U.S. firms encouraged to join smart city project

Diane Farrell, deputy assistant secretary for Asia of the U.S. Department of Commerce, is greeted by HCMC vice chairman Tran Vinh Tuyen at a meeting last week.

The HCMC government has said it will support U.S. corporations to participate in the process of developing the city into a smart one.

At a meeting with city vice chairman Tran Vinh Tuyen on May 15, Diane Farrell, deputy assistant secretary for Asia of the U.S. Department of Commerce, expressed interest in the smart city development plan.

Tuyen said the city had drawn up a master plan for smart city development until 2025 and even 2030 and would pass it around in July to collect input from experts and businesses.

The plan will focus on building e-government, setting up an open data center and providing public facilities and services, thus improving the quality of services for the public, managing the city in a more efficient way, and contributing to sustainable socio-economic development and environmental protection.

The city will create favorable conditions for U.S. companies to learn about the projects they are interested in.

Last year, HCMC chairman Nguyen Thanh Phong visited the U.S. to sound out opportunities for cooperation in the smart city development field.

HCM City to help Laos call for investment

A conference on promotion of investment, trade and tourism in three provinces in central Laos is expected to be held in HCMC by the end of June to call for domestic and foreign enterprises in the city to come to Laos to do business.

At a preparatory meeting on May 16 with the participation of representatives of Bolikhamsai, Savannakhet and Khammouane provinces, HCMC vice chairman Huynh Cach Mang promised the city would mobilize resources to organize the event and help the neighboring country seek investors.

Leaders of the three provinces will introduce potentials and advantages, and investment policies at the forthcoming conference. In addition, the three Lao provinces will introduce Lao partners to HCMC-based enterprises that want to invest in Laos.

Representatives of the three provinces said on May 16 that they need to attract foreign investment to develop the local economy.

In recent years, Laos has organized multiple events to call for investors in HCMC.

Chinese low-cost airline opens air route to HCMC

Chinese low-cost carrier Spring Airlines on May 16 introduced its direct service between Shanghai and HCMC with four weekly flights.

Zhang Wu An, vice president of Spring Airlines, said Shanghai-HCMC flights, which were first launched on April 28,  are operated on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays using Airbus A320 aircraft.

Seat occupancy has been high, especially on International Labor Day (May 1), he said, adding the airline is offering some promotions for Vietnamese passengers.

Spring provides its customers with services such as bus tours around Shanghai and to neighboring areas, and cooperates with partner railway firms to provide fliers from HCMC to Shanghai with free express train services to 11 cities including Suzhou, Wuxi, Hangzhou and Ningbo.

The carrier is a subsidiary of Spring Tour, a major travel firm in China. With about 70 aircraft and more than 180 domestic and international routes, the airline transported nearly 15 million passengers last year.

On May 12, during Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang’s State visit to China, Vietnamese tour operator Vietravel signed a memorandum of understanding with Spring Tour to increase the number of tourists between the two sides.

Tran Doan The Duy, deputy general director of Vietravel, said the deal would allow the two sides to attract customers. Vietravel now arranges tour programs for Chinese tourists through the arrangements of Spring Tour and offers competitive tour packages for Vietnamese customers traveling to China on Spring Airlines’ flights.

“Initially, China package tours for Vietnamese customers flying with Spring Airlines will be 15-20% cheaper than normal ones,” Duy said.

PV Gas licensed to build US$1.27-billion gas pipeline

The Ministry of Planning and Investment has awarded a license to PetroVietnam Gas Joint Stock Corporation (PV Gas) and its foreign partners to build a natural gas pipeline worth US$1.27 billion.

The pipeline would be used to transport natural gas from Block B-O Mon off the coast of the Mekong Delta province of Kien Giang to the shore.

PV Gas and its two foreign partners, Japan’s Mitsui Oil Exploration Co Ltd and Thailand’s PTT Exploration and Production Public Co Ltd, will develop the project.

When in place, the pipeline would deliver around 20.3 million cubic meters of natural gas a day to fuel two power plants with a combined capacity of 3,660 MW.

In addition to supplying gas for the power plants, the pipeline will be used to transport surplus gas to the Gas-Electricity-Fertilizer Industrial Park in the southernmost province of Ca Mau, and household users in the Mekong Delta.

PV Gas said this is one of the largest gas pipelines in the country with a total length of 400 kilometers, with around 246 kilometers of it to be built offshore and the remainder to pass through Can Tho, Hau Giang, Kien Giang, Bac Lieu, and Ca Mau provinces.

The project will save a large sum of foreign currency for importing fuel and leave a positive impact on the environment as gas is a clean source of energy.

PV Gas has unveiled its 2017 business plan in which it will invest over US$2 billion in major projects.

PV Gas supplies gas for thermal power plants which are responsible for 30% of the nation’s electricity output, and for fertilizer facilities that meet 70% of total urea fertilizer demand in the country.

This year the firm looks to carry around 9.6 billion cubic meters of gas ashore, down from 10 billion cubic meters against 2016.  The low oil price has led oil firms to slash pumping, resulting in a decline in gas output.

The average oil price stood at US$43-45 a barrel last year, much lower than in previous years and accounting for 85% of the 2015 average. However, PV Gas managed to obtain a staggering VND60 trillion in revenue and VND7.19 trillion in after-tax profit last year.

Major travel firms forecast strong summer tour bookings

Big travel companies in HCMC have projected a 20% increase in summer tour bookings while smaller firms expect a smaller rise of 5-10% in tour sales.

Major tour operators Saigontourist, Fiditour and Vietravel have reported good tour sales though the summer has just set in. Tourism businesses have prepared numerous tour programs with tens of billions of Vietnam dong set aside for summer travel season promotion programs.

Doan Thi Thanh Tra, marketing and communications director at Saigontourist Travel Service Company, said her firm has seen a sharp pickup in tour sales since the start of the summer and that 65% of tours have been sold to individual tourists.

However, Tran The Dung, deputy director of Young Generation Travel Company, a small tour operator, complained about slow tour sales to individual tourists. Customers prefer large travel companies that have generous promotion programs.

Small tourism enterprises have to find niche markets and tours to unpopular destinations such as the northeast and northwest of the country, Dung added.

Summer tours to seaside destinations are as in high demand as usual.

Tour operators offer a variety of promotion programs to early and group bookings. Some companies give a discount of VND150,000-250,000 (US$6.61-11.02) a person to groups of three to 10 that book domestic tours by air and VND400,000 a person for Japan tours. Meanwhile, there is a 5-7% discount for groups of four to six after airfares are deducted. Those customers buying tours two months before departure also get 5-7% off.

Prices of summer tours are stable this year. “We offer more than 300 domestic and international tour programs in the summer this year at stable prices. Tour buyers have edged up by 15% over the same period last year,” said Tran Thi Bao Thu, marketing and communications director of Fiditour.

Local firm to make unbaked construction materials from ashes, cinders

Mai Xanh Investment Joint Stock Company has got an investment certificate from the south-central province of Binh Thuan to build a factory to produce unbaked construction materials from ashes and cinders.

The company will spend some VND450 billion on the facility in Vinh Tan Commune, Tuy Phong District, according to the provincial Department of Planning and Investment.

Initially, the factory would use 1.3-1.7 million tons of ashes and cinders from the Vinh Tan power center in the province to produce more than one billion unbaked bricks a year. The firm will work towards making cement and concrete in the long run.

Cao Hoang Dieu, the company’s deputy director, told the Daily that Mai Xanh commits to use all ashes and cinders from Vinh Tan 2 Thermal Power Plant to make unbaked building materials.

The company are working on the factory project, he noted.

This may be good news for thousands of local households as ashes and cinders from the coal-fired power plant frequently blanket their neighborhood, disrupting the lives of local residents and causing serious environmental pollution.

In mid-2016, Duyen Hai Thermal Power Company in Duyen Hai District, Tra Vinh Province inked a contract to sell coal ashes and cinders at Duyen Hai 1 Thermal Power Plant to joint venture Viet Long-Hoang Quy to make additives for cement and unbaked bricks.

The deal will help reduce the amount of coal ashes and cinders discharged into the environment as Duyen Hai 1 alone consumes more than three million tons of coal and discharges around one million tons of ashes and cinders a year.

Coal-fired power plants nationwide use around 20 million tons of coal a year and discharge a total of three million tons of ashes and cinders, according to environmentalists.

Most ashes and cinders have been buried within the premises of the power stations or transported to other places, instead of being recycled, thus leaving harmful effects on the environment.

Around 80 thermal power plants in major electricity generation centers will be up and running across the country such as Duyen Hai, Long Phu, Song Hau, Van Phong, Vinh Tan, Quang Tri, Vung Ang, Quang Trach, Nghi Son, Nam Dinh, Thai Binh and Hai Duong, according to the master zoning plan for national power development in 2015-2030.

This means there is an urgent need for developing unbaked construction material factories to consume ashes and cinders from these coal-fueled thermal power plants.

APEC progresses well with four cooperation priorities

The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) has made good progress in the four adopted cooperation priorities in 2017 proposed by Vietnam, said Executive Director of the APEC Secretariat Alan Bollar on the sidelines of the APEC Second Senior Officials’ Meeting underway in Hanoi. 

Bollar said during the APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting 2016 in Peru, APEC leaders delivered a clear message of focusing more on inclusive growth so that a number of initiatives on regional economic integration, trade and investment were raised at this year’s meeting. 

Alison Mann, Director General of the Asia-Pacific Regional Integration Division under the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, said New Zealand highly values Vietnam’s proposals and stands ready to work closely with Vietnam in such efforts along the way. 

On the prospect of the Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP), Bollar said APEC’s action programme on free trade and several works are ongoing. 

Mann, for her part, said New Zealand is awaiting the completion of trade agreements to open markets to the Asia-Pacific, stressing that it takes time to complete FTAAP and a lot of efforts to achieve its goals. 

As Chair of the Working Group on Free Trade Agreements, New Zealand will help member economies devise action programmes to clear obstacles to trade liberalisation, she said. 

About the future of APEC after 2020, Mann said New Zealand will promote the agenda until 2021 and is partnering with Vietnam and other member economies in the issue.

PVN reports positive performance in first four months

The Vietnam Oil and Gas Group (PVN) has fulfilled all production targets and enjoyed an increase in revenue in the first four months of 2017.

PVN reported that it surpassed the oil and gas, electricity and nitrogen production targets for the period. Total oil-equivalent extraction output reached 8.69 million tonnes between January and April, 6.2 percent higher than the Governmental target.

As a result, its revenue was 17.6 percent above the four-month target and rose 20.4 year-on-year. The group’s tax payment for the State budget was 11 percent higher than initial plans and grew 14 percent compared to the same period in 2016.

Meanwhile, the group conducted assessed drilling in four new wells.

The firm will optimise resources and solutions to achieve key tasks, including restructuring, for the second quarter as well as the whole year, PVN said.

In 2017, the group is aiming for 23.81 million tonnes in oil-equivalent extraction output, 20.1 billion kWh of commercial electricity, 1.52 million tonnes of nitrogen fertiliser, and some 6.8 million tonnes of oil and gasoline.

Pepper price at six-year low on weak demand     

Domestic pepper price recently slump to a six-year low due to weak demand.

Pepper price is currently at some VND80,000-84,000 (US$3.5-3.7) per kg, two-and-a-half times lower than the peak price in 2012.

The sale of pepper was struggling as market demand was low, while the expansion in plantation areas and yields was boosting supply.

In Gia Lai Province, pepper price was at VND81,000 per kg on Wednesday, VND4,000-5,000 per kg lower than the previous day. In Dak Nong and Dak Lac, pepper was sold at VND82,000-83,000 per kg.

In Dong Nai, pepper price saw a whopping decrease from VND87,000-89,000 per kg on Tuesday to VND80,000-81,000 on Wednesday.

Nguyen Lam Su, a farmer in Dak Nong Province’s Dak R’lap District, said farmers were very worried about the unusual slumps in pepper price in recent days, which was eroding their profits.

According to Nguyen Ngoc Luan, head of Lam San Cooperative, Dong Nai Province, the price of pepper was currently close to the production costs of many farmers. “If the downward trend continues, farmers may face losses,” he said.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development said the significant decrease in pepper price was caused by the excess supply in comparison with demand in the global market.

In the first four months of this year, Viet Nam exported 75,000 tonnes of pepper, worth $456 in value, representing a rise of 9 per cent in volume but a decrease of 18 per cent in value over the same period last year.

Average export pepper price was $6,328 per tonne in the first quarter of this year, down 24.5 per cent over the same period last year.

The Viet Nam Pepper Association urged farmers to halt expansion of new plantations while focusing on taking care of pepper towards enhancing quality and limiting the use of pesticides.

Philippines likely to import more rice from VN     

The Philippines is likely to import an additional 250,000 tonnes of rice from Viet Nam and Thailand.

The Philippines government on Tuesday said the country would import more rice to boost its stocks ahead of the lean harvest season.

The National Food Authority Council did not specify the quantity, but demand from the Philippines, one of the world’s largest rice importers, could underpin prices in Thailand and Viet Nam -- its main suppliers and major exporters.

The National Food Authority had been seeking the council’s approval to import 250,000 tonnes under government-to-government schemes with Viet Nam and Thailand. The committee that decides on the quantity to be imported will meet on Thursday.

The NFA also announced it would shift from government-to-government importation to government-to-private importation to make the bidding more competitive, transparent and less corrupt.

Rice inventory in the Philippines is running low, with government stockpiles shrinking to the least in more than three years in April, just enough to cover 10 days of the national requirement. 

Maritime bank shareholders’ meeting on May 26     

Viet Nam’s Maritime Commercial Joint Stock Company (Maritime Bank) plans to hold the annual shareholders’ meeting on May 26.

The event, to be held in Melia Hotel, Ha Noi, will approve the profit distribution plan for 2016 and business targets for 2017.

At the beginning of 2017, Maritime Bank also closed the list of shareholders to conduct the registration of a concentrated securities depository at the Viet Nam Securities Depository (VSD) in order to prepare for the registration of trading the company’s shares on the Unlisted Public Company Market (UPCoM). 

HCM City to host VN’s leading water expo in November     

The ninth VIETWATER Expo and Forum will be held in HCM City from November 8 to 10, with more than 450 leading water players from 38 countries and territories expected to take part.

Participants will showcase their solutions and products, including monitoring systems, chemical treatment, bio-ethanol technology, and others.

Many international workshops and technical seminars will be held for participants to learn about the latest technologies and explore business opportunities.

With support from the Viet Nam Water Supply and Sewerage Association (VWSA) and the Ministry of Construction, the event will be organised by UBM Asia, the largest trade show organiser in Asia with over 30 years’ experience.

The country’s leading international water supply, water resources and purification expo will take place at the Sai Gon Exhibition and Convention Centre in District 7.

For information or participating in the country’s biggest water industry event, please contact www.vietwater.com. 

Get Home Safe event aims to reduce traffic accidents

The Get Home Safe event, held on Monday to raise awareness about traffic regulations, featured a six-minute video about the fatal consequences caused by motorbike and truck drivers who fail to obey traffic rules.

The video sent two key messages: a road crash can happen in the blink of an eye and lives are saved when drivers slow down.

Lê Văn Đức of Đồng Nai Province, a truck driver at Cái Mép International Terminal (CMIT), said that he was impressed by the video.

“The video reminds me to drive in the right lane,” he said. “Also, I should drive at the required speed and obey the right of way before making a turn.”

The Get Home Safe event, held in Bà Rịa-Vũng Tàu Province, was held to raise community awareness about the importance of following traffic regulations, Vũ Quý Phi, deputy chief secretariat of National Traffic Safety Committee, said.

In Việt Nam, 24 people die and 60 are injured in traffic accidents each day, Phi said.

More than 3,000 attendees at the event participated in road-safety interactive games and watched informative comedic performances.

Truck drivers, local police and transportation professionals spoke about safe driving skills at the event, which is part of the Lifting Safety programme held by the National Traffic Safety Committee in co-operation with the Asia Injury Prevention (AIP) Foundation and APM Terminals, an international terminal operator based in the Netherlands with facilities in 69 countries.

In the Lifting Safety programme in December 2016, the AIP Foundation distributed educational booklets to truck drivers.

The AIP foundation team is preparing to install environmental modifications, including rumble strips and traffic lights, on major highways close to the CMIT facility.

Rehabilitation improves heart patients’ lives

Cardiac rehabilitation, a medically supervised programme including exercises, should be provided to patients with heart problems for them to recover after surgery, a Japanese physical therapist has told a training workshop on cadiopulmonary exercise testing.

Cardiac rehabilitation helps stabilise, delay and slow down the progress of arteriosclerosis and the rate of re-hospitalisation and death among patients with cardiac diseases, Yuguchi Satoshi of the University of Health Sciences told the two-day event which started yesterday at the HCM City Hospital of Rehabilitation and Professional Diseases.

“It also helps control coronary risk factors, improve pulmonary function and quality of life, and reduce depression symptoms.”

Rehabilitation is divided into three phases, the first one for regaining body function and activities for daily living, the second one for recovery to return society, and the last to prevent recurrence, he said.

In the first and second phases patients are rehabilitated at hospitals, and could be asked to exercise at home in the third phase, he said.

Dr Đinh Quang Thanh, head of the physical therapy department at the hospital, told Việt Nam News that post-surgical cardiac rehabilitation had not been paid much attention in the country.

The hospital would soon start providing rehabilitation to patients having heart surgery at the HCM City Heart Institute and Chợ Rẫy Hospital.

Trần Trung Đệ, deputy head of the hospital, said cardiac rehabilitation was a new thing and his hospital would provide training for doctors in the south.

Last March Major General Nguyễn Hồng Sơn, head of the 175 Military Hospital in HCM City’s Gò Vấp District, had said the hospital was setting up a ward to provide rehabilitation as well as further treatment post-surgery for heart patients.

The ward would open in the second quarter this year, he said.

The Việt Nam National Heart Association has forecast that one fifth of the population will suffer from heart diseases and hypertension this year. 

HDBank chosen for education project

The State Bank of Việt Nam has instructed the Housing Development Commercial Joint Stock Bank, or HDBank, to provide banking services for the Second Upper Secondary Education Sector Development Programme funded by the Asian Development Bank.

The project, which began in 2012 and will run until December next year, aims at improving the quality of education to ensure that graduates have the skills to meet the country’s labour needs.

It is being implemented in 25 provinces and cities.

HDBank has been appointed as the nodal bank for many international and ODA-funded projects.

In 2016 it represented the Ministry of Finance to re-lend ODA loans worth VNĐ3 trillion (US$132.18 million) provided by the Japan International Cooperation Agency for the second phase of the Nhơn Trạch water supply project in Đồng Nai Province.

As of last year HDBank had provided banking services for six projects funded by bilateral and multilateral ODA loans worth more than $500 million.

It is among the 10 largest banks in the country with a network of 220 branches and 3,000 transaction spots.

Deficit to pressure exchange rates     

Exchange rates will face pressure to rise this year due to an anticipated trade deficit, according to the National Financial Supervisory Commission (NFSC).

Viet Nam’s trade deficit was forecast at 3.5 per cent of the total import and export value.

In the first four months of this year, Viet Nam ran a trade deficit of US$2.73 billion, or 4.5 per cent of the total trade value, pushing up demand for foreign currencies.

However, the abundant supply of foreign currencies from increases in foreign indirect and direct investments, together with supportive factors in the global market, will ease the pressure, NFSC said.

The US Federal Reserve (Fed) interest rate hikes in the short term will not exert significant pressure on exchange rates. However, in the long term, the pressure on exchange rates will intensify with the Fed’s plan of raising interest rates to 3 per cent by the end of 2019.

Notably, the devaluation trend of the yuan would have significant impact on the Vietnamese economy as Viet Nam is running an increasing trade deficit with China, from US$23.7 billion in 2013 to $28 billion in 2016.

The daily reference rate set by the State Bank of Viet Nam was at VND22,377 buying a dollar, around 1 per cent higher compared with the beginning of this year. The exchange rates of commercial banks fluctuated around VND22,720 buying a dollar, 0.2 per cent lower than the beginning of the year.

The NFSC said that the central bank would adjust exchange rates gradually to prevent shocks in foreign exchange rate policies.

Bao Viet Securities said the move by the central bank would be an early signal for the economy to prepare for the pressure on exchange rates in the second half of this year when the US dollar strengthens following the US economic recovery and Fed rate rises. The Fed is expected to hike rates in its June meeting.

Experts say enterprises with debts in dollar should pay attention to the pressure on exchange rates this year, and the use of options or forward contracts is necessary to prevent risk from exchange rate fluctuations, despite the large gaps at around 3-4 per cent between interest rates for advances in Vietnamese dong and dollar. 

First data centre of Viet Nam’s banking sector operational     

The State Bank of Viet Nam (SBV), MNR Joint Venture and IBM Viet Nam held a ceremony to launch a new data centre in Ha Noi on Monday.

The centre, which is part of the FSMIMS project sponsored by World Bank, is located at 64 Nguyen Chi Thanh, Ha Noi, covering an area of 2,000 square metres.

It is the first data centre of the country’s banking sector, replacing the centres dispersed in 63 provinces and cities as before.

The centre was designed and built following world standard Tier 3 with a high readiness of up to 99.983 per cent and the total interruption time of only 1.6 hours per year.

Nguyen Kim Anh, SBV deputy governor, said that with World Bank funds, the FSMIMS project was successfully implemented and put in operation. “The establishment of the data centre is an important milestone in the modernisation process of SBV information and technology’s foundation in conformity with the development orientation of the country’s banking sector in the context of integration trend”.

Agriculture Corporation to debut IPO in July     

Viet Nam General of Agriculture Material Corporation Limited (Vigecam) plans to offer over 6.3 million shares in its IPO on July 19, with the starting price of VND10,100 (44 US cents) per share.

Vigecam, founded in 1960, is one of the largest providers of agricultural materials in Viet Nam.

The company imports and supplies agricultural materials such as fertiliser, tea, domestic agricultural products and machinery for agricultural production. Two major products of Vigecam are fertiliser (accounting for about 50 per cent of the total annual turnover) and tea (about 30 per cent of the turnover).

Every year, the corporation distributes a vast quantity of chemical fertilisers and other specialised agricultural materials for seasonal crops to help increase the country’s level of food production.

After equitisation, Vigecam expects to reach a charter capital of VND220 billion. 

Hanoi workshop provides Czech market information

The Hanoi Promotion Agency hosted a workshop in Hanoi on May 15 to provide information on the Czech Republic for local firms who wish to access the European market.

Speaking at the workshop, David Jakulisch from the Czech Embassy in Vietnam, said the Czech Republic lies in the heart of Europe and has developed transport infrastructure. The Czech government facilitates transparent foreign investment with skilled workers, he noted.

Vietnam mostly ships footwear, clothing, seafood, industrial machinery and electronic devices to the European nation, while importing machinery and steel-made products.

By mid-2016, there were 30 Czech investors in Vietnam who poured more than 170 million USD into local projects, making the Czech Republic the 40th largest out of 150 foreign investors in Vietnam. Two-way trade between the two countries is estimated at 1 billion USD.

However, barriers remain for made-in-Vietnam products to penetrate the Czech market, Tran Dinh Hiep from the Ministry of Trade and Industry said, citing the fact that most Vietnamese exports to the country face fierce competition from the EU, China, Thailand, Turkey and the Republic of Korea as Vietnamese goods are less competitive in pricing, design, and quality.

The Czech business community is finding solutions to allow more made-in-Vietnam goods to enter the market as well as for Vietnam to lure more foreign investment and technology transfer, he added.

Meanwhile, Le Thi Nhan from Vietnam-based tour operator Haseco Travel said the Czech Embassy does not provide visa services in Vietnam so the company’s clients are forced to apply for visas through the French embassy.

A representative from the Czech Embassy said it acknowledged the problems and will introduce more support for Vietnamese travellers soon. He suggested that Vietnamese nationals who live in HCM City can also apply for Czech visas through the Embassy of Hungary.

Vietnam’s largest solar power plant connected to the grid

On May 12, Sao Mai Group Corporation (ASM) connected the 1.06-MW Sao Mai 1 solar power plant to the national grid.

The plant, located at Vam Cong Industrial Cluster in Lap Vo district of the southern province of Dong Thap, is the biggest solar power plant in Vietnam at the moment.

Japanese company Koyo Corporation provided and installed all the equipment for the plant. The $2-million plant is going to help decrease the annual cost of electricity that IDI, a member of ASM Group, has to pay by at least 20 per cent.

This project is the first step in ASM’s plan to develop a series of solar power plants with the total designed capacity of 2.5 billion kWh a year within the next 10 years. This is equal to the current total annual demand in the province.

On May 13, another solar power project received approval in principle from the Thanh Hoa People’s Committee. The project would be carried out by a consortium of Song Lam Son La Energy JSC and Song Lam Investment and Construction Co., Ltd.

Located in Yen Thai commune, Yen Dinh district, the project has an area of 65 hectares and a capacity of 30MW, and carries an investment value of VND809 billion ($35.6 million). Construction is planned to start in the fourth quarter of 2017 and the project is going to be completed and start operation in the fourth quarter of 2019.

According to the adjusted Power Development Plan VII, Vietnam targets a solar power capacity of 850MW by 2020.

In April, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc signed Decision No.11/2017/QD-TTg on mechanisms for encouraging solar power development in Vietnam. According to the decision, the price at which Electricity of Vietnam (EVN) is going to buy solar power is VND2,086 (9.3 US cents) per cent kWh.

The decision stipulates some incentives (primarily in tax and land rental fees) for investment in solar power production. Specifically, materials, equipment and spare parts imported in order to create the fixed assets for such a project are not subject to import tax if they are not produced domestically.

The investors of the projects enjoy preferential corporate income tax rate, similar to projects in fields prioritised for investment as per current tax regulations.

Additionally, solar power plant projects, as well as construction projects of wires and substations to connect plants to the grid, also enjoy preferential land use fees, land rental fees, and water surface rental fees just like prioritised projects.

Toyota sales down in April

Total sales in Vietnam’s automobile market (excluding trucks and buses) fell 92 per cent in April year-on-year. Sales of Toyota Motor Vietnam (TMV) motor cars reached 4,096 units, representing 90 per cent of the figure in April last year. TMV retained its leading position among auto brands (excluding truck and bus) in Vietnam, however.

Sales in the passenger car segment in the country reached 1,838 units and the commercial vehicle segment 2,258 units.

Vios saw sales of 1,099 units in April, 92 per cent of last year’s figure, ranking it third in the Top 10 best-selling cars in the month. Camry and Corolla saw sales volumes of 255 and 232 units.

In the leading position in the commercial vehicle segment for Toyota was the Innova, with 905 units sold, 83 per cent of the figure in April last year. The Innova nonetheless increased its market share year-on-year and was ranked fourth in the Top 10 best-selling models in April.

Among completely-built-unit (CBU) models imported and distributed by TMV, the Fortuner saw 1,133 units sold in April, up 31 per cent year-on-year and was ranked second in the month’s Top 10.

Yaris saw sales of 252 units, an increase of 23 per cent year-on-year, with the Hilux recording 148 units sold, the Hiace 28 units, the Land Prado 35 units, and the Land Cruiser nine units.

Lexus Vietnam brought the journey of amazing experiences to 56 luxury owners in April who trust and love the brand.

According to a report from the Vietnam Automobile Manufacturers’ Association, total sales in the automobile industry in April reached 21,941 units, of which 10,705 were passenger cars. 9,562 were commercial vehicles, and 1,675 were special-purpose vehicles. Sales in April were down 18 per cent against March and 15 per cent against April 2016. Passenger cars were down 36 per cent against March, commercial vehicles up 15 per cent, and special-purpose vehicles down 6 per cent. Sales of completely-knocked-down (CKD) vehicles were 16,453, down 10 per cent against March, while CBUs totaled 5,489 units, down 35 per cent.

Standard Chartered & LOTTE offer suppliers support

Standard Chartered Bank Vietnam, one of the leading international banks in the country, and LOTTE Mart Vietnam, the operator of the LOTTE Mart supermarket chain, have announced their cooperation in the Vendor Prepay Program, an innovative solution that will provide significant financial benefits to the retailer’s suppliers and deliver a more efficient and secure process to support its supply chain.

Standard Chartered has worked with LOTTE Mart Vietnam to customize a program for its suppliers, which allows them to improve liquidity by obtaining early payment for all invoices approved by the buyer, reduce collection-related work and costs, and improve Day Sales Outstanding. The Vendor Prepay Program will also help LOTTE Mart increase business efficiency by reducing transactional costs related to supplier payments, offering suppliers lower financing costs, minimizing manual processes, and enhancing process transparency with real-time reporting.

Mr. Nirukt Sapru, CEO of Standard Chartered Bank Vietnam, said the bank is committed to providing innovative and tailor-made solutions to help businesses in Vietnam achieve their business aspirations and the partnership with LOTTE Mart Vietnam is testament to that. “We believe that we will grow with the development and successes of our clients,” he said.

Mr. Hong Won Sik, CEO of LOTTE Mart Vietnam, also expressed his appreciation of the cooperation with Standard Chartered Bank Vietnam in offering suppliers an innovative and cost-effective financing solution. “We consider this partnership as a boost to our businesses by delivering efficiencies in the end-to-end process of our supplier to buyer operating model,” he said. “I am positive that it will create substantial collaboration with LOTTE Mart and suppliers as well as provide more and more products with better prices for customers.”  

Standard Chartered has been recognized as the Best Foreign Bank in Vietnam by prestigious international publications for three consecutive years: 2014, 2015 and 2016.

LOTTE Mart is an affiliate of the LOTTE Group - the fifth largest retailer in South Korea. Established in 2008, LOTTE Mart is now operating 13 supermarkets located in major cities and provinces all around Vietnam, such as Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Dong Nai, Binh Duong, Vung Tau, Can Tho, Binh Thuan, Da Nang, and Khanh Hoa. In an attempt to ensure customer benefits, LOTTE Mart prioritizes purchasing products that have the highest quality standards with certificates of origin.

Vnsteel Thang Long's Q1 revenue up 10.3% y-o-y

The Vnsteel Thang Long Coated Sheets Joint Stock Company earned total revenue in the first quarter of this year of more than VND307.4 billion ($13.5 million) from selling products and providing services, a year-on-year increase of 10.3 per cent, a source from the company told VET.

In the seven years since its founding in 2010, the company has strived ceaselessly and overcome all difficulties to further increase its competitive capacity in the domestic market by improving the quality of its products and services under the brand names “Ton Thang Long” (Thang Long coasted sheets) and “Ton Viet - Y” (Vietnam - Italy coated sheets).

The company has made continuous efforts to innovate technology by importing modern production lines from Germany and Italy. Its products meet Japanese, US and European standards. Thanks to the strict application of the ISO 9001:2008 quality management system and the ISO 14001:2004 environmental management system, the company’s products have met demand in the market in terms of product quality and environmental protection.

Vnsteel Thang Long has implemented a plan to upgrade its production line of color coated sheets from 50,000 tons to 70,000 tons per year and that of galvanized steel from 80,000 tons to 100,000 tons per year.

Output has increased six to seven-fold compared to when it became operational seven years ago. In 2016, the company surpassed its design capacity and had market coverage in 45 of Vietnam’s cities and provinces. It became much more profitable, with sales volumes reaching more than 70,000 tons and net revenue reaching VND1.199 trillion ($88.1 million). For the first time, its dividend paid to shareholders increased 10 per cent year-on-year.

Along with its efforts to boost production and improve its business, Vnsteel Thang Long has also actively participated in community activities, joining blood donation programs, supporting Agent Orange victims, and contributing to child protection funds, etc.

It was honored last year with such titles as “Vietnam Value 2016” and “Strong Brand 2016”, among others. It was also ranked 59th in Vietnam’s Best Prospect 500.

Most recently, Vnsteel Thang Long was listed in the Top 500 Best Prosperity (BP500) Companies 2017.

OCB's FDI Banking a trusted financial partner

With its breakthrough successes in 2016, the Orient Commercial Bank (OCB) has continued to implement strategic plans and recorded important achievements: securing high liquidity, ensuring excellent risk management, and fulfilling its core business activities with the establishment of a foreign direct investment banking department (FDI Banking) to secure its position in the market.

Established in November 2015, FDI Banking focuses on international business with foreign companies (non-Vietnamese companies). While there are plenty of banks to choose from, OCB’s FDI Banking offers corporate customers the experience, expertise, integrity, and customer-focused service they deserve.

As a growing business within OCB, FDI Banking provides top quality services to FDI corporate clients with tailor-made services and optimum solutions, through the bank’s expertise and honesty.

Moreover, FDI Banking offers highly competitive rates and terms and the diverse product range offers highly differentiated features and benefits to suit each and every company’s banking needs, covering various kinds of banking products, including short and mid-term USD/VND loans, international payments, foreign exchange transactions, trade-related financing, letter of credit (L/C) openings, negotiations, trade loans, cash flow management, guarantees, and internet banking, among others.

Whether the corporate customer imports or exports products, OCB can make it easier so that companies can concentrate on their business. Furthermore, whether customers want to start or grow their business or their companies need financial support, OCB will assist them with different financial solutions.

OCB has perfectly organized its structure with distinctive specializations and maximized the efficiency and productivity of its human resources. This is an important shift for the bank in improving its capacity to expand its market share and create tremendous value in each and every customer segment.

Aiming to become one of the best banks in Vietnam, OCB has always focused on building its management system towards transparency and ensuring safety. As one of the first banks to actively implement the Basel II standards, OCB has completed the first phase of its risk management project to bring itself closer to complying with international practices.

Moreover, following cooperative agreements with major technology corporations like Microsoft and Gartner, OCB is attempting to upgrade its comprehensive technology platform to become a modern bank.

“In this new strategic period, OCB will focus on exploiting short-term opportunities and developing its strategic competitiveness,” said CEO Nguyen Dinh Tung. “It will strive to expand market share, optimize and improve the quality of its balance sheet, reduce processing times for both operations and customer services, and apply international standards in risk management.”

As at December 31, the bank’s total assets stood at VND63.8 trillion ($2.8 billion), up 29 per cent against end-2015, total customer loans were VND39.6 trillion ($1.75 billion), up 35 per cent, and total deposits were VND46.2 trillion ($2 billion), up 57 per cent.

OCB’s FDI Banking is a trusted financial partner of many leading FDI enterprises in Vietnam and is determined to be different. 

(For inquiries or further information about FDI Banking, please contact Mr. Mintae Kim, Head of FDI Banking, via email at mintaekim@ocb.com.vn.)

HCMC requires Industry and Trade Department to license FDI retailers

The HCMC People’s Committee has required the Department of Industry and Trade to receive documents, grant or change retail licenses for foreign direct investment (FDI) companies.

These companies operate in goods trading and activities directly relating to the field; headquartered outside industrial parks, export processing zones, hi-tech parks and economic zones.

The authorization will be implemented in three years starting on May 12, 2017.

The city has assigned the Department of Planning and Investment to build a measure to hand over the licensing management to the Department of Industry and Trade, assist it to receive documents and inform of investors and FDI companies.

The former should coordinate with the later agency to build a document connecting process among the two agencies to examine and verify the granting of investment certificates and business licenses. The connectivity aims to limit administrative procedures, shorten time and grant licenses to foreign investors as fast as possible.

Muong Thanh illegally changes parking lot, kindergarten into apartment

The investor of Muong Thanh hotel complex and Son Tra high class apartment block has on its own choice changed the function of four storeys, meant for parking lot, gymnasium, swimming pool and kindergarten and public area into 104 apartments for sale.

The hotel complex and apartment block locate in Vo Nguyen Giap street, Son Tra district, the central city of Da Nang; invested by Dien Bien Construction Company No.1 according to the license granted on February 17 last year by the Da Nang city Department of Construction.

According to the license, the project has 42 storeys and two basement levels. The 2nd to 5th storeys in the apartment block are for parking lots, gymnasium, swimming pools and kindergarten and public area.

During construction process, the investor has not followed approved designs and on its own turned each of the four storeys into 26 apartments for sale.

Deputy director of the Da Nang city Department of Construction Thai Ngoc Trung said that after spotting the violation, the agency’s inspectorate has issued a decision penalizing the company VND40 million ($1,800) and required it to stop construction of the violating works.

The agency also proposed the People’s Committees of Ngu Hanh Son district and My An ward to supervise the investor over how it abides by the decision.

Dien Bien Construction Company No.1 temporarily stopped construction right after receiving the decision but then continued building.

On April 11 this year, the Department of Construction proposed the People’s Committee of My An ward to draw up a document, requiring the company to stop building the violating works. The committee has issued a decision suspending the works.

The Department of Construction afterward sent a report to the city People’s Committee that has required the investor to stop building. In case the company repeats the violation, it will be handled according to the Government’s Decree 121.

The city People’s Committee has assigned Ngu Hanh Son district and My An ward people’s committees to tightly supervise the investor over its compliance with the requirement.

On May 9 this year, Dien Bien Company sent a document to the city People’s Committee, the Department of Construction, Ngu Hanh Son district and My An ward people’s committees, committing to stopping the violation works and not handing over apartments from the 2nd to 5th storeys to customers until all relevant legal procedures have been fulfilled.

Previously, the Department of Construction asked opinions of the Construction Activity Management Agency under the Ministry of Construction, the city People’s Committee and the Party Committee’s Standing Board about the function change on September 20 last year.

Muong Thanh illegally changes parking lot, kindergarten into apartments for sale ảnh 1

The agency and the city People’s Committee have responded to the department and the department has invited the investor to its headquarters and guided the company to do procedures for the function change.

So far, the investor has sent documents to the Construction Activity Management Agency and the city’s Firefighting and Prevention Police Agency to assess changed designs, the Department of Natural Resources and Environment to estimate environmental impact.

Still, Mr. Thai Ngoc Trung said that the company has yet to complete and submit to the department relevant procedures for the license change. The department has not received the investor’s application for the change.

Sci-tech festival kicks off for young people in Hanoi

The Festival of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) festival 2017 for students from 8-18 years old kicked off on May 14 in Hanoi with the participation of thousands of students.

The festival held by Tia Sang Magazine, the University of Science and Technology of Hanoi (USTH), Creative S3 institute and STEM institute under the sponsor of the Ministry of Science and Technology aims to spread and increase public awareness of STEM education.

Education STEM is simply the application of scientific method into practice. STEM is a curriculum based on the idea of educating students in four specific disciplines — science, technology, engineering and mathematics — in an interdisciplinary and applied approach.

Rather than teaching the four disciplines as separate and discrete subjects, STEM integrates them into a cohesive learning paradigm based on real-world applications.

Deputy Education Minister Pham Cong Tac  said that parents, students and teachers learnt how to deliver scientific issues to the public in the festival. He expected the festival with the theme “Future planet” will inspire students to help them in solving problems of the world when they grow up.

Primary students and junior high school students were fascinated by Science Show with experimental design innovative smart lighting, physical control by brain waves, explore the universe through virtual reality technology , the creation of power from fruits, or reflections interesting chemical substances, when combined together.

Additionally, they watched robot NAO developed by French SoftBank , Haka traditional dance of New Zealand and Gangnam Style dance.

Vietnam, EU conclude talks on anti-logging deal

Vietnam and the EU have concluded negotiations over the Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) on Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) which will help improve forest governance, address illegal logging and promote trade in verified legal timber products from Vietnam to the EU and other markets.

Astrid Schomaker, Director for Global Sustainable Development of the European Commission’s Directorate-General for the Environment and Ha Cong Tuan, Vietnamese Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development initialled the text of the FLEGT VPA in Brussels, Belgium last Friday, marking the formal conclusion of nearly six years of negotiations, Dan Tri news website reported.

The two sides will undertake a legal review of the negotiated text which will then be followed by translation of the agreement into the EU’s official languages and Vietnamese. Before the deal takes effect, each side will have to complete internal procedures for signature and ratification of the agreement.

To implement the VPA, Vietnam will develop a timber legality assurance system to ensure that its exports of timber and timber products come from legal sources, including systems to verify that imported timber has been legally harvested and traded in accordance with the relevant legislation in the country of harvest. The pact also provides for the establishment of complaints mechanisms and independent evaluations, as well as commitments to involve stakeholders in its implementation and on disclosure of information.

A Joint Implementation Committee (JIC) will supervise implementation of the agreement. Pending its entry into force, the parties have also agreed on key elements for interim governance arrangements and other measures to prepare for implementation of the agreement.

Once the VPA is fully implemented, Vietnam’s shipments of timber and timber products to the EU will have to be accompanied by a FLEGT license, demonstrating their legality. Before the start of FLEGT licensing, there will be a period of implementation and assessment to verify that all the commitments outlined in the VPA have been fulfilled and that the system put in place meets the criteria to operational readiness as set out in a dedicated annex to the agreement.

In addition to the variety of social, economic and environmental benefits associated with better management of the forestry sector in Vietnam, FLEGT licensing will simplify business for timber traders, as FLEGT-licensed products automatically meet the requirements of the EU Timber Regulation, which prohibits the placing of illegal timber on the EU market. EU operators can therefore place FLEGT-licensed timber on the EU market without being subject to the due diligence provisions of the EU Timber Regulation.

Expanding trade deficit puts pressure on forex rate

The widening trade deficit has pushed up the demand for U.S. dollars, thus piling huge pressure on the foreign exchange rate, says a report in Lao Dong newspaper.

With the Fed plan for some more interest rate hikes in years to come, the foreign exchange rate may come under considerable pressure, said experts of the National Financial Supervisory Commission (NFSC).

NFSC analysts predict there would be more pressure on the exchange rate in 2017 as the demand for the greenback will rise given an expanding trade deficit, which is projected to account for 3.5 % of total exports.

However, foreign currency supply and international market factors have continued to help relieve the pressure on the exchange rate. In particular, the supply of U.S. dollars from foreign indirect investment sources (mergers and acquisitions) and foreign direct investment has been on the rise.

Secondly, the Bloomberg Dollar Index has constantly gone down, easing the pressure on the exchange rate between the Vietnam dong and the U.S. dollar. Thirdly, the Fed’s interest rate hike has not yet placed any short-term pressure on the exchange rate.

In the long run, the Fed’s additional interest rate hikes will put the exchange rate under huge pressure. The strong fall of the Chinese yuan will leave big impact on Vietnam’s economy whose trade deficit with China has been steadily widening, from US$23.7 billion in 2013 to US$28 billion in 2016.

Vietnam’s trade deficit with China makes up 14% of GDP, compared to the U.S.’s 2% with China.

In the 2017 Economic Outlook, HSBC forecast the exchange rate could stay at around VND23,200 per U.S. dollar at the end of this year and remain unchanged until late 2018.

Earlier, State Bank of Vietnam deputy governor Nguyen Thi Hong told the media: “Exchange rate control is a tough task for any central banks in the world but it is far more difficult for us as dollarization in the economy still exists. In fact, exchange rate volatility results from both economic and psychological factors. Expectations can fuel the hoarding of foreign currency.”

NFSC said the task of stabilizing interest rates in the rest of 2017 would be more challenging than in 2016. There are some reasons behind this.

Expectations of higher inflation and exchange rates are building up over the prospect of the Fed raising U.S. interest rates at least three times this year.

Bad debt which has not been thoroughly settled will hinder any effort to cut interest rates, so deposit rates may surge beyond the levels recorded last year. Moreover, credit institutions will have to cut the proportion of short-term funds used to make medium- and long-term loans to 40% from January 1, 2018.

To keep lending rates as stable as in 2016 when the average spike was only 0.1 percentage point, it is necessary to speed up the settlement of bad debt and the restructuring of banks. Recent policy moves demonstrate the Government’s strong determination to move on with a draft law that supports the restructuring of banks.

Measures needed to prevent land bubble in HCMC

The HCMC Real Estate Association (HoREA) has proposed measures be taken to prevent a huge bubble in residential land.

Prices of residential land lots in outlying districts like 9, 12, Thu Duc, Binh Tan, Nha Be, Binh Chanh, Hoc Mon, Cu Chi and Can Gio have been spiraling up.

HoREA said that over the last one year, residential land prices had surged more than 30%, or up to 70% in some areas. In particular, land lots in some areas in districts 9, Thu Duc and Binh Chanh have soared to around VND20 million (US$880) per square meter.

In Can Thanh, Can Gio District, land has edged up to VND10-12 million per square meter and agricultural land in some parts of Hoc Mon and Cu Chi districts have shot up around 50%. Notably, land along Highway 22 has reached over VND20 million per square meter.

HoREA has put the blame on speculators and dishonest land brokers. HoREA chairman Le Hoang Chau said there are four major causes of the current land price upsurge.

Firstly, major urban traffic infrastructure projects, including metro lines, highways, beltways, roads and bridges, has ignited appetite for residential land near those projects.

Secondly, authorities have not been quick enough to cope with real estate-related rumors. The outlying districts of Binh Chanh and Hoc Mon have been rumored to be included in inner-city areas while rumors have it that new urban areas would be developed in the east, west and south of the city.

Thirdly, some corporations have announced their grand plans which are believed to contribute to the development of the city. Particularly, Vingroup has announced to develop a 400-hectare safari in Cu Chi District and a 2,000-hectare residential area by reclaiming land in the sea in Can Gio District.

Tuan Chau Group has floated huge plans to build a 60-kilometer road along the Saigon River connecting District 1 and Cu Chi District, a 15,000-hectare town in Cu Chi District and a 1,000-hectare coastal urban area in Can Gio District.

Fourthly, land brokers and speculators have taken advantage of Decision No. 33/2014 to divide land into smaller lots and boost land prices in suburban districts.

HoREA suggested the city timely publish information about real estate projects and issue a new decision replacing Decision No. 33/2014 to restrict land division.

According to the 2014 Law on Real Estate Business, individuals and organizations must have business registration certificates to engage in land transactions. Therefore, the city should enforce this regulation to prevent fraud and speculation.

New corporate governance model urged

To promote good corporate governance, businesses should adopt a new model that allows independent members to sit on the board of directors (BOD) and an internal audit committee.

Phan Duc Hieu, vice president of the Central Institute for Economic Management, was making this recommendation at a seminar on corporate governance and role of audit committee in HCMC last Friday.

The popular corporate governance model of joint stock companies in Vietnam features the BOD, supervisory board and director/general director but it is no longer suitable given the poor performance of the supervisory board.

Setting up an audit committee under the BOD to help with control and management of the company is necessary. Its independence from the director or the management board makes the audit committee objective and effective, Hieu said.

This model is mentioned in the 2014 Enterprise Law but not compulsory, so businesses can still opt for the traditional corporate governance model.

Article 134 of the Enterprise Law specifies that a shareholding company may choose to manage and operate in one of the two following models unless otherwise regulated by the law on securities.

The first model consists of the general meeting, the BOD, the supervisory board and the director or general director. The supervisory board is not required for those companies where there are less than 11 shareholders and institutional shareholders own a combined stake of less than 50%. The second model comprises the general meeting, the BOD and the director or general director.

In this model, at least 20% of the company’s BOD members are independent and there is an audit committee under the BOD. Independent members are responsible for supervising the management operations of the company.

By the end of 2016, only two companies on the Hochiminh Stock Exchange (HOSE) had switched to using this new corporate governance model. Vinamilk began using the model in April 2017, taking to three the total number of listed firms employing the model, said Tran Anh Dao, deputy general director of the HOSE, at the seminar.

The reason is that it is hard to have independent BOD members accounting for at least 20% of the total. Dao said businesses have found it difficult to find suitable independent members.

She said 63 companies have no independent members on their BOD and 210 others do not have as enough independent BOD members as required.

There is another reason. Nguyen Vu Quang Trung, deputy general director of the Hanoi Stock Exchange, said there are no legal documents guiding the use of this new model. “Many businesses have reached us asking how to do it but we are also confused,” he admitted.

Hieu noted companies are not ready to see strangers sitting on the board. “I am a member of a small shareholders forum (codongnho.vn) and I know a lot of people there can be chosen as independent board members,” he said.

Lim Chor Ghee, general director of Tricor Vietnam, said one of the main issues was a lack of diversity on the BOD. BOD members often have a close relationship, Ghee said, and this is different from other countries in Southeast Asia like Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia.

Citing the ASEAN corporate governance scorecard done by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in 2013, he said Vietnam achieved 33.87 points on a scale of 100, meaning it was below average. Meanwhile, the scores of Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand were 54.55, 71.69, 57.99, 71.68 and 75.39 respectively

To improve corporate governance, the presence of independent BOD members and diversity are essential. Diversity means BOD members should come from different nations if their company wants to go global, said Ghee.

HCMC Enterprise Products Week attracts 100 firms

More than 100 enterprises from HCMC are showing their products to the public in Ben Tre Province and the Mekong Delta as a whole at the 2017 HCMC Enterprise Products Week in Ben Tre Province.

The May 11-15 event is jointly organized by the Investment and Trade Promotion Center of HCMC (ITPC) and the Department of Industry and Trade of Ben Tre Province.

ITPC director Pham Thiet Hoa said the second edition of the event is aimed at supporting HCMC firms to introduce their products to southern provinces, and creating opportunities for businesses to build links, exchange experiences, transfer technology and do the branding.

The exhibition of high-quality goods has attracted many HCMC enterprises with over 150 booths in the sectors of hi-tech agriculture, bio-industry, mechanical engineering, electronics, fashion, food and consumer goods.

Pham Thi Han, deputy director of Ben Tre’s Department of Industry and Trade, said she expected enterprises of HCMC and Ben Tre to expand markets for their products via similar trade shows that are intended to encourage consumers to buy more Vietnamese goods.

The event also includes many other activities such as a program connecting enterprises and distributors in Ben Tre, a seminar promoting trade and tourism in Ben Tre associated with the Mekong Delta, and free medical treatment for 200-300 people in Ben Tre Province’s Chau Thanh District.

HCMC, Jetstar clinch tourism promotion deal

The HCMC Department of Tourism and Jetstar Group have struck a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on cooperation to promote tourism and Australian tourist arrivals to the city.

The signing of the MOU took place last Friday after Australia-based Jetstar Airways commenced direct services from Sydney and Melbourne to HCMC to bank on Vietnam’s expanding aviation market and the growing number of Australian visitors to this ASEAN country.

Australian tourism grew 21% last year, with Australians spending about a third more on their visits than other international travelers to Vietnam, Dean Salter, CEO of Jetstar Airways, said in a statement.

He added an Australian tourist spends an average of US$1,677 per trip in Vietnam through expenditures on hotels, food and other purchases, higher than the average spending of US$1,114 made by other international travelers in Vietnam.

Vietnam, one of the fastest growing holiday destinations in Southeast Asia, was the largest country in the region without a low-cost direct link to Australia before Jetstar Airways launched direct services to HCMC last week, he noted.

Salter said the introduction of low fares between Australia and Vietnam, and Jetstar’s commitment to promoting Vietnam as a top tourist destination would make it possible for Vietnam to achieve its tourism targets.

Tourism is targeted to become a new economic spearhead of Vietnam by 2020 with its total revenue forecast to rise to US$35 billion, double the figure in 2016. The sector looks to serve 17-20 million international visitors and 82 million domestic tourists that year.

Vietnam attracted more than 10 million foreign travelers last year, up a staggering 26% year-on-year. The first four months of this year saw international arrivals surging 30.3% to 4.28 million with Australian visitors totaling 130,330 in January-April, up 5.7% from the year-earlier period.

Australia has been an important source market for Vietnam’s tourism sector, according to Jetstar.

With the MOU in place, Jetstar will promote Vietnam tourism to customers around Australia.

Jetstar Group has been well represented in the Vietnamese market through Jetstar Pacific, regional carrier Jetstar Asia and now Jetstar Airways.

 “There is enormous potential for Vietnam to become one of the most popular destinations for Australian travelers thanks to its wonderful year-round climate and great beaches, food and culture,” Salter said.

Jetstar Group has five Jetstar-branded airlines, namely Australian-based Jetstar Airways, Singapore-based Jetstar Asia, Jetstar Pacific in Vietnam, Jetstar Japan and Jetstar New Zealand. The pan-Asian airline group operates both long-haul and short-haul flights with 127 aircraft.

No-bid contracts banned for North-South Expressway project

Open and transparent tenders must be invited to choose investors for the North-South Expressway project in line with the Government Office’s Notice 217 on a conclusion of Deputy Prime Minister Truong Hoa Binh on the big-ticket project.

The North-South Expressway is a project of national importance, so it must go before the Politburo and the National Assembly (NA) after it is thoroughly screened by the Government.

The Government has asked the Ministry of Transport to finalize a report on the project’s total investment cost and schedule.

In regard to site clearance, the Government has decided to clear a total length of 684 kilometers, instead of the entire route, to avoid a waste of land.

Meanwhile, investment policies and mechanisms will be needed to attract investors and speed up the project. However, tendering must be made open and transparent, so awarding no-bid contracts will be prohibited.

Relevant ministries and agencies must ensure a strict supervision mechanism over the project, prevent possible losses and group interests, and avoid seeking guarantees from the National Assembly for minimum revenues, foreign exchange rates and insurance for a third party representing the Government to honor contract terms.

The Government has also agreed to add the Dau Giay-Phan Thiet section to the cross-country expressway project.

The State Bank of Vietnam has been assigned to closely monitor banks’ lending to the project and make sure investors will have sufficient reciprocal capital in accordance with Decree 15/2015/ND-CP on public-private partnership investment. This means those investors relying entirely on bank loans cannot participate in the project.

Earlier, the Government approved a plan proposed by the Ministry of Transport to use VND55 trillion from the proceeds of G-bond sales in 2016-2020 to partly fund the 1,372-kilometer North-South Expressway project worth a staggering VND314 trillion.

The funding will cover site clearance for the project while the remaining capital will come from other sources like official development assistance (ODA) loans and private sector investments.

New trade centre opens in Ha Noi     

The Artemis trade centre opened its doors on Sunday on Le Trong Tan Street in Ha Noi.

Financed by ACC Thang Long Company, the 29.700-square.metre centre boasts a supermarket, cinemas, commercial spaces and entertainment areas.

Booths at the centre will offer thousands of gifts and promotions to its customers to celebrate this occasion.

According to experts, the modern retail market in Viet Nam had much room for development, as modern shopping currently makes up 25 per cent of the country total retail sales, much lower than that of other countries in the region.

They predict that the proportion of modern retail channels, including trade centres, will rise by 45 per cent by 2020. The country will have more than 330 commerical malls, 1,200-1,300 supermarkets and thousands or even tens of thousands of convenience stores by that time. 

The rise and rise of BIM Group

Rich experiences accumulated over two decades, adhering to the philosophy of doing business with one’s heart, and strategic vision have helped the BIM Group build a prestigious name for itself.

The growth and rise of any firm goes hand in hand with unforgettable lessons and valuable experiences, which are intangible but precious assets for a company, and that’s the case for the BIM Group too. Among one of the few groups in Việt Nam with a development history of more than 20 years, the company has seen its share of ups and downs, but overall it has been the case of: “fire proves gold, adversity proves men”.

With three major pillars in its development strategy – tourism development, property investment, and agriculture and trade and services – the brand not only has a vibrant business story but also is a symbol of the effort made towards sustainable development.

Most people know the BIM Group through its real estate projects such as Halong Marina Urban Area in the northern Quảng Ninh Province, which has changed the face of Hạ Long and helped it develop into a modern city, and projects such as Fraser Suites and InterContinental Phu Quoc Long Beach Resort.

However, not everyone is aware of that the BIM Group deserves the title of the “banyan tree” in the field of agriculture and food as it is one of the largest fishery producers and exporters in the country, with a total farming area of 1,600 hectares.

Since the 2000s, the group has set up a number of fishery farming projects, such as the 251-hectare Minh Thành farm, 1,234-hectare Đồng Hoà shrimp breeding region, the Phú Quốc breed development centre, and the Tắc Cậu fishery processing plant. Its fishery products are exported to markets such as the US, EU and Japan.

The group also owns the largest salt field in Southeast Asia, whose annual capacity is 500,000 tonnes.

In 2010, the BIM Group entered the trade and services sector with luxury gym Elite Fitness, which has dozens of centres in Hà Nội, HCM City and Hạ Long. It also owns the Zpizza restaurant chain.

It is the real estate projects that affirm the BIM Group brand the most. Đoàn Quốc Huy, deputy chairman of the BIM Group, said the relentless efforts of its employees helped the group achieve higher-than-targeted business results in 2016, which is very encouraging in the context of the increasingly tough competition in the property market.

A pioneer property developer in Quảng Ninh Province, it offers luxury apartments, shophouses, and has popular resort townhouse projects such as the Green Bay Towers, Green Bay Village, Pearl Villas, Royals Lotus Villas & Resort and Litte Viet Nam.

The group has also poured around US$300 million in the popular tourist island of Phú Quốc. Its flagship project is the 155-hectare Phú Quốc Marina, which is expected to become Việt Nam’s Sentosa in the future.

With strategic vision, the group has generated special interest for its property products by partnering with the global brands such as InterContinental Hotels Group, Frasers Hospitality Pte Ltd and Ascott Limited.

The BIM Group is also spreading its wings into the international market, with its first five-star hotel in Laos, Crowne Plaza Vientiene, opening its doors in April.

In 2017, its line-up includes InterContinental Phu Quoc Long Beach Resort & Residences, the first condotel project under the InterContinental brand in Asia, and Citadines Marina Halong, the first condotel project in Hạ Long to be managed by Ascott Limited with all units overlooking the bay.

The group is also entering the commercial property market through a partnership with AEON Mall Việt Nam to develop a 9.5-hectare mall in Hà Nội’s Hà Đông District.

First IFRS certificates awarded in VN

Nearly 80 Vietnamese financial and accounting experts received International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) certificates from the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) in Hà Nội on Monday.

The certificates were presented after participants completed a short-term training course, which was organised by ICAEW in collaboration with Việt Nam’s Ministry of Finance and the State Securities Commission. The programme was carried out from August 2016 on a pilot basis and financed by the UK government’s Bilateral Fund.

The course is designed to meet the needs of accounting and finance staff involved in the preparation of financial statements, analysts, investors and portfolio managers, as well as regulatory authorities, standard drafters and financial, accounting and business faculties.

Upon completion of this course, most financial experts have grasped IFRS’s basic concepts, core principles and practical application. Moreover, experts are also updated on IFRS’s international practices and the challenges that may be encountered in the application of these standards.

In Việt Nam, the implementation of IFRS is also part of the Ministry of Finance’s plan to enhance transparency, eliminate barriers to financial accounting standards and strengthen competitive advantages in attracting foreign investment.

“ICAEW wishes to share knowledge, provide professional support and assist the Ministry of Finance in advancing the application of IFRS, which will help to improve transparency and professionalism of the financial sector in Việt Nam,” ICAEW’s Southeast Asia regional director Mark Billington said.

Some 131 countries and territories have mandated the application of IFRS.      

China Southern Airlines offers cheap tickets to Guangzhou, Beijing     

China Southern Airlines will offer 100 two-way tickets from HCM City to Beijing and Guangzhou at preferential prices to celebrate its 25th year of opening the Guangzhou – HCM City route.

The tickets will be available from May 14 and can be bought at the airlines’ website, Wechat, the airlines’ Facebook fanpage, and Zalo.

The carrier said that since the beginning of this year, it had carried 3,000 Vietnamese customers to China.

China Southern Airlines started its first flight from Guangzhou to HCM City in 1992 with two flights per week.

At that time, 28 flights operated per week from HCM City to Guangzhou.

The carrier also connected HCM City to other provinces of China and also had flights from Hà Nội to China.

With this development, there are now 182 two-way flights per week.

The carrier in recent years has opened more flights from Guangzhou to other countries, including Japan, South Korea, the US and Australia.      

Vinapharm to trade on UPCoM in May     

Viet Nam Pharmaceutical Corporation (Vinapharm) has obtained approval from Ha Noi Stock Exchange (HNX) to trade 237 million shares on the Unlisted Public Company Market (UPCoM), under stock code DVN.

Vinapharm will start trading on the UPCoM on May 19, 2017, at a starting price of VND10,400 (45 US cents) per share.

Vinapharm has charter capital of VND2.37 trillion and launched its initial public offering (IPO) on the HNX on June 22 last year. All of its 42,557,000 shares put up on auction were purchased at an average successful bidding price of VND10,433 per share.

Vinapharm has been officially operating as a joint-stock company since last December. Currently, this pharmaceutical company has two major shareholders holding a total of 82 per cent of charter capital, of which the Ministry of Health owns 65 per cent and strategic investor Viet Phuong Investment Group owns 17 per cent.

From the end of 2016, on the Over the Counter (OTC) market, DVN shares were being traded at some VND20,000 per share. 

95 percent social insurance fund invested in Government bonds

The social insurance fund’s remaining amount approximates VND500 trillion (US$22.03 billion), 95 percent of that has been invested by buying Government bonds with the average interest rate of 7.04 percent a year.

That was reported by Mr. Tran Dinh Lieu, deputy director general of the Vietnam Social Insurance Agency.

Mr. Lieu said that 5 percent of the fund has been used for loaning the state budget with the interest rate of 7.78 percent and deposited at commercial banks with the rate of 5 percent a year.

Last year the fund’s loaned amount reached VND34,400 billion ($1.52 billion).

According to the agency, depositing at commercial banks is difficult now with low interest rates. The law stipulates that the Vietnam Social Insurance Agency must deposit money at banks with good operation quality ranked by the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV).

However, SBV has just ranked healthy operation banks numbering five without good operation quality banks.

Interest rates have been low because banks have received deposits for less than six month terms. Some banks have got loans from the social insurance fund within 15 days.

The agency is working with the court and lawyers to reclaim overdue loans from Vietnam Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development and Financial Companies No.1 and 2. Their original debts alone total VND787 billion ($35 million).

Climate change reduces rice productivity in Mekong Delta

The Mekong Delta has completed harvest of  winter spring rice crop with productivity drop due to climate change, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

The productivity reached 62.7 quintals a hectare, down 2.4 percent  compared to the last winter spring crop. The reduction occurred in most provinces in the delta.

Farmers have started sowing summer autumn crop with cultivated area approximating 677,000 hectares at the end of May, accounting for 95 percent of the area during the same period last year.

The summer autumn crop is forecast to meet with difficulties due to long lasting heat waves and complicated weather conditions.

TH true MILK reaches out to Japan

While engaging in billion-dollar high-tech agricultural projects in Vietnam and Russia, locally-owned TH Group wishes to expand to Japan.

Vietnam’s dairy queen courts fameDuring her on-going working trip to Japan, TH Group chairwoman Thai Huong attended the Vietnam-Japan Enterprise Meeting and met with many Japanese firms who are seeking investment and business opportunities with Vietnamese firms, including TH Group.

Huong said that the group would like to co-operate with Japanese partners in the sectors of high-tech agriculture, processing technology, and healthcare.

In the healthcare sector alone, Huong attached great importance to caregiving, affirming that TH Group would like to send thousands of nurses and caregivers to Japan for studies so that they can return to Vietnam to work in local hospitals and use the country’s precious herbs to treat local patients with the highest service quality.

Huong also said that due to their cultural similarities, Japan and Vietnam are uniquely positioned to co-operate and develop a safe and environmentally-friendly agriculture.

According to her, Japan’s demand for safe farm produce is fast growing, and this is offering a big opportunity for Vietnamese products, including those produced by TH Group. Also, Japan can help Vietnam improve its processing technologies.

“We would like to co-operate and share our experiences with all of you here,” Huong said. “We are developing herb cultivating areas for products which will be exported to Japan, and we would also like to introduce Japanese products in the Vietnamese market. It all goes to improve the health of both countries’ people.”

Huong also expressed her determination of developing TH Group’s brand name as Japanese firms have been doing successfully in their foreign markets, which has won great confidence from consumers worldwide.

“Japanese firms have set their firm niches in the global market and we will try to follow suit carving out a space for the traditional goods our nation is proud of,” she said.

TH Group has developed five core values for its TH true MILK products, including ‘For the health of the community,’ ‘Completely from nature,’ ‘Fresh-Delicious-Nutritious,’ ‘Environmentally friendly,’ and ‘Excellent mind-set and harmonised benefits.’

Since 2009, TH Group has also been operating a $1.2-billion, 37,000-hectare high-tech concentrated dairy and fresh milk production project in the central province of Nghe An.

Besides, while constructing a similar project worth $2.7 billion in Russia, TH Group is also considering the construction of another major project in the Republic of Bashkortostan, a federal subject of Russia.

SonKim Land announces $100 million follow-up fundraising with EXS Capital and ACA Investments

SonKim Land Corporation, a leading Vietnamese real estate developer, and EXS Capital Ltd., an independent alternative investment group within Asia, announced last week the successful closure of their first round – $46 million out of an expected $100 million – of follow-up fundraising for SonKim Land. This is the second investment led by EXS Capital into SonKim Land through the Lemongrass Master Fund, after a successful initial investment of $37 million in 2013.

For the follow-up investment, SonKim Land and EXS Capital are also partnering with ACA Investments, a leading Japanese fund management firm based in Singapore with a strong track record of investments across the Asia-Pacific region. ACA Investments has a wide variety of experience in the Vietnamese market, through investments in companies such as Bibo Mart and Cung Mua.

Hiroyuki Ono, partner at ACA Investments, said, “ACA Group is excited to co-operate with Nguyen Hoang Tuan, chairman of SonKim Land, and the SonKim Land team to mutually contribute to the development of the Vietnamese property market. This is our fifth investment in Vietnam. We have explored more than 100 opportunities in this country and identified SonKim Land as one of the few companies with both discipline and long-term vision. We hope to realise the potential demand between Japanese corporates hoping to expand into Vietnam and SonKim Land, which hopes to assist them.”

EXS Capital’s initial investment in 2013 began a multi-stage partnership with SonKim Land, aiming to build a leading real estate firm in Vietnam.  EXS Capital helped to fund SonKim Land’s growth during a challenging time in the Vietnamese real estate market – and was even able to provided superior returns to investors during that period. The success of EXS Capital’s partnership with SonKim Land represents a strong validation of both SonKim Land’s performance as well as EXS Capital’s differentiated investment approach.

Eric Solberg, CEO of EXS Capital, said, “We are pleased to be partnering again with chairman Tuan and the SonKim Land team, helping to build the company into a leading listed real estate company in Vietnam. We are proud of SonKim Land’s strong reputation of being at the forefront of design, quality, and lifestyle in the Vietnamese market. We look forward to continuing our co-operation to ensure SonKim Land’s ongoing success.”

Since 2013, SonKim Land has grown rapidly, launching several award-winning luxury properties in Ho Chi Minh City, including Gateway Thao Dien and The Nassim.

Given the success of the first round of fundraising, SonKim Land and EXS Capital are excited to partner up for subsequent rounds. The first $46 million round was issued in convertible SonKim Land bonds, redeemable at any time. Participants in this round included many of the original investors from 2013, who have chosen to bolster their position in SonKim Land, thereby signalling confidence in the company’s track record and expected future earnings.

With this additional fundraising, SonKim Land aims to continue to develop its repertoire of attractive developments across the country, including luxury residential and commercial developments in Ho Chi Minh City.

“EXS Capital’s follow-up and ACA’s initial investment into SonKim Land is strong evidence of our success in the Vietnamese property market. We have positioned ourselves as a pioneer property developer that creates unique living conditions for our customers,” said Tuan. “As a premier lifestyle brand, SonKim Land’s strategy is to focus on customers’ desires, co-operate with reputable partners, and learn from them to create customised and unique concepts for the Vietnamese property landscape. We believe that we will continue to be successful in strengthening our property development profile and improving the living standards of the Vietnamese people.”

AIA and HSBC form new bancassurance partnership

On May 16, AIA (Vietnam) Life Insurance Co., Ltd. (AIA Vietnam) and HSBC Bank (Vietnam) Ltd. (HSBC Vietnam) announced a landmark bancassurance partnership that will deliver world-class services and greater value to customers in Vietnam, offering a diverse range of insurance and financial solutions.  

This partnership between HSBC Vietnam and AIA Vietnam will provide customers access to greater financial security in various stages of their life through a broad range of protection and long-term savings solutions, including universal life (all-in-one plan) and term life (life cover) insurance, education savings, as well as medical and critical illness cover policies.

According to Pham Hong Hai, CEO of HSBC Vietnam, the country’s robust economic growth in recent years has fuelled a fast-growing middle class and affluent population with evolving and diversified needs for protection and savings for education and retirement.

“By working with AIA, we aim to provide our customers with best-in-class insurance products and services that are critical to achieving their needs and aspirations for a better life quality,” Hai said.

Wayne Besant, CEO of AIA Vietnam, added that this partnership was a natural fit for both AIA and HSBC Vietnam.

“Customer experience and innovation are at the heart of everything our companies do and we are excited to bring our talents together to create even bolder and more innovative solutions to address the ever-changing needs of our customers,” Besant said.

These joint products will help customers deal with the twists and turns of life, whether it is buying a new home, preparing for higher education, planning for retirement or dealing with critical illness. This significant partnership offers customers a complete package of financial advice and tailor-made wealth and protection solutions based on understanding of individual customers’ needs and financial situation.

AIA and HSBC form new bancassurance partnership 

The two innovators are looking to transform insurance and banking services in customers' eyes

HSBC and AIA, with their combined expertise and strengths, intend to change the way consumers access and experience insurance and banking services, and lead the market with bold and innovative ideas.

Both companies are leading innovators in their respective fields. HSBC offers streamlined financial planning through its Personal Banking and unique Premier services at all HSBC outlets in the economic hubs across Vietnam. Besides over-the-counter services, HSBC has led the way in offering online services as a result of banking service digitalisation, creating an excellent, 24-hour mobile and internet banking customer experience.

AIA is known for innovative customer experience services, such as the Nest by AIA, the interactive Point of Sales system (iPOS), the MyPage customer Portal, the customer claim tracking system GBS, and especially the industry-leading customer healthy living programme AIA Vitality—a carefully researched, science-backed wellness programme that equips customers with the knowledge, tools, and motivation to make a real change towards longer, healthier, and better lives.  

Three new air routes planned for Can Tho Airport

Plans are being put into places to support the airlines to open two new domestic and one international air route to Can Tho International Airport this year.   

Vo Thanh Thong, chairman of Can Tho City, said they were completing documents about support policies and mechanisms for airlines to open more air routes to the city before sending it to the city people's council.

Two domestic routes including Can Tho-Hai Phong and Can Tho-Cam Ranh and one international route to Bangkok, Thailand are expected to be opened this year.

Airlines will be given support to open new offices and advertise. During early days when the routes are first opened if the empty seats account for more than 30% of the total seats then the authorities will provide financial support to offset some losses for flights from Can Tho Airport.

A maximum support of VND15m (USD660) a month for a year will be given for each airline when they open new offices. Ground service fees will be discounted by 50% for regular domestic routes and 30% discount for international routes.

It is estimated to cost the city VND5bn (USD220,000) to offset losses for each airline with new domestic routes during the first year and VND8.5bn for each airline with international routes.

Currently, Can Tho International Airport provides domestic routes to Hanoi, Hai Phong, Con Dao and Danang City. The routes to Da Lat and Nha Trang City were closed because of financial troubles. The airport only has international routes to Taipei during Tet Holiday. The previous route to Bangkok also ended.

Interest rate for social housing loans

The Việt Nam Bank for Social Policies (VBSP) interest rate for social housing loans in 2017 will be 4.8 per cent per annum, or 0.4 per cent a month, according to a decision just signed by Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc.

VBSP adjusts interest rates on a yearly basis to best reflect socio-economic circumstances, but the rate will never exceed 50 per cent the average interest rate offered by commercial banks at the moment.

The new interest rate is even lower than the 5 per cent interest rate (or not exceeding 6 per cent in subsequent years) applied in the VNĐ30 trillion (US$1.32 billion) housing stimulus package aimed primarily at social policy beneficiaries and people facing financial difficulties. When the package was totally disbursed and ended last year, many were concerned that low-income people might again struggle to save enough money for homes, since commercial banks’ rates are out of their reach.

The minimum repayment term is 15 years after the first loan is disbursed. If customers want to borrow a loan with a shorter term, they can negotiate with lending bank.

Last June, the government implemented a 4.8 per cent interest rate for social housing loans. However, it’s reportedly not easy to access the credit, since the VBSP required that the borrowers deposit their monthly savings at the bank with minimum term of 12 months, starting from the date of signing the credit contract.

According to the government’s Decree 100/2015/NĐ-CP, the following groups are eligible to loans with preferential interest rates: people with merits to the revolution, low-income people, urban poor or near-poor households,  workers working in enterprises both out of and in an industrial zone, military officers, workers under the employment of units under People’s Army and People’s Public Security, cadres and civil servants.

VN plans to triple number of ethnic-minority firms

Việt Nam plans to more than triple the number of enterprises owned and run by ethnic minority groups by next year in a bid to tap into the full potential of these groups and reduce poverty.

The plan to increase the number of enterprises run by ethnic minority groups from the current 30 to 100 was unveiled yesterday by the Committee for Ethnic Affairs.

“We (Committee for Ethnic Affairs) are determined that poverty reduction and sustainable growth in mountainous and ethnic minority areas rely on the internal power of ethnic minority communities,” said Đỗ Văn Chiến, Minister-Chairman of the Committee for Ethnic Affairs at a forum on ethnic minority development.

The plan is a start-up model expected to develop into a startup eco-system nationwide. its goal is to ensure that “No one is left behind”, said forum organisers.

Mountainous and ethnic minority areas, with a diversity of natural resources, local produce and culture, should be considered areas of development opportunities, especially in agriculture, animal husbandry, herbal medicine and tourism, Chiến said.

The forum agreed that making use of local knowledge is the foundation that must be tapped to harness the full potential of ethnic minority start-ups.

Nguyễn Thị Huyền, National Programme Coordinator of the International Labor Organisation (ILO) suggested offering business skill training to ethnic communities, helping them access capital sources. Ethnic minority people should be regarded as “creative partners”, she said, adding that it is necessary to maintain their traditional identities while developing businesses.

Local products of nearly 30 ethnic minority start-ups were on display at the forum, linking enterprises, local authorities and non-governmental organizations.

Sầm Thị Bích, leader of Hoa Tiến Brocade Cooperative in Quỳ Châu District of the central province of  Nghệ An, said that with the support from authorities and NGOs, she and other members of the village can further develop product design and access to market to promote their products at local and international  fairs.

Bích’s co-operative is a typical model for start-ups of ethnic minority groups in Vietnamese mountainous areas. She has restored the traditional weaving craft, provides training in weaving skills, and helps group members obtain material and equipment to improve their livelihood.

Central Field to open in Q3

The Central Field residential-office complex, developed by the 19-12 Bac Ha Ltd Company, will open its doors in the third quarter.

Located at 219 Trung Kinh, Cau Giay district, Hanoi, Central Field is a three-tower complex with 27 levels in each, including two residential towers and one office tower with a five-floor retail podium.

CBRE Vietnam has been selected by 19-12 Bac Ha to be the exclusive leasing agent for the retail and office space.

It will begin a leasing campaign for the retail and office space this month. Situated in a convenient location and with a practical design, Central Field is expected to be a great choice for businesses looking for Grade B office space in the west of Hanoi.

“We have put a lot of effort into Central Field and strongly believe that the project will become the most ideal and convenient office destination in Cau Giay district,” said Ms. Tran Thi Thanh, CEO of 19-12 Bac Ha. “After a careful selection process, we decided to appoint CBRE Vietnam as our exclusive leasing agent. Leasing activities will be taken care of by the experienced and professional leasing team at CBRE Vietnam.”

“CBRE Vietnam is honored to be appointed as the exclusive leasing agent for Central Field,” said Ms. Nguyen Bich Trang, Director of CBRE’s Hanoi branch. “The project will add to the diverse supply of Grade B offices in the west of Hanoi, given its convenient accessibility and reasonable price, which is suitable for businesses with modest budgets.”

Tink Labs provides online travel solution in Vietnam

Tink Labs Limited, one of Hong Kong’s most successful startups and which has revolutionized travel and tourism, has recently announced it is bringing its mobile travel solution Handy to Vietnam as part of its global expansion.

Handy devices, first launched in September 2012, help to deliver hassle-free travel and meet growing demand for internet connection services. Tink Labs flagship’ innovative smartphone is a complimentary amenity in partner hotel rooms, integrating with hotel services and offering travelers unlimited connectivity on the go as well as tailored travel guides.

The Handy service benefits Vietnam as a tourist destination by making the country more traveler-friendly. The platform likewise provides local governments with a more personalized channel for engaging with travelers and helps visitors navigate smart city services and initiatives more easily.

Handy is now available in 20 cities, covering 100,000 rooms and helping 12 million global travelers stay connected. The service is a trusted partner of leading hotel groups including Ritz-Carlton, Intercontinental, Sheraton, and others.

“Our launch in Vietnam further demonstrates that Handy’s unique offering is transforming hospitality and tourism for the better,” said Mr. Terence Kwok, founder and CEO of Tink Labs. “As we grow we remain committed to working with the right business partners to satisfy our vision to scale globally and offer travelers the freedom they deserve.”

Beyond connecting visitors in Vietnam, Handy helps local hoteliers differentiate and unleash untapped revenue potential, creating a personalized experience to retain customers. Consumer usage in other markets has demonstrated that Handy extends the hotel service footprint and increases the use of hotel services, boosting incremental revenues by approximately 20 per cent.

Handy has also helped to elevate the quantity and quality of customer satisfaction, increasing Trip Advisor ratings by an average of 0.31, which translates to a 3.4 per cent increase in revenue per available room (RevPAR). The platform’s data and analytics will also help hotel partners in Vietnam better understand customers to provide more personalized services and increase hotel service utilization.

The complimentary service enables visitors to travel like a local, finding connectivity and information they need at no cost, with curated city guides, free unlimited local and international calls, free internet access, speed dial to hotel services, and local emergency and essential travel information.

Handy, the flagship product from Tink Labs, is an innovative mobile travel solution that combines the functionality of a personal smartphone and hotel services into one fully-integrated device. Each smartphone is customized for the hotel and provides travelers with free unlimited internet, local and international calls, as well as an interactive city guide and one-click access to the hotel’s concierge and amenities. It is already available in 20 cities, covering 100,000 rooms, and has helped 10 million global travelers stay connected.

Fresh milk with brand name Cu Chi to be released in market

Fresh milk with brand name Cu Chi will be released in the market in early June, annonced Deputy Chairman of People’s Committee in Cu Chi Nguyen Huu Hoai Phu at a meeting with Party Committee in Ho Chi Minh City on May 17.

At the meeting to report the management role in the government rural plan, Mr. Phu said the launch of the fresh milk is concerted efforts in creating brand name and help farmers to consume dairy products.

Tan Thong Hoi Cooperative invested VND100 billion ($4.4 million) in building a factory with capacity of six tons milk a day.

At present, the local government encouraged 70,000 students to consume fresh milk brand name Cu Chi and to introduce the dairy product in supermarkets. Cu Chi District is raising 72,000 milk cow supplying 600 tons of milk a day yet it has no brand name.

Talking about future orientation, Cu Chi Party Secretary Mr. Truong Van Thong said that the administration will not increase the figure of milk cow but pay attention to improve quality and milk quality as well as breed cow in large-scale farms in far away locations from residential blocks and apply high technology.

Pork price surges

Head of the Department of Animal Husbandry Hoang Thanh Van said at a seminar on May 17 that pork price had increased and 200,000 tons of pork had been sold out.

As of May 17, the country has 1.5 millions of pigs. Around 200,000 tons of pork had been sold for these days. Mr. Van said that pork price increased by VND8,000 – 9,000 per kilogram in some regions, making a good sign for breeders.

Participants of the seminar said that it posed high mishap for breeders if the government has not tightened control of the commodity but let markets be taken over by retailers.

Accordingly, farmers sold pigs at very low price as it maintained high in supermarkets and traditional markets. Consequently, the Government should issue husbandry law to handle the matter.

Though the price hiked, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development admitted the price is still lowest in ten years since 2007 and pig farmers still suffered loss of VND 1-VND1.5 million a pig. The Ministry will be quick to implement measures to help pig farmers and stabilize the country’s husbandry sector.

In the southern province of Dong Nai, 11 stands were set up to sell pork at VND30,000 per kilogram and big companies have bought pigs for storage.

Dong Nai, HCMC, Hanoi and the northern provinces of  Hai Duong, Thai Binh, Nam Dinh, Ha Nam also adopted measures to resolve the problem by connecting breeders, slaughterhouse owners and enterprises.

Expert sees no need for SME support law

Vietnam should create a transparent and level playing field for businesses, instead of building a law supporting small and medium enterprises (SMEs), said Dr. Vu Thanh Tu Anh, director of research at Fulbright University.

Speaking at a talk held in HCMC on May 15 on Vietnam’s economic performance in the first four months of the year and outstanding Government policies, Anh said such support would lead businesses to develop a sense of reliance.

Moreover, the draft law contains multiple counterproductive provisions. Firstly, if SMEs enjoy tax breaks, large corporations may be split into smaller units to gain access to this tax support.

Secondly, the draft law allows SMEs to access loan interest support but the problem is where funding will come from at a time when the Government has an extremely tight budget.

“This draft law looks unworkable and impractical,” said Anh.

Vietnam has a slew of legal frameworks supportive of SMEs. But a survey which the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) released earlier this year showed the proportion of SMEs that have taken advantage of them is only 15%. Therefore, a law on SME support would prove to be redundant, he noted.

According to Anh, if the Government really wants to support SMEs, the most important thing is to create a business environment with fair competition and transparency, and to help businesses cut costs.

The current business ecosystem in Vietnam is unhealthy, Anh said. State-owned enterprises (SOEs) benefit from monopolistic rights while foreign-invested companies are entitled to a host of policy incentives. “SMEs can never be able to compete with those giants.”

In assessing Vietnam’s economic situation, he said it would be impossible to achieve the GDP growth target of 6.7% this year because productivity is edging down. Still, Vietnam can translate the target into reality by injecting more money into the economy or pumping more crude oil but these measures could destabilize the economy.

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