190318 Intellasia Finance Vietnam.backup - hkbav.org Intellasia_Finance... · Intellasia 19 March...

19 March 2018

finance & business news

FINANCE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1Reference exchange rate up 10 VND at week's beginning 1State Treasury mobilises nearly $1.5bn from G-bonds 2Banks offer preferential credit packages to businesses 2Tighter bank credit to ensure bubble-free market 3Real estate lending risks 4Bad debts and risk provisions remain on top of banks' agenda 6Large number of foreign institutions invests in Vietnamese

banks 7Not only increasing salary, banks also race to issue ESOP

shares to retain talents 8Vietcombank may not fully withdraw capital at Eximbank and MB 9CPTPP to widen Vietnam's inroads to partner markets 10Catfish sector plans $2b export target in 2018 11Vietnam targets 4.5 billion USD from farm produce exports

by 2020 12Prospects for Vietnam's agro-forestry-fishery exports 13Can Tho aims to lift fruit exports 14Japanese firms face obstacles to food export to Vietnam 14Auto import surges suddenly early March 15Car import tariffs from Japan to Vietnam to be eliminated

from 2029 15Safeguard tariffs on fertiliser imports hit farmers 16HCM City desires continued support from IMF 17CIC: high deposit requirement makes investors afraid of

buying SOE shares 18Compulsory social insurance for foreign workers leads

to double taxation 19Q1 workforce up by 150,000 20Where will Vietnamese brands go? 21Co-living to be new residential trend in Vietnam? 22Condotel business sees high growth on back of tourism 22Smart house of the future 23Diversifying investment capital in the real estate sector 25Retail model under conversion in Vietnam 26Changing customer habits bring online retail to fore 28Online retail market may fall into Chinese hands: experts 30Ample opportunities in Vietnamese horticulture industry 30Railway sector seeks more private investment 31Vietnamese firms urged to work to win WB, ADB bids 32Vinh Long to get 14 industrial hubs 33Binh Phuoc inaugurates five Korean projects 34Kon Tum seeks investment 35Sapa status upgrade creates opportunities for property

investors 35When will Halong become a smart city? 36Singapore firms eye VN food industry 37

Hanoi names priority sectors to attract Singaporean investors 37Vietnamese businesses unite in Russian market 38Vietnam and Australia become new strategic partners 38VN, Netherlands to boost agricultural cooperation 39Ireland to assist Hanoi to develop hi-tech agriculture 40Argentina talk focuses on business opportunities with Vietnam 41

BIZ NEWS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41Business Briefs 19 March, 2018 41Shares set to keep rising after hitting peak 42Shares rally despite ETF transactions 43BID sends VN Index up 44Businesses on HNX earn 19.319tr dong profit in 2017 44Tough odds for VN market upgrade 45SCIC seeks approval for Vinamilk's ESOP plan 46Labour suppliers told to keep trainees from radiation-tainted

areas in Japan 4731pct of businesses find it difficult to recruit IT staff 47Sao Khue Awards nominations released 48Ben Tre pomelo, coconut GI certified 48Lao Cai to develop 3.5ha hi-tech farms of lilies, roses 49Analogue broadcasts to end on December 31 49Retail chains seek more workers as Amazon prepares to arrive 50Dispute over port design leads to boats sinking at Ha Long 51Technical problems leave over 100 air passengers stranded on

famous Vietnamese tourist islands 51VNPT launches OTT app for corporate users 52Bosch expands CVT pushbelt manufacturing in Vietnam 52Quang Trung Software City pilots smart traffic management 53F.D.C listed in top 10 building contractors 53Viettel grabs 10 per cent market share in Tanzania 54IHG acquires Regent Hotels and Resorts 54PVEP sells 5pct interest in Block 15-1/05 to Murphy 55VietJet inks deal to open direct flights between HCM City,

Brisbane 55RoK Group wants to become PV Power's strategic investor 56Honor aims to break into Vietnam's top 3 smartphone brands 56Cuu Long Pharmaceutical swimming upstream 57Taxi associations request temporary policy to hamper Uber

and Grab 58Grab and Uber as taxi firms: a step back in the Industry

4.0 era? 59Company in $392mn investment scandal in Vietnam

had profile doctored: state inspector 60Two new Vietnamese billionaires on Forbes list 61Business Forum a highlight of GMS-6 62Nha Trang to host Vietnam Renewable Energy Summit 2018 62Vietnam Footwear Summit to discuss new growth models 63

FINANCE

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Vietnam finance & business 19 March 2018

FINANCEReference exchange rate up 10 VND at week's beginning

19/MAR/2018 INTELLASIA| VNA

The State Bank of Vietnam set the daily reference exchange rate at 22,455 VND/USD on March 19, up 10 VND from the last day of previous week (March 16).With the current trading band of +/-3 percent, the ceiling rate applied to commercial banks during the day is 23,128 VND/USD and the floor rate 21,784 VND/USD.The opening hour rates at major commercials stayed rather stable.Both Vietcombank and BIDV maintained the same rates as on March 16, with the buy-ing rate listed at 22,725 VND/USD and selling rate at 22,795 VND/USD at both banks.Meanwhile the rates listed at Vietinbank went up 3 VND to 22,728 VND/USD (buying) and 22,795 VND/USD (selling).https://en.vietnamplus.vn/reference-exchange-rate-up-10-vnd-at-weeks-beginning/128075.vnp

State Treasury mobilises nearly $1.5bn from G-bonds

19/MAR/2018 INTELLASIA| VNS

The State Treasury of Vietnam has so far successfully mobilised VND34 trillion (US$1.49 billion) via government bond (G-bond) auctions.This accounts for more than 75 per cent of the total bonds planned to issue in the first quarter of this year.According to the latest report of Bao Viet Securities Company (BVSC), in the auction last week alone, the State Treasury offered for sale a large volume of 20-year and 30-year G-bonds worth VND4 trillion.At the auction, 99 per cent and 96 per cent of the 20-year and 30-year bonds, respec-tively, were bought at the interest rates of 5.1 per cent and 5.39 per cent, down 0.1 and 0.01 percentage points against the previous auction, respectively.According to BVSC, the success of these auctions comes from the abundant liquidity in the banking system after Tet (Vietnamese Lunar New Year) holidays.Thanks to the good liquidity, the interest rate of dong loans in the inter-bank market last week decline sharply by 0.29 to 0.49 percentage points for most terms against the previous week.Specifically, the overnight rate dropped to 0.91 per cent against more than 3 per cent before Tet. The rates for one-week and two-week loans also reduced to 1.17 and 1.44 per cent, respectively.The National Financial Supervisory Commission has predicted that the G-bond mar-ket in 2018 will see modest changes against last year, thanks to the economic growth of more than 6.7 per cent and inflation of below 4 per cent.The value of G-bonds issued in 2018 is estimated at some VND180 trillion, with the fo-cus being on long-term maturity and keeping the interest rate at low levels.G-bonds worth VND159.9 trillion and having an average maturity of 13.52 years, up 4.81 years against 2016, were issued last year. The bonds had an average annual inter-est rate of some 6.07 per cent, down 0.2 percentage points against 2016, the Ministry of Finance said.http://bizhub.vn/banking/state-treasury-mobilises-nearly-us15bn-from-g-bonds_293268.html

Banks offer preferential credit packages to businesses


Banks have launched credit packages with preferential interest rates, aiming to assist capital sources for businesses and further boost domestic production.The Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV) has introduced a new credit package worth VND20 trillion (US$892.8 million), with a preferential interest rate from now until mid-2018.Accordingly, borrowers can enjoy an annual interest rate of 6.5 per cent for short-term loans and from 7.2 per cent for long-term loans. Besides, customers who seek to do business would join many preferential programmes from other services, such as inter-net banking and insurance.Since the beginning of this year, BIDV successfully implemented two preferential

Intellasia 19 March 2018 2 / 63

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packages worth VND25 trillion to support manufacturing businesses.Meanwhile, Southeast Asia Joint Stock Commercial Bank (SeABank) has also launched a new programme, which provides preferential loans to corporate customers.Borrowers could receive up to VND1.5 trillion at an annual rate of 7.5 per cent for loans in dong and 3 per cent for loans in US dollar. Based on financial needs, the bank will provide the best consultancy services to help enterprises improve the efficiency of cap-ital.In fact, many Vietnamese enterprises, especially small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are still facing long-standing difficulties in accessing loans.According to banking and financial expert Can Van Luc, most SMEs have a low man-agement capacity and outdated technology, they lack transparency in information and feasible business plans, and do not have adequate assets for mortgages, making them ineligible for banking loansCredit institutions are hesitant to lend SMEs money for the same reasons. Luc noted that these problems were compounded by complex banking procedures and a short-age of appropriate loan packages for SMEs.Hoang Thi Hong, director of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises Development Fund under the Ministry of Planning and Investment, said it was necessary to develop a da-tabase about SMEs for credit institutions to use while evaluating.In addition, capital-raising channels should be diversified, rather than largely depend-ent on banks, for instance, while raising capital from the securities market, Hong said.http://bizhub.vn/banking/banks-offer-preferential-credit-packages-to-businesses_293258.html

Tighter bank credit to ensure bubble-free market

19/MAR/2018 INTELLASIA| VIR

The State Bank of Vietnam has recently ordered commercial banks to lower the per-centage of short-term capital used for mid- to long-term loans from 50 per cent in 2017 to 45 per cent in 2018 and 40 per cent in 2019. This new policy is not to curb the growth of real estate credit, but to steer the market onto a more sustainable route.Why does real estate credit have a bad name?Nowadays, the real estate sector is still believed to be a non-manufacturing industry a misconception that hurts the entire sector. In reality, real estate is part of the input in any manufacturing process, as well as an important product for any consumer. To do business, most companies still need factories, offices or stores to manufacture their products and interact with buyers. The prerequisite is owning some sort of real estate.For consumers, everyone needs a place to live, or even two or more places to relax and invest. As a result, the real estate sector should be considered part of the manufactur-ing industry, as well as being a consumer product.Besides, real estate is also an important collateral to be used for taking up bank credit for business or personal purposes. When the real estate sector is doing well, the value of property props up and it makes applying for bank loans much easier. If more busi-nesspeople and individuals can access credit, consumption and investment will grow and bring the economy forward. As a result, a real estate product not only brings direct benefits to the owner, but can also be an important asset. This is why the demand for real estate is always high.With all of this in mind, why are we constantly worried about credit for the property sector?The answer is this: real estate is a must-have product for anyone, which means it guar-antees demand at any time. However, it is usually expensive, which lowers liquidity. When supply in the real estate market overcomes demand and the payment abilities of the market, a bubble will burst and create lingering problems for the economy.It is true that when the economy is doing well, the demand for real estate increases, driving up the price of property products. When prices go up, the value of each real estate product will also become higher, fuelling the demand even more. This is the be-ginning of a dangerous bubble.Once prices get too high, liquidity suffers and the number of buyers who can afford


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these products will decline. Supply then overrides demand, which can cause a burst in the sector itself and domino effects in other industries, especially the banking sector. Commercial banks are the most vulnerable since they are both creditors of real estate projects and most bank loans are secured by real estate.All in all, real estate is an important sector for any economy, and sustainable growth in real estate is crucial to the overall well-being of the economy. This sector is also a risky one, prone to bubbles that can damage the entire economy of any country. With this in mind, legal restrictions on real estate credit do not mean that banks should not pour capital into real estate projects. Instead, it should be viewed as an effort to steer the real estate market onto a more sustainable growth path, preventing the formation of bubbles when the market heats up.Pulling the reinAlthough the Vietnamese economy recorded strong GPD growth in 2016 and 2017 (6.21 and 6.81 per cent, respectively), the growth rate of the real estate sector was only 4 per cent in 2016 and 4.07 per cent in 2017. If we include the construction sector in the figures, the growth rate was still only 7.2 and 6.61 per cent, below the annual goals of those years. This means the market remains free of any bubble.Credit for the real estate market, as of November 2017, went up by 8.56 per cent year-on-year, lower than the growth rate of all bank loans. Real estate credit took up 6.53 per cent of all loans issued by commercial lenders. If we include the loans for daily needs related to buying a house, then this figure goes up to 8.65 per cent. This is a 23 per cent increase against January 2017.We can see that in 2017 commercial banks issued various loans to help consumers pur-chase homes, besides pulling the rein on real estate credit to make sure that the sector is free from any dangerous bubble.Market stability in 2017 is an important catalyst for another steady year in the property sector. The Vietnamese economy is expected to continue its strong growth in 2018, which forecasts on-going demand for real estate. Once again, it should be emphasized that a sustainable real estate sector is vital to rev up the economy.Vietnam's monetary policies will ensure that the real estate sector gets every help it needs to expand, without growing too fast and encountering a bubble. This is a very important point to remember for policymakers.These are the factors behind the State Bank of Vietnam's decision to reduce the percent-age of short-term capital used for mid- to long-term loans to 45 per cent in 2018 and 40 per cent in 2019. This new policy targets to promote sustainability and healthy, bubble-free growth in the local real estate market.http://english.vietnamnet.vn/fms/business/196653/tighter-bank-credit-to-ensure-bub-ble-free-market.html

Real estate lending risks


The availability of credit is an important factor affecting the real estate sector. While the Vietnamese real estate market continues on a positive uptrend, the government has enacted a number of measures through Circular No.06/2016/TT-NHNN and Circular No.19/2017/TT-NHNN designed to prevent excess from building up. Before evaluat-ing the recent measures, it is useful to understand them in the context of Vietnam's his-torical real estate issues.Vietnam's property cyclesVietnam last had a property downturn in the 2008-2013 period which was primarily driven by a market that overheated on speculative buying amid a limited primary sup-ply of condos. In the aftermath of the crisis, the government took several measures aimed at preventing a repeat of the situation in the future. Along with encouraging de-velopers to provide residential units more suited to genuine demand from homebuy-ers, an important change was to hike the risk weighting of real estate loans in the banking system to 250 per cent.In Vietnam's pre-Basel II environment, banks are required to hold Tier I and Tier II capital equal to at least 9 per cent of their risk weighted assets. Increasing the risk


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weighting of real estate loans to 250 per cent means that for every new real estate loan extended, risk weighted assets increases by 2.5x the amount of the loan. This signifi-cantly disincentivised banks from providing new loans to the real estate market and helped to take some of the heat out of the sector.With the mortgage market being practically non-existent in the previous real estate cy-cle, credit growth to the sector was focused on the developers who would in turn sell property to buyers for cash. One particularly unhealthy activity was the procurement of loans by developers to simply buy land as a form of speculation. Once the property market corrected, this led to the formation of a number of non-preforming loans (NPL) which continued to burden the banking system for a number of years. government measures have since focused on reducing this form of activity whilst allowing the sec-tor to develop in a sustainable way. Going forward, the development of the mortgage market has been preferred rather than allowing the majority of credit to flow to devel-opers as happened in the past.Concerns that rising credit growth may ignite another property bubbleSince 2012 the banking system has gradually recovered from the real estate crash in 2011 and has gradually become able to increase loan growth as a result. While the sys-tem was slow to resolve NPL issues, the sector as a whole was effectively able to "grow out" of the problem given that high growth rates of new credit meant that problem as-sets became a lower percentage of the overall system. Some market commentators have raised concerns that credit growth is once again outstripping nominal GDP growth, with the excess potentially finding a home in less productive sectors such as real estate.Stable real estate marketDespite the high levels of credit growth, we have yet to see any obvious signs of over-heating in the property sector. Speculation appears limited as the composition of buy-ers in the primary condo market appears healthy with only 14 per cent deemed to be speculators in the first half of 2017. Buyers who intend to live in the property make up 51 per cent of the total demand, suggesting meaningful end-user demand. Absorption rates also remain comparatively high at around 50 per cent, suggesting that a supply glut is not on the horizon. Meanwhile price gains of condos in HCM City remain mod-erate, suggesting that the market is in overall balance and does not display signs of ex-cess as with the previous real estate cycle.Recent macro-prudential measuresFollowing the wake of the previous property market crash, Circular No.36/2014/TT-NHNN was issued in 2014 and reduced the risk weighting of real estate loans from 250 to 150 per cent.However, more recently, the government deemed it prudent to raise the figure once more to 200 per cent through the provisions of Circular No.06/2016/TT-NHNN. The implementation date was at the start of 2017.Additionally, as of December 28, 2017, State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) issued Circular No.19/2017/TT-NHNN on amending and supplementing a number of articles of Cir-cular 36 on tightening credit for the real estate sector. Specifically, the proportion of short-term capital to be used for medium- and long-term lending by banks in 2018 will be 45 per cent instead of the 50 per cent stated in Circular 06, and this ratio will be fur-ther reduced to 40 per cent in 2019.While disclosure is sporadic, we estimate that the banking system used less than 35 per cent of short-term funds for longer-term lending in 2016. Since then the figure has edged down even more. Therefore, the cap that is applicable in 2018 should not be a constraint for the system as a whole.We view these changes as proactive macro-prudential measures which should help dampen the potential extremes of the current real estate cycle whilst reducing the probability of another crisis. While it is extremely difficult to isolate the impact of these measures, they will certainly have some moderate cooling effect on the real estate mar-ket. Even though the real estate market continues in an uptrend with moderate price gains in the affordable and mid-range segments, transaction volume remains stable. In


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the event of a cyclical slowdown, it also means that the government has some dry pow-der available should they wish to provide some support to the sector.Lack of NPL resolution a longer-term structural threat to real estate lendingA pressing structural concern is the lack of an effective mechanism that resolves bad debts within the system. Until now, it has been challenging for banks to go through the process of writing off loans, seizing and selling the real estate collateral backing them. As a result, banks were left with burdensome and lingering NPL problems after the last cycle. This is in part down to a hazy legal structure that tends to undermine this process.In 2017 the National Assembly issued Resolution No.42/2017/QH14 which aims to ad-dress this problem and we have since seen some anecdotal signs of improvement, in-cluding the high-profile example of the sale of Saigon One Tower in District 1, HCM City. However, we remain skeptical that enough progress has been made to make a material impact.Protecting a nascent industryDuring the last property cycle, property transactions were completed with cash and even gold, while mortgage financing was unheard of. It was only more recently that mortgage products have started to emerge and outstanding mortgage debt still only accounts for a relatively small portion of the GDP. As with all early stage markets, growth tends to be very strong given the low base which can lead to difficulties given that the market infrastructure will most likely be lacking in the initial stages. This is therefore another reason why the government has acted to cool the growth rate at this stage in the cycle.Improving asset allocation across the economyOverall, Vietnam has a healthy level of investment in relation to the GDP, with the fig-ure coming in at 33 per cent in 2017. Having said this, investment has been higher and peaked at 42.7 per cent of the GDP in 2007 before gradually declining until 2013 and settling at the current level. Meanwhile the effectiveness of investment, as measured by the Incremental Capital Output Ratio (ICOR), has averaged around 6. This means that for every six units of investment, only one unit of output is generated.Real estate is a comparatively non-productive asset in relation to other sectors of the economy, such as manufacturing and infrastructure. However, economies that gener-ate excess credit growth tend to see it flow into real estate assets, given that it can act as the path of least resistance. Therefore, by disincentivising real-estate lending, this may improve the allocation of scarce resources in the overall economy.Has real estate lending been affected?We currently see no noticeable impact on the availability of lending to the real estate sector. Furthermore, we believe that the measures contained within Circular 6 as well as Circular 19 provide the government with breathing space should they wish to stim-ulate a lagging real estate market in the future by reducing the risk weighting back to 150 or even 100 per cent. However, we do note that capital buffers are comparatively low in the Vietnamese banking industry, especially when considering Basel II require-ments. Further capitalisation is required and if this fails to materialise, then the ability of banks to extend credit may be affected. In the event, cutting back on real estate loans first would make sense. In other words, credit availability to the real estate market will act as the canary in the coal mine when it comes to a potential contraction in system-wide credit availability.ConclusionsWe believe that the Vietnamese government has learnt from the lessons of the past and has taken a number of proactive measures to keep a reasonable pace of growth in the real estate market. In the event of future stress this allows for lending conditions to be eased when necessary. With little to no anecdotal evidence of restrictions on real estate lending, we believe the property market will continue to develop in a measured and more controlled way.http://english.vietnamnet.vn/fms/business/196656/real-estate-lending-risks.html


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Bad debts and risk provisions remain on top of banks' agenda


Throughout the annual general shareholders' meeting (AGM) season, bad debt resolu-tion and hefty risk provisions were the most worrisome issues emerging in the bank-ing sector in since the beginning of 2017.According to the National Financial Supervisory Commission (NFSC), bad debts in the financial system sank to 9.5 per cent at the end of 2017 from 11.9 per cent in 2016 due to the sharp decrease in the ratio of potential bad debts over restructured debts, corpo-rate bonds, and uncollectible accounts receivable.As shown in financial statements provided by 13 random commercial banks, total bad debts at such banks hopped to VND60.533 trillion ($2.65 billion) in 2017 which was only 0.7 per cent up against 2016. Specifically, only 8 of the 13 selected commercial banks saw negligible rises in their bad debts over the span of 2017.Duong Cong Minh, chairmand of the Board of directors at Sacombank, noted that the percentage of bad debts at the bank went from 6.68 to 4.28 per cent over the course of 2017 and is expected to end up at 3 per cent by the end of 2018.Since risk provision topped the bank's agenda of resolving financial issues, Sacombank set a rather "humble" target for pre-tax profit at VND1.640 trillion ($72.03 million) in 2018.Likewise, in late 2017, total debts recorded in the five banks of VietinBank, SHB, VP-Bank, Techcombank, and TPBank shrank by 8.3 per cent in comparison to early 2017.For instance, ACB, the worst-performing randomly-surveyed commercial bank, also saw a reduction in bad debts from 0.87 to 0.7 per cent as well as in the ratio of uncol-lectible bad debts from 0.64 to 0.4 per cent over 2017.Consequently, the commercial bank set aside the largest volume for risk provision, up to VND2.565 trillion ($112.65 million), which was equivalent to roughly 49 per cent of the bank's full-year net profits. At BIDV, the reported volume of risk provisions shot up to VND14.915 trillion ($655.08 million).Regarding the provision planning for 2018, several financial experts asserted that FIs should set aside at least 20 per cent of the value of special bonds after trading bad debts with Vietnam Asset Management Company (VAMC).Thanks to Resolution No.42/2017-NQ14, the process of resolving bad debts among FIs sped up immensely across the spectrum of methods, such as selling bad debts to VAMC, selling collateral assets, and using risk provisions.www.vir.com.vn/bad-debts-and-risk-provisions-remain-on-top-of-banks-agenda-57287.html

Large number of foreign institutions invests in Vietnamese banks

19/MAR/2018 INTELLASIA| SGDT

Opening the annual general meeting (AGM) season this year, Vietnam Technological and Commercial Joint Stock Bank (Techcombank) announced information about the "huge" investment amounting to more than $370 million (about 8.4 trillion dong) from two independent investors managed by Warburg Pincus. The investment will help this bank complete capital raising efforts from now till June 2018 in accordance with the plan adopted at the AGM on March 3, 2018.Bui Quang Tin, CEO of BizLight Business School said "The fact that foreign investors want to purchase shares at Vietnamese banks is not new. This took place 10 years ago. However, the current moment is the time that Vietnamese government issues supervi-sion and management mechanisms, especially the requirement that banks must meet Basel II standards to strengthen its governance, the amended Law on credit organisa-tions 2017 supplemented at least 17 new points in the management and governance, etc. With these changes in management mechanism, the participation in M&A sector or share purchase of foreign investors at banks is understandable"."Foreign investors appraise very carefully any investment. And, foreign investors pour money in Vietnamese banks on the basis of having studied very carefully the po-tential of Vietnamese banks", added Tin.Earlier, the International Financial Corporation (IFC), member of the WB, approved the financial package worth more than $80 million for Vietnam Prosperity Bank (VP-


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Bank), raising IFC's total financial support to VPBank to more than $200 million within eight months.At the end of December 2017, Hochiminh City Development Bank (HDBank) awarded share ownership certificate to 76 foreign investors including many large financial in-stitutions that are investing in Vietnam stock market such as Credit Saison (Japan), Deutsche Bank AG (Germany), JP Morgan Vietnam Opportunities Fund, CAM Bank (Japan), Dragon Capital (U.K), Vina Capital, etc. These investors spent $300 million (over 6.8 trillion dong) to own 21.5 percent existing stake of HDBank. Each investor owns no more than three percent stake of each bank.Tien Phong Joint Stock Commercial Bank (TPBank) and FYN Fund Management have just signed a share purchase agreement. Accordingly, PYN Elite Fund will own 4.99 percent stake after TTBank's issuance at nearly $40 million.Recently, South Korean investors have shown special interest in Vietnam market. Re-cently, South Korea's Hana Financial Group plans to expand its operations in Vietnam by becoming a shareholder of BIDV.Prior to that, another Korean financial group, Shinhan, was also increasing its invest-ment in Vietnam by completing its acquisition of ANZ. The world's five leading credit card company Shinhan Card bought Prudential Finance Company (PVFC) in Vietnam at $151 million (5.52 times higher than the par value).Besides Shinhan, the presence of Korean financial groups also includes Mirae Asset Group and Lotte Group. Lotte Card has officially bought the entire TechcomFinance Company from Techcombank.Nghiem Xuan ThanhChair of Vietcombanksaid the bank plans to sell more than 350 million shares (equivalent to 10 percent of shares) to foreign investors in the first six months of 2018, after receiving the approval from the government.A financial and banking expert said "Foreign investors see the potential of Vietnam fi-nancial market. Banks in Vietnam are in early stage and there is still room for improve-ment in terms of capital, governance and technology. In addition, Vietnam is a fertile ground for developing mobile financial services when there are 53 million mobile sub-scribers, and 40 million smart phone users."According to Tin, the fact that foreign investors pour capital into Vietnamese banks is a good signal because the capital contribution will be accompanied by increased com-mitment in management and transfer of technology.Director of a joint stock commercial bank said, at the moment, many commercial banks in Vietnam are putting provision for nearly all of the bad debt sold to the Vietnam As-set Management Company (VAMC). "In the context that the real estate market is warming up while most of the bad debt is secured by real estate, in the near future, banks will have a good return upon completing the settlement of collaterals".It can be seen that consumer finance, retail banking, and mobile banking are still fertile ground for foreign investors. Banks select good strategic partners to access modern world governance system along with new technology.

Not only increasing salary, banks also race to issue ESOP shares to retain talents

19/MAR/2018 INTELLASIA| TRI THUC TRE

Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP), in simple terms, is the sale of shares by busi-nesses to excellent employees and labours based on selected criteria at favourable price, which is often much lower than the market price. The advantage of ESOP is that it is not only a strategy to retain good people but also enables businesses to increase capital for banks.The bank share prices throughout 2017 and the early months of 2018 increased sharply and bank stocks have regained "king" position. According to many experts and secu-rities companies, stocks of the banking sector will continue to prosper. Thus, owning more shares, especially shares from dividend payment, bonus shares, and ESOP shares is the expectation of many people.Vietnam Technological and Commercial Joint Stock Bank (Techcombank) is the pio-neer in this year's ESOP plan. At its Annual general Meeting (AGM) in early March, the bank's shareholders approved the plan to issue shares to employees. The issuance


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source is from the treasury fund with approximately 17 million shares.Certainly, the bank also stipulates the conditions for the purchase of ESOP shares, which is that employees must have at least one year working at the bank. In addition, there are also other criteria such as N-1 employees and reached A1 for the previous year, employees with Talent Pool Band 7 or above, and reached A2, employees record-ed high Band7 for the previous year, etc. The purchase price of shares is 10,000 dong per share, while the stocks are traded on the Over-the-counter (OTC) market at up to 100,000 dong per share.In 2016, Techcombank also approved the ESOP but only received 78.75 percent votes of the shareholders participated in the meeting. This year, the approval rate is abso-lutely 99.86 percent. It is understandable as Techcombank recorded good business re-sults in 2017, and the bank's employees also recorded the leading average productivity.Vietnam Prosperity Commercial Joint Stock Bank (VPBank) is also submitting share-holders the ESOP plan to issue 33 million shares to the bank's employees in the second quarter of 2018. The issuance price equals to the par value, much lower than the recent price on the stock market (62,000-64,000 dong per share).Vietnam International Commercial Joint Stock Bank (VIB) is also setting up the ESOP. In the plan to be submitted to shareholders at the AGM on March 29th, VIB expects to use 1,975,500 treasury shares to award its employees. Last year, the bank's sharehold-ers also approved the plan to distribute bonus shares to employees at 0.4 percent of the charter capital, equivalent to nearly 23 billion dong.Hochiminh city Development Commercial Joint Stock Bank (HDBank) is also ap-proved by shareholders to issue 20 million shares under ESOP. Employees receiving ESOP shares are selected based on their dedication, seniority, and positions. The time limit for transfer is one year. However, so far, HDBank has not issued the above shares, and the bank said that the latest time is the first quarter of 2018.In fact, the issuance of ESOP shares to employees at banks has been applied by many banks in the previous time, such as Lien Viet Post Commercial Joint Stock Bank (Lien-VietPostBank), Asia Commercial Joint Stock Bank (ACB), or Military Commercial Joint Stock Bank (MB). According to experts, that is a very good policy to both help banks have more capital and retain talents. However, this method is only useful for the share owners in the context of high stock prices, good liquidity, and stable banking business activities, as at the present.

Vietcombank may not fully withdraw capital at Eximbank and MB

19/MAR/2018 INTELLASIA| VNECONOMY

The Commercial Joint Stock Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam (Vietcombank) has just completed the last registration day (March 15th) to finalise the list of shareholders at-tending the 10th Annual general Meeting (AGM) in 2018.The meeting is expected to be held on April 27th in Hanoi. At the meeting, plans, re-sults and divestment plans at credit institutions (CIs) will be reported specifically to shareholders.Previously, in late 2017, Vietcombank in turn made divestments in some CIs as well as expected to continue carrying out this activity in early 2018.However, the first quarter of 2018 nearly ends but no specific information on the next steps have been released.By the end of 2016, Vietcombank owned shares at five CIs, including Export Import Commercial Joint Stock Bank (Eximbank, 8.19 percent ownership), Saigon Commercial Joint Stock Bank for Industry and Trade (Saigonbank, 4.3 percent ownership), MB (7.04 percent ownership), Orient Commercial Joint Stock Bank (OCB, 4.72 percent owner-ship), and Cement Finance Joint Stock Company (CFC, 10.91 percent ownership).In 2017, Vietcombank successfully divested capital in CFC and Saigonbank, partly di-vested capital in OCB, in which the ownership was reduced from 4.72 percent to 3.97 percent.Accordingly, by the end of 2017 until now, Vietcombank is still holding stake at Ex-imbank, MB, and OCB.


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Under the regulations as well as the plan launched by Vietcombank's leaders in the end of 2017, the divestment at the above organisations will continue to be performed in 2018.However, after successfully divesting capital in CFC and Saigonbank and planning to fully divest in OCB, the requirements to ensure the limits of investment at Vietcom-bank will change.Specifically, under the provisions of Circular 36 of the State Bank of Vietnam on share ownership between CIs, Vietcombank is allowed to own not more than 5 percent of shares in two CIs. Accordingly, if the divestment in OCB is completed, Vietcombank does not need to fully withdraw capital in Eximbank and MB.To meet this requirement, Vietcombank only needs to divest and lower the ownership at Eximbank from 8.19 percent to 5 percent, and similarly at MB from 6.97 percent (as of the end of 2017) to 5 percent. The market value of these two investments are several times higher than the initial investment of Vietcombank, especially MB with the up-trend of the stock price in recent time.If considering these investments as potential which may increase along with market trends and the outlooks of MB and Eximbank, Vietcombank may consider just partial-ly reduce the ownership rate to 5 percent. Thus, the above scenarios and options are expected to be set at Vietcombank's upcoming AGM.

CPTPP to widen Vietnam's inroads to partner markets


Two-way trade turnover between Vietnam and almost all members of the Comprehen-sive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) have sur-passed $1 billion annually.Japan captures huge portion of export-import turnoverJapan is Vietnam's biggest trade partner out of the ten other member states of the CP-TPP, ranking fourth among trade partners over the world (following China, South Ko-rea, and the US). Two-way trade turnover with Japan hit $33.4 billion in 2017, and Vietnam's trade surplus reached $250 million.Other billion-dollar partners of Vietnam are Malaysia (export turnover of $4.2 billion, import turnover of $5.86 billion), Singapore (export $2.961 billion, import $5.3 billion), Australia (export $3.3 billion, import $3.16 billion), Canada (export $2.7 billion, import $0.774 billion), Mexico ($2.34 billion, $0.567 billion), Chile ($1 billion, $0.283 billion).Total two-way trade turnover between Vietnam and the ten CPTPP members reached over $67.33 billion in 2017, equivalent to 15.84 per cent of the total export and import turnover of the country.Vietnam's average export and import turnover with about 200 countries and territories hit $2 billion, while average with CPTPP members was 3.5 times higher, reaching $6.7 billion. This figure shows the importance of the CPTPP in trade and investment activ-ities of the country.Notably, Vietnam gains surplus from trade relations with most partners. The country runs deficit only towards three Asean partners, including Singapore (trade deficit of over $2.33 billion), Malaysia ($1.65 billion), and Brunei ($13 million).Vietnam has been promoting exports to go along with tariff incentives and technical barriers, while the CPTPP will bring numerous opportunities for Vietnamese export-ers and importers, including domestic, and foreign firms.Widening pathways to other marketsAccording to commitments to open up the CPTPP market, key export items of Viet-nam have opportunities to rise in value, especially phones, computers, textiles, foot-wear, seafood, furniture, vehicles and equipment.To the biggest CPTPP market, Japan, there were five export item groups reaching a turnover in excess of $1 billion. Textiles produced the highest export turnover with over $3.1 billion, followed by transport vehicles ($2.177 billion), machine equipment ($1.718 billion), seafood ($1.3 billion), and furniture ($1.022 billion).CPTPP brings opportunities for exporters not only to approach a big market with high standards like Japan, but also to overcome the protectionist measures of the US admin-


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istration.There are good signals coming from textile and seafood, which are the key export items to the US and are now shifting to Japan. This opens opportunities for exporters not only to approach a big market with high standards like Japan, but also to overcome the protectionist measures of the US administration.The key export sectors to Canada, Chile, and Australiatextiles, footwear, and seafood-will see new opportunities if the CPTPP comes into effect, while Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Mexico, and New Zealand will opened the gates up for Vietnamese export items such as phones and computers.According to the World Bank's report published right after the signing of the CPTPP, multilateral trade agreements such as the CPTPP are expected to further boost Viet-nam's investment- and export-driven growth model.In addition, the anticipated increase in foreign direct investment is expected to lead to a further expansion of the services sector and boost productivity growth. It will create opportunities for domestic private firms to integrate into global value chains and pro-mote the development of the small- and medium-sized enterprise sector.The CPTPP is expected to stimulate reforms in areas such as competition, services (in-cluding financial services, telecommunications, and temporary entry of service pro-viders), customs, e-commerce, environment, government procurement, intellectual property, investment, labour standards, legal issues, market access for goods, rules of origin, non-tariff measures, and trade remedies.http://english.vietnamnet.vn/fms/business/197413/cptpp-to-widen-vietnam-s-in-roads-to-partner-markets.html

Catfish sector plans $2b export target in 2018


The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has targeted to earn $2 billion from catfish exports this year, accounting for 31.5 per cent of the fishery industry's total export value.This projection was stated by Nguyen Ngoc Oai, Acting general director of the direc-torate of Fisheries, at a conference to carry out tasks within the industry held in Can Tho late last week.To reach this target, the industry will need to breed some 2.2 billion catfish, to be able to deliver an output of more than 1.3 million tonnes of catfish products.To meet its targets, Oai said that the industry needs to improve the quality of catfish breeding, besides enlarging export markets.The industry must also create a production and processing chain to encourage farmers to team up with catfish processing companies to ensure a balance between supply and demand, he said.Also at the conference, catfish exporters said they are facing a lack of raw materials, which pushes prices of raw catfish to peak at some VND75,000 ($3.3) per kilo, up VND20,000 compared to late last year.Ong Hang Van, deputy director of Truong Giang Seafood Joint Stock Co, attributed the severe shortage to the significant loss of catfish before the Tet (Lunar New Year) holiday due to unfavourable weather conditions.Van further said catfish farms are lacking high-quality catfish breeds, which negative-ly affects the quantity of fish during the growing process.He added that his company, together with other processors, is willing to contribute capital to the No 2 Aquaculture Research Institute to produce catfish breeds that will guarantee strong supplies.Further, Duong Nghia Quoc, chair of the Vietnam Pangasius Association, said the gov-ernment should support firms in producing catfish breeds since it is costly.At the conference, experts also expressed their concern about the importing of Viet-namese catfish via a small-scale by Chinese buyers.According to Vo Dong Duc, director of Caseamex, it is troubling that China has recent-ly imported a substantial amount of Vietnamese catfish via a small-scale."There are some potential risks associated with it," he added.


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Representatives of the Ministry of Industry and Trade added that some measures should be implemented to efficiently control the industry, making it a "fair game" for other firms that also export catfish in both large and small scales.Given the significant number of small purchases of catfish that Chinese buyers have made, it is difficult to track the total amount of catfish sold.Deputy minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Vu Van Tam has requested a special meeting with the Ministry of Industry and Trade on how to solve the matter and boost exports of catfish to China in a larger, more official scale."We can't prohibit small-scale exports, but we have to increase monitoring to ensure equality among buyers to enhance our position in the industry," he said.According to a report of the Vietnam Pangasius Association, the Chinese market ac-counted for 6.4 per cent of the total export value of Vietnamese catfish in 2014 and 10.3 per cent in 2015,The figure increased to 17.8 per cent in 2016 and 23 per cent in 2017, making China the largest importer of catfish.The total export value of Vietnam's catfish in January reached $172.5 million, a year-on-year increase of 43.7 per cent, of which catfish exports to mainland China, Hong Kong and Asean countries increased sharply, while exports to the EU market contin-ued to decline.Ngo Quang Truong, director of Bien Dong Seafood Company, said that more empha-sis should be put on the US market since this would lead to other markets.bizhub.vn/news/catfish-sector-plans-2b-export-target-in-2018_293289.html

Vietnam targets 4.5 billion USD from farm produce exports by 2020


Vietnam's fruit and vegetable exports are expected to top 4.5 billion USD by 2020, with fruits accounting for 3.6 billion USD, according to the Crop Production Department.Vietnam's varied geographic and climatic conditions have allowed it to diversify its fruit and vegetable production, giving it great export potential, Nguyen Hong Son, di-rector of the department, told a recent seminar on the potential and development ori-entation of horticulture and floriculture in Vietnam.The fruit-tree-growing area, productivity and output have gone up significantly in the past 15 years. Banana is grown on the largest area followed by mango, longan, litchi, grapefruit, dragon fruit, pineapple, durian, lemon, rambutan, jackfruit, custard apple, tangerine, and guava.According to Son, 80 percent of the output is sold in the domestic market as fresh fruits mainly through traditional channels.Fruit and vegetable exports increased from 151.5 million USD in 2003 to 1.07 billion USD in 2013 and 3.52 billion USD last year, with fruit export accounting for 80 percent of total export.China is Vietnam's biggest importer (accounting for more than 70 percent of the latter's exports), followed by the US, the Republic of Korea, Japan, the Netherlands, Malaysia, Taiwan, Thailand, Singapore, and Australia.There are now "concentrated production areas" for mango, dragon fruit, litchi, grape, grapefruit and others as well as for flowers, many of which adopt good agricultural practices like VietGap and GlobalGap and advanced technologies to improve produc-tivity and quality.But fruit and vegetable farming still faces many problems like small scale and scattered cultivation, inconsistent quality, impacts of climate change, poor harvest and post-har-vest technologies, increasing competition in the global market and lack of linkages be-tween businesses and farmers."A lack of diversity in fruit exports (dragon fruit accounts for 60 percent of fruit ex-ports) and a reliance on the Chinese market is another problem," he said.Nguyen Huu Dat, general secretary of the Vietnam Fruits and Vegetables Association, said: "Demand for fresh fruits will continue to increase both in the domestic and over-seas markets."Challenges and difficulties would "force Vietnam's fruit and vegetable production sec-


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tor to improve quality, meaning they must ensure consistent quality and year-round supply and meet hygiene and food safety standards."Businesses must work to increase exports to fastidious markets and join hands for trade promotion in foreign markets to gradually penetrate distribution systems there, he said.He also said businesses needed to develop close links with farmers so that the latter grew products that met the demand in global markets.Fruit processingSon said the country had more than 145 industrial-scale vegetable and fruit processing plants with a total capacity of 800,000 tonnes a year besides thousands of smaller ones.The plants ran at just 50 percent of capacity due to a shortage of raw materials, he said.Matthias Ehrtmann, division managerfood and pharma machinery at Rieckermann, HCM City, said last year exports of fruits and vegetables exceeded even that of rice."The potential is tremendous."However, only about 10 percent of fruits and vegetables is actually processed into higher-value products," he said.Son said the country would continue to expand areas under key fruits like banana, mango, orange, pineapple, and longan to serve both exports and domestic consump-tion.It would focus on improving productivity and quality, reducing production costs, in-creasing the ratio of GAP-certified and organic products, and harvesting fruits around the year, he said.Increasing fruit processing to add value and building brands, geographic indication and exclusive rights for speciality fruits' brands were among the sector's other plans, he said.The country's fruit and vegetable exports accounted for less than 1 percent of the glo-bal trade in them, meaning there was great potential to increase their exports, he said.The seminar was held on the sidelines of the first International Exhibition & Confer-ence on Horticultural and Floricultural Production and Processing Technology at the Saigon Exhibition and Convention Centre from March 14-16.https://en.vietnamplus.vn/vietnam-targets-45 billion-usd-from-farm-produce-ex-ports-by-2020/128056.vnp

Prospects for Vietnam's agro-forestry-fishery exports

19/MAR/2018 INTELLASIA| VOV5

Vietnam's agro-forestry-fishery exports continue last year's growth. In the first 2 months of this year the sector earned $6.1 billion, up more than 30 percent from last year.According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Vietnam earned $419 million from rice export in the first 2 months of this year, 34 percent higher than last year. Other farm produce saw increases in both export volume and value, includ-ing coffee, tea, cashew nuts, vegetables, cassava, and cassava products.Vietnam earned $555 million from cashew nut exports and more than $670 million from vegetables and fruits.According to the IMF's Global Economic Outlook 2018, the global economy is likely to maintain a growth rate of 3 percent this year.The Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CP-TPP) will benefit Vietnam's exports of garments, textiles, leather footwear, and aquatic and agricultural products.But to increase exports, Vietnam needs to meet import standards set by CPTPP mem-ber countries and other demanding markets like the US, South Korea, and the EU.Nguyen Hoang Thuy, Trade Counsellor in Australia, said "We want to be regularly updated on the integration process of the domestic market and participate in meetings between the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and foreign partners on agro-forestry-fishery exports."In the sector's restructure plan until 2020, the Ministry will focus on improving pro-ductivity, quality, efficiency, and competitiveness of farm produce to achieve sustain-


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able growth.Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Xuan Cuong said, "We call for close coordination between Vietnam's ministries, agencies, and sectors and trade offices abroad to boost farm produce exports to wider markets."Vietnam's farm produce has been exported to 180 countries and territories around the world. Vietnam is among the world's 15 biggest agricultural exporters.In 2018, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development hopes to earn $41 billion in export turnover, of which the farming sector will contribute more than $21 billion, seafood about $9 billion, forestry products $8.5 billion, and other sectors $1.5 billion.http://english.vov.vn/economy/prospects-for-vietnams-agroforestryfishery-exports-370649.vov

Can Tho aims to lift fruit exports


Can Tho City has called on companies to strengthen cooperation with farmers for ex-porting fruits, especially the city's three key fruits of longan, star apple and mango.The Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta city grows 98,000 tonnes of fruits in more than 17,120ha of orchards, with mango accounting for 2,710ha, star apple for 1,324ha and longan for 1,838ha, according to its People's Committee.Dao Anh Dung, deputy chair of the committee, said the city would create optimal con-ditions for companies to collaborate with farmers to consume fruits domestically and export.It would establish fruit cooperatives which would collaborate with companies, he said.This year the city plans to export some longan, star apple and mango, he added.Nguyen Dinh Tung, general director of Vina T&T Import Export Service Trading Co Ltd said his HCM City-based company buys large volumes of fresh fruits from Can Tho for export, but from traders and not directly from farmers.For companies to offer guaranteed outlets for farmers, the latter need to sign agree-ments, he said.Le Van Thiet, deputy head of the Plant Protection Department, said the country's five major fruits dragon fruit, longan, mango, litchi, and star apple have been exported to several demanding markets such as the US, Chile, Japan and New Zealand.Vietnam has exported 230 tonnes of star apple to the US since the first batch was shipped last December, he said.It plans to export its first batch of mango to the US next month, he said.Can Tho has zoned areas such as the Cat Hoa Loc mango-growing area in Co Do Dis-trict and star apple-growing areas in Phong Dien and Binh Thuy districts.Phong Dien has more than 1,000ha under the fruit.The Truong Khuong A Hamlet Fruit Orchards Cooperative in Gia Xuan Commune and the Tan Hung Hamlet Star Apple Growing Club in Gia Xuan Commune account for more than 50ha of star apple in Phong Dien.Pham Thi Minh Hieu, head of the Can Tho City Plant Cultivation and Protection Sub-department, said the city has tied up with a fruit export company to guarantee outlets for the two, and it is inspecting their orchards.The sub-department would instruct members of the cooperative and club in farming techniques that meet export requirements, she said.Star apple has provided high incomes for farmers in Phong Dien.Tran Van Nhanh, who owns a 2ha star apple orchard and is a member of the Truong Khuong A Hamlet Fruit Orchards Cooperative, said he harvested more than 15 tonnes this year.At a price of VND25 million a tonne, he earned a profit of around VND300 million (US$13,200), he said.http://bizhub.vn/news/can-tho-aims-to-lift-fruit-exports_293288.html

Japanese firms face obstacles to food export to Vietnam

19/MAR/2018 INTELLASIA| THE SAIGON TIMES

Japanese companies have voiced their concern over difficulties in shipping their food products to Vietnam.


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At a meeting held by the HCM City office of the Japan External Trade Organisation on March 14, businesses said many regulations on chemicals for food production are un-clear.For certain kinds of product imported to Vietnam for the first time, companies are obliged to make compliance announcement procedures with the Vietnam Food Ad-ministration (VFA) under the health ministry.If not, the administration may frequently ask them to submit extra results of ingredient testing so that it can check the existence of special ingredients. Therefore, Japanese companies proposed the government release criteria for food testing.VFA deputy head Le Van Giang said the administration will acknowledge testing re-sults in Japan if companies obtain them from standard labs.The reason for imported products to be checked is that certain testing documents do not include all of Vietnam's required technical criteria, he explained.Meat and vegetable products are subject to animal and plant quarantine checks before they are shipped to Vietnam. In principle, animal quarantine checks are carried out for each import shipment, according to the Veterinary Law and the Law on Plant Protec-tion and Quarantine.Japanese companies complained vegetable and meat products take around four and seven days respectively for each quarantine. They stressed the situation has created a major obstacle for them to provide fresh products for Vietnamese consumers.Therefore, they suggested the government consider reducing the frequency of quaran-tine checks, and shortening the time for checks.Hoang Trung, head of the Plant Protection Department under the Ministry of Agricul-ture and Rural Development, said the procedure for checking vegetable products now lasts four hours at border gates, and 10 hours by air.Thus, he asked Japanese representatives to name the agencies that need four days to check vegetables, so that those violating the regulation can be handled.

Auto import surges suddenly early March


The import of automobiles surged suddenly early this month, according to the general Department of Customs (GDC).Statistics provided by the GDC showed that from March 2 to March 8, auto businesses registered to import 2,020 cars of all kinds to Vietnam, having a total value of $44.42 million, most of which were cars with nine seats or less.No cars with nine seats or more were imported.Most of the imported cars came from Thailand, the remaining from Japan, the United States and the United Kingdom. The vehicles were shipped through Hai Phong and Sai Gon ports.This has been a surprise for the car market in Vietnam after the number of vehicles im-ported was at a record low in the first two months of this year. Specifically, cars having less than nine seats only reached 18 units in January and 13 units in February, as auto importers failed to meet the demand of the government's Decree 116 dated on October 17 last year, which stipulates the conditions for production, assembly, import and business of automobiles, and their warranty and maintenance services.The import of cars increased in early this month, because the importers met the re-quirements of the Decree 116, especially the Vehicle Type Approval Certificate. Honda Vietnam is the first firm to import cars according to the decree's regulations, with near-ly 2,000 units, including Honda CR-V, Jazz, Civic and Accord originating from Thai-land. It is also the first batch of imported auto to enjoy 0 per cent import duty under the Asean Free Trade Agreement (Afta), which became effective from January 1, 2018.The sales of automobiles in February reached 12,394 units in the Vietnamese market, down 52 per cent against January and 29 per cent compared with the same period last year.Insiders said the decline of sales in February this year was normal because it coincides with the Lunar New Year holiday.http://english.vietnamnet.vn/fms/business/197372/auto-import-surges-suddenly-ear-


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Car import tariffs from Japan to Vietnam to be eliminated from 2029


Tariffs on motor vehicles imported from Japan to Vietnam will be slashed to zero from 2029 at the earliest.The tax exemption is part of the Trans-Pacific trade deal signed on March 8 between 11 member countries, including Japan and Vietnam. Industrial products will no longer be subject to trade tariffs between those countries as part of the pact.Vietnam will eliminate tariffs for cars with an engine capacity of over 3000cc 10 years after the CPTPP goes into effect, and the rest will follow suit thee years after that, said Luong Hoang Thai, director general of the Department of Multilateral Relations at the Ministry of Industry and Trade. The earliest date for the pact to come into effect for Vi-etnam is 2019.While the elimination of tariffs under the CPTPP has been widely regarded as a pow-erful signal against protectionism and trade wars, Vietnam has been known to raise other trade barriers to counter the loss it incurs from the elimination of import taxes.The most recent move was a decree designed to restrict the flow of foreign cars into the country following the abolition of tariffs at the start of the year on cars imported from Asean countries under the Asean Trade In Goods Agreement (ATIGA).The decree, which took effect in January, requires various registration and quality con-trol certificates from the country of origin for each imported automobile. It also re-quires importers to have one car from each batch shipped to Vietnam to go through emissions and safety tests.If imported cars cannot pass these requirements, they are instead left to gather dust in storage.Foreign firms like Ford and Toyota have expressed concerns about the new decree.CEO of Ford Vietnam Pham Van Dung said foreign authorities only provide quality assurance certificates for cars sold in their own countries, not for those that are export-ed. In Europe, some countries provide the certificates, but only for cars that reach the euro 6.0 emission standard, not for those that only meet the euro 4.0 standard used in Vietnam.As a result, it is very costly and complicated for traders to obtain the certificates, he said."Businesses may have to spend two months and up to $5,000-US$10,000 to complete the accreditation procedure," Dung added.Many Japanese auto manufacturers have decided to suspend exports to Vietnam fol-lowing the decree.After a two-month hiatus, earlier in March, Honda managed to complete the required paperwork to export the first batch of 2,000 passenger cars to Vietnam.The Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trade claims the regulation will protect con-sumers and create fair competition between local auto assemblers and CBU importers.Vietnam imported only 17 cars with less than nine seats in January this year, compared to 3,700 units in just a fortnight in January 2017. In total, the country imported 536 com-pletely built units (CBUs) between January and February, according to the general De-partment of Vietnam Customs.http://english.vov.vn/economy/car-import-tariffs-from-japan-to-vietnam-to-be-elimi-nated-from-2029-370650.vov

Safeguard tariffs on fertiliser imports hit farmers


Vietnam's safeguard tariffs on imports of diammonium phosphate (DAP) and monoammonium phosphate (MAP) fertiliser are delivering a blow to farmers as their farming costs are picking up.On March 2, the Ministry of Industry and Trade issued Decision 686/QD-BCT taking safeguard measures against DAP and MAP fertiliser imports, with effect from March 7, 2018. The safeguard tariffs are VND1.13 million (US$49.6) a tonne between March 7, 2018 and March 6, 2019, and a little more than VND1.07 million a tonne from March 7,


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2019 to March 6, 2020. They will be lowered to zero from March 7, 2020.Vu Duy Hai, general director of VINACAM JSC, told the Daily that the safeguard tar-iffs are aimed at reducing DAP and MAP fertiliser imports as fertiliser is now subject to an import tariff of 6 percent, which is applicable to those countries having no bilat-eral trade agreements with Vietnam.The decision is definitely sending fertiliser prices surging, Hai said.Le Quoc Phong, former chair and general director of Binh Dien Fertiliser JSC, said safe-guard measures should be taken when import prices are far lower local levels. He asked why the safeguard tariffs are levied on imported DAP fertiliser whose price is higher than the locally-made product.The high import and safeguard tariffs on DAP fertiliser will end up costing farmers, Phong noted.In Tien Giang Province, DAP fertiliser imported from Australia is currently sold at VND600,000 per bag of 50 kilograms, way above VND470,000 in the same period last year. Imported DAP fertiliser has also marked up by VND120,000-130,000 per 50 kilo-grams.Phong said the Ministry of Industry and Trade decision to slap the safeguard tariffs aims to protect local DAP fertiliser producers DAP Dinh Vu and DAP Lao Cai, which are under the management of the ministry.Hai said domestic DAP fertiliser producers will benefit the most from the high tariffs as they could raise selling prices to maximise profits, meaning farmers would have to spend more on DAP and MAP fertiliser.It is unfair for farmers to be forced to buy fertiliser at higher prices to save the loss-making DAP production plants after the government decided not to use the State budget to fund such projects any more.Phong proposed enhancing the quality of locally-made fertiliser products to keep pace with regional countries and China instead of imposing the safeguard duties.Hai attributed the ineffective operation of the two above-mentioned DAP fertiliser plants to poor investment and backward technology which result in poor quality prod-ucts.Hai suggested lifting the safeguard duties on DAP and MAP fertiliser products. Mean-while, fertiliser exporting countries might retaliate by taking the same measures against Vietnamese agricultural products.Thus, farmers will have to buy fertiliser at high prices while their farm produce may be sold at low prices, especially when China imports up to half of Vietnam's rice and Vietnam buys the most volume of fertiliser from the northern neighbour as well.http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/58809/Safeguard-tariffs-on-fertiliser-imports-hit-farmers.html

HCM City desires continued support from IMF

19/MAR/2018 INTELLASIA| VOV

HCM City wants the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to continue supporting it in dealing with issues related to urban development,Secretary of the HCM City Party Committee Nguyen Thien Nhan said at a March 16 reception for Alex Mourmouras, Chief of the IMF's Asia and Pacific Department.HCM City is in a fix to ensure capital resources for urban infrastructure building so it wants to get IMF assistance in holding seminars and studies pertainingto public-pri-vate partnership (PPP) as the private sector's engagement in transport infrastructure development is essential, Nhan told his guest.Regarding the plan to develop HCM City into a smart city and an economic-financial hub of the country and the region, he suggested the IFM provide consultancy and as-sistance for the city to work out a plan for building its financial centre, while sharing experience in mobilising resources from the private sector, businesses and scientists for its socio-economic development.In reply, Alex Mourmouras affirmed's IMF recognition of importance to cooperation with Vietnam, including HCM City, saying his organisation is ready to provide expert and technical support to help HCM City organise seminars and studies on urban trans-


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port infrastructure development, and address issues related to public investment, budget management, local income increase and State budget spending.Concerning HCM City's smart city building programme, the IFM official suggested the city and his organisation join hands with the State Bank of Vietnam, universities and institutes in holding workshops on high-quality human resources development, support for innovative startups, cyber security and impacts of automation on labour force and development of the economy.http://english.vov.vn/economy/hcm-city-desires-continued-support-from-imf-370630.vov

CIC: high deposit requirement makes investors afraid of buying SOE shares

19/MAR/2018 INTELLASIA| VNECONOMY

The State Capital Investment Corporation (SCIC) has sent official document to the prime minister on the results of the sale of 3.33 percent of Vinamilk's shares (VNM) and some other related issues.Regarding the results, SCIC has completed selling over 48.33 million VNM shares, equivalent to 3.33 percent of Vinamilk's charter capital at winning price of 186,000 dong per share, earning nearly nine trillion dong."The whole process of SCIC's divestment was done in a transparent and effective man-ner, in compliance with the regulations of the government", SCIC affirmed.SCIC also mentioned that from the successful divestment of 5.4 percent of Vinamilk's charter capital in 2016, the agency has actively reported and sent documents to consult the authorities for approval, guiding some relevant contents such as deposits, deposits in USD, performing the transfer through the Vietnam Securities Depository (VSD), al-lowing investors to extend the time of opening account and transaction code, and free of charge public offering, etc.As a result, 19 domestic and foreign investors participated with the registered volume being 1.53 times larger than offering volume, and the winning price was 24 percent higher than starting price.According to SCIC, the close collaboration with Vinamilk throughout the process is an important factor for the success of the offering. In addition, the coordination with the stock exchanges and securities companies, the implementation of roadshows, and con-nection with investors, etc. also helped SCIC to timely propose suitable options ac-cording to the latest developments.Nevertheless, SCIC believed that the implementation process still has some problems. The first problem is the short implementation time. "Within three months, SCIC had to undertake a huge amount of work, from selecting consulting unit of the sale of shares, introducing domestic and international investment opportunities, determination start-ing price of shares, establishing regulations on selling shares, announcing information on offering, and coordinating with competent agencies to build some new mecha-nisms, etc.", SCIC stressed.The second factor is about deposit requirement. SCIC said that since investors have to arrange a large amount of money for the share purchase, they are often hesitant when deciding to participate.Regarding the further plan, by 2020, Vinamilk is still the subject for the sale of State capital. SCIC has submitted the plan to the government for consideration, and direc-tion on the plan and roadmap in 2018 in order for the agency to build specific plan and submit the prime minister for consideration and decision.

E-commerce grows but taxes hard to collect19/Mar/2018 Intellasia| VNSExperts have recommended amending e-commerce regulations that would allow au-thorities to better manage and collect tax as well as develop the sector.Mach Thi Tuyet Mai from the general Department of Taxation's policy division, said: "We have encountered difficulties in tax collection."The issuance of business licenses for e-commerce firms remains confusing because some kinds of e-commerce are not included on the tax list. Therefore, it is hard for tax


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authorities to determine the appropriate tax collection form.Most businesses in Vietnam still use paper invoices, while some businesses have used e-invoices but do not have a system to connect with the tax agency.As a result, tax agencies found it hard to identify the revenue of these businesses, she told the Vietnam Online Business Forum held in HCM City on March 17."We are now conducting an electronic invoice project to submit to the government. The project will encourage all businesses to use e-invoices connected to tax agencies. This will make management easier and we will have to avoid using fake invoices," she said.Another issue is tax collection from cross-border service providers and organisations that have income in Vietnam, according to the official.The sale of products on Facebook, Zalo and websites has grown strongly, but sellers do not issue invoices and declare their revenue, leaving difficulties for tax agencies to collect tax.Nguyen Thanh Hung, deputy chair of the Vietnam E-Commerce Association, said that a number of significant issues in public administration occurred last year.He said that it was time for policy and law makers to create a more favourable macr-oeconomic environment for e-commerce to develop.The challenges for policymakers are clearly very different from than those in previous years, according to Hung.Since e-transactions are now commonly used, direct participation of most government departments in developing e-commerce policies and laws is needed."Along with development technology, many new and different kinds of businesses are based on cloud computing, mobile technology, big data, social networks, the Internet of Things, and blockchain technology," he said, adding that these are all available in the country.He said Vietnam should urgently promote research on and application of blockchain technology, and at the same time, should not manage virtual currencies simply by pro-hibiting and then punishing violators.Virtual currencies should be controlled under methods that are in line with the market economy during the interim period as the business community waits for new legal documents on management of virtual assets and digital and virtual currencies, Hung added.At the same time, accepting the experimental use of cryptocurrency in a few interna-tional transactions might be a careful but advantageous approach for the policy amendment process, he said."If organisations and enterprises do not participate, they may become too slow in con-ducting research about and investing in blockchain applications, and Vietnam could be quickly left behind if cryptocurrency becomes a significant payment method for e-commerce.""In addition, Vietnam needs to conduct research on the benefits of the sharing econo-my and make appropriate policies to encourage enterprises as well as other organisa-tions to provide such services for the common purpose of raising socio-economic efficiency," he said.Last year, the Ministry of Finance made public a draft of a proposal submitted to the government to amend the Law on Tax Administration, which calls the law to be sim-ple, clear, transparent, convenient and systematic.The proposal, which requires the use of international standards, electronic tax admin-istration, and a more favourable environment for taxpayers, was an important first step in tax administration for e-commerce.http://bizhub.vn/tech/e-commerce-grows-but-taxes-hard-to-collect_293277.html

Compulsory social insurance for foreign workers leads to double taxation


A Vietnamese regulation that forces foreign workers to contribute social insurance here will result in additional costs for employees and employers, and double taxation of income, said the European Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam (Eurocham) in the White Book 2018.


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The 2014 Law on Social Insurance stipulates that foreign nationals who have work per-mits, or practicing certificates or licenses in Vietnam are subject to compulsory social insurance contributions as from January 1, 2018.According to a draft government decree on compulsory social insurance for foreigners working in Vietnam, foreign workers will have to take part in all the five social insur-ance regimes pension and insurance for sickness, maternity, occupational accidents, retirement and death.The draft decree provides two options. All of the insurance regimes will be applicable from January 1, 2018. Or else, the regimes for sickness, maternity and occupational ac-cidents will be made compulsory from January 1, 2018 and the remainder from Janu-ary 1, 2020.Eurocham said there are still many impractical provisions in the draft decree.According to Eurocham, a certain number of foreign workers in Vietnam still maintain social security contributions in their home countries or enter the voluntary health care programmes. For such cases, the contribution to statutory social and health insurance will result in additional costs for employees and employers."Vietnam has not signed any bilateral agreements on social insurance with other coun-tries. The enforcement of contributing to health insurance for foreign nationals with-out signing the totalisation agreement with any countries shall result in double taxation of income with respect to social security taxes," said Eurocham in the White Book.In addition, the regimes for retirement and death are unnecessary for foreigners who mainly work in Vietnam for short terms.According to the draft decree, foreign workers can ask for one-time social insurance returns before they go back home.However, the procedures may be time-consuming, resulting in additional costs for all related parties. This will reduce the regional competitiveness of Vietnam, which al-ready has the highest social insurance contribution rate in Southeast Asia.Eurocham suggested that contribution to social insurance for non-Vietnamese em-ployees should be optional for cases where foreign nationals working in Vietnam can prove that they are maintaining a private health care programme or the continuance of social security in their home countries.The government of Vietnam should consider signing totalisation agreements with sev-eral nations for the purpose of avoiding double taxation of income with respect to so-cial security taxes.There should be an accountable legal framework and a transparent policy on the enti-tlement to social insurance benefits when these workers go back home after the com-pletion of a Vietnam assignment.english.thesaigontimes.vn/58804/Compulsory-social-insurance-for-foreign-workers-leads-to-double-taxation.html

Q1 workforce up by 150,000


Vietnam expects to have a total of 54.2 million people in the workforce in the first quar-ter of 2018, up 150,000 from last year's final quarter, according to the Ministry of La-bour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MoLISA).The ministry announced its quarterly updates on the country's labour market, Report No.16 for the fourth quarter of 2017 in Hanoi on March 15.Vietnam posted the economic growth of 7.7 percent in the last quarter, the strongest in many years, which together with increases in newly-registered firms and operating businesses boosted the number of people in work and cut unemployment, said direc-tor general of the MoLISA's Institute of Labour Science and Social Affairs Dao Quang Vinh.Several industries are forecast to experience high growth this quarter, including man-ufacturing of electronic components, computers and optical products, ore mining, metal production, furniture and wastewater treatment, enhancing labour demand.The number of employed people hit 54.05 million in the fourth quarter of 2017, up 0.53


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percent from the previous quarter and 1.21 percent year-on-year. The highest growth was recorded in manufacturing with an increase of 226,000 people, followed by con-struction, logistics and automotive repair and maintenance service industries.Meanwhile, the number of people working in the agriculture, forestry and fisheries saw the largest decline of 698,000 people from the same period of 2016.The number of unemployed was estimated at 749,000 people, up 6,700 from the third quarter of 2017 and unchanged year-on-year.https://en.vietnamplus.vn/q1-workforce-up-by-150000/127978.vnp

Where will Vietnamese brands go?

19/MAR/2018 INTELLASIA| SGDT

According to statistics from Hanoi Stock Exchange (HNX), in the first two months of the year, HNX held the first sale of shares in four companies: Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical Co., Ltd, Vietnam Oil Corporation, PetroVietnam Power Corporation (PV Power), Vietnam Rubber Industry Group.The total IPO value of the four aforementioned units was nearly 18 trillion dong. One of the highlights was the IPO of more than 468.37 million shares of the parent company PV Power which sold out 100 percent of the shares to 1,928 investors, earning more than 6.996 trillion dong.The equity surplus was 2.312 trillion dong (a difference of more than 251.9 billion dong from the initial price). Especially, the winning volume of foreign investors amounted to 284.44 million shares, equal to 61 percent of the total winning shares.It is impossible to deny the interest of foreign investors in purchasing shares of Viet-namese businesses. Statistics from the Ministry of Planning and Investment shows that in the first two months of the year, the country had 873 turns of capital contribution with the total value of more than $1.2 billion, up 102.5 percent year-on-year. That is not to mention the fact that foreign investors have consecutively poured capital in the share purchase transaction of businesses on the bourse.But, the share purchase of foreign investors over the last period is worth pondering. For example, Vietnam Beverage Co., Ltd, in which Thai Beverage (ThaiBev) whose 49 percent stake are owned by Thai billionaire Charoen Sirivadhanabhak, purchased nearly all of the entire more than 343 million shares of Saigon Alcohol and Beverage Corporation (Sabeco), equal to 54 percent stake (about $4.8 billion). This also means that Thais have held 54 percent stake of the company that accounts for the largest mar-ket share in Vietnam.Or recently, on March 9, Nawaplastica subsidiary of SCG Group of Thailandalso com-pleted the acquisition of Binh Minh Plastics (BMP). After participating in the share purchase auction, Nawaplastic raised its chartered capital from 20.4 percent to 49.92 percent.In fact, SCG has an ambition to build a value chain in Vietnam plastic industry because this group owns Tien Phong Plastics (TPC) Vietnam, a plastic pellet manufacturer with the best distribution network in Vietnam. BMP, the company holding 50 percent of the southern market, will be a good choice for this ambition of SCG. These are just two of many examples of many big Vietnamese brands falling into foreign investors' hands.The policy of withdrawing the entire state capital in businesses that are considered as the chicken laying golden eggs such as Sabeco, Hanoi BeerAlcoholBeverage Corpora-tion (Habeco), Vietnam Dairy Products Joint Stock Company (Vinamilk), Binh Minh Plastics, etc. are really hot information in the regional M&A market.The State will gradually withdraw its capital from non-core sectors, so that other eco-nomic sectors can participate. All potential investors regardless of domestic and for-eign ones have many opportunities to contribute capital and purchase shares in Vietnamese businesses that they once dreamt about.However, the strong participation of foreign investors brings about the question: Where will Vietnamese brands go? Meanwhile, if referring to Korea people will imme-diately think of such brands as Samsung, LG, Hyundai, or Toyota, Sony, Panasonic, Canon for Japan.There are many reasons for the State to divest or domestic businesses to sell shares in


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large proportion to foreign investors. They are poor governance, ineffective business operations of state-owned enterprises; lack of potentials, inactiveness of input materi-als, etc.The participation of a certain percentage of foreign investors will help equitised busi-nesses acquire advanced business resources, and increase competitiveness.However, it is clear that the ownership of foreign investors over a series of big brands also raises a lot of concerns about the possibility of losing market shares in many sec-tors.Or, according to Prof Tran Van Tho, Waseda Tokyo University, Equitisation of state-owned enterprises is necessary, but implementation needs to consider foreign factors, sometimes there needs to slow down or to support so that domestic businesses can ac-tively involve in.

Co-living to be new residential trend in Vietnam?


Apart from co-working spaces which have already taken root in Vietnam, the market is now expected to receive the co-living trenda new trend of sharing living space.According to CBRE Vietnam, co-living is a new trend in the world, where people share their modern living space."This type is expected to approach the Vietnamese market in the next several years, when co-working spaces are more developed," said Dung Duong, senior director of CBRE Vietnam.Meanwhile, JLL also stated that millennials in Asia are now sharing more than work space and transport. They have turned to living together in a new form of shared hous-ing where residents have common interests and lifestyles.JLL said that co-living is gaining traction in Asia, particularly in markets like Hong Kong and greater China, where housing affordability is a concern."While flat-sharing among students and young professionals is popular in many coun-tries, what differentiates co-living spaces is they are professionally managed rather than informally arranged," said Denis Ma, head of Research at JLL Hong Kong.Most operators highlight the community aspects of the service, which may range from yoga classes, film screenings, as well as meals and free drinks to networking events with guest speakers and workshops tailored to the specific interests of residents."To those locked out of the residential market, the arrival of co-living offers an afford-able solution to their needs: an alternative to staying in the family home, sharing a rental unit, or living in a subdivided flat," Ma added.Co-living has appeared in a range of countries such as China, Hong Kong, Singapore, India, and the next step might very well be Vietnam.Bolstered by high barriers to homeownership and a shortage in housing supply, the co-living market is proving to be attractive to investors and owners of existing proper-ties, particularly in the hospitality sector.Smaller budget and boutique hotels are one of the first property types being converted into co-living spaces due to similar unit sizes and mature operating teams. However, converting other properties to co-living has to go through a complicated legal and planning process, which increases the time and cost.This is a generation which grew up with technology, social media, and the sharing economy. They are highly adaptable and much more willing to share facilities. For one, a pantry is a working area and a networking spot, while a lobby can double up as a yoga space. They are not fond of cookie-cutter, one-size-fits-all approaches.Having one's own apartment is not only about retiring to one's personal space: instead, it is a social activity where they can hang out with like-minded friends.And so it is no surprise that co-living, defined as a modern, urban type of accommo-dation with shared living spaces, is beginning to gain traction.http://english.vov.vn/economy/coliving-to-be-new-residential-trend-in-vietnam-370690.vov


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Condotel business sees high growth on back of tourism


During the first few months of 2018, the market has witnessed a notable number of new condotel launches.According to Stephen Wyatt, country director of JLL Vietnam, the development of con-dotels depends heavily on the demand for accommodation by tourists. Hence, an in-crease in this demand will have positive impacts on this product type.According to Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, international visitors to Vietnam in 2017 reached nearly 13 million, up 29.1 per cent year-on-year.The tourism market is still focusing on several major tourist destinations such as HCM City, Hanoi, Danang, Nha Trang, and Phu Quoc."In addition, according to the Tourism Law 2017 approved by the National Assembly, tourism is designated to become a key economic sector in the future which will create momentum for hospitality real estate thanks to supporting policies and investment in-centives," said Wyatt.He added that holding regional and international conferences helps to promote the tourism industry.For instance, Apec 2017 in Danang has facilitated the city to improve its tourism infra-structure as well as attract the attention of visitors and investors from around the world. This event is considered an important turning point and a powerful lever for the future tourism development of the city.2018 is expected to be another exciting year for the hospitality real estate sector as in-vestors introduce their projects to capture increasing tourism in the near future.Condotel has grown in most of the key tourism destinations in Vietnam. However, large markets such as Danang and Nha Trang still have a lot of potential for tourism development in general and hospitality real estate in particular.With the aforementioned potential for tourism development, it is necessary for both developers and investors to carefully consider factors such as service quality, business strategy, as well as guaranteed yield programmes in order to adapt to the continuously developing market, increasing customer expectations, and tightening legal frame-work."Whether there is oversupply in the condotel market will depend on the development of tourism in future. At the moment, tourism is a very promising sector thanks to gov-ernment support commitments," Wyatt said.http://english.vietnamnet.vn/fms/business/197189/condotel-business-sees-high-growth-on-back-of-tourism.html

Smart house of the future


In the whirlwind of Industry 4.0, the adoption of smart home application attracts great attention from users in Vietnam. Duc Thanh provides an insight into the matter.Today's smart home applications elicit a similar craze like the stylish motorcycles, cars or smartphones ten years agoTechnology giants carry the torchSmart house of the future, vietnam economy, business news, vn news, vietnamnet bridge, english news, Vietnam news, news Vietnam, vietnamnet news, vn news, Viet-nam net news, Vietnam latest news, Vietnam breaking newsThe development of smart homes is an indispensable trend of the global real estate market and a fertile ground for big tech firms. Most of the leading names in the indus-try are participating in this field, including Google, Samsung, Microsoft, and Apple, just to name a few, through mergers and acquisitions or the self-development of smart home solutions.For example, Google acquired Nest Labs (the maker of high-tech thermostats and smoke detectors), Apple introduced the HomeKit smart home application develop-ment platform, and Samsung launched its closed smart home system integrated into other products of the company.Moreover, there are some highly reputable smart home brands worldwide, such as Schneider (France), Honeywell (the US), Legrand (France), Bticino (Italy), and


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WattStopper (the US). These are the pioneers in the field of smart home development around the worldand many of them have established affiliates in Vietnam.Positive signsWhile commenting on the prospects of smart home development in Vietnam, Lieu Nguyen, president's liaison to Vietnam for the National Association of Realtors, said that the development trends of real estate projects in the world in general and Vietnam in particular will be largely driven by the application of smart technologies. The world will see the emergence of more and more smart cities, an indispensable element of which is smart homes.Sharing his opinion, Nguyen Thu Trang, representative of Arkos Smarthome, said that Vietnamese real estate developers are now more proactive in integrating smart home technology into their projects.Similarly, Mai Trang Thanh, president of Honeywell Indochina, one of the global lead-ing businesses in smart home development, said: "We have received very positive feedbacks from Vietnamese customers about the economic benefits and efficiency that smart home technology and services have been bringing to several projects."According to Thanh, Honeywell now owns technologies that are being applied in more than 150 million homes and more than 10 million buildings in the world. The firm is also developing long-term plans for the Vietnamese market, particularly the smart home segment.Following this trend, in Vietnam, Bkav Corporation is one of the first to launch smart home products. Do Thi Thu Hang, director of Communication at Bkav Corporation, said that Bkav SmartHome has deployed nearly 60 projects in and outside the country. The most recent projects are Ecolife Capitol in Hanoi, Hanoi Landmark 51, and Con-dotel Royal Park Bac Ninh.Domestic enterprises join the frayWith its tremendous potential, the smart home market is not only a playground for in-ternational technology giants and has attracted many Vietnamese enterprises to par-ticipate in the field. In addition to Bkav, producers of "made-in-Vietnam" smart home applications also include FPT and Lumi Vietnam Smart House JSC.Nguyen Duc Tai, CEO of Lumi Vietnam, said that the company has been established for six years, but mainly focused on conducting research on products and potential market over the first three years."We have tried to learn from the equipment and solutions of the world's leading busi-nesses. We then carry out improvements and adjustments in the products to make them better suited for the Vietnamese market. In the past three years, we have focused more on providing solutions and equipment," Tai said.He also revealed that 100 per cent of the solutions are self-developed. Up to now, the company still concentrates on big cities like Hanoi and HCM City, which account for 60 per cent of total sales.Apart from providing smart home solutions for domestic customers, Lumi Vietnam also exports products to foreign countries, such as India, Thailand, Australia, and Bra-zil. It is expected that in 2018, the company will expand its export markets to other countries like Malaysia or Indonesia.Tai said that while in 2017, export sales brought in only half of the revenue from the domestic market, the business expects to increase its export market share to be at least as large as its domestic market share in 2018.Regarding Bkav, after focusing on high-end products, recently, the corporation has started paying more attention to the mid-range segment and export markets.Hang said: "Right from the beginning, in order to affirm our capabilities as well as to reinforce Vietnam's technological position, we have been looking to make products of the highest standards by applying state-of-the-art technology. Bkav SmartHome is the latest smart home system in the world. However, to bring this product to more con-sumers, besides Bkav SmartHome Luxury, we offer the Bkav SmartHome Premium package at a more affordable price for the majority of customers. Bkav SmartHome is becoming popular in Vietnam."


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Hang added that besides product diversification, the corporation is also operating oth-er smart home projects in Europe, Singapore, India, and Myanmar and continues to search for other export markets.Long road aheadAlthough the market has witnessed many positive developments, it is not a simple thing to boost the smart home movement in Vietnam. Many smart home solutions have been applied in some real estate projects in Vietnam, but this is only to "pave the way." It is estimated that it might take about 3-5 years for this innovation to grow stronger.Tai said that currently, investors also pay more attention to smart homes. They want their products to contain higher added values, thereby offering high-end solutions and equipment, including solutions for smart homes. However, the smart home market in Vietnam remains quite premature."According to our survey, only 10-12 per cent of target customers have heard about the concept of smart homes, and over 80 per cent have not shown any particular interest in the idea. Therefore, it should take several years to orientate and raise awareness about smart homes among potential users. It can be said that today's smart home ap-plications are quite similar to the dream of motorcycles, cars or smartphones of about 10 years ago," Tai said.As the market is still in the early stage of paving the way for further development, in-vestors and customers mainly choose basic solutions, such as a management system for air conditioning, lighting, and electricity. Newly designed apartments with open-concept layouts are also becoming more prevalent.This is the first phase for customers to become familiar with smart home applications. After they have established their needs, more advanced and specialised solutions might be integrated with the existing ones.According to experts, for the practical deployment of smart home technology, the cost largely depends on the categories and frequency of application. For local businesses, the price of a basic package can hover around VND10-60 million ($440-2630) per build-ing. Meanwhile, to own a smart home with out-of-the-box solutions and equipment, experts estimate that the lowest cost might be $25,000 (about VND600 million).Despite prices getting lower, customers still have major concerns about the quality of domestic smart home products since most brands have not been tested much. On the other hand, a small obstacle for foreign smart home solutions is that they are not really compatible with the infrastructure and the development of the construction sector in Vietnam.http://english.vietnamnet.vn/fms/business/197188/smart-house-of-the-future.html

Diversifying investment capital in the real estate sector


It was forecast that the capital inflows into the Vietnamese real estate sector would continue to go up this year.Paring down dependence on creditIt was forecast that the capital inflows into the Vietnamese real estate sector would continue to go up this year, thanks to positive signs from commercial banks as well as individuals and foreign investors.Contrary to the public's unease regarding real estate investment, capital streaming into real estate in 2017 surpassed 2016. The most positive sign is that the new capital origi-nates from various sources rather than just from commercial banks like before. Con-sumer loans flow into real estateAlthough real estate credit vastly diminished from 12.5 per cent in 2016 to 6 per cent in 2017, the ratio of real estate/construction credit over total outstanding loans saw lit-tle reduction, falling from 17.1 per cent in 2016 to 15.8 per cent in 2017.Nevertheless, consumer credit growth in 2017 shot up to 65 per cent, levelling up the ratio of consumer credit in total credit to 18 per cent in 2017 against the 12.3 per cent in 2016.Particularly, consumer lending for home purchases and refurbishments grew at the


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most rapid rate and accounted for the largest proportion with 52.9 per cent in 2017. As a result, total credit for the real estate sector in 2017 has exceeded 2016.Foreign investment influxDuring 2016-2017, Vietnam witnessed a sharp increase in the volume of foreign invest-ment flowing into the real estate sector. Specifically, foreign direct investment (FDI) streaming into real estate was equivalent to 8.5 per cent of the total registered capital, mounting to $3.05 billion in 2017 ($1 billion in 2016), which ranked third among all in-dustries.In 2017, an impressive number of prestigious foreign firms partook in Vietnam's in-vestment activities through partnerships or mergers and acquisitions (M&A). This in-cludes Japan's Mitsubishi investing $630 million in Phuc Khang Construction and Investment Corporation as well as Nishi Nippon Railroad and Hankyu Realty from Ja-pan teaming up with Nam Long Group to develop the apartment and condominium complex called Mizuki Park, situated in HCM City's Binh Chanh District, with total in-vestment capital of $350 million.Developers on track to mobilise capitalAlong with the revival of the real estate market in the 2014-2017 period and the upturn of the stock market in 2017, real estate developers managed to decrease their inventory value by a considerable amount over the last 12 months.Furthermore, the country's total real estate inventory value shrank by 17 per cent, to VND25.7 trillion ($1.1 billion) in 2017. Real estate firms, especially listed ones, saw a hike in charter capital.In 2017, the charter capital of the ten listed real estate developers reached VND6.094 trillion ($268.4 million), which advanced the total figure to approximately VND21.549 trillion ($950 million) over the course of 2015-2017, further luring capital into the real estate sector last year.Rosy forecasts for 2018Capital into the real estate market largely comes in the form of loans provided by com-mercial banks. There are concerns that the capital for Vietnam's property market may decrease in 2018 as banks were required to downsize the proportion of medium- to long-term lending to 45 per cent in 2018 and 40 per cent in 2019.Nevertheless, commercial banks are expected to dodge the feared reduction of real es-tate loans thanks to the healthy growth rate of consumer credit. Besides, the strong growth of the stock market would diversify the sources of capital for real estate devel-opers. For instance, they can raise capital from domestic and foreign investors for their upcoming projects.A substantial number of individual investors still regard the real estate sector as their preferred investment channel. Gold prices are expected to level out in 2018, which can prompt individual investors to seek profit from real estate projects.Real estate is also expected to continue to appeal to foreign investors, due to the stabil-ity of the VND and the rapid growth of the Vietnamese economy.However, the real estate market might still need to cope with several risks, including a potential downturn of the demand from speculative real estate investment due to the fairly high cost of real estate over the past four years. This would pose a challenge to individuals who buy real estate for residential purposes, as they have to endure price bubble created by speculation.http://english.vietnamnet.vn/fms/business/196654/diversifying-investment-capital-in-the-real-estate-sector.html

Retail model under conversion in Vietnam

19/MAR/2018 INTELLASIA| SGGP NEWS

After two decades of investing in Vietnam, Parkson system has continuously an-nounced operation stop of some four trade centers in Vietnam.Meantime, convenience stores and some other retail models such as shopping mall and Omni-channel have strongly developed.On January 2, 2015, Parkson Hanoi Co Ltd suddenly shut down Parkson Landmark Keangnam trade centre because it failed to get the revenue as planned after three years


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of operation. Other Parkson trade centers also closed down including Parkson Para-gon in District 7, HCM City and Parkson Viet Tower in Hanoi in May and December, 2016.Recently Parkson Flemington has closed down after eight years of operation in District 11, HCM City. One of reasons for the shutdown is declining sales.At present, only four Parkson trade centers are still running in HCM City including Parkson Le Thanh Ton, CT Plaza, Cantavil and Hung Vuong. The system has no longer been present in Hanoi.During nearly two decades of operation in Vietnam, Parkson with the trading model of department store has bridged hundreds of global brand names and Vietnamese con-sumers.Since 2011, the situation has changed as Vietnam started opening the door according to WTO commitments and the retail field boomed with the severe competition from many large brand names in the region.Parkson trade centre shutdown marked an important conversion of retail model being decided by consumers' behavior. Department store has become weak in the world.Some opinions said that the recession has not only occurred in the model of depart-ment store but also spread to some traditional trading channels such as supermarkets. A number of supermarket systems have seemed to meet with difficulties with appar-ently down sales.Mini supermarkets and convenience stores open 24/7 have attracted lot of consumers. That has prompted supermarkets to upgrade to meet diversified shopping demand in long term.Time of convenienceConvenience stores supplying food and necessary goods have attracted lot of consum-ers. Asides from that shopping mall and Omni-channel have strongly developed and been chosen by many families in large cities with advantages of large areas and multi-function from shopping to amusement.Of investors, Vingroup real estate developer owning many good premises has risen to adjust the playing ground of modern retail in Vietnam.After three years of coming into operation, VinMart supermarket system and Vin-Mart+ chain were ranked fourth in the list of ten prestigious retailers in 2017 according to statistics by Vietnam Report.Currently, Vingroup owns nearly 70 VinMart supermarkets and about 1,000 VinMart+ stores in nearly 30 provinces and cities nationwide with the total trading area of over 300,000 squares meters together with a chain of shopping malls for consumers to do shopping and entertain themselves.Saigon Union of Trading Cooperatives (Saigon Co.op) has focused on investing in Co.opmart supermarkets, Co.op Food and Co.op Smile stores and Sense City trade centre. The union has also worked with some foreign partners to speed up modern trading models such as Omni-Channel, shopping mall and mega supermarkets.Saigon Trading Corporation (Satra) has also fast developed Satrafood convenient stores and Satramart supermarkets.Last year, Vietnam's retail sales approximated $129 billion, up 11 percent over 2016. That was a rather high growth rate compared to nations in the region. Vietnam's retail market is estimated to have big potential with population nearing 100 million people. Of these, 70 percent are in labour age and 34 percent lives in urban areas. GDP per cap-ita approximates $2,385 increasing 10 percent.Hanoi and HCM City are two most developed cities but retail density there is very low compared to big cities in the world so there is much potential for investment and de-velopment.The phase of 2018-2012 is considered to be golden time for the retail market to grow and meet the strong development of amusement demand, modern grocery and fash-ion. Other services such as gym, fitness centers and cinemas are predicted to expand with higher standards.Foreign sector broadens invesment


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Foreign investors such as Thai TCC Group and Central Group; Singaporean Mapple Tree and Kepple Land; Korean Lotte and Emart; Japanese Aeon and Takashimaya have planned to strongly invest in Vietnam to wait in front for the development trend of the retail sector.Their attendance is expected to contribute in boosting the dynamic of the market and bring domestic consumers more professional products and services through Merger and Acquisition activities and other cooperation deals.Experts said that foreign sector has many strengths from capital to experience. They now account for 59 percent of modern retail sales. In the field of convenience stores, foreign retailers such as Circle K, Shop & Go, B's Mart, Family Mart and Ministop are leading the market with the store number growth rate reaching 260 percent a year.http://english.vov.vn/economy/retail-model-under-conversion-in-vietnam-370588.vov

Changing customer habits bring online retail to fore


As global brands are scaling up efforts to promote online sales and avail themselves of traditional retail outlets, to garner similar benefits, trade centres need to be flexible to keep up with customers' fast changing appetite.New consumption habitsLike most other friends of her age, 25-year old Hoang Thuy is tech-savvy and always carries a smartphone on her. Besides the time dealing with her work, Thuy said shop-ping online is her favourite hobby."In my spare time, I browse through all sorts of ads on Facebook, Zalo, and other on-line newspapers to keep myself updated with the latest trends in fashion and lifestyle," Thuy said.Working for a foreign company with a monthly income of around $2,000, each month Thuy spends about VND10 million ($450) buying fashion products from clothing, glasses, to footwear and other accessories whenever there are appealing sales promo-tions from famous brands like Mango, Zara or Gap.Before placing an online order, Thuy gathers all information about the product from both online and offline channels. Especially, she and several other friends will look up comments about the product from diverse social sites and even visit shops to check the product's quality before making a purchase on online shopping platforms."Pricing is important. I often hunt for product discounts and promotion programmes. The available smartphone apps help me find the best price for products," she noted.Tech-savvy consumers aged between 21-35 like Thuy who earn relatively high in-comes and are willing to spend are expected to create sweeping changes in the domes-tic retail market scene in the coming years.They are the target customers for retailers as Vietnam is home to about 94 million peo-ple, 65 per cent of whom are young. These customers mainly carry out transactions through smartphones. In emerging markets like Vietnam, smartphones are the main devices allowing users to surf the Internet anywhere and anytime.Not only that, consumers today can place orders to buy fresh products during the day through a slew of new services. Registration procedures are very simple. One of the most useful services for busy people is to pre-order a service, such as a meal or grocery shopping, to wait at their convenience.For registration, you only need to directly contact the specialised service provider through an electronic device, such as a smartphone or a laptop.Online and multi-channel shopping have become increasingly popular among con-sumers in Vietnam and the Asia-Pacific region. The sales of 'private retail' goods brought from foreign countries has also increased rapidly in the country.Some years ago, 'private retail' goods or buying products directly from global online trading platforms were not popular in Vietnam. Now, the service is favoured by young tech-savvy customers.Race to match changing appetitesShopping centres and supermarkets are facing growing challenges from the booming


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development of multi-channel retailers, as well as heated competition from traditional retail outlets. Retailers not only compete for good places, but also in terms of new serv-ice technology.Customers' shopping habits have been changing swiftly. As technology is evolving quickly, more and more new services have been put in place to scale up customers' convenience.Big retailers like Vincom, Lotte, AEON or Saigon Co.op have launched online selling on their websites with alluring promotions to attract buyers.With the Vincom shopping mall brand, Vingroup now possesses the largest retail space for lease in Vietnam. It currently operates an extensive system of 46 shopping centres in 22 cities and provinces nationwide. This year, Vingroup is set to open 50 cen-tres more to boost its presence.Vincom seems to be the top choice for global brands when penetrating the Vietnamese retail market. Reacting to the vigorous development of e-commerce, Vingroup plunged into the field nearly four years ago by forming VinE-com Ltd, and positioned the new field as its spearhead sector in the future. It has also established online trading floor adayroi.com. Vingroup's strong investment into e-commerce aims to turn VinE-com into a heavyweight rivalling Lazada, the largest e-commerce website in Southeast Asia.According to an adayroi.com representative, apart from selling products made by Vin-group's members (Vinmec, Vinpearl, VinMart, VinEco, VinPro, and VinDS), the site has joined hands with reputed suppliers present on the shelves at Vincom shopping centres to bring their products online.Last year, electronics items and motorised vehicles brought adayroi.com the highest revenue, whereas consumer goods reported the largest order volumes.Significantly, adayroi.com is also the single unit selling cars and motorbikes online, as well as the exclusive distributor of Vinmec hospital product packages. Entertainment services have also reported a sharp growth as it offers vouchers for Vingroup's best re-sorts at competitive pricing.AEON Mall, a member of Japan's AEON Group and specialised in developing shop-ping malls, is growing its presence in Vietnam with four operating shopping malls in Hanoi, HCM City, and the southern province of Binh Duong. It will open two more malls in Hanoi and the northern port city of Hai Phong. Its target is to have 20 shop-ping centres in Vietnam by 2025.To catch up with the current online shopping spree in Vietnam, early last year AEON Vietnam, also an AEON Group's subsidiary, launched e-commerce site AeonEshop to sell Japanese and local goods. The birth of AeonEshop has contributed to alleviating Vietnamese customers' thirst for quality Japanese products. Most of the projects on the shelves at Aeon supermarkets are available for sale at AeonEshop, and the several hundred products under the Topvalu brand (AEON's own brand) have been continu-ously updated.The products earmarked to mothers and new-borns have been praised by customers for their high quality. In the coming time, AeonEshop will be expanding to other cities and provinces, and aims for nationwide distribution in the not-so-distant future.South Korean retail giant Lotte Group has set to open 60 trade centres in Vietnam by 2020. In late 2016, the group opened e-commerce site Lotte.vn for online sales to meet growing customer demand.According to Lotte.vn Marketing and Sales director Moon Jung Soon, the company will support three options (web, mobile web, and app) to ease shopping experience for customers. Customers can place orders on mobile devices or computers anywhere with a couple of simple clicks and taps.Long-term commitmentAfter more than nine months of operating in the Vietnamese market, Lotte.vn reported reaching the one million order benchmark last year. The company has injected $25 mil-lion into e-commerce market development. According to Soon, the company's invest-ment into e-commerce will jump to about $100 million per year by 2020.


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Meanwhile, last year marked spectacular growth for Vingroup's adayroi.com as the site's total order volume doubled and transaction value quadrupled compared to 2016. Adayroi.com also topped the market in customer satisfaction. The site is stepping up efforts to attract reputed brands while boosting its logistics system to create distinct advantages.Though the Vietnamese e-commerce market has the potential for robust development, it has yet to garner customers' trust as dispute cases related to online transactions have become commonplace in recent years. The main causes are quality and delivery.According to analysts, trade centre operators must pay attention to bringing customers unique experiences as competition does not revolve around pricing anymore. They were even told to cut down on the number of trade centres and focus on quality. Mod-ernising online trading platforms is also suggested to enrich customers' shopping ex-perience.http://english.vietnamnet.vn/fms/business/197174/changing-customer-habits-bring-online-retail-to-fore.html

Online retail market may fall into Chinese hands: experts

19/MAR/2018 INTELLASIA| VIETNAMNET

Three giant e-commerce corporations, Alibaba, Tencent and JD.com of China, have ar-rived in Vietnam.There are no official figures about e-commerce market share for the last two years. However, Lazada was considered the leader with 30 percent of market share.Alibaba in mid-2016 spent $1 billion to acquire 51 percent of Lazada, which was called South East Asia's Amazon.In mid-2017, Alibaba poured another $1 billion into Lazada to raise its ownership ratio to 83 percent.Meanwhile, JD.com in late 2017 injected money into Tiki, and Tencent, a Chinese tech-nology group in the world's top 10, a big shareholder of Shopee.According to Google, Lazada, Shopee and Tiki are three of the four most searched e-commerce websites in Vietnam.Vu Vinh Phu, a retail expert, voiced concern about the presence of foreign e-commerce giants, which could 'crush' Vietnamese companies.He stressed that Vietnam needs to learn lessons from the retail market. Many foreign retail chains have entered Vietnam and expanded their network in the domestic mar-ket, such as Lotte, Aeon and MM Mega Market. The same thing may happen in the on-line retail market."We must not let the grass grow under our feet," Phu said, adding that the government needs to create a fair business environment and control trading activities to ensure the healthy operation of the market.Meanwhile, deputy chair of the Vietnam E-commerce Association Le Hai Binh said he does not think the presence of foreign giants in Vietnam is a problem."The presence of foreign companies in Vietnam will benefit consumers as goods sup-ply will be more plentiful, product quality will be better, and consumers will be able to receive better post-sale services," Binh said."Most Vietnamese companies focus on niche markets and target specific groups of cus-tomers," he said.E-commerce is a 'boundless business'. In the past, Alibaba with online trading floors in China such as AliExpress and Taobao, have sold goods to Vietnamese, but they are not managed by Vietnamese agencies, and do not pay tax. Vietnamese buyers do not want to receive high-quality post-sale services."As Alibaba has officially entered Vietnam through Lazada, Vietnamese customers can enjoy better services, while the 'game' will become fair as it also has to pay taxes like Vietnamese companies," Binh said.According to MOIT, Vietnam's e-commerce revenue was $5 billion in 2016, twice as much as the $2.2 billion in 2013, accounting for 3 percent of total turnover from goods and services.With the predicted growth rate of 35 percent per annum, or 2.5 times higher than Ja-


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pan, the market value is expected to reach $10 billion by 2020.http://english.vietnamnet.vn/fms/business/197201/online-retail-market-may-fall-into-chinese-hands--experts.html

Ample opportunities in Vietnamese horticulture industry


The Vietnamese horticulture industry presents enormous opportunities for growers and suppliers.The Vietnamese horticulture industry is scaling up. Better flower and vegetable varie-ties are being developed and field production is gradually moving towards protected cultivation. The government has even announced a VND100 trillion ($4.4 billion) pack-age to develop hi-tech agriculture.The government has even announced a VND100 trillion ($4.4 billion) package to de-velop hi-tech agriculture.Vietnam's exports of fruits and vegetables have enjoyed strong growth in the past years, with an average rate of 26.5 per cent a year, going from $439 million in 2009 to $3.5 billion in 2017. Also, Vietnam has the potential to become one of the world's larg-est flower exporters.With vast potential, around 100 exhibitors from 19 companies have gathered at the first International Exhibition & Conference for Horticultural and Floricultural Produc-tion and Processing Technology in Vietnam (Hortex Vietnam) in HCM City to explore the market.According to Arie Veldhuisen, the agricultural counsellor for the Dutch Embassy in Vietnam, the Vietnamese horticulture industry is gradually taking steps to move from traditional open field production to protected cultivation, applying greenhouse tech-nology, precision and automatic irrigation, and computerised crop management sys-tems. Additionally, better flower and vegetable varieties are being developed by applying hybrid as well as post-harvest technology.The horticulture sector is expected to show further growth due to strong exports and strong domestic demand. The free trade agreement between the EU and Vietnam, which will go into effect as of next year, will give an additional boost to the sector."Thus, the three-day event connects Vietnamese growers with experts and suppliers from the Netherlands and all over the world to introduce new technologies, plant ma-terials, and products to contribute to the high-tech agricultural development of the re-gion, especially Vietnam," said Veldhuisen.On the same note, Mario Taal, the representative of Hortus Supplies International (HSI), said the company is always searching for new opportunities and emerging mar-kets. Horticulture and floriculture are the most promising sectors of the Vietnamese economy. The export of fruits and vegetables increased tremendously and the market is focusing on sustainability."I am convinced that Vietnam will professionalise horti- and agriculture in the near fu-ture. I hope Hortus Supplies International will get the opportunity to contribute to that process," he added.HSI is a one-stop supplier for every grower around the world. The company can serve almost every product needed in and around the greenhouse. It can also give advice about growing, technical installations, transport, and documentation.Nguyen Hong Son, director of the Department of Crop Production under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, said that Vietnam has built brands and geo-graphical indications for key fruit products, including dragon fruit, lychee, longan, mango, and pomelo. The country's fruit and vegetable exports have penetrated new demanding markets, such as the US, Japan, Australia, South Korea, and strict markets like Germany and the Netherlands.He noted that the Vietnamese horticultural industry is on the rise these days. HortEx will build a bridge between suppliers and growers. It will also help promote the Viet-namese horticultural and floricultural industry.Hortex Vietnam took place from March 14-16 in HCM City, alongside Agri Machinery & Tech Vietnam 2018, featuring technologies and machinery for agricultural produc-


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tion, and ILDEX Vietnam 2018, displaying products related to the livestock and animal feed industry.http://english.vietnamnet.vn/fms/business/197410/ample-opportunities-in-vietnam-ese-horticulture-industry.html

Railway sector seeks more private investment


Vu Anh Minh, chair of the Vietnam Railways Corporation speaks to the Vietnam Eco-nomic Times about how to attract private investment into the national railway sector.Could you tell us about the corporation's restructuring during 2017-20?The corporation has already finished the first phase of its restructure plan by downsiz-ing the manufacturing side of the corporation, focusing on improving commodities transportation and cutting the ratio of charter capital in its companies. The charter cap-ital it holds in railway companies will be reduced to 51 per cent. This is believed to of-fer more of a chance for the private sector to participate in the railway sector.By 2020, as scheduled, the corporation will continue its second-phase restructuring by concentrating on improving labour productivity and merging companies. For exam-ple, the corporation schedules to merge two transport companies currently based in Ha Ni and Sai Gon into one company. The corporation also projects calling on the pri-vate sector to invest in order to raise the quality of stations, platforms and carriages.The corporation has proposed to the Ministry of Transport to allow private investment in Sai Gon Railway Station. Is there an investor currently?Actually, the Southern Airports Services Joint Stock Company has asked to work with the corporation to upgrade both the first and second floors of the Sai Gon Railway Sta-tion to better sever the increasing demand of passengers. Services, including conven-ience stores, coffee shops, restaurants and the lounge will be improved. The company will pay an amount to the corporation each year so that it could run the service at the train station over a five-year term. The contract will be extended every five years. The corporation is calling upon other investors, especially investors that prove good man-agement capacity, to reach the long-term target of improving customer service at the station. The long-term target is to offer passengers a space where they can go shopping as well as spend time before and after travelling by train.The corporation has recently inaugurated six high-quality trains. Thus, we also need equally high customer service for passengers.Previously, the railway sector also attempted to attract private investment to Da Nang Railway Station but failed because the amount of investment capital was too high and the potential profit did not prove attractive to investors.The railway sector has attempted to call upon private investment in Yen Vien Train Station's inland container depot (ICD) for two years and has shown initial success. Could you name some other ICDs targeted for private investment?The railway sector has submitted to the Ministry of Transport a plan to construct some inland container depots in train stations of Song Than in Binh Duong Province; Dieu Tri in Binh Dinh Province; Dong Dang in Lang Son Province; Dong Anh in Hanoi. Oth-er ICDs could be constructed in localities of Ha Nam, Thanh Hoa, Lao Cai and Vinh in the future.[ICDs are dry ports equipped for handling and temporary storage of container cargo.]The corporation is planning to work with investors to effectively run the ICDs and then create a reliable logistics service. It is not hard to call on investment to build ICDs. The hard thing is how to attract more goods containers to deposit at the ICDs. It will help bring additional profit to the railway sector. Saigon Newport Corporation is be-lieved to be the best option for the railway sector to provide good logistical services in the near future.http://english.vietnamnet.vn/fms/business/196979/railway-sector-seeks-more-pri-vate-investment.html


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Vietnamese firms urged to work to win WB, ADB bids


Vietnamese businesses should actively seek information and grasp the development and investment strategies of banks to win bids for projects financed by the World Bank (WB) and Asian Development Bank (ADB), said representatives of the two banks on Thursday.The information was released in Hanoi at the workshop entitled "Winning Contracts in the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank Financed Projects" co-hosted by the two banks and the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI).Achim Fock, Portfolio & Operations manager in the World Bank office in Vietnam, said the workshop aimed to share information for Vietnamese enterprises to gain ac-cess to WB and ADB financed projects. It also updated regulations on bidding and methods to prepare the tender, in order to help enterprises gain the capacity to win the bids.There are currently 47 projects in various sectors, with the largest investment being re-lated to infrastructure such as construction, water supply and drainage and transport.It is expected that in the 2018-20 period, the WB will lend Vietnam about $4 billion, ac-cording to Achim.Head of Project Administration Unit of ADB in Vietnam Steven Schipani said the ADB would focus more on transport, energy and water supply this year. Capital would fo-cus on the transport sector, he said, but would not be small for other sectors.The total capital of all ADB projects in Vietnam as of March 2018 was 59 projects with a total capital of $7.5 billion, of which $3.5 billion had not yet been disbursed, so Viet-namese companies would have many opportunities to join ADB-financed projects, Ste-ven said.At the workshop, World Bank's representative introduced new features in the bidding framework that is applied by both the WB and the ADB.The new policy framework will minimise risk by providing more options and tools, in-creasing efficiency by offering tailored procurement mechanisms that are applicable to all types of tender. The banks' core procurement principles include fairness, transpar-ency, efficiency, fit for purpose, value of money and integrity."For the first time, the two Banks will allow any contract award decisions to be based on criteria other than lowest price, including quality and sustainability and has signif-icantly improved the approach to resolving procurement-related complaints," Achim said.How to win bid?According to Luu Hong Giang, deputy general director of Bach Dang Construction Corporation, which has participated in many projects funded by the WB and ADB, in comparison with foreign companies, Vietnamese enterprises have an advantage be-cause they are active in soliciting the labour force.However, it is common for domestic bidders to be unable to participate in large scale projects administered by the two banks. "We still have limited financial capacity, con-struction and administration," said Giang.In addition, the evaluation criteria of the previous technical dossier are not clear and detailed, so many businesses struggle to compile bidding dossiers."However, at the present, with the new procurement policy framework, these prob-lems are basically handled. Domestic contractors can fully compete with foreign con-tractors when taking part in international biddings," said Giang.Steven said that enterprises seeking bids must understand the requirements of bidding documents and ensure they meet such requirements. With large WB and ADB con-tracts, businesses can set up joint ventures or use subcontractors, considering individ-ual consultancy services to gain experience and build capacity profiles.He said it was important to ask the investor for feedback after being rejected for a bid, in order to learn from mistakes and draw experiences to succeed in the future."Vietnamese enterprises need to be more active," Steven stressed.Chairwoman of VCCI's Science and Technology Council Pham Thi Hang said the im-provements in the bidding mechanism were completed with significant contribution


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from the Vietnam Party and State, allowing private enterprises to access ODA capital resources and learn more about financial institutions and the processes of WB and ADB procurement.http://bizhub.vn/news/vietnamese-firms-urged-to-work-to-win-wb-adb-bids_293274.html

Vinh Long to get 14 industrial hubs


The Mekong Delta province of Vinh Long plans to develop nine industrial clusters with a total area of 492.5 ha from now to 2020, and another five industrial clusters with a combined area of 165.49 ha during 2020-30.The information was released at a seminar held in the province late last week to an-nounce the province's zoning planning for industrial cluster development until 2020 with a vision to 2030.Approved industrial clusters will serve projects in the fields of farm produce, aquatic products and food processing; energy; repairing and assembling of agricultural ma-chines and transportation means; wood processing; garment and textiles, and foot-wear.Vu Ngoc Tu, deputy director of the Provincial Department of Industry and Trade, said that through the zoning plan, the province aims to form a system of industrial parks and clusters to ensure its sustainable economic development, as well as contribute to promoting its economic restructuring and boosting its industrial growth.In addition, the development of industrial clusters following the zoning plan would create industrial infrastructure facilities with long-term value, contribute to the mod-ernisation of infrastructure system, create jobs, raise incomes and form an industrial working style for workers, and meet land sites and infrastructure demand for indus-trial production in the province, he said.To accomplish the targets, the province will focus on implementing many measures, including enhancing trade promotion and administrative reform, improving infra-structure, creating a favourable investment environment, paying special attachment on human resource development and training, and attracting enterprises and credit sources to invest in infrastructure of industrial clusters.On the other hand, the province also closely combined the overall and detailed plan-nings of industrial clusters to ensure the harmonious integration between industrial cluster development and industrial and socio-economic development in each locality in the province.At the same time, the province will accelerate the decentralisation of the management of industrial clusters to local governments where the industrial clusters are located to ensure simple and effective management.In addition to applying the appropriate policies and mechanisms of the central govern-ment, the province will also carry out its own incentive policy for investors, such as helping investors choose the optimal locations in line with the province's socio-eco-nomic and industrial development plan.Particularly, the province will create favourable conditions for enterprises to enable them to borrow preferential credit or loans with subsidised interest rates to build in-frastructure, and offer them with tax reductions and exemptions.Through preferential policies, the province aims to create an attractive investment en-vironment and support investors with part of the costs.The province currently has two industrial parks and one industrial route, with a total area of 416ha.In addition to developing 14 new industrial clusters by 2030, the province has also set a target to build another three new industrial parks with a combined area of 950ha.http://bizhub.vn/news/vinh-long-to-get-14-industrial-hubs_293291.html

Binh Phuoc inaugurates five Korean projects


The People's Committee of Binh Phuoc on Friday conducted the ground-breaking cer-emony and handed over certificates of investment to the first enterprises in Becamex


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Binh Phuoc industrial and residential area.This is considered the most significant industrial and residential area of this southern province in particular, as well as of the key economic zone in the Southern region.The first five investors in this industrial zone are from the Republic of Korea (RoK), with total registered capital of $80 million, including Hankuk Carbon, Yongsung, Riv-er Runs, Hankuk Advanced Material and Mi Sung companies.Speaking at the inauguration ceremony, Huynh Anh Minh, vice chair of the provincial People's Committee, said Binh Phuoc promoted the planning, construction and devel-opment of industrial zones to attract foreign investment. The province had assigned Becamex IDC Corporation to study the planning and develop BecamexBinh Phuoc in-dustrial and urban complex with an area of 4,633ha.The province would create favourable conditions for investors during the project im-plementation process, Minh said, and requested the investors to concentrate on com-pleting the project in accordance with the schedule and strictly comply with the regulations in the implementation process.Cho Moon Soo, chair of Hankuk Carbon Company Limited, said, with 26 years of dip-lomatic relations between Vietnam and RoK, and 6,000 businesses investing in Viet-nam, this is a good opportunity to seek opportunities for cooperation and investment. Along with the good policies and support mechanisms of the government for foreign investors, Vietnam is an attractive destination for foreign businesses in general and Korean enterprises in particular.With the efforts to improve the attractive investment environment, Binh Phuoc has been attracting more and more domestic and foreign investors, especially foreign in-vestors with strong financial potential, specialised in manufacturing spearhead indus-tries investing in the province.Located on a 4,633ha site, of which, 2,448ha are planned for industrial zones and 2,185ha for residential areas, it is expected that this industrial-urban area will attract over $5 billion in investment.http://bizhub.vn/news/binh-phuoc-inaugurates-five-korean-projects_293276.html

Kon Tum seeks investment


The central highland province of Kon Tum will call for investments during the forth-coming investment promotion conference to be held here on April 22.Deputy director of Kon Tum Department of Planning and Investment Nguyen Dinh Bac told baodautu.vn that his province would advertise its potential to domestic and foreign investors while encouraging them to pump investments in a wide range of sec-tors, including hi-tech farming, urban infrastructure, and the pharmaceutical and tour-ism sectors.Earlier, the provincial People's Committee published a list of 108 projects, calling for investments until 2020 at a total investment capital of VND84.73 trillion (US$3.71 bil-lion).Some 27 projects are involved in the agro-forestry sector, 26 in the industry sector and 34 to specialise in trade, services and tourism sectors, besides the 21 in urban infra-structure development.Among the projects is a 1,000-ha Ngoc Linh ginseng growing project, expected to cost VND2trillion, in Tu Mo Rong District; a 200-ha hi-tech farm, worth VND400 billion, in Kon Tum City, and the Tan Canh solar plant, valued at VND2.3 trillion, in Dak To Dis-trict.Others include the infrastructure development of Bo Y Industrial Zone, capitalised at VND7.9 trillion, and a VND-1 trillion urban and tourism complex, covering 380ha in Kon Tum City, and the Dong Bac urban area, expected to cost VND3 trillion.As of February 2018, the province has lured only eight foreign-invested projects, worth $82.3 million, ranking 55th among 64 localities nation-wide, the latest report from the Ministry of Planning and Investment's Foreign Investment Agency revealed.Local authorities have vowed to take measures to remove barriers against investors, in line with the government guidelines.


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Sapa status upgrade creates opportunities for property investors


Sapa's upcoming achievement of town status will pave the way for more opportunities for investors in the real estate market.As Sapa's land funds are growing increasingly scarce and land prices are going through the roof, investors are eyeing areas within a two-kilometre radius from Sapa centre. Investors claim this is the right time to step ahead because once Sapa district officially receives the town status, the central area will grow and current bordering ar-eas will further appreciate.Nguyen Van Cong, general director of MidLand Group, said when Sapa was declared ready to become a town at the end of 2017, the number of interested investors in resort real estate in the area has increased sharply, especially at projects located near the old Sapa district.In the past three years, Sapa land price has triple, from VND90 million per square me-tre (m2) to VND150-160 million m2. The price of Sapa's most beautiful location re-mains VND300-400 million per m2. Currently, the centre of Sapa is hardly any vacant lots. In case of buying resort apartments, the number of customers in Sapa Jade Hill Resort invested by Truong Giang Sapa Group has doubled on-year in 2017, and the selling price also rose by 20-30 per cent. The 49.69ha Sapa Jade Hill Resort is one of Sapa's largest-scale projects and includes 125 villas, 151 commercial houses, and 6 three-to-five-star hotels.Besides, experts also claim that with strong transport infrastructure and the planning of the town, Sapa will certainly become an attractive destination for real estate inves-tors.In order to prepare for becoming a town, the Lao Cai People's Committee approved Decision No.642/QD-UBND in 2016 to extend the 888ha site of Sapa's central area, up-grading the entire area of Sapa town to 5,525 hectares.By 2030, Sapa's population will reach 74,000 people, construction land will be about 1,500ha, and Sapa urban area after expanding its administrative boundaries will ap-proach the Level 4 urban standards.Additionally, the provincial authority has also spent hundreds of millions dollars in-vesting and upgrading Sapa's transport infrastructure, particularly the VND2.518 tril-lion ($114.4 million), 29.2km Lao Cai-Sapa Expressway that will help shorten the travel time to and from Hanoi to only four hours (from the current six hours).According to the representatives of Savills Vietnam Ltd, the breakthrough in tourist ar-rivals is creating many development opportunities for the area's real estate market. Es-pecially, the Lao Cai-Sapa Expressway to be put into operation in 2019 and breaking ground at Lao Cai International Airport in the near future will be important incentives.Tourist arrivals to Sapa increased in recent years. Specifically, in 2017, the town re-ceived 2.5 million visitors, more than double the one million people arriving in 2015.Only three days into the 2018 New Year holiday, 42,000 tourists arrived to Sapa, again twice as many as in 2016. In particular, the number of visitors to Sapa in the first five days of the Lunar New Year reached 34,000, including 6,000 international visitors.http://english.vov.vn/economy/sapa-status-upgrade-creates-opportunities-for-prop-erty-investors-370654.vov

When will Halong become a smart city?


Thailand's AMATA Corporation submitted the documents of the AMATA City Halong project to the government one year ago, but there is still no feedback. Leaders of the corporation await the approval to start the coproration's third project here in Vi-etnam.AMATA Corporation intends to pour $1.6 billion into Halong smart city. The project would focus on hi-tech industrial zone (IZ) development, automation, information technology, and especially electronics. The investor would also call for investment in research and development centres, logistics, exhibition centres, and laboratories in Halong.At a conference on smart city development, Somhatai Panichewa, chief executive of-


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ficer of AMATA VN Public Company Limited, under AMATA Group from Thailand, said that the project documents have been submitted to the Vietnamese government for approval. The Halong project would be located on an area of 714 hectares in the first phase, and create 300,000 jobs for Vietnamese people as well as make approxi-mately $5 billion in annual revenue.AMATA is a successful investor in Vietnam, with two major projects in the southeast-ern province Dong Nai, AMATA City Bien Hoa and AMATA City Long Thanh.AMATA City Bien Hoa is home to 164 investors from 21 countries and territories with the total registered investment of $2.66 billion and generates 49,000 jobs.The AMATA City Long Thanh industrial and urban complex covers a total of 1,270ha, 33 per cent of which is for a hi-tech IZ and 67 per cent for an urban community area.A smart city comprises of smart projects in multiple sectors, such as energy, transport, education, environment, and manufacturing. Smart cities can create high-value prod-ucts at low costs in accordance to the Industry 4.0 trend.In Thailand, AMATA has developed three smart cities, inspired by smart cities in de-veloped countries like Yokohama in Japan, Incheon in the Republic of Korea, and Saab AB in Sweden.http://english.vov.vn/economy/when-will-halong-become-a-smart-city-370652.vov

Singapore firms eye VN food industry


Many Singaporean firms are interested in investing in food, agriculture, and dining services in Vietnam as they forecast that these sectors will thrive in the near future amidst broader Asean integration.The statement was made by Andy Yun, Secretary general of Singapore Manufacturing Federation, representing more than 3,000 members operating in automation, biology, construction, heavy industry and more, during the second Vietnam Singapore busi-ness exchange held in the island state last week.Yun described Vietnam as a major market in the region with huge potential in agricul-ture and the food industry. Meanwhile, Singaporean enterprises are strong in technol-ogy, supply chains and logistics a supplementary factor to the bilateral partnership.Nguyen Van Than, Chair of the Vietnam Association of Small and Medium-sized En-terprises, led a delegation of over 100 Vietnamese firms, many of them start-ups, to the event.He said many Singaporean enterprises actively connected with Vietnamese ones at the event, proving that bilateral cooperation potential is huge.Accounting for over 97 percent of the total, Vietnamese SMEs contribute nearly 40 per cent of the gross domestic product, 33 per cent of industrial production value, 30 per cent of export value and attract more than half of the workforce, he said.Singapore is now the sixth largest trade partner of Vietnam in the world and the sec-ond largest in Asean. Vietnam is also the 12th largest trade partner of Singapore. Two-way trade has grown 12-15 per cent annually over the past years.http://bizhub.vn/news/singapore-firms-eye-vn-food-industry_293290.html

Hanoi names priority sectors to attract Singaporean investors


Hanoi has announced the list of priority sectors to attract Singaporean investors in a move to fulfil its target of $3.5 billion in 2018.According to the Hanoi People's Committee, the city will focus on attracting Singapo-rean businesses with expertise in real estate, property management services, education and training, healthcare, environment, and trade services.The city's investment orientation is in line with investment trends among Singaporean enterprises.According to the Singapore Business Association in Vietnam (SBAV), together with traditionally strong interest in real estate, construction, and manufacturing, Singapo-rean investors have been showing increased interest in healthcare and renewable en-ergy in Vietnam to cash in on rising local consumerism and the government's support policies.


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Renewable energy is an emerging trend among Singaporean investors in Vietnam, where the electricity consumption grew at twice the pace of economic growth over the past few years.Healthcare is also becoming an area of interest for Singaporean investment in Vietnam, as locals spend about $2-3 billion on healthcare services abroad annually. There is a yet unmet demand for high-quality healthcare services in the country, driven by an ex-panding middle class and higher incidence of lifestyle-induced diseases."There appears to be a trend towards rising consumerism in Vietnam, and healthcare and renewable energy. [The interest in] healthcare and renewable energy could be due to government policies which encourage such sectors," Jazreel Lim, president of SBAV, told VIR.Government reform in opening up sectors which were previously restricted or capped for foreign investment, like pharmaceutical, healthcare, and state-owned enterprises (SOEs), will influence the focus of investments from Singapore, she added.To date, Singapore remains Hanoi's biggest foreign investor. As of the end of 2017, Sin-gapore invested an accumulated $5.5 billion in the capital, followed by Japan ($5.38 bil-lion) and South Korea ($5.34 billion).http://www.vir.com.vn/hanoi-names-priority-sectors-to-attract-singaporean-inves-tors-57289.html

Vietnamese businesses unite in Russian market


Vietnamese businesses in Russia have agreed to enhance solidarity and mutual sup-port amidst challenges facing the Russian economy.Nearly 30 Vietnamese businesspeople gathered a meeting held by the Vietnamese Businesses' Association in Russia (VBA) on March 17.VBA President Le Truong Son suggested Vietnamese enterprises in Russia increase specialisation and professionalisation in order to adapt to the new situation.With their determination and efforts, Vietnamese businesses have gained a foothold in the Russian market, he noted.Duong Hai An, general director of Volga-Viet Company, a pioneer investor in agricul-tural production in Russia, said Russia's farming sector holds a lot of potential.Other VBA members said services, retails and cuisine are promising sectors for Viet-namese businesses.https://en.vietnamplus.vn/vietnamese-businesses-unite-in-russian-market/128052.vnp

Vietnam and Australia become new strategic partners


Vietnam and Australia became new strategic partners on March 15, allowing the two nations to work together to realise a vision of a secure, open and prosperous region."I am pleased to announce that Australia and Vietnam have today established a stra-tegic partnership. As new strategic partners, Australia and Vietnam have agreed to work together to realise a vision of a secure, open and prosperous region," Australian prime minister Malcolm Turnbull said in a statement sent to Vietnam media by the Australian Consulate general in HCM City.Vietnamese prime minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, who is in Australia for an official visit from March 14-18, and PM Malcolm Turnbull on March 15 signed a joint statement on the establishment of a strategic partnership between Vietnam and Australia, reports the Vietnam News Agency.Turnbull said in the statement that the countries would establish annual meetings be-tween the foreign ministers and separately between the defense ministers.A new ministerial level economic dialogue was set up to boost Australian trade and investment with Vietnam as one of Asean's fastest-growing economies, he added.The strategic partnership will make it possible for the nations to work across their part-nership in defense, development, education, science and research to deepen their links and advance their cooperation, Turnbull said."As fellow members of TPP11, we will work to keep markets open and trade and in-


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vestment flowing," he said. TPP11 means the Comprehensive and Progressive Agree-ment for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) which was signed in Chile last week by 11 Pacific Rim countries Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam.The statement said, "This announcement is a fitting way to mark 45 years of diplomatic relations and the visit to Australia by prime minister Phuc."During talks between the two PMs on March 15, Turnbull congratulated Vietnam on its socio-economic achievements and international integration, particularly its success-ful hosting of the Apec Year 2017.The Vietnamese leader said he expected Australia to continue to thrive and play a more important role in the region and the world.Both leaders expressed their satisfaction with the strong and substantial progress of Vietnam-Australia relations over the past 45 years, which has paved the way for the nations to upgrade their bilateral ties to a strategic partnership.The two sides agreed to increase exchanges of high-level and all-level delegations through all channels of party, state, government and parliament, and people-to-people contacts.They will continue to carry out their joint action plan for the 2017-2020 period.Turnbull affirmed Australia will expand training assistance, and assist Vietnam in United Nations peacekeeping operations such as providing equipment and logistics for the Vietnamese mission in South Sudan.They agreed to strengthen their cooperation in the fights against terrorism, transna-tional crime, human trafficking, and illegal immigration to safeguard security in their respective countries and contribute to peace and stability in the region.Australia is the eighth largest trade partner of Vietnam with bilateral trade reaching about $6.5 billion in 2017, a 22.2 percent rise against the previous year. Meanwhile, Vi-etnam is the 15th biggest trade partner of Down Under. Therefore, both sides will step up economic ties.Turnbull stressed Australia would further facilitate imports of tropical fruits and other fresh agricultural products from Vietnam such as fresh shrimp, dragon fruit, longan, rambutan and star apple.Phuc urged Australia to further invest in the energy, infrastructure, telecommunica-tions, knowledge-based economy, and science and technology fields in the Southeast Asian nation.The two countries would support each other at regional and international forums, in-cluding the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), the East Asia Summit (EAS), and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) Forum.Turnbull appreciated Vietnam's role in pushing for the signing of CPTPP in Chile, say-ing the two sides should work together in the ratification and implementation of the pact.The agreement will greatly benefit the member countries while keeping the door open for the United States and other nations to join in the future, he said.The two leaders underlined the importance of maintaining peace, stability, and free-dom of navigation and overflight in the East Sea, and settling disputes by peaceful measures in line with international law, including the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. They also stressed the need to achieve a legally-binding Code of Conduct in the East Sea soon.Phuc invited Turnbull to visit Vietnam at an appropriate time and the Australian lead-er accepted the invitation.They also witnessed the signing of four important memorandums covering education-al cooperation, vocational education, science and technology, and cooperation in the spheres of agriculture, forestry and fisheries.Leaders of the defense ministries of the two countries on the same day signed a docu-ment recognising the intention to enhance bilateral defense cooperation.Over the weekend, the Vietnamese leader will attend the Asean-Australia Special Summit and a signing ceremony of a memorandum of understanding on anti-terror-


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ism between Asean and Australia in Sydney.english.thesaigontimes.vn/58805/Vietnam-and-Australia-become-new-strategic-part-ners.html

VN, Netherlands to boost agricultural cooperation


Dutch businesses have shown interest in Vietnam's agriculture sector in general and the vegetable processing industry in particular as the industry has grown well in re-cent years.This was said by Dutch Agricultural Counsellor in Vietnam Arie Veldhuisen at a con-ference in Hanoi on Wednesday to connect Vietnamese and Dutch agricultural busi-nesses. The conference was organised by the Netherlands Embassy in Vietnam and saw the participation of some 150 enterprises from the two countries.Veldhuisen said Dutch companies, such as De Heus, Friesland Campina and PejaViet-nam, were interested in investing in Vietnamese agriculture.According to an assessment of the Netherlands Embassy in Vietnam, the bilateral re-lationship between Vietnam and the Netherlands is a win-win situation in which Vi-etnamese enterprises and farmers can learn about and utilise advanced technology to improve their competitiveness.The growth in agriculture is not only attributed to the efforts of Vietnamese enterprises but also Vietnam's government, which is showing increasing concern about the devel-opment of chain goods and has been investing in modern machinery and technology to increase the value and quality of products, Veldhuisen said.However, many opinions suggest that the agricultural sector of Vietnam is still limited in the application of advanced cultivation techniques, and logistics services for har-vesting and preserving have gained little interest of local investors. Developing the value chain, on the other hand, needs large investment by enterprises and policy sup-port from the government.The Netherlands, for example, is a small country, with a low area of cultivated land and a small population (some 17 million people), but with policies and appropriate steps, it has successfully built a system of sustainable agriculture, the most competitive and effective in the world.According to Veldhuisen, to develop the agricultural sector towards the value chain, it is important to link businesses together. As businesses of many countries meet, they can explore and exchange new opportunities for cooperation in future.bizhub.vn/news/vn-netherlands-to-boost-agricultural-cooperation_293256.html

Ireland to assist Hanoi to develop hi-tech agriculture


Ireland will increase supporting Hanoi to develop hi-tech agriculture, Irish minister of State for Food, Forestry and Horticulture Andrew Doyle told Chair of the Hanoi mu-nicipal People's Committee Nguyen Duc Chung.At a meeting in Hanoi on March 16, the minister of State said the two countries share many similarities when both have long history of fighting for national independence and dynamic and hard-working people. Like Dublin capital city of Ireland, Hanoi is an ancient city with rich culture and history.He said his country has strong agriculture, and its agricultural products have been ex-ported to more than 180 countries around the world. Therefore, aside from cultural and educational cooperation, Ireland wants the two countries to step up experience sharing and cooperation in developing high-value agriculture.The EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement and the Vietnam-Ireland memorandum of un-derstanding signed in 2014 are the foundation for closer cooperation between the two nations.Ireland will provide more technological assistance for Hanoi to improve agricultural product quality and ensure food safety, through which he hopes Ireland's trade with Vietnam and Hanoi in particular will increase and Vietnamese businesses will have more chances to access European markets.Doyle said to celebrate the National Day of Ireland, the Irish Embassy in Vietnam and


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the Hanoi People's Committee will illuminate Thap But (Pen Monument) by Hoan Kiem Lake with green light on March 17 evening. As Thap But is a symbol of knowl-edge, through this event, Ireland expresses its wish to strengthen ties with Vietnam and Hanoi to develop education.For his part, Chair Chung shared the view on the similarities between the two coun-tries and capital cities. He said he believes that the "greening" ceremony will be a high-light in a series of activities marking Ireland's National Day in Hanoi, as well as in the two countries' diplomatic ties.Hanoi has learned many lessons from Ireland in recovering from economic crisis through agricultural development, he said, adding that in its five-year development plan, the city will enhance cooperation with and acquire agricultural technology from countries around the world, including Ireland.It hopes that the minister of State and the Ambassador of Ireland will serve as a bridge helping Irish businesses bolster cooperation and share experience with Hanoi in the time ahead, the official added.https://en.vietnamplus.vn/ireland-to-assist-hanoi-to-develop-hitech-agriculture/127990.vnp

Argentina talk focuses on business opportunities with Vietnam


The Vietnamese Embassy in Argentina and the Argentine Chamber of Commerce for Asia and the Pacific held a talk in Buenos Aires on March 15 on business opportunities through international and specialised trade fairs in Vietnam.The talk was attended by representatives from Argentinean enterprises who want to intensify cooperation with Vietnamese partners.Speaking at the event, Vietnamese Ambassador Dang Xuan Dung briefed participants on the economic development of Vietnam.With its foreign policy of openness, multilateralisation and diversification of interna-tional relations and integration in the world economy, Vietnam has gained great achievements, with a GDP growth rate of 6.81 percent in 2017 its highest-ever level.Last year, the country's total trade turnover also reached a record high, at 425 billion USD, a four-fold increase after 10 years of World Trade Organisation membership. Vi-etnam also entered the list of nations seeing the highest tourism growth rates for the first time when it served nearly 13 million foreign tourist arrivals, a year-on-year rise of 30 percent.Dung said the talk offered a chance for Argentinean enterprises to access information about trade fairs which are about to be held in Vietnam, so they can seek cooperation opportunities with Vietnamese partners.Lorena Gonzalez, a representative from the Argentine Chamber of Commerce for Asia and the Pacific, expressed her hope for more chances for Argentinean enterprises to learn about Vietnam's business market and international trade fairs in the country.At the event, a representative from Vietnam's Office of Commercial Affairs in Argen-tina introduced Argentinean enterprises to major trade fairs held in Vietnam annually and their benefits.The official affirmed that Vietnam's favourable investment environment and open and more diverse market will open up opportunities for Argentina's partners.Two-way trade rose from around 300 million USD in 2006 to over 3 billion USD in 2016.https://en.vietnamplus.vn/argentina-talk-focuses-on-business-opportunities-with-vi-etnam/127966.vnp

BUSINESSIZ NEWS

Business Briefs 19 March, 2018

19/MAR/2017 INTELLASIA |

* The board of directors of Hau Giang Pharmaceutical Company (DHG) has proposed a cash dividend for 2018 ofVND3,000 per share, which is unchanged compared to that in 2017, of which the cornpanyalready paid a total ofVND2,500 a share in October 2017 and January 2018. The remaining cash dividend for 2017 will be paid after the upcom-


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SVietnam finance & business 19 March 2018

ing annual general meeting on March 28. Notably, the company plans to seek share-holder approval so that its new factories will be transformed from subsidiaries to dependent cost-accounting branches. This is to pave the way for lifting DHG's foreign ownership limit.* No Va Land Investment Group Corporation (NVL) will close its shareholder list on March 28 to issue 202.3 million bonus shares at a 100-for-31 ratio. After the issuance, the property firm will raise its total outstanding volume to over 845 million shares.* Pan Farm Joint Stock Company has registered to buy 800,000 shares of National Seed Company (NSC) within 30 days starting March 19. Once completed, the investor will own an 80.3 percent stake in the enterprise.* Danang Securities Company (DSC) plans to raise its capital from VND60 billion to VND140 billion by issuing one million shares to pay dividend at a 6-for-1 ratio. The firm will also offer seven million shares to existing shareholders at VNDlO,OOO each. DSC will use the proceeds to supplement its working capital. The brokerage firm is go-ing spend VND28 billion advancing a cash dividend for shareholders at 20 percent. DSC debuted on the market for unlisted public enterprises, or UPCoM, on January 5, and has seen its share price jumping from Dll,700 to more than D43,400.* Central Pharmaceutical Company No.3 (DP3) will spend an estimated VND20.4 bil-lion paying an interim dividend ofVND3,000 per share on the record date of April 3. Currently, the firm has 6.8 million outstanding shares. DP3 will make the payment on June 4. * Amersham Industries Limited has sold 300,000 shares ofViglacera Corpora-tion ( GC to reduce its holding from 0.1 percent to 0.1 percent while Idris Ltd has of-floaded 150,000 shares of the enterprise to cut its ownership from 0.18 percent to 0.15 percent. After the transactions, foreign ownership ratio at the enterprise has dropped to 12.9 percent, or nearly 58 million shares.

Shares set to keep rising after hitting peak


After a successful trading week with five consecutive rallying sessions, Vietnam's benchmark VN Index finally hit the short-term peak of 1,130 points and is expected to maintain its upward trend and open next week's session with a positive status, ana-lysts said.The benchmark VN Index on the HCM Stock Exchange (HOSE) increased 1 per cent to close at 1.150,19 points on Friday or a five-day rise of 2.38 per cent.Meanwhile, the HNX Index on the Hanoi Stock Exchange (HNX) rose 1.38 per cent to end at 133.10 points, expanding its five-day rally to 4.33 per cent.An average of more than 305.5 million shares was traded in each session last week, worth VND8.2 trillion (US$361.6 million).The trading figures were up 0.4 per cent in volume and down 3.6 per cent in value, compared to the previous trading week's numbers.The UPCOM Index on the Unlisted Public Company Market (UPCoM) gained 0.35 per cent to stand at 61.80 points, a three-day increase of 0.88 per cent.Furthermore, the unlisted market index scored weekly growth of only 0.8 per cent after five up-and-down sessions.According to market strategy expert Ngo Quoc Hung at Vietinbank Securities Compa-ny, regardless of the impediments from the portfolio restructuring of the two ex-change-traded funds, FTSE ETF and V.N.M ETF, with many blue-chips suffering from strong selling pressure, the market still had a successful trading week, surpassing its short-term peak.However, large-cap stocks are still the main drivers of the market and directly affect-ing the indexes, including prominent names like Vincom Retail (VRE), brewer Sabeco (SAB), property developer Vingroup (VIC), Masan Group Corporation (MSN), insurer Bao Viet Holdings BVH, budget carrier Vietjet (VJC), Vietnam Prosperity Joint Stock Commercial Bank (VPB) and dairy firm Vinamilk (VNM).Bank shares were the strong supporters of the market during last week's trading ses-sions, pushing the VN Index to pass its peak, therefore, they are still worthy invest-ment channels this year, Hung told tinnhanhchungkhoan.vn.


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Sharing the sentiment, Vu Minh Duc, head of individual investor analysis division at Viet Capital Securities Company, said large-cap stocks, mainly banks, will draw most investors' attention and are expected to gain impressive profits in 2018.In a positive scenario, the VN Index could move towards a new record high of 1,170-1,180 points in the short term, Duc said.He also added that a significant part of the cash flow had turned to speculative mid-cap and small-cap stocks as investors are seeking short-term profit."Currently, I see that the VNMidcap and VNSmallcap indices are also performing well. Therefore, in the scenario of a rising market next week, I think that both the large-cap stocks and speculative stocks will have the opportunity to increase," Duc told tin-nhanhchungkhoan.vnAccording to Tran Anh Tuan, head of analysis at Vietcombank Securities Co, March and April are the peak periods for shareholders' meeting season.Listed companies' Q1 earnings announcements, dividend payment plans and 2018 business plans will be announced and become short-term supporting information for investors, greatly influencing the market performance, Tuan said."This will be a necessary time for investors to review the business prospects of enter-prises in the first quarter as well as in 2018," Tuan told tinnhanhchungkhoan.vn.Hung said this year's shareholders' meeting season would support investors in the context that seeking investment opportunities is becoming increasingly difficult.As the distinction between groups of stocks is becoming clearer, some investors tend-ed to purchase and keep promising stocks that have an effect on the indexes, Hung added.Stocks of companies with good business prospects and good business results in the first quarter of 2018 will attract cash flow, especially those operating in the sectors of securities, real estate, retail and aviation services, Hung told tinnhanhchungkhoan.vn.http://bizhub.vn/markets/shares-set-to-keep-rising-after-hitting-peak_293287.html

Shares rally despite ETF transactions


Shares ended on a positive note on Friday thanks to a positive outlook among inves-tors.The benchmark VN Index on the HCM Stock Exchange (HOSE) increased 1 per cent to close at 1.150,19 points, for a five-day rise of 2.36 per cent.According to BIDV Securities JSC (BSC), domestic buying demand absorbed most shares sold by foreign traders. As a result, the index recorded a week of rallying and surpassing its previous peak of 1,130. Thus, the index is expected to extend gains next week.The HNX Index on Hanoi Stock Exchange (HNX) rose 1.38 per cent to end at 133.10 points, expanding its five-day rally to 4.26 per cent.More than 388.51 million shares, worth VND12.2 trillion (US$534 million), were traded on the two local bourses. BSC said liquidity surged thanks to the trade of the exchange-traded funds (ETFs).Market breadth was positive with 252 gaining shares, 234 declining ones and 248 stocks ending flat.The UPCoM Index on the Unlisted Public Company Market gained 0.35 per cent to stand at 61.80 points, a three-day increase of 0.88 per cent.Foreign investors today were net sellers of VND1101.32 billion on HOSE, concentrated on steel producer Hoa Phat Group JSC (HPG) (VND248.4 billion), Vietcombank (VCB) (VND168.2 billion) and property developer Vingroup (VIC) (VND168.2 billion). In ad-dition, they bought a net of VND8.57 billion on the HNX.Friday was the final day for the two exchange-traded funds, FTSE ETF and the V.N.M ETF, to restructure their portfolios.According to Viet Dragon Securities Co (VDSC), although Vincom Retail Joint Stock Company (VRE) was bought by both ETFs, the stock price stayed below its reference level.Foreign investors bought 25.2 million VRE shares, but they also sold 21.3 million,


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VDSC said.In addition to VRE, the FTSE Vietnam ETF also bought Hoang Huy Investment Finan-cial Services JSC (TCH) and Phat Dat Real Estate Development Joint Stock Company (PDR). Only TCH closed in the green. VRE and PDR declined by 1.5 per cent and 1.8 per cent, respectively.After being removed from the FTSE ETF portfolio, GTN fell by 3.1 per cent. SAB closed near its ceiling up 6.8 per cent, following the news that Dragon Capital bought 15.3 million shares, equivalent to a 2.3 per cent stake of the giant beer company.GAS, VNM, and banking stocks (BID, VCB and VPB) were among the top drivers for the VNIndex."Given the current high liquidity of the market, it is normal that impacts from ETF transactions were not so significant," VDSC said in its daily report. "Considering the current strong inflows, we believe the VNIndex is on the right track to surpass its all-time high of 1,170 with banking, real estate and brokerage stocks continuing to be the leaders. The F&B sector is also well worth considering," it added.http://bizhub.vn/markets/shares-rally-despite-etf-transactions_293284.html

BID sends VN Index up


High selling pressure sank the VN Index for most of the trading time on March 15 be-fore lender BID turned strong enough to send it back into positive territory.The index closed the session almost flat, inching up a mere 0.06 percent versus the pre-vious day at 1,138.76. Trading volume on the HCM City market fell 7.2 percent at 232.4 million shares while value dipped 6.4 percent at VND6.6 trillion, with block deals con-tributing VND748 billion to the total turnover.Banking stocks again were market drivers. Amid heavy sell-offs in the afternoon, five out of eight banks listed on the southern exchange advanced.BID made the biggest contribution to the index rebound, going up to the ceiling price of VND41,700 a share, followed by CTG with a 3 percent rise at VND36,600 per share. MBB rallied for the sixth straight session, adding 3.3 percent at VND35,950 per share.Meanwhile, VCB and EIB closed at the reference prices and VPB lost 1.1 percent at VND63,800 a share. STB was the most actively traded stock with 12.4 million shares, closing up 0.6 percent at VND16,150 per share.Among heavyweights, VNM, VIC and SAB put pressure on the main index. However, Vietnam's top brewery firm SAB recovered somewhat after heavy loss early on, ending the day down 0.3 percent at VND214,000 a share on volume of 196,000 shares.Its fellow brewery stock BHN also dipped 1.1 percent to VND137,000 a share. Mean-while, dairy giant VNM fell 1.3 percent at VND210,200 and property firm VIC slid 1.9 percent at VND9,500 a share.For the real estate sector, SCR was the volume leader with 13.7 million shares traded, followed by FLC with 8.8 million shares and HQC with 3.2 million shares. Notably, EVG broke its four-day rising streak and plunged to the floor price of VND5,960 per share.HAG saw 8.2 million shares exchanged but its closed flat at VND7,410 a share. Mean-while, its agricultural affiliate HNG gained 3.4 percent at VND9,100 per share on vol-ume of 6.6 million shares.The HNX-Index rallied for the sixth straight session, adding 0.66 percent at 131.29. Turnover on the Hanoi bourse was equivalent to Wednesday's, with around 80.7 mil-lion shares worth VND1.2 trillion traded.In the banking sector, NVB hit the upper limit of VND9,500 a share with its matching volume reaching a record high of 2.3 million shares. SHB led the market for liquidity with 26.6 million shares exchanged, rising 2.3 percent at VND13,300 per share while ACB increased 0.4 percent at VND49,400 per share.english.thesaigontimes.vn/58830/BID-sends-VN Index-up.html


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Businesses on HNX earn 19.319tr dong profit in 2017

19/MAR/2018 INTELLASIA| VIETNAM FINANCE

Among 372 listed companies, as many as 333 businesses made profits with total value of 19.319 trillion dong, up 23.1 percent over the same period last year, according to the Hanoi Stock Exchange (HNX).In particular, the construction sector had the best business results when the total profit in 2017 of businesses in the industry increased 102.6 percent compared with 2016, i.e. from more than 1.705 trillion in 2016 to over 3.455 trillion dong in 2017.The total profit of the whole industry increased by 73.3 percent, from more than 2.052 trillion dong in 2016 to over 3.556 trillion dong in 2017, and the total loss fell sharply 241.5 percent from negative 347 billion dong in 2016 to negative 101.6 billion dong in 2017. The main reason is that businesses had better business results, recording results from capital divestment or project transfer.In line with business performance growth of the construction sector in 2017, the real estate sector had 11/17 companies with business results to swell compared to 2016. To-tal profit in 2017 of businesses in real estate sector surged 48.2 percent, from more than 1.084 trillion dong to 1.607 trillion dong.The financial sector also had impressive growth, continuing to account for the largest proportion of profit on HNX in 2017. 21 finance companies listed on HNX had a total profit of more than 5.562 trillion dong, reckoning for 31 percent of the total profit of businesses that published financial statements.Of which, ACB and SHB made up the largest proportion of profit with 38 percent and 27 percent respectively. The businesses having business results to surge the most com-pared to 2016 including APS, SHS, IVS, PSI, WSS, etc. had the growth of more than 100 percent (566 percent, 340 percent, 273 percent, 254 percent, and 172 percent respective-ly).According to cumulative value in all the four quarters in 2017 of listed companies in HNX, 39 businesses made loss, with a total value of 1.320 trillion dong, up 34.6 percent year-on-year.However, only four out of 11 industries had the total loss in 2017 to be higher than 2016, including mining and petroleum; industry; real estate and agriculture, forestry and fishery.The remaining 7/11 industries had total losses to decrease or be equal to the same pe-riod last year. Especially three industries made no losses in 2017 including transporta-tion, warehousing, health care, communication and information. The sectors with total losses to fall sharply were construction and finance.According to HNX, 377 listed companies had to disclose financial statements in Q4/2017 (not including eight listed companies that changed accounting period including VTL, GLT, MHL, IDV, SJ1, KTS, SLS, and TAG). As of the end of February 2018, 372 companies announced their Q4/2017 financial statements.

Tough odds for VN market upgrade


Vietnam's securities market has a 25 per cent chance of being upgraded to the "emerg-ing market" status from its current "frontier market" level by 2021, according to Vo Tri Thanh, senior economist at the Central Institute for Economic Management (CIEM).The market status levels are regulated by Morgan Stanley Capital International (MS-CI), the US independent provider of research-driven insights and tools for institutional investors. A review of any particular stock market and its reclassification carried out by MSCI would increase the attractiveness of that market to global investors.However, Thanh said there were three factors that would make it difficult for Vietnam to get upgraded by 2021 as expected by market analysts, investors and regulators."The challenges that Vietnam has encountered so far are information disclosure or cor-porate and market transparency, openness to foreign investors and capital, and open-ing the capital and financial market to the private sector," he said.While information disclosure is quite costly for both market regulators and traded firms, the two others would require the government and its agencies to make stronger efforts to make trading standards more accessible for foreign investors, according to


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Thanh.Information disclosure has remained an obstacle for foreign investors if they want to make investment in Vietnamese companies as many companies have hesitated to make their business more transparent for highly-costly interpretation of financial and corporate reports.In addition, foreign investors are allowed to own up to 100 per cent of a Vietnamese company if that firm does not operate in the sectors involved in national security and safety such as banking, property and transportation.In such cases, foreign investors can have a maximum of 49 per cent ownership in the business. For commercial banks, the foreign ownership is limited at 30 per cent.Thanh delivered his cautious outlook for the Vietnamese securities market at a semi-nar held on Wednesday by the US Embassy's American Centre and the Vietnam Exec-utive MBA Programme in Hanoi of the University of Hawai'i (VEMBA Programme).Can Van Luc, chief economist at the Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV), said "even if Vietnam is determined to get approval from MSCI on promoting the status of its securities market, it will be quite challeng-ing".He said Vietnam would have to be admitted onto MSCI's watchlist for a market reclas-sification, which is expected to occur in 2019. Then it would take the Vietnamese secu-rities market at least two more years to become an emerging market as regulated by MSCI."An upgrade of the Vietnamese securities market's status will attract more foreign cap-ital, encourage local firms to make their business more transparent and motivate mar-ket regulators to standardise the market's trading regulations," he said."It also would prove that the Vietnamese securities market is among the most attrac-tive in the world and encourage the government to improve the economy's investment and business conditions," Luc said.Positive 2018 aheadVietnam's economy in general and its securities market in particular are showing pos-itive signs and higher achievements are reachable in 2018.Chief economist Luc at BIDV forecast the benchmark VN Index on the HCM Stock Ex-change would advance 30-40 per cent this year with trading liquidity rising 20-25 per cent and foreign capital increasing by approximately 30 per cent."More products will be launched this year, including covered warrants and other fu-tures for the derivatives market," he said, adding other changes for the securities mar-ket are the revision of the Securities Law and the possible merger of the two local exchanges."Such potential achievements are supported by the prospective growth of the Viet-namese macroeconomic conditions," he said.Vietnam's gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate in 2017 was 6.8 per cent and it is forecast to reach 7 per cent at the end of this year, boosted by good performances in industrial production, exports and consumption, according to Luc.Both direct and indirect foreign investment will also play an important role in boosting the Vietnamese economy, he said, adding that efforts will be made by the government to improve the business and investment climate, and local companies will benefit from the recently-signed Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership (CP-TPP).http://bizhub.vn/markets/tough-odds-for-vn-market-upgrade_293279.html

SCIC seeks approval for Vinamilk's ESOP plan


The State Capital Investment Corporation (SCIC) has asked for the prime minister's approval of Vinamilk's plan for an Employee Stock Ownership Programme (ESOP) in the 2018-21 period.In a document sent to the government Office, SCIC has proposed that Vinamilk issue ESOP shares in two phases, of which the first issuance, expected this year, will offer 14.5 million shares, equivalent to 1 per cent of its charter capital.


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The second phase will also float shares worth 1 per cent capital in 2020 if the company accomplishes its revenue and profit targets in three years, from 2017 to 2019, or achieves the minimum annual growth rate of three years from 2017 to 2019, attaining the objectives of the management board.ESOP shares are restricted to transfer within two years, with 50 per cent of the shares being cleared away every year.The issuing price will be equal to two times the book value per share of the company's latest consolidated financial statement.ESOP is a kind of employee benefit plan that provides a company's workforce with an ownership interest in the company.SCIC has rationalised that the previous ESOP issuance had contributed to Vinamilk's positive business performance as well as encouraged employees' loyalty.Vinamilk's revenue and pre-tax profit increased by an average of 14.8 per cent and 13.4 per cent, respectively, in the 2012-16 period. These numbers in 2017 were VND51.04 trillion (US$2.24 billion) in revenue (up 9 per cent year-on-year) and VND10.28 trillion in net profit (up 10 per cent year-on-year).Vietnam's largest dairy firm was also a generous dividend payer with an annual divi-dend ratio of 45-83 per cent. The company has so far spent VND32 trillion for dividend payment during 2012-27, of which SCIC has received VND13.5 trillion.Vinamilk's shares have soared over 140 per cent, from VND86,500 per share in 2012 to VND208,600 each by the end of 2017. The company's market value has also increased by 6.25 times compared to the end of 2011.The proposal is under consideration of the government Office, which has asked the ministries of Finance and Planning and Investment for feedback.If approved, the State ownership ratio, represented by SCIC, will decrease by 0.71 per cent to 35.29 per cent.http://bizhub.vn/markets/scic-seeks-approval-for-vinamilks-esop-plan_293270.html

Labour suppliers told to keep trainees from radiation-tainted areas in Japan


The Department of Overseas Labour under the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs has told labour suppliers to keep Vietnamese trainees in Japan from areas with high radiation levels, news site Laodong.vn reports.The move was taken following a report that a Vietnamese trainee had complained to Japan's competent agencies that he was sent to do cleanup work in contaminated areas in Fukushima.In an official document, the Department of Overseas Labour asked all enterprises that have sent workers to Japan to urgently contact worker-receiving companies in Japan to clarify whether any Vietnamese trainees are working in such dangerous conditions.If there are any Vietnamese trainees brought to risky areas for work, the relevant en-terprises must report such cases and join hands with Vietnamese Office of Labour Management in Japan to protect those trainees, and handle the cases.Besides, the department demanded that Vietnamese labour suppliers review all rele-vant issues and submit reports to the department by March 15.Regarding the complaint by a Vietnamese trainee over his work at contaminated areas in Fukushima, the department called for quick actions from the sides concerned. It urged the Vietnamese Office of Labour Management to work with the Ministry of Jus-tice, the Organisation for Technical Intern Training and the Japanese Worker Union to take quick measures to protect the Vietnamese trainee.http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/58811/Labour-suppliers-told-to-keep-trainees-from-radiation-tainted-areas-in-Japan.html

31pct of businesses find it difficult to recruit IT staff

19/MAR/2018 INTELLASIA| NHIP CAU DAU TU

On March 14, Vietnam E-commerce Association (Vecom) held the "Vietnam E-Com-merce Forum 2018" in Hanoi.The report said the annual survey shows that the proportion of businesses facing dif-ficulties in recruiting skilled workers in information technology (IT) and e-commerce


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tends to increase. In 2016, 29 percent of businesses had difficulties. Then in 2017, 31 percent of businesses faced difficulties in recruiting.The skills of website management and e-commerce trading floor see the biggest de-mand from businesses, and 46 percent of businesses had difficulty recruiting labourers having those skills.The source of labourers is in shortage. Meanwhile, businesses are now very focused in recruiting labourers responsible for e-commerce.Especially, large businesses have higher proportion of labourers specialising in e-com-merce than Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). In particular, IT, communications, finance and real estate sectors have the highest percentage of e-commerce workers (49 percent of the surveyed businesses).According to this survey, currently, labourers lack the following skills: exploitation, usage of e-commerce applications; mode and application setting, troubleshooting; planning and implementation of e-commerce projects; Database administration; on-line marketing and online payment implementation.Businesses now need skilled labourers in IT and e-commerce because doing business on social networks and e-commerce platform brings about high efficiency.According to VECOM's survey, in 2017, 32 percent of surveyed businesses were doing business on social networks, 11 percent of businesses were doing business on e-com-merce floors (down two percent compared to 2016).The advertisement on social networks and search engines was the most effective form of advertising for businesses with the proportion of 46 percent and 39 percent respec-tively.VECOM's report also points out that quite a few companies use complicated software in their implementation such as customer relationship management (CRM), supply chain management (SCM), and enterprise resource management (ERP).The trend of using these softwares has not showed signs of changing compared to pre-vious years. In the group of big businesses, 94 percent of them have used accounting software, 83 percent of them have used HR management software. In general, large business groups still have a higher percentage of using specialised softwares than small and medium ones.It can be seen that the difference between the use of softwares between large business-es and SMEs is quite high. Especially for ERP software, the difference is nearly three times.

Sao Khue Awards nominations released


The Sao Khue Awards 2018 received 100 nominations from 80 enterprises and units in the two months since the process began.The preliminary council of Sao Khue Awards 2018 selected 92 nominations to carry out actual appraisals at these enterprises.This year marks the fifteenth anniversary of the awards, organised by the Vietnam Software and IT Services Association (VINASA).This year's awards add new categories for outstanding IT products and services in the Fourth Industrial Revolution, such as artificial intelligence, Internet of Things, Big Data and 3D printing.The awards ceremony will take place in early April in Hanoi. Outstanding products and services will be nominated to participate at the Asia Pacific ICT Alliance Awards (APICTA Awards) in Guangzhou, China this August.bizhub.vn/tech/sao-khue-awards-nominations-released_293281.html

Ben Tre pomelo, coconut GI certified


Green-skin pomelo and green Xiem coconut, specialties of the Mekong Delta province of Ben Tre, have been granted geographical indication (GI) certificate by the National Office of Intellectual Property (NOIP).This was announced by the provincial authorities at a ceremony held in Ben Tre on March 15.


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The People's Committee of Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta province holds the GI rights.For green Xiem coconut, the geographical area for GI certification includes Chau Thanh, Cho Lach, Giong Trom, Mo Cay Nam, Mo Cay Bac, Thanh Phu, Ba Tri, as well as Binh Dai districts and Ben Tre City.GI is also applicable to pomelo grown in Ben Tre City and islets in the districts of Chau Thanh, Binh Dai, Mo Cay Nam, Mo Cay Bac and Cho Lach.At the ceremony, NOIP director Dinh Huu Phi said the GI for green-skin pomelo and green Xiem coconut would be the basis for enterprises and farmers to develop their market and protect the quality and origin of the products.He said the GI certification was just the beginning and that in the process of production and business, Ben Tre would face many challenges, especially small-scale production, limitation in production cooperation, unstable quality of product and weak level of joining in the value chain.Vo Thanh Hao, secretary of Ben Tre Province's Party Committee, said after receiving the GI certificate, the province would focus on choosing seeds to preserve and improve the quality of the two products.The province will promote propaganda and publicity for the people, producers and traders. They will become aware that the GI is the common property of the province and of the nation. Therefore, individuals and organisations must be responsible in pre-serving the GI tag and in developing the two products.At the same time, the province will build model gardens and organic gardens, connect production and businesses and boost trade promotion through a system of manage-ment tools for GI to develop the value chain, strictly manage trademarks, build codes for tracing the origin and create trust for consumers.The province has also scheduled the registration of GI abroad, especially in key export markets, to develop trade promotion activities and increase exports of the two prod-ucts.Green-skin pomelo and green Xiem coconut are considered the major plants in Ben Tre Province with high economic value. Currently, Ben Tre has over 7,200ha of green-skin pomelo and nearly 8,000ha of green Xiem coconut cultivation.According to the provincial Department of Industry and Trade, the GI registration is expected to boost the value of the green Xiem coconut in the domestic market and help expand exports to foreign markets such as the United States, Japan and the European Union.Small in size with a green skin, each coconut has an average of 258ml of water. Its wa-ter is sweeter and different from others in terms of nutrition and health benefits.The pomelo, which got its name as its skin remains green even when it is ripe, is much sought after in the market for its great taste. The fruit has thin skin, few seeds and pink flesh.The GI recognition is expected to help Ben Tre expand the market for pomelo and raise the income for local farmers.http://bizhub.vn/news/ben-tre-pomelo-coconut-gi-certified_293280.html

Lao Cai to develop 3.5ha hi-tech farms of lilies, roses


The northern province of Lao Cai will use advanced technology to grow lilies and roses across a total area of 3.5 hectares in four wards and township of Sa Pa district.The provincial People's Committee recently approved a project, worth 11.5 billion VND (506,000 USD), to develop hi-tech farms of lilies (2 hectares) and roses (1.5 hec-tares) in Ban Khoang, Ta Phin and Sa Pa wards and Sa Pa township from 2018-2020.The funding includes 2.9 billion VND sourced from the State budget for the national target programme on building new-style rural areas which will be partly spent on training, purchasing machines and management.The remainder will be donated by citizens through labour, seeds, fertiliser, pesticides, and net and glass houses.Flower production in Sa Pa has seen strong growth in recent years thanks to favoura-ble local conditions. The district has become one of the key flower farming areas in the


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northwestern region.The project is expected to develop flower farming in the province and aid local efforts to restructure agriculture and raise incomes for farmers.It also aims to create links between businesses and farmers throughout production and distribution.https://en.vietnamplus.vn/lao-cai-to-develop-35ha-hitech-farms-of-lilies-roses/127974.vnp

Analogue broadcasts to end on December 31


Central and local television stations must stop analogue broadcasting before Decem-ber 31, 2018, under an amendment to Decision No 2451/QD-TTg on transmission, ter-restrial TV broadcasting digitalisation by 2020.The rule was approved by prime minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc on March 14.The digitalisation programme is being conducted in four phases, with Hanoi, HCM City, Hai Phong, Da Nang and Can Tho leading the way. Twenty-six provinces were involved in the second phase, which ended on December 31, 2016.The third phase, with a deadline of December 31, 2018, will be implemented in several provinces. These include Thanh Hoa, Nghe An, Ha Tinh and Quang Binh, as well as Quang Tri, Thua Thien-Hue, Quang Nam and Quang Ngai, in addition to Dinh Dinh, Phu Yen, Lam Don and Ninh Thuan. Also included in this phase are Binh Phuoc, Tay Ninh, Tra Vinh and Soc Trang, as well as Bac Lieu, Ca Mau and Kien Giang provinces. Areas outside the coverage of digital broadcasting stations in Quang Ninh, Bac Giang, Thai Nguyen and Phu Tho, as well as Ninh Binh, Binh Thuan, Dong Nai, Ba Ria-Vung Tau and Khanh Hoa are also included in this phase.In the fourth phase, digitalisation will be rolled out in remote provinces in the northern and central regions.According to the amendment, the Vietnam Public Utility Telecommunication Services Fund will be used to help impoverished households access digital television by 2020.http://bizhub.vn/tech/analogue-broadcasts-to-end-on-december-31_293282.html

Retail chains seek more workers as Amazon prepares to arrive


Vietnam, a promising retail market for retailers thanks to its young population and economic growth, faces a lack of qualified workers for the sector.The Vietnam E-commerce Association (Vecom) confirmed that Amazon, at a Vietnam Online Business Forum on March 14, will kick off a cooperation programme with Ve-com to help small and medium enterprises (SMEs) sell products through Amazon.The decision by Amazon shows the great potential of the market, the second market in South East Asia that Amazon has chosen for development.Before Amazon, Lazada entered Vietnam, and now holds 1/3 of the online shopping market share. Alibaba spent $1 billion to acquire a controlling stake in Lazada, realis-ing its plan to conquer the South East Asian market.However, analysts say that retailers are facing a big problem the lack of qualified and capable workers. At a meeting of CEOs from the retail industry held recently, the CEOs spoke about the lack of qualified personnel."It has been very difficult to find workers in recent years," said Trinh Lan Phuong, CEO of BiBomart, distributor of products for mothers and kids.BiBomart was established in 2006 with initial investment capital of VND130 million. Ten years later, it was valued at $142 million and reported revenue of over $100 million from 150 shops.Phuong said in the 2009-2014 period, the retail chain had three big problems finance, staff and administrative systems. She said the market promises great potential and the company wants to expand, but the lack of capable workers has hindered the plan.Phuong wants well trained workers to become retailers. But in Vietnam, there is no school that provides workers to the retail industry."In Vietnam, most capable students continue study at university after finishing high school and they want well-paid office jobs after graduation. In their eyes, sales is just


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a job for the short term," she said.Dinh Thi My Loan, chair of the Vietnam Retailers Association, said in Vietnam retail is not considered an occupation. "Vietnamese think retailers are just intermediaries who make money from 'slave trading'," she said.Personnel has also been a difficult issue for Tiki. "The biggest problem is not invest-ment capital. If we do well, we will be able to call for capital easily. But it is difficult to find talented people," Tran Ngoc Thai Son, Tiki's CEO, said.http://english.vov.vn/economy/retail-chains-seek-more-workers-as-amazon-pre-pares-to-arrive-370586.vov

Dispute over port design leads to boats sinking at Ha Long

19/MAR/2018 INTELLASIA| DTI NEWS

Several tourist boats have sunk while anchoring at Tuan Chau International Port while boat owners and the port management team have not reached a solution.Last October, a tourist boat suddenly sank while anchored at Tuan Chau International Port in Ha Long City. According to a boat owner, dozens of tourist boats have sunk while docking at Tuan Chau Port since early 2016 after the operation at Bai Chay Port was terminated. The port design have been blamed for the accidents.On March 11, another tourist boat sank for the same reason. This has become an almost daily occurrence. Boat operators blamed the port designers while representatives of Tuan Chau Port blamed vessel crews for being irresponsible.According to Quang Ninh Department of Transport, the port quay and its steps are not safe for the boats. The tidal range at Tuan Chau Port is three to four metres so the boats can easily capsize when the tide falls and the crew members do not leave enough of a line to the quay.No one has been hurt but boat owners had to spend VND60m (USD2,600) to salvage their boats and VND50m on repairs. This has also affected tourism.Deputy director of the provincial Department of Transport Bui Hong Minh said first the crew must take responsibility since they still need to monitor tourism boats at ports in accordance with regulations.Boat owners think it was impossible to stay up all night to measure the tides. An owner said they only needed to take care of their belongings while Bai Chay Port was still in operation. Boat owners are paying VND20m (USD877) a year for the services of which VND12.60m is for docking.The suggestion to use floats as a mini wharf for the boats was not feasible due to lim-ited space and budget.http://dtinews.vn/en/news/017004/55630/dispute-over-port-design-leads-to-boats-sinking-at-ha-long.html

Technical problems leave over 100 air passengers stranded on famous Vietnamese tourist islands

19/MAR/2018 INTELLASIA| TUOITRE NEWS

Technical faults with a plane travelling between the mainland of southern Vietnam and a well-known island group in the East Vietnam Sea have forced more than 100 passengers to stay on the islands, presenting the airline with difficulty in offering ac-commodation to the customers.One hundred and fourteen passengers were stranded on the Con Dao Islands on Sat-urday, said Vietnam Air Services Company (VASCO), the operator of the plane with the glitches.The problems delayed the flights of 0V8055, 0V8054, 0V8071 and 0V8070, scheduled to fly on the same day on the route connecting HCM City, the Con Dao Islands and Can Tho, a major city in southern Vietnam.The operator refused to reveal the technical problems.It said it has cooperated with relevant local authorities to arrange places for the pas-sengers to wait for the flight, which was slated for Sunday.The sheer number of passengers exceeded the capacity of hotel rooms on the islands, for the weekend is the peak time for occupancy.The airline, however, "has until now given enough accommodation for the customers to stay in on Con Dao safely," a VASCO representative said.


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The operator added it would pay compensation for the affected passengers and refund the ticket fare upon their requirement.VASCO manages eight ATR-72 planes on short domestic trips, such as those between HCM City and Ca Mau, Vietnam's southernmost province; the Con Dao Islands and Kien Giang Province, in the Mekong Delta region; and Can Tho City and Phu Quoc Is-land.The Con Dao Islands, administered by Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province, are considered an ideal destination for tourism, with beautiful pristine beaches, and limpid turquoise sea water.They also enjoy virgin forests with biodiversity.https://tuoitrenews.vn/news/business/20180318/technical-problems-leave-over-100-air-passengers-stranded-on-famous-tourist-islands/44602.html

VNPT launches OTT app for corporate users


Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group (VNPT) on March 14 introduced a new over-the-top app called OTT Karo targeting corporate subscribers, touting the new app as secure, stable and economical.Currently, several OTT apps like Viber and Zalo are used in Vietnam but they are not specially designed for corporate users. VNPT introduces Karo because users are not actually pleased with many popular OTT apps available on the market due to numer-ous weaknesses such as unstable connectivity, bad privacy and confidentiality, and many pop-up ads.VNPT said Karo will concentrate on the function of data security for corporate users thanks to the encryption of group chats in accordance with HTTPS and TLS protocols.Using Karo, companies can also make calls to all local mobile and landline subscribers. Moreover, this OTT app also offers additional functions such as corporate directories, working groups and internal reports.Not only enjoying free member-to-member calls and text messages between Karo us-ers like other OTT apps, subscribers also benefit from free 3G and 4G data because it is developed from the same network providerVNPT. Then, users can save call and tex-ting costs for connection between Karo and VNPT's mobile and landline subscribers.http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/58828/VNPT-launches-OTT-app-for-corporate-us-ers.html

Bosch expands CVT pushbelt manufacturing in Vietnam


Bosch will continue scaling up the production capacity of the Bosch Powertrain Solu-tions plant in Dong Nai Province, its first continuously variable transmission (CVT) pushbelts factory in Southeast Asia.According to Bosch at the ceremony marking the plant's tenth anniversary on March 15, the plant in Long Thanh, Dong Nai Province has by this month manufactured more than 25 million CVT pushbelts for automakers in Asia Pacific and North America.Rolf Bulander, member of the board of management of Bosch and head of mobility so-lutions at Bosch, said that after ten years of operation, the plant is the biggest CVT pushbelts manufacturing site in the global network of Bosch.The capacity of the manufacturing facility has been continuously expanded over the past ten years. As of late last year, the plant had had 18 production lines put into op-eration under Bosch's global manufacturing and quality standards.At the end of last year, Bosch announced to invest in the Dong Nai facility with an ad-ditional 58 million euros, or some $67 million, to increase its production capacity and turn it into a smart factory. A total of 321 million euros, or $372 million, will be poured into the facility by the end of this year.According to Bosch, the increasing investment and continuous growth in the past ten years have demonstrated Bosch's long-term commitment to expanding its presence in Vietnam.The number of associates at the plant increased considerably from less than 10 in 2008 to more than 1,900 late last year.


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Chair of Dong Nai Province Dinh Quoc Thai said Bosch Vietnam after ten years has become a leading CVT pushbelts manufacturer in Vietnam and one of the four biggest hi-tech businesses in the province.Bosch Vietnam has not only focused on business operations but also done well with transferring modern technologies and management skills to Vietnamese staff.http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/58807/Bosch-expands-CVT-pushbelt-manufactur-ing-in-Vietnam.html

Quang Trung Software City pilots smart traffic management


Quang Trung Software City (QTSC) on Tuesday introduced their smart traffic man-agement system (Smart Traffic) applicable to some internal roads to pioneer a smart city model in Vietnam.The pilot system, launched in coordination with Global Cybersoft Vietnam, effectively made use of artificial intelligence and image analysis by connection with available cameras in the area. Smart Traffic helps detect and warn internal traffic violations such as speeding, running the light, parking in the wrong place, or identifying blacklisted vehicles.Prior to the launch, the area had internally applied a smart public lighting system en-suring the remote supervision, control and operation of the entire lighting system via software. Particularly, the system can automatically adjust the brightness intensity de-pending on weather conditions, which saves 32 percent of monthly energy and ex-tends the bulb's life, a significant figure for QTSC in the mission of creating the first smart, green and clean city model in the country.The software park's ceaseless effort for the big objective was also seen as QTSC has dig-itised the entire infrastructure facilities of the area via the geographic information sys-tem, and installed car detector and facial identification systems at the entrance.Last June, QTSC joined hands with Global CyberSoft (Vietnam), 5D Agri Solutions Company and SaigonTech University to carry out Agriculture centre of Excellence at Quang Trung Software City. This is an area dedicated to researching and applying new technologies in agriculture such as Internet of Things, Cloud Computing, and Big Data among others, offering various opportunities for Vietnam IT companies to devel-op new agricultural applications.http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/58810/Quang-Trung-Software-City-pilots-smart-traffic-management.html

F.D.C listed in top 10 building contractors


F.D.C Investment Construction Joint Stock Company has entered the top ten most rep-utable building contractors of 2018 with the ninth position as announced by Vietnam Report (VNR).To achieve this result, which is a significant milestone in F.D.C's development journey in the past 15 years, the company has made great efforts, constantly accumulated ex-perience and strived hard to gain trust of investors and partners. The result has helped F.D.C strengthen its position as one of the fastest developing building contractors in Vietnam.When entering the market, F.D.C aimed for prestige with the slogan "Build on trust". The com-pany has worked hard to boost its prestige and grow stronger given its young, dynamic work-force, who own outstanding technical capabilities and can guarantee high effectiveness and ex-cellent quality of every project.F.D.C achieved steady growth last year with VND3.3 trillion in revenue. Its brand name was present at several projects across the country such as D'.Capitale, Diamond Island, Flamingo Dai Lai, Vinhomes Golden River, City Garden and Schaeffler.A notable project that F.D.C involves in is The Landmark 81, one of the highest build-ings in the world. At this mega-project which has recently been topped out, F.D.C was trusted by general contractor Coteccons and given a change to participate in the main foundation and structure of the tower, particularly 24 elevator cores, contributing to construction of the hardest part of the project.


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With 15 years of experience, F.D.C has built and will continue to work on many more residential areas and modern factories.Besides being listed as one of the top ten most reputable building contractors, F.D.C entered the top five fastest growing companies and the top 500 Vietnam largest enter-prises (VNR500) an-nounced early this year.A place in the top 500 chart is a striking evidence of F.D.C's significant breakthrough. From place No. 236 in the top 500 small and medium enterprises in 2016, F.D.C made it to the top 500 fastest growing small and medium enterprises at No. 51.http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/58814/FDC-listed-in-top-10-building-contractors-.html

Viettel grabs 10 per cent market share in Tanzania


Halotel has risen from seventh place to fourth in terms of subscriber numbers.In Vietnam, Viettel Post has been providing box delivery services since early March.It charges based on the shape of the box, and targets e-commerce sellers.Viettel also provides cartons for sending packages, and they are free this month. Be-sides, this month the fee is uniform for delivering anywhere in the country, but from next month it will be higher for non-urban destinations.http://bizhub.vn/tech/viettel-grabs-10-per-cent-market-share-in-tanzania_293285.html

IHG acquires Regent Hotels and Resorts

19/MAR/2018 INTELLASIA| BIZHUB

InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) has acquired 51 per cent stake in Regent Hotels and Resorts for $39 million, a move that will accelerate its expansion in the luxury ho-tel segment.With this deal, Regent Hotels and Resorts will become the top high-end brand in the IHG hotel brand chain.IHG said it expected to expand the Regent brand hotels from six, or 2,000 rooms, to 40 hotels (or 10,000 rooms) in the future.The deal is being touted as historic, as it has changed the course of the race, giving IHG a strong competitive edge in the luxury segment. The group can now take on other popular brands such as the Ritz-Carlton and St. Regis of Marriott International, Wal-dorf Astoria, Park Hyatt and Four Seasons, which operates as the biggest monobrand luxury player. This is considered a strategic step for IHG to expand its mark in the lux-ury segment, which is valued at $60 billion worldwide.It also gives IHG a better proposition through hotel owners and developers, as it com-petes for management deals with other fast-expanding uber luxury names, such as Ac-cor's Raffles, Dorchester Collection, Shangri-la Hotels and Resorts, Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group, and New World's Rosewood Hotels & Resorts.Regent was founded in 1970 by legendary hotelier Robert H. Burns, who served as chief executive officer and chair of Regent International Hotels from 1970 to 1992.Keith Barr, chief executive officer of IHG, said, "Regent is an excellent addition to the IHG brand portfolio. We see a real opportunity to open up Regent's tremendous po-tential and accelerate its growth globally.""IHG shares our vision for the brand and has the ability to make our ambition a reali-ty," said Steve Pan, executive chair of Formosa International Hotels Corporation, which owns and manages Regent Hotels and Resorts.In 2017, Regent reached an agreement to become the executive manager of the prestig-ious Regent Residences Phu Quoc resort, in which prestigious real estate developer BIM Group has invested.Regent Residences Phu Quoc has been positioned as one of the first six-star hotel com-plex in Vietnam's leading tourist island. With this acquisition, Regent Residences Phu Quoc will become an outstanding product, the first to be named Regent under the management of IHG. This is also the third project to follow the strategic partnership between BIM Group and IHG.This partnership makes the BIM Group's project "unique" in the market. Once again,


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IHG has reaffirmed its position, continuing to achieve the top value for super-luxury resorts.Located right in the centre of Bai Truong, Regent Residences Phu Quoc is the third component of the Phu Quoc Marina tourist complex, adjacent to the Phu Quoc Long Beach Resort. The development of the project illustrates the future of a high-end tour-ism complex that brings together leading resort brands, through owning luxury spaces and providing services such as relaxation, entertainment and delicate cuisine.Regent Residences Phu Quoc is built on an area of 15ha with only 76 villas and 42 sky villas, 120 hotel rooms and many luxury amenities such as rooftop bar, sky bar, gym, Michelin Star restaurant, beach club and spa. Designed in the typical colours of Viet-namese architecture with a large area of water, the villas of the project are not only di-versified in style but also bring space to the unique mineral resort, the target of wealthy investors.The IHG hotel brand chain currently includes InterContinental(R) Hotels & Resorts, Kimpton(R) Hotels & Restaurants, Hotel Indigo(R), EVEN(R) Hotels, HUALUXE(R) Hotels and Resorts, Crowne Plaza(R) Hotels & Resorts, Holiday Inn(R), Holiday Inn Express(R), Holiday Inn Club Vacations(R), Holiday Inn Resort(R), avid(TM) hotels, Staybridge Suites(R) and Candlewood Suites(R).http://bizhub.vn/property/ihg-acquires-regent-hotels-and-resorts_293275.html

PVEP sells 5pct interest in Block 15-1/05 to Murphy


The PetroVietnam Exploration Production Corporation (PVEP) has signed a deal on the transfer of a 5-percent interest and the administration right in Block 15-1/05 to Mur-phy Cuu Long Bac Oil Co. LtdAccording to PVEP, Block 15-1/05 is located in the Cuu Long Basin off the southern coast of Vietnam managed by the PetroVietnam Domestic Exploration Production Op-erating Company Limited (PVEP-POC).The Product Sharing Contract of Block 15-1/05 was signed on April 11, 2007 between the Vietnam National Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam) and two contractors, namely PVEP (75 percent administrator) and SK Corporation (25 percent).In August 2015, PVEP and Murphy inked an agreement on interest transfer, which rec-ognised the participation of Murphy in the Block 15-1/05 project.After negotiations, they reached a consensus on transferring to Murphy 5 percent of interests and the administration right of PVEP under the Product Sharing Contract of Block 15-1/05.Speaking at the signing ceremony, PVEP deputy director general Pham Nhu Khanh said that in the context that the world's oil price has yet to recover, the development of small and marginal oil fields faces a lot of difficulties, and requires solutions and ex-perience.Therefore, cooperating with Murphy a partner experienced in developing small and marginal oil fields- will help facilitate the progress of the project.https://en.vietnamplus.vn/pvep-sells-5-percent-interest-in-block-15105-to-murphy/127991.vnp

VietJet inks deal to open direct flights between HCM City, Brisbane


Vietnamese budget carrier VietJet and the Brisbane Airport Corporation (BAC) of the Australian state of Queensland signed a cooperation agreement in Sydney on March 16 to open a direct route connecting HCM City and Brisbane.The deal was inked in the presence of prime minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, who is on an official visit to Australia, James McGrath Assistant minister to the Australian prime minister, and officials of Vietnam and Australia.The direct route linking HCM City and Brisbane is scheduled to open in 2019.CEO and Managing director of BAC Julieannne Alroe said the travel frequency be-tween Queensland and Vietnam has risen by an average of 8 percent annually over the last five years. VietJet selected Brisbane as the first destination in Australia for a direct flight with HCM City given the Vietnamese southern metropolis is one of the five big-


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gest markets of Brisbane but there is yet a direct route between them.Vice Chair of VietJet Nguyen Thanh Hung said the carrier has continually upgraded its fleet and expanded the domestic and international flight network so as to bring more flight opportunities to millions of Vietnamese people and tourists around the globe.During PM Phuc's trip, VietJet and the Australian branch of Investec also signed an agreement on financial aid for five Airbus A321 planes with total value of 609 million USD.VietJet is a member of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) with the IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) certificate. The airline was also named as one of the Top 500 Brands in Asia 2016 by global marketing research company Nielsen and the "Best Asian Low Cost Carrier" at the TTG Travel Awards 2015, which compiles votes from travellers, travel agencies and tour operators in throughout Asia and Asia's Best Employer Brand by the Employer Branding Institute and World HRD Congress for many years. The airline was also rated as one of the top three fastest growing airline brands on Facebook in the world by Socialbakers.Currently, the airline boasts a fleet of 55 A320 and A321 aircraft, and operates 385 flights each day. It has already transported more than 55 million passengers on a net-work featuring 82 routes in Vietnam and across the region to international destinations such as Thailand, Singapore, the Republic of Korea, Taiwan (China), Hong Kong (Chi-na), China, Malaysia, Indonesia, Myanmar and Cambodia.Looking ahead, the airline plans to further expand its network across the Asia Pacific region. To prepare for this plan, VietJet has signed agreements with the world's lead-ing aircraft manufacturers to purchase more brand-new and modern aircraft.https://en.vietnamplus.vn/vietjet-inks-deal-to-open-direct-flights-between-hcm-city-brisbane/127982.vnp

RoK Group wants to become PV Power's strategic investor


Teakwang Industrial Co (Taekwang Ind) of the Republic of Korea (RoK) said it wants to become a strategic investor of PetroVietnam Power Corporation (PV Power).At a working session with PV Power Chair Ho Cong Ky in Hanoi on March 13, Presi-dent and CEO of Teakwang Power Holdings (TKPH) Sang Rok Kim said Taekwang Ind was one of the first RoK groups to invest in Vietnam and has operated in the coun-try for more than 23 years.Established in 2008 as a subsidiary of Taekwang Ind, TKPH aims to invest in electricity projects in Vietnam, he said.TKPH is the main investor of the 1,200 MW Nam Dinh Build-Transfer-Operation (BOT) Thermal Power Plant which is under financial arrangement, Kim said.Taekwang Ind has completed assessments for and field-trips to PV Power plants, he said, noting that that the group hopes to become a strategic investor of PV Power, to-ward a long-term goal.Applauding Taekwang's desire, Ky highlighted PV Power's advantages such as its en-vironmentally friendly and modern equipment and healthy financial structure.PV Power wants partners like Taekwang Ind, he said.The two sides agreed to enhance cooperation and carry forward each side's strength, supporting each other in development.Founded in 2007, PV Power is fully-owned by the Vietnam National Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam). It operates eight power companies and plants with a total ca-pacity of 4,208.2 MW, capable of supplying about 21 billion kWh per year, or 12 per-cent of the country's total power output.The corporation earned approximately 31 trillion VND (1.36 billion USD) in revenue in 2007. Its pre-tax profit exceeded 2.5 trillion VND (110 million USD), 83 percent more than the early target.https://en.vietnamplus.vn/rok-group-wants-to-become-pv-powers-strategic-investor/127964.vnp


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Honor aims to break into Vietnam's top 3 smartphone brands


Vietnam's crowded smartphone market has just became even more cut-throat with the arrival of Huawei Group's Honor, which debuted last week. The brand also an-nounced strategic collaborations with Vietnamese partners.The new phone series, which are named Honor 9 Lite and Honor 7X are priced be-tween VND5 million and VND7 million ($219 and $306) and mark Honor's first ven-ture into the booming Vietnamese market. The Huawei-owned smartphone brand did not hide its ambition to become Vietnam's top 3 smartphone brand in 2020, following Apple and Samsung.The brand calls itself a "young, fun and innovative partner of young Vietnamese con-sumers," targeting the price-conscious and trendy millennials in the Asean's fast-growing economy.Following the trend, Honor makes sure to emphasize the prowess of its smartphone cameras: competitive dual-lens 13MP + 2MP cameras on both the front and back of the phone."Vietnam is one of our key target markets in Southeast Asia, a strategic ground for Honor to continue offering the best state-of-the-art products and innovations," said Akin Li, president of Honor in Southeast Asia.To boost its growth in Vietnam, Honor has announced strategic a partnership with Vi-etnam's top gaming firm VNG, the distributor of the popular battle royale game Rules of Survival. Other partners include Singapore's IGG, distributor of real-time strategy game Lords Mobile and the action-packed game inspired by manga series Honkai Im-pact 3, as well as Bigo Live, an app for live-streaming services.Honor phones are also available for sale on top e-commerce websites such as Lazada, Shopee or Tiki, with flash sales to attract the first customers.Upon entering Vietnam, Honor and Huawei will have to compete with fellow Chinese rivals such as Oppo, Xiaomi or Vivo. While Oppo goes down the celebrity endorse-ment route, Xiaomi chose to partner with Digiworld, a domestic distributor, to con-quer the Vietnamese market.According to market research firm GfK, 13.6 million smartphones were sold in Viet-nam in the first 11 months of 2017, an increase of 3.1 per cent compared with the same period of 2016. The top selling brands are Apple's iPhone, Samsung's Galaxy series, and Oppo.http://www.vir.com.vn/honor-aims-to-break-into-vietnams-top-3-smartphone-brands-57345.html

Cuu Long Pharmaceutical swimming upstream


While Vietnamese enterprises in general and pharmaceutical firms in particular tend to increase the foreign ownership limit (FOL), Cuu Long Pharmaceutical JSC (Phar-imexco), a member of F.I.T Group, goes against the stream by decreasing the FOL to 32.57 per cent.Remaining faithful to RAMVietnam Securities Depository (VSD) issued the announcement permitting Pharimex-co to decrease the FOL from 49 to 32.57 per cent. This shows Pharimexco's commitment to be faithful to Rhinos Asset Management (RAM).Earlier in February this year, Pharimexco completed the $20 million sale of convertible bonds in a private placement to an investment fund managed by Rhinos Asset Man-agement (RAM) from South Korea. The convertible bonds have an interest rate of 1 per cent per year with a five year maturity and conversion price of VND25,000 ($1.10) per share. Besides, the bond volume will be converted into shares after one year.As per the agreement, after one year, if all convertible bonds were converted into or-dinary shares, which would mean RAM will hold approximately 18 million shares worth VND25,000 ($1.10) each, around 24 per cent, to become a large shareholder of the company.Along with the convertible bond sale, early this year Pharimexco allowed a represent-ative of RAM to join its board of directors. Furthermore, the pharmaceutical has of-


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fered RAM to purchase over 25 per cent of voting shares. The deal would take place without a public tender.According to Nguyen Van Sang, chair of the Board of directors of Pharimexco, since the firm became a member of F.I.T Group, the company has been working to become the leading pharmaceutical firm in Vietnam. In order to realise this target, Pharimexco is currently focusing on developing large-scale projects, including the third hollow capsule manufacturing factory, which will be the largest such facility in Vietnam with the capacity to cover 40 per cent of domestic market demand.Another large project is a cancer treatment medicine factory, which is a cooperation with State Capital Investment Corporation (SCIC). The factory will pioneer producing cancer treatment medicine in Vietnam. The construction of the factory was started in 2017 with the total investment capital of VND1 trillion ($44.1 million).Pharimexco's financial potentialPharimexco's long-term development plan shows its determination to become the leading pharmaceutical firm in Vietnam. Also, the firm seems to have stable finances to pursue this plan.In 2017, Pharimexco reported VND775.8 billion ($30.08 million) in revenue and VND74.9 billion ($3.29 million) in after-tax profit, signifying a slight on-year increase in revenue and decrease in after-tax profit.The acquisition of Euvipharm, a pharmaceutical company owning one of the most modern factories in Vietnam, is the reason of the decrease in after-tax profit.Notably, the deal was completed in early 2017, however, until June the same year, Eu-vipharm maintained operations, meaning Pharimexco could not write down any prof-it from the firm in the first six months of the year. Furthermore, in 2017, Pharimexco went into great expenses to rebuild Euvipharm's sales channel.Last year, the firm's assets soared from VND845 billion ($37.1 million) to VND1.22 tril-lion ($53.59 million), up 44.5 per cent on-year, while equity increased by 20.6 per cent to VND791.8 billion ($34.78 million) from VND656.6 billion ($28.84 million).However, the firm had been carrying a debt of VND429 billion ($18.84 million) as of December 31, 2017.At present, F.I.T Group owns 71.72 per cent of Pharimexco, after completing the pur-chase of an additional 1 million shares in late March 2017.http://www.vir.com.vn/cuu-long-pharmaceutical-swimming-upstream-57177.html

Taxi associations request temporary policy to hamper Uber and Grab


While local authorities plan to build a new decree on business and conditions for trans-portation business by automobile, Vietnamese taxi associations request a temporary policy to tighten the operations of Uber and Grab to replace the existing Decision No.24/QD-BGTVT on the pilot schemes for ride-hailing services.The taxi associations of Hanoi, HCM City, and Danang have submitted the document to the prime minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc to protest the government's decision to ex-tend the pilot programmes on using technology applications to connect and manage transport activities until the new decree replacing the existing Decree No.86/2014/ND-CP comes into effect.According to the three taxi associations, if local authorities extend the pilot ride-hailing service programme instead of tightening the operations of Uber and Grab, the Viet-namese transport market will be disturbed and traditional taxi firms will find it diffi-cult to maintain operations.The taxi associations also showed numerous disadvantages during the implementa-tion of the pilot programme in the past two years.Notably, the Ministry of Transport neglected controlling the vehicle volume during the pilot programme, despite the HCM City and the Hanoi people's committees' nu-merous warnings of oversupply.Accordingly, the under-nine seat automobiles taking part in the pilot programme reached over 60,000 nationwide, almost all of which are concentrated in HCM City and Hanoi. Grab and Uber's fleets broke the cities' transport planning and has contributed


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to causing traffic jams.Despite the staggering size of their fleet, Uber and Grab only paid VND285 billion ($12.5 million) in tax between 2014 and October 2017, equalling the tax that Vinasun, which manages a little more than 5,000 taxis, paid in nine months.With the 25 per cent commission that Uber and Grab enjoys from customer fares, these units transfer VND5.4 trillion (almosst $238 million) overseas per year, or VND15 bil-lion ($660,000) per day.The taxi associations also complained that two years is a long duration for implement-ing a pilot programme. In addition, it takes an additional two to three years for the au-thorities to build the new decree on business and conditions for transportation business by automobiles. Thus, if authorities do not build a temporary policy to tight-en the reins over Uber and Grab, the problems will only grow.In reality, the operations of traditional taxi firms have been seriously impacted by the appearance of Uber and Grab. Notably, in HCM City, half of the taxi firms stopped op-erations and the number of taxis decreased by 30 per cent. In Hanoi, the number of tra-ditional taxis decreased by 35 per cent.Hence, the taxi associations proposed to build a temporary policy with the aim to stop extending the fleets and the geographic scale of the pilot programme. Besides, Uber and Grab will have to sign direct contracts with drivers.A few days ago, at the meeting on the draft decree on business and conditions for transportation business by automobile, minister of Transport Nguyen Van The stated that the new decree, which will replace the existing Decree No.86/2014/ND-CP, will have to be carefully built, especially the clauses relating to the management of the op-erations of Grab and Uber, as well as the two firms' responsibilities to manage their drivers, according to information published on the government's website.He added that Uber and Grab will have to agree to operate under the management model applied to traditional taxi firms, they will be allowed to maintain operations, otherwise, they have to leave Vietnam.http://www.vir.com.vn/taxi-associations-request-temporary-policy-to-hamper-uber-and-grab-57316.html

Grab and Uber as taxi firms: a step back in the Industry 4.0 era?


The heated debate over whether Vietnam should regulate Grab and Uber as taxi serv-ices continues.At the meeting to discuss the draft decree replacing Decree No.86/2014/ND-CP on March 8, minister of Transport Nguyen Van The said that Grab and Uber are basically transport services that use technology to connect riders and drivers.If Grab and Uber conducted hi-tech business alone, it should be the responsibility of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, not the Ministry of Transport (MoT), to oversee them.He stated that the new decree, which will replace Decree 86, will have to be carefully built, especially the clauses relating to the management of the operations of Grab and Uber as taxi firms.Minister The's statement has provoked widespread controversy. Defining tech-based firms as traditional taxi services would be a step back for scientific and information technology development. If Grab and Uber were regulated as traditional taxi firms, it would hinder Vietnam's progress to become a startup nation in the age of Industry 4.0.Following the statement of the minister, traditional taxi associations have signed a joint petition to the prime minister, saying that the taxi system has been disrupted by the operations of Grab and Uber.The number of licensed traditional taxis in the HCM City Taxi Association was re-duced to less than half. Other taxi associations also witnessed a 30 per cent decline in the number of taxis.The associations also blamed MoT on the shrinking business of taxi companies, as the ministry has facilitated Grab and Uber to participate in the ride-hailing pilot pro-gramme under Decision No.24/QD-BGTVT.


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Traditional taxi firms are suffering from a decline in market share because commuters opt for new services that are faster, cheaper, and more convenient.Dr Pham Sanh, a transport expert, said that, "The government exerted some control over tech-based companies like Grab and Uber during the ride-hailling pilot pro-gramme. However, it is important to develop a management framework for Uber and Grab. In line with global trends, there is no banning or forcing these services to leave."China manages the ride-hailing firms as a mode of transportation, rather than banning or forcing them to leave the country. When Uber made its foray into China, the firm threatened the market shares of traditional taxi firms. However, after one year, Uber had to withdraw from China as traditional taxis have upgraded services to better serve customers.He noted that, "The government should develop a legal framework that is fair, equita-ble, transparent, and competitive. If we ask Grab and Uber to leave Vietnam, it will cause misunderstandings among the locals. Many people are in favour of the services offered by Grab and Uber because of their benefits."Jerry Lim, country head of Grab Vietnam, said that, "Working towards a regulatory framework for e-hailing requires careful deliberation and consultation with various stakeholders. The Vietnamese government has always been a consensus-driven gov-ernment and worked in the best interests of the citizens. Hence, we are very concerned about some of the points minister of Transport Nguyen Van The has made in public on March 8."According to Lim, driver-partners chose to come on board the Grab platform as they enjoy the flexibility and freedom to drive. Those who wish to drive full-time can do so, while those who prefer to drive at their own leisure can do so as well.People who wish to drive using their own cars can earn additional income opportuni-ties, too. Driver-partners certainly would not wish to go back to the old days, where they were bound by taxi operators to meet sales targets and had to endure long, fixed driving schedules and pay high commission to the taxi operator.Commuters chose Grab because the firm has improved their lives in significant ways through technologyfrom faster rides, transparency in pricing, convenience, and com-fort to safety. If driver-partners are being impacted, naturally passengers will get im-pacted greatly too. With less driver-partners on the streets, passengers will have a harder time getting their rides."Grab cannot be classified as a taxi company and return back to square one, especially with all the efforts Grab and the government made to drive Vietnam's digital econo-my," he stressed.http://www.vir.com.vn/grab-and-uber-as-taxi-firms-a-step-back-in-the-industry-40-era-57323.html

Company in $392mn investment scandal in Vietnam had profile doctored: state inspector

19/MAR/2018 INTELLASIA| TUOITRE NEWS

A loss-making and debt-ridden company was made to look like a lucrative, asset-rich firmA Vietnamese mobile carrier altered the financial status of a pay-per-view TV firm be-fore spending almost $400 million acquiring nearly all of its stakes, in a scandal that put multiple ministries and high-ranking officials at risk of punishment, the state in-spectorate has revealed.Leading mobile network operator MobiFone, a state-run company under the manage-ment of the Ministry of Information and Communications, generously paid $392 mil-lion to possess 95 percent of AVG, a company with total assets valued at only VND208.5 billion ($9.19 million) at the time of investment.In order to win approval for its investment proposal, MobiFone cooked the AVG books, turning a loss-making and debt-ridden company into a lucrative, asset-rich firm, according to Vietnam's state inspectorate, which looked into the deal in 2016 and announced the probe results earlier this week.Launched in 2011, AVG is considered the worst-performing player in Vietnam's pay TV sector. As of 2016, it had aggregated only 400,000 users among Vietnam's 9.9 mil-


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lion pay TV subscribers.As of late 2015, when the acquisition deal was initiated, AVG was bogged down with total debts valued at VND1,266 billion ($55.77 million) and accumulated losses of VND1,632 billion ($71.89 million).According to the conclusion of the state inspection, MobiFone had acknowledged the financial troubles of AVG, but still stated in a report to the information ministry that the company was "seeing its revenue and profit on a steady rise" and "enjoying all pos-itive growth indicators."MobiFone's chair and members of its board are being held as the key figures behind the inaccurate and negligent AVG evaluation, the state inspectors ruled.According to the acquisition agreement, MobiFone would also take over AVG's shares in two non-TV projects, including Mai Linh JSC, a silkworm firm, and An Vien BP, a minerals company.The mobile carrier eventually acquired 3.96 million shares of Mai Linh for more than VND670 billion ($29.52 million), 17 times higher than the stock's real value, according to state inspectors.Similarly, MobiFone took over 15 million shares of An Vien BP for VND1.8 trillion ($79.3 million), 12 times the stock price.Mai Linh runs a farm outside Hanoi and expected to turn the property into a real-es-tate project, but never took the project off the ground. An Vien BP also failed to obtain a license to begin its bauxite mining projects in the southern province of Binh Phuoc as expected.The state inspectorate also ruled that the consultants hired by MobiFone to evaluate the AVG deal overestimated the company's value.https://tuoitrenews.vn/news/business/20180316/company-in-362mn-investment-scan-dal-in-vietnam-had-profile-doctored-state-inspector/44564.html

Two new Vietnamese billionaires on Forbes list


Hoa Phat and Truong Hai, companies owned by newly recognised dollar billionaires Tran Dinh Long and Tran Ba Duong, respectively, are leaders in their industries but also investors in agriculture.Four Vietnamese are included in Forbes' recently released list of billionaires. These in-clude Pham Nhat Vuong, president of VinGroup, and Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao, CEO of Vietjet Air.The new names, Long of Hoa Phat Group and Duong of Truong Hai Automobile, have stock assets of $1.3 billion and $1.8 billion, respectively.Hoa Phat and Truong Hai have emerged as leading corporations in heavy industry with annual revenue of tens of trillion of dong.Its 2017 finance report showed that Hoa Phat's steel sales reached a record high of 3 million tonnes, an increase of 25 percent. It holds 24 percent of market share for struc-tural steel and 27 percent for steel pipes.With steel sales increasing sharply in 2017, Hoa Phat's revenue soared by 39 percent, reaching VND46.162 trillion, while post-tax profit increased by 22 percent to VND8.007 trillion.As for Truong Hai, in 2017, the automobile manufacturer sold 89,602 products, a de-crease of 21 percent from the year before, but it still holds 36 percent of market share.The drop in car sales affected most automobile manufacturers in 2017, because buyers postponed purchases, hoping cars would be cheaper in 2018, thanks to the tax cuts.Both Hoa Phat and Truong Hai are big players in their industries, leaving their rivals far behind. Hoa Phat's revenue in 2017 was equal to total revenue of both Hoa Sen and Nam Kim Groups, the two listed steel corporations.Regarding total assets, the figure reported by Hoa Phat was VND53 trillion as of the end of 2017, while Truong Hai had VND55 trillion by the end of September 2017.Both corporations have made serious investments in real estate and agriculture. Hoa Phat, for example, has poured money into Mandarin Garden 1 and Mandarin Garden 2, and industrial zone projects.


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Its agriculture projects have brought initial achievements. Hoa Phat plans to provide 20 million poultry eggs this year and increase Australian cow output. It hopes to pro-duce 300 million eggs, 75,000 cows, 650,000 pigs and 1 million TONNES OF animal feed a year in the next five years.As for Truong Hai, it joined the real estate market, taking over control of Dai Quang Minh Real Estate JSC. It also built an agricultural engineering factory in Quang Nam, capitalised at VND500 billion.US$1=VND22,000http://english.vietnamnet.vn/fms/business/197195/two-new-vietnamese billionaires-on-forbes-list.html

Business Forum a highlight of GMS-6


The first-ever GMS Business Forum will be a highlight of the sixth Greater Mekong Sub-region Summit (GMS-6) to be held in Vietnam later this month, heard an interna-tional press conference in Hanoi on March 15.As an initiative of host Vietnam, the event aims to strengthen dialogues between en-terprises and governments and connect businesses in the region and the world, while encouraging resources from the private sector for the GMS Programme, said deputy Foreign minister Dang Dinh Quy, head of the GMS-6 organising board.The forum will be chaired by prime minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and see the attend-ance of the leaders of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Asean Secretary-General, among others.Participants, who come from ministries, sectors and localities of the GMS member na-tions, development partners, and regional and domestic enterprises, will focus their discussions on infrastructure development, funding sources, hi-tech agriculture, and the connection between the GMS and global trade, according to Tran Bao Ngoc from the Foreign Ministry, head of the Content Subcommittee of the GMS-6.The initiative has received active support and cooperation of international, regional and local businesses. So far, more than 200 enterprises have registered to attend the fo-rum, including big groups from China's Guangxi, Yunnan, and Guangdong provinces.It is expected to see the participation of more than 1,000 businesses from around the world, particularly from Asean, GMS member nations, and partners, namely Japan, the Republic of Korea, and Europe, Ngoc said.The GMS cooperation was launched in 1992 as an initiative of the ADB. The GMS Eco-nomic Cooperation Programme is the most complete cooperation programme that in-volves Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Myanmar, and China's Yunnan and Guangxi provinces.The programme prioritises infrastructure development, energy, telecommunications, tourism, trade-investment, human resources, and the environment.The GMS is expected to receive 66 billion USD in investment to strengthen regional economic cooperation in the next five years.Since its inception, the GMS Programme has mobilised 21 billion USD for the region.https://en.vietnamplus.vn/business-forum-a-highlight-of-gms6/127962.vnp

Nha Trang to host Vietnam Renewable Energy Summit 2018


The Vietnam Renewable Energy Summit 2018 (VRES 2018) will take place on March 26 to 28 in InterContinental Nha Trang in the south-central province of Khanh Hoa's Nha Trang City.VRES 2018 is organised by Neoventure Corporation, an energy advisory firm which helps international investors identify investment opportunities in the energy sector of emerging markets.The event will be a match-making platform for key stakeholders in Vietnam's renew-able energy sector to source partnerships in renewable sectors.It is expected to gather some 30 local developers, including TTC Energy, KN Group, Phu Cuong, Ocean Group and Hado Group, together with international developers and investors like Tata Power, Mainstream and Blue Circle.


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Government bodies and State-owned Electricity of Vietnam together with its associat-ed companies will also attend, including the Ministry of Planning and Investment, the National Load Dispatch Centre, Power Engineering Consulting Joint Stock Company No 3 and Thuan Binh Wind Power Joint Stock Company.In September 2017, the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Vietnam issued a circular on the detailed mechanism to encourage the development of solar power projects in Viet-nam, which includes a final template power purchase agreement and the feed-in-tariff (FiT) rate of 9.35 US cents per kWh for solar projects.The Vietnamese government is currently reviewing the FiT rate of 7.8 US cents per kWh to further incentivise the development of wind power projects and push forward Vietnam's 800MW wind energy target by 2020.The event will consist of conferences, workshops, exhibitions and project match-mak-ing forums. It will be a place for industrial players to share knowledge and expand business contacts.VRES 2018 can provide topical sessions to understand market intelligence and to get connected with key local developers with approved renewable projects open for in-vestment.http://www.vir.com.vn/nha-trang-to-host-viet-nam-renewable-energy-summit-2018-57271.html

Vietnam Footwear Summit to discuss new growth models


New trend and growth models in the footwear industry will be the main topic of dis-cussions at the Vietnam Footwear Summit 2018 in HCM City from March 21-22.According to the Vietnam Leather, Footwear and Handbag Association (Lefaso), the event is expected to help local businesses grasp international footwear development trend, apply new materials and information and technology (IT) to slash costs and meet environmental requirements.Provided with sufficient information from foreign experts, Vietnamese footwear pro-ducers will be able to pen vision and development strategies.The event will also give local firms a chance to meet with customers from 20 countries worldwide.Vietnam's footwear industry has enjoyed a giant stride thanks to the bilateral and mul-tilateral trade agreements as well as the fourth industrial revolution. However, enter-prises need to renew to keep pace with latest trend and join the global supply chain.https://en.vietnamplus.vn/vietnam-footwear-summit-to-discuss-new-growth-mod-els/128067.vnp

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