Vietnamnet.vn
Podcast
Industrial parks seek investors
Many investors have considered these projects but pulled out after calculating the returns on their investment.
The province recently issued a decision listing a raft of new incentives for IP infrastructure investors.
The rent for land set aside for building IP infrastructure will be just 0.25 per cent of that reported annually by the province and will remain unchanged for the first five years.
Besides, land rents will not have to be paid during the period of capital construction or 36 months, whichever is later.
The province will provide investors more land for building resettlement areas for displaced people, houses for workers and logistics facilities.
It will also build pavements and roads and install water and electricity supply systems, drainage along with system outside IPs. It will support investors in making detailed 1/2000-scale plans for parks.
The provincial authorities will be responsible for acquiring lands and clearing them, and provide investors 30 per cent of the cost of compensation by offsetting against rentals.
They will also provide support by inviting other businesses to invest in parks and help them recruit and train workers. Parks in many places around the country have been finding it difficult in recent times to find workers.
The new incentives are good enough to attract infrastructure investors, many investors have said.
More than 30 businesses had come to the province by September this year, looking for investment opportunities, according to Ben Tre IPs authority.
State to increase auditing activities next year
The State Audit Office proposed to focus on auditing activities in 34 provinces and central cities next year, an increase of two compared to the number that were audited in 2010.
They would include key national programmes, economic groups, corporations and facilities in the defence and security sectors.
The National Assembly's Finance and Budget Committee agreed with the auditing programme and proposed that activities should also be increased in the offices of companies that manage large state-owned capital and assets.
Shares continue downward trend
The VN-Index dropped 0.48 per cent over yesterday to close at 444.16 today on the HCM City Stock Exchange.
The bourse's volume improved slightly with just over 26.1 million shares worth VND606.4 billion (US$31.1 million) changing hands.
The number of decliners was more than three times higher than advancers.
Ocean Group (OGC) became the most active stock on the bourse with 1.11 million shares exchanged - the only share with trading volume in excess of one million. OGC rose 0.83 per cent to close at VND24,200 ($1.24).
Most blue chips tumbled and of the 10 largest capitalised shares, only industrial conglomerate Hoa Phat Group (HPG) and property developer Vincom Co (VIC) made gains, rising 0.51 and 0.74 per cent, respectively.
On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index also dropped by 0.8 per cent to close at 109.11.
Market volume continued to increase by 22.6 per cent to nearly 26.6 million shares worth VND481.3 ($24.7 million) compared to yesterday.
Losers was still largely outnumbered gainers by 212-58.
PetroVietnam Construction (PVX) was again the most heavily-traded share nationwide with 1.82 million shares exchanged. PVX fell 0.47 per cent over yesterday's value to close at VND20,800 ($1.07).
Website launched for investors
A new website that updates changes in administrative procedures was launched yesterday in HCM City by the Ministry of Planning and Investment and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).
"The website is believed to make administrative procedure transparent, swift and efficient," said Frank Grozel, coordinator of the e-regulations programme at UNCTAD, who spoke at the launching ceremony.
"It establishes an enabling environment for private-sector development and strengthens good governance and the rule of law," he said.
UNCTAD proposed the web-based e-Government system to help developing countries and countries in transition work toward business facilitation through transparency, simplification and automation of rules and procedures related to company creation and operation.
"This system can contribute to greater transparency and efficiency in the public services, improved governance and cost reductions," he added.
The e-regulations system is currently being installed in Colombia, Comoros, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mali, Morocco, Nicaragua, the Russian Federation, Rwanda and Viet Nam.
The system offers detailed, practical and up-to-date description of procedural steps, seen from the user's viewpoint.
It also helps the Government simplify procedures by allowing easy identification of unnecessary steps and requirements.
"It promotes good governance by increasing the awareness of administrative rules and procedures, hence establishing the conditions for a balanced dialogue between the users of the public service and civil servants," said Nguyen Noi, deputy director general of MPI's Foreign Investment Agency.
The system is hoped to set a basis for regional and international harmonisation of rules by facilitating the exchange of good practices among countries.
In Viet Nam, the website, www.eregulations.org, will be launched in HCM City, Ha Noi and Da Nang. It is available in both Vietnamese and English.
In the next stage of the project, the capacity of local governments to administer the system autonomously will be enhanced.
Localities will learn how to update information and promote it among international and local businesses. Localities will also learn how to use the system as a tool to simplify procedures.
Fisheries expect 10% annual growth
The country's aquaculture industry aims to achieve annual growth of 8-10 per cent until 2015, with export revenue estimated to reach US$6.7billion by 2015 and $8billion by 2020.
Speaking at a conference yesterday in HCM City, the former deputy Minister of Fishery, Nguyen Thi Hong Minh, said the Viet Nam Fishery Export Development Plan called for the country to develop the fishery sector into a large-scale production sector with high global competitiveness.
By 2015, fishery materials for processing exports is expected to reach 3.2-3.5 million tonnes, 2.5-2.6 million tonnes of which will come from local production and the remaining from imports, according to the plan.
In addition, by 2020, all export-processing establishments will meet international regulations on food and environment.
All processing firms will take part in production chains and carry out traces on the product's source.
The industry will also focus on developing the processing industry to raise product value and improve the competitiveness of Vietnamese fishery products.
To achieve the target, the sector plans to maintain the area for tiger prawns and tra catfish farming, as well as improve farming technology to prevent disease and invest more on irrigation systems.
All shrimp and tra fish farms will meet the Best Aquaculture Practices standards or Good Agricultural Practices. Origin of the fish will be able to be traced.
In addition, the sector will increase production of seafood products that have high export potential, including anabas, scallops and crab.
The sector also aims to maintain output for marine capture at about 2 million tonnes per year, of which 490,000 tonnes will be used for processing exports.
It will also invest in post-harvest technology to raise value and quality.
In the coming years, besides seeking new export markets, the industry would maintain the key export markets of the EU, Japan and the US, Minh said.
"The Middle East, North Africa, South Africa and western China are also markets with high potential," said Nguyen Viet Manh from General Department of Seafood.
He also urged local firms to diversify their products in an effort to meet increasing demand from customers both in and outside the country.
Tran Thi Dung from the Institute of Fisheries Economics and Planning said the world seafood consumption per capita was estimated to increase by 0.4 per cent per year, creating big opportunities for local seafood exporters to increase exports.
However, the increasing imposition of technical and trade barriers to protect local production of importing countries would cause many difficulties for seafood export firms, she said.
Luong Le Phuong, deputy minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, said the fishery sector recorded remarkable achievement in the past years, bringing to the country billions in foreign currency from exports every year.
The sector had great potential to continue its current growth, but there were a number of challenges ahead to achieve sustainable growth for the sector, he said.
A lack of co-operation led to unhealthy competition among fishery enterprises and fraudulent practices reduced quality and harmed the prestige of Vietnamese fishery products in foreign markets.
Many delegates complained that State management policies to develop the sector focused on quantity rather than quality or depth.
They also asked the government to review policies that conflict and apply stricter fines or penalties to prevent fraudulent practices to deter habitual violators of the law.
Most businesses to file tax returns electronically by 2015
The General Department of Taxation plans to develop its information technology infrastructure to ensure that at least 80 per cent of all companies will be able to file returns and pay tax online by 2015.
This is one of the most important objectives of the department's five-year IT development strategy, one that will reduce the time needed for tax payment and cut administrative costs, according to the GDT's Information Technology Bureau.
For the purpose, the tax sector will intensify investment in IT infrastructure to upgrade the tax-related information supply and management system. They include upgrading its current website and setting up another portal.
The sector also plans to create an online personal income tax (PIT) management system linking the entire country by 2015 to change the tax management process and facilitate tax agencies to cross-check PIT.
It hopes to use IT to manage all data and information relating to tax – such as declaration,payment, and accounts – to ensure the data is secure. Other services like online public administrative services will be expanded to make e-tax more accessible.
The Information Technology Bureau would tie up with companies (Value-added network-VAN) that can provide online tax declaration services, and draft regulations to facilitate use of the services, a bureau spokesperson said. Though the programme was planned for implementation in 2011-15, some preparatory steps had already been taken.
Companies'tax returns were already being accepted online and taxpayers were allowed to use the internet to register their tax codes and receive feedback from tax agencies, he said.
The agencies had finished a draft of regulations governing relations between themselves and companies providing online tax declaration services, he added.
The bureau expects, if the programme goes on schedule, 70 per cent of firms to file returns and pay tax online by the end of 2012.
Source: VNS
.svg){kind=icon}
