Two-way trade between Vietnam and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) was estimated at 3.3 billion USD in the first eight months of this year, with the Southeast Asian nation enjoying a trade surplus of some 3 billion USD.

The Vietnamese Trade Office in the UAE suggested domestic firms set out suitable strategies for exports to the UAE which, it said, gathers many rivals due to its openness.

Notably, food and beverages exported to the UAE should meet Halal standards, the office said, asking Vietnamese enterprises to identify partners before cooperation and select safe payment methods to avoid any trade frauds.

The UAE will serve as a gateway for Vietnamese businesses to step up exports to the Middle East and Africa, it suggested.

The office also proposed trade promotion agencies increase investment and trade forums with the participation of enterprises from both Vietnam and the UAE, as well as representatives from local management agencies, while facilitating Vietnamese firms to participate in international exhibitions and fairs in Dubai.

Launching or optimising direct transport routes between the two sides will help cut transportation costs significantly, it said.

Project to develop international merchant fleet in the pipeline

The Ministry of Transport’s Vietnam Maritime Administration (VinaMarine) is collecting feedback from other ministries and agencies on a draft project to develop Vietnam’s international merchant fleet.

According to VinaMarine, the country's ports in recent years have been developed and are now able to welcome some of the world's largest ships.

However, containers imported and exported to and from Vietnam are mainly handled by foreign shipping lines, especially on long-distance sea routes to developed countries such as Europe and the US.

The domestic fleet currently mainly undertakes domestic transportation and short international routes in Asia. The international shipping market share of Vietnam's fleet has been on a downward trend in recent years.

The fleet structure is not as good as it could be with mainly small tonnage ships carrying dry and bulk cargo. There is a lack of container ships and large tonnage ships operating on international routes.

A VinaMarine representative proposed that the first thing to do is to improve mechanisms and accelerate public administration reforms, providing a stable legal corridor for maritime transport firms to operate efficiently.

It is also crucial to improve the quality of crew members and adopt incentives designated to support seafarers. VinaMarine has been urging the private sector to invest in personnel training, including sending potential workers to study overseas.

Vietnam can serve as gateway for Russia to access ASEAN: Russian expert

Vietnam has great potential to become a gateway for Russia to access all other ASEAN member states, said Evgeny E. Vlasov, Acting Vice President for International Relations, at the Far Eastern Federal University (FEFU) where the 7th Eastern Economic Forum (EEF) took place.

According to him, Vietnam holds an increasingly important role to Russia and its bilateral cooperation with Vietnam can be considered its open door to ASEAN to cooperate with all partners.

He cited the Vietnam-Russia Business Dialogue held within the framework of the 7th EEF as an example, as it drew large attention.

Vietnam also has big competitors in relation to Russia, such as Singapore which has much greater economic potential. However, if experience and the positive past are taken into account, Vietnam has more opportunities, and is the foundation for Russia to build this new type of relationship, he added.

Prospects bright for seafood exports to UK in rest of 2022

Vietnam’s seafood exports to the UK are expected to pick up in the remaining months of this year with the full-year revenues projected to increase by 5% over last year, according to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP).

Le Hang, VASEP’s chief communications officer, said exports to the European country decreased by nearly 5% in the first seven months of the year mainly due to a slump in shrimp export.

Shrimp is among Vietnam’s key seafood exports to the UK.

With inflation in the UK hitting a 40-year high, and among the highest rate in Europe, consumers have tended to reduce consumption of high-priced food items, Hang said.

As a result, exports of items like shrimp, tuna and some marine fish species to the UK decreased sharply, she said.

Pangasius exports grew at 16% thanks to its affordable prices, she said.

With a shortage of whitefish due to the western ban on seafood imports from Russia, pangasius has become a replacement in the UK, especially for the popular fish and chips, she pointed out.

The UK is among the top 10 seafood export markets for Vietnam, accounting for 3% of total exports in the first seven months.

The UK-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement of May 2021 is an important continuation of trade facilitation between the two countries after the former exited the EU.

Tariffs for bilateral trade are replicated from the EU - Vietnam Free Trade Agreement.

Tony Thuan, international sales executive at the Cuu Long Fish Import-Export Corporation, one of the leading companies in producing aquatic feed and processing and exporting frozen pangasius, said the UK is the second largest importer of pangasius in the old EU after Germany.

The market also has huge demand for whitefishes, which are mainly imported from Russia and other countries.

In the European market, Vietnamese pangasius has to compete against whitefishes such as pollock and haddock.

The sanctions on Russian whitefish have resulted in a shortage in the European market, and whitefish importers have to find substitutes.even months of the year, the same as the full-year figure for 2021, he said.

Exports to the UK accounted for 10%, and the company has plans in place to increase shipments to the market, he added.

CPTPP holds potential for Vietnam’s tra fish exports

The members of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) constitute a potential market for the export of tra fish, according to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP).

VASEP’s statistics showed that 13% of the Vietnam’s total tra fish export in the first seven months of this year, worth 211.4 million USD, was consumed in CPTPP member markets, representing a rise of 73% against the same period last year.

In July alone, tra fish export to member countries of CPTPP expanded rapidly at 123% to reach more than 31 million USD.

Except for New Zealand, which did not see a considerable increase in tra fish import from Vietnam, other CPTPP member markets all posted whopping rises.

Notably, tra fish export to Canada rose by four times against the same period last year to reach 40 million USD, accounting for 2.5% of Vietnam’s total tra fish export value. About 92% of tra fish exported to this market was processed.

Tra fish export to Australia, Singapore, Malaysia and Chile posted three-digit growth in July, from 108-166%, over the same period last year. Export to Japan increased by 66% in July.

According to VASEP, Canada was the market where the average tra fish price was the highest among CPTPP member countries, at around 3.34 USD per kilogramme in July.

Although Mexico was the largest tra fish export market of Vietnam with a turnover of 10.2 million USD in July and 72.6 million USD in the seven-month period, the average tra fish export price to this market was only around 2.8 USD per kilogramme.

Australia was also an attractive market for Vietnam’s tra fish exporters with average import price of 3.26 USD per kilogramme in the first half of this year and 3.3 USD in July.

Improving agricultural living standards central to new resolution

A new resolution on agriculture, farmers and rural areas will enhance the development to improve the living standards of farming households, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Minh Hoan said at an online conference introducing Resolution No. 19-NQ/TW.

The first key solution is to improve the role, position, ownership capability, and the lives of rural residents, he said.

The minister said that the resolution promotes the role of farmers and considers them the centre of the development process.

In the context of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and digital transformation, the resolution sets higher requirements in raising knowledge and awareness and ensuring farmers' ownership.

Digital transformation is opening up a bright future for Vietnamese agriculture by applying new tools in production.

At the September 8 meeting, the participants shared experiences and recommendations on shifting from agricultural production to an agricultural economy.

Nguyen Hong Son, Director of the Vietnam Academy of Agricultural Sciences, said that it is necessary to restructure agriculture by applying science and technology.

Agricultural development also creates conditions for the development of farmers and rural areas and vice versa.

The resolution stated that science and technology have the task of creating high-value products and breakthroughs and training high-quality human resources.

The agency will coordinate with relevant units and businesses to transfer technological advances and train farmers, promoting the application of high technology in agriculture, increasing the value of products, and creating breakthroughs in the agriculture sector, Son said.

Reports from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development said the ministry has built 1,669 supply chains of safe agro-forestry-fishery foods and checked post-harvest samples. As a result, food safety violations are low (from 1.6 to 2.5%).

Programme helps boost Cambodia – Vietnam tourism cooperation

The Cambodian Ministry of Tourism hosted a programme themed “Cambodia Night” in the framework of the 16th Ho Chi Minh City International Tourism Expo (ITE HCMC 2022) on September 8 to promote its tourism connection with Vietnam.

In his opening remarks, Cambodian Minister of Tourism Thong Khon said the programme is part of the events to celebrate the 55th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Cambodia and Vietnam (June 24, 1967 - 2022), and the 55th of ASEAN.

It marks the step-by-step opening of tourism activities in ASEAN launched at the 25th Meeting of ASEAN Tourism Ministers at the 2022 ASEAN Tourism Forum in Preah Sihanouk province of Cambodia, and contributes to fostering tourism cooperation in the spirit of the bilateral meeting between Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen and his Vietnamese counterpart Pham Minh Chinh on the sidelines of the ASEAN-US Special Summit in 2022, towards fully restoring tourism activities between the two countries in the time to come, he noted.

In the first eight months of 2022, Cambodia welcomed over 1 million foreign tourism arrivals, surging by 580% year-on-year. The country expectes to serve 1.5-2 million international tourists in 2022.

Conference connects Vietnam-Ireland agricultural businesses

An Ireland-Vietnam Agriculture Conference was organised in Hanoi on September 8 under the theme “The Adoption of Agritech 4.0”.

Speaking at the event, Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Tran Duy Dong emphasised that Vietnam's agriculture still has ample room for development, especially in organic and processed products with high added value and high technology application.

Therefore, promoting cooperation in agricultural development as well as agricultural business linkages between Vietnam and Ireland is of great significance in the current context, because their strengths can complement each other for mutual development, he said.

Kevin Ryan, Director in charge of ASEAN at Enterprise Ireland, stated that Ireland holds a lot of experience in the transition from an agricultural country to a modern industrial country with the use of advanced technology and applied scientific research achievements to increase the added value of agricultural products.

Da Nang looks to foster cooperation with UK

A delegation of Da Nang city led by Vice Secretary of its Party Committee and Chairman of the People’s Council Luong Nguyen Minh Triet paid a working visit to the United Kingdom (UK) from September 6-8, with the aim to promote cooperation with partners and businesses in the fields of tourism, investment, finance, education and health.

The focus of the business trip was the "Da Nang Business Roundtable" held on September 7 in London to introduce the city's investment, trade and tourism environment along with key projects calling for investment to potential enterprises and investors.

Speaking at the event, Triet said that currently, the city has 933 FDI projects with a total registered capital of 3.92 billion USD. However, there are only 21 projects of UK investors with a total registered capital of 1.9 million USD.

Therefore, Da Nang wants to invite British businesses and Vietnamese expatriates to the city, he said, noting that the areas in which British businesses have strengths are also the fields that Da Nang wishes to attract investment such as information technology, high technology, finance, education and tourism.

Bamboo Airways named most punctual airline in first eight months

Low-cost carrier Bamboo Airways was the most punctual airline in the first eight months of this year, with an on-time performance (OTP) rate of 95.2%, or 31,957 flights, according to the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam.

Bamboo Airways has held the title since 2019.

Pacific Airlines and Vietravel Airlines followed with both on 93%, or 10,451 and 2,944 flights, respectively.

Vietnam Airlines and Vietjet Air recorded the lowest OTP rates with 84% and 84.8%. They also cancelled the most flights, with 644 by Vietnam Airlines and 162 by Vietjet Air out of the total 896 cancelled during the period.

In the first eight months, 208,242 flights were launched, up 103% year-on-year. Of which, 78,202 were operated by Vietnam Airlines, 76,513 by Vietjet Air, and 33,583 by Bamboo Airways.

In August alone, airlines ran 30,167 flights with 26,719, or 88.6%, on time, up 5.8% from July.

A total of 3,448 flights were delayed, equivalent to 11.4%. Vietnam Airlines recorded the most delayed flights with 1,640, accounting for 14.7%. It was followed by Vasco with 82 flights, or 12.4%, Vietjet Air 10.6%, Vietravel Airlines 9.4%, Bamboo Airways 7.4% and Pacific Airlines 7.3%.

During the month, Pacific Airlines and Vietravel Airlines did not cancel any flights.

Toyota Vietnam launches consulting programme for auto support industry firms

Toyota Vietnam and the Ministry of Industry and Trade’s Department of Industry on September 7 launched a consulting programme for auto support industry enterprises.

The programme is within the framework of a Memorandum of Understanding on a project assisting domestic firms in the auto support industry this year.

Accordingly, Toyota Vietnam will send experts to the Hanoi Industry Trade Investment JSC, the Nhat Minh Technical Co.Ltd, the 75 Rubber One-Member Co.Ltd and the Kim Sen Industrial JSC to discuss problems and offer solutions to improve their competitiveness.

Toyota Vietnam said the project, launched in 2020, aims to build the capacity of domestic firms and connect them with automobile assemblers and manufacturers.

Vietnamese firms seek new partners with businesses from RoK’s Chungnam province

Enterprises from the Republic of Korea’s Chungnam province have introduced high-quality products to Vietnamese partners, including cosmetics and beauty equipment, fruits, nutritional food and beverages, industrial equipment and supplies, in the four-day online trade week held by the Korea Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA Hanoi).

Chungnam is an emerging key economic region of the RoK, actively contributing to the country's trade surplus. The provincial enterprises’ products have been exported to many countries around the world.

At this trade week from September 5-8, 22 Vietnamese businesses have found potential Korean suppliers.

Nguyen Anh Tuan, Director of IDP Co Ltd, who participated in the event, said: “We have the opportunity to approach more Korean suppliers at this event. Quality and specification of Hongil Industrial Corporation's air hose products suits the needs of Vietnamese companies. We are discussing product prices to sign an import contract in the near future.”

Nearly 50 online transactions have been successfully carried out.

Irish Food Board to increase exports of agricultural products to Vietnam

reland sees great potential to provide high-quality dairy products to the Vietnamese market, especially as tariffs will be reduced to zero percent on the first day of next year.

Thanks to the European Union (EU) and Vietnamese Free Trade Agreement (FTA) European dairy tariffs will be removed on January 1, 2023, after which Europe’s market share is expected to rise.

“As the country at the heart of Europe, we see the huge potential in the trade deal in exporting high quality of Ireland agro products to Vietnam,” said Ireland’s Minister for State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Martin Heydon T.D, affirming that Vietnam was an important strategic partner of Ireland.

Thanks to the EVFTA, Ireland will also enjoy the zero percent of tariff, which is currently 15%.

“The recognition of Vietnam as an important trade partner of the EU, along with the European Union's EVFTA taking effect from August 1, 2020, Bord Bia, the Irish Food Board, aims to introduce premium dairy products to Vietnamese customers,” said Minister Heydon.

Heydon said Europe is the largest dairy-producing region in the world, producing about 145 million tonnes of dairy products in 2021. Ireland, a traditional dairy farming powerhouse, has about 17,000 farms.

According to the Bord Bia, the Irish government agency that manages the promotion, trade development and marketing of the Irish food, drink and horticulture industry, Ireland has a herd of 1.6 million dairy cows producing 8.8 billion litres of milk, an average of 5,648 litres/head.

Bord Bia said Ireland exported more than 30 million euros of food and beverages to the Vietnamese market in 2021, an increase of 55% compared to 2020.

The minister said Ireland's dairy products like cheese, milk and powder exports to Vietnam increased by 159% in value in the first six months of 2022.

Nguyen Do Anh Tuan, Director of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development's International Cooperation Department, said Vietnam has export strengths in rice, coffee, rubber, pepper, cashew, tea, wood, etc. though also imports many shortage products like meat products, fertilisers and pesticides.

Michael Murphy, CEO of Bord Bia, who visited Vietnam with the minister, announced Bord Bia’s new three-year strategy outlines a target of 800 million euro in Irish food and drink exports to South East Asia by 2025, led by the Irish dairy and meat sectors.

In its Prioritising Markets - Opportunities for Growth study (2017), Bord Bia identified Vietnam and the wider South East Asia region as a priority destination for Irish food and drink exports, with high potential for dairy exports in particular.

As part of the trade mission, Minister Heydon will be meeting with representatives from Vietnam's Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to discuss market access issues and will also attend Bord Bia trade receptions with customers of Irish dairy, pork and seafood in Hanoi.

Ciaran Gallagher, Regional Director, South East Asia, Bord Bia, said: “With the population of South East Asia predicted to expand by a further 100 million people by 2050, there will be a growing import demand, and one that 'Ireland is ideally positioned to meet'."

The degegation announced Bord Bia would be hosting an Ireland stand at Food & Hotel Asia (FHA) trade show in Singapore as part of the trade mission.

Int’l tourism expo opens in HCM City

The 16th Ho Chi Minh City International Tourism Expo (ITE HCMC 2022) themed “Growing Forward Together” kicked off in the city on September 8. 

Addressing the opening ceremony, Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee Phan Van Mai stressed that Vietnam has witnessed an impressive tourist growth after it fully reopened tourism activities from March 15.

The country welcomed 81 million domestic and foreign tourists in the first eight months of 2022, raking in an estimated 356.6 trillion VND (over 15.1 billion USD), 1.61 times that of the same period last year. 
 
Mai said the country's largest hub in the south served 18.15 million visitors in the period, earning 74.5 trillion VND, surging by 90.6% year-on-year. 

ITE HCMC 2022, the largest and most established travel event in the Mekong Delta region, is scheduled for September 8 – 10 as part of the efforts to revive inbound tourism.

The event, which features 210 booths from domestic travel firms and 50 others from foreign companies, is hoped to offer a venue for travel agencies in and outside the country to set up tourism partnerships. 

In the frameworks of the expo, symposiums, workshops and promotion tourism programmes will be arranged, aiming to seek solutions to strongly promote post-pandemic tourism rebound.

51 PUCs in Vietnam eligible for shipment of durian to China

A total of 51 Production Unit Codes (PUCs) and 25 Pack House Codes (PHCs) in Vietnam have been recognised as eligible for export of fresh durian to China, according to the Vietnam Sanitary and Phyto-sanitary Notification Authority and Enquiry Point (SPS Vietnam).

A majority of the PUCs come from the Central Highlands province of Dak Lak (23), followed by Dong Nai (7), Binh Phuoc (5), Tien Giang (3). Ben Tre, Long An, Binh Thuan, Khanh Hoa and Kon Tum each have two, and Dong Thap, Lam Dong and Tay Ninh, one.

The Mekong Delta province of Tien Giang has most PHCs (10), followed by Dak Lak (4), Ben Tre and Dong Nai (3) and Lam Dong (2). Dong Thap, Khanh Hoa and Hai Duong each have one.

Under a protocol inked between Vietnam and China, the Chinese side will review how Vietnamese durian exporters observe its provisions before trading starts.

To hasten the registration of production units and pack houses from Vietnam, China’s General Administration of Customs allowed the PUC and PHC reviews to be conducted via live videos from July 15 – September 4.

A total of 126 PUCs and 44 PHCs were reviewed during the period.

OVs invest in over 3,000 businesses in HCM City

Overseas Vietnamese (OVs) have invested in more than 3,000 firms in Ho Chi Minh City with a total capital amounting to 45 trillion VND (1.91 billion USD), heard a meeting between the municipal Committee for Overseas Vietnamese and representatives of the group held in the city on September 7.

At the event, participating Vietnamese expatriates got updated on the city’s current situation and development. They were given necessary information about regulations on repatriation, Vietnamese citizenship registration, house purchase, and goods transport, among others.

According to the municipal committee, currently, more than 2 million or about 40% of the total number of overseas Vietnamese come from or have connections with HCM City.

The city has so far attracted more than 400 overseas intellectuals to work for a long term and nearly 200 others to participate in research cooperation projects.

Russian businesses optimistic about trade cooperation with Vietnam

A seminar on business relations between Russia and Vietnam was held in the framework of the 7th Eastern Economic Forum (EEF) in Vladivostok city, Russia, during which participants expressed optimism about the prospect for expanding economic cooperation between the two countries.

Many Russian enterprises have showed their interest in the Vietnamese market, saying that they intend to boost business cooperation with Vietnamese partners. 

Erkozha Akylbek, Chairman of Udokan Copper's Board of Directors and General Director of USM JSC which specialises in metallurgy and mining, said that Udokan has planned to sell its products in countries in the Asia-Pacific region such as China, India, and Vietnam.

Meanwhile, Oleg Deripaska, who owns many large Russian companies and also is Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Stolypin Institute for the Economy of Growth, said that Vietnam is one of Russia's important partners in Indo-Pacific, with diverse cooperation fields as energy, oil and gas, manufacturing and agriculture.

This is a great basis for the two sides to develop stronger economic ties in the time to come, he noted.

According to Deripaska, the scale and speed of economic development make Vietnam an attractive market for Russian products. Vietnamese businesses have many opportunities in the Russian market with highly competitive products.

For Vietnam, ensuring a sustainable supply of low-carbon raw materials is critical for its development and achieving net-zero emissions by 2050. Meanwhile, Russia is one of the world's leading suppliers of sustainable raw materials. Therefore, there is a large room for the two countries to expand cooperation.
 
Participant underlined the necessity to strengthen transport connectivity and simplify administrative procedures in order to make it easier for the exchange of goods between the two countries, thus further bolstering the bilateral economic ties.

Workshop spotlights tourism business potential in HCM City

A workshop on Ho Chi Minh City’s and Vietnam’s tourism business potential took place in the southern metropolis on September 7, as part of the 16th HCM City International Tourism Expo (ITE HCMC 2022).

Phan Thi Thang, Vice Chairwoman of the municipal People’s Committee, informed participants on the city’s strengths, including being a gateway and a traffic hub with connections to provinces and cities domestically and internationally.

The city houses over 4,000 lodging facilities totaling nearly 50,000 rooms. It also has a community of 1,280 travel companies and 6,934 tour guides.

ITE HCMC 2022, the largest and most established travel event in the Mekong Delta region, is scheduled for September 8 – 10 under the theme of “Growing Forward Together” as part of the efforts to revive inbound tourism.

Forum seeks ways to restore international tourism

A high-level forum was held in Ho Chi Minh City on September 8 in an effort to devise solutions to restore pre-pandemic international tourism, develop MICE tourism, and promote sustainable tourism development.

The forum took place as part of the 16th Ho Chi Minh City International Tourism Expo (ITE HCMC 2022) which is getting underway in the southern city.

Addressing the forum, Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam emphasised that many businesses have made every effort to innovate their tourism products and services, as well as to deploy infrastructure upgrades during the COVID-19 pandemic in order to anticipate the return of visitors in large numbers.

“Though the pandemic is not over yet, we can confidently implement solutions to expand and further develop tourism in the new context,” said Dam.

He urged localities to speed up the implementation of support packages for workers, assist small enterprises operating in the tourism industry, and conduct reviews of tourism development policies in a bid to ensure sustainable development.

Meanwhile, Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyen Van Hung revealed that there are bright prospects ahead for Vietnamese tourism to rebound, pointing out Vietnam has welcomed over 1.4 million foreign arrivals during the eight-month period, with most of them coming from the Republic of Korea, the United States, Japan, Taiwan (China), Laos, Cambodia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, the UK, Germany, and France.

The total number of domestic tourists throughout the reviewed period reached roughly 79.8 million, earning an estimated revenue of VND356,600 trillion.

Vietnam continues to be among the leading destinations with the highest growth rates in the world, ranging between 50% and 75%, while the volume of international searches for Vietnamese tourism in July increased by more than 1,200% compared to the same period from last year.

Amid fierce competition among destinations globally, Vietnam must devise unique strategies and products in line with the latest in the post-COVID-19 period, Minister Hung said, noting that the development of MICE tourism represents a key orientation for the Vietnamese tourism industry until 2025 as it seeks to attract both local and foreign arrivals.

Ha Van Sieu, deputy general director of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT), pointed out that with a number of the world’s natural heritage sites, pristine beaches, upgraded infrastructure, a system featuring world-class hotels and resorts, and political stability, Vietnam is considered a safe and attractive destination.

Experts outlined that popular destinations for the development of MICE tourism include Hanoi, Quang Ninh, Da Nang, Khanh Hoa, and Ho Chi Minh City, assessing that this tourism type should be associated with diverse tourism products such as sea and island tourism, cultural tourism, ecotourism, and urban tourism.

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