Steelmaker Hoa Phat Group targets 2.42 billion USD in revenue

Steelmaker Hoa Phat Group targets revenue of 55 trillion VND (around 2.42 billion USD) and after-tax profit of 8.05 trillion VND (354.6 million USD) in 2018.

The information was released at the group’s annual shareholder meeting held recently in Hanoi with the participation of 368 shareholders, who together hold 77 percent of ordinary shares.

Hoa Phat’s management board chairman Tran Dinh Long said the group sees 2018 as a crucial year. The firm would take drastic measures to ensure the progress of the Hoa Phat Dung Quat steel and iron production complex and make it the priority target for this year, Long said.

He added that the management board had carefully considered the targets before submitting them to the meeting.

The group would implement many big projects this year in their main steel business. In addition, it would be alert for changes in the material market. In other sectors such as agriculture, construction equipment and interiors, Hoa Phat would continue to maintain its market share.

Tran Tuan Duong, Hoa Phat’s general director, said there was no steel firm in Vietnam as competitive as Hoa Phat. With a low rate of investment and a competitive price, Hoa Phat can directly compete with big firms around the world, he said.

Speaking on the progress of the Hoa Phat Dung Quat steel and iron production complex, Duong said the group had begun installing the first long steel rolling equipment, building a deep water port and undertaking other constructions. Hoa Phat employed around 3,000 workers for the project, providing training at its complex in the northern province of Hai Duong.

Last year, Hoa Phat notched a record high business result in its 25 years of operation despite instability in the global and national economies.

Its accumulated revenue in 2017 reached 46.8 trillion VND (some 2 billion USD), posting an increase of 38 percent year-on-year. After-tax profit also hit a record high to reach 8 trillion VND (352.4 million USD), surpassing the set target by 33 percent and increasing 21 percent over the previous year.

The group’s steel business played the key role, contributing some 90 percent of its total revenue and after-tax profit.

Hoa Phat last year exported some 200,000 tonnes of steel products. They included 161,000 tonnes of steel bars and rolled steel to the US, Canada, Australia, Malaysia and Cambodia.

With its positive business results, the group contributed 5 trillion VND (220 million USD) to the State budget in 2017, an increase of 40 percent from 2016.

Vietjet offers special prices to enjoy Songkran festival

Vietjet offers more than a half of million tickets priced from only 0 VND on some flights to Thailand, Myanmar and Cambodia during three golden days from April 4 2018 to celebrate the Songkran Festival.

The promotional tickets are available for international routes flying to Bangkok, Phuket, Chiang Mai (Thailand)/ Yangon (Myanmar) and Phnom Penh, Siem Reap (Cambodia).

The promotion is also applied for other international routes to Seoul, Busan (the Republic of Korea)/ Hong Kong/ Kaoshiung, Taipei, Taichung, Tainan (Taiwan)/ Singapore/ Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia).

The flight period of this promotion is from May 5 to December 31, 2018.

The promotional tickets are available during the golden hours from 12:00 to 14:00 on www.vietjetair.com.

Songkran – the New Year Festival of Thailand, Cambodia (also known as Chol Chnam Thmay) and Myanmar (Thingyan) is celebrated in April every year, attracting tourists by native traditional cultures, festive atmosphere and splashing water tradition to wash away bad lucks and pray for a new good year. 

Vietjet is the first airline in Vietnam to operate as a new-age airline with low-cost and diversified services to meet customers’ demands. It provides not only transport services but also uses the latest e-commerce technologies to offer various products and services for consumers. Vietjet is a member of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) with the IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) certificate.

The airline was also named as one of the Top 500 Brands in Asia 2016 by global marketing research company Nielsen and the “Best Asian Low Cost Carrier” at the TTG Travel Awards 2015, which compiles votes from travelers, travel agencies and tour operators in throughout Asia and Asia’s Best Employer Brand by the Employer Branding Institute and World HRD Congress for many years. The airline was also rated as one of the top three fastest growing airline brands on Facebook in the world by Socialbakers.

Currently, the airline boasts a fleet of 56 aircraft, including A320s and A321s, and operates 385 flights each day. It has already transported more than 55 million passengers on a network featuring 82 routes in Vietnam and across the region to international destinations such as Thailand, Singapore, the Republic of Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, China, Malaysia, Indonesia, Myanmar and Cambodia.

Vietnam has more than 26,700 new firms in first quarter

More than 26,700 enterprises were established in Vietnam in the first three months of the year.

More than 26,700 enterprises were established in Vietnam in the first three months of the year, with total registered capital of nearly 278.5 trillion VND (12.25 billion USD), according to the Agency of Business Registration under the Ministry of Planning and Investment.

The numbers were up 1.2 percent and capital rose 2.7 percent against the same time last year.

Average registered capital for each business exceeded 10 billion VND (440,000 USD). The firms employed 225,389 workers, down 22.7 percent year-on-year.

The number of new firms was concentrated mainly in the wholesale, retail, automobiles and motorbike repairing sectors with 9,200 companies, 34 percent of the total.

There were 3,600 enterprises in construction, or 13 percent, and more than 3,200 businesses in the manufacturing and processing industry, making up 12 percent.

Of the registered capital, real estate attracted the most with 79 trillion VND (3.48 billion USD), more than 28 percent of total capital. The construction sector came second with more than 42 trillion VND (1.85 billion USD) or 15 percent, followed by the wholesale, retail, automobiles and motorbikes repairing sectors with 38.5 trillion VND (1.69 billion USD) or 13.8 percent.

Also in the period, some 8,449 enterprises resumed operations while 8,115 ceased operations or were awaiting dissolution and 3,321 others completed dissolution procedures.

Survey shows positive outlook for manufacturing industry in Q2

Vietnam’s manufacturing and processing industry is optimistic for the second quarter of 2018, with 91 percent of enterprises in the industry predicting production volume to expand or stay flat from the first three months of the year, according to a recent survey by the General Statistics Office (GSO).

The GSO conducted a nationwide survey in January-March to find out business trends of the sector, with 5,850 companies responding.

The survey indicated that, among the respondents, foreign-invested firms are the most optimistic about their prospects as 93.6 percent expected production to increase or remain stable. They were followed by State-owned enterprises and non-state owned companies, with 91.7 percent and 89.9 percent, respectively, optimistic. 

The tobacco industry is particularly buoyant with 72.2 percent of tobacco producers expressing confidence in growth, followed by pharmaceuticals (71.1 percent), electronics, computers and optical products (70.6 percent), beverages (63.6 percent), and textiles (63 percent).

Some 90.8 percent of respondents predicted the number of new orders in the second quarter of 2018 will increase (53 percent) and remain stable (37.8 percent) from the previous quarter. Similarly, 90.5 percent of exporters expect to receive higher orders (43.6 percent) or have the number of export orders unchanged (46.9 percent).

Most the companies, or 51.7 percent, said they would keep their finished goods inventory at about the same level of the last quarter while 32.8 percent said they would reduce the level. Only 15.5 percent are looking to expand inventory.

Metal manufacturing is likely to see the largest fall in finished goods inventory as 39.7 percent of producers said they would reduce inventory, closely followed by pharmaceuticals (38.6 percent), non-metallic mineral product manufacturing (38.4 percent), textiles (36.8 percent), food processing and production of electronics, computers and optical products (both 34.9 percent).

The survey also revealed that 69.7 percent of the firms’ cost per unit will be unchanged and 10.1 percent will cut the cost per unit. About 20.2 percent said they would increase the cost per unit.

Industry expected to contribute 40 percent to GDP by 2030

Vietnam’s industry is expected to contribute 40 percent to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) by 2030, according to a newly issued resolution.

Under Resolution 23-NQ/TW to develop the national industry until 2030, with a vision to 2045, issued recently by the Politburo, the processing and manufacturing industry will make up some 30 percent.

The value of high-tech processing and manufacturing products is targeted to reach at least 45 percent, while industrial labour productivity will increase by 7.5 percent on average annually.

The industrial growth rate will average over 8.5 percent, of which the processing and manufacturing industry will see a rise of 10 percent yearly.

The resolution also sets the country’s competitive industrial performance index among the top three countries in the ASEAN, while the percentage of workers in the industrial and service sectors is over 70 percent.

Under the new plan, the Politburo aims to finalise the country’s industrialisation and modernisation targets and become one of the top three countries in industry in the ASEAN by 2030.

To meet the targets, Vietnam will focus on changing the restructuring of the industry, besides issuing policies on business, investment, human resources and science and technology to develop the industry, especially prioritised segments. 

Some large industrial clusters will also be built to link domestic industrial enterprises and help them gain international competitiveness.

HCM City lures $1.28 billion in FDI in Q1

Ho Chi Minh City reeled in 1.28 billion USD in foreign direct investment (FDI) in the January-March period, 3.8 times higher than that the same period of 2017, via newly-licensed and added investments and share purchase.

The southern metropolis granted licences to about 180 new FDI projects which have total investment of over 215 million USD, up 52.8 percent year-on-year.

The processing-manufacturing industry raked in the largest amount of 82.22 million USD, a 23-fold surge year-on-year. It was followed by the sale, repair of automobiles, motors, motorbikes and other vehicles which drew in 63.38 million USD, up 41.1 percent year-on-year. Real estate came third with 48.32 million USD, up 6.4 percent.

Norway was the biggest investor who invested 70.08 million USD or 32.6 percent. It was followed by the Republic of Korea, 53.38 million USD; and Singapore, 41.72 million USD.

In the first quarter of 2018, total investment of more than 113.5 million USD was added into 297 operational projects while some 530 foreign investors were permitted to purchase shares, worth over 951 million USD, from domestic companies.

According to Director of the municipal Department of Planning and Investment Su Ngoc Anh, the foreigners’ share purchase was five times higher than that of the same period last year, mostly in the fields of real estate (46.6 percent), science and technology (19 percent) and travel services (8.5 percent).

Ho Chi Minh City continued providing online services for registering foreign investment and share purchase in the first three months of this year. More than 480 online applications were successfully processed.

About 8,000 businesses were newly registered during the period with the total capital of nearly 100.4 trillion VND (4.42 billion USD).

Binh Dien fertilizer company opens factory in Long An

The Binh Dien II Fertilizer Joint Stock Company (BFC) - the country's leading NPK maker, inaugurated its fertilizer factory in Can Giuoc district, the southern province of Long An on March 31. 

Covering an area of over 3 hectares in the Long Hau industrial park, the plant is designed to manufacture 100,000 tonnes of products each year.

The plant, invested at around 320 billion VND (around 14 million USD) in the first phase, is equipped with modern production lines and environmentally friendly technologies. 

The first phase’s construction started in July 2016 and completed at the end of 2017. 

In the second phase, the Binh Dien II Fertilizer JS Company will invest 200 billion VND (nearly 8.8 million USD) in to raise the plant’s capacity to between from 40,000 tonnes and 50,000 tonnes of Nano-bio organic fertilizer each year, contributing to promoting safe and sustainable agricultural production. 

Thua Thien-Hue welcomes more than 1 million visitors in Q1

Visitors at Hue relic site 

The central province of Thua Thien-Hue welcomed more than 1.1 million visitors in the first three months of this year, up 39.5 percent from the same period last year, including 534,600 foreigners, a surge of 70.3 percent.

This is the first time the number of tourists to the province has exceeded 1 million in a quarter.

The first month of the year saw various festivals as well as traditional New Year (Tet), pushing up the number of visitors to the destination. Over the Tet holiday alone, the Hue Monument Conservation Centre served 117,000 tourists, including 47,000 foreigners.

This year, the province will implementing the “one destination-five heritage” tour to attract tourists. The Hue Festival this year will take place from April 27 to May 2 with various activities, including a street festival from April 28 to May 1, and an art performance featuring the music of late composer Trinh Cong Son. So far, 12 domestic and 22 foreign art troupes have registered to join the event.

In 2018, the Thua Thien-Hue tourism sector aims to serve up to 4.2 million visitors, up about 12 percent year on year, with revenue of about 4.2 trillion VND, up 15-16 percent over the previous year.

Hue, which was the imperial capital of Vietnam for hundreds of years, is home to five heritages recognised by UNESCO, which are the Hue ancient citadel relic complex – a World Cultural Heritage site; Nha Nhac (Hue royal court music)- an intangible cultural heritage item; Nguyen Dynasty’s wood blocks – a documentary heritage item; Nguyen Dynasty’s Chau ban (royal administrative documents) – part of the Asia-Pacific Register of UNESCO’s Memory of the World Programme; and literature on Hue royal architecture - a documentary heritage.

The Hue imperial citadel relic was ranked second among top seven tourism attractions of Vietnam in 2017.

Technology crucial to high-value agriculture development in GMS

Science-technology is a breakthrough solution to green and high-value agriculture development, said Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Xuan Cuong.

He made the statement at a session on agriculture business and technology within the framework of the GMS Business Summit in Hanoi on March 30.

The Minister highlighted the important role of agriculture in economic growth and sustainable development of GMS nations, particularly Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and Vietnam (CLMV). The sector provides livelihoods for the regional citizens, particularly the low-income groups.

Cuong underlined the export capability and competitiveness of GMS agricultural products thanks to the region’s favourable geographic location as a gateway to the Asia – Pacific region and the world.

In the coming time, agriculture will continue being an important sector to ensure food security, promote poverty reduction and hunger eradication, and serve as important support for other economic sectors, Cuong affirmed.

The fourth industrial revolution presents an opportunity for the GMS nations to boost hi-tech agriculture, in terms of artificial intellectual to reduce labour force and biotechnology to create high-yield varieties, among others, he said.  

Technology application in agriculture produce has helped halved the poverty rate in GMS nations over the past years, thanks to increased productivity and income for farmers.

He called on the GMS nations to develop a cross-border agriculture value chain with application of technology while exchanging information and cooperating closely together in building strategies and making planning for regional agriculture development.

Focus should be placed on developing logistics to support agriculture and managing cross-border agricultural products’ quality.

The GMS nations should also strengthen technology application in managing natural resources, natural disasters, and the use of Mekong water resources for agriculture.

Participants suggested the regional countries build a policy framework to facilitate participation of private sector in ensuring food security in particular and contributing to the regional economic growth in general.

They also attached significance to direct linkage between farmers and traders help farmers produce their products in line with the standards while increasing farmers’ income.

Ngo Minh Hai, Chairman of the TH True Milk, said his group works directly with households and cooperatives to ensure they grow grasses and cows in line with the company’s requirement in terms of production procedure and products quality.

They provide training courses and technical assistance for involved farmers, thus introducing them to technologies applied in their farming, while giving them sustainable livelihoods and incomes.

Dang Hoang Giang, President of the Vietnam Cashew Association (VINACASS) underlined the factor of technology application in increasing the value of agricultural products in general and cashew nuts in particular.

He also stressed the need for developing large-scale fields and specialised crops to ensure efficient application of technology in production and processing.

Ousmane Dione, Country Director of the World Bank in Vietnam, affirmed that the agricultural sector continues to be the key factor for economic growth and sustainable development of the GMS nations.

The regional nations need to ensure the sector will be competitive, adaptive to climate change, and integrate into the regional and global supply chains.

The first-ever Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) Business Summit forms part of the sixth GMS Summit (GMS-6) and the 10th Cambodia-Laos-Vietnam Development Triangle Summit (CLV-10).

As an initiative of host Vietnam, the event aims to strengthen dialogues between enterprises and governments and connect businesses in the region and the world, while encouraging resources from the private sector for the GMS Programme.

Vietnam vows facilitating foreign investment in transport infrastructure development

Vietnam will provide all possible conditions it can for international investors, donors and organisations to get involved in developing transport infrastructure in the country, said Transport Minister Nguyen Van The.

Speaking at a session on infrastructure development and financing as part of the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) Business Summit in Hanoi on March 30, The said that infrastructure plays a special important role in socio-economic development of a nation and infrastructure development is a priority of many developing countries, including Vietnam.

Over the past years, the Vietnamese Government has spent much, about 9-10 percent of its annual GDP, on transport, energy, telecommunications and water infrastructure, he said.

However, transport infrastructure system in Vietnam still has a small scale with asynchronous connection. The country now has only 756 kilometers of expressway while the railway system, mainly built in the French-dominated period, is out-of-date. There are 21 airports, including eight international ones but none of them meets regional standards.

According to the minister, Vietnam plans to continue completing its expressway system in the coming time. Between now and 2020, the country expects to finish construction of about 654 kilometers out of 1,300 kilometers of highway.

It also considers the building of many new roads and hi-speed railways to get connected with ASEAN, GMS and trans-Asia road systems, while paying attention to airport development, including the construction of Long Thanh International Airport with capacity of 100 million passengers and 5 million tonnes of cargo in the southern province of Dong Nai, he said.

In this process, Vietnam hopes to receive more support and assistance, especially official development assistance (ODA), from donors and governments, The stressed.

Japanese Ambassador to Vietnam Umeda Kunio said his Government has put forth an initiative to promote quality infrastructure as well as made efforts to improve connectivity in the GMS region.

As a partner of the GMS, Japan has provided strong support for fostering the regional economic growth, contributing to narrowing the development gap as well as boosting investment and trade, through infrastructure development projects.

Japan’s assistance not only covers hard infrastructure development such as expressways and bridges but also human resources training and development of areas along the economic corridor, he said. 

He pledged to continue increasing support for GMS countries in an effort to create a new momentum for regional collaboration.

According to Dag Detter, BCG senior advisor, renowned author and advisor in public asset utilisation, infrastructure plays a fantastic role in economic development. Developing infrastructure needs the involvement of both public and private sectors.

The first-ever Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) Business Summit forms part of the sixth GMS Summit (GMS-6) and the 10th Cambodia-Laos-Vietnam Development Triangle Summit (CLV-10).

As an initiative of host Vietnam, the event aims to strengthen dialogues between enterprises and governments and connect businesses in the region and the world, while encouraging resources from the private sector for the GMS Programme.

Work together to fight fake goods     

The distribution of fake, low-quality and pirated goods is increasing relentlessly and can only be prevented through combined efforts by all sectors, a seminar heard in HCM City on Friday.

“The long-term fight against fake, low-quality and pirated commodities cannot [succeed] without the active co-operation of enterprises and society,” Trinh Van Ngoc, head of the Industry and Trade Ministry’s market monitoring agency, told the conference titled ‘Improvement of public-private co-operation efficiency in anti-counterfeiting and -IPR infringement’.

According to a report from the agency, violations are becoming increasingly sophisticated and well–organised, especially in the cases of food, agricultural materials, construction materials, drugs and consumer goods.

“Counterfeits and fakes are everywhere,” Kieu Nghiep of the anti-counterfeit centre said.

In 2017 market monitoring forces and other authorities ​busted 19,000 cases involving fake, low-quality or pirated goods worth VND518 billion and fined offenders VND 73.8 billion, he said.

​But they represented just the tip of the iceberg, he said.

​He blamed feeble penalties, poor co-operation between various agencies, limited human resources, especially for cases related to international agreements Viet Nam has signed, outdated equipment and facilities for the inability to root out fakes and piracy.

“Some enterprises are not aware of the seriousness of the counterfeit problem, others do not actively co-operate with authorities and most of the public are ignorant about it."

To combat the situation, the centre said market watch forces should closely monitor goods that are prone to being pirated and faked as well as people found trading such goods in the past.

“They should work closely with enterprises and related authorities.

“The most important thing is the force​s should regularly update law​makers​ ​on the changing situation.

“Enterprises and business groups need to have greater awareness of counterfeits and co-operate closely with relevant authorities.

“Enterprises should improve their technologies to make it harder​ for their goods to be faked.” 

60% enterprises expect better business in second quarter

Some 60 per cent of local enterprises in a survey expect their business to do better in the second quarter of 2018 against the first quarter.

The General Statistics Office (GSO) said this on March 29 while releasing the results of the survey on business trends of manufacturing and manufacturing enterprises in the first quarter of 2018.

According to the survey, 33 per cent of businesses said they had better business performance in the first quarter compared to the previous quarter, while 24.6 per cent of them faced difficulties in doing business and 42.4 per cent of them said their businesses were stable.

In the second quarter of this year, 55.7 per cent of surveyed enterprises expect their businesses to do better, while 10.4 per cent of them predict difficulties and 33.9 per cent of the enterprises expect stable business.

The GSO also said in the first quarter of this year, 26,785 newly established enterprises were registered, with a total capital of VND278.5 trillion, up 1.2 per cent in terms of the number of enterprises and 2.7 per cent in terms of registered capital year-on-year. 

Technology crucial to high-value agriculture development: GMS     

Science-technology is a breakthrough solution to green and high-value agriculture development, said agriculture minister Nguyen Xuan Cuong at a session on agriculture business and technology within the framework of the GMS Business Summit in Ha Noi on March 30.

The Minister highlighted the important role of agriculture in economic growth and sustainable development of GMS nations, particularly Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and Viet Nam (CLMV). The sector provides livelihoods for the regional citizens, particularly the low-income groups.

Cuong underlined the export capability and competitiveness of GMS agricultural products thanks to the region’s favourable geographic location as a gateway to the Asia – Pacific region and the world.

In the coming time, agriculture will continue being an important sector to ensure food security, promote poverty reduction and hunger eradication, and serve as important support for other economic sectors, Cuong affirmed.

The fourth industrial revolution presents an opportunity for the GMS nations to boost hi-tech agriculture, in terms of artificial intellectual to reduce labour force and biotechnology to create high-yield varieties, among others, he said.

Technology application in agriculture produce has helped halved the poverty rate in GMS nations over the past years, thanks to increased productivity and income for farmers.

He called on the GMS nations to develop a cross-border agriculture value chain with application of technology while exchanging information and cooperating closely together in building strategies and making planning for regional agriculture development.

Focus should be placed on developing logistics to support agriculture and managing cross-border agricultural products’ quality. The GMS nations should also strengthen technology application in managing natural resources, natural disasters, and the use of Mekong water resources for agriculture.

Participants suggested the regional countries build a policy framework to facilitate participation of private sector in ensuring food security in particular and contributing to the regional economic growth in general.

They also attached significance to direct linkage between farmers and traders to help farmers produce their products in line with the standards while increasing farmers’ income.

Ngo Minh Hai, Chairman of the Viet Nam-based TH True Milk, said his group worked directly with households and cooperatives to ensure they grow grasses and cows in line with the company’s requirement in terms of production procedure and products quality

They provide training courses and technical assistance for involved farmers, thus introducing them to technologies applied in their farming, while giving them sustainable livelihoods and incomes.

Dang Hoang Giang, President of the Viet Nam Cashew Association (VINACASS) underlined the factor of technology application in increasing the value of agricultural products in general and cashew nuts in particular.

He also stressed the need for developing large-scale fields and specialised crops to ensure efficient application of technology in production and processing.

Ousmane Dione, Country Director of the World Bank in Viet Nam, affirmed that the agricultural sector continued to be the key factor for economic growth and sustainable development of the GMS nations.

The regional nations needed to ensure the sector would be competitive, adaptive to climate change, and integrate into the regional and global supply chains.

The first-ever Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) Business Summit forms part of the sixth GMS Summit (GMS-6) and the 10th Cambodia-Laos-Viet Nam Development Triangle Summit (CLV-10).

As an initiative of host Viet Nam, the event aims to strengthen dialogues between enterprises and governments and connect businesses in the region and the world, while encouraging resources from the private sector for the GMS Programme.

Level infrastructure playing field for private sector: experts     

Countries in the Greater Mekong region need billions of dollars to meet the increasing demand for infrastructure, but institutional barriers are stopping the private sector from investing.

The region, consisting of Viet Nam, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and China – particularly the Yunnan Province and Guangxi Autonomous Region, is a young and developing region, Vietnamese Minister of Transport Nguyen Van The told economic experts, representatives of international organsisations and local and international businesses at a sideline conference on regional infrastructure and financing of the 6th Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS) Summit on Friday.

“Apart from China or Thailand, other countries like Viet Nam are yet to modernise and fully develop their infrastructure,” he said.

The said that Viet Nam planned to build up to 8,500km of expressway to catch up with other countries in Asia. However, less than 10 per cent was completed so far with about 3,000km pending and no plans in the near future for more than 6,500km of roads.

“Viet Nam is calling for more transport investment in public-private partnerships (PPP),” the minister said, adding that the National Assembly is expected to pass a law this year which will serve as a legal basis for PPP investors.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) estimated that the GMS would need at least US$33 billion for infrastructure investment between 2014 and 2020, with only 80 per cent able to be mobilised from the budget of the countries and development banks, leaving them about $6.4 billion short, mostly in transport and energy infrastructure investment.

“Mobilising private capital will be absolutely needed to bridge this gap,” said Supee Teravaninthorn, General Director of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank’s Investment Operation Department I.

“But the private sector doesn’t invest for charity. They need fair competition to invest.”

A report by the ADB showed that infrastructure investment in Asia during 2010-2014 heavily depended on the public sector which funded more than 90 per cent of the region’s overall investment.

That translated to about 5.1 per cent of annual GDP, while merely 0.4 per cent came from the private sector.

There were always concerns over how to find a reliable private company and let it invest in infrastructure, which resulted in a reluctant attitude from the Government to open the playing field for the private sector, said Viet Nam-Oman Investment JSC Co CEO Nguyen Hong Son.

“But we need local private companies for partnerships as we don’t know what is the situation in Viet Nam, for example the land clearance process, the licensing and the changing tariffs,” he said.

“Take solar energy sector for example. There have been 50 licences granted for solar projects. But how many have had land cleared?”

Some companies came to the domestic banks for financial support to carry out their projects, Son added, but what the banks offered was basically “impossible” to perform an infrastructure project.

The private sector was waiting for a whole package of policies that would open the path for them to invest in infrastructure, and the Government should take this into account if they want to mobilise funding from the private sector, the CEO said.

While stressing the need for more infrastructure investment, particularly in transport, energy and information communications and technology – or hard infrastructure, Teravaninthorn also urged regional governments to work more on soft infrastructure.

For example, she said, Viet Nam built a $200-million expressway that leads to the border of China which saved travel time by one or two days.

“But with the cargo sat at the border that time saving amounts to nothing,” she said.

“In terms of transport connectivity, don’t underestimate soft infrastructure like the customs and the one-stop border mechanisms. We have to be more efficient and effective for economic development,” she said.

Ca Mau offers favourable conditions to private businesses     

Ca Mau Province plans to help set up and attract around 6,000 new businesses by 2020, and 15,000 companies by 2030, by offering funding and changing legal procedures to accommodate the private sector.

The province plans to focus on investment, distribution networks, infrastructure and business registration procedures, while providing more aid to improve technologies and training for the workforce.

Local authorities are also considering new tax policies and other ways to aid small- to medium-sized businesses, especially those that focus on Ca Mau’s key production areas like aquaculture and agriculture.

Lam Van Bi, deputy chairman of Ca Mau People’s Committee, said that private businesses account for around 70 per cent of the total number in the province, contributing greatly to economic development of the region. 

Secretariat for national committee on economic restructuring established     

Deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue has signed a decision to establish the secretariat to assist the national steering committee on restructuring the economy and renewing the country’s growth model.

This group has the function of advising and assisting the steering committee and the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI) - the standing body of the steering committee in its activities.

The secretariat is composed of 26 members. The leader is Nguyen Dinh Cung, director of the Central Institute for Economic Management, under the MPI.

The secretariat is responsible for co-ordinating with experts and scientists who have been invited to advise and assist the MPI in preparing report evaluations, monitoring the results of the restructuring of the economy and innovating the growth model.

In addition, the group is also assigned to advise the MPI on the direction, tasks and solutions for restructuring the economy and renewing the growth model; to advise and assist the MPI in organising the implementation of the programme and operation plan as well as the decisions and conclusions of the steering committee; and to perform the tasks assigned by the head and deputy-heads.

Last year, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc decided to establish the national steering committee, aimed to consult and help the Government and the PM in directing and co-ordinating with the relevant ministries, agencies and localities to implement the restructuring of the economy and the renewal of the growth model.

Human capital key in technological age     

Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) countries must invest in human capital to take advantage of the opportunities that the fourth industrial revolution (Industry 4.0) brings, said panelists at a discussion on GMS and Global Trade during the Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS-6) and the 10th Cambodia-Laos-Viet Nam Development Triangle Summit (CLV-10) on March 30 in Ha Noi.

Experts and panelists agreed that GMS countries’ advantage is slipping away as labour costs in the region have been climbing in recent years, coupled with the recent rise of economic nationalism and protectionism.

A growing number of companies are also moving their production bases out of GMS nations back to their countries or to different regions.

They also pointed out that in a world where technology is moving at an incredibly fast pace the challenge is not unique to the region. Even in developed countries, workers are facing increased competition from automation and robotic technology.

However, the age of technological advancement also presents GMS countries with opportunities.

For example, recent industry reports have indicated that Viet Nam has been establishing itself as a leading country in the development and proliferation of blockchain technology, the driving force behind the global phenomenon cryptocurrencies.

Panelists pointed out that previous industrial revolutions have had much longer intervals (about 100 years apart) and the world only needs around 40 years to move to Industry 4.0, all thanks to how fast technology is moving forward. This will help level the playing field and allow less developed countries to catch up quickly, if they make good use of the benefits of modern technologies.

In the technological age, the most valuable and sought-after resources are human resources and therefore, policymakers and businesses of the region must build human capital and attract talents from around the globe.

Panelists said while the region enjoys advantages such as its total population of more than 500 million people and some of the fastest growing economies in the world, it is important to look beyond the region and forge more trade ties with the rest of the world. They also urged countries to support free trade and international commerce.

During a speech at the discussion, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Quoc Khanh underlined the huge opportunities for the GMS to forge economic links with China and India through economic corridors and free trade agreements signed between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and China and India.

It is also possible to connect the GMS Economic Cooperation Programme with other regional co-operation structures such as ASEAN, Mekong-Japan Cooperation, Mekong-Ganga Cooperation and the Belt and Road Initiative in addition to joining regional and global value chains, especially in fields of their strengths such as garment-textile, footwear, agriculture, seafood and tourism.

Khanh, however, pointed to challenges posed to GMS countries such as few co-operation projects in cross-border trade and e-commerce regulations, as well as difficulties standardising regulations to make cross-border trade easier.

He called on GMS nations to continue promoting open trade, upgrading border gates, simplifying customs procedures and enhancing ties between border management agencies. 

Belarus to start auto venture in Hung Yen     

Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus Vladimir Semashko and his delegation on Friday attended the signing ceremony of business co-operation contracts in the northern province of Hung Yen.

Under the contract, Vietnamese and Belarusian firms will collaborate on setting up a joint auto venture and a dairy factory in Hung Yen.

The province is the first destination selected by the Belarusian government to start Maz Asia joint venture on manufacturing trucks and special-purpose vehicles worth US$60 million in Kim Dong District.

At the signing ceremony, representatives of the Belarusian delegation said they wanted to carry out a number of other projects, including a joint venture on bus assembly in Viet Nam, in which they would prioritise Hung Yen Province.

At the same time, Belarusian businesses will set up a dairy production factory with a capacity of 100-200 tonnes of milk per day.

Semashko said the signing of free trade agreements had opened up opportunities for cooperation between Viet Nam and Belarus.

He hoped the economy of the two countries would perform well and support each other in various fields. The two sides need to set up joint ventures to produce goods based on the principle of mutual benefit, he said.

Hung Yen Party Secretary Do Tien Sy highly appreciated the achievements of the Belarusian economy, especially in the field of automobile industry, agriculture, dairy food processing and agricultural products.

He expected Belarus to invest in high-tech projects in the province, promoting local development.

Nguyen Van Phong, chairman of Hung Yen People’s Committee, talked about the highlights and advantages of the province. Hung Yen has focused on investment in infrastructure and planning of industrial clusters and parks to create favourable conditions to attract investment, he said.

The province has 11 industrial parks, attracting more than 1,700 foreign and domestic projects with a total registered capital of more than US$4.48 billion.

Phong expected Belarusian businesses to pay attention to and study investment in a fertiliser factory in Hung Yen, in addition to training skilled labourers for the automobile manufacturing and assembling factory and diary production project, besides introducing some special agricultural products of Hung Yen in the Belarusian market.

He said the province would create favourable conditions and give the best incentive for the projects to help them become operational soon and achieve high efficiency. 

VN ranks 7th in world in consumer confidence     

Vietnamese consumer confidence finished 2017 on a high note, helping the country to rank as the seventh most optimistic country in the world.

This was reported in the latest issue of the Conference Board Global Consumer Confidence Survey, conducted in collaboration with Nielsen.

According to the survey, consumer confidence in Viet Nam in Q4 2017 decreased by one point compared to the previous quarter to 115 points.

“Overall, we saw a stable and high confidence level among the Vietnamese consumers throughout 2017,” said Nguyen Huong Quynh, Managing Director, Nielsen Vietnam.

According to Quynh, the optimism of the Vietnamese consumers can be attributed to the good momentum of economic growth across industries, combined with positive signals of foreign investment flows, increasing household income and growth-oriented Government policies.

Besides this, Quynh said, the consistent trend could be influenced by the build-up of positive sentiment towards personal finance status as well as immediate spending intentions during the past years.

Consistent with many past quarters, after covering essential living expenses, the Vietnamese consumers were eager to spend on big-ticket items to enhance the quality of life in the fourth quarter of 2017. Nearly half of the consumers were willing to spend their spare cash on new clothes (49 per cent) and vacations (44 per cent). Some two in five persons spent on new technology products (40 per cent), out-of-home entertainment (41 per cent) and home improvements (42 per cent).

However, the Vietnamese consumers still had a strong affinity towards saving. Close to three quarters of the population (72 per cent) put their spare cash into savings (compared to 66 per cent in the previous quarter). The report also revealed that saving was an integral part of Southeast Asian consumers, with 66 per cent of the respondents putting their spare cash into savings.

In this quarter, the top five concerns among the Vietnamese consumers remained the same as in the previous quarter. Job security continued to top the list (46 per cent), followed by health (40 per cent), work/life balance (27 per cent), the economy (21 per cent) and parents’ welfare and happiness (19 per cent).

“It is observed that there was a little movement in the concern for job security and state of economy. These concerns slightly strengthened in the last quarter of 2017, which can make consumers cautious about their spending habits and thus motivate them to curb their daily expenses,” Quynh said.

Besides, she noted, as consumers wanted to thrive for a better life and had high aspirations of securing their children’s future, owning a house or high-tech products and having more frequent local or overseas holidays, the feeling of cautiousness in spending was likely to continue, which could make them save more and prioritise their spending.