Vietnamese doctors remove pair of scissors colleagues left in patient for 18 years Vietnamese doctors have retrieved a pair of medical scissors that their colleagues had left in the stomach of a man for nearly two decades.  This pair of medical scissors had been left in the belly of M.V.N., 54, for 18 years before it was removed on December 31, 2016.Cast-Iron and Steel Hospital The operation to take the scissors out of the belly of M.V.N., 54, took place on Saturday at Cast-Iron and Steel Hospital in the northern province of Thai Nguyen, with support from medical professionals from Hanoi. The pair of scissors had been stuck in the patient’s stomach for 18 years, surgeons said, adding that it lied on the left side of the belly, next to the colon. The handles of the pair of scissors had become rusty and some of the organs had stuck to the medical device, doctors said. N. had not felt anything strange over the years and never visited a doctor for any problem related to the pair of scissors inside his body until recently, a surgeon involved in the operation said. N., hailing from the northern province of Bac Kan, got into a road accident in December so he came to Cast-Iron and Steel Hospital for a medical check. An ultrasound test then showed that there was a strange object in his guts, believed to be a pair of medical scissors. N. claimed he had gone under the knife at Bac Kan General Hospital in June 1998 and has never had any more medical operation since. Recently he felt some pain in the belly area, trying to treat it with medicines in vain. On December 27, N. returned to Bac Kan General Hospital for another ultrasound scan that also showed the same strange object. The Ministry of Health has required the management of the hospital in Bac Kan, where doctors allegedly left the pair of scissors in N.’s body after the surgery in 1998, to investigate the incident and report its results. But medical professionals say hospitals tend to file patient records for only 15 years so it will be hard to find out who is to blame in N.’s case.  The pair of scissors is seen on an X-ray film. Photo: Cast-Iron and Steel Hospital TUOI TRE NEWS |
↧
Article 3
↧
Article 2
BUSINESS IN BRIEF 1/1 Viet Capital Bank launches MasterCard debit card Viet Capital Bank has launched MasterCard debit cards. Card holders, besides paying for goods and services, can also withdraw cash free of charge at ATMs with the MasterCard logo. Viet Capital Bank issues the card to customers aged 15 years and above. To mark the launch, Viet Capital is offering discounts of up to 50 per cent or gifts when shopping or eating at Lotte mart, Nguyen Kim Electronics and many other places. FDI in City industrial zones halved Industrial zones in HCM City hope to attract investments worth US$500 million next year, according to the HCM City Export Processing and Industrial Zones Authority. Exports by companies situated in Industrial parks (IPs) and export processing zones (EPZs) are expected to top $6 billion next year, Tran Cong Khanh, head of the HEPZA office, told a press meeting on December 30. HEPZA continues to encourage investment in four key industries, including -- mechanical engineering, electronics and IT, chemicals and food processing, and supporting industries -- he said. To achieve the target, it plans to expand Le Minh Xuan IP and complete the third phase of Hiep Phuoc IP. It will develop areas set aside for supporting industries in Hiep Phuoc, Le Minh Xuan No.3 and Automotive-Mechanical IPs. Tran Viet Ha, head of the investment management department, said foreign direct investment halved this year to $255.61 million. Investments by domestic enterprises were worth VND5.2 trillion ($237.71 million), a year-on-year decrease of 14 per cent, he said. He attributed the decline to a shift in investment towards high-tech industries instead of labour-intensive sectors, meaning there was a fall in investment in sectors like textiles and footwear. Exports by enterprises in IPs and EPZs were estimated at $5.86 billion. A total of 1,385 projects with a combined investment of $9.22 billion, including 535 FDI projects worth $5.41 billion, are operating in IPs and EPZs. They employ more than 285,700 workers, including 2,346 foreign nationals. Tet bonus The average Tet (Lunar New Year) bonuses to be paid by domestic and foreign enterprises in IPs and EPZs are respectively VND7 million (US$300) and 6.8 million (US$295), Khanh said. The highest is VND1 billion (US$43,480) to be paid by a domestic company, he said. The lowest is VND3.5 million (US$152). A total of 6,000 workers will also get bus tickets to return home for Tet and gifts. Challenges face textile sector as cheap labour no longer an advantage Textiles are often regarded as one of Vietnam’s key export sectors with an average annual growth rate of 15% during 2010-2015. However, it is also faced with a range of challenges, of which the most recent challenge stems down to labour in the country no longer being as cheap as it once was. In 2015, though the sector only recorded a growth of more than 10%, total textile exports still reached US$27.5 billion. In 2016, the sector targeted a growth of about 10-15%, with exports expected to reach US$31 billion. However, market volatility and lower consumer demand around the world has made Vietnam’s textile exports amount to a mere US$28.3 billion, an increase of nearly US$1.5 billion, corresponding with a growth of nearly 5% compared to 2015 – the lowest growth rate since 2008. Not only that, due to increasingly fierce competition, domestic textile enterprises have faced a range of difficulties in expanding markets and seeking customers, even facing the risk of declining orders due to losing competitive advantages. According to experts, previously apparel orders constantly poured into Vietnam thanks to its cheap labour competitiveness, however, it is no longer an advantage as labour costs have increased. Inevitably, orders have moved to the lower-cost countries, such as Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar. One of the major bottlenecks that Vietnam's garment sector is always seeking measures to address is how to get rid of the current situation of out-sourcing with low added value, while avoiding a dependence on imported raw materials (the country still has to import more than 80% of raw materials) in order to control prices and increase competitiveness. Although the Vietnam National Textile and Garment Group and several major enterprises have invested in spinning, weaving, dyeing and finishing chains, it does not seem enough to meet the needs of thousands of companies specialising in garment exports. Meanwhile, companies without resources have turned to accepting out-source orders with low cost and quick payback. On the other hand, it is also difficult to raise the textile industry to a higher level due to competitive factors in labour skills, modern technologies and equipment and diversified products. Due to limited resources, most domestic companies choose to gradually invest each year. This situation is in contrast compared to FDI as they represent less than 25% of the nearly 7,000 textile enterprises nationwide but account for 70% of the total export capacity. This shows that the overwhelming advantages of foreign companies over domestic enterprises will only continue to grow if reasonable policies and development direction are not soon formed. According to the Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association, 2016 is an extremely difficult year for the country's textile industry, with the lowest growth rate since 2008 (the year that Vietnam's garment recorded no export turnover growth due to the global economic crisis) so far. By 2018, Vietnam's garment industry has been forecast to face many challenges, especially in regards to small and medium-sized enterprises facing the risk of closing down due to poor competitiveness and extremely difficult production conditions. Many customers have been moving their orders to Cambodia, Myanmar and Laos, countries with tax incentives to export goods to Europe and the US – the two largest export markets for Vietnam’s textile and garment industry. Therefore, companies need to change production methods towards ODM and OBM models, while reducing costs, increasing productivity, investing in technologies and diversifying products. The Government and concerned ministries should promote administrative reform and provide reasonable support policies regarding capital, infrastructure, employment, income and health insurance to reassure businesses. Agriculture sector restructuring prioritized next year Priority will be given to the restructuring of agriculture next year to ensure higher growth for the sector, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development said in a statement. The statement came out after a conference recently held in Hanoi to review the agriculture sector’s performance in 2016 and discuss development plans for next year. Minister Nguyen Xuan Cuong said the sector had made three important achievements this year: growth of 1.2%, export revenue of US$32.1 billion, up 6% against last year, and higher food safety. The export turnover spike has resulted from a significant rise in exports of major products, including coffee with a 25.5% year-on-year increase, cashew nuts with an 18% improvement, pepper with a 13% surge and seafood with a 6.3% upstick As for next year, the ministry will focus on developing 10 major products which can register export revenue of over US$1 billion each and key products of each province. After major and signature products are determined, the ministry will develop specialized cultivation areas and choose key enterprises while the State agencies assigned to manage the production of those products will make financial and technology preparations. The targets which the ministry set for next year include growth of 2.5-2.8% and export revenue of US$32-32.5 billion. Attending the conference, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc stressed the need to further improve the quality of agricultural products, add more value to them, instead of focusing only on quantity, apply advanced technology to production, and strengthen the capacity to respond to natural disasters. The policies which obstruct the development of agriculture should be revoked, he was quoted by a Government news website report. He told the agriculture ministry to work with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment and other relevant agencies to make recommendations for amending the Land Law in a way that facilitates the implementation of large-scale farming projects. The central bank should take policy steps that encourage banks to lend to agricultural investors while the Ministry of Planning and Investment is assigned to find ways to raise funds for agricultural development in the medium-term public investment plan. Saigon Co.op launches new convenience store brand The Saigon Union of Trading Cooperatives, or Saigon Co.op, recently launched a brand-new convenience store brand called Co.op Smile. Although the company formally announced the new store chain on December 28, it has already had 12 Co.op Smile convenience stores in six districts: 4, 11, Binh Thanh, Phu Nhuan, Cu Chi and Hoc Mon. With the new store brand in place, Saigon Co.op has strengthened its position as the country’s leading retailer. Its retail systems span across the country, and include Co.opmart supermarkets, Co.opXtra hypermarkets, Co.opFood stores, Ben Thanh Store, Sense City commercial center, SC Vivo City complex, and a TV shopping channel. Saigon Co.op plans to open eight more Co.op Smile outlets from now towards the end of next month, raising the total to 20. By the end of next year it will have had 200-300 Co.op Smile stores. Co.op Smile stores, which are 20 to 200 square meters each, are located in both urban and suburban residential areas, and stock 1,500 to 2,000 items each, such as food, cosmetics, clothes, and goods under the price stabilization program. Lunar New Year bonuses show stark income divide across Vietnam With rewards for the upcoming Tet holiday ranging from only less than US$5 to a brand new car, it's not going to be an equally happy new year for all. A real estate company in Hanoi has decided to give its managers each a car worth VND1 billion (US$44,000) for the upcoming Lunar New Year — holiday gifts that will make the bonuses of less than US$5 for some workers in Haiphong much less generous. The Hanoi company said eight mid-level managers, whose work has contributed to a 20% revenue increase this year, deserve the reward, believed to be the biggest for the Tet holiday so far, the Vietnam News Agency reported. Vietnam’s labor ministry last month asked cities and provinces to work with businesses over their plans for Tet bonus payouts and report to the authorities. Tong Van Lai, deputy head of the ministry’s wage department, said only nine cities and provinces have submitted bonus reports for the country's biggest holiday, which is a month away. A Chinese-owned stationery company in the northern city of Haiphong might be paying the least: VND100,000, or less than US$5. Ho Chi Minh City’s labor department said the average Tet bonus in the city will be VND8 million a person, based on a survey of more than 1,100 companies. A foreign plastic producer has promised rewards of up to VND500 million. In the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho, holiday bonus pledges range from VND1.5 million to VND385 million (US$66-US17,000). The General Statistics Office announced this week that the average income in 2016 has reached US$2,200. In Vietnam, bonus pay is a matter of agreement between employers and their workers. Businesses are highly encouraged by the government to reward employees based on business performance. There have been wildcat strikes in previous years where workers protested low or no bonus payments. Last time Tet bonuses ranged from a meager VND40,000 (US$1.77) to VND624 million (US$27,700). Both these lowest and highest levels were reported at foreign-invested companies. Some companies offered nothing. The upcoming Year of the Rooster will begin on January 28. The government has approved a seven-day break for the holiday from January 26 to February 1. Concern over pre-TET price hikes The year’s biggest petrol price hike of nearly VND1,000 (4.5 cents) has coupled with unfavourable weather conditions, have triggered worries of price hikes of transportation and goods ahead of the Lunar New Year celebration (TET). The traditional holiday will fall on the last end-week of January and shopping demand is already on the rise by around 10 % compared to other months. Preparations have been made to meet the rising demand for goods and services, stabilise prices and prevent price increases. Still, experts forecast that prices, especially of essential goods, will rise starting next week. According to Vu Vinh Phu, President of the Hanoi Supermarket Association, petrol price hikes would definitely affect other prices, but it would normally take around 15 days to see the impact. Phú forecast that prices of goods and services would be pushed up by around 5-7 %. However, just a modest part of the increases was caused by petrol price hikes. In local markets, products such as meat, fruits and vegetables have already registered price increases of 10 to 50 %. A trader at Binh Dien wholesale market in HCM City said that there was a scarcity of vegetables and fruits due to unfavourable weather conditions in the central region and Da Lat. According to Nguyen Van Thanh, president of Vietnam Automobile Transport Association, although petrol prices were hiked, transport costs are not adjusted immediately as firms need to calculate the impact. “However, the pressure is there,” Thanh added. The HCM City Market Watch said petrol price hikes would definitely affect the price of many goods and services. However, prices of essential goods will be kept stable. Major cities such as Hanoi and HCM City were gearing up for the TET holiday. In HCM City, firms prepared a total of VND17 trillion (US$759 million) of goods, 20 % higher than the city authority’s plan. In Hanoi, VND23.5 trillion of goods were prepared, rising by 10 % over the previous year. The Ministry of Industry and Trade also asked retailers nationwide to ensure adequate goods for the holiday. Retailers: Keeping pace with accelerating change in 2017 The coming year will be another challenging one for domestic sector retailers as they seek to maintain market share and compete with the growing foreign sector for sales revenue, said experts at a recent business forum in Hanoi. Dr Luu Duc Hai of the Ministry of Planning and Investment said that based on what has happened in 2016, it could be argued that next year would be even more challenging. Dr Hai said more aggressive marketing strategies are needed by local companies as they try to carve out a niche in the retail market, adding that he believes the major battlegrounds would shift to online shopping. Online shopping, said Dr Hai, offers a more cost-effective channel to reach select targeted consumer groups. The retail sector can also expect to see more intense price competition, in an industry that is already operating on thin gross profit margins. It therefore becomes critically important for companies to not only channel the right market but effectively manage their resources, particularly in keeping inventory and product mix at optimum levels. Excessive amounts of inventory have advantages and disadvantages for a business, which makes inventory control a delicate balancing act. When a company holds a high level of inventory, it ties up business funds that could be used in other areas such as research and development or marketing. It also leads to higher warehousing costs and can lead to quality problems such as degradation and potential obsolescence. However, not having enough of an item on hand can lead to lost sales from not having an item to fill a customer order and can also lead to customer dissatisfaction and customer loss as they go to a competitor to acquire the product. Another consideration, said Dr Hai, is that small retailers can obtain a savings when purchasing many products in bulk quantities. Many suppliers give larger discounts to customers who order larger quantities. Dr Doan Thi Thuy Duong of the Ministry of Planning and Investment in turn agreed that 2017 would be a particularly challenging year for domestic sellers in the country. Dr Duong said consumer behaviour had changed in 2016, particularly with the advent of online shopping and the implementation of novel online-purchasing models throughout the country. She noted that major challenges for local retailers would evolve around gaining a better understanding of consumer buying habits and realizing that they are changing at a dramatically fast pace. The country’s retail markets are moving into the digital age and a whole new era of interactive online marketing is beginning to emerge. It just may be that the key to success of domestic sector companies for 2017 depends upon their ability to tap into this behaviour and cater to it better than their foreign sector counterparts. Clinging to outdated sales and marketing strategies would most likely not be successful in 2017, she underscored. Dr Hai noted that complex challenges for retailers lie ahead in the coming year as they struggle to develop differing strategies to target the diversity of target consumer groups. Not only online shopping is having a significant impact on the retail market, added Dr Hai, but the demographics are changing as more young people, foreign business people and tourists impact the consumer mix. The increased complexity of the consumer mix complicates marketing activities and it just may be that the most successful companies for 2017 are the ones that can best understand and adapt their company policies. Lastly, Mr Hai commented that another emerging challenge facing domestic sector retailers is in coping with new payment methods as well as how they deliver products and services to the consumer. Revolutionizing farming with Israeli technology Vertical farming, drip irrigation, soil solarisation and similar terms will soon become common terminology in Vietnam agriculture, said Vo Kim Cu, president of the Vietnam Cooperative Alliance. He made the statement at a signing ceremony on December 30 for a new multi-year contract aimed at bringing Israeli hi-tech farming methods to Vietnamese farmers in hopes of boosting production and farming skills. It is common knowledge that Israeli farmers are four to five times more productive for produce such as cherry tomatoes, seedless cucumbers, brinjals and coloured capsicums, said Mr Cu, using the same amount of land as their Vietnamese counterparts. Pursuant to the agreement between the Vietnam Cooperative Alliance, the Israeli Chamber of Industry and Commerce in Southeast Asia and IVA Israel, experts from Israel will regularly visit centres in Vietnam and organize free training sessions for farmers, teaching them – protective agriculture – to increase their crop yields while optimally using fertilizer and water. In addition, corporates and professionals will also be taught ways to produce quality vegetable seedlings. The idea is to transfer applied research and technologies to farmers in provinces across the country. Israel has a proven track record with these type contracts, having already entered similar agreements with successful results. Methods like vertical farming help save space on the ground by growing the crops vertically while drip irrigation saves almost 90% of water. These methods are revolutionary in Vietnam, said Mr Cu. The Vietnam Cooperative Alliance plans to give effect to these projects in the second quarter of 2017 at priority locations in Lam Dong, Binh Phuoc, the north-western region, the Mekong Delta region and the Central Highlands, he noted. Productivity jumps 5% for calendar year 2016 Vietnam worker productivity jumped at an annual growth rate of 5% for calendar year 2016 rising by US$193 to US$3,853 per worker aged 15 and over, per figures from the General Statistical Office. Productivity expanded at the highest rate in industry and construction followed by the service sector and was heavily weighed down by agriculture, which comes as no surprise as low worker productivity is widely recognized. The increased figures are welcomed news for the economy, said the statistics office and show that significant headway is being made and that as the economy shifts away from agriculture to industry more improvement is in store. Prime Minister: Vietnam can overcome its economic challenges As the country marks the end to another tumultuous year for the national economy, that has seen significant challenges to globalization and integration, there has been a lot of reflecting about the past and future. In this vein, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has delivered a series of speeches outlining the country’s future challenges and introducing solutions on how they might be overcome. The Prime Minister has said the country’s most immediate challenge over the next decade would be raising productivity to grow the economy. Per capita GDP has been on an upward trajectory over the past four years but growth is slowing. The country’s annualized growth for 2016 has been estimated at 6.2%, the first slowdown in annual GDP growth since 2012— and well below the 7% growth that had been forecast at the beginning of the year. Exports, which have averaged annual growth of 12-14% from 2000 to 2015, have been estimated to have slowed to 7.5% for 2016. The export boost that was expected to have come over the next decade from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) probably won’t materialize because President-elect Donald Trump has vowed the US will not participate in the 12-member Pacific Rim free trade pact. The demise of the TPP and slowdown in exports have also weighed heavily on investment for 2016 and would continue to weigh heavily on future foreign direct investment inflows both into and out of the country. The Prime Minister cautioned that if the country does not find an avenue to continue growing, it would stagnate and lose ground like other countries including Taiwan, the Republic of Korea and even Japan. That in turn could result in great economic and social problems, including high rates of unemployment. Maintaining growth, Prime Minister Phuc said, can be achieved through increased worker productivity. To help achieve this, Phuc said the government had instituted start-up programs to support Vietnamese launch of new companies. These companies are aimed at promoting productivity of the Vietnam domestic sector through innovative and progressive thinking. Private-sector credit is estimated to have grown at near 20% for 2016, a rate that is not sustainable over the long term and signals the urgent need for bank restructuring to guard against another nonperforming loan crisis. Lastly, the country faces potential problems with its monetary policy, said the Prime Minister, putting tremendous downward pressure on the value of the dong, which could depreciate by 4-5% in 2017, unless effective remedial action is not taken. Ultimately, said the Prime Minister, the ability of Vietnam to confront these challenges lies not just with governmental policies and circumstances, but is dependent on responsible and committed leadership. Now more than ever, Vietnam needs governmental, business and civic leaders who can win the support of the people and rally the country together to work collaboratively and cooperatively to accomplish a common goal. And then, not only will this generation enjoy a good quality of life, but they will be able to overcome the economic challenges the country faces and look forward to a brighter future for themselves, for their children and for their grandchildren. Eight honoured at first ever startup festival Eight startups received awards in five categories at the 2016 Start-up Festival in Hanoi on December 29. The categories were Startup of the Year; Women’s Startup, Bluebird IT Startup, Potential Startup and Most Favoured Startup. The event, which is held for the first time by Vietnam Television’s VTV6, the Vietnam Climate Innovation Centre (VCIC), Topica Founder Institute and Bluebirds JSC, is the biggest event for the startup community this year. The festival attracted about 1,000 startups. With 53 percent of voting from 200 delegates, DesignBold, a design application, overcame GotIt! (47 percent) to win the most important award, Startup of the Year award. “We promise to try our best to bring resources from overseas to support Vietnamese startups. Receiving the award is an honour for us but also a responsibility. We set the target to support Vietnamese startups to catch up with other startup ecosystems in the world,” said Dinh Viet Hung, the CEO of DesignBold. DesignBold is a tool that helps both professional and amateur users design by themselves. It is also the winner of Creative Business Cup Vietnam 2016 and became the Vietnamese representative for the final round at the Creative Business Cup 2016 in Copenhagen, Denmark in November this year. The Women’s Startup Award was given to Vu Nguyet Anh, founder of the dating app Rudicaf. “For me, this is an honour as well as a great motivation, but also a pressure to make more efforts in the future,” she said. The Most Favoured prize was given to Le Thong Nhat, a retired teacher, for his BigSchool Vietnam product. Three startups, namely, 1offfice, Giaohangnhanh and WeFit, won the Potential Startup Award. The prize is a two-week visit to Israel, dubbed the startup nation. “I believe that the spirit of the young generation in Vietnam will boost the startup ecosystem. In my opinion, it is always better to pursue and try to fulfill your dream than not to try at all,” said Yaniv Tessel from Israel’s Economic and Trade Mission. In the Bluebird IT Startup category, Mysterious Stone and Suge Dict overcame 200 games and applications to win. They will receive an award of 50 million VND and an opportunity to visit the Google offices in Silicon Valley. In addition, the organisation board gave a prize for the startup event of the year to the event that the startup community proposed for the amendment of the Article 292 under the Penal Code. Article 292 of the Penal Code adopted by the National Assembly last year stirred up controversy as it was stated that any services offered online or via telecommunication networks without prior permission would be deemed illegal. Fearing that start-up businesses could be harmed, a petition calling for the scrapping of Article 292 was sent to officials, ministers and agencies and collected nearly 6,000 signatures after only one week. Stronger SME connectivity needed to boost support industry Linking small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) and selecting some of them to join the supply chain for FDI firms to boost support industry is among ideas to promote the role of SMEs in the industry’s growth that was given in a recent conference in Ho Chi Minh City. Currently, Ho Chi Minh City is focusing on four major industries of mechanics, electronics-information technology, pharmaceutical chemistry and food processing, along with two traditional ones of apparel and footwear. The four major industries’ contribution to the city’s total industry structure rose to 60 percent in 2015 from 54.6 percent in 2005, while the other two traditional ones made up 17.7 percent. However, the support industry for the sectors has faced many difficulties, as the majority of firms in the field are SMEs with limited capital and technology, making it hard to expand production and join the global supply chain. According to Ho Minh Son, General Director of Amura Precision, a mechanics company, support industry should be paid special attention to meet high demand of the world market, especially developed countries. Son suggested that along with more investment in technology and human resource training, it is necessary to connect enterprises in the field to enhance their mutual support and coordination, creating a supply circle and bringing higher added value to all parties. In Ho Chi Minh City and Vietnam at large, joining the supply chain for FDI firms remains a challenge for Vietnamese businesses, he said, taking Intel Products Vietnam as an example. The firm needs 100 suppliers while only 18 firms can cooperate with it, the majority of them are foreign-invested. Meanwhile, Le Bich Loan, deputy head of the Ho Chi Minh City Management Board for High Technology Industrial Parks, proposed the selection of some firms to join supply chain for FDI businesses. The city should design special policies for the chosen firms to produce outstanding products in terms of quality and price, thus drawing more orders from FDI firms, she said. At the same time, Tran Anh Tuan, acting head of the Institute for Development Studies, the growth of SMEs remains limited as there has been no specific law applicable to them and poor support in various fields, including tax, market, trade promotion, technology and human resources. Tuan held that stronger support for SME should me made with careful selection of sectors, adding that Ho Chi Minh City should prioritise high technology, support industry and startup. PetroVietnam’s oil exploitation on target The Vietnam Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam) exploited around 15 million tonnes of oil equivalent in 2016, meeting its annual target, the company said. PetroVietnam also exploited around 9.6 billion cubic metres of gas this year. A company representative said that in the global context of low oil prices in 2016, with an average price of around 44 USD per barrel, PetroVietnam’s financial indicators have been strongly hit. So from early on in the year, the group actively implemented measures to ensure there was mining production in more than 30 oil and gas mines across the country. The company has taken several steps to improve its oil recovery factors, its operation systems, and the repair and maintenance of equipment. Two giant oil platforms - RC-9 and Thien Ung oil rigs - have also been put into operation. Most of PetroVietnam’s mines have met their annual targets or even exceeded them. “The results were fruitful mainly because of the group’s robust performance in mine management, optimisation of exploitation operations and the excellent condition of some mines,” the representative said, adding that 2016 is the eighth consecutive year in which PetroVietnam’s mining production has exceeded the target set by the government. HCM City’s banks maintain high growth Banks in the southern economic hub of Ho Chi Minh City have maintained their high growth in 2016 compared to previous year, according to the Ho Chi Minh City branch of the State Bank. Nguyen Hoang Minh, Deputy Director of the branch said on December 29 that total capital mobilization of credit institutions in the city is estimated to reach 1.82 quadrillion VND (approximately 80 billion USD), up 16 percent against 2015. Total outstanding loans will go up nearly 19 percent to hit 1.56 quadrillion VND (about 68 billion USD) compared to the end of last year. The city’s banking sector has reached the credit growth rate target of 18 – 20 percent in 2016. According to the Vietnam General Office of Statistics, the credit growth of the national economy reached 16.46 percent as of December 20. Banks’ capital mobilisation upped 16.88 percent and deposit interest rates remained stable. The year’s average VND/USD exchange rate showed a year–on–year increase of 2.23 percent and the average core inflation rate went up by 1.83 compared to the previous year. Vietnam, Israel develop supply chain of farm produce The Vietnam Cooperative Alliance (VCA)’s Cooperative Union of Agricultural Consumption have reached with Israeli partners a deal to develop a supply chain of clean agricultural products using Israeli technology. The deal was signed in Hanoi on December 30 by the union and the Israel Chamber of Commerce and Technology in Southeast Asia and IVA Corporation of Israel. VCA President Vo Kim Cu said the two sides with work togerther to build farms producing vegetables, fruits and farm produce in Vietnam and abroad; help the union develop a chain of supermarkets and build brands for safe farm produce. The VCA will embark on projects in the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong, the southern province of Binh Phuoc, the northwestern region and the Mekong Delta, with a total area of 20 ha in the second quarter of 2017. The area will be expanded to 100ha in the fourth quarter. Outlets for safe farm produce will be built along with the development of farms. Vietnam Airlines successful in UK market Vietnam Airlines has enjoyed rapid growth in the UK market since its first flight landed in Gatwich Airport in London in November, 2011, marking the launch of the carrier’s direct air route to the European country. With four flights per week, Vietnam Airlines officially became a “bridge” linking Vietnam and the UK. In 2015, the airline switched to Heathrow airport, one of the most important international airports of the UK. The carrier began to use the new generation aircraft Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner for its flights to Heathrow airport on September 9, 2015, becoming the first airline in the region to use the modern airplane on a direct route from Southeast Asian to Europe. Vietnam Airlines gradually increased the frequency of flights from Hanoi/Ho Chi Minh City to the UK to 5-6 flight per week, then one every day. Thanks to its efforts to improve service quality, the carrier was also certified as a four-star airline by the UK-based airline and airport rating organisation SkyTrax. Vietnam Airlines held a Christmas greeting programme in Heathrow airport for passengers on its flight to Vietnam on December 21, and a similar event in Tan Son Nhat airport to welcome the passengers. This year, Vietnam Airlines plans to transport 20.6 million passengers. VEF/VNA/VNS/VOV/SGT/SGGP/Dantri/VET/VIR |
↧
↧
Article 1
Social News 1/1 Modern hospital inaugurated in Binh Duong The Becamex International Hospital was launched on December 30 in Thuan An town, the southern province of Binh Duong, which is expected to provide locals with health care service meeting international standards. Invested by the Becamex IDC Corporation, the hospital has 500 beds, 300 of which are now ready for patients. Its capacity will be expanded to 1,000 beds in the second phase. The facility has a 450-strong staff, including 80 doctors, 205 nurses, 23 midwifes, 24 technicians. It is equipped with modern equipment and machines worth nearly 2 trillion VND. The hospital also receives support in terms of human resources by large national and international hospitals, including Cho Ray, Gia Dinh People’s Hospital, Paediatrics Hospital 1 and 2, Tu Du and Hung Vuong hospitals in Ho Chi Minh City and Khoo Teck Puat of Singapore, Addressing the launching ceremony, Vice Chairman of the Binh Duong People’s Committee Dang Minh Hung said that the project is part of the province’s policy to encourage all economic sectors to invest in health care. PM urges academy to bring science, technology into reality The Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology (VAST) should spare time studying the application of scientific achievements into reality, especially in production, business and start-up. Addressing a conference in Hanoi on December 27, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc pointed to existing problems in scientific research, including impractical studies. He said local scientists are busy pursuing unattainable issues without noticing down-to-earth needs of businesses. The PM asked the VAST to study the reasonable use of mineral resources to increase value and avoid national resource waste. He urged the academy to put forth scientific and technological measures to monitor, control and handle the environment and address consequences caused by climate change, as well as create environmentally-friendly products, reduce production cost, and increase competitiveness. The Government leader suggested applying science and technology into processing and food preservation while expanding high added value chain for farm produce. He told the VAST to increase the competitiveness of such key sectors as hi-tech agriculture, nanotech, artificial intelligence, and new-generation material production. In 2016, the VAST has announced a total of over 2,000 fundamental scientific works, including 996 published on international journals. The institution has presented 28 intellectual property certificates, encompassing 11 inventions and 17 useful solutions, representing a year-on-year increase of 56 percent, and published 39 monographs. Units under the VAST have conducted 1,070 scientific and technological contracts worth over 233 billion VND (10.23 million USD), up nearly 17 percent against 2015. The VAST also made significant contributions to identifying the cause of the abnormal massive fish death in the central provinces; providing important scientific evidence on violations in the case; and addressing consequences in the affected areas. ASEAN press photo contest winners announced  Mongkolchai Panyatrakul from the Thai Rath newspaper won first prize of the “ASEAN One Community” press photo contest The photo “Water festival in Nong Khai province” by Mongkolchai Panyatrakul from Thailand won the first prize at the “ASEAN – One Community” press photo contest. The announcement was made at a ceremony held in Hanoi on December 29. Photo “Bull racing festival” by Vietnamese photographer Nguyen Huu Dinh was the runner-up. Three third prizes and five encouragement prizes were also awarded to outstanding photos. The “ASEAN-One Community”, held by the Vietnam Journalists Association as the President of the Confederation of ASEAN Journalists (CAJ) for 2015-2017, was to mark one year anniversary of the establishment of the ASEAN Community. The contest received nearly 700 entries by members of press organisations in ASEAN state members, featuring the beauty of countries, people and daily life in the common community. 30 years of Vietnam journalism reform More than 200 leaders of news agencies, journalist associations, journalism training institutes, as well as scientists and journalists from across the country gathered in Hanoi on December 29 at a conference entitled “Journalism after 30 years of doi moi (renewal process) - theoretical and practical issues.” The conference was sponsored by the Vietnam Journalists Association (VJA), the Party Central Committee’s Commission for Publicity and Education and the Ministry of Information and Communications. The gathering acted as a platform for participants to review accomplishments and shortcomings of Vietnamese journalism and communications over the past 30 years (1986-2016), the period of Vietnam’s doi moi process, and propose initiatives to strengthen Vietnamese journalism’s roles and improve the quality of media coverage. VJA President Thuan Huu, a member of the Party Central Committee, said that 30 years is a meaningful period during which the reform process initiated and led by the Party has gained historic accomplishments acknowledged by the domestic and international public. Journalism played a leading role in disseminating and promoting the reform policies of the Party, he said. Journalism has also renewed itself to catch up with the development of the country, meeting increasing demand of the revolutionary cause and gaining many meaningful achievements, he added. Deputy Head of the Party Central Committee’s Commission for Publicity and Education, Pham Van Linh, said journalism management and orientation in 2016 underwent encouraging changes. Many news agencies contributed to the fight against corruption, protecting the country’s sovereignty and rejecting incorrect and distorted information by hostile forces. “However, in the context of unpredicted developments in world affairs and new political tasks, journalism has shown shortcomings. Besides new opportunities, journalism has to overcome challenges,” Huu said. Ho Quang Loi, VJA vice president, said that a lot of journalism information lacks orientation and focusses on negative issues. Information that harms Vietnamese customs is still allowed to be published in newspapers. Many TV programmes air "tactless" content, causing anger among the public, he said. Discussing journalist ethics, experienced journalist Phan Quang, former VJA president, said “The 1995 journalism ethics code of Vietnam mentions uprightness of journalists. However, now there are more and more reporters who sit at home, type on computers and plagiarise others’ work.” “The journalism ethics code of Vietnam was issued a long time ago but has yet to be put into practice,” Quang asked. This year, the Journalism Ethics Code has been adjusted and the revised version will take effect next year. Journalist Phan Quang spoke highly of the new code, saying that Clause No10 in which press workers must pledge to adhere to the code, is their responsibility and up to their conscience. Nguyen The Ky, a member of Party Central Committee and General Director of the Voice of Vietnam, said that journalism has developed into various forms. News agencies have focused on renewing and improving news quality. However, language in the mass media is used improperly in many cases, with carelessly-written words and sentences. Shocking headlines are made to lure readers, but fail to reflect the facts. “Vietnamese language use on media will affect negatively and widely on the public, especially the youth,” he said, suggesting relevant agencies complete laws on Vietnamese and language use. Each news agency should have a unit tasked with overseeing language use, he said. The conference welcomed nearly 90 thematic reports from journalists and researchers, focusing on three topics: general view of theoretical and specialist skill issues of journalism; practical issues including those related to journalism management, trends of modern journalism and adaptation of Vietnamese journalism; and journalist ethics. Poster contest to highlight APEC Year 2017’s theme A poster contest on the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Year 2017 which will be hosted by Vietnam next year, was officially launched on December 30. Initiated by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the contest is open to all professional and amateur artists nationwide and those living abroad. The contest is expected to contributing to concretising Vietnam’s intensive international integration policy, improving the quality and efficiency of multilateral diplomatic affairs, and affirming that Vietnam is a friend, reliable partner, and a responsible member of the regional and international community. The entries are requested to highlight the theme of the APEC Year 2017 “Creating new driving force for a common future”, and Vietnam’s achievements and contributions to the regional sustainable economic growth and connection, thus promoting peace, stability, development and prosperity in the Asian Pacific region. The contest also aims to promote the attractive investment climate and incentives in attracting foreign investment of Vietnam, as well as the country’s culture, landscape and people. The organising board has the right to use winning works for exhibitions during the APEC Year and at other events nationwide. The deadline of submission is February 28, 2017. Previously, a contest to design the logo for the APEC Year 2017 was also launched in March this year. Vietnam expects to welcome tens of thousands of delegates to 200 activities, including eight ministerial-level conferences across Vietnamese cities and provinces, during the event. Vietnam made thorough preparations for the event, which is expected to open up great chances for localities to attract visitors and promote their products to APEC partners and world leading businesses. Marine sovereignty-themed exhibition comes to Bac Kan province The northern province of Bac Kan is the next destination of an exhibition on Vietnam’s archipelagos in the East Sea, giving locals an insight into historical and legal evidence testifying to the country’s marine sovereignty. The display, opened on December 29 by the Ministry of Information and Communications, features many documents, objects and nearly 100 maps which were collected and publicised by domestic and foreign researchers. The exhibits include copies of documents written in Chinese, Nom (a Chinese-like script of Vietnam), Vietnamese and French issued by Vietnam’s feudal regime and the French administration the Indochina from the 17th to the early 20th centuries. They confirm Vietnam’s establishment and exercise of sovereignty over Hoang Sa (Paracel) and Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelagos. Copies of administrative documents issued by the Republic of Vietnam’s administration in the south of the country between 1954 and 1975, and by the Socialist Republic of Vietnam since 1975 also affirm Vietnam’s administrative management and exercise and protection of sovereignty over Hoang Sa, Truong Sa and some other sea areas. Among the items on display are publications compiled and published by some western countries from the 18th to the 19th centuries which relate to Vietnam’s sovereignty over Hoang Sa and Truong Sa. Speaking at the event, Vice Chairman of the Bac Kan provincial People’s Committee Pham Duy Hung said the exhibition is an important communication activity helping to raise public awareness and sense of responsibility in protecting the country’s sovereignty over the two archipelagos. The exhibition, lasting through January 2, 2017, is a continuation of 74 displays previously organised in 51 provinces and cities, 10 islands and island districts, and 13 armed forces units nationwide. Phu Tho urged to focus on knowledge economy, added-value industries President Tran Dai Quang has urged Phu Tho province to better exploit its potential and strength for rapid but sustainable development. He was speaking at a ceremony on December 30 to commemorate the 125th anniversary of the northern province, held in the presence of high-ranking officials from the Party and the State. On behalf of the Party and the State, the President Quang congratulated the province on its achievements in recent years and asked its authorities and residents to continue economic reforms based on modernising production. The province also needs to prioritise development of the knowledge economy and added value industries, he said. “Local authorities should focus on attracting investment into projects that can link regions with each other towards maximising the potential of each and every region,” he said. He suggested that the province focuses on applying new technologies to agricultural development, which would require a shift to large-scale production. The focus should also be on attracting businesses to invest in agriculture and rural development, he said. He also asked the province to constantly increase its capacity to reinforce and strengthen national defense and security. “Improving the living standard of local residents is a must. Improving the quality of local human resources and state employees is a must. Vocational training should be improved so that we have highly-skilled workers,” President Quang said. The province should continue reforming its administrative procedures and improving its investment environment to meet the needs of national industrialisation, modernisation, and global integration, he added. Phu Tho is in northeastern Vietnam, 80 kilometres away from Hanoi and 50 kilometres from Noi Bai International Airport. The province has accomplished a lot over the last several years. From a poor province with production activities mostly in agriculture, it has now become a locality with a growth rate always above the national average. Industrial and services activities account for more than 76 percent of the locality’s economy and tourism has become a leading industry. On the occasion, President Quang granted the Independent Order, First Class, to the province (second time). PM urges Da Nang to become nation's growth momentum Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc suggested the central city of Da Nang strongly promote the internal force of the city's each economic sector, towards becoming one of the country's driving forces for growth in the future. In his statement at a ceremony to mark the 20th founding anniversary of centrally-run Da Nang city on December 31, the PM called for local authorities' greater efforts to develop Da Nang into a wealthy, peaceful, civilized and modern city, an international trade centre, and an attractive destination for investors and tourists. He underlined the need for the city to give appropriate policies to flexibly apply special mechanisms on investment, finance, budget and management, streamline the authority apparatus in an effective manner, and improve the quality of civil servants to satisfy the requirement of a serviceable administration. The PM urged Da Nang to lead the way in building a smart and start-up city, focusing on improving investment and business climate and developing businesses with a target of between 40,000 and 45,000 enterprises by 2020, thus attracting more investment and creating high-added value products, and deeply joining global production and value chains. It is necessary to foster regional links, especially with localities in the central key economic region like Thua Thien-Hue, Quang Tri, Quang Nam, Quang Ngai, Binh Dinh, Khanh Hoa, in producing industrial and agricultural goods, and applying high-technologies, he noted. Attention should be paid to comprehensively reforming the education and training, and improving the quality of human resources, in order to meet the locality’s demand of international integration. Da Nang needs to exert its efforts to join the group of globally competitive cities ranked by international organisations, he said. While congratulating the municipal authorities on its hosting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in 2017, the PM said this will offer a good chance for the city to promote its strengths and potential to international friends. He also expressed his joy at the city’s great achievements in recent times, saying that he hopes the municipal administration will do more endeavours to make the city a home to the talents and a centre of start-ups and creative ideas. On the occasion, 20 individuals were honoured with the title “outstanding citizen of Da Nang” for their achievements and contributions to the city’s development over the last 20 years. According to Secretary of the municipal Party Committee Nguyen Xuan Anh, the tourism has become a spearhead economic sector of Da Nang over the last two decades. The city has so far attracted 5.6 million visitors, up 27 times. The city’s infrastructure system has been improved in recent years, including nine modern bridges, which not only serve transport but also are attractive tourism destinations for visitors. In 2016, Da Nang ranked the first in the Provincial Competitive Index and topped the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Index for seven consecutive years. The city obtained encouraging achievements in economic growth, with economic scale increased 2.5 times and per capita surged over 14 times over the two decades. It is said to be a most liveable city in Vietnam, becoming an attractive tourism site for domestic and foreign holiday-makers. Da Nang was splited from Quang Nam-Da Nang province and become a centrally-run city on January 1, 1997. Bac Lieu asked to boost regional links to optimise development resources National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan has asked the Mekong Delta province of Bac Lieu to strengthen regional links to optimise development resources in cooperation with other regional localities. Bac Lieu needs to pay attention to the development of agricultural and aquaculture production tied in with protection of natural resources and improvement in the quality of agricultural products, she said at a ceremony held on December 30 to mark the 20th anniversary of Bac Lieu re-establishment (January 1, 1997-2017). Chairwoman Ngan praised the outstanding achievements over the last 20 years by the local Party, government and people, urging Bac Lieu to continue promoting administrative reform to build effective government policy, meeting the requirements of industrialisation, modernisation and international integration, while strengthening business environmental improvement and creating favourable conditions for local development. She also urged Bac Lieu to adhere to Party building work to make its political system clean and strong in the spirit of the Party’s resolutions and policies. In his speech, Le Minh Khai, Secretary of Bac Lieu provincial Party Committee, highlighted achievements over the last 20 years since the separation from Minh Hai province into Bac Lieu and Ca Mau provinces. He stated that the glorious tradition of the land has become an important platform for its revolutionary process, as well as during the process of Doi Moi and local development. Bac Lieu today has gained positive comprehensive developments in many fields. It has developed several models of agricultural production with high economic efficiency, such as the large-scale rice field model associated with product consumption and super-intensive shrimp farming model that has bought about increased productivity of 10-15 times higher than normal shrimp farming. Kien Giang: more island commune connected to national grid Up to 526 households in Hon Nghe island commune in Kien Luong district, the southern province of Kien Giang accessed the national grid on December 30, Electricity of Vietnam’s Southern Power Corporation (EVN SPC) announced. As part of a project to link rural and island areas to the national power grid, the sub-project built a total of 16.37 km of sea-crossing overhead 22kV transmission line, which will be capable of providing millions of kWh of electricity each year. This is the second longest sea-crossing transmission line in the country after the 24.49km sea-crossing transmission bringing electricity to Lai Son island commune in Kien Hai district of the province. It was financed by the EVN SPC with total investment of 140 billion VND (6.16 million USD). Along with the line, a three-phase medium voltage line with a total length of 9.94km, eight transformer stations and 526 electronic meters were built. The project is expected to promote the local economic and tourism development, contributing to protecting the environment and attracting investment. Famous Bat Trang ceramics village seeks new approach A roundtable discussion has been jointly organised by the Hanoi Culture Foundation, the Hanoi Industrial Design College and the Bat Trang Ceramics Guild. It brought together business owners, ceramic designers and researchers, marketing professionals to look for a new approach for Bat Trang ceramics. Ha Van Lam, chief of the People’s Representative board, said that during the economic boom of the 1990s and the 2000s, craftsmen in different kilns in Bat Trang sought every way to get their kiln firing and their potter’s job going. To judge a ceramic product, according to Lam, one needed to value its design, and the glaze, adding to the five traditional glazes handed down from ancestors, young craftsmen today have found out new attractive glazes. "Our red glaze has been inspected and certified by Japanese experts as non-toxic for potters and end-users, and it has entered the demanding markets in Japan," he said. During many export negotiations, Lam said foreign dealers told him, "Bat Trang ceramics are not as competitive in terms of design and price compared to Chinese products, but they still buy from us because we meet a certain demand from their market." To put it more specifically, founder of Hien Van Ceramics, designer Bui Hoai Mai, said that Bat Trang craftsmen need to work together as members of a guild, where they need to agree upon certain ethics and rules, and respect each other’s turf. "We need to understand competition in a more constructive way," he said. "If everyone is fighting to lower the price at the cost of their neighbours, we are all dragging each other downhill. You would need to make clear who is good at refined products, who can produce home appliances, who can provide construction ceramics, and everyone should recommend it to visitors. That way we can develop as a whole." From a marketer’s point of view, Nguyen Dinh Thanh from Elite PR asked more direct questions. "Could you create a tea cup that holds 800 years of Bat Trang history in it?" He went further by asking questions about mapping of the two villages, Bat Trang and Giang Cao, so that visitors know where they are. There is no history board/placard with Bat Trang’s brief history on it. More importantly, there are no homestay addresses, no cafes nor even public restrooms for visitors. "All of these factors need to be taken into account," he added. "At the village ceramics market," ceramic designer Mai said, "We see ceramics of all types and styles. A visitor will not be able to tell which product is strictly Bat Trang style." Out in the ceramic market, it took Lam a few minutes to screen the product shelves to spot a distinctive Bat Trang glaze. Tet bonuses for workers in HCM City  As many as 265 businesses in industrial and processing zones of Ho Chi Minh City have revealed bonus plans for workers on the occasion of traditional Lunar New Year 2017. The average Tet bonus for each worker in domestic and foreign direct investment (FDI) companies will be 7 million VND (307 USD) and 6.8 million VND (298 USD) respectively. The respective highest bonus will be one billion VND (43,920 USD) and 215 million VND (944 USD) while the lowest will be 3.5 million VND (153 USD). According to head of the labour management department under the municipal Export Processing and Industrial Zone Authority (Hepza) Nguyen Vo Minh Thu, nearly 30 businesses reported difficulties in paying Tet bonuses for workers but pledged an equal level to the previous year. In case, businesses could not afford bonuses, the Hepza trade union will seek supporting measures, she said. Hepza office manager Tran Cong Khanh said the management board has coordinated with relevant agencies to provide assistance for workers. For example, trade unions at industrial and processing zones have raised money to buy 6,000 tickets for needy employees to enjoy Tet at home. The city’s foundation for supporting workers has mobilised businesses to present 1,200 train tickets to workers from the north and central regions for the HCM City-Hanoi and HCM City-Da Nang routes. Close to 100,000 gift packages worth over 47 billion VND (2.06 million USD) will be granted to workers during the traditional Lunar New Year 2017. Businesses and retailers will hold programmes to sell products with reasonable prices at a number of industrial parks. HCM City to arrange different hours for each commuter group to curb congestion The Ho Chi Minh City administration has ordered the arrangement of exclusive scheduling for certain commuter groups, a plan previously rejected by local authorities to ease the city’s congestion. The increase in personal vehicles and risk of traffic gridlock in the southern metropolis is leading many to call for effective measures to curb the aching problem, including one proposal to create specific time windows for different commuter groups, according to delegates at a meeting chaired by the municipal People’s Committee. According to Colonel Tran Duc Tai, deputy director of the city’s Department of Police, about 1,000 new vehicles are registered in the city each day while the total number of vehicles hitting the streets daily is approximately 10 million. According to a Department of Transport report, about 37 congestion hotspots exist across the southern hub and the Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs should arrange different working hours for different groups of workers and students to alleviate these issues. The proposition is aimed at reducing the number of vehicles travelling at any one time on the city’s street. Accordingly, class times should start at 8:00 am while office workers will begin their day at 8:30 am; local supermarkets can then open at 9:00 am, the transport department listed the examples. The plan will certainly be met with criticism, though it will have some benefits tolocal residents, Le Van Khoa, vice-chairman of the city’s administration said before adding that it still needed to be subjected to thorough discussion. Khoa ordered the labor department to pilot the scheme with certain groups before expanding it to a larger scale. Meanwhile, Cao Thanh Binh, deputy head of the Economics and Budget Committee under the municipal People’s Council, worried that the changes would impact the daily routine of citizens. The plan was previously rejected by the council as there was not sufficient evaluation of its effect on society. “In order to execute the scheme, careful assessment of its impact on society, local economy, and lives of citizens must be conducted,” the official stated. Thus far, the plan has been applied to the school hours of students in the city in order to curb traffic jams, an official from the municipal Department of Education and Training said at the gathering. High school students are currently scheduled to start class at 7:00 am while elementary pupils begin half an hour later. Local kindergartens are set to receive kids at between 7:30 and 8:00 am. The department will continue to review solutions aimed at establishing different hours for schools busy streets, the education official said, proposing that more school buses be provided to limit personal vehicles at school entrances. According to Bui Xuan Cuong, director of the transport department, the Traffic Safety Committee will work with the labor department to evaluate the proposition before reporting to the People’s Committee. Hanoi university students join London logo competition Students from the British International School of Hanoi have teamed up with The Big Draw 2016 Festival Logo Competition, held annually by a London National Arts Education charity to teach the benefits of drawing to everyone. This year’s theme – The STEAM Powered Big Draw Festival 2016 – responds to the current debate on the essential role of Arts within formal education alongside, and within, Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. Kate Mason, director of The Big Draw said, “The theme of The Big Draw Festival 2016 invites event organizers to look at the intersection between arts, science, digital technology and enterprise, and represents our support of the campaign to give the arts parity with other subjects so that STEM becomes STEAM.” It has been announced that more than 200 Hanoi students attending the University have so far joined this year’s competition for illustrators, designers and drawing enthusiasts to visually represent how Art sits alongside STEM subjects, to create STEAM. The entrants were urged to consider how the universal language of drawing shapes the world around them and how artistic and creative thinking is essential to diverse industries. hanoi university students join london logo competition hinh 1 For example, how a Physicist may use drawings to communicate scientific and mathematical concepts, how buildings come into being through an Architect’s sketches, or how an engineer might visualize new innovations. Some of the Hanoi students got involved in a massive 10-metre drawing while others participated in sci-art experimentation in film, live drawing, and music, as well as a live illustration showdown between arts and science students. The competition is open until April 25 of next year after which the winners will be announced. In addition to exposure around the world, one lucky winner will receive US$300 and a luxury hamper of art materials from sponsors. Vietnamese cops discover dozen rare monkeys dead on bus Police in the central province of Ha Tinh have impounded a passenger bus after discovering a dozen rare monkey carcases in its luggage compartment. Investigators identified the animals as François’ langurs, a species that has been severely threatened by poaching. Traffic officers stopped the bus at around 10 p.m. and discovered the carcases wrapped in paper and packed in a suitcase. The wild animals had been disemboweled and dried. Provincial forest rangers and environmental police have taken over the case. Adherents of Chinese medicine believe that wine made out of the protected primate's bones can cure fatigue and rheumatism. Deforestation has also contributed to the steady decline of the population over the past 30 years. Fewer than 500 wild individuals are believed to remain in Vietnam, and around 1,500 in China. The International Union for Conservation of Nature has listed the species as endangered while Vietnam strictly bans commercial exploitation of the species. Vietnam gets ready to self-finance vaccine program Vietnam has started phasing out from receiving international support for its immunization program. The Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI), which includes WHO and UNICEF, has provided Vietnam with US$14.9 million for vaccines, US$3.2 million for injection safety, and US$1.9 million for immunization services since 2000. GAVI has also offered US$86.69 billion to introduce the 5-in-1 vaccine against diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus, hepatitis B and Haemophilus influenzae type b. Vietnam has drastically reduced the number of child deaths. Statistics provided by UNICEF showed that over the last two decades, the number of deaths of Vietnamese children under five years old dropped from 56 per 1,000 in 1990 to 22 per 1,000 in 2015. Duong Thi Hong, deputy head of the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology, told the Vietnam News Agency that the immunization coverage rates are high, for instance 94.9% for measles and rubella. But Hong said there will be challenges next year as GAVI is set to cut back on its support. Vietnam is now in the transition phase and will no longer be eligible for funding from the alliance as the average income level has increased, hitting around US$2,200. “There is a steady downward trend in foreign aid since Vietnam has been listed among middle-income countries,” said Hong. The government needs to be proactive to be able to self-finance its immunization program, she said. Vietnam is pushing for mass production of vaccines. According to the Ministry of Health, the country is among a few in Southeast Asia capable of producing most of the important vaccines needed. However, the country has not been able to combine several vaccines in one shot, for instance, 5-in-1 or 6-in-1 vaccines, said the health ministry. Travellers to Vietnam hit record high in 2016 A record 10.01 million people visited Vietnam during calendar year 2016, marking a 125% increase over the number of inbound travellers for 2015, the General Statistics Office (GSO) has reported. Much of the increase is attributable to an increase in Chinese travellers, both business and pleasure, which hit a record high 2.7 million in 2016, more than 150% the number for 2015. Most of the remainder of the increase can be accounted for by an increase in travellers from Asia, both business and pleasure, which hit 7.26 million, accounting for 72.5% of the total number of inbound travellers. The coming into force of ASEAN at the beginning of the year in tandem with the increased business travel into and out of the country on the back of increased free and bilateral trade agreements has had a profound impact on the number of travellers, said the GSO. Sustained support needed to sustain poverty reduction Poverty reduction programmes have had positive impacts on the living standards of ethnic minorities, but the challenge of sustaining the gains remains, experts say. Đỗ Văn Chiến, Minister and Chairman of the Committee for Ethnic Affairs, said the government’s social policies upgraded the socio-economic infrastructure in rural, mountainous and ethnic minority areas, gradually improving the lives of poor people. A 2015 survey of nation’s 53 ethnic minority communities showed that the number of household receiving electricity from the national grid nearly reached 94 per cent. All communes have primary and secondary schools. The poverty rate among poor households fell from 35 per cent in 2011 to 16.8 per cent by the end of 2015. The Government adjusted its support for ethnic minority and mountainous areas, shifting its focus from families to communities and paying more attention to creating livelihoods so as to reduce reliance on aid, he said. The provision of grants was replaced by provision of loans at preferential interest rates. Ethnic minority-inhabited areas benefited from two national programmes, 135 and 30a, one on rural development and the other on sustainable poverty reduction. The Government promulgated specific policies to support the poor’s access to land, credit, education, housing, clean water and health insurance. However, despite all these achievements, limitations persisted in efforts to eradicate hunger and alleviate poverty, Chiến said. A lack of long-term support resulted in the fact that many support policies didn’t have the desired impact, he said. Tráng A Thào, a resident of Xà Hồ Commune in Yên Bái Province, said his family had not been able to achieve high productivity even after receiving support to shift from planting cassava to maize. Xa Viết Xuân, chairman of Tân Minh, a disadvantaged commune in northern mountainous province of Hòa Binh, said such policies like fertiliser and seedling assistance can only help local residents in the short term. Since they cannot accumulate enough after each crop, they don’t have the resources to increase or even maintain production. Sơn Phước Ngoan, former chairman of the Committee for Ethnic Affairs, said insufficient funding led to ineffective poverty reduction. "Ethnic minorities want to buy a cow but they are only able to buy a part of the cow. So they can’t escape poverty", he said. This view was confirmed by Hoàng Thị Dung of Yên Bái Province’s Văn Yên District. "We want to get rid of poverty but we don’t have the capital to expand our production," she said. It costs between VNĐ15-20 million (US$660-880) to buy a buffalo. Of these, VNĐ5 million ($220) is given by the government but poor people like her couldn’t afford to raise the remaining funds on their own, Dung said. Nông Văn Tông, who heads the Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Office in Yên Bái’s Bảo Lạc District, said it was difficult to promote sustainable development with policies that don’t focus on key areas. Under the 30a programme, farmers received a one-time support. So, if a farmer received a cow or seedlings this year, he would not get any assistance the following year, he said. "Encouraging ethnic minorities to proactively escape poverty and avoid relying on support from the State and community is an approach in the right direction, but there is no alternative to raising capital allocation for extremely disadvantaged areas and reviewing the way people get support," Chiến said. Sight glass of steam boiler explodes, one killed The sight glass of a steam boiler at Hoà Bình Sugarcane JSC in northern Hoà Bình Province recently exploded, killing a worker who was operating the boiler. On Tuesday, Bùi Thị Thảo, 28, in Lạc Sơn District’s Ân Nghĩa Commune was operating the steam boiler at the sugarcane factory of the company when the sight glass of the boiler exploded. Pieces of glass flew towards the worker, who died immediately. Authorised agencies are investigating the incident. According to the initial investigation, the factory, located in Lạc Sơn District’s Tân Mỹ Commune, was found to be discharging untreated wastewater into the environment, causing mass fish deaths affecting farmers in central Thanh Hóa Province. The Vietnam Environment Administration had suspended the operation of the factory and asked it to address the situation. The factory had asked for permission from authorised agencies to resume its operation. Although it had not yet received any reply, it continued to collect sugarcane from farmers and operated the business. Hà Nội museums cooperate to draw visitors Museums in Hà Nội have signed a cooperation agreement to promote themselves, introduce their activities and raise people’s awareness of the value of their historic and artistic content on display. The co-operation agreement will last from now to 2020, by which time a nationwide association of museums will be established along the lines of the International Council of Museums, according to Nguyễn Văn Cường, director of the National Museum of History. “We will strengthen co-operation to upgrade the quality of the exhibitions with the intention of luring more visitors,” he said. “Accordingly, we will develop tours between museums to serve tourists, students and researchers. We will also set up virtual exhibitions and introduce ourselves on each others’ websites.” The sites participating in the memorandum of understanding include the National Museum of History, the Museum of Ethnology, the Vietnamese Women’s Museum, the Hà Nội Museum, the Hồ Chí Minh Presidential Palace Historical Site and the Culture-Tourism Village of Vietnamese Ethnic Groups. — VNS HCM City tourism market bustling over holiday season Travel agencies in Ho Chi Minh City said most of their tours arranged for New Year and lunar New Year holidays have been booked. As the two holidays are quite close together, their customers were more likely to choose trips in Vietnam or to the ASEAN region for the New Year, and to farther destinations for the Lunar New Year. According to tour operator Lien Bang Travelink, Taiwan (China), the Republic of Korea and Japan are its top destinations for the lunar holiday, while tours to Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia during the upcoming New Year have been fully booked. The company said there are a few vacancies left in domestic tours to Phu Quoc, Nha Trang, Phu Yen and Da Lat. The Viet Media Travel Corporation reported that since middle November, there has been a large number of tourists registering a lunar holiday in Europe, the US or Australia. Tran Thi Viet Huong, a marketing representative from travel firm Vietravel, said purchasing power recorded for the New Year season just inched up a little compared to earlier forecast. Viettravel has sold out most of its overseas journeys. It will continue offering domestic tours with various promotions and discounts. Vietravel expects to accommodate 1 million visitors in 2017 Tour operator Vietravel served 700,000 tourists in 2016 and has set a goal to push the figure to one million in 2017. The company reeled in approximately 5.1 trillion VND (224.4 million USD) in 2016, up 9 percent compared to yearly plan. After 21 years of operation, Vietravel has been ranked among top ten travel agencies in Asia. It has representative offices across Vietnam and foreign countries, such as Cambodia, Thailand, the US, France and Australia. VNA/VNS/VOV/SGT/SGGP/TT/TN/Dantri/VNE |
↧
Article 0
Vietnam’s economic prospects for 2017Vietnam will continue to face challenges but will see plenty of opportunities for economic growth in 2017.  Experts say the advantages for Vietnam’s economy in 2017 will come from free trade agreements and the Government’s commitments to institutional reforms to facilitate the business environment. Export, real estate and securities markets are also expected to enjoy stable growth. Benefits from free trade deals The new US administration may abandon the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement but alternative options are being discussed. Vietnam and other TPP partners can make some adjustments and implement this important deal. A free trade agreement with the EU is also a possible advantage for Vietnam. “The EU is encountering major internal challenges but Vietnam has established strategic partnerships or comprehensive cooperative partnerships with several key EU member countries. We need to promote these relationships for long-term cooperation with the EU. In addition, FTAs with the Republic of Korea and some other countries will continue to serve as a solid foundation for Vietnam’s economic growth”, said economist Pham Chi Lan. Ms. Lan added that the renewal process and experiences learned will offer more opportunities to Vietnam: “Economic pressures will push Vietnam to take stronger actions to move forward. In its integration process, Vietnam has realized that internal strength is vital for development. We must reinforce the strength of the national economy and domestic businesses because no country can develop relying merely on external resources.” Vietnam’s real estate market is improving and will likely become the most attractive destination in Southeast Asia for foreign investors. Dragon Capital President Dominic Scriven says that Vietnam’s securities market will go up with net profit growth estimated at 19% in 2017. Determination to reform institutions and policies Institutional reform and improvements in the business climate will create a momentum for the private sector to become the main driving force for the economy in 2017. Businesses also expect more favorable conditions as the Government has proved its resolve to promote the restructuring of public investment, the state budget and public debt, and fight corruption and wastefulness. “Vietnam has climbed 9 notches in the World Bank Doing Business 2017 report and moved up in the World Economic Forum’s ranking of the international trade environment. Improvements have been seen in streamlining import-export procedures. The Prime Minister has repeatedly committed himself to raising Vietnam’s economic competitiveness, building a state that supports and cooperates with businesses and creating a government of integrity”, said economist Le Dang Doanh. VOV5 |
↧
Article 3
BUSINESS IN BRIEF 3/1 Tan Cang JSC wants to join aviation market  Tan Cang Offshore Travel JSC has registered to participate in the country’s aviation market. In a message sent to the Ministry of Transport, the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam asked the ministry to propose that the prime minister grant an aviation business licence to Tan Cang JSC, which is qualified to enter this market. Tan Cang JSC was established in HCM City in March 2016. If it receives the licence, it can begin operating two helicopters for tourism purposes in the central-southern region in 2018. The firm’s long-term plan is to provide an aviation service for tourists, conduct geological survey, take map photos and provide emergency medical care. The four licensed aviation firms currently operating in Viet Nam are Hai Au Aviation, Globaltransair, Hanh tinh Xanh Technology Solution Corporation and Vietnam Helicopter Corporation. They all have five small planes and 31 helicopters. More than 600 power works put into operation in the south The Electricity of Vietnam’s Southern Power Corporation (EVN SPC) put into operation 619 power works at a total investment of over VND6.5 trillion in 2016. Among them, there were 326km of 110kV lines, 1,766km of medium-voltage lines and 2,924km of low-voltage lines. Notably, a project connecting southern Kien Giang province’s Lai Son island district with the national power grid was completed on November 26. Another 110kV power line connecting An Bien and Lai Son, costing VND467 billion (US$20.3 million), has also provided electricity for nearly 2,000 island households. SPC Chairman and General Director Nguyen Van Hop said a number of projects will continue to be carried out, including power supply for 12 rural and island provinces, the World Bank-funded third stage of a project on providing incentives for power sector reform, the upgrade of power transmission lines in Phu Quy district, the central province of Binh Thuan, slated for completion next year. In 2017, the SPC plans to operate 570 power works with a total investment of nearly VND8.3 trillion, including three 220kV grids, 134 110kV grids and 433 power distribution grids. Ben Tre targets 2 percent growth in agro-forestry-fishery in 2017 The agro-forestry-fishery sector of the Mekong Delta province of Ben Tre should aim for an increase of two percent in 2017, said Vice Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee Nguyen Huu Lap, citing forecast that drought and saline intrusion will become more severe. In 2016, Ben Tre province suffered from prolonged droughts and saline intrusion, with huge losses for agriculture. Therefore, the agro-forestry-fishery sector only registered a growth of 0.9 percent, far below the target of 4.3 percent. Currently, agriculture production of the province has gradually recovered, with 80 percent of damaged fruit growing areas have been restored. According to the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, as of now, the area of cultivated rice is estimated at 58,246ha, a decrease of 7.5 percent year-on-year. Meanwhile, the area of grass for animal husbandry was expanded by 15.8 percent to 3,035ha. The acreage of coconut trees, a specialty of the province, also went up 1.1 percent to 69,330ha. As a result, the cattle herd in the province saw an 11.7 percent increase to more than 197,000 head. To counter droughts and saline intrusion, local people have switched to new kinds of plants and animals to increase provincial economic value and adapt to climate change. Around 852ha of rice fields has been switched to other plants such as fruit trees, vegetable or grass for animal husbandry. Reference exchange rate drops 1 VND on year’s first working day The reference exchange rate for VND/USD on the first working day of 2017 (January 3) was set at 22,158 VND, down 1 VND from the last working day of 2016 (December 30). With the current trading band of /- 3 percent, the ceiling rate for commercial banks during the day is 22,823 VND and the floor rate, 21,493 VND per USD. The opening hour rates listed at commercial banks saw slight reductions. Vietcombank reduced both the buying and selling rates by 10 VND, to 22,720 VND (buying) and 22,790 VND (selling) one USD. The rates listed at BIDV dropped by 20 VND both ways, standing at 22,720 VND (buying) and 22,790 VND (selling) for one USD. Eximbank listed the buying rate at 22,700 VND and the selling rate at 22,800 VND, both down 10 VND. FDI in HCM City IZs expected to hit 500 mln USD in 2017 Industrial zones in Ho Chi Minh City hope to attract investments worth 500 million USD in 2017, according to the HCM City Export Processing and Industrial Zones Authority (HEPZA). Exports by companies situated in industrial zones (IZs) and export processing zones (EPZs) are expected to top 6 billion USD this year, Tran Cong Khanh, head of the HEPZA office, told a press meeting on December 30, 2016. HEPZA continues to encourage investment in four key industries, including mechanical engineering, electronics and IT, chemicals and food processing, and supporting industries, he said. To achieve the target, it plans to expand Le Minh Xuan IZ and complete the third phase of Hiep Phuoc IZ. It will develop areas set aside for supporting industries in Hiep Phuoc, Le Minh Xuan No.3 and Automotive-Mechanical IZs. Tran Viet Ha, head of the investment management department, said foreign direct investment halved in 2016 to 255.61 million USD. Investments by domestic enterprises were worth 5.2 trillion VND (237.71 million USD), a year-on-year decrease of 14 percent, he said. He attributed the decline to a shift in investment towards high-tech industries instead of labour-intensive sectors, meaning there was a fall in investment in sectors like textiles and footwear. Exports by enterprises in IZs and EPZs were estimated at 5.86 billion USD. A total of 1,385 projects with a combined investment of 9.22 billion USD, including 535 FDI projects worth 5.41 billion USD, are operating in IZs and EPZs. They employ more than 285,700 workers, including 2,346 foreign nationals. Doosan Vina brings made-in-Vietnam products to the world The Doosan Heavy Industries Vietnam Co., Ltd (Doosan Vina) had exported its products worth more than 1.21 billion USD to 28 countries and territories around the world by the end of 2016. The company’s export value in 2016 alone was 200 million USD, said its General Director Yeon In Jung. Last year, Doosan Vina exported 22,000 tonnes of made-in-Vietnam equipment, bringing its total export volume so far to 349,584 tonnes. Covering an area of 110 hectares in the Dung Quat Economic Zone in the central province of Quang Ngai, the factory has total investment of 300 million USD. Doosan Vina is currently manufacturing hi-tech boilers used in power plants which will contribute 4,200MW of electricity to the national grid and 11,180MW to the world grid. It is also producing 65 cranes and seawater filtering systems which will create 1 billion litres of clean water for daily use in the Middle East. Central Da Nang City targets world status The central city of Da Nang should aspire to become a top destination and hub for tourism, finance, logistics and hi-tech investors, Director of the Vietnam Institute of Economics Tran Dinh Thien has said at the Science Workshop on Da Nang’s 20-year Development and Future Outlook. “Da Nang is a young city with positive policies on boosting economic development and foreign investment. But the city has yet to take full advantage of its central coastal position and a rendezvous point of north and south Vietnam,” Thien said in his presentation to the workshop held last week. “The city has not developed a link between beach and mountain tourism and tourism to other destinations in the central region,” he said. Thien suggested that the city’s leadership consider how to develop Da Nang as a regular world centre of exhibitions and fairs to attract tourism, trade and investors – as places like Dubai and Bali did. He said Da Nang lacks a world standard entertainment and shopping centre to boost luxury tourism and spending. Vice Chairman of the city’s People’s Committee, Dang Viet Dung, said the city had significant development achievements since it separated from Quang Nam Province and came under the direct control of the central government 20 years ago, along with the main cities of Hanoi, HCM City, Hai Phong and Can Tho. Dung said the city’s economic restructuring resulted in industry and service accounting for 97 per cent, and agriculture for only two per cent. He said the city’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) brought in nearly 50 trillion VND (2.2 billion USD) in 1997-15, with a stable growth of 10.47 per cent annually. Dung, however, admitted that the city’s economy was small scale, with 95 per cent being small and medium-sized businesses and with investment capital under 500 million VND (22,000 USD), each. “The city will aim to develop high-tech agriculture and industry, tourism and services, logistics with good connections among the airport, deep sea port, north-south expressway and railway system in 2037,” Dung said. Deputy Secretary of the city’s Party Committee, Vo Cong Tri, said the city had turned from being a slum in the Son Tra Peninsula to being a beach tourism destination in just 20 years. “The city will eye tourism as a major source of revenue for its budget, That’s the reason the People’s Council decided to build Da Nang as a livable city in terms of four criteria – social security, traffic safety, food safety and social welfare – in the 2016-20 period,” Tri said. Last month, the city submitted an adjustment to its master urban plan for 2030-2050 to the Government, with an aim of developing Da Nang as a green city by 2025, and an economic hub of the central region and a driving force for boosting development of the central and Central Highlands regions. The Government issued special regulations concerning investment, budgetary status and decentralisation for Da Nang. Da Nang also plans to build an underground traffic system with road tunnels and a metro system in the coming years. As planned, the city will include six inner districts and two suburban districts of Hoa Vang and Hoang Sa Island, with an expected population of 2.5 million. The city will be developed on 128,543ha, of which the Hoang Sa (Paracel) islands cover 30,500ha. Da Nang, situated at the end of the East-West Economic Corridor linking Laos, Thailand, Myanmar and Vietnam, will reserve a 130ha centre for finance, banking, trade and services, and a 3,700ha coastal service area. HCM City: People flock to trading centres during New Year holiday Trading centres across HCM City have seen a surge of customers during the three-day calendar New Year 2017 holiday with the purchasing power 20 percent higher than the same period last year. At major trading centres such as Vincom, Parkson, Aeon, Crescent Mall, SC VivoCity, the number of customers has doubled or tripled the normal days thanks to promotion programmes dedicated to consumer goods, catering services and entertainment. Fast food restaurants like MacDonald, Lotteria and Jollibee, and coffee shops are also full of people. Meanwhile, the purchasing power at supermarkets like Big C, CoopMart, CoopFood, Aeon Mall and Lotte Mart increased up to 20 percent from the same period last year. The purchasing power in HCM City will continue rising until the end of the lunar New Year (Tet) holiday. According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the country’s purchasing power during Tet is expected to increase 10-15 percent compared to normal months and 8-10 percent compared to the last holiday. Southern hub eyes 8.4 - 8.7 percent economic growth in 2017 The southern hub of Ho Chi Minh City aims to achieve 19 socio-economic targets in 2017, especially economic growth of 8.4 – 8.7 percent. To realise its targets, the city will focus its spending on key construction works and seven breakthrough programmes like relocating people living along slums in canals and building new apartments replacing old, dilapidated ones, heard a conference last week. Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee Nguyen Thanh Phong said the city must soon complete all necessary procedures to start the work to reduce traffic congestion around Tan Son Nhat International Airport, Cat Lai port and chronically flooded streets. In 2017, construction of the Kenh Lo Bridge, Ba Bo Canal, Children’s Hospital Number 1, the first phase of the Binh Chanh District Hospital, and Go Vap District Hospital must be completed, he added. Other measures include attracting more investment from multinational companies together with fostering domestic companies and support industries, promoting strong private companies that use modern technologies, encouraging small and medium-sized enterprises and improving the competitiveness of domestic companies against foreign rivals, and linking local firms with foreign ones. Phong instructed all related departments and localities to implement projects to promote incubation, start-ups and innovative companies and create favourable conditions for venture capital funds that invest in new business ideas and high–tech firms. “All these activities will contribute to developing an eco-system for innovation and start-ups. Next year the city will have 50,000 new companies, many of them strong enough to compete internationally.” The city would focus on simplifying administrative procedures and streamlining online business registration to reduce the cost and time businesses spend, he said. It will earmark 1 trillion VND (45 million USD) from its coffers to support start-ups and households who would like to set up small businesses, he said. Another 2 trillion VND (90 million) will be used for stimulating investment and encouraging enterprises to upgrade their technologies, he said, adding that the city will help manufacturing companies switch from labour-intensive to tech-driven and green sectors. “Authorities will earmark more of their time for resolving financial, land-related and technological problems faced by domestic enterprises,” he stated. According to a report from the municipal People’s Committee, in 2016, the city’s economy grew by 8.05 percent to 1 quadrillion VND (45 billion USD), compared to a target of 8 – 8.5 percent. The services sector grew by 8.07 percent, industry and construction expanded by 7.88 percent and agriculture by 5.81 percent. Industrial output rose 7.33 percent and tax revenues, 12.43 per cent. Non-crude exports fetched 29.2 billion USD, an increase of 10 percent from the previous year, while gross capital formation was worth 310 trillion VND (14 billion USD). Some 111 public works were completed at a cost of nearly 20 trillion VND (900 million USD). The city also worked with private investors for 20 public-private-partnership (PPP) projects in transport and environmental protection at a cost of 67 trillion VND (3 billion USD). More than 36,000 enterprises with total registered capital of 496.6 trillion VND (22.2 billion USD) were newly registered for an increase of 35.8 percent from the previous year. The city attracted 3.7 billion USD in foreign investment. Da Nang Port handles first tonne of cargo of 2017 The Da Nang Port – the biggest of its kind in the central region – handled the first tonne of cargo in 2017, which was part of the load on the Panama-flagged Bindi Ipsa. Speaking at a ceremony on January 1, General Director of the port Nguyen Huu Sia said Da Nang Port handled 7.25 million tonnes of cargo in 2016, a year-on-year increase of 13 percent. The port aims to raise its throughput in 2017 to 7.5 million tonnes. It also welcomed 73 cruise ships carrying 135,000 passengers and crew members onboard. The port looks to become a leading international commercial gateway in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and Asia between 2016 and 2020. It aims to receive 10 million tonnes of cargo by 2020, including 510,000 TEUs of containers. Over the past five years, the Da Nang Port recorded annual average growth of 13 percent in cargo handling, 60 percent of which is container. Currently, Da Nang Port serves about 24 container ships on a weekly basis. Vietsovpetro revenue drops 28 percent Russia and Vietnam’s oil and gas exploration joint venture Vietsovpetro has exploited five million tonnes of crude oil in 2016. This generated yearly revenue of more than 1.7 billion USD, a slump of 28 percent year-on-year. The company contributed over 680 million USD to the State Budget, some 300 million USD less than last year. The Russian partner posted profit of 121 million USD, while the Vietnam side made profit of nearly 126 million USD, a year-on-year decrease of 71 percent for both sides against last year. According to Vietsovpetro, the main reason for this year’s decline in production was due to the lower oil price. The average oil price this year stands at 45 USD per barrel, 9 USD less than in 2015. In addition, the oil reserve in existing mines also continues to decline gradually. In 2016, Vietsopetro pumped ashore some 1.68 billion cu.m. of gas, representing 130 percent of the yearly plan, bringing the total amount of gas shipped ashore, so far, to over 30.9 billion cu.m. HCM City’s farms enjoy solid growth Despite many difficulties, the production value of HCM City’s agro-forestry and fishery sectors increased by 5.8 per cent last year, reaching VND19.59 trillion (US$859.5 million), according to the city Department of Agriculture and Rural Development. The increase was much higher than the country’s average growth of 1.44 per cent, it said. Speaking at a meeting in HCM City last week to review the city’s agricultural sector performance last year and set tasks for this year, department director Nguyen Phuoc Trung said the production value of the cultivation sector grew by 3.9 per cent, the animal husbandry sector by 4.5 per cent and the seafood sector by 7.7 per cent. This was a result of following an urban agricultural model, reducing rice-growing areas of low productivity, and increasing the area for cultivating high-value ornamental trees and safe vegetables as well as dairy farming, he said. Vegetable cultivation last year reached 15,370 ha, up 9.5 per cent over 2015, yielding more than 419,100 tonnes of vegetables, a year-on-year increase of 18 per cent. The city had around 2,300 ha under flower and ornamental tree cultivation last year, up 2.2 per cent over 2015, he said. Trung said the city had a total of 152,744 cows, a year-on-year decrease of 0.7 per cent, with the number of milk cows down but the number of meat cows up. The city also has 360,000 pigs, equalling the figure of 2015, he said, adding that total aquaculture and seafood output went up by 4.6 per cent over the previous year. The number of ornamental fish reached 135 million, up by 35 per cent over the preceding year, of which, 16 million were exported for a value of $16.53 million, a year-on-year increase of 17.8 per cent of volume and 35.8 per cent of value, he said. In addition, the city exported seeds and seedlings, ornamental trees, fruits and vegetables and crocodiles to many countries and territories, he said. For this year, the agricultural sector will strive to achieve 6 per cent growth in agro-forestry and fishery production, Trung said. To achieve the target set for this year, he said the city would continue its agricultural restructuring programme towards urban agriculture, especially enhancing the application of hi-tech methods including biotechnology in production to provide safe and high quality products. The city will also support agricultural producers and traders in building brands and trade promotion programmes to promote exports of their products, he said, adding that it will work to encourage more businesses to invest in the agricultural sector and improve human resources, he said. Truong Van Bao, director of Veeteq Farm, said investing in fruit and vegetable farms with high technology as well as preliminary processing facilities and distribution systems for these products requires a large amount of investment capital. But firms still encountered difficulties in accessing preferential capital sources and policies, he said. He suggested the authorities should offer incentives to enterprises involved in hi-tech agricultural production in terms of investment capital as well as support them for costs for testing product quality. Le Dinh Duc, deputy chairman of the Cu Chi People’s Committee, suggested the city should have policies that encourage businesses that have succeeded in applying hi-tech in their agricultural production to link and transfer technologies to farmers and buy products from farmers. He also suggested establishing a system of forecasting supply and demand and prices of agricultural products to prevent the problem of a bumper crop leading to falling prices. Buon Ma Thuot fest to highlight coffee, indigenous culture The sixth Buon Ma Thuot Coffee and Central Highlands Gong Festival, held March 8-13, will further promote Vietnamese coffee as a brand and celebrate the region’s indigenous culture. The biennial festival, held in Buon Ma Thuot City, Dak Lak Province, also aims to honour coffee growers, popularise the coffee culture, and promote tourism in the nation’s largest coffee producing area. “It is also intended to increase coffee export value and confirm the important position of Vietnamese coffee industry in the world,” Deputy Chairman of the Dak Lak People’s Committee, Nguyen Hai Ninh, said at a press conference in HCM City on Sunday. He said the event would be a venue for coffee growers, businesses and consumers to forge links via a wide range of activities including a coffee exhibition and workshop, and an investment promotion conference for Central Highlands provinces. Particularly noteworthy is that festival will be held alongside the 42th Dak Lak Liberation Day (March 10, 1975) Coffee plays an important role in the social-economic development of the Central Highlands, helping reduce poverty in areas inhabited by ethnic minorities. In 2015, Viet Nam produced over 1.2 million tonnes of coffee, to which Dak Lak contributed over 410,000 tonnes. The coffee export value was estimated at US$2.6 billion. The Central Highlands Gong Festival intends to raise awareness of the importance of preserving the special cultural features of ethnic minority communities in the region. The cultural space of the gongs was recognized by the UNESCO as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2008. Coffee exports regain growth momentum Vietnam shipped around 1.79 million tonnes of coffee abroad in 2016, raking in revenue of US$3.36 billion, up 33.6% in the volume and 25.6% in value compared to the previous year, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. Coffee export values increase in most of Vietnam’s key markets in 2016. These positive figures indicate that Vietnam’s coffee exports have regained strong growth momentum after year-on-year declines in both volume (20.63%) and value (24.82%) in 2015. The total area for coffee cultivation in 2016 increased slightly by 0.3% against 2015 to 645,400 hectares, while coffee output was estimated at 1.47 million tonnes, up 1% year on year. Germany and the United States remained the two largest consumers of Vietnam’s coffee, with respective market shares of 15.2% and 13.1%. Coffee export values have reported increases in most of Vietnam’s key markets, growing 83.5% year on year in the Philippine market, 67.7% in Algeria, 49.7% in China, 49% in the US, 16.8% in Japan and 16.1% in Russia. According to Luong Van Tu, President of the Vietnam Coffee-Cacao Association, a talking point in 2016 was the increasing contribution of processed coffee products to the total export value of Vietnam’s coffee. Vietnam’s processed coffee exports are expected to hike considerably in the years ahead as many businesses, both at home and abroad, have been accelerating investment in this field. For example, Nestlé has put into operation a US$300 million instant coffee plant in the southern province of Dong Nai, while domestic companies, including Trung Nguyen and Vinacafe, are also eyeing expansion of production. The signing of free trade agreements with the European Union, the Eurasian Economic Union and the Republic of Korea is also expected to boost Vietnam’s processed coffee exports. GSO proposes six measures to manage prices The General Statistics Office (GSO) has proposed six measures for managing prices in order to curb inflation in 2017 in line with the National Assembly’s goal of the CPI being 4 per cent. GSO proposes six measures to manage prices Mr. Nguyen Bich Lam, Director General of the GSO, said that 2016 was a successful year for policies from government and ministries for controlling inflation at less than 5 per cent and adjusting the prices of some public services closer to market prices. Firstly, the Ministry of Finance (MoF), the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT), the Ministry of Planning and Investment and the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) need to actively cooperate to evaluate prices and set up pricing methods, including in medical and education services and electricity and water prices, as well as interest rates and exchange rates. Before adjusting the price of goods and services, relevant agencies need to calculate and agree upon them and then report to the government. Secondly, ministries and departments and the people’s committees of cities and provinces need to monitor the price of necessary goods to adopt measures and actively prepare at the beginning and end of holiday periods to restrict price increases. Thirdly, in terms of petroleum and electricity, MoF and MoIT need to monitor changes to global crude oil prices and use the petrol price stabilization fund consistently to limit any increase in prices. MoIT must also actively set methods for electricity price increases to calculate the effects on the CPI, the industrial price index, and GDP growth. Fourthly, in terms of medical and education services, the GSO proposes the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Education and Training cooperate with relevant ministries and departments to forecast factors affecting the CPI in 2017 that may adjust prices under the roadmap for cities and provinces to minimize any ripple effect on the CPI. Fifthly, the SBV needs to stabilize interest rates and exchange rates and keep core inflation around 2 per cent. Sixthly, adjustments to the prices of medical and education services in 2017 need to coincide with adjustments in 2016 to limit high increases in the average annual index. In 2017 the government has set a goal of curbing inflation at 4 per cent but this is calculated under a new method, of average annual CPI, instead of comparisons with the previous December. When compared to last December, 2016’s inflation rate was 4.74 per cent but on average it was 2.66 per cent. The GSO has forecast that changes to prices in 2017 will be more regular and higher than in 2016. VIB to trade 564.4 million shares on UPCoM Việt Nam International Joint Stock Bank (VIB) will trade 564.4 million shares on the Unlisted Public Company Market (UPCoM) on January 9, the Hà Nội Stock Exchange announced. The bank’s shares will be traded with code VIB at a starting price of VNĐ17,000 (US$0.75) per share, making the bank’s capitalisation VNĐ9.6 trillion. The bank’s shares were registered at the Vietnam Securities Depository on December 12 with total chartered capital of VNĐ5.64 trillion. VIB has become more attractive to investors and shareholders as it has been paying high dividend in recent years. VIB paid 23.5 per cent dividend for 2014’s performance and 25 per cent dividend for 2015’s. The dividends were paid in both cash and bonus shares. At the end of November 2016, VIB recorded pre-provision profit of VNĐ1.15 trillion, a year-on-year increase of 32.6 per cent. The bank’s total revenue rose a quarter compared with the same period in 2015 and its capital adequacy ratio (CAR) was 15.6 per cent. The bank is projected to reach a target of total assets worth VNĐ100 trillion at the end of 2016. Hàn Ngọc Vũ, VIB General Director, said foreign investors are highly confident about Việt Nam’s securities market as the country has been able to maintain a positive economic growth rate, a low level of lending rates and inflation and keep the Vietnamese dong stable and competitive. VIB is also attractive to investors as there is 10 per cent room for foreign investors in the bank’s capital, he said. The Commonwealth Bank of Australia currently holds 20 per cent stake in the Vietnamese bank. Ba Thuoc 1 Hydropower Plant starts idle run After three years of construction, Ba Thuoc 1 Hydropower Plant, situated on the Ma River in the central province of Thanh Hoa, started idle run of the first generator on December 29, 2016 before being ready for power generation on national grid in January. Ba Thuoc 1 Hydropower Plant has the total investment of nearly $100 million, with four generators of 60 megawatts each. After four generators are operational, the plant will generate approximately 216.04 million kWh of electricity annually to the national grid. Phone, spare part export set on declining trend The growth rate of the export of phones and spare parts fell by more than half in 2016. The General Statistics Office of Vietnam has estimated 2016 exports of phones and spare parts at $34.5 billion, up 14.4 per cent. This number is significantly lower than the recent peak of 29.9 per cent in 2015. In September, Samsung recalled and discontinued the production and retail of its Galaxy Note 7 phones due to battery issues that caused the phones to explode. Though some of these phones, as well as parts, were produced in the company’s plants in Vietnam, the country’s exports of phones and spare parts in October, November, and December did not decrease. On-year growth was 6.4 per cent, 17.7 per cent, and 6.79 per cent for the three months, respectively. The General Department of Statistics said that the Note 7 debacle did affect the operation of Samsung Vietnam, bringing down the company’s profit, but the impact on exports is not significant. The reason, according to the department, is that a big part of the Galaxy Note 7 devices produced in Vietnam were sold domestically. Also, Samsung Vietnam pushed the export of other products to make up for the decreasing export of the Note 7. “Still, we forecast that phone and spare part export is going to see slowing growth in the next years,” the office said on its website. In 2016, Vietnam’s total exports stood at $175.9 billion. Phones and spare parts contributed 19.6 per cent of this total. Ben Thanh shopping center to get green light Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh has recently agreed on the need to develop the Ben Thanh underground shopping center in the heart of Ho Chi Minh City, a representative from the city’s Management Board of Urban Railways (MBUR) confirmed with VET. The project will cost more than $300 million to build, according to a study by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). But according to calculations from Japan’s Toshin Development JSC, which was reported to the Prime Minister in May by city leaders, $370 million will be needed to build the 45,000 sq m shopping center. The city will contribute around $220 million, or 59 per cent, from ODA loans for the public area and investors will contribute the remainder in a public-private partnership (PPP). Deputy Prime Minister Minh assigned the city’s People’s Committee to study all borrowing options from ODA loans to implement the project. The city will need to work with the Ministry of Planning and Investment, the Ministry of Construction, and the Ministry of Finance to prepare an appropriate plan and then report to the government for a decision. Under the proposal, the shopping center will be located at the Metro Line No. 1 (Ben Thanh - Suoi Tien) station at Ben Thanh Market, underneath Quach Thi Trang Square and along Le Loi Street, running from the market to the Opera House area. The 45,000 sq m will have a shopping area on 18,100 sq m and an underground square on 21,500 sq m. A few months ago the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee proposed the government permit a Japanese consortium that includes the Toshin Development JSC, JOIN, Nikken Sekkei Civil Engineering Limited, and Osaka Chikagai to build the shopping center. The joint venture was designated by the city as the developer of the shops and trade area The city also proposed the government approve the use of ODA to carry out construction of walkways, squares and other underground works in the area by increasing funding for the Ben Thanh - Suoi Tien line. In the latest news, the MBUR last month confirmed that South Korean consultants have completed a pre-feasibility study on the Metro Line No. 4B-1 (a branch line to Tan Son Nhat International Airport), which will be submitted to the government in the first quarter of the new year, with a full feasibility study to be conducted during the year and approval sought from the government. Vietnam Airlines profits surge 140% in 2016 The national flag carrier Vietnam Airlines (VNA) has reported pre-tax earnings of nearly VND2.5 trillion (US$110 million) in 2016, a year-on-year surge of 140%, the company said on January 2. According to the consolidated financial statement, revenues of Vietnam Airlines and its subsidiaries rose 10% last year to more than VND76 trillion (US$3.34 billion). VNA alone generated revenues of nearly VND59.1 trillion (US$2.6 billion) and earned profits of VND1.6 trillion (US$70.4 million), nearly six times the figure reported in 2015. The company contributed nearly VND4.9 trillion (US$215.6 million) to the State budget. Last year VNA operated more than 133,000 flights, carrying 20.6 million passengers, up 18.7%, and 264,000 tonnes of cargo, exceeding the yearly target by 10%. In 2016 Vietnam Airlines signed a deal with Japan’s All Nippon Airways under which the Japanese carrier became an official strategic shareholder of Vietnam Airlines with 8.77% of its stakes. The company also received ten Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners and six Airbus A350-900 XWB aircraft to serve key domestic routes and long-haul international flights. In 2017 the carrier aims to ensure safety and security for all of its flights and maintain its four-star quality as rated by the UK consultancy firm Skytrax. Experts predict growth for real estate market The Ho Chi Minh City Real Estate Association (HoRea) has forecast growth for the commercial real estate market in 2017 in its ten predictions after analyzing 2016 situation. According to HoRea, the real estate market in 2017 will continue grow yet it will slow down compared to 2016. Low-income consumers will prefer cheap condos. Cooperation between enterprises is an unavoidable trend. Additionally, merger and accquisition of enterprises will strongly develop. The government will issue more policies on taxation and credit, land registration, planning, administrative regulation to tie developers’ duty and protect consumers’ right. Flow of capital from foreign and Vietnamese people in overseas countries is important for property investment in five next years. Enterprises must show its responsibilities to society and clients if they want to win customers’ trust. Apartment developers must satisfy consumers’ demand of green space, friendly environmental premise and facilities. Despite of risks in the markets such as demand-supply imbalance, strong competition with more participation of investors, it is unlikely to have property bubble. More disputes between consumers and developers are predicted for 2017 on firefighting safety, maintenance fee, parking fee. Fresh investment approvals soar at SHTP The Saigon Hi-Tech Park (SHTP) in HCMC has beaten the year’s target for new investment approvals, said Le Hoai Quoc, head of the SHTP authority. SHTP has issued investment certificates for 17 projects with total investment capital of US$666.43 million, US$331.45 million of it committed to 11 domestic projects and the rest to six foreign direct investment projects. In addition, five operational projects have pledged an extra US$95 million. SHTP now has 107 valid projects with combined capital amounting to US$6.09 billion. According to the SHTP authority, enterprises at the park have reported total export revenue of US$7.2 billion and import spending of US$7.06 billion this year. SHTP is expected to attract US$600 million in new investments and generate US$9 billion in export revenue in 2017. The park would give priority to incubating small hi-tech foreign enterprises committed to Vietnam. HCMC customs unlikely to meet tariff collection target The full-year target for import-export tax revenue, VND102.5 trillion (US$4.5 billion), has proven to be an impossible mission for the HCMC Department of Customs as it had collected only VND99.7 trillion as of on December 29. The figure is expected to reach VND100.7 trillion by 4:30 p.m. on December 30, said Nguyen Quoc Toan, deputy head of the department’s import-export tax division. The Ministry of Finance and the department have made efforts to boost tax collections such as requesting customs officers to work on weekends and encouraging enterprises to pay taxes earlier than due dates. Realizing this year’s tax collection target is now a tall order for the department as the goal is much higher than the objective and result of last year, which were VND90 trillion and VND93.93 trillion respectively. Tax collections have become unpredictable over the past year due to choppy export and import activities. Import-export tax revenue stayed at VND29.45 trillion by late April, less than 30% of the year’s target, before it grew strongly to VND74 trillion by end-September, 72.2% of the target for 2016, and fell significantly the next month. Bumpy road ahead for fish exporters to EU Although tra fish exports in 2017 are expected to rise by 4% compared to this year, industry insiders are concerned that growth in exports to the European Union (EU) market would cool for a fourth consecutive year. According to a report of the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP), Vietnam’s tra fish exports to the market have been slowing after sharp increases in the 2005-2008 period. The nation’s exports to the market totaled over US$139 million in 2005 and rose to nearly US$580 million in 2008 with the number of exporters surging from 67 in 2005 to 148 in 2009. But export revenue declined steadily in 2014 and 2015. This year, local exporters expect to fetch around US$283 million from the EU market, accounting for 17% of the nation’s total tra fish exports, down by US$2 million against the previous year and marking the third straight year of fall. VASEP general secretary Truong Dinh Hoe said that the EU used to make up 40% of the total export value of the tra fish sector but the ratio has dropped to 17% now as the market has become choosier and shifted to using higher-quality products. Therefore, the EU market will be more difficult to access in 2017 if Vietnamese exporters keep focusing on the low-quality segment, Hoe said. Next year, the nation targets to raise the ratio of the EU market to 20% of total exports, up by three percentage points compared to 2016. To obtain the goal, enterprises must speed up marketing and apply regulations on fish fillet moisture content and ice-to-fist ratio, he added. Expansion of Cam Ranh and Cat Bi airports urged Khanh Hoa Province and Haiphong City have urged relevant authorities to support them to expand their airports to meeting growing demand for air travel. Khanh Hoa has proposed the Government, and relevant ministries assist it to build the second runway at Cam Ranh International Airport. Meanwhile, Haiphong has suggested developing the second terminal at Cat Bi International Airport. Chairman of Khanh Hoa Province Le Duc Vinh said the province had got the nod from the Government to develop the second runway given strong air transport needs. The airport is capable of handling 1.5 million passengers but last year it served 2.3 million passengers last year. The number is forecast to rise to 4.1 million this year. Therefore, the second runway, plus a new terminal, is extremely needed, and the total cost is estimated at around VND1.9 trillion. The province could manage 50% of the required capital, so it has proposed the central Government cover the remainder. However, whether or not the Government will provide funding is unknown, leading to three months of delay. For Haiphong’s proposal, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said the Government had agreed in principle on the second terminal at Cat Bi airport but private investors should be invited to get involved in the project. Carriers Vietnam Airlines, Vietjet Air and Jetstar Pacific currently operate flights to Cat Bi airport, linking Haiphong with HCMC, Danang, Buon Ma Thuot, Cam Ranh and Pleiku. The airport also has air links with some Chinese provinces. The airport has seen a sharp spike in passengers and cargo in recent years. The number of passengers going through the airport grew 20% per year on average in the 2010-2015 period. VEF/VNA/VNS/VOV/SGT/SGGP/Dantri/VET/VIR |
↧
↧
Article 2
Vietnamese fastest-growing car market In ASEAN With a sales growth rate of 25 percent, Vietnam is the fastest-growing car market in ASEAN, while Thailand and Indonesia had a gloomy year with decreased growth. The demand brought high profits to manufacturers and dealers.  According to VAMA, 271,000 products were sold from the beginning of the year to the end of November 2016, an increase of 26 percent compared with the same period in 2015. Analysts estimate that the figure would reach 300,000 by the end of the year, which means a 25 percent growth rate over 2015. A report of Truong Hai Automobile, a 100 percent Vietnamese-owned manufacturer, showed that its revenue by the end of the second quarter of 2016 was VND27 trillion, an increase of 51.2 percent against the same period last year.
Its post-tax profit was VND3.709 trillion, up by 17.8 percent. In the first six months of 2016, Truong Hai sold 53,100 products, up by 18,500 products, or 54 percent. Statistics showed that Truong Hai can make a profit of VND50 million for every product sold. This, according to analysts, means that manufacturers’ profit decreased significantly compared to 2015 (VND80 million). Truong Hai targeted revenue of VND71.315 trillion in 2016 and post-tax profit of VND8.212 trillion. Meanwhile, the profit made by foreign invested enterprises remains a secret. However, the financial report of VEAM, a partner in the joint venture with Toyota, shows how much enterprises earn. Toyota Vietnam in 2015 sold 52,428 products which brought profit of VND5 trillion. It is estimated that it made a profit of VND80 million for every car sold after deducting expenses. The manufacturer’s average profit was forecast to decrease because of the sales cost increase and car price decrease. However, as the sales continued to increase, the profit increased. Toyota Vietnam sold 50,703 products in the first 11 months, while the figure is expected to exceed 52,428 cars in 2015. Analysts commented that manufacturers saw profit from the sale of less-than-9-seaters decreasing in 2016, but it was still high, between VND35 million and VND70 million, not including luxurious cars. As such, with 300,000 products sold, 50 percent of which were cars, automobile manufacturers still can expect big profits in 2016. Meanwhile, the profit from trucks tends to decrease sharply because of the lower demand, which leads to lower sales. TMT, for example, reported the sales of VND527 billion in the third quarter of 2016, a sharp fall of 40 percent if compared with the last year’s same period, while the post-tax profit decreased by 99 percent to VND500 million. Truong Long JSC also reported the sharp fall of 42 percent in sales in the second quarter of 2016. Tran Thuy, VNN |
↧
Article 1
Look: Saigon petrol pump attendants unmasked as short-changers The pump attendants at some filling stations in Ho Chi Minh City are in fact skillful con artists capable of short-changing customers in just the blink of an eye, Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper journalists going undercover as motorbike riders reported.  Ha Van Thanh (R) counts the change before giving the cash to a customer.Tuoi Tre Dishonest employees at the gas stations used to manipulate the pump gauges while serving drivers to cheat them, but such a trick has grown outdated, replaced by a brand new one. Nguyen Dac Hoang Long, 19, who works at Filling Station No.1 at 220 National Highway 13 in Ward 26, Binh Thanh District, said the trendy trick now is to “perform magic” with the change before giving the money to customers. Magic-like trick According to videos filmed by the undercover Tuoi Tre reporters, three attendants at the venue, including Long, Tran Phuoc and one unnamed man, would short-change a number of customers on a daily basis using their ‘magical hands.’ When returning the change to drivers, the con artists would count the banknotes slowly, but would secretly keep the last bill with their concealed fingers when they actually hand the money to the customers. The trick works best when a customer pays a VND500,000 (US$22.32) bill for VND50,000 worth of gasoline. The dishonest pump attendants would count four VND100,000 ($4.46) banknotes and one VND50,000 bill slowly in front of the customers, then rapidly retain the last VND100,000 banknote when giving the change to them. As observed by Tuoi Tre, the three at Filling Station No.1 would perform their trick during rush hour, between 6:00 am and 8:00 am and 5:00 pm and 8:00 pm, when most people are in a hurry and rarely check the change they are given. Besides the conmen at the filling station, a man named Ha Van Thanh, who works for the 27-7 filling station at 624 Kha Van Can Street in Thu Duc District, also applies the same ‘magic’ to short-change customers. At 8:00 am on December 24, a woman named Huynh Thi Bong asked to have her bike refilled with VND50,000 worth of gasoline, and paid Thanh with a VND500,000 banknote. The man then gave Bong VND350,000 as change, having applied the trick to steal one VND100,000 banknote right before her eyes. However, Bong counted the money before leaving and realized she had been short-changed. Upon hearing her complaint, Thanh immediately gave her a VND100,000 bill and came back to stand behind the pumps without saying a word. “He counted the change twice and I watched him very carefully but really did not see when he had withdrawn one banknote before giving the cash to me,” Bong said. After Bong, Thanh performed the same trick to fool five other customers, but were detected in all attempts as he was not as skillful as Long and the con artists at Filling Station No.1 The ‘falling money’ excuse When their short-changing scam is detected and customers demand their full change, the dishonest attendants would act as if the missing banknote had accidentally fallen to the ground and say sorry to the drivers. On December 22, a woman named Doan Thi Huong fell victim to the unnamed attendant at Filling Station No.1, when she only received three VND100,000 bills, instead of four, and one VND50,000 banknote. Huong left the place for a while but suddenly returned to ask for the missing VND100,000 banknote. The attendant then jumped out, dropping the bill to the ground and shouting to Huong: “Look, your money is on the ground.” He then picked up the banknote and gave it back to the woman. The ‘falling money’ trick is well pulled by all three short-change tricksters at Filling Station No.1, as well as Thanh at the gas station on Kha Van Can.  Long (in uniform) short-changes a customer. Long revealed that he had to watch the customers carefully to decide if they were potential victims. “There are people who would never return to ask for the missing bill,” he said. “We also focus on customers coming from elsewhere, as those living around here will quickly learn the trick and unmask us.” For those who realize they are duped right after receiving the change, Long would immediately give them the missing banknote before they start complaining. In “urgent situations,” Long would give the ‘falling money’ excuse and act as if it was the customer’s fault for dropping their money. Making a killing While Thanh has only been a short-changer for several months, Long, having yet to reach his 20, has been playing the magic-like trick for seven years. Long receives a modest monthly wage of VND4 million ($179), but his real income could be more than VND20 million ($893) thanks to short-changing drivers. The young man is able to steal up to VND1.5 million ($6.7) from customers on a daily basis, and even on his ‘unlucky’ days, short-changing people still earns him as much as VND400,000 ($17.86). Long now spends his free time ‘teaching’ the trick to more pump attendants who want to earn easy extra money. The manager of Filling Station No.1 said he had briefed his superiors on the cheat, as seen in a Tuoi Tre video. The company has yet to disclose how long it will take for Long and his coworkers to be punished. In the meantime, a representative of the 27-7 filling station said Thanh will be sacked. TUOI TRE NEWS |
↧
Article 0
Social News 3/1 Tobacco smuggling in booms  Local police unearth a tobacco smuggling case in Tay Ninh. Tobacco smuggling continues to get more complex in southern Tây Ninh Province and has increased remarkably during the year end, the Voice of Việt Nam (VOV) online newspaper reported. The provincial border guard has been seizing some 1,000 packages of cigarettes each day. Tây Ninh has a 240km border with Cambodia with even and flat terrain, creating favourable conditions for smugglers to operate, according to local authorities. The transportation, storage and trade of smuggled cigarettes have, however, become more elaborate and smugglers have started using more complicated tactics, making it harder for authorised agencies to detect the illegal activities. Smugglers use motorcycles, motorboats and high-speed cars to transport large shipments. The transportation of contraband cigarettes often takes place at night. The cigarettes are then shipped mainly via river routes in large quantities. Smugglers often use ingenious methods to hide the tobacco, scattering it at many places or storing some 15 to 20 packs in each person’s house. Tobacco is not kept indoors for a long time, usually about an hour, and is then transported by motorcycles, cars or boats with the assistance of locals along the border. Many smuggling gangs and organisations also co-operate with each other to fight against authorised forces on duty. Nguyễn Hoài Phương, head of the Tây Ninh Border Guard, said apart from fixed stations, nine more mobile stations have been set up to inspect and crack down on tobacco smuggling. Preventive measures have also been implemented, focusing on ensuring that locals do not lend a hand to smugglers, by increasing information dissemination to raise awareness and by working with local authorities to create jobs so that they do not need to assist in smuggling activities, he said. In the future, the local border guard will continue launching campaigns against smuggling. However, the lack of anti-smuggling forces has made the war more difficult, he said. Southern localities are considered the smuggling hub of the country. The Ministry of Public Security noted that smuggled cigarettes account for 24-25 per cent of the domestic market, while the confiscated amount accounts for only 6-7 per cent. Smuggling causes a range of issues -- from potential consumer health problems and failure of tax collection, to public disorder and corruption among officials. Photos show VN heritage Vietnamese photographer Nguyễn Á published last Friday a photo book featuring 11 UNESCO-recognised Vietnamese cultural heritage practices. The book was published by the Vietnam News Agency publishing house. The intangible cultural heritages presented in the book include: the Belief in the Mother Goddesses of Three Realms (a traditional practice with a long history in Việt Nam); tug-of-war folk game; Ví and Giặm folk song of Nghệ Tĩnh; Đờn ca tài tử - a traditional musical art form of the south; the worship of Hùng kings; Xoan singing in Phú Thọ; Gióng festival at Phù Đổng and Sóc temples; Quan họ folk singing; Ca Trù ceremonial singing; the cultural space of gong in the Central Highlands, and Huế royal court music, Each intangible heritage is featured in the work’s 30 pages and illustrated by beautiful texts and photos. Nguyễn travelled across the country in 2016 to capture these heritages and meet with heritage artisans. The photo book will be showcased at the Hanoi Old Quarter Culture Exchange Centre until Tuesday. Thanh Hoá residents stung by high chilli prices Chilli prices in central province of Thanh Hóa have reached a record high. In many local markets, consumers have had to fork out VNĐ1,000 (US$0.04) for just two chillies. In some markets, the price is VNĐ5,000 ($0.2) for four chillies. Hoàng Thị Huệ, resident of Thanh Hóa City, said she’d never paid so much ever for chillies. "Usually, I only spent VNĐ500 for several pods, but it is as at least VNĐ2,000 for that number, four times as much," she said. If the chilli was a bit bigger, just one pod costs VNĐ1,000, she said. "It’s incredibly high,"Huệ said, adding, "the vendor told me to buy a kilogramme to get a better price - about VNĐ100,000-150,000 ($4-). This is totally not a good price in any way." Some vegetable sellers at the Đông Thành and Tây Thành markets said they did not purchase chilli as much as they used to because of the surprisingly high prices. Lê Xuân Mận, chairman of the Agricultural Services Corporative in Yên Định District’s Định Liên Commune, where chillies are a main crop, said that the price spike was real. He said the reason was that the chilly supply for both the domestic market and export to China was mainly from the south-central provinces. This year, these provinces were heavily flooded, and their crops, including chillies, submerged and ruined. Thus, the price of fresh chillies had been rising since October, he said. Mận also said the prices are not likely to decrease in the coming months. The commune has about 40 hectares of fresh chilli at the moment. When they are harvested, big chillies will be sold for between VNĐ15,000-27,000 per kilo, and small red hot chillies at VNĐ80,000-100,000 ($3.2-4) per kilo. Lê Thị Hà, farmer in Village No1, said that her family earns VNĐ16 million ($702) from a sào (0.036ha) of chillies, not including extra costs like fertiliser and seedlings. HCM City hospitals conduct first medicine bids Thirty-two public hospitals in HCM City carried out their own bids for the first time last year, helping reduce shortages of medicine. The remaining 27 hospitals in the city cannot carry out their own bids because they do not have a council of experts. These hospitals will fix prices based on the 32 hospitals’ bidding results and then sign contracts with pharmaceutical companies. At a press meeting last week, Phạm Khánh Phong Lan, the Health Department’s deputy head, said that although concentrated bidding carried out by the department had helped save costs, there was no need for it because there was a large market of pharmaceutical companies and hospitals in the city. In concentrated bidding, only some companies win a contract, Lan said, adding that, in this case, the companies have problems in providing medicine. The hospitals that carry out their own bids have more choices of medicine, she said. To limit the difference between the price of medicine paid by the hospitals’ bidding councils, the city People’s Committee allows only a 5 per cent difference. The results of the first bidding are expected in the first quarter. Đỗ Văn Dũng, head of the department’s medicine management division, said at least 163 bidding packages, at a cost of nearly 9.5 trillion (US$416.7 million), were finalised this year. This represented an increase of nearly VNĐ400 billion compared to last year. While waiting for the bidding results, hospitals are allowed to extend contracts with companies which had earlier won contracts in the concentrated bidding last year. The Health Department has asked for a list of medicine bids at hospitals to ensure proper treatment guidelines and financing, giving priority to Vietnamese-made medicine. In the city, the proportion of Vietnamese-manufactured medicine at hospitals is 48 per cent on average. Grassroots-level health facilities have a higher proportion of 60 per cent. PM okays new bypass, road in Mekong Delta  Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc has approved construction of a bypass and road that will connect with National Highway No. 91. The 15.3-km long bypass, which will go around Long Xuyên City, will extend from National Highway No. 80 and the Lộ Tẻ intersection to an intersection of National Highway No. 91 in An Giang Province. The 2-km long road will connect the bypass with National Highway No. 91 in Cần Thơ City. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Australian Government have provided funding for the bypass and road. The road and bypass, which will cost US$94.58 million, is expected to be built in the first quarter of 2018 and will be completed within 28 months. The road and bypass are part of transport infrastructure plans that aim to reduce poverty and contribute to economic growth in the (Cửu Long) Mekong Delta, particularly in the provinces of An Giang and Đồng Tháp and surrounding areas. The new roadways will also help reduce traffic congestion and improve traffic safety. The bypass and road are part of the Central Mekong Delta Region Connectivity Project, which began in 2013. Vietnam allows screening of 18+ movies from 2017 A new film-rating system takes effect on January 1, 2017, allowing for the first time the screening of adult movies not suitable for viewers under 18 years of age in Vietnam. According to the new ratings by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, movies are labeled based on four age restrictions before reaching theaters across Vietnam. The classifications include films that are suitable to general audience, with all ages admitted, and movies that are only allowed for viewers of at least 13, 16 and 18 years of age, respectively. The respective labels for the four categories are P, 13+, 16+ and 18+. The rating system is quite different from that of the Motion Picture Association of America, which includes such ratings as G (General audience), PG (Parental Guidance Suggested), PG-13 (may be inappropriate for children under 13), R (Restricted - under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian) and NC-17 (Adults Only). The 18+ rating applied in Vietnam is similar to the NC-17, which is worded as “no one 17 and under admitted.” According to the culture ministry, the ratings are based on such parameters as the film theme, topic, language, content and the level of untidy, sexual and violent scenes, as well as the use of drugs. Until today, the companies that release adult films in Vietnam usually have to cut all explicit scenes to be allowed to screen the works as 16+ movies. The new rating system, which finally allows films intended for adult viewers to be screened, is therefore hugely welcomed by Vietnam’s film industry. Local filmmakers said they will no longer have to worry if their works are banned from screening for explicit content, while releasing firms can now sigh a breath of relief as they will no longer have to show cut movies to fans at the expense of their complaints. A recent flick released late 2016, Chay Di Roi Tinh, was in an ironic situation when it was forced to be labeled as 16+ because Vietnam was then yet to have the 13+ rating. Consequently, a young actor of the film was not allowed to watch his own movie as he is under 16 years old. Bottoms up: Vietnamese expected to drink up this Tet Top brewer Habeco expects sales of nearly 147 million liters of beer during the biggest holiday, up 6.1% year on year. Vietnam's brewers are gearing up for a massive drink-up this Lunar New Year holidays, or Tet. Hanoi-based top brewer Habeco plans to churn out 146.8 million liters of beer during the Lunar New Year, up 6.1% from the same period last year, according to the Ministry of Transport's official mouthpiece Bao Giao Thong. Meanwhile, beer consumption in Ho Chi Minh City is projected to jump 30% (from last year) to around 40 million liters during Tet, according to estimates released by the municipal Department of Industry and Trade. The cities will provide the country's key booze markets this Lunar New Year, which falls on January 28. The Vietnam Beer Alcohol Beverage Association expects beer production to grow by 25%, annually, before hitting 4 billion liters in 2020. Over the past five years, Vietnam has doubled its consumption of beer to more than 3 billion liters per year. Each Vietnamese person drinks an average of 27.4 liters, placing them squarely in the world's top 25 beer drinkers. In 2015, Vietnam produced an estimated 3.4 billion liters of beer and 300 million liters of liquor. Why is it so hard to hire skilled workers in Vietnam? A new regional labor report finds Vietnam has the largest low-skilled workforce in the region. Vietnam's labor market is comprised mostly of low and medium-skilled workers while Singapore and Malaysia both boast skilled, service-based workforces, according to Human Capital Outlook: Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) 2016. The report also pointed out that it is fairly difficult to find skilled labor in Vietnam. Over half the Singaporean workforce qualifies as skilled, while in Vietnam that ratio falls to one in ten. Vietnam had the highest ratio of low-skilled labor in the region (over 40%) compared to 9% in Thailand and 8% in Singapore. Each Vietnamese worker in 2016 contributed US$3,853 to the economy, up five percent compared to last year, according to data released on Wednesday. Vietnam's labor productivity rose by 14.4% in half a decade, but it remains far behind the regional average. The coming decade is expected to usher in a new era of energy technologies, cheap processing power, data analytics and flexible and remote working practices, which may lead to significant net job creation. Management and business, legal and c are expected to expand. To meet these expectations, however, ASEAN states will need to ensure their workforces are appropriately skilled and able to adapt. Low-cost labor will no longer present a competitive advantage to Vietnam. Hundreds of houses built without permits in Danang Hundreds of houses in the central Vietnamese city of Danang were found to have been built without the proper permits, resulting in troubles and headaches for their owners. The residences found to be in violation of permit regulations are located in the K38 residential area in My An Ward, Ngu Hanh Sin District, a housing project developed by the 98 Project Management Committee under the Ministry of National Defense. Two hundred and seventeen houses are under construction in the area, all of which were originally meant as homes for military soldiers and officers, however, many officers chose not to settle in the houses and have instead opted to resell the residences to civilians. According to the observation of Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper reporters, most of the residences have completed exteriors and reached three stories tall. V.H., a local resident who purchased one of the houses, stated that she first became aware that the houses lacked a building permit when she was unable to finalize the legal procedures for ownership to be transferred to her name. According to Le Ngoc Nam, an official from the People’s Committee in My An Ward, residence transfer procedures for the houses cannot be completed due to the lack of building permits. Though local authorities are aware of the situation, they have not penalized the project developer because the land plots are owned by the military, Nam stated, adding that the military’s ownership disallowed inspections from being carried out on the construction site. Aside from the absence of building permits, the balconies of the houses were also built wider than allowed, compromising public space along the neighborhood’s sidewalks, said Tran Thi Kim Hien, deputy director of the Land Registration Office in Ngu Hanh Son District. The constructions also violated the city’s urban planning regulations, Thai Ngoc Trung, deputy director of the municipal Department of Construction, added. Regarding a solution to the issue, no decision has been announced by local authorities, Vu Quang Hung, director of the city’s construction department, said. A meeting has also been convened between the municipal People’s Committee and the developer of the project to discuss the problem, Hung continued. Any adjustment to the houses will be decided over the next few days, the official stated, adding that competent authorities should also take the rights and benefits of the owners into consideration. Vietnam wins 2nd straight silver prize at Japan Int’l Manga Awards A Vietnamese comic artist was the winner of the silver prize for the second consecutive time at the Tenth Japan International Manga Awards, a foreign ministry-backed drive to honor artists who contribute to promoting Japan’s comic culture overseas. Ho Chi Minh City-based artist Can Tieu Hy won the silver award for her Gateway to Underworld work, the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced in a press release on December 27. Gateway to Underworld tells the story of a girl who is suddenly taken to the underworld and embarks on a search for the reason behind her death, and a way back to life. Throughout her journey, she learns about life values and the importance of appreciating the relationships and bonds she held in the land of the living. This year, 296 entries from 55 countries and regions were submitted to the competition, a fantastic showing for the award’s tenth anniversary, according to the announcement. Fourteen winners, including one Gold Award and three Silver Award winners, were chosen by a jury led by famed manga artist Machiko Satonaka. The competition’s top prize went to French duo, Joël Parnotte and Xavier Dorison, with their joint work, The Master of Arms. This is the second consecutive silver prize awarded to a Vietnamese artist in the competition, the first being for the Long Than Tuong (Marshal Long) series, a fictionalized historical comic by the Phong Duong Comics group, honored with the award in last year’s ninth edition of the event. Hy, born Phan Cao Ha My, graduated from the Ho Chi Minh City University of Architecture and is now a popular comic author in Vietnam known for manga, a special comic style created by the Japanese in the late 19th century. She will travel to Tokyo to attend the awards ceremony on February 7. The International Manga Award was founded by the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2007 in an effort to expand international exchange and mutual understanding through the manga culture, an art widely accepted around the world. This award honors artists for their contributions to the development of manga throughout the world. Selfish selfie hunters From December 25-27, Nghệ An welcomed all selfie lovers.. ahem.. sunflower lovers to come and take pictures for free at a blooming field in the central province. The field in question had already become popular among the youth as the flowers blossomed towards the end of the year. The authorities were only institutionalising the trend in order to boost the local tourism industry. Images of the sunflower field and people taking selfies were duly carried by several online publications and the social media, but they did not capture the havoc wreaked on the field by the visitors. The 100-hectare field was cordoned with bamboo fences, but these offered little resistance as hordes of people rushed to find vantage points for their pictures. They crushed the plants, stomped on the flowers and used leaves to protect themselves from the sun. At the end of the day, local authorities were forced to announce that those who destroyed the plants and flowers would be penalized. It so happens that the field belongs to a dairy farmer who uses sunflower meals as cattle feed. While the farmer was game to his field being milked for tourism benefits, he would have surely balk at it becoming fodder, not for his cows, but for ruthless selfie hunters. Bike lost & found in an accident A woman in Hà Nội’s Tây Hồ District was idly surfing the web when a story about a police station’s parking lot overloaded with vehicles taken from traffic violators caught her eye. Then she caught her breath. No, she was not seeing things. Among the bikes in the picture accompanying the news item was her own SH motorbike (costing about VNĐ100 million) that she’d lost a year ago. Nguyễn Thị Thu Huyền followed up on the report, completed the paperwork, and retrieved her motorbike. The police are now hunting for the robber. He had reportedly driven the wrong way on a one-way road at the Đại Cồ Việt-Giải Phóng Crossroads and been stopped by the police, but failed to show proper papers. The police seized the motorbike, and the man never bothered to return to collect it. Finders Keepers, Loosers Weepers, they say. This looser’s smiling, though. HCMC spends up to US$105 million on annual waste treatment  HCMC spends VND2.2-2.4 trillion (US$96.8-105.6 million) annually on treatment of nearly 7,000 tons of garbage discharged a day in the city, HCMC Urban Environment Co said on Monday. Although the waste treatment sector calls for private sector investment, 90% of funds are still sourced from the city’s budget. The city set a target of recycling 40% of waste, burying 40% and incinerate the rest last year. However, 75% of waste was still buried. The central Government has issued a decree providing administrative sanctions in the field of environmental protection. Those discharging waste into drainage systems in urban areas will be fined VND5-7 million while those dumping household waste illegally in residential areas and public places would pay a fine of VND3-5 million. Tunnel planned under Ton Duc Thang road in downtown HCMC The government of HCMC is planning to build a tunnel under Ton Duc Thang Street stretching from Ba Son Shipyard area to a bridge connecting districts 1 and 4. The planned tunnel would run along the Saigon River from Thu Thiem 2 Bridge, which is under construction, to Khanh Hoi Bridge. It is part of a broader project to upgrade Bach Dang Wharf Park just adjacent to the Nguyen Hue pedestrian square. In an urgent announcement issued last week by the Office of the HCMC People’s Committee, the city had given approval in principal to Saigontourist Holding Company to draw up a plan for upgrading Bach Dang Wharf Park. Municipal authorities noted the investor should design approach roads to the tunnel for Ham Nghi and Nguyen Hue boulevards, as well as Khanh Hoi Bridge. The investor would be able to expand the wharf park in a way that would not narrow the width of the Saigon River. The city government requires the investor to factor waterway taxi, metro and rapid bus transit services into the project. In mid-2013, the city assigned Saigontourist to prepare a plan for developing Bach Dang Wharf Park into a tourism complex which included piers for tourist boats and other recreational services. In July this year, the city government allowed District 1 to overtake the wharf park upgrade project and call for investors. However, after a meeting with relevant departments and agencies on December 12, city chairman Nguyen Thanh Phong took Saigontourist back on board. The city banned hydrofoils and restaurant boats from anchoring at Bach Dang Wharf in April 2015 to pave the way for the upgrade of the wharf park. However, the project has yet to get off the ground since. Vietnam Red Cross provides relief aid to DPRK’s flood victims The Vietnam Red Cross Society (VRCS) has provided commodities and necessities worth 70,000 USD to help victims who were affected by a devastating flood in September in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK). The aid aimed to help the flood victims overcome consequences and stabilise their lives. VRCS Vice Chairman Doan Van Thai symbolically handed over the goods to DPRK Ambassador to Vietnam Kim Myong Gil on December 28. The ambassador expressed his gratitude to the VRCS, stressing that the assistance is a great source of encouragement to people affected by natural disasters in the DPRK. Hanoi aims to lure over 23 million visitors in 2017 Hanoi tourism sector is set on attracting 23.39 million visitors, including 4.08 million foreign tourists, in 2017, with a revenue of over 66 trillion VND (2.89 billion USD), according to the municipal Tourism Department. To 2020, the city aims for a rise of 15-17 percent in yearly tourism revenue to reach 120 trillion VND in 2020, added the department. It reported that the capital city has welcomed 21.8 million visitors in 2016, including 4 million foreigners, earning over 62 trillion VND (2.72 billion USD), up 13 percent year on year. However, the department noted that the result has yet to match the city’s potential and position as a tourism centre of the country and region, as the sector’s revenue remains far lower than that of other countries’ capital such as Tokyo of Japan, Bangkok of Thailand and Seoul in the Republic of Korea. Average spending of foreigners during their stay in Hanoi is about 110 USD per day, while that of domestic visitor is 55 USD per day. Meanwhile, Hoppa, a website on aviation transportation, listed Hanoi as the world’s fourth cheapest destination after Budapest in Hungary, Tenerife in Spain and Bangkok in Thailand. Recently, Hanoi is striving to increase earnings from tourism by attracting tourists with generous spending and keeping them stay longer, while developing additional tourism products and infrastructure serving the sector. The city will focus on tourism promotion in promising markets of Western Europe, Northeastern Asia and Northern America. Vietnam to boost enforcement of civil court decisions next year The Ministry of Justice will step up the enforcement of civil court decisions next year, especially those related to the banking sector. To this end, the ministry will focus on improving regulations on implementation of civil and administrative court decisions, consolidating staff, improving receipt of complaints from citizens, and boosting the use of advanced technology, according to a newly-issued plan for 2017. Deputy Minister Tran Tien Dung said the successful execution of civil court decisions concerning the banking sector will help facilitate provision of credit for enterprises and citizens. One of top solutions for next year’s plan is to boost administrative reform and application of high tech to cut time and cost and ensure transparency of information. According to the ministry, nearly 530,430 civil court decisions have been enforced this year, up 8.53% higher than the original target. Website launched to promote Quang Nam festival The organising board of the Quang Nam Heritage festival 2017 has launched a website in a bid to promote the festival to domestic and international visitors. The website in both Vietnamese and English provides information on the Quang Nam Heritage Festival 2017 including schedule, ticket spots, local specialties and previous festival’s information, among other. Visitors can get essential information at http://disanquangnam.vn and quangnamheritagefestival.com as its English version. Besides, social media networks such as Facebook and Twitter are also used for this purpose. Themed “Connecting Cultural Heritage”, the Quang Nam Heritage Festival 2017 is a big culture and tourism event of the locality, with an aim of attracting tourists as well as domestic and foreign investment to boost local socio-economic development, said Pham Hong Quang, Head of the provincial Department of Information and Communication. The opening ceremony will be held on June 9 on Tam Thanh beach in Tam Ky city while the closing event will take place on June 14 at Hoai River Square in Hoi An City. The festival, the sixth edition, will start with the Hoi An light festival on January 27 to celebrate the Lunar New Year 2017, followed by a series of art programmes, competitions and exhibitions. Locals in central provinces make efforts to restore production after flood Inhabitants in the central provinces have made all efforts to restore production for the winter-spring crop after floods hit the region; accordingly it has seen the excited atmosphere in paddy fields hoping for a prosperous Tet holiday (the Lunar New Year). In Ha Tinh Province, 1,500ha of crops had been destroyed, rice farmers converted to cultivate veggies. In Thach Ha District, over 100ha of vegetables died in the flood; local government encouraged farmers to increase land for growing veggies from 400ha to 600ha. Director of Quang Binh Province Department of Agriculture and Rural Development Phan Van Khoa said that nearly VND4 billion was allocated for farmers in the mountainous districts to buy seeds and seedlings of corn, rice and veggies to soon restore production. Meantime, locals in Cam Lo District in the central province of Quang Tri are facing shortage of seeds. Head of the district Department of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Thanh Binh said that his department called for financial aids from People’s Committee and relevant agencies to assist farmers and restore drainage system, irrigation, canals, and pumping station. Leaders of Dai Loc District in Quang Nam Province urged the Ministry of Agriculture and relevant agencies to support cash to farmers to buy seeds. In Thua Thien-Hue, thousands of farmers flocked to fields to plant flowers and veggies. This year, farmer Le Van Lu in Tien Non village in District Phu Vang has planned to grow 40,000 varieties of flowers. If successful, his family’s life will be better. In Ha Tinh, corn and vegetable fields look green. As per the Department of Crop Production and Plant Protection, 1,010ha of corn, 558ha of vegetables and 130ha of sweet potatoes have been mostly restored. Currently, the number of qualified seeds may satisfy half of locals’ demand, said director of Seedlings Center in Quang Ngai province Doan Van Nhan although Vietcombank branch in Quang Ngai also provided 12 tons of rice seeds, 150 bags of chilli to locals in districts Tu Nghia, Nghia Hanh, Mo Duc, Duc Pho and Binh Son. Southern provinces need stronger links  Provinces and cities in the Southern Key Economic Region should strengthen their linkages to enable the region to capitalise on its development potential, a recent seminar heard in HCM City. The region, which consists of a city and seven provinces – HCM City, Tay Ninh, Binh Phuoc, Binh Duong, Dong Nai, Ba Ria-Vung Tau, Long An and Tien Giang - plays an important role in the country’s economy, accounting for more than 42 percent of GDP, 40 percent of exports and more than 60 percent of tax collections. Nguyen Thanh Phong, chairman of the HCM City People’s Committee and chairman of the Southern Key Economic Region Council for 2016, said the region was also the pioneer in industrial and services development, especially high-tech, electronics, oil and gas, tourism, telecom, finance and banking, commerce, and logistics. In 2001-15 the region consistently grew at 1.5 times the national average, he said. However, the development fell short of potential since the growth quality remains unsustainable while human resource quality is low, he said. Beside, its infrastructure development has not kept pace with development, and there is a lack of co-operation between its component localities, he added. Assoc Prof Dr Nguyen Van Phuc, principal of the HCM City Open University, said regional connections have been built over the last 10 years, but the linkages between localities in the region remain poor. He blamed this on the lack of a strong and capable coordinating board that could assess the development potential of each locality and make a master development plan for the region as a whole. Phong said the region council chairman’s role stops with receiving feedback from member localities and submit to the Government. The Government set up a steering committee for the development of the region with former Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai as its head. But the committee has not convened any meeting so far while is head has moved to another position and no successor has been found. Therefore, feedback from the region no longer reached the Government, he said. Ngo Dong Hai, deputy head of the Party Central Committee’s Commission for Economics, said “each locality is an independent financial body but assigned common targets such as ensuring growth in the economy, production and foreign investment, improving residents’ lives and others.” This will mean overall development trumps local interests, he said. Specific legal framework needed. Prof Dr Mai Hong Quy, principal of the HCM City University of Law, said to enable the region to develop as it expects, the Government needs to have a specific legal framework for the region with specific policies related to land use and investment attraction. She and many others urged the Government to increase localities’ share of tax and other revenues to enable them to reinvest and develop. The Government should allow the region to establish two finance companies to mobilise funds for its development, they said. They also said the region should focus on improving training to supply to the market qualified workers meeting international standards. Nguyen Dinh Trung, deputy director of Ba Ria-Vung Tau Department of Planning and Investment, said the member localities should jointly suggest ways to the Government and relevant agencies to complete land, waterway, railway and air travel infrastructure in the region. Dinh La Thang, Secretary of the HCM City Party Committee, said a regional data centre should be established to make it easy for the region to research and support foreign investors. In the long run, the Government should have suitable policies for developing the region into an open economic zone, he said. It should review the master zoning and other plans of each locality in the region to avoid overlaps, he said. It needs to adopt policies to strongly develop localities with great potential to create a momentum for others with less potential, Phong said, adding that China has such a policy. Vietnamese ticketholders win US$7 million lottery jackpot Vietlott, the operator of an American-style lottery, on December 25 announced that two ticketholders have won a total of nearly VND160 billion (US$7 million). The winning numbers are 05 - 12 - 20 - 29 - 34 – 36 and for the first time there will be two winners to claim the much-sought prizes, according to the company's website. This means that each winner will take home around VND72 billion, or 3.2 million, after paying a 10% income tax. Vietnam’s average annual income was US$2,100 last year, according to the World Bank. They are the seventh and eighth winner of the Mega 6/45 since mid-October. The value of previous top prizes ranged from US$2.4 million to more than US$4 million. Vietlott in early December officially expanded to Hanoi with 150 agents, hoping to replicate its success of the past few months in the country’s south. In January, Vietlott signed an exclusive 18-year contract with Malaysian conglomerate Berjaya to launch computerized lottery games. The Mega 6/45 is the company's first foray into the market. Players select six numbers from 1 to 45 and win a jackpot that starts at VND12 billion (US$538,000) by matching all six numbers from the draw. Each ticket costs VND10,000 (40 cents). The prize will keep growing until there is a winner. The odds of winning have been estimated at around one in 8.14 million. Vietnam generally does not allow its citizens to gamble, but lottery tickets are popular across the country. Traditional lottery tickets in Vietnam have predetermined numbers printed on them, with the highest prize set at VND1.5 billion (US$65,900). Facing tough competition from Vietlott’s Mega game, the companies behind these traditional tickets have decided to raise the top prize by 33% to VND2 billion, starting next year. Red tape slows health insurance signup The Government has targeted over 90 per cent of nationwide population covered with health insurance by 2020. Despite preferential policies to encourage citizens to buy health insurance, the number of health insurance card holders, especially household health insurance, remains low due to red tape. Without health insurance, Hoàng Thị Yến, renting a house in HCM City’s District 2, had to pay over VNĐ60 million (US$2,700) for leg surgery, Tin Tức (News) reported. “To buy household health insurance, I have to bring the family register book of my landlord and all health insurance cards of the family members to the ward authority. Then I have to register for temporary residence. However, my landlord’s family has yet to buy health insurance cards so I cannot buy it,” she said. Prolonged waiting time is another challenge for health insurance card holders. Trần Thị Bốn from Thủ Đức District in HCM City, said “I have to wait for the whole day for each health check-up.” Getting bored of waiting, she decided to buy a health check-up service without health insurance. To increase public access to health insurance and to meet the above target, Hà Văn Thúy, the deputy head of the Health Insurance Department under the Health Ministry, said that the ministry has issued a set of hospital quality criteria which place patients at the centre of hospital services. Health insurance covers almost 80 percent of Việt Nam’s population now. According to Nguyễn Tấn Bỉnh, director of the HCM City Health Department, the city’s healthcare sector has worked with the city’s health insurance to cut down unnecessary procedures so as to improve healthcare examination and treatment but still ensure quality. The waiting time of patients to see a doctor has been cut from 120-480 minutes to 30-120 minutes. According to Tin Tức newspaper, hospitals in HCM City have bought state-of-the-art technology to better serve patients. Eighteen hospitals in the city have newly installed health check-up booking via a hotline. “We are looking forward to smart health insurance cards (electronic) to replace current paper cards,” Bỉnh said. Chợ Rẫy Hospital, Gia Định Nhân Dân Hospital and the hospital of Thủ Đức District in HCM City have installed automatic queue ticket dispenser machines and have staff to instruct patients at health check-up rooms. According to Doctor Nguyễn Minh Quân, director of Thủ Đức District hospital, to reduce waiting time, prescriptions are typed out on computers. Also, the doctors’ consultation time for patients is longer. In addition, the Việt Nam health insurance sector made amendments to the health insurance regulations to provide card holders with additional benefits, Thúy said. Accordingly, low-income card holders will enjoy 95 to 100 per cent of health insurance. Near-poor people will have coverage of 80 to 95 per cent. Since January 1 this year, new regulations state that patients who register for health insurance cards at a ward-level medical clinic can enjoy health insurance benefits at any district clinic or hospital in the country. Under household health insurance, the first card holder of the household will have to pay 100 per cent of the insurance cost. The second one has to pay 70 per cent. The third, fourth and fifth card holders have to pay 60, 50 and 40 per cent, respectively. Household health insurance will cover 80 per cent of hospital fees for health examination or hospital beds. In case of serious diseases and high treatment cost, the health insurance will cover 50 to 75 per cent of expenses. High fines for Hanoi express bus lane violations Vehicles can be fined ranging from USD38 to USD57 if caught going into the bus lane on the Bus Rapid Transit corridor which operated from January 1. The 14-kilometre route linking Kim Ma Station in Dong Da District and Yen Nghia Station in Ha Dong District is expected to take only 30 minutes. Hanoi has designed a separate bus lane with 21 stops located on the median strips of the streets within the route. Under Government Decree 46 on traffic violation fines, vehicles can be fined between VND800,000 and VND1.2 million (USD38-USD57) if going into the lane for the high-speed bus route. The lane has traffic signs and street lines while cameras are installed at bus stops along the route to detect violations. Many doubt that the buses will reduce traffic congestion and instead believe that it will only worsen traffic jams on many of the busy streets it runs on. Speaking with DTiNews, Doan Minh Tam, Former Director of the Institute of Transport Science and Technology, Vietnam has already spent a decade discussing the implementation of the high-speed bus service. “The biggest difficulty for Hanoi’s plan is having suitable separate lanes as they are too narrow,” Tam added. “Hanoi will pilot the plan. If the trial is successful, we will open more routes. We’ll learn from the experience if it is a failure and consider that when implementing other routes later,” he noted. A rapid bus route is only one small measure to ease traffic jams, but it can’t help the city to deal with major congestion, Tam said. The important thing was that local authorities have to do a far better job at urban planning, and set aside more land for transport infrastructure. It would be difficult for Hanoi and HCM City to improve traffic if the city authorities simultaneously allow more and more high-rise buildings to be built in inner-city areas, Tam said. Uncle Hồ to take centre stage Veteran and young artists of the 5B Small Theatre will perform for free a historic play about late President Hồ Chí Minh for students and migrant labourers in HCM City. The play will be staged at local universities and export processing zones and industrial parks as part of activities to celebrate the New Year. Dấu Xưa (The Leader) portrays the revolutionary career of the President, a communist and patriot who devoted his life to the country’s independence. It highlights the works of the President in the 1950s and 60s. Directed by Meritorious Artist Trần Minh Ngọc, Dấu Xưa has veteran actor Thanh Điền playing the President, and several young actorsl like Quốc Trung, Kim Tùng and Việt Hưng. "President Hồ Chí Minh is in the hearts of Vietnamese people. Though I’m experienced, I have worked several hours each day to perfect my performance. I don’t want to make a mistake on stage,” said Thanh Điền, who has been a theater artiste for more than 40 years. “Through my performance, I have gained deeper insights into patriotism and have greater respect for national heroes and soldiers who sacrificed their lives for the country." Dấu Xưa was first staged in 2011 in Hà Nội and left a very strong impression on audiences. It has been restaged several times by leading art troupes and theatres. Director Ngọc and his troupe will begin their tour next month. “We want to entertain and educate young people through our art,” he said. Da Nang cancels fireworks shows for supporting poor people People’s Committee in the central city of Da Nang yesterday announced it decided to remove firework show from the list of festive activities to commemorate its 20th anniversary of becoming central city and the upcoming New Year Eve. The decision aims to implement the Secretariat of the Communist Party of Vietnam’s directive No.11-CT/TW issued on December 20 for the upcoming Tet holidays or the Lunar New Year. As per the directive, the Secretariat required all provinces and cities not to hold fireworks displays during Tet holidays; instead, local authorities were asked to spend time and funds for taking care of low-income families and beneficiaries of social welfare policies. Da Nang People’s Committee also decided to allocate expenditure to support flood-ravaged central provinces including Thua Thien-Hue, Quang Nam, Quang Ngai, Binh Dinh and Phu Yen; each will receive VN1 billion and Binh Dinh will get VND2 billion. The amount will be used for restoring production, helping locals in these provinces settle down. Lam Dong & Danang sign to supply safe agricultural products Da Nang City People’s Committee signed with the central highlands province of Lam Dong in supplying safe agricultural products (safe agro-products) in the period of 2017-2020, yesterday. As per plan, from now till 2020, Da Nang and Lam Dong will build and develop safe agro- product chain, aiming to promote agricultural production in the central highlands province and protect Da Nang City’s consumers. Besides, it will strengthen the socioeconomic development cooperation between two locals; creating favorable condition for enterprises, cooperatives to develop models for safe food production. Mr. Dang Viet Dung, Deputy chairman of Da Nang city People’s Committee said Danang covers as little as agricultural areas and it is not to supply enough for the market while unsafe vegetable source is flocking to the city, therefore the city hopes this cooperation will ensure safe agro- products meeting the locality’s consumption demands. Mr. Pham S, deputy chairman of Lam Dong People’s Committee said Lam Dong is home to many agricultural areas specializing in flower, vegetable and fruit growing and the province has been planning to produce safe agricultural chain with high technology, ensuring consumers’ health in Lam Dong and Danang. VNA/VNS/VOV/SGT/SGGP/TT/TN/Dantri/VNE |
↧
Article 2
Social News 4/1 Government gives further flood relief to Binh Dinh province  Flooded houses in Nhon Hoa ward of An Nhon township, Binh Dinh province Binh Dinh, the worst-hit province by flood in the central region, is set to receive more assistance from the Government to address flood consequences. The Prime Minister assigned the Ministry of Finance to provide Binh Dinh with more than 1,500 tonnes of rice along with 10 high-speed boats, 70 sets of tent, 1,500 lifebuoys and four sets of water pumping machine. The relief, sourced from the national reserves, is allocated amidst the approaching Lunar New Year – the biggest traditional festival in Vietnam. Material aid has also been given to Binh Dinh and other south central provinces by the State and people from across Vietnam recently. The south central region has suffered from back-to-back floods since October 2016. Floods killed nearly 40 people, injured 10 others and resulted in damage of some 1.9 trillion VND (83.5 million USD) in Binh Dinh, preliminary data show. Bac Ninh looks to become centrally-run city The northern province of Bac Ninh will make most of its potential and advantages as well as overcome difficulties and challenges to continue creating strong breakthroughs in social-economic development and become a centrally-governed city by the 2020s. Nguyen Nhan Chien, Secretary of the Party Committee and Chairman of the People’s Committee of Bac Ninh, made the remarks at the 20th anniversary of the province’s re-establishment on January 3. The province will also strive for becoming one of the leading localities in building an e-government and developing a smart city, Chien said. Speaking at the event, To Lam, Minister of Public Security, recognised and praised important achievements the province’s Party Committee and its people have achieved in the past 20 years. Lam recommended Bac Ninh to optimize its potential and advantages for sustainable development. The province needs to review the planning of sectors in connection with the master plan for social-economic development, the overall urban planning and the modified Hanoi Capital region planning. He also urged the province to apply information technology in urban management, restructuring economy, reforming growth model, effectively managing and using resources, and solving environmental pollution, especially at industrial clusters and craft villages. He also recommended the province to boost activities in attracting investment and developing support industry and applying high technology into agriculture and implementing the national goal programme on building new rural areas. Bac Ninh province was re-established on January 1, 1997. After 20 years, the province has transformed from an agricultural province into an industrial one with the economic growth rate of 15.1 percent on average during the 1997-2016 period. The province’s 16 concentrated industrial zones have attracted 935 projects with a total registered capital of 12.3 billion USD, including many multinational corporations like Samsung, Microsoft, Canon, and Pepsico. The province’s 2016 industrial production value is estimated at 766 trillion VND (34.5 billion USD), a 1,200-fold rise over that of 1997. The province has 58 communes and two districts qualified as new rural localities. Healthcare and education have been improved significantly. The province has two UNESCO-recognised intangible cultural heritage – Quan Ho (love duets) and Ca Tru (ceremonial song). It also has four special national relic sites, five groups of artifacts recognised as national treasures, one ritual, one folk game, eight festivals and villages honored as national intangible cultural heritages. Vietnam Buddhist Sangha gains good outcomes in 2016 The Vietnam Buddhist Sangha (VBS) has more than 53,900 member monks and nuns at present. There are 18,466 Buddhist pagodas and places of worship nationwide. Buddhist monks, nuns and followers donated more than 1.33 trillion VND (58.52 million USD) to social and charitable activities in 2016. These were reported by the VBS while reviewing its performance at the fifth meeting held by the Sangha’s executive council, seventh tenure, in Ho Chi Minh City on January 2-3. In 2016, the VBS organised many important religious events. Major events included ceremonies marking 708 years of King-Monk Tran Nhan Tong’s Nirvana attainment, the VBS’s 35th founding anniversary (November 7, 1981), and the Lord Buddha’s birthday. The VBS also participated in the Vesak Day, which paid homage to Lord Buddha, in Thailand. EVN asked to keep key role in national electricity supply The Electricity of Vietnam (EVN) should continue promoting its key role as a State-run company in national power supply, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said at a conference in Hanoi on January 3. For that goal, the group needs to ensure the progress of underway power projects, while carrying out new ones and working on projects to develop renewable energy. It should work out mechanisms to encourage all economic sectors to produce electricity and fine-tune financial mechanism, the PM said. The PM asked the group to push ahead with restructuring to improve its operational efficiency and competitive edge as well as complete the equitisation of its three power generation corporations in 2017-2018. The EVN will keep operating six strategic, multi-target plants and relevant ones, whilst equitising the retail and service sections, he directed. The Government leader requested the EVN to strengthen management, especially financial administration, to prevent corruption in equitisation and investment stages. He reminded the group to focus on environmental protection and not to produce electricity at all cost. Regarding the nuclear power project in the central province of Ninh Thuan, PM Phuc ordered the EVN to arrange the project’s human resources appropriately and utilise infrastructure effectively to make up the lost amount of electricity due to the project’s halt. He pointed to shortcomings such as uneven distribution of electricity in the southern region, economic losses of some fundamental construction projects, and several projects harming local people’s living environment. A shortage of electricity in the middle and long term is likely to occur, he worried, adding that the EVN should work out measures to meet the country’s development targets such as economic growth of 6.5-7 percent, one million businesses by 2020, and export surge of 8-10 percent. The EVN needs to step up administrative reform and directly help the country enter the leading group of competitiveness in ASEAN, he said, noting that Vietnam is ranked sixth in ASEAN in the index of electricity access. In 2016, the EVN generated and purchased 176.99 billion kWh of electricity, a yearly increase of 10.8 percent. Commercial electricity reached 159.45 billion kWh, a year-on-year rise of 11 percent, surpassing the annual target by 350 million kWh. The group coordinated with the irrigation sector to provide over 3 billion cubic meters of water for the 2015-2016 winter-spring crops in the northern delta while ensuring sufficient water for drought-hit areas in the central and Central Highland regions. At the end of 2016, 73 power plants joined the power market, generating 17,929 MW of electricity. The EVN fetched over 264.6 trillion VND (over 13 billion USD) in revenues last year, up 12.9 percent against 2015. The group also put into operation the Lai Chau hydropower project in the northern province of Lai Chau in 2016, one year earlier than scheduled, saving 5 trillion VND and ensuring electricity for flood-hit localities. Parliamentary officials pay tribute to heroic martyrs in Quang Tri National Assembly Vice Chairwoman Tong Thi Phong and other officials paid homage to martyrs at the Ancient Citadel of Quang Tri on January 3. At the special national relic site, the delegation, which was on a working trip to central Quang Tri province, offered incense to the people who laid down their lives during the fierce 81-day battle to protect the citadel and Quang Tri township from the US-backed army of the Republic of Vietnam in 1972. The fight contributed to Vietnam’s triumph at the Paris Conference and was a prerequisite for the General Offensive and Uprising in the Spring of 1975, which completely liberated the South and reunified the country. Vice Chairwoman Phong said she hopes the administration and people of Quang Tri will continue doing a good job of repaying national contributors and educating younger generations about Vietnam’s revolution history. On this occasion, she visited two war veterans in Quang Tri township and 20 families affected by recent floods in Trieu Phong and Cam Lo districts. Vietnam Fatherland Front upholds great national unity The Vietnam Fatherland Front (VFF) has highlighted the role of the great national unity in national development via a series of activities in 2016, President of the VFF Central Committee Nguyen Thien Nhan told the press on the occasion of the New Year. During 2016, the VFF introduced nominees to the election of deputies to the 14th National Assembly and People’s Councils at all levels for the 2016-2021 tenure and directly supervised the election process. The front’s all-level chapters raised 214 billion VND (9.3 million USD) in support of nearly 1.2 million people hard hit by the Formosa-caused marine environment incident and prolonged flooding in the central region, droughts and saline intrusion in the Central Highlands and the south. It conducted inspection on food hygiene and environment pollution caused by thermal power plants, as well as continued a survey on the public satisfaction about services of the State administrative agencies. On promoting the connectivity of religions, the VFF signed a cooperation agreement with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment and 40 accredited religious organisations on environment protection and climate change response, as well as collected public feedback on the draft Law on Belief and Religion to submit to the National Assembly for adoption. Regarding the campaign “All people stay united to build new rural areas and civilised urban areas”, Nhan said the VFF partnered with ministries and agencies to issue relevant criteria to be applied in 2017. Hanoi churches, temples asked to help ring in Lunar New Year The city, which has canceled its plan for fireworks shows, hopes that the sounds of the bells will create a meaningful moment. After confirming that there will be no fireworks shows for the upcoming Tet holiday, which is just a few weeks away, the city of Hanoi is now asking churches and temples to all ring their bells at the same time on Lunar New Year's Eve. To Van Dong, director of Hanoi's culture department, said the bells across the city will "herald the new year for everyone." He reaffirmed that all fireworks displays, which used to be a mainstay of Vietnam's biggest holiday, will be replaced by other cultural events and free performances. The Year of the Rooster will start on January 28. The country will celebrate with a seven-day break, from January 26 to February 1.Hanoi and other major cities are following the government's call for austerity. The capital city said by scrapping fireworks shows for both New Year's Eve and Lunar New Year's Eve, sponsors could save around VND10 billion (US$440,000), which could then be donated to disaster-hit provinces. The Tet festival is usually an occasion for visiting others and offering greetings and gifts. This year, the country's top leaders have prohibited gift giving among officials. Homeless elders toil through nights for a living in Hanoi Many elderly people have been living without a home on the streets of Hanoi, struggling to survive each day and not knowing how they will welcome the Lunar New Year under such harsh circumstances. If one wanders along the streets of the Vietnamese capital under brisk and wet conditions at night, they can potentially run into one of these underprivileged elders. Why do people at such an old age still have to put up with the misery? Some of them said they were left by their spouses or kicked out of their own house by ungrateful children. Others said that they suffer a terminal disease or have lost everything to a failed business. While most residents are soundly asleep in the comfort of their home, these elderly people have to do all sorts of jobs to earn themselves some meager income. Sitting under a nacre tree along a sidewalk at 3:00 am, Nguyen Van Hung, 70, slowly pulled up a thin scarf to cover his torso while holding an old tire pump, fixing his eyes to the corner of the street as he was waiting for a customer in the cold evening. Hung had earned only VND13,000 (US$0.57) that night from pumping the tires of two bicycles and two motorcycles. Meanwhile, his wife, 65-year-old Thu, was still collecting rubbish and scrap elsewhere, having not returned to his tire pumping shop. The ‘shop’ is located on the corner of Nguyen Dinh Chieu Street, comprising only a bicycle and a pump, which is open at night and closed during the day for house owners along the road to run their businesses. When the sun rises, Hung takes a quick rest somewhere near the Hanoi Railway Station. According to the elderly man, he met his wife back in their hometown in the northern province of Bac Ninh before the couple decided to earn their living in the capital. Hung works every night to provide for themselves as well as affording medications for his wife’s breast cancer. Located a few blocks away is the shelter Dao Rach Thoa, a 52-year-old woman, often takes. Thoa was a member of a happy family like others before everything started to fall apart. “My husband turned out to be a bad man while our son was not properly raised. I ended up living as a homeless person,” the woman said as she choked back her tears. Lightning struck twice as Thoa was caught in a road accident a few years ago, right ahead of the Lunar New Year, paralyzing her left leg. Thoa now cycles along the streets of Hanoi every night to collect trash and scrap metal for reselling for some cash. “I cannot earn much as my body is too weak. Other collectors sometimes share some of their scrap to help me get through the rough days,” the woman said. At a corner on Le Duan Street, Nguyen Thi Man, 78, and Dinh Thi Nga, 77, have been helping each other like two biological sisters for some decades. Each of the elderly women can make about VND15,000 ($0.66) a day from collecting and classifying plastic bags. The pair sometimes helps Van, an 80-year-old woman, who still has to work as a drinks vendor on Nguyen Thai Hoc Street to take care of her ill son. Van previously had her own house before having to move into a rented room as her husband had to sell everything over a botched business. Despite old age, the senior still has to work daily to afford medicines for her son, who is now over 40. “What do you wish for the Lunar New Year?” Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper reporters asked the senior citizens. What they need for the traditional holiday is some sugar to add to their cups of tea, a new pair of slippers and a warm scarf to welcome the Lunar New Year. “I want a can of Hanoi beer and a can of soda to enjoy on New Year’s Eve,” Hung added with a humorous tone. The man stated he had always wanted to return to his hometown in Bac Ninh for the holiday, which is impossible as he must stay in Hanoi to work and take care of his wife. “I sometimes have a dream, in which I was having a meal and drinking rice wine with my family during Tet,” he said, using the Vietnamese word for the holiday. Meanwhile, Nga hoped she could prepare some traditional dishes, especially ‘banh chung,’ or rice cake, and a branch of cherry blossoms during the holiday. The Lunar New Year falls on January 28. Vietnam seizes 275 kilos of bullets in truck from Laos The bullets were hidden inside a large amount of smuggled garment and footwear. Police in the central province of Quang Nam on January 1 seized a truck from Laos for smuggling 275 kilograms of bullets into Vietnam. The police stopped the vehicle at around 9 p.m. on January 1 and found the bullets hidden inside nearly 3.3 tons of garment and footwear products, local media reported. The 50-year-old Vietnamese driver said he picked up the goods in Laos but failed to produce any legal documents. Vietnam strictly controls the use of guns and bullets, and smugglers often face tough penalties. World’s most beautiful bay Lang Co looks to better serve visitors  Lang Co, voted as one of the world’s most beautiful bays by the Worldbays Club in May 2009, has become a tourist attraction in the central province of Thua Thien-Hue. Endowed with over 10km long beach with white sand and pure sea water, Lang Co lies on the route “Central Heritage Road” with four famous world heritage sites, including Phong Nha – Ke Bang National Park in Quang Binh province, the ancient imperial city of Hue, Hoi An Ancient Town and My Son Sanctuary in Quang Nam province. The beach now attracts 16 percent of total visitors to Thua Thien-Hue, besides the main attraction of Hue city. Investors have noticed the potential of Lang Co. Last year, work started on the five-star Mediterraneo resort complex on a site of 77,000 sq.m at the cost of over 750 billion VND, which will offer 52 luxury villas, 100 hotel rooms, halls and apartments. Earlier, the first stage of the world-class Laguna Lang Co resort invested by Singapore’s Banyan Tree, went operational. Covering an area of 280ha, the 875 million USD resort is surrounded by a 3km coastline and offers riverside apartments, hillside and golf course-overlooking villas. It takes less than one hour from Lang Co to Da Nang or Phu Bai airports. International visitors can also reach the site via sea route to Chan May deep-water port. The Lang Co site currently offers six resorts, 45 hotels and guesthouses with 1,200 rooms and 1,800 beds. Twenty other projects worth more than 10 trillion VND (430.4 million USD) are underway. Director of the provincial Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism Phan Tien Dung suggested diversifying services at affordable prices to stimulate demand, especially for MICE (meetings, incentives, conferencing, exhibitions) tours. In the foreseeable future, the province will continue partnering with regional localities to market “central heritage road” tours as well as tourist attractions on the east-west economic corridor, encourage investment in infrastructure to develop Lang Co, Bach Ma National Park and Chan May port into a cultural and ecological tourism triangle. Last year, Lang Co served more than 700,000 visitors and earned nearly 1 trillion VND (43.47 million USD) from tourism. Besides Lang Co, two other bays in Vietnam which are Ha Long and Nha Trang were also named among the world’s most beautiful by the club./. Six fishermen rescued off Hoàng Sa Archipelago  Six fishermen and crew members of a fishing boat have been rescued off the Hoàng Sa (Paracels) Archipelago of Việt Nam. The SAR 412 rescue ship of the Regional Maritime Search and Rescue Co-ordination Centre, Zone 2 (MRCC 2), in central Đà Nẵng City, early on Tuesday rescued and towed to the port vessel QNa 95979 TS, owned by Lê Văn Mai from the central province of Quảng Nam’s Thăng Bình District, according to the online newspaper dantri.com.vn. The rescue force said the fishing boat with six crew members on board was sinking while trailing towards the west off the Hoàng Sa Archipelago on Monday. The centre received an emergency signal from the boat at about 11.53am on the same day. It immediately requested the Đà Nẵng maritime broadcasting centre to inform all nearby boats to urgently help in supporting the damaged vessel. At the same time, Nguyễn Vũ Anh, general director of the Việt Nam Maritime Search and Rescue Co-ordination Centre, decided to assign the SAR 412 to immediately initiate its search operation for the wrecked boat. The rescue ship left at 12.53pm and reached the wrecked boat at about 4.45pm. All the crew members were found safe and were moved inland. The wrecked boat was also towed to the shore. Traffic jams after New Year holiday lighter than last year An influx of residents has returned to big cities, particularly Hà Nội and HCM City, after enjoying a three-day holiday, causing some congestion but less serious than last year’s. The improved situation has raised hopes of a brighter future for city traffic in 2017. Travellers, especially office workers or children visiting their families in different provinces, tried to reach the city on time to begin their working day or school yesterday, and many were forced to scramble to find an available city-bound bus. The bus stations of Mỹ Đình and Giáp Bát in Hà Nội, for example, were chaotic due to thousands of passengers arriving at the same time on Monday and early yesterday. The National Highway 1 running from north to south, experienced the most serious traffic jams at its Pháp Vân-Cầu Giẽ crossroads heading towards Hà Nội, but there was only one hour-long holdup on Monday afternoon. Meanwhile, some streets in central Hà Nội, including Nguyễn Trãi, Nguyễn Xiển and Khuất Duy Tiến, were jammed as crowds thronged the center of town for New Year’s eve street events, but a massive traffic police presence averted chaos, the Dân Trí online newspaper reported. Yesterday was also the debut of Hà Nội’s first Bus Rapid Transit (BRT). But despite an order issued by the Hà Nội Transport Department banning all vehicles from the special BRT lanes, many cars, motorbikes and even other kinds of buses violated the ban. City traffic police said they would not impose fines during the first days of the BRT operation, but would be stricter in the future, according to 24h.com.vn. In HCM City, earlier on Monday, Dân Trí reported that entrance roads, including the city’s southwestern Tân Túc in Bình Chánh District and the Nguyễn Văn Linh and Nguyễn Hữu Trí roundabouts, were more crowded than usual but no traffic jams were recorded. However, at the western entrance to the southern hub, vehicles of all types were stuck in congestion as people dashed back to the city from the Mekong Delta region, while the eastern entrance to the city was also clogged by a large number of commuters who had just concluded their trips to the southern beach city of Vũng Tàu, the resort town of Đà Lạt in the Central Highlands, and the southcentral beach city of Nha Trang, according to the Tuổi Trẻ (Youth) newspaper. The congestion was exacerbated by a road collision between two cars on the HCM City-Long Thành-Dầu Giây Expressway, which connects the city with neighboring Đồng Nai Province, the paper reported. The volume of vehicles on the expressway rose by 1.5 times during the holiday. According to the National Committee for Traffic Safety, traffic jams were less severe than those in the past thanks to thorough preparations. However, there have been reports that buses overcharged passengers and carried more people than allowed, Tuổi trẻ reported. Ninety-three accidents occured over the three-day weekend, killing 79 people and injuring 54, the committee said. Two of the accidents that resulted in two fatalities were related to train traffic. Two fires in Kiên Giang cause major loss Two fires broke out in southern Kiên Giang Province yesterday. Fortunately, no fatalities were reported. The first fire occurred at 11.30am in a house on Rạch Giá City’s Rạch Sỏi Road, which destroyed all the furniture and two motorbikes. The house, owned by Trần Quang Sáng, is located near the city’s airport. Airport authorities mobilised staff to stamp out the fire, which was totally extinguished within 20 minutes. The second case occurred at 11am at a vessel repair workshop in Châu Thành District’s Vĩnh Hòa Phú Commune. Lý Nhật Trường, owner of the workshop, said the workers saw smoke at lunchtime from one of the two vessels they were repairing. The fire quickly spread to the second vessel. It took two hours for firefighters to extinguish the fire. According to the initial investigation, short circuit was the cause of both the fires. Total loss was estimated to be more than VNĐ1 billion (US$43,940). Hà Giang investigates largest firecrackers transportation case Police and soldiers in northern mountain Hà Giang Province are investigating the largest case uncovered involving the illegal transportation of firecrackers in the area, according to Col Nguyễn Ngọc Châu, deputy commander of the local border guard force. Earlier, on Sunday, soldiers detected a number of people transporting firecrackers illegally in Mèo Vạc Distict’s Xín Cái Commune. The force arrested Ma Văn Hồng, 23, and seized 58 casks containing 1.2 tonnes of foreign-made firecrackers. At the border station, Hồng confessed that he was taking the firecrackers to two unknown persons. According the soldiers, this is the largest transportation of firecrackers that has ever been uncovered in the province. Ahead of the upcoming Tết (Lunar New Year) festival, smuggling and illegal transportation of firecrackers are increasing in Hà Giang Province through bordering areas with China. The relevant forces are strengthening inspection and control along the trails to timely detect firecrackers traffickers entering Việt Nam. On the same day, police in the central province of Nghệ An also detected a truck carrying 500kg of different kinds of firecrackers. At the police station, driver Nguyễn Bá Thìn, 28, from Thanh Chương District, admitted that he bought these firecrackers from Laos to sell them during the upcoming Tết. According to statistics, local police detected 250 cases related to firecrackers smuggling from November 15 to December 15, 2016, and seized nearly 4,000kg of firecrackers. Illegal mining continues in Đắk Nông Illegal stone mining activities have been going on since April in Đắk Nông Province’s Đắk Kút Quarry, but no action has been taken against violators. Last month, after Vietnam News Agency (VNA) published multiple reports on illegal quarrying at Đắk Kút Quarry in Gia Nghĩa Town’s Đắk Tân Village, the provincial People’s Committee set up a special working group to look into the issue. A decision signed by Trương Thanh Tùng, Vice Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee, said the group would include leaders of the provincial natural resources and environment department, the provincial police and the people’s committees of Gia Nghĩa Town and Đắk Nia Commune. Đàm Quang Trung, Director of the provincial Natural Resources and Environment Department, was appointed head of the group. The group was asked to inspect the quarry and figure out what illegal mining was being done, those involved in the activity as well as the responsibilities of the various State agencies in the incident. It was to hand over its report to the People’s Committee before December 20. On December 20, however, when the working group held a meeting to share its assessment and offer solutions, representatives of the provincial police department and Gia Nghĩa Town’s People’s Committee were absent. At the meeting, the working group asked related authorities to work with representatives of Duy Quang Commerce JSC, the alleged violator, before December 30 to define the company’s illegal mining activity and come up with appropriate punishments. It also asked Gia Nghĩa and Đắk Nia authorities to report on the responsibilities of those involved in the case before December 26, and asked the provincial police department to report on the two trucks carrying stones that were seized in September. However, so far, the group has received no responses. The working group has also asked the provincial authority to postpone the deadline of the final report to January 15, saying that the incident was “complicated” and “needed time to be resolved”. Last October, the VNA reported illegal mining in Đắk Tân Village, which is around a kilometre from Đắk Nia Commune’s People’s Committee office. Stones were piled up two to three metres high and spread over 0.5m in the quarry. A group of five workers were seen working with machines and loading stones in trucks. Hoàng Văn Tẻn, head of Đắk Tân Village, said that stone quarrying had been going on since last April, making the area noisy and dusty, and damaging the village roads. When VNA reporters asked Đồng Quang Huy, chairman of the People’s Committee, he said the committee had no idea who was behind the illegal quarrying. ’Queen of Bolero Music’ live tonight Hà Nội native songstress Lệ Quyên, whose voice has bewitched audiences for years, will once again seduce fans during her live show tonight at the city’s Friendship Palace. Dubbed as “Queen of Vietnamese Bolero Music” due to her roaring success with slow-tempo songs, the 36-year-old singer will perform the songs by veteran songwriter Lam Phương, which are also featured in her latest album Khúc Tình Xưa (Old Love Songs): Lệ Quyên – Lam Phương that was released on December 24. A big name in light music in the South of Việt Nam before the country’s unification in 1975, most of Phương’s works are about love. After resettling in the US and France, he continued to compose nostalgic songs about his homeland. His up-and-down love life has also provided abundant inspiration for many of his songs. In the beginning of last year, his songs were introduced for the first time on the music channel VOV3 of the Voice of Việt Nam radio. Singer Quyên said she had been lucky to meet the veteran songwriter, who is now partly disabled due to a stroke in 1995, during a tour in the US few years ago. “He uttered my name right after seeing me at his door. He recognised me although we’d never met before. It was very moving,” recalled Quyên, who currently lives in HCM City. “Moreover, the 80-year-old songwriter said he often listens to his songs sung by me. That’s why he immediately agreed when I asked him for permission to use his songs for my album,” she said. Quyên also said that the composer has about 200 songs that he has never unveiled. Quyên’s newest album features 12 songs – some of the best by Phương, including Thành Phố Buồn (Sad City), Bài Tango Cho Em (A Tango for You), Thu Sầu (Melancholy Autumn), Cỏ Úa (Withered Grass), and Xin Thời Gian Qua Mau (Time, Please Fly Quickly). Quyên will perform all these songs in her show, as well as some other hits. She has invited male singers – Quốc Thiên, Quang Đại and Dương Triệu Vũ - who are among the best of Vietnamese bolero music performers, to share the stage with her tonight. Artist honours chicken Famed artist Thành Chương will exhibit 60 pastel, oil and lacquer paintings featuring chickens, occasioned by the coming Lunar New Year, the Year of the Rooster. The paintings tell different stories related to chickens. The exhibit runs until January 27 at Ha Noi Creative City located at 1 Lương Yên Street, Hai Bà Trưng District. Young music talents perform to raise funds Eleven young music talents will perform to raise funds for the Books For Children project tonight at the French Cultural Centre (L’Espace) in Hà Nội. The children are participants of top television reality shows, such as Việt Nam Idol Kids, The Voice Kids, Người Hùng Tí Hon (Little Hero), Gương Mặt Thân Quen (Your Face Looks Familiar) and Bước Nhảy Hoàn Vũ (Dancing With The Star Kids). The lineup of artists includes Jayden Trịnh, a Vietnamese-Singaporean kid who can play 14 musical instruments; Gia Khiêm with poignant vocals; Thiên Tùng, famous for his Michael Jackson dance cover; and the winners and runners-up from the shows. The two-night concert titled Chuyến Đi (The Journey) will also see 30 young children from the Họa Mi Club performing. "The Journey is inspired by the Books For Children project, which is being held for the past two years," Phan Tố Nga, the project’s communication officer, said. "When we do charity projects in the northern and mountainous provinces, we experience severe weather conditions, which are the reasons for the interminable poverty. We understand that material support is very small and is not a stable source to help children escape hunger and poverty." "We hope the young talent from popular television shows will meet each other in The Journey with one desire, which is to give poor children the opportunity to interact with their favourite singers." All the proceeds will be used for organising a charity gala at the Xín Cái Junior High School in Mèo Vạc District in Hà Giang Province on January 15, aimed at encouraging and inspiring children to pursue their dreams. The concert will kick off at 7.30pm tonight and tomorrow. Ticket prices are from VNĐ120,000 (US$5.3) to VNĐ500,000 ($25) and can be booked at www.bit.ly/vechuyendi. Please call 0934628739 for more information. Thanh Hóa to test new players in Sunday derby Everyone in the V.League is now well acquainted with the shopping habits of FLC Thanh Hóa, who have bought a number of quality players to dominate the national premier league. Last year, they had Hoàng Thịnh, Mai Tiến Thành and Văn Bình who were to push FLC Thanh Hóa to new heights. However, they not only did not lift the trophy, they did not even make it to the top three as they had in the two previous seasons. Instead, the team finished at No 6. As this year’s tournament approaches, Thanh Hóa’s managers are once again determined to win the title, last year’s failure giving them a stronger impetus. And once again, they have taken on new players who they hope will help fulfil their dream. Months ago, Thanh Hóa introduced a new head coach, Ljupko Petrovic, who won the European Cup - now called the Champions League trophy - in 1991 when he took charge of Red Star Belgrade FC. The Serbian coach has made an impressive mark, and recently, he signed contracts with striker Uche Iheruome and midfielders Đinh Tiến Thành and Nguyễn Trọng Hoàng. Iheruome scored 14 goals for former club Sanna Khánh Hòa and was one of the three best scorers last year, while both Thành from Cần Thơ and Hoàng from Becamex Bình Dương are members of the national team. “V.League is a tough tournament that sees the strongest teams in the country. All of them have recruited talented players to build their strength. Hà Nội FC, Quảng Ninh Coal and SHB Đà Nẵng, for example, are powerful teams. I think this year V.League will be tense and competitive,” said Doãn Văn Phương, president of Thanh Hóa. “We have prepared well and we target the top position. But it is difficult to predict anything in football. We are determined and will try hard, but of course, we also need a little luck to make it happen.” Thanh Hóa’s ambition and hope are running high after they lifted the FLC Cup trophy two weeks ago on home turf. Last week, Petrovic finalised his list of 26 players. Petrovic, his assistant Alan Fiard, and the players were busy with practice and chose not to take a break to celebrate the New Year. Players are also looking forward to the club’s plans - announced recently - to upgrade facilities at their home stadium. Architecture firm Herzog & de Meuron, which designed Bayern Munich’s Allianz Arena Stadium, will be invited to work on the Thanh Hóa Stadium, which will be upgraded to a 40,000-seat venue. The project also includes a centre that promises the best training fields, functional rooms, apartments and a hotel. The plans have been submitted to provincial officials for approval. Their first match is against archrival Sông Lam Nghệ An on Sunday on home ground, a central region derby that draws all eyes as the two teams have the largest number of fans among all other teams in V.League. The two teams have clashed six times in the past three years, in which Thanh Hóa beat Sông Lam Nghệ An twice, lost twice and drew twice. Seven day Tet holiday announced Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee has just announced civil servants and goverment employees will have the seven days off starting on January 26 and ending on January 30, 2017, running from the 29th day of the 12th lunar month to the 3rd day of the 1st lunar month). As of two days of the Tet holiday (January 28 and 29) adjoin the weekend therefore civil servants will take two day off on January 31 and February 1. Besides, the Committee asked organizations, schools, hospitals and other agencies, families have to hang the national flags during Tet holiday. PM asks Binh Phuoc to develop smart agriculture Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has urged the southern province of Binh Phuoc to focus more on the development of smart agriculture. At a working session with provincial leaders on January 2, the Government leader said the province should mobilise all resources to expand a smart model of vegetable growing in order to make prestigious export products branded as a representative of Vietnam in the world market. Binh Phuoc is the country’s largest province but also one of its poorest in the southeastern region. The province serves as a bridge to connect the region with the Tay Nguyen (Central Highlands) and areas bordering Cambodia. It three main products are rubber, pepper and cashew. Last year, a volatility of prices and a slow recovery from damages due to prolonged drought significantly impacted the growth of local agriculture. The Prime Minister also pointed out that although the province boasts fertile land and abundant natural resources, its per capita income in 2016 was just 42.1 million VND (1,850 USD), lower than the national average of 50 million VND (2,190 USD). Also in Binh Phuoc, Prime Minister Phuc broke ground for the construction of the Minh Tam Cement Factory in Hon Quan district. Speaking at the ceremony, he highlighted the importance of the factory and praised businesses for their decision to invest in this remote area. He also noted that the project will benefit from advanced technology imported from Germany. The 12 trillion VND (527 million USD) plant, with a total capacity of about 4.5 million tonnes per year, is expected to create thousands of jobs for local people and revenues for the local budget. In his remarks, the PM also urged investors to use local land and water resources in the most effective and safe way in order to protect the natural environment of the region. The project should strive for a long-term sustainable operation by focusing on protecting the environment rather than exploiting it for a short time. PM Phuc asked investors to complete the project within 18 months so as to contribute to the local socio-economic development. He also request Binh Phuoc province to create favourable conditions for the investors during construction and to ensure the safe relocation of local residents for the project’s land clearance. On the same day, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc attended a ceremony marking the 20th anniversary of the re-establishment of Binh Phuoc province (January 1, 1997-2017). VNA/VNS/VOV/SGT/SGGP/TT/TN/Dantri/VNE |
↧
↧
Article 1
BUSINESS IN BRIEF 4/1 Over VND104 trillion needed to complete Ho Chi Minh Road The amount of capital needed to connect sections in the second phase of Ho Chi Minh Road is estimated at VND104.37 trillion (US$4.58 billion), the Government said in a report sent to the National Assembly (NA). The road is a project of national importance which was approved by the NA in 2004. It runs from Pac Bo in the northern mountainous province of Cao Bang to Dat Mui Commune in the southernmost province of Ca Mau with a total length of 3,183 kilometers, in which the main route stretches 2,499 kilometers. The first phase covering 1,350 kilometers between Hoa Lac hi-tech park in Hanoi and Tan Canh Commune in the Central Highlands province of Kon Tum has been put into use. Construction has been done since 2008 on the second phase, which covers 1,394 kilometers of the road’s main route, to build component projects for linking sections of the main route and so far, 55.4% of this phase has been finished. According to the Government, more than VND50.4 trillion had been mobilized for the Ho Chi Minh Road project as of the end of last September, including VND23.32 trillion from the State budget and Government bond sales, VND18.58 trillion from build-operate-transfer (BOT) and build-transfer (BT) investors, and VND9.5 trillion of official development assistance loans. As planned, all component projects of the second phase will be finished by 2020 to complete the entire main route with two lanes. Later, several sections of Ho Chi Minh Road will be upgraded to meet expressway standards in line with the country’s expressway development plan until 2020. So far, all operational sections of the Ho Chi Minh Road project, either of the first or second phase, have met requirements as evaluated by the State Assessment Council. As for the plan of this year, the Government will start construction on Cam Lo-La Son Expressway running from Quang Tri Province to Thua Thien-Hue Province in the central region, and Chon Thanh-Duc Hoa Expressway from Binh Phuoc Province to Long An Province in the southern region under the BOT format. The Government will also build plans to change the investment format for Doan Hung-Cho Ben Expressway from Phu Tho Province to Hoa Binh Province in the north from BOT with private funds to BOT combined with State budget, Government bond or ODA as the 130-km project costs dearly, making it difficult for investors to recoup investment capital. EVN to spend US$366.7 million upgrading southern power grid Southern Power Corporation (EVNSPC) will put aside VND8,350 billion, or nearly US$370 million, to develop power grid projects in 2017 to meet electricity demand of 21 southern provinces. According to an investment plan for 2017 of EVNSPC, commercial power output in southern provinces excluding supply for HCMC is estimated at around 62 billion kWh this year, up 12.33% compared to last year. Although electricity demand is forecast to rise sharply this year, the corporation still pledged to ensure sufficient supply for 21 southern provinces. In addition, the corporation is expected to finalize three 220-kV transformer stations in Dong Thap Province’s Sa Dec Town, Long An Province’s Can Duoc, and Kien Giang’s Long Xuyen, as well as complete upgrading the power grid for Phu Quy Island off the south-central province of Binh Thuan in 2017. Dairy firms no longer care about milk price caps A controversial decision imposing price ceilings on powdered milk products for children under six years old expired at the end of last year, but its termination or continuation is no longer a concern of dairy firms. The authority to continue or stop price ceilings on such powdered milk products has now been transferred to the Ministry of Industry and Trade instead of the Ministry of Finance as previously, in line with the Government’s Decree No. 149/2016 that took effect early this month. However, experts said it is likely authorities will lift the ceiling prices as some signals biased towards the removal of the decision appeared last year. Last May, in a working meeting with U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman, Minister of Finance Dinh Tien Dung pledged to consider lifting the price caps in July 2016, half a year earlier than planned by the Finance Ministry in its previous decision. Milk price control in Vietnam was one of the issues Froman raised at the meeting, which was among a series of events held during U.S. President Barack Obama’s three-day Vietnam visit. Finally, for some reason, the price caps on the products had still been maintained, but the possibility of an extension is low. However, some milk firms said they do not care much about the extension or stoppage of the price caps after two and a half years of implementation. They have adapted to this price management policy despite their disagreement. Many enterprises have steadily grown again after a long period of falling sales and profits due to economic difficulties, dwindling purchasing power, and price ceilings. The decision imposing price ceilings on powdered milk products for children under six years old came into effect in June 1, 2014. It should have expired by the end of the second quarter of 2015, but the Finance Ministry twice extended it to December 31 last year. Access to credit tough for SMEs SMEs always find it hard to gain access to credit at banks, according to the Vietnam Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (VINASME). VINASME statistics showed around 55% of SMEs have difficulty accessing various credit support programs because they lack high-value assets as collateral, use outdated technology, and have low business efficiency. Moreover, the quality of management and human resources at SMEs is low, with 55.63% of SME owners having college education or below. Even those with university education or higher lack necessary knowledge of economics and corporate governance. They have a limited understanding of legal matters and international business practices. Tran Buu Long, deputy director of the HCMC Credit Guarantee Fund, said fears of rejection had kept SMEs at bay since the fund requires them to have assets as collateral. Article 23 of Decision 58/2013/QD-TTg signed by the Prime Minister provides strict mortgage requirements, Long said. In particular, those seeking assistance from credit guarantee funds must use their existing or future assets as guarantees. The amount which SMEs in HCMC have not been able to repay is VND90 billion. Le Thi Kim Xuan, head of the Vietnam Banks Association’s representative office in HCMC, said many SMEs have found their hands tied due to their difficult business situations. The requirements for SMEs to access credit are stringent, she said. Becamex IDC opens int’l hospital in Binh Duong Becamex International Hospital was inaugurated in the southern province of Binh Duong last Friday with the number of beds amounting to over 1,000. In the first phase covering 5.3 hectares, the hospital has 300 beds with facilities imported from the U.S., the Netherlands and Japan. The project will be expanded to 12.7 hectares in the coming time. Nguyen Van Hung, chairman and CEO of Becamex IDC Corporation, the investor of the project, said the hospital aims to provide high-quality medical checkup and treatment services for locals and foreigners in Binh Duong and neighboring localities. Becamex International Hospital will also carry out scientific studies and provide medical training. NA sets up BOT supervision mission The Standing Committee of the National Assembly (NA) has just enacted a resolution on the establishment of a mission to supervise the implementation of policies and laws concerning BOT traffic works nationwide in 2011-2016. Vu Hong Thanh, member of the NA Standing Committee and chairman of the NA Economic Committee, will act as head of the supervision mission. One of the tasks for this supervision mission is to review and evaluate policies and laws that encourage the development and operation of traffic infrastructure projects in the form of build-operate-transfer (BOT). Besides, the mission will identify the achievements in the implementation of such policies and laws in 2011-2016, especially in the use of the State budget via government bonds to finance National Highway 1 and Ho Chi Minh Road in 2014-2016. In addition, the limitations and shortcomings of this process, along with their causes, should be figured out. The responsibilities of the Government, ministries, agencies, localities and individuals concerned should be clarified. The supervision mission will make proposals and recommendations for improving policies and laws regarding BOT traffic projects, as well as measures to better the implementation of such policies and laws. Also, they are responsible for perfecting other forms of investment, such as public-private partnership (PPP) and build-transfer (BT). Bodies subject to the supervision are the Ministry of Transport, Ministry of Planning and Investment, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Construction, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment and State Bank of Vietnam, together with the centrally-run cities and provinces where there are BOT traffic projects. Special focus will be on the owners of the transport projects in the form of BOT, lenders and management units in charge of such projects. However, according to the program, the mission may not conduct field fields. Specifically, they are responsible for urging the Government, ministries, agencies, localities and units to send reports on the content requested; receiving and examining the reports and documents submitted; summarizing the reports according to the approved outline; and asking for supplements (if necessary). The mission will work with the representatives of the Government and relevant agencies over such reports. Local NA delegations are in charge of supervision in their localities and report to the mission on the results in accordance with their specific requirements. Reportedly, the banking industry has given out a large sum for transport infrastructure, making up 85-90% of total investment capital in about 150 BOT and BT projects funded by banks. There are 96 BOT toll stations nationwide, expected to have risen to 102 by 2020 and 121 by 2030. Tax regulation puts auto importers under tenterhooks Auto importers are under tenterhooks due to a circular dated August 12 which imposes higher special consumption tax on imported cars that have been sold since July 1 last year. According to Circular 130 issued by the Ministry of Finance on August 12 last year, enterprises importing autos before July 1 last year but selling the products after that will have to pay higher special consumption tax as regulated in the Law 106/2016/QH13 amending and supplementing the laws on value-added tax, special consumption tax and tax management. In specifics, the special consumption tax is raised from 60% to 90% for passenger autos under nine seats with engine capacity of 3.0-4.0 liters. The tax rises from 55% to 110% for those with engine capacity of 4.0-5.0 liters, at 130% for autos of 5.0-6.0 liters, and 150% for those of more than 6.0 liters. Explaining the time to apply the tax, the Finance Ministry and the General Department of Taxation said the move was meant to prevent tax losses and fight trade fraud. Meanwhile, auto import enterprises said the tax regulation is unreasonable and puts them in a difficult position. Do Van Thuat, director of Long Quang Investment Co. Ltd, said enterprises have to build their business plans for a full year and that it takes three to six months to import an auto into Vietnam and 15-20 days to finish customs clearance procedures. Given those factors, it is reasonable when Circular 130 was issued on August 12 but imposes special consumption tax in retrospect on autos sold after July 1. “We had already signed contracts with customers half a year before and could not ask them to pay more. In order to comply with the circular, we will have to pay the tax using our own budget, which means the policy is biased against us,” he said. Nguyen Tuan, director of Thien An Phuc Company in Hanoi, recalled how Circular 20 of the Ministry of Industry and Trade on authorized distribution had caused 200 auto importers to stop operation, leaving only 30 in business, and now Circular 130 continues to hit car importers when some enterprises have had to pay tens of billions of dong for tax arrears. PM wants filmmaker equitization reviewed Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has told the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to review the equitization process at Vietnam Feature Film Studio although its share sales were completed in June last year. According to a document sent to the ministry, the review is to ensure that relevant parties had fulfilled their responsibilities in line with the prevailing regulations on stake sales and that investors had done what was committed. The Government recently held a meeting on land management during the equitization process of State-owned enterprises, including the filmmaker. The ministry is tasked with cooperating with the ministries of finance and science-technology and relevant agencies to calculate the company’s brand equity to increase the value of the State stake before the enterprise transforms itself into a joint stock concern. Vietnam Feature Film Studio launched its initial public offering (IPO) in June last year. According to the equitization plan approved by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the company had chartered capital of VND50 billion. The State holds a 20% stake, strategic investors 65%, employees 5% and other investors 10% after the IPO. The company had racked up losses of VND39.6 billion by end-September 2014. It is using an office covering 5,000 square meters on Thuy Khue Street in Hanoi, leasing a 900-square-meter office on Hoang Hoa Tham Street in the capital city and having two other land lots in Dong Anh District in Hanoi and Thai Van Lung Street in HCMC. However, they were excluded in the process of calculating the corporate value. Waterway Transport Corporation JSC (VIVASO) bought a 65% stake at VND10,200 each and became the strategic investor of Vietnam Feature Film Studio. VIVASO is 80% held by Van Cuong Construction United Co Ltd. HCMC budget revenues from crude oil seen declining Budget collections from crude oil exports in HCMC are expected to continue falling to VND12.4 trillion (US$546 million) this year, heard the city government’s conference on socio-economic tasks for 2017. Crude oil exports contributed VND22.98 trillion to the city’s budget in 2015. The figure dropped to VND15.5 trillion in 2016 and is forecast to plunge to VND12.4 trillion in 2017, or 68.13% of the 2016 estimate. The global oil glut will continue dampening prices this year. In contrast, import-export tax revenues reached VND156.5 trillion in 2015 and are projected to exceed VND226.48 trillion in 2017. Similarly, budget collections from domestic sources neared VND94 trillion in 2015 and are expected to increase to VND109 trillion this year. A representative of the HCMC Department of Finance said the city is allowed to retain only 18% of total shared revenue and this will mainly come from valued added tax, corporate income tax, environmental protection tax, personal income tax and special consumption tax. All budget collections from crude oil exports will go directly to the State budget. If its import-export tariff revenues are higher than the target, the city can keep the balance. Overall, the city looks to raise its budget revenues by 15.79% year-on-year to VND347.882 trillion in 2017. Meanwhile, budget spending by districts is estimated at VND70.647 trillion, including regular expenditures of VND34.2 trillion and investment projects of VND25.15 trillion. Budget overspending by districts is forecast to reach VND2.9 trillion. Speaking at the conference, Phan Thi Thang, director of the Finance Department, said the city government would take measures to meet the targets and would launch programs to back enterprises so as to create more sources of revenue. To realize the ambitious targets, the city’s economy should grow at least 8.4-8.7%. The city’s contribution to the State budget in 2017-2020 is the highest among the nation’s 63 provinces and cities. “The 2017 budget collection target is a tall order so the city must adopt strict measures to meet it,” Thang said. She proposed strengthening inspections into tax payments, fighting fraud and reviewing tax arrears to step up budget collections. In addition, the customs department should continue improving administrative procedures, cutting time needed for goods clearance and slashing fees and charges to support businesses. Thang said the city government would issue municipal bonds, use idle capital, ask for more official development assistance (ODA) loans and generate revenue from advertising on commuter buses. The city has set the GDP growth target of 8.4-8.7% in 2017 with total factor productivity (TFP) contributing 36% to economic growth, total investment in the economy accounting for 35% of GDP and 50,000 enterprises established, including those converted from household businesses. The poverty rate is projected to fall by 1.2%. The city looks to create 125,000 new jobs and reduce the unemployment rate to less than 4%. New houses are projected to amount to eight million square meters while all households will be able to gain access to running water and all of their solid waste will be treated. HCMC’s GDP last year soared to roughly VND1,024 trillion, an 8.05% pickup versus 2015. Its budget collections surpassed VND307.3 trillion. HCMC chairman Nguyen Thanh Phong said 2016 GDP growth was higher than the target and the livelihoods of residents improved. However, industrial wastewater was not treated properly and environmental pollution remained a headache. HCM City sees record 18 per cent credit growth Commercial banks in HCM City saw record credit growth of 18 per cent in 2016, according to the State Bank of Viet Nam (SBV). To Duy Lam, director of SBV’s HCM City Branch, said the city’s total credit balance reached VND1,457 trillion (US$64.09 billion) last year, with the production and business sector accounting for 78 per cent of the total. Commercial banks’ total deposits increased by 16 per cent over previous years, he said. In addition, a nationwide programme to connect commercial banks with enterprises under Government Resolution 35 achieved positive results. To date, 21,914 customers in the city have received loans with a total amount of VND281.216 trillion ($12.36 billion). In 2016, online banking services at commercial banks in the city continued to improve with the number of customers using the service surging by more than 54 per cent over 2015. This year, SBV’s HCM City Branch will continue guiding commercial banks in the city to improve credit growth safely and sustainably. SBV’s HCM City Branch plans to focus on providing loans for production and business fields, which will conform to credit growth regulations and credit growth targets, especially strict control credit for risky sectors such as stock, property and consumer credit. It aims to continue monitoring monetary and credit policies in 2017 to maintain stable inflation, achieve its credit growth target, facilitate economic growth, and remove obstacles for enterprises. Power projects mired in land-use discord Several contentious issues are dogging implementation of key projects managed by the Southern Power Management Board (SPBM), contradictory regulations and land evaluation and compensation rules that residents are not ready to accept. The board currently manages investments in 79 power projects that are designed to meet energy demands of 23 provinces and municipalities in the Southern region in the year 2016 and beyond. Also, the National Power Transmission Corporation (NPT), under the state-owned Việt Nam Electricity (EVN), has assigned SPBM the management of 220kV/550kV projects in the period 2016-2020 periods. Đoàn Tấn Phong, Director of SPMB, said the most persistent obstacle in the projects’ progress was land clearance and compensation issues, especially the delayed valuation of needed land in HCM City and Southeastern provinces. Nguyễn Hải Đăng, Head of SPBM’s Compensation Office, said land valuation was not easy since the projects span a vast area lying in different localities. According to Government’s Decree No.44/2014/NĐ-CP, farm land that falls within the power grid ‘safety corridor’ will not be eligible for compensation. However, Government’s Decree No.47/2014/NĐ-CP provides that in cases where land is not converted to other uses, but its usage will be seriously restricted, the compensation level will be decided by the provincial People’s Committee. This discrepancy leads to the fact that compensation for adjacent localities might vary greatly, and unfairly affected households are outraged. They complain and refuse to co-operate, further delaying the land clearance progress. For the 220kV or 500kV projects, many households have already received compensation, but refused to remodel their houses to follow power grid safety guidelines or flat out rejected compensation, demanding a bigger sum. The Compensation Office also acknowledges that the compensation for land areas claimed by the state for public or national defence purposes, including socio-economic development projects, is not “close to the market price,” which leads to very unhappy residents and further delays. “Besides, procedures for enforcement are really complicated, following strict legal provisions, and as a consequence, delay in land transfer for the projects is inevitable,” Đăng said. Other issues plaguing the clearance progress include the authorities’ simultaneous use of two types of topographies, unofficial land-use rights transfer between people, overlapping project zones, requiring adjustments to original plans. Until 2018, the Southern region will depend largely on the power provided by the power centres of Duyên Hải and Vĩnh Tân. If the thermal power stations Vĩnh Tân 1, Long Phú 1 and Sông Hậu 1, among others, start operating on time, power supply for the Southern region will be assured, experts say. This year, SPMB targets completion of 12 projects with 742.5km of electrical lines and 1,525MVA in combined substation capacity. Phong said the company had worked in close collaboration with local authorities to facilitate land clearance process. Problematic cases would be reported to EVN, Ministry of Industry and Commerce, and the Government for support and directives, especially in cases involving key projects. “We will also step up monitoring and supervising efforts from the very beginning in order to construction errors. All supervisors will be required to have proper qualification documents,” Phong said. Supervision of subcontractors’ work will be carried out in order to timely make any necessary adjustment, according to Phong. If subcontractors prove incapable, SPMB will administer heavy sanctions, terminate the contract and propose bans to prevent such subcontractors from participating in future projects. Regarding land clearance, SPBM has asked EVN to further promote information dissemination on land clearance compensation policies, and pay more attention to raising public awareness on the risks of keeping residential houses within the power grid’s ‘safety corridor’ so that people can understand and follow set guidelines. A policy concerning long-term training for the ‘compensation task force’ must be devised and implemented, to create a group of qualified people who are equipped with necessary knowledge and skills. In cases where enforcement cannot be carried out against private properties in the ‘safety corridor’ and households refuse to accept compensation, local forces will be tasked with protecting the status quo and preserve public order as the compensation task force carries out their duties. According to the board, provincial authorities must implement measures to better manage land resources and frequently update project plans in areas under their jurisdiction to ensure consistency and avoid overlapping between local and national projects. Improved quality boosts export of fruit, vegetables Vietnam’s fruit and vegetable export in 2016 hit 2.4 billion USD, representing an increase of 30 percent from 2015 and exceeding the year target of 2.2 billion USD set by the Ministry of Industry and Trade. According to the Vietnam Fruit and Vegetables Association, the result was attributable to efforts to seek new markets and keep traditional markets. In 2016, five types of fruits gained entry to four new markets - mangoes to Australia, dragon fruits to Taiwan (China), longans and lychees to Thailand and cashew to Peru, thus expanding the market for Vietnam’s fruit and vegetable to more than 60 countries and territories. China continues to be the largest market for Vietnam’s fruits and vegetables, accounting for around 70 percent, followed by the Republic of Korea, the United States and Japan. Bui Sy Doanh, from the Department of Plant Protection under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, said the department would continue stepping up negotiations on technical barriers to help more Vietnamese fruits and vegetables enter selective markets like the US, Japan and Australia. In 2017, Vietnam hopes to win import approval of Australia for its dragon fruits, approval of Japan for red-flesh dragon fruits and that of the US for star apples. Nguyen Huu Dat from the Vietnam Fruit and Vegetables Association emphasized the need to further improve post-harvest preservation and processing technologies to meet demands for quality and diverse products in foreign markets. Quality crucial for domestic products to retain market Improving quality will be key for made-in-Vietnam products to keep its market share in the face of increasingly fierce competition from imports, according to a trade official. Nguyen Thi Thu Trang, Director of the World Trade Organisation and Integration Centre of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry, made the warning, adding that if domestic manufacturers fail to capitalize on their advantages in transport costs and tax, they may lose market share to imported products. However, the Ministry of Industry and Trade was of the view that there is only a small possibility that import products can replace made-in-Vietnam products on the market, at least in the near future. The ministry said that import products are mostly marketed by modern retail forms like shopping malls, supermarkets and convenience stores, which account for just between 25 and 30 percent of Vietnam’s retail market. The remaining market share is still dominated by traditional retail forms like markets, grocery stores and specialised stores, which are mostly owned by local retailers. Those retailers continue to rely on made-in-Vietnam products, which are cheaper thanks to lower expenses on transport and procedures, lower tax, and advantages in products’ freshness. Trade ministry strives to meet surging demand during Tet The Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) has directed its agencies and companies to stock up on goods to meet demand which is expected to surge during the upcoming Lunar New Year (Tet) festival. The Ministry’s Domestic Market Department reported that stockpiles of various consumer goods, ranging from confectionery, beverages to fresh food, increase by 10-15 percent from last year. Localities, enterprises and relevant agencies were asked to apply measures to ensure supply-demand balance, and bring goods to rural, mountainous and island areas, especially those hit hard by disasters. At the same time, the MoIT directed market management agencies of cities and provinces to crack down on smuggled and fake goods. In coordination with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), the Finance Ministry and the State Bank, the MoIT sent working teams to Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and the central provinces of Quang Binh and Nghe An to check preparations for the holiday, which is the most important one in a year for Vietnamese. According to the department, 44 out of 63 cities and provinces have devised plans for commodity stockpiles, 21 of them are conducting the market stabilisation programme by connecting businesses with credit organisation or offering interest rate subsidy for businesses to buy goods. The MoIT also partnered with the MARD and local governments to boost consumption of safe farm produce and inspect food hygiene. The two ministries have worked together to review supply-demand balance and devise solutions to ensure supply. Vietnam moves to improve equitisation transparency In a new move, the Government has announced the rate of State-ownership in firms that are set to be equitised, instead of fixing the rates by sectors as usual. It has also issued a list of 103 State-owned enterprises (SOEs) in which the State will hold a 100% stake and another 137 that will be equitised in the 2016-20 period. Among those that are to be equitised, the State will hold over 65% of the charter capital in four, and 50%-65% in 27, and below 50% in 106 SOEs. The State will retain full ownership in SOEs operating in sectors like national defence and security, nuclear power and money printing. The new lists and other provisions are contained in Decision No 58 issued on the very last day of 2016 to replace the Decision No 37/2014/QĐ-TTg dated June 18, 2014, and will take effect on February 15 this year. Dang Quyet Tien, deputy director of the Ministry of Finance’s Corporate Finance Department, welcomed the decision saying that it proves the Government’s determination to improve transparency and effectiveness of equitisation process. Tien said publicising names of the equitised companies with specific rates of State ownership would help avoid enterprises’ petitions for maintaining a higher rate of State ownership as had previously happened. Previously, the Government had only regulated the extent of State ownership rates by sector, not specific SOEs, leading to low divestment, Tien said. He said that the average divestment rate at SOEs is now 8%, meaning that the State still holds 92% of the firms’ charter capital after equitisation. SOEs are not willing to equitise because of leaders’ fears that they will be unemployed if controlling stakes fall in private hands, according to Tien. Besides, due to poor preparations for equitisation, private investors are not provided with enough information, and many stakes languish “on the shelves”. To ensure that the equitisation process benefits both the State and private investors, the Government would require better information disclosure by the SOEs and might lift the cap on the number of strategic shareholders so as to increase the number of bidders, Tiến said. Tiến also said that the Government would not rush to sell its stake at one time. Instead, the divestment would be divided into many phases, depending on the market situation. “I think the Vietnamese market is still small, so if we don’t have policies to attract foreign capital, it is difficult for us to reach the SOE equitisation targets,” he said. The Steering Committee for Enterprise Renovation and Development reported on December 28 that the Government had sold stakes in 55 enterprises in 2016, bringing the number of SOEs equitised in the 2011-16 period to 554. The 55 equitised enterprises were under the management of the ministries of National Defence, Industry and Trade, and Agriculture and Rural Development; the Vietnam Rubber Group; and the Vietnam Southern Food Corporation. As of now, the State has sold shares worth more than VND4.493 trillion (US$199.69 million) in book value for more than VND7.098 trillion (US$315.46 million). Local retailers must sell superior products to dominate market Vietnamese producers must improve product quality and make the most of their advantages so that imported goods don’t take over the market, the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry said. Currently, the chances of imported goods taking over the market are low. Foreign retailers in Vietnam are fighting for market share within modern retail models, while domestic retailers continue to dominate traditional retail mediums, Nguyen Thi Thu Trang, Director of the World Trade Organisation Centre of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said. Modern retail models such as shopping malls, supermarkets and convenience stores, which largely incorporate mixed-use retailing, account for 25% to 30% of the Vietnamese retail market, whereas 70% to 75% are traditional retail models such as wet markets, box stores and grocery stores. The main supply source for domestic retailers is local producers, who have advantages such as lower logistical cost because of smaller distances, cost benefits owing to the absence of import tariffs, and the opportunity to sell fresher products. So the chances of imported consumption goods overthrowing domestic products in the retail market is slim in the near future. However, there are worrying signs within the agricultural products and household goods sectors. For example, as of the end of 2016, Vietnam had spent US$365 million on import of vegetables and fruits from Thailand, almost twice the amount compared to the same period in 2015 (US$189 million). These imported Thai products are available both in large supermarkets and small retail stores all over Hanoi. Despite being sold at higher price than their Vietnamese and even Chinese counterparts, Vietnamese consumers are choosing Thai products. An employee of a fresh fruit store on Ba Trieu Street, Hanoi, said that it could be because the imported products look better and are packaged better, coupled with consumer xenophilia. The Ministry of Industry and Trade has amended several laws related to taxes, such as value added tax and special consumption tax, to help domestic businesses cope with price competition and work to improve product quality and their distribution network. These laws, however, also ensure that domestic producers are subject to the same taxes as foreign businesses importing products, to establish a fair ground. The ministry had also issued directions on the distribution of goods before the upcoming Tet (Lunar New Year), urging local authorities, businesses and agencies to actively monitor demands for goods and ready a steady supply before the shopping rush begins, in addition to careful selection of imports and close watch on frauds, with help from the agriculture and rural development ministry. FTAs sharpen Vietnam’s competitive edge The ASEAN Economic Community and free trade agreements have improved the competitiveness of Vietnam’s economy and businesses, said the Vice President of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Hoang Quang Phong. Reviewing the first year since Vietnam joined the ASEAN Economic Community, Phong said international economic integration has pressured Vietnam to reform its legislation and improve its investment environment. The Director of the WTO and Integration Center, Nguyen Thi Thu Trang said that the removal of tariff barriers in 9 ASEAN markets over the past year have opened ample opportunities for Vietnamese businesses. US, Switzerland buyers turning towards Vietnam gemstones The US, the world's largest diamond market by total dollar sales, is increasingly turning to coloured gemstones from Vietnam as its jewellery of choice, according to data compiled by Vietnam Customs. The US imported roughly US$283.63 million of cut coloured gemstones in the eleven months of last year leading up to December, allowing for Vietnam exports to jump by nearly 148% of the figure for the same eleven-month period in 2015. Meanwhile, exports to Switzerland, Europe's jewellery manufacturing hub, have also leapt upwards, touching an estimated US$329 million, making the Central European country the second largest market of Vietnam. The two countries collectively accounted for a 74.4% market share of the country’s exports, which tallied in at US$823.47 million for the January-November 2016 period, per Vietnam Customs figures. US trade ‘more important than ever’ to Vietnam Perhaps no country more than Vietnam will feel the effects of the demise of the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) in terms of diminished foreign direct investment and trade, says the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee. The 12-member TPP trade deal would have lifted the country’s US$193.6 billion economy— by some estimates as much as 11% in terms of gross domestic product over coming years. This results because the trade pact would have allowed for exporters operating within the borders of Vietnam to pay lower and in many cases no tariffs for shipping goods within the proposed TPP free trade region Transnational companies with operations in Vietnam that would have benefited tremendously include Siemens, Intel, Samsung Electronics, and major Japanese automakers besides US apparel and shoemakers. Though it now appears likely the TPP is down for the count and will not be resuscitated, HCM City, like the Vietnam Government, remains committed to continuing down the path of fully integrating the country’s economy, said Le Thanh Liem, vice chair of the Committee at a recent luncheon. At the meeting, Mr Liem reminded the audience that the decision to pull back from the TPP was made by the Government well prior to US President-elect Donald Trump’s announcement of his intention to withdraw. Since that decision was made, he noted, HCM City and the Government have actively pursued a robust trade agenda seeking independent bilateral and free-trade agreements with TPP signatory member countries and other regional trade blocs. They have also proceeded on a course to implement crucial reforms to improve the country’s business climate, train the country’s work forces and elevate the domestic sector’s competitiveness among other steps important for successful integration. On November 22, Trump said: “On trade, I am going to issue a notification of intent to withdraw from TPP, a potential disaster for our country [the US]. Instead, we will negotiate fair, bilateral trade deals that bring jobs and industry back on to American shores.” With respect to trade, Trump has made it clear the US will remain open for business and HCM City along with the Government welcomes new bilateral trade negotiations with open arms, said Mr Liem. The geopolitics of trade are in flux right now until both countries sit down at the table and hammer out a new bilateral trade agreement. From Vietnam’s point of view, we have positive demographics— we have comparative advantages in many segments of the economy that the US desires, added Mr Liem. We also have a highly appealing commercial and consumer market for US businesses, he noted. So though there is a lot of uncertainty, there is no cause for alarm or reason not to believe that a new bilateral trade agreement with the US would not hold great promise for the future. HCM City is as positive as ever on the prospects for enhanced trade, and believes the country is uniquely poised to take advantage of the current global economy. There's a window of opportunity open for us with the upcoming change in the US administration. The time is ripe for Vietnam and the US to partner for prosperity. It is our sincere hope, said Mr Liem, that Vietnam become an economic hub for the globe and a location of choice for business and investors directly contributing to job creation and middle-class prosperity. As we approach the upcoming new year, there is no reason not to be as thrilled about the country’s economic prospects for tomorrow as there was last year at this time, he concluded. Vinhomes Gardenia flexible apartments will heat up market Property developer Vingroup has introduced convertible apartments of two bedrooms and a space meant for flexible usage at A3, The Arcadia building in the Vinhomes Gardenia project. Priced reasonably but offering a high living standard and flexibility in interior designs, the apartments are expected to elicit special attention in the market. Earlier, one-bedroom apartments with a flexible space had proved very successful mid-2016. The flexible space can be converted into a third bedroom or a workroom, depending on the need of the house owner. Small-sized apartments with flexible space are garnering market attention, especially appealing to bachelors or nuclear families. With effect from December 15, the property developer is offering unprecedented attractive promotional offers such apartments. These include an interior decoration package worth VND120 million (US$5,350) and loan support programme. Buyers not desirous of availing the loan support programme will be eligible for a discount of up to 10 per cent. A single per cent discount will be offered to buyers of second apartment or those who convince their relatives or friends to buy an apartment. “A3, The Arcadia” is the only building with an indoor all-season swimming pool at the Vinhomes Gardenia. The building features urban living facilities, such as gyms, an outdoor swimming pool, a tennis course, Vinschool, kids’ playground, a supermarket and gardens. Vinhomes Gardenia is the first high-end urban area development of the Vingroup in the West of Ha Noi, designed by the world’s leading architecture consultancy firms, such as Singapore’s CPG and Canada’s West Green Design. Apartments in the A1, A2 and A1 The Arcadia, would be handed over to the owners by the end of 2017. Spanish PSH Group secures amusement park project in Thua Thien Hue On December 28, the People’s Committee of Thua Thien-Hue licensed PSH Group from Spain to develop Hue Amusement & Beach Park at Vinh Thanh and Vinh An communes of Phu Vang district. The VND1.06-trillion ($47.5 million) project will sport 1,000 four-star and five-star hotel rooms, 93 villas, and other facilities, such as a water park, a bird garden, a trade centre, and craft stores. It will be located on a land plot of 49.5 hectares. The construction works will start in the second quarter of 2017. The project is going to start operations in the second quarter of 2019 and is expected to make the city more attractive to tourists by providing a wide range of entertainment options. In 2016 the province has attracted a number of tourism projects. Names include Vinh Thanh-Vinh Xuan golf course project by BRG, Lap An Lagoon eco-tourism project by Bitexco, and Bach Ma luxury resort by Myway Hospitality. PSH Group (Grupo PSH) is headed by president Gregorio Pérez Saavedra, son of Gregorio Pérez Alonso, who founded the Sunrise Beach Hotels (SBH) brand—a leading hotel group in the Canary Islands, with nearly 10,000 beds and around 1,200 employees. In Vietnam, SBH has recently signed to manage and operate the Legenda Del Mediterraneo luxury resort, located on Lang Co beach, with a total area of 7.7 hectares and investment of VND700 billion ($31.4 million). Developed by Vietnamese company Vicoland, the project is expected to start operation in December 2017. SBH is also surveying the southern province of Binh Dinh to develop a luxury resort. Disbursement of housing stimulus on time The disbursement of the housing stimulus package, valued at VND30 trillion (US$1.4 billion) in preferential loans, will finish on schedule, according to the State Bank of Viet Nam (SBV). The disbursement of the housing stimulus package, valued at VND30 trillion (US$1.4 billion) in preferential loans, will finish on schedule, according to the State Bank of Viet Nam (SBV).– Photo realimes.vn SBV’s statistics showed that, as of the end of November, VND29.239 trillion had been disbursed, with outstanding loans remaining at VND24.116 trillion. The disbursement is now being hastened and will finish by the end of this month. The central bank said the housing stimulus package significantly contributed to the recovery of the property market, reducing stockpiles, removing difficulties for developers, as well as for the recovery of the economy. Of note, the package enabled more than 50,000 households to purchase affordable homes. Nearly 86 per cent of the preferential loan package was provided to buyers. Disbursements for buyers are to continue until the end of the year, though disbursements ended for developers on June 1. A total of VND5.395 trillion from the package was provided to developers. The housing stimulus package began on June 1, 2013, with the aim to encourage development and purchase social housing projects and affordable homes, providing impetus to the stagnant real estate sector. Disbursements from the package were previously scheduled to finish by June 1, but due to disappointing results the Government extended the deadline until the end of this year. After the VND30 trillion package, the property market was still awaiting new loan packages for social and affordable housing. In June, the Prime Minister decided upon a preferential lending interest rate of 4.8 per cent for social housing purchases, to be offered by the Bank for Social Policies by December 31. Although the deadline nears, preferential loans remained inaccessible due to the shortage in sources of capital. UPCoM listing by firms sees major shareholders sell out The Southern General Import-Export Joint Stock Company (SGIEC), a strategic shareholder in the Vietnam Seafood Corporation (SEA), made the decision to sell its stakes immediately after the latter listed on UPCoM on December 23. SGIEC has registered for selling 18.75 million shares of SEA, equivalent to 15 per cent of the company’s prescribed capital. If the transaction goes through, SGIEC would no longer be a SEA shareholder. The main reason for the separation is believed to be a difference of opinion between SGIEC and SEA’s state shareholder over developing a real estate project in downtown HCM City. Similarly, the Pacific Petroleum Transportation Joint Stock Company listed its shares on UPCoM on December 12. Immediately afterwards a major shareholder with a 10.13 per cent stake, PVI Asset Management Joint Stock Company, announced it would sell all its shares in Pacific. Not only are some big stakeholders selling out their shares but even parent companies are doing so from their subsidiaries. For instance, the Song Da 5 Joint Stock Company has decided to sell 13.2 million shares, or 88 per cent of the legal capital of its subsidiary, Song Chay Hydro Power Company, after the later listed on UPCoM. Some State agencies too are doing this. The People’s Committee of the northern mountainous province of Lang Son recently registered for a second time to sell more than 2.2 million shares of the Lang Son Water Drainage and Supply Joint Stock Company, which will reduce its ownership from 95.05 per cent to 51 per cent. After the company listed on UPCoM in late July the People’s Committee had once tried to sell its shares, but in vain. Analysts said the rush to disinvest is caused by a desire to restructure investments to improve their effectiveness. Besides, many investors looking to pull out are simply taking advantage of the fact that many companies are listing on UPCoM and hoping to get better prices for their shares. It is benefiting the market by increasing liquidity and its sheer size by increasing the free float of shares. VEF/VNA/VNS/VOV/SGT/SGGP/Dantri/VET/VIR |
↧
Article 0
2016 - the year of startups Startups and the ‘entrepreneurial spirit’ were talked about more than ever before in 2016.  Government, international institutions, investors show interest The government of Vietnam chose 2016 as the entrepreneurship year, while the project on supporting a startup ecosystem by 2025 was approved by the Prime Minister. At least 2,000 startup projects would receive support. In June 2016, Deputy PM Vuong Dinh Hue commented at a big conference that Vietnam had taken a strong step in the path of entrepreneurship. However, he noted that Vietnamese startups are still facing big difficulties in capital arrangement. He suggested establishing a stock market specifically reserved for startups, assigning the State Securities Commission to draw up the plan.
The government also took action in an effort to encourage the ‘entrepreneurial spirit’. Article No 292 of the 2015 Criminal Code on providing illegal services on computers and telecommunication networks was removed, allowing startups to proceed when carrying out experiments with software products or online services. In 2016, the Vietnamese startup community had a golden opportunity to meet and talk with US President Obama during his official visit to Vietnam in mid-year. Startups receive huge investments The year saw a series of startups receiving huge investments. These included MoMo, a e-wallet which successfully called for $28 million, GotIt $9 million and Vntrip $3 million. Some other projects reportedly received similar amounts of capital, though they did not reveal the investment capital. The investments came from famous investors in Silicon Valley, venture funds in Asia and from funds in Vietnam. Many projects have become well known as they won international prizes, such as Elsa the app for learning English, which defeated 1,200 rivals to win the SXSWedu competition. Meanwhile, Monkey Junior got a gold prize for the best startup at Asean ICT Awards. In late 2016, the public was stirred up by the news that DesignBold had a record revenue of VND3 billion just after two weeks in the market. It was listed by many prestigious websites as one of the most excellent design tools. In 2016, a Vietnamese media startup – Bigcat – was bought by foreign investors at a price of up to $1 million. Vietnam also saw some failures in 2016. In August 2016, Lingo.vn, an e-commerce website, officially stopped its operation. One month later, the startup’s fanpage showed information that it had to stop operation because of the investors. Dao Chi Anh, the founder of The KAfe, had to leave the beverage chain after receiving investment from foreign investors. Most recently, Vntrip.vn denounced Agoda, a foreign service provider doing business in Vietnam, of evading tax. MOF has been asked to reconsider the denouncement and give an exact answer prior to January 12. Kim Chi, VNN |
↧
Article 1
Pocketing hundreds of million USD, foreign websites don’t pay tax in Vietnam Agoda.com, Booking.com, Hotels.com, Expedia.com and similar websites are believed to be pocketing trillions of dong from doing business in Vietnam, but they have not paid any dong in tax.  Trung and family members, for example, spent a trip to Thailand in mid-October 2016. They booked hotel rooms via Agoda.com, avwebsite well known to many Vietnamese travelers. Trung said he made a mistake when booking rooms and he called Agoda.com on the hot line shown on the website. This was a phone number registered in Thailand, but Trung still could receive guidance in Vietnamese to change the booking. Agoda is not the only foreign website which does business and makes money in Vietnam. Booking.com, a website owned by Priceline Group, Expedia.com & Hotels.com belonging to Expedia and the room leasing service via Airbnb have also been present in Vietnam.
Some travel firms said that websites can earn big money of up to trillions of dong in Vietnam. Agoda reportedly receives commission of 10-25 percent from hotels and is believed to hold the largest market share. An expert estimates that Agoda alone can get revenue of VND4.5 trillion a year in Vietnam, or $200 million. And this amount of money is also profit it can make, because it doesn’t pay tax for revenue. Le Dac Lam, general director of Vietnam Trip, warned that if the state does not apply necessary measures to collect tax from the websites, it would lose up to VND10 trillion in tax revenue by 2020. Lam complained that this is unfair for Vietnamese businesses that foreign websites don’t have to pay tax. “The State wants Vietnamese businesses to become stronger and more competitive in the world market, but it doesn’t have necessary methods to protect Vietnamese businesses from unhealthy competition,” he said. It is estimated that 850,000 Vietnamese travel Thailand each year and spend $53 million to book hotel rooms via internet. V.K, who leases his rooms on Airbnb, said he prefers posting advertising for room rent on foreign websites because of the convenience. In general, he pays commission of 10 percent to Airbnb. As for TripAdvisor, he would pay 12-13 percent if the revenue is over $400. V.K admitted that the taxation agency has not asked him to pay tax. A senior official of the General Department of Taxation admitted that it is difficult to ‘track down’ Agoda’s steps in Vietnam to force it to pay tax, because Agoda still has not set up business in Vietnam. Lawyer Truong Thanh Duc, arbitrator at the Vietnam International Arbitration Center, suggested applying the contractor tax, i.e. the taxation body will collect withholding tax from the partners of the websites in Vietnam. Thanh Mai, VNN |
↧
Article 0
Vietnam health ministry to inspect Masan Food after fish sauce arsenic scandal The Vietnamese Ministry of Health is poised to put two major fish sauce makers, Masan Food and Khai Hoan JSC, through a complete inspection next month, not long after a ‘toxic fish sauce’ scandal unnerved local consumers.  A shopper walks past a shelf full of Masan Food fish sauces at a Fivimart outlet in Hanoi.Tuoi Tre The inspection is scheduled for after the Lunar New Year holiday, which begins on January 28 and lasts for one week, it said on Wednesday. Masan Food, a subsidiary of private consumer giant Masan Group, is considered a dominant force in Vietnam’s fish sauce market with its Chin-su and Nam Ngu brands. Khai Hoan JSC, headquartered on the southern island of Phu Quoc, is known for its Ong Ky Fish Sauce trademark. Masan Food is also behind Tam Thai Tu, a soya sauce brand, and instant noodle brands Omachi and Tien Vua. An official from the health ministry's inspectorate told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper that the inspection order also applies to subsidiaries of the two companies, bringing the real number of fish sauce makers expected to be inspected to more than ten. The health inspectorate did not elaborate on why they chose to start the New Year by examining the fish sauce companies, though a recent high-profile scandal involving the safety of traditional Vietnamese fish sauce is still fresh in the minds of the public. In October 2016, the Vietnam Standards and Consumers Association (Vinastas) announced that it had tested fish sauce samples from 88 local businesses and found that nearly 85 percent were above the national limits for “total arsenic content.” While arsenic exists in organic and inorganic form, only the latter is toxic - a detail intentionally withheld from the Vinastas report which left consumers unaware of the difference between “total arsenic” and “inorganic arsenic,” panicking them and the whole industry. The survey results were later identified as misleading and the cause of false fears among the public. Vinastas made a public apology and rectified the false information. The false claims in the report also tricked fifty news outlets into running stories about unsafe fish sauce, scaring local consumers who use traditionally made fish sauce rich in organic arsenic on a daily basis. A controversial ad published by Thanh Nien (Young People) newspaper, an outlet which also ran misleading stories and surveys which fueled public fear, stated that the mass-produced Chin-su and Nam Ngu sauces were safe in terms of arsenic content. It was later confirmed that T&A Ogilvy JVC Ltd. commissioned Vinastas to carry out the survey. In the aftermath of the scandal, Thanh Nien was fined VND200 million (US$8,929), while the other 49 media outlets were fined between VND10 million ($446) and VND50 million ($2,232). After the fish sauce companies, the health inspectors will continue to look into major dietary supplement producers. Last year they inspected four leading beverage makers, Coca-Cola Vietnam, Suntory PepsiCo Vietnam Beverage, Wonderfarm and URC Vietnam Co. Ltd., and imposed fines totalling more than VND6 billion ($267,857) for several production violations. TUOI TRE NEWS |
↧
↧
Article 2
BUSINESS IN BRIEF 6/1 SBV asked to support prioritised sectors  Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has directed the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) to prioritise capital for sectors with great contributions to economic growth, export, and employment such as hi-tech agriculture, and small and medium-sized enterprises. Addressing a SBV conference in Hanoi on January 5 to launch 2017 tasks, the PM asked large banks to help businesses reduce cost, while requesting commercial banks to develop preferential credit packages for hi-tech agriculture or a type of business needed support like tourism and aviation. He highlighted that the banking sector plays as a blood artery of the economy, hailing its significant contributions the nation’s socio-economic growth in 2016. By the end of 2016, the sector fulfilled all monetary targets set earlier. Total means of payment increased 17.88%, while total mobilized capital rose 18.38% over 2015. Inflation was basically reined in, and kept at 1.87%, contributing to maintaining the yearly CPI at 4.74%, fulfilling the set target of keeping the figure less than 5% as set by the National Assembly. Liquidity of the banking system was ensured, while the inter-baking system operated smoothly. After a rise of 0.2-0.3% in the first three months of 2014, the deposit interest rate was stable from April. Especially, a number of credit institutions even downed the annual deposit interest rate by 0.3-0.5% and lending interest rate by 0.5-1% per annum for prioritised sectors from September. The PM lauded the central bank’s flexible and active management over monetary policies, attributing the success in keeping the inflation rate under 5% to the sound enactment of policies on managing State-managed goods prices and monetary governance policies. The central bank’s prompt and suitable response also helped maintain macro-economic stability and ensure the operation of the system, he said. However, the PM also pointed out a number of problems in banking activities, including high interest rate, high poor performing loans as well as poor performance of the system in tackling those loans. The PM also voiced his concern about black market credits, especially in rural area, asking the SBV and localities to urgently co-work in communication activities for locals to gain thorough understanding. He stressed that macro-economic stability continues a major task in 2017 and requested the SBV to take the pioneer role in implementing the goal by keeping inflation at under 4% and contributing to accomplishing the GDP growth target of 6.7%. Along with managing the monetary policy in a flexible, proactive, and careful manner and closely following market fluctuations, the SBV should work to maintain the stability of the foreign exchange and gold markets, while increasing foreign currency reserve and maintaining the value of Vietnamese dong, he said. The PM also asked the bank to improve the transparency of interest rates, while completing institutions and legal frameworks to better support the restructuring of credit organisations and ensuring safety for the banking system. The SBV was also asked to coordinate closely with media agencies to popularise the monetary and macro-economic policies of the Party and State. Trade with UK continues to grow after Brexit Vietnam exporters shipments to the UK jumped 4.7% year-on-year to US$4.43 billion for the 11 months leading up to December 2016, showing Brexit had minimal impact on trade, Vietnam Customs has reported. Telephones and components topped among export items to the UK tallying in at US$1.69 billion (up 7.3%), followed by garments with US$645.74 million (up 2.2%) and footwear with US$563.64 million (down 10.7%). Products with high export growth included metals (up 149% to US$16.72 million), fruit and vegetables (up 47%), machines, equipment and tools (up 41.3%) and rubber (up 44.1%). The UK has historically been one of the largest export markets in the EU for companies operating in Vietnam, said Vietnam Customs. Vietnam's economy predicted fast growth Foreign economists say that Vietnam will continue to be an economic growth highlight in Southeast Asia. Malaysia’s online newspaper, The Star, wrote that Vietnam will maintain its high growth rate in 2017. The licensing of big companies, such as Samsung Electronics Co, has turned Vietnam into an electronics exporter. The Asia Development Bank (ADB) forecasts Vietnam’s economic growth rate this year at 6.3%. Frederic Neumann, Co-head of Asian Economics and Managing Director of HSBC Hongkong (China) said Vietnam would enjoy fast growth in the next few years and expand its global export market. Bloomberg reported that shares in Vietnamese companies are valued higher than other Southeast Asian companies. It’s time for foreign companies to invest in Vietnam as the Vietnamese government has accelerated the equitization of state-owned enterprises. Viettel waives roaming fee for Indochinese country Roaming fees will no longer be applied in Cambodia and Laos to mobile subscribers of Viettel and its subsidiaries. Subscribers of Viettel in Vietnam, Metfone in Cambodia, and Unitel in Laos, all of which are managed by Vietnamese military-run telecom giant Viettel Group, will now only pay domestic fees for phone calls, text messages, and data service for using any of the three networks, regardless of their location within the Indochinese region. Indochina is a geographical term referring to Southeast Asian countries Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos, each of which was a French colony. Specifically, Viettel users in Vietnam will be charged VND2,000 (US$0.09) per minute and VND500 (US$0.02) per text message when calling or texting Unitel or Metfone numbers. The same rates apply to Viettel subscribers who travel to Laos or Cambodia and roam into Unitel or Metfone networks, and vice versa. The previous roaming charges on the network of VND4,840 (US$0.22) per minute for receiving international phone calls have also been waived by the mobile network provider. Viettel’s roaming data now cost VND200,000 (US$8.93) per gigabyte instead of the previous VND32.2 million (US$1,438) per gigabyte. Over two million Viettel subscribers frequent Laos and Cambodia, but only 0.5% (nearly 10,000) use its roaming service, according to the company’s statistics. Toyota Motor Vietnam introduces new president and vice president Toyota Motor Vietnam (TMV) on Monday introduced its new management board including Toru Kinoshita as president and Do Thu Hoang as vice president. The two succeeded Yoshihisa Maruta, former president, and Doan Thi Yen, former vice president, who had wrapped up their four-year term in the company (2013- 2016). Toru Kinoshita, who was born in Fukuoka, Japan in 1964, graduated from Kyushu University, and joined Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) in 1988. Since then, he has taken up many important positions in TMC. Meanwhile, Do Thu Hoang, a 48-year-old Hanoi native, graduated from the National Economics University and experienced some jobs before joining Vietnam Engine and Agricultural Machinery Corporation (VEAM) in 2009. Toru Kinoshita said in an induction ceremony that, “as a developing country, Vietnam is changing day by day, more modern and urbanized. But there is something unchanged in my feeling, that’s the friendliness of Vietnamese and the charming natural beauty of the country. “I’m very happy and encouraged to start my new assignment with such a firm foundation and big support and friendship from all of you. I also understand there will be many challenges ahead, but with your precious support and cooperation I commit that I devote all my effort to contribute to the development of TMV, automobile industry and society.” Hanoi sets export growth target at 5% The capital city plans a 4%-5% export growth compared with last year. The ambitious target was set despite difficulties faced by key export products, such as electronics, agricultural products, textiles and garments, due to the negative impact of reduced global consumption and the shock waves of Brexit on the European economy, which is a large export market for Vietnam. According to the Hanoi Statistics Department, although the city made efforts to increase exports last year, they only reached US$10.6 billion in 2016, a year-on-year increase of 1.5%, far from the target growth rate of 7%-8%. The export of computer components and peripheral devices earned US$1.29 billion, 2.7% less compared with 2015. The department’s director, Le Hong Thang, attributed the drop in export turnover to the adjustment of the VND/US dollar exchange rate and the euro, yen and yuan were devalued by 18%, 17% and 8%, respectively, to stimulate export and minimise import. Thăng said this had raised the price of raw materials and reduced consumption in the city’s export markets. Although banks lowered loan interest rates to 8%, they were still 2-4 times higher than loan rates in competing export countries. Under fierce competition pressure in the context of globalisation and with the participation in free trade agreements (FTA), only capable businesses will be able to maintain operations. This is also an opportunity to wipe out weak companies, Thang said. According to experts, exports from Vietnam and its capital city will continue experiencing difficulties this year, but companies that take advantages of the FTAs with the Republic of Korea, the EU and the Eurasian Economic Union, will have an opportunity to increase trade growth. Tran Thanh Hai, deputy head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade’s Export-Import Department, said that in order to maximise FTA advantages, businesses must seek out bigger market shares of their goods. Under the export plan for the 2016-20 period, with a vision to 2025, the city’s industry and trade sector will strengthen promotion activities, provide businesses with more information on markets and export products, Hai said. The city will open training courses for businesses to inform them of policies and regulations in Vietnam and other countries in the world. The information is designed to meet international commitments and overcome trade barriers. The decisive factor in increasing competition capacity is applying advanced technologies, which will help business improve goods and service quality and reduce costs, said Hai. More efforts urged to reorganise shrimp industry According to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP) in 2016 Vietnam’s shrimp exports revenue reached US$3.1 billion, a year-on-year increase of nearly 4%. Despite that significant growth, the shrimp industry has revealed a number of weaknesses and shortcomings. The most worrying was the situation of chemical inputs into shrimp, which caused negative impact on the quality and credibility of export shrimp products from Vietnam. In 2016, in three provinces of Bac Lieu, Ca Mau and Kien Giang, responsible agencies have detected nearly 100 pumping contaminants cases, a two-fold increase year-on-year. Many businesses even raise investment in machinery to pump a large quantity of chemicals. In addition, the shortage of electricity for production made many farmers use generators, pushing production costs while reducing the competitiveness of shrimp products. In particular, shrimp farming areas have revealed many shortcomings in planning and infrastructure, causing low yields and outputs. Specifically, in many areas, the irrigation systems are being used for both aquacultural production and agricultural production, leading to water pollution caused by plant protection products. Meanwhile, supervision of breeding shrimp production, as well as disease and environmental management, has yet to keep pace with the development of production. Many localities have not even allocated funds for environmental monitoring and disease prevention for aquaculture breeding areas. This is also one of the reasons for the fact that in 2016, the entire Mekong Delta region saw more than 190 thousand hectares of shrimp deaths from natural disasters and epidemics, causing heavy losses to farmers and reducing the source of raw shrimps for exports. It is required that the shrimp industry must be reorganised from production and processing to exports. Deputy Prime Minister, Trinh Dinh Dung had a recent working session with provincial leaders of Bac Lieu, Ca Mau, Soc Trang, Kien Giang and Tra Vinh on plans and strategies to foster the development of the sector, towards building a trademark for Vietnamese shrimp. It is also necessary that coastal localities, especially those specialising in farming shrimp, enhance cooperation in producing brackish water shrimp in order to improve product quality. At the same time, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has designed a plan to monitor the production chain of safe shrimp for export, aiming to develop shrimp farms to the standards of the World Organisation for Animal Health and countries importing the product. The People’s Committees of major shrimp producing localities have been asked to make plans and allocate capital for the application of measures to prevent shrimp diseases, to create low-risk areas and shrimp farms with production chain compliant safety requirements. It is set that until the end of 2017, at least 10% of breeding shrimp farms producing over 1 billion post-larval shrimps each year will be recognised as safe farms. The plan also sets a goal of at least one farm recognised to have a production chain meeting OIE safety standards. The regulations of OIE and importing countries will also be popularised among enterprises, along with guidelines to reach the standards. Shrimp breeding is not only considered a key export product in recent years, but also has brought higher income for farmers and created many jobs. Therefore, focusing on productivity and quality to enhance value for this sector is one of the pressing needs in the process of restructuring the fisheries sector. Vietnam health ministry to inspect Masan Food The Vietnamese Ministry of Health is poised to put two major fish sauce makers, Masan Food and Khai Hoan JSC, through a complete inspection next month, not long after a ‘toxic fish sauce’ scandal unnerved local consumers. The inspection is scheduled for after the Lunar New Year holiday, which begins on January 28 and lasts for one week, it said on January 4. Masan Food, a subsidiary of private consumer giant Masan Group, is considered a dominant force in Vietnam’s fish sauce market with its Chin-su and Nam Ngu brands. Khai Hoan JSC, headquartered on the southern island of Phu Quoc, is known for its Ong Ky Fish Sauce trademark. Masan Food is also behind Tam Thai Tu, a soya sauce brand, and instant noodle brands Omachi and Tien Vua. An official from the health ministry's inspectorate told Tuoi Tre(Youth) newspaper that the inspection order also applies to subsidiaries of the two companies, bringing the real number of fish sauce makers expected to be inspected to more than ten. The health inspectorate did not elaborate on why they chose to start the New Year by examining the fish sauce companies, though a recent high-profile scandal involving the safety of traditional Vietnamese fish sauce is still fresh in the minds of the public. In October 2016, the Vietnam Standards and Consumers Association (Vinastas) announced that it had tested fish sauce samples from 88 local businesses and found that nearly 85% were above the national limits for “total arsenic content.” While arsenic exists in organic and inorganic form, only the latter is toxic - a detail intentionally withheld from the Vinastas report which left consumers unaware of the difference between “total arsenic” and “inorganic arsenic,” panicking them and the whole industry. The survey results were later identified as misleading and the cause of false fears among the public. Vinastas made a public apology and rectified false information. The false claims in the report also tricked fifty news outlets into running stories about unsafe fish sauce, scaring local consumers who use traditionally made fish sauce rich in organic arsenic on a daily basis. A controversial ad published by Thanh Nien (Young People) newspaper, an outlet which also ran misleading stories and surveys which fueled public fear, stated that the mass-produced Chin-su and Nam Ngu sauces were safe in terms of arsenic content. It was later confirmed that T&A Ogilvy JVC Ltd. commissioned Vinatas to carry out the survey. In the aftermath of the scandal, Thanh Nien was fined VND200 million (US$8,929), while the other 49 media outlets were fined between VND10 million (US$446) and VND50 million (US$2,232). After the fish sauce companies, the health inspectors will continue to look into major dietary supplement producers. Last year they inspected four leading beverage makers, Coca-Cola Vietnam, Suntory PepsiCo Vietnam Beverage, Wonderfarm and URC Vietnam Co. Ltd., and imposed fines totalling more than VND6 billion (US$267,857) for several production violations. Another hydroelectric plant ready to connect with national grid The Krong No 2 hydroelectric plant will be inaugurated on January 7, according to the Trung Nam Group – the project’s investor. Located in Da Tong commune, Dam Rong District, the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong, the plant has total investment of 2,017 billion VND (equivalent to 89 million USD). With a designed capacity of 30MV, the plant will provide 105.8 million kWh to the national gird a year. The Trung Nam Group has invested in numerous energy projects including the 70-MW Dong Nai 2 hydroelectric plant and the Trung Nam wind power farm in Ninh Thuan province. Vietnam moves to improve equitisation transparency In a new move, the Government has announced the rate of State-ownership in firms that are set to be equitised, instead of fixing the rates by sectors as usual. It has also issued a list of 103 State-owned enterprises (SOEs) in which the State will hold a 100 percent stake and another 137 that will be equitised in the 2016-20 period. Among those that are to be equitised, the State will hold over 65 percent of the charter capital in four, and 50-65 percent in 27, and below 50 percent in 106 SOEs. The State will retain full ownership in SOEs operating in sectors like national defence and security, nuclear power and money printing. The new lists and other provisions are contained in Decision No 58 issued on the very last day of 2016 to replace the Decision No 37/2014/QĐ-TTg dated June 18, 2014, and will take effect on February 15 this year. Dang Quyet Tien, deputy director of the Ministry of Finance’s Corporate Finance Department, welcomed the decision saying that it proves the Government’s determination to improve transparency and effectiveness of equitisation process. Tien said publicising names of the equitised companies with specific rates of State ownership would help avoid enterprises’ petitions for maintaining a higher rate of State ownership as had previously happened. Previously, the Government had only regulated the extent of State ownership rates by sector, not specific SOEs, leading to low divestment, Tien said. He said that the average divestment rate at SOEs is now 8 per cent, meaning that the State still holds 92 per cent of the firms’ charter capital after equitisation. SOEs are not willing to equitise because of leaders’ fears that they will be unemployed if controlling stakes fall in private hands, according to Tien. Besides, due to poor preparations for equitisation, private investors are not provided with enough information, and many stakes languish “on the shelves”. To ensure that the equitisation process benefits both the State and private investors, the Government would require better information disclosure by the SOEs and might lift the cap on the number of strategic shareholders so as to increase the number of bidders, Tien said. Tien also said that the Government would not rush to sell its stake at one time. Instead, the divestment would be divided into many phases, depending on the market situation. “I think the Vietnamese market is still small, so if we don’t have policies to attract foreign capital, it is difficult for us to reach the SOE equitisation targets,” he said. The Steering Committee for Enterprise Renovation and Development reported on December 28 that the Government had sold stakes in 55 enterprises in 2016, bringing the number of SOEs equitised in the 2011-16 period to 554. The 55 equitised enterprises were under the management of the ministries of National Defence, Industry and Trade, and Agriculture and Rural Development; the Vietnam Rubber Group; and the Vietnam Southern Food Corporation. As of now, the State has sold shares worth more than 4.493 trillion VND (199.69 million USD) in book value for more than 7.098 trillion VND (315.46 million USD). SBV asked to support prioritised sectors Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has directed the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) to prioritise capital for sectors with great contributions to economic growth, export, and employment such as hi-tech agriculture, and small and medium-sized enterprises. Addressing a SBV conference in Hanoi on January 5 to launch 2017 tasks, the PM asked large banks to help businesses reduce cost, while requesting commercial banks to develop preferential credit packages for hi-tech agriculture or a type of business needed support like tourism and aviation. He highlighted that the banking sector plays as a blood artery of the economy, hailing its significant contributions the nation’s socio-economic growth in 2016. By the end of 2016, the sector fulfilled all monetary targets set earlier. Total means of payment increased 17.88 percent, while total mobilized capital rose 18.38 percent over 2015. Inflation was basically reined in, and kept at 1.87 percent, contributing to maintaining the yearly CPI at 4.74 percent, fulfilling the set target of keeping the figure less than 5 percent as set by the National Assembly. Liquidity of the banking system was ensured, while the inter-baking system operated smoothly. After a rise of 0.2-0.3 percent in the first three months of 2014, the deposit interest rate was stable from April. Especially, a number of credit institutions even downed the annual deposit interest rate by 0.3-0.5 percent and lending interest rate by 0.5-1 percent per annum for prioritised sectors from September. The PM lauded the central bank’s flexible and active management over monetary policies, attributing the success in keeping the inflation rate under 5 percent to the sound enactment of policies on managing State-managed goods prices and monetary governance policies. The central bank’s prompt and suitable response also helped maintain macro-economic stability and ensure the operation of the system, he said. However, the PM also pointed out a number of problems in banking activities, including high interest rate, high poor performing loans as well as poor performance of the system in tackling those loans. The PM also voiced his concern about black market credits, especially in rural area, asking the SBV and localities to urgently co-work in communication activities for locals to gain thorough understanding. He stressed that macro-economic stability continues a major task in 2017 and requested the SBV to take the pioneer role in implementing the goal by keeping inflation at under 4 percent and contributing to accomplishing the GDP growth target of 6.7 percent. Along with managing the monetary policy in a flexible, proactive, and careful manner and closely following market fluctuations, the SBV should work to maintain the stability of the foreign exchange and gold markets, while increasing foreign currency reserve and maintaining the value of Vietnamese dong, he said. The PM also asked the bank to improve the transparency of interest rates, while completing institutions and legal frameworks to better support the restructuring of credit organisations and ensuring safety for the banking system. The SBV was also asked to coordinate closely with media agencies to popularise the monetary and macro-economic policies of the Party and State. Thua Thien-Hue province targets12-percent rise in exports The central province of Thua Thien-Hue aims to earn 800 million USD from exports in 2017, a year-on-year increase of 11.58 percent. The locality will diversify export commodities and seek new markets to attain the target, according to Director of the provincial Department of Industry and Trade Nguyen Thanh. The province, which is part of the central key economic region, will also press ahead with solutions to remove obstacles to business growth, boost the export of processed and hi-tech products while gradually reducing the proportion of unprocessed goods in the export structure. It will also facilitate local exporters’ access to credit sources and encourage them to manufacture products that Thua Thien-Hue has strength in. In the textile and apparel field, which is a big foreign currency earner, the province is going to call on businesses to gradually switch to free-on-board (FOB) manufacturing instead of cut-make-trim (CMT), thereby improving export value and workers’ income, Thanh noted. Thua Thien-Hue raked in 717 million USD from exports in 2016, up 7.74 percent from the previous year. That consisted of 292 million USD of overseas shipments by domestic companies and 424 million USD made by foreign invested firms, respectively rising by 4.91 percent and 9.78 percent from a year earlier. Up to 65 percent of total shipments was contributed by garment exports, which hit a record of over 465 million USD last year, up 8.98 percent from 2015. This result was attributable to product diversification, increased FOB manufacturing, higher productivity, and better product quality. Meanwhile, fibre and textile exports brought home 117 million USD, climbing 18.89 percent and making up 16.32 percent of the province’s total shipments. Aquatic exports approximated 47 million USD last year, a year-on-year increase of 26.62 percent, data shows. Japanese consumer product fair opens in Hanoi The Japan Branding Consumer Product Outlet Fair kicked off in Hanoi on January 5 and will last through January 8. The event is organised by the Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO) and the Vietnam National Trade Fair and Advertising Company (Vinexad). Nearly 100 pavilions have been set up selling various kinds of products such as household utensils, garment, jewellery and healthcare and beauty care goods, decorations and souvenirs, and electric equipment. Other activities include a fashion show of Japanese traditional costume Kimono, Ikebana flowers arrangement, and street cuisine. Deputy head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade’s Domestic Market Department Le An Hai said the fair, the first of its kind in Hanoi, creates a good chance for Vietnamese and Japanese investors and businesses to forge connectivity. Chief Representative of JETRO Atsusuke Kawada said after successful trade and investment activities in Vietnam, Japanese investors and entrepreneurs have recognised the huge potential of the Southeast Asian country, especially its retail market. According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, as of early December 2016, Japan was the second biggest investor among over 100 nations and territories investing in Vietnam with 3,243 projects worth 42 billion USD. Two-way trade hit 27 billion USD in November 2016. Ha Nam target 56.5 trillion VND in 2017 industrial production The northern province of Ha Nam has set a target of 56.5 trillion VND (2.48 billion USD) in 2017 industrial production, a rise of 15.4 percent over 2016, heard a conference held by the provincial Department of Industry and Trade on January 5 to launch tasks for the new year. Besides, the province aims at total retail sale and service revenue of 19.1 trillion VND, up 18 percent from the previous year, and export value of 1.5 billion USD or 20 percent rise. According to Tran Van Son, Vice Director of the department, in order to fulfil the targets, the province will focus on boosting the growth of support industry, processing and manufacturing industries, laying firm foundation for the rapid and sustainable industrial development in the 2016-2025 period. Meanwhile, Ha Nam will implement a trade promotion programme towards 2020, while adjusting the planning of industry and trade for the 2011-2010 period with a vision to 2030, said Son. Son added that the local industry sector will coordinate with other departments, sectors and localities to improve State management capacity in industry and trade, while ensuring stable power supply for socio-economic activities, especially major projects and businesses. At the same time, Ha Nam will hold regular dialogues with the business community to tackle their difficulties, said Son, adding that the province will speed up administrative reform, improving working effectiveness and attitude of public servants and applying one-door mechanism in granting business licences. Addressing the conference, Vu Dai Thang, Vice Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee asked the industry sector to work harder to remove obstacles facing businesses to boost production, thus fulfilling and exceeding the set targets. The sector should create favourable conditions for underway and planned projects to increase industrial production, while strictly implementing commitments to investors, he requested. Thang also stressed the importance of careful selection projects to protect the environment, with priority given to high technology industry, support industry and industry serving agriculture. In 2016, Ha Nam enjoyed over 48.3 trillion VND in industrial production, a rise of 16.4 percent year on year, while its industrial production index rose 13.2 percent over the previous year. Total retail and service revenue of the province reached 16.5 trillion VND, up 16.7 percent year on year. Ha Nam also earned 1.25 billion USD in exports, a surge of 19.6 percent over 2015. SHTP aims for $600 million in investments in 2017 Saigon Hi-Tech Park has set a target to attract US$600 million in investment capital this year. Last year, SHTP granted investment licences to 17 projects with total registered investment capital of $666.43 million, 2.7 times higher than its target. Six of these projects were foreign-invested and had a combined registered investment capital of nearly $335 million. Last year, five operating projects registered, increasing investment by $95 million. As of today, SHTP has 107 valid projects worth more than $6.095 billion, of which local investors invested $1.48 billion in 67 projects. Export revenue from enterprises in the park was worth $7.19 billion, and more than $7.06 billion was spent to import materials, machinery and equipment. Exports are expected to reach $9 billion this year. Masan Consumer begins trading on UPCoM Masan Consumer, part of the Masan Group Corporation, was officially listed 538.1 million shares at VND90,000 per share (US$4.06) on Thursday on the Unlisted Public Company Market (UPCoM) of the Ha Noi Stock Exchange. The shares, traded under the code of MCH, rose 9 per cent to close the trade at VND98,072 a share, bringing its market capitalisation to more than $2.3 billion which has made its among few billion-dollar companies on the UPCoM. Created in 2003, Masan Consumer specialises in food and beverage products. Many of its brands are household names, such as Omachi, Kokomi, Chinsu, Vinacafe and Wake-up 247. Masan Consumer Holdings (MCH) is currently Masan Consumer’s chief stakeholder, with 93.76 per cent of the latter’s charter capital, equal to 504.6 million shares. Individual investors accounted for nearly 2 million shares, an equivalent of 0.37 per cent of the company’s charter capital. Masan Consumer’s capital had been recorded at VND5.381 trillion ($242 million). The company recorded net income of VND9.1 trillion ($410 million) as of the fourth quarter of 2016, up 6 per cent compared to the previous year. Earning per share is estimated at VND3,177 ($0.14). Masan Consumer’s total assets at the end of 2016 were over VND15.926 trillion ($718.7 million), with the owner’s equity at VND11.203 trillion ($505.57 million). Its stock symbol is MCH. Saigontourist promotes new Saigon-Bản Giốc luxury resort Saigontourist Holding Co is promoting its resort near the Bản Giốc Waterfall in the northern border province of Cao Bằng. A stay at the 31ha luxury Saigon-Bản Giốc Resort offers guests a chance to discover the stunning beauty of Bản Giốc Waterfall, mysterious Nguôm Ngao Cave, and the peaceful, picturesque sights along the border with China. Bản Giốc has cold weather year round. When night falls, a popular activity among tourists is dancing and singing around a campfire by the waterfall and interacting with the local Tày and Nùng ethnic minorities. The province is also home to other tourist attractions like Pác Bó Cave, Thang Hen Lake and Phật Tích Trúc Lâm Bản Giốc Pagoda, and the unique dances of the local people. Smooth credit: SBV’s pressing task for 2017 Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has asked the State Bank of Viet Nam (SBV) to smooth credit growth over the year and ensure loans will go to right people and businesses. He made the request while listing to a number of key 2017 objectives for the SBV during a meeting with leaders of the central bank on Thursday. He said, “The credit growth target is normally set in the very beginning of each year, but we are normally relaxed in first quarters and then rush to meet the target at the year-end. We face the situation every year.” The PM highlighted the need to improve proactivity and flexibility in management so that the credit supply will better meet the market’s demand, inflation is under control (below 4 per cent) and macro-economic stabilisation is ensured. “The Government is assigning you [SBV officials] a great responsibility this year,” he said. The SBV on Wednesday announced the credit growth target at 18 per cent for the year. In term of credit structure, Phuc said that credit flow must be directed to sectors such as high-technology, agriculture, small and medium-sized enterprises, tourism, and startups. Meanwhile, credit supply to real estate and securities sectors and customers whose outstanding loans exceed VND5 trillion (US$222 million) must be tightly supervised. The SBV must boost competition among banks through market mechanisms and reduce administrative orders to improve the efficiency of loans provision as well as commercial bank transparency. He asked the central bank to continue tackling obstacles and completing regulations to support the process of restructuring credit institutions and dealing with bad debts to create favourable conditions for enterprises to get loans at low costs. “As long as bad debts still exist, there is hardly any chance for commercial banks to reduce lending interest rates,” Phuc said. “Developments of the world economy now is hard to predict while the market often responds quickly to monetary policies, thus the central bank needs to enhance the effectiveness of forecasting activities and prepare well for upcoming events,” Phuc said. Discussing “black credit” service in rural and remote areas, Phuc attributed its spread to the unbalance of banking service access. “Many families have gotten into miserable situations after seeking loans with high interest rates from unlicensed businesses, thus raising people’s awareness of credit and finance is a pressing issue,” he said. He asked SBV branches in localities and local People’s Committees to pay attention to address the problems. Phuc required the SBV to consolidate the trust of the public as all banking operations from depositing to lending are upheld by the trust. To promote confidence, the central bank must more effectively fight and prevent corruption, tax evasion and money laundering. It also needs to encourage commercial banks to reform administration procedures, apply technology to develop modern banking services safely and effectively, and strengthen the network security to avoid customers from suddenly losing money in their accounts, Phuc stressed. Ceiling power prices unchanged The Ministry of Industry and Trade has decided to keep thermal and hydroelectric power price ceilings unchanged in 2017. According to a decision stipulating new electricity tariffs, the ceiling price for power generation of thermal electricity plants excluding value-added tax (VAT) will be VND1,568 per kWh (about 7 US cent). The power price for the thermal electricity plants was calculated based on the coal price (including losses, management cost, insurance and excluding transport cost) of VND1.3 million per tonne. The hydroelectricity plant price ceiling will be VND1,070 per kWh, excluding tax on water resources, environment fee and VAT. The decision took effect January 1st, 2017. The ministry required the Electricity of Viet Nam (EVN) to report difficulties to the Electricity Regulatory Authority of Viet Nam during the decision implementation. Based on electricity tariff ceilings, EVN and power generation units negotiate selling prices to follow the current legal regulations. In 2015, the ceiling prices for power generation of thermal electricity and hydroelectricity were VND1,060 and VND1,383 per kWh. During Tuesday’s conference to review EVN’s 2017 business operation plans, Dang Hoang An, the group’s general director, said its electricity production costs this year will increase by VND5 trillion (US$225 million), as coal prices sold to electricity rose by 7 per cent from the end of last year. Improved quality boosts export of fruits, vegetables Viet Nam’s fruit and vegetable export in 2016 hit US$2.4 billion, a 30 per cent increase over 2015, and exceeding the Ministry of Industry and Trade’s yearly target of $2.2 billion. According to the Vietnam Fruit and Vegetables Association, the result was attributed to efforts to seek new markets and keep traditional markets. In 2016, five types of fruits gained entry to four new markets -- mangoes to Australia, dragon fruits to Taiwan (China), longans and lychees to Thailand and cashew to Peru -- thus expanding the market for Viet Nam’s fruit and vegetable to more than 60 countries and territories. China continues to be the largest market for Viet Nam’s fruits and vegetables, accounting for some 70 per cent, followed by the Republic of Korea, the United States and Japan. Bui Sy Doanh, from the Department of Plant Protection under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, said the department would continue negotiations on technical barriers to help more Vietnamese fruits and vegetables enter selective markets like the United States, Japan and Australia. In 2017, Viet Nam hopes to win import approval from Australia for its dragon fruits, approval from Japan for red-flesh dragon fruits and from the United States for star apples. Nguyen Huu Dat from the Vietnam Fruit and Vegetables Association emphasised the need to further improve post-harvest preservation and processing technologies to meet demands for quality and diverse products in foreign markets. Garment 10 aims 6% rise in revenue in 2017 Garment 10 Corporation JSC (GARCO 10) is targeting a 6 per cent rise in revenue in 2017 compared to last year, its general director Nguyen Thi Thanh Huyen said. The company aims to earn a revenue of VND3.1 trillion (US$136 million) and make a profit of VND62.5 billion in 2017, Huyen said. To achieve these objectives, GARCO 10 will take initiative and adopt austerity measures, besides prioritising product quality, improving labour productivity and enhancing corporate governance. The company made a total estimated revenue of VND2.9 trillion in 2016, which is a 6.42 per cent year-on-year increase and 2 per cent higher than its annual target. The company contributed around VND59 billion to the State budget last year, up 24 per cent against 2015. With more than 9,000 professional workers, GARCO 10 is one of the largest companies in Viet Nam’s textile and garment sector. Over the years, the company has established co-operation relationships with several prestigious firms in the global fashion industry and exports its products to many countries. It annually produces around 21 million high-quality products of different types, more than 80 per cent of which is exported to European countries, the United States, Japan and Hong Kong. HCM City urged to attract overseas Vietnamese for economy Overseas Vietnamese play an important role in developing HCM City’s economy, but the city lacks the legal framework required to fully utilise their capabilities. “The role of overseas Vietnamese is not just sending foreign currency back to their families, but also having good relations with international politicians, multinational companies, investment funds and banks,” Dr Dinh Thanh Huong, an ethnic Vietnamese living in France and lecturer at University Paris 12 was quoted as saying on the Government’s website chinhphu.vn. Therefore, the city should have a dedicated channel for overseas Vietnamese, and from that the city could source capital, technology and senior experts who would come back and contribute to its development, she said. “For those who would like to return with their families, besides providing a favourable, transparent and supportive business environment, the city should also assist their family members with accommodation, schools and jobs.” Dr Nguyen Tri Hieu, who has spent many years living in Viet Nam and working in the financial sector, was apprehensive about the gap between the Vietnamese and international legal frameworks. “Viet Nam does not have a personal bankruptcy law while its closed foreign currency management system does not allow overseas Vietnamese to easily repatriate their profits or transfer money.” Nguyen Hong Hue, Vietnamese-Australian chairman of BankPay, said if Viet Nam had stringent policies to protect the environment, it would attract many “green”, stable, long-term investors. “If managers loosen environmental protection norms for more FDI, I am afraid that current earnings will not be able to compensate future losses.” At the macro level, Viet Nam should have a national environmental impact report for every five to 10 years of development with the participation of both domestic and foreign experts, he said. At the micro level, relevant authorities must make use of independent, third-party assessors to assess environmental impact reports. According to the city Department of Planning and Investment, of 1,110 enterprises funded by overseas Vietnamese, 80 per cent are based in HCM City. According to The Economist Intelligence Unit, if HCM City cannot achieve a breakthrough in its rate of economic growth, by 2025 it will rank a lowly 96th in Asia in terms of competitiveness. Housing stimulus package interest rate remains at 5% The State Bank of Viet Nam (SBV) will keep the interest rate of the VND30 trillion (US$1.32 billion) preferential credit package for low-income homebuyers at 5 per cent in 2017. SBV Governor Le Minh Hung has signed a decision stipulating interest rate for commercial banks for loans under the package. Accordingly, loans to home buyers under the package which was disbursed before December 31, 2016 will enjoy a 5 per cent interest rate. Those who have signed credit contracts for the package but have their disbursements made after December 31, 2016 will be applied commercial interest rates according to their agreement with banks. The interest rate under the package is announced annually by the central bank. Every December, SBV clarifies and announces the interest rate for the following year. The interest rate would be half of the average rate of banks in the market and not exceed 6 per cent per year. The package’s disbursement was terminated at the end of last year. By the end of 2016, the disbursement was estimated at some VND30 trillion. On November 30, 2016, the package’s disbursement was more than VND29.2 trillion and total outstanding loans were more than VND24.2 trillion. The central bank evaluated that the package significantly contributed to helping low-income earners buy their own house while resolving inventory for the market. As many as 50,000 people and households have been able to improve their accommodation thanks to the programme. Local designers look to ‘stitch up’ the hand bag market International tourism continued to grow strongly in 2016, providing a rich opportunity for local handbag designers to get in on a ground floor opportunity, said market experts at a recent business forum in Ho Chi Minh City. According to the experts, the market is forecast to experience sustained growth over the next decade with the US and China remaining the two key market share holders in terms of manufacturing. In terms of sales, the US, Middle East, and Asia Pacific region will be the most promising markets exhibiting the highest growing consumer potential throughout the10-year forecast period. An increase in the frequency of global flyers in addition to the number of road and rail travellers is the key driver of market growth in the segment, said Nguyen Duc Thuan, chair of the Vietnam Leather and Footwear Association. Most notably, sales of travel bags and accessories have been the lead revenue generators in the luggage market over recent years and that trend is expected to continue, Thuan noted. The key factors influencing consumers purchasing behaviour are the rise of the middle-income class in emerging markets such as Vietnam and their desire for better product design, quality, and functionality. There is also a noticeably high demand for lightweight and ultra-lightweight travel luggage with hard side material, Thuan added, suggesting that this trait could be triggered by changing weight regulations of airlines. As well, travel by road and rail somewhat dictates a lighter but durable design in luggage, he commented. Not surprisingly, counterfeits have been a major challenge to the global travel luggage market. Although these fake products are generally of low quality, they seem to always find a limited customer base, Thuan emphasized. Accordingly, it is important for local manufacturers to take appropriate steps to legally protect their products and limit exposure to copyright and patent infringement. For purposes of clarification, he was explaining that a company such as Apple obtains a copyright on the design of a specific mobile or computer model to protect against theft— and a trademark to protect the Apple logo from improperly being hijacked. Meanwhile, competition in the luxury handbags industry, is tough, especially because there are a limited number of major players operating in the global market all of whom are loaded with cash. Despite the stiff competition, a number of new entrants such as US-based designers Michael Kors, Kate Spade, and Tory Burch, have managed to make entry into the market and gain market share at the expense of the major players. There is a definite trend in the luxury market and these newcomers to compete more on innovative and practical designs that are whimsical, attractive and colourful without labels or logos attached to them. This is in response to consumer demand that has been shying away from buying any expensive luggage possessing highly visible logos, possibly over concerns with theft and making themselves a target for thieves. Most of these newcomers, for example, produce such things as tote bags with very tiny stamps with their brand name on them, which demonstrates that brand names aren’t as important as many ‘so-called experts’ often claim. In addition, these newcomers have had an advantage over their larger counterparts, because consumers are looking for novelty in handbags and luggage and prefer not to buy a product that everyone else owns. This desire by consumers for novelty and innovative aesthetics just may be the greatest competitive advantage that Vietnamese local hand bag designers possess in their quest to stitch up the lucrative market. US increases tuna imports from Vietnam Vietnam exported around US$200 million worth of tuna products to the US in 2016, representing a year-on-year increase of 5%. In the first 10 months of 2016, fresh, frozen and dried tuna exports increased 10% to reach nearly US$115 million, making up 60% of the total tuna export value (compared to 52% in the same period last year). However, the exports of processed and canned tuna products registered a yearly reduction of 5% to stand at US$70 million in January – October. The US is currently the biggest tuna importer of Vietnam, comprising of more than 40% of the country’s total tuna export value. VEF/VNA/VNS/VOV/SGT/SGGP/Dantri/VET/VIR |
↧
Article 1
Visitors given code of conduct while locals throw rocks at tourist boats on Saigon canal While boat tours on Ho Chi Minh City’s iconic Nhieu Loc-Thi Nghe canal are falling victim to rock-throwing locals, the city has recently published a code of conduct to adjust visitors’ behavior.  Passengers aboard a Gondola during a tour of the Nhieu Loc-Thi Nghe Canal in Ho Chi Minh City on September 1, 2015.Tuoi Tre Incidents involving locals throwing rocks and bottles of urine at tourist gondolas traveling the city’s Nhieu Loc-Thi Nghe canal have been reported by the Department of Tourism, which added that the boats often gets caught in illegal fishing lines along the canal banks. The gondola tour service, launched in September 2015, offers two-hour tours on Gondola boats along a 4.5-kilometer strip of the 8.7-kilometer canal, snaking its way through District 1, District 3, Binh Thanh District, Phu Nhuan District, and Tan Binh District. The most recently reported attack happened on the night of December 20, according to the Department, when locals fishing and drinking along the canal near the Bong Bridge chased the boat, hurling rocks and vulgar words at the victims on board. The attackers then mounted motorbikes, following the boat for a few hundred meters before being cut off. No tourists were hurt in the attack, though the gondolier had her leg injured and the Gondola’s canopy was torn by the rocks, the report said. Tran Vinh Tuyen, deputy chairman of Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee, requested that police investigate the situation and take measures to prevent similar attacks in the future. Meanwhile, the tourism authority of Ho Chi Minh City issued an official Code of Conduct on Thursday for the city’s visitors aimed at providing tourists with information on local social norms and etiquette during their visit. The fan-folded handbooks are available in Vietnamese, English, Chinese, Korean, and Russian, and will be widely available at the airport, local hotels, tourist information desks, travel agencies, and diplomatic bodies. The Code of Conduct was also made into a video set to be broadcast on TV, at the airport, on tourist buses, and at hotels. TUOI TRE NEWS |
↧
Article 0
Stock assets of 500 richest billionaires reach $7.3 billion The 2016 list of stock billionaires showed big changes compared with the 2015 list. Many new faces are on the list, while Pham Nhat Vuong, who topped the 2015 list, fell to number two.  Trading floors were lit green in the last trading session of 2016 with VN Index closing at 664.87 points and HNX Index 80.12. As such, the VN Index had increased by 14.82 percent by the end of 2016 and HNX Index by 0.2 percent compared with the end of 2015. According to Bizlive, the total stock assets of 500 richest billionaires are VND167.483 trillion, or $7.3 billion. Of this, 10 richest billionaires have assets accounting for 58.20 percent of total assets of the 500 billionaires. The assets of Trinh Van Quyet and Pham Nhat Vuong, who are in No 1 and No 2 positions, alone accounts for 20.18 percent and 18.16 percent. Nine out of 10 richest billionaires in the 2015 list did not stay in their positions. Many new names appeared in the 2016 list after their businesses began listing shares on the bourse. Trinh Van Quyet, president of FLC, a real estate developer, has become the 2016 richest stock billionaire.
He was in the 28th position in last year’s list. Quyet’s stock assets have been increasing rapidly since September 2016, after ROS shares were put into transactions on the HCMC Stock Exchange. On November 11, 2016, Quyet officially became the richest person on the Vietnamese stock market. Quyet started his business as a lawyer and investment consultant. Later he became a trader and joined the real estate market. Savills, a real estate service provider, estimates that the total real estate projects, from housing, resort real estate and industrial zones throughout the country developed by FLC are valued at over $3 billion (VND66 trillion). With the December 30 closing price, Quyet’s total assets had reached VND33.806 trillion. Meanwhile, Pham Nhat Vuong, who topped the list of richest stock billionaires in the last seven years, has been dethroned. He is now in the second position with asset value of VND30.410 trillion. President of Hoa Phat Group Tran Dinh Long ranks third with VND7.962 trillion, one grade lower than last year, though steel shares are still attractive to investors. Novaland just entered the bourse on December 28 and its president Bui Thanh Nhon was added into the list of the richest stock billionaires just one day later. With 126 million NLV shares, Nhon has VND7.584 trillion in stock assets. Pham Thu Huong, the wife of Pham Nhat Vuong, has fallen into the fifth position, while her younger sister Pham Thuy Hang, deputy chair of Vingroup, has fallen into the seventh position. Mai Thanh, VNN |
↧
Article 2
Local retailers have big advantages over transnational chains The current generation of Vietnamese are struggling with the most profound demographic transition ever and nowhere is this more evident than in the world of small retailers, speakers at a recent seminar in Hanoi have said.
Population growth, urbanization and the transition from small to larger businesses go together, they have said, averring that the large urban centres set the stage for enhanced innovation, efficiencies and competition. In turn these factors provide the synergy for the country to move from low to middle-income status. No country in history has ever reached high income levels with low urbanization. Whether this higher level of competition relates to retail, agriculture, manufacturing, services – or any other sector of the economy – it has and will continue to change the face of small business in Vietnam forever. However, far too many people constantly complain that heightened competition is hard on the country’s generally small local retailers because they can’t compete with their larger transnational counterparts, said Nguyen Van Than, chair of Vietnam Association of Small Companies, at the event. But that assertion is not true to any meaningful extent. Mr Than said, with respect to transnational retailers, the complaints that he hears most is that they hire disinterested employees, are always out-of-stock for products customers want, have awkward return processes and always play music in the store far too loud. They also charge unnecessary high restocking fees, have messy shelves and in general, customers struggle to find the products that they want in the store because they are not consistent in product placement or items stocked. On the other hand, the small retailers in Vietnam, said Mr Than, can ensure that every employee in each of their stores is passionate about customer service and the products they sell— and easily outperform the larger transnational companies on customer service and inventory matters. More importantly, small entrepreneurs willing to take a chance now have unlimited opportunity to source innovative products from all corners of the globe and bring their own unique tastes to the Vietnamese retail market. Enterprising retailers can now search the globe for the unique dress, hat, handbag, necklace or other product that doesn’t look like the one everybody else is wearing that came off the discount rack at a Big C, Lotte, AEON or other transnational retail establishment. There is a definite tectonic shift in Vietnamese consumers shopping habits away from visits to brick-and-mortar stores that offers another colossal advantage to Vietnamese small retailers. Today’s consumers lead busy lives. Shopping takes time and more and more they view it as an unfavourable task. Notably, young consumers find researching and shopping on the internet far more convenient than brick-and-mortar visits. They would rather shop online and then go directly and pick it up in-store. The advantage to local retailers is that these shoppers would rather pick up at a storefront on the streets in Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh City anytime rather than fight the parking maze at the large malls. If you've ever found yourself hopelessly lost in a mall in Hanoi you’re not alone, said Mr Than. Just the thought of having to navigate the parking entrances, the motorbike exhaust fumes, and then zig-zag a trail through the parking garages and to a store and then back is disorienting. What is stopping local Vietnamese retailers from success certainly is not the competition from transnational companies. If anything, local retailers should embellish the competition. If they want to find a good location for a store, place it on the right side and within two blocks of any large transnational retail establishment. Make sure they have a big sign with quick and easy in and out access. Entrepreneurs who succeed turn their smartphones off and spend time with personal development. They learn how to communicate in a clear, concise and compelling manner with associates and customers. The simple truth is that there has never been more opportunity for a small retailer with the will and drive to succeed than there is in Vietnam today— if they reach out and seize the opportunities presented to them. VOV |
↧
↧
Article 1
Social News 7/1 Vietnamese contemporary photos exhibited in India  An exhibition of contemporary Vietnamese photography opened on January 5 at the Indira Gandhi National Centre in New Delhi, India. It is the first among activities held by the Vietnamese Embassy in India and the Indian Council for Cultural Relations in 2017 to celebrate the 45th anniversary of the two countries’ diplomatic ties (January 7, 1972 - January 7, 2017) and 10 years of their strategic partnership (2007-2017). The exhibition displays 45 artworks and 45 photographs by 20 Vietnamese artists, featuring the beauty, culture and people of Vietnam. The event and other activities in India will boost cultural relations between the two nations, one of five pillars in the partnership between Vietnam and India, said Vietnamese Ambassador to India Ton Sinh Thanh at the opening ceremony. The exhibition runs from January 5-10. Institute of Natural Resources and Environment established The Vietnam National University, Hanoi (VNU) held a ceremony on January 5 to announce the Prime Minister’s Decision No. 2218/QĐ-TTg dated November 17, 2016 on the establishment of the Institute of Natural Resources and Environment under the VNU. The institute was established on the basis of upgrading the VNU’s research centre for natural resources and the environment, with the functions of facilitating the conduct of scientific research and technological applications in the fields of natural resources, environment and sustainable development; organising training activities in relevant branches in line with current regulations; and provide relevant consultations and services in the fields of natural resources, environment and sustainable development. Addressing the event, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Kim Son, President of the VNU, highlighted the significance of the establishment of the institute, hailing the facility as a central national agency that gathers forces to facilitate intersectoral researches on the preservation of natural resources, environmental protection, adaptation to climate change and sustainable development towards green growth. He urged the institute to focus on completing the organisational structure with a staff of competent, specialised, creative and wholehearted officials; implement topics for basic research, applied research and technology transfer; and develop models for preserving natural resources, protecting the environment and promoting sustainable development in the current globalisation context. The institute also needs to implement PhD training programmes on environment and sustainable development; work with the VNU’s member units in providing intersectoral PhD training and capacity building programmes for different subjects across the country; and expand domestic and international cooperation, Son said. At the ceremony, the VNU also announced the decision to appoint Hoang Van Thang, director of the VNU’s research centre for natural resources and environment, as the first head of the Institute of Natural Resources and Environment. In his speech, Thang pledged to do his best to join officials and scientists in developing the institute into a leading intersectoral research institute in Vietnam on environmental protection and biodiversity preservation, serving sustainable development and community-based policy making. Artists provided with favourable conditions to produce quality works Politburo member and Secretary of Ho Chi Minh city People’s Committee Dinh La Thang has stressed that city authorities always create the most favourable conditions for artists to produce high-quality works. Speaking at a meeting with over 300 artists in the city on January 5, he spoke highly of the achievements made by the city’s artists over the past year, which have contributed to the country’s development of culture and arts. He expressed his hope that the artists would work harder to preserve and uphold the glorious tradition of Vietnamese revolutionary arts. Artists should attempt to portray the good as well as the bad witnessed in all fields of socio-economic life, bringing them into their works in a frank and sincere manner in order to meet the recreational and entertainment demands of Vietnamese people, he said. He also asked the city’s departments and sectors to attach more care and provide more support to the artists so that they can enjoy quality of life in this occupation. At the meeting, the guests contributed their opinions to improving the quality of the city’s cultural and arts activities. The city’s literature and arts saw encouraging progress over the past year. The city union of literature and arts associations has been active in organising field trips for its members, training younger members, and supporting them in releasing and advertising their works. Needy people ensured warm Tet holiday Taking care of people, especially the needy and vulnerable, during the Lunar New Year (Tet), is the responsibility of all-level Party Committees and local authorities, an official has said. In November 2016, the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs directed localities to use local budgets to support needy households during Tet, Deputy Minister Nguyen Trong Dam told the press in Hanoi on January 5. He revealed that 40 provinces had submitted Tet preparation plans for needy people, noting that natural disasters, including long-lasting floods, harmed agricultural production, especially in the central and Central Highlands regions. The official said 67,000 tonnes of rice have been provided for people affected by saltwater intrusion and marine environmental incident in the central region. Nearly 431 billion VND (19 million USD) will be used to assist people with significant contributions to the national revolutionary cause. The Vietnam General Confederation of Labour will encourage businesses to give Tet bonus to workers and facilitate their travelling, Dam said. The Vietnam Fatherland Front (VFF) Central Committee promulgated a plan to ensure a warm Tet for low-income households, especially in remote, border, island and natural disaster prone areas. The Committee will present more than 6,000 gift packages worth 3.5 billion VND (154,315 USD) to support poor families and centres taking care of orphans and the disabled. 4,500 gifts worth nearly 2.3 billion VND (101,407 USD) will also be presented to impoverished families in the northern, central, southwestern and Central Highlands regions./. Natural disasters across Vietnam left over 250 dead in 2016 More 250 people were killed by natural disasters throughout Vietnam in 2016, the government said in a recent announcement. The wrath of mother nature claimed more than 250 lives in Vietnam and dealt a VND39 trillion (US$1.7 billion) blow to Southeast Asian country’s economy last year, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Xuan Cuong said at a press conference on January 5. The number of casualties, over 10% higher than the ministry’s reported yearly average of 226 deaths, was unfortunately unsurprising. 2016 was a year of extreme and abnormal weather phenomena for Vietnam – beginning with the worst drought and salt water intrusion the country has seen in decades and ending with heavy downpours pummeling the central region and Central Highlands throughout November and December. Damage to the economy was about three times higher than the VND13 trillion (US$571.7 million) yearly average typically seen in the Southeast Asian country, Minister Cuong said. In a recent announcement, the weather forecast center in Thua Thien- Hue, a north-central Vietnamese province commonly hit by floods, stated that last year’s total rainfall in the locality hit a record high compared to the past four decades. Torrential rains caused three separate waves of flooding in the province during December, the center reported, adding that weather forecasts were inaccurate due to strange weather patterns, resulting in a serious impact to the provincial economy, particularly the agricultural sector. Vietnam's human trafficking victims rise 13% in 2016 Police received reports of 1,128 victims last year, but only rescued around half of them. The Vietnamese government has reported nearly a 13% increase in the number of human trafficking victims in 2016. The Ministry of Public Security said its forces detected 383 cases of human trafficking in 2016, which was down 6% from the previous year, but the victims involved was up a staggering 12.8% to 1,128. Police managed to rescue 600 victims last year and provide them with healthcare and legal and vocational support, according to a statement from the National Committee for AIDS, Drug and Prostitution Prevention. Most of the victims were uneducated women and children from poor areas, including many from ethnic minority groups in Vietnam’s northern highlands. They were sold to men seeking wives in China, Malaysia and South Korea, or just to bear children or work as prostitutes in these countries. Many of the children were approached through social networks such as Facebook and Zalo, Vietnam's popular messaging app. Besides financial difficulties, police also blamed negligence, easy immigration procedures and gender imbalance in destination countries as the major reasons for the increase. Rapid economic growth in Southeast Asia has also created more opportunities for criminals to dupe workers, Mimi Vu of the Pacific Links Foundation, a counter-trafficking NGO, told Reuters last year. The 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations' shift towards a formal community with freer movement of trade and capital would increase trafficking risks, she said. According to the United Nations, nearly 21 million people are lured into forced labor every year worldwide and 1.2 million children are trafficked. A third of trafficked women and children are from Southeast Asia. UK newspaper dubs Vietnam a safe place to visit Vietnam was named among nine countries with a 'low' terror threat by the Telegraph but didn't do so well in terms of road safety. U.K.-based newspaper the Telegraph has classed Vietnam as a pretty safe country to travel to in a recent survey, but highlighted the risks traffic accidents pose to visitors. On Tuesday the newspaper released a series of graphics that remap the world in a wide range of perspectives, from gun ownership, energy consumption and criminal executions, to happiness, obesity and Miss World competitions. Vietnam was one of the few countries listed as "safe to visit”. Asian neighbors such as India, Japan, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines and Thailand were considered "not completely safe", with the U.K.’s Foreign Office advising against traveling to parts of these countries. The report named Vietnam, together with Japan, Bolivia, Ecuador and five European countries, as destinations with a “low” terror threat. More than 30 countries received a "high" terror threat rating, including holiday favorites such as Spain and France, as well as popular Southeast Asian countries such as the Philippines and Thailand. According to the Institute for Economics and Peace, there are only ten countries in the world that are free from conflict right now, and Vietnam is one of them. However, that changes when you decide to walk down the street in Vietnam. Vietnam is listed among the more dangerous country in terms of road deaths. The Telegraph ranked the countries based on the number of road fatalities per 100,000 inhabitants per year, and the ratings range from 1.9 in Maldives to 40.5 in Libya. The report did not mention the figure in Vietnam, but according to new statistics from the National Traffic Safety Committee, it would be 9.4. The committee said road crashes killed 8,685 people in Vietnam in 2016, which means one every hour. Traffic in Vietnam seems to either puzzle, impress or annoy outsiders, and even locals sometimes. The seemingly chaotic streets have even inspired Enomoto Kaori, a 30-year-old Japanese woman and game designer who arrived in Vietnam in July 2015, to create a mobile game called Vietnamese Road that trains people how to cross the streets. The game has become so popular that last October it received a US$40,000 grant in the form of tools and services from a Facebook start-up fund. But thanks to other strengths such as its delicious food and beautiful beaches, Vietnam is becoming an increasingly popular destination, with foreign visitor numbers hitting a record high of more than 10 million in 2016, up 26% from the previous year. Nearly 255,000 of them arrived from the U.K., up 20% from 2015. Tourists from the U.K. can now visit Vietnam for 15 days without a visa. In Hà Nội, the Tết peach blossom gives reason for cheer Though Tết (Lunar New Year) is still three weeks away people are making a beeline to gardens to place orders for their favourite kumquat trees. Gardeners in Nhật Tân and Tứ Liên wards in Hà Nội’s Tây Hồ District are taking special care of their peach blossom and kumquat trees to get good prices during the Lunar New Year. The areas are bustling as a result. “Due to this year’s abnormal weather, we have to take very good care to make the flowers blossom in time,” Tuấn Việt, owner of a peach blossom garden in Nhật Tân, told the media. A three-metre peach blossom tree at Nhật Tân would be priced at VNĐ25 million (over US$1,100) to VNĐ30 million if it blossoms in time, while kumquat would cost VNĐ500,000 for a small tree and VNĐ2.5 million for a big one, a farmer in Nhật Tân said. Quảng Nam to launch bamboo conservation project The central district Điện Bàn--in cooperation with the Korea International Co-operation Agency (KOICA)--has kicked off a local bamboo conservation project that will run from 2017-25. Vice Chairman of Điện Bàn People’s Committee Phan Minh Dũng confirmed the project to the Việt Nam News on Thursday, saying that it will help conserve and develop an area of 1,800ha or 1,900ha bamboo area. Dũng said the project also aims to create a sustainable development livelihood for 15,000 rural Điện Bàn residents, with jobs in bamboo crafts and eco-tour service. The vice chairman said the bamboo conservation project will create a ‘green dyke’ to protect banks of many rivers in the district as well as living quarters along river system. He said the bamboo conservation and craft project will be connected with craft villages including bronze casting in Phước Kiều, rice cakes in Phú Chiêm, sedge net weaving in Triêm Tây, fish sauce in Hà Quảng and fine arts in Đông Khương along the Thu Bồn River in the district. Điện Bàn bamboo is a major material for craft villages in Hội An, in serving for eco-tourism. Last year, the district also agreed to reserve 2.6ha to build the Việt Nam-Korea Cultural Exchange Centre with a fund of US$5 from the Việt Nam Veterans Association of Korea (VVAK) in Hà My Đông village near Hội An city. Girl group’s first-ever show set for a major stage The Con Gái all-girl music band will perform their first live show, Điều Ngọt Ngào (Sweet Things), this Sunday at Hà Nội Opera House. “It is such a pleasure for us to perform on the occasion of the New Year and we are thrilled that a large number of people have booked tickets for the show,” said singer Xuân Nhị, one of the band members. Nhị said their first album, Lời Chim Đỗ Quyên (Asia Koel’s Song), was well-received and that has been a huge motivation for the band to perform live. The girl band will perform songs of well-known artists, including Thanh Tùng, Dương Thụ, Trần Tiến, Giáng Son and Nguyễn Vĩnh Tiến, and a new song, Tuổi 20 (At 20), that Huyền Trung has written for them. Singer Tùng Dương and music band Oplus will also perform in the show. Nguyễn Anh Dũng, who is directing the show, said: “With a meticulous stage plan, the first live show of Con Gái will bring the best art performance to the audience.” HCM City export zone reports outbreak of chickenpox An outbreak of chickenpox has been reported at Gunze Việt Nam Co Ltd in HCM City’s Tân Thuận Export Processing Zone, with 30 people contracting the disease since November 17, according to the HCM City Preventive Health Centre. The centre warned that the current weather is favourable for the spread of chickenpox. Dr Nguyễn Trí Dũng, the centre’s head, told Việt Nam News that the company was on Wednesday provided with disinfectants for its premises to avoid a further spread. It also advised the company’s staff to maintain hygiene, wear masks, and wash their hands regularly to avoid transmission, he said. It also told workers not vaccinated against the disease to immediately get a shot, he said. The city Department of Health has urged the HCM City Export Processing and Industrial Zone Authority to take preventive measures against contagious diseases at export processing and industrial parks. Companies there are required to report to district preventive health centres within 14 days when two workers become ill. When a disease breaks out, they are required to co-operate with health officials to prevent further spread. Trương Hữu Khanh, head of the infection and neurology ward at Paediatrics Hospital 1, said the chickenpox season lasts from December to May or June. People who have not been vaccinated could get the disease, Khanh warned, saying that when one member of a family is infected the remaining members could be too. It spreads easily in crowded environments, he said. “The virus can be transmitted from patients to other ones through tiny droplets when they have not had blisters or red spots.” The disease is more virulent in adults than in children, he said. It affects the foetus when a pregnant woman contracts the disease within the first three months, he said. A person who contracts the disease could develop skin infection and encephalitis and even die, he added. Journalism contest for poverty reduction launched The Ministries of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, Information and Communications and the Việt Nam Journalists Association launched a writing contest on poverty reduction on Thursday. The contest aims to offer journalists the opportunity to work with ministries by writing about poverty alleviation plans from 2016 to 2020, promoting information on State policies and laws that could help in reducing poverty. It also provides a chance for journalists to praise outstanding locals, teams, individuals, households and organisations involved in sustainable poverty reduction. Outstanding examples and experiences, initiatives and models that help effectively end poverty will be praised and developed. The contest also aims to raise public awareness and heighten the responsibility of people and authorities at all levels in implementing poverty alleviation policies and programmes. Speaking at the launch in Hà Nội, Deputy Prime Minister Vương Đình Huệ said, “The State is continuing to promote works on sustainable poverty reduction as well as building the new rural model.” “Hunger eradication and poverty reduction after 30 years of đổi mới (renewal) is the bright spot in the country’s millennium goals programme,” he said. The contest is also a measure to achieve targets in reducing poverty and to raise the will of residents, especially the poor, to emerge from poverty, he noted. Minister of Information and Communication Trương Minh Tuấn also called on people to join hands and work for the poor so that no one is neglected. “Poverty reduction is an important point in the overall programme of social development,” he noted. The contest will be held annually from now to 2020. Hải Phòng begins dismantling vast water music project Workers have begun dismantling a water music project in the centre of this northern coastal city after more than a year of ineffective operations and being criticised for wasteful expenditure. The dismantling work was undertaken following a resolution approved by the city’s People’s Council last year, which ordered it to be complete before January this year. Documentary procedures for the dismantling started in the middle of last month but official work just started on Thursday, the local authority said. The VNĐ200 billion (US$8.8 million) project in the city’s Hồng Bàng District’s Tam Bạc Lake was inaugurated in May 2015 on a steel foundation of 120m length 12m width. Sơn Lâm Tourism Ltd. Company which used to be the major investor and operator of the project was now also responsible for dismantling it. The project, covering about 48,000 square metres of Tam Bạc Lake’s surface area, faced public criticism as a waste of public funds due to the vast investment capital and irrelevant goals of usage. A report from the city’s People’s Committee revealed the cost of maintenance of the project was nearly VNĐ2 billion ($88,000) per year. Some locals even complained of corruption but investigations by the Party Central Committee’s Inspection Commission showed nothing except some violations in budget expenditure. The commission thus imposed penalties on the violators, three of whom were from the city’s previous leadership. New plants to bloom across terrace fields in Mu Cang Chai Mu Cang Chai district of the northern mountainous province of Yen Bai, well-known for its impressive terrace fields, is looking to planting rapeseed (Brassica napus) as a new way to raise local incomes while boosting tourism. The terraced fields in the district attract large crowds of tourists during the rice harvest season in mid-September, but during the other time of the year, local residents still rely on farming as their main livelihood. Due to cold weather and a lack of water, the local Mong people only cultivate one rice crop a year, leaving the fields empty the other time of the year. Last year, the district experimented with planting rapeseed on two hectares of land with optimistic results, according to Luong Van Thu, deputy head of the Agriculture and Rural Development Division of Mu Cang Chai District. Therefore, Mu Cang Chai encouraged farmers to grow rapeseed on 500 hectares out of 1,600 hectares of agricultural land in the district this year. The area is usually left uncultivated during the winter-spring crop. The plant is expected to bloom across the terraced fields in February and March, creating a new face of the region, attracting tourists to the mountain land. Locally-grown rapeseed also produces two tonnes of oil per hectare, bringing additional income to locals. New Year book festival coming to Le Thach Street in Hanoi The Hanoi municipal government will host a New Lunar Year Book Festival on January 30-February 5 on Le Thach Street, reports Tuoitre online newspaper. Ngo Van Quy, vice chair of the Hanoi municipal People’s Committee recently gave is stamp of approval for the event to move forward. A wide array of activities will take place within the framework of the festival including exchanges with authors, poetry readings and art performances. Various Publishing Houses will offer new and old editions at discounts. Victory over genocidal regime marked in HCM City A get-together was held on January 5 in Ho Chi Minh City to mark the 38th anniversary of the victory in the southwestern border defence war and the joint victory of Vietnam and Cambodia over the Khmer Rouge genocidal regime (January 7). Cambodian Consul General in Ho Chi Minh City, Im Hen, highlighted the event as a chance for the Cambodian people to express their deep gratitude to Vietnam’s volunteer soldiers for helping them to defeat the brutal regime. He thanked the Vietnamese Party and Government and Ho Chi Minh City for supporting Cambodia in its difficult times and in the current period of national development. The get-together was a curtain raiser to 20 events to be held by the Vietnam-Cambodia Friendship Association in Ho Chi Minh City in 2017 to mark the 50th anniversary of Vietnamese-Cambodian diplomatic relations. Chairman of the Vietnam-Cambodia Friendship Association in Ho Chi Minh City Truong Minh Nhut said January 7, 1979 marks a historic milestone in the pure, faithful and special friendship between Vietnam and Cambodia and the victory over the Khmer Rouge regime saved Cambodia from the genocidal catastrophe, taking it into a new era of independence, freedom and revival. He affirmed that the association's willingness to further ties with Cambodian fellows as a contribution to enhancing Vietnam-Cambodia traditional friendship and comprehensive cooperation. Reigning from 1975-1979, the genocidal regime killed nearly 3 million Cambodian civilians in only 3 years, 8 months and 20 days, destroyed all social facilities and pushed the Cambodian nation to the brink of perdition. The regime also distorted the history of Vietnam and mobilized most of its military strengths, including dozens of divisions and many local regiments, to launch an invasion into the southwestern border of Vietnam. They ravaged villages, brutally killed local people, including the elderly, children and women, and seriously violated the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Vietnam HCM City sentences Malaysian to life imprisonment for killing US citizen An argument between two former friends led to a murder that made headlines two years ago. A district court in Ho Chi Minh City has sentenced a 32-year-old Malaysian to life imprisonment for murdering an American citizen. The court ruled that Chuah Chow Fay stabbed Alexk Kwork, 46, to death on May 21, 2015 at a hotel on Tran Phu Street, District 5. Fay admitted that the two men had started arguing after Alexk asked to borrow money for an air fare back to the United States. After Fay refused to help him, the row escalated and Alexk picked up a paper knife and threatened Fay. The court heard that the Malaysian swiftly fought back, grabbing the knife and stabbing his victim in the neck. Following the incident, Fay swapped his blood-stained clothes and threw the knife and his clothes into a river before trying to make his escape. Soon after Fay left, the hotel receptionist found Alexk lying on the floor with blood all over his body. He was then rushed to hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Fay was apprehended later that day in Tay Ninh Province at the Cambodian border. Fay initially denied his involvement in the murder at the first trial but confessed to murdering the American at the second hearing, saying it was an accident. According to police, the Malaysian has a criminal history. Six years ago, he was sentenced to three years for forgery by a criminal court in Ho Chi Minh City. Danang transport department opens Facebook page to receive public tip-offs The Department of Transport in the central Vietnamese city of Danang has unveiled its official Facebook page intended to receive feedback and reports from local residents on traffic situations. The Facebook page was opened on January 3 and had received tips from about 800 members by January 4 afternoon. According to the transport department, the page was designed for local citizens to air their opinions about matters regarding traffic in the central hub. It will also provide residents with information relating to necessary procedures, such as vehicle registration. Le Thanh Hung, chief of the office of the transport department and head of the page’s administrator board, said that it is set public to maximize interaction with net citizens. Alongside the official website of the department, this Facebook page will feature the latest information and announcements provided by the agency and also give answers to all relevant questions, Hung noted. He added that the board of administrators includes 18 members who are high-ranking officials of the transport department. “After [two days] of operation, we have received reports about traffic congestion and accidents as well as proposals to improve traffic and ensure safety for travelers,” the official said. “We will respond to questions and requests in a prompt manner. All posts on the page reflect the official position of the Department of Transport,” he continued. In early December 2016, the Traffic Police Division under the municipal Department of Police also launched their own Facebook page to receive updates on traffic from local residents. Based on tip-offs provided by Facebook users, police will investigate and deal with offenders as well as making any necessary adjustments to ensure traffic safety in the central hub. Government funds sought for reservoirs in Phu Quy island The south central coastal province of Binh Thuan has proposed the Government allocate investment to build two reservoirs in its island district of Phu Quy to ensure water supply for the daily life and production and provide fishery services. The construction of the two reservoirs on six hectares is estimated to cost 100 billion VND (4.4 million USD). The projects are part of a water source planning scheme in Phu Quy district, which had been approved by the Government. The province requested the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to submit to the Prime Minister for approval of an investment sum of 80 billion VND (3.52 million USD). The rest will be sourced from the local budget. Phu Quy district has an area of 17 sq. km with a population of 27,000. Its population density reaches 1,542 people per sq. km, which is nearly 10 times higher than the province’s average figure. Without rivers, springs, or irrigation works, the water supply for the daily life and production has mostly relied on underground water sources. However, the district has recently seen stronger socio-economic development, particularly in tourism, fishery, national defence and security, leading to a higher demand for water. The fresh water supply for the district falls short of some 800 – 1,000 cu. metres per day, particularly in the dry season. Around 1,000 hectares of agricultural land depend on rain water.- Thua Thien – Hue races to pay compensation to fishermen prior to Tet Nguyen Van Phuong, Vice Chairman of the Thua Thien – Hue People’s Committee, ordered that the first phase payment of compensation to residents affected by the marine environmental accident should be completed before the Lunar New Year (Tet), which is due to fall on January 27. The central province has so far distributed more than 260 billion VND (11.44 million USD) worth of compensation to over 14,000 coastal residents affected by the mass fish deaths caused by waste disposal by Formosa Ha Tinh steel company last year. The sum is equivalent to 65 percent of the money local authorities received for the first phase of compensation. Along with payment, local authorities have guided residents in how to use the money to restore fishing or switch to other occupations. The provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development has examined additional damages in line with the Prime Minister’s Decision 1880/QD-TTg. To date, the amount has reached approximately 270 billion VND (11.88 million USD). The volume of unsold seafood products across the province between April and August, 2016, were nearly 490 tonnes, of which 22 tonnes were considered unsafe and destroyed. In late June 2016, Taiwan-invested Hung Nghiep Formosa Ha Tinh Steel Limited Company admitted responsibility for the environmental incident, which affected the central provinces of Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Quang Tri and Thua Thien-Hue. It pledged 11.5 trillion VND (500 million USD) in compensation. The Ministry of Finance transferred 3 trillion VND (134 million USD) to the localities in the initial phase. Of the amount, Thua Thien-Hue got 400 billion VND (17.6 million USD), Quang Binh 1.1 trillion VND (48.5 million USD), Ha Tinh one trillion VND (44.1 million USD), and Quang Tri 500 billion VND (22 million USD). Symposium reviews int’l human rights-related covenants in Vietnam A symposium was held in Hanoi on January 5 to review 50 years of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) and their implementation in Vietnam. The event was held by the Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics and the Government’s Steering Committee for Human Rights. The covenants, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in December 1966, along with the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, are considered international codes of human rights and the cornerstone of international law on human rights. Participants at the symposium noted that Vietnam joined the two covenants on September 24, 1982 as it realised the importance of the international principles and standards stated in these documents although it had to deal with heavy war consequences at that time. Since then, the Vietnamese Party and State have made efforts to implement the covenants. The country is fully aware of its responsibility and obligations in respecting, protecting and promoting human rights, considering them as a target and a driving force for social development. For more than 30 years of realising its commitments, Vietnam has obtained a number of economic, social and cultural achievements. Many new regulations and principles on ensuring human rights have also been created and aligned with the current situation. Participants said to improve the covenant implementation, it is necessary to continue internalising the Party’s viewpoints on human rights, perfecting a law-governed socialist nation, and overhauling the legal system. Notably, it is important to turn courts into a strong tool in protecting justice and human rights. Communication activities, especially external information, along with international cooperation also need to be promoted to raise public awareness of human rights, they added. Quang Nam provides allowances, gifts for residents to enjoy Tet The People’s Committee of central Quang Nam province has urged all departments and localities to help local residents enjoy the upcoming Lunar New Year Festival (Tet). Over 230 billion VND (around 10 million USD) was disbursed to provide January and February allowances and Tet gifts to individuals and families who rendered services to the nation. The provincial Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs urged its subordinate divisions to allocate the allowances to the beneficiaries before January 22. As many as 1,952 tonnes of rice will be given to 46,242 poor households with 130,189 people across 15 districts and towns. Up to 45,400 households will also receive allowances of 300,000 VND (14 USD) each. An additional 120,000 gift packages will also be presented to disadvantaged families and social welfare beneficiaries during the Tet holidays. The provincial authorities have also encouraged local enterprises to give Tet bonuses to their employees to enjoy Tet. Accordingly, over 14,000 local workers have received Tet bonuses, ranging between 320,000 VND (14.8 USD) and 7.1 million VND (312 USD). Get-together marks southwest border defence war victory A get-together took place in Ho Chi Minh City on January 5 celebrating the 38th anniversary of the victory of the southwest border defence war and the joint victory of Vietnam and Cambodia over the genocidal Khmer Rouge regime (January 7). Addressing the event, Chairman of the Vietnam-Cambodia Friendship Association in Ho Chi Minh City Truong Minh Nhut said January 7, 1979 marks a historic milestone in the pure, faithful and special friendship between Vietnam and Cambodia and the victory over the Khmer Rouge regime saved Cambodia from the genocidal catastrophe, taking it into a new era of independence, freedom and revival. He affirmed that the association, together with the people nationwide, will continue boosting ties with Cambodian fellows and contribute to reinforcing Vietnam-Cambodia traditional friendship and comprehensive cooperation. Cambodian Consul General in Ho Chi Minh City Im Hen, for his part, emphasised that Cambodia’s progresses in all aspects are indispensable to close-knit ties between the two Parties, governments and peoples. He expressed thanks to Vietnam and Ho Chi Minh City in particular for providing support for Cambodia in the past as well as the current nation-building cause. Co-organised by the Vietnam Union of Friendship Organisations and the Vietnam-Cambodia Friendship Association in Ho Chi Minh City, the event is the start of a series of 20 activities celebrating the 50th anniversary of bilateral diplomatic ties (June 24), including friendly exchanges and charity events for the poor Cambodians and overseas Vietnamese in Cambodia. National press contest on anti-corruption 2017 announced The 2017 national press award on the fight and prevention of corruption and wastefulness has been launched by the Vietnam Journalists’ Association (VJA) and the Vietnam Fatherland Front Central Committee. Both professional and amateur Vietnamese journalists in Vietnam and abroad can participate, with each author/group of authors submitting a maximum of 5 press works. The works should be published on Vietnamese media between January 1 and November 30, 2017. They must be submitted during the year until November 30, with the award ceremony scheduled for December 30. More details on the contest can be found on the VJA’s website at http://www.vja.org.vn or the VFF’s website at http://www.mattran.org.vn. The award will be held annually. Thua Thien – Hue races to pay compensation to fishermen prior to Tet Nguyen Van Phuong, Vice Chairman of the Thua Thien – Hue People’s Committee, ordered that the first phase payment of compensation to residents affected by the marine environmental accident should be completed before the Lunar New Year (Tet), which is due to fall on January 27. The central province has so far distributed more than 260 billion VND (11.44 million USD) worth of compensation to over 14,000 coastal residents affected by the mass fish deaths caused by waste disposal by Formosa Ha Tinh steel company last year. The sum is equivalent to 65 percent of the money local authorities received for the first phase of compensation. Along with payment, local authorities have guided residents in how to use the money to restore fishing or switch to other occupations. The provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development has examined additional damages in line with the Prime Minister’s Decision 1880/QD-TTg. To date, the amount has reached approximately 270 billion VND (11.88 million USD). The volume of unsold seafood products across the province between April and August, 2016, were nearly 490 tonnes, of which 22 tonnes were considered unsafe and destroyed. In late June 2016, Taiwan-invested Hung Nghiep Formosa Ha Tinh Steel Limited Company admitted responsibility for the environmental incident, which affected the central provinces of Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Quang Tri and Thua Thien-Hue. It pledged 11.5 trillion VND (500 million USD) in compensation. The Ministry of Finance transferred 3 trillion VND (134 million USD) to the localities in the initial phase. Of the amount, Thua Thien-Hue got 400 billion VND (17.6 million USD), Quang Binh 1.1 trillion VND (48.5 million USD), Ha Tinh one trillion VND (44.1 million USD), and Quang Tri 500 billion VND (22 million USD). Binh Thuan province struggles to tackle coastal erosions The south central province of Binh Thuan is struggling to tackle coastal erosions caused by recent strong tides. During his inspection trip to the affected areas on January 5, Vice Chairman of the People’s Committee Pham Van Nam urged localities to work with the Departments of Agriculture and Rural Development, and Planning and Investment to build temporary sea dykes and consolidate damaged dyke sections in landslide-prone areas to ensure safety for local residents to enjoy the traditional Lunar New Year Festival (Tet). In the long term, he requested the departments and localities work together on measures to prevent landslides in the areas affected by sea encroachment and erosions, including the construction of solid dykes. According to the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, landslides and sea encroachment have occurred along a 9,000m coastline in the communes of Vinh Hao, Phuoc The, Binh Thanh, Hoa Phu, and the towns of Lien Huong, Phan Ri Cua in Tuy Phong district. In December 2016, strong winds and high tides caused landslides, pulled down or damaged more than 10 houses in Vinh Tan commune, and eroded 300 metres of coastline in Lien Huong town, threatening the safety of over 150 households. Since 2010, erosions have occurred along 800 metres of coastal areas in Duc Long ward and Tien Thanh commune in Phan Thiet city, affecting the lives of 46 local households. To date, 1,000 out of 1,550 metres of the local sea dike has been completed, helping to prevent sea encroachment and erosions in the areas. Meanwhile, sea encroachment has also swept away 20-30 metres of land along the 1,000m coast in Tien Thanh commune since 2013, affecting the daily life of over 200 local households. VNA/VNS/VOV/SGT/SGGP/TT/TN/Dantri/VNE |
↧
Article 0
Government bond sales surpass target Capital mobilization through Government bond sales beat the target by 11% and set a record in terms of volume last year.
By the end of December, the State Treasury had raised more than VND281.7 trillion from G-bond issues for the State budget, while the plan for the year was only VND250 trillion. That is why the primary G-bond market was relatively quiet in the final weeks of December. There were times when the State Treasury temporarily stopped bond auctions. All credit institutions accomplished their business objectives for 2016, so they felt little pressure to take profits, impacting on supply and demand on the primary and secondary bond markets. The liquidity of the G-bond market in the final month of 2016 was negligible. Apart from the exchange rate rising to new highs, this is attributed to the fact that investors are looking for directional cues from interest rates in 2017. Inaction seems to be pervasive on the primary G-bond market in the final sessions of the year. On December 29, Vietnam Development Bank invited bids for some VND1.5 trillion worth of five-year and 10-year G-bonds. The auction attracted only three participants with VND1.54 trillion worth of bids, and none of them won. A day earlier, the State Treasury raised VND456 billion from VND4 trillion worth of bonds put up for tender. Five-year bonds lured 15 participants with VND5.6 trillion worth of bids, but none of them won. The winning coupon remained unchanged at 7.2% and 7.98%. On the secondary market, the yields for three and seven-year tenors went up, whereas the remaining maturities had the same rates as in the previous week. Banks said caution dominated the market in the context of exchange rate volatility, less liquidity in the banking system at the end of the year and expectations for a new trend to form in the new year. Before the Christmas and New Year holidays, the trading volume of foreign investors, as in previous years, stayed low. One week earlier, from December 19 to 23, the trading volume of G-bonds on the secondary market rose slightly, from VND3.8 trillion to VND4 trillion. The five-year tenor attracted the most transactions. Foreign investors net sold VND354 billion of bonds last week. However, in all of 2016, they net bought over VND12.1 trillion of Vietnamese G-bonds. SGT |
↧
Article 0
Timber industry starts off New Year with major milestone A landmark event occurred in the last few weeks of 2016 between the EU and Vietnam government that promises to have far-reaching favourable implications for the development of sustainable timber industry trade.  In November, following nearly six years of negotiations, the two sides agreed in principle on the terms of a Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) to improve forest governance, address illegal logging and promote trade in verified legal timber products from Vietnam to the EU. The two sides are expected to ratify the agreement in early 2017. "Vietnam and the EU today celebrate a milestone in their cooperation in the global fight to end illegal logging," said EU Commissioner for Environment, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Karmenu Vella, at the signing ceremony for the new VPA last November. "Now we must focus on implementation to ensure that the VPA delivers on its social, environmental and economic goals.” To implement the VPA, Vietnam has agreed to put a timber legality assurance system in place among other reforms— including the passage of legislation to ensure the legality of timber Vietnam imports from other countries for processing and re-export. The European Commission has published a memo describing the VPA and timber legality assurance system. When this system is operating as described, it will ensure that exports from Vietnam of timber and timber products to the EU will be entirely from verified legal sources. “A key commitment is to establish a credible and robust system, which involves all stakeholders and includes effective mechanisms to detect violations and ensure law enforcement,” said Vella. The EU would continue to support the efforts of the Vietnam government in this regard and would be monitoring closely how the country works to implement the agreement, he noted. The VPA is expected to boost confidence in the legality of timber products exported by Vietnam, as well as deliver wider social and environmental benefits. An EU-Vietnam Joint Implementation Committee would oversee implementation of the VPA once it enters force. Until then, key elements of the interim arrangements have been agreed that would help transition to the implementation phase. The decision by the parties to sign the agreement, which would eventually lead to a requirement for licensing by the Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade facility of the EU of all timber products imported into the EU from Vietnam, was jointly announced by Vella and Vietnam Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Xuan Cuong following a meeting on November 17. The range of timber products included in the scope of the agreement encompasses all major products exported by Vietnam to the EU – particularly logs, sawn timber, railway sleepers, plywood and veneer. In addition, it includes many ancillary timber products such as wood chips or particles, parquet flooring, particle board and wooden furniture. Innovation is critical to competitiveness, was the message of Mr Hans- Joachim Danzer, Chief Executive Officer of Danzer Holding AG, at the ECE Committee on Forests and the Forest Industry in Geneva, Switzerland. There are significant opportunities for Vietnam and other countries to increase yield and reduce material costs in the international hardwood industry, he continued, but these are being squandered due to a widespread lack of capacity and willingness to innovate. There’s also a need to work with Vietnam and others towards a smarter regulatory environment, driven more by sound scientific data and less by the concerns of narrow lobby groups, to encourage innovation, improve competitiveness and stimulate trade in the industry. Mr Danzer offered these views from the perspective of a company that is the largest producer of decorative sliced wood worldwide and amongst the largest producers of sawn hardwood in Africa and North America. VOV |
↧
