080318 Intellasia Finance Vietnam Intellasia_Finance... · 08/MAR/2018 INTELLASIA| VNA The State...

8 March 2018

finance & business news

FINANCE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1Reference exchange rate down for second consecutive day 1Moody's: Vietnam banks show widening divergence 2Banks race to attract deposits 3Significant progress made in sustainable lending reforms 4Payment services: fierce competition in market share 4Bank cards carrying dozens of fees 6Higher power tariff for crypto mining 7A shake-up in key bank personnel 7List of banks to make no dividend payment lasts longer this year 8Small banks holding breath for upcoming AGMs 9VN important part of Japanese bank's 'Asia-centric' strategy 10Japanese bank signs cooperation agreement with Vinh Phuc

province 10VPBank shares granted with margin after 6 months 11Vietnam needs to capitalise on CPTPP agreement 11PM wants early-warning system for macro-economic risks 12To the next step 13FDI in Vietnam's agricultural sector remains low 15Hard for Vietnam to sue US over steel, aluminum tariffs 16MoIT imposes safeguard measures on imported fertilisers 17Foreign car makers try to navigate new law in Vietnam

after two-month hiatus 17Coastal localities report bumper fishing catches 18Ministry of Finance works to handle tax arrears 18Aviation development plan changes for sustainability

in the future 19Transport a highlight of GMS Economic Cooperation Programme 21Nearly $1.2 billion invests in major agricultural projects 22Vietnam, Good Neighbours International work to improve

cooperatives 23Hanoi to create transparent environment and investment

for the private sector 23Quang Ninh: customs clearance via floating bridge linking

with China 24Bright horizons for resort property development 24Rural areas boast rapid growth in FMCG 25

VN packaging industry set for growth 26Is the home appliance market becoming saturated? 27How do e-commerce businesses overcome difficulties? 28Developers marching down to the riverside 28Honesty as the best marketing policy 30PM directs boosting support for enterprise development 31Vietnamese startups: the other side of the coin 32MARD helps small farmers find vendors 33Changing retail landscape and the rise of shopping malls 34Industrial zone developers: High time for action 34Central key economic zone invites US investors 36Foreign farmers pour investments in Da Lat 37Sweden expects to cooperate with Vietnam in water treatment 38

BIZ NEWS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38Business Briefs 08 March, 2018 38VN Index loses 8 points on March 7 39March 7: Volatile afternoon as all main indexes down 39PV Oil begins trading shares on UPCoM 40Part of visa fee revenue for tourism development 40Eastern North-South Expressway feasibility study to be

approved in August 41USD5bn to be spent on Can Tho-HCM City express railway 41More Vietnamese businesspeople seek second citizenship 42Amazon due to penetrate Vietnam E-Business market 42FLC to purchase 24 aircrafts worth $3bn 43Vietnam Airlines to open Nha Trang-Seoul route 43Two Korean retailers to partner with VN 44Zalo Shop partners with Shipchung and BoxMe 44Road to success of three Vietnamese women with essential oil 45HCM City court stalls Grab trial after reopening hearing

for one day 46Innovation in dire need at Mekong Delta startup contest 47Vietnamese businesses to attend IE Expo China 2018 47Chinese firms keen on VN's environmental protection market 48International furniture expo opens in HCM City 48

FINANCE
FINANCEReference exchange rate down for second consecutive day
08/MAR/2018 INTELLASIA| VNA

The State Bank of Vietnam set the daily reference exchange rate at 22,443 VND/USD on March 8, down 10 VND from the previous day.With the current trading band of/-3 percent, the ceiling rate applied to commercial banks during the day is 23,116 VND/USD and the floor rate 21,772 VND/USD.The opening hour rates at major commercial banks also showed a declining trend.Vietcombank cut both rates by 5 VND, listing the buying rate at 22,720 VND/USD and the selling rate at 22,790 VND/USD.The rates listed at BIDV went down by 8 VND, standing at 22,720 VND/USD (buying) and at 22,790 VND/USD (selling).

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Vietnam finance & business 8 March 2018

Meanwhile, the rates listed at Vietinbank dropped by 49 VND to 22,676 VND/USD (buying) and 22,746 VND/USD (selling).https://en.vietnamplus.vn/reference-exchange-rate-down-for-second-consecutive-day/127551.vnp

Moody's: Vietnam banks show widening divergence

08/MAR/2018 INTELLASIA| THE SAIGON TIMES

Moody's Investors Service in a recent report said that business results of Vietnamese banks in 2017 show a widening divergence in asset quality and profitability.According to the firm's just-released report, the 2017 results for the 14 Vietnamese banks rated by Moody's show that asset quality improved moderately year over year. Profitability also improved, driven by robust macroeconomic conditions and growth in core income.By contrast, capitalisation deteriorated because of rapid asset growth and cash divi-dends. However, the banks' funding profiles weakened mildly, as they increased their reliance on market-sensitive liabilities, mainly borrowings from other banks, to fund loan growth with cheap short-term funding sources."For 2018, we expect that the banks will continue to improve their asset quality and profitability, while capitalisation will weaken," said Eugene Tarzimanov, a Moody's vice president and senior credit officer.However, Rebaca Tan, a Moody's analyst, said the credit profiles of banks with strong-er capital buffers and lower asset risks would be further distanced from the other banks.On asset quality in particular, Moody's said that the improvement in 2017 versus 2016 was helped by problem asset recoveries and write-offs, as well as credit growth. The asset weighted-average problem loans ratio at the 14 rated banks fell to 5.7 percent at the end of 2017 from 6.7 percent the year before.Notably, four banks fully wrote off Vietnam Asset Management Company bonds that they had received in exchange for problem assets, and Moody's expected more such write-offs in 2018.Problem loan coverage ratios also improved, although they are still at levels that are weak by international standards. Moody's said that the banks' asset quality will im-prove further in 2018, due to recoveries, but rapid credit growth could mask asset risks.With profitability, Moody's pointed out that the banks' asset weighted-average return on assets rose to 0.9 percent in 2017 from 0.7 percent in 2016.Profitability will continue to improve in 2018, on the back of the same factors that drove up profitability in the prior year, in particular, robust macroeconomic condi-tions and growth in core income.As for capitalisation, the asset weighted-average ratio of tangible common equity to to-tal assets for the banks slipped to 5.5 percent in 2017 from 5.7 percent in 2016, pres-sured by declines at State-owned banks, in particular.Nevertheless, some banks, such as Vietnam Prosperity Commercial Bank (VPBank), Vietnam Technological and Commercial Bank (Techcombank), and HCM City Devel-opment Bank (HDBank), strengthened their capital bases through the sale of new shares.Moody's expected that more Vietnamese banks would increase capital by issuing new shares in 2018. However, overall capitalisation levels will remain under pressure over the next 12 months from credit growth and dividend payments.Moody's explained that in terms of funding, the banks' funding profiles weakened moderately, as seen by the system-wide asset weighted-average loans-to-deposits climbing to 86 percent in 2017 from 85 percent in 2016. This trend could continue in 2018 because loan growth remains rapid.english.thesaigontimes.vn/58650/Moody percente2 percent80 percent99s-Vietnam-banks-show-widening-divergence.html

Intellasia 8 March 2018 2 / 49

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Banks race to attract deposits

08/MAR/2018 INTELLASIA| DTCK

On the very first days of working after Tet holiday, the market witnessed numerous deposit rate promotions within two to three days. However, that is only the starting point for the race in mobilisation among banks which is becoming increasingly attrac-tive. High interest rates and good promotions are still the tools that overwhelm the so-called "service quality".Some banks assigned employees to call customers and notify them that they would en-joy interest rate of up to 8 percent per annum if depositing money on 12-month term, while the rate was only 7.4 percent per annum on the same term not long ago.In addition, many banks have launched promotional programmes to attract deposi-tors. HDBank is offering a bonus deposit rate of up to 0.7 percent per annum. Mean-while, from now until April 30th, when opening Mang Non or Ong Vang savings book at Maritime Bank, customers will have an additional effective way to make their finan-cial plan in the Year of Dog and immediately receive a lucky money.Will lending rates fall when mobilisation gets hot?There is a worth mentioning story in this race of mobilisation, that is when using inter-est rate as a tool to attract capital, bank will not be able to lower mobilisation costs and strive to reduce the cost of lending as directed by the government and the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV).In 2018, SBV aims to increase total means of payment by about 16 percent and lending by about 17 percent. At the same time, via close monitoring of macroeconomic move-ments, currency market and foreign exchange market, SBV will consider and flexibly adjust the interest rates on the Open Market Operations (OMO) to support credit insti-tutions (CIs) to reduce lending rates in an appropriate time and at a reasonable level.The reduction of lending rates in 2018 is considered a central task by SBV, thereby cre-ating more favourable conditions for enterprises in accessing capital.In the current market situation, this task is not easy as the input interest rates can hard-ly be cut.This is perhaps the reason why some large banks only offer high deposit rates for long-term deposits. At Techcombank, the highest deposit rate offered in March 2018 is 7 percent per annum on 18-month and 24-month terms, while shorter terms saw signif-icant interest rate reduction.Similarly, the highest deposit rate at VietinBank is 7 percent per annum on terms of over 36 months. Terms from six months to less than seven months, seven months to less than eight months and from eight months to less than nine months are offered at 5.3 percent per annum.The above deposit rates are significantly lower than the rates currently offered by small banks, which mobilise deposits on over 12-month term at 8-8.5 percent per an-num.According to statistics of SBV, in February 2018, the deposit rate level in dong was popular at 0.8-1 percent per annum on non-term deposits and deposits of less than one month; 4.3-5.5 percent per annum for deposits with terms from one to less than six months; 5.3-6.5 percent per annum for deposits with terms from six months to less than 12 months; and 6.5-7.3 percent per annum for deposits with terms from over 12 months.The race to increase deposit rates before and after the 2018 Lunar New Year season has made the interest rate difference between large and small banks to be increasingly widened. Nevertheless, experts believed that a part of depositors have shifted to large banks instead of coming to banks which offer high interest rates to deposit money.Particularly, the loss of money of a VIP customer in the recent time has also made many depositors to be more cautious. This is the opportunity for banks having good mobilisation fund to not have to join the interest rate race, thereby creating a signifi-cant profit thanks to the large Net Interest Margin (NIM) this year.


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Significant progress made in sustainable lending reforms

08/MAR/2018 INTELLASIA| VN ECONOMIC TIMES

Emerging markets have become a major force driving development and fighting cli-mate change, as 34 countries, including Vietnam, have initiated banking reforms to ex-pand sustainable lending, according to the first comprehensive Global Progress Report from the Sustainable Banking Network (SBN), an IFC-supported organisation of bank-ing regulators and associations.Those 34 countries account for $42.6 trillion in bank assets; more than 85 per cent of the total in emerging markets. Some are wealthier than others, but all have made progress in advancing sustainable finance.Vietnam, together with seven other countriesBangladesh, Brazil, China, Colombia, In-donesia, Mongolia, and Nigeriahave reached an advanced stage, having implemented large-scale reforms and put in place systems for results measurement. These reforms require banks assess and report on environmental and social (E&S) risks in their lend-ing operations and put market incentives in place for banks to lend to green projects."This progress is an important step towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030," said Ethiopis Tafara, IFC's vice President for Legal, Compliance Risk and Sustainability. "It shows that both middle and low-income countries can adopt sustainable finance reforms. The SBN has demonstrated in a short time how much can be achieved when regulators, policymakers, trade associations and development insti-tutions collaborate to advance sustainable finance."The report provides practical indicators and tools for countries to apply to their own domestic markets, regardless of their size or stage of development. This is important because it facilitates learning by all members and accelerates the pace of change. It is based on an innovative results-measurement approach that has been agreed to by all 34 member countriesa remarkable achievement that is breaking new ground for meas-uring progress at the global level.The report recognises the comprehensive nature of the efforts of the State Bank of Vi-etnam (SBV), including the Directive on Promoting Green Credit Growth and Environ-mental and Social Risks Management in Credit Granting Activities, released in 2015. The Directive seeks to promote the green economy and encourages all credit institu-tions to incorporate E&S risks into their transactions.The report notes that the Directive also includes a reporting template that requires credit institutions report quantitative data quarterly to the SBV. This reporting covers both E&S risk evaluations of credit, other financial products, and green finance flows. The Directive covers the banking sector but could be extended to other financial indus-try activities, such as insurance and asset management.The SBV's efforts, including training programmes on sector-specific E&S checklists, have provided specific guidance to banks in managing E&S risks in ten high risk sec-tors. To further stimulate green lending, the central bank has released a Green Project Catalogue that defines green sectors and plans to publish guidelines on reporting green finance flows. Additional financial incentives, such as a grant programme, are under consideration, to increase green lending."For the first time, the report provides a concrete picture of what Vietnam has been do-ing in the area of sustainable finance reform," said Ha Thu Giang, deputy director of the SBV's Department of Credit Policies for Economic Sectors. "We appreciate that the report also identifies areas of further focus for Vietnam to continue to promote the growth of financing for green projects."http://english.vietnamnet.vn/fms/business/196753/significant-progress-made-in-sus-tainable-lending-reforms.html

Payment services: fierce competition in market share

08/MAR/2018 INTELLASIA| NDH

Always keeping cash in the wallet at a minimum level, Do Huong, an office staff, has now been familiar with non-cash transactions. Most of Huong's payments for online transactions are now made via money transfer rather than paying cash directly to the shippers like before. The growing online payment ecosystem has allowed Huong as well as many other customers not to keep too much cash in hand.


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Statistics of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) showed that in the fourth quarter of 2017 alone, there were 27.19 million low-value transactions and 4.77 million high-value transactions, increased by respectively 38.17 percent and 15.37 percent compared to the same period of the previous year. The number of transactions in the last quarter of 2017 also exceeded the previous record set earlier in the end of the third quarter 2017. The number of transactions carried out through the national payment system has re-corded significant growth in the last two quarters.According to data announced by banks in 2016, BIDV took the lead in net revenue from payment services with net profit from this segment reaching 1.595 trillion dong. Two other state-owned banks including VietinBank and Vietcombank respectively held the second and third positions. In the group of joint stock banks, Techcombank was the one that gain the largest payment service fees with over one trillion dong of net profit in 2016.Up to the present time, the Scheme of developing non-cash payment has been issued by the government for more than one year. Recently, the prime minister has continue to approve the Scheme to promote payments via banks for public services with the goal of 80 percent of tax payment made through banks by 2020, and 100 percent of State Treasuries having POS equipment.The market for banking payment services is receiving support from all parties, from customers using the services to the non-cash payment ecosystem.As more banks move towards retail banking, individual customers become the target of many banks. However, for banking services in general and especially payment serv-ices, it is increasingly difficult to meet the demand of this group of customers as their requirements are higher and higher.As a habit, after receiving salary through bank account at a large bank, the first thing done by Huong is to transfer all the money to her account at another bank which offer free internal and interbank transfer fees. This bank's e-banking application is also con-sidered by Huong to be convenient and have many useful features.However, when this bank applies a new fee schedule, Huong is considering switching to using the services of a fairly well-known fintech which is offering free of charge for money transfer services in addition to many preferential policies to attract new cus-tomers.The need to minimise transaction costs is practical when the need for making online transactions and money transfer between individuals has become increasingly popu-lar. The payment service market for this group of customer is expanding, but not all credit institutions can take advantage of this growth to increase their market share.It requires efforts and enthusiasm of banks in order to gain the loyalty from customers, especially individual customers. This is not unusual because the Vietnam's banking system is home to more than 30 banks with competitive policies being constantly in-troduced in order to attract customers through quality, ecosystem linkages and close benefits which are charges and interest rates.Certainly, the story will be different for banks with wide networks. Vietcombank, after many years maintaining the same fee schedule, has decided to change its service fees, in which SMS fee is raised by 20 percent, iBanking account management and money transfer via Mobile Banking are started to be charged, the money transfer fee is adjust-ed in the direction of lowering fees for small amounts and increasing fees for large amounts. Interbank transactions with large amounts are now charged at 0.02 percent of the transfer value. This change has received many negative reactions from the serv-ice users via social networks.Nevertheless, the strength of the seller has been established as Vietcombank is having a huge customer base with the leading card service. Removing payment account at Vi-etcombank when most of the partners still use bank accounts of the bank may increase the costs for partners. For online shop owners, this may affect their number of custom-ers. However, opening an account at another bank is not a bad choice.An interesting information is that the number of cards has increased rapidly in the re-cent time. By the end of 2017, data of SBV showed that the number of bank cards in-


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creased by 1.5 time after three years, reaching approximately 132 million cards. Of the 71 million people aged 15 and above, on average, every Vietnamese adult uses 1.86 bank cards.This market does not only have the participation of banks. By the end of October 2017, SBV has licensed 25 organisations providing non-bank payment services. In particular, many fintech have attracted a large number of customers such as Momo of Online Mo-bile Service Joint Stock Company (M_Service), VNPay, and Moca, etc. The products of-fered to customers have also been increasingly diverse which exploited the new demands of users. For example, the recent Lunar New Year season, many fintech and banks allowed online users to send online "lucky money" a service that had never ex-isted in the previous years.

Bank cards carrying dozens of fees

08/MAR/2018 INTELLASIA| TRI THUC TRE

Statistics of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) show that the number of cards issued as of the end of Q4/207 amounted to 132 million units, up more than 19 percent from the beginning of the year. With about 70 million people aged more than 15 now, on aver-age, each person owns about two bank cards. The number of cards issued is increas-ingly high, and services are also increasingly diversified and more, customers have many choices but are also extremely puzzled amidst thousands of fees.The reality shows that people, especially urban residents, may own as many as 4-5 cards. Owning many cards but not knowing service fee, while not using, monitoring the balance frequently, customers are "panic" upon finding that their money had lost as they make balance inquiry. When asking bank staff, customers are puzzled again among a forest of fees that are impossible to remember.Currently, a customer who opens a bank account will usually be advised to use other utility services such as SMS Banking, Internet Banking or Mobile Banking. Each of this service has a series of fees such as registration fee, maintenance fee, internal/external money transfer fee, service termination fee, token key fee, etc. As such, each cardhold-er may suffer 25-30 different kinds of fees.The card service fee for individual customers at banks is also diversified. Currently, the basic fees for this service have maintenance fee, withdrawal fee from ATM ma-chine, money transfer fee from ATM, Pin reissuance fee, reissuance fee, inquiry fee, etc. For maintenance fees, some banks exempt while some others collected as much as 50,000-100,000 dong per card. For Visa or Master cards, issuance fee may amount to 200,000 dong per card.For SMS Banking, a service that has recently attracted a lot of concerns and is assessed to be very necessary and important, the fee is quite high. The SMS Banking fee includes service registration fee, monthly maintenance fee, service termination fee, money transfer fee, debt reminding fee, etc.Mostly at banks, customers will not have to pay fees when registering to use. However, to maintain service, the monthly payment is normally 8,800-11,000 dong, or even 16,500 dong. For the entire year, card owners will have to spend 100,000 200,000 dong to maintain service. In addition, to cancel the service and not receiving account fluctu-ation message, customers may lose another 10,000 dong to terminate following regu-lations in some banks.SMS Banking fee is nothing compared to internet banking fee. The service is really con-venient but the fees may amount to hundreds of thousands of dong per month for ba-sic needs. To compete, many banks have exempted maintenance service fees such as BIDV, Vietcombank, VIB, etc. while mainly listing this fee at 100,000 dong 130,000 dong per year.The fees incurred a lot in current internet banking are money transfer transactions. While some banks such as ACB, TPBank, Techcombank, etc. exempt the entire fees for internal account transfer transactions, the remaining banks such as Vietcombank, BIDV, MB collected 1,100-1,900 dong per transaction.The external money transfer is even more expensive. Except for Techcombank that is exempting this fee, most of them collect quite high fees, varying according to the


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amount of transaction. For small amounts of money from two million dong to 20 mil-lion dong, the account transfer fee ranges between 6,600-11,000 dong per transaction. For large amounts of money such as 200 million dong, the fees payable may amount to 44,000 dong (VIB, Vietcombank, etc.).As such, an account with no transaction within one month will be collected 25,000-25,000 dong maintenance fee per month. For an account that has demand for using ba-sic services such as balance inquiry, money withdrawal of 2-3 times per month, inter-net banking money transfer 2-3 times per month (for small amount of money), the fees paid to banks may amount to 50,000-70,000 dong per month and the fee for the entire year may rise to 600,000 dong to 840,000 dong.That is for cardholders who wish to use for their daily spending needs, while for busi-nesspeople, especially those who involve in online business, the amount of transaction will be many times higher.Some banks, after many years exempting fees to attract and create the habit of using service for customers, have recently started to collect fees or raised some kinds of fees. Banks often attribute the reason to investment in technology, improvement of utilities for services but it seems that the answer is not really satisfactory to customers. Too high fees compared to low income of the people have partly prevented the people's habit of using cash in payment.

Higher power tariff for crypto mining


Higher business electricity rates will be applied to individuals and organisations that set up computer systems for digging up bitcoin, litecoin, ethereum and other virtual currencies.The HCM City Power Corporation said in a statement that individuals and organisa-tions using electricity for mining crypto-currencies will be subject to electricity tariffs applicable to businesses.The corporation said the move is in line with a request from the Ministry of Industry and Trade to Vietnam Electricity Group (EVN) on guiding the implementation of elec-tricity prices for crypto mining activities.Earlier, the State Bank of Vietnam banned the use of bitcoin and other crypto-curren-cies as a means of payment.The central bank said that crypto-currencies are not legal tender in the country, and the issuance, supply and use of bitcoin and other similar virtual currencies as a means of payment is prohibited.Illegal use of crypto-currencies for payment is subject to penalties of VND150 million (US$6,600) to VND200 million (US$8,800).However, according to some lawyers, crypto mining is not related to the rules of the central bank on using or supplying such virtual currencies. Therefore, the decision of EVN does not violate the regulation.english.thesaigontimes.vn/58653/Higher-power-tariff-for-crypto-mining.html

A shake-up in key bank personnel

08/MAR/2018 INTELLASIA| VIETNAMNET

With the 2018 annual general meeting season underway, several changes in key per-sonnel at banks have become a hot topic, especially with the amended Law on Credit Institutions already coming into force.Before the Lunar New Year holidays, SeABank announced a change of senior staff. Nguyen Canh Vinh ceased to be the bank's general director just four months after tak-ing up the position. Prior to his stint at SeABank, Vinh was Techcombank's deputy general director.ABBANK announced on January 12 that its CEO Cu Anh Tuan had resigned after two years at the bank, with Nguyen Manh Quan now taking the post. Born in 1973, Quan has more than 20 years of experience in the field of banking and has held key positions at many banks. Since June 2015, he has been ABBANK's deputy general director for le-gal, credit, and risk management.On February 13, Kienlongbank appointed Vo Van Chau to be vice chair. Born in 1953,


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Chau was already a member of the board of directors (BoD) cum CEO of the bank, and had been CEO of OCB before working for Kienlongbank.BIDV's former chair, Tran Bac Ha, has been retired since September 2016. However, 17 months later, the bank has yet to find a new chair. It is expected that BIDV will fill the vacancy at the upcoming annual general meeting (AGM).Most recently, Pham Quang Tung resigned as chair of VDB and moved to BIDV. Born in 1971, Tung was BIDV's deputy general director before he was appointed as VDB's chair to replace acting chair Nguyen Quang Dung, who retired in 2016.Since Tran Bac Ha retired, Tran Anh Tuan, a member of the BIDV BoD, has taken tem-porary responsibility for the bank's BoD. CEO Phan Duc Tu is the legal representative of the bank. Besides the chair position, BIDV's BoD has to vote for new members in the upcoming AGM as a result of its member Nguyen Huy Tuan retiring in November 2017.Although BIDV has yet to announce who will take its helm, developments will be watched keenly due to the bank's assets being worth hundreds of billions of dollars.Following Pham Quang Tung's resignation, two important posts at VDB have become vacant. The bank is making efforts to find personnel for the positions of CEO and chair.LienVietPostBank has slated its 2018 AGM for March 28. It is rumoured that the bank will have a new chair after current chair Nguyen Duc Huong, who took the position one year ago to replace Duong Cong Minh for health reasons, hinted that he might re-sign.The revised Law on Credit Institutions, which was passed by the National Assembly and took effect on January 15, 2018, prohibits bank leaders from taking up senior po-sitions at other businesses. The new regulations have placed bank leaders in a dilem-ma. As the law comes into force, only a few leaders have made up their mind, such as Duong Cong Minh opting for Sacombank, Do Quang Hien for SHB, Do Minh Phu for TPBank, and Thai Huong for BacABank.Many bank leaders have not made their decision yet as they are holding senior posi-tions at both a bank and an enterprise. However, they are believed to have to make up their mind soon, to abide by the law.Industry insiders said that it will take time for bank leaders to follow the new regula-tions. Thus, there will be major changes in key personnel at banks in the near future, especially during the AGM season between March and April.According to finance and banking expert Nguyen Tri Hieu, the amended Law on Credit Institutions will help do away with cross-ownership in the banking system. The matter of changing key bank leaders during AGM season is not new, but investors should keep an eye on such developments alongside operational efficency, bad debt management, dividends, and much more.http://english.vietnamnet.vn/fms/business/196667/a-shake-up-in-key-bank-person-nel.html

List of banks to make no dividend payment lasts longer this year

08/MAR/2018 INTELLASIA| BAO DAU TU

So far, some banks have announced plans to organise 2018 annual general meeting (AGM). Specifically, LienVietPostBank, MB and VIB will hold the meeting at the end of March; Eximbank, Sacombank will organise the meeting at the end of April.Apart from hot issues such as personnel, profit, capital increase, listing, etc. the divi-dend issue, as usual, is still the top concern of shareholders, especially in the context that banks have simultaneously announced trillion dong profits over the last period.Maritime Bank has not made dividend payment to shareholders for many years now. Though the bank has not publicised plans to organise AGM in 2018, with just 164 bil-lion dong profit in 2017 (nearly achieving the set target), it is likely that this bank will continue making no dividend payment.Similarly, the situation of receiving no dividend for many years now by shareholders of Eximbank, NCB, SCB, etc. will probably be extended as the restructuring process still has a lot of work to do.Besides no dividend payment, the payment of dividend in shares instead of cash has


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also become familiar. The number of banks making dividend payment in cash can be counted on fingers such as VIB, VPBank, Vietcombank, Vietinbank, BIDV, etc.The reason is most banks in the market are now facing the pressure of increasing eq-uity to meet Basel II standards and the easiest way is to issue bonus shares to increase capital.The banks' payment of dividend in shares for many years has caused troubles to share-holders. However, this year, shareholders will probably be happier with the return of King stocks. Moreover, the dividend payment ratio this year is also larger than previ-ous ones.The reports to be submitted to the 2018 AGM of banks have not been publicised, but many banks plan to make higher dividend payment than last year. The leading banks in terms of dividend payment included VPBank, VIB, HDBank, etc. with the ratio of 25-45 percent.According to Lawyer-Dr Bui Quang Tin, founding director of BizLight, in 2018, the banking sector's profit is forecasted to continue increasing sharply thereby, the divi-dend payment to shareholders and investors will also be higher. "In 2018, profits of banks are forecasted to be good thanks to five factors including credit growth, de-creased bad debt, increased revenue from services, cost reduction and capital divest-ment. Increased profit will lead to improved dividend payment", said Dr Bui Quang Tin.Apart from attractive dividend payment ratio, the booming of stock market is facilitat-ing banks to divest and to shift from OTC to official bourse. These factors are attracting investors to continue pouring capital into bank shares. However, experts said bank share prices are at their peak and may adjust in the near future, and investors who buy at this time may not have profits"."Bank stocks are too high compared to the profitability and growth. Such indicators as P/E, P/B have already at investment threshold. The market may increase for some more time, but in this period, there will have many Bull traps (price increase). The current market is for experienced surfing investors. Value investors should stand outside for some time, and wait for market adjustment to come back", said Dr Dinh The Hien, an economic expert.

Small banks holding breath for upcoming AGMs

08/MAR/2018 INTELLASIA| VIR

With the season of banks' annual general meetings (AGMs) approaching, small-scale banks are distressed over countless issues, such as failing to reach 2017 targets, the alarmingly high rate of non-performing loans, the constant alteration of banks' key po-sitions, and bottomed-out stock prices.A remarkable number of small-scale banks (market capitalisation of trillions of dong) reported modest profits of dozen billions of dong, failing to achieve their target and distressing their CEOs especially as the season of AGMs is just around the corner.Specifically, over the span of 2017, National Commercial Bank (NCB) achieved merely VND30 billion ($1.32 million) in pre-tax profit, which resulted in the heavy decline in the price of the bank's stock. Additionally, the scandal of former NCB heads "deliber-ately violating state regulations on economic management, causing severe conse-quences" had dented the bank's reputation.In 2017, VietABank was reported to acquire a meagre VND150 billion ($6.6 million) in pre-tax profit, which was equivalent to only 59 per cent of the target VND253 billion ($11.13 million). In addition, the commercial bank's shareholders expressed deep anx-iety over critically low credit growth and capital mobilisation, as well as the bank's fail-ure to accomplish the targeted capital of VND4.2 trillion ($184.8 million).Likewise, in 2017, VietBank reported total profits of VND263 billion ($11.57 million), yet the commercial bank could barely break even due to the huge accumulated loss of VND262 billion ($11.52 million) transferred over from 2016. By the end of 2017, the commercial bank reported undistributed profits of only VND0.4 billion ($17,600).Dr Nguyen Tri Hieu, a Vietnamese economist, noted that the amended Law on Credit Institutions took effect from January 2018, providing legal support for commercial


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banks, especially those with rather poor financial performance. He further added that small-scale commercial banks must accelerate the restructuring process in order to avoid declaring bankruptcy.To date, over the first few days of the AGM season, numerous small-scale commercial banks, such as NamABank, SaigonBank, and Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) failed to publish their financial statements for 2017.http://english.vietnamnet.vn/fms/business/196664/small-banks-holding-breath-for-upcoming-agms.html

VN important part of Japanese bank's 'Asia-centric' strategy

08/MAR/2018 INTELLASIA| VNS

Vietnam is an important part of a new "Asia-centric" strategy which Japan's Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC) is pursuing to strengthen its business in Asia, said Shosuke Mori, SMBC's Asia Pacific Division.As the government of Vietnam has been restructuring the local banking system, SMBC wants to contribute to the process by sustainably developing Eximbank and support-ing other local banks' reforms in the near future, Mori said.SMBC, one of the largest and oldest banks in Japan, expects its clients worldwide to invest in Vietnam and hopes to contribute to the development of the country's banking sector with its new banking management system, he said.Receiving Mori in Hanoi on Monday, deputy prime minister Vuong Dinh Hue de-scribed the bank as an effective credit channel and gateway for foreign investors, in-cluding those from Japan, to enter Vietnam.Hue welcomed the presence of SMBC in Vietnam and the role it was playing to restruc-ture Eximbank.He said a new scheme for restructuring credit institutions was adopted to improve the capacity of commercial banks and accelerate the resolution of non-performing loans (NLPs).He, however, noted that even though the restructuring process had harvested some positive outcomes, many challenges remained. The government was committed to continue improving the local business climate and providing favourable conditions for both domestic and foreign investors, adding it would do its best to support SMBC in Vietnam.SMBC has been present in the country since 1994 with a branch each in Hanoi and HCM City. Last year, both the branches posted zero NLPs and a total net profit of VND291.6 billion (over $12.8 million). SMBC is also Eximbank's strategic investor and currently holds 15 per cent of the Vietnam-based bank's charter capital.bizhub.vn/news/vn-important-part-of-japanese-banks-asia-centric-strategy_292938.html

Japanese bank signs cooperation agreement with Vinh Phuc province


Japan's Mizuho Bank has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the northern province of Vinh Phuc on cooperation in boosting Japanese investment in the locality.Under the agreement, which was signed in Vinh Phuc on March 7, the provincial Peo-ple's Committee will create all favourable conditions for Mizuho business customers to make investment in the province.Local authorities will enable the Japanese bank to join investment promotion events to seek partners and promote its products and services.Meanwhile, Mizuho will send experts to Vinh Phuc to offer advice on financial and banking services to support investors if requested.The bank will support the provincial People's Committee in hosting activities to pro-mote investment.Speaking at the signing ceremony, vice Chair of the provincial People's Committee Vu Viet Van said the province has seen strong socio-economic development in recent years thanks to significant contributions by foreign invested firms, including those from Japan.As of February 2018, the province counted 278 foreign direct investment (FDI) projects


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worth over 4 billion USD from 15 countries and territories. Japan ranked second with 31 projects with registered capital of 816 million USD and led in business-production efficiency, he noted.Major Japanese groups investing in Vinh Phuc such as Toyota Vietnam and Honda Vi-etnam have seen effective operations with the application of modern science technol-ogy to create highly competitive products.Vinh Phuc and other Japanese localities held a lot of investment cooperation activities and cultural exchanges, Van said, adding that he hopes Mizuho Bank will host more promotion activities and support Japanese businesses in investing in the province.Seiji Imai, a representative from the bank, said Mizuho wants to expand its operation and provide the best services to customers.In the coming time, the bank will introduce the investment environment in Vietnam and Vinh Phuc in particular to Japanese enterprises as well as provide financial assist-ance for firms to operate effectively in Vietnam, he added.https://en.vietnamplus.vn/japanese-bank-signs-cooperation-agreement-with-vinh-phuc-province/127526.vnp

VPBank shares granted with margin after 6 months

08/MAR/2018 INTELLASIA| NDH

Hochiminh city Stock Exchange (STC) has announced the removal of VPB-coded shares of Vietnam Prosperity Joint Stock Commercial Bank (VPBank) from the list of stocks not eligible for margin trading.The ban was lifted upon the expiry of six months from the first trading date (August 17, 2017).On the stock market, as of March 6, VPBank stock price was 61,800 dong per share, up 42 percent from the beginning of the year and the average liquidity was nearly 4.3 mil-lion shares per session.In 2017, VPBank recorded the total operating income in 2017 at more than 25.023 tril-lion dong, up 48 percent from 2016, of which, the net interest income rose 36 percent. The net interest from service operation touched more than 1.448 trillion dong, up 70 percent from 2016.The aforementioned results brought VPBank's profit growth rate in 2017 to reach about 65 percent, hitting 8.126 trillion dong pre-tax profit and 6.438 trillion dong after-tax profit respectively. The ROE and ROA was 27.47 percent and 2.54 percent respec-tively. The EPS was 4,100 dong per share and it is also the bank that has announced the highest 2017 EPS so far.

Vietnam needs to capitalise on CPTPP agreement

08/MAR/2018 INTELLASIA| VOV

Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh has called on economic sectors to make adequate preparations for best utilisation of the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), which will be signed in Santiago, Chile on March 8 by ministers from 11 member countries.The 11 countries participating in the CPTPP include Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam.The signing of the trade deal shows the great determination and efforts of the 11 mem-ber countries, especially Japan, to conclude the comprehensive negotiation on a new generation, high standard and balanced free trade agreement after the US withdrew from the agreement.The pact is expected to stimulate economic growth, create jobs, improve people's liv-ing standards, facilitate trade development, and augment economic cooperation among countries in the Asia-Pacific region, especially when the globalisation process is still facing numerous difficulties and growing protectionism in the world.The 11 CPTPP economies account for about 13 percent of the global GDP.According to minister Tran Anh Tuan, Vietnam has committed to market opening and trade facilitation and liberalisation towards removing non-tariff barriers. He under-lines that through the agreement, competitiveness of the national economy as well as businesses will be likely improved and the flows of foreign direct investment (FDI)


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may grow further.The Ministry of Industry and Trade has mapped out specific communications projects to help businesses and people grasp opportunities presented by the deal, he says.The pact is expected to create one of the largest trading blocks in the world across Asia-Pacific and the Americas reaching 463 million people and a combined GDP of $10 tril-lion equal to 13 percent of the global GDP.The deal covers many key commitments relating to non-tariff barriers, services, and in-vestment among others."All remaining countries have affirmed determination to follow the trade pact even when one country withdrew. The characteristics and quality of the agreement are shown in two words "comprehensive" and "progressive", which 11 ministers of TPP have agreed on and considered the common goal of the deal. So the name Comprehen-sive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership received a high consen-sus," Tuan Anh says.Japanese Economic Revitalisation minister Toshimitsu Motegi says,"Asia-Pacific is one of the world's major economic centers. We hope that a new rule will be set up for the region and all commitments and participating countries will address challenges."The CPTPP is set to become effective early next year, delivering benefits to all mem-bers. For Vietnam, the deal will bolster exports to major markets like Japan, Australia, Canada, and Mexico, and also attract foreign investment. It will help to reform institu-tions and create a transparent investment and trading environment in participating countries."The most important factor is that each member needs a comprehensive action plan to prepare for actualising its commitments. We will submit such an action plan to the government so that as soon as the agreement becomes effective, the plan will involve the government, business community, localities, associations, and people. Second, it's necessary to review the domestic legal framework and legalise what the country has committed under the agreement. Third is to specify missions of each agency so that it can proactively participate in the agreement," Tuan notes.After the CPTPP is signed, it will experience legal processes in each member state to take effect.After the US left the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), the predecessor of the CPTPP, in 2017, the remaining 11 countries (Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam) concurred to maintain the deal and rename it CPTPP.Earlier, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) was signed in February, 2016, covering 12 participating countries, namely Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the US and Vietnam.http://english.vov.vn/economy/vietnam-needs-to-capitalise-on-cptpp-agreement-369983.vov

PM wants early-warning system for macro-economic risks


Prime minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc on March 6 asked the National Financial Supervi-sory Commission to rapidly submit a plan to develop an early-warning system for macro-economic and financial risks, according to news website Dan Tri.At a ceremony to mark the 10th birthday of the National Financial Supervisory Com-mission, PM Phuc hailed the achievements of the commission in helping the govern-ment keep inflation under control and maintain macro-economic stability.Given unpredictable global conditions and flaws of the domestic economy, responsi-bilities of agencies including the commission are heavy, Phuc said.The financial market should be developed to be more competitive and become a solid foundation for fast and sustainable growth of the economy.The commission will continue consulting the government about solutions to promote socio-economic development, especially the macro-economy and the financial market.PM Phuc stressed that the commission should get ready for proposing solutions to changes of the domestic and international economies, and the stability of commercial


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banks, and the stock and real estate markets.The commission was also assigned to coordinate with ministries and supervision agencies to review and create a clear legal framework for financial groups and mech-anisms to monitor such groups. The government leader highlighted the importance of the mission, saying it significantly affects operations of the finance-banking system and the economy as a whole.http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/58647/PM-wants-early-warning-system-for-macro-economic-risks.html

To the next step 08/MAR/2018 INTELLASIA| VN ECONOMIC TIMES

Thirty years have now passed since the National Assembly introduced the Law on For-eign Direct Investment (FDI) in 1987; one of the best legal frameworks on FDI in the region at the time and adopted well ahead of similar laws in Indonesia and Thailand, for example, on 100 per cent FDI capital. The Committee for Investment Cooperation issued licenses using very simple administrative procedures, which attracted foreign investors.From 1988 to 1990, policymakers studied laws and policies that were in line with the reality of Vietnam's economy, and investment over the three years was minimal. Total registered FDI capital reached about $1 billion in a collection of small projects, with $300 million disbursed.From 1991 to 1998, Vietnam began to emerge from its economic crisis. The economy in general and the domestic market in particular began to develop, as did the private sec-tor. FDI began to grow rapidly as a result, contributing 30 per cent of total investment during the period. GDP growth averaged some 8.5 per cent per year, of which FDI con-tributed about 3 percentage points. This period also provided Vietnam with lessons on how to build and complete a legal framework based on a market economy and inter-national practice, quickly identifying shortcomings in existing regulations and issuing adjustments in a timely manner to properly regulate any problems associated with economic activity.From 1999 to 2004, following the regional economic crisis, FDI to Vietnam declined sharply. Registered capital was about $3 billion for six consecutive years and dis-bursed capital about $2 billion.FDI bounced back from 2005 to 2007, with $72 billion in registered capital in 2007, of which $8 billion was disbursed. Due to management decentralisation measures from the government, registered capital increased sharply but many large projects were not implemented. When the government assigned responsibility to local authorities over appraisal and licensing, a degree of unhealthy competition emerged. Some investors were issued licenses despite lacking the financial capacity, with such projects never moving forward.From 2008 to 2011, Vietnam's economic situation was greatly influenced by the global economic crisis, and disbursed FDI in Vietnam stood at $8-9 billion. From 2012 to 2017, FDI into Vietnam began to boom. Disbursed capital reached its highest level ever, of about $17 billion, in 2017, with registered capital at $35.88 billion.Appealing environmentThe government has, in general, worked hard to create an investment environment that would attract FDI. A total of $318.72 billion in registered capital has come to the country over the last 30 years, of which $175 billion has been disbursed.The wide gap between registered capital and disbursed capital, of about $190 billion, is quite clear to see. Two real estate projectsCiputra in Hanoi and Phu My Hung in HCM Citycan serve as examples. Investors registered $3-4 billion in investment capital but only disbursed $200-300 million. I believe that, overall, investors have only dis-bursed about 15 per cent of registered FDI capital, with the remainder being only "on the books". Similar projects in the range of $3-4 billion in registered investment have also seen disbursement at low levels.Some $50 billion of the $190 billion difference require three years to fully disburse. This is an important issue and I have proposed that the Ministry of Planning and Invest-


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ment (MPI) exclude these sums from annual registered capital figures, to avoid the perception that Vietnam still has a great deal of FDI.Moreover, only about 10-15 per cent of the $175 billion disbursed comes from Vietnam, whether joint venture capital or as land. Actual foreign capital totals about $150 billion, which is high globally.Impact of FDIThe $175 billion in disbursed capital as at 2017 represents about 22 per cent of total in-vestment capital over the past 30 years. I wish, however, to emphasize that FDI has in-deed had a major impact on Vietnam's development.In terms of workforce, FDI has significantly resolved job problems in Vietnam, em-ploying 3 to 3.5 million people. Salaries of workers in the FDI sector are always higher than elsewhere. For example, the average salary of workers in the northern provinces of Thai Nguyen and Bac Ninh, where Samsung is based, now stands at VND11 million ($480) per month. There are also many more managers, technicians, and researchers at FDI enterprises. This reveals the improvements made to Vietnam's workforce by FDI.From 2015 to 2017, research and development centers of foreign investors in Vietnam, such as Samsung, Panasonic, and Bosch, employed tens of thousands of people, pri-marily as engineers or software engineers. Samsung has said that its young Vietnam-ese workers at these centers are highly qualified and meet quality and other requirements. In my opinion, this is the biggest success in terms of Vietnam's work-force. FDI has created a pool of talented, young scientific staff, many of whom return to work at State-owned enterprises. A sizeable number of bank officials in Vietnam have also worked at FDI enterprises.Regarding technology transfer, thanks to FDI, Vietnam has imported the most modern technology found in the world. Certain industries have broad access to modern tech-nology due to foreign investment, such as oil and gas and telecommunications. MPI has also noted that, in general, technology at FDI enterprises is superior to the technol-ogy used at domestic enterprises.In terms of investment and exports, in 2017, for the first time, Vietnam's export-import turnover exceeded $400 billion, ranking it 25th in the world and second in Asean, after Singapore. In particular, Samsung exported more than $50 billion worth of products last year, representing 25 per cent of Vietnam's total. Greater investment and exports are clear indicators of Vietnam's success at international economic integration. With-out FDI, it would not be involved as deeply in international markets.Vietnam's biggest advantage is its political stability, followed by its macroeconomic stability. Stability in the latter includes high growth, reaching 6.81 per cent last year, low inflation, a stable dong (VND), and foreign exchange reserves of $53 billion in 2017. The government is constantly striving to create a sound investment environ-ment, cutting corruption and easing administrative burdens.Disadvantages, however, linger. Firstly, corruption remains high. Secondly, inspec-tions and administrative procedures are still difficult for enterprises, and logistics costs are substantial. Thirdly, intellectual property laws dissuade foreign investment. And fourthly, Vietnam needs to stabilise its institutions and address tax laws, so that FDI enterprises can determine their investment situation.Prospects for FDIVietnam needs to prioritise FDI in certain industries and high-tech products creating significant value added, such as information technology, electronics, the Internet of Things (IOT), and cloud computing, especially as Industry 4.0 takes hold. It also needs to attract FDI into services, education, and scientific research.To attract more FDI in the time to come, changes must be made. The first is a funda-mental change in orientation and policy. We should not seek FDI in fields where do-mestic businesses are more than capable. We wasted a lot of potential from investors last year, focusing on too many projects with investment of less than $1 million.The second is a change in preferential policies. We offer tax incentives but there is no financial encouragement for socioeconomic efficiency. It is therefore necessary to offer other preferential policies for foreign, and domestic, investors exhibiting socioeco-


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nomic efficiency in line with the development orientations Vietnam has adopted.Third, we need to have a wider choice of partners. In addition to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) from Japan and South Korea, large enterprises, especially transnational corporations (TNCs) in the high-tech field, must be sought to carry out new orientations as Vietnam moves in line with Industry 4.0.We should not underestimate the potential of SMEs, especially those working in the support industry, but we must also reach out to large enterprises. For example, Vin-group cooperated with Siemens to create the Vinfast automobile manufacturing com-plex with total investment capital of VND35 trillion ($1.5 billion). FDI enterprises will continue to expand further, and Vietnam will remain an attractive destination into the future.http://english.vietnamnet.vn/fms/business/196739/to-the-next-step.html

FDI in Vietnam's agricultural sector remains low

08/MAR/2018 INTELLASIA| DIEN DAN DOANH NGHIEP

According to Foreign Investment Agency (under the Ministry of Planning and Invest-ment), as of February 2018, the total foreign direct investment (FDI) in agriculture was $3.5 million with 514 projects. Comparing with the total accumulated investment in agricultural sector, this amount of capital only accounted for one percent only.Looking back the previous investment periods, the FDI into agriculture was also very little, not exceeding one percent of total investment in this sector, even just 0.4 percent. Specifically, the FDI into agriculture was just 0.5 percent in 2014, compared to one per-cent in 2015, 0.4 percent in 2016 and 1.1 percent in 2017.Along with little FDI inflows are small FDI projects, focusing on processing aquatic products and fruits in some provinces. Accordingly, no foreign giants have dared to pour capital into hi-tech investment projects, large-scale organic projects in Vietnam.Reportedly, the government puts high expectations on green and clean agriculture as the momentum for similar growth in manufacturing and processing sectors. However, so far, agriculture sector ranks 12th in the number of projects and 10th in the amount of investment in all sectors.Nguyen Van Toan, deputy Chair of the Association of FDI businesses said in recent time, the FDI attraction into agricultural sector has improved but foreign investors still go behind domestic businesses.In fact, investment in agriculture is a risky form of investment because it is directly af-fected by weather, natural disasters and epidemics. Therefore, many domestic and for-eign businesses are hesitant to invest in this sector if businesses do not have enough strength in technology and capital sources.Discussing more clearly about the reason why foreign capital flow has not strongly flowed into agriculture, Nguyen Trong Nghia, director of Sunstar Lacto Vietnam said "Agriculture potential in Vietnam is very large but it just stops in policies and direction in calling for businesses to invest in agriculture. In addition, the profit margin in agri-cultural and rural sectors is very low. At the same time, doing business in this sector has many risks because of having to depend too much on weather conditions".However, according to representative of the Foreign Investment Agency, the reason making it difficult for Vietnam agricultural sector to attract FDI flow is the fragmenta-tion of agricultural sector despite huge potential.According to some experts, the bottleneck of agricultural sector will be removed if pol-icies in tax, land and capital have changes.Proposing one of the methods that may help FDI businesses invest more easily in ag-riculture sector, representative of Japan Trade Promotion Agency (JETRO) said the biggest difficulty in investing in agriculture is to secure agriculture land fund. Howev-er, this land fund and related procedures are rather complicated. If local leaders care about and have plans to reserve an agricultural land fund for foreign investors, busi-nesses will be easier to decide to invest in agriculture.


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Hard for Vietnam to sue US over steel, aluminum tariffs


The Vietnam Steel Association (VSA) will find it hard to file a lawsuit against the US at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) over steel and aluminum tariffs.The US President and the Department of Commerce (DOC) have announced that they would impose respective tariffs of 25 percent and 10 percent on steel and aluminum imports from 12 countries including Vietnam instead of the current 0 percent.The US gave no specific reasons for the proposed tariffs. Therefore, VSA has proposed the Ministry of Industry and Trade take measures to support local steel producers and seek the government's approval to sue the US at WTO if the tariffs are imposed on steel imports from Vietnam.The response of VSA, Vietnamese management agencies and steel enterprises to the US move is necessary but the lawsuit against the US would prove difficult as the law the US invokes to levy the taxes is unknown.Even if the tax is imposed, Vietnamese steel producers will find it hard to object as the US has the right to slap high taxes on imported products if such imports affect its se-curity and defense in accordance with WTO rules.In addition, steel imports from Vietnam account for only 5 percent of the US's total. The volume of Vietnamese steel shipped to America makes up just 11 percent of its to-tal steel exports.Instead of getting involved in a time-consuming and costly lawsuit, Vietnamese steel producers should focus on the local market and increase exports to other Southeast Asian countries.Local steel firms brace for higher US tariffsHCM City The Vietnam Steel Association (VSA) is working with relevant agencies and enterprises over measures to shield Vietnamese steelmakers from risks as the US President has announced that the US would impose a 25 percent tariff on all steel im-ports.A VietnamPlus report quoted VSA as saying that once US President Trump makes a final decision on the matter, the association may consider taking it to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) if needed.For now, VSA and enterprises are expecting support from the Vietnamese government to request the US side to exempt Vietnam from this import restriction. They will also keep track of reactions of countries which have voiced objections to the US over the proposed tariffs.The Department of Trade Defense under the Ministry of Industry and Trade said it has followed the situation since the beginning and is closely coordinating with VSA and relevant units. With Vietnam's steel and aluminum accounting for just a small fraction of the metals imports stateside, the trade ministry of Vietnam has requested the US to carefully consider its import restrictions on products from Vietnam, comply with WTO regulations and international practices, and not damage trade relations between the two countries."The Ministry of Industry and Trade will continue to closely watch US trade policy and take into account all possible measures to safeguard the legitimate interests of Viet-namese businesses," a source from the Department of Trade Defense was quoted by VietnamPlus as saying.The US Department of Commerce (DOC) last month released a report on measures to restrict steel and aluminum imports under Section 232 of the 1962 Trade Expansion Act.The report recommends some measures to restrict steel and aluminum imports such as imposing tariffs and quotas, with taxes likely to amount to 25 percent on steel and 10 percent on aluminum. It is being considered by the US President, who is expected to make final decisions, based on the analysis and recommendations in the report, con-cerning steel by April 11 and aluminum by April 19.http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/58645/Hard-for-Vietnam-to-sue-US-over-steel-alu-minum-tariffs.html


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MoIT imposes safeguard measures on imported fertilisers


The Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) has officially issued Decision No. 686/QD-BCT to apply safeguard measures on DAP and MAP fertiliser products imported into Vietnam.The duration for applying this safeguard duty is two years, starting from March 7 this year. After two years, the ministry will consider the socio-economic impact and decide whether to extend the safeguard measures or not.Accordingly, the imported fertilisers in the list will be subject to tax imposed as per the schedule below.From March 7, 2018 to March 6, 2019, the safeguard duty is VND1,128,531 (US$50) per tonne. This amount is equal to the difference between the actual selling price and the selling price at the break-even point of the domestic industry, equivalent to only 60 per cent of the tax rate that Vietnam is entitled to apply in accordance with the provisions of WTO and the laws of the country.From March 7, 2019 to March 6, 2020, the tax rate dropped to VND1,072,104 per tonne.The investigation and application of safeguard measures on imported DAP and MAP fertilisers were carried out in accordance with the provisions of the World Trade Or-ganisation (WTO) Agreement on Safeguards and Ordinance No.42/2002 on safeguards in the import of foreign goods into Vietnam.Earlier, on March 31, 2017, some domestic fertiliser producers requested that trade de-fence measures be applied to a number of imported fertiliser products due to their neg-ative impact on domestic production.Based on the dossier appraisal results, customs data and provisions of the law on safe-guards, MoIT on May 12 last year issued Decision No. 1682A/QD-BCT on initiating a fertiliser dumping investigation and considering the application of safeguard meas-ures on DAP and MAP imported fertiliser products into Vietnam.The preliminary investigation concluded that the imported goods seriously harmed domestic production. Based on this, on August 4, MoIT decided to apply temporary safeguard measures on some DAP and MAP fertiliser products imported into Viet-nam, with the applied temporary safeguard tax being VND1,855,790 per tonne. The decision was effective from August 19, 2017, to March 6, 2018.In the final investigation stage, MoIT decided to extend the deadline for investigating cases of applying safeguard measures for imported DAP and MAP fertilisers for two more months before issuing the final report.The final investigation showed that the imported DAP and MAP fertilisers caused price pressures and price hikes on domestic goods during 2013-16 period.http://bizhub.vn/news/moit-imposes-safeguard-measures-on-imported-fertilisers_292949.html

Foreign car makers try to navigate new law in Vietnam after two-month hiatus

08/MAR/2018 INTELLASIA| VNEXPRESS

Foreign car makers are looking at ways to obtain the documentation required by a new law in Vietnam to reopen automotive exports to the country.Two months after Vietnam put in place a rule requiring stringent inspections of im-ported vehicles, around 2,000 Honda Motor passenger cars are slated to arrive in Viet-nam from Thailand early this week, likely the first batch of foreign-made autos to undergo the new checks, according to Nikkei Asian Review.Honda has obtained quality certification from Thai authorities, and the Vietnamese government has apparently accepted the documents.The Indonesian government is also planning to change the vehicle type approval (VTA) certificates it issues in an effort to reopen automotive exports to Vietnam."With the VTA adjustment, Indonesian automotive exports are expected to return to the country," the Jakarta Post quoted Indonesian trade ministry international trade di-rector general, Oke Nuwan, as saying."The government will convey the change in the VTA certificate to the Vietnamese gov-ernment to get an immediate response. Hopefully, there will soon be automotive ex-ports to Vietnam," said Oke.


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A new decree issued by Vietnam designed to protect its own developing automotive industry forced Indonesia to stop exports of completely built-up (CBU) vehicles to the country this month, according to the Jakarta Post.The decree stipulates that traders are only allowed to import automobiles if they can provide valid vehicle registration certificates issued by authorities from the countries of origin.Original quality control certificates for each vehicle and letters of authorisation regard-ing recalls of defective vehicles from the manufacturers are also required, along with copies of quality assurance certificates provided by the countries of origin.Toru Kinoshita, chair of the Vietnam Automobile Manufacturers Association (VAMA) and CEO of Toyota Vietnam, said the decree does not comply with international rules, putting the brakes on car imports in Vietnam.The Ministry of Industry and Trade claims the regulation will protect consumers and create fair competition between local auto assemblers and CBU importers.Vietnam imported just 30 cars with less than 9 seats in the first two months of 2018, falling from 5,430 units during the same period last year.In total, the country imported 536 completely built units (CBUs) between January and February, according to the general Department of Vietnam Customs.http://english.vov.vn/economy/foreign-car-makers-try-to-navigate-new-law-in-viet-nam-after-twomonth-hiatus-369929.vov

Coastal localities report bumper fishing catches


Coastal localities have reported bumper fishing catches in the first two months of this year, with total seafood catches estimated at 473,900 tonnes, up 2.2 percent year-on-year, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD).Fishermen in the north central provinces of Ha Tinh and Quang Binh brought home large amounts of anchovy, mackerel and flying fish, while those in the south central provinces of Khanh Hoa, Binh Dinh, Phu Yen enjoyed good catches of ocean tuna.In the southernmost province of Ca Mau, each local ship has caught between 50-100 kilogram of 'khoai' fish each day after the Lunar New Year holiday, earning profit of 4-20 million VND.Meanwhile, inland fish catches totalled 23,000 tonnes in the two month period, down 14.8 percent from the same period last year, the MARD said.Aquaculture output was estimated at 276,000 tonnes, up 5.1 percent year-on-year. In particular, tra fish output in the Mekong Delta, the main production area of the fish, increased by 8 percent to 163,300 tonnes. However, the prices of tra fish as material for processing have reached record high, fluctuating between 28,000-29,500 VND (1.23 1.3 USD) per kilogram, reaching 30,000 VND per kilogram at times.Vietnam's tra fish exports reached 1.8 billion USD last year, up 4 percent against 2016, according to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP).Mekong Delta localities reported total tiger prawn output in the period at 29,800 tonnes, up 8.1 percent, and that of white-leg prawn at 10,800 tonnes, up 2.2 percent.Vietnam's shrimp export value was estimated at 3.8 billion USD in 2017, up 22 percent from 2016.https://en.vietnamplus.vn/coastal-localities-report-bumper-fishing-catches/127509.vnp

Ministry of Finance works to handle tax arrears


The Ministry of Finance (MoF) is working on a draft resolution on handling tax arrears and irrecoverable fines to submit to the National Assembly.The MoF proposes to freeze tax arrears/debts. This means it would temporarily cease collection of tax and late payment fines for those who have terminated their business activities for more than one year, due to actual dissolution of taxpayers (except for cas-es for splitting, merger or acquisition), and those who already had their business li-cence revoked.The estimated uncollected tax amount of this particular group is now more than 26.5


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trillion VND (1.16 billion USD), making up the majority of total unpaid tax debt of around 1.18 billion USD.The ministry also plans to relinquish late tax fees for taxpayers who were struck by natural disasters, fires, accidents or other force majeure circumstances.Such exemption only applies to late payments not exceeding the paid value and the suffered damage, which the MoF estimated to be around 2.24 trillion VND (98.6 mil-lion USD) in total, as of the end of 2017.In particular, tax debt exceeding the 90 days payment window accounted for more than 26 trillion VND (1.14 billion USD); overdue fines were more than 15.6 trillion VND (687.2 million USD); while irrecoverable tax from deceased or incapacitated peo-ple accounted for over 31.4 trillion VND (1.38 billion USD), up to 43 percent of total tax debt and 3.2 percent of total domestic revenue in 2017.Meanwhile, the total amount of tax arrears, late payments and fines under the man-agement of customs in 2017 was more than 5.4 trillion VND (237.8 million USD)70 per-cent of which is deemed irrecoverablehaving increased by 23.5 percent from the end of 2016.The combined amounts of tax loss under tax and customs agencies in 2017 amounted to almost half of the national tax debts.Unrecoverable debt levels have been high in recent years, prompting tax authorities to carry out drastic measures to speed up enforcement and recovery of tax debts.In 2017, the entire tax branch scrambled to collect 44.7 trillion VND (1.96 billion USD) in debt, equal to 89.9 percent of outstanding tax debt from 2016.According to the general Department of Taxation, the tax branch will carry out chang-es in tax debts management in order to improve State budget's revenues in 2018, by associating tax recovery with administrative reforms for taxpayers across all economic sectors.In addition, the department will also review debts that are possibly no longer subject-ed to collection, thereby proposing appropriate remedial measures and reducing tax arrears.https://en.vietnamplus.vn/ministry-of-finance-works-to-handle-tax-arrears/127507.vnp

Aviation development plan changes for sustainability in the future


Revisions to the country's plan for the aviation industry up until 2020, with a vision towards 2030, were recently approved by the government. The new plan aims for the aviation market in Vietnam to be among Asean's top four in terms of shipping volume by 2030.Dinh Viet Thang, director of the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam, speaks to Viet-nam News Agency about the implementation of the plan.How will approval of the amended development plan on aviation transport by 2020, looking toward 2030, affect the development of the domestic aviation industry in the future?Decision 21/QD-TTg approving the plan on the national aviation transport develop-ment by 2020, with a vision towards 2030, was approved by the prime minister on Jan-uary 8, 2009.After nine years of implementation, the position and role of the domestic aviation in-dustry have been strengthened and developed further. This has contributed signifi-cantly to the socio-economic development, defense and security of the country.In the future, many new factors will affect the development of the domestic aviation industry in Vietnam. We forecast that the aviation market that will continue its double-digit growth rate. In addition, the demand for domestic air transport will increase.Meanwhile, the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) has greater demand for technological and technical standards, quality of security and safety as well as qual-ity of service and environmental protection.The ICAO also requires countries to carry out comprehensive reforms for their avia-tion industry. Airline firms must strengthen their competitiveness through the devel-


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opment of a modern aircraft fleet and use of advanced technique and technology.Along with that, Vietnam has demand for investment in aviation infrastructure devel-opment, while the state capital is not able to meet the demand. The key project of Long Thanh International Airport was approved by the National Assembly while land for Tan Son Nhat, Noi Bai and Da Nang airports is supplemented.Therefore, the plan for national aviation transport development needed to be adjusted to meet current demands for the development of the local aviation industry.The prime minister issued Decision 236/QD-TTg on February 23, 2018 to approve the adjustments.Under the adjustment plan, Vietnam will change targets for developing the local avi-ation industry, including route networks, fleet of aircraft, airport network, manage-ment and operation of flights, aviation business, human resources and training and environmental protection.Decision 236 will certainly create a higher legal framework and boost the processes of innovation, comprehensive integration and sustainable development, improving the competitiveness and image of the aviation industry on the world market.What are directions of the aviation sector with regard to sustainable development un-der the amended plan?In recent years, the local aviation industry has grown quickly. In the period 2010-17, the aviation market of Vietnam achieved an average growth rate of 16.64 per cent in passengers and 14 per cent in cargo per year. The total volume of traffic through air-ports reached a year-on-year increase of 16.91 per cent for passengers and 13 per cent for cargo per year. Flight operating capacity grew 12 per cent every year.To meet the high growth rate of the aviation industry, the adjusted development plan contains many tactics to carry out sustainable development and international integra-tion of the aviation market.The state will mobilise all investment resources to develop aviation infrastructure and to carry out a roadmap for the liberalisation of air transport based on bilateral and mul-tilateral agreements. The plan has adjusted some development targets in aviation transport, airports and management of flight operation as well as added some direc-tions to make development goals better suited to facts on the ground.Under the plan, the State encourages the opening of international flights to and from local airports in cities and provinces with potential in tourism development, and the development of specialised aviation logistics centres. The plan has added a target on environmental protection.To ensure the sustainable development of the aviation industry, the State has added policies on the equitisation of state-owned enterprises to the plan, including identify-ing the key role of the aviation industry in each field. The aviation industry should es-tablish a centre for research, development and application of technology and techniques in the aviation industry to meet demand on the development of the local aviation in the Industry 4.0.Local industry will take the lead in the development of human resources in the avia-tion sector and develop training centres for pilots.Fields of the local aviation industry must development synchronously and with close cooperation to ensure sustainable development in the future.Why does the plan adjust the number of airports and targeted opening date for some airports?The plan has adjusted the number of airports and the timing for starting operations in order to improve the efficiency in aviation transport, and domestic, regional and inter-national transport, as well as support for the development of localities with potential in tourism development.By 2020, Vietnam will have 23 airports under the adjusted plan, a reduction from 26 airports under initial planning. Of which, the nation will have 10 international air-ports. Now, the nation has 21 airports for civil aviation transport activities.Meanwhile, by 2030, it will have 28 airports, higher than 26 airports under the initial plan, including 10 to 13 international airports.


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The State has added new airports of Phan Thiet, Quang Tri, Tho Xuan and Lai Chau to the plan to meet the demand at those airports that are expected to see traffic increase sharply because the airports are located in localities with strong tourism appeal and play important roles in socio-economic development, defence, rescue work and local and regional routes.Some airports are taken out of the plan, including Gia Lam and Vung Tau, because the Gia Lam Airport has had flights for tourism and training but has not had civil aviation flights while the Vung Tau Airport is a small one mainly serving the petroleum sector and has low demand for civil aviation flights. Moreover, Vung Tau Airport is near the Long Thanh International Airport that will come into operation in the future.The plan encourages airlines companies to restructure their fleets to increase planes. How does the activity affect aviation infrastructure?In this master plan, the fields will develop in ways that ensure synchronism, scientific progress and close relationships with each other to ensure feasibility during the imple-mentation of the plan.The adjustment on fleet development, in general, is based on the fleet development plan of airline firms in Vietnam, route networks, the frequency of exploitation, market growth target, development plans and the capacity of airports. It is also based on the standards, capability and plans for investment and development of airport infrastruc-ture.bizhub.vn/business-insight/aviation-development-plan-changes-for-sustainability-in-the-future_292964.html

Transport a highlight of GMS Economic Cooperation Programme


With financial aid from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and other sponsors, the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) Economic Cooperation Programme has supported the region to carry out a number of priority projects with notable outcomes recorded in the field of transport.In 2009, the Hanoi Lao Cai expressway with a total length of 264 km and investment of 1.2 billion USD sourced from the ADB was considered a strategic part of the Kun-ming Lao Cai Hanoi Hai Phong road corridor and the cooperation programme be-tween the six GMS countries namely Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Myanmar and China. The expressway is not only important to localities where it runs through but also the whole north-western region.Meanwhile, the Noi Bai Lao Cai expressway, the longest of its kind in Vietnam, was put into operation in September 2014 as part of the North South economic corridor, helping reduce travelling time from seven hours to three hours and facilitating goods transport.The expressway has contributed to making significant economic changes in Vietnam's northern localities and China's southern region through increasing trade and invest-ment exchanges and tourism.The ADB also supported the establishment of the southern economic corridor linking cities and towns in the southern GMS region and the East West economic corridor spanning 1,320 km from Da Nang port in the eastern coast of Vietnam to the coast of the Indian Ocean in Myanmar.GMS was established in 1992 as an initiative of the ADB. The GMS Cooperation Pro-gramme is the most complete cooperation programme that involves Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Myanmar, and China's Yunnan and Guangxi provinces. The pro-gramme prioritises infrastructure development, energy, telecommunication, tourism, trade-investment, human resources, and environment.To realise the common goal of turning the GMS into a prosperous, integrated and har-monious region, leaders of the GMS countries approved a 10-year strategic framework at the fourth GMS Summit in the Philippines in 2011, making it a foundation for GMS cooperation orientations from 2012 to 2022 to boost regional and extra-regional inte-gration and cooperation.Vietnam is scheduled to host the sixth GMS Summit and the 10th Summit of Cambodia


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Laos Vietnam (CLV) Development Triangle in Hanoi from March 29-31 with a view to boosting regional economic links.https://en.vietnamplus.vn/transport-a-highlight-of-gms-economic-cooperation-pro-gramme/127519.vnp

Nearly $1.2 billion invests in major agricultural projects

08/MAR/2018 INTELLASIA| HANOI TIMES

Many big enterprises recently poured huge investment in agricultural projects, help-ing the industry improve the competitiveness.Industry insiders estimated that the investment capital to 25 major projects reached over VND27 trillion (US$1.18 billion) in the past few years.Pham Thi Huan, director of Ba Huan Joint Stock Company, said her company invested more than VND1 trillion to the egg production chain, which helped the company's turnover rise 15-20 percent yearly in the past few years.Besides developing the northern market and investing in the processed food segment, the company also plans to enlarge its chicken breeding farming and the processed food plant this year. The company is also finalising necessary procedures to export fresh eggs trademarked Ba Huan to Asean countries and other Asian markets, she said.VinaCapital Vietnam Opportunity Fund (VOF), the flagship fund of VinaCapital, re-cently invested $32.5 million in company to become its strategic investor. VOF may also invest a moderate amount of additional capital during the next twelve months as the company delivers on mutually agreed milestones.Andy Ho, Managing director of VOF, said: "Ba Huan has become one of the strongest fresh food brands in Vietnam. Food safety is a concern in the country, and Ba Huan's growth is due to its reputation for producing high-quality and safe foods. It has a his-tory of innovation, a management team with a clear vision for expansion, and a market that is rapidly growing. We look forward to working with Ba Huan's management team to help carry out new management practices, improve governance, and other-wise help take the company to the next stage of growth."Another major firm, Minh Hung Group, a member of Vietnam's 500 biggest compa-nies, recently also announced a project to build a HPP (High Pressure Processing) plant with total investment of VND500 billion in Long An Province which is scheduled to start operation in 2019.Lam Dao Hung, Chair of the group, said that the company will invest in warehouses and post-harvest preservation technologies to preserve goods at harvest time.In early 2018, Hoa Phat Joint Stock Company also launched its chicken raising project which is expected to produce 20 million chicken eggs for sale to the local market this year. The company had also invested in an animal food processing plant.In early 2017, Truong Hai Auto Company (THACO) brought into operation its over VND500 billion Thaco Agricultural Machinery plant which manufacture 18HP to 120 HP tractors, combined harvesters and other agricultural machinery. The company tar-gets a 7 per cent market-share for the country's tractor market in 2018, and a 26 per cent market share in 2026. It also has plans to manufacture other agricultural machinery for the country's market and for exports to Laos, Cambodia, the Philippines, Myanmar and Indonesia.Phung Duc Tien, deputy chair of the National Assembly's Science, Technology and En-vironment Council, said agriculture remains one of the key sectors of the country's economy during the restructuring. Export value of the agricultural sector this year is expected to grow by 30 percent against last year to $6.1 billion."However, the country's agricultural production remains tattered, indicated by some 80 million paddy fields, and nearly 10 million of farmer households," said Tien.He said post-harvest losses are very big, while infrastructure facilities such as ware-houses and processing facilities remain restricted, causing a low added value.To develop the country's agricultural sector, it is necessary to have investment from big companies to promote production through the application of high technologies, he said.


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Vietnam, Good Neighbours International work to improve cooperatives


The Department of Cooperatives and Rural Development and non-governmental Good Neighbours International (GNI) signed a pact on March 7 to develop new coop-erative models and farm produce value chains in Vietnam.The agreement will support the establishment and operation of agricultural coopera-tives and development of farm produce value chains in areas where the GNI is run-ning its income-generation projects.Between 2018 and 2020, the two sides are set to build a suitable action plan, carry out research and surveys on demand and consumption of agricultural products, promote the products, and help producers build trademarks for their goods.Ma Quang Trung, director of the Department of Cooperatives and Rural Develop-ment, said only 38 percent of Vietnam's 12,000 cooperatives are working effectively. Vietnamese cooperatives often have small scale, and their members earn low incomes and face various difficulties in selling their products.According to An Yong Sic, chief of GNI representative office in Vietnam, the organisa-tion has collaborated with more than 1,000 farmers in Thanh Hoa, Hoa Binh, and Tuy-en Quang provinces, and with a numbers of shopping malls and convenience stores in Hanoi. Currently, many of the farmers' goods are on shelves of Kmart, Lotte mart, and Vinmart stores in the capital city.Established in 1991, GNI implements community development projects globally to im-prove quality of life and access to education, as well as to provide aid in areas of civil unrest or natural disasters. Opened in 2005, GNI Vietnam has initiated many pro-grammes in underprivileged areas of the country, including sponsorship, case man-agement, education and protection, health care, water-sanitation, income generation, raising awareness of local residents, and emergency relief.https://en.vietnamplus.vn/vietnam-good-neighbours-international-work-to-improve-cooperatives/127523.vnp

Hanoi to create transparent environment and investment for the private sector


The Hanoi People's Committee has recently issued Plan No. 53/KH-UBND on devel-oping the private sector and making it one of important driving forces of the socialist-oriented market economy, completing the socialist-oriented market economy.According to the plan, it is expected that 30 percent to 50 percent of private enterprises have innovative and creative activities annually; labour capacity increases 4-5 percent per year; the number of enterprises in Hanoi is lifted to 400,000 by 2020.The gap of technology, human resources and competitive capacity between the private sectors and the leading ones of Asean-4 is shortened; many private businesses join the production network and value chain of the region and worldwide.As the standing agency, Hanoi Authority of Plan and Investment is in charge of coop-erating with related departments and agencies to conduct information work, popular-ise the mechanisms and policies on encouraging the establishment of private businesses, create favourable conditions for them to invest and develop manufactur-ing as well as trade in lawful areas in accordance with Hanoi's strategy on social and economic development.The municipal Authority of Plan and Investment is also responsible for performing following tasks:Act as advisor to city's government in building, completing policy on supporting star-tup and innovative startup; create premise to create private economic groups which are capable of joining the manufacturing network and value chain of the region and worldwide; consider and suggest policies to encourage and help household businesses in Hanoi to change and run their business according to the Law on Enterprises; act as advisor to the city in completing plan on supporting startup and establishment of en-terprises in Hanoi as well as project on supporting innovative startup in Hanoi, and submit them to the Municipal People's Committee for further consideration;Take responsibility for studying project on simplifying procedure of registration for establishing enterprises in the city, improving quality of the officials in charge of pro-


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viding advice and guidance to enterprises; enhance the popularisation and informa-tion work in various manners, draw attention of the businesses and people, and encourage them to submit their registration for business on internet; strive to process all online registration for enterprise establishment on time; cooperate with tax, labour and social insurance agencies to connect the procedures in order to help enterprises re-duce time and start their business soon;Take responsibility for developing and effectively implementing programmes on im-proving capacity of enterprises in the private sector according to plan on supporting human resource development in small and medium enterprises in Hanoi for the peri-od of 2016 to 2020; study and act as advisor to the city to build project on developing the private economy, and improve capacity for enterprises in the private sector; con-nect the private enterprises, startup ideas and innovative, creative ideas with investors and investment funds;Act as advisor to the Municipal People's Committee in organising open dialogue peri-odically (at least twice a year) with enterprises, thus helping the businesses to ease dif-ficulties and solve problems timely.Based on their function and mission, related agencies, departments, sectors, associa-tions and units of the city perform tasks according to their authority. They also create transparent and safe environment for development of the private economy sector, have proper supervision and inspection policy to ensure that all feedback and denun-ciations are received and answered, and create favourable conditions for private enter-prises to run their business according to the law.People's Committees of districts, suburban districts and towns are responsible for making their plan and project to carry out the city's plan, creating healthy and favour-able investment and business environment for the private economy sector to develop, organising open dialogues at least twice a year, summing up information at the end of the year, and reporting to the Authority of Plan and Investment. The latter will sum up the information and submit it to the Municipal People's Committee.http://www.hanoitimes.vn/investment/2018/03/81E0C2B9/hanoi-to-create-transpar-ent-environment-and-investment-for-the-private-sector/

Quang Ninh: customs clearance via floating bridge linking with China


A ceremony was held on March 7 to mark the customs clearance of goods transported via a floating bridge linking Mong Cai city in Vietnam's Quang Ninh province and Dongxing city of China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.The floating bridge crossing the Ka Long River, the first of its kind connecting the two cities, was inaugurated on December 1, 2017.Invested with nearly 160 billion VND (over 7 million USD), the two-lane bridge is 114 metres long and 12 metres wide and has a load capacity of 60 tonnes. It is part of the infrastructure of Mong Cai and Dongxing border gates.It is hoped to play an important role in facilitating goods export and import via these ports of entry and addressing the overload of goods transported via the Ka Long River.The facility is also expected to improve the competitiveness of the two border gates compared to other pairs of border gates along the Vietnam-China border.Quang Ninh is a coastal province in the northeast of Vietnam. It shares a 132.8km land border with Fangcheng district and Dongxing city of China's Guangxi province.https://en.vietnamplus.vn/quang-ninh-marks-customs-clearance-via-floating-bridge-linking-with-china/127525.vnp

Bright horizons for resort property development


Vietnam's tourism industry has entered a period of vigorous growth along with the growing demands for hotels and accommodation, giving fresh impetus to the devel-opment of resort property.Huge demand for resort propertyAccording to the statistics of Vietnam's tourism sector, the country welcomed 12.9 mil-lion foreign arrivals and served more than 73 million domestic visitors last year.


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The number of international and local visitors is forecast to reach 100 million by 2020, with a subsequent increase in demand for resort property.Professor Dang Hung Vo says there is huge potential for resort developments in Viet-nam as the tourism industry is growing rapidly at a rate of 30-40 percent and will con-tinue growth pattern in the future. As one of the nations with high tourism growth in the world, the country's resort property development can be considered a right track.According to a CBRE report, Vietnam will require another 300,000 rooms of 3-star ho-tel standard and above by 2020. At present, there are a total of 102,758 rooms of this type in the cities of Da Nang, Nha Trang, Ha Long, Phu Quoc, and Da Lat. Major cities need to add 78,000 hotel rooms in the future, which promises to be rather lucrative for property developers.Hotel occupancy rates in Hanoi, HCM City, and resorts have risen remarkably at more than 90 percentwhile hotel bookings during holidays can be hard to come by. There is a huge demand for rooms near tourism sites and the volume of trade is expected to at-tract investors in this segment.Luxury resort villas and condotels, two new types of real estate, have emerged in Vi-etnam over recent years. The arrival of condotels and resort villas has created a new trend in real estate investment. In 2017, the resort property market in central and south-central parts such as Da Nang, Khanh Hoa, Phu Quoc, Binh Thuan, and Quang Ninh saw positive signs with more than 22,800 apartments on the market, including more than 12,500 reporting successful transactions.In addition, there are many large-scale tourism investment projects in Phu Quoc, Nha Trang, and Da Nang. Three special administrative and economic zones will take shape in these cities in the future, opening up a slew of bright prospects for the tourism de-velopment towards turning tourism into a spearhead sector for national economy.Complete legal frameworkMany resort property development-related laws and regulations have yet to be adjust-ed to their presence thus presenting difficulties to state management which affect the legitimate rights of residents and businesses.Especially, the granting of land ownership certificates for condotel and officetel ac-commodation is also a troublesome problem. Legal regulations on new real estate seg-ments are currently being under consideration for adjustment amendment by the Ministry of Construction and the Ministry of Natural Resource and Environment.Regarding problems arising from resort property disputes, Professor Dang Hung Vo proposed that existing laws be applied in a flexible manner without having to wait for law-regulated documents in this regard. The law enforcement must be implemented and instructed at all levels. Currently, each locality is resolving problems related to condotel projects in their own particular ways, causing confusion and disorder.Professor Vo has emphasized the need for State management agencies to set out clear instructions for the consistent application of laws regarding resort property.http://english.vov.vn/economy/bright-horizons-for-resort-property-development-369945.vov

Rural areas boast rapid growth in FMCG


Despite facing wide fluctuations, the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) market in rural areas achieved a growth rate of 6.1 percent last year compared to the 4 percent level recorded in urban areas.According to Nielsen Vietnam, the FMCG market grew by 5.4 percent last year, higher than the previous year's 4.9 percent growth in spite of a decline in the last quarter. The final quarter also saw a 0.5 percent fall in growth rate when compared to the third quarter of 2017. The consumption of essential goods in the market, including drinking water, food, milk, family and personal care products experienced a drop off to the end of the year, with only the beverage sector rising by 3.2 percent, Nielsen Vietnam re-ports.Nguyen Anh Dung, director of Nielsen Retail Measurement Services, says the circula-tion of goods via traditional commercial channels and retail shops in both rural and


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urban areas showed a sharp plummet toward the end of last year due to the impact of several devastating storms on the country, which caused huge property and human losses.Dung has identified another cause for the decline, as the traditional Lunar New Year (Tet) came later than the previous year, falling in mid-February, instead of early Janu-ary.Nielsen highlights FMCG growth in rural areas as a new source of development for producers. However, expansion to such areas also presents challenges for businesses who have to bear the cost of delivering products to these areas. This is a difficulty not only for Vietnam but all Asian countries.Some rural areas have greater prospects than others, therefore, businesses need to carefully define potential areas to best utilise investment sources. To achieve success in more rural areas, producers must understand the customer base, notes Nielsen Vi-etnam.Dung says rural customers are demanding more premier quality services and prod-ucts as they seek products associated with an urban lifestyle thanks to the burgeoning development of advanced technology and infrastructure.http://english.vov.vn/market/rural-areas-boast-rapid-growth-in-fmcg-369956.vov

VN packaging industry set for growth


The packaging industry is expected to grow at a minimum of 10 per cent on average in the coming years, according to experts.Demand for food packaging would continue to increase driven by growing demand for food and beverages processed and packaged for domestic consumption and ex-port, BT Tee, general manager of SES Vietnam Exhibition Services (UBM VES), said.Processing and packaging is one of the emerging industries with massive growth po-tential and whose development has greatly impacted other sectors and industries, he said.Many international food manufacturers and packaging producers have come to Viet-nam to invest, he told a press conference held in HCM City on Tuesday to introduce the Propak Vietnam exhibition.Prof Dr Lu Dun, deputy chair of the Vietnam Association of Food Science and Tech-nology, said the country's packaging industry has seen rapid changes in recent years due to the strong development of the food processing industry.Consumers are increasingly focused on food hygiene and quality, with more opting for packaged products, he said."The domestic food production sector, though diverse in terms of variety, has low yields, quality and value-addition and high post-harvest losses, mainly because it fol-lows traditional preservation and processing methods."Therefore, besides improving farming methods, Vietnam also needs to pay attention to harvesting, improving processing technology and rational use of advanced packag-ing to improve product quality and ensure food safety and hygiene."Packaging costs are currently high, accounting for more than 50 per cent of cost for cer-tain products, and food processors are looking for ways to cut packaging costs, includ-ing through the use of automation, he said.Most machines as well as materials used in the packaging industry are imported, he said.PROPAK Vietnam, a major annual processing and packaging technology exhibition, would help businesses discover new production technologies and strengthen business links, he said.2018 PROPAK VietnamLee said PROPAK Vietnam, to be held in HCM City from March 20 to 22, would show-case many cutting-edge processing and packaging machines, technologies and servic-es for the food and beverages, cosmetics, pharmaceutical, bottling and beverages, barcoding, printing and labelling industries.Organised by UBM VES, the exhibition has attracted more than 420 exhibitors from 29


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countries and territories, including 11 international group pavilions from India, Den-mark, Italy, Germany, mainland China, Korea, Japan, Singapore, Taiwan and Thai-land.Conferences and seminars will be held on the sidelines of the expo, including technical seminars hosted by the Vietnam Association of Food Science and Technology and Lean Six Sigma Network, with topics areas ranging from food safety control and risk management to emerging trends in industrial water treatment.The opportunities offered by the event are enhanced by the joint staging of the Plastics and Rubber Vietnam, a trade event for plastics and rubber manufacturing technologies and materials.Propak Vietnam will be held at the Saigon Exhibition and Convention Centre in Dis-trict 7, and is expected to attract more than 8,200 trade visitors.http://vietnamnews.vn/economy/423949/vn-packaging-industry-set-for-growth.html

Is the home appliance market becoming saturated?


The decisions by Tran Anh Digital World JSC to sell its distribution chain and the moves by giant home appliance chains to open drugstores indicates the home appli-ance market is becoming saturated.The Gioi Di Dong, the largest electronics and home appliance retail chain, in early 2018 announced it has wrapped up the takeover of Tran Anh, a home appliance distributor.Just days after the announcement was made, Tran Xuan Kien, former president of Tran Anh, answered an interview to a local newspaper and said he and other shareholders of Tran Anh decided to quit the technological production distribution market after 15 years of operation because they can see the market has no future.According to Kien, in overseas markets, the consumption of home appliances has reached the critical point. The strong development of e-commerce has also shrunk op-portunities for growth.Analysts say that the giants, who hold the largest home appliance market shares, have realised that opportunities in the market are no longer great. This is why The Gioi Di Dong, FPT Retail, Digiworld and Nguyen Kim have been trying new businesses.The Gioi Di Dong, for example, has bought Phuc An Khang, a drugstore chain, and an-nounced the recruitment of pharmacists.FPT Shop reportedly has taken over Long Chau drugstore chain in HCM City and Trung Son in Can Tho City. Meanwhile, Digiworld and Nguyen Kim both are also pre-paring to jump on the bandwagon.The home appliance distributors have every reason to eye the drug distribution mar-ket.According to IBM, an analysis firm, the Vietnamese drug retail market in 2017 was es-timated at $4.7 billion, while the figure may rise to $7.7 billion by 2021 and $16.1 billion by 2026 with the CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of up to 11 percent.A report shows that the Vietnamese spending on drug has increased from $9.85 in 2005 to $22.25 in 2010 and to $37.97. In 2017, every Vietnamese spent $56 on drugs.As such, it is highly possible that the major driving force for home appliance distribu-tors' growth in the next years will be drugs, not their major business field.Some home appliance centers are reportedly meeting difficulties because of higher costs and lower profits. Tran Anh's Q2 report (the fiscal year begins on April 1, 2017) showed a post-tax loss of VND7.4 billion.Opening too many supermarkets was one of the reasons behind the loss. Sources said some large distributors have no more capital for marketing. However, distributors have to enlarge their networks to scramble for clients.http://english.vietnamnet.vn/fms/business/195097/is-the-home-appliance-market-be-coming-saturated-.html

How do e-commerce businesses overcome difficulties?

08/MAR/2018 INTELLASIA| DIEN DAN DOANH NGHIEP

With the growth rate of 22 percent/annum, Vietnam's e-commerce market scale may reach $10 billion in the next five years. However, the market is the "piece of cake" that


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is not easy to eat.The newly released report by VNG JSC shows that its investment in Tiki suffered from the loss of 125 billion dong in 2017. Starting to pour capital since 2016, VNG invested 384 billion dong in Tiki and owned 38 percent stake of this business. Also in this year, VNG suffered from the loss of 93 billion dong with this investment. As such, VNG is temporarily losing 220 billion dong from its investment in Tiki.Meanwhile, the game developer and e-commerce business SEA the parent company of Shopee has just announced a major loss. Specifically, the Singapore-based company the receiver of the investment from Tencent Holdings witnessed remarkably increas-ing loss in Q4/2017 due to the spending on advertisement to promote e-commerce seg-ment, mainly Shopee shopping page. Accordingly, the loss in Q4 of this business amounted to $135 million."Intense competition in e-commerce sector coming from the appearance of large cor-poration nationwide may force e-commerce businesses to strengthen communication and marketing activities, thereby raising operating costs, leading to prolonged losses of these businesses", said an analyst at Morgan Standley.Vietnam's e-commerce market is quite potential with constantly increasing growth rate and scale. Frost and Sullivan's research and consulting firm used to forecast that Vietnam's market scale will increase from $1.7 billion in 2016 to $3.7 billion in 2020, equal to the growth rate of 45 percent/annum. In November 2017, at Vietnam's e-com-merce forum, experts forecasted that the annual e-commerce growth rate touched 22 percent. Vietnam's e-commerce market scale is forecasted to hit $10 billion in the next five years.Despite such potential market, losses of the aforementioned businesses show that e-commerce businesses are almost unprofitable. Therefore, to maintain and develop op-erations for e-commerce websites, domestic e-commerce businesses need to take ad-vantage of cooperation and M&A opportunities with foreign ones to increase competitiveness.According to iPrice's statistics, as of the end of Q4/2017, Vietnam's leading e-commerce sites included Lazada with the first position, Shopee with the fourth position and Tiki with the fifth position. In 2017, 21 investment deals in e-commerce sector were carried out with a total value of $83 million, of which, Tiki alone received Series C investment amounting to $54 million from JD.com and STC Investment.Chair of JD.com said Vietnam is an important emphasis of JD.Com in Southeast Asia region, where both Alibaba and Amazon have carried out strategic investments here. JD.com will support Tiki in terms of warehouse, delivery system as well as technology and payment.Meanwhile, Lazada receives the support from China's leading retailer Alibaba with the investment amounting to $1 billion in order to raise the share ownership rate to 83 percent.

Developers marching down to the riverside


With a crowded river and stream system and a big, largely untapped land fund along the riverside, HCM City has enormous potential for riverside property development. This year is expected to see a boom in riverside mega-property projects.Upcoming launchesTalking about the HCM City real estate market in 2018, it is important to mention the Nha Rong-Khanh Hoi mixed-use development project at Nha Rong-Khanh Hoi Termi-nal (Saigon Port). The project, initially scheduled for implementation in 2017 then post-poned to 2018, is developed by Vien Dong Pearl Urban Development Investment Co., LtdThe Nha Rong-Khanh Hoi mixed-use complex will encompass several high-rise blocs functioning as trade and service centres and apartment buildings (3,116 apartment units), villas (32), schools, clinics, and technical infrastructure for a population of near-ly 13,000 residents, according to the approved 1/500 scale detailed planning of the Dis-trict 4 port sub-area. This urban zone's total area will be about 32.1 hectares and spread


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along 1.8 kilometres of riverside.Another upcoming project is the construction of Thanh My Loi Urban Area in District 2. The project, overlooking the Saigon River and covering 178.8ha of space, will consist of street-front houses and villas as well as high-end apartment buildings. After a time of stagnancy, developers holding land plots in Thanh My Loi recently accelerated the pace of their projects.The over-200ha Van Phuc Urban Area in Thu Duc District, with two sides overlooking the Saigon River, is also significant as it features products of diverse segments from shophouses to villas and high-end apartment buildings. The developer is the private-ly-run Van Phuc JSC.Another project called Palm City is developed by Keppel Land. According to the Sin-gaporean developer, nearly 1,000 high-end apartments of the project will come onto the market in 2018. The project is nestled on a road parallel to HCM City-Long Thanh-Dau Giay Expressway in District 2, with one side overlooking a branch of the Saigon River. The project has been open for sale since 2016.District 7 is also home to many riverside mega-projects, such as River Panorama of An Gia Investment, The Elysium of Sam Land, Jamona Golden Silk of Saigon Thuong Tin Real Estate JSC (Sacomreal) or River City of Phat Dat Real Estate Development Corpo-ration.Another significant project in District 7 is the 117-ha Mui Den Do park and urban hous-ing complex, known as Saigon Peninsula, with three sides overlooking the Saigon Riv-er. The project was bought by Van Thinh Phat Investment Group from Saigon Peninsula Group JSC in 2016 for real estate development purposes. After more than one year in the hands of the new developer, the project, which was reported to have total investment capital of $6 billion, has seen no progress.According to Le Hoang Chau, chair of the HCM City Real Estate Association, develop-ers now increasingly focus on bringing comfort to homebuyers, and riverside property projects not only provide aesthetic value, but are perfectly positioned by feng shui principles.Jostling for land plotsIn fact, projects that are contiguous to rivers or streams have been selling very well. Thereby, to attract homebuyers, many projects have incorporated riverside parks and marina components in their design.For instance, several real estate projects in Duc Hoa District in the southern province of Long An are only close to a small canal. To attract homebuyers, the project design features a jade-water river and a big marina with ships.At a project in the heart of HCM City's Thu Duc District, to create a beautiful land-scape, the developer has dedicated more than 100-ha space for the development of an artificial river system to benefit prospective homebuyers.Industry experts assumed that 2018 will be the time for green property development. These projects will mainly concentrate on the western and southern parts of the Saigon River, such as Thu Thiem New Urban Area (District 2) on the western shore of the Sai-gon River. The southern part will also be in focus as it is home to the largest number of canals and streams in the city.Besides, in 2018 local developers expect more riverside land funds to become available for project development. Currently, Trung Nam Group is developing a build-transfer (BT) housing project for HCM City. In exchange, the company will receive a riverside land plot.This year, thousands of households living around more than 20 canals and ditches across the city will be relocated due to environmental concerns. To raise capital for people's relocation, from early 2017, the city authorities have been calling for business-es to carry out BT projects, giving out land plots along the canals and ditches in ex-change. These BT projects aim to build resettlement blocs for relocated people."Following the city's commitment, businesses are lodging investment proposals. The number of firms registered to take part in BT projects is increasing quickly, as grasping riverside land plots has grown into the number-one priority of firms," said Nguyen


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Anh Tuan, general director of Viet Gia Phu Real Estate Trading and Investment JSC.According to Ha Van Thien, director of Investment and Construction at Tran Anh Group, the company currently has a portfolio of four riverside projects in HCM City that are selling very well.The 'riverside' factor is a plus boosting real estate value by about 10-20 per cent."Therefore, seizing riverside land plots or those along canals are the company's top pri-ority in the forthcoming time," Thien said, adding that this is quite a challenging task in the current HCM City.http://english.vietnamnet.vn/fms/business/196633/developers-marching-down-to-the-riverside.html

Honesty as the best marketing policy


In the age of fake news and unverified information on social media, transparency and honesty once again become the most important factors for good property developers.A maze of fake newsAt a recent land plot sale in western Hanoi, industry insiders have voiced concerns about unverified information. In particular, before the media and developers could an-nounce anything about the sale, various online forums, some with thousands of mem-bers, somehow caught wind of the information and leaked it on the Internet, including the launch date and discrepancies in pricing. These topics have gathered lots of com-ments from users.Such unofficial information is very difficult to check but can appear anywhere on so-cial media these days and have great influence on homebuyers' decisions. Homebuy-ers tend to listen to the grapevine when purchasing a home, making them vulnerable to rumours and speculation on the market. Many of them choose to listen to online whispers and buy projects from secondary sellers instead of directly from the develop-ers, a mistake that could cost them an arm and a leg.In reality, it is not hard to find ample information about upcoming projects through unofficial media channels, including social media, online forums, scam websites, spam messages, and street banners. Official information on mainstream media, on the con-trary, is few and far between.The media battle became even more intense after developers started employing differ-ent distributors for their projects, prompting distributors to use unofficial channels to seek homebuyers and beat the competition.The downside to unofficial information is clear: it remains unchecked and can affect the reputation of the developers, as well as harm the homebuyers themselves. Some brokers and agents are often too eager to sell and do not stop short of spreading unof-ficial information without prior consultation with the developers. A distributor in Ha-noi recently got fined for millions of VND by the developer for this, but it is unclear whether the fine is enough to deter other distributors.At a recent seminar on real estate promotion and advertising in Hanoi, the speakers revealed that each property agent is often required to spread information on different social media outlets and online forums on a daily basis. The speakers also gave agents tips and tricks on how to exaggerate information, enticing potential homebuyers to contact them. Some of the information, of course, is not the complete truth.A representative from a major distribution firm said that most homebuyers want to see the project in real life and discuss with real people before making a decision. However, it is really hard for distributors to convince buyers to see them in person, forcing them to desperate lengths, like spreading false information online. Details are exaggerated, claims are made bigger and better, and the project suddenly looks more appealing than it really is. This is very difficult to do in official media, but very easy on social me-dia and online forums.As distributors are dogged to step up promotion activities, many potential homebuy-ers feel like they are being "bombarded" by information. The distributors themselves admit that they have no idea who are really looking to buy a homethey just want to spread the information as widely as possible.


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Honesty and transparencyMajor losses during 2009-2011 have forced professional developers to provide official information instead of spreading unchecked details. This is crucial to their long-term and sustainable reputation.In the past few years, some projects have attracted a great number of depositors who believe in the reputation of the developers. These companies have earned their fame and instill trust in homebuyers, which is partly achieved via distributing official infor-mation. For example, Vingroup is currently developing various projects of different sizes across a multitude of segments from the north to the south of Vietnam, including premium and affordable properties.Vingroup deputy chair Le Khac Hiep shared that as one of the leading developers on the market, Vingroup prioritises its reputation and brand image, which means pre-venting any communication crises. Homebuyers will always be ensured that they are buying a product that follows a strict timeline and adheres to strict standards.This sentiment is followed by many famous developers on the market such as Dat Xanh, Hai Phat, Him Lam Land, Phat Dat, Bitexco, and Geleximco or new rising stars like Novaland, MIK Group, Sunshine, Hung Thinh, Sun Group, TNR Holdings, Van Phu Invest or HD Mon Holdings. These developers put homebuyers first and give them the confidence they need to purchase the right product.In the past, real estate distributors often relied on direct communication channels (such as messaging or telemarketing) or the grapevine to market products. Nowadays, com-munication has become digitalised, as 52 per cent of the Vietnamese populace are on the Internet and 90 per cent of homebuyers access information about real estate projects online. They are also increasingly skeptical about information presented to them by other homebuyers. This presents opportunities and challenges for property developers to communicate in an honest and effective manner.Many distributors often classify their projects as "premium" and exaggerate the bene-fits associated with the buildings. This will not do well in the long term as previous lessons have shown. Firms now understand that they need to be informative and un-biased. Exaggeration should be avoided at all costs.Leaders of Van Phu Invest, a rising real estate developer, emphasized that communi-cation is vital for the property market. Marketing and sales must be proactive and pro-vide potential homebuyers with the necessary details.In short, the most important policy is still transparency and honesty.http://english.vietnamnet.vn/fms/business/196732/honesty-as-the-best-marketing-policy.html

PM directs boosting support for enterprise development


Prime minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has issued a directive, requesting strong enforce-ment of Resolution No. 35/NQ-CP dated May 16, 2016 on enterprise development pol-icy to 2020 in the spirit of the government accompanying enterprises.The PM requested ministries, sectors, and localities to devise comprehensive and dras-tic measures to carry out their tasks.He ordered the Ministry of Planning and Investment to continue organising training courses to help small- and medium-sized enterprises enhance the management capa-bility and financial transparency, thus gaining better access to credit.The PM also urged revision of Decree 78/2015/ND-CP dated September 14, 2015 on en-terprise registration to reduce business starting cost, and submit to the government for approval in 2018.The finance ministry was tasked with drafting revisions to the laws on taxation, quick-ly removing tax-related problems and proposing simplified tax and accounting proce-dures for small-sized businesses.The ministry was also told to build a decree on the use of e-invoice, publish the list of 1,000 biggest corporate tax payers of Vietnam, and research revisions to the Securities Law to facilitate indirect foreign investment.The directive requested the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment to review


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all regulations on land revocation, ground clearance, land renting, land-use change, land pricing, and land access for small- and medium-sized enterprises.The Ministry of Justice was instructed to enhance its appraisal of legal documents in line with the Law on Promulgation of Legal Documents 2015 to ensure that the prom-ulgation of regulations on business investment conditions and administrative proce-dures is in line with authority, and the regulations are truly necessary, rational, transparent and feasible.The Ministry of Transport was asked to issue instruction on reviewing investment costs of Build-operation-transfer (BOT) projects and monitor the collection of tolls to determine the period of time and amount of fee collection; addressing shortcomings in operation, location and toll collection of BOT transport projects; and installing auto-matic toll collection technology at all toll stations across the country.The Ministry of Science and Technology needs to accelerate measures to help enter-prises modernise their technology and enhance their science-technology application via the national programme on science and technology. The ministry was also re-quired to intensify the intellectual property development programme period 2016-2020, thus accelerating intellectual property registration, and announcing norms and standards for local innovative products.The Ministry of Education and Training was tasked with trimming administrative pro-cedures in granting investment licences in the sector to encourage investment in uni-versities. It was also instructed to early submit to the government a decree on autonomy of public universities.The PM also urged HCM City, Binh Duong, Binh Dinh, Binh Thuan, Cao Bang, Hai Phong, Dak Lak, Long An, Nam Dinh, and Tra Vinh provinces to quickly set up hot-lines to assist local enterprises.The directive required ministries, sectors and localities to increase their dialogues with enterprises, while the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry was asked to fur-ther boost the campaign "Vietnamese products conquer Vietnamese."https://en.vietnamplus.vn/pm-directs-boosting-support-for-enterprise-development/127516.vnp

Vietnamese startups: the other side of the coin


Vietnam is witnessing an active startup movement with young people rushing to set up businesses. But experts warn that enthusiasm alone won't ensure success.Vietnam currently has 1,800 startups, according to the Vietnam Chamber of Com-merce and Industry (VCCI).The startup density in comparison with the population in Vietnam is even higher than in China (2,300 startups), India (7,500) and Indonesia (2,100).At the 2017 Startup Day, five startups, namely Momo, F88, Got It!, Vntrip.vn and Toong, were introduced with total investment capital of $40 million.In late 2017, SEA Group from Singapore acquired 82 percent of Foody's shares, worth $64 million. Tiki has received the investment of $44 million from JD.com, the second largest Chinese e-commerce group.However, analysts pointed out that the reported achievements are only the 'right side of the embroidered carpet' and there are many problems to worry about.GEN (Global Entrepreneurship Network) found that Vietnam is among 20 economies with the highest startup rates, but it is also among the 20 economies with the lowest capability of implementing business plans.The view that Vietnam is in a state of turmoil does not face any opposition. In January 2018 alone, 420 enterprises stopped operation each day. Improving the startup move-ment's quality is now an important issue.Surveys have found that many startups succeeded in the service sector in their first de-velopment period. But when they grow, they face the risk of being swallowed up by foreign enterprises.Le Cao Doan, deputy head of the Vietnam Economics Institute, commented that Viet-nam has kicked off a costly movement, but still does not have the right approach.


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Reviewing the one-year implementation of the PM's Decision No 844 on startup devel-opment in HCM City, the local science & technology department commented that the startup ecosystem is taking shape, but creative startup activities remain primitive.Because of the lack of orientation, startups operate in many different business fields, mostly agriculture and information technology.The success rate of startups is still low, just 5 percent. Analysts say that the conditions needed to ensure success for startups, such as marketing strategy, brand, business model, credit access and investors, are not available.Most startups are under one year old, have small operation scale, don't have high growth potential and have investment capital of less than $10 million. Many invest-ment funds are willing to pour capital into Vietnamese startups, but meet barriers in doing this. As a result, many Vietnamese have set up businesses overseas.Doan said the first thing that needs to be done is creating a good environment for star-tups a real market economy, where businesses are helped to develop. Vietnam needs to accelerate creative startups, or it won't be able to escape the medium-income trap.http://english.vietnamnet.vn/fms/business/196376/vietnamese-startups--the-other-side-of-the-coin.html

MARD helps small farmers find vendors


The Department of Cooperatives and Rural Development (DCRD) under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) and non-government organisation Good Neighbours International (GNI) signed a cooperation agreement on Wednesay, hoping to introduce new farming methods and the agricultural products value chain to remote areas.A development assistance programme is underway to support the establishment, or-ganisation and operation of new agricultural cooperatives and agro-food value chains in areas supported by the GNI.Key beneficiaries include poor people in mountainous and ethnic minority areas.The assistance programme's first phase during the 2018-2020 period includes jointly developed new cooperatives, aiming at efficient production and income generation.The ultimate goal is forming an appropriate link between agricultural production, dis-tribution and marketing towards sustainable agri-food chains.An Yong Sic, Chief Representative of GNI in Vietnam, said that within their support-ing programme, GNI has cooperated with over 1,000 farmers in three provinces of Thanh Hoa, Hoa Binh and Tuyen Quang.GNI cooperates with a number of supermarkets and convenience stores in Hanoi to as-sist these farmers in finding a distributor. So far, a number of their products have been sold at Kmart, Lotte Mart and Vinmart.GNI and the DCRD will conduct surveys and research on current agricultural prod-ucts consumption demand, so they can interpret suitable market linkages between new cooperative groups and carry out communication activities to support product sustainability. Ma Quang Trung, DCRD's director general, said at the signing that though Vietnam had about 12,000 cooperatives as of 2017, only about 38 per cent of them have reported any positive result.Generally, cooperative members' income is still low, since they are mostly small and very small groups struggling to get their products to the market.In the coming years, GNI will continue their support programmes and connect farmers with agricultural products distributors, as well as maintain up to 12 existing revolving funds for cooperatives, worth VND12.4 billion (US$550,000) in total.http://bizhub.vn/news/mard-helps-small-farmers-find-vendors_292961.html

Changing retail landscape and the rise of shopping malls


The retail landscape in Vietnam is changing, with the fall of department stores while shopping malls are flourishing.In 2017, the country's retail sector earned roughly 129 billion USD, up 11 percent from 2016, relatively high growth compared with other Southeast Asian nations.


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But Parkson Holdings, a Malaysian department store operator with outlets across Asia, is missing out on the trend. The firm continues to suffer losses and unsatisfactory business results in Vietnam. Last year, it earned about 500 billion VND (22 million USD) in revenue but posted accumulated losses of more than 60 billion VND (2.64 mil-lion USD).Parkson had to scale down in Vietnam over the past few years. Earlier this year, Park-son Flemington in Le Dai Hanh Street, HCM City, its fourth store, was closed after eight years of operation, following the closure of Parkson Keangnam in January 2015, Parkson Paragon in May 2016 and Parkson Viet Tower in December 2016.The company was at its prime from 2005 2010, introducing international brands to lo-cal consumers through its department stores. However, times change and new retail giants brought new shopping experiences, enticing shoppers with malls which cater to a larger variety of demands.According to Savills, the design of the new malls is different, allowing retailers room to provide a much wider selection of goods and services than is currently available in the small shops provided by department stores.Covering areas of below 20,000 square metres, department stores focus on cosmetics and fashion items. The relatively small areas also make it difficult for department stores to optimise benefits and accommodate added services.Meanwhile, with average area of 45,000 60,000 sq.m, shopping malls offer a one-stop shopping experience, including areas for shopping, restaurants, spa, supermarkets, banks and even schools. These malls are destinations for shopaholics and also satisfy all amusement demands of a family, from children to adults, Pham Thai Binh, head of Retail Leasing, Savills Vietnam explained.These factors are, to some extent, behind the shift from department stores to shopping malls, Binh said.In the next three years, the retail market is expected to witness rapid growth to meet increasing demand in entertainment, modern grocery stores and fashion. Other serv-ices in malls, like fitness centres and cinemas, will also be expanded.In addition, the sector will become even more competitive as foreign retailers are seek-ing to accelerate investment in Vietnam, including Thailand's TCC Group and Central Group, Singapore's Mapple Tree & Kepple Land, the Republic of Korea's Lotte and Emart and Japan-based Aeon and Takashimaya.https://en.vietnamplus.vn/changing-retail-landscape-and-the-rise-of-shopping-malls/127487.vnp

Industrial zone developers: High time for action


As the flow of foreign capital is growing rapidly while domestic enterprises are con-tinuously expanding their production scales, the potential of industrial real estate in Vietnam is becoming tremendous. However, in order to attract more firms to come and set up production facilities, industrial real estate developers and local authorities cannot sit still and wait.Solid grounds for developmentDang Van Quang, associate director of real estate services firm Jones Lang LaSalle Vi-etnam, said that if we look at the general picture of the Vietnamese real estate market, the growth potential of the industrial real estate segment is absolutely astounding.Specifically, Vietnam has an ideal population structure for manufacturing, character-ised by young, highly educated but competitive labour force living in a stable political and social environment. In addition, the country has attractive tax incentives and land rent for foreign investors. Moreover, Vietnam's GDP has been growing at a high pace, and the government is fostering the establishment of new startups and encourages them to invest more in production and business activities."As a string of multinational corporations has left China or at least withdrew part of their business since the competitiveness of the economy has been declining and labour costs are no longer cheap, I believe Vietnam will attract more investors with its advan-tages," Quang said.


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According to data from the Ministry of Planning and Investment's (MPI) Foreign In-vestment Agency, foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows into Vietnam have set new records both in 2016 and 2017. In 2016, Vietnam attracted $24.86 billion of FDI, while 2017 marked a high of $35.88 billion, a 44.4 per cent increase compared to 2016. The amount of disbursed capital in these two years was $15.8 billion and $17.5 billion, re-spectively.Given the strong influx of foreign investment into Vietnam, along with the increasing number of local businesses expanding their production-business activities, the occu-pancy rate of industrial zones (IZs) is quite high nationwide.In particular, according to MPI's Economic Zones Management Department, there are 328 IZs across the country at present, taking up a total area of 96,300 hectares of natural land. Of this, 223 zones have been put in operation and 105 more are in the process of site clearance and compensation. Occupancy reached 51.5 per cent overall, and 73 per cent at operating IZs.In addition, Vietnam also has 17 coastal economic zones (EZs) established on a land and water surface area of approximately 845,000ha, not to mention Ninh Co EZ in the northern province of Nam Dinh, which is included in the planning but has not been established yet.IZs with high occupancy rates include Vietnam-Singapore Industrial Park III in the southern province of Binh Duong, or Que Vo I, Que Vo II, Tien Son, and Yen Phong I in the northern province of Bac Ninh, with an average occupancy rate of 85 per cent.Ha Chan Ho, strategic advisor to Samsung, said that apart from proximity to airports and seaports, one of the top criteria for the South Korean group in choosing the loca-tion of its factories was to find an environment that facilitates the enterprise's stable and long-term production activities and features sufficiently good supporting indus-tries."We are very pleased now because Bac Ninh authorities have implemented numerous policies to attract supporting industry businesses. When we need product packaging or plastic shells, we can turn to many firms in the province," Ho said.Action neededAlthough there are solid grounds for the further development of industrial real estate, especially the huge demand from newly-established enterprises, there will not be many IZs that can achieve positive results if IZ developers and local authorities do not take drastic actions.We can consider the management Authority of an industrial zone as a "waiter" inviting customers to his place. Thus, he should serve customers in a friendly and efficient manner to please them all the time. The occupancy rate is a good measure of his serv-ices.Tran Xuan Duong director, Ha Nam Industrial Zones Management AuthorityAccording to industry insiders, the key issue in IZ development is the sharing of ben-efits as well as creating linkages between enterprises, authorities, and IZ developers. Many IZs only focus on the construction of infrastructure, such as sewage treatment or fire protection systems, but overlook "additional services" to retain their tenants.Nguyen Thanh Ha, chair of SB Law, stressed that IZ developers must build zones with good infrastructure and affordable prices. Besides, local authorities need to establish a number of consumption and production centres, attach greater importance to support-ing industries, and create favourable transport links to facilitate the production and ex-port activities of the manufacturers in the zones. Increasing the number of supporting industry enterprises would help manufacturers achieve huge savings on production and transportation costs.Sharing the same viewpoint, Assoc. Prof Nguyen Van Hung, former principal of Ha-noi University of Civil Engineering, said that success largely rides on the sharing of benefits between IZ developers and their tenants because setting up a complete and fully-functioning infrastructure system is only one of the necessary conditions, not the main factor in retaining their tenants."While it is true that IZ developers can set rental or service fees and if the prices are


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unaffordable or unreasonable, businesses will not bother to come, other factors such as poor transport infrastructure and underdeveloped supporting industries will also discourage the establishment of new businesses in the zone," Hung emphasized.According to Tran Xuan Duong, director of the Ha Nam Industrial Zones Management Authority, another factor in attracting and retaining businesses is the IZs management authorities.Besides improving the business environment and reforming administrative proce-dures, such as issuing investment certificates or licences related to employment, con-struction, land, and environment, the management authority of an IZ needs to support the simplification and completion of procedures at higher levels to save more time for investors.In addition, they need to assist enterprises in recruiting new employees and carry out necessary procedures for the registration of corporate seals and tax codes. Meanwhile, the authority has to fulfil its management duties, actively acting as a focal point for granting land use right certificates and certifying the assets on land for enterprises in the IZs. Also, they need to promptly respond to every inquiry of the businesses."We can consider the management authority of an IZ as a "waiter" inviting customers to his place. Thus, he should serve customers in a friendly and efficient manner to please them all the time. The occupancy rate is a good measure of his services," Duong said, adding that most management authorities that can "please" their customers have achieved high occupancy rates and significant benefits, with Bac Ninh a typical exam-ple.As other real estate segments are almost saturated, the potential of industrial proper-ties need to be fully exploited. This inevitably depends on the capacity of the manage-ment authority in each IZ, which will be demonstrated through its management performance and the provision of auxiliary facilities and supporting services.http://english.vietnamnet.vn/fms/business/196644/industrial-zone-developers--high-time-for-action.html

Central key economic zone invites US investors


Seven provinces in the central key economic zone introduced their investment oppor-tunities to American investors at the 'Meet USA in 2018' on March 6 in the central coastal city of Danang.Nguyen Tien Hoang, vice Chair of the People's Committee of the Quang Tri province, said that his province prioritises the investment in the recycled energy industry as it has advantages in land, intensity of radiation and number of sunshine hours in the year.The province is drafting a solar and wind power development plan till 2025, with vi-sion to 2035, to submit it to the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the government for approval by the end of 2018, Hoang said.Quang Binh, therefore, expects to receive the American investors to study and invest in the recycled energy industry, Hoang said, adding that the province commits to do-ing its best to create maximum favourable conditions for the investors.Meanwhile, Phan Ngoc Tho, vice Chair of the People's Committee of Thua Thien-Hue province, called for American investment in logistics development of its Chan May Seaport, which is among seven largest ports in the central region.American firms currently invest in 16 projects worth $53 million in Thua Thien-Hue province, mainly in information and technology, and textile and garment. The prov-ince, meanwhile, exported goods valued at $422 million to the American market.At the meeting, vice Chair of Danang City Ho Ky Minh invited the US firms to invest in high-tech zones, saying that the VND900 billion Danang High Tech Zone is one of Vietnam's three high-tech zones with an area of 1,284 hectares. The zone currently at-tracts 10 projects worth $250 million and is expected to lure 10 more projects with a to-tal capital of $300 million this year.At the beginning of 2018, the prime minister issued a decree on preferential mecha-nisms and policies when investing in Danang industrial and high-tech zones, such as


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exempting land for projects, applying the tax rate of 10 percent for many years and en-joying the tax rates import, Minh said.Danang selected 2018 as the 'year to promote investment attraction', so the city com-mits to create favourable conditions for foreign investors, including those from the United States, to study and invest in the city, especially in the high-tech zone, Minh added.With the Dung Quat Oil Refinery, Tran Ngoc Cang, chair of the Quang Ngai People's Committee, said his province expected the American firms to take part in the develop-ment of the province's industrial sector, especially petrochemical industry."The province will create conditions for investors to succeed as we consider the success of investors our own success, " Cang said.Meanwhile, leaders from the Quang Ngai province hoped that American firms to in-vest in the province's Chu Lai Airport to turn it become an international aviation hub.At the event, Vietnamese Permanent deputy Foreign minister Bui Thanh Son high-lighted the tangible and effective cooperation between Vietnamese and US localities and businesses across a variety of fields.Vietnam attaches significant importance to its relationship with the US and is ready to cooperate with the country in order to continue its reform and renovation process, whilst also creating a favourable business environment, Son noted.He described the cooperation between Vietnamese localities and US businesses, part-ners and localities as a pillar of the Vietnam-US comprehensive partnership, which was first established in 2013.US Ambassador to Vietnam Daniel Kritenbrink affirmed that US firms will stand side by side with their Vietnamese partners in development, calling on Vietnam to further push international integration and facilitate the operation of US enterprises in Viet-nam.http://www.hanoitimes.vn/investment/industrial-zone/2018/03/81E0C2BD/central-key-economic-zone-invites-us-investors/

Foreign farmers pour investments in Da Lat


Da Lat, the 'city of thousands of pine trees', located 1,500 meters above sea level on Langbian Plateau, has attracted agriculture investors from Japan, Singapore and the Republic of Korea (RoK) who are growing vegetables, flowers and strawberries.In a glasshouse where carnations are grown, Takahiro Nunome, or Taka as called by locals, of Japan, guides Vietnamese farmers on how to prune flowers.In mid-2016, Taka, 35, left Japan and arrived in Da Nhim commune in Lac Duong dis-trict, about 30 kilometers from Da Lat City, to grow flowers.In the morning, he goes to the flower field to show farmers how to grow, take care of and harvest flowers. Despite the comfortable accommodation allocated to him, Taka usually stays in the camps with farmers.According to Ha Thi Thu Thuy, assistant to Taka and production supervisor, with ded-icated guides, 40 local workers have mastered techniques needed for flower produc-tion that meets Japanese standards.Taka brought 70 varieties of carnations and daisies from the Netherlands, Spain, Co-lumbia and Japan to Da Lat and carried out experimental cultivation before he chow the most suitable varieties for large-scale production.Da Nhim Flower Farm puts out 200,000 carnation and daisy branches every month, 2/3 of which are shipped to Japan.Taka said Da Lat and Lac Duong have wonderful climate for year-round flower and veggie cultivation. In Japan cultivation costs are four times higher than in Vietnam.Bringing sea water to mountains to grow vegetables is what Low Kok Chiang, 70, a Singaporean farmer, is doing at an organic vegetable farm at the foot of Voi Mountain, 15 kilometers from Da Lat City.The man and his wife from HCM City decided to stay in Da Lat and develop a vegeta-ble farm when they fell in love with the land during a trip.On the 2-hectare farm, they grow many vegetables, including wheatgrass, used to treat


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diabetes. To grow snowdrops, Low has to water plants with sea water brought from Phan Rang.The plant, which is good for human health, is very expensive, about VND500,000 per kilogram. However, the supply is always short because of the low yield.A farmer from the RoK, Son Sang-hyeon, 41, is running a farm in Da Nhim commune where he grows Korean strawberries.All the equipment at the glasshouse was brought from the RoK. It has a sensor system recording temperature, humidity and an automatic ventilation system. Every day, his farm harvests 30-40 kilograms of strawberries.http://english.vov.vn/investment/foreign-farmers-pour-investments-in-da-lat-369920.vov

Sweden expects to cooperate with Vietnam in water treatment


A Swedish delegation has arrived in Vietnam to look for cooperation opportunities in the field of river and water treatment as well as other environmental issues.At a press conference in Hanoi on March 6, Lars Ronnas, Swedish Ambassador for Cli-mate Change and head of the delegation, said that with the visit, Sweden wants to ex-plore the possibility of cooperating with Vietnam in a new development model for the future.Jakob Granit, general director of Swedish Agency for Marine and Water Management (SwAM), said that this visit was the initial contact between government agencies from both sides, and he expected it would usher in cooperation opportunities for Vietnam-ese and Swedish firms in some potential fields and projects.He mentioned the possibility of cooperation in making hydropower projects more sus-tainable, and treating sea and river water among others.On the occasion, Vietnamese deputy minister of Natural Resources and Environment Tran Quy Kien had a meeting with the Swedish delegation, where he expected to step up cooperation with Sweden in the field of natural resources control, especially water, sea resources, land and so on.Sweden is one typical example to prove that economic growth would not necessarily accompany the increment of CO2 emissions.In 2013, the volume of Swedish greenhouse gases went down to 55.8 million tonnes of CO2 compared to the figure of 71.8 million tonnes in 1990, down 22 percent, although the country's GDP went up by 58 percent during this period.Currently, 99 percent of Swedish waste is used as the feedstock for energy production, and only 1 percent is buried.Sweden targets to slash emissions to zero or no greenhouse gases by the year of 2045.english.thesaigontimes.vn/58648/Sweden-expects-to-cooperate-with-Vietnam-in-wa-ter-treatment.html

BUSINESSBIZ NEWSBusiness Briefs 08 March, 2018

08/MAR/2017 INTELLASIA |

* PetroVietnam Low Pressure Gas Distribution Company (PGD) expects to earn a net profit MVND 180 billion from revenue ofVND7,09 trillion in 2018. PGD is going to find new customers to expand its network in the southern market. In 2017, PGD gained a net profit ofVND208.7 billion from revenue ofVND6.8 trillion, down 4,8 percent and up 44.2 percent against the previous year respectively.* Imperial Dragon Investments Limited has registered to sell two million shares of Bamboo Capital Company (BCG) from March 9-23. Last month, the investor sold just 2.1 million BCG shares out of the registered volume of 4.1 million shares due to the re-cent national holiday. Currently, it is holding over 9.5 million shares ofBCG, or an 8.8 percent stake.* Vinh Hoan Corporation (VHC) has received approval from its shareholders to spend VND185 billion paying a dividend ofVND2,000 per share for 2017. Currently, the firm has 92.4 million outstanding shares. VHC targets to make a net profit ofVND650 bil-lion from revenue ofVND9,3 trillion in 2018, up 10 percent and 14 percent against last year.respectively. The firm also expects its export earnings to grow 17 percent to $350


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SVietnam finance & business 8 March 2018

million this year.* Mobile World Investment Group (MWG) has' released its January 2018 preliminary results wi th revenue at VND7.9 trillion and after-tax profitat VND300 billion, rising 15 percent and 12 percent year-on-year respectively. Due to the late traditional Lunar New Year holiday (Tet) in 2018, part of the pre-Tetdemand fell in February in 2018, instead of Ianuary as in 2017. Therefore, the year-on-year growth for mobile and consumer electronics will likely jumpin February, according to Viet Capital Securities Company.* TOT Investment and Development Company plans to list on the Hanoi Stock Ex-change between' April and May, with the initial price set at VND16,000-17,000 per share, Based in Thai Nguyen Province, TDT has chartered capital ofVND80 billion. It exports jackets and swimsuits to key markets such as the US, Europe, Canada and South Korea.* Vietnam Technology Investment and Development Company has acquired nearly 3.4 million shares ofDat Viet Housing Investment Company (PVL), raising its owner-ship from 8 percent to 14,8 percent.

VN Index loses 8 points on March 7


The VN Index dropped 8.03 points to settle at 1,112.26 points on March 7 despite a rise in the morning session.On the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HOSE) the VN Index rose 1.7 points to 1,121.99 points on the morning.On the Hanoi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index fell 1.73 points to 125.6 points.The HNX30 closed at 242.16 points with a loss of 4.29 points.UpCoM-Index also fell 0.54 points to 60.47 points. The transaction volume reached nearly 25 million units, or 492 billion VND.https://en.vietnamplus.vn/vnindex-loses-8-points-on-march-7/127530.vnp

March 7: Volatile afternoon as all main indexes down


Buying after market falls sharply curbs losses on March 7.The afternoon session on Vietnam's stock market on March 7 was quite dramatic, with significant volatility unsettling investors. The VN Index fell more than 15 points in the session, with one positive being that selling pressure was not too strong.As soon as the market fell sharply, money flowed in immediately to help curb the de-cline to some extent.At the end of the day, blue-chips such as VPB, SAB, BHN, VIC, VNM, MSN, and ROS had gained and the VN Index lost just 8.03 points (0.72 per cent), closing at 1.112 points. VNM had the most positive impact on the market, increasing more than VND4,000 ($0.47).The HNX-Index also fell, by 1.73 points (1.36 per cent), to 125.6 points and the UPCoM-Index lost 0.54 points (0.89 per cent), to close at 60.47 points. Market liquidity was 363 million units, worth VND9.1 trillion ($399.7 million).Securities shares again attracted good cash flows, such as MBS, VND, SSI, BVS, BSI, and FTS, as did mid-sized bank shares such as VPB, VIB, LPB, and KLB.VPB increased VND600 ($0.02) in the morning session, with foreign investors picking up 2 million shares, mostly at the ceiling price of VND66,100 ($2.9).HAG and HNG maintained their positive momentum, with trade in HNG being in surplus by nearly 4 million shares. Speculative stocks such as HAI, AMD, TSC, FIT, KLF, and FLC also reached their limit.On HSX, foreign investors net bought for the second consecutive day, by 5.08 million shares worth VND84.49 billion ($3.7 million).On the HNX, foreign investors had their second net selling day, by 2.22 million shares worth VND29.14 billion ($1.28 million).Foreign investors net sold on UPCoM by 1.76 million shares worth VND45.43 billion ($1.9 million).


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PV Oil begins trading shares on UPCoM


Trading of shares of the PetroVietnam Oil Corporation (PV Oil), Vietnam's second largest petrol distributor, officially started on the Unlisted Public Company Market (UpCOM) on the morning of March 7, more than one month after its initial public of-fering (IPO).PV Oil floated 200.4 million shares on the UpCOM at an initial price of 20,200 VND (0.89 USD) a piece.PV Oil's IPO on January 25 was a success with all its nearly 207 million shares on offer sold at an average price of 20,196 VND, compared to the asking price of 13,400 VND.The company will sell more than 462 million shares, or 44.72 percent of its charter cap-ital, to strategic investors. Under PV Oil's approved equitisation plan, it will have char-ter capital of 10.342 trillion VND (455 million USD)PV Oil currently operates 540 petrol stations across the country. It is among the coun-try's top oil products retailers with a 22 percent market share.In 2017, PV Oil reported a consolidated revenue of 56 trillion VND (2.46 billion USD) with a pre-tax profit of 405 billion VND (178.02 million USD).This year, the firm expects to earn 41 trillion VND (1.8 billion USD) in revenue and 340 billion VND (149.45 million USD) in pre-tax profit.PV Oil is the third large-scale firm listing on the UpCOM this March, following Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical Company Limited (BSR), which was listed on March 1, and PetroVietnam Power Corporation (PV Power) listed on March 6.https://en.vietnamplus.vn/pv-oil-begins-trading-shares-on-upcom/127512.vnp

Part of visa fee revenue for tourism development


A tourism development fund will be set up with capital to be sourced from the State budget in the first three years and then contributed by 10 percent of revenue from visa and immigration-related fees.Under government Decree 168/2017/ND-CP, which guides the execution of the tour-ism law, capital of the fund will also come from annual revenues at tourist destinations and contributions from sponsors, local and international organisations, and bank in-terest, among others.There is no mention of specific chartered capital of the fund in the decree, but it will be determined after the prime minister decides on the fund's establishment.However, when seeking comment on regulations concerning organisation and opera-tion of the fund, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism said that chartered capi-tal provided by the State budget is VND300 billion in three years, with VND100 billion in the first year.According to the tourism law, the fund is aimed at promoting tourism, supporting re-search and development of tourism products, and developing human resources.There are no official statistics on international tourists needing visas to enter Vietnam. But in a talk with the Daily late last year, a source from the Vietnam National Admin-istration of Tourism said that around half of international tourists to Vietnam in 2016 had to apply for visas. Last year Vietnam welcomed more than 12.8 million interna-tional tourists.As in Circular 219/2016/TT-BTC of the Ministry of Finance, the fee of single-entry visa, multiple-entry visa valid for three months and one valid for three-to-six months are $25, $50 and $95 respectively. Besides, a transit visa costs $5.http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/58636/Part-of-visa-fee-revenue-for-tourism-devel-opment.html

Eastern North-South Expressway feasibility study to be approved in August


The Ministry of Transport is accelerating work on the feasibility study for the Eastern North-South Expressway so that it could be approved in August.According to the Department of Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Projects under the Ministry of Transport, the progress of drawing up the framework for site clearance of eight PPP sub-projects of the expressway project is secure.


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However, the management boards and consulting agencies of the expressway's com-ponents should quickly complete the components' feasibility studies on time, said the department.Studies for some of the subprojects were conducted in 2009 and 2010 so their data and related procedures should be reviewed and adjusted.Paperwork on some sub-projects is moving slower than expected, including Dau Giay-Phan Thiet and Nghi Son-Bai Vot sections.Among three components that are funded by the State budget, My Thuan 2 Bridge is the only project that has had its bidding plan approved. The plan comprises four pack-ages, namely pre-feasibility study, environmental impact assessment, framework for site clearance, and appraisal consultancy. The contractor will be selected in late March.Minister of Transport Nguyen Van The has required that all components of the Eastern North-South Expressway be approved no later than end-July.Two other components financed by the State budget, including Cao Bo-Mai Son and Cam Lo-La Son sections, and three PPP components namely Dau Giay-Phan Thiet, Ninh Binh-National Highway 45 and National Highway 45-Nghi Son sections should be approved no later than end-May while six remaining components should be ap-proved no later than end-July.The head of the management board of each subproject shall take responsibility for meeting the timeline.The North-South Expressway project was approved by the National Assembly in late 2017. The total cost of the project is estimated at over VND118.7 trillion (about $5.2 bil-lion), including VND55 trillion in state capital sourced from the mid-term investment fund for major projects and VND63.7 trillion from the private sector.According to the NA resolution issued on November 22, over 650 kilometers of the ex-pressway will be built from now to 2020 with separate components. Expressway sec-tions on the eastern side to be developed include those from Nam Dinh to Ha Tinh, from Quang Tri to Thua Thien-Hue, and from Nha Trang in Khanh Hoa Province to Dau Giay in Dong Nai, and My Thuan 2 Bridge connecting Tien Giang and Vinh Long provinces.Relevant agencies will have to prepare plans to recoup investment capital for those components financed by public capital, and have mechanisms to supervise and use the investments efficiently.As for project components under the public-private partnership (PPP) format, such agencies are required to overcome drawbacks of the investment mode and follow the recent supervision report of the NA Standing Committee.

USD5bn to be spent on Can Tho-HCM City express railway

08/MAR/2018 INTELLASIA| DTI NEWS

The Ministry of Transport intends to submit a plan to the government to build a USD5bn express railway linking Can Tho and Ho Chi Minh cities.Ha Ngoc Truong, vice head of the Vietnam Union of Science and Technology Associ-ations, said on March 6 that the consultants for civil and structural engineering servic-es Tedi South had completed the feasibility report for the project. The project is finally taking shape after five years.The Ministry of Transport asked the Southern Institute of Science and Technology to carry out more research on the investment since the project is part of the transportation master plan and development strategy to 2020 with view to 2050.The project cost is estimated to cost USD5bn. The railway will run through 10 stations in Can Tho and HCM cities, and Long An, Tien Giang, Vinh Long provinces. It will run along the elevated HCM City-Trung Luong-My Thuan expressway. The first station will be Tan Kien in HCM City and end at Nam Can Tho Station.Canada's Morfund has been chosen as the investor for this public-private-partnership project. On January 17, the consulate general of Canada in HCM City sent an official letter to the Southern Institute of Science and Technology, praising the project and promised to provide designs and technology.


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More Vietnamese businesspeople seek second citizenship


Experts are concerned about the trend of Vietnamese businesspeople seeking second citizenship in other countries.Mai Huu Tin, chair of the Binh Duong provincial Entrepreneur Federation, whose members make investments in more than 20 provinces/cities in Vietnam, said that businesspeople's pessimistic views have prompted them to look for other business op-portunities and workplaces.Of the solutions which allow Vietnamese to obtain second citizenship, becoming nat-uralised in other countries through investments is the most commonly applied. More passport holders can enjoy visa exemptions when entering more than 100 countries, including the EU.If people want to invest in the US, they are advised to invest in real estate, especially in relic restoration projects. However, the procedures would be very complicated.The analyst said that Vietnamese are also applying for citizenship in countries which were once colonies of developed countries.The citizens of certain countries have to fulfill complicated procedures to obtain visas to the US or Europe.However, they now can follow an easier way if they obtain citizenship in former colo-nialist countries (such as Caribbean countries) that allow them to get passports and visa exemptions.Vu Vinh Phu, former deputy director of the Hanoi Trade Department, said that apply-ing for second citizenship is the right of every citizen, but it is a worrying trend.Phu said the tendency should be seen as a warning to state management agencies which need to think if policies encourage business development.He stressed that many Vietnamese businesspeople are discouraged by unreasonable policies and complicated procedures, and many want to do business overseas where they don't have to face such barriers.A friend of Phu's intended to set up a factory in Vietnam to make cosmetics, but finally decided to open a production base in Ukraine and ship products to Vietnam for sale."He said there are many problems in Vietnam, especially administrative procedures, taxes and fees, and business conditions," Phu said."The barriers in the business and living environment have prompted businesspeople to seek other countries to live and do business," he added.The expert noted that in the past, only overseas students wanted to seek second citi-zenship because they did not want to come back to Vietnam after finishing study.But now, more and more businesspeople and wealthy people are doing this because they want better lives and opportunities for better education for their children.http://english.vietnamnet.vn/fms/business/196510/more-vietnamese-businesspeople-seek-second-citizenship.html

Amazon due to penetrate Vietnam E-Business market


Amazon is officially penetrating the Vietnamese market by announcing a trade pro-gramme next week at the Vietnam Online Business Forum (VOBF) in Hanoi on March 14 to support small and medium enterprises in commodity export, news website Vn-Express reports.The programme will be organised by the e-commerce giant in collaboration with the Vietnam E-Commerce Association (VECOM).Amazon's specific strategy in Vietnam will soon be unveiled by Gijae Seong, head of Singapore-based Department of Global Sales, at VOBF 2018 scheduled for March 14 in Hanoi and March 16 in HCM City.News about Amazon tapping the Vietnamese market broke out late last year when VE-COM worked with a representative of Amazon, and this US corporation wanted to co-operate with Vietnamese small and medium businesses in selling and purchasing products via the Amazon website.Vietnam is currently a fast-growing e-business market attracting foreign giants. Bil-lionaire Jack Ma's Alibaba has earlier jumped into the Vietnamese market by buying


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Lazada, an emerging e-commerce platform in Vietnam.VECOM's assessment showed in 2017 Vietnam's e-commerce growth reached over 25 percent which might be maintained in the 2018-2020 period.http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/58651/Amazon-due-to-penetrate-Vietnam-E-Busi-ness-market.html

FLC to purchase 24 aircrafts worth $3bn


Property developer FLC Group, which owns Viet Bamboo Airlines Company Limited (Bamboo Airways), will buy 24 A321NEO aircrafts worth $3 billion from French man-ufacturer Airbus.FLC and Airbus had a meeting on the aircraft deal in Hanoi on Tuesday.Airbus A321NEO is a new version, the biggest aircraft in the A320 model of Airbus. It measures 44.51min length with 220 seats, saving fuel and reducing emission and noise. It is a popular airplane that is being used by most airlines in the world, including Vi-etnam.It is considered ideal for a "hybrid" airline, which will blend low-cost traits with those of traditional or full-service carriers.Jean-Francois Laval, an Airbus executive vice president, was quoted in a FLC state-ment as saying that Airbus would give priority to hand over the order to Bamboo Air-ways during 2022-25.He said Airbus had submitted proposals to the Vietnamese and French governments as well as their ambassadors to accelerate the granting of licence to Bamboo Airways.FLC chair Trinh Van Quyet said the two firms would weigh the options to cooperate further after performance tests.FLC expects to buy 24 additional Airbus A321 long-range planes after it obtains an air-line licence from the government, taking the total number of aircrafts purchased to 48, he said.In May last year, FLC Group announced the decision of its management board to es-tablish the Viet Bamboo Airways Company with a charter capital of VND700 billion (US$31.4 million).A spokesperson of Bamboo Airways said the airline would focus on direct services connecting international markets with emerging tourist destinations in Vietnam in-stead of major urban areas where the aviation infrastructure was already overloaded.He said priority would be given to localities where FLC had built major tourist com-plexes, including Quang Ninh and Hai Phong in the north, Thanh Hoa and Quy Nhon (Binh Dinh Province) in the central region and Nha Trang (Khanh Hoa Province) and Phu Quoc (Kien Giang Province) in the south.Last June, FLC had a meeting with the US Boeing aircraft manufacturer about its plan to buy 15 Boeing aircrafts.http://bizhub.vn/news/flc-to-purchase-24-aircrafts-worth-us3bn_292963.html

Vietnam Airlines to open Nha Trang-Seoul route


National carrier Vietnam Airlines will open a new route linking the central province of Khanh Hoa's Nha Trang City with Seoul in South Korea.The route will be officially opened on March 25 with four Airbus A321 flights per week.The flights will depart at 9.35pm from Cam Ranh Airport every Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday and will return from Incheon Airport at 6.20am every Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday. The trip will take some five hours.This will be the fourth route of Vietnam Airlines to link Vietnam with Seoul. The air-line already operates flights from Hanoi, HCM City and Da Nang to Seoul.The new route is an important step in the implementation of the agreement on trade promotion, tourism and aviation signed between the provincial People's Committee and Vietnam Airlines in October 2017.Nha Trang has many famous beaches and warm weather throughout the year, with convenient transportation. Meanwhile, Incheon International Airport is the largest air-


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port in South Korea and is a major hub for flights, passengers and cargo for the whole of East Asia.According to statistics of the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation, Vietnam ranks third in average weekly passenger arrivals to Incheon Airport.To mark the launch of the new route, Vietnam Airlines has launched a promotional programme, with return tickets priced at VND5.29 million (US$231.7), from now until April 30. The booking is valid from March 25 to April 30, 2018.The price does not include taxes, fees and other charges.http://bizhub.vn/news/vietnam-airlines-to-open-nha-trang-seoul-route_292950.html

Two Korean retailers to partner with VN


Two retail and distribution groups from South KoreaK-holdings and Coupangwill co-operate with Vietnamese partners during their trip to Hanoi on March 22.The two groups are keen on importing many kinds of products from Vietnam, includ-ing farm produce such as coffee, cashew nut and pepper, canned food, frozen seafood besides dried food such as dried beef, chicken and cuttlefish as well as some other processed food, reports e-newspaper baodautu.vn.The trip is part of the activities within the framework of the Vietnam-South Korea busi-ness exchange programme organised by the Trade Promotion Agency's Export Sup-port Centre and the Vietnamese Trade Office in South Korea with the aim of boosting exports to the market.Twenty-five years after establishing diplomatic ties, Vietnam and South Korea have become important strategic and economic partners.Vietnam's exports to the South Korean market experienced a year-on-year rise of 31 per cent to $15 billion last year. Bilateral trade is expected to reach $100 billion by 2020.On the other hand, statistics of the Korea International Trade Association show that Korea exported $48 billion worth of goods to Vietnam last year, accounting for 8 per cent of the country's total export value.http://bizhub.vn/news/two-south-korean-retailers-to-partner-with-vn_292935.html

Zalo Shop partners with Shipchung and BoxMe


E-commerce retailer and delivery companies sign partnership deal on March 5.BoxMe and Shipchung officially integrated into the Zalo Shop system on March 5, opening up a new partnership to help Zalo's e-marketplace. To mark the beginning of the partnership, the three sides have launched a programme with a 30 per cent dis-count off shipping costs for Zalo Shop sellers nationwide.Sales staff at Zalo will be able to easily manage the system, from storage, finishing or-ders, packaging, and shipping products, helping to minimise operating time, logistics, and costs while improving sales effectiveness and profitability."From our successes of Line in Japan and Kakaotalk in South Korea and in M-Com-merce (Mobile Phone E-commerce), we believe in the advantages and potential Zalo holds in the future and decided to cooperate, becoming the main shipping unit of Zalo Shop," said Han Van Loi, general manager of BoxMe.The use of BoxMe's complete order fulfillment service will allow shippers to save up to 50 per cent on logistics costs during the promotional period. During this period, us-ers can select carrier-sponsored services, including Viettel Post, DHL E-commerce, Nhat Tin, Shipnhanh, Ship60 and Goldtimes.With experienced logistics professionals in the digital age such as BoxMe and Shipc-hung, shopkeepers on Zalo Shop will experience professional services at the most eco-nomical cost without wasting time and can focus resources on sales and increasing order numbers.Zalo Shop and Shipchung also have promotion programmes for users. Zalo Shop mer-chants using Zalo Shop's direct shipment and collection service will receive a 30 per cent discount on shipping charges in March and April and a 10 per cent discount on shipping costs. BoxMe will also provide complete order fulfillment solutions includ-ing warehousing, packaging, delivery and collection if the store owner on Zalo has


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such needs.Zalo Shop is a popular online sales tool with advantages including access to 80 million Zalo users, built-in communications tools and free customer care via a phone number. Shipchung is a forwarding and receiving service portal for e-commerce, while BoxMe is a logistics and trans-ordering unit with over 3.5 million orders per year.http://vneconomictimes.com/article/business/zalo-shop-partners-with-shipchung-and-boxme

Road to success of three Vietnamese women with essential oil

08/MAR/2018 INTELLASIA| TUOITRE NEWS

Their plan won the first prize in Vietnam's startup contestThe project of oil essence by a team of three Vietnamese women has brought them the grand award in a national competition for young people with promising startup plans, and is about to make greater success in the domestic market.Vu Thi Ly Ly, Tran Thi Hue and Nguyen Thu Thao, all 24, received VND100 million (US$4,400) for their project on oil essence and products from nature in the Luong Van Can Talent Awards, held in October 2017.The competition is named after an eponymous Vietnamese businessperson and aimed at selecting potential entrepreneurs with auspicious plans.The women come from different educational backgrounds and regions in Vietnam: Ly is a law graduate born in Binh Duong Province, southern Vietnam; Hue is a computer engineer from Nam Dinh, a coastal province of northern Vietnam; and Thao is a chem-istry graduate from Tuyen Quang Province, northeast of the country.Hue represented the group to join the competition.Lai Minh Duy, a judge in the contest, highly praised their project since they created de-signs living up to the competition's expectations and their oil essence products were tried-and-trusted, sold successfully online previously.Another judge, Dinh Ha Duy Trinh, was impressed by the project's commercial effec-tiveness."In comparison with other teams, who only proposed ideas, you've even carried out the project and attracted customers," Trinh told the group.The women have used the prize money to open in Hanoi a showroom where visitors can witness the process of distilling oil essence, savor perfume and drink tea.They have rolled out around 20 types of essential oil, with a strong focus on lemon grass, cinnamon, broadleaved paperbark, and pomelo peel.During the last Vietnamese Lunar New Year festival, they designed sets of wooden old-looking boxes and essential oil bottles, which ran out rapidly due to multiple or-ders.Their project will still specialise in essential oil while devoting the greatest attention to core products, not all.In terms of the long-term strategy, they plan to divide the business's operations into trading and service, in order to build a more professional 'experience service' and clearer management system, Hue said."The difference that we're trying to make is offering experience. We sell products indi-rectly and form a space of values for customers. It's their choice to buy or not," Thao said.She added that the distinctive feature of their business is the 'experience service.'With Ly's assistance, Hue had established a technology company in her student time to realise her ambition of doing business, before meeting Thao, who worked in essen-tial oil.They traveled to the mountains to have the hands-on experience of extracting the sub-stance.https://tuoitrenews.vn/news/business/20180307/road-to-success-of-three-vietnamese-women-with-essential-oil/44409.html


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HCM City court stalls Grab trial after reopening hearing for one day

08/MAR/2018 INTELLASIA| VNEXPRESS

Judges said more evidence is needed before a ruling can be made about the lawsuit started by Vietnam's top taxi firm.A court in HCM City suspended a hearing regarding a dispute between Vietnam's top taxi company Vinasun and ride-hailing firm Grab on Wednesday just a day after it re-opened.The judicial panel said the court needed to see more evidence from the city's transport, industry and trade and planning and investment before making a ruling.Vinasun is trying to sue GrabTaxi Vietnam for "unhealthy competition" and dumping its service on the domestic market to drive out local competitors.The Vietnamese taxi firm is looking for VND42 billion ($1.84 million) in compensation, calculated by the profit loss it claims to have suffered due to the Malaysia-based firm in 2016 and 2017.A month ago, the People's Court of HCM City suspended the case and requested more evidence after a two-day hearing.The plaintiff said that Grab had signed contracts with transport cooperatives that al-lowed drivers to use the app, and asked for a list of those cooperatives to be provided. Grab is not allowed to directly sign contracts with individual drivers in Vietnam.At the hearing last month, a Grab representative said the firm had not been able to draw up a list, but would provide one and sample contracts at a later date.The judges said the court wanted to clarify whether Grab provides an app connecting transport cooperatives or actual transport services to assess the suit in a comprehen-sive and objective manner.Lawyer Nguyen Hai Van for Vinasun said Grab had broken the law by running a taxi transport service, but the Grab representative countered by saying it was a ride-hailing app.To substantiate the argument, Van said Grab had directly managed routes, directed drivers and decided service costs.In addition, the firm had offered mass discounts, fined drivers who violated its regu-lations and cooperated with banks to help drivers access loans, all of which points to-wards Grab operating a taxi transport service, Van said.Customers who pay for their fare via credit cards pay directly into Grab's bank ac-count. "The payment shows that customers are paying for a transport service, not for hiring an app," the lawyer added.Another legal representative for Vinasun also claimed that Grab had violated the tax law. According to data from the general Tax Department quoted by the representative, Grab paid VND9.5 billion in tax between 2014 and 2016. The figure is equal to just one-thirtieth of the amount Vinasun paid in the same period, but Grab was operating six times as many cars.Vinasun claimed that Grab had violated the country's urban transport plans, causing losses to local taxi firms and the state budget. In HCM City, for example, the transport plan for 2020 was to have 12,500 taxis operating in the city, but with the expansion of ride-hailing firms such as Grab, there are already 27,000 cars offering taxi services in the southern metropolis.In response, lawyer Luu Tien Dung for Grab said Vinasun should provide evidence of Grab's alleged violations, detailed calculations of the actual damage it had caused Vi-nasun, and the cause-and effect relationship between the two issues.In January, the Ministry of Transport said Grab and Uber are to be officially authorised in Vietnam after completing trial runs, and the government has pledged to impose the stricter controls that currently govern local transport firms.Ride-hailing services will have to register their businesses with investment authorities, the transport ministry and tax authorities."Tax agencies will keep track of fares so management can be more transparent," said Tran Bao Ngoc, director of the ministry's Transport Department.Hanoi has also recently put up traffic signs banning Uber and Grab cars from operat-ing on roads off-limits to traditional taxis.


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Innovation in dire need at Mekong Delta startup contest


Innovation and creativity will be given priority at the second Mekong Delta startup contest which is slated to take place in Can Tho City between April and November 2018, heard a meeting of startup network members on March 6.Nguyen Thi Thuong Linh, vice director of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and In-dustry (VCCI) in Can Tho City, noted that few innovative startup plans were submit-ted to last year's Mekong Delta Startup Contest 2017, and this year's contest organisers wanted to call attention to this aspect.Linh said the Mekong Delta Startup Contest 2017 had a total of 100 entries, mainly on business solutions, agriculture, trade and production, and handicraft.Linh said the startup entries last year focused on business solutions; contestants sim-ply floated ideas of grabbing business opportunities and solutions related to normal production and trade. As such, they did not meet the innovative and creative startup target of the contest.Meanwhile, she added, the contestants in the agriculture sector only cannoned their at-tention to seafood, clean vegetable, and chicken and cattle farming.Nguyen Phuong Lam, another vice director of VCCI Can Tho, highlighted the target for this year's contest should be innovative and creative ideas. Products that have high technical and technological contents could create highly added value."The contest requires new products and services which employ advanced technology," Lam stressed.In order to develop these products and services, according to him, participants should have some knowledge of, and gain access to new technologies. Besides, schools should pay special attention to hi-tech fields so that their students would have a better under-standing of them."If college students only learn basic knowledge, how can they come up with creative solutions to apply high technologies?" he pondered.To solve these issues, he suggested universities should enhance training in fields which are necessary for local regions, societies and markets technology fields should be given special attention.Linh said Internet of Things, and hi-tech applications in agriculture, seafood, and food technology sectors are high on the contest's list of priorities.http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/58652/Innovation-in-dire-need-at-Mekong-Delta-startup-contest.html

Vietnamese businesses to attend IE Expo China 2018


The Asia trade fair for environmental technology solutions: water, waste air and soil (IE Expo China 2018) was introduced at a press conference in Hanoi on March 6.The organising board took this opportunity to invite Vietnamese businesses to attend the expo.At the event, the director of the China Environment Chamber of Commerce in Shang-hai, Gang Jiang said the whole society has been concerned with the negative impact on the environment in Vietnam in the process of its economic development, industri-alisation, urbanisation and exploitation of natural resources. Therefore, Vietnam has become an important market of Chinese businesses operating in environmental pro-tection.Joining the Expo will help Vietnamese businesses approach and seek the latest envi-ronmental protection technology solutions, Jiang said.The IE Expo China 2018 will take place at Shanghai New International Expo Centre on May 3-5. Covering more than 120,000 sq.m, the Expo will attract 1,800 businesses from 30 countries to showcase their latest products and services.http://english.vov.vn/economy/vietnamese-businesses-to-attend-ie-expo-china-2018-369955.vov


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Chinese firms keen on VN's environmental protection market


Vietnam has become an important market for Chinese businesses operating in envi-ronmental protection.This is because of the increasing negative impact on the environment in the process of Vietnam's economic development, industrialisation, urbanisation and exploitation of natural resources.Gang Jiang, director of the China Environment Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai, said this at a press conference in Hanoi on Tuesday to introduce the Asia trade fair for environmental technology solutions, or IE Expo China 2018.The expo will be held at the Shanghai New International Expo Centre from May 3-5. Covering more than 120,000sq.m, the expo is expected to attract 1,800 businesses from 30 countries to showcase their latest products and services."Joining the expo will help Vietnamese businesses approach and seek the latest envi-ronmental protection technology solutions," Jiang said.The annual expo has been one of the largest expos in the environment sector in Asia. The 19th edition of the expo will have 11 exhibition indoor areas and an outdoor area. Some 1,800 businesses from 30 countries and territories, such as the US, Italy, Germa-ny, Japan, Vietnam and South Korea, will showcase their latest products and services. Some of the world's largest firms, including Suez, Veolia, Pentair, Xylem, Honeywell and Philips, will participate in the expo.The three-day event will also organise 30 conferences and forums.China is the world's second-largest market in the trading of environmental protection products.http://bizhub.vn/news/chinese-firms-keen-on-vns-environmental-protection-market_292944.html

International furniture expo opens in HCM City


A wide range of furniture, handicrafts, interior decor products and support services are on display at the Vietnam International Furniture and Home Accessories Fair, VIFA Expo 2018, which opened in HCM City on Wednesday.Speaking at the opening ceremony, Nguyen Quoc Khanh, chair of the Handicraft and Wood Industry Association of HCM City (Hawa), one of the organisers, said the event has attracted 450 local and foreign enterprises, 29 per cent and 43 per cent more than last year.Foreign exhibitors account for a third of all booths, he said.They are from Singapore, Taiwan, the US, Australia, Russia, Canada, mainland China, Denmark, Hong Kong, Italy, Korea, Malaysia, and New Zealand.To serve an estimated 4,000 international visitors, the association has signed an agree-ment with the HCM City Tourism Association to assist them with hotels, transport, vi-sas, travel, and other arrangements, Khanh said.Permanent deputy minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Ha Cong Tuan said the wood industry has enjoyed average growth of more than 10 per cent in recent years and still has a lot of steam left.The National Assembly amended the Forestry Law last year, supplementing articles on wood processing and recognising the wood industry's role, he said.The government has promised consistent policies and support for businesses in the wood processing, handicrafts and supporting industries, he added.After growing at 10.2 per cent last year exports of wood and wood products were worth $7.66 billion, the target figure for 2020.The forestry industry is aiming for $9 billion this year, with wood and wooden prod-ucts accounting for $8.5-8.7 billion.To achieve the target, enterprises need to focus on technological innovation, especially automation, invest in improving human resources and management, and expand ex-port markets, Tuan said.Organised by the HCM City Department of Industry and Trade, Hawa, and Hawa Corporation, the fair, being held at the Sai Gon Exhibition and Convention Centre, will


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go on until March 10.Hoa Mai PrizesAt the opening ceremony Hawa announced the winners of its Hoa Mai Prize for fur-niture design for 2017-18.Nguyen Thi Huyen Trang, a student at HCM City University of Architecture, won the first prize for her Giao thoa (interference) desk.Le Dinh Chung of Ton Duc Thang University and Ngo Nhu Quynh of Van Lang Uni-versity won the first and second runner-up prizes for their roly light and modern desk.Hawa also gave away six consolation prizes for the best functional, marketable, aes-thetic, creative and unique, eco-friendly, and technical designs.The winning works are on display at the VIFA EXPO.Launched last year, the 15th edition of the competition, which seeks to discover and foster talented designers to develop the furniture industry, attracted 191 entries from 179 contestants.http://bizhub.vn/news/intl-furniture-expo-opens-in-hcmc_292962.html End


080318 Intellasia Finance Vietnam Intellasia_Finance... · 08/MAR/2018 INTELLASIA| VNA The State...

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