Vietnam hands over hydro-power plant to Laos

On February 10 Vietnam handed over the Sekaman hydro-power project 1 to Laos for a duration of 30 years.

An agreement to this effect was signed in Vientiane by the Laotian Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Thongmi Phomvisay and general director of the Sekaman hydro-power project 1, Nguyen Xuan Hien.

The project is under the energy cooperation progamme, which will supply power for consumers and industry in southern Laos.

The project includes the Sekaman hydro-power plant 1 and the Sekaman Sansay hydro-power plant in Sansay district, Attapeu province, 75km from Vietnam.

The two power plants have a combined capacity of 322 MW and cost a total investment capital of $441.6 million.

They are expected to begin operating in 2015 and will provide 20 per cent of their output to Laos with the remaining exported to Vietnam.

US-Vietnam trade hit record high

The US-Vietnam bilateral trade reached a record in 2010 with a value of US$18.3 billion, or 19 percent more than 2009.

Last year, Vietnam shipments to the US market recorded the total value of $14.784 billion, up 20 percent compare to the previous year while the country imported $3.5 of goods from the world largest economy, an increase of only 1 percent over 2009, according to report issued by the US Department of Commerce.

Apparel remained as the top exports with $5.76 turnover, 15.2 percent higher than 2009 following by wooden furniture and footwear product with $1.82 and $1.62 respectively.

Electronics goods ranked 4th in exports last year for the first time with turnover of $778.6 million, up 21.7 percent against 2009 while seafood brought in $646.4, up 23.8 percent.

Machinery and spare part saw the highest growth in export value with $621.2, a 53 percent year on year increase compare to the previous year.

Vietnam ranked 27 over 221 countries and regions exporting goods to the US last year.

Vietnam now more popular with Russian tourists

A large number of Russian tourists are choosing Vietnam for their holidays instead of Egypt , according to the Voice of Russia.

Although a tour to Vietnam costs about 15-20 per cent more than a trip to Egypt and takes longer, the country still remains a popular destination for Russian tourists due to the recent unstable political situation in Egypt , said a Russian tourist operator.

The Russian Foreign Ministry and the Ministry of Sports and Tourism have warned its citizens to abandon trips to Egypt . On top of this, a number of travel companies have been asked not to market tours of the country.

Apart from Vietnam , Thailand , Indonesia and other several other countries in Southeast Asia are also popular with Russian holidaymakers.

Thai Binh province to have first littoral EZ

PM Nguyen Tan Dung has approved the proposal to establish the littoral economic zone (EZ) with a total acreage of 30,583 hectares in the northern province of Thai Binh.

The local People’s Committee is assigned to direct further study and finalize the Project on establishment of the littoral EZ, then send to the Ministry of Planning and Investment for assessment before submitting to the PM for approval.

The Government chief also agreed to add the project to the country’s Overall Planning Scheme of littoral EZs development until 2020.

By 2020, Vietnam plans to build 15 littoral EZs, namely Van Ðon (Quang Ninh), Ðinh Vu - Cat Hai (Hai Phong), Nghi Son (Thanh Haa), Ðong Nam (Nghe An), Vung ang (Ha Tinh), Hon La (Quang Binh), Chan May - Lang Co (Thua Thien Hue), Chu Lai (Quang Nam), Dung Quat (Quang Ngai), Nhon Hoi (Binh Ðinh), Southern Phu Yen (Phu Yen), Van Phong (Khanh Hoa), Phu Quoc (Kien Giang), Ðinh An (Tra Vinh), and Nam Can (Ca Mau).

From 2020, the country will complete the national coastal road system, according to the above-mentioned Overall Planning Scheme.

Vietnam has the coastline of 3,260 km in length. Currently, some national highways running along the coast have been developed. Some littoral EZs have already been built or planned.

The country strives to increase the contributions of the EZs to about 15 – 20 per cent of the gross domestic product and to create 1.3 – 1.5 million non-agricultural jobs within the next ten years.

Vietnam-South Africa trade turnover reaches highest level so far

Vietnam’s exports to South Africa will gain many favourable conditions in 2011 if the country’s economy maintains the predicted growth rate of 3.5-4 percent, according to the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT)’s Africa, West Asia and South Asia Markets Departments.

South Africa’s Government is increasing public investment to create jobs, and reduce the unemployment rate, therefore, the demand for imports is being maintained. Meanwhile, Vietnamese goods are gradually winning confidence in this market. The MoIT will push projects to promote exports to the African market.

According to statistics, the two-way trade turnover between Vietnam and South Africa in 2010 reached its highest point so far, US$640.31 million, rising by 26.7 percent compared to 2009 and three times higher than in 2005. The export value for the whole year achieved US$487.76 million and imports were US$152.55 million.

The growth rate of Vietnamese exports to South Africa has been higher than imports for many years, so Vietnam maintains a trade surplus to this market. 2010 also marked the year of Vietnam’s highest trade surplus with South Africa at US$335 million, up by 33 percent against 2009 and 90 times higher than 2005.   

Apart from gemstones and precious metals, Vietnamese goods with high export value to South Africa, include footwear (US$40.81 million, up by 12 percent against 2009), garments and textiles (US$18.41 million, double), coffee (US$15.78 million, up 23 percent), and rice (US$13.36 million).

Cell phones have been exported to South Africa since 2009, and held a high turnover of US$35.48 million.

Coffee prices continue to rise sharply

After the Lunar New Year festival (Tet), coffee prices continued to increase, exceeding VND41,000 per kilogram, a record high for over four years.

According to businesses dealing in coffee in Dak Lak province, coffee purchase became busier because they had to complete their orders after the Tet holidays.

However, the amount of remaining coffee for sale was not high.

The price of the coffee bean is VND40,400 – 40,600 per kilogram, an increase of more than VND10,000 compared to the beginning of the season, R1C coffee is currently sold at VND41,000 per kilogram and the R1A at VND41,200 per kilogram.

Tran Trong Luu, an official from the Dak Lak Department of Industry and Trade, said the coffee stock was only about 30,000 tonnes, accounting for 10 percent of the province’s total coffee mass. 

Although coffee prices were high, many farmers did not sell because they expected a higher price, he said.

In January, Dak Lak exported about 30,000 tonnes of coffee.

Oil-rich province sees first New Year investors

The southern coastal province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau granted licences to 12 investment projects on February 11, the fourth working day of the Year of the Cat.

Eight of them are domestic investment capitalised at over VND4.3 trillion (roughly US$ 219.3 million) and the other four with a combined investment of US$70 million are foreign invested. They make up 30 percent of the provincial plan for investment attraction this year.

Up to late 2010, Ba Ria-Vung Tau, an oil-rich and beach resort site, has attracted 282 foreign investment projects capitalised at US$27.5 billion and 379 domestic investment projects capitalised at almost VND170 trillion.

“Return to the roots” tourism programme launched

The opening ceremony of the “return to the roots” tourism programme 2011 was launched in Tam Nong district, Phu Tho province on February 14.

Various music and dance performances were held, including folk singing and story telling about the origin of the nation.

During the programme, which was co-organised by three northern mountainous provinces namely Phu Tho, Lao Cai and Yen Bai, a series of festivals will also take place to welcome visitors from Vietnam and abroad.

This is part of the socio-economic development strategy of Phu Tho province in the 2011-2015 period. It aims to consolidate great national unity, preserve cultural values and attract more tourists.

Vietnam sees sharp rise of foreign tourists 

The Statistic Bureau has reported that Vietnam received more than 500,000 international visitors during the first month of the year, showing a 12.6 percent increase since last December and 17.4 percent since last year.

Most of the travelers were from China, Korea, U.S, Japan, Taiwan (China), Australia, Cambodia, France, Thailand and Malaysia.

The country expects to receive around 5.3 million international visitors during the course of this year.

The Ho Chi Minh City tourism sector welcomed over 300,000 foreign tourists in the first month of this year, showing an increase of 10 percent since last year. International tourist arrivals to the city are expected to exceed 3.5 million in 2011.

Business companies await direction from Ministry 

The Degree 01 for issuing shares has been in effect since January 4 of last year but the Finance Minister has yet to lay down the guidelines for its implementation.

The ministry has not yet sent out any circular to carry out the degree which is causing an inconvenience to companies.

According to the degree, all joint stock companies that want to sell shares, issue more stocks or raise the capital of their current stock holders must register with the departments of planning and investment.

The departments on their parts don’t know how to deal with the documents because the Ministry of Finance has not yet issued any guidelines.

For the last one year, staff in the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Planning and Investment has suffered complaints from business houses on a daily basis as their documents have not yet been received.

The department has forwarded the complaints to the city People’s Committee and the Ministry of Planning and Investment and asked for a resolution. These two bodies have further asked the Ministry of Finance to deal with the issue but there has been no reply in the matter.

Before the degree had been put to effect, documents for issuing stocks had been processed by the State Securities Commission of Vietnam. The Department of Planning and Investment was never involved, hence now they don’t know how to tackle and approach the business documents without specific guidelines from the Finance Ministry. Up to 85 percent of joint stock companies are stranded with the present status of the degree now.

Graduates to work in remote hospitals 

Graduates from various medical universities will in future be required to compulsorily devote a minimum of two years of work in hospitals in remote parts of the country.

This forms the basis of an important draft plan to develop human resources for the health sector during 2011-2020.  Under the new regulation, it will become compulsory for medical graduates of preventive health, pediatric, psychology and tuberculosis to work at a state-run medical clinic in far and remote regions for two years before they can apply for a job in a hospital of their choice.

During this period they will receive an allowance, national security, area transfer and job risk insurance. They will also receive training expenses, skill practice expenditure, special bonus and free accommodation.

The Ministry of Health has set 2020 as the target to commence the program. The country is expected to have a ratio of 10 doctors, 12 nurses, 12 pharmacists and 8 medical practitioners per every 10,000 persons.

Besides this program, most private and state-run medical centers must also meet the requirements of the ministries of Health and Education and Training also facilitate training of equipment as well as teaching skills.  Universities are expected to have their own hospitals where graduates can practice their skills and doctors can undertake treatment cases.

The new draft plan intends to resolve the imbalance in the quality of service and raise the standard of human resource between larger hospitals in big cities and those in remote regions.

Apparel industry enjoys stable labor after Tet 

The garment and textile industry can have a big sigh of relief as almost all laborers have returned to work after Tet, removing their biggest headache they have endured over the years, an industry source said.

Almost all workers around the country have already come back to their factories to work after several days off for the Lunar New Year holiday, or Tet, while some 95% of enterprises in the industry have also resumed production, said Le Trung Hai, vice chairman of the  Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association.

“Unlike the past years, the labor force of garment and textile enterprises after this Tet is very stable. This is a good signal for the industry to achieve its export target this year,” Hai told the Daily on the phone.

Hai noted that the stable labor force was result of a better salary for workers since the middle of last year. Currently, workers receive an average monthly salary of VND3.3 million, much higher compared to under VND2 million per month a few years back.

In previous years, workers in the apparel industry, who mostly came from rural provinces, often quitted job after returning to their hometowns for Tet as the salary was seen unattractive.

Hai said the working atmosphere at most garment and textile enterprises in the country was returning normal since last Friday. “Many enterprises have already had orders enough for production until June this year,” he said.

According to the association’s vice chairman, the garment and textile industry employs some 2.5 million people.

He also predicted the salary of workers in the industry would increase by 10% this year as the association has encouraged all of its member enterprises to offer a stable and agreeable payment to workers.

The apparel industry this year, according to Hai, is expected to obtain export revenue of over US$12.7 billion compared to US$11.2 billion last year.

Vietnam to maintain strict controls on tobacco investments  

Vietnam will continue to restrict foreign investment in tobacco production, only allowing foreign companies to partner with local producers, the Vietnam Economic Times reports.

The report cited a recent Industry and Trade Ministry’s decision as saying that the government will continue to hold a controlling stake in tobacco companies with new foreign investment.

These companies are not allowed to expand their production capacities from what was previously approved by the authorities.

They also have to report their production and material imports to the ministry every three months.

Vietnam used to ban all private and foreign companies from tobacco production as the government wanted to keep tobacco supply at a reasonable level in the market.

This changed after the country became a member of the World Trade Organization. Tobacco producers, however, are still subject to strict regulations.

Known as a country one of the highest smoking rates in the world for adult men, Vietnam plans to impose heavy environment taxes on tobacco from 2012 onwards.

Multiple violations overlooked at HCMC golf club 

A golf club which was illegally constructed along the Saigon River in Ho Chi Minh City has been allowed to operate since 2005 despite official knowledge of its violations, the Tuoi Tre newspaper reported Friday.

The Him Lam Club was built upon a 31,300-square meter “golden land lot” that runs 150 meters along the river. Besides a golf course, it also houses a restaurant, coffee shops, apartments for lease and other sports facilities, the report said.

Although the authorities only approved the construction of a two- or three-story building on the lot, the project, which was developed by military-run Ba Son Shipyard and Him Lam Corporation, built one with five stories.

The Ho Chi Minh City Construction Department in a 2006 report said the project had also violated another regulation, which bans construction activity within 50 meters of either side of the Saigon River. The golf course is only 5.7 meters away while the restaurant is just 3.22 meters from the river.

In another report submitted to the People’s Committee a year later, the Construction Department said the developers of the Him Lam Club need to be forced to demolish any structures that violate regulations.

The Tuoi Tre report quoted an official at the department as saying that the People’s Committee has not taken any action in the issue.

The newspaper also cited a recent official document signed by People’s Committee Vice Chairman Nguyen Thanh Tai, which said a demolition, “in principle”, is required.

According to the Construction Department, it has imposed fines of VND44 million (US$2,250) on the project. It also noted that as the land lot is managed by the military, it took longer to deal with project violations.