds and nurture young saplings. This game helps children observe the process of how plants grow. They can even harvest them and enjoy the fruits of their labour." Many parents with children aged from 11 to 15 years old choose to send them to military boot camps where they can learn about social values and family sentiment. Pham My Hanh, who decided to send her son to one such camp this year, says they provide a valuable lesson. "In many families nowadays, parents are too busy to care for their children full time, so the kids have a distorted view of family life. Some children from wealthy families are spoilt, and have no respect for money. "I believe that my son and his friends will become more mature and learn how to care for themselves and help their parents with housework." Parents have many different choices of what to do with their children over the summer. In this era of international interaction, I believe the best choice is learning a foreign language. According to many parents, their first choice this summer will be to help their children to improve their English skills. Minh Anh, the mother of a pupil at Language Link English centre, says: "My son's teacher, after observing and talking with him in class, recognised that my son loves animals, and directed me to a pretty cool app on my smart phone that has talking animals to help my son learn English. He loves it and enjoys learning English because he is excited by the images and sounds that the animals make." According to the parents of Vu Hong Anh, winner of the first prize at the English Olympiad competition for primary schools last year, saw that she was naturally inquisitive so they sent her to a centre to learn drama and English. She quickly developed a passion for her new tongue, and has been happy expanding her vocabulary by herself ever since. Although parents have many different choices for their children, it is important to find a balance between study and play so their childhoods are not lost, and by doing so, I believe that everyone can reap the rewards. Source: VNS |
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Tuoitrenews  A scene of the seminar held in HCMC on May 28, 2013 between French Consul General to Ho Chi Minh City Fabrice Mauries said that France wishes to provide Vietnam with advanced technical expertise necessary for the country’s urban railway development, especially in The French diplomat made the statement on May 28, at a seminar held in HCMC with leading Vietnamese and French experts in rail transport and urban planning. The seminar, which was held by the French Embassy in The event is a fine illustration of the bilateral partnership between Developing urban railway systems is an important area in the partnership, which is manifested by the construction of a pilot route in Given that The seminar’s attendants also discussed related issues such as the creation of future railway lines, ticket systems, public transport infrastructure planning, and the control of risks, safety and working conditions. The seminar created a good opportunity for the Vietnamese side to update information on its urban railway and planning, Hoang Nhu Cuong, Vice Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Urban Railway Management Unit, said. The event also offered chances to French companies and other international firms to explore opportunities of investment in railway building projects in |
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Warburg Pincus-led group places $200 mln bet on
A consortium led by The unit, Vincom Retail, is Hanoi-based Vincom shares ended the morning session down 2.24 percent on the benchmark VN index in Vincom's assets include high-end malls Vincom Center B in The deal is Warburg's first investment in Warburg, which manages over $40 billion in assets and has been investing in Asia since 1994, said the investment in Vincom Retail should benefit from the country's "favorable long-term economic outlook," rapid urbanization and growing middle class. Warburg has the right to participate in future capital raisings by Vingroup for up to $25 million, while the consortium has the right to invest an additional $100 million in Vincom Retail for expansion and future retail property-related deals. Vincom has two further projects due to launch this year, Vingroup is Citigroup Inc was hired as the sole financial advisor to Vingroup, while Credit Suisse Group was sole financial advisor to Warburg Pincus. Reuters |
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BUSINESS IN BRIEF 30/5 Market rallies as VAMC moves ahead The market was buoyed by general confidence and the information that the national asset management corporation (VAMC) would be officially operational in July with shares showing robust growth on both stock exchanges last week. The benchmark VN-Index on the HCM City Stock Exchange gained a cumulative 2.6 per cent during the week, finishing Friday at 500.24 points, while the HNX-Index on the Ha Noi Stock Exchange climbed 3.6 per cent to a close on 62.61 points on Friday. Selling pressure increased towards the end of the week as many investors sought quick profits but strong market confidence helped absorb those shares. The trading volume on the southern bourse increased over 60 per cent over the previous week, averaging 69.3 million shares worth nearly VND1.16 trillion (US$55.2 million) per session. On the northern market, the volume of trades jumped 82.5 per cent compared with the previous week, totalling 49 million shares worth almost VND409 billion ($19.5 million) per day. Increased liquidity along with both indices surpassing their short-term technical barriers was consolidating investor confidence that cash flows were returning to the market. However, many analysts warned that the current rally would not be as strong as expected. According to Nguyen Tuan, head of the FLC Securities Co's analysis department, the market rises last week were supported by the information of the VAMC establishment in July but, because all the terms related to its operation had already been discussed and reflected in previous uptrends, this information would not affect the market as strongly as might otherwise have been expected. "The market shows signals of short-term profit taking but not in a massive way. The foundation of the current rally is quite good so the price rises will not likely stop in the near future, but accompanied with several declining sessions," Tuan said. Nguyen The Minh, an analysis of Viet Capital Securities Co, said: "The market tends to rise in a narrow band. The VN-Index could reach its next short-term support level of 520 points and the HNX-Index 65 points. However, the market may experience a few corrections to test demand at new support levels." Minh said exchange-traded funds would restructure their porfolios in July and the increases or decreases in the number of shares in their investment baskets would affect the market. Foreign sectors continued to conclude last week as net buyers on the two markets but their buys fell sharply compared with previous weeks. According to many analysts, foreign investors also increased their sales to realise cash profits as they were net sellers in the last two sessions. They were responsible for a net buy of just VND8.3 billion ($395,000) worth of shares on the They also picked a net buy of VND20.7 billion ($986,000) worth of shares on the Ha Noi Market, favouring speculative stocks like NET Detergent (NET), PetroVietnam Drilling Mud (PVC) and Sai Gon-Ha Noi Bank (SHB). Yen devaluation troubles exporters The Japanese yen has dropped by nearly 20 per cent over the Vietnamese dong in the last six months, leaving exporters worried about further losses if the currency continues to be devalued. Cao Van Sang, general director of Sai Gon Plastics JSC, who exports plastic parts used in airport trolleys, said his company had agreed to reduce payments on contracts by 0.02 per cent, with the condition that payments be made in US dollar. Previously, Japanese customers had wanted his company to receive payments for contracts in either yen or dong, he said. Six months ago, the exchange rate fell from VND246.05 to VND205.34 on May 21, a fall of VND40.71 per yen. The yen's devaluation has also affected Vietnamese exporters of farm produce. Nguyen Pham Thanh, general director of Highland Dragon Co, which is based in Song Than IP No 1 in southern "The price of imported goods in general, and tuna products in particular, rose sharply in the past several months. This caused Japanese importers to re-consider signed import contracts," Thanh was quoted by Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper as saying. Nguyen Van Kich, general director of the Hau Giang-based seafood joint-stock company Cafatex, said that Japanese buyers of Cafatex's shrimp were facing difficulties because selling prices had risen because of the yen devaluation. "The price of imported shrimp from To avoid risks if the yen becomes stronger against other currencies, Japanese importers and distributors have changed their mode of purchasing from long-term contracts for large volumes of shrimp to smaller volumes after selling their stockpiles. Nguyen Trung Dung, commercial counsellor at the Vietnamese Embassy in According to the Trade Affairs Department in the Vietnamese Embassy in Major increases in Footwear exports rose to $121 million from $103 million in the first four months of 2012. Garment exports to The department also reported a slump of $268 million in crude oil, $15 million in coal sales, and a 4.8 per cent drop in seafood exports from Rice buy mapped out The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) plans to buy 1 million tonnes of rice for reserve beginning June 15 over a two-month period. The aim is to stabilise paddy/rice prices and to prevent a sharp drop in prices at harvest, which could lead to losses for farmers in the next summer-autumn crop. According to MARD's figures, the southern region is expected to harvest more than 9.3 million tonnes of paddy, or more than 4.65 million tonnes of rice, in the coming summer-autumn crop that ends in late August. Of that amount, at least 3.1 million tonnes of rice will be for sale, and the rest kept in reserve for national security and for future export. From June until the end of the year, the country will keep 5.6 million tonnes of rice in reserve, including 3.75 million tonnes of summer-autumn and autumn-winter crops for export, according to Nguyen Ngoc Thua, head of MARD's Production Department for Agriculture-Forestry-Seafood Processing-Salt. Thua announced the figures at a meeting held by the ministry in the Cuu Long ( A representative of the Ca Mau Department of Agriculture and Rural Development said the planned reserve purchase period, from June 15 to August 15, is not suitable for Bac Lieu and Ca Mau provinces, as the summer-autumn crop falls in mid-September. Truong Thanh Phong, chairman of the Viet Nam Food Association, said that many provinces in the Cuu Long ( "The world market right now has a large volume of rice in surplus, which has forced If the world market becomes more favourable for Vietnamese rice in June and July, the volume of rice for reserve purchase should be lower, said Phong. A lack of proper facilities also hinders food companies from making plans to buy rice for reserve, he added. To help farmers sell all the paddy harvested in the summer-autumn crop, delegates at the meeting asked MARD to increase the amount to 1.5 million tonnes and extend the time for purchasing since harvest times vary in different localities. City plans restructuring The volume of growth in Under the plan, high-tech products and services would account for 40 per cent of the city's GDP by 2015. With major markets in the Sai Gon Hi-Tech Park said it would target total exports of $10 billion by 2015. Also, by that time, products made in high-tech parks would have 25 per cent of locally-made parts, and 40 per cent by 2020. Since 2011, the city has been promoting its high-tech sector, particularly its support industry. More locally made parts can help meet the demand of major manufacturers like Intel and Nidec, it said. The city has also scaled up projects to make more electronic and IT products at Sai Gon Hi-Tech Park, According to the city's Department of Industry and Trade, the IT sector had 63 per cent growth last year, with total turnover of VND86 trillion (US$4.1 billion), including VND78 billion in hardware and VND8 trillion in software. The Sai Gon Hi-Tech Park's export turnover rose from $1 billion in 2011 to $2.1 billion last year, while Quang Trung Software Park attained local revenue of VND1.03 trillion ($49 million) and export turnover of $50.7 million. During a meeting with a National Assembly delegation in April, the Department of Industry and Trade said exports of high-tech products from This was triple the previous year's figure and accounted for 11.4 per cent of last year's total exports in In the first four months of this year, the city's exports of hi-tech products rose to $654.8 million, an increase of 53.8 per cent compared with the same period last year. Exports of electronics and components from Major importers of Resource shortages cause public concern Meeting future energy needs is an important issue facing seven out of 10 people in Other issues of concern were employment and cost of living, the survey showed. By 2030, it is estimated that the world will need 40 – 50 per cent more energy, water and food to keep up with rising demand, according to the United Nations and Shell scenarios. This could place significant stress on these vital resources. Many Vietnamese are increasingly aware of these issues and the role they can play in addressing it. For eight out of 10 Vietnamese surveyed, water, food and energy shortages, as well as higher energy prices, were seen as having the greatest impact on "Growing concerns about the world's vital energy, water and food resources, and the impact of climate change, have driven many Vietnamese to think about the future of energy more seriously," said Nguyen Anh Tuyet, Shell Viet Nam country chair. "To meet growing needs, the world will have to mobilise all forms of energy over the coming decades," Tuyet said. "But the challenge of ensuring sufficient supplies of energy, water and food is magnified by the linkages between them. These challenges will need to be addressed intelligently and in unison." The "Future Energy Survey" showed that Vietnamese most favoured a mix of sources to help meet future energy demand. Most preferred solar energy (72 per cent) as the country's energy source, followed by hydro energy (58 per cent) and wind power (47 per cent). Using bio-fuels was also viewed as being better for the environment and a means to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, which was considered very important to a majority of the Vietnamese community. The survey also revealed that nearly two-thirds of Vietnamese believe the general public has a role to play in creating a better energy future. Many Vietnamese are already taking individual steps, such as using less energy (78 per cent) and using energy-saving products (74 per cent). However, they view collaboration as the key to building future energy solutions, with government playing the most significant role. Firms plan to hire more people in the coming year Enterprises nation-wide plan to enlarge their staff this year by up to 68 per cent over 2012, according to a report by recruitment website vietnamworks.com. The website's first online employment report for 2013 is based on an annual survey of its customers. In comparing 2013's first quarter to that of 2012, the company reported stability in the total number of job postings that it received. "While this stability in total jobs may sound a little unexciting, we regard it as a great base for the rest of the year," said Carlton Pringle, Chief Executive Officer of VietnamWorks. "2012 kicked off in a period of high inflation and general growth, and high wage inflation had more people moving jobs and so on, so our Q1 numbers reflected that 2013 commenced with the hangover of late-2012, and general economic malaise, so to return an almost identical quarter YOY is quite a solid foundation for a strong 2013. "Further – and most encouragingly – we saw our best week in history at the end of February 2013, followed by a strong month in March with YOY 9 per cent growth in terms of job postings." Other important findings show Ha Noi as the best city in the country to find a job at present, ahead of The best industries for young job seekers remain IT, notably software development in Da Nang, where job growth in this industry has tripled; electronics (up 28 per cent); consulting (up 32 per cent); textile and foot-wear (up 38 per cent); pharmaceuticals and bio-tech (up 66 per cent); and retail and wholesale (up 105 per cent). These industries have proved themselves recession-proof with all of them recording listing growth. Various administrative/clerical sectors, marketing, and architecture/interior design have not fared as well, with declines of 38, 31 and 23 per cent, respectively. Tax cuts boost small-car sales Car manufacturers in The trend follows a draft plan to develop the According to the Viet Nam Economic Forum, automobile makers have said if the draft plan is approved long-term, they will strongly invest in manufacturing. General Motors Viet Nam is one of the manufacturers who stand to benefit. It recently introduced the new, automatic, one-litre Chevrolet Spark for VND377 million (US$18,000). Huyndai Thanh Cong is offering Elantra models from VND699 million to VND756 million (from $33,300 to $36,000). Honda Viet Nam in The director of Hyundai Thanh Cong, Le Ngoc Duc, said policies for the industry were so changeable that his company did not dare to maintain investment in manufacture. Duc said if the Government's coming policies were preferential and stable for domestic manufacture, his company would boost assembling in Director of General Motors Viet Nam Gaurav Gupta said the recent cut in ownership registration fee from 20 per cent to 10-15 per cent of a car's value had improved the market further and raised makers' turnover. "We are waiting for a renovation in According to the director of Vinaxuki, Bui Ngoc Huyen, if the special consumption tax rate and ownership registration fee were cut for small cars, buyers would save from US$5,000 to $7,000 for each unit they purchase. "This would bring prices down. It's really good news, not only for those who dream of possessing cars, but also to automobile makers, who hope to boost sales," said Huyen. "We wish the new policies are issued as soon as possible." "Competitiveness remains hottest for roles in administration and accounting and import/export roles, where we typically see the highest numbers of applications per job and the most job seekers specifying those industries as desired employers," said Pringle. Businesses want more guidance from tax office Nearly 70 per cent of business leaders in This is revealed in a quarterly report released last Friday by consultant Grant Thornton International in a survey of 3,000 businesses in 44 countries, which was conducted in January and February. The report added that two-thirds of world businesses would like more tax guidance from tax authorities on what was acceptable and unacceptable tax planning, even if this provided less opportunity to reduce tax liabilities across borders. Seventy five per cent of eurozone businesses were keen for more guidance compared to just 54 per cent in Francesca Lagerberg, global tax leader at Grant Thornton, said: "Reducing liabilities across borders can offer significant tax savings, so it is interesting to see how open business leaders are to improving guidance and global co-operation. Business leaders are also critical of what the tax regimes in their economies are set up to achieve. Just 31 per cent globally said their local tax laws and policies were geared to stimulate economic growth. Senior executives in Southern Europe (11 per cent) and However, in Moreover, 49 per cent of business leaders believed their current tax regime did not bring enough economic participants into the tax base, although there was a large divergence of opinion between G7 businesses (63 per cent) and their BRIC peers (17 per cent). A further, 41 per cent of businesses do not believe their tax regimes are sufficiently redistributive, led by those in These figures are in contrast to Lagerberg, added: "Tax is a cost to businesses in its simplest form so it is perhaps unsurprising to see few associate it with economic growth. Moreover, many mature economies around the world are undergoing severe fiscal retrenchment and business leaders are seeing taxes rise even as growth remains flat. Industrial production rallies The industrial production index (IIP) increased 6.7 per cent year-on-year in May, placing total growth for the first five months at 5.2 per cent. This represented an improvement over the first quarter, but still dragged behind last year's growth, according to the General Statistics Office. Still, the office's economic specialist Vu Quang Ha said that the move showed industrial production was rallying after its recent slump. Manufacturing and processing, which accounted for over 70 per cent of all industrial production, expanded 5.5 per cent in the first five months. But last year, they grew 6.3 per cent. Some products in these areas saw significant growth, such as casted metals (up 15.3 per cent), leather (up 14.7 per cent), paper and paper products (up 12.7 per cent) and beverages (up 11.8 per cent). But several major products did not grow and some even declined. Textile fabric rose only 5.5 per cent, crude oil increased a scant 3.3 per cent and raw iron and steel were down 7 per cent. The consumption index increased 5.7 per cent year-on-year as of May, while the inventory index, though gradually declining, remained high at 12.3 per cent. The inventory index went up significantly for many major products, such as computers and electronics and optical goods (up 46.8 per cent), electric devices (up 26.3 per cent) and furniture (up 32.2 per cent). According to statistics office experts, the index was not showing signs of easing, with inventories of produced goods at 74 per cent in April and nearly 77 per cent in the first four months. The secure level is regarded as 65 per cent. Lacoste studies business conditions in Quang Nam A delegation from the French Lacoste group has made a fact finding tour of the Phuoc Ky Nam Joint Stock Company in the central province of Quang Nam as part of a plan to seek investment opportunities here, according to the Quang Nam Newspaper Online. During their trip last week, Global President of Lacoste Footwear Andy Simister and his entourage also held a working session with local administration officials. Quang The delegation made positive assessments about the investment conditions of Quang Earlier the French group also sent delegations to the province to study the possibility of opening a processing facility. Vietnamese and Italian timber businesses launched a connectivity programme in The programme, initiated by the Handicraft and Wood Industry Association of Ho Chi Minh City (HAWA), the Chamber of Commerce of Italy’s HAWA President Nguyen Chien Thang said the wood processing industry in To meet the increasing demand of the export market, HAWA is making great efforts to seek potential partners through trade and investment promotion programs. The Vietnam-Italy business links program is one of the activities to help HAWA meet its goal. Italian Ambassador to Vietnam Lorenzo Angeloni said Promotion agencies should create the best possible conditions for businesses to expand their relationships and penetrate international markets, Lorenzo said. The Italian businesses joining the program seek to gain a better understanding about During their stay in Seminar highlights consumer rights The Vietnam Standard and Consumer Association organised a seminar in Representatives from the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Vietnam Standard and Consumer Association and businesses agreed that the first and foremost responsibility of enterprises is to ensure the quality of goods. The association was asked to improve its role in connecting enterprises and consumers. Last year, it successfully addressed 83 percent of the 961 complaints, which mainly focused on restaurant services, e-commerce and property sectors, cosmetic and pharmaceutical products. Representatives suggested enterprises boost their connections with retailers and associations across the country to protect both their own and consumers’ rights. E-commerce sales to reach US$1.3 bn by 2015 Total earnings of local e-commerce deals in 2012 were estimated at US$700 million, while 47 e-commerce exchange centres registered with VECITA generated US$354 million in sales. Meanwhile, the proportion of non-cash payment was reduced to 11.8 percent in 2012. In specific, bank card payment accounted for only 0.2 percent of the total value of non-cash payment during the same period. As of June 2012, there were 47.2 million bank cards released locally. Major Cambodia complex backed by VN investment The largest complex of sugarcane, ethanol and thermal power plants in The main investment has come from Kamdhenu Ventures Cambodia Limited (KVCL), a joint undertaking between According to the KVCL, the US$90.7 million plant is one of the biggest foreign investment project in Located in northeastern The factories can produce 3,500 tonnes of sugarcane and 30,000 litres of ethanol per day. The thermal power factory will produce 20MW per day. According to the investor, as well as providing economic benefits, the plant will significantly contribute to social security, employment opportunities and income for local people. More than 500 plant labourers and thousands of workers in the community will benefit, making annual an revenue of about $23 million, contributing to the economic development of On the same day, Vietnamese Five Stars Group signed a co-operation contract to provide fertiliser to grow the sugar cane in the plant. Addressing the ceremony, Agriculture export earnings take tumble The decrease was due to difficulties in both markets and prices, which affected major agricultural and fishery products, according to MARD. Meanwhile, the country's agricultural import turnover rose 4.9 per cent against last year, pulling the trade surplus of the industry down to $3.7 billion. In the Jan-May period, the country shipped abroad 2.86 million tonnes of rice, bringing home $1.26 billion, representing decreases of 3 per cent in volume and 8 per cent in value year-on-year. Coffee businesses delivered 697,000 tonnes to foreign importers, down over 23 per cent year-on-year, for an earning of $1.49 billion, a drop of nearly 22 per cent. Tea export also saw a 5.6 per cent decrease in volume, with 48,000 tonnes shipped abroad, but enjoyed a 1.3 per cent rise in value to $73 million thanks to higher price. Among agricultural products, cashew and pepper recorded the most impressive growth in both volume and value. The five-month pepper export volume rose 13.9 per cent to 68,000 tonnes, earning $446 million, up 9.6 per cent. At the same time, the country earned $2 billion from exporting wood and wooden products, a surge of 10.4 per cent. Except for In the contrary, seafood export saw a 5.6 per cent decrease in the first five months of 2013, with $2.2 billion. The In face of the situation, MARD has directed businesses to further improve their product quality, while expanding to new markets to further step up exports of key agro-forestry and fishery products. Lending jumps 2.3 per cent Total lending of the whole banking system on May 22 increased about 2.3 per cent over the end of last year, the State Bank announced yesterday. Dong loans were up 4.6 per cent while foreign currency lending declined 8.1 per cent. There was a high possibility that general credit growth would reach 2.5-3 per cent at the end of this month, which would be a good sign after lending declined 1.7 per cent in the first four months, the central bank said. Mobilising interest rates for the dong at many credit institutions now hover around 5-7.5 per cent for terms of less than 12 months and 8-10 per cent for terms of 12 months or more. Enterprises that could prove their financial situation was healthy and their production and business plans were effective could manage bank loans with an interest rate of 7-8 per cent, according to the bank. Disposable capital in dong of lending institutions met compulsory reserve requirements. Woodworkers strive for joint ventures with Italian firms The plan, developed by the Handicraft and Wood Industry Association of HCM City, has been funded by the Italian Government. It is now being executed by the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation and It is aimed at improving the competitiveness of Vietnamese firms through extensive technical assistance programmes to address their main weaknesses like design capacity, marketing, and innovation. It also seeks to promote partnerships between Vietnamese and Italian firms and business groups, heard a conference titled "Industrial Cluster Enterprises Partnership" to promote the partnerships in Nguyen Chien Thang, Hawa chairman, said Vietnamese firms had the opportunity to acquire technology and managerial expertise from their Italian counterparts through seminars and training courses organised in the project's first phase. "The second phase will strengthen technical support to enable more Vietnamese companies to benefit from Italian expertise in several areas," he said. But, like in Linking up with Vietnamese SMEs, whose strengths are low costs, easy access to Asian markets, Italian firms would enable the two sides to become very competitive in the global market, he said. But such co-operation remains rare, he said, hoping it would improve and they would establish joint ventures to produce wooden products in Attending the conference was a delegation of Italian business executives from the woodworking industry that visited Michele D'Ercole, chairman of the Italian Chamber of Commerce in Thang said Viet Nam can increase wooden products exports to tens of billions of dollars — from US$4.6 billion last year — if the Government and enterprises sit together to come up with a development road map. Exports in the first five months of the year were worth $2 billion, a year-on-year increase of 10.4 per cent, according to the General Statistics Office. Thang said demand for wooden furniture in the Business booming as start-ups soar The number of enterprises established in the first five months of this year increased 4.8 per cent to reach 31,009, according to the Department of Business Registration Management. Bui Anh Tuan, the department's Deputy Director, said that for the first time, this number was up from the previous year. In the three-month and four-month periods, the numbers were 14 per cent and 1.2 per cent lower than 2012. Sectors which experienced high increasing rates saw fewer enterprises founded, such as financial, banking and insurance (down 6.8 per cent), construction (down 7.1 per cent) and real estate business (down 14.3 per cent). Fewer enterprises were dissolved in May, with only 570, a reduction of 27.1 per cent over last month. About 3,020 enterprises halted operations, 15.4 per cent and 13.5 per cent lower than last month and last year. These figures show that while the business climate is improving, difficulties continue for enterprises. Tuan pointed out that the number of enterprises that temporarily halted construction in the five-month period still experienced a 13 per cent increase. However, this was still good news, as it indicated a steady decline from the 26.1 per cent increase of the three-month period and 16.9 per cent increase of the four-month period. Coal export tax will be raised to 13 per cent The Ministry of Finance late last week issued Circular 71/2013/TT-BTC amending the export tax on coal (Code 27.01 and Code 27.04) in the export tax list. Under the circular, export tax on fossil coal, briquette, ovoid coal and solid material made from fossil coal, coke coal and half-coke coal refined from fossil coal, lignite or peat will be raised to 13 per cent from the current rate of 10 per cent. The new export tax rate will be applied as of July 7 this year. Data from Tax Office in Domestic incomings, excluding from crude oil and land use tax, touched VND42.38 trillion, accounting for 31.8 percent of the target, and 80.3 percent of that in the same period last year. As for incomings from the real estate market, the tax collectors have just collected around VND1.87 trillion of land use tax, accounting for 15.7 percent of the target and 61 percent of that in 2012. As for incomings from land lease, collection is VND495 billion, up 31.35 percent year-on-year, but merely 45 percent of the target. Tax collectors forecast that with such stagnation in the property market, real estate companies will have no revenue to pay tax, which will seriously affect the national budget of the City. Small scale livestock breeding under threat According to a survey by the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development in the southern Better breeding chicken and livestock methodologies and advanced technology has helped FDI companies lower their cost price. When pork price falls to as low as VND38,000 a kilogram, FDI businesses still profit while breeding farms lose VND2,200 a kilogram and households around VND5,000 a kilogram. A kilogram of white industrial chicken fetches only VND14,000, causing a loss of VND8,000 to FDI companies, but for breeding farms it is upto VND17,000. Officials from the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development in Binh Dinh Province said that blue ear disease and bird flu occur annually, resulting in both price fall and reduction in scale of breeding each successive year. The number of small scale farms is still high, providing 65-70 percent of total output. Since 2003, diseases have mainly occurred in small scale farms run by households while large scale farms have been able to protect their chicken and livestock with advanced methods. Nguyen Xuan Duong, deputy head of the Livestock Department under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, said that pig and chicken breeding has dropped by 2-2.5 percent over the same period last year and by 3-4 percent for buffaloes and cows. Nguyen Van Bac, deputy head of the Dr. Bac has proposed to group households in cooperatives that authorized organs will organize training courses to provide them with breeding knowledge and measures to prevent diseases. They will also help breeders apply advanced technologies to reduce cost price. 16 more state-owned enterprises re-organised In the first five months of 2013, 16 more state-own enterprises (SOEs) have been re-organised under a project to re-arrange and renovate SOEs for the 2011-2015 period. This was announced at a meeting held by the Steering Committee on Corporate Renovation and Development in Hanoi on May 27. Among the 16 SOEs, 10 businesses were equitised, 5 others were merged and one new business was established. Last year, 22 SOEs were rearranged under the project. By April 2013, the Prime Minister has approved 99 out of 101 projects on SOEs rearrangement and renovation submitted by ministries and branches, localities and businesses, the committee said in a report presented at the meeting. By May 20, the Prime Minister has also adopted 17 out of 21 reform projects submitted by State-owned groups and corporations, including Vietnam National Textile Garment Group, Vietnam National Oil and Gas Group, Vietnam Electricity Group, Vietnam Rubber Group, and Vietnam Airlines Corporation, among others. Addressing the gathering, Deputy Prime Minister Vu Van Ninh, who is the head of the committee, noted that the building of mechanisms and policies on re-organising SOES is lagging behind schedule. He also urged those SOES that already have their re-arrangement plans approved by the Prime Minister, to speed up the work. Source: VEF/VNA/VNS/VOV/SGT/SGGP/Dantri/VIR |
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Article 11
 The scene outside the nuclear reactor in Da Lat. International commitments Regarding of weapons of mass destruction, the first types that need to be mentioned is nuclear bomb (A-bomb) or hydrogen bomb (H-bomb). A non-governmental organization internationally known called "The Nuclear Threat Initiative” ( NIT) has confirmed: "Vietnam does not own nuclear, biological or chemical weapons or the programs to develop such weapons and is a party to most of the non-proliferation treaty and related agreements...." In fact, in June 1982, In 1996, However, NTI also pointed out remaining issues, such as It is clear that, with the willing and voluntary binding with the aforementioned international commitments, Enforcement in action Not only making a declaration, Although, according to NTI, the declassification of preserved documents shows: "The United States considered the possibility of using nuclear weapons against North Vietnam in the last half of the Vietnam War (1954-1975 - writer's note). "In that circumstance, assuming that their "rival" at that time have "childish" intention or behavior is also understandable. At present, The nuclear reactor in Da Lat is research reactor type, with temperature power of 500 Kilowatt or 0.5 Megawatt. There are 160 research reactors worldwide, including the highest number of 62 reactors in The function of such type of research reactor like the one in Da Lat is mainly used to study nuclear physics and civilian applications such as the production of radioactive substances, analysis of geological samples, etc... This reactor is recovered from the old reactor left by the In principle, the research reactors like the one in Da Lat can be used to produce two types of fuel: 239 Plutonium isotopes (Pu239) and Uranium 235 (U235), which are the "dynamite" of nuclear bomb. This doubt has been raised recently for a similar reactor at the Yongbyon Nuclear Center of North Korea. But with the reactor in Da Lat, there is nothing to doubt about the seriousness of the international law of First of all, regarding Pu239, since the Da Lat nuclear reactor has very little power, it can create less than one hundred grams of Pu239 per year so it will take a very long time (60 years) to have enough the minimum "explosive" (about 6 kg or 6,000 grams of Pu239) to manufacture one nuclear bomb. In fact, IAEA inspectors have periodically inspected the Da Lat reactor and they have not found any thing. For U235, the reactor in Da Lat, from 1983 to 2007, used fuel containing high enriched uranium (HEU) with 36 percent concentration. With such a high enriched fuel, if the host country wants, it can further enrich to achieve 90 percent level to meet the standard for nuclear bomb. Therefore, the reduction of the fuel rods to low enriched (LEU) with the concentration of below 20 percent has been recommended, not only in Da Lat but all other reactors in the world. In addition, With the above actions, Tran Minh |
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Article 10
NA deputies continue to debate amendments to
HA NOI (VNS)- A majority of the NA deputies agreed with the amendments to Clause 2 under Article 170 of the 2005 The clause prescribes that foreign invested firms operating under the Foreign Investment Law in Those who decide not to renew their registration will have their business operations limited to the activities specified in their investment licences. The amendments also provide a legal framework for those who failed to re-register to broaden their activities in Some suggested that the re-registration deadline in Article 2 be removed so that businesses could register at their convenience. According to deputy Do Van Ve, if this law was not amended, FDI enterprises would face many difficulties, such as not being able to expand into other areas of business. This amendment, he said, would help businesses to expand and diversify. Deputy Cao Sy Kiem said that while many enterprises did not observe the law, FDI businesses had made great contributions to the growth of the country's economy overall. For instance, he added, in the last two years, the FDI sector had significantly helped export growth. "Therefore, we had to make full use of contributions from the FDI sector," he said. The deputy added that the amendment should classify what kind of businesses needed to change or expand. In addition, Deputy Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan agreed, saying that Article 170 should be revised without waiting for amendments to the 2005 Enterprises Law. If the registration deadline for FDI enterprises was removed, FDI businesses would not have to come back home and could continue their investment in The Enterprise Law was passed by the National Assembly on November 29, 2005 and came into effect from July 1, 2006. July 1, 2011 was the deadline for re-registration. Among 6,000 FDI enterprises, 2,916 businesses had re-registered, while 3,000 businesses were yet to re-register under Clause 2. These businesses have total registered capital of US$18.5 billion and employ 446,000 people. In the afternoon, the NA deputies continued to discuss draft amendments to the Value Added Tax Law (VAT). Most deputies agreed that these were needed in order to improve the existing law and ensure the consistency and uniformity of the legal system. Deputy Tran Van Huynh said VAT for social housing sale and lease would be cut in half in a move to solve problems for the real estate market and assist those who need housing, while also stimulating demand and reducing property inventories. However, many deputies worried that big apartments would be split into smaller 70 sq.m flats, negatively impacting urban planning, design, architecture, population density and traffic. The draft bill also prescribes a turnover-based threshold for VAT under the credit method. The threshold will likely be about VND1 billion ($47,620). All businesses with turnover above this threshold must pay VAT under the credit method. Deputy Tran Van Huynh asked the NA to lower the threshold for VAT registration because the number of businesses subject to this threshold was huge, yet there had not been any progress in the management of VAT. Deputy Do Van Ve said all businesses were now applying the credit method. However, each business had a different financial capacity and a different level of professionalism. Very small enterprises always faced difficulties in applying this credit method, meaning tax declaration procedures were more expensive for them to follow. Ve asked the NA to simplify the procedure for these smaller enterprises. Deputy Nguyen Thanh Hai said one of the aims of the tax reform strategy between 2011-2020 was to reduce the number of non-taxable items, currently an "unreasonable" 25. Modernising firefighting The Government should invest more in modernising firefighting and prevention facilities and improving human resources, especially in nuclear power plants and areas at risk of forest fire, they said. Deputy Le Thi Nguyet from northern Deputy Le Quoc Binh from Ha Noi said that the law should include fire prevention regulations for organisations and individuals, as well as apartments and other high buildings. Deputy Tran Thanh Hai from Yesterday, deputies also heard the Government's statement on the plant protection and quarantine bill. - VNS |
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Article 9
Sestak approves visas for associates of co-conspirators Tuoitrenews  Michael T. Sestakformer head of the non-immigrant visa department of the As head of the non-immigrant visa section of the US Consulate General in Ho Chi Minh City last year, Michael T. Sestak approved visas for many applicants associated with his co-conspirators, according to US investigators. Sestak, who held the position from August 2010 to September 2012, has recently been arrested for allegedly receiving nearly US$4 million in bribes from Vietnamese people seeking visas. As previously reported, Sestak had five conspirators in the scam, including Co-conspirator 1, a U.S. national; Co-conspirator 2, a Vietnamese national; Co-conspirator 3, a U.S. national; Co-conspirator 4, a U.S. national; and Co-conspirator 5, a Vietnamese national. After reviewing the Consulate’s records, the Diplomatic Security Service (DSS) of the US Department of State revealed that Sestak, during his working at the Consulate, approved visas for at least seven applicants who listed Co-conspirator 1, or one of Co-conspirator 1’s parents, as their He also approved visas for Co-conspirator 1’s spouse, Co-conspirator 2, on April 28, 2011, October 24, 2011, and August 28, 2012, DSS said. Review of Google records revealed that on October 25, 2011, the day after he approved a visa for Co-conspirator 2, Sestak had the following Google chat with Co-conspirator 1: CO-CONSPIRATOR 1: thanks for [Co-conspirator 2]’s visa and sorry about the application; [Co-conspirator 2] wasn't sure if [Co-conspirator 2] had to fill it out, etc.; hence, [Co-conspirator 2] asked you in [its] email. Great that you handled everything, which is greatly appreciated. SESTAK: no worries. i will fedex it back to [Co-conspirator 2’s] address in austin, right? … SESTAK: ok i will send it tomorrow at lunch after they print the visa. Co-conspirator 1 then provided Co-conspirator 2’s address in DSS review of Consulate records also revealed that Sestak approved a visa for Co-conspirator 2’s father, on October 13, 2011. It was submitted on October 12, 2011, from IP Address C. DSS review of information acquired through various court-authorized search warrants executed through the course of the investigation revealed electronic chats and emails written by Co-conspirator 3 which described the relationship that Co-conspirator 1 purposefully cultivated with Sestak in order to get Sestak to approve visas for Co-conspirator 1. In a chat dated June 1, 2012, Co-conspirator 3 stated “last night we went out with this guy who works at the consulate — he's the one that approves peoples visas... and he's this single guy who wants to find someone to be with... and my brother knows that - so he's been trying to get this guy out and introduce him to people... so then later he can do him favors like have him approve visas for people.” In another chat dated June 1, 2012, Co-conspirator 3 stated, “This guy who works for the In a chat dated June 27, 2012, Co-conspirator 3 discussed the sister-in-law referenced in the above paragraph. “I applied for her Visa. . .so her interview is July 13th . . . and I told the consulate guy . . . so he said he’ll pull her file . . . but now he knows our family . . . so he’s more trusting . . . but she’1l most likely get accepted this time . . . because Mike will pull up her file . . . and he considers [Co-conspirator 1] like his best friend.” During an electronic chat between Co-conspirator 1 and Co-conspirator 3, dated June 1, 2012, the same day that Sestak issued a visa to the sister-in-law discussed above, Co-conspirator 1 and Co-conspirator 3 had the following exchange: CO-CONSPIRATOR 1: so [the sister-in-law] has her visa now, what did she say? CO-CONSPIRATOR 1: did Mike interview her? CO-CONSPIRATOR 3: because when she sat and waited CO-CONSPIRATOR 3: the number she had... wasn’t supposed to be for Mike’s room CO-CONSPIRATOR 3: but she ended up in his room CO-CONSPIRATOR 3: of course he interviewed her . . . CO-CONSPIRATOR 3: we have to figure out how CO-CONSPIRATOR 3: she can stay over there LEGIT though . . . CO-CONSPIRATOR 3: so it doesn’t make mike look bad. In an electronic chat with Co-conspirator 2 dated October 12, 2011, Co-conspirator 1 wrote, “Finished yr parents applications... Mike is w/a couple of girls at Windows, but I am too lazy to join him. . . . I’ll text him soon to see if he has finished yet so that I can go give him the applications so that he can get the visas by Fri. for us.” The following day, Sestak issued visas for Co-conspirator 2’s parents. |
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Article 8
“Vietnamese enterprises inefficient to do official trade with VietNamNet Bridge - Given that “the majority of Vietnamese enterprises fail to meet the official trade relations,” Mr. Wei Zi Shen, Trade Consul of the Chinese Consulate General in HCM City assured that “unofficial trade is the policy of China to help Vietnam.”  Admittedly, the relations between What kinds of goods can I am going to say that all items that Looking at the structure of Vietnamese exports to I do not understand why you and a number of Vietnamese think so? If You should consider how many percentages of the Vietnamese agro-forestry-fishery products in the Chinese market? Certainly not great! On the other hand, You may ask why Vietnamese goods exported to And why doesn’t The Chinese Government's policy with Chinese enterprises who invest abroad is completely equal, without priority for investment in any country. Chinese investors will find favorable places, with many advantages to invest in. Why do so many Chinese investors plant rubber in As to investment in processing plants, frankly, investment in I should tell you straight that One more thing, Chinese workers would love to do extra work. Once companies have orders, they are willing to join together to complete the orders. It is different in In Does It is not true! It is just that most Vietnamese companies fail to do official trade. Office trade requires stable amount and quality of goods. On the other hand, Vietnamese goods traded officially cannot compete with goods from The export policy of It is clear that the administration of export of Thus, the border trade policy is the policy of What should As I said, After joining the WTO, especially after establishing the But the problem is Could you provide some information about the Chinese government's policies and some advices to Vietnamese businesses? The Chinese Government always attaches great importance to developing mutually beneficial cooperation with However, I believe that Vietnamese goods have some of the following limits: First, the majority of agricultural, forestry and fishery products exported to Second, Third, relevant agencies, associations, enterprises and the media have not clearly learned about the Chinese market, have not had adequate research and survey about this market so they cannot provide accurate information and accurately forecast about the demand and the fluctuations of the Chinese market to provide accurate and timely market information for businesses and farmers. Fourth, Vietnamese enterprises do not fully cooperate with farmers in production and marketing of products. In addition, the role of the media is also extremely important to the promotion of trade relations of our two countries. Duy Chien |
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Article 7
GOVERNMENT IN BRIEF 30/5 UN Children's Fund to continue support The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) will continue supporting The pledge was made by visiting
During the event, President Sang emphasised that He spoke highly of UNICEF's support for the country in recent years and asked for the fund's continued support in introducing policies to promote children's rights and their development. He said UNICEF had offered great assistance to Vietnamese children, especially those with disabilities and victims of Agent Orange/dioxin and unexploded wartime bombs and mines. For his part, Lake recognised On the same day, the UNICEF official attended a meeting with National Assembly Deputy Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan, who called for the fund's further assistance in the making of laws in line with the UNCRC. Ngan said she highly valued UNICEF's role in child care, protection and education in the world, and thanked the fund for helping Vietnamese elective agencies to improve their capacity. Lake said He added that During his working visit, the UNCIEF Executive Director worked with Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh and Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Pham Thi Hai Chuyen. He will preside over a ceremony announcing a report on the State of the World's Children 2013 in Lee is scheduled to visit Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung will attend the 12th Asia Security Summit (known as the Shangri-la Dialogue) in During his stay, Dung will meet with his Singaporean counterpart Lee Hsien Loong and President Tony Tan to exchange views on Vietnam-Singapore relations, as well as regional and international issues of mutual concern. The 2005 Vietnam-Singapore connectivity framework agreement has been implemented effectively. The Vietnam-Singapore Industrial Park (VSIP) has expanded to the northern and central regions of Progress has also been made in investment, finance-banking, education-training, trade-service and transport cooperation between the two countries. Vietnam-Spain diplomatic ties marked The Vietnam-Spain Friendship Association (VSFA) on May 29 held an exchange to mark the 36 th anniversary of the two countries’ diplomatic ties. Speaking at the event, VSFA Chairman Nguyen Hoai Duong, who is Deputy Director General of the Vietnam News Agency, spoke highly of the two sides’ growing cooperation in all fields, especially since they established their future-oriented strategic partnership three years ago. VSFA has played an important role in people-to-people exchanges between the two countries over the past years and plans to organise more friendship and exchange activities to intensify bilateral ties. Spanish Ambassador to Vietnam Alfonso Tena Garcia appreciated the outcomes of Vietnam-Spain cooperation programmes, saying the cooperation has continuously developed in the past time, especially in the fields of politics, economics, culture, and education. The two countries’ two-way trade turnover reached 2 billion EURO. The two sides are working on projects on Noi Bai-Lao Cai highway, express bus systems in Public Security Minister receives foreign guests Public Security Minister General Tran Dai Quang wants to intensify cooperation with the Singaporean Ministry of Home Affairs in fighting transnational crime involving drugs, money laundering, human trafficking and hi-tech crime. General Quang was talking with Masagos Zulkifli, Singaporean Minister of State in charge of Home Affairs and Foreign Affairs in The comprehensive cooperation that has been retained between the Ministry of Public Security of Vietnam and the Singaporean Ministry of Home Affairs has contributed importantly to the two countries’ efforts to maintain their security and social order, Quang told the visiting guest. The host hoped that the two sides will further strengthen the cooperative ties in the coming time, especially in preventing and fighting transnational crimes. Masagos Zulkifli congratulated the achievements The same day, Minister Quang met with Colonel Kiengkham Inphenthavong, Chief Representative of the Lao Public Security Ministry in The two sides expressed their hopes that the cooperation between the two ministries will further develop in the future, helping deepen the special friendship and cooperative ties between the two countries forever. Insignia awarded to RoK Ambassador to Vietnam President of the Vietnam Union of Friendship Organisations Vu Xuan Hong on May 29 presented the insignia “For Peace and Friendship among Nations” to the Republic of Korea (RoK)’s Ambassador to Vietnam Ha Chan Ho, in recognition of his contributions to the two countries’ relations. The Ambassador said he was delighted with the honour and took the occasion to thank Vietnamese agencies for their support and cooperation during his tenure in He affirmed that in any position in the future, he will continue working to further strengthen the friendship and cooperation between the RoK and During his working term in He worked hard to speed up the two sides’ economic ties to turn the RoK into one of The Ambassador also helped boost negotiations of the Vietnam-RoK free trade agreement (FTA) as well as cultural and educational activities between the countries. He asked the RoK Government to increase official development assistance (ODA) for Besides, the diplomat also visited many Vietnamese cities and provinces to intensify cooperation between the two sides’ localities. Lao Front learns President of the Lao Front for National Construction (LFNC) Central Committee Phanduongchit Vongsa has said he wishes to learn from The LFNC’s President made the statement while working with the Standing Vice President of the chapter Vo Thi Dung stressed the need to bring into full play the sense of self-management in a densely-populated city. The city is home to 51 out of 54 ethnic groups across the country, she added. The host added that the chapter has worked closely with heads of residential areas to call for the implementation of the Party and State policies. Activities to build cultural life, raise fund for the poor and Truong Sa soldiers, and call for the use of Vietnamese products are also underway in residential areas, she said. The chapter also shared experience in how to build apparatus and great national unity, and grasp public opinions to expand more practical activities at the grassroots level. A proposal for the ceremony was made at a meeting of the Vietnam-Laos Joint Committee on Border Marker Planting in The Vietnamese delegation to the meeting was led by Deputy Foreign Minister Ho Xuan Son, who is also Head of the National Boundary Commission and Chairman of the Vietnam-Laos Joint Committee on Border Marker Planting, while the Lao delegation was headed by Bounkeut Sangsomsack, Deputy Foreign Minister, Head of the National Border Committee and Chairman of the Laos-Vietnam Joint Committee on Border Marker Planting. At the meeting, the two sides reviewed their work since 2008, and expressed their pleasure at the completion of upgrading land markers along the Vietnam-Laos common border line thanks to efforts of the two governments and relevant ministries, sectors and localities. VNN/VOV/VNS/VNA |
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Article 6
Big differences in statistics make economists puzzled Economists, while pointing out that the reports released by different state agencies are at variance, said that it’s very difficult to find out effective solutions to the current situation with such the unreliable statistics.
The low inflation rate is not the result of the good macroeconomic management, but because of the purchasing power exhaustion. The GDP growth rates of the next quarters are higher than the previous ones, but these are the lowest growth rates in the last many years. All these show that the national economy still has not escaped the difficulties. Bui Trinh, a well-known economist, said the reported GDP growth rate of 4.89 percent in the first quarter is unconvincing. He also pointed out that there are “some problems” with the figures about the credit growth. The outstanding loans in the first quarter increased at a moderate level of 0.03 percent, but the non-state’s investment reportedly increased sharply by 11 percent. It is enigmatic that while the credit growth rate was zero, while the cash flow to businesses increased sharply. Dr. Le Dang Doanh also keeps doubtful about the figures. Previously, only the credit growth rate of 30 percent was enough to obtain the GDP growth rate of 6 percent. Meanwhile, in the first months of 2013, the credit grew by less than one percent, but the GDP still could grow by nearly 5 percent. Doanh emphasized that there always exists a close link between the outstanding loans and the GDP growth, because businesses, which are mostly small and medium ones, have been relying on borrowed capital to develop their businesses. Doanh also pointed out another unreasonable thing that in 2011-2012, “In such difficulties, the “virtual figures” would hinder the efforts to recover the national economy. Having inaccurate figures, policy makers will not be able to lay down reasonable policies to prescribe for the patient,” Doanh said. Dr. Tran Dinh Thien, Head of the Vietnam Economics Institute, has noted that businesses, for many reasons, try to hide bad figures, therefore, state management agencies themselves cannot have reliable figures. “This explains why the statistics about the bad debts of the national economy remain doubtful. The bad debts in the reports of different management agencies are quite different, thus making economists puzzled,” Thien noted. According to the economist, the forecast that the national economy would bounce back from the bottom in mid-2013 proves to be unpractical. The credit growth rate and the state budget collection, the two main factors which determine the macro economy development, both are unsatisfactory. The credit growth rate was 0.03 percent only, while the budget collection fulfilled 16.7 percent and budget expenditure 18.5 percent of the yearly plan. The indexes show that the national economy is still in bad conditions in 2013, and that the solutions to the current situation could not be found only in the loosening of the monetary policies and fiscal policies, while more drastic measures are needed. |
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Article 5
Nine top provincial officials criticized VietNamNet Bridge - Due to accidents increased by 40-91 percent, the chairs of the nine provinces of Ba Ria - Vung Tau, Phu Tho, Ninh Thuan, Thua Thien - Hue, Binh Thuan, Lang Son, Son La, Lao Cai and Khanh Hoa were criticized by Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc.  The Government on May 29 convened a national video-teleconference on traffic safety in the second quarter of 2013 and devise future tasks to deal with the issue. Deputy PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc, Chairman of the National Traffic Safety Committee, called for serious assessment of how transport safety regulations have been observed. According to Phuc, in the past five months, traffic accidents dropped sharply but the number of deaths surged, sparking public concerns. He asked for more drastic measures to realize the National Assembly’s preset targets on traffic safety. The National Traffic Safety Committee reported that during January-May 12,052 traffic accidents occurred nationwide, down 14.77 percent against the same period last year, resulting in 4,163 deaths (up 0.6 percent) and 12,171 injuries (down 20.02 percent). As of May 4, 53,836 poor-quality helmets in 1,676 shops were seized. At the conference, Deputy PM Phuc praised eight provinces for well curbing traffic accidents and criticized nine others for the rise of traffic accidents of over 30 percent, including: Ba Ria - Vung Tau (40.2%), Phu Tho (40.7%), Ninh Thuan (41.9%), Thua Thien - Hue (41.9%), Binh Thuan (47 , 4%), Lang Son (48.6%), Son La (55.9%), Khanh Hoa (77.8%) and Lao Cai (91.3%). Lieutenant General Pham Quy Ngo, Vice Minister of Public Security, Deputy Chair of the National Traffic Safety Committee said that 80 percent of the traffic violations were caused by the poor awareness of drivers. He proposed to revoke driving licences forever for those who cause serious consequences. Le Ha |
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Article 4
Ex-US visa officer receives money via conspiratorsTuoitrenews  Michael T. Sestak, former head of non-immigrant visa department of the Consulate General in Vietnamese people who bribed Michael T. Sestak, former head of non-immigrant visa department of the Consulate General in Ho Chi Minh City, into approving visas for them transferred the bribes to him through his co-conspirators’ bank accounts, In his visa fraudulent scheme, which lasted from March to September 2012, Sestak charged US$50,000 – 70,000 per visa, and total amount of the “fees” amounted to nearly US$4 million, with which he later bought properties in Phuket and According to the result of an investigation by the Diplomatic Security Service (DSS) of the US Department of State, a $35,000 wire transfer was made on May 21, 2012 from the Sun Trust Bank account of Person 1 to a Wells Fargo checking account opened by Co-conspirator 2 (“Co-conspirator 2 Wells Fargo Checking Account”). The same day, a visa application was submitted for Person 2 through the CEAC. Person 2 was one of the individuals identified in the original letter sent to the Consulate on or about July 9, 2012, that initiated this investigation. Person 2’s NIV application listed Person 1 as the On May 22, 2012, a visa application for Person 3 was submitted through the CEAC from IP Address A. Person 3 listed the same parental information as Person 2. The NIV application also listed Person 1 as the DSS review of financial records also revealed that on May 22, 2012, a $20,000 wire transfer was made from the Bank of Hawaii account of Person 4, of an address in On May 21, 2012, an NIV application for Person 6 was submitted from IP address A. On May 22, 2012, Sestak approved the visa application. On May 23, 2012, an NIV application for Person 7 was submitted from IP Address A and Sestak approved the visa application the same day. Both applicants listed an address in On May 21 and May 22, 2012, three people connected to the Second Hawaii Address transferred funds to the Co-conspirator 2 Wells Fargo Account. Sestak’s transfer of funds to Thai bank account DSS investigation revealed that Sestak opened at least one bank account at the Siam Commercial Bank PLC located in Between June 20, 2012, and September 11, 2012, 35 transfers totaling approximately $3,238,991, were made to the SESTAK Thailand Bank Account. The majority of the transfers came from the Bank of China in The investigation has revealed evidence that Co-conspirator 2’s father, and Person 11, aided the conspirators in moving money out of A total of 4 emails were sent from Co-conspirator 2’s father to Co-conspirator 2 containing transaction details of a total of $600,000 in transfers to the SESTAK Thailand Bank Account, and a $100,000 transfer to the Co-conspirator 2 Wells Fargo Checking Account. All four emails appeared to have originated from Person 11. Additionally, a total of three emails were sent from Person 11 to Co-conspirator 2 containing transaction details of a total of approximately $1.46 million in transfers to the SESTAK Thailand Bank Account, and $200,000 in transfers to the Co-conspirator 2 Wells Fargo Checking Account. Over the calendar year before September 2012, Sestak earned approximately $7,500 per month after taxes from both his position as a Foreign Service Officer with the U.S. Department of State, and as a reservist with the U.S. Navy. Transfer of funds to co-conspirator 3’s account DSS investigation revealed that between June 25, 2012, and September 6, 2012, thirty-nine international transfers totaling $2,999,400.18 were made into the Co-conspirator 2 Wells Fargo Checking Account. Thirty-six of the transfers came from the Bank of China in DSS review of records from the Co-conspirator 2 Wells Fargo Checking Account from January 18, 201 1, through May 20, 2012, revealed that the main source of income into the account were direct deposits from Company A. Company A is a real estate company. From January 31, 2011, to February 29, 2012, Co-conspirator 2 received approximately $60,114.34 from Company A. |
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Article 3
Real estate bailout kicks off The VND30 trillion bailout is believed to help warm up the real estate market, provided that the money can be driven to the right addresses.
The huge bailout From June 1, 2013, the VND30 trillion bailout which aims to revive the real estate market would take effects. The VND30 trillion package would be pumped by the State Bank of Under the State Bank’s Circular No. 11, which guides the disbursement of the bailout, the real estate developers to be eligible for the loans are the developers of the housing projects for low income earners. The list of the developers would be made public by the Ministry of Construction. The interest rate of the loans would be six percent per annum in 2013, while the rates for the next years would be 50 percent of the market commercial interest rates at that moments, but would not be higher than six percent. The real estate project developers can borrow money for five years to pay the expenses to be arisen from January 7, 2013, not including the tax duties. They must not borrow more than 30 percent of the total capital needed to develop the projects. Director of the State Bank’s Credit Department -- Nguyen Viet Manh said it’s a right decision to lend money to project developers as well. Once accessing bank loans at low interest rates, the investors would be able to make low cost houses to sell. If the loans only target low income earners, or the buyers, the bailout would fail. Also according to Manh, the Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV) has registered to borrow VND10 trillion from the package for re-lending. The bank plans to reserve 60 percent of the sum of capital for real estate developers, and the other 40 percent for buyers, while the proportions would decrease gradually year after year. The projects to be prioritized to get bank loans are the half finished ones, which can deliver products in 2013-2015, or the projects which have completed the legal procedures for the investment, and have 50 percent of apartments sold. Disbursement to be made in accordance with projects’ implementation speed Nguyen Phung Thieu, General Director of Saigon Gia Dinh JSC, which is developing a housing project for the poor, said the banks need to clarify the requirements real estate enterprises need to meet to be able to access the loans. Le Huu Nghia, Director of Le Thanh real estate firm, while worrying that the money may flow to the wrong addresses and would be used for the wrong purposes, said it’s necessary to keep a strict control over the disbursement to be sure that the money does not go to the companies which have close relations with banks. Nghia has also suggested disbursing money in accordance with the projects’ implementation pace. The biggest obstacle for real estate firms is the lack of collaterals for the loans. The assets of the firms all have been mortgaged at banks for the previous loans. Therefore, it would be better for the firms if they can mortgage the projects they develop with the banks’ money. Source:Nguoilaodong |
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Article 2
Chinese ‘hyper-nationalism’ poised to aggravate
Days before Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei urged On May 20, a Chinese vessel rammed into a Vietnamese trawler while it was fishing in the With Chinese fishing boats operating as an arm of local authorities and the national government, “normal law enforcement” would mean that any action against foreign fishermen in waters claimed by “Chinese propaganda has convinced Chinese fishermen that the South China Sea belongs exclusively to This has forced some experts to go beyond what has been assumed as the main reason for the The waters are thought to be teeming with fish and holding vast untapped reserves of oil and natural gas that could potentially place But analysts say it appears that undersea resources are not the main reason for simmering. “The main drivers are now nationalism, particularly in “There is now considerable evidence that there are no large reserves of oil and gas in the key disputed waters,” Bateman told Vietweek. The Analysts say while “Significant oil and gas reserves tend to be located at the margins of China's claims, in the Gulf of Tonkin, off the coast of China's Guangdong Province, between Vietnam's Vung Tau and Indonesia's Natuna islands, and at the Reed Banks off the Philippine coast,” said Alexander Vuving, a security analyst at the Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies in Hawaii. A comprehensive paper released in May 2012 by two experts at the “The estimates as to the oil and gas potential of the ”The key reason for this is that the estimates available are based, at best, on geological assessments rather than being extensively ‘ground-truthed’ and backed up by industry data,” Schofield said. “This is inevitably the case because the overlapping jurisdictional claims have tended to limit surveys and largely rule out exploration activities such as drilling.” Fish stocks depleted Analysts say seafood resources in disputed waters are also valuable. So, while there may not be oil and gas, there is still a lot of fish. But even this comes with a caveat. Since May 16, China has put in force its unilateral two-month-and-a-half fishing ban on waters around the Paracels, which it has occupied illegally by force since 1974 after a brief but bloody naval battle with the forces of the then US-backed Republic of Vietnam. China said the ban, which has been in place since the late 1990s, was aimed at preserving the fish stock during the breeding season but its fishermen have been blamed for overfishing and marine pollution that has caused the depletion of fish stock in the East Sea. To make matters worse, early this month, “ No turning back This vague boundary was first officially published on a map by Most Chinese consider it a fact that the nine-dashed line delineates The Under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea to which both “ Tensions resurfaced in 2009 when But from the perspective of ordinary Chinese citizens, their government is making a completely legitimate claim. “Generations of [Chinese] citizens have grown up with the [nine-dashed line] map engraved in their memory,” said Vuving, the Hawaii-based expert. “Now, all of a sudden, they see neighboring countries protesting what they believe is an indisputable fact. What do they think? Naturally, most would react with indignation,” he said. Facing an increasingly nationalistic domestic audience who are pushing the Chinese new leadership to stake out its claims in a wide swathe of ocean territory, coupled with China’s confidence that it can successfully impose its will there, analysts say the main drivers of China's claims to the East Sea are primarily power and security, with resources coming in a distant second. The “Strategically speaking, whoever controls the South China Sea will control “ The increasingly nationalistic response to its sovereignty claims has made it almost impossible for “There are little signs that the activities today have gone beyond the past engagement,” said Sun Yun, a Washington DC-based Elsewhere in Filipino fishermen have also lamented lost livelihoods since the Chinese occupied their fishing grounds off the Scarborough Shoal in 2011 after a two-month standoff between Given the status quo, analysts say fishermen are increasingly getting caught in the crossfire of the territorial disputes in and around the Other than the boat ramming on May 20, Vietnam also reacted strongly to a Chinese ship firing flares at four Vietnamese fishing boats from Quang Ngai Province that were fishing in their traditional fishing grounds in the Paracels last March. Phung Dinh Toan, deputy director of the Quang Ngai fisheries resource protection agency, said he had recorded “quite a few” other cases in which the local fishermen had been harrassed by the Chinese since early this year. Over the years, hundreds of Vietnamese fishermen and their crews have been victimized by Tran Van Khang, captain of the fishing boat that was slammed by “We are scared, really scared of the Chinese. They have never been that aggressive,” Khang, a 61-year-old veteran fisherman, told Vietweek. Vietnamese fishermen have been encouraged to assert “We are fighting a life-and-death battle, literally, for our livelihood and for national sovereignty,” Khang said. Khang and his crew have been working flat-out to repair the damaged vessel so they can get out to sea again soon.During the telephone interview, he could be heard urging his crew not to forget get the national flag. “Fishing in our territory, our waters to make a living is very, very important,” he said. “But it is more important to do whatever it takes to protect our sovereignty there.” By An Dien, Thanh Nien News |
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Article 1
Unemployment down, why is the economy not good DNSG - Typically, in many countries around the world, the unemployment indicator is used to assess the health of the economy. If this rate is low, the economy is healthy and is creating more jobs. But it is different in  Job seekers at an employment service center. A bad economic year Perhaps fans of the Kitchen’s God show program in 2013 New Year on the national VTV channel still do not forgot the adapted song “Hoang Mang (Anxious) Style” (Based on Gangnam Style), in which comedians expressed their view about a sad year of the national economy in 2012. Indeed, the general perception of the people, businesses and professionals of the year 2012 is similar: it is a bad year for the economy. According to the annual report 2012 of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), the number of bankrupted companies in the year reached the record level - with 58,128 enterprises. As of April 1, 2012, The number of businesses and the scale of business both reduced dramatically. Specifically, the average number of employees in a business fell from 74 people in 2002 to only 34 people in 2011. The data for 2012 is not mentioned, but probably it was not better due to the difficulties of the economy. In such a situation, the General Statistics Office provided a survey of the labor and employment with beautiful figures as in a dream. Numbers cannot speak Results of the survey of employment in the fourth quarter of 2012, released by the General Statistics Office in late April 2013 showed that by January 1, 2013, the country had 52.79 million people in the labor forces. Up to 51.93 million people were employed and only 857,400 people were unemployed. Compared with the same period of 2011, the number of employed workers increased by 246,000 people, mainly in men and in urban areas, and the number of new workers joining the labor force year was 250,000. Thus, the number of unemployed increased in 2012 was only 4,300 people, reaching the dream unemployment rate of 1.81 percent. Yet, another notable point in the report, the unemployment rate in urban areas is higher than in rural areas, with the highest rate in At another meeting in early 2013, the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs said that the unemployment rate in However, according to the government report to the National Assembly, cited by many experts in meetings, the unemployment rate in 2012 was 3.25 percent, with 1.52 million unemployed workers. The both figures were confirmed by Deputy Minister of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs Nguyen Thanh Hoa. Why are these important numbers so different? This question needs to be answered seriously. Some figures for comparison It must be said that the unemployment rate of 1.81 percent as the General Statistics Office announced, or 3.25 percent as reported by the Government, are the dream numbers of many countries, especially countries in crisis in Europe and the According to the U.S. Department of Labor, as of late April 2013, the unemployment rate was down to its lowest level in four years, reaching 7.5 percent. With this result, American economists said that this is a positive sign for the recovery of economic growth in In Europe, the German economy is considered the most robust in the common currency area in Looking to the other European countries that are engulfed in economic crisis, the unemployment rate is much higher. For example, in Indeed, if one just looks at the unemployment figures to assess the economy, as other countries still do, then Wrong numbers, economy goes the wrong way Mentioning the number of new jobs created in the year or unemployment, many National Assembly deputies said they do not believe in these statistics. Mr. Bui Sy Loi, Deputy Chairman of the Committee of Social Affairs of the National Assembly, told reporters that the data on wage, job creation and unemployment are problematic. According to Loi, while the economic growth rate, the capital investment/GDP declined from the previous year, the number of enterprises that have to stop operation or go bankrupt increased, the number of new jobs is not affected, even increases and the unemployment rate reduces is unbelievable. Deputy Tran Du Lich also said frankly, that he did not believe that the economy can create approximately 1.5 to 1.6 million jobs a year. He said the government must have the technical tools to calculate the exact number of workers with job each year. The Economic Committee of the National Assembly also agreed with this view. In its macroeconomic news released in mid-March 2013, the agency said that there is an opposite movement, beyond the predictions of analysts: when the economy is declining but the rate of unemployment, under-employment rate and income, wages have been "slightly improved." This is "difficult to explain in the context of the corporate sector facing a lot of difficulties." Economist Le Dang Doanh said that labor and employment statistics in Once the key figures of the economy have not been calculated correctly, not enough to create confidence in the market, the ability that the policy is deflected is unavoidable. DNSGCT |
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Article 0
BUSINESS IN BRIEF 31/5 Social fund seeks investment methods Using the social insurance fund to buy bonds is the safest investment, said Deputy Prime Minister Vu Van Ninh at an NA discussion about social fund lending activities on May 25. As of late 2012, the social insurance fund had a surplus of VND200 trillion (USD9.6 million), with most of its loans going to the government and 24% to banks. NA deputy, Bui Sy Loi, said the fund would face grave consequences if they lend money to banks or invest in the stock market. "In 2010 and 2011, we gave loans to four banks and the debt of one Agribank member company has turned bad, creating possible losses of nearly VND1 trillion. Of course banks always give collateral for loans, but in reality it is difficult to recover from the banks," he said. According to Loi, the government should revise the social insurance law to deal with stagnant debts. The number of insured people is about 15 million but only 10.5 million are actually contributing to the fund. Answering the question whether it is a violation of the law for social insurance to loan funds to the government, Ninh said, "The law on social insurance states that to ensure the fund's safety, it is prohibited from making investment in 'risky industries'. In order to increase the fund, the money can be deposited into state-owned banks. The other method is to buy bonds or give loans at market interest rates." NA deputy Vo Thi Dung, from Ninh said public, government and national debts are still under control. "The ratio of public debt to GDP is limited at 65% and we haven't reached this cap yet. The government will submit a detailed report about public debts to the NA soon." he said. The report about public and foreign debts in 2011 showed that public debt is at 54.9% of GDP, and foreign debts equaled over VND1,000 trillion. The debts from issuing bonds accounted for 47.2% of total domestic debt. Lao media praises Vietnamese company accused of criminal land grabbing In an attempt to cleanse their image, Hoang Anh Gia Lai Group (HAGL), a Vietnamese company, accused by the British NGO Global Witness of illegal land grabbing in According to a recent report by Global Witness, a London-based non-governmental organisation, HAGL Group and state-owned Vietnam Rubber Group acquired more than 200,000 hectares of land through a series of deals with the Lao and Cambodian governments that lacked transparency. The report also said that the deal was backed by several international financiers, resulting in widespread devastation to the environment and livelihoods of locals. Land was often sold without residents' consent or even their knowledge and without compensation. Families were forced off their land or expected to work for the rubber plantation, although jobs were few and far between, the report alleged. In response HAGL Group held a meeting with its strategic partners and representatives from local and international newspapers, denying the accusations on May 17. The chairman of HAGL claimed that they had adhered to all laws and that the deals were approved by the respective governments. Lao News Agency then published an article on May 22 praising the group’s "contributions", and Lao Phatthana Newspaper said that HAGL has initiated positive changes in The article cited Party Secretary of Attapeu Province Khanphan Phommathat as saying that the area previously had backwards production methods and that the residents there faced many difficulties. The Lao News Agency and Lao Phatthana Newspaper also claimed that HAGL invested in the poor provinces of Sekong and Attapeu and provided a loan of USD35 million for social services in these localities, including a hospital and residential areas. Despite the praises of official news outlets and government spokespeople, however, Global Witness continues to stand by their report, which says these land deals were illegal and lacked transparency. They also claim to have documents to prove it. Higher legal capital likely at realty firms Real estate companies might be forced to raise their legal capital if proposed amendments to the Property Trading Law were passed. The HCMC Department of Construction has thrown support behind this proposed capital requirement, saying higher equity of investors in each particular property project should be also prescribed to ensure their financial viability. The current legal capital requirement for property firms is VND6 billion and that for equity is 15-20% of the total investment cost of a project. These prescribed levels are deemed too low, as they do not guarantee the financial capability of investors, said the department. Over 70% of the active realty trading firms are small, having capital below VND10 billion each, according to statistics of the HCMC Department of Planning and Investment. Up to 80% of funding for property investment and trading operations is sourced from bank loans, according to the construction department. This explains why many property enterprises have failed to guarantee a clean balance sheet. Realty indices are nowhere to be found Property indices are intended to serve as a tool for both regulators and enterprises to monitor market movements but the Ministry of Construction has still been struggling to collect enough data to publish the indices. Deputy Minister of Construction Nguyen Tran Setting the indices for the realty market’s assessment has been piloted by the construction ministry in the country’s big cities like If the pilot proved successful, the indices would be a helpful tool for authorities and companies to keep track of the performance of the market and introduce policies and business development strategies accordingly. Local media has long depended on research projects or surveys conducted by foreign property service firms to report on the real estate market. Only Savills Nguyen Van Dang, deputy director of the city’s Department of Construction, said that without a database, State agencies were not able to collect statistics about housing projects, office space for lease and commercial centers available on the market or to be constructed in future. Volatile transactions and prices make it hard to release exact figures. Due to lack of information and data, State management agencies have turned out different assessments and forecasts on market changes, meaning they have failed to help the market grow in a sustainable way. Meanwhile, there are no sanctions forcing project owners and property exchanges to make reports on their transactions and send them to relevant authorities. Savills Despite a considerable increase in supply during this quarter, the successful rate of transactions stays stable thanks to higher sale volumes. Total transaction volumes in the second quarter surged 2% against the last quarter and 25% year-on-year. Price falls hit chicken farmers Many chicken farms are on the verge of bankruptcy given heavy losses and are finding it difficult to resume farming as chicken prices have fallen sharply in recent weeks. Speaking with the Daily last week, Le Van Dinh, a chicken farmer in Tan Phu District in the southern Chicken prices set by poultry farming areas at present are still not enough for offsetting production costs. The price of color fur chickens has tumbled to only VND39,000 a kilo, dipping over VND10,000 against earlier this year. Similarly, the price of industrial chickens has also stayed low in the market, at a mere VND19,500 a kilo, shrinking more than 50% versus the start of the year. With such huge losses, Dinh has had no other choice but to sell his chickens on the cheap to reduce feed expenses in the context that chicken prices are slipping while animal feed prices remain high. The gap between slackened chicken demand and oversupply has led to a strong decline in chicken prices as seen at present. At this time in previous years, many farms were also vulnerable to the bird flu epidemic but weakened demand as recorded this year is unprecedented, Dinh noted. Recent information on H5N1 and H7N9 bird flu has made consumers shy away from chicken meat consumption, he said, adding local farmers are incurring a loss of up to over VND10,000 per kilo with the current selling prices. Southeastern provinces are home to as much as 15,000 chicken farming areas with one farm worth VND2 billion. Farmers in these localities are estimated to have invested more than VND3 trillion in poultry farming but they have still been unable to find outlets for around one million chickens weighing from 3.5 kilos to 4 kilos each. Five-month FDI totals US$8.5 billion New foreign direct investment (FDI) approvals have been very modest this month, but total FDI in FIA’s latest report shows that FDI has dropped sharply this May with registered capital of only some US$300 million, down 85% from April and a hefty 94% from March. However, thanks to the strong increase in new FDI commitments in the previous months, five-month FDI has grown 8.9% year-on-year. In the year to date, nearly 400 new projects have been granted investment certificates with total pledged capital of more than US$5.09 billion, up 5.8% over the same period in 2012. Meanwhile, 160 ongoing projects have raised their capital by an additional US$3.4 billion, up 14% year-on-year, said FIA. Foreign investors have poured money into 18 sectors. Industrial processing and manufacturing is the strongest magnet, luring 191 fresh and existing projects worth nearly US$7.6 billion, accounting for 89.2% of total FDI in January-May. The second place goes to the troubled real estate market with total capital of US$387.37 million, or 4.5% of the nation’s total. Wholesale, retail and repair come in third when attracting 57 projects worth US$141 million. Although FDI has fallen considerably this month, FDI disbursement has amounted to US$830 million. Overall, FDI disbursement in January-May is estimated at US$4.58 billion, a rise of 1.6% against the same period last year, said FIA. Foreign-invested enterprises (FIEs) in the year to date have achieved good export growth. Since the year’s beginning, they have exported over US$32.7 billion worth of goods, including crude oil, up 23.3% year-on-year, accounting for 65.56% of Excluding crude oil, their export turnover is more than US$29.7 billion, up 25.8% and representing 60% of the nation’s total. Meanwhile, FIEs have imported some US$28.6 billion worth of goods, an increase of 25.4% over the same period in 2012, making up 55.29% of total imports of the country. In the year to date, 40 nations and territories have invested in Foreign investors have invested in 44 cities and provinces. The US$2.8-billion capital increase of the Nghi Son oil refinery project has brought Thanh Hoa to the top place in terms of FDI attraction, accounting for 32.9% of total capital investment. Thai Nguyen with the US$2-billion project of Samsung ranks second, followed by Binh Dinh with over US$1 billion. Opportunities in hard times An economic slowdown definitely creates tremendous challenges for companies. There are exceptions, however. Companies in Quang Trung Software City (QTSC) have seen tough times as a chance to demonstrate their flexible adaptation that fits clients’ needs and offer low-cost outsourcing solutions. Frank Schellenberg, CEO of Germany-based GHP Far East, says that the economic turmoil may prompt companies to start thinking how to lower cost and that one of the options they would consider is outsourcing. “We’ve learnt that those economic fluctuations are not a disaster, it is another opportunity for outsourcing companies to improve business, re-build processes and so achieve a new balance,” Schellberg said. The current economic woes have made GHP Far East focus more on making its production processes efficient. “In our case, it is a combination of European standards and Vietnamese prices. We even set up a slogan for our company, following our competencies: German Quality – Made in Another European market’s partner, Luxoft, has also worked very hard and has spent a lot of extra efforts during the economic turbulence. According to La Manh Cuong, CEO of Luxoft, the Russian-based company has carried out several initiatives and measures, from exercising a new engagement model with clients to widening the range of offerings and reaching to a higher level of customers’ satisfaction, aiming to help customers “get more for less.” “Those measures have helped Luxoft maintain, and even expand, business relationship with major clients, which in turn has allowed us to sustain operations at a time of economic hardship,” Cuong said. Aside from Europe, the Nhon added that to assure commitments to clients, BTM has mapped out a strategy for investing in and developing the talent pool. A reasonable compensation model is built around management by work and objectives. Moreover, BTM has invested in internship programs to prepare human resources in the early stages. Meanwhile, at GHP Far East, business process outsourcing (BPO) is a new and potential industry for the Vietnamese workforce. Among its staff, there are several ones who have not obtained a high level of education, said Frank Schellberg, But after joining GHP Far East, employees would be given specific training courses on computer and language skills besides advanced training or communication classes. To Luxoft’s La Manh Cuong, the company’s business strategies for years are to get deep into a few specific industries and to diversify services. Yet all have relied on one critical factor: people. “We must have the people who have real outstanding capability and are always able to deliver on promises with clients,” Cuong said. “Attracting talents are always interesting yet challenging tasks of any organization, while keeping talents is even a more demanding task and no single measure would be sufficient.” GHP Far East, Luxoft and BTM as well as other members in QTSC have realistic plans for 2013 and the years to come. Some want to focus on BPO contracts from the two giants, the TrustBank renamed Vietnam Construction Bank TrustBank last Friday adopted a new name of Vietnam Construction Bank whose priority is to offer unique banking services to corporate clients active in the field of production and trading of building materials and low-cost housing development. The bank’s charter capital is VND3 trillion and its total assets over VND28 trillion. The bank wants to hike the respective figures to VND7.5 trillion and VND42 trillion. The bank wants to expand its network to 115 transaction points by end-2013. On its debut, Vietnam Construction Bank signed cooperation deals with BIDV and Agribank to provide credit support for low-cost housing development programs. “The name Vietnam Construction Bank clearly indicates the major focus of the bank, consistent with the latest guidelines given by the Government in resolutions 01 and 02, calling for support for property and construction firms to overcome difficulties, reduce inventory and prop up the market,” said Phan Thanh Mai, permanent board member of the bank. The change of name and priority follows the change in the bank’s ownership structure, providing the institution with strategic partners having connections with multiple building material producers and traders, and low-cost condo developers, says a statement of Vietnam Construction Bank. The debut of Vietnam Construction Bank took place on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the Vietnam Real Estate Association. TrustBank has sold an 84.04% stake to a new group of shareholders consisting of Thien Thanh Corporation with a 9.67% stake. At the extraordinary general meeting in February, all board members of TrustBank were replaced by mostly representatives from Thien Thanh Corporation. Earlier, when talking about its restructuring, TrustBank said that in the short term, it would maintain operations with traditional services for the Mekong Delta and economic zones. In addition, it would start offering services to clients active in the building material industry and low-cost housing development. Since 2011, TrustBank has been experiencing hardship because of the nation’s economic woes such as high inflation, fiscal and monetary tightening, and the frozen real estate market. The bank lent heavily to the property sector. By end-February 2012, outstanding property loans had reached 53% of its total assets. This explains why its bad debt ratio has risen sharply since the realty market began running into trouble. Moreover, shortcomings in risk management and internal audit have spelled much trouble for TrustBank. It is on the list of nine weak banks forced by the central bank to undergo restructuring. TrustBank was established in 1989 with its headquarters in Long An. By the end of 2011, its total assets had reached VND28 trillion and its charter capital VND3 trillion. Its pre-tax profit in 2011 was VND550 billion. Thien Thanh Corporation with charter capital of VND1 trillion is active in real estate, building materials, trade and automobile sectors. Jan-May credit growth put at 2.29% Vietnamese banks as of May 22 had recorded credit growth of 2.29% compared to the end of last year, according to the central bank’s Monetary Policy Department. Credits in As credit growth usually speeds up in the final days of month, the banking system’s credit growth may reach 2.5% to 3% by the end of this month, said a leader of this agency. This is a positive sign as credit fell 1.71% in the first four months of 2012 and saw no improvement in the following month. Many credit institutions have offered dong deposit rates for tenors from one month to less than 12 months lower than the ceiling rate regulated by the central bank. Shot-term deposit rates hover in the range of 5-7.5% per annum while those for terms from 12 months are from 8-10.5%. Some enterprises in a healthy and transparent financial state and effective business projects have got bank loans in dong with lending rates of just 7-8% per year. Liquidity of credit institutions was sufficient for compulsory reserve in the first 22 days of May, the central bank said. Mercedes-Benz launches diesel-fueled GLK The Common-Rail Direct Injection (CDI) is applied to the new GLK vehicle equipped with the fourth generation CDI engine meeting EURO IV emission criteria. A new feature of the GLK 220 CDI is the ECO Start/Stop which helps temporarily shut down the engine when the vehicle is idle. It also owns Blue Efficiency package equipped with low-friction drive systems, wheel rolling resistance limit, chassis and aerodynamic design and energy-saving steering system. GLK 220 CDI consumes around six liters of diesel for 100 kilometers, according to GLK 220 CDI comes with black, grey, white, silver and red colors and sells for around VND1.52 billion each. Meanwhile, the GLK CDI Sport version has a price tag of some VND1.69 billion a unit. Quang Ngai zaps indolent power plans Central Quang Ngai province has axed four small-scaled power plants due to concerns about negative environmental impacts and long delays. One of the revoked projects is 5 megawatt Ly Son thermal power plant invested by the state-run Vinacomin with the total investment of nearly VND300 billion ($14.4 million). Initially, expectations were for the Ly Son island’s power plant to be completed by 2011 to help address the electricity shortage and kick off the socio-economic-tourism development on the island - a place famous for garlic farming and historical cultural relics. However, little progress has been made at the project site since the construction started in 2009. A tourist route was opened on the island many years ago, but few tourists came to the island as local hotels lacked electricity, computer and internet access. Ly Son is located in the northeastern area of Quang Ngai, which is about 20 nautical miles from the mainland and 90 nautical miles from the international maritime route, making it an important point on the baseline representing the maritime border of Quang Ngai’s authorities have recently sent a proposal to the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) for a project of supplying electricity from the mainland to Ly Son by submarine cables. With the total investment capital estimated at $50 million, the proposed submarine power cable system will run 10 kilometres on the mainland, 30km in the sea and 3km on the island. The system was projected to complete and put into operation in 2014. Meanwhile, three other small-scaled hydropower projects in Quang Ngai - Tam Rao-Tam Linh hydropower complex with the combined capital of 9.5MW, 12MW Po E hydropower plant and 12.6MW Son Tra 2 hydro- power were halted due to long delays and negative environmental concerns. All of them are invested by local investors. In the provincial plan, Quang Ngai will have a total of 22 hydropower plants with the designed capital of 415MW. However, only four projects have been completed and other two projects are now under construction. Many other small-scaled hydropower plants in the province are also facing licence withdrawals such as 4.9MW Tam Rao hydropower plant, 4.5MW Tam Linh hydropower plant, 12.6 Son Ha hydropower plant, and 10MW Tra Giang-Tra Bong hydropower plant. MoIT’s Minister Vu Huy Hoang stressed that the ministry would continue combining with local relevant agencies to revise Under the nation’s power development plan until 2020, hydropower plants still remain a key power supply source for During 1994-2010, 23 medium and big-scaled hydropower plants were put into operation with the total designed capacity of 6,200MW. Currently, the river system in Bridging gap for financial centre Property developer Dai Quang Minh has been named the investor for a pedestrian bridge over the The city administration has selected the Vietnamese firm as the project owner for the bridge to Thu Thiem peninsula under the Build-Transfer (BT) format. The pedestrian bridge plan had been part of a bigger Thu Thiem project that included the new urban area’s central square and the riverside park. However, the Thu Thiem Investment and Construction Authority had separated it because the bigger project as a whole was not appealing to investors, said Trang Bao Son, deputy chief of the authority. Tran Ba Duong, the chief executive officer of Dai Quang Minh, said his company was just seeking ideas for design of the bridge via a competition, so a clear image was still unknown. Further details for this investment were not revealed by Duong, who is also chairman of Vietnamese automaker Thaco – French automaker Peugeot’s new partner in an alliance set up this April to assemble and distribute Peugeot cars in One edge of the bridge will be located at The Thu Thiem New Urban Area, now under construction, is seeking investors for various projects. In late April, a consortium between Dai Quang Minh and Vietnam Infrastructure Development and Finance Investment Co. (VIDIFI) started the construction of the four main roads on the peninsula under build-transfer contracts and "land in exchange for infrastructure" formats. Also that time, Dai Quang Minh broke ground for a low-rise housing project in Thu Thiem. The Thu Thiem New Urban Area, designed by the Vietnamese group Vinaconex planned to start construction of Thu Thiem 2 Bridge in May or June 2014, said Thu Thiem Authority chief Nguyen Anh Tuan. No short cuts for mega Nhon Hoi oil refinery plan Thai petroleum conglomerate PTT Public Company must play by the rules to get its giant oil refinery and petrochemical complex in Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai has asked Binh Dinh Provincial People’s Committee to guide the investor to proceed with detailed investment plans in line with the prime ministerial Decree 108/2006/ND-CP providing guidance on the implementation of In an official letter sent to the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Binh Dinh Provincial People’s Committee, Hai emphasised that the plans must address the concerns of relevant governmental agencies about the feasibility of this mega project. The MoIT was also assigned to work closely with Binh Dinh Provincial People’s Committee and other relevant agencies to carefully appraise the feasibility of this project. The ministry would also be reviewing the implementation of already-approved oil and gas projects in line with the nation’s oil and gas development master plan until 2015 with the vision towards 2025. And then, based on the comprehensive review, the MoIT would consider asking the prime minister for adding PTT Public Company’s proposed project to the master plan. Three years ago, PTT Public Company unveiled its plan to develop a mega oil refinery and petrochemical complex project in According to Binh Dinh Provincial People’s Committee, the complex would have the total refining capacity of 660,000 barrels per day, or 33.6 million tonnes of crude oil per year. If the project is approved, it would be one of the largest oil refinery and petrochemical complexes in Asia and its capacity will be five times higher than However, industry experts have expressed doubts about the scale of this project due to its huge investment capital. State-run PetroVietnam also sent a document to the MoIT expressing concerns about this project. Other oil refinery projects in the country such as Nghi Son in central Thanh Hoa province, Vung Ro in central Phu Yen province and Long Son in southern Ba Ria-Vung Tau province are still on the development stage. Road to drive regional economic growth A private infrastructure developer this week began construction of an expanded road project and Co Ma tunnel, a part of important Deo Ca tunnel project, for the nation’s arterial route. The “These are very important projects for driving up economic development in provinces and the country as well,” Tran Anh Tuan, general director of the developer Deo Ca Company. He stressed that the infrastructure projects would also help prevent traffic accidents on the “We appreciate the developer’s strong commitment in executing the tunnel project in the context the world’s and Vietnam’s economy remain in difficulties,” said Tran Quang Nhat, Vice Chairman of Phu Yen Provincial People’s Committee, adding that those were among the nation’s most important infrastructure projects. Both Deo Ca and the expanded According to Deo Ca Company, the 37.5 kilometre-expanded road project will comprise six lanes designed for a maximum speed at 80 kilometres per hour, stretching to Van Ninh district of Khanh Hoa province. This project costs around $125 million and will be funded by Vietinbank. The 500-metre Co Ma tunnel is a part of the $750 million Deo Ca tunnel project on the Once opening to traffic Deo Ca tunnel could halve travelling distance for transport vehicles running on the The Deo Ca tunnel project is the second tunnel built on the route. The first one is Hai Van tunnel through well-known Hai Van pass situated between central Thua Thien-Hue province and Danang city. Since operating in 2005, Hai Van tunnel has played an important role in improving transportation in the region. And now, leaders of both Phu Yen and Khanh Hoa provinces expect Deo Ca tunnel and the expanded road projects will play a similar significant role as Hai Van tunnel does. Logistics firms buoyed by export spike Global logistics group DHL underlined the trend recently when it announced an additional $13 million for developing its In addition, DHL Supply Chain will aim building its second distribution centre, covering 10,000 square metres in the northern Bac Ninh province to serve customers in technology, retail and consumption goods. The new facility is scheduled to be opened in third quarter this year. Other logistics providers are also quickly expanding business in Singapore-based Neptune Oriented Lines, a global leading shipping lines, is planning to expand its warehouse footprint in Vietnam from 70,000 to 100,000sqm by focusing on inbound logistics, especially in retail and raw material, and providing distribution centres close to big cities and industrial parks. Through two core business segments in APL, among the top three shipping lines in “ Two months ago, the US-headquartered UPS gained an investment certificate for becoming the first foreign wholly-owned company to provide deliver express services in “We have seen the transformation of the country to the dynamic export-oriented economy and UPS has grown in parallel with the market,” said Jeff McLean, general director of UPS Vietnam. Cargolux, the largest all-cargo airline in Europe, increased its air cargo services to “The added third flight, as well as the subsequent introduction of the advanced 747-8F with higher payload and improved economics, underlines the commercial importance of He added the 747-8F was providing buffer capacity to cater for the garments, textiles, and footwear while electronics shipments are creating certain steady demand in Sembcorp powers up plant proposal According to Quang Ngai Provincial People’s Committee, Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai in a document released early this month approved Sembcorp Utilities’ project to be added in the strategy and allowed the firm to develop the power plant under the build-operate-transfer (BOT) investment form. A Dung Quat Economic Zone Management Authority source said the provincial authorities would cooperate with relevant ministries for guiding Sembcorp Utilities to complete necessary administrative steps. “This is an important milestone for this project. Sembcorp Utilities cannot develop this power project unless the Vietnamese government adds it into the nation’s power development strategy,” said the source. Sembcorp Utilities, a subsidiary of Sembcorp Industries, announced its plans to study the feasibility of this project in September 2011. In January 2012, the investor signed a memorandum of understanding with Quang Ngai authorities for conducting the study. The 1,200MW power plant, to be located in central Quang Ngai province’s Dung Quat Economic Zone, will significantly enhance the central region’s power supply. But to secure an investment certificate for this project, Sembcorp Utilities must finish negotiations with Electricity of Vietnam (EVN) and the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) for power purchase agreements and a BOT contract that could take several years. This is the second Sembcorp power project in So far, only four BOT power projects have been licenced to foreign investors in $1.15bn steel project comes online in style A $1.15 billion integrated steel factory in southern Ba Ria-Vung Tau province, backed by a joint venture led by It officially opened its representative office late last week after completing the factory construction and run test according to a source from the Vietnam Steel Association. Located in Ba Ria-Vung Tau’s My Xuan A2 Industrial Park, China Steel Sumikin’s project will be among the largest steel factories in This is a joint venture led by Taiwan’s largest steel-maker, China Steel Corporation, which holds a 51 per cent stake and other shareholders include Japan’s largest steel-maker Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Group, Chun Yuan Steel Corporation, Hsin Kuang Steel Corporation and Formosa Ha Tinh Steel Corporation. The project was initially licenced in 2009, and construction began in September 2011. Its products include hot rolled steel plate, pickled and oiled steel sheet, cold rolled steel sheet, hot-dip galvanised steel sheet, and electrical steel sheet for shipping industry, automobile, motorcycle, electric and electronics that Once operating, China Steel Sumikin will also support for the manufacturing industry of Pham Chi Cuong, chairman of the Vietnam Steel Association, said the operation of integrated steel factories like China Steel Sumikin would be important for Vietnam’s steel industry because it could ensure the special steel supply while reducing steel imports into the country. DatVietVAC enjoys global profile with WEF choice DatVietVAC Group Holdings has been picked as the only Vietnamese company among the 25 Global Growth Companies in 2012 and 2013 by the World Economic Forum. This WEF choice has been made after “careful consideration and internal selection across various industries and regions in the year of 2012 and 2013,” Masao Takahashi, a WEF head of business engagement, wrote to DatVietVAC chairman and CEO Dinh Ba Thanh. The 25 Global Growth Companies are included in a profile book that demonstrates how they have exerted their impact on the global agenda by showcasing their compelling stories. These profile companies are role models either in innovative technologies, new business models, or sustainable growth and social responsibilities, which are the key attributes shaping the future global business leaders. DatVietVAC was the first privately-owned media and entertainment agency in Vietnam. It has been ranked number one in the country in national media market share for the past 19 years. “As our strategy is to go global and catch up with the fastest growing opportunities in the new social and digital world, we would like to be recognised as the media, entertainment and communication ambassador of Vietnam that can help shape the ‘Vietnam Image’ for the next decade,” Thanh said. The WEF Community of Global Growth Companies brings together and connects the most dynamic, high-growth companies from around the world, said David Aikman, senior director of the WEF. Lack of retailers’ buy-in Dark clouds of uncertainty still linger over the opening of Vietnam’s retail and distribution markets to foreign firms. The Ministry of Industry and Trade has just released the Circular 08/2013/TT-BCT providing guidelines on the import, export, and distribution of goods by foreign-invested enterprises (FIEs) in Vietnam. The new circular revises the Economic Needs Test (ENT) criteria used to determine whether an additional retail outlet is permissible. The rules were initially outlined in the ministry’s Circular 09/2007/TT-BTM dated July 17, 2007, stating that foreign retailers who wanted to set up more than one retail outlet would be required to pass the ENT, which would involve applying for a licence. However, the Circular 08 narrows the geographic scope of ENT analysis to the district, in which the additional outlet will be located, rather than the city or province. Previously the ENT in the Circular 09 required a case-by-case analysis of the number of retail outlets, market stability and population density in the province or city where the retail outlet was to be located. The other factors of the test outlined in Circular 09 remain unchanged. This is one of the new regulations given in the Circular 08 that will come into force on June 7. “The prescriptive requirements and processes described in the Circular 08 can be seen as onerous but are likely to be regarded as a positive development by many foreign investors and stakeholders familiar with the Vietnamese legal system,” explained Bui Khanh Linh, senior associate of international law firm Allens, with offices throughout Australia and Asia. “This is because the lack of details in the Circular 09 often resulted in practical difficulties in obtaining the necessary regulatory approvals and licences for investments in this industry, as the process was not transparent to foreign investors.” Under the Circular 08, an Economic Needs Assessment Committee (ENAC) will be established by the licencing body to determine whether the additional outlet meets the ENT criteria. “The main concern arising from the above process is that there is no indication of timing for the recommendation by the ENAC and preliminary approval at the municipal and provincial people’s committee level,” said Chi Ha, Allens’ lawyer. The Circular 08 also incorporates an exemption from the ENT criteria. The additional retail outlet will not be subject to ENT analysis if it satisfies the following conditions: The area of the retail outlet is less than 500 square metres, the retail outlet is situated in a location planned for retail by the city or province and the construction of the infrastructure of the location planned for retail has been completed. Once implemented, this exemption is likely to stir up foreign investments in the retail sector, as foreign invested enterprises may be able to embrace a more aggressive expansion or market penetration plan. Foreign investors are advised to remain vigilant and monitor any development in relation to the actual application of this provision by the regulators in the coming period. However, foreign retailers said specific criteria for the ENT was to prevent local authorities from making arbitrary decisions when considering the application for a new retail outlet. A BigC representative pointed out the vagueness of the reference to the “suitability of the project within the cities planning.” Data regarding total supply and demand and population density should be available. “How can investors prove that their projects are in accordance with municipal and provincial planning if the city or province does not have a retail planning system in place?” the Big C representative added. Some business entities have suggested the Vietnamese government should give more specific and transparent guidelines on the ENT, including definition, scope of application, criteria for the ENT and procedure and duration for each criterion. Despite the poor demand in the context of the current economic difficulties, Vietnam’s retail and distribution market last year witnessed the vigorous growth of existing foreign retailers and newcomers such as Big C, Lotte, E-Mart and Aeon in the country. Thousands of mangroves planted in Nha Trang More than 10,000 mangrove trees were planted around Nha Trang Bay in central Khanh Hoa province on May 25. The planning was done by more than 100 volunteers as part of the province’s activities supporting the national Sea and Island Weeks, which runs from June 1-8 in Ha Tinh province. Nguyen Thi Nguyet Ha, Deputy Director of the province’s Sea and Island Department, said the activity aimed at raising community awareness on protecting the sea and island environment from climate change effects. Nha Trang Bay currently has more than 10 hectares of mangroves. Seven hectares were replanted by different organisations and individuals from 2002. Source: VEF/VNA/VNS/VOV/SGT/SGGP/Dantri/VIR |
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