Plan revised for hospital equitisation

Deputy Prime Minister Vu Van Ninh has directed the Transport Ministry to make alterations to a plan to equitise Giao Thong (Transport) Hospital before seeking the Prime Minister's approval.

The directive follows suggestions by relevant ministries and agencies to improve the plan, which was proposed by the Transport Ministry three months ago.

Under the plan, the hospital will sell a part of State-owned capital contribution and issue bonds to increase its charter capital.

The hospital's estimated worth is VND158 billion (US$ 7.4 million), which includes 86 per cent State capital. After its equitisation, it is expected to have a charter capital of VND168 billion ($7.8 million), equivalent to 16.8 million shares.

In the initial public offering (IPO), the State will hold 30 per cent of the hospital's charter capital, while the hospital's staff will have 8.7 per cent. Some 30 per cent will be for strategic investors and the remainder 31.3 per cent will be auctioned.

However, the Finance Ministry has observed that since the hospital operates in the field of health care and medical treatment, it is not necessary to have strategic investors own capital worth at least VND1 trillion ($46 million).

A representative of the Transport Ministry told Dau Tu (Vietnam Investment Review) that the Finance Ministry's suggestion to provide more opportunities for investors to become strategic investors will be accepted.

Regarding the rate of charter capital held by the State, Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Dang Huy Dong said under current regulations, there is no need for the State to hold capital at enterprises in the field of health care.

Also, under the Enterprise Law issued in 2005 and 2014, holding an enterprise's 30 per cent charter capital will not have much meaning in terms of voting for or against the important issues of the enterprise, he said.

The Ministry of Planning and Investment has also proposed the Transport Ministry to reconsider a proposal to choose T&T Group as a strategic investor among enterprises registered during the IPO.

Domestic firms Vingroup, T&T Group, and property developer FLC Group, in addition to two foreign investors from Malaysia and Singapore have registered with the Transport Ministry to become the strategic investors of the hospital.

The Transport Ministry should instruct the hospital to sell shares to strategic investors through an auction among investors to protect the highest interests of both State and enterprises, Deputy Minister Dong noted.

Meanwhile, the Planning and Investment Ministry has disapproved the Transport Ministry's proposal to allocate funds [around VND25 billion ($1.15 million) per year] from the State budget to pay the hospital's workers for three years after its equitisation, saying it did not meet the Enterprise Law and will lead to unfair competition among businesses.

However, the Health Ministry has supported the proposal, citing it is essential to continue providing funds for the hospital after its equitisation to prevent it from changing its investment plan and cutting down on its checkup and treatment services.

Giao Thong Hospital, which is a 21,200sq.m. general hospital located at Chua Lang Street, Dong Da District, recently opened a health-care building on a total investment of $15 million.

The seven-storey building, built on nearly 17,000sq.m., has been equipped with advanced health-care facilities and 200 beds. It was built on the capital from the OPEC Fund for International Development's official development assistance.

The hospital will be the first public health-care centre in Viet Nam to complete its equitisation plan.

The Transport Ministry has said it will soon finalise the hospital's equitisation plan to submit it to the Prime Minister for approval and carry out its IPO in the third quarter of this year as scheduled.

Quang Ninh FDI rises to $5.1b

North-eastern province Quang Ninh has attracted US$5.1 billion in foreign direct investment (FDI) through 104 projects so far, according to the provincial Department of Planning and Investment.

The department said it has managed to attract FDI through flexible policies and a favourable business environment together with comprehensive and modern infrastructures.

It noted that the province granted licences to two new FDI projects in the first half of the year, with the total register capital reaching $8.3 million. Investment in no project was stopped, nor was any project revoked.

Most of the province's existing projects have become operational. Its FDI disbursement during the January-June period was estimated at $179 million, with a turnover of $657 million, posting a 38 per cent year-on-year increase. Its contribution to the State budget rose by 34 per cent from last year.

The province contacted and worked with 50 business delegations and foreign investors from Japan, China, and South Korea, which sought investment opportunities in the province during the six-month period.

It plans to grant investment licences to four to six FDI projects in the second half of the year, while increasing registered capital for five to six others. It has urged relevant agencies to actively improve the province's business environment and enhance trade promotional activities.

Last year, the province granted licences and increased capital for 38 FDI projects, with the total capital reaching $820 million. Of this, 38 new projects were granted licences, with $700 million registered capital.

Meanwhile, several domestic investors have promoted their investments in the province, especially in the tourism and commerce sectors.

In 2014, it issued investment licences to 60 domestic investors, with VND25.6 trillion ($1.18 million) in total capital, an increase of 18 per cent in comparison with 2013.

With 62.16 points, the province ranked 5th in Viet Nam's annual Provincial Competitiveness Index (PCI) in 2014. The business community had pointed out improvement in the province's five sub-indexes such as business support index, labour training index, legal institution index, market entering index, and time duration. This resulted from the province's hard and constant efforts to improve the business environment and increase competitive capacities.

This year, it again strives to be in PCI's top five.

Fake Chinese dietary supplements, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics smuggled into Vietnam in bulk

Fake Chinese dietary supplements, pharmaceuticals, and cosmetics have been smuggled into Vietnam in large quantities this year, a national committee on anti-smuggling said at a conference last Friday.

They have been illegally transported in bulk in a more sophisticated way than before, the National Steering Committee on Combating Smuggling, Commercial Fraud, and Counterfeit Goods (Steering Committee 389) said during the event in Hoi An City in the central region.

However, the Steering Committee 389 did not give any details about the volume of fake Chinese dietary supplements, pharmaceuticals, and cosmetics imported into Vietnam at the conference on finding solutions for coping with counterfeit goods and products infringing intellectual property rights.

Many Vietnamese enterprises have registered their brand names identical to existing protected trademarks to deceive consumers into buying their fake dietary supplements, pharmaceuticals, and cosmetics, the committee said.

Those local firms mainly outsource their products, labels, and packages from Chinese manufacturing facilities, and then smuggle the goods into Vietnam for repackaging and reselling, with “Made in Vietnam” labels stuck on the surface.

The Steering Committee 389 has discovered a local firm storing 80 kinds of labels and packages for dietary supplements printed in China, and then importing them into Vietnam so that it could flexibly label and repackage bogus products for reselling domestically.

Hanoi police earlier this month found a Vietnamese company employing a similar trick, seizing over 20 metric tons of fake goods and detaining three people involved in the case.

In May, Steering Committee 389 data showed that Vietnam imported a huge volume of dietary supplements, mostly from China, worth more than VND2.4 trillion (US$110.4 million) last year.

In the first five months of this year, with nearly 500 registered local importers, the value of the dietary supplements brought into Vietnam from many sources, including China, topped VND1.4 trillion ($64.4 million).

Danish energy efficiency investments to benefit SMEs

The Danish Embassy last week signed agreements with three leading Vietnamese banks to support energy efficiency investments among small and medium-sized enterprises in Vietnam.

Under the agreements, the three lenders, namely the Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV), Sai Gon Joint Stock Commercial Bank (SCB) and Vietnam Technological and Commercial Joint Stock Bank (Techcombank), will provide loans for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) operating in the brick, ceramic and food processing industries to carry out energy efficiency initiatives with support from the Danish Green Investment Fund (GIF).

Addressing the signing ceremony, Danish Ambassador to Vietnam John Nielsen stated that taking the lead in the global promotion of green growth, Denmark is eager to assist Vietnam in dealing with its current challenges related to energy efficiency. "We see a big demand for funds for energy efficiency among SMEs and we hope that our support will promote energy efficiency initiatives in the private sector," Nielsen stressed.

Nguyen Viet Son, deputy director general of the General Department of Energy under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, told VIR that Denmark's support would not only help improve the standards on energy efficiency in the private sector but also promote such investments among powerful groups.  

Over the past five years, Denmark has provided nearly $30 million for Vietnam to increase people's awareness about energy efficiency and promote green and sustainable production.

The GIF was established from the initial investment of $6.5 million, following a memorandum of understanding in June 2014, and has been constantly and actively seeking to benefit Vietnamese SMEs.

Nielsen hopes that through the GIF, Denmark will support 100-130 projects by the end of 2016.

Post-FTA export import should not repeat WTO scenario

Recently signed free trade agreements (FTA) between Vietnam and South Korea and the Eurasian Economic Union are expected to be good opportunity for export promotion. However there is a long distance from expectation to reality, requiring both authorized agencies and businesses to quickly solve related issues to prevent WTO scenario from reoccurring.

Vietnam’s WTO membership was supposed to vigorously boost exports. However, the Ministry of Planning and Investment has reported that five years after the WTO entrance, the country’s economy was inferior to that in the previous five years in many fields including Gross Domestic Product growth rate, growth quality and export import.

Export turnover increased but the growth mainly came from Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) sector. It reached 33.5 percent for FDI sector and only 1.3 percent for domestic sector in 2012.

The condition has not changed after Vietnam signed FTAs.  FDI exports continued growing strongly.

The total export turnover was estimated to touch US$13.5 billion in May, up 1.1 percent over the previous month. Of these, domestic sector grew 3.5 percent to obtain US$4.1 billion while FDI sector grew 0.2 percent to hit US$9.4 billion.

May export turnover hiked 9 percent over the same period last year. The growth rate was 1 percent for local sector and 12.8 percent for FDI sector.

In the first five months this year, the export turnover was recorded at US$63.2 percent, up 7.3 percent over a year ago. Of these, local businesses saw a reduction of 2.7 percent to US$18.8 billion, FDI sector posted an increase of 12.2 percent to reap US$44.4 billion.

The concern is that the import turnover of local businesses has been higher than foreign firms.

May trade deficit was US$900 million taking the total to US$3 billion equivalent to 4.7 percent of total export turnover in the first five months this year. Domestic economic sector created a trade deficit of US$7.7 billion while FDI sector posted a trade surplus of US$4.7 billion.

It is likely that Vietnamese businesses’ imports have been easier than that before FTAs were signed. At first sight, it will benefit consumers because of price drop thanks to tax cut. However from a farer-reaching sight, import acceleration might kill local production.

The Government’s efforts in FTA negotiations and signing aim to help local businesses develop production and boost exports to improve their competitiveness in regional and global scales. However this target has been fully taken advantage of by FDI sector not Vietnamese firms.

According to a survey by English Newspaper The Economist, the use ratio of FTA incentives of Vietnamese businesses is rather low at only 37 percent.

When being asked about the issue’s cause, 52 percent companies attributed it to complex negotiations, 40 percent said unattractive market, 38 percent believed benefits insufficient to make up for difficulties in exploiting these incentives, 50 percent said FTA information insufficiently announced.

Handicraft and Wood Industry Association of Ho Chi Minh City (HAWA) Chairman Huynh Van Hanh said that although FTA contents directly affected businesses, those in charge of negotiations said negotiated contents should be kept silent.

For instance, while the American Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam invited businesses to talk about the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement, Vietnamese officials said it secret and unable to reveal any thing.

Only the May signed Europe-Asian Business Alliance was consulted businesses. Other FTAs have been announced to them after being signed.

Many businesses at a recently hosted seminar expressed concerns over the Vietnam-South Korea FTA signed on May 5 saying they have been accessible to the agreement in Vietnamese too late while Korean businesses have got a Korean textbook on the FTA agreement since it was initialed.

Many seminars on FTAs have been organized. However, most of them just provided general not specific information. Contents of the seminars should be changed to detail the agreements’ information to businesses.

Policies should not be issued suddenly. Therefore, authorized agencies should consult businesses in negotiating and signing FTAs. Tariff, non-tariff, intellectual property and environment should be discussed publicly and transparently for enterprises to have preparations, said lawyer Tran Huu Huynh, chairman of the International Trade Advisory Committee under the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

The Government has tasked the Ministry of Industry and Trade to work with other ministries to propagandize international integration commitments from FTAs to businesses, Minister Vu Huy Hoang told the press recently.

However, that work has been implemented without results as expectations, causing businesses’ little acknowledge of the matter. The ministry needs close coordination from other ministries especially information and communications agencies to better the propaganda, he said.

Of course it is impossible to only blame authorized agencies for businesses’ weak acknowledge of FTA. This is partly because the firms themselves have been passive in catching information as well as improving their goods quality to meet importers’ demand.

More FTAs will be signed this year. It is time to help businesses improve their knowledge and goods quality to take advantage of opportunities from the agreements.

Businesses themselves should take more initiatives to find out information related to their fields and closely work with importers to catch up with import markets’ regulations for export promotion.

Property bubble?

The property market has shown signs of a steady recovery as affirmed by Minister of Planning and Investment Bui Quang Vinh but risks are in sight.

Vinh was cited by the local news site VnExpress as saying that concern about property market imbalances was heard at the first half review meeting of leaders of the ministries of finance, industry-trade and planning-investment and the central bank in Hanoi last week as January-May real estate loans rose by nearly 11% and doubled the nation’s average credit growth in the period.

More bank loans for property projects have backed a recovery of the property market this year. Notably, the sector has become the second most attractive to foreign investors in the first half of the year after processing-manufacturing, with over US$465 million registered for new and operational realty projects.

Efforts of government agencies to revitalize the property market after years of stagnation have paid off as the sector is expected to contribute much to gross domestic product growth, which the General Statistics Office last Friday put at 6.28%, instead of the 6.11% released two days earlier by the Ministry of Planning and Investment.

Vinh stressed the need to keep a close watch on the market as a real estate bubble might recur and huge real estate loans could send bad debt in the banking system soaring as a result.

There is reason to worry as Vinh is not the first person to issue such a warning. Speaking at a seminar in HCMC last month, Vo Tri Thanh, vice president of the Central Institute for Economic Management (CIEM), warned of a possible real estate bubble as the market is still facing macro-economic risks such as slow settlement of bad debt in the banking sector.

In recent times, property developers have poured money into luxury housing projects to bank on homebuyer confidence in the market while many low-income earners are still struggling to find a dream home. This perennial supply-and-demand imbalance is one of the problems that plagued the property market in previous years.

Farm exports drop on sagging prices

Farm export revenues in the first half of this year dipped nearly 3% year-on-year to US$14.42 billion due to falling prices of Vietnam’s major agro-products, according to the latest report of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

The country shipped abroad over three million tons of rice worth some US$1.32 billion in January-June, down over 6% in volume and 10.5% in value compared to the same period of 2014. The average export price of this product stood at over US$435 per ton in the first five months of the year, down around 4% year-on-year due partly to the decline of export prices to China.

The northern neighbor accounted for 36% of Vietnam’s total rice export volume in the first half.

Meanwhile, Vietnam shipped 687,000 tons of coffee worth US$1.42 billion in January-June, down nearly 36% in volume and over 35% in value versus a year ago. Seafood exports were sluggish too as they fell 16% year-on-year to nearly US$3 billion in the first half.  

Rubber exports expanded 22% to 422,000 tons of rubber but their revenue edged down 5% to US$614 million.

In contrast, cashew and pepper exports fared well thanks to higher price and volume. Vietnam shipped abroad 150,000 tons of cashew and obtained some US$1.1 billion in revenue in the first half, rising 14% in volume and over 28% in value as the average export price of cashew nuts amounted to US$7,080 a ton in January-May, jumping nearly 12% from a year ago.

Pepper export price climbed 32% to US$9,233 a ton in the first five months, which was attributed to a rise of 6% in the product’s export value at US$833 million although its volume went down 18% to 90,000 tons.

However, as the two items are not key export earners, the surge of their export revenue could not offset the decline of other agro-products, which sent total export value in the first half tumbling.

50,000 coffee farmers backed to better use water

Nestlé and partners will support around 50,000 farmers in five Central Highlands provinces to better manage water resources for coffee farming to cushion impact of natural disasters and climate change.

Nestlé will carry out the project “More coffee with less water - towards a reduction of the blue water footprint in coffee production” in Daklak, Dak Nong, Gia Lai, Kon Tum and Lam Dong provinces in coordination with the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), Germany-based EDE and Vietnamese partners.

The project was launched in April and will run over five years after a pilot model was developed for the region, according to Nestlé.

The project aims to enhance the water management capacity for farmers via studies on water resources and demand, set up an early warning system for weather conditions to help farmers optimize farming, and provide training on good agricultural practices (GAP) and efficient watering for 50,000 farmers.

This year, the project will provide courses for 30 trainers and 2,000 farmers and help establish six trial models on sustainable coffee production with efficient watering in every province of the project.

A study sponsored by Nestlé showed farmers use around 60% more than the water volume needed to water their plants in dry season, from December to April.

According to experts, farmers use 700-1,000 liters of water on average for coffee farming while the volume coffee trees need to produce yields is just 300-400 liters.

Consortium keen on Thu Thiem 4 bridge

A consortium comprising three local companies has proposed building a fourth bridge that connects to the planned Thu Thiem new urban area.

The consortium of Phat Dat Real Estate Development Corporation, Infrastructure Development and Investment Corporation 620 and Construction Development Investment JSC 168 wants to implement the project under the build-transfer (BT) format.

The government of HCMC will pay for the bridge by allocating land in functional sections 3 and 4 in Thu Thiem New Urban Area to the consortium.

The forthcoming bridge will link Thu Thiem and Saigon South New Urban Area.

According to the zoning plan, Thu Thiem New Urban Area will cover 657 hectares on the left side of the Saigon River, have financial, commercial, service, science and recreational centers for around 160,000 local residents and create jobs for some 450,000 people.

Covering the areas of districts 7, 8 and Binh Chanh, Saigon South New Urban Area is home to State administrative agencies, commercial centers and entertainment and technology facilities. It is being developed on some 2,975 hectares for a population of 500,000 people and around Nguyen Van Linh Parkway.

The consortium said Thu Thiem 4 bridge would create a traffic link between the southern and eastern parts of HCMC.

The bridge is planned to go up at a site which is some 1.1 kilometers from Thu Thiem 3 bridge and intersect Tan Thuan Port in District 7.

Food, fisheries exports decline

Viet Nam saw a 2.8 per cent year-on-year reduction in the export value of agricultural, fish-eries, and forestry products to record US$14.42 billion during the first half of 2015.

This includes $2.6 billion recorded in June, said the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

The value of agricultural exports in the first six months declined by 5.7 per cent to $6.93 billion and that of fisheries products fell by 16 per cent to $2.97 billion, particularly on the US market, compared with the same period last year.

However, the export value of forestry products gained year-on-year by 8 per cent to $3.29 million in the first half of this year.

During the period, rice exports reduced in both volume and value at 6.2 per cent and 10.5 per cent, respectively, to 3 million and $1.3 billion, respectively, compared with the same period last year.

China was still the largest export market of Vietnamese rice, accounting for 36 per cent of the total rice export value, the ministry said.

But the rice exports to China dropped 19.6 per cent in volume and 22.6 per cent in value during the first half of this year against the same period last year.

Coffee exports also fell 35.8 per cent in volume to 687,000 tonnes and 35 per cent in value to $1.42 billion in comparison with the first half of last year. Germany and the United States continued as the two largest export markets of Vietnamese coffee in the first six months.

The other products such as tea and rubber saw a similar trend during the first half of the year.

Pepper, cashew nuts, and cassava exports achieved growth in export value in the first half of the year.

Cassava marked a year-on-year increase of 42.6 per cent to $844 million, while cashew rose 28.2 per cent to $1.08 billion, and pepper registered 6.1 per cent growth to $838 million.

Vietnamese lychees much sought after in Australia

A Vietnamese Lychee Day was held in Thien Loan supermarket in Melbourne, Australia on June 29. There, 300kg of lychees were sold out in one hour.

The event, co-organized by Vietnam Trade Office and the Vietnamese Business Association in Australia, aims to boost sales of Vietnamese lychees in the world market.

One kilo of lychees was sold at AUD14.99 (equivalent to VND250,500) during the event.

Nguyen Thi Hoang Thuy, representative of Vietnam Trade Office in Australia, said that this is the first time Vietnamese fresh lychees are sold in Australia and since June 12, many tonnes of Vietnamese lychees have been sold out.

Vietnam Trade Office was planning to organize other events to promote the sales of Vietnamese lychees in Australia, Thuy added.

Vinh Long sees increase in social investment capital

The Mekong Delta province of Vinh Long drew a total social investment capital of VND5.335 trillion (US$244 million) in the first six months of 2015, up 8.8% from the same period last year.

Of the figure, non-State capital increased 10% and foreign direct investment capital increased 44%.

The province has nine newly-registered projects with VND649 billion (US$30 million) in total capital focusing on agro-products and food processing, commerce and business.

Another 113 enterprises were established, bringing the total number of businesses operating in the province to 3,915 with a combined capital of VND18.5 trillion (US$850 million).

The encouraging results are attributed to provincial efforts to create a coordination mechanism among sectors and localities to cut down red tape.

Dialogues with enterprises were organised to address any emerging issues in a timely fashion.

The province also encouraged enterprises to invest in key sectors such seafood processing, rural infrastructure and commerce.

The one-stop-shop mechanism between the Department of Planning and Investment and the management board of industrial zones or between the Public Security and the Tax Department were established.

The province also published 77 new administrative procedures, revised eight procedures and removed 73 procedures to increase transparency and draw investors.Of the figure, non-State capital increased 10% and foreign direct investment capital increased 44%.

The province has nine newly-registered projects with VND649 billion (US$30 million) in total capital focusing on agro-products and food processing, commerce and business.

Another 113 enterprises were established, bringing the total number of businesses operating in the province to 3,915 with a combined capital of VND18.5 trillion (US$850 million).

The encouraging results are attributed to provincial efforts to create a coordination mechanism among sectors and localities to cut down red tape.

Dialogues with enterprises were organised to address any emerging issues in a timely fashion.

The province also encouraged enterprises to invest in key sectors such seafood processing, rural infrastructure and commerce.

The one-stop-shop mechanism between the Department of Planning and Investment and the management board of industrial zones or between the Public Security and the Tax Department were established.

The province also published 77 new administrative procedures, revised eight procedures and removed 73 procedures to increase transparency and draw investors.

Purchasing power rises due to macro recovery, low CPI

The purchasing power of Vietnam posted a four-year high in the first half of this year due to low inflation.

According to the General Statistics Office (GSO), the total retail sales of goods and services reached US$73.121 billion, rising by 9.8% over the same period last year, or 8.3% if inflation is excluded.

By comparison, the growth rates of total retail sales were 5.7%, 4.9% and 6.5% in the same period for 2014, 2013 and 2012, respectively.

Retail sales of goods contributed 75% of the total retail sales, with a value of US$55.532 billion, increasing by 10.6%. Retail sales of accommodation, restaurant and catering services each posted growth of between 5.9% and 9.7%.

However, retail sales in the tourism sector declined 6.1% over the same period last year, partly due to poor service quality.

Purchasing power was one of the indicators which reflected the macroeconomic recoveries in the first half of this year.

This was a result of the government's policies which aimed to stabilise and restore the nation's economic growth, even though the global economy had not shown a stable recovery and had instead continued to suffer financial chaos, currency fluctuations and plunging commodity prices.

According to GSO's General Director Nguyen Bich Lam, the purchasing power recovered thanks to the low consumer price index (CPI), reported at 0.55% – the lowest level achieved over the past 14 years. Consumers gained benefits from the quantity of goods and services controlled by the low CPI .

Lam pointed out that in Vietnam, although inflation was controlled at a low level, aggregated demand remained at a high level.

Buyers line up for Lotus Residences townhouses

Buyers have paid deposits for about 70 per cent of Van Lien's (Lotus Residences) townhouses that were put on the first sale on June 28, project investor BIM Group said.

Syrena Viet Nam Sales Manager Pham Van Nam introduces Lotus Residences at the sale release on June 28. Photo BIM Group/ Syrena Viet Nam

Lotus Residences is located in the prime Halong Marina Urban Area with 159 luxury townhouses, offering a good opportunity for those seeking a townhouse along Ha Long beach.

The commercial and resort project has good transport connections with neighbouring areas such as Halong Marina Plaza, Bai Chay Beach and Tuan Chau Complex.

Lotus Residences' townhouses will have modern and environment-friendly designs, with a view of the sea, together with prominent utilities such as all-season swimming pools, modern gyms and green parks and playgrounds, promising high-end living standards for residents.

The project is expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2016, after 14 months of construction.

The promise of profits has also made Lotus Residences look appealing to buyers, given the great tourism development potential of Ha Long City in particular, and of the northern Quang Ninh Province in general.

For the first time in Ha Long City, a rental pool system in which the involved parties can share rental income from a property with the aim of optimising profits for the owners will be implemented at Lotus Residences.

The BIM Group pledges a maximum combined profit of VND600 million (US$27,700) during the first two years of the operation of townhouses in Lotus Residences, for those joining the rental pool, and 65 per cent of the rental profits from the third year.

Interior decoration packages at preferential prices starting from VND200 million ($9,180) will also be provided to owners of townhouses who join the rental pool programme.

Lotus Residences and Little Vietnam – the project featuring the country's most original architectural styles – are expected to create a bustling commercial, cultural and tourist destination in Ha Long City.

Lotus Residences and Little Vietnam are among high-profile projects of the BIM Group, which has developed a diverse portfolio of residential, commercial and resort projects in Ha Long, Phu Quoc and Lao.

Tourism and property development are among three major businesses of the BIM Group, which also offers agricultural, food and commercial services.

Resolution to improve business climate shows initial success

The implementation of Government Resolution 19/NQ-CP on improving business environment and national competitiveness between 2015 and 2016 has shown encouraging outcomes in the first half of this year, said Minister of Planning and Investment Bui Quang Vinh at the regular cabinet meeting held in Hanoi on June 29.

Specifically, the registration time for business licences has been cut to three days, just half of the set goal of six days while time spent on business initiation procedures was reduced from 34 days to 17 days. As a result, Vietnam is expected to leap 72 places to 37 in the national competitiveness ranking in terms of start-up business criteria – much higher than the average level of the ASEAN-6 (including Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam).

The investor protection indicator increased to 6.2 points from 3.33 thanks to reforms of the 2014 Law on Enterprises. With this outcome, Vietnam will move up 105 places to 52, meeting the average level of ASEAN-6 as set by the resolution.

In 2014 and early 2015, the time required for paying taxes was reduced by 380 hours (from 537 hours per year to 157 hours per year) and is set to be cut by an additional 35.5 hours to meet the resolution’s target.

The procedure for social insurance payments has been slashed by 100 hours (from 335 hours per year to 235 hours per year), which is still a long way from the target of 49.5 hours per year.

The total time for tax and social insurance payments is expected to drop by 480 hours, helping the country rise 27 places to 122, which is far below the average level of ASEAN-6 (ranked 67 th).

The Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Electricity of Vietnam have issued documents to reduce the time needed to access electricity, which has been cut from 115 days to 85 days and will undergo additional simplification to reach the resolution’s set target of 70 days.

Pertaining to cross-border trade transaction, the Ministry of Finance and the General Department of Customs have reviewed and adjusted relevant policies to address customs procedures for businesses.

Yet Minister Vinh described this as the responsibility of not only the Ministry of Finance and the General Department of Customs but also of related ministries and agencies.

The resolution, dated March 12, 2015, requested ministries, agencies and localities to focus on consistent and effective implementation of key tasks and solutions to improve the business climate and national competitive capacity.

The involved parties ought to implement the resolution more effectively and address shortcomings in import-export quarantine and customs declaration in particular.

Chaotic reality of dietary supplement industry

Soon after investigation police in Ho Chi Minh City arrested Nguyen Duy Bao, director of Bao Khang Im-Export Company in Go Vap District for selling fake nutritional supplements in bulk quantity, public concern was raised for chaotic reality of the nutritional supplement industry.

Among fake nutritional supplements were seized, many of them are fake tea for weight loss which people are favorite. Shop assistant of pharmacy P.T. in Huynh Tan Phat Street in District 7 listed many name of weight loss nutritional supplements from domestic to foreign-made products most of them are worth VND500,000 (US$23) up.

Not only pharmacies sell nutritional supplements, but social networking websites also are flooded with advertising about nutritional supplements.

Most of nutritional supplements, especially products for weight loss, are attached with leaflets that are made of natural herbs accordingly they will not cause harmful side effects for human. However, herbalist Le Van Truyen, former Deputy Health Minister, said that private companies themselves boasted about the use of nutritional supplements without checking of health authorities.

At a meeting about nutritional supplements held lately, Nguyen Hung Long, deputy chief of  Vietnam Food Administration (VFA) under the Ministry of Health, said that there are over 10,000 nutritional supplements in local markets with various products for weight loss.

Though there has no case of complication due to taking nutritional supplements, the risk is threatening; therefore, health authorities are tightening control over the products. In first six months of the year, Food Administration of Vietnam has fined tens enterprises with the amount up to VND1.5 billion (US$68,760) for violating drug advertising regulations, Long said.

Dr. Do Thi Ngoc Diep, director of Nutrition Center in Ho Chi Minh City, said that  many people are unsuccessful in losing weight, as a result, they seek the quick methods to reduce fat. However, haste makes waste, said Dr. Diep; every medicine or nutritional supplements which help reducing weight quickly all have less or more bad side- effects.

From the reality, Dr. Nguyen Thanh Phong, head of VFA, said that the administration liaising with related agencies to check and fine owners to sell fake or substandard products. Consumers should choose products with clear indication of origin and they should inform authorities if they detect low quality products, said Dr. Phong.

Viet Capital Bank supports clients to buy Audi cars

Representatives of Viet Capital Bank and Lien-A International JSC shake hands at the signing of a cooperation agreement on Phu Quoc Island off mainland Kien Giang Province last week to introduce a program to lend to customers wanting to purchase Audi cars.

Under the program, the minimum term is 24 months and the maximum term is 60 months for corporate customers and 72 months for individuals. A fixed interest rate of 6.9% will apply in the first year.

Viet Capital Bank said it would streamline procedures and support clients to take out loans quickly. The program lasts until end-September.

Jan-Jun FDI approvals plunge

Fresh foreign direct investment (FDI) approvals in January-June have declined strongly from a year ago and to the lowest level compared to the same period of three previous years, according to data of the Ministry of Planning and Investment.

By June 20, cities and provinces had granted investment certificates to 757 new foreign-invested projects with combined capital of US$3.83 billion, a year-on-year drop of 21%. Some US$1.65 billion had been pledged for 281 operational projects, down 17% against the same period of 2014.

June marked the fifth consecutive month of decline in FDI approvals in Vietnam this year.

In all, the total registered FDI in the year to June 20 had tumbled 19.8% year-on-year to US$5.49 billion.

The figure is well below the US$6.38 billion in January-June of 2012, the US$10.47 billion in the same period of 2013 and the US$6.85 billion in the same period of 2014.

The FDI plunge was attributable to the absence of multi-billion-dollar projects licensed. The biggest project worth US$660 million was registered by Hyosung Dong Nai Company Limited in Dong Nai Province to produce and outsource fiber products.

However, FDI disbursements in the period are still positive. The Ministry of Planning and Investment estimated around US$6.3 billion had been realized, up 9.3% on a year ago.

Do Nhat Hoang, head of the Foreign Investment Agency (FIA) under the ministry, told a conference on FDI in March that the registered FDI capital was expected to reach US$18 billion this year. This target is hard to obtain if the country cannot attract more big projects toward the end of the year.

However, experts said the FDI disbursement target of US$12 billion for the whole year is achievable as foreign investors have injected US$6 billion to their projects in January-June.

Last year saw FDI pledges totaling US$21.92 billion, down 1.9% versus a year earlier. Some US$16.5 billion of the total figure was pledged for 1,843 new projects and US$5.41 billion for 749 operational projects.

HCM City imposes no ceiling price on budget homes

The HCMC Department of Construction has confirmed that the city has not imposed a ceiling price on housing projects for low-income people.

In reply to queries posed at a seminar in the city on June 29, the department said the price of budget homes is not capped at VND12 million (US$552) per square meter.

Speaking at the seminar on low-cost houses organized by the HCMC Institute for Development Studies, delegates said many low-income condo projects in the city were selling for VND15 million a square meter.

However, Phan Truong Son, head of the department’s house and real estate market management unit, said the city government does not regulate that prices of social condos must be VND12 million or below a square meter.

Project developers must obtain approval from the People’s Committee before announcing prices to clients. The prices should be reasonable as the projects enjoy tax and rent incentives.

However, as site clearance cost is included in selling prices, it is normal for a budget condo in District 4, which is near the downtown area, to be more expensive than a commercial condo in the fringe district of Tan Binh, Son said.

At the seminar, real estate enterprises complained about a regulation that requires investors to set aside 15-20% of the units at a commercial project to sell to low-income people will be a challenge. The rule will take effect early next month.

Nguyen Van Duc, deputy director of Dat Lanh Real Estate Company, said the regulation would affect low-income earners as they would have to pay the same management fees as other residents in the same project.

In addition, the Government should be responsible for developing budget homes instead of property developers.

Regarding the issue, Son from the HCMC Department of Construction said the State certainly takes responsibility but enterprises must take part in the program. For instance, the State is responsible for State-owned projects for civil servants and investors should develop low-cost projects for other homebuyers.

The investors of low-income house projects are entitled to tax, land use fee and site clearance incentives, Son added.

Airport link to new urban growth

A cabinet meeting yesterday discussed the implementation of special policies and mechanisms for urban development along the Nhat Tan-Noi Bai Highway in Ha Noi.

Policymakers said the highway would play an important role in the capital city's socio-economic development as it connects downtown Ha Noi with the Noi Bai International Airport.

A report by the Ha Noi People's Committee said the Nhat Tan-Noi Bai urban development project would need an investment of around VND33 trillion (US$1.51 billion). Infrastructure development alone would cost VND22 trillion ($1 billion) and land site clearance VND10.8 trillion ($495.4 million), the report said.

With the city unable to raise such funds, the cabinet agreed that special policies and mechanisms were needed if the urban development plan was to be carried out by 2025.

"There is an urgent need to complete special policies and mechanisms needed to speed up infrastructure development of the Nhat Tan-Noi Bai urban area," said Construction Minister Trinh Dinh Dung.

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung said the "special mechanisms must allow the area to be developed based on its economic potential without relying on the State Budget."

At yesterday's meeting, Dung also discussed numerous other issues raised by the Government agencies and ministries regarding the Nhat Tan-Noi Bai urban area, including site clearance, social housing projects and the process to select investors and determine land value.

He ordered the Ministry of Planning and Investment to compile policymakers' feedback and recommendations in a report that his office would review later.

Vinmec Hospital Network partners with Orion Health

Vinmec Hospital Network has announced a partnership with Orion Health (New Zealand), a global eHealth software company delivering interoperable solutions for hospitals and healthcare facilities worldwide.

The agreement creates an important platform aimed at increasing the efficiency of clinical care as well as administrative tasks across Vinmec, enabling the hospital network to continuously improve the quality of healthcare services.

Orion Health will implement their Hospital Information System "Enterprise" across the Vinmec group of hospitals. The Enterprise solution allows patient clinical information and administrative data to be centrally managed across the entire network giving the ability to share patient records quickly and reliably across different sites.

From now till 2020, Orion Health's Enterprise solution will be deployed in all 10 hospitals and clinics within the Vinmec Hospital Network across the country, beginning with Vinmec Hanoi, Vinmec Phu Quoc, Vinmec Central Park and two clinics : Vinmec Royal City and  Vinmec Saigon.

"This partnership with Orion Health is testament to our continuous effort in raising the quality of healthcare services to international standards. We aspire to have other hospitals under the Vinmec Hospital Network to achieve a similar accreditation to raise Vietnam's healthcare standards to be on par with that of developed countries," said Prof. Dr. Nguyen Than Liem, CEO of Vinmec International Hospital, after the hospital became the first general hospital in Vietnam to achieve accreditation by the Joint Commission International - the gold standard in healthcare quality worldwide.

Orion Health Enterprise software enables standardized workflow and processes in patient record management, allowing medical records to be entered into a single integrated system and seamlessly monitored across all sites. This allows for easy coordination across care teams within the Vinmec Hospital Network so clinicians can make accurate and timely diagnosis. Patients will also benefit from increased flexibility as they can choose to visit any site within Vinmec for their consultation and know the clinician will have full access to their information.

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