The Government has disbursed more than 910 billion VND (38.5 million USD) for the implementation of the Cat Linh–Ha Dong urban railway project.

A decision recently signed by Deputy Prime Minister Le Minh Khai stipulates the capital for the project is taken from the central budget mid-term public investment plan 2021-2025.

The capital for the project consists of more than 223 billion VND (9.4 million USD) of domestic capital and nearly 688 billion VND (29 million USD) of foreign capital.

The Cat Linh–Ha Dong urban railway project is 13 km long, with a total initial investment in 2008 is 8.76 trillion VND (equivalent to 552.8 million USD at that time). By 2017, the total investment capital increased to over 18 trillion VND (about 868 million USD then). The project uses loans from the Chinese Government and domestic counterpart funds.

The line started running in November 2021. It was officially inaugurated on January 13 this year, the same day the line carried its one-millionth passenger.

HCM City to host first Vietnam International Logistics Expo

The Vietnam International Logistics Exhibition 2022 (VILOG) will take place for the first time at the Saigon Exhibition & Convention Centre (SECC) in Ho Chi Minh City from August 10 -12, 2023. 

The event will be hosted by the Ministry of Industry and Trade in collaboration with the Vietnam Logistics Business Association (VLA) and the Vietnam National Trade Fair and Advertising Company (Vinexad).

It will accommodate about 250 booths of enterprises, showcasing products in the field of transportation and delivery, warehouse and stevedoring services, packaging, and and IT. 

The expo is expected to promote the development of Vietnam's logistics industry to be commensurate with its potential, thus contributing to attracting more foreign investment and establishing a green logistics ecosystem.

In particular, the exhibition will be held at the same time and the same venue as the 27th VietFood, Beverage and Professional Packing Machines (VietFood & Beverage – ProPack) International Exhibition, which will feature about 550 booths. The two events will attract businesses from 20 countries and territories worldwide. 

Vietnam Airlines adds over 500 flights ahead of Lunar New Year

Vietnam Airlines has announced plans to add more than 500 flights, equivalent to 90,000 seats, in order to meet increasing travel demand during the upcoming Lunar New Year, the country’s biggest festival of the year.

The extra flights will be on busy domestic routes between Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi, Vinh, Thanh Hoa, Dong Hoi, Chu Lai, as well as between Thanh Hoa and Da Lat.

Furthermore, the airline is expected to add 36,000 seats, equivalent to 200 flights, on the route between Ho Chi Minh City and Thanh Hoa from January 15 to February 5, 2023, after it has been green-lighted by the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV).

Vietnam Airlines earlier increased flights in August and December in a bid to serve passengers during Tet, thereby providing millions of seats throughout domestic and international routes.

According to several online ticketing platforms, air tickets for several main routes, including Ho Chi Minh City to central provinces, have been already sold out.

Vietnamese eye family vacations in 2023: Agoda

Vietnam is among the top three markets where residents plan to travel with the whole family in the coming year, a new survey by Agoda revealed.

Agoda’s Family Travel Trend survey 2022 found that 61% of travelers from Singapore and Taiwan (China) and 59% from Vietnam are most likely to take at least one trip with the immediate family.

People from the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia are most likely to plan two or more family jaunts in the coming year.

Agoda’s survey said that four out of five travelers will take a vacation with their immediate family in the next 12 months and, while travelling with friends proves more popular than travelling with extended family, still more than half, about 52%, are keen to catch up with relatives during their vacation.

When it comes to travelling with families or in a group, travelers worldwide are seeking more value for their trips with budget hotels, Agoda home vacation rentals and inclusive resorts cited as the top three group travel preferences.

Agoda also found that despite travel optimism and growth outpacing pre-COVID levels, 77% of travelers globally indicate some concern about international borders closing again while they are overseas. Travelers from the most recently opened markets, including the Republic of Korea and Japan, are most concerned, in comparison to those from markets that quickly removed border restrictions, such as the US, Australia and India.

Workshop discusses ways for industrial development in Vietnam

The Central Institute for Economic Management (CIEM) in collaboration with the Jakarta-based Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA) held a workshop on industrial development in Vietnam in Hanoi on December 28.

Speaking at the event, CIEM Director Tran Thi Hong Minh said that the Vietnamese economy has been recovering strongly from severe impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

However, it is facing the risk of fragmented and unfocused reforms which leads to difficulties in creating more breakthroughs if no newer and more drastic ways and solutions are taken.

The outcomes of this workshop will help Vietnamese agencies and experts in consulting policies on industrial development in the country, Minh stated.

Vo Tri Thanh, member of the National Financial and Monetary Policy Advisory Council, proposed Vietnam prioritise developing several industries such as information technology and telecommunications, and advanced electronics, to meet the requirements of the Fourth Industrial Revolution to create a digital technology platform for other industries; clean and renewable energy; and processing and manufacturing.

Attention should also be paid to defence and security industry, combined with civilian industry in the dual-use direction, garment and footwear industries, and several mechanical industries such as automobiles, agricultural machines, and electric and medical equipment.

For the electronics sector, Nguyen Thi Xuan Thuy from the German Agency for International Cooperation or (GIZ) suggested the Government build reliable partnerships in this industry at both macro and micro levels and attract more foreign investment (FDI) to create a domestic supply chain.

FDI firms continue to hold lion’s share of Vietnam’s exports

Though Vietnam has seen optimistic import-export results this year, its export sector still depends heavily on foreign direct investment (FDI) companies, accounting for nearly three-quarters of the country’s export revenue.

The import and export value this year has exceeded US$700 billion and is estimated at US$732 billion, up 10% over 2021, elevating the nation to a new position in international trade, according to figures released by the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

Vietnam’s exports rose 10.5% year-on-year to US$371.5 billion in 2022, with 39 items bringing in over US$1 billion and nine products valued at over US$10 billion. Of the amount, FDI firms made up 74% of the country’s export revenue.

On the other hand, import spending totaled US$360.5 billion, up 8.5% from last year.

Despite the favorable results, the market diversification progress remained slow and had yet to optimize the benefits of free trade agreements, the news site laodong.vn reported, quoting Tran Thanh Hai, deputy director of the Import and Export Department.

Meanwhile, uncertainties and adverse impacts are expected to linger until next year, with a plunge in new orders for industries related to the consumer sector, such as textiles, apparel and footwear, he added.

Vietnam prepares for export promotion as China plans to open doors again

According to information from the South China Morning Post, the Chinese Government will open its borders and completely remove isolation measures to prevent the Covid-19 pandemic from January 8, 2023.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) and the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) consider this an opportunity to promote Vietnam's agricultural, forestry, and fishery exports to China again.

Ms. Le Hang, Communications Director of the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP), predicts that seafood export orders to China after the country opens its border will boom like exports to the EU and US markets after the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021.

On December 27, the MARD said that it has been coordinating with the MoIT to implement several trade promotion programs, market opening negotiations, and market development to promptly solve problems to promote agricultural, forestry, and fishery exports to China; promote circulation and border trade; guide the implementation of the provisions of Decree 248 and 249 of the General Administration of Customs of China; prepare to organize trade delegations, promote the supply chain of Vietnamese fruits and seafood in China; negotiate and complete the procedures for exporting feathers, edible bird’s nests, and products from edible bird’s nests, milk and dairy products, durian, and sweet potatoes to China.

Mekong Delta imports additional over 8 million liters of RON 95 gasoline

Nam Song Hau Trading Investing Petroleum Joint Stock Company (NSH Petro) said that the company has just imported 8.1 million liters of RON 95 gasoline.

The ship NSH Singapore carrying a shipment of RON95 gasoline with a volume of 8.1 million liters from Malaysia docked at the Nam Song Hau petroleum depot to provide gasoline to Mekong Delta.

Accordingly, on the same day, the ship NSH Singapore carrying a shipment of RON95 gasoline with a volume of 8.1 million liters from Malaysia docked at the Nam Song Hau petroleum depot in Tra Noc II Industrial Park, O Mon District of Can Tho City.

Accordingly, the NSH Petro will supply all of the RON 95 gasoline stations above to 67 stores and 550 agents in the Mekong Delta provinces and cities. The NHS Petro currently holds about 40 percent of the gasoline market in the Mekong Delta, of which some additional eight million liters of gasoline will contribute to ensuring the supply serving for production and consumption in the upcoming Lunar New Year's Eve.

In order to ensure the gasoline sources, it is expected that NSH Petro will continue to import additional three million liters and eight million liters of diesel oil from Dung Quat Refinery and Nghi Son Refinery, respectively.

Besides, NHS Petro said that the NSH Singapore vessel would continue to import 8.1 million liters of RON 95 gasoline from the Depot in January 2023 to ensure the supply source for the Mekong Delta region.

After a period of gasoline shortage along with the closure of gasoline stations due to low discounts, the petroleum market in the region is now in stable operation.

Deputy Director of the Can Tho City Market Management Department Nguyen Ngoc Hien said that nearly a hundred percent of gasoline stations in the city are now under sustainable operation. Besides, the supply, discount and commission for agents are adequate ensuring profit in business activities.

Hanoi posts nearly 8.9% economic growth in 2022

Hanoi recorded year-on-year growth of 8.89% in gross regional domestic product (GRDP) in 2022, higher than the target of 7 - 7.5%, according to the municipal Statistics Office.

This is a high rate compared to those in many recent years, showing the local administration’s determination and businesses’ efforts, the office said on December 28.

The capital city’s growth engine this year is industrial production and services, Office Director Dau Ngoc Hung noted, elaborating that the service sector has expanded 10.06% from last year, contributing 6.44 percentage points to the GRDP growth.

Business, tourism, restaurant, hotel, transportation, and information activities have bounced back strongly in the new normal, creating an impetus for trade and services. Fast-growing services include logistics 15.36%; information and communications 6.5%; administrative activities and support services (including tourism) 40.51%; finance, banking, and insurance 9.19%; and wholesale and retail 8.58%.

Meanwhile, the index of industrial production has increased 8.8% from 2021. The processing and manufacturing industry rose 9%, retaining its important role in common industrial growth.

This result is highly encouraging, mainly thanks to manufacturing firms’ resumption of supply chains after the two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Statistics Office went on.

In 2022, Hanoi has earned 17.1 billion USD from exports, up 10.3% year on year, compared to the 2.2% in 2021.

Notably, textile and garment shipments have brought home 2.57 billion USD (up 15.7%); computers, electronic products, and components 2.52 billion USD (16.3%); machinery, equipment, and spare parts 2 billion USD (1.6%); timber and wood products 883 million USD (17.5%); agricultural products 871 million USD (12.2%).

About 333 trillion VND (14 billion USD) has been collected for the state budget, up 8% from the target and 2.7% from last year.

HCM City’s budget collection exceeds target by 22%

Ho Chi Minh City’s total budget collection topped 471.5 trillion VND (nearly 20 billion USD) as of December 28, or equivalent to 121.99% of the estimate and up 23.6% year on year, reported Director of the municipal Department of Finance Le Duy Minh at a conference on the same day.

Notably, revenue from export-import reached over 141.4 trillion VND, equivalent to 121.4% of the estimate.

The city's total expenditure surpassed 72.39 trillion VND, equivalent to 72.6% of the estimate. Of which, over 29.47 trillion VND was for development and more than 40.21 trillion VND for regular spending, equivalent to 82.6% of the estimate, he said.

Work to start on 12 component projects of North-South expressway on Jan. 1

Construction will concurrently start on 12 component projects of the second phase of the North-South Expressway project (2021-2025) on January 1, 2023.
 
The information was unveiled by Deputy Minister of Transport Nguyen Danh Huy at a press briefing in Hanoi on December 28.

Accordingly, the groundbreaking ceremonies will be held in Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Quang Tri, Quang Ngai, Phu Yen, Binh Dinh, Khanh Hoa, Hau Giang and Ca Mau provinces.

The second phase of the expressway project consists of 12 component projects with a total length of 723.7km, of which the Ha Tinh-Quang Tri section is 260.9km, Quang Ngai-Nha Trang 352.1km and Can Tho-Ca Mau 110.9km.

The total investment is initially estimated at nearly 147 trillion VND (6.23 billion USD).

Ca Mau targets 1.3 billion USD from exports next year

The southernmost province of Ca Mau has targeted to achieve an export revenue of 1.3 billion USD next year.

According to the provincial Department of Industry and Trade, it will implement measures to boost exports, particularly its key like processed shrimp and fertilisers.

The province will further take advantage of free trade agreements that Vietnam has signed, and access new markets that have good purchasing power and are not hit hard by hiked inflation and economic downturn.

In 2022, the province’s socio-economic recovery programmes and policies worked effectively. Its export turnover is estimated at 1.3 billion USD, 13% higher than planned and 16.5% higher than that of 2021.

Of that, shrimp processing output is estimated at 200,000 tonnes, 27.4% higher than planned and up 11.1% compared to 2021.

Fertiliser output is estimated at 1 million tonnes, meeting the target.

Industrial sector reports 9% growth in 2022

Vietnam's industrial sector grew by 9% in 2022, according to a report published on December 26 by the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT).

Minister Nguyen Hong Dien said the sector had made significant progress despite numerous difficulties and challenges including complicated geo-political developments around the world, rising trade protectionism, disrupted supply chains in the aftermath of a global pandemic and tightened monetary policies by major central banks. 

Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Quoc Khanh said this year's 9% growth reflected the sector's resilience and ability to adapt to the post-pandemic global economy. 

In addition, the sector had stayed on the right course with a growing portion of high-tech, manufacturing/processing industries and a shrinking portion of natural resource extraction-based industries. 

Export of manufactured and processed goods maintained good momentum to grow by 86% this year, compared to 85.5% the previous year. 

This year, manufacturing and processing, which reported growth of 9.5%, continued to be the main driver for the entire sector, contributing 86% to the country's total export despite difficulties to secure orders in major industries such as footwear, textile, furniture and electronics. 

Major shortcomings such as being overly reliant on imports of raw material, sub-par productivity and efficiency, however, continued to plague its development 

Localities aim to boost tourism with focus on international markets and domestic demand

Many localities across the country are trying to promote their tourism potential to international markets while stimulating domestic demand to capitalise on the travel season at the year's end.

According to the Department of Tourism of the northern coastal province of Quảng Ninh, after the East Asia Inter-Regional Tourism Forum (EATOF 17), the locality welcomed large groups of foreign visitors from the Republic of Korea, Malaysia and France.

This is considered an important step for Quảng Ninh to continue implementing concerted solutions towards realising its goal of serving 11.5-12 million visitors in 2022.

Director of the department Phạm Ngọc Thuỷ said Quảng Ninh would strive to increase the effectiveness of tourism connections with other localities, especially those in the south, and further exploit international markets that are showing signs of stable growth, such as the RoK, Japan and India.

The locality will organise more activities in the year-end season to attract visitors while holding tourism promotion events in the target countries, aiming to open direct air routes from Vân Đồn international airport to these markets.

The central city of Đà Nẵng recently hosted the Việt Nam International Travel Mart, featuring around 350 booths, including 50 foreign firms. It attracted 2,000 domestic and foreign enterprises and 30,000 visitors.

The municipal authorities have also organised many promotion events in Europe, the RoK, Singapore, India and Japan towards restoring international air routes from the countries to Đà Nẵng.

According to the Hà Nội Department of Tourism, the capital city welcomed over 17 million visitors in the first 11 months of 2022, five times higher than the figure reported in the same period the previous year.

The Hà Nội Tourism Áo Dài Festival, which took place from December 2-4, attracted over 30,000 visitors. The department plans to coordinate with related units to make the festival an annual event to attract more tourists to the city.

Meanwhile, the Department of Tourism of the Mekong Delta province of Kiên Giang reported that the locality received more than 7 million visitors in the last 11 months, raking in nearly VNĐ9.67 trillion (over US$407.8 million) in revenue, exceeding the target by 24.8 per cent.

The island city of Phú Quốc alone welcomed over 4.7 million visitors, including 191,700 foreign arrivals.

According to Nguyễn Quốc Kỳ, Chairman of the Board of Directors of tour operator Vietravel Holdings, it is necessary to accelerate the full resumption of air routes, open tourism promotion offices abroad, and ensure the quality and quantity of human resources for the tourism sector, thus developing the industry into a spearhead economic sector of the country. 

Experts call for review of EVFTA to build on positive results
     
The European Union-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) has gained positive results since coming into effect on August 1, 2020, though, experts believe it is necessary to review the achieved results to identify and rectify problems and challenges encountered in the past two years.

Deputy Minister of MoIT Tran Quoc Khanh said that since the EVFTA came into effect on August 1, 2020, Viet Nam's two-way trade turnover had achieved impressive growth, despite the severe impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, logistics and supply chain crisis, and geopolitical fluctuations.

Deputy Minister Khanh further said during the first year, bilateral trade turnover reached US$54.9 billion, making a year-on-year increase of 12.1 per cent. Of this, export turnover reached $34.5 billion or 11.3 per cent. In the second year, the bilateral trade turnover climbed to $1.4 billion, with an increase of 11.9 per with $45 billion from export. Many Vietnamese essential products recorded positive growth, such as textiles with a 24 per cent increase, footwear (19 per cent) and seafood (41 per cent).

In 2021, the export turnover of Vietnamese goods to the EU market using C/O form EUR.1 reached $8.1 billion, making an account for 20.2 per cent of total export turnover to the EU or 24.4 per cent rose against the same period in 2020.

In the first ten months this year, the ratio of taking advantage of incentives from the EVFTA agreement stood at 25.1 per cent, with an increase of more than 30 per cent over the same frame last year.

The Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry reports that four out of 10 Vietnamese businesses benefited from the EVFTA. Deputy Minister Khanh noted that the results had shown tireless efforts of government bodies from the grassroots to the central level over the past two years.

According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the achievements are only the initial steps. The potential and opportunities from the EU market remain large. However, many difficulties and obstacles are facing Vietnamese businesses.

Khanh emphasised that the Vietnamese brand had not been well developed and known in European countries while the value and benefits gained by Vietnamese businesses failed to meet their potential.

Sharing views with the deputy minister, Ngo Chung Khanh, a senior expert from the MoIT, said computers, garment-textile, machines and equipment, footwear, fresh vegetables, processed vegetables and fruit, seafood and rice were key products for export.

Chung Khanh said if there were no EVFTA, the tax rate applied to vegetables would reach the highest ratio of 20 per cent, noting that most import taxes had declined to zero per cent due to the EVFTA.

However, the volume of fruit and vegetable for export to the EU market accounted for 2.7 per cent only. Under the trade agreement, the EU has eliminated tariffs on 86.5 per cent of Vietnamese seafood, with a zero-tax rate expected after seven years. Therefore, the EVFTA is expected to create an excellent opportunity to export Vietnamese seafood, according to the expert. However, Viet Nam's seafood exports to the EU market account for only about 4.2 per cent of the market share.

Nguyen Van Hieu, sales director of Viet Nam's Loc Troi Group, said there was a lot of room for domestic businesses to export rice to the EU market. Over the years, his group had taken advantage of this market well.

Ngo Chung Khanh concluded that the Ministry of Industry and Trade would work well with ministries and bodies to focus on implementing solutions to help local businesses have excellent access to the websites of ministries and agencies.

In addition, the ministry would also conduct its review of cities and provinces via the free trade agreement index (FTA Index) to be announced by 2023, which is expected to create an impetus for localities to create a favourable environment for enterprises and enable them to take advantage of free trade deals.

The ministry would also renovate communication forms via social networks by conducting short videos, training courses and seminars.

Last but not least, the ministry would work out specific solutions by offering business credit loans, promoting connectivity between companies, and creating incentives for businesses. 

HCMC’s full-year budget revenue soars

HCMC’s budget revenue this year totaled nearly VND472 trillion, up 22% against the target and 23.6% year-on-year, heard a conference on the city’s 2022 budget collection and spending on December 28.

The budget revenue from domestic production and business activities reached over VND330 trillion, over 22% higher than expected, said Le Duy Minh, director of the municipal Department of Finance.

Imports and exports totaled VND141.4 trillion, exceeding the target by 21.4%, the local media reported.

Speaking at the conference, HCMC Chairman Phan Van Mai said that despite many difficulties facing the local and global economies, the city reported positive results in the budget collection. However, the economy is forecast to continue facing challenges and uncertainties in 2023, while the city’s budget revenue is targeted at VND469 trillion.

Source: VNA/SGT/VNS/VOV/Dtinews/SGGP/VGP/Hanoitimes