Horasis Asia Meeting 2018 opens in Binh Duong     

A new dynamism is creating more prosperity and stability in Asia as nations across the region are joining together politically and through trade, speakers said on Sunday the opening plenary session of the Horasis Asia Meeting, which officially begins today.

Speaking at the event, Tran Van Nam, the Party Secretary of Binh Duong Province, said that Viet Nam’s open economy had strengthened its position within ASEAN to compete in the digital economy.

“Viet Nam’s strong economic indicators suggest it can hold a key position in the resurgence of Asia,” he said.

Speakers and delegates at the plenary discussed what the future of Asia might be, and whether diversity and cultural identities could be maintained while aspiring to unity.

More than 400 senior executives and CEOs from over 60 countries, as well as 400 government leaders and top executives from Viet Nam’s largest businesses, are attending the meeting, hosted by Binh Duong Province.

Ton Nu Thi Ninh, president of the HCM City Peace and Development Foundation, told Viet Nam News: “The Horasis Asia Meeting is attended by CEOs of the world’s most respected corporations, key leaders from emerging markets, and public figures. Such a meeting acts as a platform to advance solutions to the most critical challenges we are facing today.”

Ninh said she would speak about the future of Asian geopolitics, focusing on China-US relations, the rise of China, and the new roles of ASEAN.

Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung will address the opening ceremony today.

A range of activities will be held during the two-day meeting, with four plenary sessions and 36 dialogue sessions.

Plenary sessions will include discussions on new trends in technology and the status of the regional and global economy, with presentations and speeches made by global leaders and respected experts.

New business models, support for start-up businesses, and solutions for smart cities, in addition to the challenges of the Fourth Industial Revolution, will be the focus of the sessions.

Vietnamese enterprises at the meeting will also have the opportunity to connect with senior partners, founders, and CEOs of leading companies in Asia, the region and the world.

Mai Hung Dung, standing vice chairman of Binh Duong People’s Committee, said the province was proud to be chosen as the host of the Horasis Asia Meeting 2018, shortly after its successful hosting of the 11th conference of the World Technopolis Association.

Binh Duong Smart City was honoured recently as one of “The World’s 21 Smartest Cities in 2019” by the Intelligent Community Forum, he noted.

“The event is an opportunity to promote the image of Binh Duong and Viet Nam with international partners, and to improve management capacity as well as the science and technology level of Viet Nam, with the aim of speeding up the building of smart cities,” he said.

Binh Duong is considered one of Viet Nam’s major economic hubs, with strong industrial development, he added.

Pham Hong Hai, CEO of HSBC Viet Nam, noted that Binh Duong Province had seen robust economic growth with improvement in administration, emerging at the top of the infrastructure index in the Provincial Competitiveness Index 2016.

“All of these factors have made Binh Duong an ideal destination for investors. The province has become one of the country’s key industrial hubs, with strong investment in infrastructure and modern industrial parks to attract foreign investors,” he said.

“This robust development requires new urban areas to serve the growing numbers of new businesses and residents,” he said.

Dr. Frank-Jürgen Richter, chairman and founder of Horasis, said: “We are very impressed with the strength and economic potential of the Vietnamese economy and Binh Duong Province. There is good infrastructure with a state-of-the-art conference centre, and we have had great support from the local government as the host of our meeting.”

A session will also be held on the province’s investment opportunities in hi-tech industries, supporting industries, information technology, construction, human resource development and vocational training, among other fields.

The meeting will also discuss Artificial Intelligence (AI), the ongoing development of the education sector, and business innovation.

The event is hosted by Binh Duong People’s Committee in collaboration with the Horasis Global Visions Community, Becamex IDC Corporation, VSIP Group, All India Management Association (AIMA) and the Young Premier Leadership Organisation (YPO).

The Horasis Asia Meeting is convened by Horasis: The Global Visions Community. 

Vietnamese shoppers go mad for Black Friday    

Black Friday, originating from the US, has become a popular shopping event in Viet Nam with retailers offering promotional sales to boost revenue while shoppers line up to find attractive discounts.

The excitement could be felt at shopping centres like Vincom and Aeon, as well as stores along shopping streets like Chua Boc, Ba Trieu, Bach Mai, Luong Ngoc Quyen and Pham Ngoc Thach. Online stores were also seeing a wave of customers.

According to Pham Minh Duc, in charge of sales at M2 Fashion which was offering Black Friday discounts of up to 50 per cent at its stores nationwide, the number of shoppers rose by 20-70 per cent on Friday compared to normal days.

The number of shoppers was expected to rise even more in the late afternoon to evening after people finished work. The deals will continue this weekend.

Le Thi Ly, who lives on Bach Mai Street in Ha Noi, said that compared to several years ago, Black Friday was now more popular among Vietnamese retailers and consumers. Discounts were now more attractive and shoppers could buy good products at good prices on this occasion, she said.

However, before buying a product, shoppers should check its quality carefully, she said.

Online shoppers were also hunting attractive deals on e-commerce websites like Lazada, Tiki, Shopee and Sendo and even from foreign websites like Amazon.

According to estimates of Black Friday Global, Black Friday shopping contributed to boost revenues of stores and websites by around 145 per cent on average.

Data from Google showed that internet users searching for Black Friday have doubled every five years.

A survey found that half of Vietnamese citizens would shop on Black Friday this year, up 16 per cent over last year. Around 36 per cent said they would shop at physical stores, 27 per cent would go online and 36 per cent would do both.

Market researcher Doan Dinh Hung said that sales revenue on Black Friday was a test for the health of the retail sector.

According to the Viet Nam Competition Authority, recently Vietnamese retailers and consumers were showing growing interest in Black Friday promotional sales and it had become a popular shopping day.

The authority, however, warned that consumers should choose products carefully, with a focus on quality and after-sales services rather than just low prices.

Vietnamese consumers will also have the chance to shop for discounts on Online Friday 2018 which takes place on December 17. Retailers are targeting revenue of VND1.5 trillion in 24 hours, up by VND300 billion compared to Online Friday 2017.

Black Friday is the day following Thanksgiving Day in the US, the fourth Thursday of November, which is regarded as the beginning of the Christmas shopping season. 

Automotive spare part plants start construction in DEEP C 2A IZ  

 PHA Vietnam Company Limited, YMP Plus Company Limited, Dong Yang Vina Industry Company Limited and MiChang Vietnam Company Limited started construction of their plants in DEEP C 2A Industrial Zone in the northern port city of Hai Phong on Friday.

The group, led by PHA Vietnam which is invested by South Korean Pyeong Hwa Automotive Company Ltd, will four build automotive part manufacturing plants on a total area of 11.4ha, pouring US$32.3 million of capital into DEEP C Industrial Zones.

Accordingly, the Pyeong Hwa Automotive Company Ltd will produce hood latches, door checkers, hood hinges and fuel filler openers with a capacity of more than 7.5 million products per year, equivalent to 1,115 tonnes per year. The $16.7 million project covers an area of 7ha.

The YMP Plus Company Limited will produce door latch parts, hood latch parts and trunk lid parts with an annual capacity of 24.6 million products. The project has a total investment of $8.2 million and covers an area of 1.7ha.

The Dong Yang Vina Industry Company Limited will produce 24.6 million door latch springs and door latch rods per year. The $3.3 million project will be built on an area of 1ha.

The $4.1 million plant of MiChang Vietnam Company Limited, covering an area of 1.7ha, will produce 480 tonnes of door latches, seat cables and hood cables a year.

PHA was the pioneer for the group’s expansion to Viet Nam. With a view to establishing a new and competitive manufacturing base serving worldwide export, PHA decided to choose the prime location of DEEP C, next to the biggest deep-sea port of the north.

Once in operation from September 2019, the end-product will serve big car manufacturers such as Volkswagen, BMW, Audi, GM, Ford and Hyundai.

This is part of the new South Korean investment wave into DEEP C IZs, which has total 12 projects of over $97 million in capital.

Speaking at the groundbreaking ceremony, Lee Jae Seung, PHA’s CEO, said the plants in Viet Nam would use the accumulated experience of PHA’s factories worldwide.

They therefore will provide the best products and services to the market thanks to the wonderful infrastructure in Viet Nam, an abundant labour force and experience from PHA. This will also help Viet Nam become a key country in the automotive industry in Asia in the future, he said.

Nguyen Xuan Binh, vice chairman of Hai Phong City People’s Committee, said the city committed to facilitating businesses’ operation in DEEP C IZs.

“Hai Phong continued to be one of the most attractive destinations for foreign direct investment (FDI) in the country,” Binh said. “In the first 10 months of the year, the city attracted $2.4 billion of FDI, double than its targets from earlier this year.”

He said the city would continue to improve its business environment to create favourable conditions for investors.

Bruno Jaspaert, DEEP C IZs’ general director, said their vision was to develop DEEP C IZs into a production and logistics centre not only for the northern region but also the country with its experienced workers and high-quality infrastructure.

“We planned to divide DEEP C IZs into different IZ clusters including automotive, petrochemicals, logistics and support industries,” he said. “We expected the plan would help diversify industrial sectors of Hai Phong, creating supply chains and increasing the localisation rate.”

He added this could also help labourers in the city in particular and in the north in general have opportunities to access new technologies through training courses in foreign-invested companies.

“We hope Hai Phong would not only become a green city but also a sustainable and diversified technology centre in Viet Nam. The participation of PHA and its partners would surely help the vision come true sooner.”

Upon completion of these facilities, investors in DEEP C IZs will be enjoying one of the most comprehensive and competitive service packages in Viet Nam. 

HCM City economic forum talks firms’ role in building innovative districts

The Ho Chi Minh City Economic Forum 2018 was organised on November 23, under the theme of “Fostering Interactive and Innovative Districts – The Prominent Role of Businesses”.

The forum aimed to discuss the role of enterprises in building innovative urban areas and take delegates’ ideas to connect the State, entrepreneurs, scientists and financial investors in increasing the innovative capacity and the efficiency of the reform of businesses.

Attending the event were Politburo member and Secretary of the municipal Party Committee Nguyen Thien Nhan, Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee Nguyen Thanh Phong, and over 600 delegates who are experts, scientists and representatives from enterprises.

Phong said that with its role as an economic force and one of the largest cultural, educational, and scientific and technological centres in Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh City is striving for rapid and sustainable development, as well as working to improve its growth quality and competitiveness in line with economic restructuring.

The city is also exerting efforts to ensure a favourable business and investment climate for enterprises, while encouraging them to get involved in innovations and start-ups, he added.

Through this event, the city hopes policymakers, experts, scientists and entrepreneurs discuss and make proposals to effectively mobilise resources from and bring into full play the 372,000 businesses in the locality to build an innovative urban area in the south of the city, Phong stated.

He pledged that the municipal authorities will try their best to make enterprises truly become a driving force for the building of innovative districts by continuing to speed up the administrative reform and ensure a clear business environment and a transparent legal framework, aiming to provide the best support for enterprises.

Within the framework of the forum, municipal authorities introduced their policy to build the southern region towards an innovative urban area to attract investment.

Initiatives and experience shared by participating experts, researchers and the business community were expected to help the city fulfill its set targets and obtain a deserving position on the world’s map of smart and innovative cities.

Vietnam Infrastructure Working Group launched

The Ministry of Planning and Investment and the World Economic Forum (WEF) co-held a meeting in Hanoi on November 23 to launch the Vietnam Infrastructure Working Group (IWG).

Addressing the event, Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung said the country’s socio-economic development strategy for the 2011 – 2020 period describes infrastructure development as one of the key tasks as well as one of three strategic breakthroughs needed to achieve, focusing on transport and urban infrastructure.

Justin Wood, head of Regional Agenda for Asia Pacific and member of the Executive Committee at the WEF, said infrastructure is foundation of any economy so it needs to be developed by cooperation between public and private sectors. What Vietnam must do is to create a common space for both public and private sectors to work together in this field.

He hoped Vietnam IWG would act as a facilitator for the government and enterprises to work together, share ideas and make recommendations for more effective and successful public-private partnership.

The WEF will help Vietnam navigate the next phase of growth in the Fourth Industrial Revolution; and one of the seven pillars in the cooperation is to make policy recommendations on future of long-term investment, infrastructure and development, which will be done by the working group, he said.

Vietnam IWG consists of senior executives from both public and private sectors to facilitate interaction and partnership among stakeholders in financing and developing infrastructure projects.

This year, the working group plans to examine and identify issues on policies to assist the drafting of a law on public-private partnership (PPP) investment while making recommendations in four key areas, including building legal framework for and implementing PPP projects. 

Agricultural sector needs more locally made machinery

The People’s Committee of Can Tho City and the Vietnam Association of Mechanical Industry (VAMI) met recently to address the urgent need to produce agricultural machinery.

Vietnam makes 30-40 percent of the agricultural machines used in the country, and the rest are imported, mostly from China and Japan.

The country has not developed agricultural machinery production largely because the support industry for the sector does not exist.

Every year, the country spends about 800 million USD to import agricultural machines, and is expected reach 1 billion USD in 2020, according to experts.

The imported machines are ploughs, pesticide sprayers and harvesting machines.

Nguyen Chi Sang, deputy chairman of VAMI, said that local firms had huge potential to make agricultural machinery.

Firms involving in the production include the Vietnam Engine and Agricultural Machinery Corp, Long An Mechanical and Truong Hai Automobile JSC (Thaco).

Local firms know farmers better than foreign firms, and are more attuned to what they need. But they still face difficulties, particularly high prices.

To compete with foreign-made machines, the Government should have more specific policies to encourage the domestic agricultural machinery industry, experts said.

More favourable conditions to access long-term loans with preferential interest rates should be created.

The most urgent measure is to rapidly modernise technology and train skilled workers.

The Government should also provide access to credit and tax breaks to those involved in production of parts for farm equipment.

The Government should also make it easier to form joint ventures with foreign firms to make and assemble highly specialised tractors, as well as machines for harvesting rice and sugarcane, experts said.

Representatives from companies said at the meeting that the Government should erect technical barriers to keep out low-quality foreign agricultural machinery and equipment.

Experts estimate that the Mekong Delta region has suffered an average loss of tens of billions of dong yearly due to the lack of rice harvest and preservation machines.

Tran Thanh Tu, an expert in agricultural machines, said: "Farmers lose thousands of dollars every year by not having machinery for harvesting rice. Manual harvesting a field that yields eight tonnes of rice results in an average loss of around 8 percent, while the rate brought by machinery usage is only 3 percent.” 

Japanese-invested plant inaugurated in Ha Nam

A Japanese-invested plant specialising in manufacturing, processing and assembling plastic, rubber and metal components for machines and equipment was inaugurated in the northern province of Ha Nam on November 23. 

Invested by Chuo Bussan Co., Ltd on an area of 2 ha in the Dong Van 3 Industrial Park in Duy Tien district, the Chubutsu Vietnam plant has a total investment of 15 million USD.  It is one of 80 foreign direct investment (FDI) projects invested by Japan in Ha Nam. 

Yochihiko Mio, Chairman of Chuo Bussan, said that this is the firm’s first project in Vietnam, hoping that the local authorities and agencies will support and create favourable conditions for the company to operate effectively in the time to come. 

Vice Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee Truong Quoc Huy praised efforts made by the Japanese investor to accelerate the construction of the project and put it into operation on schedule. 

The plant’s operation will help meet the demand of the market and create jobs for labourers, thus contributing to promoting the local socio-economic development. 

Huy hoped Chubutsu Vietnam will strictly follow legal regulations, and well perform its rights and obligations, as well as pay attention to ensuring benefits for its employees. 

He affirmed that the locality has been making efforts to improve the investment and business environment, and create favourable conditions for investment projects to be implemented quickly and smoothly.

An Giang enjoys bumper tra fish production

The Mekong Delta province of An Giang’s tra fish production in 2018 is estimated at 346,000 tonnes, a rise of 61,000 tonnes over that in 2017, reported the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.

This year, An Giang has 1,138 hectares of tra fish farms, 408.7 hectares of which meet quality standards like GlobalGAP, ASC and VietGAP.

Localities with the largest area of tra fish farms are Chau Phu, Chau Thanh, Thoai Son, Cho Moi and Phu Tan districts, and Long Xuyen city.

Over the past years, local tra fish processors and exporters have invested in expanding tra fish farms and developing material areas. As many as 55 percent of total tra fish output of An Giang have been consumed by local processors.

In 2018, local farmers have applied technology advances in production and strictly follow safe breeding procedures, helping increase production to 318 tonnes per hectare, up 10 tonnes over the previous year.

Along with focusing on improving the quality of tra fish varieties, An Giang has invested in upgrading production infrastructure to enhance its capacity of producing young fish to supply for breeders in and outside the locality.

According to the provincial Department of Industry and Trade, An Giang exported 73,385 tonnes of tra fish products in the first 10 months of this year for over 177 million USD.

EVN enters “sustainable enterprises” list in 2018

The Electricity of Vietnam (EVN) has entered the list of the top 100 sustainable enterprises in 2018 which was announced by the Vietnam Business Council for Sustainable Development (VBCSD), under the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI).

The group has joined the assessment of corporate sustainability index (CSI) for the first time. Launched in 2015, the CSI has 131 indicators for enterprises to assess their economic, social and environmental aspects. 

In 2017, EVN generated 174.65 billion kWh of electricity, posting a rise of 9.3 percent from 2016.

The group has so far connected all communes and 98.83 percent of households nationwide to the national power grid. With that, Vietnam has been recognized by the World Bank as one of the countries with the best power access by remote and rural areas. 

Vietnam’s Getting Electricity indicator was ranked 27th among 190 countries and economies in the World Bank’s Doing Business report in 2018, up 37 places from last year.

The indicator was assessed based on procedures, time and cost to connect to the national grid, reliability in electricity provision and transparency of electricity cost.

It is the fifth consecutive year Vietnam’s Getting Electricity has improved. With 87.94 points, the highest level so far, Vietnam recorded the highest increase in the indicator in Southeast Asia. 

At the ceremony announcing the top 100 sustainable enterprises on November 22, VCCI Chairman Vu Tien Loc said in past three years, the CSI programme has helped increase corporate awareness on sustainable practices and encourage the enterprises to work for the realisation of the UN’s 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs).

Quality should be prioritised in SOE restructuring, expert says

The restructuring and equitisation of State-owned enterprises (SOEs) should focus on quality instead of quantity, and the State’s investments need to be restructured to become more effective, an expert has said.

The remark was made by Director of the Central Institute for Economic Management (CIEM) Nguyen Dinh Cung at a conference on the reform and improvement of SOEs recently.

At this event, Deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue emphasised the viewpoint that SOEs should focus only on key fields like defence and security as well as areas that the private sector does not invest in, and that the State only divests its capital from firms with effective operation.

He noted that the equitised and divested value between 2016 and 2018 rose 2.5-fold from the 2011-2015 period, adding that operations of SOEs have continued to improve. 

Their total assets have increased by 3 percent, pre-tax profit up 4 percent, and contributions to the State budget up 5 percent from 2016. In the first eight months of 2018, SOEs fulfilled over 70 percent of this year’s revenue and profit targets, Hue said.

CIEM Director Cung said SOEs are still an irreplaceable economic force for the time ahead.

“At present, we solely focus on equitisation and divestment because we hope that businesses will change their administration and operate in line with the market,” he noted.

Pointing out problems in the equitisation and divestment process, Minister of Finance Dinh Tien Dung said that according to the Prime Minister-approved plan, at least 85 SOEs must have their equitisations completed in 2018. However, only 12 firms had been equitised as of November 18, so the target is unlikely to be reached this year.

Meanwhile, State capital must be divested from 181 enterprises in 2018, but the work has only been completed in 31 firms so far.

He said that in order to step up the reform and improvement of SOEs, ministries, sectors, localities, as well as SOEs themselves must be synchronous in adapting careful measures, including promoting consensus in the work and promptly fine-tuning the relevant legal system.

Dung also asked the parties concerned to submit restructuring plans for the SOEs under their remit to authorised agencies for approval before the end of this year. Additionally, heads of ministries, sectors, and localities must be responsible for the outcomes of SOEs’ restructuring, reform, and improvement.

Cassava exports to RoK sharply rise

Vietnam’s exports of cassava and products made from cassava to the Republic of Korea (RoK) hit nearly 82,000 tonnes worth 24 million USD in the first 10 months of 2018, up 18.9 percent in volume and 52.6 percent in value against the same period last year. 

According to the General Department of Customs, in October alone, exports of cassava and products from cassava to the Asian country recorded surges of 467 percent in volume and nearly 374 percent in value compared to the previous month.

Statistics from the customs agency show Vietnam exported 182,000 tonnes of cassava with total value of nearly 86.5 million USD in the month, up 21.2 percent in volume and 32.5 percent in value compared to September.

The average export price was at 292.2 USD per tonne, 15.5 percent higher than that of 2017.

HCM City customs agency addresses Japanese firms’ concerns

The Customs Department of Ho Chi Minh City held a dialogue with more than 200 Japanese businesses last week to inform them about new customs regulations and field their questions.

Valuing Japanese firms’ adherence to local regulations, Director of the Customs Department Dinh Ngoc Thang said through this event, his agency collected businesses’ opinions about tax policy and customs procedures, so as to remove obstacles facing them in a timely manner, reduce administrative procedures and improve the investment climate in Vietnam.

Kadowaki Keiichi, Chairman of the Japanese Business Association of Ho Chi Minh City (JCCH), said the dialogue gave Japanese firms a chance to talk face-to-face with and understand the cooperative spirit of the customs agency. They hope that it will become a frequent activity.

He noted the meeting helped consolidate Japanese firms’ trust in the partnership with the local customs department. He also expected they will expand their investment in Vietnam, including HCM City, to contribute to the two economies.

Japanese investment in Vietnam is growing strongly, reaching 9.5 billion USD between January and October this year, turning Japan into the country’s top foreign investor. Over the last four years, the number of Japanese businesses in the Southeast Asian nation soared by 40 percent. Bilateral trade is expected to approximate 34 billion USD in 2018.

SCIC, Viettel sell their stakes in Vinaconex

The State Capital Investment Corporation (SCIC) sold its complete ownership in the Vietnam Construction and Import-Export JSC (Vinaconex) for 7.36 trillion VND (327.4 million USD) on November 22.

SCIC sold all of its more than 254.9 million shares for 28,900 VND (1.28 USD) per share.

The successful bid price for Vinaconex shares was 35.7 percent higher than the starting bid price of 21,300 VND per share set for the auction.

SCIC had earlier expected it would receive at least VNĐ5.43 trillion from the November 22 deal.

Vinaconex is listing more than 441.7 million shares on the Hanoi Stock Exchange with code VCG.

The company shares closed the November 22 session flat at 18,500 VND per share.

SCIC had tried to offload 96.3 million Vinaconex shares in December 2017 but could only sell 5.3 million shares. The deal was considered “unsuccessful” to market analysts.

Meanwhile, the military telecommunication group Viettel also offloaded its 94 million Vinaconex shares for 2 trillion VND on November 22.

Viettel had earlier expected it would earn some 2 trillion VND from the deal.

Vinaconex owns and manages 3.2 million square metres of land, covering its 16 construction projects. Of the total land area, the company is renting three million square metres of land to construct seven projects.

The largest project, covering 2.7 million square metres, is located at the Hoa Lac  Hi-Tech Park in Hanoi.

Other large projects included the Bac An Khanh Urban Area (Splendora) in Hanoi’s Hoai Duc district and two buildings with investment capital of 1.25 trillion VND.

Vinaconex is also repairing some downgraded apartment buildings on Hanoi’s Lang Ha street, which costs the firm total 1.56 trillion VND.

The company had announced it would lock the foreign ownership cap at zero percent. According to the company’s management board, the firm had operated in labour and drug export sectors, in which foreign capital is now allowed.

In the third quarter of 2018, Vinaconex recorded 2.22 trillion VND in net revenue, down 8.7 percent year on year, and 185.4 billion VND in post-tax profit, a yearly decline of 29 percent.

After nine months, the company’s post-tax profit fell 40 percent year on year to 368 billion VND. The value of total asset reached more than 20 trillion VND and its total loan was 4 trillion VND. 

Petroleum giant seeks further gains

Vietnam’s largest oil producer and its subsidiaries recorded robust growth in the first 10 months of 2018, and hopes to sustain ­momentum through revisions to the legal framework on oil and gas, ­especially the Law on Petroleum.

According to its latest report, state-run PetroVietnam maintained its business performance with sustained growth in October. Total production of oil equivalents reached 1.93 million tonnes last month, with a total of 20.1 million tonnes produced in the first 10 months, equalling 87.9 per cent of the yearly plan.

PetroVietnam’s oil production volume reached 1.15 million tonnes in October, a 7.2 per cent increase compared to the monthly plan, while the 10-month figure was 11.71 million tonnes, up 5.5 per cent compared to the plan for the period and 88.5 per cent of the full-year plan. Some 10.07 million tonnes of this were exploited domestically, while the remaining 1.64 million tonnes were exploited overseas.

Notably, in October, PetroVietnam exploited 0.78 billion cubic metres of gas, raising the total volume of gas exploited year-to-date to 8.39 billion cubic metres, up 4.1 per cent against the 10-month plan and completing 87.4 per cent of the yearly plan. Besides, fertiliser output reached 145,000 tonnes in October and 1.38 million tonnes year-to-date (up 7.2 per cent on-year, and hitting 89.6 per cent of full year target). Altogether, PetroVietnam reached 84.2 per cent of its full year petrol production plan with 7.46 million tonnes.

In general, the group surpassed financial targets by an average of 2-8.7 per cent in October, and 3.3-14.3 per cent during the 10 months.

Due to the increase in oil prices, PetroVietnam has outperformed its financial targets for October and the first 10 months of the year alike, setting itself on track for rosy full-year results. Its total revenue hit VND499.5 trillion ($21.7 billion), 21.1 per cent higher than the 10-month plan and up nearly 23.6 per cent against the same period last year. Besides, the group paid VND90.9 trillion ($3.95 billion) into the state budget in the given period, a 23.2 per cent increase compared to the annual target.

Furthermore, PetroVietnam’s subsidiaries also posted positive business results in the third quarter, including Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical JSC (BSR), Petrovietnam Drilling and Well Services Corporation (PV Drilling), Petrovietnam Technical Services Corporation (PVS), and PetroVietnam Power Corporation (PV Power), among others. One outstanding event in October was the resumption of the Dung Quat bio-fuel plant after three year of suspended operations. Only five days after restarting operations, the plant rolled out the first batch of E100 products.

Moving forward, PetroVietnam has suggested the government to amend the Law on Petroleum to stimulate exploration and production activities, thereby promoting the development of the oil and gas industry. Revisions to the law should be in line with the recently approved marine economic development strategy for 2030 with vision to 2045. The resolution sets six priorities for the development of the maritime sector, with the exploitation of oil and gas ranking as the third-highest priority and the oil refinery industry the fifth.

Moreover, Vietnam’s crude oil output is expected to fall by 10 per cent (or two million tonnes) a year through to 2025 due to declining reserves at existing fields. This, coupled with a lack of funds, kept PetroVietnam from boosting exploration activities. The rise in recoverable reserves has slowed to an alarming rate, affecting the sustainability of the development of the oil and gas industry.

PetroVietnam general director Nguyen Vu Truong Son said PetroVietnam’s oil output was 25 million tonnes in 2017, but exploration had only yielded four million tonnes of oil. If the imbalance between exploration and exploitation increases, the industry will only be able to sustain its petroleum output for a few more years before it will drop by roughly two thirds.

To facilitate the development of the group, Son said there should be revisions to the Law on Petroleum to stimulate foreign investment, exploration, and production at existing fields, as well as investment in the development of offshore discoveries.

CPTPP to create more opportunities for Vietnamese, Japanese firms

The Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) will bring huge benefits for both Vietnam and Japan, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Quoc Khanh has said.

Speaking at a seminar in Tokyo on November 22, Khanh stated the CPTPP will allow Japanese enterprises to participate in Vietnam’s strongly developing government procurement market, which used to be closed to foreign businesses.

In addition, strong service industries in Japan like banking, insurance, construction, logistics and graphic design will also have more opportunities to enter the Vietnamese market, he added.

The deputy minister stressed the CPTPP covers a market of about 490 million people and has a combined GDP of 10.1 trillion USD, 13.5 percent of the globe’s GDP, and average per capita income of more than 19,000 USD a year.

According to him, the agreement will boost Asia-Pacific market integration by reducing barriers on trade services and goods, promoting fair competitiveness and investment and intelligence property protection and establishing new principals for e-commerce.

Vietnamese Ambassador to Japan Vu Hong Nam said he believes the agreement will offer big opportunities for Vietnam and Japan as well as other members.

Executive Vice President of the Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO) Yuri Sato voiced her belief that Vietnam will take advantage of the agreement’s benefits to foster trade and investment by improving its investment environment, reforming administrative procedures and tariffs, and stepping up production to expand Vietnamese goods’ presence in overseas markets.

According to her, the Vietnam-Japan trade agreement has exempted taxations on 42 percent of Japan’s industrial products exported to Vietnam, but the CPTPP will raise the rate to 70.2 percent.

Therefore, she expressed her hope the agreement will facilitate the access of Japan’s products to the Vietnamese market.

It also puts forward the strongest-ever commitments related to investment protection and intellectual property, encouraging Japanese enterprises to intensify technology exports to Vietnam, she stated.

The CPTPP was signed in Santiago, Chile, on March 8, 2018 by Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam.

Of the 11, seven countries have ratified the pact, with Vietnam finishing its procedures on November 12. Earlier, New Zealand, Canada, Japan, Mexico, Singapore and Australia ratified the deal.

The deal, taking effect at the end of this year, is expected to bolster economic growth, create more jobs, alleviate poverty and improve the living quality in member states. 

The accord is expected to increase Vietnam’s GDP by 2.01 percent by 2035, according to the Ministry of Planning and Investment.

Orientations taken to accelerate economic restructuring

Orientations aimed at speeding up the restructuring process of Vietnam’s economy amidst the Fourth Industrial Revolution was the focus of a workshop held by the National Centre for Socio-economic Information and Forecast (NCIF) and the Ministry of Planning and Investment in Hanoi on November 22. 

It was an open forum for domestic and foreign scientists, experts, and managers to discuss and announce the latest studies on Vietnam's economic restructuring in general, and some specific sectors, in the context of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

In his opening speech, Director of the NCIF Tran Hong Quang said that the digital revolution is happening fast with a strong impact on all aspects of the economy, adding that Vietnam’s economic growth model is still based on the exploitation of natural resources, the assembly and manufacturing industry, and production and export of labor-intensive and low-skilled sectors. 

He underlined the need for each sector to make careful preparations in order to make full use of new opportunities and to minimise the challenges arising from the revolution. 

Luong Van Khoi, Deputy Director of NCIF, said that the restructure of Vietnam’s economy for the 2016-2020 period has focused on changing the composition and ability of the economy; improving the efficiency of the use of social resources, labour productivity, and economic competitiveness; and gradually modernising individual economic sectors.

Attention has been given to forming a more rational and dynamic economic structure, and extensively promoting the growth transformation model. 

Le Huy Khoi, from the market research and forecast division of the Industrial Policy and Strategy Institute (IPSI) under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, highlighted some of the opportunities from the revolution for the industry and trade sector. He said that it will create motivation for enterprises to change their mode of production and business, as well as boost innovative production and market thinking towards increasing productivity and the quality of labour force in industrial production.

In particular, the revolution will also promote innovative capabilities in industrial production thanks to the application of new technologies.

He, however, also pointed out some of the revolution’s challenges to the industry and trade sector, saying that the Vietnamese business community’s awareness and concern towards the revolution is limited.

Moreover, technical infrastructure and information technology application, along with internal weaknesses in enterprises operating in the industry and trade sector hinder them from taking full advantage of Industry 4.0. 

Economic experts said it is necessary to widely promote the mobility, opportunities, challenges, and impact of the revolution, as well as fine-tune the institutional system towards fostering the development of the digital economy and investment liberalization so as to tap opportunities from the revolution.

Conor O'Toole from Ireland’s Economic and Social Research Institute, emphasised that it is necessary to build important policies for economic restructuring in Vietnam. 

More attention should be paid to education and training, especially in science and technology; ensuring a stable investment environment and effectively managing public finance; and increasing investment for infrastructure development and IT application.

Project helps develop tech business incubators in Vietnam

The Support to the Innovation and Development of Business Incubators Policy Project (BIPP), partly funded by the Belgian Government, has proved effective after nearly five years of implementation in Vietnam.

Reporting the main results of the project at a workshop in Hanoi on November 22, the project’s director Tran Dac Hien said that over the past four years, the BIPP has focused on science and technology enterprises and technology incubators, from popularising and analysing existing policies to building road maps for technological enterprise incubators for the 2015-2025 period.

It has helped pilot the operation of many incubator facilities, as well as a financial assistance mechanism for these facilities and their consumers.

To date, all set targets have been fulfilled, Hien affirmed. However, he pointed to several difficulties and challenges when supporting small- and medium-sized enterprises, including finance-related barriers and resource limitations.

Belgian Ambassador to Vietnam Paul Jansen said that the BIPP has supported the Vietnamese Ministry of Science and Technology in creating favourable conditions for the formation and development of technology enterprise incubator facilities.

Proposals for a policy framework, following the operation of the National Centre for Technological Progress-Technology Business Incubator Center (NTBIC) and the Ho Chi Minh University of Technology-Technology Business Incubation Centre (HCMUT-TBI), have contributed to building an innovative start-up ecosystem for the development of the Fourth Industrial Revolution in Vietnam, he added.

At the event, representatives from businesses, research institutes, universities, and colleges in the science and technology field discussed their visions for business incubator development, and shared experience in supplying infrastructure assistance and assistance services, and developing business and financial services to help incubator establishments develop sustainably.

Starting from 2014, the project had an initial investment of 4.4 million EUR (50.23 million USD), of which Belgium contributed 4 million EUR. However, from 2016, with the budget adjustment from the Belgian Government, the amount was cut down to 2 million EUR to 2018.

Song Hong Garment to list shares on HoSE later this month

The Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE) has approved the listing of Song Hong Garment Joint Stock Company on the southern bourse.

The Song Hong Garment JSC will debut on HoSE on November 28 by listing more than 47.6 million shares with the code MSH, the market said in a statement.

The company will start trading at the price of 45,000 VND (1.93 USD) per share, making its market capitalisation up to 2.14 trillion VND (91.9 million USD) on the debut day.

The company’s shares are able to increase or decline within a daily band of 20 percent on the debut day, meaning its price may rise as high as 54,000 VND or fall as far as 36,000 VND by the end of the debut.

The company, headquartered in the northern province of Nam Dinh, produces garment products for both domestic and overseas markets and was founded in 1988.

As of October 1, the company had 511 shareholders, including four institutional investors and 507 individuals.

From 2014 to 2017 the company’s profit kept increasing from 142 billion VND to 200.4 billion VND. In the first nine months of 2018, the company recorded nearly 3 trillion VND in net revenue, a yearly increase of 21 percent, and 273 billion VND in net profit, a yearly growth of 100 percent.

From 2015 to 2017, the company paid 45 percent dividend in cash each year. The cash dividend payout rate is planned at 35-40 percent for 2018 and 35 percent from 2019.

The Song Hong Garment JSC targets a 7 percent year-on-year revenue rise for 2018, to land at 3.5 trillion VND. Its profit gained 15 percent to 230 billion VND.

Vietjet Air launches year’s biggest promotion

Budget carrier Vietjet Air has launched its biggest promotion of the year, themed “Love connection – Love is real touch”, with hundreds of free tickets and events between now and February 15, 2019.

The programme is an international journey connecting Asian countries and territories, including Vietnam, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Taiwan (China), Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Cambodia and mainland China, Vietjet said in a statement.

The love connection journey was specially designed for those passionate about travel experiences, and interested in exploring nature, culture and society; especially those who want to actualise the dream “love is real touch”, according to Vietjet.

Participants throughout Asia can join this exciting journey by sharing their love stories and expressing their wishes to reach one or more destinations in the form of an article with pictures (up to 1,000 words including at least one picture).

With a fleet of more than 60 aircraft, Vietjet operates 385 flights each day. The airline has already transported more than 60 million passengers on a network featuring 93 routes in Vietnam and across the region to international destinations such as Thailand, Singapore, the Republic of Korea, China’s Taiwan and Hong Kong, mainland China, Malaysia, Indonesia, Myanmar and Cambodia.

The carrier plans to operate more than 120,000 flights and serve some 24.1 million passengers by the end of 2018 on a total of 39 domestic and 61 international routes.