Dong Thap to host agriculture festival

The first safe agricultural produce festival based on growing orchards, farming fish in ponds, and animal husbandry will be held in Dong Thap Province in April.

The festival, to be held in Cao Lanh City, would offer opportunities for businesses, co-operatives, and farmers to promote their products and enter into long-term co-operation and investment agreements, Vo Mai, deputy chairwoman of the Viet Nam Gardening Association, said.

The festival, to have the theme "Agriculture-Farmer-Rural Area," will have six exhibition areas where more than 300 stalls will display safe agricultural products, seedlings, and others.

There will be seminars on safe agricultural produce chains and the use of technology in producing safe products to highlight the importance of safe products and instructing farmers in producing them.

More than 10 provinces have confirmed their participation in the exhibition from April 15 to 20 to be organised by the Viet Nam Gardening Association and Rural Economy newspaper together with Dong Thap Province.

Tuan Chau Ecopark shoots a hole in one

The Tuan Chau Ecopark township and entertainment project in Hanoi has been given a new lease of life after the developer’s revised design was given the official seal of approval early this month.

The project started construction four years ago but it was then ground to a halt as the project contained an 18-hole golf course, which was then excluded from the design because its golf course as not in line with the national golf course development master plan approved by the prime minister two years ago.

The project’s construction also encountered hiccoughs because it was located in the former Ha Tay province, which was merged into Hanoi in 2008. Over the last three years urban planners worked on a new master plan for Hanoi and that required almost all urban projects in former Ha Tay province to halt construction for reviewing.

After the master plan for Hanoi was approved last year, Tuan Chau Hanoi JSC - the developers of Tuan Chau Ecopark - started revised the detail development master plan for the project and Hanoi People’s Committee recently permitted the developers to go ahead with the revisions.

Under the new design, Tuan Chau Ecopark will no longer have a golf course. Instead, the project will feature a 110-hectare Disneyland-style park, hotels, hospitals and residential components.

A source from the company revealed that the project would focus more on residential development than previously with the area earmarked for housing development increasing remarkably compared to the former design.

In addition, the township would be developed as an ecological residential area similar to Vincom Village in Long Bien district where around 1,000 villas are under construction along artificial rivers.

All of this is in line with Hanoi’s master plan to 2030 with a vision toward 2050.

Located in Quoc Oai district, the project will house 6,300 people and the Tuan Chau urban area.

According to the project plan, the 1/500 detailed design is expected to finish next month while site clearance is due for completion this August.

Cashews a hard nut to crack

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) has adopted a flexible approach towards stuck cashew import shipments at ports as affected by MARD’s Circular 13/2011/TT-BNNPTNN dated March 16, 2011.

Accordingly, shipments with import contracts signed before July 1, 2011 would go through custom checks if they have food sanitation certificates granted by the food quarantine agencies.

The shipments with import shipments inked after July 1, 2011 could pass custom checks only if their foreign partners domiciled in countries which completed registration procedures with relevant Vietnamese authorities besides meeting quality standards.

According to the Circular 13, from July 1, 2011 all vegetation import shipments must show food sanitation certificates. Besides, the countries with vegetation products exported to Vietnam are obliged to register with Vietnamese agencies. The circular also said from 10 to 100 per cent of import shipments will be checked depending on their risk degree.

In light of the Circular 13, 400 raw cashew import shipments were stuck at ports as they failed to meet requirements.

In this context, on July 5, 2011 the Vietnam Cashews Association (Vinacas) sent a claim to the MARD asking for delay to the new regulations. Vinacas also proposed competent agencies remove raw cashews from the list of vegetation products subject to food sanitation checks since raw cashews are just an input production material for export.

“Delay of the Circular 13’s enforcement or removal of some agricultural products from the list of items subject to quality checks is all impossible,” MARD’s National Agro-Forestry-Fisheries Quality Assurance Department deputy chief Phung Huu Hao said.

According to the MARD, as of July 13 only five countries were accepted to export vegetation products to Vietnam. They were the US, Canada, Australia, Thailand and China. Of them, the US and Thailand had finalised relevant procedures with Vietnam while Australia, Canada and China are in the legal setup stage. The deadline for these three countries to finalise procedures is August 1. After that date, they must strictly abide by Circular 13 regulations.

Around 20 countries currently export vegetation products to Vietnam.

Asian retailers eying up tasty Vietnam

Asian retail investment wave is breaking on Vietnam’s shores.

“The retail market in Vietnam offers potential for growth, which can be accelerated if the market is liberalised,” a spokesperson for Singapore-based CapitalMalls Asia told VIR.

“CapitaMalls Asia is open to exploring a shopping mall in Vietnam as part of an integrated development with CapitaLand, if any interesting opportunities arise,” the spokesman added.

CapitaMalls is the retail arm of its parent CapitaLand, which is now developing many housing projects in Vietnam.

Other larger retailers from Malaysia, Japan and Korea, among others, are lining up to get a slice of Vietnam’s retail pie. Firms include E-Mart, Aeon, Giant, Lotte and Parkson. In September 2011, Korea’s Lotte Mart announced it would pour another $50 million into Vietnam and open a third supermarket. This firm plans to open 30 supermarkets and plazas in Vietnam by 2018.

Meanwhile, Korean retail brand E-Mart has joined hands with U&I Corporation in Vietnam as it pushes to open 52 supermarkets, stores and distribution centres with total investment capital of $1 billion by 2020.

Vietnam’s retail sector is also heating up with participation of Japanese retailers. Familymart, in association with Phu Thai Group, will open about 300 stores in the country in the next three years. In addition, Hong Kong’s Dairy Farm just opened its first supermarket in Vietnam. Aeon, another Japanese convenience store brand, also plans to enter the Vietnam market in 2013.

“Japan is a powerful country in convenience stores. When strong brands in this field penetrate Vietnam, demand for retail sites in central areas will increase,” according to Laszlo Fulop, associate director of retail services from CBRE in Ho Chi Minh City.

“Vietnam is still a destination with a positive outlook for international retailers In fact, when it comes to profits, retailers look at the country as one of the more lucrative markets in the world,” Fulop told VIR.

“We see positive signs and trust from these international retailers. It is not entirely correct to say that Vincom Centre is facing big difficulties in finding tenants — maybe [it is difficult] to find sufficient number of qualified tenants that enhance the overall selection,” the CBRE analyst said.

“It is good time for these tenants this year, since they can achieve good conditions and gain market position at a lower cost. Most importantly there is now a choice of location,” he added.

Meanwhile, for local retailers, Vinatex announced it would open 200 new stores in the next few years and N&M remains aggressive on expansion.

Fulop said that retail spending was suffering in the wake of the average 20 per cent inflation and large customer groups had cut spending and bought relatively more essential goods.

“These retail projects will succeed in this environment only by realistic offers with incentives, differentiation, careful anchor tenant selection, and marketing,” added the retail analyst.

According to Colliers International Vietnam, the compounded annual retail growth rate of Vietnam in the period 2008-2012 was about 13.6 per cent with cosmetics and toiletries, clothing, footwear, furniture and electronics having the highest sales growth rates in Vietnam.

Improving quality of business administration

The equitization process aims to restructure human resources in a more effective manner, ensure social welfare, and stimulate the growth of capital and stock markets.

To boost the equitization of State-owned Enterprises (SOEs) the Government has recently issued Decree 59/2011/ND-CP to replace the previous Decree 109/2007/ND-CP.

According to the Ministry of Finance’s Corporate Finance Department, the number of SOEs has reduced remarkable over the past decade, from 5,655 in 2001 to 1,309 in 2011. Over VND47,000 billion has been mobilized so far to help local businesses upgrade infrastructure facility, expand operations and improve the quality of products. Many key national projects have been funded with large amounts of mobilized capital.

In 2011 alone, as many as 3,952 businesses were equitized and most of them have operated more effectively ever since. A recent survey showed that 2,442 equitized businesses claimed to have made a bigger profit and contributed more to the State budget. Dang Quyet Tien, Deputy Head of the Corporate Finance Department, said that with support from international organizations, Vietnam was bent on restructuring a certain number of businesses, including Da River Group, which will be equitized to form an economic group of multi-ownership.

Ensuring transparent business operation is part of the Government’s policy aimed at separating the task of doing business from that of performing social welfare duties. In fact, many businesses have done well as required in the case of those operating in the telecommunications sector. Without any kind of subsidy, they still have paid off well to ensure their sustainable growth for the benefit of national security and defence, as well as contributing to community development in remote areas.

Speaking at an international seminar on SOE restructuring held in Hanoi by the World Bank, Pham Viet Muon, Deputy Chairman of the Governmental Office and Deputy Head of the Steering Committee on Business Renovation and Development, stressed that it’ll be no easy task to implement the SOE equitization process unless there is big change in thinking. “Change here means not only mobilizing capital but also increasing business administration to sharpen the competitive edge,” he said.

Muon emphasized that it is essential to have a roadmap and specific objectives for business equitization as a host of difficulties and challenges will arise from this process.

“We have to finalize equitization plans for 21 corporations and groups in the first quarter of this year. This task is not easy at all in so short a period of time,” he said.

Local electronics manufacturers switch focus

Local electronics manufacturers are switching from household products to specialized industrial ones to adapt to the changing competition landscape.

Le Ngoc Son, chairman of the Vietnam Electronics Enterprise Association, said that after many firms assembling TV sets and other audio-visual equipment had to shut down business due to the tougher competition heralded by Vietnam’s accession into the WTO, many are restructuring production for survival.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a trade exchange between Vietnamese and South Korean electronic companies held in HCMC last week, Son said a number of industry players had shifted to producing specialized electronic equipment for the medical and other industrial sectors.

Son cited his business, the Vietnam Electronic and Information Technology Corporation where he serves as chairman, as an example.

According to Son, foreign enterprises including Samsung make up about 90% of the local electronics industry while local counterparts mainly process and assemble household products.

Local companies are facing the grim reality that they are not as able to produce high-tech electronic products as Korean rivals while it is difficult to compete with cheap low-tech Chinese products.

Therefore, what they need to do now is to change their production strategies step by step and actively look for opportunities to join the global supply chain in industrial sectors, Son said.

Son noted the local electronics sector had seen the keen interest of Japanese and South Korean investors, adding the cooperation with the latter offers the local industry bigger chances.

It is because South Korean businesses tend to swiftly change designs and most of them are small and medium-sized enterprises like Vietnamese counterparts, he said.

Seok Jun Jang of the Korea Electronics Association (KEA) said his nation’s investors in the electronics sector had turned to Vietnam as the next destination following China.

Some companies in the 10-member delegation to Vietnam this time intended to invest in sound, camera, radio and television areas in Vietnam, he said.

Vietnam’s agriculture plays core role

The agricultural sector has helped the Vietnamese economy thrive, according to the UK’s Financial Times daily.

“Vietnam is the world’s biggest exporter of cashew nuts and black pepper, the second biggest exporter of rice and coffee and a major global supplier of farmed fish ”, said the Financial Times.

The country’s millions of smallholding farmers have capitalized on its integration into global markets to become successful producers of high volume, low value agricultural commodities, the daily said.

The paper quoted Prakash Jhanwer, who heads up the Vietnam, Indonesia and Laotian offices for Olam International based in Singapore, as saying that Vietnam has some of the most productive farmers in Asia but will face major challenges when beginning to develop and restructure its agricultural sector.

Coffee prices increase sharply in February

World coffee prices show a sharp increase of 17 percent over the last week and 21 percent against January 2012.  

Vietnam is the world’s largest coffee producer but its export volume in January was just half the figure recorded in the same month of last year.

Two other coffee exporters, Indonesia and Brazil, seemed to stay put until harvest time in April or July.

The price of robusta coffee has kept rising since February 16 to US$312 per tonne, partly due to a short supply from Vietnam, especially when the 2012 UEFA European Football Championship is drawing near.

The International Coffee Organization estimated total coffee output in the 2011-2012 crop at 7.92 million tonnes, about 180,000 tonnes lower than the total demand for 2012.

On February 19, coffee was sold at VND39.4 million per tonne in the central highland province of Dak Lak, in comparison with only VND33-34 million per tonne in January.

However, farmers said they could not make a good profit on account of high costs for fertilizers, chemicals, petroleum and labour.

Many have still kept in store 70 percent of their coffee produce in the 2011-2012 crop, (equal to 700,000 tonnes) as they expect the coffee price to reach VND50 million per tonne in the coming months.

Strategy tries to link economic sectors

The Government needs to have a long-term strategy to develop linkages among farmers, business people, scientists and the State in managing the supply of key agricultural items.

Linkages among these four segments of the economy would help improve the competitiveness of Vietnamese agricultural products in the international market, according to Do Van Nam, head of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development's Department of Processing and Trade for Agro-Forestry-Fisheries Products and Salt Production.

Nam spoke at a seminar held yesterday in HCM City by the Ministry of Industry and Trade's Domestic Market Department in collaboration with the Multilateral Trade Assistance project (EU-Vietnam MUTRAP III).

Nam said the Government should develop detailed policies on land use, production scale, infrastructure investment, science and technology application, investment levels and credit preferences.

He said it was also necessary to develop strict measures to minimise unilateral termination of contracts.

With such policies, linkages among sectors to supply agricultural products would be sustainable, and the "trial linkage model" would become obsolete.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has drafted a plan which is set to go before the Government to replace Decision No 80/2002/QD-TTg issued in 2002 on encouraging the sale of agricultural products by contract and creating linkages among the four sectors to ensure sustainable production.

"There is also a need to ensure mutual benefits among all participating sides, especially among raw-material collectors, scientists and banks," he said.

"Linkage among the four sectors in supplying agricultural products brings stable consumption and production, increases quality step by step, and enhances the prestige of agricultural items in the domestic market as well as overseas," he said.

Tran Nguyen Nam, deputy head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade's Domestic Market Department, said: "Linkage among the four sectors would balance supply and demand and improve quality management, as well as price stabilisation."

As a result, distributors, processors and buyers would be active in making business plans and expanding production scale.

In the near future, ministries and local authorities plan to create favourable conditions to support the development of linkages among the four sectors to stabilise the market.

The prices of agricultural products in the past few years have fluctuated strongly, as reflected in increases in the country's Consumer Price Index.

Weather, disease and world market fluctuations were contributing factors, affecting price hikes on food, pork, rice and fertiliser.

Le Ngoc Dao, deputy director of HCM City Department of Industry and Trade, said the city had given loans to HCM City businesses that collaborate with other companies in neighbouring provinces to create clean-food sources.

In the past, city businesses co-operated in husbandry, production and distribution network development, with neighbouring provinces providing a large quantity of agricultural products to customers.

For instance, pork supply was 10,156 tonnes last year, an increase of 89 per cent compared to 2010, while poultry was 46,601 tonnes, an increase of 19 times. The number of poultry eggs reached 196 million, an increase of 15 per cent.

HCM City authorities plan to develop policies that will strengthen linkages among the four sectors and expand the distribution network system to other provinces.

At the seminar, representatives from Vissan, Sai Gon Co.op and PetroVietnam Fertilizer and Chemicals Corporation's Phu My Urea Plant spoke about their experiences in linking the four sectors to ensure the quality of goods.

Nam said the biggest challenge to improve linkages was the small scale of agricultural production. Because of their small sizes, these companies often find it difficult to sign contracts with households.

In addition, smaller businesses made less use of scientific and advanced technology application and infrastructure investment, leading to unequal quality and unexpected prices, he said.

Seafood processors face shortages
 
Seafood exporters are facing numerous difficulties, including a shortage of working capital and raw materials for processing, a fall in overseas demand, and the high costs of quality inspection, a meeting in HCM City heard on Monday.

The chairman of the Viet Nam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP), Tran Thien Hai, warned that this year would be the most difficult ever for seafood firms.

The ongoing economic crisis could hit global seafood demand, and importing countries could increase food hygiene and safety requirements, he said.

Demand in the EU market for high-priced items like shrimp and tuna would fall, while payment would be slower than before, he said.

Truong Dinh Hoe, VASEP general secretary, said a shortage of raw materials continued to be a headache.

Last year the country spent more than US$500 million to import raw seafood for processing for export.

Tra fish output has plunged this year because neither companies nor farmers had the money to invest in farming, he said.

As for shrimp, many farms have been hit by diseases, reducing output, he said.

Generally, higher input costs have taken a toll on raw material supply, he said.

Duong Ngoc Minh, general director of Hung Vuong Seafood JS Company, said due to the higher production costs seafood firms needed more working capital, but banks have tightened lending to the industry. As a result, many did not have the means to buy raw materials from farmers, he said.

Seafood firms complained about the high costs involved in inspecting export consignments besides the time it takes (7-10 days), saying this reduced their competitiveness.

But the failure to control quality at earlier stages meant the root of the problems involving antibiotic residues in seafood products remained unaddressed, they said.

This should be changed, they said, saying inspections must be done at all stages in the production chain.

Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Cao Duc Phat said his ministry would assist the seafood industry in overcoming difficulties. Ensuring quality and hygiene and food safety were very important to maintain the prestige of the Vietnamese seafood industry, he said.

He ordered the National Agro-Forestry-Fisheries Quality Assurance Department to review inspection procedures for export consignments to reduce costs for enterprises while still meeting importing countries' quality requirements.

He called on local authorities to carefully oversee seafood farming based on VietGap or GlobalGap (good agricultural practices) standards to improve productivity and quality.

"We will also step up checks of quality of feed, brood stock, and chemicals used in aquaculture," he said.

Quality control for the whole production chain has been implemented in some places, and would be expanded to many others this year, he said.

He urged seafood processors to link up with farmers to set up seafood production unions for producing quality products that would meet the requirements of not only the domestic market but also export markets.

He also told them to avoid unhealthy competition which can affect the industry's prestige.

The seafood industry earned $6.1 billion from exports last year, and is hopeful of achieving the export target of $6.5 billion this year despite the many difficulties it anticipates.

Working on finance’s labour question

Industry experts are weighing up the labour situation in the finance and banking sector.

The latest survey by FPT University on more than 20,000 final-grade students revealed 23 per cent of them wanted to study in finance and banking areas in 2012, down 14 per cent against 37 per cent in 2011.

“The finance and banking sector outlook has significantly darkened in some recent years and that was why the number of students taking courses on finance and banking have declined not only in Vietnam but also in other countries like US and Europe,” said Standard Chartered Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos Legislation director Tom Nguyen.

Rosemary Gosling, a director at University of London International Programmes (London School and Economics and Political Science LSE) - where over 50,000 international students from countries around the world join finance and banking courses, however, said: “Students in finance and banking still have bright job opportunities after graduation. They can shift into working in insurance, one of developing areas with a huge demand for workers in Vietnam.”

In fact, scores of students believe finance and banking can ensure them a good pay.

“Before taking on finance and banking study, students need to understand the actual situation faces the finance and banking sector and define their suitable areas which could help elevate their potential,” said Nguyen.

For her part, Gosling assumed there were differences in the finance and banking area students should study before. For instance, in retail banking students need to be aware of market trends, while with investment banking students must have market analysis skills.

To effectively address human resources problem in the finance-banking sector and avoid a possible oversupply, Minister of Education and Training Pham Vu Luan said the ministry would sit together with the Ministry of Finance to get exact training numbers from relevant universities and compare them with actual demands.

“We will strive to detail human resources planning in each specific area which will then go public. That will be a basis to set out enrollment criteria for each training facility and each location,” said Luan.

Enterprises suggest measure to improve seafood quality

Exporters said the management agencies should pay more attention to aquatic farming and fishing than to processing to ensure the quality of export seafood products and reduce the burden of testing fees for businesses.

Nguyen Huu Dung, vice chairman of the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP), deemed it inappropriate that the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development heavily focuses on supervising the processing stage while cultivation and exploitation is left neglected.

Speaking at a working session between VASEP and Agriculture Minister Cao Duc Phat in HCMC on Monday, Dung stressed while international-standard quality management systems are applied to processing plants, many shortcomings are found in the farming stage, such as the overuse of antibiotics and injection of impurities into materials.

“We should get familiar with the overall production chain management in order to avoid poor-quality products. Processing cannot be separated from cultivation and export,” he highlighted.

Notably, the number of enterprises investing in a closed production chain of tra fish is getting bigger. Also, more firms have joined hands with material fish supplying groups.

Dung said 70% of the export tra fish are produced under the two aforesaid models, which help reduce the quality risks.

Minister Phat said the agriculture ministry would take measures to create the most favorable conditions for local enterprises to maintain their grips and develop in the export markets.

The ministry will enhance production chain management, and categorize enterprises based on their quality management capabilities, thus boosting control on those with poor management, Phat emphasized.
 
Vietnam to float prices of major staples next year

Vietnam will regulate prices of electricity, coal and petroleum in accordance with market fluctuations beginning in 2013, said Vuong Dinh Hue, Minister of Finance.

Hue made the announcement at a concert for electricity conservation held by the State-owned company, Electricity of Vietnam Group (EVN), on February 21.

He said that by discontinuing subsidies, prices in the country would rise, but that this would offset the industries' spiraling production costs and encourage more foreign investment.

“EVN has incurred huge losses in recent years as a result of artificial pricing mechanisms. We need to follow the market in order to improve the situation,” Hue emphasised.

Hue said that Vietnam has two major tasks in this regard: changing toward a market mechanism and curbing inflation. Although he admitted the difficulty of doing both at the same time.

As an example, he used power prices, which, he said, if increased by around 5% would add nearly 0.4% to the consumer price index (CPI).

“Reducing the national inflation rate to around 9% this year is a difficult obstacle, as the CPI is estimate to rise by 2.5% in the first two months of the year. While the country is facing rising pressures to raise prices on electricity, petroleum and coal, it may affect the current targets on inflation for the current year,” he explained.

As part of this effort, EVN has set the goal of cutting expenses by over VND1.8 trillion (USD86.29 million) this year.

Da Nang lures more than $3b in 200 FDI projects

Up until mid-February, the central city of Da Nang attracted more than 200 foreign-invested projects worth well over approximatey VND64.5 trillion (US$3.16 billion), according to the local Investment Promotion Centre.

For the first two months of this year, Da Nang recorded two giant projects which include a 100 per cent Belgian capital project and a joint business project between a Vietnamese enterprise and a Vietnamese American company, at a total estimated cost of over VND193 billion ($9.2 million) .

The city has established six industrial zones with equipment and infrastructure appropriate for most economic sectors, which has helped Da Nang attract 330 foreign enterprises.

Most investors are from Japan and the European Union, which among others, who plan to carry out long-term projects with clear and detailed strategies.

In other words, Da Nang's investment environment has changed significantly since the appearance of foreign-invested projects. They greatly help economic sectors develop and boost the globalising economic process in the area.

The foreign-invested projects annually earn foreign businesses approximately VND3 trillion ($143 million).

Additionally, the foreign -invested projects contributed to an increase in the city's export turn-over throughout the year 2010, marked at just under about VND38 trillion ($1.759 billion), triple the figure in 2000.

Last year, despite the financial depression, the export turn-over still satisfied the city's plans with an estimated $1.42 billion.

In order to help foreign direct companies, the city is now concentrating on enhancing infrastructure and setting up more industrial zones as well as supporting them by solving problems related to procedures and investment certificates.

Petro giant’s financial shortcomings continue to be revealed

The State Audit continues to uncover mismanagement in the Vietnam Oil and Gas Group (PVN), with the group still responsible for unpaid debts of VND94.388 billion to the state budget.

An audit in 2010 revealed a series of wrongdoings among PVN member companies, such as a lack of transparency in land management or violations related to investment construction laws in the office of Vietnam Petroleum Institute, Petroleum Financial Centre and Vung Tau Petroleum Hotel projects.

Wrongdoings were also detected when listing personal, corporation income taxes and severance tax. After the audit, PVN was required to pay outstanding taxes of VND185.76 billion (USD8.9 million).

But at the end of 2011, only VND 91.388 billion (USD4.4 million) had been paid.

The State Audit later discovered that VND81.54 billion (USD3.9 million) of the debt remained because Electricity Group of Vietnam (EVN) still owed PVN VND11.981 trillion from electricity sales. PVN said they demanded the debt to be paid by December 31, 2011.

One PVN member, the PetroVietnam Finance Company had given almost VND6 billion (USD288,000) in subsidised interest rate loans to businesses operating in non-prioritised economic sectors. PVN has since reclaimed the money.

Its member, Mekong Petroleum Joint Stock Company, also suffered severe losses from irresponsible management period 2008-2009.

The State Audit ordered PVN to investigate and clarify the responsibilities of each individual or group to resolve problems.

Currently, PVN has restructured two units and replaced leading figures such as chairman or directors in a bid to stamp out incompetence.

Plan to build microchip factory ‘crucial for VN'

A US$200-million electronic-chip production plant should be classified as a key national project, the HCM City People's Committee has decided.

The proposal for national status was submitted by Sai Gon Industry Corporation (CNS), which was assigned to design a plan as well as work on the facility.

Le Manh Ha, the vice chairman of the HCM City People's Committee, endorsed the proposal on Tuesday.

As a key national project, the plant would receive favourable investment conditions.

Ha asked the corporation to identify the major consumption markets and to conduct research on appropriate application technology and human resources for the project.

CNS is one of the city's most powerful corporations operating in key industrial fields such as mechanical engineering, electronics, information technology, chemicals and commercial services. The chip production plant, the first to be built in Viet Nam, is expected to be located in HCM City's Hi-Tech Park.

The project's strategic goal is to pave the way for the development of an electronic chip design while meeting the domestic demand of the products, according to Dang Ngoc Hung, CNS deputy general director.

Viet Nam's demand for imported chips has increased significantly over the past decade, according to a survey by market research firm In-Stat.

Commerce websites receive awards

The best local e-commerce websites and services were given prizes at an award ceremony in HCM City yesterday.

After three months, the contest attracted the participation of 53 companies, including 66 e-commerce websites, and nearly 14,000 votes.

The most-preferred e-commerce website prizes went to timsanpham.com of TRSS Ltd Co, hoanlong.com.vn of Hoan Long Computer Co, thegioitructuyen.vn of The Gioi Truc Tuyen JSC, thuvienphapluat.vn of Lawsoft JSC and vatgia.com of Vat Gia Viet Nam JSC.

At the award ceremony, Tran Vinh Nhung, deputy director of the HCM City Trade and Industry Department, said the number of companies and consumers who joined in the programme in 2011, uped 15 per cent and 20 per cent respectively against 2010.

The programme has helped to promote prestigious websites and easy access to purchase, wholesale, advertising and trademark promotion activities.

On this occasion, the HCM City People's Committee also offered a certificate of merit to eight businesses who have contributed to city e-commerce.

Denmark to offer Dak Lak Province VND40 billion this year

The Government of Denmark will provide VND40 billion (US$1.9 million) in aid to promote rural development in remote areas of Tay Nguyen's (Central Highlands) Dak Lak Province this year.

The project aims at the sustainable development of agricultural production, raising the living standard of local residents and protecting the environment.

A water supply system will also be built to ensure sufficient water supplies for daily needs and production.

Financial assistance will be offered to remote districts with poorly-developed infrastructure such as Krong Bong, Lak, M'Drak, Ea H'leo.

Last year, the Government of Denmark provided VND14.6 billion ($696,000) to the province for the rural development programme.