The third Coffee Expo Vietnam 2018 will be held in Ho Chi Minh City next week, attracting 250 brands from 10 nations.

The event, which is slated from November 1 – 3 at the Saigon Exhibition and Convention Centre (SECC), will display and introduce equipment and materials for coffee making beverages, as well as bakery tools and materials of domestic and international brands.

The annual expo also offers coffee and confectionery business and shop owners to seek sources of high quality materials as well as learn about business and investment activities.

A special highlight of the event is the Vietnam Super Barista Championship with attractive prizes worth up to 200 million VND.

Coffee was first cultivated in Vietnam in 1857. To date, Vietnam’s coffee growing areas reached 20,000ha. The country exports 1.8 million tonnes of coffee beans, raking in 3.2 billion USD per year. Vietnam is currently the world’s second largest coffee exporter, after Brazil.

Vietnam exported 1.46 million tonnes of coffee worth 2.77 billion USD in the first nine months of 2018, an increase of 20.1 percent in volume and 0.4 percent in value compared to the same period last year. 

HCM City – Moc Bai Highway pre-feasibility study done

Project management unit number 2 (PMU2) has urged the Ministry of Transport to approve a pre-feasibility study it has done for the Ho Chi Minh City – Moc Bai Expressway.

The 53.5km highway will run from Hoc Mon district in the city to a point on National Road 22 two kilometres from the Moc Bai border gate with Cambodia.

It is planned to be built in two stages. The first stage from HCM City to Trang Bang will be a six-lane expressway with a width of 27m that will allow vehicles to travel at speeds of 120km.

The second stage from Trang Bang to Moc Bai will be a four-lane expressway with a width of 17m since traffic on this stretch is expected to be lighter.

The first stage is expected to cost 10.5 trillion VND (457 million USD), including 5.75 trillion VND (250 million USD) for construction and equipment and 2 trillion VND (87 million USD) for land acquisition.

National Road 22 is currently the only road connecting HCM City with the Moc Bai border gate, which provides overland access to Southeast Asia, and the number of vehicles using it is increasing by 8 – 10 percent a year.

It is predicted it will become overloaded once the trans-Asia road linking Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand opens to traffic in a few years’ time.

“It is time to invest in an expressway connecting HCM City with the Moc Bai border gate,” Le Thang, deputy general director of PMU 2, told Dau Tu (Vietnam Investment Review) newspaper.

In August Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc instructed the Ministry of Transport and Tay Ninh province to make preparations for building the HCM City – Moc Bai Expressway and submit the pre-feasibility study for it to the Government in the fourth quarter of this year.

“The public-private partnership (PPP) model is the only way to mobilise capital for the project in the context of limited availability of Government funds,” Thang said.

However, due to the huge sums involved, the PMU2 has urged the ministry to use a mix of PPP, ODA and Government funding.

In the event, 5.4 trillion VND (235 million USD) will come from PPP, 5 trillion VND (217 million USD) from the Government and 2.9 trillion VND (126 million USD) from ODA.

The expressway is expected to break even in 17 and a half years with the initial toll for vehicles being 1,500 VND (65 US cents) per kilometre.

The biggest risk the project could face is a delay in acquiring land since a huge 342 hectares would be required.

“If localities do not provide 80 percent of the land required before work starts and the remaining 20 percent in the next six to 12 months, local authorities might be punished,” Mai The Vinh of the PPP Transport Policy Centre at George Mason University in the US, said.

Vietnam Finance Co. Ltd in Hong Kong marks 40th anniversary

The Vietnam Finance Company Limited (VFC) in China’s Hong Kong, the first overseas financial institution of Vietnam, marked its 40th founding anniversary on October 26.

VFC Director Nguyen Ngoc Ban said the firm was established in 1978, when Vietnam had just begun post-war reconstruction and economic development efforts. At that time, the payment in US dollar between Vietnam and other countries was particularly difficult as Vietnam hadn’t had many relations with international banks and the US imposed embargos on the country.

Therefore, the VFC acted as a financial intermediary between Vietnam and the world when it supported the country’s export, import and other external economic activities. It was also a channel for mobilising capital in foreign currencies, transferring remittances, and providing credit and funding activities serving reforms and economic development in the homeland, he noted.

Nghiem Xuan Thanh, Chairman of the board of director of the Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam (Vietcombank) – which wholly owns the VFC, lauded the company’s contributions to the realisation of his bank’s vision and strategic targets.

He added Vietcombank aims to become the No.1 bank in Vietnam, one of the 100 biggest banks in Asia, and one of the 300 largest financial-banking groups in the world.

The VFC was granted with the establishment certificate in Hong Kong on February 10, 1978 with the registered initial capital of 5 million HKD (637,000 USD).

Hong Kong accommodates many leading financial organisations of the world. Vietcombank is currently the only financial-banking institution of Vietnam in this Chinese territory.

Vietnam enters Elevator Pitch Competition Hong Kong’s Top 10

Pham Hung Phong, CEO of Vietnam’s Cyfeer, has been named one of the 10 finalists at the Elevator Pitch Competition Hong Kong 2018, an international start-up pitch competition hosted by the Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation.

The Ho-Chi Minh City-based Cyfeer provides a resident-friendly apartment management system which gives managers and investors an overview of their apartments so that they can improve service quality and save cost. 

The competition’s final round saw 100 high potential start-ups around the world.  The winner would receive an investment prize worth up to 120,000 USD.

Three Vietnamese entrepreneurs joined this year’s competition, who said this was a good opportunity for young start-ups in Vietnam to obtain more practical experiences and have an insight into the start-up environment.

They added this was also a chance for them to bring the image of Vietnamese young entrepreneurs to their peers around the world and learn start-up exprience, thereby creating a healthy start-up community in Vietnam.

The annual competition also included a series of seminars and forums to help the 100 qualifying competitors improve their presentation and communication skills as well as boost connectivity in the international economic environment.

10th Vietnam Int’l Retailtech & Franchise Show to take place

The 10th Vietnam International Retailtech & Franchise Show (VIETRF) will take place in Ho Chi Minh City from November 1-3.

The event is expected to draw the participation of about 150 franchise models, and 50 retailtech brands from countries like Vietnam, the Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Japan, Canada, India, the Philippines and the United States. 

Apart from displaying and introducing products, the event will focus on business matching programmes and training courses, seminars on retail and franchise activities.

VIETRF is the only trade show about retail-related technologies & franchise businesses in Vietnam that attracts more than 30,000 visitors every year.

Last year’s show was filled with exhibitors from countries all over the world, including the RoK, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, and more. 

According to last year’s exhibitor survey, 92 percent of exhibitors indicated that they were satisfied with the exhibition and the results, and 81 percent of exhibitors indicated that they would participate in the show again.

Technology key to Vietnam’s economic growth

Vietnam’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth reached 6.81 percent last year, the highest in the last decade.

The country’s competitive capacity increased five places to rank 55th out of 137 countries, its innovation index increased 12 ranks and the index of sustainable development rose 20 places.

These achievements are attributed to the efforts of the Government in transforming the economic growth model, applying the achievements of industry 4.0 and promoting innovation in the digital era, announced a meeting on digital enterprises and innovation in Hanoi on October 26. It was co-organised by the Institute for Brand and Competitiveness Strategy (BCSI) and the Vietnam Internet Association.

The digital economy has four pillars, which are digital technology infrastructure, supporting infrastructure, electronic business and e-commerce, said Nguyen Thi Minh Huyen, deputy head of the Vietnam eCommerce and Digital Economy Agency.

The country has a population of 96 million, of which 35 percent are city dwellers. The number of Internet users is 64 million, accounting for 67 percent of the total population.

Huyen noted that the supporting infrastructure for digital technology in Vietnam was still modest.

According to a survey of the Vietnam eCommerce and Digital Economy Agency, only 40 percent of the country’s population had banking accounts. The online payment rate accounted for only 10 percent of transactions.

According to Universal Postal Union 2017, the index for postal development of Vietnam was only about 47.8 percent.

A survey of the Vietnam eCommerce and Digital Economy Agency last year also showed that 40 percent of online shoppers were not satisfied with shipping services.

In term of electronic business, only 18 percent of Vietnamese industrial enterprises are ready for digital transformation, a survey of the Ministry of Industry and Trade revealed.

Up to 61 percent of enterprises are still standing outside, while 21 percent of the enterprises have had initial preparation.

In terms of e-commerce, the market has seen rapid development in the recent years with an annual growth of 25 percent.

The size of the business-to-customers (B2C) e-commerce market in Vietnam reached about 62 billion USD last year. Of which, the average value of online shopping per person was 186 USD last year.

President of the BCSI Institute Council Nguyen Van Nam emphasised that to survive and develop in the digital era, enterprises had to change and accelerate the application of information technology into their production and management system.

Vo Tri Thanh, director of the institute, said that in the integration era with the trend of "digitisation" in all fields, enterprises could not stay still.

Previously, the economy was based mainly on companies, but now it is based on the public and individuals, Thanh said, adding that each individual could be a programmer in today’s modern economy.

Firms urged to embrace mobile marketing

More than 400 executives representing local and foreign businesses, brands, agencies, publishers, and technology companies took part in the 2018 Mobile Marketing Association Forum held in HCM City on October 26 to discuss the opportunities and challenges for enterprises from the explosive growth of mobile marketing.

"Shape the Future" covered topics like leadership perspective: how to manage today’s complex marketing landscape; how digital marketing can lead and enrich brand experience introduction; reaching rural mobile consumers; and the secrets to operating successfully on mobile platforms.

Rohit Dadwal, managing director of the Mobile Marketing Association Asia Pacific Limited, said mobile phones have drastically changed the way consumers are accessing media content.

This year nearly 50 percent of Vietnamese who are connected to the internet did so via smartphones, with mobile devices growing to account for 50 percent of all digital minutes in Vietnam, and this in turn has profound effects at the business level, he said.

The shift in mobile consumption is shaping the way businesses across sectors are conducting themselves in the marketing world, he said.

Businesses are transforming themselves to embrace and maximise mobile marketing efforts, he said, pointing out that, for instance, video advertising is becoming a key focus for many industry players as online video content consumption increases across all age groups in Vietnam.

“We are at a juncture where it has become imperative for business to leverage mobile marketing to create a deep, authentic connection with consumers.

“As an industry, we need to look to the future and take charge of shaping the future of not just mobile marketing, but also our businesses.”

According to David Porter, vice president, Global Media, at Unilever Asia, Africa, Middle East, Turkey and Russia, marketing is evolving faster than ever. As a result, it has put tremendous pressure on marketers to rethink their organisational structure to best take advantage of mobile marketing, he said. “Vietnam is at the centre of mobile growth.”

Brands have to be prepared to meet customers where they are, they should prepare to have assets really mobile-ready, including optimising websites for small screens with contents repurposed for any screen, pre-aligning creative and media teams to build relevant assets, and understanding viewability, he added.

Delegates said in the context of increasing demand for effectiveness of marketing campaigns from clients, traditional media methods no longer bring maximum value any more, and keeping up with the latest trends in the market is the key for marketers to nimbly meet clients’ needs.

In a fast changing world, marketers tomorrow must be agile and adaptive to understand emerging trends which shape the future of human beings and always be ready to serve consumers in novel, exciting and better ways, they said.

At the forum, Indian firm POKKT released a new report titled The Power of Mobile Gaming in Vietnam in association with MMA and Decision Lab.

With mobile gaming registering phenomenal growth across multiple demographics in Vietnam, the largest mobile gaming market in Southeast Asia, advertisers have an unparalleled opportunity to optimise audience engagement and drive higher returns on investments, according to the report.

Participants also heard presentations on the best campaigns from the 2018 Smarties Vietnam Awards.

Phan Bich Tam, country manager, Mobile Marketing Association in Vietnam, Myanmar and Cambodia, said the annual event provides a good opportunity for participants to network and seek potential partners.

Hapro signs agricultural contracts worth 2 million USD

Hanoi Trade Corporation (Hapro) has signed contracts for exporting agricultural products worth about 2 million USD at the world’s largest food innovation exhibition SIAL Paris.

The fair, which is taking place in Paris from October 23-27, has an exhibition area of nearly 250,000 sq.m, attracting about 6,500 businesses from more than 100 countries around the world. It is also expected to welcome more than 155,000 visitors from more than 190 countries.

Hapro’s booth features traditional exports of Vietnam such as rice, pepper, cashews, cinnamon, processed food, vermicelli, rice noodles, rice crackers, dried fruits, desiccated coconut and spices.

At the exhibition, Hapro welcomed about 100 customers to learn about the opportunities for cooperation. The corporation also signed export contracts for agricultural products including cashew nuts, desiccated coconut, pepper and cinnamon.

Hapro is also actively negotiating with clients to continue signing contracts to export key products such as rice, pepper, cashew nut, cassava starch, processed vegetables as well as dried fruits.

Prior to this, at the World Rice Conference held in Hanoi from October 10 to 12, Hapro inked three contracts to export rice to Malaysia and the US worth nearly 2.5 million USD.

After the equitisation in June 2018, Hapro’s business activities have made remarkable changes. The corporation has launched a number of trade promotion activities, sought new markets, and strengthened exports. 

According to Hapro’s chairwoman Nguyen Thi Nga, in the coming time, Hapro will focus on improving export turnover and making Hapro brand become the leading international brand in the region.

Besides developing commercial infrastructure in Hanoi and other provinces or cities across the country to serve retail development, Hapro boosts the export of key agricultural products and foodstuffs of Vietnam as well as handicraft products to 80 countries and regions in the world.

In the first nine months of 2018, Hapro’s export turnover reached 89 million USD, equaling 122 percent over the same period last year. The corporation’s revenue hit over 3.9 trillion VND (167.2 million USD), a year-on-year increase of 20 percent.

Some export items continued to have high growth rates such as cashew nut with 62 million USD (up 15 percent) and rice with 12 million USD (up 22 percent) over the same period in 2017.

Hapro strives to achieve total revenue of 9 trillion VND by 2020, an increase of 45 percent compared to 2018 with 80 percent of revenue coming from exports, said Hapro’s general director Vu Thanh Son.

Bumper harvest boosts fisheries’ profits, shares

Strong growth of local fisheries production and exports has helped many listed firms increase profits, with some even hitting their yearly profit targets in only nine months.  

A major seafood exporter, Vinh Hoan Corp announced its nine-month revenue of nearly 6.6 trillion VND (283.2 million USD) and net profit of 1.04 trillion VND, up 9.6 percent and 153 percent year-on-year, respectively. Particularly, its net profit surpassed the goal set for the whole year by 67 percent.

In the third quarter alone, the company’s selling prices recorded the highest level since the beginning of the year and increased 37 percent over the same period of last year. It saw strong growth in sales of more than 50 percent in most products which helped lift the net profit in the third quarter to over 609 billion VND, a 3.6 times higher than the same period of 2017.

Ben Tre Aquaproduct Import and Export JSC and Sao Ta Foods JSC, two subsidiary firms of PAN Group, have had a good year.

Ben Tre Aquaproduct’s pre-tax profits exceeded its yearly target by 25 percent after nine months thanks to higher fish prices and lower expenses, due to self-sufficiency in fish material. Its revenues reached 308 billion VND (13.2 million USD), up 8.4 percent year-on-year, while cost of capital declined 5.5 percent.

Ending September, its net profit was 55 billion VND, 3.5 times higher than the same period of last year.

Sao Ta Foods has almost hit its yearly target with nine-month pre-tax profit of 128 billion VND, up 36 percent year-on-year and 91 percent of the goal for the whole year. It posted revenues of more than 2.8 trillion VND and net profit of 119 billion VND, up 17 percent and 27.4 percent on-year, respectively. Based on these figures, the company is confident that its profit will surpass the yearly target by 40-50 percent.

Seafood manufacturing Nam Viet Corp also announced its net profit exceeded 2018’s target by 23 percent with 250 billion VND earned in the last nine months, up 253 percent over the same period of last year.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) estimated total output of aquatic products reached nearly 2.6 million tonnes in the last nine months, aquaculture production at more than 2.9 million tonnes and export value at 6.4 billion USD, up 5.1 percent, 6.6 percent and 7.2 percent on-year, respectively.

The US, Japan, China and the Republic of Korea remained top importing markets for Vietnamese seafood, accounting for combined 54.1 percent of total export value.

Tra fish production and exports have developed well since the beginning of this year despite the breeding crisis and barriers in import markets. MARD forecast raw fish supply for export in the last quarter would remain constrained, helping maintain the export price.

A similar situation would happen with shrimp exports together with the recovery of shrimp prices in global markets.

Many Vietnamese seafood processing companies have signed big export contracts for important holidays by the end of the year.

Expected big profits of fisheries firms have also boosted share prices of these companies. Shares of Nam Viet Corp (ANV) have doubled in value since the beginning of the year while shares of Vinh Hoan Corp (VHC) have climbed by 85 percent. Shares of Ben Tre Aquaproduct (ABT), Sao Ta Foods (FMC) and Vinh Hoan Corp (VHC) have risen by 18-74 percent each. 

Vinamilk imports 200 more dairy cows

The Vietnam Dairy Products Joint Stock Company (Vinamilk) imported more than 200 organic dairy cows from Australia in October.

These pregnant cows are expected to produce 8,000 litres per cycle.

These cows were sent to Vinamilk’s Organic Milk Farm Da Lat in the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong, bringing the total number of cows at the farm to nearly 1,000. 

At this farm, dairy cows are fed with 100 percent organic food and cavort freely in the fresh grasslands of Da Lat every day. Favourable weather conditions and professional equipment such as a closed waste treatment system, renewable energy biogas and solar energy as well as automatic cooling fan system will provide the most favourable habitat to improve the milking ability of cows.

From the beginning of this year, Vinamilk has imported more than 400 dairy cows to the Thong Nhat high-tech dairy farm in the central province of Thanh Hoa and Vinamilk Organic Farm Da Lat, increasing the number of cows in Vinamilk’s farms and farmers to over 120,000, with an output of about 800 tonnes of raw milk per day. The increase of cows reflects the commitment of Vinamilk to ensure raw milk sources for domestic production and export.

Next year, Vinamilk plans to import steer cows and A2 cows to serve the diverse needs of consumers. These cows must meet the standards of appearance and health, genealogy and reproductive capacity of the mother and genetic potential of the father, before being imported to Vietnam.

In addition to expanding its raw materials, Vinamilk constantly improves its machinery and technology, expanding its production scale and offering products that meet the needs of consumers. 

Latest G-bond auction raises 85.6 million USD

The State Treasury raised about 2 trillion VND (85.6 million USD) from Government bonds (G-bond) in an auction at the Hanoi Stock Exchange (HNX) this week.

According to the HNX, the auction offered a total of 3.5 trillion VND (150 million USD) worth of G-bonds with different maturities.

Four tenures were available, including five-year, 10-year and 15-year bonds valued at 1 trillion VND (42.8 million USD) each, and 30-year bonds worth 500 billion VND (21.4 million USD).

The auction of five-year bonds drew the interest of 16 investors and mobilised 450 billion VND (19.27 million USD) at the average yield rate of 4.2 percent per year, up 0.1 percent from that of the previous auction on October 17.

The auction of 10-year bonds attracted nine bidders and sold 850 billion VND (36.4 million USD) worth of bonds at the annual interest rate of 4.9 percent, 0.05 percent higher than that of the October 17 session.

Five investors made a bid at the auction of 15-year bonds which raised 700 billion VND (30 million USD) at the average interest rate of 5.2 percent, down 0.2 percent from that of the previous session.

There was no successful bid for 30-year bonds.

So far this year, the State Treasury of Vietnam has collected nearly 126.43 trillion VND (5.4 billion USD) from G-bond auction at the HNX, accounting for over 70.2 percent of the yearly target.

According to the Ministry of Finance, Vietnam expects to issue 180 trillion VND (7.7 billion USD) worth of G-bonds this year, with the focus being on long-term maturity and keeping the interest rate at low levels.

G-bonds valuing at 159.9 trillion VND (7.03 billion USD) and having an average maturity of 13.52 years, up 4.81 years against 2016, were issued last year. The bonds had an average annual interest rate of some 6.07 percent, down 0.2 percentage points against 2016. 

VinFast, PV Oil partner to implement e-vehicle charging stations

VinFast, a subsidiary of the multi-sector conglomerate Vingroup, and the PetroVietnam Oil Corporation (PV Oil) on October 25 signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperation to implement a system of stations for charging electric vehicles and leasing batteries.

Under this deal, VinFast will initially install charging equipment at 600 gas stations of PV Oil nationwide. The number of such stations will be increased to 20,000 by 2020.

At PV Oil stations, VinFast will flexibly provide services to meet customers’ demand, including quick charging, overnight charging, and leasing batteries.

PV Oil is one of the leading petrol retailers in Vietnam with its outlets present in all 63 provinces and cities.

The partnership with PV Oil is said to be an important step towards debuting VinFast’s electric motorbikes in late 2018 and electric cars in the future.

General Director of Vingroup Nguyen Viet Quang said this cooperation is the first step to set up 30,000 – 50,000 charging and battery leasing stations of VinFast nationwide in the near future. VinFast will continue seeking prestigious partners with location advantages to expand this network.

Earlier, the company also sought resellers for its electric scooters.

Hau Giang, RoK organisation continue hi-tech farming cooperation

The Mekong Delta province of Hau Giang will continue working with the Republic of Korea (RoK)’s organisation for agricultural technology transfer and trade (FACT) in forming agricultural production value chains, stated a local official.

Truong Canh Tuyen, Vice Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee made the statement at a working session with FACT representatives and some Korean businessmen on October 25. The session discussed projects implemented at the Hau Giang high-tech farming park.

Highlighting experience exchange and win-win cooperation between Hau Giang, FACT and involved businesses, Tuyen expected the sides to start production chains following their successful tests in 2017 and 2018.

In late May this year, FACT signed an agreement with Hau Giang to increase the use of biological products of the RoK for growing pineapple, pomelo and mango. Accordingly, the organisation will provide 17,000 USD worth of 20 biological products to the locality.

In 2017, FACT ran a cooperation project with a village in the local Vinh Vien commune, Long My district, under which it supplied 13 biological products and some technological equipment for rice cultivation in two crops on an area of 14 hectares at a cost of 9,000 USD.

From October 25 to 27, three RoK companies are scheduled to run demonstrations of three machines for land levelling, automatic pesticide spraying, and fruit sorting based on weight.

On October 29 and 30, seven RoK companies will come to Hau Giang to visit a number of sites showcasing local products, looking for partnership opportunities in building value chains for key plants of the province.

Financial sector modernisation project reviewed

The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) held a conference in Hanoi on October 25 to review the financial sector modernisation and information management system project. 

Conducted in the SBV, the Credit Information Centre (CIC) and the Deposit Insurance of Vietnam (DIV), the project had a total investment of 71.83 million USD, of which 60 million USD was from the International Development Association (IDA), 0.83 million USD in non-refundable aid from the Japanese government and the remaining from Vietnam’s State budget. 

SVB Vice Governor Nguyen Kim Anh said it is the first project covering key areas of the banking sector, including monetary policy, foreign exchange management, forecast-statistics, banking inspection and supervision, human resources management, accounting-finance, document management, CIV and DIV capacity improvement. 

The first stage from January 2011 – August 2013 focused on capacity improvement while the second stage from August 2013 to December 2017 centred on information technology infrastructure upgrade. 

They issued nearly 80 circulars, decisions and hundreds of documents guiding the operation and management of IT systems, and launched seven key IT systems in line with the Decision No.2049/QD-NHNN dated October 9, 2012 of the SBV Governor. 

DIV General Director Dao Quoc Tinh said via the project, a system of standard hardware and software was installed at the headquarters and eight regional branches. A data centre was based in Hanoi while a back-up centre was launched in the central city of Da Nang. 

The DIV standardised 87 banking processes up to international practices. 

As of December 31, 2017, the project was completed and achieved targets set in the agreement signed between Vietnam and the IDA.

Yen Bai works hard to attract more foreign investment

Foreign direct investment (FDI) has helped boost socio-economic development in the northern mountainous province of Yen Bai, contributing to shifting the economic structure, creating more jobs and improving locals’ living conditions.

To attract more FDI, the mountainous province has continuously promoted its strengths in natural resources and preferential policies to enterprises, especially those with foreign investment.

The Foreign Investment Law was issued in 1987, but Yen Bai did not see any project coming until nine years later. The first FDI project was on limestone exploration, exploitation and processing at Mong Duong mine in Yen Binh district with a registered capital of 7.6 million USD. At that time, Yen Bai was not attractive to foreign investors as the building of preferential policies remained limited.

FDI flow into the province only increased in 2007 when the province began to pay attention to policies on encouraging, attracting and managing foreign direct investment. Notably, after the Noi Bai-Lao Cai opened to traffic in 2014, the province attracted several large-scale foreign-invested projects, including an electronic component factory project worth 220 million USD of the Republic of Korea’s Edge Glass JSC, and a hi-tech rabbit raising and processing project worth 78.6 million USD of Japan’s Nippon Zoki Ltd., Co.

Currently, there are 23 valid FDI projects totalling 438.7 million USD in Yen Bai, of which eight projects are operating effectively, focusing on mining, agro-fishery-forestry processing, and garment and textiles.

According to the provincial Department of Planning and Investment, total revenues of FDI businesses in the province were estimated at 39.5 million USD in the first nine months of this year, and their export turnover at 54.1 million USD. They contributed 3.86 million USD to the State budget, and are generating jobs for over 3,600 labourers.

The locality’s business and investment environment has been improved, and the infrastructure system upgraded as well. The province now has four industrial zones and 11 industrial clusters. The transport system has been consolidated and roads linking with the Noi Bai-Lao Cai Highway expanded.

Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee Do Duc Duy said that Yen Bai has paid much attention to bettering its business and investment environment with a motto of “investors to Yen Bai are Yen Bai’s residents, enterprises’ success is the province’s success”.

The province has given priority to investors with advanced and environmentally-friendly technologies to achieve a harmonious development between industry and tourism, Duy stated, adding that the province has also intensified investment in infrastructure, especially regional, inter-regional and inter-provincial transport networks.

He also pointed to several difficulties facing Yen Bai in attracting FDI, including its long distance from major economic and urban centres, a lack of high-quality human resources, and limited investment promotion.

To lure more foreign investment, Director of the provincial Department of Planning and Investment Nguyen Minh Toan, stated that the province will continue efforts for a more favourable and transparent investment environment, call for investments in processing industry, agriculture and forestry, tourism, trade and services, and electronic component assembly, step up investment promotion activities, and improve the provincial competitiveness index.-

Quang Ninh stands ready to welcome investment waves

The northern coastal province of Quang Ninh has emerged as a magnet for foreign investors in the recent time thanks to its “golden age” population, favourable business climate, and administrative reform.

According to Deputy Director of the provincial Department of Foreign Affairs Vu Dinh Xung, the province is now housing 120 valid foreign direct investment (FDI) projects with total registered capital of more than 6.23 billion USD.

Among 21 countries and territories having invested in the province, the US is the largest investor, registering 2.3 billion USD for its eight projects, accounting for nearly 38 percent of the total foreign capital. It is followed by China, Singapore, Japan, and Indonesia.

Most of the FDI has been poured into the fields of tourism, service, hotel, industry, mining, fibre production, and building materials.

The province is being offered a chance to attract more investment from Northeast Asia as it is the destination for a two-day field-trip of delegates to the World Economic Forum on ASEAN (WEF ASEAN) 2018 which is taking place in Hanoi from September 11-13.

While Japan and the RoK are the two leading investors in Vietnam, Quang Ninh province has so far failed to catch the attention of companies from the two Northeast Asian economic powers. 

Japanese investors have poured more than 380 million USD in 7 projects in Quang Ninh, focusing on industry-construction and agriculture. Meanwhile, investors from the Republic of Korea have 6 projects with 33 million USD operating in agriculture, trade and service. 

In the first six months of this year, the flow of Japanese investment in Quang Ninh province stood at only 43.4 million USD, and that from the RoK was 31.4 million USD. 

In addition, a majority of projects by Northeast Asian investors in the province are of medium and small scale. Among the 79 investment projects by investors from the region, only 10.1 percent have registered capital exceeding 50 million USD.

From the outset of the year, the province has granted new investment licenses and adjusted investment certificates for 28 projects valued at 9.6 trillion VND (412.8 million USD), including 15 foreign projects worth 235.62 million USD.

Notable, the province presented an investment license to AMATA Group from Thailand to carry out the facility building and business project at Song Khoai industrial zone. The Thai investor injected 155.59 million USD into the project.

Last year, Quang Ninh province for the first time ever became the most competitive locality in the country, topping the Vietnam’s Provincial Competitiveness Index (PCI) 2017, which helps consolidate and increase investors’ confidence. As a result, a number of potentialinvestors have sought opportunities to enhance their presence in the province.

In the past time, Quang Ninh received and worked with 18 delegations of investors, most of whom came from Japan, the Republic of Korea, and Taiwan (China), said Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee Nguyen Duc Long.

Furthermore, the province’s working group attended the 10th UK-Vietnam Joint Economic and Trade Committee (JETCO) in the UK and conference on Meet Europe 2018 as well as met European organisations and enterprises.

The province is now looking for measures to optimise the efficiency of border gate economic zones and sea port systems while facilitating investors to carry out projects in industrial parks, especially the Van Don Economic Zone, Song Khoai Industrial Zone, Hai Ha industrial-port zone, among others.

It is completing key transport works to lure foreign investments, including Van Don International Airport and Ha Long-Van Don expressway, as well as making meticulous preparations for Van Don-Mong Cai expressway project, Ha Long-Cam Pha coastal road. 

The WEF ASEAN 2018 with the theme of “ASEAN 4.0: Entrepreneurship in the Fourth Industrial Revolution” is expected to bring together more than 1,000 delegates, including high-ranking government representatives and executives of regional and world-leading corporations.

FE CREDIT wins three prizes at CEPI Asia Awards

VP Bank Finance Company Limited (FE CREDIT), one of the largest credit card issuers in Vietnam, scored a hat-trick of gongs at the 5th Annual Cards and Electronic Payments International (CEPI) Asia Awards 2018.

CEPI Asia Awards, organised by the Cards International in collaboration with Electronic Payments International, is a leading event in the Asia-Pacific region to honour initiatives on developing credit cards, e-payments and marketing and trade promotion campaigns.

This year, FE CREDIT won “Best Card Design” award for Vietnam’s first limited edition card which was launched during the Lunar New Year 2018. 

The company received the “Highly Commended” award for its product Fast Cash that allows cardholders access to cash through just one SMS and without an ATM booth, withdrawing money from post offices for free.

For the “Best New Product, Service and Innovation Launch” category, FE CREDIT bagged the “Highly Commended” award for its MPLUS credit card, a locally-developed unique digital card solution to address card delivery issue in Vietnam. 

Kalidas Ghose, Vice Chairman and CEO of FE CREDIT, said “Customer-centric innovation is at the core of our business.”

The awards recognise FE CREDIT’s leading position in the market while inspiring the firm to strive harder for its customers, he added.

Earlier this month, the lender was named “Best Consumer Finance Company, Southeast Asia 2018” by Global Business Outlook.

As a pioneer in consumer finance, FE CREDIT has established a foundation to become the market leader in the sector. Currently, the firm provides a wide range of consumer lending services like personal loans, two-wheeler loans, consumer durable loans and credit cards. 

The firm has served some 10 million customers and worked with 8,400 partners nationwide.