VN seeks Czech tech expertise

Viet Nam hopes to continue receiving co-operation and support from the Czech Republic in such fields as mechanics, infrastructure development and poverty eradication, according to Deputy Prime Minister Vu Van Ninh.

Receiving Czech Minister of Industry and Trade Martin Kocourex, Ninh reiterated the Vietnamese Government's pledge of creating favourable conditions for foreign enterprises and investors to do business in Viet Nam.

He pointed to trade and industry as fields for potential for co-operation.

Agreeing with Ninh, Kocourex affirmed that the Czech Republic was ready to co-operate with and support Viet Nam while continuing to provide it with official development assistance.

The presence of representatives from more than 50 Czech enterprises revealed the delegation's intent of increasing business opportunities with Vietnamese partners, he said.Applied research and training university model.

Authorities crack down on illegal pesticides
 
Agriculture authorities have pledged to work harder to prevent the purchase and circulation of illegal and counterfeit pesticide products.

The Department of Plant Protection said inspections had found 2,000 to 3,000 violations, 35 per cent of which were purchases of counterfeit pesticides.

"There has been a mix of real and fake agricultural materials in Viet Nam, including pesticides," said Prof Bui Ba Bong, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Bong said fake and low-quality products had affected the growth of the agriculture sector as well as farmers' income.

Experts said the use of fake pesticides could lead to more severe consequences.

"Illegal and counterfeit pesticides destroy crops, cause losses to farmers, and create food losses and food safety problems," said D'Arcy Quinn, director of anti-counterfeiting for the Belgium-based CropLife International, which represents the plant science industry.

Quinn told a recent workshop in HCM City that illegal and counterfeit pesticides had caused several agricultural products to be banned in several countries.

In 2000 and 2003, Viet Nam issued legal regulations on the management of agricultural materials like pesticides, fertilisers and seedlings.

But sector authorities wanted the regulations to be strengthened an d they also called for more co-operation among sectors on prevention against fake pesticides.

Bong said the Government and the ministry had developed a legal framework and penalties for the purchase and circulation of fake products, but penalties would be increased if they were found to be ineffective.

The Department of Plant Protection said that a law on plant protection was being drafted and would be submitted to the National Assembly for approval.

To enhance the management of pesticides before the law takes effect, the department plans to adjust an agricultural decree, said Phung My Van, deputy chief inspector of the department.

The adjustment would create a legal basis for stricter management of pesticides to ensure the quality of agricultural products and food safety.

Van said inspections in the last two years had not been effective due to several changes of inspectors.

"There are 93 factories and 28,000 stores nationwide working in producing and purchasing pesticides. At least 454 inspectors once a year inspect factories and stores," she said.

Van urged more co-operation between sectors, including customs, police and border guards, to improve management of pesticide purchase and circulation.

According to Nguyen Xuan Hong, director of the Department of Plant Protection, inspections could be conducted by the department's inspectors or by local departments of agriculture and rural development.

However, there has been a conflict between the two on the level of penalties that should be imposed.

The Department of Cultivation said penalties imposed locally required reporting to local People's Committees of the province or city. This has resulted in time wasting and ineffective penalties.

"Counterfeiters often come to a locality and make a quick sale of fake products," said Pham Van Du, deputy director of the department. "When penalties are imposed, they just move and sell the items at another location."

Adidas to open biggest store in Vietnam

Adidas Group has signed a contract with Bitexco Group to rent 1,300 square meters at Bitexco Financial Tower (BFT) in Ho Chi Minh City’s District 1 to open its 50th and biggest store in Vietnam.

The deal covers the lease of 1,035 square meters of office space on the 22nd floor, and 265 square meters of retail space on the ground floor. The duration and value of the contract hasn’t been revealed.

The retail space, Adidas Tower, will be the biggest store of the German brand in Vietnam.

The Adidas Tower, which will be officially opened to the public on October 14 with a special promotion, will house all Adidas brands under one roof: Sports Performance, Originals and Adidas Golf and Taylor Made.

According to Ryan Hart, Adidas’s Country Manager in Vietnam, the number of Adidas stores in Vietnam has doubled the number of stores owned by other international rivals.

Hart however didn’t give details of Adidas’s current market share in Vietnam.

The 69-story BTF, developed by Bitexco Group in the shape of Vietnam’s national flower, the lotus, has recently been voted in the top 20 World’s Most Iconic Skyscrapers by CNN Go besides the Empire State Building in New York, Taipei 101 in Taiwan, and the KLCC Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur.

It has 40 percent and 55 percent of its office and retail spaces leased already, said Brad Gee, BFT property director.

The Adidas Group, headquartered in Herzogenaurach, Germany, is a global leader within the sporting goods industry.

It offers a broad range of products around the core brands: Adidas, Reebok, TaylorMade, Rockport and Reebok-CCM Hockey.

HCM City Party leader calls for Japanese investment

Secretary of the HCM City Party Committee, Le Thanh Hai pledged to create favourable conditions for Japanese businesses to invest in the city, especially in the fields of high-tech and support industry.

At a meeting with Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Kato Toshiyuki in Tokyo on Oct. 12, Hai thanked Japan for its official development assistance to Vietnam in general and HCM City in particular over the past years, which contributed to developing infrastructure to serve its socio-economic development.

Hai spoke highly of the Japanese Foreign Ministry’s role in promoting cooperation between the two countries, and between Ho Chi Minh City and Japanese localities. He said he hoped the ministry will maintain these efforts.

Toshiyuki hailed Ho Chi Minh City’s investment promotion activities in Japan, saying that he believes economic cooperation between the city and Japan will increasingly flourish.

At a reception for Hai, Senior Vice Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), Tadahiro Matsushita said that Japanese businesses are keen on projects in the fields of energy industry and nuclear power in Vietnam.

Matsushita said he hoped the two countries’ governments will establish a dialogue mechanism between sectors and businesses to expand bilateral investment in the future.

Sharing the same view with leaders of the Foreign Ministry and METI, Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura expressed thanks to Vietnamese people for their practical and valuable support to the Japanese people in overcoming the consequences of earthquake and tsunami last March.

For his part, Hai thanked Japanese government for its support to the city’s major projects, adding that he hoped as a great economy in the region, Japan will continue supplying aid to Vietnam in the coming years.

He said that HCM City will build industrial zones reserved for Japanese businesses to develop the city’s industry in accordance with the master plan.

The same day, at a meeting with officials of the Vietnamese Embassy in Japan, Hai spoke highly of the Vietnamese diplomats’ efforts in developing friendship and cooperation between the two countries in many fields.
 
Vietnam may allow sale of ailing banks: report

Vietnam's central bank is paving the way for mergers and acquisitions among banks, in a move to step up the restructuring of the sector hit by rising bad debt, a state-run newspaper reported on Thursday.

The State Bank of Vietnam is drafting a plan to restructure the banking system, including considering mergers and acquisitions as a way to deal with small, struggling banks, an online report by the Sai Gon Tiep Thi newspaper said.

After years of high credit growth, bad debt in Vietnam's banking system reached 3.04 percent of all loans at the end of July from 2.16 percent at the end of 2010, according to government statistics.

The central bank has said bad debt could rise to 5 percent of total loans by the end of 2011, but many economists and bankers say the true level of non-performing loans in the system is likely to be higher than the official figures.

The newspaper report did not give any bank names for possible mergers and acquisitions or any timeline for the central bank's plan.

At several banks, non-performing loans exceed the value of their equity, Sai Gon Tiep Thi quoted Le Xuan Nghia, deputy chairman of the National Financial Supervisory Council, as saying.

Officials at the central bank could not immediately be contacted for comment on the report.

Vietnam has more than 40 partly private banks, led by VietinBank and Vietcombank, as well as four fully state-owned banks, two of which are policy lenders.

Last month, Vietcombank said a unit of Mizuho Financial Group agreed to buy a 15 percent stake in it for 11.8 trillion dong (US$567.3 million), in what could be the largest acquisition in the country's banking sector to date.

State-owned Agribank, the country's largest bank by assets, had bad debt that accounted for 6.67 percent of its outstanding loans at the end of August, said the ruling Communist Party's bureau that watches state-run businesses.

Government to auction smuggled liquor, tobacco

Liquor and cigarettes smuggled into Vietnam will be auctioned, a draft circular issued yesterday by the Ministry of Industry and Trade says.

Seized contraband products are now destroyed.

According to the circular, if more than 100 bottles of the same kind of liquor are seized and pass the quality test, they will be auctioned.

Those failing to pass the quality test will be destroyed, as will any batch consisting of less than 100 bottles.

Similarly, cigarette batches weighing more than 2,000 kilograms will have to undergo the quality test before being sold to cigarette companies.

Those weighing less than two tons will be destroyed.

Pork prices decline as supplies rise
 
Meat prices, especially in relation to pork, have been declining on the domestic market, according to the Livestock Breeding Department under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

The pork wholesale price fell 24 per cent to VND53,000 per kilo in Ha Noi, to VND45,000 per kilo in Central Highland Dak Lak Province and to VND50,000 per kilo in HCM City, said Nguyen Thanh Son, department deputy director.

A drop in pork wholesale prices had also pulled down prices related to other types of meat, he explained, saying that the price of chicken had fallen 40 per cent to VND24,000 per kilo.

Previous high prices encouraged farmers to develop their poultry and cattle herds, increasing the supply of meat to bring down prices, Son added.

In the first nine months of this year, poultry production grew by 16.8 per cent in terms of meat volume and 19 per cent in relation to egg numbers.

Output surged by 2.6 per cent for pork, 4.9 per cent for beef, 9.3 per cent for buffalo meat and 5.4 per cent for milk over the same period, Son said.

An increasing meat import volume during recent months added to the domestic market, reducing prices further, he added.

The increase in domestic supply also occurred due to the premature selling of poultry and cattle to avoid floods in central and the southern areas, he noted.

However, the drop was temporary and under market rules, the reduction in meat wholesale prices was expected to subside because of demand increasing by 15-20 per cent over the holiday period.

Meanwhile, housewives have commented that retail prices of meat had remained relatively unchanged.

"Meat prices haven't dropped by much if at all to be honest," said Le Ngoc Minh, a housewife from Dong Da District, Ha Noi.

"The retail price for pork has kept steady at VND100,000-120,000 per kilo on average while chicken cost VND60,000-80,000 per kilo and beef VND200,000-220,000 per kilo," she added.

"Although local newspapers have reported price drops, customers have continued buying meat at similar prices as before, with farmers still making little profit from breeding poultry and cattle," she explained.

Tran Thu An, a housewife from HCM City, said that retail prices for pork were still between VND95,000-115,000 per kilo.

Nguyen Thi Hoa, a chicken trader at Bac Ninh Market in Thu Duc District, HCM City, said that retail prices for chicken were VND55,000-60,000 per kilo, each kilo bringing in VND7,000-10,000 in profit.

"The state should control the market more strictly in order to push down high prices related to essential goods, ensuring farmers are able to profit," Minh noted.

The department expected the supply of meat to satisfy domestic demand by the end of this year with the husbandry industry producing 175,000 tonnes of pork, 52,000-55,000 tonnes of chicken and 13,000 tonnes of other types of meat per month.

To reach such a target, the department suggested that the state provide farmers with incentives to recover production, including loans with soft interest rates and reduced import taxes for animal feed.

India considers granting more preferential credit for Vietnam

Indian Financial Minister Pranab Mukherjee has affirmed that the Indian Government will increase ODA for Vietnam.

During a working sesion with Vietnamese Financial Minister Vuong Dinh Hue, the two ministers agreed to strengthen cooperation, especially in customs, tax, budget management, and public debt management for the benefit of economic development and bilateral trade and investment and draft a cooperative documents to be signed between the two countries.

In reply, Minister Mukherjee noted that in addition to US$100 million ODA for Vietnam announced at the talks between President Truong Tan Sang and Prime Minister Mammohan Singh, India will consider granting more credit for Vietnam to develop infrastructure and import Indian equipment and technology.

Indian Minister praised Vietnam’s guidelines on using ODA to develop infrastructure and strengthening public-private partnership (PPP). He said that Indian businesses will work with Vietnam’s relevant agencies on a number of investment projects in the country.

Investors aware of Vietnam’s long-term potential

International investors in four funds under the management of the VinaCapital Group are concerned about Vietnam’s struggle to contain inflation in the long run.

VinaCapital chairman Terry Mahony said: “In the short run, Vietnam still faces challenges including high inflation and interest rates, which cause pressure to investment funds.”

Andy Ho, head of investment, said that investors were worried about the dong weakening and would make decisions only if they discovered opportunities unaffected by the forex-rate risk.

However, he said inflation was trending down and should be around 12-14 percent for 2012.

“The most important thing is that the Government should stick to the current policy to ensure stability, as well as invest more aggressively and more efficiently in infrastructure and education and training,” he said.

He added that this development would help improve productivity, thus attracting investors.

VinaCapital CEO Don Lam said he would focus on investor relations with updates and road shows to Europe, North America and Asia, which would begin later this month.

“We will continue to highlight Vietnam’s long-term strengths by actively participating at international investment conferences and events,” said Don.

Around 40 investors attended the VinaCapital event in HCM City on October 13 to hear a detailed review of the performance of its funds over the past 12 months.

“We want our investors to have a clear picture of the investment environment facing our funds, and our accomplishments during this challenging time,” said the CEO.

Vietnam’s GDP growth has slowed to under six percent due to tight fiscal and monetary policies put in place to fight high inflation.

As a result, the equities and real estate markets have performed poorly.

Foreign investment has continued, however, with several significant investments by multinational companies attracted to the long-term potential.

Vietnam-India direct air routes in the pipeline

Vietnam Airlines and India’s Jet Airways will increase comprehensive cooperation in trade, services, technical affairs and training to pave the way for opening direct air routes between the two countries.

The two airlines signed a framework agreement on comprehensive cooperation in New Delhi on October 12 during the current visit to India by State President Truong Tan Sang.

They will jointly study the possibility of opening direct air routes between the two countries to boost investment, trade and tourism cooperation on a par with the bilateral strategic partnership.

Witnessing the signing ceremony, Mr Sang expressed his belief that the cooperation deal will be successful, bringing mutual benefits.

This symbolizes the traditional friendship and strategic partnership between Vietnam and India, he said.

Vietnam Airlines General Director Pham Ngoc Minh said the signing of the pact will help bring more benefits to the passengers of both airlines.

Seeking business opportunities in Senegal, Sierra Leone

To boost Vietnamese exports to Senegal and Sierra Leone, the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) will send a business delegation to promote trade in the two markets from November 19-27.

Businesses will introduce potential export products to the two markets, such as rice, other agricultural products, garments, motorbikes and spare bike parts, materials, tapioca, optical fibre cable, cotton, cashew nuts, wood, and scrap steel.

During their stay, the Vietnamese delegation will work with their African counterparts at the Ministries of Trade and Industry and the Chambers of Commerce and Industry to organize seminars on promoting exports.

The Vietnamese delegation will also discuss the import of cotton, cashew nuts, wood, and scrap steel from Senegal, as well as signing a memorandum of understanding on commercial rice with the West African nation. They will find ways to help Vietnamese businesses sign direct contracts with Senegalese partners to export rice, open warehouses in Senegal and gain a deeper understanding of the distribution network in each of the two countries.

The MoIT reported that Vietnam’s export value to Senegal has remained high in recent years. It increased by 311 percent in the first eight months of this year to approximately US$178 million, making Senegal Vietnam’s second largest market in Africa, after South Africa. Major exports are rice, garments, computers, electronics and spare parts.

Sierra Leone is a hugely promising potential market. Vietnam currently exports rice, tobacco, fuel oil and garments to the country, while imports include scrap steel, and wood and timber products.

Vietnam’s export value to the country reached an encouraging US$28.8 million in the first half of this year.

Vietnam Airlines launches tourism program in Japan

A ceremony was held by Vietnam Airlines in Nagoya city, Japan on October 11 to introduce “Four nations –one destination”-a new program on Vietnam’s land, people, culture and tourism.

Governor of Aichi Prefecture, Hideaki Omura, said Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar and Vietnam are all attractive destinations for Japanese visitors.

In 2008, the leaders of Aichi Prefecture and the Vietnam Ministry of Planning and Investment signed a memorandum of understanding on boosting trade and economic exchanges between their businesses.

Around 60 Vietnamese businesses are operating in Aichi and a large number of Vietnamese students studying there.

The Aichi leaders hoped Vietnam Airlines will increase the number of flights between Vietnam and Aichi.

Vietnamese Ambassador Nguyen Phu Binh said he was pleased to know that many large groups in the prefecture have invested in Vietnam and the number of visitors from Aichi to Vietnam have risen considerably.

The Ambassador stressed that after arriving in Vietnam by air visitors can easily travel to Laos, Cambodia, and Myanmar.

Nguyen Minh Hai, Director of the VietnamAirlines Representative Office in Japan, said that his corporation is planning to expand its operation in the coming year.

Earlier on October 10-11, VietnamAirlines launched its “Roadshow 2011” programme in Nagoya.

Vietnamese abroad push local produce

More than 200 overseas Vietnamese businesspeople gathered in the capital on October 13 to discuss methods to promote Made-in-Vietnam goods on the occasion of Vietnam Entrepreneur Day.

In the conference themed "Opportunities for cooperation, investment, trade and export of Vietnamese goods", Nguyen Thanh Son, deputy minister of Foreign Affairs, who is also head of the State Committee for Overseas Vietnamese Affairs (COVA), said: "Overseas Vietnamese communities now live in 103 countries and territories and most of them are concentrated in big markets like the US, the EU and Eastern Europe.

"However, the paradox is that most of the goods our communities are trading and distributing are made in China, Thailand and Turkey."

He attributed the discrepancy to the fact that Vietnamese goods have difficulty penetrating certain markets and to the loose co-operation between domestic Vietnamese companies and those abroad.

Deputy chairman of the Vietnam Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (VINASME) To Hoai Nam said domestic enterprises often hesitated to export goods to foreign markets due to fears of legal risks.

"When I asked them why, they [domestic enterprises] said if they failed to win a law suit, they would probably lose capital that had taken them 20 years to accumulate.

"I also find that local companies often do not have a deep understanding of foreign consumer tastes and they miss opportunities due to being over-cautious," he said.

"On the other hand, administrative procedures are described as one of the biggest obstacles facing Vietnamese enterprises in foreign countries when it comes to importing and distributing made-in-Vietnam products."

Although the government had many favourable policies, the obstacles lied in policy implementation, he said.

The hesitation of overseas Vietnamese businesspeople also stemmed from worries about risks such as poor domestic infrastructure and food safety, Nam added.

Nguyen Thanh My, permanent deputy chairman of the Business Association of Overseas Vietnamese, said overseas Vietnamese often chose products from China, India and Turkey to sell because they were affordable and nicely designed. Meanwhile, some Vietnamese products, despite having locally recognised brand names, were still not enticing to foreign markets, especially the EU and the US.

Domestic companies had not put a lot of investment into product design, marketing and promotion activities, or in extras such as after-sales services, he said.

Therefore, the two mains problems that needed to be addressed were product design and distribution strategies, he stressed.

My suggested that the state should co-operate with business communities abroad to set up wholesale or trade centres in foreign countries in order to facilitate the penetration of Vietnamese goods and build on the strength of overseas Vietnamese businesses.

Chairman of the Vietnamese businesses association in Hungary Pham Ngoc Chu said: "We find that European consumers prefer Vietnamese goods such as noodle soups, canned fruits and green tea over Chinese options."

However, Vietnamese companies should pay more attention to product design and colour so that buyers could easily differentiate Vietnamese goods from Chinese ones, he said.

"Chinese goods are often recognised by their red packaging, but considering the current situation of climate change and temperature increase, we should use harmonious packaging with the soft colour of nature."

Chu also suggested Vietnamese firms should link hot news with production. He used the fortune teller octopus in Spain, which was admired by football fans throughout the world during the World Cup season last year, as an example.

He said Vietnamese companies could have sold thousands of T-shirts or other souvenirs if they had been decorated with the octopus symbol.

During the conference, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Thanh Bien called for Vietnamese companies abroad to take full advantage of new policies, such as nationality, house and land ownership, and investment preference, to enrich themselves in Vietnam and contribute to the country's socio-economic development.

They were asked to use their knowledge of foreign cultures, business and management to act as a bridge between Vietnamese goods and foreign markets and help domestic enterprises meet criteria to avoid lawsuits from foreign consumers.

The Ministry would continue streamlining administrative procedures and create favourable conditions for Vietnamese enterprises in the country and abroad to develop their businesses and open export markets, Bien affirmed. The conference was jointly held by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and VINASME.

Japan shows the way forward in the construction field

Experts from Vietnam and Japan have compared notes in the construction quality and project management field.

It marks the second Vietnam-Japan Seminar on Construction Quality and Project Management held by Vietnam’s Ministry of Construction (MoC) in cooperation with Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism (MLIT) and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

The MoC, MLIT and JICA have been cooperating to improve the government’s administration system for construction work quality and safety management since 2010 in the light of increasing number of infrastructure construction projects and work related accidents.

The objectives of the two-day seminar are to develop common understanding on the construction project management between Vietnam and Japan.

In this regard, representatives from the Vietnamese side highlighted problems in construction management and factors affecting the construction work quality in Vietnam.

In turn, Japanese experts from the MLIT and from large construction companies presented the construction quality assurance system in Japan and cases of Japanese general contractors’ construction quality management systems to share their technology and experiences. Also, JICA experts for a “Project for Capacity Enhancement in Quality Assurance” being implemented with the MoC, presented the project’s findings in improving construction quality assurance in Vietnam.

In addition to delivering their presentations and discussion on the issues, delegates to the seminar also made fact-finding visits to construction sites in Ho Chi Minh City.

Commscope introduces Intelligent Infrastructure Solutions in Vietnam

Commscope, one of the world’s best providers for copper and fiber structured cabling systems, has just launched its SYSTIMAX Intelligent Infrastructure Solutions in Vietnam.

Ingram Micro Asia (IMA) is the distributor for this new product. According to IMA, SYSTIMAX Intelligent Infrastructure Solutions (Systimax) is an extremeassistance for information technology managers.

“Overview capability plus with intelligent will be successfully management,” said a source from IMA.

IMA stated further that Systimax was set up in the foundation of two world famous products of CommScope’s copper and fiber structured cabling systems.

By adding intelligence to copper and fiber structured cabling systems, Intelligent Infrastructure Solutions automates change management, improves productivity, increases network reliability and availability, tracks the physical location of networked devices, secures the network and facilitates compliance.

Bringing together software and hardware, Intelligent Infrastructure Solutions provides a realtime, comprehensive view of the physical network, automatically detecting moves, adds and changes and providing a dashboard that gives the vision and knowledge necessary to control the network.

Systimax consists of Intelligent Patch Panels and Systimax iPatch System Manager Infrastructure Operations Software.

IMA confirmed that Systimax would be useful for all people in relateto the network.

One of the biggest customers who have used Systimax so far was the third biggest banker in Mehico, the Banco Azteca.

When expanding its operations to Brazil recently, Banco Azteca through a CommScope’s partner TSA, decided to choose Systimax and cable system UTP GigaSPEED X10D for its database centre.

According to Danilton Camilo da Cunha, TSA director, Banco Azteca wished to have highest security level in its database centre. And it decided to use these two system and the system has been operating very well.

In China, Systimax has been used for Bank of China – the biggest bank of the country.

CommScope offers a full line of intelligent infrastructure solutions under the iPatch brand name as part of the next-generation Systimax 360 solutions platform.

Transport projects in Central Highlands short of funds

Transport infrastructure projects planned for execution between now and 2015 in the Central Highlands are in dire need of capital as only about VND7.5 trillion has been arranged out of the total capital requirements of VND30.5 trillion.

Under the program, some VND28.131 trillion and VND2.345 trillion should be spent on road and airport projects respectively, but the budgets are not available due to the Government’s decision to scale down public investments, said the Planning and Investment Department under the Ministry of Transport.

Le Anh Tuan, deputy director of the department, said the progress of many projects has been slowed down due to the Government’s Resolution 11 on combating inflation and stabilizing the economy.

In addition to the region’s backbone roads like national roads 14 and 14C, other connecting roads including national roads 19, 20, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29 are also lacking capital.

Capital to be disbursed for infrastructure projects in the Central Highlands this year is about 1.6 trillion only, according to the Ministry of Transport. Therefore, National Road 14 alone will be short of VND8.15 trillion.

Besides, National Road 20 which is being upgraded for bauxite transferring is seeking an amount of VND2.065 trillion.

The Central Highlands has a total road length of 14,700 kilometers, in which national roads account for 2,175 kilometers while that of provincial roads is 12,525 kilometers.
 
Lending rates won’t cool before 2012

The lending rates offered by commercial banks are still high and unlikely to go down until early next year despite the central bank’s effort to drag it down by enforcing the deposit rate cap at 14% since September 7.

A company director told the Daily that a bank offered him an annual lending rate of 22% for a short-term loan below one year and 21.7% for a middle and long-term loan.

He added that there was no lender offering him lending rates at 17%-19% per annum as suggested by the central bank despite a good relationship between his company and many large banks in the city.

A banker asserted it was hard to lend money with such a low rate given the current tight liquidity for Vietnam dong. He added several depositors were rushing to his bank to withdraw money every day, amounting to around VND12 billion.

In reality, his credit institution has no appetite for seeking borrowers since the credit growth rate almost reached the credit growth cap of 20% set by the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) for the time being.

An executive of a small bank admitted that only 5% of enterprises have accessed loans with a 19% rate yearly. This resulted from the imbalance between mobilization and lending activities.

Many industrial sources said that numerous credit institutions were mobilizing Vietnam dong at 15%-16% per annum, higher than the regulatory 14%, in an effort to make up for the shortage of liquidity. This means that the borrowing cost for companies would remain high in the coming months.

Meanwhile, SBV has recently raised the recapitalization rate to 15% a year from 14%, the overnight lending rate in the inter-bank market to 16% annually from 14%.

According to financial specialist Pham Do Chi, the move is aimed at decreasing money supply in the market to curb high inflation.

Also, Chi cited the phenomenon of many local investors turning to gold from dong deposits, whose rates were no longer attractive to them.

As a result, smaller banks find themselves in hot water with liquidity problems, meaning it is still too soon to revise down the lending rate, Chi stressed.

Truong Van Phuoc, general director of Vietnam Export Import Commercial Bank (Eximbank), asserted that lending rates would be gradually reduced only after lenders could pool low-cost capital.
 
Vinalines, Japanese firms cut deal to build new port

Vietnam National Shipping Lines (Vinalines) on Wednesday signed a joint venture agreement with three Japanese logistics enterprises ITOCHU, MOL and NYK to build Lach Huyen International Port in the northern city of Hai Phong.

The project is divided into two sections.

Section A including the passage to the port, breakwaters and roads leading to the port is funded by Official Development Assistance (ODA) from Japan and reciprocal capital totaling US$900 million under the format Public Private Partnership (PPP).

Section B, co-invested by Vinalines and the Japanese investors, is comprised of two berths with a length of 750 meters and water depth of 14 meters and a 22-hectare warehouse with all costing US$321 million.

Nguyen Canh Viet, general director of Vinalines, said: “Sea freight in the northern region will likely amount to 60 million tons by 2015 and even to around 100 million tons by 2020. Thus, existing ports in the region cannot meet the fast-growing demand of sea transportation.”

The presence of Lach Huyen port in the future will ease overloaded freight for the current ports as well as pave the way for a smooth flow of goods to other countries in Asian and around the globe, Viet continued.

Vinalines expects that two berths of the port will be completed in 2016, which will allow for an annual throughput of six million tons of cargo. By 2020, the port construction will be completed with eight berths, making up the total sea transport throughput of 30 million tons of cargo a year.

Under the master plan of Vietnam’s port system in 2011-2020 toward 2030, Lach Huyen is considered a key sea port linking the country with the world.
 
Turkey wants to boost trade ties with Vietnam

Turkey will strengthen cooperation with Vietnam, especially in trade, said new Turkish ambassador Ahmet Akif Oktay in a talk with HCMC chairman on Tuesday.

“We expect the total turnover of two-way trade between two countries to reach US$1 billion this year and hope it to increase much more in the future,” said the ambassador. Turkey will organize a trade exhibition for export items this year, creating cooperation opportunities for enterprises of Vietnam and Turkey, he said.

At the meeting, the two sides also mentioned the possibility of restarting the sister relationship between HCMC and Turkey’s capital city of Istanbul which was conceived some ten years ago.

Besides, HCMC chairman Le Hoang Quan suggested Turkey to open a consulate in HCMC, which can help strengthen the two countries’ cooperation, and pledged to facilitate Turkish investors.

Power plant emissions sold to bank

Trung Nam Power Joint-stock Company has signed an emission trading deal with Germany's Deutsche Bank to sell the emissions from its Dong Nai Hydropower Plant No 2 for the first 10 years of its operation.

It is expected to fetch the company 1.5 million euros (US$2.1 million) annually. ERM (Environment Resources Management), a global provider of environmental consulting services based in the UK, was asked to validate the project last week to register it as a CDM (clean development mechanism) project. ERM met representatives of Lam Dong Province and people living around the plant to collect opinions about it.

After the validation, documents would be submitted to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to complete the registration process, Trung Nam Power, a subsidiary of Trung Nam Group said.

Dong Nai Hydro-power Project No 2 is one of the first CDM projects in Viet Nam involving the German bank.

Being built at a cost of VND2.5 trillion ($120 million), the 74MW plant in Tan Thuong Commune, Di Linh District, is scheduled to begin generation and link up with the national power grid in the last quarter of next year.

Ha Noi golden promotion selling points named

The Ha Noi Department of Industry and Trade named 20 official golden selling points to take part in the city's promotion month in November.

Trade centres and supermarkets such as the Metro Wholesale Centre, the Parkson Trade Centre and the Fivimart Supermarket were all included in the list.

As planned, on November 12 and 13, gold will be sold at 20 to 50 per cent discounts and at 15 to 20 per cent cuts during the remaining days of the month.

Nealy half of fertiliser imports come from China

Viet Nam imported 1.1 million tonnes of fertiliser from mainland China in the first eight months of this year, accounting for 45.3 per cent of the total nationwide figure, according to the customs office.

The Chinese imports cost US$452.6 million, contributing $1 billion to the total fertiliser import value, an increase of 66.16 per cent compared with the same period last year.Fertiliser, including DAP, urea and SA nitrogenous products, were mainly imported via the Lao Cai border gate in northern Lao Cai Province.

$5b steel project to start up in Ha Tinh Province

A US$5 billion steel complex project in central Ha Tinh Province's Vung Ang economic zone was believed to commence after the Vietnamese Government promised to expedite it, according to investor Tata Steel.

The project, jointly-invested in by Tata, the Viet Nam Steel Corporation (VNsteel) and the Viet Nam Cement Group (Vicem), has been on hold since 2007 because parties involved struggled to reach an agreement on site clearance compensation. The 752-ha project is expected to produce 4.5million tonnes of steel per year.

Information System firm wins big contracts

The FPT Information System Corporation (FPT IS) has won contracts with four big customers of Viet Nam Mobile Telecom Services Company (VMS): Viettel Global, the Viet Nam Telecommunication Services Company (VNP) and the State Bank of Viet Nam (SBV).

Accordingly, FPT IS would handle VMS' email storage system in a long term, provide Viettel Global with information and technology systems for investment in Mozambique, install the third phase of the IP Contact Centre for the VNP and purchase a main server and Uninterruptible Power Supplier (UPS) for the SBV's Information and Technology Department.

Entertainment technology show to be held in Ha Noi

Palme and Broadcast & Media Tech Vietnam 2011 will be held in Ha Noi from November 2 to 4 by Vinexad Ha Noi and Singapore's IIR Exhibitions Pte Ltd.

This exhibition will highlight Vietnamese and international advances in professional audio, lighting, AV, systems integration, music software, IT and entertainment technology. It is expected to attract over 150 exhibitors and companies from 25 countries. According to IIR Exhibitions, Viet Nam is considered to be showing strong growth in national media, and its entertainment industry is expected to reach US$2.3 billion in 2013.

PV