Vietnamese businesses seek opportunities in US

A business delegation from Ho Chi Minh City recently attended an Asia-US business conference and fair held in Pomona city of California State, to seek business opportunities in the US market.

Tu Minh Thien, director of the HCM City’s Trade Promotion Centre and head of the delegation, stated that the US, especially California, where a large number of overseas Vietnamese are living, is an enormous market for products from Asia, particularly Vietnam.

He said he hoped that through these events, Vietnamese enterprises would seek out suppliers and distributors to supply their products to the US market.

Demos Vardiabasis, chairman of the California Advisory Committee for Entertainment and Tourism Industries said there were many opportunities for Vietnamese businesses to operate in the US market, particularly in California.

Meanwhile, Robert M. Hertzberg, chairman and co-founder of G24 Innovations, said that the Vietnamese community in California has thrived and opens up opportunities for Vietnamese businesses to look for partners. He added that his firm was ready to help Vietnamese companies find business partners in the US.

Drugmaker told to cancel public offering

The State Securities Commission has cancelled the upcoming public offer of 7 million shares of Vien Dong Pharmaceutical Co (DVD) due to the company's failure to rectify shortcomings relating to its earlier suspension of the issue, the commission announced Tuesday.

DVD shares, traded on the HCM City Stock Exchange, responded to the decision yesterday by plunging to their floor price of VND36,300 (US$1.85) per share.

The commission suspended the issue last November and gave DVD 60 days to document revenues from contracts signed in 2010 with Lily France Joint Stock, HT Trading Devel-opment Technological Co Ltd and Vien Dong International Joint Stock Co – the majority of DVD's revenue sources during 2007-10. Earlier, DVD had also provided inaccurate and misleading information about its partner, France's Yvery, but it had since yet to provide corrected data.

The commmission deadline passed without the company producing the required documentation, so the commission acted to cancel the issue and ordered the company to refund VND69 billion (US$3.5 million) in deposits it had collected from interested investors with 15 days.

Investors who relied on the offer faced potential losses since DVD share prices had already been adjusted downward in anticipation of the issue.

The commission ordered DVD to make required disclosures within seven days and also said it would work with the police to gather evidence about DVD's provision of misleading information.

DVD representatives could not be reached for comment yesterday.

As of December 31, DVD had net assets estimated at VND769 billion ($39.4 million) but the combined value of debts and other payables could reach as high as VND1.5 trillion (nearly $77 million).

Vietnam invests in Cambodia power plant

Vietnam Ministry of Planning and Investment has licensed the US$800 million hydro-electric power plant to be constructed in Cambodia, according to the ministry’s Foreign Investment Agency.

This project by state-owned Vietnam Electricity Group (EVN) is solely invested by its joint-stock subsidiary EVN International, whose shareholders include major state companies and corporations, such as PetroVietnam, EVN, and Vietnam Rubber Group.

The power plant, Lower Se San 2, is located in Cambodia’s Stung Treng province on its Se San river, a major tributary of the Great Mekong River flowing through Indochinese countries from China.

Its capacity is estimated at 400MW with an average output of 1998 million KWh per year, half of which will be sold back to Cambodia.

EVN International also currently carries out other energy projects and researches for investment in neighboring Lao and Cambodia.

Construction for the plant is to begin this year and it is expected to go into operation in 2016.

Businesses stuck in red tape over unused invoice

People jamming to submit the required lists and USBsHo Chi Minh City-based businesses said a new regulation requiring them to submit in person information relating to unused invoices is unreasonable, unnecessarily wasting their time.

Under the directive from central authorities, enterprises must physically submit to tax offices a printed list of 2010’s unused invoices plus a USB containing the list.

The deadline for such submission is January 20 and many district tax offices and businesses said they did not have enough time to implement the directive.

Tuoi Tre finds out that tax offices have become too overcrowded in the past few days with company employees coming to hand in the lists and USBs.

A man named K said he submitted a list of those unused invoices to the Binh Thanh District Tax Sub-department on January 18, as instructed by Circular 153/2010/TT-BTC dated September 28, 2010.

However, after three hours waiting there, he was told he had to comply with the new regulation and now must bring a USB.

Many other employees complained to Tuoi Tre their companies had not been notified in advance by tax offices about the new regulation.

“Such a regulation benefits tax offices while it causes troubles to businesses as they have to wait longer to complete the procedures”, said a woman named Q., an accountant for a tourist company.

“Why did tax offices not allow businesses to submit such lists via email?” Ms. Q. wondered.

“And why a USB”, she complained to Tuoi Tre.

Tran Van Duc, head of the Tax Sub-Department of Binh Thanh District, said that his agency just received the directive on January 4 and that the overcrowding there in the past few days is inevitable.

Meanwhile, Nguyen Minh Quang, head of the Tax Sub-department of District 12, said he had opted to allow businesses to submit only the lists.

He said his staff could do without USBs.

This simplified method has also been applied at the Tax Sub-department of District 1 in the past few days.

Talking with Tuoi Tre, deputy head of the city Tax Department, Le Thi Thu Huong, said that yesterday afternoon she ordered the Binh Thanh District Tax Sub-department to stop forcing businesses to submit their data via USBs.

Demand for cheap goods up before Tet

Low- and middle-income earners in Ho Chi Minh City are now rushing to buy cheap but quality items for this Tet, or the Lunar New Year, which is due in less than two weeks.

It takes a lot of time to scour the market for good products at affordable prices, Thuy Trang, from Quang Binh Province, said.

She has been to many outlets like Big C, Co.opMart, Binh Tay market, Ba Chieu market, to look for Tet foods for her family.

Tet specialties like chestnuts, dried longans, dried anchovies, Chinese sausages and dates can be purchased at cheaper prices at those places, Trang said.

Just like Thuy Trang, another factory worker from Hai Duong Province Nghiem Thi Thu told Tuoi Tre though it is getting more and more expensive to buy Tet foods in the southern hub, good ones at cheap prices can absolutely be found out with patience.

She has just bought three pairs of jeans and four T-shirts for a bargain at an outlet in District 1.

An outlet of Saigon 3 Garment Joint Stock Company offers a fashionable pair of jeans at VND170,000 (US$8.7), merely half the price in other fashion shops.

MAXX Style, another Vietnamese brand now puts on sale products with a maximum price of VND150,000 ($7.7) per item only.

State-owned garment maker Viet Tien has also introduced its middle-range brand named Viet Long which is priced at VND100,000-220,000 ($5.1-11.3) per item to cater to middle-income earners, Phan Van Kiet, Viet Tien deputy general director, said.

It is pretty cheap and somewhat costs as much as Chinese imports but Viet Tien offers better after-sales services, he added.

Shops around the city are now discounting their prices by up to 50 percent to boost year-end sales as well.

Japan, Vietnam sign nuclear cooperation agreement

Vietnam and Japan will cooperate in developing and using nuclear energy for peaceful purposes under an agreement signed in Hanoi on January 20.

Signatories were Vietnamese Deputy Minister of Science and Technology Le Dinh Tien and Japanese Ambassador to Vietnam Yasuaki Tanizaki.

The agreement will cover such fields as radioactive isotope and radiation research; light water reactor design and operation; radioactive waste storage, transport, and treatment; and legal framework for the peaceful nuclear energy sector as well as uranium exploration and exploitation.

Saigontourist aims to receive over 2 million visitors this year

Saigontourist Travel Service announced its aim to receive 2.1 million travellers in 2011 and promote its brand name and services at its 2010 review meeting in HCM City on January 20.

To achieve the 2010 targets, Saigontourist has strengthened its joint venture and cooperation with foreign countries, including the USA and Japan.

The company promoted its tourism services and products and continued to run chains of resorts, hotels, fair centres, as well as promoted its marketing strategy.

In the next five years, Saigontourist will focus on attracting top tier visitors attending Meeting Incentive Conference Event (MICE) and combining tourist services with shopping activities.

In 2010, Saigontourist welcomed and served over 1.9 million visitors, reaching a total turnover of VND9.460 billion, contributing VND1.160 billion to the state budget.

Tran Hung Viet, Deputy General Director of Saigontourist said 2011 would be very important year in working toward the realization of the 2015 target of doubling its turnover.

Vietnam targets exports to Chile

More and more Chilean businesses are seeking opportunities to operate in Vietnam especially in the field of mining, oil exploration, seafood, beverage, and fruit production, said the Vietnam Trade Office in Chile.

Chile, in return, also encourages Vietnamese businesses to increase investment and trade cooperation with the country.

Vietnam now ranks 42nd among Chile’s trade partners accounting for 0.16 percent of the country’s total export value.

In the first 7 months of 2010 export revenue from Vietnam to Chile reached US$49.9 million and that from Chile to Vietnam surpassed US$166 million.

Chile exports cooper, pine wood, fish oil, paper pulp and wine and imports coffee, sport shoes, garment, rice from Vietnam.

Experts said that Vietnamese businesses will have a better chance to access the third markets which are already Chile’s partners, such as Latin American countries and to enjoy preferential taxes and tariffs under the free trade agreements Chile has signed with many other countries.

As Vietnam abounds in natural minerals and resources and Chile is very experienced in mining, the Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trade should step up trade promotions and increase export earnings for mutual benefits.

Construction ministry proposes real estate credit fund

The Ministry of Construction has proposed the establishment of a real estate credit fund in order to handle the shortage of capital in the sector.

This is one of the important points of the draft Strategy for Developing Housing until 2020 with a vision for 2030, which was devised and submitted to the Government by the Ministry of Construction.

The real estate credit fund will be used for investments in real estate, including housing. It aims to mobilize the idle capital held among people through the issuance of the fund certificates and to reduce current reliance on banks.

The Ministry of Construction hopes the fund will provide a new impetus for housing development.

However, the ministry also proposed measures to limit the risk of using real estate as a form of securities, by setting standards concerning human resources, capital sources, and reporting.

In addition, it highlighted the need to introduce a saving fund for housing as soon as possible to help low-income earners in need of houses.

Gold traders decry new export tax rate

The Vietnam Gold Traders Association has asked the Ministry of Finance to reduce the export tax on gold and gold jewelry from 10 percent to zero, arguing that the tax was contributing to the nation's growing trade deficit.

The 10-percent rate has only been applied since January 1, when the ministry raised the tax from zero to help stabilise the domestic gold market.

In a proposal sent to the ministry early this week, the Gold Traders Association’s general secretary Dinh Nho Bang said that, since all of the gold in Vietnam was imported, imposing a 10-percent export tax or otherwise limiting gold exports might exacerbate the trade deficit, as well as encourage smuggling and increase the drain of US dollars out of the country.

Bang also said that no other countries imposed such a high tax on the export of gold, this would cause made-in-Vietnam jewelry to lose competitiveness and jeopardises jobs in the jewelry industry.

Under Circular No 184, the tax rate is imposed on gold of purity between 99 and 99.99 percent and gold jewelry of above 99 percent and also on gold bars with purity of under 99.99 percent.

Bang argued that Vietnam lacks the equipment and technological expertise to assess purity beyond 99.9 percent, although the effect of the circular is simply to impose the tax on all unprocessed gold of purity greater than 99 percent.

Since the industry worldwide recognises that no gold achieves full 100-percent purity, 99.99 percent is simply synonymous with saying full purity.

Conference promotes Thua Thien Hue's tourism

A tourism promotion conference for the central province of Thua Thien-Hue in 2011 took place in Ho Chi Minh City on January 19.

The conference also announced the 2012 National Tourism Year which will be hosted by the province.

It is part of activities to continue promoting images of land, people and tourism products as well as advertise the province’s plan to organise a National Tourism Year in 2012.

Last year, the province received more than 1.6 million visitors, a year-on-year increase of 13 percent.

On the sidelines of the conference, the provincial tourism association introduced tourism destinations and organised exhibitions and meetings among businesses.

On the occasion, the provincial Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism signed a memorandum of understanding on promoting tourism cooperation with Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi’s departments of culture, sports and tourism.

The Department’s Vice Director, Nguyen Quoc Thanh, said it was a good chance for the province to promote tourism. It will improve the quality of services and infrastructure to attract more visitors.

PV