Small mobile networks face hurdles in seeking strategic investors

Small Vietnamese mobile network providers, such as EVNTelecom and S-Fone, are facing hardship in seeking foreign strategic investors to sell their shares, Dau Tu newspaper reported.

Since Vietnamese market has been matured in terms of subscriptions with around 112 million ones as of August 2011, there is likely no remaining room for those small operators to grow.

Even a big domestic telecom firm, FPT Group, has withdrawn its decision to purchase up to 60 percent of total stake in EVNTelecom, although the group had already deposited over VND700 billion for this deal.

At present, FPT is not sure when to take back the deposit.

EVNTelecom has recently sought government's approval for the plan of offering 12 percent of stake to the Vietnam Multimedia Corp (VTC).

The situation for S-Fone is nearly the same.

Although it has already got approval for changing the business model into a joint venture and resolved the problems with South Korean partner of SK Telecom, there haven't been any investors showing interest in making investment with S-Fone.

S-Fone Joint Venture has been established on the basic of capital contribution from Saigon Post and Telecommunication Services Joint Stock Co (SPT) (80 percent) and SK Telecom (20 percent).

Since SK Telecom has withdrawn capital in the joint venture by transferring holdings to SPT within a fixed period, S-Fone is still looking for potential partners, both foreign and domestic, who show true interest in making business with the mobile network provider.

Smartphone and feature phone sales in Vietnam increased by 27 percent in unit shipment and 21 percent in value in the first seven months of 2011, despite cutbacks in general consumer spending on rising inflation, newswire zdnetasia.com cited a recent report released by GfK Asia.

GfK saw declined sales across various market segments it tracked including IT, home appliances and consumer electronics, but the mobile phone sector remained unaffected and instead, enjoyed continued growth, said Van Tran Khoa, general manager of GfK Vietnam.

Even as prices of basic living necessities such as food and fuel increased, Vietnamese consumers continued to splurge on the latest phone technology, the analyst said.

The report noted that the average price of a smartphone was at $300, five times the price of a feature phone which averaged at $66.

Overall, 1 in 10 mobile phones purchased in 2011 was a smartphone and its share in the overall market grew by 10 percent to 34 percent.

The smartphone category propelled the mobile industry's good performance even though feature phones also enjoyed the positive growth.

Smartphone unit sales grew over 73 percent this year over the same period last year, boosting the value of this market segment to nearly $280 million, up 67 percent from last year's $168 million.

Although the feature phone segment continued to expand, the growth momentum slowed to 24 percent in unit shipment and 6 percent in value compared to 34 percent and 7 percent, respectively, the year before.

More Vietnamese businesses expands overseas

Many Vietnamese enterprises, including Hoang Anh Gia Lai Group (HAGL), the military-run Viettel Group, FPT Corp, and PetroVietnam, are expanding into international markets, according to newswire Vnexpress.

HAGL has signed a memorandum of understanding with Lao's government for four large projects at a recent conference on Viet-Lao investment cooperation that was held in Vientiane.

It has become one of the most successful investors in this neighboring country with the total investment capital of US $ 1 billion in such areas as rubber, sugar cane, mining and hydroelectric.

HAGL is not alone there.

BIM Group, the owner of the private aviation corporation Air Mekong, has broken ground on a five-star hotel, shopping center, and high-class apartment complex project worth some $70 million, which is expected to be operational in late 2012.

The arm of the military-run Viettel Group, Unitel – a nearly two-year-old joint venture with Lao Asia Telecom – now ranks the first in terms of subscriptions and telecom infrastructure, which makes Viettel one of the most outstanding players in Lao’s telecom market.

There have been 420 Vietnam's projects with total investment capital of $3.57 billion in Lao since 1993. The most popular local destinations are the capital city of Vientiane with nearly $1.9 billion and Champaxac Province with $248 million.

Another neighboring country, Cambodia, has also emerged as an attractive destination for Vietnamese firms.

Despite diverse difficulties due to global economic crisis, FPT Corp has been persistent in its global telecommunications strategy over the last three years with these two first initial international markets.

In the first phase, FPT builds up backbone lines to the joint borders of the three countries, from which it provides connection capacity to operators in Lao and Cambodia.

"FPT has created a "revolution" in the broadband market in Cambodia over the last three years, prior to which time 1 Mbps in Cambodia was priced at US $1000, while the figure has now dropped to below US $300", said a representative of FPT.

FPT is now moving on to the next phase in the strategy – buying up existing networks in Cambodia to provide services in the market.

Previously, Viettel with the Metfone network was the most successful telecommunication investor in Cambodia in terms of mobile services, infrastructure as well as market share.

Apart from these two neighboring markets, FPT and Viettel are both heading for the most faraway and disadvantaged markets in Africa and America.

Recently, FPT and Nigerian 21st Century Co have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for strategic cooperation in telecommunications, education and equipment production.

FPT has also revealed intention to seek opportunities in broadband and digital content services along with providing consultancy, developing infrastructure and offering services for the Nigerian partner.

In the meantime, Viettel has recently been granted license for telecom investment in Mozambique, another African country.

In addition, a new network has just been launched in South American country of Haiti where was hit by an earthquake with more than 300,000 casualties over one year ago.

The joint venture was then the operator of largest comprehensive telecom network and nearly 1,000 base transmission stations, a 30 percent upsurge compared with the previous 6 year-old network Digicel.

Explaining the reasons for the expansion into such disadvantaged markets, both investors said it is so difficult to penetrate easily-accessible but saturated markets. It is also the matured domestic market that has provoked their overseas investments.

"Challenges offer opportunities which we would like to grab. Few investors choose Haiti as an investment destination in the wake of the earthquake. Yet, our commitment of further investment has been well received by the residents as well as local authorities and partners, which in turn greatly facilitated our infrastructure construction", shared Viettel's representative.

Also, Haiti's low telephone line over person amid weak supply offers golden opportunity for overseas investors, he added.

Vietnamese enterprises have registered to invest in over 600 projects with a total pledged capital of over $24.5 billion in foreign countries by the end of July 2011, according to Overseas Investment Department under the Ministry of Planning and Investment.

Of which, the investment capital and chartered capital of Vietnamese investors have exceeded $10.7 billion and about $10 billion respectively.

They mainly invested in mining sector with about $17 billion, followed by the production and distribution sector of electricity, gas, water and air-conditioner with over $2.1 billion and agriculture- forestry-fisheries production with a total registered capital of over $1.4 billion.

Laos, Cambodia, Venezuela and Russia are four leading destinations for investment flow from Vietnam with registered capitals exceeding $1 billion. Of which, Venezuela attracted the biggest volume of investment capital with over $12.4 billion.

Vietnam National Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam) has organized a seminar on "Investment opportunities in Vietnam-Energy and Finance" in the US capital city of Washington.

The event introduced 26 PetroVietnam’s projects to call for foreign investments in electricity, infrastructure and finance investment in its subsidiaries.

Some typical projects included Dung Quat oil refinery, Long Son petrochemical complex, Nam Con Son 2 gas pipeline project, Quang Trach 1 coal-fired power plant, Long Phu 1 plant and PetroVietnam Tower.

PetroVietnam's leaders also met with senior leaders of groups, economic institutions and large corporations of the US such as Goldman Sachs, McKinsey, TPG, Morgan Stanley, New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) to discuss future investment cooperation plans.
 
Energy association demands lesser Chinese role

As many power projects carried out by Chinese constructors have failed to meet deadlines, the Vietnam Energy Association (VEA) has demanded the government to limit their participation in future projects.

VEA’s Chairman Tran Viet Nghia said dozens of power projects nationwide were progressing slowly because of incapable and inexperienced Chinese constructors with few financial resources. And this, Nghia said, is negatively affecting Vietnam’s social-economic development.

According to Nghia, most of these projects were thermal-power plants such as Hai Phong 1 and 2, Cam Pha 1 and 2, Quang Ninh 1 and 2, Mao Khe, Thai Nguyen and Duyen Hai 1.

Nghia said besides poor technology and equipment and insufficient capital, Chinese constructors didn’t employ local workers but only used Chinese personnel.

Nghia also warned that because Vietnam hadn’t developed any standard for power plants, these projects had to follow Chinese standards, which aren’t high enough.

On July 21, the Prime Minister approved Power Master Plant VII which put down 75,000MW as the target for the country’s total power production in 2020, which is three times higher than the current figure.

But Nghia said this target could never be achieved if the government’s policies and management over constructors didn’t change.

VEA thus called for changes in the existing bidding law to enable investors to choose high-quality equipment as well as experienced constructors from highly developed countries such as the EU.

“The government should also demand foreign constructors to employ Vietnamese engineers and workers,” Nghia said.

“As for Chinese constructors, we can assign them to lesser tasks.”

Vietnam, Thailand share rice information

Vietnamese and Thai officials and experts have shared the latest information on rice production and export situation in their countries as well as the world food prices.

At their annual meeting in Chiang Mai, Thailand, on Sept. 16, the two sides discussed the prospect of including cooperation in the rice issue into the regional cooperation programme towards the building the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) in 2015.

Representatives of the Vietnam Food Association (VinaFood) and the Thai Rice Exporters Association (TREA) also signed a memorandum of understanding on information exchange in the related field.

The annual meeting between VinaFood and TREA took place when the Thai new government plans to apply again the policy to buy rice from local farmers at high prices.

Thailand and Vietnam are two biggest rice exporters in the world, controlling around half of the rice volume traded in the international market.

Thailand plans to export more than 10 million tonnes of rice this year and the figure may reduce to 8 million tonnes in 2012 due to impacts of the new policy.

Foreign funds lack money to invest in Vietnam

Stagnant stock markets worldwide are making it hard for foreign investment funds to mobilize capital for projects in Vietnam.

Since 2010, even major names such as VinaCapital and Mekong Capital haven’t been able to raise funds to invest in Vietnam. VinaCapital, for example, failed to set up a stock fund worth US$200-300 million for investments in Vietnam’s stock market.

Some foreign investors are thus reconsidering whether to invest in Vietnam, said Andy Ho, VinaCapital’s Managing Director.Mekong Capital has also been unable to set up any new fund since 2010, said its General Director Chris Freund.

In addition to the local currency instability and inflation risk, Freund said the biggest factor determining the possibility of capital mobilization was divestment results of previous investments.

“Divestment results of funds in Vietnam are normally not as good as in China, Indonesia, or India,” Freund said.

However, the current results of Mekong Capital and other fund managers are improving gradually through investments in good firms such as ICP, Masan Food, Diana, and Saigon Paper, he said.

Fiachra Mac Cana from Ho Chi Minh City Securities Co. said foreign funds would invest in Vietnam only when they reduced investments in other markets.

Besides, Vietnam is now not included in an investment list of large funds. However, if they decided to pour only 0.5 percent of their money into Vietnam, dozens of others would follow suit as they often invest on the trend and grasp chances if notice a potential market, Fiachra said.

Several investors are fretting over a wave of divestments in 2012 and 2013 because of the expiry date of funds but Fiachra said he remained positive.

“If the central bank allows banks to provide stock investment loans next year, local investors will use up all funds of foreign investment funds,” he said.

Chris Freund said good investments such as Hoan My Hospital would raise the value of investment operation in private enterprises in Vietnam. Investment funds normally hold shares of a firm from 3 to 7 years and divestments occur when funds are due to expire.

Thomas Lanyi, Investment Director of Mekong Capital, said divestments were an inevitable part of stock investment.

Interest rate cap draws away depositors

Local commercial banks have been seeing customers withdraw deposits since the central bank capped the interest rate at 14 percent per annum last week.

Speaking at a conference held by the central bank’s Hanoi branch on Thursday, Han Ngoc Vu, Chairman of Vietnam International Commercial Bank, said customers withdrew nearly VND1 trillion after the cap took effect on September 8.

The banking system can’t endure this cap, Vu was quoted by Vnexpress as saying.At Southern Commercial Bank, customers have also withdrawn about VND200 billion, said its Deputy Director Phan Cong Khoa. And at Vietnam Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Agribank), the biggest lender in Vietnam in terms of assets and network, hundreds of billions of dong were also withdrawn last week.

Tran Phuong Binh, General Director of DongA Commercial Bank, said his bank’s mobilization has dropped by over VND20 billion every day.

“Most customers have been familiar with high deposit rates, so they’re taking take their money back to buy stocks, gold or real estate as deposit rates are not attractive anymore,” according to Binh.

The general director of a Ho Chi Minh City-based commercial bank also said that VND250 billion was withdrawn from his bank in just one week, adding that his bank would experience poor liquidity if this situation continued. He said lending rates on the inter-bank market are higher than 14 percent while the central bank only pumps limited capital via open market operations.

Andy Ho, Managing Director of VinaCapital, said capital might be flowing into stock markets as liquidity has surged strongly on the equity markets in recent days.

Trading value on the two exchanges has shot up to over VND2 trillion daily compared to the previous levels of VND600-700 billion.

If liquidity keeps rising on the market, capital will flow into property channels. “It is good to invest in stocks or real estate but it is risky for investors to buy U.S. dollars,” Ho said.

The greenback has inched up to nearly VND21,000 on the unofficial market over the past few days while it is around VND20,834 in banks. People might have bought dollars but the central bank has sold out the greenback to stabilize the forex rate.

Given slow mobilization, many banks are afraid that the 14 percent ceiling will be lifted again if the central bank does not pump in more funds. However, the central bank cannot put in much capital this year as money supply is limited at 15 percent -16 percent, making the ceiling rate of 14 percent its big challenge.

Tour quality for Thai tourists on decline

With many travel agencies willing to sell their tours at extremely low prices to attract customers, tourism packages to Vietnam’s central region for Thai tourists are losing quality.

According to the tourism authorities of the central provinces, more than 85,000 tourists from Thailand have arrived in the central region in the first eight months of this year, which is 20 percent of the total foreign arrivals to the area.

Cao Tri Dung, director of Da Nang-based Vitour travel agency, said the number of Thai arrivals would soar in next June, when the Friendship 3 Bridge connecting Thailand’s Nakhon Phanom and Laos’ Khammounan is completed.

However, despite the huge increase in quantity, the tour packages’ quality is on sharp decline.

The director of a tour organizer said many travel agencies had rushed to lower their prices to lure customers, making price per tourist plunge to only US$40 a day from the $60 a day in 2005.

Half of the sum is to pay for transportation costs and the remaining for accommodation at three-star hotels and other services.

A tour guide of a travel agency admitted that some tour organizers had arranged their tourists to visit Hoi An Old Town at night, when tourism attractions were closed in order to cut down on ticket fees.

Worse, tourists were forced to travel on overloaded boats to cut cost, he added.

Some travel agencies said the situation should soon be improved, otherwise it would have a negative influence on the tourism industry in the central region.

Nguyen Hang Quy, director of Hue-based Huong Giang travel agency, said tour prices should be adjusted so that the tour organizers could provide better services to their customers.

The authorities also had to have measures to curb the unhealthy competition among travel agencies, he added.
 
Milk prices unexpectedly shoot up

While the prices of raw material milk imports are falling, some diary producers have shocked consumers with their unexpected price hike of up to 15 percent.

Huong, an owner of a milk store in District 5, Ho Chi Minh City, said early this week many distributors have increased their prices by up to VND40,000 a can.

For instance, she said, the price of a 800-gram can of Dumex Mama and Dumex Dulac was raised by 10 percent and 13 percent to VND264,000 and VND375,000, respectively.

Nestlé, Friesland Campina Vietnam and Hancofood also announced a price hike of between 3 percent and 15 percent on their products.

Nguyen Ngoc Kinh Luan, director of external relations of Friesland Campina Vietnam, said the price of raw material milk did not have anything to do with the price hikes this time.

The main cause was an increase of 18 percent in the price of packaging materials and up to 54 percent in the price of other input materials, he said.

The company therefore had to adjust its labor wages upward by 4.5 percent, he explained.

He said despite the recent slump, raw material milk prices were roughly the same as last year, adding that the company had not increased its retail prices when global material milk surged early this year.

However, many consumers said they were surprised to see powder milk prices soar when raw material milk prices have dropped a whopping 30 percent since early this year.

A diary expert said there were two reasons for the producers to hike their prices, besides their well-rehearsed explanations of adding more nutrition to the products and changing the products’ design.

The producers had to increase prices to make up for the slumped sales they experienced during the early months of this year, he said.

Hiking prices would also help milk producers to have more capital for regaining and expanding market shares, he added.

First cruise port opens in Phu Quoc

Phu Quoc Marina Co Ltd yesterday launched into operation its Duong Dong – Phu Quoc Marina cruise port in Phu Quoc island district of the Mekong Delta province of Kien Giang for the first stage of operation.

The first of its kind on the island, the port can receive and dock around 50 high-class cruise ships.

A VND100 billion (US$5 million) investment project, the port includes a terminal, a coffee bar, a five-star floating restaurant and a five-star hotel.

Truong Ngoc Hanh Khuyen, director of Phu Quoc Marina, said the port’s capacity will be expanded in its second stage of operation to accommodate 100 cruise ships.

It would also receive international tourism ships to Phu Quoc and integrate local sea tourism with that of neighboring countries, she said.

Lack of payment options hinder e-commerce
 
Psychological barriers have been the greatest obstacle to the development of e-commerce in Viet Nam, says former deputy minister of industry and trade Luong Van Tu, noting that many Vietnamese consumers continued to prefer direct forms of purchasing products for fear of receiving low-quality goods.

The nation's lack of capacity to accept payments online was also a problem, Tu acknowledged.

A new survey conducted by the Ministry of Industry and Trade of about 3,500 enterprises nationwide found that only 3.5 per cent of the country's enterprises were equipped to accept electronic payments for goods – far lower than the global average and a key element in the development of e-commerce.

A business owner who asked to remain anonymous agreed that the lack of guarantees and the unwillingness of banks to assume risks in e-payment systems were a hindrance to e-commerce development.

"Businesses need to try to change customers' buying habits while ensuring product quality and delivery services that ensure brand prestige," he said.

The ministry survey did find that awareness of e-commerce was rising among Vietnamese businesses, with many paying greater attention to data security.

It also found that all surveyed businesses were equipped with computers, while 98 per cent had internet access. It also revealed that 96 per cent of large companies and 80 per cent of small- and-medium-sized enterprises used email in their transactions. Thirty-eight per cent of all enterprises surveyed have established their own websites. About half of businesses reported receiving orders via email, while only 16 per cent said they received orders over their websites. Fifty-three per cent of firms have purchased goods or materials using email.

Enterprises had also increased their use of specialised software to streamline accounting, human resources management and production, said the deputy head of the ministry's e-commerce department, Duong Hoang Minh.

"They have also invested in building and advertising their images and products on the internet by establishing websites, participating in social networks and using search engines like Google and Yahoo," said Minh. He noted that the nation's legal framework for e-commerce was being gradually completed, creating momentum for development in the future. The Laws on Electronic Transactions and Information Technology have layed a foundation for authorities to regulate specific aspects of the field, with recent decrees on digital signatures, e-banking, and internet management as well as anti-spam regulations.

Seminar boosts Vietnam-France economic cooperation

A Vietnam-France economic seminar took place in Paris on September 17 as part of the L’Humanite press festival held by the French Communist Party (FCP).

The seminar was initiated by the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) and the FCP aiming to boost trade and industrial cooperation between businesses and localities.

Joining the event were Party Central Committee member and Editor in-chief of the Nhan Dan (People) newspaper Thuan Huu; Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hai Nam; and Deputy Foreign Minister Nguyen Phuong Nga along with representatives from relevant Vietnamese ministries and sectors.

The participants said France is one of Vietnam’s leading European partners but the economic situation between the two countries is still far from matching its potential.

According to Deputy Minister Nam, two-way trade between Vietnam and France increased from EUR709 million in 2000 to more than EUR2 billion in 2010 with annual average growth of 13 percent. This figure is expected to hit EUR2.4 billion this year, up 20 percent from the previous year.

France has been exporting high-quality products to Vietnam, most of which are highly appreciated by the Vietnamese public, and France’s export turnover is predicted to pick up in the future.

A number of measures to fully tap the two countries’ potential and limit the negative impacts of the global economic crisis on their economies were discussed at the seminar, as well as economic, trade and investment cooperation.

Vietnamese ambassador to France Duong Chi Dung said, in addition to the established cooperation mechanisms and the 15 signed agreements, both countries need to make greater efforts to bring their bilateral relations to a strategic partnership.

Construction of US$2.1bln power plant kicks off

The AES-VCM Mong Duong Electricity Ltd Company kicked off construction of the US$2.1 billion Mong Duong 2 Thermal Power Plant in the northern province of Quang Ninh on September 16.

This is a wholly foreign investment project being implemented under Vietnam’s Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) regulatory form. The Mong Duong 2 is the largest private sector power project in Vietnam.

Le Duong Quang, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade, said the plant is one of three thermal power plants to be implemented under the BOT form.

In coming time, the Ministry of Industry and Trade will continue negotiations with foreign investors to implement 11 other thermal power plants with a total capacity of 14,000 MW, Quang said.

The investor of the plant, AES-VCM Mong Duong Electricity Ltd Company, is a joint investment by affiliates of the AES Corporation of the United States (51 percent), Posco Power Corporation of the RoK (30 percent) and China Investment Corporation of China (19 percent).

The project's EPC contractors include Doosan Heavy Industries Vietnam Co Ltd and its subsidiaries.

The coal-fired plant has a designed capacity of 1,120 MW with two units of 560MW each and is expected to produce approximately 7.6 billion kWh annually, once fully operational in 2015. It will be transferred to the Government of Vietnam after 25 years of operation.

US$280 million for ammonium nitrate factory

The Thai Binh provincial People’s Committee has granted a construction license to the Mining Chemical Industry Corporation to build a factory able to produce 200,000 tonnes of ammonium nitrate per year.

The factory will be built on area of 40 hectares in Thai Thuy district at a total cost of nearly US$280 million.

According to its design, the factory will have two major workshops, producing nitric acid and ammonium nitrate with technologies bought from Europe. Waste from the factory will be treated with environmentally-friendly biological methods that meet European standards.

Construction of the factory is expected to begin in November 2011, while it is hoped production will commence in early 2014.

At the license-granting ceremony, leaders of Thai Binh province stressed that the project will bring socio-economic results and help ensure national power security.

The provincial officials also highlighted the need to strictly comply with stipulations of the Environmental Law and to prevent the danger of fire or explosion during production.

Thai Nguyen to host first int’l tea festival

The first international tea festival will be held in the northeastern province of Thai Nguyen from November 11-15, according to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

The festival aims to introduce and promote Vietnamese tea products in general and Thai Nguyen province’s products in particular to both international and local visitors. It will offer a chance for businesses to share experiences in tea growing and consumption, which will gradually improve the efficiency of production and business activities for Vietnam’s tea producing communities.

The event also aims to introduce the tea culture of Vietnamese people and attract new investors to promote cooperation and investment; especially in processing, developing tea trees and the consumption of tea products.

There will be a variety of activities at the festival including an international seminar on tea trees, an exhibition introducing Vietnam and its people, the tea culture festival and a beauty contest.

The event is co-organised by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Thai Nguyen People’s Committee.

Trade deficit reaches over US$5.8 billion in eight months

Vietnam’s import turnover in the past eight months of this year was estimated at US$67.75 billion, up 30.7 percent compared to the same period last year, according to the General Department of Customs.

The country’s exports earned US$61.73 billion, a year-on-year increase of 35.7 percent. Key export items included garment and textile products, footwear, seafood, telephones and accessories.

Vietnam mainly imported gemstones, jewellery, oil and gas, machinery, equipment, and spare parts.

The General Department of Customs reported that foreign direct investment (FDI) businesses’ export turnover reached US$28.44 billion, rising by 35.3 percent and contributing 46.1 percent to Vietnam’s total export value. They imported products worth US$30.03 billion, representing a year-on-year increase of 30.7 percent and making up 44.4 percent of the country’s total import value.

HKong company wants to patent Vietnam’s Phu Quoc brand  

Hanoi-based Vietnamese law firm Bross & Partners has sent a report to the Phu Quoc Fish Sauce Association in Kien Giang Province about an infringement of their brand name by a Hong Kong-based company.
 
According to Le Quang Vinh, Director of the Intellectual Property Department, Bross & Partners, the Viet Huong Trading Company Limited in Hong Kong applied to register a patent brand name ‘Phu Quoc’ (a geographical location in Vietnam) on May 11 under number 9448516 for products which contained the ‘Phu Quoc’ fish sauce ingredients.

In case this brand name is patented by the above company, it will create much misunderstanding amongst the public about the factual geographical location of ‘Phu Quoc’, which is an Island District in the southern Province of Kien Giang in Vietnam.

So far the brand name ‘Phu Quoc’ on the fish sauce product is protected by the trademark and licensing laws of Vietnam.

Vinh said the Hong Kong company has just submitted its application for patenting the brand name domestically, which is awaiting approval.

However, if Vietnam fails to react in time, the Chinese government will grant the company patent rights to the brand name, which certainly will be a huge loss for Vietnam, he added.
 
250 business executives gather for management solutions
 
SAP, a global market leader in enterprise application software, organized the SAP World Tour 2011 – Vietnam leg in Ho Chi Minh City Thursday to share with the participants how its software products can help companies run better.

More than 250 customers and partners joined the meeting at the Sheraton hotel, SAP Vietnam managing director Srinivas Adimulam told a press briefing right after the one-day event.

The one-day event featured “a comprehensive showcase” of SAP’s innovative solutions such as Mobility, Business Intelligence, HANA and In-memory computing, said P. Subramanian, head of Business Analytic and Technology, SAP Southeast Asia.  

He explained that HANA meant high-performance analytic appliance.

Southgate, SAP’s business development manager for Enterprise Mobility, illustrated enterprise mobility solutions with an Ipad. He said it was suitable for those who were often outside the office like the sales staff and did not have enough time to get back to office frequently.
 
Southgate also talked about how Enterprise Mobility could make data confidential if the mobile device was lost.

Tim Moylan, President of SAP South East Asia, said, “To maintain their competitive positioning, companies need to be empowered with innovations like mobility so that they can stay ahead of competition and meet sustainable corporate strategies.

“They can now innovate their business around a stable and consistent core and take advantage of new technologies such as In-Memory computing, mobility and cloud computing, without disruption,” he added.

Hoang Anh Gia Lai, a major multi-business group in Vietnam, will start to carry out its Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) project with solutions provided by SAP in the next few days, said SAP Vietnam managing director Adimulam.

The ERP project runs on infrastructure with IBM servers and storage equipment consulted and implemented by Vietnamese company CSC, according to him.

The group, a leading one in Vietnam, says the project is carried out in the business areas of real estate, rubber exploration, mining and hydropower. The group, better known as HAGL, is currently expanding its brand overseas.

PV