What if the TPP is not ratified? Donald Trump’s winning the US presidential election is expected to ‘put an end’ to the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP).  Trump, during the election campaign, opposed the TPP, saying that free trade agreements (TPP) would cause US jobs to be transferred abroad. Economist Tran Du Lich said it was still too early to talk about TPP ratification. Though Trump is against the TPP, the ratification of the agreement will still depend on the US Congress. Meanwhile, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has stated he will urge the US to approve the agreement. The statement was made after the Japanese House of Representatives approved TPP. Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh who attended the Vietnam Summit 2016 held by The Economist in HCM City on November 3 said Vietnam joined TPP because it wanted to push up trade liberalization among the countries in Asia Pacific, thus bringing opportunities to Vietnam and other TPP member countries. Therefore, it wants to see other countries, including the US, ratify TPP.
At the conference, Do Thang Hai, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade, said to date, 10 FTAs that Vietnam has signed with partners have become valid, while Vietnam is negotiating other FTAs. TPP member countries make up 40 percent of global trade, so, once it takes effect, the agreement will bring opportunities to Vietnam as well as other member countries. “Vietnam looks forward to seeing TPP ratified. However, if it, for some reasons, cannot be approved, Vietnam’s policy on economic integration will not change,” Hai said. Before TPP, Vietnam had negotiated other bilateral and multilateral agreements. Most of the FTAs were within the framework of ASEAN+ and are nearly completed. “We have been unceasingly trying to improve the investment environment, speed up the investment restructuring process, encourage private investments and tighten control over public debts, which will help Vietnam achieve sustainable development, no matter if TPP is ratified,” Hai said. At a meeting with the press in late October, the chair of EuroCham Michael Behrens said while it was still unclear if TPP would be ratified, businesses should pay attention to the EU-Vietnam FTA which will take effect in late 2017. He said European businesses were optimistic about investments in Vietnam as they put high hopes on the EVFTA. Local newspapers quoted many experts as saying that US president-elect Donald Trump's nationalism and anti-globalisation policies may badly affect Vietnam's export industry and economic growth. Kim Chi, VNN |
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Article 7
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Article 6
Natural disasters could cost Vietnam US$6.7 billion Viet Nam will likely face damages of more than VND141.2 trillion (US$6.7 billion) due to natural disasters such as typhoons, floods or earthquakes in the next 50 years, the World Bank has said.
At a conference on Viet Nam’s disaster risk finance held yesterday, the World Bank evaluated that Viet Nam was exposed to many natural hazards, including typhoons, tornadoes and floods. As estimated, about 60 per cent of its total land area and 71 per cent of its population were at risk of cyclones and floods. The average economic loss from floods and typhoons was estimated at about 0.8 per cent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP). Sebastian Eckardt, lead economist for the World Bank in Viet Nam said that the World Bank, together with the Government of Switzerland, supported the country in improving disaster risk finance and insurance solutions through the building of its catastrophe risk model. The model would help the Government and other organisations evaluate potential losses and better prepare for financial response to the impact of disasters before they occurred, he said. Measures should be chalked out to protect the State budget against natural disasters and develop insurance markets over domestic catastrophe risk. Olivier Mahul, programme manager of disaster risk financing solutions, said that Viet Nam would likely face an average damage to private and public assets of up to VND30.2 trillion ($1.4 billion) per year. Of which, residential and public assets such as buildings and infrastructure accounted for 65 and 11 per cent of total damage, respectively. Floods, typhoons and earthquakes would remove $6.7 billion from the country over the next 50 years, he said. The average damage of some certain vulnerable localities could be more than VND1.7 trillion ($76 million) annually. Localities in the north-central region, with a high poverty rate, would be more vulnerable to natural disasters. Olivier said that the Vietnamese Government had funding sources such as contingency budgets at central and grassroots-levels, State reserves, financial reserve funds, disaster prevention and control funds, and donor grants. However, the State budget seemed to be the main fund for the job. Other sources such as the disaster prevention and control funds had not been fully put into operation across provinces due to some restrictions. Risk transfer instruments such as insurance were quite new and remained unpopular, he added. Le Thi Thuy Van, head of the Ministry of Finance’s Market Research Committee said that the State budget could only support a part of the total annual loss. It could only provide for post-disaster relief and recovery policies. The budget for post-disaster for development capital expenditure remained insufficient. In the case of more frequent and larger disasters, the State budget could face financial distress both for emergency relief and infrastructure recovery investment, she said. Van said among financial measures for disaster mitigation, insurance was an effective method to reduce the burden on the State budget. However, she said, the development of natural calamity insurance in the country required short and long-term roadmaps. At the conference, Olivier Mahul concluded that a specific financial assessment would increase the effectiveness of financial management. The catastrophe risk model would help inform national financial protection strategy and poverty reduction and social protection strategies, develop the catastrophe risk market and urban planning. He also noted that the building of a financial protection strategy should be part of a disaster risk management and climate change plan and should complement investment in prevention and risk mitigation. VNS |
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Article 5
BUSINESS IN BRIEF 16/11 Hue welcomes 2.74 million visitors in 10 months Over 2.74 million tourists visited the former imperial city of Hue in central Thua Thien-Hue province in the first ten months of 2016, representing a year-on-year increase of 12 percent. Among those, 900,000 are foreigners, up 3 percent against the same period last year. The locality raked in 4.5 trillion VND (202.5 million USD) from tourism services in the reviewed period. The results were attributable to the local authorities’ efforts to promote tourism. A tourism site has been formed in Chan May Port and wharfs were constructed in Tam Giang Lagoon to serve sea cruise visitors. Attention was also paid to diversifying and fully tapping tourism products and services, especially in Nam Dong and A Luoi districts. In the coming time, the local tourism sector will continue implementing more measures to solve difficulties facing travel enterprises. It will also focus on developing new tourism products like beach-camping, spiritual tourism, riding tours to lagoons, and those linked with local specialties. From December 24-30, the Hue Monuments Conservation Centre is scheduled to launch a “golden week” promotional programme - the third event of this kind in the year. Visitors to Hue in the period will be provided with free tickets to visit several sites in the ancient imperial relic complex. In 2015, the Complex of Hue Monuments welcomed over 2.3 million visitors. In the first seven months this year, 1.36 million tourists visited the site, including 750,000 foreigners. Chan May Port has so far welcomed 22 cruise ships, which brought nearly 40,000 foreigners and about15,000 crew members to the ancient capital and other central localities. China firms eye 'Made in Vietnam' windfall - if Obama's TPP survives From textiles and shoes to paper and furniture, Chinese manufacturers are pouring investments into neighbouring Vietnam, hoping to ride on the coattails of the Southeast Asian country's pending trade blitz. Vietnam's Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the European Union, signed last year, and the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), if it clears significant political hurdles in the U.S., would collectively give the country access to markets worth US$44 trillion in combined gross domestic product. Even as doubts linger over the future of U.S. President Barack Obama's TPP once he leaves office, early moves by China Inc to leverage off Vietnam's lower factory wages - about a third that of China's - show a re-centering of the world's factory activity. Importantly, a base in Vietnam gives Chinese manufacturers access to trade agreements of which China is not currently a part. "So far this year, I've had more than 30 Chinese wood companies coming to me for consultation," said Nguyen Ton Quyen, who heads Vietnam's Timber and Forest Product Association. "There's a considerable amount of Chinese wood furniture firms moving their investments to Vietnam, to enjoy tax incentives." Chinese inflows into Vietnam in 2015 doubled from a year earlier to US$744 million and 80% of that was in the second half of the year, just after Vietnam signed the EU FTA and the TPP. In the first nine months of this year, investments from China quadrupled to US$1 billion compared with the same period in 2015. Vietnam has numerous other free trade agreements, including with top investor South Korea, supporting resident giants like Samsung and LG. As a part of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, it also enjoys free trade with other members of the 10-nation zone, plus the various bilateral agreements the bloc has with other economies, like China. Nguyen Chien Thang runs a furniture factory and is also feeling the Chinese surge. He estimates a third of the approximately 500 foreign-owned wood processing firms in Vietnam are from China and Taiwan, adding to competition for his Scansia Pacific, a supplier for Swedish giant IKEA. "Tax rates here are also much more favourable," said Thang. "Labour costs in their mainland are getting much higher." Much of the investment is going into Vietnam's textile industry, the second biggest garment exporter to the U.S. after China, supplying brands such as Nike, Adidas, Zara, Armani, and Lacoste. The U.S. Department of Commerce projects U.S. imports of textile and apparel from Vietnam to jump 45% to US$16.4 billion by 2025 from 2015 while such imports from China are expected to tumble 45% to US$23.7 billion. Vietnam's trade agreements with TPP and the EU require textile manufacturers source their own yarns, dyes and fabrics locally or from within the respective trade blocs. For Chinese firms in Vietnam, this means securing access to local supply chains. To prepare for TPP, Chinese textile group Texhong Textile is building a US$450 million industrial park in northern Quang Ninh province, with an additional US$640 million for supporting industries. To be sure, this year's U.S. presidential campaign has cast deep doubts over the TPP. Before last year, TPP approval on Capitol Hill looked highly likely, but now neither candidate is willing to support a deal that could have implications for US jobs. Donald Trump has called the TPP a "death blow" for US manufacturing, while rival Hillary Clinton appears to have backtracked on her previous advocacy for the TPP while serving as Obama's Secretary of State. While US political noise has created anxiety for those invested in Vietnam, there are hopes Clinton might change her tune on TPP or seek an alternative version of it if she becomes president, in contrast to Trump's more stridently protectionist policies. Amid the uncertainty, Vietnam's ruling party has taken the ratification of the TPP off its agenda this year. "Vietnam so far hasn't shown a clear opinion on the two candidates ... but Vietnamese people have shown clearly that they want Hillary Clinton to win," said economist and former government advisor Le Dang Doanh. Even with the TPP in doubt, Chinese firms are looking to leverage off Vietnam's clout as an emerging industrial and trade power. Ironically, deals like TPP, Obama's signature trade policy intended to boost American influence in Asia and challenge that of China, have actually encouraged Chinese engagement. Rising investment from China is also changing Vietnam in other ways. Anti-China sentiment is entrenched in Vietnam, shaped by centuries of perceived Chinese bullying and sustained by recurring wrangles over sovereignty in the East Vietnam Sea. But there are signs Vietnamese are putting nationalist ideals aside and are learning Chinese, in the hope of getting jobs offered by China Inc and swarms of Taiwanese investors. In the sprawling industrialized province of Binh Duong, China and Taiwan are bringing huge job opportunities, with the two countries accounting for a third of over 100 new investment projects announced in the first five months of 2016. "I don't like China, or Chinese, but their firms are coming here more and more," said Minh Anh, a university student who juggles Chinese classes at night with university lectures and a part-time job by day. "Speaking Chinese may widen my job opportunities and help me earn a good job with good benefits." Low cassava prices plunge farmers into despair Cassava farmers in Gia Lai Province are in dire straits, unable to sell their produce even after prices have plunged below production costs. They have also suffered a steep decline in productivity. Cassava prices in the Tây Nguyên (Central Highlands) province have dropped to VND30,000-35,000 (US$1.3-1.5) per 100kg, much less than last year, a Nông Thôn Ngày Nay (Countryside Today) report says. Last year, cassava prices reached VNĐ1,800 per kg or VNĐ180,000 per 100kg, prompting farmers in the region to cultivate them. “After months of planting and care, we are getting just VNĐ35,000-40,000 for 100kg, what you pay for a bowl of phở (beef rice noodles),” lamented Lê Văn Thành, a cassava grower in Chư Drăng Commune. Thành said cassava had been a key crop helping farmers in Krông Pa District escape poverty over several years now, but prolonged drought has affected its yield and quality. Other crops were similarly affected, he noted. Cassava productivity this crop dropped by half over previous years, Thành said. "Last crop, I harvested about 30 tonnes of cassava per hectare, but this year, I’ve got just 17-18 tonnes. The drop in productivity and prices is a heavy loss and we don’t know what to do for the next crop,” he added. The report says farmers had to invest over VNĐ15-20 million (over $670-897) per hectare for planting cassava, but were able to recover just VNĐ5-6 milllion ($224-270) after harvest. Farmers are harvesting the crop now, but the low prices have prevented many traders from buying it, push farmers even deeper into hopelessness. Đinh Văn Duyên, head of the Agriculture and Rural Development bureau in Krông Pa, said the area for cassava cultivation reached 15,000ha for the 2015-16 crop. But the area planned for cultivating this crop was just around 8,500ha. “Every year, farmers have rushed to grow this plant, despite warnings,” Duyên said. The low prices at present badly affected farmers’ incomes and lives, he added. The local authorities are trying to guide and advise farmers cultivate others plants in order to improve their land and earn more money. Nguyễn Văn Vũ, a local farmer planted 1ha of grass for breeding cows instead of cassava. He said that he earned more from planting grass. A representative of the FOCOCEV Joint Stock Company, which purchases cassava from local farmers, said the decrease in prices was due to fluctuations in cassava starch prices in domestic and world markets. Last year, the average selling price was US$350-360 (VNĐ7.8-8 million) per tonne of cassava starch, but now it is just $270-280 ($6-6.2 million) per tonne, the company said. 20% ceiling on personal loans may go Vietnam is likely to remove the ceiling of 20 per cent interest rates on personal instalment loans and introduce a limit of VND10 million ($445) on each loan under a draft circular from the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) providing guidance on personal instalment loans. Financial companies and commercial banks can negotiate interest rates on personal instalment loans with customers but the best possible rates should be offered to support borrowers, ensure their repayment capacity, and limit any risk of bad debts. The $445 limit can be reviewed by the SBV Governor from time to time. There is a great deal of risk incurred when financial companies provide loans to customers and customers likely to take out such loans are low or middle-income earners with limited knowledge of finance, the draft circular noted. The draft will guide personal instalment lending by financial companies, protecting the rights of customers and ensuring the transparency and sustainable development of such lending. The Vietnam Competition Authority (VCA) under the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) previously revealed that interest rates on personal instalment can be as high as 60 to 70 per cent per annum and warned customers to be careful when signing up for loans. In recent times there has been much confusion in regard to interest rates on personal instalment loans. Under the Civil Law from 2015, which will come into effect on January 1, 2017, rates are not to exceed 20 per cent per annum except in cases where other laws take precedence. Mr. Phan The Thang, Deputy Director of the Consumers Right Protection Office at VCA, believes that personal instalment loans bear high operating expenses and a high risk of irrecoverable debt and so come with high interest rates. Many financial companies have said that they cannot operate on a 20 per cent limit. Other regulations may be needed to either adjust or remove the ceiling, according to Mr. Thang. In its draft circular the SBV permits related parties to negotiate interest rates. Notes attached to the draft state that the SBV believes the Law on Credit Institutions allows related parties to negotiate. Based on this, the draft circular does not regulate a ceiling, meaning the limit under the Civil Law will not apply to financial companies providing personal instalment loans. According to Mr. Nguyen Hoang Minh, Deputy Director of the SBV’s Ho Chi Minh City branch, the negotiated interest rate will not be set freely, with the SBV requiring that banks and financial companies offer affordable rates to support borrowers. The draft also requires financial companies notify the customer of the amount of interest payable by year, month and day, to make it “convenient for customers to compare the rates of other commercial banks and financial companies.” The draft also requires the amount of interest be calculated based on the remaining debt owed and not on the initial amount. However, the CEO of the Basico Law Firm Mr. Tran Minh Hai believes the draft runs counter to a market economy. “The SBV seems to be too concerned about interest rates,” Mr. Hai was quoted as saying. The regulation that interest rates calculated by year, month and day with or without a ceiling and be based on the amount outstanding is for easier management, he said, but its inflexibility makes it unsuitable for the banking and finance sector. Interest rates and the method of calculation should be open to negotiation, he believes. The draft aims at protecting consumers as in recent times there have been complaints from consumers about higher than expected interest rates compared to those advertised. Many advertisements quote low interest rates but a few months after signing the contract customers realize there are hidden costs. A preferential interest rate of zero per cent or one to three per cent per month only applies for the first one or two months or a short period of time and afterwards increases drastically and is always calculated based on the initial loan amount. Drafters paint a picture of customers that “have average or low incomes, limited knowledge about finance, demand to borrow small amounts for short periods, and have difficulty in accessing the personal instalment loans of commercial banks.” Mr. Hai believes that to protect customers the SBV can regulate that financial companies explain interest rates, penalty rates, and costs specifically and thoroughly to customers. If financial companies cannot prove that they have explained these carefully to customers then there will be fines imposed. Vietnam-ASEAN trade turnover tops $42 billion The bilateral trade turnover between Vietnam and ASEAN has highly grown for recent years, increasing 13 times from US$3.3 billion in 1995 to $42.1 billion in 2015, reported the General Customs Department. The turnover is forecast to further increase this year. ASEAN is now one of the most important trade partners of Vietnam. The bloc is among the three largest export markets of Vietnam after the US and EU, maintaining high growth rate. Many Vietnamese brand names have become familiar in ASEAN nations such as Thien Long pen and Cholimex chili sauce. The two sides’ turnover increase has been thanks to tariff barrier removal, facilitating goods and services’ circulation in the region. Cambodia and Myanmar have imposed 0 percent tax rate on fertilizers imported to the countries. Cambodia has been the largest fertilizer importer of Vietnam with over 300,000 tons a year. Online guide to gain license for foreign investors in HCMC The HCMC Department of Planning and Investment has launched a new service permitting foreign investors to register capital contribution and share purchase on the internet since early November. Businesses will email their documents to the department whose staff will check and guide them to complete the procedure within 24 hours. After documents are completed, they will print them out and directly submit to the department. The new service aims to reduce travel time for investors and help them not have to change documents for many times. In addition, the department has implemented online business registration service, permitting customers to submit their documents online and receive them back at home by registering postal service. Gov’t prepares for national conference on business environment The Government yesterday asked ministries, related agencies and local authorities to analyze downgraded economic indicators this year and propose solutions to better them in preparations for a national conference on improving business environment. In the resolution of the regular cabinet meeting in October, the Government requires them to take a look on the downgraded economic indicators announced by the World Bank and the World Economic Forum. Their working results would be sent to the Ministry of Planning and Investment which synthesize and report to the Prime Minister in November to prepare for the national conference. The Government also asks ministries and agencies to focus on improving business environment and competitiveness in their fields. In addition, the Ministry of Finance has been required to coordinate with the Steering Board on Enterprise Reform and Development and the Government Office to organize a national conference on equitization and state own enterprise restructuring in November. Compensation for central sea pollution to be completed by yearend Deputy Prime Minister Truong Hoa Binh has asked related ministries and localities to concentrate on paying compensation by Taiwanese steel company Formosa for citizens affected in a case of sea environment pollution in the north central region by the end of this year. The environmental disaster was caused by the Taiwanese company who discharged wastewater into the sea, killing fish en masses in April this year. The deputy PM required the ministries and localities to transparently and publicly give compensation to beneficiaries and consider it as their key mission this year. Mr. Binh has tasked the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to complete a project to determine damage and compensation levels, ensure welfare and support affected citizens to resume production in Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Quang Tri and Thua Thien-Hue. The project will cover job transfer, livelihood, coral and sea grass growing and sea environment recovery in the four provinces. The Ministry of Industry and Trade has been asked to immediately implement necessary measures to consume inventory seafood meeting food safety standards, work with the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to handle consignments uncontaminated but out of date. In addition, the ministry should take the initiative in working with the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to define compensation levels for individuals and establishments with seafood in stock and assist them with 100 percent of electricity cost and interest rate. The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment should guide and supervise local authorities to destroy unsafe seafood consignments, install environmental observation systems in the four provinces, regularly and continuously operate them to update and publicize observation results on the media. The Ministry of Health continues taking seafood samples from the bottom of the waters within 20 nautical miles from the shore for testing and declaring products meeting food safety standards, the deputy PM asked. The Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs in coordination with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development should build a joint vocational training scheme for local people. The people’s committees of Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Quang Tri and Thua Thien-Hue provinces have been requested to continue rice and financial assistances to citizens. On November 6, the People’s Committee of Ky Anh district, Ha Tinh province paid nearly VND30 billion (US$1.34 million) in compensation to sea pollution affected locals in Ky Xuan commune after the sea environment disaster. Of these, VND25.4 billion went to fishing boats and workers aboard and VND4.3 billion to those losing their jobs. Ky Xuan is the first commune receiving indemnity in the district. Previously, district authorities had done statistics and met local citizens to list households eligible for the compensation and publicly posted the list for locals to be aware of. Seafood exports fetch US$5.7 billion in ten months Vietnam’s seafood revenues in July reached US$687 million, pushing the total figure in the first ten months of this year up to US$5.7 billion, a year-on-year increase of 5.9%, reported the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. The US, Japan, China and the Republic of Korea were the four leading markets for Vietnamese seafood, while the highest surge was seen in the Chinese market at 51.1%, followed by the Netherlands at 14.4%, the US at 14.3% and Thailand at 10.8%. The Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP) stressed the need to strengthen food safety controls on seafood for export as well as to assess and classify import enterprises to be prioritised in quarantine exemptions and reductions. At the same time, it was necessary to evaluate the effects of saltwater intrusion in the Mekong Delta region to apply measures to balance three factors: the breeding season, production varieties and feed production, the association advised. VASEP also underscored the need for investment and support in offshore fishing and storage to increase productivity and profits for fishermen and provide sufficient materials for export, together with enhancing trade promotion and seeking new markets. Earnings from Tra fish exports are expected to increase 5% to reach US$1.6-1.7 billion in 2016, according to VASEP. Foreign arrivals may reach 9.7 million in 2016 Viet Nam may attract 9.7 million foreign visitors in 2016, according to the National Administration of Tourism. The General Statistics Office reported the number of foreign arrivals in the first ten months increased 25.4% to 8.077 million while the number of domestic visitors reached 53.3 million. The total revenue from tourism was estimated at over VND331,500 billion, a year-on-year rise of 19.1% compared to the preset target of VND 230,000 billion. Head of the Viet Nam National Administration of Tourism Tran Van Tuan said that the sector will continue speeding up both inbound and outbound growth. For the rest of the year, the sector planned to organize promotion programs in nine cities in China, Spain, ASEAN nations and joining international tourism fairs. Phu Lac wind power plant switches on Phu Lac wind power plant located in the Tuy Phong District of central coastal Binh Thuan Province will be completed on November 25 after 14 months of construction. The project has a total investment of nearly VND1.1 trillion (US$49.3 million), including 85 per cent of loans from KfW Bank (also known as Germany Development bank). This is the first project that Binh Thuan wind power Joint Stock Company has borrowed with interest from Denmark via KfW Bank. On September, the plant successfully put its first turbine into operation and connected with the national power grid. Phu Lac Wind Power Plant, in its first phase, has a total capacity of 24MW which uses the technology of Denmark-based Vestas brand with 12 piers. After going through Phu Lac transformer station, the power source was officially connected with the 110KV Ninh Phuoc-Tuy Phong transmission line of the national power grid, supplying additional power for Binh Thuan Province and the southern provinces. Ambiente to bring people new trends Ambiente, the global consumer-goods platform, is scheduled to be organised from February 10 to 14, 2017, at the Frankfurt Exhibition Centre, Germany. The trend barometer, ordering platform and design showcase will present products for the dining table, the kitchen, household goods and gourmet items, as well as the home, furnishings and gifts during the five-day event. Ambiente is divided into the three major product areas – "Dining", "Living" and "Giving." “Ambiente is the centre of the worldwide consumer-goods market. Exhibitors from more than 90 different countries will be showcasing their new products in Frankfurt and setting trends for the whole of 2017,” Stephan Kurzawski, senior vice president, Messe Frankfurt Exhibition GmbH, said. More than 4,300 exhibitors from 96 countries visited the Frankfurt am Main to attend Ambiente in 2016, where, over a gross floor area of 308,000sq.m. and for five whole days, they showcased new products and innovations. Việt Nam was represented by 57 companies and ranked 19th among exhibitor nations. Vietnam – biggest processed shrimp supplier for Australia Vietnam has secured its position as the biggest shrimp supplier for Australia, accounting for more than 33% of the country’s total imports. According to the Vietnam Trade Office in Australia, Australia shrimp imports from five major suppliers saw a decline in the first eight months of this year, of which Indonesia suffered the deepest decrease of 50%, trailed by Malaysia (down 30%), Vietnam (down 8.3%), Thailand (1.9%) and China (0.3%). Australia ranks seven among consumers of Vietnam shrimps, making up 3.3% of Vietnam’s total shrimp exports. However, Vietnam exports to the market fluctuated during the first nine months of this year. After enjoying a robust growth in the first quarter, exports to Australia dipped in the second quarter. In total, shrimp exports to Australia dipped 9.9% to US$75 million in nine months this year. Australia imports around 30,000 tons of shrimps each year. However, strict food hygiene and safety measures have prevented countries to export fresh shrimps to the market. Vietnam has remained the biggest supplier of processed shrimp to Australia over the past five years. Vietnam relevant agencies have actively negotiated with Australian partners to ship fresh shrimps to the market. A group of Australian experts is expected to come to Vietnam in the fourth quarter of this year for evaluation, testing and to consider conditions for the import of fresh shrimps to the market. After Vietnam becomes the first country to ship fresh shrimps to Australia, it is expected that exports to other demanding markets in the world will grow rapidly. Honeywell’s CPS to help Dung Quat refinery improve efficiency Honeywell has announced that Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical, a subsidiary of Vietnam’s state-run oil and gas PetroVietnam will use its new IIoT-based Connected Performance Services (CPS) offering to improve the performance of its manufacturing operations in Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical will use CPS technology which integrates Honeywell UOP’s deep process knowledge to improve refinery and plant performance at its naphtha complex. CPS is part of Honeywell’s Connected Plant initiative, which leverages IIoT technologies, services and domain expertise to improve all aspects of industrial operations from supply chain efficiency to asset optimisation. “Honeywell’s CPS technology uses the plant’s own process data with cloud-based optimisation and reliability solutions to ensure the operation runs at peak efficiency,” said Zak Alzein, vice president for Honeywell UOP’s CPS business. “Honeywell will be in a position to use plant-specific information to provide Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical with actionable recommendations that can significantly improve its profitability.” CPS gives refineries and petrochemical and gas processing plants greater visibility into their operations. Problems that reduced plant efficiency and productivity and that persistently avoided detection can be quickly identified and resolved using recommendations from CPS. As a result, plants can produce more and avoid unplanned shutdowns for maintenance and repair, resulting in millions of dollars per year in increased productivity. The service continuously monitors streaming plant data and applies UOP process models and best practices, big data analytics, and machine learning to find latent and emerging performance problems, alert plant personnel and make specific operational recommendations. These recommendations are reported simultaneously to a dedicated Honeywell UOP process advisor, who also monitors performance and provides additional direction and resources. “The CPS system is an important tool to help our refinery produce more gasoline and consume less energy,” said Tran Ngoc Nguyen, president and CEO of Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical. “We believe it will improve our staff’s capabilities so they can keep our operation running at peak performance.” The service also can also help manage energy consumption to maintain compliance with regulatory standards, and also bridge knowledge gaps among personnel by leveraging the full breadth of Honeywell UOP’s troubleshooting expertise, available at their fingertips. Taken together, the features of CPS allow refineries to operate more efficiently and make the best use of every barrel of feedstock. Property rakes in second-highest FDI The property sector has been the second-highest attracter of foreign direct investment in the first ten months of this year, with 46 projects at an aggregate $982.59 million. According to recent statistics published by the Ministry of Planning and Investment, the property sector was behind the manufacturing and processing sector, which has so far accrued a total of $12.84 billion in 842 newly-registered and 691 capital-added projects, equaling 72.9 per cent of the total foreign direct investment (FDI) inflow to Vietnam. Some notable investments by foreign investors include the $226 million real estate project named Midtown by Cayman Islands and the $6 billion Saigon Peninsula project by Pavilion Group, Genting Malaysia Berhad, and Vietnamese partner Van Thinh Phat. There is also the complex of port and industrial zones in the north-eastern province of Quang Ninh with the investment capital of over $315 million. Moreover, Amata Long Thanh will earmark $309 million to build up an urban development project in the southern province of Dong Nai. In addition to the usual South Korean and Singaporean investors, the Japanese are emerging with a range of projects. Japan’s Meade Group, the contractor of the Ho Chi Minh City Metro Line’s Ben Thanh-Suoi Tien stretch, just started work on a $30 million high-end real estate project in Ho Chi Minh City’s District 2, called Wateria Suites. Previous to that, Daiwa House Industry, Nomura Real Estate Development, and Sumitomo Forestry were awarded an investment certificate to develop a $220 million condominium project in Ho Chi Minh City’s District 7. And then there are the big players. Kajima Corporation joined with Indochina Land for a range of property projects with the total investment of around $1 billion in the next ten years. Mitsubishi Estate, another famous Japanese property developer, recently diversified its portfolio in Vietnam by buying into a property development project in Hanoi, with the total investment of $1.9 billion. According to Yakabe Yoshinori, Deputy Consul General of Japan in Ho Chi Minh City, with the increase in the middle- and high-income classes, the supply of safe and secure housing is becoming an urgent issue. “The real estate sector is becoming very attractive to foreigners as well, with revised housing regulations since July of last year which allow foreigners to own houses in Vietnam,” Yoshinori said, at a recent signing ceremony for Ho Chi Minh City’s Kikyo real estate complex. The project is a joint venture between domestic Nam Long Investment Corporation and two Japanese partners, Nishi Nippon Railroad and Hankyu Realty. Japanese investors prefer to acquire projects which have completed investment procedures and are coming into the construction phase, rather than joining them from the beginning. They have shown a special preference for projects which are coming into operation and starting the turnover collection period. VEF/VNA/VNS/VOV/SGT/SGGP/Dantri/VET/VIR |
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Article 4
Vietnam makes progress cleaning up banking segment The Vietnam government has made meaningful progress in cleaning up the banking segment after an out of control lending spree led to a crippling surge in bad debts back in 2012.  Bank non-performing bad debts, which stood at 17% at the time, have now been reduced by roughly 5% to 12% with the bulk of them transferred to the Vietnam Asset Management Company (VAMC). The VAMC is a governmental agency specifically set up in 2013 to deal with the bad debt situation. In substance, the bad debts were transferred off the banking segments books and consolidated in the VAMC. As of August, the banking system non-performing loans stood at a much healthier 2.7% excluding the receivable from the VAMC, according to an announcement by the World Bank. VAMC, which lacks the financial capacity to deal with the bad debts will most likely receive support from the International Monetary Fund to address the remaining debt in the country’s banking system that it is unable to sell at fire-sale prices. Nguyen Quoc Hung, chair of the VAMC has announced that the agency has received offers from about 10 banks to sell as much as US$747 million (VND17 trillion) of bad loans so far this year. Among the interested banks are the IFC, Standard Chartered Bank, Jadara Capital, Seven Seas Holding, Blackriver Asset Management, GIC, Yamaichi Securities, VinaCapital, and VIC. Dr Le Xuan Nghia, director of the Business Development Institute, told Dau Tu newspaper recently that many foreign investors are interested in purchasing bad debts consolidated in VAMC. However, the collateral for the bad debts consists of property and the procedures for transferring land use rights and ownership of assets attached to a land are tortuous and time-consuming. Consequently, the sales of the bad debts have been greatly slowed. Though the Government continues to make progress, that process has been bogged down by the complicated legal questions involved. The sales to offload the bad debt is good news, said Trinh Nguyen, a senior economist at Natixis Asia Ltd. in Hong Kong. We really have to wait and see what the amount of cash received ends up being. The VAMC has about US$8.8 billion (VND200 trillion) of remaining unsolved bad debt, Saigon Times recently reported, citing the National Assembly’s Hien. Meanwhile the World Bank said in a report earlier this year that progress is being made by the Government in consolidating the banking segment. However, the Government’s target of reducing the total number of commercial banks in the country to 15 by the end of 2017 from the current 34 remains an immense challenge, the report said. International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde said in an interview that the Government’s actions have served to make the banking system stronger, better and more capitalized. This results in bank assets that are less stressed so that lenders can help stimulate broad based economic recovery throughout the country, he concluded. VOV |
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AEC boons yet to showThough the ASEAN Economic Community is expected to significantly benefit Vietnamese exports via import tariff slashes, domestic enterprises are finding it difficult to boost exports for various reasons.
This week, Nguyen Van Minh, deputy director of locally-owned farm produce exporter Clean Food Co., Ltd., will visit Thailand and Indonesia for the fourth time seeking opportunities to export, in a strategy to expand the company’s regional markets. Minh told VIR that he has been trying to expand exports in regional markets, such as Thailand, Singapore, Cambodia, and Indonesia. “However, it is difficult. Though the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) offers tax cuts, these nations have their own technical barriers to protect their local production bases.” Since January, Minh’s firm has only been exporting fruit products to Myanmar and the Philippines, with the turnover rising 15 per cent year-on-year. These two nations are importing 22 per cent of his firm’s export volume from the over 15 markets in Asia. Nguyen Ton Quyen, chairman of Timber and Forest Product Association of Vietnam, also claimed local wood product exporters find it challenging to enter the ASEAN markets. Despite AEC tax cuts, firms cannot increase exports to these markets due to their low demand for Vietnamese products. Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung said that even though the AEC has been effective for ten months, local enterprises still encounter difficulties when trying to expand exports and have yet to reap the benefits of the community. Over the past ten months since the establishment of the AEC, Vietnam suffered from a trade deficit of over $4.9 billion towards other ASEAN nations, higher than the $4.2 billion in the same period last year. In the first ten months of this year, Vietnam’s intra-ASEAN export turnover hit $14.2 billion, down 7.6 per cent on-year, when the figure reached over $15.4 billion (down 3.1 per cent against 2014). According to the General Statistics Office, since early this year, in addition to technical barriers erected in ASEAN markets, the price of many key Vietnamese items in these markets have also been reduced by low demand. This brought down the export turnover of many items, such as mobile phones and spare parts (5 per cent), transportation equipment (27.2 per cent), vegetable and fruits (17.9 per cent), and steel (27.7 per cent). “Local products are often less competitive than those from regional markets in terms of prices and samples, and even quality. This is why local firms are finding it difficult to boost exports to these markets,” Dung said. According to the Ministry of Planning and Investment, since early this year, Vietnam has enjoyed on-year export growth in only three ASEAN markets, Myanmar (up 21.1 per cent), the Philippines (up 13.8 per cent), and Thailand (up 11.6 per cent). Meanwhile, Vietnam’s ten-month export turnover reduced in other regional markets, such as Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Laos, Cambodia, and Brunei. Nguyen Vu Loc, CEO of locally-owned farm produce exporter WestFood, said that while firms from other ASEAN nations are supported by their governments in expanding export markets, it is not the case in Vietnam. For example, if Thai firms export fruit products to the EU, they enjoy a preferential import tariff of 0 per cent, as agreed by both sides. Meanwhile, the rate on the same products can reach up to 17 per cent for Vietnam. By Khoi Nguyen, VIR |
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Social News 16/11 PM approves 7-day Lunar New Year break PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc has approved a 7-day Lunar New Year break, which was proposed by the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs. Seven days off for the New Year holiday will last from January 26 to February 1, 2017. The PM has asked agencies and organizations to arrange and monitor to ensure best services for people. HCM City issues flood warning  The Ho Chi Minh City Steering Committee for Flood and Storm Prevention is asking residents to prepare for potential flood conditions. Watch for flooding over the next seven days, especially as the water levels of the Saigon and Cuu Long rivers are overflowing their banks, the Committee has announced. The water level is expected to reach peaks of 1.65 metres at the Phu An Station on the Saigon River within the next two days, according to the Central Hydrometeorology Centre. During this same two-day period the rivers are expected to see one of the largest tides of the year, said the Centre. Particularly vulnerable locations include the following districts in the City: Districts 12, Binh Thanh, Thu Duc, Go Vap, Binh Chanh, Cu Chi and Hoc Mon. Crane crash kills one student in Nghệ An A tower crane at a construction site abruptly fell yesterday afternoon into a neighbouring high school in the central province of Nghệ An, killing one student on the playground. The accident happened at around 5pm at Lê Viết Thuật high school in Vinh City. When the crane crashed, a group of 10 students were playing on the playground. The incident happened so suddenly that the student had no time to react. The victim, tenth-grader Trần Văn Hải, died instantly upon impact. One of his friends was slightly injured while some others fainted due to extreme shock and were later sent to hospital. The crane also damaged a part of the school’s roof and at least three electric bicycles parked on the ground. The crane belongs to Trường Thành company, which is building a new shopping mall and housing complex next to the school. The cause of the accident is under investigation. In top urban hospitals, bed-sharing the norm Patients and the broader healthcare system are desperately calling for a solution to a bed-sharing problem that has been protested for years, so far to little avail. Nguyễn Văn Hùng and his wife came to the capital for hepatitis treatment from their hometown in Vĩnh Phúc Province, about 65 km to the northwest of Hà Nội. The wife was admitted to the National Hospital of Tropical Diseases for almost two weeks. But she was not given a bed of her own for a single day during her stay at the hospital. “My wife always had to share the bed with another patient. It was so inconvenient for her to do anything, from eating to resting,” Phúc told the Hải quan (Customs) newspaper. His wife was not the exception. The Hải quan newspaper reported that it failed to spot a bed at the hospital that was occupied by only one patient as it was supposed to be. That patients having to share their hospital beds with one or even two other patients, especially during seasonal disease breakouts, was nothing less than a common sight at even the biggest – and often the best – hospitals in Hà Nội and HCM City. The Hà Nội-based Bạch Mai General Hospital’s National Heart Institute was built with a bed capacity of only 278 beds but was forced to take in some 525 patients early this month, according to Hải quan. At least 264 inpatients were treated at Bạch Mai Hospital’s Department of Neurology, while it only managed to provide 200 beds. The department tried their best to temporarily solve the problem by arranging two lines of beds along the hospital’s corridor walls, leaving tiny space left for doctors, nurses and patients to move around. New mothers who chose the National Hospital of Obstetrics and Gynecology to deliver their babies suffered from the same issue. Nguyễn Thị Hương was forced to stay with another new mother on a bed post-delivery. Hương and her family both complained how inconvenient the bed-sharing was, particularly at a time when the mother needed to rest the most. Bed-sharing is mainly caused by the number of patients who chose not to attend smaller, local hospitals and instead came to big central-level hospitals with better treatment. Many cited weak healthcare capability of municipal-level hospitals that caused such influxes of patients to the hospitals in Hà Nội and HCM City. The Ministry of Health’s Department of the Medical Examination and Treatment Director General Lương Ngọc Khuê put the blame on big hospitals, claiming their leaders “showed little interest” in supporting training in satellite hospitals in order to reduce the overload. The latest report of the Department of the Medical Examination and Treatment shows that a dozen of central-level hospitals were yet to sign the national commitment of bed-sharing prevention. Bạch Mai hospital and the National Hospital of Obstetrics and Gynecology were among those. Bạch Mai Hospital’s Department of Planning and Administration Head Dương Đức Hùng explained that his hospital usually had to stretch their capacity to receive some 4,000 inpatients in serious conditions, while it only had 2,300 beds available. “And it was very difficult to contact other hospitals to make the patient transfers,” he said. Other central-hospitals were also heavily strained. while several municipal-level facilities simply could not meet medical demand to treat seriously sick patients. The solution to bed-sharing has been clear from the beginning: raise the medical capability of municipal-level hospitals to gain trust of the residents who will consequently give up travelling from their far-away hometowns to big hospitals for treatment. Yet the answer to how to do so has already taken much more time than it should and seems unlikely to be addressed in the next few years. In the meantime, bed-sharing at hospitals will, unfortunately, continue to be the hospital norm in Việt Nam. Nghe An protects marine resources The coastal central province of Nghe An has undertaken numerous measures to protect local marine resources and promote sustainable fishing. Specific fishing areas have been zoned off to reduce and eliminate near-shore fishing, particularly the catch of seafood types banned from exploitation. The province also took measures to encourage and help local fishermen build large-capacity vessels, thus promoting off-shore fishing practice. Annually, the coastal areas together with the seafood sector release young prawns and fish into the sea to recreate sea resources. A number of off-shore fishing teams have been established in Quynh Luu district and Hoang Mai town to support one another during their off-shore fishing trips. Nghe An has 82 km of coastline, and its waters are home to 267 fish species and 20 varieties of prawns. U Minh Thuong National Park preserves biodiversity U Minh Thuong National Park in the southern province of Kien Giang is focusing on scientific research to promote its conservation. A new water management solution launched in 2010 has helped the park recover its mangrove forest system and biological diversity, which were damaged by a forest fire in 2002, according to Director of the park Pham Quoc Dan. The park plans to zone off 550 hectares for forest regeneration and cultivate 350 more hectares of forests, and 4,000 indigenous trees on degrading peat land, as well as root out invasive exotic plants. It will also build a water irrigation system to maintain humidity for forests during the 2016 – 2017 dry season. The management board will continue making a list of rare flora and fauna species in danger of extinction, and concentrate on forest fire prevention. The board is also completing a blueprint to protect the environment and preserve biodiversity through 2017, which will serve as a scientific foundation to conserve valuable genes, recover forests, balance the ecosystem, and increase forest coverage. U Minh Thuong National Park was recognised as Vietnam’s 8th Ramsar site in February 2016. The park is the 2,228th Ramsar site in the world. Ramsar, or the Convention of Wetlands, is an intergovernmental treaty that provides a framework for conservation and use of wetlands. Covering 21,107 hectares, the park is home to one of the most important submerged land areas in the Mekong Delta. Workshop discusses ways to cope with storm surge Storm surge was the main topic of a workshop jointly held in Hanoi on November 15 by the Typhoon Committee and the National Centre for Hydro-meteorological Forecasting. Fong Chi Kong, a representative from the Typhoon Committee Secretariat, said storm surge is the biggest threat of typhoons. Strong winds push sea water into ports and low land, causing tsunami-like flooding. Vietnam is one of the countries suffering from storm surge. He called for immediate actions and better resilience against storm surge to rescue more lives and mitigate social-economic losses. The workshop also mentioned issues relating to storm surge like advances in storm surge and coastal flooding forecasting, storm surge forecast model and its role in making decisions and developing storm surge forecasting systems for coastal localities. Established in 1968, the Typhoon Committee is an intergovernmental body under the auspices of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) and the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) in order to promote and coordinate the planning and implementation of measures required for minimising the loss of life and material damage caused by typhoons in the region. Vietnam became an official member of the Typhoon Committee in 1968. The National Centre for Hydro-meteorological Forecasting is a national coordinator in cooperation activities with the Typhoon Committee. Mangrove forests protect sea dykes in Quang Tri The growing of mangrove forests in the central province of Quang Tri has proved effective in protecting the local sea dykes. Years ago, local residents in Trieu Phuoc commune, Trieu Phong district, could not help worrying about the sea dyke system being swept away anytime during the rainy season. Now, everything has changed since more than 40 hectares of mangrove forests were grown around the 5km sea dyke, creating a solid belt to prevent salt water from encroaching and flood tides as well, thus protecting water resources facilities, crop fields, and ecological environment and increasing the local biodiversity. Lying between two tributaries of the Hieu and Thach Han Rivers, Trieu Phuoc commune regularly suffers from tides and floods with a large farmland and aquatic breeding zone destroyed. The national target programme provided nearly 20 billion VND (900,000 USD) in 2009 for the commune to reinforce the 5km sea dyke by growing mangroves along it. Over the past seven years, the mangrove forests have brought practical benefits to local inhabitants. Nguyen Van Thanh, a local in the commune, said the forests have saved people and rice fields from floods, adding that such model should be expanded across other areas to prevent salt water intrusion and land erosion. The Trieu Phuoc Commune People’s Committee has organised teams to inspect the protection of forests, thus mitigating the impacts of tides and floods and improving the ecological environment. Chairman of the committee Nguyen Vu Sy said Trieu Phuoc bears a lot of brunt from natural disasters, especially salinity. Therefore, the mangroves growing project has helped the commune protect the ecological system and sea dyke, he added. In October 2015, the Quang Tri department of sea, islands, and hydrometeorology implemented a project for sustainable recovery and development of mangrove forests in a bid to create sustainable livelihoods for local people in the lower part of the Ben Hai and Thach Han rivers on a total area of 63.43 hectares. Mangrove forests develop in shallow water, such as in gulfs and estuaries sheltered by capes, narrow straits or along coasts protected by archipelagos. Although they account for a small part of Vietnam's forests, they provide an important role in the preservation and protection of coastal and estuarine regions, habitat provision, storm protection, erosion control and carbon sequestration, according to National Agriculture Extension Centre. Mangrove forests are present in 20 provinces and cities in the country, mostly in the south, and have diverse species.- Miners breathe again after lung lavage "I’m glad that the cough, as well as the coal dust, has gone after I underwent lung lavage", said Phạm Văn Thành, from Khe Chàm Coal company. Like so many miners who receive treatment at the Coal and Mineral Hospital, Thành said he hoped it would help him return to a healthy life. Being affected with pneumoconiosis, a lung disease, he has often suffered from breathing difficulties over the past four years. "Although I had asked the company management if I could shift to other jobs to avoid frequent contact with coal dust, my cough hasn’t stopped," he said, adding that he worked as a miner for 36 years. "Thanks to lung lavage, my health became much better," Thành said with a bright smile. Phan Văn Độ, another worker from Dương Huy Coal Company, said he used to suffer with a persistent cough due to inhaling coal dust. “Slight changes in the weather could also cause difficulties for my breathing. Tiredness and exhaustion were very common for me,” he said. Độ said he hoped doctors could revive his “black lung” and he would return to work in the mines of Quảng Ninh Province soon. Le Quang Trung, deputy director of the hospital, said lung lavage, commonly called "lung washing", was the most effective way to treat the disease, which is still not curable. The procedure involves doctors circulating around 9-12 litres of fluid through each lung on average, with the liquid starting out very dark but becoming clearer as the process continues. It takes between 15 and 25 days to conduct a complete lung lavage procedure for a patient. Tens of thousands of coal industry workers have already worked in extreme conditions, but once they are exposed to silica dust, symptoms such as chest pains, breathing difficulties, persistent coughs or fever would follow them for the rest of their life if they didn’t undergo the lung lavage procedure. Pneumoconiosis, caused by inhalation of crystalline silica dust, could lead to a limitation of air flow in and out of the lungs, causing shortness of breath. The disease usually worsens over time, he said. Đỗ Tiến Sĩ, head of the Occupational Disease Faculty, said before the "lung washing" technique was applied in Việt Nam in 2004, doctors at the hospital were worried about potential occupational diseases for thousands of miners who worked underground. Their anxiety grew after conducting medical check-ups on the miners. At that time, the Việt Nam national Coal-Mineral Industries Holding Corporation Limited (Vinacomin) had to send miners suffering from pneumoconisis to China for lung washing. A group of doctors from the Coal and Mineral Hospital, including Sĩ, then suggested the corporation let them go to China to learn the technique for themselves. Returning home, they started treating domestic workers at a much lower cost than VNĐ60 million (US$2,700), the estimated cost of sending a worker to China for treatment. The record of patients had shown positive results, Sĩ said, as most of them had improved respiratory function after between 6 and 12 months and go on to gain weight (2.18kg on average). A study on 83 patients who worked as miners for 25 years and above revealed that the frequency of coughs and chest pains reduced by 9 per cent after receiving lung lavage. For those who worked in the occupation less than 15 years, lung lavage could be a tremendous relief, particularly in eliminating problems relating to breathing difficulties. Over 2,000 workers have had their lungs washed since 2004, and the hospital is the only medical centre in Viet Nam that is authorised to conduct the technique by the Ministry of Health. Si told Quang Ninh newspaper, however, the number of people undergoing lung washing was still small compared with those who worked underground and were exposed to silica dust. All people who experienced dust for about 3 years, and have suspected symptoms should have their health evaluated to detect occupational diseases and receive timely treatment, he said. Thus, the hospital has proposed that the Ministry of Health include miners who worked in the field for 3 years to the list of miners subject to lung lavage, to improve the effectiveness of preventative treatment, as the younger the workers are, the more efficiently they are cured and vice versa, he said. The Ministry of Health has revised the regulations to offer lung lavage treatment to miners with 5 years experience in the field. This is an improvement on previous regulations, which allowed only miners with over 15 years working in mining industry, to under go lung lavage. No blue-ear pandemic in Thừa Thiên – Huế The central province of Thừa Thiên - Huế is not having a blue-ear pig pandemic, said Nguyễn Văn Hưng, head of the provincial Branch of Livestock Production and Veterinary. Hưng yesterday refuted rumours spreading in the province over recent days about a pandemic, which worried many consumers. The baseless rumours have already caused economic damage to pig rearing and slaughtering households, as well as pork traders across the province. Thirty-two livestock slaughter houses in the province used to slaughter 2,300 – 2,400 pigs per day. However, the figure has reduced by an average of 25 per cent, or even 39 per cent some days, since the beginning of November. The live weight pork price decreased from VNĐ40,000 (US$1.8) per kilogram to VNĐ36,000-38,000. Nguyễn Thị Thương, a retailer at An Cựu Market in Huế City, said while the price of pork at the market had reduced to VNĐ60,000 – 65,000 per kilogram from the normal VNĐ90,000 – 95,000 per kilogram, it was still difficult to sell. Consumers were reluctant to buy pork due to concerns over the blue-ear pandemic, although pork sold at the market had obtained quarantine stamps from authorities. According to Nguyễn Văn Hưng, the rumour probably stemmed from wholesale traders aiming at reducing the live weight pork price. He advised consumers not to believe the rumours. The provincial Branch of Livestock Production and Veterinary would continue to intensify inspections to ensure food hygiene and safety in the province, he said. Since October, the province has supported its livestock slaughtering establishments to apply clean technology to ensure food safety and protect the environment. Nam Kỳ Khởi Nghĩa bike race to start on Nov 19 The 19th Nam Kỳ Khởi Nghĩa Cycling Tournament will kicked off Saturday (Nov 19), with riders from 15 teams participating The five-stage tournament will span 752km from HCM City to neighbouring provinces and close on November 23. The first stage is the 123km stretch from HCM City to Trà Vinh. It is the last national tournament of the year, and it will feature many of the most renowned cyclists from HCM City, Đồng Tháp, An Giang and Hà Nội. The racers will vie for a total bonus of VNĐ300 million (US$14,500) for winners of the yellow, green, white and team categories, next to other side awards. Organisers will give presents to local teachers and students on the Teacher Day on November 20. Hoàng finds new home at FLC Thanh Hóa Midfielder Nguyễn Trọng Hoàng has signed a contract with FLC Thanh Hóa before leaving with the national team to Myanmar for the AFF Cup. Hoàng, who left former champions Becamex Bình Dương, earlier this month has signed up for three years at his new club. The details of the move have not yet been publicized. “Hoàng is a quality player who is at the peak of his career. In Thanh Hóa we are looking for a player like him who will collaborate to push us to a high position in the V.League 2017," said coach Hoàng Thanh Tùng. Hoàng is the third signing for the team for the new season. In the 2015-16, Thanh Hóa finished fourth, although they spent a lot of money preparing for the tournament. Tides break dyke A stretch of the Sài Gòn River Dyke in HCM City’s Thủ Đức District was broken yesterday morning by high tides. The tides reached their peak at 1,63 metres and broke 5 metres of the dyke in Hiệp Bình Phước Ward, The waters flooded several houses and drowned some 50,000 yellow ochna trees, which were grown by 10 households to sell during the celebration of the Lunar New Year in two months’ time. The trees will die if the water is not completely drained in the next few days. Water overflowed from fish ponds and took several fish out of the ponds, leading to a major financial loss for farmers. Seminar debates financial solutions to natural disaster risks Building financial solutions to natural disaster risks is a must in order to lessen the burden on the State budget, said Vice Minister of Finance Nguyen Huu Chi. Chi told participants at a seminar co-organised by the Ministry of Finance and the World Bank (WB) in Hanoi on November 15 that Vietnam suffers from various natural disasters which cause losses of up to 40 trillion VND (around 1.8 billion USD) each year. Vietnam ranks 22nd in the world in the number of deaths left by calamities, he added. Sebastian Eckardt, Lead Economist for the World Bank in Vietnam, shared Chi’s view, saying that an estimated 60 percent of the country’s areas and 71 percent of its population endure storm and flood risks. Total damage due to storms and floods is equal to 0.8 percent of Vietnam’s annual gross domestic product (GDP), pushing it to third place in terms of losses among the ASEAN member countries, just behind Myanmar and the Philippines, he noted. Since 2013, with the support of the Swiss Government, WB has assisted Vietnam in improving financial solutions and natural disaster insurance by exclusively building a calamity risk model for the country. The WB economist said this model will help the Vietnamese Government and organisations to evaluate the possibility of occurrence and losses caused by natural disasters and work out financial plans for the possible consequences. According to the WB, Vietnam now has different tools to ensure financial resources for coping with calamities and overcoming their aftermaths. However, WB experts suggested Vietnam build a financial strategy to cover all losses left by natural disasters and it should be part of the country’s natural disaster and climate change management master plan. Thai Nguyen to host culture week, prep underway It has been unveiled that a Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam Culture Week will transpire December 6-11 at the Museum of the Cultures of Vietnam Ethnic Groups in Thai Nguyen City. The event will feature exhibitions on Vietnamese Ao Dai, traditional costumes of Malaysia and Indonesia, an Indonesian Batik painting performance, Vietnamese embroidery performance, and Malaysian food competition. The Vietnamese delegation, according to the Ministry of Culture Sports and Tourism, includes 30 artisans comprised of representatives from the six ethnic groups of the Mong, Dao, Thai, Cham, Tay and Pa Then. Anti-people smuggling conference held in HCM City The fourth law enforcement Joint Management Group (JMG) on People Smuggling meeting was opened on Tuesday in Ho Chi Minh City, aiming at fostering regional co-operation and anti-people smuggling efforts across Asia. The three-day meeting is being co-hosted by the Ministry of Public Security and the Australian Federal Police. Law enforcement officials from Australia, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Thailand, will attend the event to discuss emerging trends. The fourth meeting of the JMG will focus on the links between organised crime and people smuggling, and the effects of global displacement. The need for greater capacity building for law enforcement officers in source and transit countries to pursue offshore disruption of criminal syndicates will also be discussed. Speaking at the opening of the conference, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Public Security, Senior Lieutenant General Pham Dung emphasised “transnational organised crime and people smuggling syndicates have been established and are running people smuggling activities with many sophisticated and unpredictable modus operandi. This situation presents potential serious dangers and challenges to the public safety and socio-economic stability, etc. requiring the law enforcement agencies of countries to co-operate, work closely and join hands to combat and prevent this problem.” Along with each country providing an overview of its current efforts, presentations by INTERPOL, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, and the International Organisation for Migration will also feature. Key statement from Australian Consul General Karen Lanyon echoed the importance of deterring people smuggling to save lives. The JMG reinforces people smuggling is an organised crime that exploits the most vulnerable of people. The socio-economic impacts are felt by those exploited, as well as the source, transit, and destination countries. AFP Commander of the Operation Sovereign Borders Disruption and Deterrence Task Group, Lesa Gale, recognised Vietnam’s efforts to support a regional approach to countering people smuggling. “This multilateral crime forum is an excellent example of law enforcement collaboration, fostering regional cooperation to progress the holistic disruption of people smuggling and transnational crime across Asia,” Commander Gale said. The Joint Management Group was established in 2014 as a regional law enforcement partnership dedicated to preventing the exploitation of vulnerable men, women and children by people smugglers. The meeting supports the Australian Government’s anti-people smuggling strategic communication campaign to counter rumours and misinformation being marketed by criminal people smugglers. A unique showcase of contemporary Vietnamese art Parallel Contemporary Art in collaboration with AIA Vietnam Life Insurance and Saatchi Gallery, has launched Vietnam Eye: Contemporary Vietnamese Art, a publication featuring 56 Vietnamese emerging contemporary artists in Hanoi. Of those artists, 19 will take part in the exhibition that was also kicked off yesterday Hanoi. The launch of the book and the exhibition is under AIA Vietnam Eye project that was started in Vietnam in June this year. “We believe that art has an important impact to education, the economy, and the health and wellbeing of our society,” Wayne Besant, CEO of AIA Vietnam said. “It enables us to become more imaginative, innovative, and better connected. Through this initiative, AIA hopes to develop a thriving arts ecology that offers Vietnamese the chance to enjoy, participate and create, for more fulfilled lives.” AIA Vietnam Eye is a celebration of Vietnam’s vibrant contemporary art scene and is the eighth project in the Global Eye Programme, which was established in 2009 by David and Serenella Ciclitira in collaboration with Saatchi Gallery in order to nurture artistic talent across Asia’s emerging art scenes. The initiative is sponsored by AIA and supported by the Italian Ambassador to Vietnam, and the British Ambassador to Vietnam. Together the book and the exhibition will offer an overview of one of the newest and most exciting scenes in the global art world. Vietnam has developed rapidly in the last ten years with a new generation of contemporary artists who balance cultural and social issues with a contemporary outlook. This is a generation of artists who are aware of both the history of Vietnamese art as well international art world. “There’s no doubt that interest in Vietnam’s art scene is growing. This exhibition and the publication will offer the art world a chance to really get to know what’s going on in one of the most exciting art scenes that is emerging right now,” Serenella Ciclitira, the book’s editor said. Alongside the main exhibition there will be a series of satellite exhibitions, which will take place in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. The satellite exhibitions will combine artist presentations and educational workshops for children and families. Sing My Song’s Vietnamese version to kick its first season off The first season of Vietnamese version of the reality talent show, Sing My Song will be aired on VTV3 channel starting November 20. “Sing My Song" is a studio-based music contest. Musicians perform in front of a panel of four accomplished singer-songwriters who offer expertise as producer-judges, providing feedback and guidance to the contestants. The judges are also scouting for songs to be part of their own original music album. Participants in "Sing My Song" render their original composition rather than doing song covers by other artists. It is not a singing competition. What matters most is the musical creativity of the contestants, the mass appeal and market potential of the song. The singer’s and songwriter’s vocal skills and stage presentation are only a small part of the whole package. This season’s judges consist of musicians Duc Tri, Le Minh Son, Giang Son and Nguyen Hai Phong. Musician Hoai Sa is music director of the competition. The series consists of four phases, The short-list, The Recording, Composing and Battle, and live performance. The Vietnamese version of Sing My Song has been bought the distribution originally from British ITV network. HCMC focuses on safe food projects As per the People’s Committee in Ho Chi Minh City, one of major duty of agencies and departments is project implementation of pilot markets to sell safe food and safe food chains aiming to provide a closed food supply chains from farm, slaughter to processing and selling. During three recent years, the Department of Industry and Trade in the city insisted in working out pilot markets to provide safe food in a bid to satisfy consumers’ demand of clean food. Along with the project plan, the department liaised with relevant agencies to rate food safety in some markets in the city. Based on the survey, the Department was given the green light to the implementation of piloted markets including Ben Thanh Market and Hoc Mon agricultural produce wholesale market. One of major duties of the plan is to trace back the origin of pork. As per the plan, the Department will officially launch the project on December 10 to ensure safe pork for consumers. In addition, the city will work out the project safe food chains for the period 2016-2020, through issuance of decision No.26 which will issue and withdraw the certificates of eligibility to partake in the chain. In other side, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development encouraged individuals and organizations in the chain to have VietGap certificates. So far, 401 organizations and individuals applied for chain registration including Co.opmart, Saigon supermarket chains, Vissan chains, Big C supermarket, Lotte Mart, An Ha Company and other businesses. The implementation of projects has helped the city set up models to control food by chains and cooperate with province in monitoring food from raising to consuming. Based on , it set up programs to open production models as per VietGap model and helped consuming products in supermarkets, stores as well as establish traditional markets to sell safe food. Thanks to it, the city has no deaths because of poisoning for years. Yet it has shortcomings during on the way. Therefore, the steering board for the project petitioned the government to propose the National Assembly to address law to satisfy the reality. Additionally, the government needs to have policy to support farmers and encourage production cooperation and cooperatives which connect farmers and enterprises. HCM City leaders congratulate senior teachers Ho Chi Minh City’s leaders went around town yesterday congratulating and praising senior teachers for the National Teacher’s Day on November 20. A delegation led by Chairman of People’s Committee in Ho Chi Minh City Nguyen Thanh Phong yesterday had a meeting with Professor Le Quang Vinh, former director of the municipal Department of Education and Training to express his admiration and society’s thanks for their contributions to education sector. In the meeting, Mr. Phong mentioned to the education growth, focusing on renovation, training more teachers and curriculum reduction. Currently, the People’s Committee asked the department to prepare a project with the aim of improving teaching and learning quality in the context of integration. On the same day, the delegation paid a visit to Professor Nguyen Tan Lap, who is a former director of Economy University. Once more, Mr. Phong spoke of the project for training more teachers, stressing that city leaders want to listen to senior teachers’ opinions. More young Vietnamese people have diabetes More young Vietnamese people have diabetes, said experts at a meeting held by the Ministry of Health and the National Endocrine Hospital yesterday in response to the World Diabetes Day themed “Eyes on Diabetes”. The year’s activities and materials will focus on promoting importance of screening to ensure early diagnosis of type 2 diabetes and treatment to reduce the risk of serious complications. Because the number of people having diabetes increased drastically in the country and more young people suffered the disease, Deputy Health Minister Nguyen Thanh Long called for the support of all sectors, the government and the community in preventing the disease as well as increasing information to relatives, friends and people around them. A representative from the World Health Organization pledged to help Vietnam in fighting the non-communicative disease in general and diabetes in particular. The Vietnamese government should focus on controlling consumption and trade of tobacco, wine and encourage people to have proper diets and activities to keep fitness. The hospital said that as per a recent survey, the proportion of diabetes people in Vietnam accounts for 6 percent of the whole population, a doubled increase compared to early 2000s. additionally, the rate of undiagnosed people is high, accounting for 65 percent and more young people getting the disease because they consume too much food but they are lazy to practice physical exercise. Worse, diabetes can go silently undetected for a long time without symptoms. Many people first become aware that they have diabetes when they develop one of its potentially life-threatening complications, such as blindness, heart disease, blindness or nerve disease. There are two main types of diabetes. Type 1 diabetes usually occurs during childhood or adolescence. Type 2 diabetes, which is the most common form of the disease, usually occurs in people who are 45 years of age or older. However, medical experts said that type 2 diabetes can be preventative if people live healthily, have proper diets and take regular physically exercise. Ho Chi Minh City to host Japanese Festival The 2016 Japan Festival to be held from November 18 - 20 in Ho Chi Minh City is a cultural activity that strengthens the traditional bilateral ties between the two countries, said a city senior official. Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee Nguyen Thanh Phong spoke highly of the event, confirming the city will facilitate any of the components required to make the event a success. Takebe Tsutomu, a special advisor to the Japan-Viet Nam Friendship Parliamentary Alliance, and head of the organizing committee said he expected the number of visitors to the upcoming festival to reach 180,000. Last year, the event attracted about 150.000 visitors. The Japan Festival was organised for the first time in 2013 on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Viet Nam and Japan. Effectively combating illegal wildlife trade An international conference on the illegal wildlife trade (IWT) is set to take place in Hanoi on November 17 with the participation of national-level delegations, delegations from international organisations and representatives from media agencies both at home and abroad. This will be the third event of its kind and the first time Vietnam has been the host country. As reported by international organisations, thousands of elephants, pangolins and rhinos are poached each year. Elephant ivory and rhino horn trafficking activities not only take place within one country but also see the involvement of international crime organisations. Without timely action, many wildlife fauna and flora populations will become extinct. Since becoming a signatory to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) in 1994, Vietnam has exerted a great deal of effort to join the international community in responsibly executing the convention. Alongside completing policies and laws relating to the management of the wildlife trade, authorised Vietnamese agencies have discovered, investigated and handled dozens of cases of transporting and trafficking elephant tusks, rhino horns, tiger bones, pangolin scales and freshwater turtles. Most recently, on November 12, the Vietnamese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, in collaboration with relevant ministries and sectors, incinerated over two tonnes of elephant ivory, 70kg of rhino horns and some other items such as bear and tiger bones, which were the result of illegal wildlife trade cases in Vietnam, in the presence of responsible agencies, representatives from embassies, international organisations and media correspondents both domestic and foreign. The move, which took place ahead of the IWT conference, has reflected Vietnam’s determination to responsibly implement its international commitments on combating illegal trade in wildlife, garnering the appreciation of the international community and contributing to enhancing Vietnam’s position on the international arena. Together with joining CITES, Vietnam has been completing its legal system with strict regulations, making effective contributions to combating criminals trading in wild fauna and flora, calling for the joint efforts of the entire community to protect natural resources, and raising public awareness of the necessity of safeguarding nature and wildlife by way of practical actions, including minimising the demand for wildlife products, changing behaviours and strictly enforcing the relevant laws. Japanese, ASEAN youths impressed with HCM City hospitality The Ship for Southeast Asian and Japanese Youth Program’s 328 delegates left HCM City on November 14 after a four-day stop in the city. Despite their stay in the city, Japanese and ASEAN youths enjoyed the warm hospitality from HCM City locals. During the visit, the delegates participated in many activities and cultural exchanges and explored cultural characteristics through homestays in ‘adopted’ families. Besides experiencing different cultures in the region, they also organised activities to introduce Vietnam to international friends. Vietnam has 28 delegates on the ship. The ship, named the Nippon Maru, is a programme between ten ASEAN governments and Japan boosting friendship between Japanese and ASEAN youths. The programme began in 1974 and Vietnam joined the programme in 1995. Ministry intensifies fight against smuggling The Ministry of Industry and Trade has intensified the fight against smuggling, trade fraud and fake goods as cross-border smuggling has increased in border areas ahead of the year-end holiday season. The ministry’s Market Management Department has conducted 145,000 inspections since the beginning of November, detecting 88,000 violations of law, including more than 13,890 cases in the field of food safety. Fertiliser and tobacco are among goods most prone to faking and smuggling. The department has dealt with 1,522 cases of illegally importing or trading in poor-quality and fake fertiliser, seizing hundreds of tonnes of low-quality fertilisers of all kinds. Market control forces also detected 4,859 tobacco-related law violations, confiscating 966,000 packs of cigarettes and transferring 103 cases to investigation agencies. According to the department, the fight against cross-border smuggling faces difficulties due to the rough mountainous terrain in border areas while the anti-smuggling forces are understaffed. In addition, many local residents consider transporting smuggled goods as their livelihoods, thus they do not cooperate in fighting smuggling. The Industry and Trade Ministry said it will coordinate with the police to crack down on trafficking rings and their leaders, while promoting educational campaigns to increase public awareness. At the same time, anti-smuggling and market management forces will be strengthened to increase efficiency of the work. Customs sector prioritises trade facilitation The customs sector has identified implementing the Trade Facilitation (TF) Agreement of the World Trade Organisation as a priority in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Year 2017. The Vietnam Customs and the US Agency for International Development organised a workshop in Hanoi on November 14 to prepare for Vietnam’s hosting of the APEC forum next year. Nguyen Duc Dung, a representative from the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said trade facilitation should focus on encouraging customs agencies, service suppliers and business associations to exchange information. Participants suggested strengthening transparency and improving the legal system while accelerating goods inspections since a lot of Vietnamese exports have to undergo stringent customs procedures that waste time and money. Strong connectivity between the 21 APEC member economies will improve import-export activities, experts said, adding that Vietnam needs assistance from other nations to be more involved in international treaties, especially the TF agreement. The supply chain framework and the national single window mechanism are also among top priorities, heard the workshop. Attendants agreed to place a high premium on customs cooperation in information technology and risk management, intellectual property and cross-border e-commerce. Contemporary Vietnamese art on show in Hanoi Vietnamese contemporary artworks by 19 artists are being showcased at an exhibition in Hanoi from November 14. A photo book featuring 56 Vietnamese contemporary artists was also introduced on the opening day of the exhibition. The book, published by the Italian Skira publishing house has articles about each artist and the development of art in contemporary Vietnam. The exhibition is part of activities in the framework of the AIA Vietnam Eye Project launched in June this year, which will take place until January 14, 2017. A number of other exhibitions and workshops will be held during the period. World Bank project improves Can Tho climate resilience A delegation from the World Bank (WB) met with local authorities in the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho to discuss a project to help the city reduce flood risk. The WB’s project manager Marc Forni, who led the delegation to the city on November 14, said this is the third project in which the WB provided official development assistance (ODA) to the city and hailed the efforts made by the city to accelerate the implementation of the project. Vo Thi Hong Anh, Vice Chairwoman of the municipal People’s Committee attached significance to the project on reducing flood risks in downtown Can Tho and improving connections between downtown and new urban areas. She called for more support from the WB for the city in human resource training, enhancing the city’s administration in natural disaster management. According to Deputy Manager of the ODA project management unit Tran Minh Phat, a number of the project’s contracts have been appraised, including the building of flood sluices, and several bridges. According to the municipal People’s Committee, the project has a total investment of 322 million USD, of which 250 million USD is sourced from ODA from the WB and 10 million USD of non-refundable assistance from the Switzerland’s State Secretariat for Economic Affairs. The project, to be carried out from now until 2021, is expected to benefit nearly 430,000 residents in Ninh Kieu, Binh Thuy and Cai Rang districts. Nearly one million others in the areas will be protected from floods during high tide. Nghe An intensifies tourism development The northern central province of Nghe An has been channeling more resources into developing tourism, towards the sector becoming a driving force in the local development. The province attaches importance to planning, tourism infrastructure development and encouraging investment in tourism, boosting the quality of promotion activities and managing the environment and tourism resources. In recent years, some new tourism projects went into operation like Lan Chau – Song Ngu ecological tourism area, the Lam river ecological tourism area, the Ru Giam spiritual tourism area and the Dien Hai sea tourist area. Since 2011, 275 new hotels and guesthouses have been built with a combined capital of 2.2 trillion VND (98 million USD). The north central province’s tourism sector, however, still faces various problems like a lack of breakthrough changes and local typical tourism products. The province targets 5-5.5 million tourists a year by 2020. Southwestern region, US’s Riverside city foster cooperation Authorities of the Southwestern Steering Committee discussed cooperation with the delegation from the US city Riverside, led by Mayor William Bailey III, in Can Tho city on November 15. Vice Head of the Committee Le Hung Dung introduced to the guests the regional potential, particularly in agriculture and seafood production, with Can Tho city as a regional economic, educational hub. Dung expressed his wish that in the coming time Riverside will continue nurturing the fruitful cooperation with Can Tho and strengthening its cooperation with the Mekong Delta region in education, healthcare to boost export of regional key products to the city. He also called on the US city to provide support for the regional localities in response to climate change and sea level rise while facilitating exchanges and connection between the two nations’ enterprises. Sharing the view with the host on strengthening bilateral cooperation, Bailey underlined huge research potential between the two cities, with the highlight of the cooperation among Can Tho University, the Mekong Delta Rice Research Institute and California Riverside University. He stressed the need for the region to develop infrastructure while preserving their local cultural heritage, such as Cai Rang floating market. In 2015, Can Tho and Riverside signed a cooperation pact and officially set up the twining relations. VNA/VNS/VOV/SGT/SGGP/TT/TN/Dantri/VNE |
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Alarm over paper mill threatening rivers in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta  A man stands next to the canal where wastewater from the Long Giang Industrial Park is discharged in Tien Giang Province, southern Vietnam. An environmental expert has called on the Tien Giang administration to pull the plug on a Taiwan-invested paper project he says may pollute one of the most important waterways in the province as well as the Mekong Delta. Assoc. Prof. Le Trinh, head of the Institute for Environmental Science and Development, is so concerned about the potential negative impacts the Dai Duong paper plant will have on the province’s Tien River, that he has petitioned the provincial administration to stop the project. The 250-kilometer long Tien (Front) River and 200-kilometer Hau (Back) River are the two most important waterways in the Mekong Delta in southern Vietnam. The Hau River is also under threat from another paper mill, run by Hong Kong’s Lee & Man Paper. The Dai Duong facility, located in Tien Giang’s Long Giang Industrial Park, is operated by the Dai Duong Co. Ltd., and fully owned by Taiwan’s Chang Yang Holding. The paper plant discharges its wastewater through two local canals before finally reaching the Tien River, where “many of the province’s biggest water suppliers collect surface water for treatment before supplying clean water to millions of households,” Trinh said in his petition. The pundit, who is also deputy head of the Vietnamese Council for Environmental Impact Assessment, said the paper mill will also affect numerous local farmers as their agriculture production may be “adversely affected by the facility’s wastewater and smoke.” Toxic wastewater concerns According to Assoc. Prof. Trinh, the paper making industry requires a number of chemicals for production, and the wastewater dumped by the facility contains various hard-to-treat toxic materials. Among those toxins are organic chlorides such as dioxin, which can be absorbed by fish and other aquatic animals before they are served at the dinner table. Trinh said several studies prove that it is impossible to completely remove dioxin from chlorine dioxide, the chemical compound used for pulp whitening. “With that in mind, it is impossible to not worry about the Dai Duong plant, especially when it dumps as many as 4,950 cubic meters of wastewater on a daily basis,” Trinh said. The expert added that the wastewater treatment capacity of the Long Giang Industrial Park is unable to completely handle such a large amount of wastewater from the paper mill. “If we let the plant operator treat its own wastewater, who can be sure that it will not cause an environmental incident?” he questioned. In that scenario, Trinh said, toxic wastewater will spill to the Tien River, its tributaries and the local canal systems. The number of people affected by such a disaster would be equal to that of the Formosa crisis in central Vietnam, he added. “As an expert who has been studying the environment in Tien Giang for years, I earnestly suggest that the provincial Party Committee, People’s Council and administration stop allowing this project,” he said. Scrap paper as raw material According to documents reviewed by Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper, Chang Yang Holding first proposed the Dai Duong project to Tien Giang authorities in January 2016, and submitted the necessary documents and papers on February 18. Less than a month later, on March 11, the Tien Giang administration gave the developer in-principle approval for the proposal, and only four days later, the Taiwanese company received the investment license for the project, with a total investment of US$220 million. With all paperwork completed, the developer leased as many as eight land plots, spanning a total of 227,530 square meters in the Long Giang Industrial Park, to build its plant. The Dai Duong paper mill produces four types of paper, including the double-ply Duplex and Kraf paper from scrap papers, with a total capacity of 175,000 metric tons a year in its first phase. The developer has received a number of incentives from the Tien Giang administration, such as a low corporate income tax of 10 percent, compared to the normal 20 percent. The Taiwanese firm also enjoys a corporate income tax exemption for four years from the first year it begins to post a profit, and a 50 percent tax cut for the subsequent nine years. Pham Anh Tuan, deputy chairman of Tien Giang administration, confirmed to Tuoi Tre that he had received the ‘sincere petition’ from Trinh. “We will invite scientists to assess the environmental issues in regard to the Dai Duong plant Trinh has raised,” Tuan said. “Tien Giang authorities will strictly follow the order by the prime minister, which is to never trade the local environment for new economic projects.” TUOI TRE NEWS |
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Motorbike owners to be fined for non-transfer of vehicle ownership Motorbike owners that have not transferred the ownership of their vehicles will face a fine of VND100,000 (USD4.47) to VND400,000 starting from 2017. Starting from January 1, individuals will face VND100,000-200,000 fine and organisations will be fined VND200,000-400,000 for failing to transfer their vehicles' ownership. Car owners will face fines of VND2m-4m. The Traffic Police Department has asked authorities at all levels and the media to convey the information to the public. Decree 15 issued in April 2015 by the Ministry of Public Security states that individuals or organisations who have motorbike, three-wheeled or electric bikes sold or given to them but change of ownership hadn't been completed must complete the procedure by the end of December 31, 2016. The Traffic Police Department also asked vehicle registration agencies worldwide to speed up the process.  A traffic policeman check papers of a motorbike driver The decision to fine owners who fail to transfer vehicle ownership was proposed in 2012 with fines as high as VND1m (USD45) for motorbike owners and VND8m for car owners. Another decree issued in 2013 lowered the fines to VND200,000 and VND4m. According to Colonel Dao Vinh Thang, head of Hanoi traffic police, the move is expected to help aid criminal investigations, especially traffic accidents, and tighten traffic and road management. However, the proposal was met with opposition. Many people who oppose the regulation said that there was no laws that demand the driver's name and the name on the certificate must be the same. In 2013, former Minister of Transport Dinh La Thang decided to withdrew the proposal. dtinews.vn |
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Minister admits foreign language scheme ineffective The Minister of Education and Training Phung Xuan Nha admitted that the government had failed to meet the goals of the National Foreign Language scheme for the 2008-2020 period.  Minister of Education and Training Phung Xuan Nha The prime minister issued Resolution 1400 about foreign language teaching and learning for higher education back in 2008. All university and college students that do not specialise in English must have an equivalent B1 level qualification in in the common European framework of reference for languages skills. From 2013-1015, each university will have one teacher study abroad each year. MoET will also help to set up high-standard foreign language centres, first at Thai Nguyen University, University of Languages and International Studies in Hanoi, Hue, Danang and HCMC University of Education, in order to improve the teacher skills. Teachers lacking language skills will need further studies. On November 16, when NA deputy Duong Minh Anh from Hanoi questioned the minister of education about the effectiveness of the scheme, which has already cost VND5 trillion (USD223m) out of its VND9.4 trillion budget in 2015, Nha said it was not effective. "I can tell you now, no," Nha said. "Teaching and learning foreign language is a long-term, big issue. It needs a huge budget and time. We tried to develop the best plan but encountered difficulties with time, budget and preparation." Nha said he and the ministry would take responsibility. He went on to say they were reviewing the scheme and would make some changes. The first training courses must be planned with aims to globalise, not based on teachers' ability. The quality of teachers must be improved and teaching methods must also be adjusted to actually be useful in everyday life rather than just as an academic qualification. Claiming Malaysia and Singapore used 38 years to improve the nation's English fluency, Nha promised that the ministry would adjust the scheme so that the budget and other resources wouldn't go to waste. The quality of teachers working with the Ministry of Internal Affairs will also be improved gradually. However, Nha said works would take time and they must be flexible enough to prevent certificate selling. Laodong |
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Taking false steps, many big businesses sink like a stone A number of once-famous large corporations are now bogged down in difficulties and losses, with little chance for recovery.  Viet An – Anvifish has released its Q3 finance report which shows no sign of the company’s recovery. Anvifish has taken a loss for the 11th consecutive quarter. In the first nine months of the year, the company had modest revenue of VND100 billion, while it has incurred a loss of VND500 billion Just six years ago, when Anvifish was in its heyday, no one could imagine that the company’s share price would fall from VND20,000 per share to VND300. Another once resounding business – Navico – is facing big difficulties. Navico, together with Vinh Hoan and Hung Vuong, was one of the leading enterprises in the seafood industry. However, Navico and the title ‘catfish King’ have fallen into oblivion. Meanwhile, Vinh Hoan’s owner – Truong Thi Le Khanh – has been listed among top 10 stock millionaires and Hung Vuong’s owner Duong Ngoc Minh has also become one of the most influential businessmen in the industry. Navico’s share price has fallen from VND60,000 per share to VND7,000 and is now just a trivial business.
In the shipping industry, Nosco has reported an additional loss of VND37 billion in the third quarter of the year, raising an accumulative loss to VND3.3 trillion. In 2016 alone, the company’s loss may reach VND450 billion. The third quarter revenue of the shipping firm dropped dramatically to a level just equal to 50 percent of revenue last year, which was even lower than the bank loan interest. Analysts said the possibility of Nosco going bankrupt is now higher than ever. Nosco’s once-renowned fleet has become a heavy burden because of high investment value. Prior to that, investors witnessed the collapse of another well-known name in the shipping industry – Viet Hai Shipping & Real Estate. Viet Hai shares (VSP) were very attractive, but the shipping firm has become a ‘ghost vessel’ and had to suspend operation in late March after three years of unsuccessful restructuring. Many other giants in their fields, namely Alphanam, Thai Hoa Group, VOS (shipping firm) and Vinaconex, have unexpectedly collapsed after experiencing golden days. Le Quang Tri from Tri Viet Securities said that the common characteristic of the enterprises is the huge accumulative loss which is higher than stockholder equity and there is little opportunity for recovery. One of the methods suggested to help restructure business debts is the conversion of bank loans to shares. However, this can only be applied in some cases where banks still can see opportunities of recovery. M.Ha, VNN |
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Social News 17/11 Quang Tri: environmental victims receive compensation  Vinh Linh district is the first localities in the central province of Quang Tri to distribute compensation to residents affected by the mass fish deaths earlier this year. On November 16, the first day of compensation, residents in Vinh Moc village, Vinh Thanh commune received the money. During the first phase of compensation, nearly 11.9 billion VND (535,500 USD) will be awarded to 257 people in Vinh Moc village in line with the Prime Minister’s Decision No. 1880. Tran Huu Hung, Chairman of the Vinh Linh People’s Committee, said Vinh Linh is one of the localities in Quang Tri hardest affected by the environmental incident. Following the PM’s Decision, local agencies and localities have assessed and make a list of victims to ensure the compensation take place publicly, transparently and equally, helping locals stabilise their lives and resume their production. In the first phase, the provincial People’s Committee has decided to allocate more than 200 billion VND in compensation for ship owners and labourers affected by the incident. Quang Tri has more than 8,000 households with nearly 45,000 people, over 2,800 boats from 16 coastal communes and towns in four districts – Vinh Linh, Gio Linh, Trieu Phong and Hai Lang – severely affected by the incident. In late June, the Taiwan-invested Hung Nghiep Formosa Ha Tinh Steel Limited Company admitted responsibility for the mass fish deaths in the four provinces of Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Quang Tri and Thua Thien-Hue, and pledged 11.5 trillion VND (500 million USD) in compensation. The Ministry of Finance transferred 3 trillion VND (134 million USD) to the localities. Of the amount, Quang Binh got 1.1 trillion VND (49.3 million); Ha Tinh, 1 trillion VND (44.8 million); Quang Tri, 500 billion VND (22.4 million), and Thua Thien-Hue, 400 billion VND (17.9 million). Thai Nguyen hosts exhibition on Hoang Sa, Truong Sa An exhibition affirming Vietnam’s sovereignty over the Hoang Sa (Paracel) and Truong Sa (Spartly) archipelagos opened in the northern province of Thai Nguyen. Titled “Vietnam’s Hoang Sa, Truong Sa – Historical and Legal Evidence”, the exhibition introduced nearly 600 publications and 80 photos related to the country’s sea and islands, including the two archipelagos. Maps issued by Vietnam, China and Western countries from the 17th to the 20th century and four atlases published by China proving Vietnam’s sovereignty over the Hoang Sa and Truong Sa archipelagos were also on display. Besides, the event included books and photos featuring islands belonging to the Truong Sa archipelago as well as locals’ lives in the area which are provided by the library of the central province of Khanh Hoa. Documentaries on sea and island sovereignty of Vietnam were also shown at the event, along with a talk show themed “Vietnam’s sea and islands and national sovereignty” held by representatives of the Chief Navy Technical Service. The event aims to raise awareness of importance of Vietnam’s sea and responsibility in protecting the country’s sea and island sovereignty among local officials and people. The exhibition opens until November 23 at Thai Nguyen University.- Hai Phong active in legal knowledge dissemination Vietnamese and international legal regulations on seas and islands have been disseminated to residents in islands and border areas across the northern port city of Hai Phong during 2013-2016. It was reported at a conference held in Hai Phong on November 15 to review a related project, jointly carried out by the Hai Phong People’s Committee and the Border Guard High Command. Colonel Dao Quang Thuc, deputy director of the project, said communicators have creatively made serious contents of legal documents practical and memorable. The documents focus on a number of topics, including the resolution of the fourth Party Central Committee (10 th tenure) on Vietnam’s maritime strategy towards 2020, the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC), and the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). Another content that more closely related to local fishermen was the Prime Minister’s Instruction 689/CT-TTg issued in May 2010 on measures to reduce the number of arrested fishing boats and fishermen at sea. Communications campaigns on law compliance in Hai Phong between 2013 and 2016 have contributed to reducing the number of violations during the period by 364 cases compared to that of the 2009-2012 period. Hoang Thi Hong Luan, Vice Chairwoman of the People’s Committee in Cat Hai district said the population of her area is not stable due to the movement of migrant workers, thus communications activities must be specifically designed for smaller groups of people. According to Luan, to facilitate the information dissemination, Cat Hai has set up musical troupes in various localities and created a TV programme on legal education for every Saturday broadcast. The district concentrated on matters that attract public concern, such as maritime resources protection and land law. Vice Chairman of the Hai Phong People’s Committee Le Khac Nam stressed the need to continuously implement the project, requesting relevant agencies to closely work together and improve their communications human resources. Hai Phong is one of 28 coastal cities and provinces in Vietnam. It consists of 15 districts, 8 of which have sea border areas. Week-long events will celebrate ethnic heritage An event celebrating the diversified culture of ethnic groups will take place from November 18 to 23 at the Việt Nam National Village for Ethnic Culture and Tourism in the capital’s Sơn Tây Town. “The Great National Unity – Vietnamese Cultural Heritage Week” will introduce and honour tangible and intangible cultural heritages of dozens of ethnic groups, said Lâm Văn Khang, head of the village management board. “Tourists will have a chance to join the traditional festivals and rituals of the ethnic groups, which have been preserved for many generations, such as wedding ceremony of the Tày and a thanksgiving ceremony of the Gia Rai.” Attending the event will be 120 village leaders and artisans from groups nationwide, including the Tày from Thái Nguyên, Xơ Đăng from Kon Tum, Gia Rai from Gia Lai and Ba Na from Phú Yên. The opening ceremony will be held on Friday with performances featuring the traditions of each ethnic group and honouring national solidarity. It will be broadcast live on VTV1. On the same day, organisers will present awards to the winners of a photo contest featuring the National Village for Ethnic Culture and Tourism – the common house of 54 ethnic groups. An exhibition of 150 best photos will be held at the village exhibition area during the cultural week. Among the highlights of the event is the demonstration of traditional crafts of the Tày, Thái, Mường, Dao, Khơ Mú, Ba Na, Ê Đê and Khmer groups, such as brocading, musical instrument and tool making, as well as folk games and songs. The programe is part of activities marking the Traditional Day of the Việt Nam Fatherland Front Committee (November 18) and Cultural Heritage Day (November 23). Systems to detect foreign objects on runways proposed The Civil Aviation Authority of Việt Nam (CAAV) has asked the Ministry of Transport for permission to build systems to detect debris on the runways of major airports to avoid accidents. According to the proposal, the systems will be installed at Nội Bài International Airport in Hà Nội and Tân Sơn Nhất International Airport in Hồ Chí Minh at a cost of nearly VNĐ1 trillion (US$ 44.7 million). CAAV has reported 19 incidents this year in which airplane tyres were cut, and 20 incidents of birds bumping into airplanes across the country. “Take-off and landing are the most important periods when the airplane’s speed and friction are very high. A catastrophic accident can occur even due to collision with very small objects like screws, iron bars or birds,” said Lại Xuân Thanh, head of CAAV. Currently only human eyes monitor the runways. The process is time consuming since each check requires take-off and landing activities to halt, causing disruptions at busy airports like Nội Bài and Tân Sơn Nhất. According to Thanh, systems to detect foreign objects would increase the accuracy of the check and prevent false warnings and interruptions of the airports’ activities. CAAV proposed three investment options: using the State budget, using capital from the Airports Corporation of Việt Nam which operates the two airports, or a private-public parnership. If the proposal is approved, the systems will be built next year and begin operation in 2018. Six fishermen rescued from sea A fishing boat with a crew of six fishermen was rescued yesterday after its engine broke down the day before, 43 nautical miles from Bạch Long Vĩ Island off Hải Phòng coast. The boat, NĐ 92647 TS, called for help on Tuesday after its engine stopped working at sea. Also, its pump was out of order and seawater flowed into the boat. Chairman of Bạch Long Vĩ Island District People’s Committee Đỗ Đức Hòa said local authorities, including border guards and coast guards, quickly created a rescue plan to reach the endangered boat. After being rescued, all six fishermen were reported in good health. Fishermen net rare sea turtle in Quang Nam A rare sea turtle seems to be living off the coast of the central province of Quang Nam, possibly lured here by warm El Niño waters. Local newspapers report that fishermen saw something in their net and after closer examination realized it was an unfamiliar turtle and called local authorities to notify them of the catch. Tran Quang Kien, deputy head of the Fisheries Department of Capture said the brown shelled turtle measured 40cm in length and 30cm in width and weighed 5.5 kilos. He confirmed that it is one of the rarest sea turtles in the world and is an endangered species. It hatches and gives birth once every 30 years, he said, noting the chances are that only one in every 1,000 babies will survive to maturity. Once common to the area, this is the first time in the past 10 years it has been found in Quang Nam Province, said Mr Kien, adding that the turtle was released at 10a.m. on November 16 back into the sea. ASEAN pilots compete in Hà Nội The second ASEAN Pilots’ League 2016 (APL), a football tournament for pilots in the region, is currently underway in Hà Nội. The two-day event, which began on November 16, has attracted 12 participants from six local airlines, Singapore, Indonesia and Brunei, as well as Cambodia, Malaysia, host Việt Nam and two invited teams -- Việt Nam’s Ministry of Transport and Vietnam Air Traffic Management Corporation. The matches are organised at the Hàng Đẫy Stadium and doors are open for supporters. According to Nguyễn Đăng Quang, head of the organising committee, APL is a chance for pilots in the region to relax after work and exchange experiences for better performance. The tournament is an annual event, which kicked off in 2009. Vietnam Airlines has won two gold, two silver and two bronze medals from previous tournaments. Vĩnh Phúc top national canoeing team event Vĩnh Phúc overcame defending champions Hà Nội to top the canoeing event at the ongoing National Rowing and Canoeing Championships in Hải Phòng City. It was a successful tournament for Asian winner Trương Thị Phương, who pocketed three of the team’s eight golds and one silver. Hà Nội were second with four gold, nine silver and four bronze medals. Bạc Liêu came third, winning four gold, one silver and three bronze medals. After canoeing, the rowing events will take place until this Saturday. Austria eyes cooperation with Hanoi Austria is interested in Hanoi’s plan to develop emergency relief services, Austrian Ambassador to Vietnam Thomas Loidl told Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee Nguyen Duc Chung on November 16. The ambassador suggested fields for cooperation between Austria and Hanoi. Frequetis AG – one of Austria’s leading firms specialising in providing public safety solutions, wants to join the plan, he said, adding that the comapny is effectively operating in Vietnam. The firm cooperated with the Fire Prevention and Fighting Police Department under the Ministry of Public Security to implement the first phase of the project “Fire Brigades Dispatch Centre” (FDC- Vietnam), he noted. It continues working with the department to carry out the project’s second phase. Chairman Chung expressed his interest in the Ambassador’s proposals, affirming that Hanoi is willing to create favourable conditions for Austrian investors to do business in Hanoi. Austrian companies will be provided with necessary information, which will facilitate their investment and business in Hanoi, and Vietnam in general, he stressed. Hanoi British School hosts first int’l festival On Saturday, the British International School Hanoi (BIS Hanoi) will host its first International Festival to celebrate the school’s various nationalities and cultures. The event will also raise money to support school community and charity projects. The event aims to educate students about cultures from all over the world through traditional games, costumes, food and other activities. It also aims to teach them the importance of social responsibility via community service projects. The event is expected to attract more than 2,000 people. It will feature plenty of entertainment: bouncy castles, henna painting, ice cream, candy floss stalls, music shows and handicraft workshops. International food from different countries and communities will be introduced, and several businesses and local charities will participate. School Principal Anthony Rowlands said, “The International Festival is the biggest community event of the year at BIS Hanoi, and it allows our students, parents and guests to learn more about the culture of different countries around the world. It is also an opportunity for family and friends to come together and have a fun day out.” The free entrance event will begin at 9.30am and continue until 2pm, at Hoa Lan Road, Vinhomes Riverside, Long Bien District. Korean star Moon So-ri ‘curious’ about Vietnamese cinema Korean actress Moon So-ri afforded Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper an interview upon her arrival in the central city of Danang for a cinema event that kicked off on November 7. The Busan-born actress is best known for her role in the 2002 South Korean film Oasis, in which she played a woman with severe cerebral palsy who became involved in a difficult romance with an intellectually challenged man. Her performance in Oasis earned Moon So-ri a Marcello Mastroianni Award for Emerging Actress at the Venice International Film Festival the same year. She was recently a member of the jury for the Orizzonti awards at the festival’s 73rd edition in September. The Korean star arrived in central Vietnam on November 14 to attend the cinema event 'Autumn Meeting' held in both Da Nang City and neighboring Hoi An. First held in 2013, Autumn Meeting is an annual cinema event co-founded by a group of young Vietnamese filmmakers looking to organize a meeting where new generations of talent can learn from their predecessors. In November 14 ’s interview with Tuoi Tre, not long after arriving in Da Nang, Moon opened up about her personal experience with the Vietnamese film industry and how she had learnt about the cinema event which she had arrived for. Moon said that a brief chat in September with Vietnamese director Phan Dang Di, one of the co-founders of Autumn Meeting, who had attended one of her lectures at Konkuk University in Seoul, had intrigued her so much that she had jumped at his invitation to attend the event as a guest lecturer. Moon even suggested bringing along two of her students. According to the 42-year-old star, the film industries of South Korea, Japan and China are the most developed in Asia, but at the same time are struggling to find room for new, original stories as they become more commercialized and formulaic. Moon said that while attending international film festivals, many film curators had praised Vietnamese entries as being full of energy and distinctive in their own style, some even predicting that Vietnam could become an ‘X-factor’ in Asian cinema. This appreciation for Vietnamese movies had made Moon ‘curious’ about the country’s film industry and driven her to attend this year’s Autumn Meeting in Da Nang. Her first experience with a Vietnamese-language movie was the 1995 film Cyclo by director Tran Anh Hung, which won the Golden Lion at the 52nd Venice International Film Festival. Moon has also seen Phan Dang Di’s films Bi, Don’t Be Afraid! and Big Father, Small Father and Other Stories prior to her arrival in Vietnam. During the event, the star was a guest lecturer for an acting class alongside Lyndia Park, a seasoned acting coach, also from the Republic of Korea. Hoi An to provide environment-friendly public vehicles The ancient city of Hội An will launch three routes of public battery-powered cars to serve tourists, starting in January, Vice Chairman of the city’s People’s Committee Nguyễn Văn Sơn confirmed to Việt Nam News. Sơn said it’s the first stage of a pilot project to boost environment-friendly public transport in the tourism hub of central Việt Nam. He said the city will use 50 six and eight-seat cars to shuttle between the Tân An public car park to the old town and favourite beaches of An Bàng and Cửa Đại. Sơn said the project will also help reduce car pollution in the UNESCO-recognised world heritage city. He said the city would consider using solar power panels on the battery-powered cars in the second stage of the project. Since 2002, Hội An has earmarked several streets for pedestrian and non-engine vehicles to reduce noise and ensure people’s safety in the old quarter, where most foreign tourists use bicycles. The city also plans to provide 100,000 bicycles for residents’ use in order to become the first eco-city in Việt Nam. Earlier this year, the UNESCO-recognised world heritage city of Hội An, and Naha City, the capital of Okinawa Prefecture, agreed to commence the third phase of the Eco-city Achievement Support Project. Last year, Hội An began the first trial of a public van route connecting major destinations, with funding from the Japan Fund for Global Environment. HCM City’s administration goes digital Official documents on paper will be replaced by digital documents in HCM City from next year as part of a public administration review. At a meeting with city leaders yesterday, Trần Vĩnh Tuyến, vice chairman of the city’s People’s Committee requested that from January 1 next year, administrative agencies will no longer send official documents in paper form. For now, he requested that apart from the paper version sent via post, administrative agencies send a digital version of every official document. The move aims to reduce time spent responding to citizens’ complaints instead of keeping them waiting for up to eight days. According to Tuyến, by abandoning hard copies, the committee’s office is estimated to save more than VNĐ1 billion (US$44,710) a year. Taking advantage of digital technology not only saves printing costs and preserves human resources but also reduces traffic jams as fewer post office staff must deliver documents, he said. He appointed the city’s Department of Information and Communications to plan a proposal to legalise and apply digital signatures in the public administrative process. The proposal should be presented next month so that digital signatures can be used in documents that are sent from district level to the city level at the beginning of next year, he said. The city is building an integrated, open source data centre amongst authorities, government agencies, enterprises and citizens. It is expected that by 2020, all public administrative services of the city will be provided via an interconnected online system. Suspension bridge collapses, injuring one Four passersby, who fell into the river following the collapse of a suspension bridge on Đồng Nai River in the southern province of Đồng Nai yesterday afternoon, were rescued. A person was injured and was sent to a medical establishment for treatment while three others’ health was slightly affected. A Tân Phú District People’s Committee official said last night local authorities had not received any information about who was still missing. Tà Lài Bridge, 164m in length, and 4m in width, is the only way for 1,300 ethnic minority residents in Tà Lài Commune to travel to Tân Phú District’s centre and neighbouring communes. Local authorities’ initial investigation reported that the reason for the collapse was a cable of the bridge’s cable system slipping. At the site, witness said they saw some cables had slipped from abutment. Relevant offices and local authorities are jointly investigating the accident. Soon after the mishap, Tân Phú District authorities arranged a ferry near the area to transport locals. The bridge was built in 2001 at a cost of VNĐ3.5 billion from Đồng Nai Province’s budget. It officially opened to traffic in 2005, serving walkers and motorbike and bicycle riders. A Tân Phú District official said the local People’s Committee had upgraded the bridge twice since it opened to traffic. However, according to director Trịnh Tuấn Liêm, director of the provincial Transport Department, the department sent documents to local authorities advising them to conduct regular inspection on this weak bridge to avoid an accident. Ceremony honoring teachers held in HCMC A ceremony honoring teachers was held in Ho Chi Minh City on November 16 on the occasion of the 34th anniversary of Vietnam Teacher's Day (November 20). Attending in the event were Chairman of the People’s Committee of Ho Chi Minh City Nguyen Thanh Phong, Deputy Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh city Party Committee Vo Thi Dung, Head of the Department of Propaganda and Training of the HCMC Party Committee Than Thi Thu and Deputy chairwoman of the municipal People’s Committee Nguyen thi Thu. Le Hong Son, director of the Department of Education and Training, reviewed the tradition of the sector and outstanding achievements as well as contribution of generations of teachers to the education and training sector, adding that the city’s government will continue to implement breakthrough solutions, strategic plans and projects to boost the sector including building advanced modern schools. On this occasion, Chairman Nguyen Thanh Phong praised and congratulated nearly 100,000 teachers and teaching staffs of schools in the city. He asked the Department of Education and Training to focus on completing the project on the development of the city’s education and training sector from now until 2030. The People’s Committee of Ho Chi Minh City offered certificates of merit and medals to 151 units, 8 groups and 151 individuals who have outstanding contribution to the city’s education and training sector. HCMC to check fire safety at karaoke bars The government of HCMC, concerned about fires following the deadly blaze at a Hanoi karaoke bar that killed 13 people, has said it will inspect fire safety at entertainment and service venues, especially those attracting large crowds. The forthcoming inspections will target karaoke bars, music studios, massage and sauna parlors, restaurants, theaters, cinemas, markets, supermarkets, and shopping malls around the city. According to a fire safety scrutiny plan issued by the city last week, inspectors will work with those responsible for fire safety at these places and check the compliance with fire safety regulations and standards. Statistics of the HCMC Prevention and Fighting Police Department last year showed more than 5,300 of 20,000 facilities were at high risk of fire. Most of them were in residential areas and selling flammable items like chemicals, cooking gas, and illegal explosives. Ministry admits wrongdoing in personnel decisions Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh, speaking at a meeting with a working team picked by the Prime Minister on November 14, admitted that the ministry had committed wrongdoing in the appointment of some senior officials. The meeting was held to review the execution of the ministry’s 2016 operation plan that was submitted to the Prime Minister. The adjustment of manpower planning at the ministry has attracted much public attention since news about State losses involving Trinh Xuan Thanh, Vu Quang Hai and Vu Dinh Duy broke. Vu Quang Hai is still deputy general director of Saigon Beer-Alcohol-Beverage Corporation (Sabeco) while Thanh and Duy fled overseas. Thanh is facing an international arrest warrant issued by the Ministry of Public Security over charges of causing VND3.3 trillion losses at PetroVietnam Construction Company (PVC). Mai Tien Dung, Minister and Chairman of the Government Office, told the meeting that there are problems in staff appointments at the ministry. The working team also reviewed the projects that have caused losses of trillions of dong. Anh said he would explain this issue to National Assembly (NA) deputies at a session today. Anh noted these projects had been implemented for years, so the review should be done with caution. Regarding equitization of and divestments from dairy and beer enterprises, Anh said Sabeco and Hanoi Alcohol Beer and Beverage Company (Habeco) would list shares on the HCMC bourse next month. However, difficulties have emerged in the process of negotiations with potential strategic investors at Habeco. Anh said the ministry is considering choosing appropriate investors to sell Habeco shares at the highest price and retain its brand post equitization. The working team asked the trade ministry to deal with environmental issues relating to Duyen Hai and Vinh Tan thermal power plants and the Hoa Sen Ca Na steel complex project. Vietnamese teacher in danger after suffering 100 wasp stings A teacher now risks losing her life after suffering 100 wasp stings on the way to attending an event on Phuc Quoc Island, off southern Vietnam. Pham Tu T., a 43-year-old literature teacher at Phu Quoc High School, is being treated at Cho Ray Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City, Le Thanh Van, principal of the school, said on November 15. In a deep coma, she is suffering a critical condition after being stung 100 times by wasps when she was going to a national solidarity festival in Phu Quoc, administered by Kien Giang Province. Van said that T. was approaching a road in Suoi Da Hamlet, Duong To Commune, at 7:30 am on November 13 when she was attacked by a swarm of wasps. The teacher was immediately admitted to Phu Quoc District Hospital and transferred to Cho Ray at 2:00 pm the same day. Her family said that T. suffers liver, kidney and heart failure, with her life in danger. She cannot breathe herself at this time so doctors have put her on a ventilator. Her colleagues have raised money to help her, with one of her students setting up a Facebook page to facilitate the fundraising. Community management employed in new rural building A conference was held in the northern province of Vinh Phuc on November 15 to review a Swiss-funded project on community management in the national target programme on building new - style rural areas. The project, implemented from February to November, was valued at 200,000 USD, with 180,000 USD sourced from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC). It aimed to compile community-based national guidelines on building new-style rural areas for 2016-2020, improve personnel capacity, and design mechanisms to distribute rural-building funds. After being piloted in four villages in Lam Ha and Don Duong districts in the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong, the project showed that by using local resources, each rural community could reduce construction costs by up to 40 percent. Speaking at the conference, Steven Geiger, SDC Chief Representative in Vietnam, noted the feasibility of the project, saying it was conducted at the right time. Geiger said the project developed a comprehensive approach to community management suitable to Vietnam, mobilising communal resources and sustaining local culture. The SDC lauded the outcomes of the project and expected it to contribute to fighting poverty in Vietnam, he said. Nguyen Minh Tien, director of the project, said it raised public awareness of community management, boosted residents’ role in building new-style rural areas and strengthened links between authorities and locals.-VNA Vietnam, RoK join hands to search for soldiers’ remains The Republic of Korea (RoK) is willing to share all information about soldiers who were killed or went missing in action during the war in Vietnam. Commander of the RoK’s Ministry of National Defense’s Agency for Killed in Action Recovery and Identification Lee Hak-ki made the promise at a meeting in Hanoi on November 15 with Colonel Tran Quoc Dung, Head of the Department of Policy under the General Political Department of the Vietnam People’s Army. The two officers exchanged information and experience in deploying forces and applying scientific advances and information technology to search for and repatriate remains of fallen soldiers of both countries. Lee Hak-ki said the RoK has advantages in information technology and is ready to share information with Vietnam. Colonel Tran Quoc Dung said that Vietnam hopes the RoK’s Ministry of National Defense and Korean soldiers who fought in Vietnam will continue seeking objects that provide useful information for the search to Vietnamese agencies. COPD common as VN has high rate of smokers Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is common in countries such as Việt Nam with a high rate of smokers and will have an upward trend in the country if smoking is not eliminated, according to health experts. Dr Trần Văn Ngọc, chairman of the HCM City Respiratory Society, said that COPD, a progressive disease that makes it hard to breathe, is a global health burden, affecting 4.77 per cent of the world’s population. Ngọc spoke at a press conference on an action programme to reply to the World COPD (Nov 18) held yesterday by the HCM City Respiratory Society in co-operation with GlaxoSmithKline Pte. Ltd. Globally, COPD last year was the fourth cause of fatalities and is estimated to become the third in 2030, Ngọc said. Việt Nam has nearly 4 million patients with COPD, and in 2014, the country was in the top 10 countries with the highest cigarette consumption, according to Ngọc. The country is carrying out a national strategy for prevention and control of tobacco harmful effects until 2020, which will help reduce consumption. “In the country, patients with COPD are diagnosed at severe stages when they have symptoms of wheezing and shortness of breath,” Ngọc said, adding that this is why the number of patients with COPD in treatment is low. Indoor smoke from biomass is the main cause of COPD in the country, he said. Dr Nguyễn Như Vinh, of the University Medical Centre’s Respiratory Diseases Ward, said this cause was not included in the prevention programme for COPD. Vinh added that he and his colleagues conducted a fresh air study in 2010 in the city’s Bình Chánh District and Tây Ninh Province, which showed that the level of particle matter with a diametre less than 2.5 mcm, including dust, dirt, and smoke, in the air was 15,900 mcg per cubic metre. The World Health Organisation’s standard is 35 mcg per cubic metre. Moreover, environmental pollution is one of the causes of COPD, he said. He cited a study conducted by the National Lung Hospital, saying that the prevalence of patients with COPD caused by biomass smoke and environmental pollution in the country last year was 8.1 per cent. Ngọc said that each doctor examined 200 patients every day, leading to insufficient counselling for patients, including ones with COPD. “Sufficient counselling is very important for patients so they use the right medicine,” he said, adding that nearly 57 per cent of patients with COPD do not follow the treatment regimen. Vinh said that patients with COPD were given medicine only, while counselling on nutrition and exercise were ignored. 2016 “HCMC- Integration and Development” festival to open in December The 2016 “Ho Chi Minh City-Development and Integration” festival will be held at the April 30 in District 1 from December 1-3. The event aims to introduce and promote Vietnamese cultural characteristics to international visitors. It is also expected to create a playing field for foreigners who are working and living in the city, and give local and international people in different cultures a chance to learn from each other. The festival will include a range of cultural activities, such as traditional art performance; and exhibitions on the land and Vietnamese people, Ho Chi Minh City’s achievements in various fields, ASEAN member countries’ traditional cultures and more. Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam culture week to open A Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam Culture Week will take place at the Museum of the Cultures of Vietnamese Ethnic Groups in Thai Nguyen city from December 6-11. The event will feature the participation of 25 artisans, teachers and students of Teknologi Mara University from Malaysia and two Batik artisans from Indonesia. Meanwhile the Vietnamese delegation, according to the Ministry of Culture Sports and Tourism, includes 30 artisans comprised of representatives from the six ethnic groups of the Mong, Dao, Thai, Cham, Tay and Pa Then. During the festival, a series of exhibitions will display Vietnamese Ao Dai, traditional costumes of Malaysia and Indonesia, an Indonesian Batik painting performance, Vietnamese embroidery performance, and Malaysian culinary competition. The event promises to offer an opportunity to promote traditional products and the unique cuisines of Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam to international festival. Hanoi hosts Vietnam - Japan guitar exchange performance A free-of-charge Vietnam – Japan guitar exchange performance will be held on November 18 at the Vietnam National Academy of Music in celebration of Vietnamese Teachers’ Day (November 20). The event includes performances from Japanese guitar master, Tomonori Arai, who has won various awards at international guitar competitions. The event will also feature solo and group performances by Vietnamese guitarists from the Vietnam National Academy of Music.- Most Venerable Thich Chon Thien commemorated in Hanoi A ceremony was held at Hanoi-based Quan Su Pagoda on November 17 in memory of Most Venerable Thich Chon Thien, Deputy Supreme Patriarch of the Vietnam Buddist Sangha (VBS). President of the Vietnam Fatherland Front (VFF) Central Committee Nguyen Thien Nhan joined representatives from ministries and agencies, and religious dignitaries at the event. Most Venerable Thich Chon Thien passed away on November 8 in Hue city, the central province of Thua Thien-Hue, at the age of 74. He was a deputy of the newly-elected 14th National Assembly and the 11th, 12th and 13 th legislatures. He was also Vice Chairman of the Vietnam Peace Committee and a member of the VFF Presidium. Born in Hue on December 1, 1942, Most Venerable Thich Chon Thien, whose real name is Nguyen Hoi, was ordained as a Buddhist monk aged 18 and later obtained a PhD in Buddhism in India. During his lifetime, he was awarded the Order of Independence, second-class, the Order for the Cause of the National Unity and merit certificates from the Prime Minister and the VBS for his dedication to the development of the country and Buddhism in Vietnam. Also on November 16, a mourning ceremony for the Most Venerable was held in Tuong Van pagoda, Hue city, where he spent his last days. Border guard force to work for friendship with Cambodia The Border Guard High Command has signed a cooperation programme with the Vietnam-Cambodia Friendship Association (VCFA) on promoting friendship with Cambodia, Nhan dan (People’s) daily reported. Under the programme, the two sides will join hands to promote people-to-people exchanges in border areas, and increase ties between border residential areas and border guard stations. They will also step up communication work among the public, with expatriates as the centre, to strengthen solidarity between residents living along the Vietnam-Cambodia border. The signing ceremony in Hanoi on November 16 was attended by Commander of the Border Guards Command Lieut. Gen. Hoang Xuan Chien and VCFA President Vu Mao. Muong minority group holds second Gong Festival The second Gong Festival of the Muong ethnic minority group opened in the northern mountainous province of Hoa Binh on November 16. The event is part of activities to celebrate the 130th founding anniversary of the province and its 25 years of re-establishment. The festival is witnessing performances by 300 artisans from 11 districts and cities in the province as well as Hoa Binh Tourism Company and its neighbouring province of Thanh Hoa. The event, which runs through November 18, also features a traditional costume show and a street Muong gong parade with 1,600 gong local artisans. Gong is a traditional musical instrument of the Muong ethnic minority people. It is often played during big festivals and holidays to pray for happiness and prosperity. It is also a means of communication with the spiritual world. Gong of the Muong group in Hoa Binh was recognised as the National Intangible Cultural Heritage by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism on January 19, 2016. Slum dwellers to be relocated nearby The HCMC government plans to relocate 20,000 households from the slums along the canals to nearby places to not disrupt their lives. As part of an urban rehabilitation and development program in the 2016-2020 period, the city will resettle around 304 households along canals like Tham Luong-Ben Cat-Rach Nuoc Len, on Nguyen Kieu Isle and at Ho Khanh Hoi Park by 2020. Meanwhile, site clearance and resettlement will affect about 7,031 households along Doi-Te Canal in districts 4, 7 and 8. Around 13,350 households residing along the heavily polluted canals such as Hang Bang, Van Thanh, Bui Huu Nghia, Xuyen Tam and Bau Trau will be moved elsewhere. In addition, the city will rebuild deteriorating condo buildings, and upgrade others. Quang Ngai promotes off-shore fishing The Fisherman Support Fund of central Quang Ngai province aims to mobilise 10 billion VND (450,000 USD) per year, including one billion VND from the provincial budget, to support local fishermen. The target was set at the fund’s second congress for the 2016-2021 term on November 16. To realise the target, the fund will mobilise support from enterprises, particularly traditional sponsors, while seeking new and long-term sponsors. In the new term, the fund targets providing aid of over 18 billion VND (810,000 USD) to offshore fishing vessels affected by natural disasters or accidents, and earmarked nearly 38 billion VND (1.71 million USD) to help fishermen build new vessels. From 2011-2016, the Fund spent 15 billion VND (675,000 USD) to build steel fishing vessels, assisted hundreds of fishermen detained overseas and built houses for families of Agent Orange/Dioxin victims. Addressing the event, Vice Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee Dang Van Minh praised the contribution the fund has made over the past five years. The fund should promote communication work to raise the awareness of the significance of the fund among the community, while allocating the fund effectively, he said. The Quang Ngai Fishermen Support Fund was established in June 2011. It has raised over 88.6 billion VND (nearly 4 million USD) to date. Vietnamese businesses pledge to support rhino horn-anti campaign In the scope of a campaign to call for the end of rhino horn consumption launched by nonprofit organization WildAid in collaboration with African Wildlife Foundation, CHANGE Center, 100 leaders of leading enterprises in Vietnam yesterday signed a pledge not to use rhino horn. As per the pledge, in addition to promise not to consume rhino horn, business leaders pledged not to use products made from wild animals as well as contribute to the protection campaign for wildlife in the country. Among leaders are Nguyen Thi Mai Thanh, chairwoman and general manager of Refrigeration Electrical Engineering Corporation (REE); Dinh Thi Hoa, chairman of the board of governors; Tran Hung Huy, Chairman of ACB Bank; David Do, director of VIG’s managing director; Bui Quang Ngoc, director of FPT Corporation; Tran Trong Kien, chairman of Thien Minh Corporation; Hoang Khai, chairman of Khai Silk Corporation. According to WildAid, Vietnam and China are two major markets for rhino horn consumption; most of rhino horn are illegally imported from African countries. With the pledge, leaders expressed their “saying” no to consumption as well as support the fight against illegal use of rhino horn which leads to the killing of 5,750 rhino in African nations alone since 2008. Ho Chi Minh City facing highest tide High tide yesterday submerged the inner districts of Ho Chi Minh City, causing difficult travelling for all vehicles. Functional forces and people quickly reinforced dyke systems along Sai Gon River. The highest water level was recorded at 1. 65 meters in Phu An station of Sai Gon River, at 1.69 meters in Nha Be district. The water level in Sai Gon River yesterday began rapidly rising and submerging several low areas such as Xo Viet Nghe Tinh, D1 and D5 Street of Binh Thanh district, Huynh Tan Phat Street of district 7 and Nha Be district. The tide caused serious flooding in 0.5 meter water and 1 kilometer traffic jam. Many motobikes broke down engine and got stuck on main streets during rush hour. Thu Duc district’s functional forces and people quickly reinforced dyke systems along Sai Gon River to avoid the bad situation. Earlier, the high tide destroyed a stretch of the dyke and 50,000 apricot roots of 10 households prepared for the Lunar New Year. A large number of fish in breeding farms went into the river due to high tide. Art programme honours tissue donation to save lives An art and exchange programme was held in Hanoi on November 16 to underline the profound humanitarian implications of tissue and organ donation in saving lives, a noble gesture and a symbol of human kindness. Held by the National Coordination Centre for Organ Transplants at the Ministry of Health and Vietnam Television (VTV), the annual programme has been broadcast live on VTV channels since 2014 under the theme Khi su song duoc se chia (“When Life Is Shared”). It is also a call to the community to sign up to donate tissue and an expression of gratitude from the health sector to donors who volunteer to donate part of their bodies while they are still alive to help bring more hope to patients in need. Speaking at the opening, Deputy Minister of Health Le Quang Cuong said that organ transplants are important achievements for the health sector in treating people with serious diseases. Many cases of organ failure could be fixed with donations, as transplants are the last effective treatment for patients with organ failure, Cuong affirmed. To date, Vietnam has seventeen health facilities qualified to perform tissue and human body part transplants with modern equipment and professionalism reaching international standards. Since the first successful kidney transplant at Military Medical Hospital No. 103 in 1992, as of June 15, 2016, Vietnam has carried out 1,281 kidney transplants, 54 liver transplants, sixteen heart transplants, eight marrow transplants, one combined kidney and pancreas transplant and one heart and lung transplant. According to statistics, the need for organ and tissue transplants in Vietnam is fairly large. The country has tens of thousands of people with chronic renal failure in need of kidney transplants. Regarding liver transplants, in some major hospitals in Hanoi alone, there are over 1,500 patients in need of such transplants. Currently, there are also more than 300,000 people with corneal diseases in need of transplants, in addition to thousands of people awaiting heart and lung transplants. However, the scale of supply is still small, mainly due to inadequate awareness about tissue donation. In particular, propaganda about tissue and organ donation after brain death is still limited. Moreover, the lack of information on counselling and tissue donation registration systems and on a national poses challenges for the health sector. With the motto “Communication work must take the lead for the mobilisation of tissue donation,” the Coordination Centre has organised meaningful propaganda campaigns to encourage community participation in this activity. In addition to the abovementioned TV series, the Chung tay vi su song (“Joining Hands for Life”) programme in 2015 mobilised more than 1,400 people to register to donate their organs after death. Most recently, the programme’s 2016 version, held in Ho Chi Minh City, recorded over 600 registered donors, bringing the total number of registered organ donors after death and brain death up to 6,000. Communications activities among social communities and religious institutions on social media have also promoted tissue donation, thereby changing people’s perceptions, attitudes and behaviours in favour of active participation in tissue donation. VNA/VNS/VOV/SGT/SGGP/TT/TN/Dantri/VNE |
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Employers must be sued over insurance debts: officials
HÀ NỘI – None of enterprises that have delayed or avoided paying social insurance for their employees have been brought into court although labour unions, on behalf of the employees, have the right to sue them, the Việt Nam General Confederation of Labour (VGCL) said yesterday. Speaking at a conference about measures to crack down on insurance debtors yesterday, VGCL Vice Chairman Mai Đức Chính said that labour unions were given legal tools in January to take enterprises to court. Việt Nam Social Insurance and the VGCL even signed a co-operation agreement to provide data and ensure the rights and benefits of employees. The VGCL had required localities to sign commitments to strengthen debt collection and press suits if necessary. However, 16 localities had not yet signed their commitment and none of the debtors have been sued so far, he said. As regulated, every enterprise with more than 10 employees was supposed to jointly pay for workers three types of insurance, namely social insurance, health insurance and unemployment insurance. However, many intentionally ignored, delayed or refused to pay, according to the official. Việt Nam Social Insurance reports show that accumulated social insurance debt in the past ten months was some VNĐ9.55 trillion (US$382 million). Debt of more than three months total VNĐ6.8 trillion ($272 million), accounting for 72 per cent of the total. The total deb for the three types of insurance was VNĐ14.2 trillion ($568 million), an increase of 0.2 per cent compared to the same period last year. By November 15, only 78 per cent of total debts had been collected, seriously affecting employee benefits. Under the Law on Social Insurance, employers must pay 17 per cent of their employees’ monthly salaries and employees pay six per cent. With this cover, employees can enjoy financial support when they are sick and unable to work. Nguyễn Trí Đại, Head of Việt Nam Social Insurance’s Social Insurance Department, said enterprises avoid paying insurance either because they are in financial troubles or because they are unaware of their legal duty. Lax management of social insurance companies in localities also contributes to the problem, he added, citing a company in southern An Giang Province as an example. The company failed to collect debts for more than 60,000 local beneficiaries of social welfare since early January last year. Representatives of cities and provinces say a shortage of human resources, complicated suing procedures and a shortage of guideline on suing were the main reasons that labour unions hesitate to sue on behalf of workers. To solve the problem, vice chairman of the VGCL Chính asked labour unions to hasten the completion of suits and relevant documents over insurance debtors and transfer them to the people’s courts. Any difficulties during the procedures must be reported to the VGCL. He requested each locality to get between five to ten lawsuits to the people’s court by the end of this year. Việt Nam Social Insurance would co-operate with VGCL to set up teams to supervise implementation of the task in localities, he said. State-owned firms with large numbers of labourers, especially in the fields of transport, mechanics and textiles and garments, have been guilty of violations. Strong measures such as fines of up to VNĐ30 million ($1,650) do not seem to deter the debtors: many would rather pay these low fines than their social insurance debts. – VNS INBOX: Hà Nội to curb health facilities overspending HÀ NộI – The Hà Nội’s Department of Health, in co-operation with the city’s health insurance fund, will inspect about 50 health facilities overspending their health insurance funds in the past nine months. The inspectors will determine why the cost and frequency of treatment at certain facilities have increased. Prescriptions and other medical regimen will also be monitored for abuse or profiteering from the health insurance fund. According to the city’s health insurance fund, the overspending of the fund was 1 per cent. As many as 73 hospitals exceeded the fund by a total of more than VNĐ200 billion (US$8 million). To curb overspending, the city has asked the inspection unit of health insurance funds at hospitals to strengthen operations and refuse to pay for costs failing to meet the fund’s requirements. The city’s People’s Committee has required localities to reach health insurance coverage for 80 per cent of the population by the end of this year and 90 per cent by 2020. – VNS |
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BUSINESS IN BRIEF 17/11 AEC boons yet to show Though the ASEAN Economic Community is expected to significantly benefit Vietnamese exports via import tariff slashes, domestic enterprises are finding it difficult to boost exports for various reasons. This week, Nguyen Van Minh, deputy director of locally-owned farm produce exporter Clean Food Co., Ltd., will visit Thailand and Indonesia for the fourth time seeking opportunities to export, in a strategy to expand the company’s regional markets. Minh told VIR that he has been trying to expand exports in regional markets, such as Thailand, Singapore, Cambodia, and Indonesia. “However, it is difficult. Though the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) offers tax cuts, these nations have their own technical barriers to protect their local production bases.” Since January, Minh’s firm has only been exporting fruit products to Myanmar and the Philippines, with the turnover rising 15 per cent year-on-year. These two nations are importing 22 per cent of his firm’s export volume from the over 15 markets in Asia. Nguyen Ton Quyen, chairman of Timber and Forest Product Association of Vietnam, also claimed local wood product exporters find it challenging to enter the ASEAN markets. Despite AEC tax cuts, firms cannot increase exports to these markets due to their low demand for Vietnamese products. Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung said that even though the AEC has been effective for ten months, local enterprises still encounter difficulties when trying to expand exports and have yet to reap the benefits of the community. Over the past ten months since the establishment of the AEC, Vietnam suffered from a trade deficit of over $4.9 billion towards other ASEAN nations, higher than the $4.2 billion in the same period last year. In the first ten months of this year, Vietnam’s intra-ASEAN export turnover hit $14.2 billion, down 7.6 per cent on-year, when the figure reached over $15.4 billion (down 3.1 per cent against 2014). According to the General Statistics Office, since early this year, in addition to technical barriers erected in ASEAN markets, the price of many key Vietnamese items in these markets have also been reduced by low demand. This brought down the export turnover of many items, such as mobile phones and spare parts (5 per cent), transportation equipment (27.2 per cent), vegetable and fruits (17.9 per cent), and steel (27.7 per cent). “Local products are often less competitive than those from regional markets in terms of prices and samples, and even quality. This is why local firms are finding it difficult to boost exports to these markets,” Dung said. According to the Ministry of Planning and Investment, since early this year, Vietnam has enjoyed on-year export growth in only three ASEAN markets, Myanmar (up 21.1 per cent), the Philippines (up 13.8 per cent), and Thailand (up 11.6 per cent). Meanwhile, Vietnam’s ten-month export turnover reduced in other regional markets, such as Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Laos, Cambodia, and Brunei. Nguyen Vu Loc, CEO of locally-owned farm produce exporter WestFood, said that while firms from other ASEAN nations are supported by their governments in expanding export markets, it is not the case in Vietnam. For example, if Thai firms export fruit products to the EU, they enjoy a preferential import tariff of 0 per cent, as agreed by both sides. Meanwhile, the rate on the same products can reach up to 17 per cent for Vietnam. Binh Son Company to produce over 1 mln tonnes of products by year-end The Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical Company (BSR) will produce more than 1 million tonnes of products between now and the year-end, increasing its total yearly output to 6.91 million tonnes of products, 100,000 tonnes higher than the 2015 volume. Earlier on November 9, BSR announced it had fulfilled this year’s output target of 5.8 million tonnes of products, 52 days ahead of the schedule. According to the company, the early fulfilment is attributed to the safe and stable operation of Dung Quat Refinery at an optimal capacity of 105 to 107 percent. In addition, this year’s favourable weather has facilitated crude oil imports and product sales. After six years of operation, Dung Quat Refinery has contributed 133 trillion VND (6 billion USD) to the State budget and earned 785 trillion VND (35 billion USD) in revenue. The factory has sold about 43 million tonnes of products, meeting 40 percent of domestic petrol demand. BSR is focusing on upgrading and expanding the factory to raise its capacity from 6.5 million to 8.5 million tonnes per year, which is scheduled to be completed in 2022. The factory will be equitised in 2017. US’s Riverside city, Can Tho seek partnerships Authorities in the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho discussed investment and trade cooperation with William Bailey III, visiting mayor of Can Tho’s twin US city Riverside, on November 15. At the working session, Nguyen Minh Toai, Director of the municipal Industry and Trade Department, proposed that companies from the two localities should ramp up joint projects in a numbers of sectors, including logistics, rice production and trade, fisheries, garment and pharmacy. Toai expected Riverside to be a gateway to the US market for goods from Can Tho. For his part, Bailey said he will discuss and delve into the proposal with US firms back home. He introduced the Riverside development programme on sustainable farming and welcomed businessmen from Can Tho to establish their agribusiness in his city. He said many tertiary and higher education facilities in Riverside are willing to share their findings on advanced agricultural technologies and models of high-tech incubator with Can Tho. Riverside is boosting the import of new types of Asian rice to serve increasing local demand, mostly from Asian overseas students and immigrants, noted Bailey. He added that Can Tho’s quality and tasty rice varieties will always be a top option of his city. Riverside is an emerging logistics hub of California State, opening great opportunities for cooperation with the Mekong Delta city in the field, said the US mayor. Dao Anh Dung, Vice Chairman of the Can Tho People’s Committee stressed that bilateral investment and trade ties will give a boost to the two cities’ amity and the Vietnam-US relations as well. In 2015, Can Tho and Riverside signed a cooperation pact and officially set up the twining relations. Vietnamese, German parties hold dialogue on SMEs The fifth dialogue between the Communist Party of Vietnam and the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), themed “Developing small and medium-sized enterprises in Vietnam and Germany”, took place in Hanoi on November 15. Speaking at the opening ceremony, head of the Party Central Committee’s Commission for External Relations Hoang Binh Quan said the Vietnamese Party and State highly value SMEs, evidenced by the issuance of support policies and incentives. The 14 th NA is discussing the promulgation of the Law on SMEs support, he said, adding that the dialogue is a good chance for mutual reference and learning. Vice President of the German parliament Edelgal Bulmahn, for her part, said SMEs are a driver of German economy as they account for 90 percent of the total. With three sessions, the dialogue focused its discussion on the significance of SMEs in the economy, experience in SMEs development, opportunities and challenges to SMEs, relevant policies and guidelines of each Party. Participants proposed practical measures for SMEs innovation in the new period. At the closing ceremony, both sides shared the view that discussions at the event provide them a source of reference for sustainable development and make practical contributions to the implementation of the Hanoi Joint Statement on the Vietnam-Germany strategic partnership issued in October 2011. Phu Lac wind power plant switches on The Phu Lac wind power plant located in the Tuy Phong district, central coastal Binh Thuan province, will be completed on November 25 after 14 months of construction. The project has a total investment of nearly 1.1 trillion VND (49.3 million USD), including 85 percent of loans from the German Development Bank (KfW). This is the first project that the BinhThuan wind power JSC has borrowed with interest from Denmark via KfW Bank. In September, the plant successfully put its first turbine into operation and connected with the national power grid. The Phu Lac Wind Power Plant, in its first phase, has a total capacity of 24MW which uses the technology of Denmark-based Vestas brand with 12 piers. After going through Phu Lac transformer station, the power source was officially connected with the 110KV Ninh Phuoc-Tuy Phong transmission line of the national power grid, supplying additional power for Binh Thuan province and the southern provinces. Pharma sector urged to tap big growth potential Vietnam’s pharmaceutical sector has tremendous potential for growth, its numerous structural weaknesses notwithstanding, experts say. Le Van Truyen, a former deputy health minister, told a recent seminar in HCM City that the country’s drug market had expanded at 17-20 percent a year in 2010-15, the 17 th fastest growth rate in the world. It is expected to maintain a growth rate of over 17 percent next year, he said. According to the Vietnam Industry Research and Consultant , per capita drug consumption was worth 4.2 billion USD last year, double the 2010 figure. “Vietnam is considered an emerging market (Pharmerging). Currently, there is a big difference in p er capita consumption between developed and emerging countries (609 USD versus 91 USD), which means that Vietnam’s pharmaceutical market has more room to grow,” he said. Domestic production met only 45 percent of demand last year, and the country had to import a large volume of products, he said. "Local producers import 90 percent of raw materials they need for drug production. But they focus mainly on generic drugs, with very low expenditure on R&D," he said. Despite challenges, the country’s growing population, heightened health awareness among the middle class, and the Government’s policy to develop the industry provide ample stimulus for growth, according to Truyen. Besides, with costs increasing in developed countries, many multinational drug companies are looking for cooperation with Vietnamese companies to outsource production, with many eyeing stakes in local companies. Dang Tran Hai Dang, deputy director of research at Vietinbank Securities, said pharmaceutical products are an essential item. He quoted the Business Monitor International as saying the industry would continue to enjoy double-digit growth of 11.8 percent for the next five years. "The industry’s potential is reflected in pharmaceutical stocks, with the sector always topping growth rates and every listed firm seeing an increase in price," he said. All listed firms achieved good growth in terms of both revenue and profit in the first nine months of this year, he said. For the reasons mentioned above, pharmaceutical stocks have remained attractive to investors though most of the listed firms have run out of room for foreign ownership. Of the 15 listed pharmaceutical companies, only Domesco Medical Import Export Corporation (DMC) in September removed its limit on foreign ownership while the others, including DHG Pharmaceutical JSC (DHG) and Traphaco JSC (TRA) are yet to make any decisions. Foreign investors now own 51.7 percent of DMC, and less than 49 per cent in the other two firms. Foreign investors’ expectations have boosted these companies’ stocks since Decree 60/2015/NĐ-CP was issued in June 2015, allowing the removal of foreign ownership limits in listed companies. The stocks have gone up by 70 percent in the last 12 months. Housing market keeps developing  The housing market will continue to develop, especially the mid-range apartment and townhouse segments, thanks to the improved quality of the country’s economic growth, experts told a conference in HCM City yesterday. Le Anh Tuan, head of research at Dragon Capital Group Limited, told the conference titled “Real-estate: Building the future” that Viet Nam is among top emerging markets in terms of GDP growth. Furthermore, its quality of growth is good as seen from the reducing credit growth and inflation in 2015-16 compared with 2004-11. Private consumption has also surged, he said. Other factors that would boost the housing market include the rapid growth of the middle-class, which is expected to jump from 12 million in 2012 to 33 million by 2020, he said. The rise of the private sector and the resultant boost to productivity, the rapid infrastructure development and the stable economy would be other important factors, he added. Nguyen Tran Nam, chairman of the Viet Nam Real Estate Market, concurred saying, “Demand and supply will continue to grow like they have since the beginning of 2014.” Nguyen Thi My Phuong, CEO of Tien Phuoc Real Estate Joint Stock Company, said she is totally optimistic about the future of the housing market. “Since the beginning of this year, the market has witnessed strong growth in all segments -- apartments, villas, townhouses, and land. “Prices have increased in all segments. The number of transactions has risen sharply at projects with a good location and developed by prestigious developers.” A Savills Vietnam executive was also optimistic about the market saying it would be healthy in 2017. Participants agreed that while both supply and demand would increase in all segments, the mid-range and townhouse categories would rise the fastest. Tuan said sales of luxury housing peaked in the fourth quarter of last year, and demand and prices are set to fall while supply has kept increasing. In the first nine month of this year sales in this segment has been down 10 per cent, he said. Supply, demand and prices of mid-range apartments and townhouses would rise from now through 2018, he said. Nam said with the growing population, every year the country needs around 100 millions square metres of housing. Rapid urbanisation has brought huge numbers of people to cities, pushing demand up there, he said. But he warned that there is still a mismatch between demand and supply. “Supply has increased, demand is growing, but they do not meet each other because they are in different segments.” Developers are focusing greatly on the high-end segment while 70-80 per cent of the demand is in the low and mid-end segments, he pointed out. “There is a discrepancy in the property products structure.” An executive from a construction company said projects with high quality and affordable prices are winners whatever segment they are in. Seafood exports to hit US$8 billion this year Aquatic product exports are expected to reach US$8 billion this year, forecast Ha Cong Tuan, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development. Mr Tuan attributed the results to good export prices and reasonable prices of input materials. Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Xuan Cuong said seafood is a key sector that helps the agriculture achieve the set growth. The General Department of Fisheries has actively implemented measures to remove difficulties and promote production. The Department staff have worked with four central provinces to iron out obstacles to accelerate aquaculture development and discuss measures to raise natural seafood resources and to ensure safety for the exported shrimps. Earlier, General Secretary of the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP) Truong Dinh Hoe forecast that seafood exports will reach around US$7 billion this year. However, Mr Hoe also cautioned domestic businesses to be prepared to confront a fierce competition on the global seafood market where many countries are promoting seafood exports. According to the MARD report, in the first ten months of this year seafood exports increased by 5.9% to US$5.7 billion against the same period last year. The US, Japan, China and the Republic of Korea were the four largest importers of Vietnam seafood in the first nine months of this year, accounting for 54.1% of total exports value. In the reviewed period, export markets which saw a sharp growth included China (up 51.1%), the Netherlands (14.14%), the US (14.3%) and Thailand (10.8%). In Vietnam, cheap cosmetics pose risk Cheap cosmetics that are ‘unofficially’ imported into Vietnam have increasingly become consumer favorites, yet are more than likely low-quality, counterfeit versions of famous brands. Locally referred to as ‘my pham xach tay,’ which means portable goods flown into the country in carry-on luggage, they are not subject to expensive import tariffs. With Vietnamese people paying more attention to their appearance, such cosmetics have been in high demand despite their risks. The beauty goods are sold openly at markets, overwhelming buyers with the sheer variety of products claimed to be imported from the US, the Republic of Korea, Japan, or elsewhere. At one corner stall in Tan Dinh Market in District 1, Ho Chi Minh City, lipsticks, eyeliners, face powders and body lotions are all among the products on offer. “Japanese face powder is sold for VND60,000 [US$2.65] per box while American equivalents are offered for sale at VND100,000 [US$4.41] a jar,” one merchant explained. She directed her buyer’s attention to the Japanese letters on the product labels to guarantee their origin, reiterating that they were of high quality. At another stall in Vuon Chuoi Market in District 3, one type of body lotion cost VND550,000 (US$24.28), half of what its official price is. The quality is similar to that offered in official stores, the vendor asserted, explaining that it was sold at a cheaper price because it was ‘hang xach tay.’ Quynh Chi, owner of an online cosmetics shop, said that the products are often brought to Vietnam in passenger luggage or through transport services. Some people even organized trips to foreign countries to buy their merchandise, Chi continued. According to Chi, who lived in Japan for a period of time, beauty products in the East Asian country can be faked, but the quality is not always the same as the official goods. Consumers are sold on the authenticity of the products when they look at the foreign labels, not realizing that these product guarantees can be counterfeited as well, said Thanh Thinh, director of a distributor of imported products. Consumers' blind preference for foreign merchandise has contributed to many being unaware of the potential for the goods being of low quality, Thinh elaborated. Fake goods are hard to identify without the evaluation of competent authorities, she added. According to other experts, purchasing portable beauty products from online shops in Vietnam also poses other risks, including non-existent refund policies and incorrect orders in terms of sizes and colors. Auto manufacturer Truong Hai hopes for policies to protect domestic industry As the 2018 deadline to remove tariffs on completely built cars imported from the ASEAN bloc looms, domestic auto manufacturers are banking on the possibility that the government will have some measures to control imports of completely built cars. "When there are sound development policies, including controlling imports of completely built cars and protecting domestic assembling and manufacturing industries, and when the domestic market is big enough, the automobile industry will bring huge economic, societal, and technological gains,” said Tran Ba Duong, chairman of the board of directors of Truong Hai Auto Corporation. In 2018, as part of its commitments under the ASEAN Economic Community, Vietnam will remove all tariffs on completely built cars imported from the ASEAN. The domestic automobile industry has only a year to gear up for the expected competition. “If policies are unclear, many car manufacturers and assembly plants will switch over to importing. And when the domestic car market explodes, completely built units will be imported to meet the demand, causing significant trade deficit. The automobile, mechanical, and other supporting industries will fail to meet their objectives, and society will be affected as workers lose their jobs,” Duong added. In its expansion plan of Chu Lai-Truong Hai Complex for 2016-2018, Truong Hai plans investing nearly US$1.4 billion to expand or build new car and part manufacturing plants as well as research and development centres. According to design, by 2018 the complex will have eight assembly plants, 19 supporting industrial plants, five logistical companies, and several other service companies, which will employ 150,000 workers compared to the 60,000 today. Duong said the company has invested a total of US$1.4 billion from 2002 to October 2016 in five lines of vehicles, including buses, trucks, and cars carrying the Mazda, Kia, and Peugeot brands. “We picked international brands that had no plants in the ASEAN or are hoping to expand in the region. We want to target both the Vietnamese and foreign markets,” he said. Amidst the disconcerting uncertainty, another automaker is also expanding production. Huyndai Thanh Cong Auto Company and Korean Hyundai Corporation have just reached an agreement on establishing an auto assembly joint venture in the northern province of Ninh Binh. The JV will operate manufacturing activities, while Hyundai Thanh Cong will continue to run the distribution, according to Le Ngoc Duc, general director at Hyundai Thanh Cong. The deal will bring a US$450-million auto manufacturing cluster to Ninh Binh that will employ 8,000 workers to make Hyundai cars for both the domestic and foreign markets. Many car producers in Vietnam are hesitant to make large investments because the import tariff on car parts is currently at 10-30% and there is no sign of an upcoming change. The sentiment persists despite the oncoming erasal of import tariff on completely built units in 2018. “If the government leaves companies to fend for themselves, they may go bankrupt. When they stop operations, there will be no domestic jobs and imports will dominate,” said Truong Trong Nghia, a National Assembly deputy of Ho Chi Minh City. Car sales reached a record in 2015 with 245,000 units, an increase of 55% from 2014, according to data compiled by the Vietnam Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (VAMA). Total sales as of October, 2016 also went up 30% on-year. Imports are also on the rise. Imports of completely built cars in the first ten months of this year were up 22% on-year. With taxes lowered to zero in 2018, this trend might snowball. Thanks to a growing middle class, the Vietnamese car market is promising, both to domestic and foreign carmakers. However, it remains to be seen whether Vietnam could benefit from this demand. There is heavy competition to attract auto manufacturers within the ASEAN, with some countries far ahead of Vietnam. After 50 years of development, the Thai auto industry now consists of 17 auto assembly companies and up to 2,400 domestic and foreign supporting companies. Vietnam, by comparison, has 13 auto manufacturing and assembly companies but only 160 firms providing parts. With a population of 60 million people – far smaller than Vietnam’s – Thailand’s annual output of 2.1-2.4 million cars is in the world’s top 10, far exceeding the 200,000-300,000 cars per year produced in Vietnam. Malaysia and Indonesia are also vying for a larger share of the business. The Indonesian auto industry is growing 20% on annum, selling over 1.2 million cars in 2013. It considers automobiles a core industry in its 2011-2015 economic masterplan, known as MP3EI. Meanwhile, Malaysia has created its own range of car brands. The Philippines, on the other hand, offers a lesson to the contrary. Lacking government support, its auto industry with an output of 200,000 cars per year was squeezed by imports, as low taxes on completely built cars from the ASEAN and its trading partners forced companies to switch from manufacturing. Big C announces upgrades in 13 stores Big C has announced that it will make significant investments in 13 supermarkets nationwide to upgrade them to retail trade centres as part of a strategic plan to rebrand its image and position the company for future success. Specifically, the retailer said it will invest roughly US$30 million over the next few years to upgrade and rebrand 13 out of its current portfolio of 34 supermarkets to that of a high-end commercial centre. The move will allow the company to expand its traditional supermarket offerings to new contemporary shopping venues spanning an array of specialty shops, fashion boutiques and fine-dining restaurants. The new centres will feature an all-new blend of contemporary styling coupled with traditional ambiance, offering customers lower prices and access to expanded first-rate quality products, including the company's private label products. Cashew nut prices increasing on tight supplies Prices of cashew nuts are going through the roof worldwide due to adverse weather conditions earlier this year, said speakers at an industry seminar on November 15 in the central city of Danang. Excessive heat and drought conditions linked to climate change have affected cashew production throughout Africa and Asia, while processing plants in India have been shuttered due to rising labour and other costs. Vietnam suffered its worst drought in nearly a decade resulting in the cashew crop down about 10% this year compared to a typical year, resulting in growers demanding and getting much higher prices. The International Nut and Dried Fruit Council has forecast worldwide production of cashews for 2016 to dip by about 4% to 708,000 metric tons with both the quality and quantity of the crop declining as well. Consequently, prices have shot up on the global market by about 20% to roughly US$4.20 a pound, said the speakers and it is likely the shortages and higher prices will carry over into next year as well. Vietnam and India are the two largest producers and exporters of cashew nuts. The two countries process raw nuts that they produce as well as the raw material they import from Africa, including the Ivory Coast, Tanzania and Benin. The poor yields meant that packers in Vietnam, who had overcommitted their sales, were forced to delay shipments. This in turn caused a shortage on the European market, further driving up prices. Traders are now nervous about the cashew rally, noting that the higher prices will most likely incentivise more production for next year, leading to a sharp fall in prices, said the speakers. The high prices are likely to worry cashew buyers including large US and EU supermarkets and other retailers and food processors who use cashew nuts for a range of foods including biscuits, cereals and sauces such as pesto. On the demand side, they forecast reduced demand from large retailers, who will next month start tendering their purchase orders for 2017 at current prices, which will force them to reduce the quantities they contract for. A decent crop next year combined with reduced purchases could set up next year’s market up for a drastic drop in sales prices, which could result in massive losses for growers in Vietnam if they are not careful. Meanwhile, nut lovers may take comfort from the expected bumper almond harvest in California, which on average produces about 80% of the world’s supply. Almond prices have dropped 50% from last year. Almonds are now the cheapest tree nut, priced between US$2.25 and US$3 a pound depending on the grade, compared with cashews, pecans, Brazil nuts, walnuts and pistachios that are all above US$3.50. This is a complete 180-degree-turnround from last year, said the speakers, adding that they expect good sales of almonds for 2017 as supermarkets will start substituting almonds for cashews in their tenders due to the lower sales price. Schneider Electric Vietnam opens “Green Electrician” Lab Schneider Electric, the global specialist in energy management and automation, with the support of the Schneider Electric Foundation, DEG - a subsidiary of the German Development Bank, and ASSIST, a non-governmental international capacity building organisation, today opened the “Green Electrician” lab at Ly Tu Trong Technical College in Ho Chi Minh City. This lab will be used to train local youth within the framework of the project “Green Electrician, Education in Electricity for Employment” which aims to improve vocational training in the energy industry in Vietnam. This project focuses on technical and vocational education in electricity, sustainable energy management and entrepreneurship. The training programmes are directed towards local youths to help them gain access to stable employment opportunities. With state-of-the-art facility at the new lab, each year a minimum of 500 students are expected to get hands-on experience on energy training. “Schneider Electric believes that access to energy is a basic human right, and we are committed to put safe, reliable, efficient and sustainable energy within reach of every one,” Yoon Young Kim, country president of Schneider Electric Vietnam, Myanmar and Cambodia, said at the opening ceremony. “Currently in Vietnam, there are 1.4 million technicians entering the labour force each year, but only 15 per cent of them have formal vocational training, which could lead to energy inefficiencies and electrical safety issues. This lab is testament of Schneider’s collaboration with like-minded local partners who share the same vision and who want to make a difference.” To build teaching capabilities under the project’s criteria and requirements, Schneider Electric and ASSIST will train the teachers of Ly Tu Trong Technical College by the end of this year and the students will start their first courses in January 2017. As part of the project, a promotional campaign will be run in 2017 to create awareness and promote this vocational training programme. "The “Green Electrician" is one more success on the list of such co-operations between European companies and DEG in Vietnam. The funds for co-financing this Green Electrician project came from the develoPPP.de-programme of DEG. The programme encourages entrepreneurial commitment which achieves a particular development sustainability and broad effect. To date DEG has realised 53 develoPPP.de projects in Vietnam providing 10 million euros of develoPPP.de funds,” said Daniela Söhngen - Senior Investment Manager of DEG. “The idea behind is to promote private-sector initiatives that drive development. The project with Schneider Electric is a great concept that shows how entrepreneurial interest and developmental aims can complement each other perfectly.” Petrolimex doubles profit and about to go public Vietnam National Petroleum Group (Petrolimex), in which Nippon Oil and Energy Corporation holds 8 per cent, reported a significant rise in profit in the third quarter and is going to submit all documents needed to list its stocks by the end of this year. Petrolimex’s consolidated financial report for the third quarter showed that revenue decreased by 11 per cent on-year to VND29.27 trillion ($1.31 billion), but the cost of goods sold decreased by 13 per cent to VND25.9 trillion ($1.16 billion), compared to the VND29.76 trillion ($1.33 billion) in the same period last year. As a result, the corporation's net profit doubled to VND1.06 trillion ($47.5 million). In the first nine months of the year, Petrolimex’s revenue decreased by 22 per cent on-year because the WTI crude price averaged at $41.31 per barrel, down 19 per cent compared to the same period last year. The parent company's net profit was VND2.96 trillion ($132.7 million), up 55 per cent on-year. The consolidated pretax profit was VND4 trillion ($179.3 million), up 60 per cent on-year. Of this, gasoline trading contributed VND2.3 trillion ($103 million), accounting for 57.3 per cent. Return on equity was 15.8 per cent. As of the end of September, Petrolimex's asset value stood at VND51 trillion. It invested VND2.3 trillion ($103.13 million) in its subsidiaries. In the remainder of 2016, besides finishing procedures to list, leaders of the company said it would divest from its real estate arm PLAND JSC. They would also propose to the owner a plan to restructure Petrolimex’s gasoline and fuel distribution operations. The company is also preparing a new gasoline and fuel sales plan to meet the requirements stated in prime ministerial Decision 49/2011/QD-TTg on the emission criteria for new cars and motorbikes. In April, Petrolimex reached an agreement to sell an 8 per cent stake to Japanese JX Nippon Oil and Energy Corporation. Petrolimex currently holds 55 per cent of the domestic petroleum retail market. The Ministry of Industry and Trade earlier decided that it would decrease the state's stake in the company to somewhere between 65 and 75 per cent. Tetra Pak invests $100 million in new Vietnam-based packaging facility Tetra Pak®, the world's leading food processing and packaging solutions company, today announced its $110 million investment in a state-of-the-art regional manufacturing facility near Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, to serve customers across the region. The investment is prompted by increasing consumption volumes, with the 2016 total packed liquid dairy and fruit-based beverages intake at 70 billion litres across ASEAN, South Asia, Japan, Korea, Australia and New Zealand. Additionally, over the next three years, these markets are likely to grow at a healthy 5.6 per cent per annum, with products packed in Tetra Pak cartons projected to grow at a much faster rate as compared to other packaging formats such as bottles and cans. “Over the years, we have seen substantial growth of our products, driven by a wide portfolio and a number of innovations that we have introduced in the market. Hence our investment in a new plant, which will be our fourth packaging material factory in the region, providing us expansive coverage and scale, allowing us to serve our customers faster and better,” said Michael Zacka, regional vice president, Tetra Pak South Asia, East Asia and Oceania. “This decision is a strong reflection of our commitment to the region and our firm belief in its future potential.” The greenfield factory is expected to start commercial operations by early 2019. Situated near Ho Chi Minh City, the country’s economic hub, it will be ideally positioned to meet the demand for packaging material of food and beverage manufacturers in Vietnam, other ASEAN countries, Australia and New Zealand. “For manufacturers based in Vietnam, the new factory will bring a host of unprecedented benefits such as consistent supply, reduced lead time, efficiency and flexibility,” said Robert Graves, managing director of Tetra Pak Vietnam. The factory will have an expandable production capacity of approximately 20 billion packs per annum, across a variety of packaging formats, including the popular Tetra Brik Aseptic and Tetra Fino Aseptic. With a strong focus on sustainability, the site will adopt a host of global best practices to minimise the environmental footprint, including the utilisation of a high proportion of renewable energy sources. This investment will complement Tetra Pak’s three long-standing production facilities in Singapore, India and Japan, building on the wealth of experience collected throughout the company’s historical tenure. Together, the factories will enable the company to offer more innovations, efficiency and customer service to meet the rapid growth in Asia and in Vietnam in particular. “The new factory reflects Tetra Pak’s confidence in the local economy, and will cater to a rise in domestic consumption for healthy, ready-to-drink beverages among the country’s growing middle class,” said Graves. “Two key attributes to this are the Vietnam’s real wage increase (the largest in Asia at 7.3 per cent), and growing consciousness among consumers on health issues and food safety.” In Vietnam, the dairy category, the country’s biggest category and a core business for Tetra Pak is projected to grow steadily, with per capita consumption potentially doubling to 28 litters by 2020 from 15 liters in 2010. Tetra Pak estimates the country will consume a total of 3.3 billion litres of packed liquid dairy and fruit based beverages in 2016. It foresees an average growth of 6.5 per cent per annum during the 2016- 2019 period. “Packaging is critical to the industry, and the new factory will definitely be a boost to the development of the local food and beverage industry, contributing to Vietnam’s socio-economic growth and integration progress into the regional supply chain,” said Graves. SCG Packaging starts building 2nd paper factory in VN SCG Packaging – a subsidiary of SCG, is pleased to announce the successful start-up of the second paper production line in Vietnam. The first paper reel of corrugated medium paper was rolled out in end of October 2016, which was initially set to be the second quarter of 2017. Mr. Sangchai Wiriyaumpaiwong, General Director of Vina Kraft Paper Co., Ltd. (Vietnam) said, “The success reaffirms SCG Packaging’s strong leadership in high-growth Vietnam market as the largest high-quality packaging paper producer. The new machine allows SCG Packaging to add more 243,500 tons per annum to its portfolio through the newly-installed capacity and gains from efficiency optimization, which is doubling its existing capacity in Vietnam and results in SCG Packaging’s total packaging paper capacity of 2.6 million tons per annum across strategic ASEAN countries including Thailand, Vietnam and Philippines.” “In addition, with strong commitment in sustainability, we put environmental awareness at the forefront. The new facility is mindfully carried out along with environmentally friendly self-sufficient co-generator power plant, raw material preparation and high-standard effluent treatment plant”, emphasized Mr. Sangchai. The factory of Vina Kraft Paper Company Limited (VKPC) is a 70:30 joint venture between Siam Kraft Industry Company Limited (a subsidiary of SCG Packaging) and Rengo Company Limited (Japan). It is located at My Phuoc 3Industrial Park, Binh Duong (45 kilometers from Ho Chi Minh City) and has been the leading producer in Vietnam since 2009. Hai Phong Urban Transport Development Project gets longer The PM has approved to extend the Hai Phong Urban Transport Development Project till August 31, 2018. The project is invested with US$276.61 million, of which the total capital sponsored by the International Development Association (IDA) makes up US$175 million. The PM assigned the Hai Phong City’s People’s Committee to coordinate with the State Bank of Viet Nam and the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Justice to complete legal procedures to extend the deadline of the project. The objective of the Hai Phong Urban Transport Development Project for Viet Nam is to improve urban accessibility and strengthen capacity for urban transport management and planning in Hai Phong. There are three components to the project, the first component being urban main road development. This component will increase urban accessibility through construction of a new east-west link (connected to main north-south links) for cross town traffic within Hai Phong and longer distance freight to and from Haiphong's port system. The second component is the transport improvement. This component supports transformation of the public transportation services along the Tam Bac-Kien An urban corridor, including measures to strengthen institutional development for public transport management, piloting of transformative approaches to fleet management, acquisition of new buses, and upgrading of infrastructure and facilities. Finally, the third component is involved capacity-building. FDI inflow in HN increases 2.6 fold The capital city of Ha Noi attracted a total registered capital of US$2.8 billion in 445 Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) projects over the recent 10 months of 2016, 2.6 times higher than the same period in 2015. Large FDI projects include the US$300-million research and development centre of the Samsung Electronics Viet Nam, the US$227-million Duong River Surface Water Treatment Plant and the Vietnamobile's capital increasing plan of US$208 million. The city has launched 98 Official Development Assistance (ODA) projects with the committed capital of US$4.8 billion and disbursed US$1.05 billion, accounting for 33.38% of the signed value and 22.1% of the commitment. Most of the ODA projects focus on urban traffic infrastructure development (56%) and waste water treatment (31.8%). In 2016 only, as many as 22,000 newly-established enterprises are expected to be set up in the city, registering the capital of VND203,000 billion, up 19% and 42%, respectively. The capital’s gross regional domestic product is estimated to rise 8.03% in the year, the highest figure set over the recent six years. The growths of the construction and industry sectors will witness respective increases of 8.8% and 7.1%. The city will contribute VND173,846 billion to the State budget, 2.6% more than the set plan and up 16.2% year on year. In term of the Provincial Competitiveness Index (PCI), Ha Noi will rank 24th, jumping two steps compared to the previous year. Maybank Kim Eng and State Securities Commission of Vietnam renew collaboration Maybank Kim Eng and State Securities Commission (SSC) has renewed its collaborative cooperation and technical support framework agreement to advance the sustainable growth and long-term development of Vietnam’s capital market. Under the scope of the new three-year agreement, Maybank Kim Eng and SSC will collaborate to develop Vietnam’s securities market to elevate its status to an MSCI Emerging Market. This includes the sharing of best practices and standards on areas of risk management and controls, corporate governance and compliance, product development, standard accounting and reporting system. “We are honoured to collaborate with SSC again. Vietnam, with its attractive demographics and rising economy, is not only an important market for us, but also an attractive one for global investors looking to tap into the ASEAN opportunity,” Maybank Kim Eng’s chief executive officer, Dato’ John Chong said. “With six local branches, Maybank Kim Eng is deeply entrenched and invested in the Vietnamese market. We are keen to share our regional expertise and experience gleaned from our operations in six ASEAN countries, to help contribute to the development of Vietnam’s securities market.” The new agreement strengthens the existing alliance forged in 2013 where a similar agreement was signed by the two parties. “The joint efforts for the past three years have made significant inroads in the development of Vietnam’s securities market but the new agreement symbolises our intent to intensify that collaboration to further strengthen the infrastructure, efficiency and liquidity of the capital market to enhance its attractiveness to investors,” said vice chairwoman of SSC, Nguyen Thi Lien Hoa. Maybank Kim Eng is the first 100 per cent foreign-owned brokerage firm approved by SCC. Operating in Vietnam since 2008, Maybank Kim Eng offers a full range of financial services including brokerage, internet and mobile trading and research, investment banking and corporate finance advisory services. PVCombank registers to buy 4.1 million PSI shares PVCombank has registered to purchase 4.1 million shares of PetroVietnam Securities Incorporated (PSI) via matching order and negotiation-based trading from November 14 to December 8. The bank currently owns 6.13 million PSI shares, or a 10.26 per cent holding. The new purchase is a further step by PVCombank in acquiring 50.21 per cent and turning the securities company into a subsidiary. Mr. Nguyen Anh Tuan, Chairman of PSI, told VET on October 19 that being a subsidiary of PVCombank would be of mutual benefit, as PSI would have access to the bank’s customer network, including transaction points and office systems, which would improve its product diversification and cross-selling opportunities. From October 26 to November 7 PVCombank purchased almost 500,000 PSI shares to increase its holding from 9.32 per cent to 10.26 per cent. PVCombank has plans to purchase shares from four previous shareholders: 22.5 per cent from Vietinbank Capital, 6.7 per cent from the Vietnam Investment and Asset Trading Joint Stock Company (VNassets), 6.6 per cent from the PetroVietnam Trade Union Finance Investment Corporation (PVFI), and 4.6 per cent from the My Khe Vietnam Joint Stock Company (MKV), The swap ratio between PVCombank and PSI is set at 1:1, according to a resolution from PSI’s 2016 annual general meeting. PSI’s business plan is unlikely to undergo any significant change in the short term. “The business plan from earlier in the year will continue to be implemented,” Mr. Tuan said. “From 2017 the plan will be based on market circumstances and the general plan of PVCombank.” He added that PSI has secured all the benefits of investors, both local and international, and there is no change to its Board of Management. PSI targeted total revenue of VND88 billion ($3.94 million) and profit of VND5 billion ($224,150) this year. In the first quarter the government approved PVCombank continuing to restructure in the 2016-2020 period and the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) will replace PetroVietnam (PVN) in representing State ownership. On June 3 the SBV officially approved a PVCombank restructuring plan that makes it one of the seven largest banks in Vietnam by assets. As at the end of 2015, PVN held 52 per cent of charter capital of PVCombank, or VND4.68 trillion ($209.43 million). SBV is now the largest shareholder. Financial protection strategy would improve natural disaster resilience Vietnam should have financial protection strategy to better protect its population and budget against the cost incurred from natural disasters, a workshop on Disaster Risk Finance and Insurance held in Hanoi on November 15 by the Ministry of Finance and the World Bank in Vietnam heard. Bringing together different financial instruments to fund response and reconstruction, such a strategy would be one component of a broader disaster risk management and climate change plan. Developed for the first time in Vietnam, the model provides the government with a better assessment of the likelihood and severity of losses from natural disasters. It can also be used to plan for the financial impact before they occur. The final model will be delivered by December. According to the catastrophe risk model presented at the workshop, Vietnam is likely to incur, on average, VND30.2 trillion ($1.4 billion) in physical damage every year due to floods, typhoons and earthquakes. Residential and public assets (buildings and infrastructure) would account for 65 per cent and 11 per cent of total damage, respectively. It shows that in the next 50 years, Vietnam has a 40 per cent chance of experiencing damage exceeding VND141.2 trillion ($6.7 billion) from typhoons, floods or earthquakes. Provinces in the north-central region that experience higher poverty rates are more likely to face higher economic losses. “Vietnam is one of the countries badly affected by natural hazards and climate change, resulting in heavy economic losses, mostly to the poor,” said Mr. Sebastian Eckardt, Lead Economist at the World Bank in Vietnam. “A strategic approach to improving the country’s resilience to such shocks will help safeguard livelihoods and sustain economic growth and development.” He added that supporting the development of this strategy is part of the World Bank’s priorities in its engagement with the Government of Vietnam. Participants at the workshop also discussed disaster risk financing instruments currently in use by the government as well as international experience. The government currently relies on a number of funding sources to finance disaster response and recovery, including contingency budgets at the central and local levels, specific budget allocations, in-kind State reserves, financial reserve funds, disaster prevention and control funds, risk transfer instruments such as insurance, and donor grants. There is, however, a heavy reliance on State budgets at all levels to fund post-disaster costs. Disaster prevention and control funds established at the provincial level are still subject to a number of constraints that prevent them from being fully operationalized across provinces, while innovative risk transfer instruments are in their infancy. “Establishing a financial system for risk management and disaster risk transfer is essential for Vietnam’s development,” said Mr. Nguyen Huu Chi, Deputy Minister of Finance. “Insurance in particular would be an effective solution, not only to ease the burden on the State budget and transfer risks to international markets but also to help raise awareness about the importance of planning to mitigate the effects of climate hazards and natural disasters.” Participants also discussed a number of options for the government to strengthen financial resilience, including developing a cost-effective financial protection strategy, making disaster risk finance an integral part of a broader disaster risk management and climate change plan, reviewing the policy, legal, institutional and operational frameworks for the fund for natural disaster prevention and control to strengthen the financial resilience of the provinces, and recognizing that the private sector is an essential partner. Vietbuild 2016 international exhibition kicks off in Hanoi The third Vietbuild 2016 international exhibition, one of the most prestigious events of the construction industry, opened in Hanoi on November 16, with the participation of 420 domestic and international enterprises. The event features 1,350 booths displaying a wide range of building materials, machinery and technologies, interior-exterior decorations, and real estate. According to Nguyen Tran Nam, Chairman of the Vietnam Real Estate Association, the exhibition offers a chance for firms and management agencies to assess the property market. It also helps enterprises find drawbacks in their business activities, he added. The event will run through November 20 at the National Construction Exhibition Centre in Nam Tu Liem District.- Vietnam renewable energy week opens The Vietnam Renewable Energy Week took place for the first time in the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho on November 15-16. The event, co-hosted by the Steering Committee for the Southwestern Region, the Vietnam Sustainable Energy Alliance, and the Green Innovation and Development Centre (GIDC), featured an energy model exhibition, film screenings, two seminars on renewable energy development strategy for the Mekong Delta and practical initiatives for renewable energy. Participating experts and scientists at home and abroad were updated on the development of the renewable energy industry and interacted with policymakers, businesspeople and activists from social organisations in the field. Speaking at the event, member of the Steering Committee for the Southwestern Region Tran Huu Hiep said under the development goal until 2030 with orientations to 2050, the Mekong Delta is expected to become a centre for agro-fishery processing, electricity, support industry for agriculture, eco-tourism and services. To that end, the region should not rely on only fossil fuel but have to seek new and green energy sources. According to Hiep, the Mekong Delta holds the greatest potential of biomass energy thanks to its abundant amount of agricultural by-products, including straw, bran, risk husk and cattle droppings. More than 20 million tonnes of straw are being wasted each year since over 70 percent of them are burnt. In 2013, the Ministry of Industry and Trade issued a decision approving a master plan for biomass power development for the Mekong Delta until 2030 when 300MW of electricity will be generated from straw, sugar cane bagasse and husk. GIDC Director Nguy Thi Khanh suggested more incentives be provided for investment in renewable energy while the construction on new thermoelectric coal and nuclear power plants be stopped. JICA helps Hoa Binh with native pig breeding Authorities of northern Hoa Binh province and a JICA delegation reviewed the progress of a project on establishing a gene bank for Vietnamese native pig species and developing sustainable pig farming to conserve bio-diversity in the province at a meeting on November 16. The project, funded by JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency) and the Japan Science and Technology Agency, is being carried out in Hanoi and Hoa Binh from 2015 to 2020 at a projected cost of 143.6 billion VND (6.52 million USD), with 100.7 billion VND sourced from the Japanese government’s non-refundable aid. It aims to conserve and develop genes of domestic pigs, contributing to sustainable breeding in Vietnam. In Hoa Binh, a preliminary survey will be conducted on native pig breeding along with experiments on food and nutrition. Furthermore, the project will also offer technical guidance to vets and Japan’s experience in brand marketing to farmers. Nguyen Thanh Son, Director of the Institute of Livestock Breeding and head of the project management board, asked Hoa Binh to arrange the counterpart capital worth nearly 8.6 billion VND for the project. Vice Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee Nguyen Van Dung said the province is determined to build trademarks for local outstanding produce, including pork, and will soon devise specific plans to ensure the project’s progress. Vietnam Foodexpo 2016 opens in HCM City The Vietnam International Food Industry Exhibition 2016 (Vietnam Foodexpo 2016) kicked off on November 16 at the Sai Gon Exhibition and Convention Centre (SECC) in Ho Chi Minh City. The event, held by the Vietnam Trade Promotion Agency (Vietrade) under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, is the biggest trade promotion event of agro-fishery and food industry so far in the country. It featured 550 booths of 400 businesses from 30 Vietnamese localities and 15 countries and territories. The event introduced development of food industry over the past time, said Ho Thi Kim Thoa, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade, at the opening ceremony, noting that the expo allowed firms to promote their brands and gain access to domestic and foreign markets. It focused on marketing Vietnam’s key export products such as rice, coffee, peppers and cashews, said Bui Huy Son, Vietrade Director, adding black garlic, brown rice milk and avocado oil were also displayed for the first time. Participants could also connect with wholesale and retail distributors and potential food importers and investors, he added. Information on the latest technologies in processing high-quality foodstuffs is also available at Vietnam Foodtech, which coincides with the Vietnam Foodexpo. Italia is selected as the Country of Honour at this year’s event. According to Cecicia Piccioni, Italian Ambassador to Vietnam, over 30 Italian food businesses showcased modern processing technology and unique food at the event. Through the expo, Vietnam-Italy trade promotion activities in food industry will be boosted, she added. The event runs through November 19. HCM City attends trade, tourism fair in Japan A delegation from Ho Chi Minh City participated in a fair to promote trade, tourism and business connectivity held by the Tourism Promotion Organisation for Asia Pacific Cities (TPO) in Japan on November 15. At the event, Le Truong Hien Hoa, Director of HCM City’s Tourism Promotion Centre, said the fair offered an opportunity for the city to connect with other TPO members and expand its tourism promotion. Over the past year, HCM City has signed two cooperation agreements with Incheon and Tongyeong cities of the Republic of Korea, thus promoting its tourism and receiving support in this field, he added. Representative of the organising board Shin Yeon-sung, TPO General Secretary, highlighted the bright future of tourism of Vietnam in general and HCM City in particular. He also praised HCM City for its active contributions to the development of the TPO as a member. Held by the TPO, the annual fair is a platform for Asia Pacific cities and travel agencies to seek partners, introduce their tour packages and expand business cooperation. It also provides a chance for TPO members to exchange information, conduct research projects and surveys as well as enhance cultural exchange and friendship between Asia Pacific countries and cities. Within the event’s framework, the regular meeting of the 29th TPO Executive Board is scheduled to take place on November 16. The TPO was established in 2002, of which HCM City is a co-founder and member of the Executive Board. Currently, the organisation consists of 78 cities and 38 businesses and non-government organisations from 10 Asia-Pacific countries and territories. Int’l conference promotes product safety, local exporters’ compliance Product safety and compliance to export markets’ requirements were discussed at an international conference in Ho Chi Minh City on November 15. The event was organised by the American Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam - HCM City chapter and the American Apparel & Footwear Association (AAFA ). Speaking at the event, Director General of German TUV Rheinland Vietnam Frank Juettner, said Vietnamese enterprises need to comply with legal regulations and the requirements of each export market. Vietnamese exporters need to focus on developing brand names and labeling to ensure their products meet international safety standards, Juettner said. He suggested that ministries, sectors and businesses develop a management system for a supply chain from materials to finished products, especially for apparel and footwear. AAFA Senior Vice President, Supply Chain Nate Herman said all stakeholders in a supply chain, such as producers, exporters and partners need to communicate closely with one another and comply with legal regulations. According to experts, Vietnam will need to join global supply chains and customs reform to fulfill its commitments it has made to join the free trade agreements (FTA), such as the Trans Pacific Partnership and the Vietnam – Europe FTA. Business representatives pointed to difficulties facing them in meeting the US requirements, particularly the safety requirements of each state. ASEAN finance ministers work to promote regional investment Finance ministers from ASEAN member nations gathered at a seminar in Jakarta, Indonesia, on November 15 to discuss investment opportunities in the region. Themed “ASEAN: Dynamic, Resilient and Inclusive Growth”, the 11th ASEAN Finance Minister’s Investor Seminar (AFMIS) brought together the ASEAN finance ministers and investors in and outside the region. Addressing the plenary session, Vietnamese Deputy Finance Minister Đỗ Hoàng Anh Tuấn shared his views on challenges facing Việt Nam and other regional countries and put forth possible solutions to the issues. These measures include the promotion of regional and international integration and economic reform to boost competitiveness and attract investment in the long term, which were widely supported officials and investors at the event. He also mentioned three major challenges of the global economy, which consist of its uncertain recovery from a periodical downturn, political instability and climate change impacts. Right after the opening ceremony, heads of the delegation held a dialogue with investors. ASEAN is now the 7th biggest economy in the world with a combined GDP of US$2,500 billion and a population of more than 600 million. VEF/VNA/VNS/VOV/SGT/SGGP/Dantri/VET/VIR |
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Project empowers rural communities Illustrative photo. (Photo: VNA) Ha Giang -The Civil Society Empowering Rural Communities project, funded by the European Commission via ActionAid International Vietnam (AAV), has contributed to improving social welfare of people in Quan Ba district, the northern mountainous province of Ha Giang. Sen Thang Long, Vice President of the Quan Ba district People’s Committee, made the statement at a meeting with representatives of the Vietnam Union of Friendship Organisations and AAV as part of their trip to inspect the project from November 15-16. The four-year project was launched in four communes and Tam Son town of Quan Ba district, one of the 62 poorest localities nationwide, in January 2013. It cost a total of 2 billion VND (90,000 USD), of which 600 million VND (27,000 USD) was used for community initiatives. The project has basically met its set targets, especially promoting the involvement of the community in making socio-economic development policies, Long said. Mong and Dao ethnic groups in the targeted localities raised many initiatives to improve their living standards such as building roads to avoid floods and landslides, and community houses, he added. According to the official, the project helped maintain the operation of 16 community development clubs where 400 locals discussed farming and accessed information about State policies and laws as well as resolutions issued by all-level authorities. Ly Thi Eng, a member of the community development club in Truc Son village, Quan Ba commune, said through the project, she and many others are now aware of their rights and obligations in the community. Between 2006-2015, Quan Ba attracted many aid projects from the AAV with total value of 16 billion VND (720,000 USD).-VNA |
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Landmark conference on illegal wildlife trade opens in HanoiVice President Dang Thi Ngoc Thinh on November 17 opened a conference in Hanoi on illegal wildlife trade with a warning that the failure to protect endangered species would have dire consequences.
The conference is a follow-up to the historic London and Kasane international conferences on illicit trade in wildlife- addressing its negative social, environmental and economic impacts. Over the next three days, an estimated 100 conservationists and top government officials from 54 countries are due to thrash out international trade regulations aimed at protecting various species and review the status of implementing actions agreed as part of the prior London and Kasane conferences. Most notably, the plight of Africa’s rhino and elephants, targeted by poachers for their valuable horns and tusks in illegal black markets is expected to garner much of the discussion. The thriving illegal wildlife trade has put huge pressure on an existing treaty signed by more than 180 countries — the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), said Vice President Thinh. Ms Thinh said it was therefore critically important that nations work collectively to save species and bring them back from the brink of extinction. Britain Prince William in turn spoke about the plight of elephants in Africa saying that one of our planet’s most treasured species is on course for extinction at the hands of poachers and traffickers. In an earlier speech, he had noted that when he was born there were one million elephants roaming Africa, but they could be extinct in the wild by the time his one-year-old daughter Charlotte turns 25. Illegal trade in wildlife is valued at around US$20 billion annually, according to CITES.  It is ranked among the world’s largest illegal businesses alongside arms, counterfeit goods, drugs and human trafficking. CITES forbids trade in elephant ivory, but Namibia and Zimbabwe have made a proposal asking for permission to sell off stockpiles to raise funds for local communities that co-exist with the animals. On rhino horn trafficking, CITES banned that trade four decades ago, however the prohibition has not been effective in reducing poaching, which has in recent years been on the upswing in countries like South Africa. It is estimated that around 5,000 white rhino – a quarter of the population – have been slaughtered over just the past eight years alone, with the majority killed in South Africa, home to 80% of the world’s rhino. UN Vice Secretary General Yury Fedotov said Vietnam is home to many rare and precious wild animals such as tigers and pangolins but noted it is also a hotspot for illegal wildlife trade Rhino poaching is driven by an insatiable demand in Vietnam and China for the horn, which, he said, is mistakenly believed to have powerful medicinal powers curing diseases such as cancer. Other species high on the CITES radar are devils ray, rock geckos, tomato frogs and the African grey parrot. The conference is expected to adopt a Hanoi Declaration, decrying the illegal trade of endangered species is a most serious crime and outlining measures and actions to strengthen law enforcement and international cooperation to combat illegal wildlife trade. VOV |
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Shrimp sector must cut costs
CẦN THƠ – Việt Nam’s shrimp industry should reduce production costs and improve food safety to improve its competitiveness. Trương Đình Hòe, secretary of the Việt Nam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP), made the statement at a round table on improving the competitiveness of Việt Nam’s shrimp industry. The meeting was held by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development’s General Department of Fisheries, VASEP and GIZ’s Integrated Coastal Management Programme in Cần Thơ on Tuesday. The dialogue attracted 100 participants from central and local state offices, businesses and farmers in Cửu Long (Mekong) River Delta. The General Department of Fisheries said Việt Nam had 700,000ha shrimp rearing land in 30 provinces and cities. The total area of rearing shrimp was expected to increase to bring millions of jobs and develop a supply chain for medicine, feed, services and processing activities. Hòe said in 2015, Việt Nam was the second largest shrimp producer in the world, accounting for 14 per cent of global market share. Việt Nam’s shrimp exporters exported large amounts of giant tiger prawns to the US and Australia. Local shrimp enterprises have expanded their market shares while the shrimp industries in Thailand and China have been hit by diseases, he said. Việt Nam would face difficulties in exports when Thailand and China’s shrimp industries recover if local enterprises don’t reduce production costs and improve the quality of export shrimp, Hòe said. Võ Văn Phục, director of Việt Nam Clean Fishery JSC, said at the dialogue that the shrimp industry has had low output and high production costs and was dependant on the demand of Chinese traders. In addition, farmers and processing enterprises have not created production and business chains, he said. The local supply industry has not met demand of the processing sector while the state has not paid much attention to developing the processing sector. Hòe said domestic production costs had risen, including feed, varieties, electricity and water costs. The shrimp industry lacks strong links between farmers and processors and has few value-added products. Some state policies for industry have been insufficient. Meanwhile, markets such as Japan and Australia have enhanced regulations controlling food safety for imported shrimp. Hòe said to improve the competitiveness of Vietnamese shrimp on the world market, the local shrimp industry must reduce production costs and improve food safety. The enterprises should make use of preferential tariffs under free trade agreements and follow export markets closely to create reasonable business plans, he said. Phục said the State should only give operation licences for enterprises meeting conditions about food safety and operation environment. It should also enhance management for quality of material, chemical products and animal medicines. Many participants said the local shrimp industry should have transparency of input production and increase the quality of varieties and feed. VetNamNews |
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More Chinese caught red-handed rummaging through cabin baggage on Vietnam flights  Yang Yong at the security office of the airport in the central Vietnamese province of Da Nang on November 17, 2016 alongside his passport Local flyers are expressing concern over the rise in reported cases of Chinese nationals boarding domestic Vietnam flights and rummaging through traveler’s carry-on baggage during the voyage. Yang Yong, a Chinese national aboard flight VN164 from Da Nang to Hanoi, was detained after fellow passengers caught him searching a carry-on bag belonging to another passenger, N.T.H., shortly before the plane took off Thursday morning. Yang was caught red-handed by other passengers on the flight who reported the incident to the cabin crew and airport security officers. The suspect was removed from the plane and transferred to the Central Airports Authority for further probing and penalty. In a similar case, Wang Ji Cheng, also from China, was arrested for stealing from another passenger’s carry-on on flight VN 110 from Ho Chi Minh City to Da Nang on Monday. The victim reported VND15.5 million (US$694.5) in cash had been stolen from his bag. The money was later found in the airport restroom. As the victim could only identify Wang as having searched through his suitcase and had no evidence that Wang was responsible for the lost money, the suspect was released with only a warning. On November 8, 51-year-old Chinese passenger Li Jun was arrested after being caught red-handed searching through another flyer’s bag. 36-year old Chinese National Dong Jiayin was searching through a cabin bag belonging to another flyer aboard flight VN287 from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi on November 1 when he was detained and expelled from the Southeast Asian country by competent agencies at Tan Son Nhat the following day. TUOI TRE NEWS |
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VN among top investment choices of Japanese firmsViệt Nam is a top destination for Japan’s mechanical engineering companies seeking investment opportunities in Southeast Asia, said Itoh Kaori, head of a business delegation from Gifu prefecture.
At a Việt Nam-Japan trade exchange held in HCM City on Wednesday, she said Việt Nam attracted great interest from many Japanese enterprises, especially those in the mechanical engineering industry, as the country had a developing industrial sector, an abundant workforce with good quality and low production expenses. Japanese firms are impressed by the industriousness of Vietnamese people. They also highly value the country’s political stability and favourable policies on investment and trade, according to Kaori. In recent years, Việt Nam has posted high and stable economic growth along with improving its infrastructure, which is the foundation and driving force behind Japan’s move to bolster trade and investment ties with the nation. Đặng Xuân Quang, Deputy Director of the Foreign Investment Agency under the Ministry of Planning and Investment, said the manufacturing and processing industries absorbed the largest portion of Japan’s investment in Việt Nam. As of the end of September 2016, Japan had more than 1,500 manufacturing and processing projects worth almost US$33 billion in Việt Nam. The two sides are set to focus their cooperation on six industries in the near future: electronics, agricultural machinery, agro-fishery processing, shipbuilding, automobile and spare part production, and environment and energy. This is a good opportunity for Japanese mechanical engineering companies to enhance partnerships and investment promotion, he said. Japan is currently the second largest investor among the 112 countries and territories investing in Việt Nam. It has invested in more than 3,200 projects here, with registered capital of over $42 billion so far. VNS |
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Article 5
Japan assists Vietnam in developing large-scale infrastructure Japanese Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Hiroshige Seko and Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Keiichi Ishii has expressed Japan's readiness to work together with Vietnam to develop the infrastructure system. Meeting with Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung in Tokyo during his visit to Japan from November 15-16, Minister Keiichi Ishii said Japan is willing to support Vietnam in carrying out the North – South high-speed railway project and hopes the Southeast Asian country will use Japanese technologies to build urban railway lines. Japanese businesses want to become involved in the construction of Long Thanh international airport and Ben Thanh underground trade center in Ho Chi Minh City. Minister Hiroshige Seko expressed his desire to bolster coordination with Vietnam to build coal-fueled high-capacity thermal power factories and import liquefied natural gas. Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung proposed Japan offer more official development assistance (ODA) for Vietnam in the fields of energy, climate change adaptation, support industry, and large-scale infrastructure building, especially for key national projects such as the North-South railway, and an expressway connecting Hanoi and the Lao capital city of Vientiane. He also suggested the Japanese side assist Vietnam in training high-quality human resources, particularly in construction and transport, while sharing experience in management and operation of high-speed and urban railway systems. During his stay in Japan, the Deputy PM visited the human resources training center of Tokyo Metro, the largest subway company in Japan. Currently, the company is collaborating with Hanoi and HCM City to carry out urban railway projects using Japanese technologies. It will open training courses for Vietnamese railway staff in the time ahead. VOV |
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Article 4
Viên wins gold, sets Asian record in Tokyo
HÀ NỘI - Nguyễn Thị Ánh Viên successfully won a gold medal and set a new record at the Asian Swimming Championships in Tokyo yesterday. Viên of Việt Nam was the fastest athlete after the qualification, with a time of 4min 45.95sec. She placed in the fourth lane for the top title candidate in the final and finished the women’s 400m individual medley with a time of 4:37.71 to take her title. Her result is a new record for the tournament, beating the former record of 4:41.29 set by Chinese Liu Jing in 2002. Japanese Shimizu Sakiko and Ohashi Yui finished second and third, respectively. Viên’s teammate, Vũ Thị Phương Anh, (5:11.04) came in eighth in the same category. The 400m IM is Viên’s strong sport. She swam 4: 36.85 to finish in ninth place at August’s Rio Olympics. Viên’s personal best was 4:13.72 for a gold medal at the Southeast Asian Games in Singapore last year. In the men’s 400m IM, Vietnamese Trần Duy Khôi also earned a berth in the final round, but he could only take sixth place, with a time of 4:26.40, which was better than his qualification result of 4:31.73. Khôi was not a high-ranked swimmer at this tournament. A berth in the final was a big step forward for the Vietnamese, who won one silver and two bronze medals at the Singapore Games. Setto Daiya of the hosts took a gold medal, and also set a new Asian record with a time of 4: 10.17, nearly 6 seconds faster than the former one. In the men’s 50m breast stroke, Lê Nguyễn Paul of Việt Nam finished No 13. His teammate Lâm Quang Nhật ranked 15th in the men’s 200m freestyle. Earlier, Trần Ngọc Thi finished 10th in the women’s 200m butterfly. The Asian championship are taking place from November 17-20. Viet Nam News |
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