Foreign businesses seek opportunities in Vietnam; Bank learn to look after number one; Funds find opportunities in crisis; Vietnam largest cement company under investigation for embezzlement

The Viet Nam Automobile Manufacturers' Association (VAMA) says it anticipates sales of its member companies to fall by 20 per cent this year as a result of high registration tax and many other fees.

The unsatisfactory result of FDI in the first quarter of 2011 is not enough to prove that the FDI is in the decline in Vietnam. However, this should be seen as an early warning about the urgency of the new measures to more effectively attract FDI.

Mekong River Delta farmers, once again, ignored the advice of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) on restricting the low grade rice growing area. Why did they think nothing of the state management agency’s opinions?

Wandering around crowded streets in Hanoi, you cannot miss the simple but unique xích lô (cyclo) which has been a familiar means of transportation for almost a century and become an indispensable part of the character of Hanoi.

VietNamNet Bridge – Thousands of Vietnamese antiques from the 18th to 19th centuries and hundreds of Cham cultural items are exhibited at the Chu Lai Museum in the central province of Quang Nam.

The central city of Da Nang will subsidise the cost of motorbike helmets for residents as a measure to curb traffic accident injuries and fatalities, the chairman of the municipal People's Committee, Van Huu Chien, said yesterday.

HCMC is studying to manufacture 300 buses running on compressed natural gas (CNG) to replace diesel-fueled buses which have now been degraded.

“In the Vang Ma Chai area, teaching is as difficult as flying to the sky, but with the teachers’ extraordinary energy, education has taken root and developed,” said the Deputy Director of the Education and Training Department of Lai Chau Province.

Believing that the underground water is getting depleted, Hanoi authorities now think of exploiting the surface water by building the Song Duong surface water plant. However, how to arrange capital for the plant remains answered.

Cyber crime in Vietnam had become more sophisticated with many IT networks being targeted, said the director of the IT department at the Ministry of Public Security, Nguyen Viet The.

The Ministry of Finance is exploring measures to make the most of land unused or inefficiently used by State-owned enterprises in a bid to generate revenues for the State budget.

Nguyen Thi Thanh Phuc, a 21-year-old from the central city of Da Nang, became the first Vietnamese track and field athlete to secure a berth at the 2012 London Summer Olympics.

Jetstar Group is offering cheap flights from Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City to regional countries from April 2 to 5.

Representatives from the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism and the Vietnam Women’s Museum have met in Hanoi to seek cooperative opportunities with travel agencies to attract international visitors to museums.

The government--in an effort to attract investment to the agricultural production, offers a lot of incentives to the investors in the sector. However, many businesses said they cannot enjoy the incentives.

While many nha ruong owners in the city of Hue are becoming tired of preserving their traditional houses without financial support, collectors are snapping up the wooden houses for billions of dong.

VietNamNet Bridge – Several types of fees on personal cars will be applied in the near future. The new fees have become big concerns of car users.

On March 30 the People’s Court in the northern port city of Hai Phong handed out prison sentences to nine former executives of the National Shipbuilding Industry Group (Vinashin). 

Viet Nam and China acknowledged recent positive developments in bilateral relations, especially those made after Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong's visit to China last October and Vice President Xi Jinping's trip to Viet Nam last December.