Forestry sector climbs sharply in first half

The country's forestry sector grew by 8.3 per cent in the first six months of this year, its highest-ever growth rate for a half-year period.

The sector is expected to grow by 9 to 10 per cent over the course of the full year, according to a conference held in Ha Noi yesterday on the sector's restructuring efforts, which started two years ago.

Nguyen Ba Ngai, general director of the Viet Nam Administration of Forestry under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, said the restructuring efforts helped rake in an average growth rate of 6.57 per cent per year in 2013 and 2014, compared with the average of 5.03 per cent from 2010 to 2012.

A wood chip export turnover of US$2.7 billion contributed to the sector's recent high growth rate, and showed an increase of 8 per cent over the first half of 2014, said Ngai. The percentage of finely-processed wood chips accounted for up to 85 per cent of the export volume, he stressed.

Still, Nguyen Ton Quyen, vice president and general secretary of the Viet Nam Wood and Forest Product Association, said the wood processing industry was unlikely to achieve the target of $7 billion in wood exports set for this year, because of the euro's depreciation in export markets and rising electricity, petrol and oil prices.

Over the last two years the sector had planted more than 200,000ha of forest, 90 per cent of which were production forests.

In Viet Nam, forests are classified by function. The categories are special use, protective and production.

The conference was also told that during the sector's restructuring, it had found 57 individuals or companies that were good models for positive, profitable forest economy practices.

All of these individuals and firms earn at least VND100 million ($5,000) per hectare of forest per year. They are mostly forest plantations specialising in big trees.

Le Thien Phuong's forest-farming household is one example. This war veteran in Yen Bai Province has a 30-ha forest on which he grows Acacia (nem tree) and free-range animals in the forest. Last year, his family made VND480 million ($24,000) cutting trees and VND250 million ($12,500) selling livestock.

Phuong said if the State allows banks to extend the term of soft loans, which are lent for a repayment period of three to five years, farmers will keep trees standing longer.

"A tree cut at the age of five can get a price only half of what it costs if kept until the age of 10. But people need money to repay the bank loans, so they are forced to cut their trees earlier than they'd like," Phuong said.

Despite the rosy figures, Ha Cong Tuan, vice agriculture minister, said many forested provinces had not started restructuring.

He ordered them to ready their forestry restructuring plans before the start of the fourth quarter this year. They were also told to act quickly to introduce good practices from other areas to their provinces and encourage local businesses to join hands with farmers to develop planted forests.

Viet Nam has been recognised as one of the 21 Asia-Pacific countries with quickly growing forest cover.

Vietnam seeks stronger rice trade with China’s Guangdong province

Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh has highlighted the importance of Guangdong province as a big market of Vietnam ’s rice and agricultural products as well as exports in general, noting that the province consumes 11.5 percent of Vietnam’s total rice and grain product exports to China.

Addressing a conference on Vietnam-China rice and farm produce trading in Guangzhou city, China ’s Guangdong province, the deputy minister urged closer cooperation between his ministry and Guangdong ’s government as well as food associations and businesses of both sides in order to boost trade between Vietnam and Guangdong , especially in trade of rice and agriculture products.

Meanwhile, Guangdong Vice Governor Zhao Yufang held that there is room for cooperation between Vietnam, a country with great advantage in agricultural production, and the over 100-million strong Guangdong province, especially in rice trading.

She affirmed that the provincial government will continue collaborating with Vietnam ’s Ministries of Industry and Trade, and Agriculture and Rural Development, in creating new playing grounds for business communities of both sides and enhancing bilateral trade partnership.

During the conference, leaders of the Vietnam Food Association briefed over 100 Chinese leading agriculture firms on Vietnam ’s rice production and export as well as competitiveness.

On his part, the head of the Guangdong Food Association introduced the province’s need for agricultural products, especially rice, expressing willingness to set up an affiliation mechanism between the two associations and act as a bridge for business circles of both sides.

Earlier, Deputy Minister Tran Tuan Anh had a working session with Guangdong Vice Governor Zhao Yufang to seek measures to foster economic and trade partnership between Vietnam and Guangdong .

During his stay in China from June 30 to July 3, Anh and the Vietnamese delegation also visited a number of major rice and agricultural product distribution facilities, storages and processing factories in Guangdong .

According to statistics from the Vietnam Customs, last year, trade between Vietnam and China reached 58.7 billion USD, up 17.05 percent over the previous year. As of May this year, the figure was 26 billion USD, a rise of 14.7 percent over that of 2014.

At the same time, Guangzhou’s Customs’ statistics show that in the first four months of this year, trade between Vietnam and Guangdong hit 4 .44 billion USD, an increase of 10.6 percent year on year.

RoK, Vietnam discuss tourism upgrades

More than 70 government officials and personnel from travel agencies, hotels as well as academics from Vietnam and the Republic of Korea exchanged notes and shared best practices at a tourism workshop held on July 3 in HCM City.

The ASEAN-Korea Culture and Tourism Promotion Workshop was organised by the ASEAN-Korea Centre in cooperation with the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism.

The workshop aimed to increase the competitiveness of the Vietnamese tourism sector by providing knowledge about Korean culture. The goal is to improve the quality of services given to South Korean tourists.

"The workshop is a platform for travel agents and tourism enterprises from the two countries to further strengthen tourism cooperation," said La Quoc Khanh, deputy director of the city's Tourism Department.

In the first five months of the year, HCM City welcomed more than 123,200 Korean visitors, a year-on-year increase of 16%, Khanh said.

Over the period, the number of Vietnamese tourists visiting the Republic of Korea rose by 7.5% to nearly 14,500.

Since its inception in 2009, the ASEAN-Korea Centre has implemented various cultural and tourism exchanges programmes, such as the ASEAN Culture and Tourism Fair, ASEAN-Korea Tourism Development Workshop and ASEAN-Korea Youth Network, Kim Young-sun, the centre's Secretary General, said.

In the next six months, the centre plans to introduce tourism attractions in Viet Nam through several programmes, including the ASEAN Culture and Tourism Fair and ASEAN Road Show.

Last year, the number of two-way visitors reached nearly one million, including 833,000 visits to Viet Nam and 142,000 visits to the Republic of Korea.

The ASEAN-Korea Culture and Tourism Promotion Workshop has been implemented since 2009 to promote tourism exchanges between ASEAN and the Republic of Korea.

This year, the workshop was held in Cambodia in May, and after Vietnam, it will be held in Laos, Myanmar and Thailand.

Bac Lieu economy grows in first 6 months

The Mekong Delta province of Bac Lieu reported a 11.87 percent GDP growth in the first six months with positive signs in several key sectors.

The agricultural sector was key to the province’s encouraging results in the first half.

In the summer and winter-spring season, the province harvested 339,100 tonnes of rice, equal to 32 percent of the year’s target and up one percent against the same period.

Total seafood output reached 137,000 tonnes, 79,000 tonnes of which are farmed seafood, up four percent annually.

Frozen shrimp exports, amounting to 18,739 tonnes, earned the province 212 million USD, a four percent increase.

Among its animal livestock, the province has 235,000 pigs and 2.3 million chickens, on track for the year’s plan.

The province produced a combined industrial production value of 1.6 trillion VND (73 million USD), up 11.8 percent against the same period. However, the figure only met 31 percent of the set target.

Targets in exports were also not met, with rice export value reaching only 34 percent of the plan, requiring the province to intensify their efforts from now through the end of the year.

Industrial parks and export processing zones in the southern province of Tay Ninh have attracted over 490 million USD of foreign investment in the first six months of this year, up 13.4 percent annually.

As a result, the province had 231 valid foreign direct investment projects with total registered capital of nearly 3.4 billion USD as of the end of June.

The province is also home to 361 domestic projects worth a total 38 trillion VND (approximately 1.76 billion USD).

Of the projects, Trang Bang industrial park has attracted 160 projects with total investment of 700 million USD; the Moc Bai industrial zone has 46 investment projects with total registered capital of 444 million USD.

Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee Nguyen Thi Thu Thuy said the province has bolstered foreign investment capital in industrial production and economy in the past time.

She reported that local foreign invested businesses posted a combined industrial output value of 631 million USD in the first six months of 2015, around 48 percent increase compared to the same period last year.

FDI projects in the province’s industrial parks and processing centres have created jobs for 93,000 local and neighboring workers.

Binh Duong sees foreign investment boom in garment sector

Over 50 percent of the 1 billion USD in foreign direct investment that landed in the southern province of Binh Duong was poured into the garment sector in the first six months of this year, according to Nguyen Thanh Truc, Director of the provincial Department of Planning and Investment.

The province has granted an investment certificate to Polytex Far Eastern Co., Ltd under the Taiwan Far Eastern Group. With an investment of 274 million USD in the first phase, the company will construct a 99-hectare plant producing auxiliary products including cotton, synthetic and knitted fibres at Bau Bang industrial Park.

This is the largest investment project in the locality since the outset of this year.

As the Trans-Pacific Partnership Trade pact enters the final rounds of negotiation, foreign investors are making huge investments in Vietnam to take advantage of preferential export taxes, Truc said.

In the first two quarters of this year, provincial garment export revenue reached over 904 million USD, rising 11.2 percent from the same period last year and accounting for 10.6 percent of the total exports in the locality.

Vietnam attends 2015 Lisbon Fair

Vietnamese businesses are showcasing their products for the first time at the 2015 Lisbon Fair held in Portugal from June 27 to July 5.

This year’s event, the 28 th of its kind, is featuring approximately 1,000 enterprises from more than 40 nations worldwide and is expected to draw 150,000 visitors over the nine days.

Vietnamese top products include tea, coffee, handicrafts and garments, which have attracted the attention of visitors thus far.

On the opening day, Portuguese Secretary of State of Employment Octavio Oliveira visited Vietnam’s booths. Talking with Vietnamese Trade Counsellor Nguyen Canh Cuong, he spoke highly of the decoration of Vietnamese booths.

He expressed his hope that the two countries would intensify cooperation and take advantage of their potential to support each other effectively in development as well as in raising their position in the international arena.

Trade between Vietnam and Portugal increased from about 90 million USD in 2008 to nearly 370 million USD in 2014. Vietnam mainly exports coffee, seafood, wood products and footwear to Portugal.

AEC brightens prospects for infrastructure investment

The formation of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) by the end of this year will herald many cross-border opportunities for infrastructure investment between the bloc’s member states.

This was the shared opinion at a seminar held on July 2 in Singapore by the Building and Construction Authority (BCA), which brought together dozens of construction and infrastructure corporations and enterprises from Southeast Asia and other parts of the world.

Most of the businesses held that the AEC would create a competitive market with 600 million people in multiple sectors including commerce, retail and tourism as well as the region with the highest demand for infrastructure development in the globe.

Demand for capital and building materials in line with the latest technology has turned the ASEAN into a hot spot for infrastructure investment.

Attendees also spoke highly of the Vietnamese government’s drive to set up a legal framework for public-private partnerships (PPP) which opens doors for overseas investors in the field.

Khalid Saleem, General Manager of Transport Business in the Asia Pacific at Australia-based SMEC, said Vietnam has taken a big step in adopting PPP regulations towards improving business transparency.

Vietnam has huge potential to attract infrastructure investment, he affirmed.

Lena Ng, Board Advisor for Thailand’s Amata Public Company, underscored Vietnam’s commitment to build a conducive business climate for foreign investors, noting that the firm is scheduled to expand its business in Vietnam alongside its existing projects in Bien Hoa (southern Dong Nai province) and Tuan Chau (northern Quang Ninh province).

Vietnam trademark week spotlighted nationwide

On July 3, the Ministry of Industry and Trade announced the upcoming debut of an initiative promoting Vietnamese products across the country.

According to Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Ho Thi Kim Thoa, this year’s annual campaign, titled “Vietnam trademark week”, will run from July through October with the aim to strengthen the bond between domestic producers and consumers.

From July 6 to September 22, the campaign will seek and subsequently unveil its ambassador. It will also give details on activities scheduled for the main week due to take place in Hanoi, Da Nang and Ho Chi Minh City from September 23-29.

The initiative is part of a long-running “Vietnamese prioritise Vietnamese goods” programme, under which all cities and provinces will build communication channels with a “Proud of Vietnamese goods” slogan by 2020.

The programme has thus far helped locally-made products win consumer favour. A 2014 survey from the Public Opinion Research Institute showed that 92 percent of polled participants were interested in the programme and 63 percent preferred using Vietnamese goods, increasing 4 percent from 2010.

Binh Duong: tourism revenue earns 30.5 mln USD in first six months

The southern province of Binh Duong welcomed two million tourists in the first six months of 2015, reported Chairman of the provincial Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism Le Huu Phuoc.

The figure represents an increase of 19 percent from the same period last year.

Of the tourists, 172,000 were international guests and 1,828,000 were domestic visitors.

The industry earned 640 billion VND (30.5 million USD) in the first six months, up 29 percent compared to last year.

According to the chairman, the province targets to receive six million tourists and earn 4.45 trillion VND (212 million USD) in 2020.

To reach the target, the province is calling for investors for tourism projects worth 8.3 trillion VND from 2016-2020.

In order to meet the rising demand of tourists, the province has developed an additional 29 hotels with 420 rooms to accommodate travellers since the beginning of 2015.

To date, the province has nearly 500 businesses working in the industry.

Forestry sector records largest-ever growth rate

Forestry production value has seen its largest-ever growth rate, reaching an average annual increase of 6.57 percent per year over the last three years, 1.54 percent higher than the level recorded in 2010-2012.

Deputy Head of the Vietnam Administration of Forestry Nguyen Ba Ngai made the statement at a conference to review the two-year implementation of a forestry restructuring plan held by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) in Hanoi on July 3.

He said the growth rate is expected to hit 9-10 percent this year.

According to Ngai, the export value of wood and forestry products experienced a two-fold increase within the last five years from 3 billion USD per year in 2010-2012 to 6.27 billion USD per year from 2013-2015.

The conference heard that reforestation received due attention during the period with over 200,000 hectares of forest planted nationwide. The ministry built a number of intensive forestry models in localities as well.

However, restructuring remained limited as the plan has been implemented non-synchronously and slowly.

Addressing the event, MARD Deputy Minister Ha Cong Tuan urged localities to swiftly approve activities for implementing the forestry restructuring plan.

Along with expanding high-yield forestry models, localities need to improve their policies in order to attract enterprise investment in the field, Tuan added.

Italian region shares cooperative development expertise with Vietnam

The Italian region of Emilia-Romagna shared its experiences in developing cooperatives with a visiting delegation led by Vietnam Fatherland Front President Nguyen Thien Nhan on July 2.

At the workshop, Giovanni Monti – President of the Emilia-Romagna branch of the National League of Co-operatives and Mutuals (Legacoop) – said cooperatives in Italy date back more than 150 years and currently generate annual revenue of 45 billion EUR (about 49 billion USD), accounting for 8 percent of the country’s GDP.

The Emilia-Romagna region currently houses 3,500 cooperatives operating in agriculture, industry, construction, education, health care and goods retail. They are members of Legacoop and receive support from the league but operate independently, he noted.

Palma Costi, an official of the region, said cooperatives play an important role in the regional economy and many have become popular worldwide.

She added Emilia-Romagna, one of the wealthiest and most active regions of Italy, is promoting cooperation with Vietnam and especially Binh Duong province. It opened a representative office in the locality to enhance its business operations there.

At the function, major cooperatives of the Italian region like Coop Italian Food, Granarolo, Cefla and Cadiai shared their management and development experience and expressed their interest in boosting business partnerships with Vietnam.

Vietnam Fatherland Front President Nguyen Thien Nhan said his country is a global leading exporter of farm produce and is working towards sustainable agricultural development.

Despite that, it is facing difficulties in processing farm produce, building trademarks and selling products, he said, noting the lax connectivity among the 10 million farming households nationwide as hindering production and sales efficiency.

Nhan said the workshop was an opportunity for Vietnam to learn about the organisation and operation of cooperatives in Emilia-Romagna to help Vietnamese farmers improve their livelihoods. He hoped the region would continue to share experience and support Vietnam in creating food processing industrial parks.

The official also took the chance to present potential business opportunities in Vietnam with its abundant human resources and competitive labour costs, affirming that the Italian region could export its products to the Southeast Asian country with its market of over 90 million people.

At the workshop, a memorandum of understanding on cooperation was signed between the Vietnam Cooperative Alliance and Legacoop and Emilia - Romagna’s Union of the Chambers of Commerce.

Room for VN to expand trade with Mercosur bloc

There is ample room for Vietnam to expand trade and business links with countries in the Mercosur bloc, according to participants at a conference on business opportunities with countries in the sub-regional bloc comprising Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela.

The conference was held in Hanoi by the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Mercosur-ASEAN Chamber of Commerce (MACC) to boost economic cooperation between the Vietnamese business community and businesses from countries in the Mercosur bloc as well as the bloc’s associate countries.

Addressing the conference, Pham Thi Thu Hang, General Secretary of the VCCI, underlined that Vietnam and Latin American countries have a strong opportunity to develop economic relations because their economic structures are highly complementary.

Trade volume between Vietnam and 33 Latin American countries in 2014 reached 9.5 billion USD, up 40.7 percent from 2013, the highest level thus far.

Brazil makes up for 3.3 billion USD, followed by Argentina with 1.9 billion USD and Chile with 890 million USD.

Vietnam mainly exported footwear, garments and textiles, electronics products, refrigeration appliances, rubber, electric motors, optic devices, rice, coffee and coal.

Latin America has become an increasingly important source of materials for Vietnam’s production of footwear, steel, plastics, animal food and soybean and cotton.

According to President of the MACC Rodolfo Caffaro Kramer, despite encouraging achievements, the trade between Vietnam and the Mercosur bloc is still below potential.

Besides traditional partners such as Cuba, Brazil, Argentina, and Chile, trade links between Vietnam with other Latin American countries continues to be limited, he said.

Power engineering consulting company receives Independence Order

Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai presented the Order of Independence-1 st class to the Power Engineering Consulting Joint Stock Company 2 (PECC2) at a ceremony held in Ho Chi Minh City on July 3.

Speaking at the event, the Deputy Prime Minister underscored that the company needs to renew their management mechanisms while enhancing their consulting capacity to meet the demands of customers and both domestic and foreign investors.

He asked the company to broaden their consulting fields while fostering studies on renewable energies to reduce the consumption of fossil fuels and take advantage of available resources.

In the past 30 years, PECC2’s development has been attached to a raft of national key projects – the North-South 500 kilovolt transmission line, Ha Tien-Phu Quoc 110 kilovolt submarine power cable and a number of power plants nationwide.

Last year, the company took charge of the design of the EPC contract for the Vinh Tan 4 thermal power plant, one of three power projects built at a cost of over 1 billion USD.

PECC2’s activities have been extended to countries in the vicinity such as Laos, Cambodia and China.

Vietnam – third largest importer of Chinese steel

Vietnam purchased 3.5 million tonnes of steel from China from January-May, accounting for 8.9 percent of the market share and ranking third among the nation’s importers, according to the Latin American Steel Association (Alacero).

Alacero’s latest data shows that in the period, the Republic of Korea imported the biggest volume of Chinese steel with 5.2 million tonnes or 13.3 percent of the market share.

It was followed by Latin America with 3.8 million tonnes, up 12 percent from the same period last year.

According to Alacero, China exported 39.5 million tonnes of steel to the world in the first five months of this year, an annual rise of 30 percent.

Import-export turnover through Noi Bai airport increases

The import-export turnover of goods through Noi Bai International Airport hit 2.7 billion USD in the first six months of 2015, according to the Airport Customs Department.

During the reviewed period, nearly 2.8 million passengers on 23,758 flights entered and went out Hanoi through Noi Bai International Airport .

Vu Quoc Hung, head of the department, said the airport’s Terminal 2 has a capacity of handling ten million passengers a year and is expected to cater 15 million passengers a year.

The airport has applied risk management through the e-customs system for both passengers and cargos in T2 has helped the sector cut down the time required to deal with procedures, he said, adding the staff’s capacity and sense of responsibility have also improved substantially.

MoIT leads trade mission to China

The Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) is laser focused on expanding rice and agricultural exports to China and has appointed Deputy Minister Tran Tuan Anh to head up a delegation of trade representatives to support the effort.

In connection therewith, Deputy Minister Anh was the key note speaker at a recent forum held in China’s Guangdong province that gathered more than 100 leading Chinese business leaders to discuss trade related issues.

At the event, Anh dilated on how Chinese and Vietnamese business could benefit from expanded trade in agriculture, saying he highly appreciated the important role that Guangdong plays in the trade relations between the two nations.

For his part, the President of the Guangdong Food Association stressed the importance of Vietnam’s agricultural products, especially rice to China and expressed willingness to build strong mechanisms to enhance trade.

At the forum the two sides signed a number of contracts to import rice.

In 2014, China was the largest export market for the nation’s rice at 2.09 million tons valued at US$891.19 million.

Can Tho economy expands at fast pace in six months

The southern city of Can Tho posted a higher economic growth rate than the rates of the country and centrally-run cities in the first half of this year, said a local official.

Its growth was estimated at about 9.2%, up 8.26% annually, as compared to the national rate of 6.28%, Hanoi’s 7.8%, Hai Phong’s 9.12%, Da Nang’s 8.15% and Ho Chi Minh City’s 8.55%, said head of the municipal Statistics Department Le Ngoc Bay.

The high economic performance is credited to less bureaucratic procedures and stabilised market prices.

During the period, Can Tho reeled in nine new projects worth US$29 million in processing and industrial zones.

The total goods sales and service value topped VND76.35 trillion (US$3.63 billion), marking a yearly rise of 14%, more than VND42.2 trillion (US$2 billion) of which was from the retail and service sectors.

Export earnings from farm produce, garment and handicrafts were also growing, ranging from 11.5 – 25%.

On the tourism front, the city welcomed about 1 million visitors, including over 103,500 foreigners and raked in VND970 billion (US$46.1 million), up 85%.

It contributed over VND8.8 trillion (US$419 million) to the State budget, up 50% from last year’s same period.

Vietnamese exporters should leverage EU trade pact to increase exports to N.Europe

Local exporters will earn much more if their products are put on the shelves of retail stores in Northern Europe following the expected signing of a free trade agreement between Vietnam and the European Union (EU) this year, an expert said at a conference in Ho Chi Minh City on July 3.

Once successfully penetrating the Finnish market, and then expanding into other Northern European markets, Vietnamese exporters will generate much higher export revenue than what they can earn in other EU markets, Le Ky Anh, a trade and economic officer at the delegation of the EU to Vietnam, remarked at the “Doing Business with the EU and Finland” conference.

Importers in Northern European countries, including Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden, are willing to pay high prices for quality imports, Anh said.

The government of Finland has begun funding the FLC14-04 project, which will help Vietnamese enterprises with the export of agricultural and aquatic products to that specific nation and the Northern European region, he said.

The FLC14-04 project will be implemented to organize activities to promote the image of Vietnamese goods in those markets and offer Vietnamese firms a chance to get into thecountries, Anh said.

Via the project, the government of Finland, in cooperation with the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry, has opened many training courses for Vietnamese companies to keep them informed of any market update.

Under the project, many study tours for Vietnamese enterprises to survey the Nordic market have been organized, Anh added.

The project management unit will post information on their business and capacity on its official website after finding out about potential Vietnamese exporters.

The website will help Finnish importers look for information on capable Vietnamese exporters and sign cooperation agreements with them immediately with no more verification needed.

As Vietnam and the EU are complementary economies, the former’s exports to the latter will not be challenged by goods produced by the firms there, Anh said.

Vietnam is good at producing and processing agricultural and aquatic products, which are contrary to the Nordic countries which have advantages in machinery and technologies, he elaborated.

Moreover, because it is very cold in Northern Europe, most agricultural commodities are imported from abroad.

This will be the potential markets for Vietnamese agricultural exporters, Anh asserted.

Vietnam has posted strong growth in exports to the EU market with consistent annual rates of 15-17%, he said.

Last year, bilateral trade between Vietnam and the EU surpassed US$36 billion and the Southeast Asian country enjoyed a trade surplus of around US$19 billion, the trade and economic officer cited official figures.

The EU accounted for 19-20% of Vietnam’s exports of key products in 2014, 36% of the country’s phone exports, 35% of its leather-shoe shipments, and 16.8% of its outbound apparel sales.

Once the trade pact between Vietnam and the EU is signed this year, the bloc will liberalize 95-97% of tariffs on Vietnamese goods and thus local firms should prepare to make the most out of this opportunity, Anh said.

Finance Minister underlines Vietnam’s market economy policy

The conference held recently in the US by the Ministry of Finance and US partners wants to clarify Vietnam’s consistent policy of developing the market economy and the wish to attract more foreign investment, especially that from the US, according to Finance Minister Dinh Tien Dung.

In an interview granted to the Vietnam News Agency in early July, the minister said the investment promotion conference also aims to update US investors on Vietnam’s economic reform, particularly the efforts to fine tune institutions, mechanisms and legal framework to facilitate foreign investment, citing the Government’s Decree 60 as an example.

The message of the conference, which took place in New York on July 1-4, was to build more intensive and comprehensive partnership in the fields of finance and capital market of Vietnam and the US for mutual benefit, he said.

Looking back at the Vietnam-US economic relation over the last 20 years, Dung said the bilateral ties recorded positive development, especially in economics, investment, finance and trade.

The US is one of the 10 largest foreign investors in Vietnam, with an increasing number of US firms operating in Vietnam such as JPMorgan Chase, CitiGroup, Goldman Sachs, and Morgan Stanley.

In terms of trade, Vietnam has become the largest ASEAN exporter to the US market.

Economic ties between the two countries will be likely to witness strong breakthroughs in the coming time, Dung commented, citing favourable conditions such as the upcoming Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement to which both Vietnam and the US are members, and the strengthened comprehensive partnership between the two countries.

Latin America, Vietnam to expand trade

Vietnam and Latin American countries have supplementary business structures, which could help boost economic development.

Pham Thi Thu Hang, general secretary of Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), made the remark at a workshop on business opportunities in the Southern Common Market (Mercosur) organised by VCCI and the Mercosur-ASEAN Chamber of Commerce.

The businesses include oil and gas exploitation and processing, mining, hydro-electricity, wind-driven electricity, nuclear power, atomic energy, biological products and agriculture.

The trade relations between Vietnam and the trade block have seen fast development in recent years, as Vietnam has established trade relations with 33 markets in the region, according to Hang.

Vietnam's export turnover to Latin American countries increased by 37% to US$4.7 billion last year, compared with 2013.

Meanwhile, imports to Vietnam from Latin America rose by nearly 50% year over year to reach US$4.8 billion.

The two-way trade turnover between Vietnam and 33 Latin American countries reached $9.5 billion last year, up 40.7% over 2013.

Commodities Vietnam exports to Latin American markets include footwear, electronic products, rubber, electric motors, optical devices, rice, coffee and coal.

The country imports raw material for textiles and garments, footwear, steel and iron scraps, animal feed and cotton from Latin American markets.

Mercosur - ASEAN Chamber of Commerce President Rodolfo Caffaro Kramer said that despite the achievements, trade between Vietnam and Mercosur could be improved.

Apart from traditional partners like Cuba, Brazil, Argentina, Chile and Venezuela, trade between Vietnam and other countries in the block has not expanded.

Rodolfo said the trade was lower than its potential due to language barriers, geographical distance and limited information between partners.

Enterprises from the two sides also have fewer opportunities to meet each other, due to high market research expenses, the president added.

Mercosur is an important region in Latin America, with free trade agreements among Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Venezuela, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru.

Taiwan investors unable to fund multi-billion dollar steel mill

The fate of a multi-billion dollar steel mill project is now uncertain after its Taiwanese investors struggled to raise money for it, following several adjustments to the construction plan the past decade.

Guang Lian Dung Quat Steel Mill's investors have confirmed with local agencies about their funding problems, nine years after the project was licensed, news website Tuoi Tre Online reported on July 3.

As of last June, Quang Ngai authorities had spent VND223 billion (US$10.21 million) on compensation to residents relocated for the project, according to the news report. Two-thirds of the site has been cleared.

Meanwhile, investors have spent around US$42 million building initial structures for the construction, news website Saigon Times Online reported.

The project was initially proposed in 2006 by Taiwanese-owned Tycoons Vietnam Co., Ltd with a cost estimate of over US$1 billion, aiming to produce five million tons of steel a year.

Soon after that E-United Group, a steel conglomerate also from Taiwan, jumped in, increasing the factory's investment to US$3.3 billion without changing its designed output.

E-United contributed 90% of the projected cost and the rest from Tycoons.

In 2011, the investors asked for permission to raise both the cost and capacity of the factory, but authorities rejected the request, saying the investors failed to prove that they could provide enough funding.

The next year Japan's JEF Steel Corp. showed interest in the project, but backed out after studying its feasibility for two years.

After that, E-United proposed to cut the project's investment to US$2 billion.

Vietnam to publish list of major tax defaulters: report

The Ministry of Finance has ordered the tax department and tax offices in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City to publish the names of 600 businesses with the most unpaid taxes and debts this month, according to media reports.

Each will make a list of the 100 biggest tax defaulters and 100 with debts much higher than their capital, Deputy Minister of Finance Do Hoang Tuan Anh was quoted as saying.

The move is part of the finance ministry's effort to reduce the high ratio of unpaid taxes over collections, which is currently 10%, he said, adding that tax agencies also have to step up oversight of businesses.

Vietnam's total back taxes amount to VND72 trillion (US$3.29 billion) and the ratio is high in some places like Hanoi where it is 12%.

Tax agencies have to increase their revenues by 10% this year as part of the ministry's efforts to make up for the decrease in the country’s income from crude oil, Anh said.

Government’s revenues may be VND32 trillion (US$1.46 billion) lower than estimated due to the sharp decline in crude oil prices, according to the ministry.

They were VND446 trillion (US$20.43 billion) in the first six months, or 49% of the target, it said.

Vietnam’s first-half cell phone production tops 107 million units

With major foreign phone makers expanding production, Vietnam’s mobile phone industry posted strong growth in the first half of this year, the latest figures show.

The first six months saw 107.3 million mobile phones made and assembled in the Southeast Asian country, a massive 68.8% increase compared to the same period last year, according to the General Statistics Office.

The export value of cellphones and components in the six-month period topped US$14.7 billion, up 27% from the first half of 2014.

The General Statistics Office also reported that 2.16 million televisions, 1.38 million motorbikes, and 88,100 cars were made in Vietnam from the start of the year to the end of June.

The TV and car sectors also posted solid production growth rates of 40.3% and 57.6%, respectively.

The robust manufacturing of mobile phones in Vietnam was mostly driven by foreign players, including Samsung Electronics Vietnam, Microsoft Mobile Vietnam, and LG Electronics.

Samsung is operating seven projects worth a total of US$11.3 billion in the Southeast Asian country, the two biggest of which are mobile phone production complexes in Bac Ninh and Thai Nguyen, two provinces in the north.

The Republic of Korea's electronics behemoth has so far channeled US$2.5 billion and US$5 billion into these complexes, respectively.

Microsoft, meanwhile, inaugurated its first authorized resale store in Vietnam last week.

It was reportedly shutting down two handset plants it inherited from Nokia in China and relocating part of the manufacturing to Vietnam, according to media reports in February.

The General Statistics Office also said Vietnam’s gross domestic product expanded 6.28% year-on-year in the first six month of this year, whereas the country suffered a US$3.8 billion trade deficit.

In the first half of 2014, the country enjoyed a US$1.9 billion trade surplus.

Vietnam’s exports in the six-month period of 2015 topped US$77.7 billion, up 9.3% from the same period last year, but imports soared 17.7% to US$81.5 billion, according to the office.

Construction firms step up privatisation

The privatisation of businesses in the construction sector has been accelerated to complete the target for equitising its 19 firms nationwide.

In the first half of the year, the Ministry of Construction established a steering committee on privatisation for approving plans, clarifying business value, and spending for works at each company.

Viet Nam Construction and Import-Export Corporation and the Infrastructure Development and Construction Corporation (Licogi) sold out all their shares at initial public offering (IPO). Licogi has negotiated to sell shares to strategic shareholders and labourers.

The ministry also submitted a privatisation plan for Viet Nam Machinery Erection Corporation. It has completed the announcement of business value, as well as the privatisation plan for Construction Corporation No.1 (CC1) and Construction Material Corporation No.1.

Accordingly, CC1 will be converted into a joint stock company by the end of this year. The corporation will issue 110 million shares, with the starting price at VND10,000 each. The government will hold 44 million shares; 413,500 shares will be distributed to the corporation's labourers for preferential prices; 49.5 million shares will be sold to strategic investors, and 14 million shares will be sold at IPO.

Tuan Loc Construction Investment Company and Top American Viet Nam want to be CC1's strategic investors by buying 41.8 million and 7.7 million shares, respectively.

In addition, several businesses in the sector have been carrying out business value assessments for their privatisation. These include Construction Machinery Corporation, Khanh Hoa Housing Development Company, Viet Nam Construction Consultant Corporation, Song Da Corporation, as well as Housing and Urban Development Corporation and Viet Nam Cement Corporation.

The construction sector is expected to announce business value in the third quarter. The ministry will submit privatisation plans to the Prime Minister in the last quarter of the year for approval.

The ministry also plans to divest from non-core businesses at State-owned enterprises, with a total value of VND5.25 trillion (US$243 million).

VEF/VNA/VNS/VOV/SGT/SGGP/Dantri/VIR