Social News Headlines 30/4 Another measles death confirmed in Hanoi According to the Health Ministry’s Preventive Medicine Department, the nation recorded another 35 cases of measles on the day, raising the total number to 3,751 across 61 out of 63 cities and provinces nationwide. As of the day, 79.4% of children throughout the country were vaccinated, up 1.1 percent from a day earlier. Forty-nine provinces have recorded over 70% of immunisation while the southern Also on April 28, ministry officials inspected the outbreak control at Children Hospitals 1, 2 in The ministry and 11 measles-prone cities and provinces are coming up with a detailed plan to offer free vaccines to children aged 2-10. Ministry advises measles transmission prevention during coming holidays The Ministry of Health has warned of the risk of measles spread in the country in the upcoming holidays. As per the Ministry’s guideline, people with breathing diseases, coughing or fever should restrict their travel to crowded areas during the coming holidays. Children without proper vaccinations should not be taken to the crowd to avoid risks of contracting measles. Parents should keep an eye on their children and it is also important to pay attention to children’s dental and personal hygiene and keep accommodation clean. The ministry asked parents to take their kids without proper immunization to local health facilities for vaccination against the disease. During the trip, if holidaymakers have fever, cough or rashes, they should go to nearby local clinics for timely treatment to curb transmission. Local health authority should organize mobile vaccination sites to finish immunization rate in July. Measles vaccine programme will include migrant families More than 95,000 doses of measles vaccines have been given to children aged nine to 36 months in The city's Preventive Medicine Centre director, Nguyen Tri Dung, said the free immunisations would continue in May to ensure coverage of children from migrant families. The immunisation programme was expanded on April 24 to include children aged four to six who have not received vaccines or who haved failed to get enough doses, Dung said at a meeting with a ministerial inspection team yesterday in The number of patients with measles has increased significantly this year, with nearly 1,500 cases reported. Of those cases, children under three years old accounted for 70 per cent, and children aged three to 10 accounted for more than 20 per cent. All districts of The Ministry of Health on Sunday issued a warning about the high risk of infection from measles in crowded public places, especially during the upcoming holiday. The ministry has said that people with respiratory problems, as well as measles symptoms such as fever, cough and skin rash, should not travel or gather in public places. To prevent the spread of the highly contagious virus, children who have not been vaccinated should not be taken to public entertainment places. The ministry recommends that children aged nine to 24 months should get the vaccinations at medical clinics if they have had no vaccine, or have not had a sufficient number of shots. Two shots are necessary for the vaccine to be effective. Children nine months to 10 years old living in areas with a high risk of measles infection should immediately get the vaccinations. Ha Noi, HCM City and Hai Duong, as well as the provinces of Quang Ninh, Hai Phong, Hung Yen, Bac Giang, Vinh Phuc, Nghe An, Thanh Hoa and Binh Duong, are localities that have a high risk of infection, the ministry said. Ha Noi recorded another measles-linked death yesterday at the National Hospital of Paediatrics, pushing the fatalities from measles and its complications to 128 so far this year. In Ha Noi, free vaccinations are being offered to children. New bus route to General Giap’s tomb opens in Quang Binh A bus route linking Dong Hoi railway station to General Giap’s tomb in The Ministry of Transport (MoT) has just approved the proposal from the Quang Binh provincial People’s Committee in order to serve the high demand for transportation to the tomb in Vung Chua – Dao Yen. The route will be about 70 kilometres long. According to the provincial government, between 1,000 and 3,000 people per day come to pay tribute to General Vo Nguyen Giap. As many as 90% of the visitors are from outside The bus route would run through major thoroughfares in The MoT requested a change to the schedules of any bus routes that use the same stops as the expected route to ensure efficiency. Previously, Minister of Transport, Dinh La Thang, requested that Vietnam Railway Corporation (VRC) set up a station linking to General Giap’s tomb to serve the heightened demand for transportation created by the tomb. VRA will make a plan for the construction after finding a suitable location for the station. The South serves up scorpions As scorpions are considered both a delicacy and a medicine in Nguyen Van Cuong, a resident of the town of According to one local, An Giang once had a lot of scorpions but they have been hunted down in the last five years. Not only have scorpions become a favourite snack, to eaten with wine, it is said that they can cure back pain, rheumatism and to increase male virility. Live scorpions are sold at VND4,000-5,000 each in Tinh Bien Market. To show off for customers, sellers often use their bare hands to gently pick up dozens of scorpions without being stung. Traders from Serious flooding in Many streets in After a long downpour on April 27, the first of its kind in A representative from Hanoi Sewerage and Drainage Company said the ongoing construction or lack of technical infrastructure in some areas such as Nguyen Xien, Mai Dich, Pham Van Dong streets was the cause of much of the serious flooding. According to the representative, the capacity of the drainage system in central The Hanoi Sewerage and Drainage Company has announced that it would attempt to complete a number of drainage works in the city this year to help 10 hot spots avoid flooding. The director of Hanoi Sewerage and Drainage Company, Nguyen Le, said that this year According to the company, billions of VND have been invested in the construction of drainage systems to deal with rainfall of between 50 mm and 100 mm per hour. The company will also check the drainage gates to the The rainfall on the morning of April 27 measured at less than 100mm per hour, but many streets were still flooded. Recently, Couple holds wedding in hospital A couple from Ha Thi Hom, 27, and her fiancé, Ha Van Thom, 24, both of the Thai ethnic minority, were married on April 23. The groom said that April 23 was their scheduled wedding day. "But last week, Hom said she was tired and had to go to the hospital. They found a tumour in her heart and she needed urgent surgery. We had already announced the date and made all the preparations, so a ceremony is still being held in our hometown," he said. Dr. Duong Nguyen Duc Hung, head of the cardiovascular surgery unit, said the surgery was also scheduled for April 23. However, after reviewing the bride's condition, they agreed to delay the surgery one day. The hospital also decided to hold a small ceremony for the couple with the attendance of doctors, nurses and families of many patients at hospital. Both the groom and bride were surprised when they saw the ceremony. Other patients also came to wish the couple well. Tran Thi Ngan, who had a heart surgery five days before, said, "Women with heart disease are at disadvantage. Because they do not have normal health, it is more difficult to care for a family. I also admire the groom's devotion and hope the surgery will be successful." According to Dr. Hung, the left atrial tumour was at an advanced stage and made Hom feel weak, and short of breath, but it is most likely a benign tumour. It will take three months after the surgery for Hom to recover. "At least during this small ceremony, we hope to close the gap between doctors and patients," he said. The groom said, "I'm a mechanic's assistant and Hom works on farms. Even though we can't attend our wedding at home, we're happy and very touched to be congratulated by everyone here." Under the programme, which will run until 2016, the city will help 4,423 such households build new homes with financial support worth 40 million VND (1,880 USD) for each. Meanwhile, 5,493 households will be given 20 million VND (940 USD) to upgrade their houses. In the first half of this year, the city plans to spend 8.88 billion VND (417,360 USD) supporting 222 families to build new houses and 6.58 billion VND (309,260 USD) to assist 329 others to repair their houses. As much as 80 percent of the total cost for the programme is funded by the State budget, with the remaining sourced from the city budget and community donations. Providing better healthcare services, education and vocational training for Agent Orange (AO)/dioxin victims is one of the key tasks of the An international conference in Besides offering medical treatment for around 120 AO victims and 80 servicemen and women, the village has also focused on improving the spiritual life for the beneficiaries through music performances and sports activities since it was founded in 1998. Training courses on computing, embroidery and communication skills are also made available for the victims. According to the Vietnam Association of Victims of Agent Orange (AO)/dioxin (VAVA), US forces sprayed 80 million litres of AO containing almost 400kg of dioxin on Preliminary statistics by Vietnamese scientists indicated about 3 million Vietnamese people were exposed to dioxin. The toxic chemical has had a severe impact on He made the pledge at a working session with visiting Japanese Senior Vice Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Kotaro Nogami in the capital on April 28. Nogami briefed his host of the projects, including a waste treatment system and a mobile multi-storey parking station. Suu thanked He also acknowledged that many Japanese projects have offered Sri Lanka unveils stamps honouring Ho Chi Minh A set of stamps honouring President Ho Chi Minh was unveiled at a ceremony in the capital Colombo of Sri Lanka on April 28, as part of activities to mark the 124th birthday of the late Vietnamese leader. Speaking at the event, Vietnamese Ambassador Ton Sinh Thanh said he believes the event will not only foster bilateral postal cooperation but also move forward well-rounded ties between the two peoples and business communities. Minister for Human Resources and General Secretary of the Communist Party of Sri Lanka Dew Gunasekara said President Ho Chi Minh is the second foreign leader, after Saint Mahatma Gandhi of Along with the construction of Ho Chi Minh monument in On the occasion, Minister of Posts J. Kumaranathunga announced that a set of 500,000 stamps portraying the Vietnamese leader will be introduced soon. A senior official from He said this is his first visit to He highlighted a project that is jointly being implemented by He asked local authorities to continue facilitating the operation by Japanese investors. Chairman of the local People’s Committee Le Thanh Cung said The locality will send a delegation to take part in a real estate exhibition in Cung also asked the Vice Minister to consider ODA provision for the underground transport project that links Binh Duong , Since the beginning of this year, Binh Duong has attracted an additional 823 million USD in foreign direct investment (FDI), increasing the number of such projects to 2,200 worth 19.6 billion USD, said Director of the provincial Department of Planning and Investment Mai Hung Dung. Dak Lak aims to support poor communes The Central Highland According to the local Department of Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs, there are now 19 communes with poverty rates surpassing 50 percent. The province hopes to ensure all communes have a lower rate by next year. Most of the affected areas are located in remote areas and regularly hit by disasters. Meanwhile, their land is exhausted and infrastructure out-of-date. Therefore, the province is investing more than 440 million VND (20,680 USD) in poverty reduction in these communes through providing loans and technical assistance for needy households, and organising vocational training for labourers, especially the youth. Attention is being paid to upgrading irrigational works such as lakes, dykes and pumping stations. Dak Lak is also carrying out health and education support policies, which will provide free insurance cards for 48,000 people living in difficulties and grant scholarships to more than 15,000 disadvantaged students. In 2014, the Australian-funded project benefits orphans in Orphan and HIV/AIDS children under care at With a total capital of 389 million VND (18.200 USD) funded by the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and donations from Hanoi-based organisations, the project equips the pagoda with a well-water filter system as well as furniture, computers and learning tools for its library. According to Deputy Director of the municipal Health Department, the project will help the children have a good health and the best learning conditions, facilitating their integration into the community. Bo De pagoda is taking care of 260 orphans, including more than 10 HIV-infected children. Poor kids in Ben Tre receive free milk The Vice Chairwoman of the National Assembly Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan and Minister of Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs Pham Thi Hai Chuyen handed over the milk at a ceremony in Ben Tre’s Ba Tri district on April 27. Established in 2008, the fund is supported by the Ministry of Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs (MoLISA), the Vietnam Children Sponsoring Fund and the Vietnam Dairy Products Joint Stock Company (Vinamilk). Speaking at the ceremony, Minister Chuyen praised the fund for giving milk to hundreds of thousands of needy children nationwide, thus improving their physical and mental health. On the occasion, the MOLISA and the fund presented 100 scholarships worth 1 million VND (47 USD) each to local underprivileged kids, and 30 million VND (1,410 USD) to the provincial children support centre. According to Vice Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee Tran Anh Tuan, the Vietnam Rising milk fund has donated nearly 550,000 glasses of milk to almost 10,000 pupils in the locality over the past five years. Vinamilk representative Nguyen Thi Quynh Trang said the fund has provided free milk worth nearly 83 billion VND (3.9 million USD) to over 300,000 disadvantaged children nationwide. Pha Din pass- path for artilleries to The 32-km-long Pha Din pass with its highest peak at 1,648 metres above sea level is the gateway to the northwestern mountainous The terrain of the Pha Din pass now is not as difficult as before though there are still eight sharp zigzag bends along the road. Work has been done to lower the altitude of the pass and to widen the road, making it easier to go through it. Pha Din pass becomes picturesque with green scenery dotted with bamboo houses of the Thai ethnic minority people. Sixty years ago, the pass was part of the pipeline supplying ammunitions and food to the It was also the place where ground forces and artillerymen marched through to Music composer Hoang Van, who composed the song “Artillery pulling chant”, still remembers the marches through Pha Din pass 60 years ago, saying: "Before entering Muong Thanh field, we had to go through a long zigzag pass, soldiers moved through on foot while transporters pushed bicycles carrying supplies to the front." The supply line began in late 1953. The pass was dozens of kilometres and winding while French planes continuously bombarded, he said. "At that time, we had to be careful to avoid enemy bombings. After that, we had to pull artillery up the mountain. All these experiences inspired me to compose the song 'Artillery pulling chant'.”. Pha Din pass was the most difficult section in the long journey of moving the artilleries. After Pha Din pass, soldiers had to pull their weapons over many slopes, abysses and high peaks to move toward Him Lam, Doc Lap and A1 hills and ultimately French commander De Castries' bunker. The Dien Bien soldiers’ efforts to haul their weaponry are unimaginable. “As we hauled our ammunitions, dozens of people were arranged at each end of the artileries. At one end, some people pulled the cannons and at the other, some people pushed it. We used a winch and put a roller inside to pull the artilleries," Van said. It is now about dozens of kilometres from Pha Din pass to Dien Bien city. During the There were different roads for transporting supplies to carry artilleries to the battlefield. Some roads were used for just a few hours for artilleries to go through and then hidden by the forest as if they had never existed. There was a special section of the road that was 15 km long and built within 20 hours running the distance from Na Nham forest to Ngheu hamlet. On that road, Vietnamese soldiers manually pulled 2.4-tonne artilleries, 75-mm canons and 120-mm mortars through difficult mountains, deep abysses and enemy bombings to join the opening battle of the Pham Duc Cu, a former artilleryman at A monument to the memory of hero To Vinh Dien, who used himself to save an artillery piece from sliding down to abyss, and his artillery platoon was erected 20 km from Dien Bien. The monument reminds younger generations of KOTRA presents 5,000 story books to children The Korea Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) has presented 5,000 story books for kids to Vietnam, aiming to help the children learn more about culture and history of the two countries. The books feature some legends of the The gifts, received by the Ministry of Education and Training, the People’s Committees of the General Director of the KOTRA Hanoi Korea Business Center (KBC) Lee Kyu-seon said the story book project helps enhance the cultural exchanges between the two countries as well as further tighten the bilateral ties in general. The move is part of corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities the RoK side has been carrying out in the country. In 2012, a programme highlighting contributions of the RoK companies to CSR activities in Vinh Phuc received 125,000 USD donated by 11 RoK-invested businesses operating in the province and Last year, RoK companies presented several social facilities valued 204,000 USD in total to Hai Duong province. Front works with Red Cross in humanitarian issues The Vietnam Fatherland Front (VFF) will work with the Vietnam Red Cross on a humanitarian cooperation programme, its leader Nguyen Thien Nhan confirmed during his working session with the Red Cross in The VFF will begin working on the programme in June, confirmed Nhan, who is both President of the Front and a Politburo member. In 2014, the Red Cross will establish more chapters in remote, rural and island areas and enhance the efficiency of its humanitarian activities, Chairman of the Vietnam Red Cross Nguyen Hai Duong said. He proposed that the State designate May as a month for humanitarian activities to encourage the public to perform good deeds for underprivileged people. President Nhan commended the organisation on its proactive approach in supporting poor and disaster-hit people in 2013. The Red Cross has been playing an active part in realising social welfare policies across the country, he said. The Front will encourage its members to take part in Red Cross-initiated activities to mitigate natural disaster consequences, Nhan pledged. Rural electrification programme sparks success By the end of 2013, 15.8 million households in the country’s rural areas, equivalent to 96.7 percent of rural households, had access to power, signaling the success of the national rural electrification programme started in 1998. The programme has played its part in developing the country and reducing poverty, said Minister of Industry and Trade Vu Huy Hoang at an online review conference on April 26. The first project of the programme, called the rural energy project, cost over 3.2 trillion VND (150.4 million USD), of which 150 million USD had been borrowed from the World Bank. It has benefited 976 rural communes housing 550,000 households. According to Electricity of Vietnam (EVN), which has undertaken the programme until now, official development assistance coming from international donors was decisive in the success of the programme. In the reviewed period, nearly 48 trillion VND (2.25 billion USD) has been pumped into the programme, which has also brought power to remote and extremely disadvantaged areas, including border areas and islands, EVN reported. EVN Chairman Hoang Quoc Vuong commented that the programme has contributed to giving rural areas a new facelift and facilitating the development of agriculture and its services and the processing industry. He referred to a 6.6 fold-rise in agriculture production value in 1998-2013 as proof of the success. Victoria Kwakwa, World Bank Country Director, said many countries were interested in the success story of She pledged that her institution will continue aiding the country through the supply of investment destined for infrastructure in the 2014-2020 period. Addressing the conference, Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai confirmed that the programme in the 1998-2013 was successful on the back of strong support from the entire political system and local people. The country is embarking on a national energy development programme to 2020 and beyond to be sufficient in power. It is set to connect over 98 percent of its population to the national grid by 2015 and expects all rural residents to be using power by 2020. In the meantime, the country is suffering an energy shortage, with each person consuming an average 1,200 kWh a year. According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the rural electrification progamme is looking towards supplying power for 12,000 villages and hamlets and improving the rural power transmission lines, which will benefit around 7 million households. The tasks require around 80 trillion VND (3.76 billion USD), the ministry said. Under-10 children to get free measles vaccination The Health Ministry has issued a plan on giving free measles vaccinations to children from 2 to under 10 years old in localities with high risk of the disease. The vaccination campaign will be conducted from May to July. According to the Health Ministry, localities of high risk of measles are Hanoi, Hai Duong, Hai Phong, Hung Yen, Bac Giang, Vinh Phuc and Quang Ninh provinces in the north, the central provinces of Nghe An and Thanh Hoa, and Binh Duong province and Ho Chi Minh City in the south. The target cities and provinces are requested to provide mobile vaccination service in addition to those at designated sites, with the aim of having all children get two shots of vaccines. The ministry also asked provincial and districts authorities to announce the vaccination plan on the mass media including television, radio and newspapers so that the information reach all the people. Statistics show that since the beginning of 2014, Can Tho active in fight against climate change The southern city of At an April 26 meeting to review the city’s response to climate change, Director of the Climate Change Office at the Can Tho City People's Committee Ky Quang Vinh, said that eight salinity measuring stations have been built. He said a report on connections between changing weather and prevalence of mosquitoes spreading dengue fever was completed. Surveys figuring out dykes requiring upgrades to safely prevent landslides were accomplished, he added. In 2013, the local authorities effectively collaborated with agencies and organisations both from home and abroad to implement programmes and projects in response to climate change, focusing on increasing the city’s resistance to salinity penetration caused by climate change. However, the collaboration between local departments, agencies and district-level authorities has not been smooth, leading to slow progress in implementing some projects, the office said. To this effect, Vice Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee, Dao Anh Dung, emphasised the projects’ importance to local socio-economic development, asking the aforementioned three stakeholders to focus on tackling difficulties and barriers for the projects and quickening their progress. He also noted the outcomes of the projects will ensure the sustainable development and climate change adaptability of the city. Source: VNN/VNA/VNS/Dantri/VOV |
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BUSINESS IN BRIEF 30/4 Japanese firms invest in The Group’s Asia-Pacific Director General, Hideaki Kato, revealed the company plans to develop an additional three or four IZs in Many Japanese small-and-medium-sized businesses are keen on Sojitz got involved in a project to build Long Duc IZ in southern Dong Nai province which has attracted a large number of Japanese investors since it entered operations last September. Among its big investors were Lixil (US$441 million) and Temura (US$98 million). As well as ongoing projects, Sojitz is taking into consideration other fields, such as energy and paper production. Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung commended Sojitz’s investment in SBV Governor: Monetary market to become stable by year-end Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) Nguyen Van Binh announces that the macro-economic situation and monetary market will become stable later this year and into next year, with basic interest rates down between 1.5% and 2%. Accordingly, the exchange rate will also be stable, or down just 1% from now until the end of the year, he added. Banks have shown good liquidity while foreign exchange reserves reached a record figure of over US$35 billion. The Governor said that loan outstanding balance of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) account for 60% of the whole banking system’s outstanding balance. If the SMEs encounter difficulties, the banking sector will also have troubles. At present, banks are very cautious about providing loans to SMEs. Binh attributed this to the high risks of bad debts. SBV have cut back lending interest rates over the past two years, making them far better than they were two and three years ago. Further interest rate cuts will depend on the macro-economic situation. Monetary policies should be stable to gain the confidence of businesses and people, Binh said. Shopping centre takes top prize in green building contest The Green Square shopping centre - Big C Di An, the first commercial building in Viet Nam to use green technology, has won first prize at the seventh Energy-Efficient Buildings contest organised by the Ministry of Industry and Trade and HCM City Energy Conservation Centre. Located in the southern It was the first project in Launched in 2006, the contest has so far attracted more than 400 participating buildings in 25 provinces and cities. Economic experts discuss problems And they added that the official growth rate did not reflect the real situation. They also agreed that aggressive and drastic institutional reform must be carried out to keep the country economic healthy. The two-day forum was held by the National Assembly's Economic Committee to propose resolutions for the national economy in the coming year. The best suggestions will be selected for submission to the NA. Speaking at the forum, the director of the Viet Nam Institute of Economics, Tran Dinh Thien, said the economic growth rate was not steady. "The quality of growth and competitiveness is low, consumption and investment are going down, especially in the private sector, people's incomes are declining - and bad debts and public debts mostly remain at the same level. The number of enterprises closing down has also risen to 11.9 per cent," he said. "Meanwhile, we haven't seen any breakthrough institutional reform. This means the economy has stayed in a similar position after three years of restructuring," he added. Cao Sy Kiem, from the National Financial and Monetary Policy Advisory Council, agreed, adding that in his opinion, the economy was far too fragile. "While some enterprises have started to recover, it must be admitted that many evaluations of the economy are still vague and the health of many enterprises are questionable. One small congestion caused by State management could lead to dramatic consequences for enterprises," Kiem said. Nguyen Van Giau, head of the National Assembly's Economic Committee, said the most important issue facing the macro-economy was non performing loans and public debt, as they closely affected the circulation of capital. He said the economy would remain weak until these issues were resolved. According to a report by the Ministry of Finance in March, State budget costs in 2013 increased nine times compared to the year 2000. Of this amount, payment of public debts increases by 4.1 times. "Public debts should not be under-estimated. If we don't take a serious look at this matter, it will be too late when the due date comes," said NA deputy Tran Du Lich. Thien of the "The definition of public debts and bad debts is not clear. Statistics on such debts are so different among agencies. The current belief is that we are under-estimating public debts," he said. Nguyen Dinh Cung, director of the Central Institute for Economic Management, said the Government had to increase budget collection by adjusting goods prices and imposing fees, but this would result in great difficulties for the production sector. "If State budget spending is still high, we need to foster privatisation with State-owned enterprises instead of borrowing money from our people." Given the shortcomings of the economy, experts agreed institutional reform was now of significant importance. Cung said the current role of the State in the market economy was no longer appropriate. He said the main matter in carrying out institutional reform was to deal with the relationship between the Government and the market, giving the market the key role. "It's the rule of the market economy; we need to respect this rule. The Government can't interfere too much in its operation," Cung said. He also recommended that a stricter policy be imposed by the State budget on State-owned enterprises. "They need to face the lack of investment capital and choose the most effective investment projects," he added. Jan-Apr inflation lowest in 13 years Weak domestic demand and stable food and energy prices have resulted in January-April inflation posting the lowest rise in 13 years, according to HSBC’s report on In the past 13 years, the monthly inflation has averaged out at 1% in the first four months of year. However, the average monthly inflation in the same period this year is a mere 0.2%. HSBC expects prices to rise modestly in the next two months as domestic economic conditions are gradually improving. However, there is little price pressure in sight as consumer confidence remains low and global goods prices are in decline. Even with an assumption of higher education and healthcare costs in August and September, and potential electricity price hikes in summer, headline inflation this year is forecast to end at 5.6%, says the report. This would be The report of HSBC was released on April 24 when the General Statistics Office also released statistics on the price consumer index (CPI). According to GSO, The reason for such a low rise is goods prices have remained almost flat. The group of catering services, the most weighted in the basket of items used to calculate the CPI, has edged up only 0.15% as foodstuffs and dining-out services have risen 0.27% and 0.18% respectively and food has dropped 0.26%. The respective increases of the beverages-tobacco, apparel-hat-footwear, household appliances and transport groups are 0.23%, 0.26%, 0.24% and 0.33%. The country’s CPI in the first four months is up only 0.88%, well below the 4.45% recorded in the same period last year. BIDV raises chartered capital to VND33.5 trillion BIDV shareholders have approved a proposal for raising the bank’s chartered capital to VND33.5 trillion from VND28.1 trillion. In the capital increase plan, the Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam will sell shares to its current investors and strategic shareholders, and pay a dividend by shares. The forthcoming share sale will lead the State ownership of the bank to fall to 86.66% from the current 95.76%. The bank said its listing on the HCMC stock exchange early this year had set a foundation for an upcoming sale of shares to a strategic foreign investor. At the bank’s general meeting last Friday, shareholders asked whether or not the bank was planning to merge with another credit institution, Tran Bac Ha, chairman of the bank, said since the State remains a majority stakeholder, the bank will not do that unless otherwise approved by the State. The 2014 targets the bank set at the meeting are 13% growth in outstanding loans, profit before tax at VND6 trillion, a bad debt ratio of less than 3% and a dividend of 9% or higher. Last year the bank sold more than VND1 trillion worth of bad debt to the Vietnam Asset Management Company and will sell another VND2 trillion to this debt trading firm this year. The bank last year mobilized nearly VND416.73 trillion, up 16.4% versus the previous year, and reported total outstanding loans of VND392 trillion, up 16.7% from a year earlier, and pre-tax profit of VND5.3 trillion, 12% higher than the 2013 target approved by shareholders. Its return on asset was 0.78%, its return on equity was 13.8% and its dividend was 8.5%. Vinacafe reports profit after big losses Vietnam National Coffee Corporation (Vinacafe) has earned hundreds of billion dong in profit after a long period of losses, said general director Nguyen Nam Hai. In April last year, Vinacafe had total accumulated debt of around VND1 trillion and faced the possibility of being merged into However, the scenarios were not translated into reality as suggested by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to help Vinacafe get out of troubles. Hai told the Daily that the huge debt had been solved but declined to elaborate on the solutions. He added the corporation was now focusing on planting and exporting coffee. The overlapping export of coffee between Vinacafe, its member companies and subsidiaries was one of the reasons behind the debt. As all of these companies exported coffee, they undercut prices to lure customers. Hai said activities of the companies had been re-arranged and now just one subsidiary of Vinacafe was responsible for signing contracts with buyers and exporting coffee to them and the others provided warehousing and logistics services. “We are running at a profit thanks to this structural change,” Hai said. Viettel in tourism deal with Ba Ria-Vung Tau The Tourism Information and Promotion Center of Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province has clinched a deal with mobile carrier Viettel to implement a project to provide tourism information for visitors who use Viettel mobile services. The center said the province plans to promote tourism through its website at http://bariavungtautourism.com.vn and on Viettel network. Tourism information will be posted on this site and sent to Viettel users via text messages. What is special about this partnership is that Viettel users will receive a welcome message that reads: “Chao mung - Welcome” upon their arrival in Ba Ria-Vung Tau for a visit. They can seek information about restaurants, hotels and entertainment areas, among others in the province, by texting to Viettel but they should pay a fee for this. Tourism companies in the province can also send information about their promotions to Viettel’s database. Following the approval by the province’s Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the information can be sent automatically to Viettel users. This is one of various programs to promote local tourism this year. Others include airing a special show on the provincial television channel (BRT) and promoting local tourism in Vietnam Tourism publications. VietinBank chairman likely to go Pham Huy Hung, chairman of the Vietnam Bank for Industry and Trade (VietinBank), no longer serves as a representative of State ownership in the bank, meaning the possibility of him losing the post of chairman is high. The State Bank of VietinBank is expected to hold a general meeting of shareholders tomorrow where a new board of directors would be picked for the 2014-2019 term. Analysts said the central bank’s move meant Pham Huy Hung could not retain the post of board chairman at VietinBank in the next term. Hung is now 60 years old, the normal retirement age. Hung has been serving as VietinBank chairman since 2007. From 2002 and 2009, he was general director of the bank. Hung came in the spotlight when Huynh Thi Huyen Nhu, former acting head of Many plaintiffs and victims at the court trial early this year said they had lost money due to the contracts they signed with VietinBank, not Nhu as an individual and argued that VietinBank rather than Nhu should be the defendant. At the time, Hung stirred up a controversy when he told the media that the money which individuals and organizations had transferred to Nhu did not go to any accounts at VietinBank. Therefore, he argued, VietinBank was not responsible for compensation. Attorneys of plaintiffs sharply criticized Hung’s comment. Tuoi Tre newspaper cited lawyer Luu Van Tam as saying that Hung’s comment showed a sense of irresponsibility. At the court Tam showed 32 contracts and 32 transaction statements which 17 employees of ACB had signed with VietinBank, which he said proved ACB’s money had gone to the accounts at VietinBank. In another decision issued last week, the central bank picked Nguyen Van Thang, a member of the board and general director at VietinBank, as a representative of 40% State ownership in the bank; Le Duc Tho, office manager of the central bank, as a representative of 30% State ownership in the bank; and Cat Quang Duong, deputy head of the Credit Department at the central bank, as a representative of 30% State ownership in the bank. Shrimp exports face stricter controls on antibiotic residues The Europe Union (EU) and The National Agro-Forestry-Fisheries Quality Assurance Department (Nafiqad) said it had received the warnings from the EU and Since early this year, the EU authorities have sent warnings against five shrimp shipments imported from Although Oxytetracyline antibiotic is allowed in seafood farming, the fact that Vietnamese raised shrimp had been warned of the excessive antibiotic content by the two major shrimp importers indicated that this substance was being overused in local shrimp farming, Nafiqad said. Therefore, Nafiqad has called for domestic firms to tighten controls on the quality of unprocessed shrimp. Also, the department has increased the number of samples for antibiotic testing and kept an eye on the enterprises in the warning lists of the EU and Earlier, the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP) reported that a number of shrimp shipments sent to the EU had been found to contain higher Oxytetracyline antibiotic residues than permitted. The association said the EU would consider imposing stricter controls on or even suspending shrimp imports from Currently, the allowable level of Oxytetracyline antibiotic in the EU is 0.1ppm. This is also the permissible rate for seafood products that the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development specifies in Circular 15/2009/TT-BNN. Last year, seafood exports to the EU exceeded US$1.18 billion while seafood shipments to In the first quarter of 2014, Lotte to develop US$2-billion smart complex in Thu Thiem A joint venture between According to Lotte, the joint venture has received approval in principle from the HCMC government to implement the project spanning ten hectares in Area 2A in the new urban center. With an investment of US$2 billion, Area 2A will be developed into a sprawling complex consisting of commercial center, hotel, serviced apartments, office space and condos. The joint venture expects to finish the project’s master plan within this year and will proceed with the project’s phased development in line with the progress of infrastructure development in Thu Thiem New Urban Area. The HCMC government has envisioned The South Korean-Japanese joint venture plans to make the ten-hectare complex a landmark of not only HCMC but also the Southeast Asian region. The project while boasting special architecture will feature modern facilities in a smart complex. The smart systems utilized for buildings of the project include the ubiquitous control system like the smart city, smart home and smart office systems; the smart energy management system to deliver energy efficiency; the information system with wifi, media pole and wireless LAN services; the e-safety system with CCTV and integrated disaster prevention system. Lotte and its partners conceived the project a long time ago. At a meeting with the HCMC government in March 2013, Lotte Chairman Shin Dong-bin said that the group had pursued the project for years and it was now the time to kick it off. According to the investor, the complex in Thu Thiem is a follow-up of Lotte Center Hanoi which is currently under construction and expected to be put into service this September. Lotte Center Hanoi is a luxury complex comprising five basements and 65 floors with total floor space of 253,000 square meters. It features a high-end commercial center, a five-star hotel, smart office space meeting international standards, luxury serviced apartments and an observatory tower to become a destination for Mr. Kim Min Geun, Vice President - Head of Overseas Mixed Used Development Division of Lotte Asset Development under Lotte Group, said that Lotte Center Hanoi and the smart complex in Thu Thiem are important projects of Lotte when making investments in Lotte enjoys many years of experience of developing modern complexes as the group has invested in many complex projects overseas like Lotte World in In addition to the complex project in Thu Thiem, Lotte is pouring billions of U.S. dollars in many sectors in Vietnam, including hotel, fast-food store chain Lotteria, Lotte Mart supermarket, cinema, food, construction, and home shopping on TV. Standard Chartered Standard Chartered Bank ( The bank was named in the categories of “Best Banks” for Best Service Provider for Structured Trade Finance in The Asset Triple A Awards are industry excellence awards given out every year to institutions that have outshone the competition in providing best-in-class treasury, risk management and working capital solutions to their customers. This is the second consecutive year Standard Chartered Vietnam has been chosen for the awards. “We are honoured to receive, for the second time, The Asset Triple A Awards. This is a significant achievement reflecting our innovation, excellence and capabilities to deliver effective solutions in In 2013, Standard Chartered Vietnam continued its aggressive mode in enhancing its cash management solutions to help clients achieve working capital efficiencies. The bank launched a new billing statement for clients to have full transparency on cash charges, enabling clients to have wider access to banks and payment channels as a means to obtain reconcilable payments while getting collection information in an almost immediate manner. The innovation pipeline is set to cater to all cash solutions lines: liquidity, receivables and payments as the bank continuously engages clients and regulators in developing solution. Besides, Standard Chartered also provided clients from various industries with innovative ways to have access to funding to power their working capital requirements. Most of the clients were generally provided with multiple facilities allowing them multiple trade financing options to cater to their respective needs. The Bank responded positively to unique client challenges and provided cost-effective financial solutions. Thanks to its innovative and differentiated solutions to enable business in US business entrepreneurs are quite keen on doing business with their counterparts in At an April 27 dialogue sponsored by the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) in At the event, Vietnamese Minister of Planning and Investment Bui Quang Vinh told the gathering that the government is seeking to attract projects which use environmentally friendly technology and churn out higher added value products, especially in infrastructure development, as well as in information technology and biotechnology to buttress agricultural production. Vinh also suggested AmCham in For her part, Executive Director of AmCham Judith Fergin stated that US businesses eye Potential partners are closely monitoring the Vietnamese market because its Government is undertaking important reforms in administration procedures, business restructuring and legislation, to create a healthier competitive environment, she added. She strongly recommended that the Vietnamese Government speed up negotiations on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement as the trade pact will help promote foreign investment necessary to build the economic infrastructure for improved supply chains, generating better jobs for citizens. State firms’ divestment of non-core operations hits offshore projects A lot of offshore investment projects have got stranded in Widespread yet ineffective non-core business activities have put many SOEs in peril, leading the Government to order them to pull out and focus on their main operations. However, the divestment process has delivered a blow to half-done projects in the two neighboring countries. The Foreign Investment Agency of the Ministry of Planning and Investment said Song Da Corporation has been grappling with difficulties to carry on a couple of hydropower projects in Laos because its partners have declined to continue their capital contributions. This joint venture has taken a hit from the Government restrictions on non-core business operations of state firms, plus the prolonged impact of the global economic slump, with Song Da Corporation’s all other partners having suspended new capital injections into the projects under way. A number of projects have been put on hold though thousands of billions of dong has been disbursed into them and a lot of other undertakings are under review because of a lack of fresh funding. Relevant government ministries and agencies, after a series of meetings, have asked the Prime Minister to allow the partners of the Vietnam-Laos joint venture to continue capitalizing a number of projects which they have committed to implementing. Nonetheless, all the stakeholders but Also in the same situation is the HCMC Medical Investment Company (MECO), the owner of The first phase of the hospital has been in service with 200 inpatient beds since the middle of January this year. But the next development of the project has been unable to start as the involvement of five of eight partners in MECO is considered a non-core investment activity that must be done away with under new regulations. The HCMC government has recently wrote to the Prime Minister seeking approval to permit these five firms to continue contributing finances so that MECO could finish the project as promised with Cambodia. The five companies are HCMC Finance and Investment Co., Saigon Trading Group, Saigontourist, Saigon Agriculture, Inc., and Saigon Construction Corporation. The Prime Minister’s Decision 929/QD-TTg issued in July 2012 compels state-owned groups and corporations to relinquish their non-core investment operations by the end of next year. The HCMC government reasoned that the Therefore, if the five enterprises are forced to pull out of this project by end-2015, the operations and second-phase development of the hospital will be adversely affected, according to the city. The city said the governments of Vietnam and Cambodia had reached a consensus to move on with the next phase of the project to increase the number of beds from 200 to 500 but problems have emerged as the city has not been able to find other companies willing to replace the five who are compelled to withdraw as per Decision 929. Work on the second phase has not got off the ground due to this dilemma. The Ministry of Planning and Investment has recently requested the Prime Minister to temporarily allow the five firms in question to keep injecting money into the project as capital contributions to phase one are not yet complete. At the same time, the ministry asked the city’s authorities to mull transferring the stakes of the five enterprises to state-owned groups or corporations whose core operations involve the healthcare sector. FIA underscored the need for state enterprises to divest their non-core operations as part of the Government’s SOE restructuring scheme but said appropriate and moderate measures should be worked out to ensure important and strategic projects could move on. Many Japanese investors are keeping a keen eye on investment opportunities as the pace of equitisation for many state-run enterprises in The Ministry of Finance’s conference on investment promotion into Japanese investors are eagerly anticipating Vietnam Airlines’ general director Nguyen Ngoc Minh said the national flag carrier had been valued by Morgan Stanley and Citi Group, and the valuation had been submitted to the government for approval. “We have proposed that 25-30 per cent of Vietnam Airlines be sold to foreign investors, of which 20 per cent could be bought by a strategic investor. However, the final decision will be made by the government,” Minh said. “However, in the long term, the maximum 65 per cent government-held stake will gradually reduce to 51 per cent; a pattern likely to be seen in other major SOEs.” Minh underscored that Vietnam Airlines would conduct its initial public offering (IPO) this October, and be listed on Vietnam’s stock market by late next year. “We’re ready to work with foreign financial investors and airlines,” Minh added. Garment giant Vinatex’s vice general director Pham Nguyen Hanh also said that Vinatex wanted to find three foreign strategic partners, including a financial investor and two investors who were operating in the garment and textile field, as part of its equitisation process. Vinatex’s valuation had been completed and its IPO was slated for this July, Hanh said. Vietnam Securities Depository chairwoman Phuong Hoang Lan Huong said about 6,700 Japanese individual investors and 140 Japanese organisations had investment accounts in Minister of Finance Dinh Tien Dung said to lure foreign investment, in addition to the revision of its Enterprise Law, The Vietnamese government was now focused on accelerating SOE equitisation to attract more private investment. Some 432 SOEs would be equitised during 2014-2015, he said. Competition mounts in paid TV market There is fierce competition at current in the paid television market as providers are running generous promotions to attract market share. In April and May, Saigontourist cable television (SCTV) launched a huge campaign for customers in In the case customers choose both cable and internet services, their monthly fee for a 2.5Mbs connection is only VND160,000 a month and for 4Mbs, only VND190,000. SCTV has thrown the market a curveball as major providers such as VTVcab, K+, MyTV and HCTV are fast losing market share to the its highly preferential services. Responding to the trend, VTVcab similarly launched a new promotion, its biggest ever in Experts are saying the paid television market will continue this uptrend of promotions, particularly as new entrants such as Viettel TV, FPT and VNPT make their debuts. In the past, with only a few suppliers, consumers were cornered into paying exorbitant fees for low-quality services. But now with so many competitors, providers are forced to reconsider their strategies. In terms of services however, insiders have pointed out that there is little difference, as 70-80 per cent of the channels provided by cable companies are the same. But Cao Van Liet, general director of K+, said customers want access to new, different channels, and this was also a major part of their decision making process. Nguyen Hoang Linh, deputy general director of FPT Telecom, said that as paid television is an entertainment product, good quality programming will attract the most customers. “If television stations only focus on promotions to attract market share, they may find their strategy to be unsustainable,” he added. HOSE to open new modern floor this week The Hochiminh Stock Exchange (HOSE) will inaugurate a new 12-storey building on May 1, the most modern such facility in the country. Designed with a modern architectural style, the The building is integrated with the stock trading, depository and payment systems for various markets, including securities and bond markets. More facilities are also in the offing at this building to serve the derivatives market and carry out a plan for emerging the northern and southern bourses in the near future. With the three major projects - the Last week, leaders of HOSE and contractor Coteccons witnessed the final touches putting on the MB The investor, MB Land, has selected Savills The US$29-million tower is equipped with two escalators, five elevators, an energy-saving air-conditioning system and two backup generators. Savills Another property service provider, CBRE Vietnam, said many office buildings would be completed and put into operation in HCMC this year, including According to Savills, 217 office buildings had provided over 1.4 million square meters in this city as of the first quarter of this year, up 1% compared to the previous quarter. Savills said the average occupancy and rent had inched up since the second quarter of last year. In the first three months of this year, office buildings posted average occupancy of 90%, a five-year high, and up one percentage point quarter-on-quarter and three percentage points year-on-year. The average office rent in HCMC was VND531,000 per square meter in the first quarter, up 2% over the previous quarter and 3% compared to the same period last year. A recent survey of Savills shows that the Grade-A, Grade-B and Grade-C office buildings have been faring well in recent quarters, with the Grade-A segment having the highest occupancy rate of 92%. Foreign companies accounted for around 60% of the total leased office space in HCMC. Mong Duong II receives Golden Hardhat Award AES-VCM Mong Duong Power Company Limited today held a ceremony to receive the Golden Hardhat Award presented by US’ AES Corporation. Vice president of The AES Corporation hands over the Golden Hardhat Award to the Leadership Team of Mong Duong 2 BOT Power Project The Golden Hardhat Award is a prestigious annual award established in 2009 by AES Corporation to recognise a single AES operating business or construction project that exemplifies what it means to put safety first, made significant improvements in comparison with previous performance, developed new safety techniques and best practices and improved safety performance significantly through execution of proactive or new safety practices. Joining the ceremony was Pham Minh Chinh, Quang Ninh Provincial Party Committee Secretary, Do Thong, Vice Chairman of the Quang Ninh Provincial People’s Committee, Andrew Vesey, chief operating officer and executive vice president of AES Corporation, together with other high level representatives from POSCO Energy and China Investment Corporation. The $2 billion Mong Duong 2 BOT Power Project, with two units and the total gross capacity of 1,240MW is currently under construction in Mong Duong Ward, After completion of construction in the second half of 2015, the Mong Duong 2 BOT Power Project will be the first and largest BOT coal-fired power plant in Prudential Prudential Assurance Vietnam Private Limited and Standard Chartered Bank ( This came after parent companies of both entities signed a new 15-year agreement covering in several Asian markets subject to applicable regulations in each country. The agreement extends the already successful cooperation between Prudential Vietnam, the leading life insurer in “Prudential “We are excited to enter into a new stage of the highly successful partnership with Prudential in Source: VEF/VNA/VNS/VOV/SGT/SGGP/Dantri/VIR |
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Article 11
Purchasing power drops back
HA NOI (VNS) - Consumer spending touched VND939.6 trillion (US$44 billion ) in the first four months of the year, posting a 10.5 per cent year-on-year increase, the General Statistics Office (GSO) announced yesterday. In April, the consumer spending rose a low 2.4 per cent over the previous month and 11.2 per cent year over year. The increase, excluding the price factor, was 5.5 per cent year over year. However, the real purchasing power in the period was similar to the corresponding period last year. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) in the January-April period was 0.88 per cent. This has been also the lowest consumer spending level since the second quarter of 2011. GSO economist Vu Manh Ha said the 5.5 per cent rise was calculated by taking into account the expected high consumer spending during the upcoming holidays. The service tourism sector posted a 25.6 per cent increase, while the other sectors rose 24.4 per cent. Ha said the purchasing power has been on the decline in the four-month period. The consumer spending rate in the first months of the year was 7.2 per cent, falling to 6.2 per cent in the first two months and 6 per cent in the first three months. The total spending of the private sector, which accounted for 86 per cent of the total, rose 10 per cent in the period, while it was 14 per cent in the first quarter of the year. He added that this was because most of supermarkets and shops in the cities reported a low turnover. In addition, the inventory index in industrial production was high at 14 per cent during the four months, higher than 13.4 per cent of the previous month. - VNS |
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Article 10
Ex-US military officer says Vietnamese, Americans should always be close friends  Lindsey Kiang (R) poses for a photo with a Vietnamese friend inside a Vietnamese beef noodle soup store in  Lindsey Kiang (R) poses for a photo in front of a Vietnamese beef noodle soup store in Editor’s Note:Lindsey Kiang, who helped set up the first April 30th this year marks the 39th anniversary of the reunification of To be sure, the friendly relations today are the fruit of steady efforts by government officials and representatives of the business sector, for good relations are in the best interests of both countries. But as April 30th reminds us inevitably of the war, it must be said that a significant contribution toward relations between our two countries has been made on a personal level, by individual American veterans of that war... indeed, by veterans who years earlier were engaged in the business of killing. For example, when President Bill Clinton normalized relations between the two countries in 1995, it was made possible only after years of determined effort in Congress by Senators John McCain and John Kerry, two war veterans who had experienced the worst of combat. And when He volunteered to return as representative of the The rapid start-up of the embassy didn't allow time to assign diplomats through the normal bureaucratic rotation, so a call went out for volunteers from all over the government, and a great many of the staff were indeed volunteers: veterans, officials with Vietnamese spouses, Viet Kieu, and others who wanted to be part of that historic time in Vietnam-U.S. relations. The groundbreaking efforts of that first enthusiastic group, the first Americans that most Hanoians had ever seen, did much to establish the foundation for the friendly relations between the two peoples. In the years since, I have met many American veterans who have contributed to better Vietnam-U.S. relations in their quiet, personal way, usually unnoticed by the governments or the media. Some examples: Chuck Searcy, a former military intelligence soldier in Saigon, now resident in David Thomas, then a combat engineer in Pleiku, has headed for more than 25 years the Indochina Arts Partnership, an organization for cultural exchange between A friend, a U.S. Marine veteran, led his unit in a bloody battle with a North Vietnamese Army unit near General Hal Moore, an officer who became famous during the battle of the Ia Drang Valley in which both sides suffered tragic losses, returned to Vietnam in 1993 when he met and became friends with his former enemy, late Lt. Gen. Nguyen Huu An [who passed away in 1995], after the war. These few examples are just some of those about which I know. There are many more stories about other veterans who are quietly and individually working to build a warm and long-lasting relationship between the Vietnamese and the American people. I have often been asked by some: "How can a veteran act in such a way now when he and his foes were trying to kill each other previously?" I think the answer is that, for many American veterans, the experience of war and seeing death and destruction face-to-face, has led them to realize that basic humanity is the same for all people, even for the former "enemy." There is respect for the brave, dedicated, and resourceful Vietnamese people who suffered even more. The veterans on both sides experienced the same horrors, so they are bonded in a way that non-veterans cannot fully understand. But their shared belief that there should never be war again, and that Lindsey Kiang, Tuoitrenews |
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Article 9
Political News Headlines 30/4 Moscow Duma delegation visits Ho Chi Minh City Chairwoman of the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Council Nguyen Thi Quyet Tam on April 29 welcomed a delegation from the Moscow City Duma. Tam expressed her delight to receive the delegation, especially as the city is celebrating the 39 th anniversary of Liberation Day on April 30. She stressed that her city and Head of the He suggested the two sides regularly organise delegation exchanges and boost experience sharing and cooperation in not only economics, legislative affairs, and culture, but also Party building. CPV ups ties with Bangladeshi, Nepalese parties A delegation from the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) attended the ninth congress of the Workers Party of Bangladesh (WPB) in Rajshashi city from April 24-27. Minister of Civil Aviation and Tourism Rashed Khan Menon, who was elected as the WPB President in the 2014-2019 tenure, confirmed that his party always treasures the traditional relations with the CPV and hopes such bilateral ties will be furthered in the coming time for the sake of the two peoples. The Vietnamese delegation, led by Deputy Head of the CPV Central Committee’s Commission for External Relations Nguyen Huy Tang, also paid a visit to Tang said he believes under the leadership of the new government, President of the CPN-UML J.Khanan praised Both sides looked at ways to forge bilateral ties ahead, and agreed on measures to boost two-way trade relations in the context that the two countries will mark 40 years of diplomatic ties in 2015. Russian academician receives Friendship Order Director of the Vietnamese ambassador to Russia Pham Xuan Son presented the order to the academician in Titarenko has worked as RAS Director since 1985 and has actively supported Vietnamese agencies in scientific research and cooperation. Source: VNN/VNA/VOV |
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Article 8
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Nguyen Do Anh Tuan from the Institute of Policy
These shortcomings have directly led to the hesitancy of domestic and foreign businesses to invest in the agricultural sector, he said.
The World Bank (WB) in turn points to the lackluster labour productivity growth in the agricultural sector, which is significantly lower than comparable figures from China and Cambodia
The productivity growth in the agricultural sector only increased from US$200 per capita per year to nearly US$400 per capita per year from 1985 to 2011, the World Bank reports, the lowest level in the ASEAN region.
Implementing synchronized solutions
Factually, Vietnam
However, without huge investments from the business community, these solutions lack practicality and cannot help the agricultural sector develop effectively.
Richard F. Doner, from the Political Department of the Emory University emphasises that upgrading the value chain is extremely difficult as implementing new technology is much easier said than done, requiring not only huge investment of money but significant training and development of human resources.
Therefore, the government needs to concentrate on devising a more practical and proper mechanism to solve these difficulties, he said adding that the formulation of policies should be initiated in a highly coordinated manner by government agencies, research units, business associations, and public-private consulting companies.
Meanwhile, Tuan said that restructuring the agricultural sector should focus on renovating management by clearly delineating those fields and services which will be administered by the state, leaving the remainder to the private sector.
Additionally, there should be carefully thought out and crafted policies to facilitate the privatisation of the agriculture sector and the establishment of associations to coordinate activities of the sector, he concluded.
Last but not least, Ms Jayati Ghosh, an Economics Professor from Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi , India
Private sector production is the key to agricultural success, and capitalizing on that, a stable farm produce value chain can be constructed, bringing a practical sustainable and stable production model to agriculture, she concluded.
VOV
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Article 7
HCM City 39 years after Reunification Day Thirty nine years after reunification on April 30, 1975, HCM City has changed substantially into a modern, dynamic city. Since reunification, HCM City authorities have much invested into the development of the city’s infrastructure to accommodate fast socio-economic growth. One of the outstanding infrastructure works of the city is Hanoi Highway, which was previously known as a route linking Saigon's urban area to the North. Now, the highway has become one of the most important gateways to HCM City, linking the city with southeastern areas, the Central Highlands and the North.  Hanoi Highway Due to the high traffic levels, the route has been upgraded many times. Some parts of the highway have been expanded to 120 metres wide. It is among the largest road projects in HCM City. The East-West Highway is also a big transport work. Thirty years after the reunification, National Highway No. 1 was the only route to transport goods from north to the southwestern region through HCM City. However, the route deteriorated over time, causing many traffic accidents. The East-West Highway was built to deal with the problem. The highway includes the Thu Thiem Tunnel.  East-West Highway To ease traffic at peak hours, HCM City authorities built a number of overpasses including Cat Lai and Tram 2, along with tunnels such as Tan Tao and Linh Trung.  The city has upgraded Nhieu Loc-Thi Nghe and Benh Nghe-Tau Hu canal routes which were seriously polluted and lost their capacity for traffic in the 1980s  Phu My and Thu Thiem Bridges help connect the central HCM City to Thu Thiem Peninsula to the east    Nhieu Loc-Thi Nghe Canal revived  The city’s symbol  Thu Thiem Tunnel  Saigon's Notre-Dame Cathedral  Intersection from above  Robust development in HCM City suburbs     Many modern infrastructure projects By Tung Nguyen, dtinews.vn |
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Article 6
Laminating gold by hand in Hanoi’s old village 1/10 tael of gold can be laminated into a sheet of 1m2. The sheet is then cut into small square pieces of 1cm long to inlay on worshipping items. Visiting historical relics and temples, visitors often see the gilded Buddha statues, horizontal lacquered boards and parallel sentences. Over a long period of time, these worshipping items are still beautiful. Most of them were made by talented hands of artisans in Kieu Ky village, Gia Lam district, Hanoi. Over 500 years ago, Nguyen Quy Tri who lived during the Anterior Le Dynasty (1428- 1527) passed the craft down to Kieu Ky locals. Descendants of those locals now take his date of death, the 17th day of the eighth lunar month, as the annual chance to show their gratitude to the ancestor of the craft. Craftsmen often start their work in the new year on the 14th day of the first lunar month with a ceremony, during which a famous and skilled man, often ready to help villagers, is given the honor of making the first hammer strikes. Kieu Ky is the only village in Vietnam where the sheets are made from pure gold and silver, called old sheets, used exclusive for products in the village. Craftsmen only make decorative sheets from tin, called new sheets, outside the village where they go to practice the craft. Each household puts its own distinguishing characteristics on the products. That is why craftsmen can easily pinpoint who the manufacturers of the works are among their fellow villagers. Coming to Kieu Ky, visitors find themselves in the busy life of the locals. Most of the villagers are peasants, but they hardly have any free time because, over 50 households engaged in the craft employ hundreds of the old and young alike. Vu Thi Dac, 75, who has spent over 60 years in the craft, said : “this job requires experience, technique and sophisticated work before becoming a sheet.” First, pine resin is mixed with gelatin glue processed from buffalo skin. The mixture is then mixed with special raw paper pulp, then cut cut into 4cm x 6cm pieces. Small pieces of gold, sandwiched between those sheet, are hammered for nearly an hour before becoming a complete products. The last stage of the work is to take the gold sheets out of the “moulds”, but this is by no means a simple task, as only a gentle breath would be enough to blow them away. In recent years, together with the growth of the economy, various pagodas, and shrines are being restored, creating a chance for the development of the craft in Kieu Ky, as the demand for the sheets skyrockets. Large volumes of the sheets are exported to Japan and Thailand, and this injects a new vitality to the craft. Kieu Ky craftsmen can feel proud because they have successfully restored and developed the unique legacy passed down to them by their ancestors.
Zing/Cinet |
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Article 5
According to the Governor of the State Bank of  This information was released by Binh during a dialogue between Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and the business community on Monday. According to the head of the banking sector, This is the first time a representative of the State Bank has made public the country’s foreign currency reserve. Earlier, Binh said that in the first quarter alone, the central bank purchased $7.7 billion. At the end of October last year, in an update report, ANZ estimated the foreign exchange reserves of Earlier this year, Governor Binh unveiled that interest rates would remain stable and, if adjusted, would not exceed 2%. However, talking to businesses on Monday, Binh reduced the ceiling to no higher than 1%. In the dialogue with businesses, Governor Binh also answered questions related to interest rates for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). He said that, at present, 60% of banking capital is being pumped into SMEs. "As such, any difficulties in the activities of SMEs directly affect the outcomes of the business of credit institutions," he said. At a press conference last week, the State Bank said 16% of the total debt balance of the economy is suffering from the weight of 13-15% interest rates. Governor Binh said the majority of these debts are loans for consumption, and real estate. Na Son, |
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Article 4
BUSINESS IN BRIEF 1/5 Korean agriculture, an extraordinarily efficient and good mix of traditional farming methods mixed with modern technology, was the topic of discussion at a meeting in At the event, Deputy Prime Minister Vu Van Ninh told Chairman of the Coordinating Committee of Vietnam-RoK development partnership programme Jun Kwang Woo The Vietnamese Government always looks forward to exploring new and novel cooperation ideas, creating favorable condition for both nations to boost their economies, he said. The RoK has become one of the most important trade partners of Jun Kwang Woo said in turn that the RoK is more than willing to share experiences and strengthening cooperation in agriculture and rural development, particularly in new rural construction. He also expressed his strong desire that The decline in agriculture, mirrored by the rural exodus, as the nation moves to a more industrialised society is undermining the nation’s economy as a whole, as many parts of the country are left behind. Although agriculture continues to play an important part in the national economy, official statistics reflect the sector’s growth has slowed in 2014, a little bit lower than the figure of 2.67% in 2013 and 2.68% in 2012 and 4% in 2011. In context, the demand and prices for farm produce and commodities began to taper off sharply in 2013 compared to prior years and the trend is continuing in 2014. As prime examples, in 2013 the price of rice, coffee and rubber commodities decreased by 18.7%, 26.6% and 11.7% respectively. Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung attributes the slow growth of the agricultural sector to an overabundance of small-scale family farms combined with an insufficient number of large scale production farms, lack of coordination within the sector to work for the common good, and low productivity and poor quality. Given the backdrop of low demand, low prices and the context of fierce international competition, industry experts predict the growth of the agricultural sector to remain stagnant in line with a slow pace in the development of production methods and competitive edge of farm produce. Nguyen Do Anh Tuan from the These shortcomings have directly led to the hesitancy of domestic and foreign businesses to invest in the agricultural sector, he said. The World Bank (WB) in turn points to the lackluster labour productivity growth in the agricultural sector, which is significantly lower than comparable figures from The productivity growth in the agricultural sector only increased from US$200 per capita per year to nearly US$400 per capita per year from 1985 to 2011, the World Bank reports, the lowest level in the ASEAN region. Factually, However, without huge investments from the business community, these solutions lack practicality and cannot help the agricultural sector develop effectively. Richard F. Doner, from the Political Department of the Emory University emphasises that upgrading the value chain is extremely difficult as implementing new technology is much easier said than done, requiring not only huge investment of money but significant training and development of human resources. Therefore, the government needs to concentrate on devising a more practical and proper mechanism to solve these difficulties, he said adding that the formulation of policies should be initiated in a highly coordinated manner by government agencies, research units, business associations, and public-private consulting companies. Meanwhile, Tuan said that restructuring the agricultural sector should focus on renovating management by clearly delineating those fields and services which will be administered by the state, leaving the remainder to the private sector. Additionally, there should be carefully thought out and crafted policies to facilitate the privatisation of the agriculture sector and the establishment of associations to coordinate activities of the sector, he concluded. Last but not least, Ms Jayati Ghosh, an Economics Professor from Private sector production is the key to agricultural success, and capitalizing on that, a stable farm produce value chain can be constructed, bringing a practical sustainable and stable production model to agriculture, she concluded. Economic forum develops practical solutions for 2014 Experts attending the Spring Economic Forum have examined the status of the economy and come up with a number of practical solutions for buoying up the economy which has already bottomed out and is on track to recover. Participants at the April 28-29 forum in Quang Ninh province shared the view that the economy has weathered the storm and begun to see positive improvements. The GDP growth rate increased in a quarterly basis; inflation was kept at a low level; Quarter 1 ended with a US$1 billion trade surplus; and the foreign currency market remained stable. Industrial production began to pick up, with an increasing number of businesses resuming operation and new businesses registering for the first time. Thanks to low interest rates, more businesses are now accessible to bank loans to maintain production. All the same, many experts were quick to caution that many challenges are still lying ahead. They cited low aggregate demand as a key factor that affects the health of the economy, especially private businesses. Nguyen Van Giau, Chairman of the National Assembly Committee for Economic Affairs, pointed out that State employee incomes have stagnated and have not increased over the past two years, showing the aggregate demand of the society is rather low. Experts at the forum also discussed market difficulties, including a lack of adequate policies for implementing a VND30,000 billion stimulate package for the real estate market and the thorny problem of not adequately dealing with non-performing loans. They agreed that economic restructuring that began a year ago has not met expectations, especially for State-owned enterprises and big economic groups. Although the public debt is within safe limit approved by the National Assembly, it still remains high. It is important for the State to balance budget to pay debts and ensure expenditure structure to promote economic development. The State has issued a large amount of bonds, 80% of which have been bought by credit organisations, slowing down capital for production and trading. The forum also dealt with many other social issues, including labour, employment, education reform, epidemics, and unemployment Experts proposed that the government mobilise all resources to address pending issues, with a primary focus on economic restructuring, especially in agriculture. They underlined the need to put FDI allocation under the microscope, giving priority to essential areas and products of higher added value. Some experts proposed introducing a more flexible exchange rate policy to fuel economic growth, supporting businesses in accessing market, and evaluating the comprehensive impact of the new integration process, taking into account Vietnam-EU Free Trade Agreement negotiations, the establishment of the ASEAN community in 2015 and Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement negotiations. Many participants also agreed that institutional reform costs less but faces the most difficulty as it must be carried out in all fields and levels. Meeting realizes Vietnam–Singapore connectivity agreement At the meeting, co-chaired by Vietnamese Minister of Planning and Investment Bui Quang Vinh and Singaporean Minister for Trade and Industry Lim Hng Kiang, both sides reviewed their achievements in the six cooperation areas of finance, education and training, transportation, information and communication technology, investment, trade and services. They also discussed new measures to expand economic cooperation in line with each country’s potential and strengths, including the development of Under VSAEC signed in 2005, The 11th ministerial meeting on economic connectivity will be held in Lang Son, Chinese localities strengthen cooperation Businesses from Lang Son province are attending the 9th Exhibition on Cultural Products in They are displaying a wide variety of high quality Made in They partook in a number of seminars and activities that helped increase their understanding of their Chinese counterparts, and get updated on new products and recent developments in the marketplace. Yiwu is considered the world’s biggest retail market by the United Nations and the World Bank. Yiwu International Trade Zone, which covers 5.5 million sq.m, has a special zone for 10 ASEAN countries, including Vietnamese products, including handicrafts and food, are favoured by Chinese and international wholesalers. During their stay, Chairman of the Lang Son City People’s Committee Bui Van Coi and Chairman of Yiwu City He Mei Hua signed a framework agreement to promote bilateral cooperation in agriculture, forestry and consumer goods manufacturing. Attracting more Korean investment into Can Tho The Mekong Delta city of Speakers highlighted investment advantages in the City’s industrial zones and high-tech parks in addition to the Tan Loc and Con Son eco-tourism sites. They specifically identified manufacturing, agriculture, and civil construction as key areas of ideal investment matching the strengths of both the city and the Korean business community. A Vietnam-RoK technology nursery project launched in late 2013 at Tra Noc Industrial Zone with total investment capital of US$21.13 million was touted as a prime example of the successes that Korean businesses have experienced. Once completed, the project will help regional aquaculture, and agricultural and seafood processing businesses access advanced technologies to raise the quality and value of products. With the project, Can Tho will have a research and development centre for agricultural and seafood processing and mechanical engineering to promote its agricultural advantages and potential. Japanese investors are pulling out of the Vietnamese shrimp market due to excessively high levels of oxytetracycline (OTC), according to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP). The decision was made due to the continuing detection of unacceptably high levels of OTC in shrimp shipments, despite prior warnings and the fact that it is public knowledge that virtually all Vietnamese shrimp exports are inspected for the antibiotic. VASEP said that the Japanese importers are considering importing shrimp from VASEP warns that unless local shrimp businesses strengthen self-regulation of OTC they will fail to penetrate the Japanese market. Still tough to access home loan program The Ministry of Construction has proposed adding more beneficiaries to the VND30-trillion low-interest home loan program initiated by the Government, but real estate enterprises still find lending requirements complex and attribute this to a slow pace of disbursement. Deputy Minister of Construction Nguyen Tran The suggestion is not new, however, as some enterprises are doing what he proposed but homebuyers have to shoulder normal interest rates. Le Ngoc Giau, general director of Tan Hung Investment Joint Stock Company, said homebuyers had signed up to buy many of over 600 apartment units launched by the firm recently. However, they have had to take out normal loans from banks rather than low-interest credit from the stimulus program. As each condo is measured at 84 square meters, exceeding the 70-square-meter limit set by the VND30-trillion program, homebuyers cannot apply for loans at interest rates lower than commercial ones. Nonetheless, each unit is priced at less than VND1 billion, so the investor is ready to give homebuyers 14 square meters for free, meaning customers have to pay for 70 square meters only, Giau said. Nguyen Van Duc, deputy director of the Dat Lanh Real Estate Company, told the Daily that that there should be just a single price requirement of below VND1.05 billion instead of the size and unit price requirements as currently applied. However, Duc said, this should have been put in place last July or August. The conditions applicable to the stimulus program, if relaxed, will help solve part of people’s housing demand. The Government should have policies to encourage enterprises develop small units of 40-50 square meters each. HCMC is now coping with a limited supply of small-sized homes due to the rising population, Duc added. Le Hoang Chau, chairman of the HCMC Real Estate Association, said the new suggestion was only suitable to housing products in HCMC, For instance, residents in the Mekong Delta can buy a high-end apartment or even a villa for just VND1.05 billion. If one owns a villa, they are not considered low-income earners, so they are not eligible for the home loan program. Nguyen Vinh Tran, general director of Nam Long Investment Joint Stock Company, said the requirements are still far from reality. The firm’s Ehome4-Saigon North project in Therefore, Tran suggested the ministry lift the regulation on citizenship status to assist home investors. Figures of the ministry showed participating banks in the VND30-trillion program had disbursed nearly VND1.7 trillion as of mid-April. Haiphong’s Do Son casino saw profits for nearly a decade, but in 2008 started incurring consistent losses totalling VND169 billion ($8 million) by 2012. The news was released at a recent meeting on reviewing the five-year implementation of the Resolution of the tenth Central Party Committee meeting on continuing to perfect a socialist-oriented market-based economy. The report states that Do Son casino, licensed in 1992 as But in 2008 it started seeing losses that amounted to $8 million as of 2012. The casino has paid an average of VND23.5 billion ($1.1 million) in taxes each year. As of 2013, it employed 417 workers, 394 of whom were Vietnamese and the rest foreigners. Despite its poor performance in recent years, the casino’s employees still enjoy quite a high rate of pay. Vietnamese managers earn an average of $800 per month while the foreign managers take down around $2,300. Do Son beach and Cat Ba are According to a National Assembly Finance and Budget Commission report released in February, Ho Tram casino - a major gambling venue in the country in southern Ba Ria-Vung Tau province – reported revenues of $5.5 million with 35,877 visitors in just seven months operating. In that time, Ho Tram has already paid more than $2.8 million to the state budget. The Ministry of Finance's figures show that the now five trial casinos, based in Haiphong, Lao Cai, Danang and Quang Ninh, have posted total revenue of VND930 billion ($44 million). SMEs struggling to borrow while banks sitting on huge cash piles Banks are sitting on huge cash piles at the moment but gaining access to loans is no easy task for small and medium enterprises (SMEs), according to the 2030 Businessmen Club under the Saigon Times Club. SMEs said at a seminar at the Saigon Times Group office in HCMC last week that they had found it extremely tough to ask banks for a loan though banks said they had ample cash to lend. Nguyen Ngoc Ha, director of HD Bank’s Nguyen Trai branch, said many SMEs had failed to meet banks’ lending requirements. Banks often have a different approach to working with SMEs, he said, noting a good business plan and a good financial statement would not suffice. Banks, he said, know enterprises always have at least two financial reports with one for lenders and one for the taxman. Some enterprises even have more than two reports, Ha said. Before deciding on a loan, banks should look into the fields where the borrower is active and how the management of the borrowing firm behaves, he said. Banks also look at the way the borrower manages their cash flows, deals with unforeseen circumstances, and uses their long-term and short-term capital, he added. Ha Xuan Anh, chairman of Son Viet Garment JSC based in HCMC, said lender banks always asked his firm whether it had assets for collateral to take out loans. Vung Ro refinery developer refuses land The According to local newspaper Vnexpress, the investor said the land which the local authorities tried to turn over to them was not fully cleared. They explained that many fisheries were still active on the site. The chairman of the Phu Yen Provincial People’s Committee Pham Dinh Cu, confirmed the news, saying that the land to be handed over to the investor was around 134 hectares in the province’s Dong Hoa district. “We [the province] have finished land clearance and compensation procedures and so far have paid VND100 billion ($4.76 million) for the first phase of the project. But there are still 15 households and around 20 shrimp ponds that have not yet been moved,” Cu said. Cu confirmed that the investor had reason to refuse the land, as local authorities have been slow in dealing with the issue. Cu also blamed farmers for continuing to farm shrimp at the location, despite already receiving compensation. “The province is committed to forcing them off the site and giving the land as agreed to the investor by the beginning of May,” he added. He continued by saying that committee would support the investor in its plans to start the project by July. Vung Ro refinery’s EPC contract was signed in October last year between the investor and Vung Ro Petroleum’s original investment certificate had a planned output of four million tonnes of crude oil, but the investor revised this to eight million tonnes to enhance efficiency. The complex is slated to start commercial operations by 2016 and will produce a wide range of products including gasoline, polypropylene, benzene, toluene, xylene and diesel. The products will be distributed domestically and exported. With a total investment of $3.18 billion, Vung Ro would be the biggest FDI project thus far in Phu Yen. The investor claimed that once operational the refinery would contribute more than $110 million per year to the local budget and create more than 1,300 jobs. Phenikaa builds $87 million compound quarzt slab factory in Hoa Lac Located in Phenikaa announced that it signed a technology transfer contract with According to the signed contract, the Vietnamese company has got the exclusivity in buying machine and transferring this exclusive technology from Breton company in With the optimised designed production line and, Phenikaa expects it would provide the best quality and luxury quartz products to Vietnamese and the world market. Right now, the first phase of the manufacturing facility is under the construction. The manufacturer expects to start its mass production in June 2015. Vingroup announced incentives on office leasing Vincom Office Company, an arm of Vingroup has announced its special lease programme named “Golden Under this programme, from April 15 to July 15, new tenants will benefit from special incentives and preferential lease conditions when leasing an office space in the flagship developments of Vingroup being During this three month period, new office tenants will be offered special lease incentives including VIP staff privileges at the building’s facilities and complementary services, with specific terms and conditions applying to each project. Accordingly Vincom Office Company provides flexible office solutions, accommodates demand from 100m2 to 4,000 m2 on a single floor area, in addition to impressive ceiling heights, spacious floor layouts, efficient vertical transportation and amenities at international standards, combined with a smart underground parking system covering a total area of over three hundred thousand square meters. These office components are all integrated within multi-purpose developments that provide banking, healthcare, modern residential living, shopping, leisure and dining outlets. This unique all-in-one offering, combined with prime locations ensures that This incentive is applied for a range projects including the whole floor area of the second floor of Royal City, Times City; a part of R6 (Royal City); 5-storey building - Tower 1 (Times City) and office space at Vincom Center Dong Khoi, all are in prime locations. Vincom Office Company is a member of Vingroup - a leading commercial property company that provides international standard office management and marketing; established in 2013. Vincom Office currently manages office space in three major developments: Lotte gets nod to build $2 billion Smart Complex Lotte Consortium – a joint venture between The $2 billion complex is planned for 2A area in the Thu Thiem New Urban Area in According to Kim Min Geun, vice president, head of Overseas Mixed Used Development Division of Lotte Asset Development, Lotte Centre Hanoi and the Smart Complex are key in the company’s Vietnam development plans and Lotte aims to lead international development in the future with its expertise in mixed-used development. The Thu Thiem New Urban Area is being developed by the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee to match up with Hong Kong’s International Finance Centre and The Smart Complex is planned as a commercial and residential centre with multiple shopping complexes, hotels, serviced residences, offices and apartments. Lotte Consortium plans to complete the master plan this year and carry out phased developments as infrastructure construction allows. The complex will be pioneered in This is Lotte’s second property development planned for Vietnam, following the now under-construction Lotte Centre Hanoi, slated to open later this year and which will be the second tallest building in Vietnam with 65-storeys. Lotte Centre Hanoi, once open, will feature a 5-star hotel, offices, luxury serviced residences and an observation deck on the 65th floor, which it hopes will be one of the most visited attractions in Rise in The property market has begun to show positive signs, with a recent increase in capital inflows. Construction Minister Trinh Dinh Dung reported that by mid-April, the number of transactions in the real estate market in Meanwhile, the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) said that by the end of March, investment credit and real estate business increased by 3.95%, much higher than last years’ figure of 1.09%, for the first quarter. Foreign capital inflows into According to the Foreign Investment Agency, up until April 20, 2014, the property market ranked second in attracting FDI with additionally increased and newly-registered capital hitting US$392.3 million, accounting for 8.1% of total investment. In particular, an apartment project in Earlier, in the first quarter of the year, the real estate market also ranked second in attracting FDI with additionally increased and newly-registered capital reaching US$288.3 million, making up 8.6% of total investment. Nearly a year after getting its new investment certificate, the multi-million dollar Nha Trang Bay luxury resort project has yet to restart construction, though the new developer committed to starting operations within two years. In May 2013, after a new investment certificate was signed for the VND1.2 trillion ($57 million) resort project, formerly named Rusalka and now named Champarama Resort and Spa, the developer – Focus Travel Nha Trang JSC – committed to opening the project two years later. In actuality, the project was first suspended nine years ago in 2005, and still it faces the same problems it did then and has even added a few to the list. One of the main reasons behind the delay was its conflict with Nha Trang Bay plans, currently in development by the Khanh Hoa province People’s Committee, said Vo Tan Thai, director of the province’s Department of Planning and Investment. There have been different opinions on plans for the bay, particularly a great deal of opposition from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, as well as scientists and architects, as several investment projects are not correlative with the Law on Cultural Heritage. According to Thai, at present there is no word on as to when the project will restart construction. “The planning issues have been resolved, but many procedures have yet to be completed. At present, the developer is still working on getting a building permit to restart the project,” he added. Another pending issue is a debt from the old developer – investment and tourism development company Rus-Inves-Tur (RIT). To take up the project, the new developer Focus Travel agreed to inherit all of the rights and responsibilities but also debts of their predecessor. Some of the debts have been resolved, but one with the BMC Building Materials Co Ltd. under the Ministry of Industry and Trade remains outstanding. The initial debt was for VND51.6 billion ($2.4 million), but BMC now lists it as VND275.5 billion ($13.1 million). After the province granted the project it’s new investment certificate last year, BMC filed petitions requesting unsettled problems be resolved, particularly debt obligations, before handing the project to a new developer. BMC’s complaints even reached the desk of the prime minister. Last Thursday, Khanh Hoa People’s Committee hosted a meeting to settle these issues. It is expected that the province will soon issue a document detailing resolutions. The erstwhile Rusalka project received the investment certificate in 2000 and was set to set up a tourism complex spanning 43.5 hectares that cost some $15 million. It was invested by RIT, chaired by Nguyen Duc Chi. In 2005 Chi was arrested under charge of “frauds and appropriation of others’ assets.” The project thus came to a halt, had its assets frozen and the licence revoked in 2006, and ended up being liquidated in mid-August 2011, under an order by the prime minister. In April, 2010, however, the Supreme Court overturned the accusations against Chi, and all assets were returned to Chi. Six months later, the prime minister assigned Khanh Hoa’s authorities to establish new legal entity to continue the project to ensure the investor’s benefits and reduce financial damages. RIT’s former chairman Chi then proposed to have Focus Travel Nha Trang take over the project, a request that was green-lighted by the coastal province’s authorities. Focus Travel Nha Trang was chaired by Nguyen Duc Tan, who is Chi’s brother. Buying rental property trends in HCM City Many in A recent study by CBRE Vietnam indicated that the leasing out is an important factor in the decision to buy a home for Vietnamese people, particularly in According to CBRE, the Vietnamese real estate market is facing a continued slump, which makes for an opportune time to buy houses with an intention to rent them out. Rental properties can bring investors a stable source of income, and when the property market recovers, they can sell the houses at a profit. Truong An Duong, Savills The trend is not new, but has grown stronger in According to Mr. Truong Nam Duong, apartment projects in Binh Tan District, District No. 2 and Nam Sai Gon area have attracted the most customers. The Phu My Hung urban area located, at Nam Sai Gon, is one of the most desirable apartment projects in Policies to revive property market The state has offered credit packages for the local real estate market and will amend more regulations and policies to promote further recovery in the local market, noted experts. During an online dialogue on the property market 2014: opportunities from policies held by the dddn.com.vn, the online Dien dan Doanh nghiep newspaper yesterday in Ha Noi, Phan Thanh Mai, the general director of the Bank of Construction, stated that the local property market has shown positive development over the past few months, including financial solutions from banks – VND30 trillion and VND50 trillion stimulus packages. The VND30 trillion package, one of the government programmes, is aimed at providing credit for social housing projects. The package will help investors develop the social housing segment to meet the people's demands and help to push down the prices of housing apartments, thereby creating conducive factors to remove stagnation in the local property market, Mai added. Meanwhile, the VND50 trillion package, which was recently released, is a commercial credit package for contractors, investors, and building material producers in the property sector, he remarked. Banks will manage credit to use the money for the right purposes. The state expects that with the introduction of the package, investors will have more investment capital and the prices of building material products will also drop. Thus, the prices of houses and apartments will have a chance to fall against the current prices. The state expected that the package would provide needed capital for unfinished property projects, Mai reported. The two credit packages were aimed to achieve different purposes and expected to boost the market, he added. However, according to Nguyen Huu Cuong, the chairman of the Ha Noi Real Estate Club, experts and even members of the National Assembly are of the viewpoint that disbursement of the VND30 trillion package is slow. The slow disbursement might not mean that is unsuccessful, Cuong pointed out. The package for social apartment projects, including buyers and investors with low interest rates, was issued at the right time when the market had fallen into serious crisis, he claimed. The slow disbursement of the package was partly due to slow reaction by the people and enterprises towards the package, while on the other hand, procedures on appraising and approving the projects had been carefully implemented, he noted. The package, a financial tool by the Government, had positive effects on the securities market to push the VN Index from 397.6 points at the end of 2012 to 569.87 points on Tuesday and lured US$21.6 billion investment into the property sector, he emphasised. This support from the Government helped the local property market to cover losses and aided the development of the apartment segment having a selling price of around VND20 million per square metre. The package had saved 61,000 enterprises having thousands of property projects to avoid closure and bankruptcy, he explained. Therefore, the package is expected to prove its efficiency in the future, as the package is effective until 2020. Additionally, according to Nguyen Manh Ha, the director of the House Management Department, under the Ministry of Construction, the ministry and related ministries and sectors will amend the laws on trading property, construction, and housing to deliver more houses for the people and encourage all the economic sectors to invest into property products for the people. Those laws will help people of the low-income group to own apartments and help the property market to have transparent development. Cuong remarked that the amendment of the laws would abolish the administrative barriers for site clearance, create transparency in the market, and increase the prices of property products. Source: VEF/VNA/VNS/VOV/SGT/SGGP/Dantri/VIR |
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Article 3
Market rallies but liquidity falls
HA NOI (VNS) – Shares closed higher on Tuesday on both the national stock exchanges as the blue chips gained ground, but the liquidity continued to decrease due to rising investor caution. On the HCM Stock Exchange, the VN-Index rose 0.85 per cent over Monday to end at 578 points yesterday. The gainers outnumbered the losers by 105-89, while 75 shares closed unchanged. Ten of the top 30 shares by market value and liquidity rallied, while eight slumped and 12 closed flat. The VN30 index inched up 0.51 per cent to end at 632.10 points. However, the liquidity on the market continued to fall with the market volume falling by 10 per cent from the previous session, totalling over 50 million shares, and the market value reducing by 30 per cent to reach just VND917 billion, or US$43.4 million. "The investors continued to maintain a careful approach towards equity assets during a time of uncertain outlook," analysts of FPT Securities wrote in a note. Some blue chips gained, leading the market's rebound. PV Gas (GAS) and Masan Group (MSN) climbed nearly 3 per cent and Vietcombank (VCB) grew over 1 per cent. Real estate developer FLC Group (FLC) was again the most active stock on the trading of 7 million shares, but the price slipped 4.5 per cent to end at VND10,600 a share. On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index increased 0.29 per cent to close at 79.88 points. The HNX30, tracking the top 30 shares on the bourse, was also up 0.5 per cent to close at 160.46 points. The trading continued to fall, however, as the market volume and value decreased another 10 per cent, totalling 31 million shares, worth VND371 billion, or $17.6 million, respectively. PetroVietnam Construction Corp (PVX) was the most active code with 4.1 million shares being exchanged at VND5,100 a share. The market is closed today. It will reopen on Monday after the commemoration of the National Reunification Day and May Day. – VNS |
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Article 2
Social News Headlines 1/5 Russia to begin construction on 6th submarine for Vietnam St Petersburg-based Admiralty Verfi shipyard will commence work on its 6th submarine for This is the final submarine the Russian shipbuilder is providing to The first submarine, dubbed HQ-182 Hanoi successfully made its first maiden voyage on January 8, 2014. The second vessel named HQ-183 Ho Chi Minh City docked at Collectively, the six submarines have been nicknamed "black holes" for their ability to remain undetected underwater. Nationwide activities mark 60th anniversary of Dien Bien Phu Victory A number of activities were organised across the country to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Dien Bien Phu Victory over the French colonialists (May 7, 1954 - May 7, 2014). On behalf of the Central Military Commission and the Ministry of National Defence, Senior Lieutenant General Ngo Xuan Lich, Secretary of the Party Central Committee and Chief of the General Department of Politics under the Vietnam People’s Army, visited and presented a gift to General Le Duc Anh, former President, former Minister of National Defense; and General Nguyen Quyet, former Chief of the General Department of Politics under the Vietnam People’s Army. On April 29, two photogragphy exhibitions opened in the The exhibition displays over 90 documents and photos of great historical value, featuring the whole process of the national struggle against the French colonists, under the leadership of the Party and President Ho Chi Minh, as well as highlighting the Dien Bien Phu Victory. Also the same day, the The film week, which runs until May 7, is expected to help the younger generation learn more about the resounding The Quang Ngai provincial Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Vietnam Association of Historical Sciences on April 29 jointly organised a photography exhibition featuring the life and career of Lieutenant General Pham Kiet, a brilliant military official of Vietnam People’s Army, and his great contribution to the national struggle for liberation and revolutionary cause. Also on April 29, a propaganda painting exhibition on Dien Bien Phu Victory opened in the northern port city of More than 200 posters and paintings provide visitors with insight into the Vietnamese people’s resistance war against the French, as well as the history of the glorious Hanoi paroles prisoners on National Liberation Day The Hanoi Police on April 29 announced an amnesty and commutation for 145 inmates from its three detention camps on the occasion of National Liberation Day (April 30). Among the total, 25 will be released on parole, and 119 will have their prison terms commuted by one to nine months. At Detention Camp No1, Lieutenant General Dinh Van Toan, deputy director of the Hanoi Police, congratulated prisoners eligible for the amnesty and commutation and asked others to perform well to be considered in the next phase of amnesty. He also asked the camp to take more care of the prisoners so that they would soon enjoy the State’s leniency and tolerance and reunite with their family. The same day, the southern Man fined for illegally trading cobras A 40-year-old man from Nam Truc district in the northern He was caught a month ago transporting 26 cobras from the central The fine was issued following a Decision signed on April 28 by Nguyen Duc Cuong, chairman of the Quang Tri People's Committee. The 26 cobras, which are known as Ophiophagus Hannah and specified by the Government as a rare species, have been released into their natural habitat.- Traffic accidents down in first four months More than 8,600 traffic accidents occurred nationwide in the first four months of 2014, killing 3,173 people and injuring another 8,512. According to the National Committee for Traffic Safety, declines were seen in the number of cases (13.4 percent), fatalities (4.8 percent) and injuries (16.6 percent) against the same period last year. In April alone, the nation saw 2,056 traffic accidents, resulting in 746 deaths and leaving 2,050 people injured. These figures showed declines of 294 cases, nine deaths and 275 injuries from one year ago. During the month, traffic police have handled nearly 1.4 million traffic law violation cases, collecting total administrative fines of 803 billion VND (37.7 million USD) and detaining 8,700 cars and 157 motorbikes. Vietnamese war heroes commemorated in Germany The Vietnamese community in The April 27 ceremony at Tu An pagoda in Monk Thich Tu Nhon said that the event was to express gratitude to those who devoted their lives to defending the country’s sea and island sovereignty and to remind Vietnamese nationals of the self-reliance spirit. In The day-long requiem was also aimed to tell Vietnamese people to treasure the sacrifices made by soldiers and their compatriots. Children encouraged to wear helmets A programme encouraging primary school children to wear helmets on the road was launched on April 28-29 in the southern Tens of thousands of helmets will be donated to children and teachers in the Campaigns to raise public awareness of the significance of wearing helmets for self-protection is essential, said the National Traffic Safety Committee. Launched by the the Asia Injury Prevention Foundation (AIP), the Helmets for Kids campaign aims to reduce the number of traffic crash injuries and fatalities. More than 25,000 helmets have already been presented to first graders in the three provinces under the three-year-old project. Sustainable living space nurtures innovative ideas A sustainable living space at the Hanoi University of Science and Technology was opened on April 29, aiming to promote sustainable consumption practices in Tran Van Nhan, Director of the Vietnam Cleaner Production Centre, said that the space is showcasing samples of 2,000 sustainable products that have been developed by Vietnamese and Dutch experts in cooperation with 500 businesses from Businesses that want to expand their network and boost partnerships in the field can send their products to the space for display, he added. The space will also offer a platform for people to practice sustainable consumption under the GetGreen Vietnam project. Doctor Marcel Crul from the Dutch Delft University of Technology said that the space will open up opportunities for experts and businesspeople to share ideas, harbouring initiatives on sustainability and innovation. Kon Tum team brings war hero remains home Seventeen sets of remains of Vietnamese volunteer soldiers and experts have been retrieved from The retrieval was part of the search campaign during the 2013-24 dry season carried out by the K53 team of the Military Command of the Central Highlands On April 29, the provincial Military Command reported that the remains included 15 found in They will be laid to rest in Co To's facelift attributed to access to national grid From a poor island district with poor infrastructure, Co To island in the From October 16, 2013, backward, the district had to use generators to produce electricity. To cater to the power demand of over 6,000 islanders, each year Co To district had to spend over 30 billion VND (1.4 million USD), including 10 billion VND from the State and the rest paid by islanders. This large expense partly held back the development of some spearhead economic industries, including tourism, fishing and the processing of fish. For that reason, Quang Ninh province and the Northern Power Corporation (NPC) have decided to bring power to the district. A project worth over 1.1 trillion VND was officially launched on November 4, 2012, to build diverse works, including 23.226 kilometres of 110kV line, 25.064 kilometres of undersea cable, and 43.333 kilometres of 22kV overhead line. The national grid has created a facelift to the district, remarkably improving locals' lives. Islanders do not hesitate to use power for economic development. Ngo Van Tuat, in Co To town, said that earlier, as the power fee was very expensive, he had to pay at least 200,000 VND per month. When his family used the power from the national grid, he only had to pay 100,000 VND for several electronic devices. “With the inexpensive electricity fee, I bought more fridges to keep seafood fresher and saved more money,” he said. The electricity also brought the island greater opportunities for developing tourism – the sector that was set as a spearhead industry for the district. According to Nguyen Duc Thanh, Secretary of the district Party Committee, over the past 30 years, some 1,300 houses worth 90 billion VND were built on Co To island. However, within six months of having access to the national grid, people built over 500 houses worth 100 billion VND for accommodation and to welcome visitors. At present, many families are expanding their houses to provide accommodation with greater comfort for visitors. During the 2014 tourism reason, the district invests more in express buses and trams to serve tourism. “The district’s socio-economic development has seen a breakthrough thanks to the national grid,” said Thanh. Home helpers to enjoy official labour rights A Government resolution will take effect this May recognising home help as a career with special protections, reported Thanh Nien (Young people) newspaper. Tong Thi Minh, head of the Ministry of Labour, War Invalid and Social Affairs’ Labour and Wages Department, said her office is drafting details of the resolution which takes effect on May 25. The details will not provide a precise contract format but compel employers to provide new hires with a list of tasks their job requires. This list will effectively prohibit the employer from forcing an employee to do other tasks. The resolution also bans employers from all kinds of abuse and sexual harassment, and requires them to include meals, lodging and travel support in the contract, as well as the helpers’ wages, Minh said. She said the resolution does not require employers to pay social insurance for helpers as the payment is only obligatory for employers with at least 10 employees. Ngo Thi Ngoc Anh, Director of the Hanoi-based Research Centre for Gender, Family and Environment in Development, said the resolution should specify the responsibility and power of local governments on the matter. Her centre has been running a home helper protection project for two years in Anh said officials in areas she encountered had no understanding of how to resolve a breach of contract dispute. Questioned about Anh’s concerns, Minh said the contract can be filled with labour officials at the ward or commune level. Disputes will be dealt with by district government officials, and can be brought to court in the event that local officials fail to offer satisfying solutions. She said leaflets and training courses will be provided at several localities to help officials know what they need to do. Tin Tuc, a daily of the Vietnam News Agency, quoted Nelien Haspels, an expert on gender issues at the International Labor Organisation Asia-Pacifi,c as saying that ILO considers the resolution an important step toward protecting home helpers and recognising their contributions to socio-economic values. An ILO survey noted that the number of home helpers in The survey also said most helpers are required to work too many hours and are vulnerable to sexual harassment and different kinds of abuse. Home helpers have expressed excitement over the new regulations which give them better control over their jobs, according to Tin Tuc, which noted that their employers are unhappy for the same reason. Nguyen Thi Luyen from Nam Dinh province, who works at a luxury apartment building in Her colleague Diep said they have been working under verbal contracts or negotiations settled between brokerage companies and the families. “Families try all they can to cut into our wages,” Diep said. But Bich Hoa, an employer from Hoa said most helpers follow habit or their employers’ instructions, and few are professionally trained. The ILO survey also said most of the helpers are poor women from rural areas and usually have only a ninth grade education at most. Some employers objected to the new scheduling regulations, saying they do not suit the nature of the job. The resolution requires overtime for working extra hours, or on official holidays; it also grants home helpers 12 vacation days a year. Nguyen Thanh Truyen from Inland people send support for Truong Sa Representatives hailing from provinces and organisations have set sail for Truong Sa island district, the central coastal Ship HQ-996 with those people on board left Khanh Hoa’s Cam Ranh port on April 28. During the trip til May 7, the delegation will deliver gifts, totalling some 2 billion VND (95,200 USD), to soldiers and residents on Song Tu Tay, Son Ca, Nam Yet, Sinh Ton, Co Lin and Truong Sa Lon islands and Platform DK1. A ceremony will also be held to commemorate the soldiers who dedicated their lives to protecting Truong Sa archipelago and the country’s southwestern waters. Secretary of the Khanh Hoa provincial Party Committee Le Thanh Quang said that the visit delivers the support of inland people for the construction of an economically and militarily strong Truong Sa district.- Russian scientists and medical experts joining in preserving the embalmed body of the late President Ho Chi Minh, the founder of modern Speaking at the event, Political Commissar of the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum Safeguarding High Command, Maj. Gen. Pham Van Lap recalled the memories in September 1967 when During 1969-1975 fierce wartime, Russian medical specialists and officers and soldiers of the Vietnam People’s Army successfully moved the remains of the President to far-flung areas to safety for six times, he said. The embalmed President was later laid inside a mausoleum dedicated to him. Since the mausoleum inaugurated in late August 1975, it received over 50 million visitors, from both at home and abroad, to pay tribute to the late leader whose mummified body is always kept at the best state. Since 2004, the Russian Vietnamese Ambassador Nguyen Xuan Son, in his speech, reiterated his gratitude to participants for their dedicated support and endeavours. Dien Bien Phu victory spotlighted at On April 29, The event was held by the Moscow Academy of Economics and Law (MAEL) and the Russian Veterans Association in Speaking at the seminar, Russian military experts emphasized that the This was the victory of the ingenious combination between a modern military strategy with The resounding victory not only brought peace to Delegates said that today’s young generations should be educated about the historic victories of Vietnam and the Soviet Union with the great sacrifice of millions of outstanding people so as to make them better understand the value of peace. Vietnamese ambassador to Russia Pham Xuan Son said despite happening in different timelines, the victories of the Vietnamese and Moreover, the victory of the Soviet people in the Great Patriotic War was also a positive factor in encouraging revolutionary movements in the world in general as well as in “The Vietnamese people are always grateful to the Soviet Union for its tremendous support in Measles on the rise in Binh Duong The southern Measles cases in adults and children in Binh Duong are still showing signs of increasing. Over the past two weeks, the provincial general hospital has received a steady stream of patients suffering from the bacterial infection typhus, commonly associated as the cause of the measles virus. Adult patients are classified for examination and treatment at the infectious disease area while children patients are monitored for health condition at the paediatrics department. Despite the increasing number of patients admitted to the hospital for inpatient treatment in recent days, the hospital has received a large number of severe cases that required the support of respiratory machine or intensive treatment. Dr. Nguyen Van Tinh, the hospital’s Deputy Director said, "The number of measles patients has increased sharply, including two separate paediatric critical cases and two severe adult cases have begun to recover.” The local health sector also suggested the people should bring their children for vaccination against measles and take preventive measures to limit the spread in the community. Deputy Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Nguyen Trong Dam and US Special Advisor for International Disability Rights Judith E.Heumann co-chaired an April 29 roundtable in The Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs reported at the event that Participants agreed that the country has always prioritised conducting policies to ensure the rights of the disabled and boost their participation in social affairs. With the aim of providing vocational training and generating jobs for 250,000 people with disabilities by 2015, the Vietnamese Government has been improving its legal system relating to the issue. The country also signed the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disability in 2007 and is expected to ratify it this year. Besides receiving social and legal support, disabled people in The MoLISA he Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs will continue programmes to raise people’s awareness of the disabled, and intensify activities to help them better integrate into the community. Vietnamese officials are joining more than 1,000 delegates at the 2014 Going Global - one of the greatest international conferences of higher education organised by the British Council – in Bui Van Ga, Vice Minister of Education and Training, is scheduled to chair a breakfast session on higher education partnerships in Vietnam and join Brazilian and Turkish education leaders to talk about the role of internationalisation in driving the world’s fastest growing economies. The ‘Vietnam-UK: Partnership for Mutual Development’ breakfast session will be held on May 1, bringing together 40 vice-chancellors and international leads from UK and US leading higher education institutions. Participants will be introduced to unique and innovative partnerships with employers and researchers that have been enabling the This will be presented through a project on establishing a Vietnam-UK research led international standards university, initiated by Aston University (UK) and the To date the Tran Ngoc Ca, Head of the US-based Science and Technology Office under the Ministry of Science and Technology, will talk about 10 prioritised areas within Vietnam's science and technology development strategy until 2020 and share his expertise in developing public - private - community partnerships to facilitate innovation in science and technology and forming collaboration work with US partners in key areas such as biotechnology and agriculture, STEM education and research exchange, amongst others. Vice Minister Ga will join the president of the Education Council of Turkey and the president of the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development of Brazil to discuss the role and impact of internationalisation in emerging economies. The delegation from Around 200 domestic and foreign scientists from Russia, the US, France, China, Laos and Vietnam will attend a seminar in Hanoi on May 5 to examine the significance and magnitude of the 1954 Dien Bien Phu victory over French colonialism. The historic Dien Bien Phu victory – the climax of the 1953-1954 Winter-Spring Strategic Offensive – was the greatest victory recorded by the Vietnam People’s Army and Vietnamese people in their protracted war of resistance against the French colonialists. The victory is a glorious landmark and forever pride of Vietnamese people. It sent shockwaves reverberating around the world signaling the end of French colonialism while concurrently giving rise to the national liberation movement around the world. Dr Nguyen Van Nhat, Director of the Vietnam Institute of History, emphasises that the seminar aims to affirm the clear-sighted and wise leadership of the Communist Party of Vietnam and President Ho Chi Minh in selecting the most appropriate war strategy and mobilising forces for the historic campaign. The May 7, 1954 victory demonstrated the heroic sacrifice and great contribution of armed forces, conscripted labourers and people nationwide, especially those in north-west and liberated zone IV. It heightened revolutionary vigilance, upheld revolutionary will, and strengthened military potential to be ready to defend national sovereignty and the socialist regime amidst hostile forces’ insidious schemes. The historic victory helped foster international relations and cooperation in the fields of politics, diplomacy, military, security and economics to raise The seminar will be held by the Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences (VASS). Japan awards Sunrise Order to VJFA President The information was released by the Japanese Embassy in Khai has received a Japanese scholarship for a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) course in In 1995, as Secretary of the Japan-Vietnam Friendship Parliamentary Alliance (JVFPA), Khai actively contributed to maintaining and expanding the alliance’s activities with the aim of strengthening parliamentary exchange between the two countries. In 2002, after being elected to the Diet (Parliament), he became an official member of JVFPA and the first President of the Vietnamese Students' Association in Since he was appointed as VJFA Chairman, he has initiated a series of cultural exchanges between He is currently introducing Japanese culture through translating Japanese poems into Vietnamese. Brunei navy patrol ship visits Vietnam KDB Darulehsan of the Royal Brunei Navy with 70 officers and crewmen on board docked at During their stay, the This is the first visit to PM approves Lang-Hoa Lac water project The Prime Minister has approved a US$254.45 million water improvement project for the The total investment in the project will be sourced with US$230.39 from Asian Development Bank (ADB) loans, with the remainder coming from Vietnamese counterpart funds. The project, using water sources from Da River, aims to solve social welfare problems and improve the living environment for the people in the outskirt areas, creating favourable conditions for the capital city’s economic development. Work on the project is expected to begin later this year and be completed prior to 2020. Major drug trafficking ring busted in HCM City Ten people were arrested on April 28 in an alleged narcotic trafficking conspiracy operating out of Police forces in Binh Thanh district Hieu declared that his ring has been operating on a fairly large scale, specializing in synthetic drugs involving many coconspirators in numerous districts of He purchased synthetic drugs from three main suppliers, namely 38 year-old Nguyen Trong Thien Thu from district three, 29 year-old Nguyen Viet Son from Go Vap district, and 34 year-old Vong Chi Vinh from Tan Phu district. Police also seized 150 gram of synthetic drugs and 75 ecstasy pills. Detainees reportedly confessed they had already sold 500 grams of synthetic drugs and around 500 ecstasy pills in the preceding two months. Further investigations are continuing. The Vietnamese Embassy to the (MSAVLC)- a British charitable organization- has closely linked with a half-century of humanitarian work in MSAVLC President and Secretary General Peter Lidgard said 2013 was a challenging year for his organization when half of the 8 executive board members had to quit because of health reasons. However, the remaining members have spared no efforts to take on the mission of the organization to continue operations and medical assistance for the people from Vietnam Laos and During 2013 alone, the MSAVLC called for donations from kind-hearted people across the UK with a large amount of funding, wheelchairs and hearing aid equipment for the Vietnam Association for Victims of Agent Orange/dioxin (VAVA) in Hanoi and Ha Tinh. It also sponsored training programs, medical equipment purchase and healthcare projects for Also during the past year, Peter Lidgard and his wife Mary who is also a member of the executive board conducted a nearly four-month trip to Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia to assess the implementation of MSAVLC-funded humanitarian projects and to learn the practical needs of funding recipients to improve the organization’s operational efficiency. At the meeting, ambassador Vu Quang Minh spoke highly of the MSAVLC’s long-term operation and practical assistance for the people of the three SEA nations as well as its enduring contributions it made for the past decades to developing stronger relations between “The Vietnamese Embassy is ready to serve as a bridge for the MSAVLC to strengthen its connectivity with other organizations having relations with In addition, the Embassy proposed making a documentary about the MSAVLC’s charitable activities in the lead up to the 50th of anniversary of its establishment in 2015.” Minh concluded. Prosecutions to come in the Police in Police in Lai Chau said they have gathered evidence and sent it to the Major-General Tran Duan, head of police force in Police in On February 24, the bridge collapsed while a funeral procession was crossing. About 20 people fell into the rocky gorge underneath. The accident killed eight and left 38 injured. After the Ministry of Transport confirmed in their report that overload was not the cause, Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc asked the Ministry of Public Security to quickly investigate the case and submit the results in April. Nguyen Khac Chu, Chairman of Lai Chau Province People's Committee, said they were plans for building a temporary bridge. Hand, foot and mouth disease spreads in Vietnam Hand, foot and mouth disease has affected more than 17,400 people in 62 out of 63 cities and provinces nationwide this year, while The information was given by the Preventive Medicine Department under the Ministry of Health. According to the department, despite seeing a 20% reduction in the number of new patients compared to last year overall, a number of localities have recorded increases. Among those, The disease is mainly transmitted through the digestive track, mostly affecting children. It also poses a high risk of becoming an epidemic. In serious cases patients can suffer from complications such as meningitis, pneumonia and heart problems, causing deaths if they do not receive proper treatment in a timely manner. Dr. Tran Dac Phu, Head of the Preventive Medicine Department, said the Ministry of Health has taken measures to control the disease in affected areas to prevent it from spreading. He added that Source: VNA/VNN/VOV/Dantri/VNS |
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Police file charges in bridge collapse case
LAI CHAU (VNS) – The police in the northern mountainous province of Lai Chau have filed charges over a bridge collapse in the Son Binh Commune, which killed eight people and injured nearly 40. The suspension bridge, connecting Chu Va 8 village and Chu Va 6 village, had collapsed on February 24 this year when a funeral procession was crossing it. The coffin and many people fell into the stream below. The local police have filed a case of violation of construction regulations, thus leading to serious consequences, said deputy head of Lai Chau Police Le Van Bay. The decision was made after an investigation by the Ministry of Public Security's Further investigations are being carried out to clarify the role of the concerned individuals and agencies. Those found responsible for the bridge collapse would be prosecuted, Bay said. The suspension bridge was opened to the public in December 2012. – VNS |
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Tonic or toxic wine Medicinal wine has long been regarded by Vietnamese as an elixir that can treat a variety of common diseases, and even enhance vitality. However, the market is teeming with faked and low-quality medicinal wine, which is dangerous to human health.  A household-sized alcohol processing facility in Tinh Bien District, An Giang Province. Recently, drinkers in the Southwest region have begun to change their tastes, switching from rice wine to medicinal wine of unknown origin. Visiting restaurants in the Mekong Delta, one can see dozens of so-called “medicinal” and “tonic” wines, such as wine with snakes, bindweeds, scorpions, termite queens and herbs. These kinds of “tonic wine” are sold at very affordable prices. To be sure, not all medicinal wines are accessible to the common man. One can also find jars of wine with five species of cobra, offered for sale at several hundreds of US dollar. However, ordinary drinkers can also taste what is marketed as “snake wine” at the dirt cheap price of VND20,000 ($0.9) per liter. Mr. Tinh, a drinker in Tan Hong District, In An Giang Province, Ms. Tam Kiem proudly claims she has produced wine with pip banana for over 10 years, without any complaints about quality. The native of Quoc Thai Commune says that she now supplies her tonic wine to all common restaurants in An Phu District and Kiem describes the way she makes her wine: "I press ripe pip bananas and dry them under the sun for 2-3 days, then I bake them until they are fragrant. I soak each 2kg of dried pip bananas in 30 liters of rice wine. The wine is ready for us in about 10 days. To satisfy the taste of drinkers, I mix 0.5l of honey into each 30 liters of wine”. However, she worries about what happens to her product once it is out of her hands. She knows that many restaurants water down her wine or, worse yet, spike it with industrial alcohol. Her conclusion is supported by the fact that many restaurants sell her pip banana wine for only VND20,000 ($0.90) per liter, less than the VND26,000 ($1.2) that she wholesales it for. The Tinh Bien border gate market in An Giang has long been known as the insect market. It sells all kinds of “medical wine” processed from chameleon, snakes, termite queens, scorpions, and other creatures. There are many “brands” of tonic wine, with different prices. Mr. Sau, a wine seller there, says that tourists like wine with baucals and honey. It takes him six months to make a batch of that wine so he sells one bottle for VND350,000-VND450,000. Some others sell this kind of wine for only VND200,000 ($10) so the quality is dubious, Sau says. The scary poisoning cases In the past few years, alcohol poisonings have occurred often in the Mekong Delta. In particular, An Giang and Dong Thap provinces take the lead for the numbers of cases and of fatalities. In October 2011, nearly 60 people attending a wedding party in An Giang Province were hospitalized for alcohol poisoning. Two died. The authorities took samples of the wine to test and found that the alcohol concentration was more than 60 times the permitted level. One month later, a similar mass alcohol poisoning took place in the An Phu Commune of Phu Tan District. Luckily, everyone survived. NLD |
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 Foreign tourists arrive on A call for investment in Many companies have taken an interest in Sembcorp. Sunray Woodcraft Construction Pte Ltd and Centurion Properties Pte Ltd. all have shown interest. Vinh said Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and his Singaporean counterpart Lee Hsien Loong agreed to cooperate and implement Nguyen Thanh Nghi, deputy chief of Kien Giang's Party Unit and the province's vice mayor, said Vietnam is drafting a plan to develop Phu Quoc as a special economic zone where investors will enjoy the country’s most favorable policies for the first time. These policies will include land use, corporate tax, income tax and import tax benefits. Nghi said Singaporean companies are welcome to invest in eco-tourism sites, urban areas and hi-tech parks on 4,000 hectares (10,000 acres) of the island. Le Van Thi, Kien Giang's mayor, said Singaporean companies have carefully examined infrastructure development in Phu Quoc, including highways, airport, power and water supply projects. Several companies are scheduled to visit Phu Quoc on May 9 to further study the available opportunities; a roundtable dialogue on Phu Quoc investment will be held in July, he said. According to a decision issued by Prime Minister Dung in late 2013, investors in Phu Quoc will enjoy the favorable policies currently applied to those in the industrial and export processing zones. Jason Lien, project manager at Centurion Properties Pte Ltd, told Vietnam News Agency that Phu Quoc is a good place to invest in resorts. Chia Tech Keng, a representative of business consultant Arcanum Associates, said his company will encourage early investment of Singaporean companies in Phu Quoc. Phu Quoc consists of 593 square kilometers (equal to the size of According to the Ministry of Planning and Investment, |
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BUSINESS IN BRIEF 2/5 Soc Trang province urged to focus on agro-aquaculture A senior Party official has recommended that the southern At a working session on April 28 with Soc Trang provincial Party Committee’s Standing Board, Le Hong Anh, Politburo member and standing member of the Party Central Committee Secretariat, hailed the achievements that the Party organisation, authorities and people in the province have made in socio-economic development. However, Anh said the results are not sustainable, with potential instability in the local socio-economic, security and political situation. He added that the poor attraction of investment and a high rate of poverty are issues that Soc Trang needs to deal with immediately. The Party official also requested that the local authorities pay more attention to religious and ethnic issues, taking better care of social welfare and improving people’s living standards, particularly poor ethnic people in remote areas. Le Thanh Quan, Standing Vice Secretary of the provincial Party Committee’s Standing Board briefed the Politburo member on the overall situation in Soc Trang in the first quarter of this year. He highlighted a 36 percent year-on-year increase in total aquatic output and a 16 percent rise in industrial production value. The province earned 127.3 million USD from aquatic product export in the period, a more than double hike from the same period last year. Soc Trang has also improved its ranking in the Provincial Competitiveness Index by 21 places. Quan also reported that the province is making efforts to carry out the Party Central Committee’s Resolution on Party building and the revised Constitution, as well as to popularise State and Party’s policies to all the people. In April alone, the figure stood at 883 million USD, up 9.9 percent compared to a year ago. Garments topped the city’s key exports with a surge of 34.6 percent, followed by glass and glass products (34.2 percent), and others (23.9 percent). Meanwhile, the export of agricultural products and computer components and peripheral equipment saw drops of 25.3 percent and 23.1 percent respectively. Can Tho plots foreign investment future The southern city of Vice Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee Vo Thanh Thong made the remarks at a April 29 conference designed to further promote investment inflow in the city. He added that Can Tho needs to attach importance to building high-tech agricultural and aquatic parks, as the two fields play a key role in the development of the city and the Mekong Delta at large. The event enabled local enterprises and those from the At the workshop, the local authorities introduced their incentive policies for foreign organisations to representatives from RoK firms. They also talked about areas in need of foreign funding and called for investment in industrial and high-tech parks, Tan Loc eco-tourism area and transport projects. Participating delegates were also briefed about the Vietnam-RoK industrial technology incubator project that started in the city at the end of 2013. The 21.13-million USD project, paid for by the RoK side through non-refundable assistance, aims to step up research and development of the city’s major industries, including agricultural and aquatic product processing and agriculture-served mechanics. Once finished, the project will support businesses based in Can Tho and the Mekong Delta to innovate their existing technologies and access better ones as well as increase the quality of products and their operational effectiveness. NA Economic Committee convenes in Quang Ninh The National Assembly’s Economic Committee convened its tenth plenary meeting in the According to Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Dao Quang Thu, last year the country was able to fulfil 10 out of a total of 15 major targets set by the National Assembly and almost met three targets while failing to achieve two. He affirmed that the macro economy has been gradually stabilized and inflation was put under control. The country’s GDP growth rate stood at 5.42 percent, while inflation decreased to the lowest level in the past 10 years and the investment for development totaled 1,091 trillion VND (51.2 billion USD). During the 2011-2013 period, 180 State-owned enterprises were restructured, and citizens enjoyed continuous improvement to their living conditions, Thu said. However, he pointed out several shortcomings, including low competitiveness, high State budget overspending and unsustainable poverty reduction progress. Thu said that this year the government is continuing to stabilise its macro economy, curb inflation, raise the competitiveness of the economy and ensure social welfare. During the meeting, participants focused their attention on issues related to public debt, wasted investment and difficulties faced by domestic businesses. They also stressed the need to restructure agriculture towards modernisation. Market must tackle mid-, long-term credit: expert The suggestion put forward by bankers and economists is aimed at taking the pressure off balance sheets and volatile capital structures at banks that use short-term deposits to do mid- and long-term lending. Domestic outstanding loans are equivalent to 104.9 percent of the GDP, which is 6.5 times higher than the total value of the bond market and triples the capitalisation value of the stock market. The country’s GDP stood at 170 billion USD in 2013 and 141 billion USD in 2012. The State Bank of BIDV Chairman Tran Bac Ha was quoted by the newspaper as saying that banks take liquidity risks by using short-term deposits to facilitate mid- and long-term loans. This practice causes pressure on the central bank to re-finance or provide additional capital to banks via Open Market Operation (OMO) at more frequent intervals by the year-end period. While banks' sources fall short of credit demand, the capital market is not adequately developed and in need of urgent assistance. Government bonds, which constitute 90 percent of the bond market, including State Treasury bonds and notes, Government-guaranteed bonds, local authority guaranteed bonds, only manage to meet 16 percent of the credit demand. Moreover, these tools are almost held as safe reserves by major credit institutions, such as BIDV, Vietcombank, Agribank, and Vietinbank until they mature. Credit that banks injected into government bonds reportedly reached 65 trillion VND (3 billion USD), up 0.1 percent by the end of the first quarter this year as compared to the end of 2013. After bond sales, however, mobilised money often makes a round trip within the state treasury and banks that also bore fees. Ha suggested that the State and Government should chalk out plans to use capital mobilised from bond sales, such as public investment projects. Tran Hoang Ngan, a member of the National Advisory Council on Monetary and Financial Policies, emphasised that it is not just necessary to fix regulations for the stock market, but also pay more attention to revive the government bond market. Ngan proposed sellers to diversify maturities and to make pre-sale information available to the public in order to help investors to be better prepared. Post-sale policies are also required to boost transactions in the secondary market. In the meantime, the corporate bond market recorded a good performance last year, and The Ministry of Finance plans to mobilise up to 35 trillion VND (1.65 billion USD) from corporate bonds this year, up 1.8 percent against 2013. Last year, the volume of corporate bonds sold was 34.41 trillion VND (1.62 billion USD), up 19.87 percent against 2012, 37.64 percent against 2011, and 14.7 percent against 2010. Singaporean investors invited to Phu Quoc Minister of Planning and Investment Bui Quang Vinh has called on At a forum promoting investment in Vietnam in Singapore on April 28, Vinh revealed that the Prime Ministers of Vietnam and Singapore have agreed to do everything to facilitate operation of Singaporean investors in Phu Quoc, which is part of southern Kien Giang province. He expressed his wish that Joining the forum, Vice Secretary of the Kien Giang provincial Party Committee Nguyen Thanh Nghi unveiled that the Government is working on the development of the Phu Quoc island special economic zone, where the best-known preferences will be applied for investors for the first time. Singaporean firms could engage in eco-tourism and scientific urban areas and hi-tech industrial zones covering about 4,000 hectares in Phu Quoc, he suggested. At working sessions with some Singaporean companies later the same day, Kien Giang officials made it clear that preferential treatments relating to land, corporate tax, income tax for high-income earners and import tariff will be in place for investors. According to Chia Tech Keng, a representative from Arcanum Associates LLT, a provider of investment and business consultancy services, Phu Quoc boasts great opportunities. “I would recommend people to come to Phu Quoc very quickly,” he said. Sharing views with Chia, Tan Soon Kim, Assistant Chief CEO of IE Singapore, said his agency will advise Singaporean businesses to take a look into Kien Giang. The Kien Giang delegation is scheduled to deliver a speech introducing the province’s potentials to Singaporean investors at the 10th Vietnam-Singapore Ministerial Meeting on Economic Connectivity to be held in the city-state on April 29. WB Group member aids financial access in Vietnam The International Finance Corporation (IFC) of the World Bank Group on April 28 said it will work with a Vietnamese partner to better micro-enterprises’ access to finance services. Under a recently signed agreement, IFC will help the M7 General Director Nguyen Duc Binh said the partnership with IFC will help the institution improve its capacity and provide more services to clients. Rachel Freeman, IFC manager for Access to Finance Advisory Services in East Asia and the Pacific, said Vietnam’s microfinance sector is in a transitional period when a number of local microfinance organisations becoming official institutions and integrating into the financial system. As of February 2014, M7 gave 4.7 million USD in loans to individuals and miro-enterprises. Tien Giang calls for investment to 24 projects The Mekong Delta They include a 275-hectare seaport and logistics project worth 31.5 trillion VND (1.48 billion USD), a 110-million-USD Tien Giang hospital project and a planned waste water treatment system in the province’s My Tho city. Speaking at an investment promotion seminar on April 28, Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee Nguyen Van Khang said that Tien Giang pledges to support businesses in land clearance, basic infrastructure, and vocational training. The province will also create a healthy investment environment for both domestic and foreign companies, Khang said. At the seminar, he also introduced participants to the province’s potential. Representatives from local departments also answered investors’ queries on issues related to investment procedures. On this occasion, the province granted investment licenses to eight new investors with a combined capital of over 3 trillion VND (141 million USD). Institutional reform needed to kick-start development Institutional reform was emphasised as the driving force of development at the 2014 Spring Economic Forum held in the Economic specialists at the forum reviewed the country’s financial situation and the implementation of macroeconomic policies last year, before offering advice for the next 12 months. Participants joined discussions on financial trends, the economic outlook for the country and the potential influence of global markets on They also talked about challenges facing fiscal and monetary policies and measures to enhance the country’s international globalisation. Although the 2013 GDP growth target was missed, the economy still saw signs of recovery, said Nguyen Van Giau, head of the National Assembly’s Economic Committee (NAEC). He noted that last year’s production rebounded while inflation was curbed and foreign currency reserves increased sharply. To reach this year’s economic goals, Speakers at the event also said that a greater awareness of the role by the State economic sector must be promoted. They said this would allow prices to be managed in line with the market mechanism, and facilitate the sustainable development of the property market. The forum was co-organised by the NAEC, the Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences, the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).- Negatives behind impressive numbers in FDI sector Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) has much contributed in the country Gross Domestic Products (GDP) but there are several problems, said experts. According to the country statistics, FDI capital has kept increasing over the last few years. The highest number was recorded in 2008 when registered capital reached US$72 billion. US$10 billion has been spent on FDI projects per year for the last four years, accounting for 25 percent of social investment capital. FDI businesses contribute 20 percent of the country GDP. The sector’s export turnover accounts for 70 percent of the country total. They have directly provided two million jobs and indirectly created 3-4 million jobs. However, several experts have expressed doubtfulness about real benefits that the country enjoys from FDI. Gross National Product has not increased in accordance with GDP growth, meaning FDI enterprises have transferred much their profit abroad, according to an official from the Planning and Investment Ministry. Similarly, FDI export turnover is very high but its value added is not. The official believes that FDI enterprises in About 70-75 percent of technologies taken into Most FDI companies have not paid business income tax for the last several years, said associate Professor Truong Quang Thong from the The General Department of Taxation under the Ministry of Finance inspected and uncovered hundreds of FDI businesses performing transfer pricing or evading taxes last year. Of them, the South Korean Keangnam – Vina Company had to pay VND95.2 billion of tax arrears. Mandatory regulation considered to consume gasoline E5 The Government should consider issuing a mandatory regulation for consumption of gasoline E5 with ethanol because consumers prefer conventional petrol to the blend, said Dang Vinh Sang, Saigon Petrol Director General. The Saigon Petrol One Member Limited Company is one of the pioneers for the distribution of the blend. Consumption of gasoline E5 is meeting with difficulties because consumers are unaware of its benefits and in their habit of using traditional fuels like Ron 92 and Ron 95, he said. Sang proposed another solution which the Government subsidy the gasoline E5 and E10 to encourage consumption. The subsidization should be able to make the E5 price lower than that of conventional fuel. At present, their prices are same. Vietnamese Businesses receive Prior Policies from Conference of introducing and supporting Vietnamese products in It is aimed at encourage Vietnamese businesses to export their products to Russian market. Incentra –Investor of Ha Noi-Maxtcava Hotel & Commerce, Culture Center said Vietnamese businesses exporting products to Russian market will receive priority policies including supporting transport service from Vietnam to Russia and introducing Russian potential partners. Cargo handled through The Last year, the total volume of cargo transported through the port reached 5 million tonnes, the highest ever recorded in the city, Da Nang Today added. In an effort to encourage local shipping companies and businesses to shift freight transport from road to sea, four domestic sea transport routes between Da Nang, Sai Gon and Hai Phong ports have been opened. T his has helped facilitate enterprises in According to calculations by local businesses, the cost of transporting goods by sea will be less than 30 percent of that on road. As a result, 90 percent of big businesses in the city and the central region and highlands have so far transported their cargo by sea instead of by road. The However, Da Nang Port General Director Nguyen Thu said that the port is facing an overload of container ships, with the port’s container handling wharves kept very busy. In addition, an area of the port is designated for receiving cruise ships, which causes an increase in the overload. As a result , the Lack of entrepreneurial spirit in Vietnamese people have a low level of awareness of business opportunities, according to a new report from the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI). The VCCI pointed out a number of weaknesses on the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor Vietnam Report 2013. Even though more and more people want to go into business, only 37% of adults are aware of new businesses opportunities and just about 47% have an accurate notion of their own abilities to do business. The average in other countries are 61% and 69% respectively. "This could be a consequence of the economic recession," said Luong Minh Huan from VCCI. The report also pointed out that Only three statistics in the report on business conditions in According to the report, in order to boost entrepreneurs' confidence, A safe food production chain with an expected capacity of 20,500 tonnes per year was launched in Amid rising concerns over food safety, six enterprises operating in animal feed, poultry breeding, animal husbandry, slaughtering and pork and chicken processing partnered up to establish a safe food production chain called Green Food Hanoi. Green Food Hanoi, created with the support of the Hanoi Farming Development Centre, is the largest partnership of its kind the capital city. The chain plans to admit member farms in The chain expects to produce 8,250 tonnes of pork, 1,160 tonnes of chickens and 900,000 eggs per year. They also plan to set up 20 to 30 food stores citywide as well as supply food for between 100 and 120 office, school and hospital cafeterias. To date, Green Food Hanoi has surveyed 105 farms and admitted 83 farms as members. They have also opened five food stores in Ha Dong, Dong Da, Hai Ba Trung, Tay Ho and Thanh Xuan districts. A representative from Green Food Hanoi said they pledge to only sell fresh meat that was produced the same day. This could be an advantage once the Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership Agreement takes effect in Nguyen Xuan Duong, Deputy Director of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development’s Animal Husbandry Department, said that the establishment of a safe food production chain is a benefit for consumers, who will be better able to track the origins of the products they eat. “Safe production chains not only help consumers get access to safe food, but provide small-scale animal farms a chance to join an association and learn how to make better quality products. Profits are fairly divided among all stakeholders, including farmers,” he commented. Thanh Tam, a consumer from 18,000 new businesses established in Q1 As many as 224,200 new businesses have been set up in 2011-2013, accounting for nearly 41% of total newly-established businesses in 1991-2010. The Report on the performance of businessess was released at the Conference with businessess, Ha Noi, April 28, 2014 - Photo: VGP/Nhat Bac The figures were part of a Report on the performance of businesses and the nation’s socio-economic development in 2014-2015. In the first quarter of 2014, more than 18,000 businesses registered for establishment, capitalizing at nearly VND98,000 billion, up 17% in the number of businesses and 23% in the registered capital compared to the same period last year. However, nearly 17,000 enterprises are facing difficulties or ceasing operation, up 9.6%. Regarding labor force, the private sector demonstrates as the main force, accounting for 96% of total businesses operating in 2010-2012. On Gross Domestic Products (GDP) density, the private sector remains the lead, making up 48-49% of total GDP in 2009-2012. The contribution of the State-owned Enterprises (SOEs) to the GDP tends to decrease on the back of the Government’s privatization process, from 37.72% in 2009 to 32.57% in 2012. The Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) businesses' contribution to the GDP is kept stable, at 17-18% in 2009-2012. The report also pointed out orientations and solutions to business development in the future such as the improvement of business environment and acceleration of the roadmap and issuance of the Law on Investment (amended) and Law on Enterprises (amended). Purchasing power drops back Consumer spending touched VND939.6 trillion (US$44 billion ) in the first four months of the year, posting a 10.5 per cent year-on-year increase, the General Statistics Office (GSO) announced yesterday. In April, the consumer spending rose a low 2.4 per cent over the previous month and 11.2 per cent year over year. The increase, excluding the price factor, was 5.5 per cent year over year. However, the real purchasing power in the period was similar to the corresponding period last year. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) in the January-April period was 0.88 per cent. This has been also the lowest consumer spending level since the second quarter of 2011. GSO economist Vu Manh Ha said the 5.5 per cent rise was calculated by taking into account the expected high consumer spending during the upcoming holidays. The service tourism sector posted a 25.6 per cent increase, while the other sectors rose 24.4 per cent. Ha said the purchasing power has been on the decline in the four-month period. The consumer spending rate in the first months of the year was 7.2 per cent, falling to 6.2 per cent in the first two months and 6 per cent in the first three months. The total spending of the private sector, which accounted for 86 per cent of the total, rose 10 per cent in the period, while it was 14 per cent in the first quarter of the year. He added that this was because most of supermarkets and shops in the cities reported a low turnover. In addition, the inventory index in industrial production was high at 14 per cent during the four months, higher than 13.4 per cent of the previous month. The Japan Finance Corporation organised a conference in Sachiko Hayakawa, managing director of JFC, said her corporation has 47,000 small and medium-sized enterprises as customers in It has in recent years been issuing stand-by letters of credit (SBLC) to guarantee Japanese SMEs' loans from local banks in seven countries – VietinBank is the only lender in The bank is establishing a Nguyen Tran Kien, a Vietinbank executive, said Japanese SMEs in Viet Nam introduced and guaranteed by JFC's LCs could get loans of up to VND110 billion (US$5.24 million) in dong or US dollars for buying equipment or long-term funding. Another Vietinbank executive said the common problems of Japanese subsidiaries in But their parent companies in Tomohiko Sato, managing director of Sato Sangyo Vietnam Co. Ltd, a company making household appliances in Many Japanese SMEs in The conference also discussed how Japanese SMEs in Le Long Son, director of Esuhai Co.Ltd – which offers training and job consultancy for Japanese SMEs – said Vietnamese tend to "leave the heart at home and bring only their head to work" in reference to the importance of family. Firms need to bring "company" and "work" into worker's consciousness to change things, he said. Most workers are unhappy to travel long distances to work and tend to keep switching jobs until 26, and the firms can only attract and keep good workers by paying high salaries and offering good career prospects, he said. Besides, personnel should be recruited and trained only at 26-27, he added. The conference was jointly organised by the VietinBank and the Japan External Trade Organisation. Source: VEF/VNA/VNS/VOV/SGT/SGGP/Dantri/VIR |
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Article 4
Does nobody control wine quality? Several recent cases of alcohol poisoning, many resulting in deaths, have sounded the alarm about the state's lax management of alcohol and alcohol abuse among Vietnamese. On the market today are hundreds of alcohol products with different labels. There are also alcohol products without labels, which are called “ruou que” (rural wine) or “quoc lui” (national rice wine). Wine of unknown origin is sold everywhere and is almost totally uncontrolled. Where is the law?  A victim of alcohol poisoning at the Hanoi-based The And in the "The local authorities are not in charge of wine quality so we can only remind the families to protect their traditional wine brand,” Ton maintains. According to the Vietnam Craft Villages’ Association, there are about 40-50 traditional wine villages throughout the country. Most of wine producers in these villages have not registered for business or product quality. Statistics from the Vietnam Association for Anti-counterfeiting Goods and Brand Protection indicate that about 800 million liters of alcohol are sold in the market annually, in which the wine produced by registered firms accounts for only 20 percent. The rest is produced by households, out of the oversight of any quality control authority. To control the origin and quality of wine, particularly wine processed by households, the Government issued a decree on wine production and trading which took effect on the first day of 2013. Under the new regulations, all facilities producing wine for business purposes must register and meet legal requirements on environmental protection, quality, food safety and labeling. However, after more than a year since the decree took effect, nearly 100 percent of the household-scale wine production businesses are still out of control. Why? Mr. Tran Quang Trung, Director of the Food Safety Department of the Ministry of Health, complains that it is very difficult to manage traditional wine products. The decree on alcohol management, despite its good intentions, does not work in reality. Many moonshiners are not even aware of the new regulations, while enforcement agencies feel powerless to do much. And according to a number of enterprises in the liquor business, even for registered producers, the quality of wine products is poorly controlled. As a rule, wine producers must verify their own product quality and take responsibility for it. However, many disregard this rule, either failing to test product quality altogether, or only checking a small portion of the product. In late 2013, six people died after drinking liquor produced by a Hanoi-based company. The liquor is one of the company’s three products that were recalled after tests showed the methanol levels of the liquors to be 2,000 times higher than the legal level. The incident roused the public and once again the question about state management over this product was raised. According to current regulations, alcohol-based products are managed by four agencies: business licenses are granted by the Department of Planning and Investment; liquor manufacturing licenses are issued by the Department of Industry and Trade; trademarks are licensed by the Department of Science and Technology; and food safety certificates and certification of product standards for alcohol products high in methanol are granted by the Department of Health. More alcohol-related mental patients Dr. La Duc Cuong, Director of Central Mental Hospital I, says the hospital has seen dozens of people with alcohol-related mental disorders. Alcohol is responsible for many types of mental disorders, says Cuong. Many alcoholics develop paranoia, convincing themselves that others are plotting to harm them. Consequently, they have very dangerous behavior. According to research of NLD |
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Article 3
Female Australian pilot loves (VOV) - Australian born Fleming Belinda Anne has worked as a pilot for Vietnam Airlines for 7 years following brief stints in Singapore, Malaysia and even India, and now calls the S-shaped country her second home. Anne has cherished a dream of becoming a pilot ever since she was three or four years old. She recalls as a child always looking up to the sky seeing planes flying over her head and dreaming of one day making flying her career. Receiving strong support from her father, an experienced pilot, Anne enrolled in an aviation course and got an Airline Transport Pilot License (ATPL) – the highest level of aircraft licensure when she was just 21 years old. When Vietnam Airlines offered her a job, she was working for an India-based company, receiving a high salary and other bonuses. Accepting the offer meant taking a significant reduction in pay.
Weighing the pros and cons of the plan, Anne and her husband decided to accept the offer and move to The longer she has lived in Anne recalls she was first impressed by the busy traffic and crisscrossed electric wire systems in The couple purchased a second-hand motorbike and travelled the length and breadth of Local people are very friendly and hospitable, Anne says, recalling her feelings whenever she enters any restaurants in the city, saying “hello” to staff and receiving warm welcome from them. The 37-year-old pilot says although she has worked for Vietnam Airlines for several years, she receives lucky money from her boss - a fine Vietnamese custom when the Lunar New Year festival comes that she did not experience in other countries. Anne confides her husband and her love The Central Highland resort city of Con Dao, Phu Quoc and Phan Thiet are also on her list of key tourist destinations. Anne says she is lucky to have her husband work as a pilot for Vietnam Airlines. Her husband often flies to Europe while Anne flies to destinations in They make use of free time travelling to Da Lat to play golf or touring other places in Anne says she can fly any types of aircraft, from A320s, A321s to the current A330s, and she hopes to master the most modern A350 that Vietnam Airlines is due to receive from Airbus next year. She reveals that the career requires a pilot to have excellent health because he is familiar with different time zones. To maintain her physical strength and reduce stress, Anne does gym four times a week and plays golf. Anne is one of the 10 female pilots of Vietnam Airlines. Her fleet 919 has a total of 777 pilots, including 558 Vietnamese. VOV |
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Article 2
5-star hotels still “laying golden eggs” despite economic crisis In the fourth quarter of 2013 alone, two new hotels made their debuts in A report of Savills Profits so-so…  The average hotel room rate in HCM is VND1.8 million per night. Four-star hotels have the highest room occupancy rate, at 81 percent, while 3-star hotels stand at 75 percent. Five-star hotels enjoy a 70 percent rate, which is a big improvement over 2012, when their occupancy rate stood at 56 percent. According to Grant Thornton Four-star hotels in Tao Van Nghe, CEO of REX Hotel, when asked about business performance in recent months, said the business is “tolerable”, with no significant growth. “The economy still has not fully recovered from the crisis,” he explained. “Meanwhile, the presence of 3-4 star hotels has led to our revenue decreasing.” Nghe does not think the situation will improve soon. “Travelers will flock to Nguyen Anh Vu, CEO of Majestic Hotel, said business performance heavily depends on factors uncontrollable by the hotels. Majestic, for example, was enjoying good business days in mid-March in the high tourism season, when the revenue dropped suddenly after March 20, partially because of the Malaysian MH370 aircraft accident and the political uncertainties in ... but still attractive enough Though confirming that the profits hotels make at this moment are not really fat, most hotel owners believe that the situation will improve. When the economy fully recovers from the crisis, According to Nguyen Duc Ngoc from TD Corp, there are three categories of tourists: individual, group and corporate. The second category comprises businessmen (managers) and incentive groups. In the global crisis, businesses tend to cut down on travel expenses for mid-level managers. This largely explains the decline of the occupancy rate of the 5-star hotels in the last few years. However, Ngoc said, the expense cuts have not been applied to high-grade managers (CEOs, presidents, etc.). Hence, some 5-star hotels still have been doing well. This can be seen in a DNSG |
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Article 1
Fiercely competitive food market(VOV) - Food producers need to heavily invest to truly differentiate their products as competition is fierce from rivals, according to industry leaders and analysts. The Statistics Office in Price competition Analysts attribute foreign direct investment (FDI) to the growth in the industry. As an example, they cite Domestic food producers in Vissan Company leads in transforming themselves in the marketplace. Its General Director Van Duc Muoi says his company put forward a strategy to change completely. It used to control all phases of production, ranging from husbandry, food animal, and slaughtering to distribution. Now its market strategy is more narrowly focused on finding its niche in the marketplace limiting its attention to higher added value slaughtering, production and wholesale and divesting itself of investment in lower added value product lines. A complicating issue is that many domestic businesses find it difficult align themselves to form a chain of shops to collectively promote a brand name due to limited capital and related difficulties in locating good business locations, which generally are more expensive. FDI businesses do this better, as they have more ready access to investment for such start-up costs. A director of a domestic food business in
Furthermore, consumers are paying more attention to standards and parameters on production date, expire date, origin of products, and Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP), and many domestic businesses don’t include these parameters. Including this type of information on packaging requires an initial investment which companies simply don’t have. Even though the initial investment will result in long term returns, that more than offset the initial investment many times over. Therefore, domestic businesses are forced to compete with foreign rivals based on price and are forced to reduce prices substantially in order to do so. In fact, prices of domestic products are often 5-10%, even 20% cheaper than imported ones. Tran Thi Thanh Huong, Director of Quoc Huong Technology Company, says price competition is just suitable for those which have abundant products. Domestic businesses suffer from losses in a long-term. State’s involvement needed Huong analysis is that small businesses often pay too much attention solely to price competition. Some are passive in updating information and even do not care for HACCP and other standards in circulation. Thus, they will suffer losses when exporting products to demanding markets. Huong reveals that her company is striving to obtain reputable certificates to create special products to attract customers. Vissan also can afford 80% of input materials and will pay more attention to origin of products in the future, Muoi says. Regarding a food strategic project by 2020, Muoi says businesses are not strong enough to conduct survey for the project. The State should be involved in order to have a completed project for the food processing sector. VOV |
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