BUSINESS IN BRIEF 17/11 VN, The consensus was reached at the sixth session of the Viet Nam-Kazakhstan Inter-Governmental Committee on Economic, Trade and Scientific-Technological Co-operation in Ha Noi on Tuesday. During the event, Vietnamese Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Le Duong Quang spoke highly of bilateral relations between the two countries, especially in trade and commerce. He said the visits of Government leaders had helped to open a new page in the two countries' relationship. In order to facilitate bilateral ties, The Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trade said that two-way trade had experienced encouraging growth in recent years, reaching US$85.6 million in 2012, up 176 per cent year-on-year. Over the first half of this year, trade topped $74.7 million, surging over 200 per cent against the same period last year. In an effort to create a legal framework for economic and trade co-operation, the two nations have taken an initiative to start negotiations for a free trade agreement between They have also accelerated co-ordination in tourism, aviation and investment with the launch of direct flights from Almaty to Firms urged to plan for disasters Most Vietnamese businesses have ignored the necessary preparations to avoid and reduce losses during natural disasters, according to experts. "It's time for the business community to increase awareness about how to manage natural disaster's risks and in return support for society," said an expert. Nguyen Thai Thuy Hoa, training manager of the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Support Centre was speaking at a seminar held in A survey, carried out in 2011 by the Viet Nam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) and the Asia Foundation, found that 85 per cent of businesses were affected by storms, 45 per cent by floods and 12 per cent by whirlwinds. "Most businesses haven't paid attention to drawing up plans to manage the risks of natural disaster. They should also be ready to support and assist the local community as well," she added. Around 57 per cent of Vietnamese businesses have not bought insurance for natural disaster, 47 per cent have no plans to protect database and equipment, and 55 per cent have not thought about how to recover after a natural disaster. Hoa suggested that business leaders take the initiative and change awareness about natural disaster's risk reduction by incorporating this in their yearly business plans and corporate social responsibility strategy. Next week, a seminar on how to deal with natural disaster's risks will be held and early next year, two training courses for enterprises will be organised, along with consultancy support for businesses who want to make a plan. "In future, we will expand training programmes to all of Viet Nam; increase information technology allowing enterprises to get more information; and promote public-private partnerships and activities for natural disaster risk-management, along with increasing social responsibility," Hoa added. The HCM City Natural Resources and Environment Department has set up the Enterprises Club Adapting to Climate Change in order to enhance the role of enterprises in this endeavour. The club will exchange knowledge, skills and solutions to help each other cope with climate change. SSC seeks extension for draft decree on derivatives market The State Securities Commission asked the Government to extend the deadline for a draft decree on the derivatives market from the end of this year to next year. Although While the country's stock market has been operating for more than 13 years, there is not yet a derivatives market. Such a market is expected to be introduced in 2015. Derivatives include four main instruments: forward contracts, swap agreements, futures contracts and option contracts. Currently, only stocks, bonds and fund certificates are traded in According to chairman of the State Securities Commission Vu Bang as quoted by Dau Tu Chung Khoan, the derivatives market would operate under the management of the Viet Nam Stock Exchange merged from the two existing bourses. The commission proposed that only securities companies with minimum equity of VND500 billion (US$23.8 million) and good financial status be allowed to join the derivatives market. Well-trained human resources, a consistent and transparent legal framework and risk control management are critical for the derivatives market's success, experts said. Vietnam-China int’l trade fair in Lao Cai The 13th In his opening speech, Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry Nguyen Cam Tu stressed that the event is part of trade promotion program to promote cooperation in economics, investment, tourism and services between the northwestern province of Lao Cai (Vietnam) and the and the southwestern province of Yunnan (China) in the economic corridor of "Kunming - Lao Cai - Hanoi - Hai Phong - Quang Ninh ". Domestic goods on display include Thanh Kim wine, Tham Duong sticky rice, Lang Giang eggs, agro-aqua-forestry products, machinery and equipment, and furniture and handicraft products. During the fair, there will be exchanges between Vietnamese and Chinese businesses and the signing of contracts estimated at US$240 million in total. The international fair will run until November 18. Exports to Computers and electronic products and components topped the list of key exports to Malaysia, fetching US$882 million, followed by crude oil (US$785.3 million), telephone and spare parts (US$501.5 million), rubber (US$367.1 million) and steel (US$147.3 million). In the same period, The main goods imported from As of October 20, Meanwhile, Vietnamese investors are running nine projects worth more than US$800 million in Furniture fair promotes locally made products The Vietnam Furniture and Home Furnishing Fair, called VIFA Home 2013, opened at the Tan Binh Exhibition and Convention Centre in It aims to promote locally made furniture, home decor and handicraft products in the domestic market. VIFA Home 2013, which will run until November 17, is of a bigger scale than last year with the participation of 90 local firms displaying products in 435 booths. On display are indoor and outdoor furniture, outdoor garden decorations, gifts, souvenirs, support services, handicraft items and lacquerware. Huynh Van Hanh, Deputy Chairman of the Handicraft and Wood Industry Association of Ho Chi Minh City (Hawa), said sale of locally made furniture and handicraft products in the domestic market has reduced significantly in the past years. He attributed the decrease to the slowdown property market, which accounted for 40% of the domestic wood demand. With a stable macro-economy this year as well as the Government's policies to warm up the property market, recovery and growth should be seen from next year, he said. He hoped furniture sales will recover in 2014 following the government's measures to warm up the property market. Vietnam, EC step up support of SMEs Minister of Planning and Investment Bui Quang Vinh and Vice President of the European Commission (EC) Antonio Tajani signed a Letter of Intent on fostering support to small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Under the document, the two sides will share their experience and policies to support the expansion of the SME sector, as well as enhancing activities to link domestic and EU firms together, with a view to promoting the establishment and development of their linkage clusters and value chains. Both sides will also work together to raise their technical capacity to assist SMEs, especially in high-tech applications, a strong point of the EU. At an earlier working session, Antonio Tajani, who is also Commissioner for Industry and Entrepreneurship, said that many EU firms want to do business in He said SMEs have contributed greatly to economic development in Minister Vinh noted SMEs, which account for over 90% of the total number of firms in Two-way trade turnover between As of September 2013, the club had 1,800 valid investment projects in The EC Vice President is leading a business delegation on a visit to On November 12, he witnessed the inaugural of the EU-Vietnam Business Network (EVBN) in US$200 million ODA for Quang Tri’s East-West corridor he central They made up 32% of the total ODA projects and 52% of ODA capital in the province in the reviewed period. Among the key large-scale projects investing in EWEC are the US$101.6 million Towns Development Project in the Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS), a US$123.6 million project on water sypply in Dong Ha city and adjacent areas, the US$17.05 million Dong Ha Drainage and Wastewater Collection and Treatment project, and a US$10 million project on water drainage and waste water treatment system upgrade in Quang Tri township. In addition, more than VND150 billion in ODA was also invested in the infrastructure development of the Lao Bao special trade and economic zone. Goods prices set for pre-Tet stability The prices of many key goods would stay unchanged in the months approaching the lunar new year holiday, industry insiders have claimed. The reason behind this forecast is that people's purchasing power remains weak and essential goods traders still have large inventories, they said. According to market research from Bien Hoa Confectionery Joint Stock Company (Bibica), growth of purchasing power in the 2014 Tet holiday would represent a relatively low growth rate of 5 per cent against last year. "Customers would be more selective in purchasing their goods," said Nguyen Quoc Hoang, Bibica deputy general director. Local producers would be forced to focus on the quality of their goods and keep selling prices stable, he said. Hoang said that this year, Bibica would increase confectionery output by 5-10 per cent for the Tet holiday, lower than the 20 per cent figure of previous years, in response to the lower purchasing power. Vu Vinh Phu, chairman of the Ha Noi Supermarket Association, said retail revenues of goods and services in the first nine months of this year rose 5 per cent, a marked dip on last year's 6.5 per cent surge. The total value of goods for an average supermarket shop currently stands at VND230,000, considerably lower than last year's VND270,000, said Phu, adding that volume of goods had also fallen. The economic downturn would have a knock-on effect on consumption during the 2014 Tet holiday, Phu said. However, some popular Tet goods such as pork, chicken, vegetables and fruit would likely increase by 5-10 per cent in selling price, while 30 per cent of confectionery would be cheaper due to their large inventories, Phu said. Ha Noi's demand for certain foods and vegetables could surge by 20 per cent in the month before Tet, the Ha Noi Industry and Trade Department said. It further predicted that total retail sales of goods and services were expected to increase by 15-18 per cent to VND38 trillion (US$1.8 billion) against other typical months. PM opens up to world credit ratings National agencies will provide more information to international credit rating bodies to ensure accurate representations of Currently, no ministry or organisation in Accordingly, information needed to calculate the national credit rating will be handed over, based on recommendations from ratings organisations in accordance with The mentioned information includes general socio-economic information, fiscal data, monetary and banking data, external economic information, plus political and other socio-economic information. The decision states that socio-economic general information includes mid-term and long-term strategies, as well as annual solutions for socio-economic development. Data on economic growth, national income, income per capita, savings ratio, investment ratio, inflation, population, jobs and unemployment will also be provided. Ratings agencies will also be able to access fiscal information such as policy and mid-term financial budget plans; State collection, spending and budget balance data; SOE reforms; Government debts; provisionary Government debt liabilities; public debt and external national debt. Monetary and banking information on exchange rates, interest, compulsory reserves and open market operation (OMO); performance of the State Bank of Viet Nam, credit institutions and restructuring of the banking system; balance of payments, foreign currency reserves, credit, non-performing loans (NPLs) and strategies to reduce them will also be available. External economic information covers import-export figures, trade balance and overseas remittances. Political information includes Government policies and directions; Government personnel; Under the decision, the PM also calls for stronger co-operation between relevant ministries and agencies to better implement the task. Relevant agencies will have to report the aforementioned information periodically to the Ministry of Finance, which will be in charge of working with global ratings agencies to sign agreements on providing relevant data and ensuring agencies publicise the country's credit ratings, while making recommendations on the issues at hand. The finance ministry will also co-operate with Government Offices; the ministries of Planning and Investment, Foreign Affairs and Industry and Trade; the National Committee on Financial Supervision and the State Bank of Vietnam, to meet and provide socio-economic information for international investors, financial and export credit organisations, plus ratings agencies to ease the country's capital mobilisation in the global market and raise the national credit rating. In addition, the Ministry of Finance is expected to launch a State-run credit rating agency (CRA) next year in a move to create a government-run institution able to reliably rate the country's stocks and companies. The purpose of the CRA will be to judge how likely it is that a company is able to meet its financial obligations. It is projected to be backed by VND15 billion (US$714,000) in capital and will rate both private and State-owned corporations, as well as financial, banking, insurance and non-financial institutions. Trade deals can handicap farmers Six years after Thu said the sector had a trade surplus for years, even during economic slowdowns, but still faced challenges. These included low competitiveness and low quantities of value-added products. Thu blamed this on a shortage of proper studies, planning and legal or technical support - as well as outdated policies. As part of free-trade agreements (FTAs) signed with 15 nations and economic communities since 1996, For example, tariffs on products such as beef, dairy products and rice has been slashed from 10 per cent to zero. In 2011, At a workshop held on Wednesday by the agricultural ministry and Beyond WTO Programme, the director of the He said this was likely to happen after 2020 if modern technology and systems were not introduced because tariff elimination would help foreign products enter the country with ease. Last year, During 2000-06 before However, according to the agricultural institute, tariff elimination will eventually help lift the export value of four key products - rice, vegetables and fruit, cattle and dairy products as other farm products decline in value. Meanwhile, the cost of economic integration is being felt as the prices of materials such as fuel and fertiliser increase. This will make production, particularly of fish and aqua farm products, more expensive. In the past five years, the cost of fertiliser has more than doubled, helping push the cost of producing rice up 120 per cent. The increase in fuel prices have pushed the average cost of farm production up by 35-40 per cent. Son, the director of the agricultural institute, said that to cope with the impacts of integration, the country needed more investment to process and export agriculture products. He said that at present, support for farmers and enterprises was mostly concentrated on production. However, they still lacked market information, narrowing access to potential buyers. He said that more links should be established between farmers and trade enterprises - and that public-private partnerships should be promoted. According to the report, Do Thanh Liem, chairman of Khanh Hoa Sugar Joint Stock Company, said that the sugar industry provided jobs for about 1.4 million people, most of them low-skilled manual positions. This was a barrier to the introduction of higher technologies. "Vietnamese farmers are finding it hard to adapt to changes brought about by so much integration, which has caught many of them unaware," Liem said. He suggested more time was needed to prepare for any further changes. The report Assessments of impacts of implementation of WTO and regional commitment on agriculture and rural development is part of the Beyond WTO Programme funded by the Australian Agency for International Development and the UK Department for International Development. It aims to strengthen Government capacity to manage Product quality causes concern for online shoppers Only 5 percent of online shoppers in According to a study carried out by the Ministry of Industry and Trade, product quality is the most worrisome factor when shopping online with 77 percent of those surveyed complaining. They said that in many cases, the products they received were not as good as the advertised ones they ordered online, according to the survey, which questioned thousands of online shoppers from cities nationwide. Meanwhile, 40 percent of them doubted the reasonability of prices, 38 percent were not satisfied with the delivery service and 31 percent were worried about the confidentiality of their private information while making online transactions. Aside from the products themselves, 29 percent of those surveyed complained about the complexity of the online ordering process, while 20 percent questioned the professionalism of websites. The findings of the survey, entitled "Revision of e-commerce development in According to the survey, as many as 36 percent of The most common online products are clothes, footwear, cosmetics, high tech devices, household appliances, air tickets, food, books, cinema tickets, hotel bookings and games. The ministry in August established a portal to help consumers identify trust-worthy e-commerce sites as well as provide a blacklist of sites that have failed to provide good business practices. According to the ministry, the portal updates the list of trusted e-commerce websites, which must register to offer e-commerce services and are required to meet standards established by the ministry. It said customers can see if the websites are labelled with SafeWeb, a standard system in e-commerce transactions in According to the draft, 350 billion VND (16.6 million USD) from the State budget will be used for building a national e-payment portal, developing an integrated e-commerce payment card and an online transfer management system. The money will also be utilised to help train enterprises in e-commerce and to enable them to participate in trading floors inside and outside the country, building online shopping solutions for small and medium companies, developing e-commerce applications on mobile devices and improving on-line trade marks for Vietnamese products and services. The upcoming 11th Vietnam International Trade Fair (Vietnam Expo 2013) in More than 300 firms from 15 countries and territories will display their products at the event, scheduled for December 4 – 7. Running concurrently, the Over the past years, despites the world economic slowdown, Since 2008, the country’s FDI has always stood at around 10 – 11 billion USD. Aquaculture exports buoyed by shrimp shipments Of the total, shrimp exports top the list with 2 billion USD, almost double the firgure of tra fish. Thanks to the hike of 2-4 USD per kilogram in export price, the monthly average export turnover of shrimp at from January to September enjoyed a surge of from 19-66 percent year-on-year. The sharp increase was also attributed to a remarkable decrease in supply to the Total export turnover touched approximately 108 billion USD in the past 10 months, higher than the annual figure of the years prior to 2011, the Vietnam Government Portal reported quoting sources from the General Statistics Office (GSO). The figure was estimated at 131 billion USD for 2013, soaring 14.4 percent against last year, it said, adding that export has demonstrated itself as an outstanding field, a momentum and a gateway for the economy. Export turnover of raw materials declined by over a third in 2005-2010, according to the GSO. Specifically, crude oil export fell from around 18 million tonnes in 2005 to 9.25 million in 2012 (50 percent) and over 5.94 million in the first 10 months of 2013. Coal export dropped to over 9.8 million tonnes in January-October in 2013 from 32.1 million in 2007 and 15.2 million in 2012. According to initial statistics, export turnover of raw materials and primary commodities stood at 32.1 billion USD in the first 10 months of 2013, representing almost 30 percent of export revenue, down around 4.5 percent against the same period last year. Especially, coal witnessed the sharpest decline of 29.1 percent; followed by coffee 23.9 percent; rice 16.9 percent; crude oil 14.2 percent; and rubber 13.7 percent. Meanwhile, export of processed products valued around 75.9 billion USD, occupying over 70 percent of total export revenue and surging 26.3 percent against the same period last year. Overseas shipments of telephones and spare parts, computers, chemicals, suitcases, umbrellas, garments and textiles, and footwear were higher than the general growth rate of 15.2 percent. Of the products, high-tech commodities gained higher growth rate and made up a considerable proportion. The group of product earned over 35.44 billion USD, making up 32.8 percent of total export revenue and picking up 44.2 percent against the same period last year. The foreign direct investment sector contributed greatly to the shift in export line structure as they mainly operate in high-tech and processing industries. Experts suggested the domestic sector seize the opportunities and accelerate the development of the support industries in order to generate more jobs and reduce heavy reliance on imports.- Textile exports weave stellar 2013 performance Pham Xuan Hong, deputy chairman of the Vietnam Textile and Garment Association (Vitas), said the textile and garment industry, despite many challenges in production and business, was one of the two industries reaching more than 10 billion USD in export value for this year's first nine months. Hong said the industry expected to achieve an annual growth rate of 15 percent in export value for the year thanks to the Government's export promotion policies and the textile and garment enterprises' efforts. As a result, it will add 1 billion USD to its initial export value target to bring the industry's total export value to 20 billion USD for the whole year. Nguyen An, general director of the Saigon Garment Production and Trading Joint Stock Company, said the company found new partners at a fashion fair held in the US in August and it expected to get new export orders and expand production by year's end. In addition, the localisation rate for export products has increased to 40-50 percent against the previous year's 20-30 percent, Hong said. This caused imports of material and sub-materials to fall, an advantage for the textile and garment industry in export activities once The industry has paid attention to investment in design, production and new production technology to improve the quality and value of those products. However, Hong said local producers must compete with rivals from other countries, such as Local producers have also faced difficulties in sourcing and importing material and sub-material for making textile and garment products due to competition with other countries in the region. The Ministry of Industry and Trade's statistics show that in the first nine months of this year, the textile and garment industry earned an export value of 13 billion USD, up 18 percent from the same time last year. The US, the EU, Japan and the Republic of Korea are the biggest importers of Vietnamese textiles and garments, with exports to these markets accounting for 49, 15, 12 and 9 percent of the industry's export revenue, respectively.- The Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs’ Overseas Labour Management Department, said, in the first ten months of the year, Dao Cong Hai, Deputy Head of the department, said the local labour export market has been extremely slow this year, which came partially from the of South Korea closing its job market to Vietnamese workers, which affected an estimated 13,000 in this country. In the last months of the year, 7,000 Vietnamese labourers would have to be sent overseas in order to to fulfill the goal. An expert from the labour export sector raised doubts concerning the Overseas Labour Management Department’s statistics between January and October, especially statistics focusing on Vietnamese workers sent to According to the department, as many as about 4,550 Vietnamese workers went to He claimed that if the figures about labourers sent to According to a journalistic survey of some labour export firms, despite paying different fees to the companies, many labourers have to continue to wait on administrative procedures to be completed for months. This happens very often in For Many officials from Vietnamese labour export firms said the situation will not improve in 2014. A general director of a labour export company in One reason it is difficult for Vietnamese workers to compete with those from other countries, such as At the same time, “Airfare from Sanyo gauges plant sale deal Japanese-owned Sanyo OPT According to Nguyen Anh Quyen, head of the Bac Giang Industrial Zone Authority, Sanyo OPT Another source from the authority, who declined to be named, told VIR the firm was negotiating to sell its assets to a subsidiary of Panasonic, Sanyo OPT Global’s largest shareholder. Sanyo’s factory opened in 2009 at According to Quyen, Sanyo was the province’s largest investor and was a good, law-abiding company. The company attached special importance to building a business culture and looked after its employees. Its workforce peaked at 7,000. In its notice suspending operations that was sent to authorities, general director Hiroyuki Mita said “We very much regret our inability to continue operations in Bac Giang. We have made this decision for reasons that are beyond our control.” Quyen praised Sanyo’s behaviour despite the shutdown. “Sanyo acted graciously, particularly in supporting the interests of its workers. We will provide as much support as possible in their transfer of the business,” Quyen said. Under Vietnamese law, a project shall have 12 months to be transferred to another entity since the date of stopping operation. The government can extend the hand-over period to 24 months maximum. 84 delegations to take part in Tea Festival 2013 Eighty-four delegations, including 3 foreign ones, will take part in the Second Thai Nguyen Tea Festival 2013 from November 9-11. The Festival features a wide range of activities including a tea culture festival, Thai Nguyen tea carnival, a workshop on tea products and investment promotion, and a Particularly, the Concurrently, at this event, two records of Thai Nguyen tea will be announced, namely a national record for “The most popular tea” and an international record for "One of the best gifts in The second Thai Nguyen Tea Festival is held to introduce and honor Thai Nguyen tea and tea growers, tea products and culture of Thai Nguyen tea in particular as well as Vietnamese tea in general. It will contribute to the preservation and promotion of the tangible and intangible cultural values of Thai Nguyen tea. Vietnam dong the third best performing currency in Asia Citing figures from Bloomberg, the CEO of HSBC Vietnam Sumit Dutta said that He said in a business luncheon with members of foreign associations in By August according to information given by HSBC, the Indian rupee had weakened by 15.47% against the dollar, while the Indonesian rupiah depreciated by 12.68%. Meanwhile, Trinh Nguyen, an economist of HSBC, said that there were two reasons making She told the Daily that it was mainly because the Government had maintained such policies as increasing interest rates and controlling credits since 2011 which dampened the domestic demand and also the import demand. Secondly, foreign capital flowing into Although “In short term, She also said that in her opinion, the worst of HSBC forecasts from now to the end 2014, Early this week, a report of ANZ on HSBC has revised down its projection on HSBC also expects While ANZ in the recent report estimated foreign reserves of Vietnam at around US$32 billion, HSBC forecasts foreign reserves of Vietnam would be US$30 billion by the end of this year and US$35 billion by the end of next year. Local firms have yet to fully tap Speaking at a seminar on Vietnam-South Africa trade and investment held on Wednesday in Can Tho City, Adrian du Pisannie, first secretary of the South African Embassy, said that two-way trade between the two countries has grown well in the past years with steady export-import turnover rises year after year. While two-way trade was US$195 million in 2007, it rose to US$623 million last year and is expected to hit US$1 billion in the next one or two years. However, Up to 60% of According to South African Ambassador to Vietnam Kgomotso Ruth Magau, Explaining the low export volume, Nguyen Truong Thinh, director of Luong Thoi Coconut Processing Company Limited based in According to Le Minh Truong, director of Song Hau Food Company, Although Since 2010, Luong Quoi Coconut Processing Company Limited has exported 1,000-1,500 tons of grated coconut to “We will negotiate with some partners in PPPs foster sustainable agricultural growth in Vietnam Public-private partnerships (PPP) may be a good solution to attract private domestic and foreign investment in agriculture in Vietnam, an official has said. Vietnam has set up a public-private task force on sustainable agricultural growth which has shown considerable results over the past three years. A meeting was held in Hanoi on November 4 to review the implementation of five commodity working groups after a three-year implementation period. The meeting drew the participation of officials from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), international organisations and officials from 15 trans-national groups such as Nestle, Unilever, Pepsico and Metro Cash & Carry. “This is a really good chance for Vietnamese agriculture and the sector should fully utilised it to intensify cooperation with foreign partners and bring high quality Vietnamese products to the world market,” said Dr. Dang Kim Son, Director of the Institute of Policy and Strategy for Agriculture and Rural Development (IPSARD). To date, Metro Cash & Carry has built up a fish supply chain in Vietnam. Fish from the Mekong Delta represents 60% of volume of METRO fish assortment. It has set up the Can Tho fish platform, which serves 19 METRO Cash & Carry Vietnam stores nationwide. It has also trained and certified over 400 farmers and collectors and ensured a basic income for farmers of VND9 million (USD425.83) per month at the peak time. As Vietnam has a surplus of rice but is still an importer of corn and soybeans, the commodities working group has been lobbying MARD to realise a plan to convert 100,000 hectares of low yield rice fields in the northern mountainous provinces to corn and soybean crops. In 2013 about 1,000 ha of low output rice land has been covered to corn, specifically in Lao Cai and Yen Bai provinces, providing farmers with incomes five to six time higher than they previously earned. In the Mekong Delta, the task force has successfully converted 2,200 hectares of rice to corn, and farmers earned VND9 million (USD425.83) per hectare, much higher than what they earned growing rice, just VND2 million (USD94.63) per hectare. Meanwhile, the tea task force aims to help increase annual tea procurement in Vietnam by Unilever to 30,000 - 35,000 tonnes of Rainforest Alliance (RA) certified tea. The first phase of the project, from 2011 to 2012, has already helped quadrupled import quantities from Vietnam to 12,000 and improved their quality. They target to export between 30,000 and 35,000 tonnes of fully RA certified tea by 2015. In order to increase the efficiency of the coffee supply chain, a coffee coordination board was set up on July 31, 2013 with the membership of MARD, Ministry of Industry and Trade, coffee firms, local authorities and coffee growers. The board has helped map out development policies for the sector and desires to create trade promotion programmes. The Global Sustainable AgroForestry Fund has been working closely with MARD to ensure realisation of the ambitious goals of the 2011-2015 Green Growth Strategy, which aims at transforming Vietnam’s agricultural sector to be able to create a 20% reduction in emissions, 20% reduction in poverty and 20% increase in growth. “PPPs have the potential to give the development of professional supply chains a boost and ensure sustainable development of all stakeholders,” Son added. Savills denies Keangnam home owners’ accusation South Korea’s Keangnam Vina, developer of Vietnam’s tallest skyscraper, has been accused of illegally using Savills to register apartment sales by a group of apartment owners. Buyers also claimed they had signed purchasing contracts directly with Keangnam Vina, which was confirmed by both sides. The Ministry of Construction requires every property transaction be made via an authorised transaction centre. Nguyen Thi Hang Nga, a lecturer at the Justice Institute under the Ministry of Justice and the group’s representative claimed that the transactions between the customers and Keangnam were not valid as they weren’t done via a transaction floor. She also noted that documents showing the transactions were done via Savills’s trading floor were questionable as at that time, Savills had not even been licensed to open a trading floor. A representative of Savills, when contacted by VIR, insisted they had followed regulations. Nguyen Dieu Hong, director of the Savills Trading Floor also said the buyers’ claims were untrue. As the exclusive agent for Keangnam’s Landmark Tower, Hong said Savills signed a Residential Sales Agent contract with Keangnam Vina on January 25, 2008 and provided the contract details and filing number. “The contract includes marketing and sales, initially provided services, and marketing methods,” she explained. Accordingly, Savills was responsible for all sales activities and administration procedures while potential buyers directly contacted Keangnam for information, selecting an apartment and signing contracts. “Savills took part in crucial steps including confirming the selected apartments, requisitioning, preparing and submitting documents, preparing documents on deposits and managing payments,” she said. The owner group believed it was Keangnam, not Savills as was reported, that signed the required advertising contract announcing apartment sales in Vietnam Economic Times and Hanoi Radio Television. This, they said, violated regulations and they doubted whether Savills was even involved at all in the sale of apartments at that time. Hong said that the contract between Keangnam and Savills stipulated the latter as the consulting agent for promoting the developers’ products as well as the required notices of sale. “All advertising costs were signed under the developer’s name and they handled implementation. Savills’ role was consultancy and preparation but all documents were finally signed by Keangnam,” she added. “According to the contract which identifies Savills as the exclusive sales agent, Savills is responsible for all sales activities. In this case, although customers work directly with the developer, Savills is responsible for organising the procedures mentioned,” she added. Source: VEF/VNA/VNS/VOV/SGT/SGGP/Dantri/VIR |
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