The Department of Animal Health under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development is implementing a project to build safe and disease-free pig breeding region meeting requirements for export in the northern provinces of Nam Dinh and Thai Binh.

The project, which is conducted from 2015-2020, is part of Decision 441/QD-BNN-TY on sustainable development of the breeding sector with international standards for export.

By September 2017, the project helped develop 22 concentrated pig breeding farms in Thai Binh and 23 others in Nam Dinh, with 11 farms in Thai Binh and six others in Nam Dinh recognised as chlorella-free farms.

Thai Binh has 26 farms linking with four enterprises and one breeding association and 11 co-operatives in its production chain, while Nam Dinh has also set up some similar chains.

Statistics on April 1, 2017 showed that Thai Binh has 1 million pigs bred in 546 farms, while Nam Dinh has nearly 780,000 pigs with 30 large-scale farms.

TAC to reach 2017 target for pre-tax profits
     
Cooking oil manufacturer Tuong An Vegetable Oil Joint-Stock Company (TAC) is expected to reach its target of pre-tax profits of VND165 billion (US47.2 million) this year, according to the company.

The company said that in the first three quarters of the year, it had reached a pre-tax profit of over VND107 billion ($4.7 million), up by nearly 50 per cent over the same period last year.

TAC reported that revenue in this period increased by 6 per cent year-on-year to VND3 trillion.

During the first nine months, the company spent a great deal to expand their distribution system as well as develop human resources.

TAC attributed such investments to its plan to put a foothold in the high-end segment and to develop more products in the fourth quarter.

From now to the end of this year, the company predicts that its revenue will strongly increase thanks to high demand during the year-end season. Many new products will also be brought to the market.

Established in 1977, the company is now one of the biggest cooking oil manufacturers in the country. Last November, the company was acquired by Kido Group. 

Hai Phong to host VN-China meet
     
The eighth conference on economic corridor co-operation among five cities and provinces from Viet Nam and China will take place in the northern city of Hai Phong on November 21-24.

The targeted Vietnamese cities are Ha Noi and Hai Phong and the provinces are Lao Cai and Quang Ninh, as well as the Chinese province of Yunnan.

This meeting will focus on assessing the implementation of the results achieved, difficulties and obstacles in carrying out the contents of the memorandum of understanding signed at the seventh conference. Besides this, the event will also unify the effective and practical co-operation, set concrete directions and find appropriate solutions to further promote cooperation among provinces and cities and construct the Kunming-Lao Cai-Ha Noi-Hai Phong-Quang Ninh economic corridor to become a model of effective cooperation between Viet Nam and China.

The Economic Corridor conference is one of the initiatives aimed at creating a basis for friendly exchange, especially in terms of the economy, among localities in particular and between the two countries in general.

Since the first conference held in Ha Noi in September 2004, the cooperation between the five localities has achieved significant progress in many aspects, such as actively promoting cooperation and connection between provinces, investment trade development, construction of joint trade centres, and creating favourable conditions for upgrading transport, thus contributing to the development of sustainable relations between the two sides.

The event will take place at the Hai Phong City Convention Centre. 

Vietcombank posts 7.9 trillion VND pre-tax profit in three quarters

The Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam (Vietcombank) has reported it earned around 2.7 trillion VND (119.9 million USD) in pre-tax profit in the in the third quarter of this year, up 31 percent year-on-year.

In the first nine months of 2017, the bank’s before-tax profit reached over 7.9 trillion VND (348 million USD), up 25 percent compared to the same period last year, the highest among banks in Vietnam.

With this figure, Vietcombank fulfilled 86 percent of its 9.2 trillion VND target set for the year.

By the end of September, total assets of the bank valued at over 898 trillion VND, an increase of 14 percent compared to the year’s beginning. Its credit grew 16.1 percent to nearly 526 trillion VND, slightly exceeding the yearly plan.

Vietcombank’s bad debts stood at 1.15 percent, down from the 1.47 percent recorded at the end of June.

Cà Mau dense shrimp farming area expanded

The area of super-intensive shrimp farming in Cà Mau Province, the country’s largest shrimp producer, has increased this year as the model offers high profits for farmers.  

The southernmost province has about 857 ha of shrimp under the super-intensive farming model, up 175 ha from the end of last year, according to the province’s Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.

The model is called super-intensive farming because the density of shrimp is more than 150 shrimp per sq.m, three times higher than traditional farming.

The average output under the super-intensive farming model is 40-50 tonnes per ha of breeding crop. Some households have a yield of 80-100 tonnes per ha of breeding crop.

Nguyễn Văn Tuần, who breeds 2,000 sq.m of shrimp under the super-intensive farming model in Phú Tân District’s Phú Thuận Commune, said his family harvested about 9 tonnes of shrimp per 1,000 sq.m in the last shrimp crop after three months of breeding.  

With a selling price of VNĐ160,000 (US$7) a kilo, his family earned a profit of hundreds of millions of đồng, he said.

If farmers implement the farming techniques properly, the super-intensive farming model offers high profits, he said.

“However, this model required high investment cost,” he said, adding that his family had to invest about VNĐ700 million ($30,800) for the farming area.

Under the model, shrimp ponds are covered with net houses and plastic sheets in pond beds. The ponds are installed with fans at the pond surface and airlift pumps in the pond beds to provide oxygen for the shrimp.

Phú Tân, which has one of largest areas of super-intensive shrimp farming in the province, has 117 households with about 200 ha of shrimp under the super-intensive farming. 

Mai Hữu Chinh, director of the Cà Mau Department of Planning and Investment, said the output of super-intensive shrimp farming has contributed a large part in the province’s shrimp output growth this year. 

The province has harvested more than 113,000 tonnes of shrimp bred under various models in the first nine months of the year, up 6.9 per cent against the same period last year.

Many shrimp farmers in Cà Mau have cooperated with companies to breed shrimp under the super-intensive farming model.

Under the cooperation, companies will provide farmers loans, farming techniques, and material input for breeding shrimp and buying harvested shrimp for farmers.

Nguyễn Văn Dững, who previously bred shrimp under an industrial farming model in Cà Mau City’s Hòa Tân Commune, said he cooperated with a company to breed shrimp under the super-intensive model over the past year and got good results.

“After 10 years of farming shrimp under the industrial shrimp farming model, I found the risk was high as I only got profits in some crops. I often lacked money to invest in shrimp breeding,” he said.

As of August, Cà Mau has eight co-operatives and one co-operative team, which have signed cooperation contracts with 8 companies, according to the province’s Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.

With the increasing area of super-intensive farming, Cà Mau faces the threat of environmental pollution as many households do not meet conditions for farming shrimp under the super-intensive model, according to local officials.

The households do not have ponds for treating waste water and release untreated waste water directly into the environment, they said.

Many households do not meet farming techniques instructed by the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.

In Phú Tân District, for instance, 64 households do not meet farming conditions and techniques.

Similarly, Đầm Dơi District has 300 households that breed 300 ha of shrimp under the super-intensive farming model. Of the figure, 132 households do not meet farming conditions and techniques.

Nguyễn Tiến Hải, chairman of the provincial People’s Committee, has ordered relevant departments and agencies to carry out synchronous measures to prevent environmental pollution in super-intensive shrimp farming.

Châu Công Bằng, deputy director of the province’s Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said the province is drafting regulations for intensive and super-intensive shrimp farming in the province.

Under the draft regulations, administrative fines for violations of environmental protection related to intensive and super-intensive shrimp farming could be VNĐ3-100 million ($130 - $4,400), he said.

Next generation of risk-weighted assets requires swift actions

PwC’s Global Basel IV Lead last week shared the international experiences with Vietnamese banks’ leaders when talking about new approaches for risk-weighted assets.

The State Bank of Vietnam’s Circular No.41/2016/ TT-NHNN has been deemed a progressive move to introduce a new generation of risk-weighted assets (RWA) in capital adequacy regulations for Vietnamese banks. Circular 41 is widely known as the first to adopt Basel II standards in Vietnam. However, the major shakeup of the circular is the adoption of the revised  standardised approach for credit risks, drawn from the latest revisions to the Basel Framework, referred to as “Basel IV”.

For global banks, Basel IV has been changing all existing methods for the calculation of RWA, regardless of the type of risk and regardless of whether a bank uses standardised approaches or internal models. This means that the total calculation of capital ratios will change.

“Circular 41 has adopted the latest generation of credit risk RWA introduced in the Basel standards for implementation in Vietnam. This reflects the forward-looking vision of the banking supervisory authorities in leveraging the leading practices on RWA for the benefit of the Vietnamese banking sector,” Martin Neisen, PwC’s Global Basel IV Lead, said at a workshop held by PwC Vietnam for Vietnamese bank leaders in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City last week.

“The benefits include improved risk sensitivity of capital requirements, a better link between the standardised approach and the internal model approach, and enhancement of policies and procedures. The new approach also brings a greater opportunity for the banking supervisor to compare capital adequacy among banks, thus ensuring safety and stability for the whole banking system,” Neisen said. “Elsewhere in the world, international banks are dealing with unprecedentedly comprehensive changes in RWA with the advent of Basel IV. To overcome the challenges, many are adjusting their capital management strategies and restructuring their asset portfolios, products, and operational models.”

RWA calculation can reveal some fundamental challenges that banks might face, such as a lack of capital, and business strategies or asset portfolios inappropriate for achieving capital optimisation.

Vietnam’s banking sector is starting a new journey with the implementation of the next generation of RWA as per Circular 41. PwC’s experience with RWA implementation in international and Vietnamese banks shows that the new RWA approach is by no means an easy and simple task. It requires a thorough understanding of the RWA methodology,  detailed data collection and processing, and a robust RWA system. This process could take nine to 12 months, or up to two years in large banks.

After the RWA calculation results are in, banks will be able to identify their own problems and take action. However, after they have decided to change their business strategy or restructure their asset portfolios, it could take banks one to two years before any capital optimisation impact shows, Neisen said.

That means that it could be a two- to three-year journey in total for banks to comply with Circular 41.

“Non-compliance with capital adequacy regulations is not an option for banks. The compliance is to demonstrate their financial and risk management capacity, and deliver the transparency level that the market, investors, and credit rating agencies expect,” Dinh Hong Hanh, Financial Services Consulting director at PwC Vietnam, said at last week’s workshop.

“Regardless of your bank’s size, non-compliance with Circular 41 by the date it goes into effect could cost you your advantage among your peers in the eyes of the market, the investors, and the credit rating agencies. The clock is ticking and Circular 41 takes effect in just over two years. There is no time left for hesitation,” Hanh said.

“Compliance will only be possible if you start the RWA implementation now and give 100 per cent of your focus to this important transformation,” she added.

SolarBK first local firm licensed to build solar farm

The leading renewable energy solutions provider in Vietnam, SolarBK, has just received a licence to develop a 4.4-megawatt peak solar farm in Danang, acting not only as the project owner, but also the first Vietnamese engineering, procurement, and construction firm for a solar project.

Located on a 6.7-hectare plot in Lien Chieu district, SolarBK’s solar farm project is expected to become operational in the first quarter of 2018, helping to reduce nearly 5,000 tonnes of carbon emissions annually. This is a part of SolarBK’s strategy to make Vietnam green.

“Our first solar farm will soon be realised. It is a small project for its kind but a giant leap for SolarBK. SolarBK will not only be the project owner, it will also become the first Vietnamese engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) company for a solar farm – while the IREX panels used will be the first bankable Vietnamese-made module,” said Nguyen Duong Tuan, CEO of SolarBK.

IREX’s solar panel factory is also a member company of SolarBK. Founded in 2012, IREX is the factory with the most modern production lines with a potential capacity of 300 megawatts (MW) and solar cells f 200MWp per year.

Currently, SolarBK is actively working to “green” many projects in Danang, as the firm inked a co-operation contract with Empire Group on lighting up the latter’s entertainment mega-complex with its energy-efficient solar-powered electrical system. The total capacity of this system touches a 1.5 megawatt peak (MWp). The firm will also supply a total of 75,000 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity annually from 160 rooftop solar panels – cutting carbon emissions each year by 48,000 tonnes in total.

SolarBK is one of few companies in Vietnam that is capable of professionally and efficiently performing EPC.

“SolarBK believes that everything should start from its core. We hope that our solar power solutions will continue to be widely spread, especially in the education field. We hope that it will stimulate the youth into working together for a future of Vietnam becoming the global leader of renewable energy,” reads the firm’s website.

More than 1.5MWp of solar photovoltaic rooftop systems have been signed for and deployed nationwide by SolarBK up to now.

Vietnam’s potential for solar power generation is great, with 1,600-2,700 sunlight hours per year and an average direct normal irradiance of four-to-five kWh per square metre, comparable to Thailand, the Philippines, Spain, and Italy.

According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, hundreds of solar projects have registered to invest in Vietnam – at a total planned capacity of more than 15,000MW by 2030, a higher solar power capacity target than listed in the revised Power Development Master Plan VII.

Danang is said to have great renewable energy potential, with 90 kilometres of coastline, 2,000 hours of sunlight per year, and an average wind speed of three metres per second.

According to a report prepared by the Danang Department of Industry and Trade, around 30 per cent of the city’s population use solar power for water heaters, while around 20 five-star hotels and resorts are using solar powered water-heating systems.

Investment gravitates to Quang Tri

Foreign investors are paying heed to the central province of Quang Tri, which is prioritising foreign investment attraction in the fields of energy, manufacturing and processing, infrastructure, high-tech agriculture, tourism, and services during 2017-2018.
 
At last week’s investment promotion conference, Chairman of the Quang Tri People’s Committee Nguyen Duc Chinh stated that with a favourable location, Quang Tri has huge potential for development in these sectors. Many powerful foreign investors are showing interest.

“Sembcorp-Becamex, KinderWorld, Amata, EGATi, Gazprom, Hokkaido, Itochu, and Sumitomo are studying the investment opportunities in Quang Tri. Many projects will be licensed soon,” Chinh told VIR.

Singapore’s Sembcorp Development is working on its new VSIP project in the province. The project has attracted interest from Japan’s Sumitomo Corporation and Thailand’s Amata Group. In early October 2017, Sumitomo also signed a memorandum of understanding with Quang Tri to carry out a high-tech agriculture project.

Currently, 14 foreign investors have applied to join the My Thuy Seaport project, which is awaiting the Ministry of Transport’s support.

“We are seeking approval to establish a coastal economic zone (EZ) to offer higher incentives to investors. We are also planning to visit Quang Nam and Quang Ninh provinces to learn about EZ operations to build flexible policies for local ones,” said a senior official from the provincial Department of Planning and Investment.

Quang Tri is now calling on foreign investors for prioritised projects to unlock latent potential and serve its future development. 

“We are aiming to attract investment into the South-East EZ to tap the advantages of the East-West Economic Corridor (EWEC), focusing on energy, seaports, woodwork processing, logistics, and high-tech agriculture,” Chinh said.

The province has a high amount of sunshine, with wind speeds of 6.1-6.9 metres per second on average, thus the potential for renewable energy projects is immense, he added.

“Under the wind power development planning for 2020, with a vision towards 2030, together with four wind power projects with investment plans approved by local authorities with a total capacity of 120 megawatts (MW), by 2030 there will be two more wind power projects with a capacity of 60 MW. After 2030 there will be three more constructed with a capacity of 90 MW,” he said.

“For solar energy, we will call on investments in 17 solar power projects, which are expected to cover a total area of 1,414 hectares (ha) and have a total capacity of 937 MW by 2035. They include 10 projects to be developed from now until 2025.”

Regarding natural resources for manufacturing and processing, Quang Tri is one of the localities with the largest area of forest for the production and processing of wooden products for export.

In 2016, the province had about 95,000ha of forest, including 70,790ha of forest for production. The volume logged for wooden products is around 600,000 cubic metres per year. Quang Tri is also rich in reserves of quartz and white sand. The total reserves of sand are estimated at 227 million tonnes. 

Located on the intersection of the EWEC – the trans-Asian highway linking central Vietnam with Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, and other ASEAN nations – the province has licensed 330 local and foreign projects registered at VND69.52 trillion ($3.16 billion), including 14 valid foreign-invested projects registered with $46.65 million.

Soc Trang pins success on cultural and eco-tourism

Located on the lower section of the Mekong River, Soc Trang province is home to three ethnic groups – Kinh, Khmer, and Chinese – with rich cultural distinctions. These idiosyncratic features have underpinned the development of unique provincial tourism offerings: spiritual, festive, and ecological tourism.

Soc Trang’s tourism industry is on the rise, and so too are its development prospects

Part of the Mekong Delta, Soc Trang hosts multiple traditional cultural, religious, and festive events, as well as original architectural works of the three local ethnic groups. Of these, the “Ooc om boc” festival and Ghe Ngo boat race on the fifteenth day of the lunar month in October, a traditional cultural legacy of the Khmer people, are the province’s premier tourism offerings.

The events were recognised by the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism to be of wide regional significance. Soc Trang also lures visitors with the unconventional architecture of pagodas and worship sites, such as the Mahatup, Buu Son Tu, and Sro Lon pagodas, which are indispensable destinations in the province’s tour itineraries.

With its crowded river and stream network, countless islands of diverse sizes, tasty fruit orchards, and rich coastal flora system, Soc Trang offers enormous potential for ecotourism development.

The most popular sites include My Phuoc island (in Ke Sach district), Nga Nam floating market (in the town of Nga Nam), Cu Lao Dung mangrove forest (on Cu Lao Dung island), Ho Be eco resort (in the town of Vinh Chau), and Mo O (in Tran De district).

Soc Trang is home to 32 provincial-level and eight national-level historical relic sites that attract visitors in droves.

In recent years, Soc Trang has received a growing number of visitors on account of infrastructure investments and increased promotion. In the first nine months of this year, Soc Trang welcomed 1.02 million visitors, up 20 per cent year-on-year, generating over VND440 billion ($20 million) in total tourism revenue, up 30 per cent on-year.

Deputy director of the Soc Trang Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism Pham Van Dau has attributed this sharp growth in the number of visitors and tourism revenue to the launching of an express train route from Tran De (Soc Trang) to Con Dao Island in the southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau.

According to the Soc Trang Tourism Promotion Centre, the province has welcomed more than 20 domestic and foreign investors to the province to make field surveys of projects on the province’s investment wish-list.

After conducting the surveys, several projects have found investors, such as the Ao Tien religious cultural site project in Chau Thanh district.

Soc Trang will continue to call for investment into developing tourism spots and residences with a view to having three-to-five hotels of three-to-four star quality by 2020, and even some five-star hotels by 2025 to satisfy increasing visitor demand.

In the meantime, due attention will also be paid to building trade centres, supermarkets, shopping malls, and forming night markets to serve visitors, alongside promoting waterway-based tours.

In the province’s tourism development orientations to 2020, with a vision towards 2025, Soc Trang is set to focus on promoting spiritual, festive, and historical tours at pagodas and relic sites at provincial and national levels, as well as increasing the scale of festive events of the three local ethnic groups.

Developing green tours and waterway tours is another priority on islands along the Hau River, combined with tours to orchards.

Soc Trang aims to welcome 1.7 million visitors per year by 2020, with 560,000 visitors staying overnight, turning tourism into a prominent economic sector in the province.

RoK’s biggest travel agents survey tourism potentials in VN

The Viet Nam National Administration of Tourism will work with low cost carrier Vietjet Air to welcome a group of leading Republic of Korean businesses to study business opportunities in Viet Nam. 

Specifically,the business delegation comprises 16 members from ten Korean largest travel agents namely Hana Tour, Mode Tour, Very Good Tour, and Redeap Tour. 

They will experience, study, and use typical tourism services in key localities namely Ha Noi, Da Lat, Nha Trang, and HCMC.

The RoK is one of the three key travel markets of Viet Nam besides China and Japan. Out of 9.45 million foreign arrivals to Viet Nam in the first nine months (a year-on-year surge of 28.4%), the number of Korean visitors expanded 51%, the highest rise.

The visit of the business delegation will contribute to cementing  and deepening bilateral tourism cooperation, attracting  more Korean visitors to Viet Nam and vice versa.

HCMC links to economic development with Dong Thap Muoi sub-region

The People’s Committee of Dong Thap province yesterday held a meeting to promote economic cooperation and development between three Dong Thap Muoi (Plain of Reeds) sub-region provinces of Dong Thap, Long An and Tien Giang with Ho Chi Minh City.

Deputy Standing Prime Minister Truong Hoa Binh, Deputy Standing Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee Tat Thanh Cang and leaders of the three sub-region provinces attended in the meeting.
The provincial People’s Committee said that the linking project for sustainable development of the Dong Thap Muoi sub-region was approved by Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc. 
Its target is to promote local values and wetland ecosystems, to create a foundation and conditions for the Dong Thap Muoi sub-region to link with Ho Chi Minh City.
Besides that, the three provinces will cooperate in agricultural restructure to build a common brand market for the region's agricultural products alongside typical agricultural trade names of each province; water resources management; infrastructure and tourism development …
After 30 years of exploration, Dong Thap Muoi has become a large food production sub-region in the Mekong Delta with a rice area of 350,000 hectares and output of more than 3 million tons a year, an increase of 5-6 times higher than before.
At the conference, the delegates provided ideas and solutions to carry out the project as well as open a tour linking Ho Chi Minh City with the three provinces of Dong Thap Muoi region.
Deputy Standing Secretary of HCMC Party Committee Tat Thanh Cang suggested the city enterprises needed to strengthen further connection with Dong Thap, Long An and Tien Giang; invest in manufactory of processed food products to create products with high- added value.
Ho Chi Minh City will continue to research and develop mechanical engineering in agriculture, technology transfer and high- quality agricultural production.
Deputy PM Truong Hoa Binh proposed that the Dong Thap Muoi sub-region needed to develop tourism, agriculture reforms, transport and irrigation infrastructure, industry, trade and services, water resources management and protection, investment attraction; carry out projects relating to anti- climate change, water source security, ecosystem and environmental protection.
On the occasion, the city enterprises donated VND 57 billion for Dong Thap, Long An and Tien Giang provinces to build rural bridges. 

City’s business assistance programs meet with lot of difficulties

HCMC has lot of business assistance programs but the implementation has met with many difficulties, said deputy director of the city Department of Industry and Trade Nguyen Phuong Dong yesterday.
 
He was reporting to the Economics-Budget Board of the HCMC People’s Council which was conducting a survey on business development assistance at the agency.
Since early 2017, the agency has connected 11,900 customers with banks with the total loan of VND218.88 trillion ($9.34 billion). Still there have been businesses unable to get bank loans for failing to meet mortgage requirements because of bad debt or unclear financial condition.
The agency has assigned Support Industry Development Center to work with terminal products manufacturers, most being foreign directed investment firms, to learn about support product supply demand. However, surveys about the inner force of 300 city businesses show that most have yet to meet standards to become part of global supply chains.
The department has carried out measures to renew the way of dialogue with businesses to increase the efficiency of business assistance in the upcoming time.
In addition, it will work with commercial banks to simplify administrative procedures for businesses to access loans, renovate technologies and improve production efficiency.
The agency has also worked with Samsung Group to improve production efficiency for support industry firms, striving to get the target of at least five companies will be able to attend global supply chains by the end of 2017.
Mr. Cao Thanh Binh, deputy head of the board, said that besides the above solutions, the agency should speed up regional connectivity, building clean agricultural products and food consumptionstrategy for city farmers, providing capital assistance in combination with directing technology innovation for businesses.
About market stablization program, the Department of Industry and Trade said that total goods volume under the program has increased 30-35 percent compared to 2016. The city has established 10,602 spots selling subsidized products.
The transfer of business households into businesses has been carried out in many districts still complicated procedures have raised many costs during and after the transfer such as taxes including excise, labor, invoice costs and social insurance.

Trade surplus surpasses US$1 billion

As of October 15, Viet Nam’s trade exchanges were estimated at US$325.41 billion, up 20.9% or nearly US$56.35 billion against the same period last year, according to the Viet Nam Customs.
Of the total figure, export and import values reached US$163.25 billion and US$162.16 billion, year-on-year increases of 20.2% and 21.7%, respectively, which means trade surplus stood at around US$1.09 billion.

Key export items included phones and accessories (US$34 billion), garment (US$20.2 billion), computers, electronics and spare parts (US$19.6 billion) and footwear (US$11.1 billion).

Meanwhile, three items witnessed the import value exceeding US$10 billion such as computers, electronics and spare parts (US$28.7 billion), machines and equipment (US$26.6 billion) and phones and accessories (US$11.7 billion).

The export turnover of the FDI sector climbed up 24.4% to more than US$215.88 billion, accounting for 66.3% of the country’s total export value.

In the first half of October, the trade surplus of the foreign funded sector was estimated at US$1.6 billion, raising the total trade surplus of the sector to US$15.55 billion./

U.S. gains second largest tax sum from Vietnam exporters

Total tax collections by the U.S. from Vietnamese exporters take the second position after China although Vietnam ranks 12th among the largest suppliers of commodities to the world’s largest economy, an American expert said yesterday.

Nate Herman, senior vice president of supply chain at the American Apparel and Footwear Association, told an international seminar on product safety and compliance issues in HCMC yesterday that Vietnamese exporters had paid more than US$2.2 billion in duties in the year to August. During this period, Vietnam exported goods worth over US$30.16 billion to the U.S., accounting for a mere 1.99% of America’s total imports.

Therefore, Vietnam ranks second, behind only China among 15 countries paying the highest import tax amounts in the U.S.

According to the vice president, the amount of import duties from Vietnam made up 10.11% of the U.S.’s import tax revenue in the eight-month period.

He suggested Vietnamese exporters are losing their competitiveness compared to their rivals in other countries and territories in the same period, due to exorbitant tariffs.

In particular, developed countries like Canada, Japan, Germany, South Korea, the United Kingdom and France fetched higher export revenues than Vietnam in the U.S. market, but paid much smaller tax sums due to lower rates.

For example, Japan shipped goods worth over US$89.2 billion to the U.S. and took the fourth place in export earnings but merely paid around US$1.56 billion in taxes.

He added textile and garment products take the lead in Vietnam’s exports stateside in terms of revenue, though the Southeast Asian nation is at a disadvantage, as the U.S. has pulled out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement. However, the sector still has competitive advantages.

He forecast the export growth rate of commodities from Vietnam to the U.S. will outstrip the rates of its competitors, even if Vietnam does not benefit from any trade incentive programs and free trade agreements.

Jon Fee, senior counsel at Alston & Bird LLP, said Vietnam had seen respective rises of 8.74% and 11.83% in shipping apparel and footwear to the U.S. in the 12 months to 31 August.

Behind China, Vietnam is the U.S.’s second largest provider of these products, he noted, adding that American retailers and consumers are aware of Vietnam’s plus points in terms of quality, price and delivery commitment.

Other U.S. experts said at the seminar that Vietnam will face more difficulties in shipping goods to the U.S. as the current administration is tightening regulations and standards over the safety of imported products in a bid to reduce America’s trade deficit.

Vietnam earns US$5.1 billion from auto parts exports

Vietnam earned US$5.1 billion from exports of auto parts and accessories this year to date, growing 16% over the same period last year, and gaining a trade surplus in the industry, according to data of the General Department of Vietnam Customs.

The country is increasingly exporting automobile parts to many countries with advanced automotive industry such as the U.S., Japan and Thailand, according to the customs data.

The report showed that Japan spent US$1.56 billion buying autos and auto parts from Vietnam in January-September, up 13.2% year-on-year, while the U.S. spent US$865 million and Thailand US$245 million on such imports from Vietnam, increasing 52% and 2.1% year-on-year respectively.

Such data shows that Vietnam also has auto parts producers taking part in global supply chains. However, most of the products have been manufactured by foreign-invested firms, said analysts.

The country has spent big on auto and auto parts imports but the export revenue from the products was even higher than the import turnover in the period.

As Vietnam exported US$5.1 billion worth of autos and auto parts in the first nine months of the year, the country spent US$3.83 billion on auto and auto part imports in the nine-month period, down 12.4% versus the year-ago period. The import figure is forecast to continue going down in the remaining three months of the year.

According to the Institute for Industrial Policy and Strategy, despite a large importer of autos and auto parts, Vietnam has also shipped an equivalent volume of auto parts and accessories to other countries.

Science for economic development

 In developed countries, science has innovated strongly. In other words, economic growth is closely connected to scientific and technological advances. Therefore, Vietnam which hosts the 21st Annual Conference of the Asian Science Parks Association (ASPA the 211st) has chosen the topic “Science Parks in Empowering Growth Quality and Competitiveness of National Economy.”

The Saigon Hi-Tech Park (SHTP) is organizing the conference from October 19th to 21st. As many as 400 delegates, including 90 from 11 countries and territories such as Japan, South Korea, Iran, Turkey, the United States, Russia, Bhutan, Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia, are attending the event.

The Vietnam Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development Bank, or Agribank, is the sponsor of the event.
The conference features 28 speeches, with five presentations at the plenary session and the remainder at the parallel sessions, which are delivered by local and international speakers, according to the organizer.

SHTP is to discuss five key topics – science parks in life science and technology development towards better quality of life; Asian science parks: opportunities for development cooperation; venture capital for startups in science parks; Internet of Things in science parks: a new smart city model; and usage of renewable energy for sustainable development and environmental protection.

Associate Professor Dr. Le Hoai Quoc, head of the Saigon High-Tech Park Management Board, says ASPA the 21st is an opportunity to learn about various models and brand-new organizations of science parks and cities in Asia. The conference is also a chance to inform international guests of the city’s efforts in the development of science and high technology to improve the quality of growth and the competitiveness of the national economy towards a modern, industrialized and knowledge-based model, and promote the domestic development and application of high technology.

Therefore, ASPA the 21st opens up an opportunity for Vietnamese managers, scientists and academics to gain hands-on experience in the growth of high technology. It also showcases the vision of city leaders in developing science and technology, and stages an event for the scientific and technological community at home and abroad.

Within the framework of the conference, SHTP is expected to strike cooperation and investment promotion deals with science parks in Japan and South Korea, among others. The move is to partly promote the growth of the scientific and technological sectors in HCMC and Vietnam as a whole.

Notably, the conference introduces typical images and products of the host and ASPA members to the international hi-tech business community. Foreign participants can learn more about the culture and history of the city, and visit some hi-tech companies at SHTP.

In parallel with the annual conference, there is a meeting of the ASPA Management Board which aims to review ASPA’s one-year activities and set out new goals for the coming years. Besides, ASPA members appoint a new vice chairperson, vote for annual awards for those engaging in outstanding activities, and select a new host of the 22nd ASPA conference which will take place next year.

This is not the first time HCMC has hosted an ASPA conference. In 2012, the city held the 16th ASPA conference which paid special attention to science towards sustainable and value-added production technology, and introduced environmentally-friendly hi-tech product models. Vietnam has three ASPA members, namely the Saigon Hi-Tech Park, the Danang Hi-Tech Park and the Hoa Lac Hi-Tech Park.

Apart from the ASPA conference, SHTP will celebrate the 15th anniversary of its establishment later this month. This is an important milestone in the park’s development process. The event is slated for October 29 at the labor culture house of the park.

BT projects awash with loopholes for interest groups

Projects developed in the build-transfer (BT) format have nourished interest groups and led to corruption, heard a conference held by the State Audit Office of Vietnam (SAV) in Hanoi on October 19.

According to SAV auditor general Ho Duc Phoc, BT projects are easily abused by interest groups to make huge gains and occupy a lot of land at low cost. BT projects are funded and carried out by private investors in exchange for public land.

Phoc said awarding no-bid contracts for private investors is the norm in most BT projects. But many of these investors are financially and professionally weak, so their projects often fall behind schedule, leading to cost overruns.

Deputy director of the Auditing Training Institute Nguyen Dinh Hoa said there are currently no thorough reports on BT projects and their efficiency in Vietnam.

The Ministry of Transport currently oversees only four BT projects worth more than VND16 trillion (US$704 million), with two of them in the maritime sector. Meanwhile, there are numerous BT projects under the jurisdiction of municipal or provincial governments.

According to a report of the Hanoi People’s Committee, 16 BT projects that had been carried out in the city prior to 2015 had total investments of nearly VND28.9 trillion.

Data of the Government Inspectorate shows that there had been 63 BT projects in Hanoi as of 2012. The number of BT projects developed in the city since 2014 is 24.

Le Huy Trong, chief auditor of the Specialized Audit Department No V, said some ineffective BT projects include the Hanoi Museum and the Yen So sewage treatment plant.

Citing Yen So sewage treatment plant project as an example, he said the project should have been developed in the traditional way whereby land is auctioned and proceeds are used to fund the plant.

The legal system for BT projects is still incomplete, with lots of loopholes. 

Besides, BOT projects are developed by private investors without effective supervision and management of governmental agencies. Information about the projects is not transparent, especially about approval process, investor selection, construction progress and land.

According to Trong, land value accounts for less than 50% of the investment of BT projects, and the remainder comes from the State budget or G-bonds. 

“We should put up land for auction in BT projects to make them more effective,” Trong said.

HDBank profit grows 279% in Jan-Sept

HCMC Housing Devel- opment Bank (HDBank) has re- ported year-on-year profit growth of 279% in the first nine months of 2017, well above the target for the whole year.

According to a report on HD- Bank ’s  Januar y-S eptember  per- for mance,  the  bank  made  over VND1.9 trillion (US$83.55 million) in pre-tax profit. The bank’s return on equity (ROE) and return on as- sets (ROA) were 1.18% and 18.01% respectively.

The bank also saw a 22% rise in in- dividual customers and a 14% spike in corporate clients in January-Sep- tember. Besides, 19 new branches and transaction offices were opened in the period, taking the total to 240 nationwide.

HD SAISON Finance, a joint ven- ture between HDBank and Japan’s finance corporation Credit Saison, had served 3.4 million customers at 10,000 offices in the year to end-Sep- tember. The company has the most customers  and  transaction  points in Vietnam.

HDBank’s total assets had reached VND174.6 trillion as of the end of this month, up 26% over the yearago period and reaching 98% of this year’s target. Th e bank mobilized a total of VND156.4 trillion, up 27%
year-on-year.

Its total outstanding loans amounted to VND104.2 trillion, 97% of the target for all of 2017, while its bad debt ratio stayed low, at 1.14%.

Given positive results in the first nine months of this year and favor- able economic conditions of the country in the final quarter, HDBank expects to obtain a consolidated pre-tax profit of VND2.4 trillion this year, up 107% versus last year. ROA and ROE will be 1.43% and 20% respectively.

In  the  first  nine  months  of the year,   HDB ank   held   nearly 400 training  courses  including  those on manager training and advanced business English. In addition, the bank has got approval from the State Bank of Vietnam and the State Securities Commission to list its shares and pay a 2016 dividend of 9% for shareholders.

Last month, HDBank received Asia  Money’s  award  for best  bank in Vietnam. Its annual report has won a gold prize from the League of American Communications Profes- sionals (LACP).

Govt: ICT market holds high growth potential

The Government has urged ministries to create a favorable environment for businesses investing in the information and communications technology (ICT) sector, saying the market holds high growth potential, heard an ICT investment forum on October 18.

Speaking at the Vietnam ICT Investment Forum 2017 (VIF 2017), Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam said Vietnam is in the stage of golden population with over 90 million people, of them more than 60% under 35 years old. There are 52 out of 100 Vietnamese having access to the Internet.

Dam said Vietnam’s ICT sector has huge development potential as global ICT revenue accounts for 8% of the total retail revenue compared to a mere 3% in Vietnam. At present, the country has about 600,000 enterprises, but only 4% of them are active in ICT businesses.

“Although there are not many ICT firms in Vietnam, investment in ICT would benefit other sectors and contribute to the development of the entire economy,” Dam said.

According to Dam, the Government has asked ministries to review ICT regulations to support enterprises that invest in ICT and allow them to use ICT infrastructure for business expansion.

The Government has asked the Ministries of Information-Communications, Education-Training, and Labor-Invalids-Social Affairs to take drastic steps to develop human resources in the sector. Recently, many associations have teamed up with these ministries to build special ICT training programs to supply manpower for enterprises, Dam said.

Deputy PM Dam said he expected that after VIF 2017, there would be more ICT projects in Vietnam, especially in hardware and software production, and information technology application.

Vietnam has been an attractive destination for foreign ICT investors. In 2016, the ICT sector generated total value of US$67.7 billion, with exports hitting nearly US$60.8 billion, with foreign-invested firms accounting for the bulk.

At the forum, Minister of Information and Communications Truong Minh Tuan said that apart from promoting investment in Vietnam’s ICT sector, the ministry will promote cooperation in ICT development with ASEAN countries in the coming time and assist domestic ICT companies in investing in foreign countries.

Themed “Investment in the Digital Economy Transformation”, VIF 2017 focused on recommendations for policies that facilitate the sustainable ICT development, calling for more investment in ICT, and connecting foreign investors and corporations with local businesses and startups.

Startup investment program to be on air next month

Shark Tank Vietnam, a reality television show designed to help startups call for funds from brilliant but tough investors, will be put on air in November.

Up to 100 startup companies having passed the first round will participate in the program which will be aired on VTV3 channel every Saturday from November 4 to February 17 next year.

The program is aimed at connecting investors and startup companies in Vietnam. Contestants will have to present their projects to “shark” investors who will then decide whether to invest in these projects or not.

The program organizers on October 18 announced investors taking part in the program, including Sunhouse Group chairman Nguyen Xuan Phu, SAM Holdings general director Tran Anh Vuong, VinaCapital director Thai Van Linh, and CEN Group vice chairman Pham Thanh Hung.

In addition, other enterprises and startup incubation centers will join the show as guests.

According to the organizers, it is tough to persuade investors to participate in the program as they find it hard to make immediate decisions whether to invest in startup projects on television.

Pham Thanh Hung, vice chairman of CEN Group, said his group prefers innovative business models, so startup companies should create new business initiatives to attract investors.

Shark Tank owned by Sony Pictures Television has two famous versions of Shark Tank and Dragons’ Den. The program originating in Japan in 2001 has been present in 35 countries worldwide.

The program in Vietnam will be jointly held by TV Hub Entertainment and Media Group, and Capella Vietnam JSC.