250417intellasia finance vietnam - hkbav.org · abb drives vietnam power's digital era 15 pm:...

25 April 2017

finance & business news

FINANCE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1Reference exchange rate up 5 VND 1The profit gap of domestic banks 2Are banking stocks expensive or cheap? 3BIDV plans to raise charter capital this year 4Vietnam's top listed bank BIDV looking for steady profit in 2017 5Vietnam's bank seeks $700 million via stake sale to

foreign investor - report 5More officials arrested for violations at DongA Bank 6BIC among Top 100 Vietnam Excellent Brands in 2016 7'The first time' of Eximbank after two years of turmoil 7Ministry petitions to cut lending interest rate for pig breeders 8Iran and Vietnam promote cooperation in multiple sectors 8Japanese firms want Circular 23 modified 9Taiwan, VN can go green together 9Sharp rise in Q1 fertiliser imports 10Vietnam struggles to deal with loss-making megaprojects 11Call for $309 million to upgrade VN railways 11Ministry drafts Decree on compulsory social insurance for

foreign workers in VN 12Workers to get better services: PM 13HCM City to develop food industry 14HCM City to relocate construction material facilities 15ABB drives Vietnam power's digital era 15PM: Tra Vinh expected to become new trading centre 17Ban Gioc to become national tourism site 18Association sees busier property market in Q2 19Traditional markets need to be nurtured 19Corporate profit falls 60pct in 2010-2015 20Vietnamese firms reach deals with Burma partners 21Local firms unprepared for climate change adaptation 21FDI firms leading loss-making rate for years 22Industry 4.0 a threat to textiles sector 22Vietnamese pig farmers hard hit by imported meat 23Private investors in infrastructure suffer disadvantages 24Angel investors come together to support startups 24

BIZ NEWS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25Business Briefs April 25, 2017 25Stocks fall further on poor market sentiment 25Lack of info to keep stocks quiet 26Experts: Further stock losses likely this week 27Agencies asked to publicise equitised SOEs not listed 28

Price developments of defensive stocks get exciting in 2017 28Viettel gets ready for April ipo in Tanzania 29PV Power prepares for August IPO 30Vietjet airline records positive business results in Q1, 2017 30Vietnamese firms set for active mergers season 31FPT Telecom's 2016 revenue at $290mn 32Proposal to upgrade City airport mooted 32Binh Duong starts operating second wastewater treatment

plant 33Hoi An starts $44.2 million tourism property project 33Ca Mau gas processing plant to start commercial production

in June 33New technology ups rice value in Can Tho 34Rent-A-Port leads in green foresight 35IREX set to benefit from solar flare-up 36HCM City transport authority comes up with new

parking fee plan 37HCM City to open more tourist streets 37Vina Kraft's second paper plant becomes operational 38Vietnam's Saigon Petro seeks diesel ahead of plant maintenance 38Samsung enhances smartphone checks after last year's

Note 7 fires 39First industrial waste power generation plant inaugurated 39Vietnamese airlines roll out new international flights 40PAN Group reports positive performance 40Following BKAV, Viettel aims to make luxury smartphone 41Vietjet to offer a million promotional tickets 42BIM Group - Syrena Vietnam receive Strong Vietnamese

Brand award 42Vietlott's distribution system through mobiles to be launched 43CapitaLand partners with internationally Acclaimed Feng Shui

consultant Dato' Joey Yap 432017 Vietnam Property Awards short list to be announced 44Vietnamese Camau Bananas exported to Dubai 45Ly Son islanders abandon lobster farming 45'VND0 tours' for Chinese travellers: how to stop them 45Beverages greatest contributor to FMCG growth 46Businesses can still donate autos to State agencies - draft law 47Dow works for environment protection on Earth Day 47New GM for Eastin Grand Hotel Saigon 48

FINANCE
FINANCEReference exchange rate up 5 VND
25/APR/2017 INTELLASIA| VNA

The daily reference exchange rate for VND/USD went up 5 VND on April 25 compared to the previous day to 22,344 VND per USD.With the current trading band of +/- 3 percent, the ceiling rate applied to commercial banks during the day is 22,993 VND and the floor rate 21,680 VND per USD.The opening hour rates at commercial banks saw strong rises from April 24, with Viet-

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Vietnam finance & business 25 April 2017

combank increasing both rates by 25 VND, listing the buying rate at 22,705 VND and selling rate at 22,775 VND per USD.The rates listed by BIDV were 22,700 VND (buying) and 22,770 VND (selling), both up 30 VND.Vietinbank maintained the selling rate unchanged from April 24 at 22,770 VND but added 5 VND to the buying rate, purchasing the greenback at 22,700 VND per USD.http://en.vietnamplus.vn/reference-exchange-rate-up-5-vnd/110758.vnp

The profit gap of domestic banks

25/APR/2017 INTELLASIA| STOCKBIZ

In the same business environment and being impacted by the same macro situation, the profitability of foreign banks are much higher than domestic banks'. Beside the ad-vantage of cheap capital, caution in lending and sustainable revenue from service help foreign banks to get such the profit.Huge profit for foreign banks, big struggle for domestic banksIn early April, 2017, HSBC Vietnam MTV Limited announced its financial statement for 2016. Accordingly, by the end of 2016, total assets of HSBC Vietnam reached over 71,138 billion VND, with a chartered capital of 7.528 billion VND. Profit before tax reached 1,801 billion VND, increasing by 46 percent, profit after tax reached 1.441 bil-lion VND.According to ANZ, total assets of the bank in 2016 reached 39 trillion dong, decreasing by 15 percent compared to at the beginning of the year. The bank's chartered capital was only 3,000 billion VND, equivalent to small-sized banks in Vietnam. However, ANZ Vietnam achieved profit after tax of 452 billion VND, folded by half in 2015.It can be seen that the profit of these banks mainly rely on service. Specifically, HSBC's net interest income for the year was VND2,396 billion, slightly higher than that of FY2015. Net interest income from its services reached 628 billion VND.Notably, gain from forex trading increased sharply by 66 percent to 754 billion VND. At the same time, HSBC's operating expenses decreased to VND 1,845 billion com-pared to last year.Credit risk provision dropped sharply by 70 percent to 61.5 billion VND. At ANZ, by the end of 2016, lending to customers reached VND14,100 billion, decreasing by 13.4 percent. Deposits of customers reached 32,600 billion, decreasing by 8 percent. Due to negative credit growth, ANZ's net interest income declined to 1,230 billion VND, de-creasing by 8 percent compared to 2015.As a result of improved earnings from forex trading, securities investment and service activities, ANZ's after tax profit increased by 50 percent compared to the 2015 result of 300 billion VND.Comparing domestic banks with the equivalent chartered capital with these two banks, it can be seen that foreign banks are profitable while Vietnamese banks, despite continuously recorded credit growth cannot keep up with foreign banks in profitabil-ity.In 2016, banks with chartered capital of over 3 trillion dong recorded relatively low profit. Profit before tax and after tax of NCB was VND16.5 billion and VND13.2 billion respectively. Saigonbank recorded net profit of 139.4 billion dong, KienLongBank's to-tal after tax profit in 2016 was 121 billion VND, decreasing by 27 percent compared to 2015.This is the 5th successive year that the profit has declined. In the banking group with chartered capital of VND5,000-7,000 billion, profit from trading activities ranged from nearly VND400 billion to less than VND1 trillion.Advantage of service developmentAccording to Dr Nguyen Tri Hieu, a financial expert, foreign banks in Vietnam have achieved better results than domestic banks for two reasons. Firstly, foreign banks are supported by capital from their parent banks and banks related to them abroad with cheaper capital, which contributes to high profits.Secondly, although the size of operations of foreign banks is small compared to other banks in Vietnam, the total assets of these banks account for only about 10-15 percent of the total assets of commercial banks, they do business very carefully and then avoid NPLs. Accordingly, the risk provision is also low, not corroding banks' profits like do-mestic banks and contributing to the increase of profits beside the cheaper cost of cap-ital.Dr Bui Quang Tin from the HCM City University of Banking says that in recent years, the structure of profit and turnover of foreign banks in Vietnam is different from the

Intellasia 25 April 2017 2 / 48

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structure of domestic banks. More than 70 percent of revenue contributes to domestic banks' earnings is from credit, some even with 85-90 percent. Credit in Vietnam is as-sociated with NPL, then provisioning for bad debt results in eroding profit. The re-maining result is not high.The business structure of foreign banks depends on services and revenue from servic-es accounts for more than 70 percent. When making money by service, the money is very sustainable, the revenue is made only with the exception of related expenses and no provision.In recent years, many domestic banks have announced that they will improve their services to reduce dependence on credit. However, according to the financial state-ments of banks, the profit still come mainly from credit activities. Currently, banks have pushed up service development, but the level of improvement is still slow and the general trend of banks still have to continue mobilising and lending, even many banks want to ask the State Bank to increase the credit limit granted to promote profit growth. Some banks say that in order to increase service income, they have pushed up retail banking. However, the retail strategy is also mainly targeted credit growth, not focusing on other non-financial services.In the restructuring plan of credit institutions during 2016-2020, SBV requires banks to increase service revenue by over 30 percent, by the end of 2020 at the latest. This is an appropriate direction in line with the trend of the world. Otherwise, if profits just rely on credit, this causes many difficulties for banks, especially when credit in Vietnam is heavily dependent on the real estate market and the health of businesses.

Are banking stocks expensive or cheap?

25/APR/2017 INTELLASIA| TRI THUC TRE

Since the beginning of the year, banking stocks on HOSE and HNX have become frag-mented. Some stocks have soared sharply while some others have hit a plateau. Mean-while, the OTC market became more active with information related to the listing. It can be seen that the market is re-evaluating stocks in the industry and opportunities is much likely to be found in the group of which prices are considered cheap.The 2017 banking outlookThe credit recovery with credit growth starting from 2015, accelerating and reaching 18 percent in 2016 has made banks' earnings to grow impressively in 2016. SBV expects the growth of credit and money supply to be 18 percent and 16-18 percent respectively in 2017, slightly lower than 2016, but much higher than 2014-2015. SBV has planned a reasonable growth with credit oriented towards prioritised areas and industries from the beginning of the year which can create momentum from the first months, avoiding over-concentrating in the last months of the year.By the end of Q1 2017, the credit growth of the whole system reached 4.03 percent, as much as 1.3 times of the same period of 2016, at 3.04 percent, being the highest increase in past 5 years and higher than the growth rate of capital mobilisation (about 3 per-cent). As a result, the LDR of the whole system in Q1/ 2017 was approximately 87 per-cent, equivalent to the same period in 2016. This shows that enterprises' capacity of capital absorption is relatively good.Besides, total capital mobilisation in Q1/2017 rose by 2.43 percent, higher than the same period of 2016 (2.26 percent). It is expected that the system-wide credit and mo-bilisation in the subsequent quarters will continue to grow strongly to support eco-nomic growth, because the Q1 2017 growth reached the lowest level in the past three years at only 5.1 percent, FDI inflows tended to stagnate and the public debts reached its ceiling, making the government difficult to increase spending to drive growth. Therefore, credit enhancement will be one of the main measures to promote economic growth in such a context.Listed stocks and stocks about to be listedAt many listed banks with high credit growth and high LDR ratio of above 100 percent such as Vietnam Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Industry and Trade (CTG), Bank of Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV), the mobilisation growth has accel-erated since 2016 and is expected to maintain its growth momentum in 2017. These


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stocks after the adjustment of 10-15 percent of the market price at the beginning of the year are now at more attractive prices compared to that of 2016.Banks with good quality of assets such as Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam (HSX: VCB), Military Commercial Joint Stock Bank (HSX: MBB), and Asia Commercial Bank (HNX: ACB) are expected to lead the upward trend of the banking group. VCB stock with a good position in the industry and assured quality of assets has the best opportunity to become the leader in the first 6 months of 2016 while ACB stock is telling the story of a leading joint stock bank gradually returning to its main trajectory after a heavy restructuring process. ACB may record positive business result from the end of 2017 and 2018 after the bad debt has been completely resolved and the cost of provisioning decreases sharply.However, in the first quarter of 2017, the prices of listed banks were quite differentiat-ed. When VCB, CTG and BID entered the downward trend, creating a new price level, the stocks that had been hitting the plateau in the long run suddenly increased, such as MBB, ACB, STB and SHB. Currently, the P/ E of the banking sector is 16 times on average. Bank stocks that used to be bullish will no longer be expensive and stocks of which price is on the increase will not be "cheap".Another movement in the OTC market is that investors race to buy stocks of banks which have just finished their shareholder lists for registration at the Securities Depos-itory centre (VSD) or are about to be listed such as Techcombank, TPbank, LienViet bank, KienlongBank, OCB, and VPbank, etc. The prices of these stocks have increased sharply after a short period and always in a "bad position" on the OTC market.The most typical are stocks of Techcombank and VIB, large private commercial joint stock banks with good performance and dynamic income structure. A year ago, TCB stock was priced at VND12,000-13,000 per share while VPbank's was priced at VND11,500-12,500 per share on the OTC market. At present, TCB's price fluctuates around VND28,000-30,000 per share and VPbank's moves around 26,000-28,000 VND per share. Then the price increase by more than 100 percent within a year.For other stocks such as TPbank, Lienvietbank, and OCB stocks, the prices have also increased due to the surge of investors' bids on OTC when they found that these stocks were relatively cheap compared to the general level of the banking shares.Bank stocks which will be listed soon in the upcoming time will make the banking sys-tem more transparent in general, and will give investors more options and new invest-ment opportunities. However, the valuation of each stock against the general price level and business performance of each bank should be carefully considered by inves-tors before making a purchase decision.

BIDV plans to raise charter capital this year


The Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV) planned to raise its charter capital by 4,445 billion VND (193.2 million USD) to 38,632 billion VND (1.67 billion USD) this year as said during its annual shareholders' meeting in Hanoi on April 22.The plan will be conducted via the issuance of 2016 dividend-paying stocks worth nearly 2,393 billion VND (104 million USD), shares for investors worth 1,026 billion VND (44.6 million USD) and others for employees, known as Employee Stock Owner-ship Plan (ESOP) valued at 1,026 billion VND.As of the first quarter this year, BIDV posted a total asset of 1,025 trillion VND (44.56 billion USD), up 1.8 percent from early this year, and before-tax profit of 2,075 billion VND, marking a 9.2 percent increase annually.As of December 31, 2016, the bank recorded a total asset worth 1,006,404 billion VND (43.75 billion VND), up 18.3 percent year-on-year, accounting for 14 percent of the sec-tor's total asset value. The deposits and before-tax profit rose 21.1 percent and 3.2 per-cent, respectively to 940,020 billion VND and 7,709 billion VND.The meeting elected a 10-strong board of directors for the 2017-2020 tenure led by Phan Duc Tu as general director and Tran Anh Tuan as executive member.http://en.vietnamplus.vn/bidv-plans-to-raise-charter-capital-this-year/110728.vnp


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Vietnam's top listed bank BIDV looking for steady profit in 2017

25/APR/2017 INTELLASIA| VNEXPRESS

The Hanoi-based bank forecasts lending this year to rise by 16 percent, below the 18-percent annual increase in 2016.BIDV, Vietnam's biggest listed bank by assets, has targeted a gross profit of VND7.75 trillion dong ($342 million) this year, nearly unchanged from 2016, while it projects slightly slower credit growth.The Hanoi-based bank, formally known as the Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam, wants to boost lending this year by 16 percent, slowing from the 18-per-cent annual increase in 2016, it said in a statement after shareholders approved the bank's annual business targets last Saturday. Going by market capitalisation, BIDV is the country's second biggest listed bank after Vietcombank.BIDV's credit growth target is below the 18-percent annual target set by the central bank for the entire banking sector as the Southeast Asian nation seeks to quicken its economic expansion to 6.7 percent. The Asian Development Bank forecasts Vietnam's growth at 6.5 percent in 2017, while the World Bank projects it at 6.3 percent.Vietnam has one of the world's fastest growing economies, expanding at around 6 per-cent annually in the 2011-2015 period after jumping 7 percent per year in the previous five years.Last year, gross domestic product advanced 6.21 percent from 2015, the first slow-down since 2012, due to dry weather, an environmental disaster and unfavourable economic conditions.BIDV, which controlled a 13.6-percent share of Vietnam's credit market last year, plans to keep its bad debts below 3 percent in 2017.In 2016, the bank's bad debt ratio rose to 1.95 percent from 1.68 percent at the end of the previous year, while it set aside VND9.2 trillion for the provision fund, a jump of nearly 60 percent from 2015.This year, BIDV will raise at least VND1.03 trillion from selling a 3 percent stake to for-eign and Vietnamese investors, and use the proceeds to raise its registered capital. It will also look further for foreign strategic investors, the bank said in another statement.Unlike a dozen banks in Vietnam, BIDV does not have any strategic foreign investors, but a BIDV executive said the lender is very much willing to welcome such investors, the central bank-run Banking Times newspaper reported on Monday.BIDV is cooperating with a Japanese partner and has established a venture with the bank, Chief Executive Officer Phan Duc Tu told shareholders at the meeting, according to Banking Times.Earlier in April, BIDV said Vietnam's central bank has licensed the BIDV-SuMi Trust Financial Leasing Co to start operating in the country. BIDV holds 51 percent of the joint vanture, while the Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank has the remaining 49 percent.In July 2015, a BIDV executive said the bank may sell a 15-20 percent stake to a long-term foreign investor in the banking sector, and 10 percent to another overseas inves-tor, while keeping state ownership at 65 percent, Reuters reported.However, the sale did not take place last year.The Vietnamese government has kept the cap on foreign ownership in domestic banks unchanged at 30 percent, even though it said in April 2015 it would raise the ceiling to get more support from foreign banks to restructure Vietnam's banking sector.BIDV shares ended down 1.2 percent at VND16,350 on Monday.http://e.vnexpress.net/news/business/vietnam-s-top-listed-bank-bidv-looking-for-steady-profit-in-2017-3575042.html

Vietnam's bank seeks $700 million via stake sale to foreign investor - report

25/APR/2017 INTELLASIA| VNEXPRESS

Saigon Commercial Bank expects further talks with two potential investors from Chi-na and Indonesia as it plans to sell more than half of the bank at par value.Saigon Joint Stock Commercial Bank, Vietnam's fifth largest by assets, is in talks to draw an investment of at least $700 million by selling a controlling stake to a foreign investor, Bloomberg reported.


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As the first Vietnamese bank granted government approval to seek such foreign in-vestment, the lender plans to sell more than half of the bank at par value through the issuance of new shares, Chief Executive Officer Vo Tan Hoang Van was quoted as say-ing."We're really looking for a partner who would not only put money into the bank but also has the same vision about this market," Van told Bloomberg. "More importantly, they need to help our clients to complete their real estate projects so that we can solve the bad debt issue in a shorter time."Saigon Commercial Bank slashed its bad debt ratio to 0.68 percent by the end of last year from 7.25 percent in 2012, the lender said at its April 18 shareholders' meeting.Van said the bank has been in talks with banks, equity funds and insurance companies from China, Indonesia, Norway, and Taiwan over the stake sale. It expects intensifying negotiations with two potential investors from China and Indonesia.The bank plans to submit its stake sale plan to the central bank for approval early next year and close the deal in mid-2018, he said.The Vietnamese government currently sets a 30-percent cap on total foreign owner-ship in banks.Prime minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc told Bloomberg in January that he plans to raise the cap in banks to accelerate restructuring Vietnam's banking system.The government established the Vietnam Asset Management Company in 2013 to deal with bad bank loans, mostly incurred due to a slowdown in the country's real estate market in the early 2010s.State Bank of Vietnam's data showed the bad debt ratio was cut to 2.46 percent of total loans in November last year, from 17.2 percent in September 2012.http://e.vnexpress.net/news/business/companies/vietnam-s-bank-seeks-700 million-via-stake-sale-to-foreign-investor-report-3574776.html

More officials arrested for violations at DongA Bank

25/APR/2017 INTELLASIA| DTI NEWS

Former deputy director of DongA Joint Stock Commercial Bank (DongA Bank), Nguy-en Thi Kim Xuyen, and several other officials of the bank have just been arrested ac-cording to the Ministry of Public Security.Xuyen was arrested on April 22 and will soon be prosecuted with two charges includ-ing misappropriating state assets, and intentionally violating state regulations on eco-nomic management and causing serious consequences, a ministry source claimed.Xuyen's home and office were also searched the same day.Three of Xuyen's staff including Nguyen Duc Tai, former director of Dong A branch, Nguyen Van Thuan, former deputy director of Dong A branch and Tran The Hung, former cashier have also been arrested and prosecuted for intentionally violating state regulations on economic management that caused serious consequences.According to the ministry's investigation team, Xuyen caused losses of over VND350 billion (USD15.44 million) to the bank.Nguyen Thi Kim Xuyen, 59, was suspended in September 2015, one month after the bank's former CEO, Tran Phuong Binh and another deputy director, Nguyen Thi Ngoc Van were suspended following the state bank's discovery of violations in financial management, lending and other business activities which seriously affected the bank's financial situation and operations.Binh and Van were arrested and prosecuted last December with two charges including intentionally violating state regulations on economic management that caused serious consequences, and violating regulations on lending at credit institutions.The bank has since been put under special monitoring while the state bank carried out a restructuring into its organisation and operations.http://www.dtinews.vn/en/news/018/50563/more-officials-arrested-for-violations-at-donga-bank.html


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BIC among Top 100 Vietnam Excellent Brands in 2016

25/APR/2017 INTELLASIA| VN ECONOMIC TIMES

Company remains one of the five highest-rated insurers in terms of profitability in Vi-etnam's non-life insurance market.At the Golden Dragon Awards and Vietnam Excellent Brand Awards Festival held at the JW Marriott Hotel Hanoi on April 8, the BIDV Insurance Corporation (BIC) was honored to receive a Vietnamese Excellent Brand Award 2016.This was the sixth time BIC has received the prestigious award.The Golden Dragon Awards and Vietnam Excellent Brand Awards have been held by Vietnam Economics Times since 2001. The Festival aims to encourage enterprises re-cording outstanding performance in business operations, developing rapidly and steadily and contributing to social and community activities, protecting the environ-ment, and ensuring employee rights. Sixty-one foreign enterprises were presented with a Golden Dragon Award while 100 domestic enterprises were recognised as a Vi-etnam Excellent Brands at this year's ceremony.Being honored as a Vietnam Excellent Brand is in recognition of BIC's efforts and suc-cess over recent years. Its 2016 business results continued to record high and sustain-able growth. Total consolidated underwritten premiums reached nearly VND1.8 trillion ($79 million), of which BIC's separate underwritten premiums reached VND1.671 trillion ($73.5 million). Consolidated profit was VND165.7 billion ($7.3 mil-lion), with BIC remaining one of the five highest-rated insurance companies in terms of profitability in Vietnam's non-life insurance market.The award will encourage BIC to continue its restructuring, apply advanced manage-ment practices, and invest in modern information technology systems to meet the re-quirements of the fourth industrial revolution (Industry 4.0).http://vneconomictimes.com/article/business/bic-among-top-100-vietnam-excellent-brands-in-2016

'The first time' of Eximbank after two years of turmoil

25/APR/2017 INTELLASIA| VNECONOMY

At 14:30 pm on April 21, the annual meeting of shareholders of the year 2017 of the Ex-port-Import Bank of Vietnam (Eximbank) ended. After two years, the first destination has been achieved.Is it a successful session?For those who wait for a mess like the one that failed last year, it must have been a drawback. The congress was held in order, the air had sank.With some shareholders and investors, as for their own interest, they might be unsat-isfying with some answers for their questions on finance, projects or big plans, as well as frustrated with the news of no dividend in the immediate time.However, in terms of the overall interest of the bank in specific and the banking system in general, it was a successful conference. After two years, Eximbank has reached the first destination of the "New Eximbank" project: it is a consensus.After two years of failing to hold the shareholders' meeting, all shareholders and shareholder groups of Eximbank had finally found a common voice and for the first time looked at one direction, approving its business orientation and plan although views among groups might be different.In recent years, Eximbank has had a great deal of superstructure disturbance, coming from a combination of major shareholders. This is one of the main reasons why banks are difficult to stabilise their business activities.Now, above all, they have found common voice to agree business plans for the com-mon interest of the bank. As updated at the congress, the fact that the increasing de-posit at Eximbank in the first quarter of 2017 was the basis for that consensus.In reverse, if major shareholder groups continue to fail to reconcile their voices with further turmoil and unsuccessful congresses, Eximbank will lose credibility with its shareholders and adversely affect its image. The difficulty became more difficult. A member with a total asset of about 130,000 billion dong wobbling will further affect the banking system in general.Along with the consensus, the key point was that the board structure continued to be


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stable without major disturbances, apart from changing personnel of foreign strategic partners. This stabilisation is necessary for an Eximbank seeking to return, but does not mean to exclude the interests of certain groups of shareholders, as they are able to nominate and run for election according to rules and regulations as long as guaranteed by the request of the State Bank for approval.There may also be stockholders who were disappointed and unhappy, as the big plans were suddenly withdrawn. Eximbank withdrew the plan to divest at Sacombank and its application for the relocation of the head office.These are big plans, but they are flexible in processing. The plan of divestment at Sa-combank is in the initiative of Eximbank, it is possible to approve at an extraordinary meeting or to collect shareholders' written comments. This withdrawal is not too im-portant because the plan was previously approved by the State Bank. However, it is quite dependent on the market, performance and Sacombank's share price. This is a batch transaction, so the time and decision should be considered carefully.Similarly, the head office project with a total investment of about VND3,600 billion needs to be more carefully evaluated, prepared and calculated, and can be quickly con-sulted shareholders when ready.As above, through this conference, the biggest destination is the group of shareholders having consensus in agreeing and approving the plan and the direction of the bank's operations. The immediate staffing structure is now stable instead of being turbulent like in the past few years.The boat Eximbank thus would be less cluttered-paddle, with the consensus as to less stagnation, which is the common interest of the bank - something has been hurt in re-cent years.

Ministry petitions to cut lending interest rate for pig breeders

25/APR/2017 INTELLASIA| SAIGON-GPDAILY

Lately, in its document, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development asked to lower lending interest rate for pig breeders. The move comes after the price of live pigs kept falling in the southern province of Dong Nai.As there has been a severe drop in pork prices in Dong Nai, pig breeders are in de-spairs. The Ministry petitioned government direct banks and credit institutions to charge off debts of pig breeders, and people selling animal feed to help them recover their losses.Additionally, the Ministry asked local food producers Vissan, Saigon Co.op, Sagri-Food and military units to increase slaughtering pig for stockpile for future use.Moreover, the Ministry proposed stopping import meat into the country to protect lo-cal husbandry sector. For the long term, the husbandry must reduce the livestock.Many houses in Dong Nai Province's Long Khanh Town advertised to sell houses and land to pay their debts. Farmer Le Thi Tuyet Linh in Bac Son village in Thong Nhat Dis-trict sold off the pig at low prices suffering a loss of VND1.2 million a pig. She com-plained that other farmers also suffered loss like her.Breeder Nguyen Van Bang in Doi Riu village moaned he suffered losses of hundreds of millions of dong because pig price went down drastically.Not only pig farmers but also animal feed shop owners fell into debts because they sold animal feeds to farmers and they would only receive money when farmers can sell pigs while animal feed shop owners must borrow loans from banks.As per the province's Husbandry Association, 40 percent of farmers have stopped breeding the animal. A kilogram of the meat currently is sold at VND25,000 (US$1.1) to VND28,000 (US$1.23).http://www.saigon-gpdaily.com.vn/Business/2017/4/124179/

Iran and Vietnam promote cooperation in multiple sectors

25/APR/2017 INTELLASIA| THE SAIGON TIMES

Vietnamese and Iranian enterprises need to boost bilateral trade as well as cooperation in the agriculture, mining, petrochemical and engineering sectors.These are some of the remarks at a meeting between Chair of the HCM City People's Committee Nguyen Thanh Phong and President of the Iran Chamber of Commerce,


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Industries, Mines and Agriculture Gholamhossein Shafei on Friday.According to Shafei, Vietnam is an ideal destination for Iranian enterprises to do busi-ness. "Vietnam is considered a gateway for Iranian businesses to access Asean markets while Vietnamese companies can access Middle East markets via cooperation with Iran," said Shafei.Shafei said that Vietnamese and Iranian enterprises should focus on cooperating in some potential fields such as agriculture, technology, mining and petrochemical in-dustry.After the Vietnam-Iran Business Forum and the meeting with Vietnamese State Presi-dent Tran Dai Quang in Hanoi, Shafei said the two sides agreed to set up a joint cham-ber of commerce and industry to promote bilateral cooperation.At the meeting, HCM City Chair Nguyen Thanh Phong said that the city is prioritising the development of hi-tech agriculture, food processing, urban transport infrastruc-ture, environment protection and water treatment. He hoped that after Shafei's visit, there will be more Iranian enterprises to invest in the city.http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/53600/Iran-and-Vietnam-promote-cooperation-in-multiple-sectors.html

Japanese firms want Circular 23 modified


The Japan Business Association in Vietnam has written to the Ministry of Science and Technology and relevant agencies seeking further amendments to Circular 23 on the import of used machinery and equipment that has been controversial for years.In this letter, Chair Hiroshi Karashi of the association says: "We hope machinery and equipment imported by manufacturers to serve their production activities will face no age limits."When Japanese enterprises relocate their manufacturing facilities to other countries, the use of machinery at such facilities for production is popular, he explained.Moreover, machines that have been used for over 10 years have "no problem". There-fore, import restrictions based on the age of machinery and equipment are impractical, the chair said.In addition, he says that when importing machines of 10 years old or older, apart from Article 13 of Circular 23, enterprises have to adhere to Clause 2, Article 6. Still, the re-lationship between these two is ambiguous.Furthermore, the procedures and documents required for the import of machinery and equipment at the age of 10 years or older are unclear, and so are the grounds of the Ministry of Science and Technology for approval or disapproval. Thus, there have cas-es in which businesses are not allowed to import machines without explanations."We think this could lead to a fall in new investment as well as investment expansion in Vietnam," the Japanese business official warns.He suggests the Ministry of Science and Technology give these recommendations a "written" response.Circular 23 dated November 13, 2015 of the science ministry has long been complained by many business associations. Resolution 19 of the government has requested this cir-cular to be modified.The science ministry is asked to coordinate with the Ministry of Industry and Trade and other agencies to develop criteria for the import of specialised machinery and equipment according to their age, depending on each specific area, rather than impos-ing the wide limit of "no more than 10 years".Currently, the science ministry is consulting the concerned parties.http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/53602/Japanese-firms-want-Circular-23-modi-fied.html

Taiwan, VN can go green together

25/APR/2017 INTELLASIA| VNS

There is a huge opportunity for Vietnam and Taiwan to boost cooperation in the re-newable energy industry, delegates told a seminar in HCM City last Friday.Speaking at a seminar on Taiwan Green and Photovoltaic Industry in HCM City last


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Friday, Nguyen The Hung, deputy director of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry's HCM City branch, said demand for developing green and renewable ener-gy has increased globally, including in Vietnam.Vietnam has great potential for renewable energy development, he said, adding that the government has put in place policies to encourage investment in this clean energy.Yu Lung Shih, manager of Taiwan Trade Centre's representative office in HCM City, said: "Vietnam is currently in a campaign to achieve energy self-sufficiency by 2050." By 2050, it aims to produce at least 35 per cent solar power and 13 per cent wind - while cutting carbon emissions by 80 per cent.That beckons huge prospects for green energy producers, he said."Top power-maker Taiwan has already developed a lot in both solar power, wind power and many other renewable energies. Taiwan's strengths can now be used to as-sist Vietnam to keep on schedule," he said.Cheng-Nan Chu, manager of Industrial Technology Research Institute, Taiwan, said the International Energy Agency forecasts that renewable capacity will grow from 1,969 GW in 2015 to 2,795 GW in 2021.IEA sees renewables growing 13 per cent more between 2015 and 2021 than they did in its forecast for 2014-20 conducted in 2015, due mostly to stronger policy backing in the US, China, India and Mexico, he said.According to Yi-Kuang Chen, general manager of Kenmec Vietnam, Taiwan has been in solar industry for many years and so has many solutions to support different indus-tries.Sharing his experience in developing the solar energy industry, he said the most im-portant thing is human resource development."I recommend Vietnam invest more in the solar industry's human resources."Hung said professional renwable energy trade shows in Taiwan, including the Taiwan International Green Industry Show (TiGiS) and Taiwan International Photovoltaic Ex-hibition (PV Taiwan), would help Vietnamese firms keep up to date the green and re-newable energy development trends in the world in general and in Taiwan in particular, as well as enhance cooperation opportunities with Taiwanese firms in the sector.Carol Chang, project manager, Taiwan External Trade Devolopment Council, said the exhibitions will be held at Taipei Nangang Exhibition Centre from October 18-20.The exhibitions will feature 300 exhibitors in 800 booths. Products on display include the latest solar PV systems, equipment and applications, as well as green energy, tech-nology and environmental protection themes.The events are expected to attract 11,000 visitors, including 1,200 from overseas, com-pared to the 10,362 visitors at last year's show, she said.http://bizhub.vn/news/taiwan-vn-can-go-green-together_285703.html

Sharp rise in Q1 fertiliser imports


Vietnam spent $338 million to import 1.22 million tonnes of fertiliser in the first quarter of this year, up 31.5 per cent in volume and around 24 per cent in value compared to the same period last year, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) reported.According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT), Vietnam utilises 11 million tonnes of fertiliser annually and 90 per cent of the fertiliser used is inorganic.Domestic production is not able to meet local demand, therefore Vietnam must import large quantities of fertiliser, mostly from China.In 2016, Vietnam imported 4.16 million tonnes of fertiliser, valued at $1.1 billion, down nearly 8 per cent in volume and 22 per cent in value compared to 2015.One of the reasons for the surge in imported fertilisers, especially from China, is the devaluation of the Chinese yuan against the US dollar, making Chinese fertilisers cheaper than domestic ones.In addition, two out of four urea production plants of the Vietnam National Chemical Group (Vinachem) use coal as their input material. The increasing coal price causes a


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rise in production cost, reducing competitiveness over import products.These urea production factories, expected to completely replace the imported urea, have been losing money over the years, causing a significant decline in domestic sup-plies and forcing domestic enterprises to import the substance to meet demand.The price of imported urea fertiliser in the third week of March in the Hai Phong Port was $237 per tonne, whereas the domestic price ranged from VND6.2 million to VND6.4 million per tone ($274 - $283), equivalent to 14-18 per cent higher.The sharp rise in fertiliser import is one of the reasons that domestic fertiliser compa-nies asked the Vietnam Competition Authority (VCA) earlier this month to apply trade defence instruments on import fertiliser.The MARD is seeking opinions on a draft decree on fertiliser management designed to decentralise the management of fertiliser and assigning responsibility to local author-ities.Currently, fertiliser management is under the control of two ministries, with the MoIT managing inorganic fertiliser and MARD managing organic fertiliser.http://bizhub.vn/news/sharp-rise-in-q1-fertiliser-imports_285704.html

Vietnam struggles to deal with loss-making megaprojects


Ngo Tri Long, former head of the Institute for Market and Price Research under the Ministry of Finance blamed both Chinese contractors and Vietnamese investors for 12 failing major projects.In an interview with the Phap Luat TP HCM Newspaper, Long said the consequences of those loss-making projects would be huge and badly affect lives. Vietnamese inves-tors still lack experience in negotiating with Chinese contractors. More importantly, the terms of the technology and standards are so unclear that it led to many disputes that are hard to solve.Long blamed Chinese contractors for using out-dated technology and prolonging the projects. "They often choose the easiest parts to do first and set more conditions when the projects are behind schedule," he said.However, he agreed with the opinions that the Vietnamese investors must take the blame as they ignore the regulations and previous experience just to cut costs."They didn't even ask what are needed for the settlement procedures beforehand," Long said. "They didn't monitor the construction closely enough."Long also thinks that the Vietnamese investors are weak in project planning, evaluat-ing and monitoring. And their weak abilities lead to overshooting their budget. For ex-ample, the estimated investment for Thai Nguyen Iron and Steel Project was VND3.8trn (USD167m) but it was raised to nearly VND9trn.Investors of bio-fuel projects haven't calculated input costs and the prices of the goods carefully enough. For example, cassava prices were only a few thousands of VND per kilo previously, but have gone up to tens of thousands of VND. Investment was poured into three plants while biofuel was still new and hasn't been sufficiently dis-tributed nor promoted with consumers."The authorities have thought about restructuring, divestment, cooperating with for-eign firms and bankruptcy. Some projects that are facing losses because of out-dated technology and high costs like Ninh Binh Nitrogenous Fertiliser Plant and Thai Nguy-en Iron and Steel JSC will find it difficult to call for investment," Long said.As state budget is limited, bankruptcy is a solution to deal with unsalvageable projects.Deputy prime minister Vuong Dinh Hue also said of 12 projects, those that cannot be restructured will undergo divestment, auction or be forced into bankruptcy. The state budget will not be used to cover the losses of such projects.http://www.dtinews.vn/en/news/018/50566/vietnam-struggles-to-deal-with-loss-making-megaprojects.html

Call for $309 million to upgrade VN railways


Chair of Vietnam Railway Corporation Vu Anh Minh spoke about the VND7 trillion ($309m) plan to upgrade the sector's infrastructure for the 2017-2021 period. Minh said


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he had asked the Ministry of Transport to submit the plan for prime ministerial ap-proval.What would these funds be used for?The railway from Hanoi to Danang can only withstand 4.2 tonnes per metre, and 3.6 tonnes per metre for Danang to HCM City.It's important to upgrade the loading capacity from Danang to HCM City to 4.2 tonnes then expanding the railway at the stations so that we can increase the number of car-riages from 19 to 25.What we want to do is call for investment. In April, we'll sign a contract with Saigon Newport Corporation to build two inland container depots at Song Than and Dong Anh industrial zones.This is a corporation under the military and holds 50 percent of the market share so we hope the projects will be a breakthrough for the railway sector.We also sign contracts with many tourism firms and business associations to attract more passengers and boost promotion.Will you change the traditional colour of the current trains?To make the trains more fresh and friendly, we'll use blue and white. We plan to pro-vide advertising on the sides of the trains to have funds for the repaint.After taking over the office for one month, what is your plan to attract passengers?The board agrees to safely and fully exploit what we have right now. Meeting custom-er demand and build trains based on the actual number of passengers we have.We'll focus on shorter routes and develop long-distance freight.Currently, the train for the Hanoi-HCM City route can carry hundreds of passengers but in reality, only 15 to 20 people actually choose to go the full route from Hanoi to HCM City or vice versa.The long-distance trips have the premiere hours but we need the best hours for pas-sengers on the short routes like from Hanoi to Vinh City. Passengers on long trip actu-ally don't really care for the hours.In the coming time, we'll adjust the hours for the short-distance trip.Is the railway sector afraid to compete with the airlines because of higher prices?We choose to exploit what have the most advantages for us.The ticket prices for HCM City-Nha Trang and Hanoi-Vinh City routes are cheaper than going by plane.In addition, it takes about 4 to 5 hours to travel from the city to the airports, wait for the procedures and wait for the plane.We have the advantages of train stations right in the centres of many cities, we're on time and safe. However, we need better services.We are preparing to sell a two-in-one ticket that offers cars to bring passengers from the station to Cua Lo Beach in Vinh.The sooner you book tickets, the cheaper the prices are, and giveaway tickets to people that have influential on society and help promote the sector.We'll try to lower the prices for long-distance trips.http://english.vietnamnet.vn/fms/business/176351/call-for--309 million-to-upgrade-vn-railways.html

Ministry drafts Decree on compulsory social insurance for foreign workers in VN

25/APR/2017 INTELLASIA| VGP

The Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA) is drafting a Decree to guide the implementation of the Law on Social Insurance on compulsory social insur-ance for foreign workers in Vietnam.Clause 2, Article 2 of the Law on Social Insurance (2014) stipulates that employees who are foreign citizens working in Vietnam with work permits or practice certificates or practice licenses granted by competent Vietnamese agencies shall be covered by com-pulsory social insurance under the government's regulations.According to the statistics of the MOLISA, the number of foreign labourers in Vietnam increased from 63,557 in 2011 to 83,046 in 2016. The proportion of foreigners working in Vietnam under one year only accounts for 4.4 percent, which manifests the demand


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and sustainability of foreign workers in Vietnam.Besides, the number of Overseas Vietnamese working abroad tends to increase. Based on the regulations in some nations, the application of social insurance on foreigners working in Vietnam will create an opportunity for Overseas Vietnamese to get access to social insurance types of the nations they are working in.The numbers of foreign labourers to Vietnam and Vietnamese working abroad are ex-pected to sharply rise thanks to the implementation of Free Trade Agreements, region-al integration, economic development, urbanisation, climate change and free movement of labour between the Asean nations.To ensure rights for foreigners working in Vietnam and realisation of equal treatment, the MOLISA has proposed that foreign labourers in Vietnam joining compulsory so-cial insurance will enjoy benefits from five insurance types, including sickness, mater-nity, labour accidents - occupational diseases, retirement and death.http://www.vir.com.vn/ministry-drafts-decree-on-compulsory-social-insurance-for-foreign-workers-in-vn.html

Workers to get better services: PM


The government has created the best conditions to help labourers enjoy favourable housing, health care, insurance, legal assistance and living standards in industrial zones (IZs) and export processing zones (EPZs).Prime minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc made the statement during a dialogue with labour-ers in the central region at Da Nang's Tien Son Sports Centre on Saturday.The dialogue, organised by the Vietnam general Confederation of Labour (VGCL), was attended by more than 2,000 labourers working at IZs and EPZs in Da Nang, Quang Nam, Thua Thien-Hue, Quang Tri and Quang Ngai.Phuc said it was the second time he has directly talked with labourers on how to im-prove production and living conditions for workers at IZs and EPZs in the central re-gion."I was extremely impressed with talks from thousands of workers in the southern re-gion last year. I want to hear them talking about living and working conditions at working places as well as problems and difficulties that they faced," Phuc said."The government has reserved VND197 billion (US$8.7 million) for developing houses and apartment projects for workers at IZs and EPZs nationwide," he said.Phuc said that various measures have been built by the government to support work-ers including libraries, kindergartens for workers' children, entertainment centres, nu-tritional meals and special conditions for female workers during pregnancy and nursing. The PM also asked local governments and trade unions to strengthen inspec-tions on food safety, insurance, health care and training among businesses.He said the revised Law of Labour includes fines of VND3 billion (US$133,000) or sev-en years imprisonment to on employers who don't buy insurance for employees.During a two-hour talk, workers asked the government to help improve income, sus-tainable development, skill development and housing.Phan Thi Tuyet Suong, a worker of the Da Nang Foster Electric comnpany, told the PM that she has yet to have her own house despite having worked hard for the last 20 years."I am staying with my two daughters in a shed on some vacant land in the commune. I hope the prime minister can help me to earn more money to buy a house and take care of my family better," she said.On Saturday, the VGCL inked agreements with eight businesses in providing com-modities and service with preferential prices for labourers in the region.Also to celebrate the upcoming International Labour Day (May 1), the VGCL began construction of a housing project with total investment of VND377 billion ($16.7 mil-lion) in the Dien Nam-Dien Ngc Industrial Zone in the central Quang Nam Province.According to the confederation, 1.2 million workers out of a total 2.7 million at IZs and EPZs need housing services nationwide.Soc Trang agricultural advices


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The Mekong Delta province of Soc Trang should expand cultivation of high-yield rice varieties and fruit trees which grow well there, said PM Phuc during his visit to the province on Saturday.For example, he said, each hectare of green-skin grapefruit and King orange in Soc Trang can generate an economic value 10 times higher than one hectare of rice.Large-scale cattle farming is also a strength of Soc Trang, with global demand beef huge, he said, naming another measure to reduce the poverty that is still high among ethnic minorities.He asked the province to strive to become a shrimp production hub of the Mekong Delta while paying more attention to industrial development to create more jobs.PM Phuc said as it is one of the three most disadvantaged provinces in the Mekong Delta, Soc Trang should pay more heed to encouraging start-ups and improving hu-man resources.The province only has one business for every 565 people, compared to the national av-erage of one for every 140, while infrastructure hasn't developed well enough, with the province ranking 40th among the 63 provinces and cities in terms of administrative procedures.Phuc promised that more autonomy will be granted to the local administration so they can design their province's development plans to fully tap local potential.http://www.vir.com.vn/workers-to-get-better-services-pm.html

HCM City to develop food industry


The HCM City People's Committee and the HCM City Food and Foodstuff Association (FFA) last Friday signed a cooperation programme to boost the development of the city's food and foodstuff industry.Nguyen Phuong Dong, deputy director of the city Department of Industry and Trade, said this cooperation programme is designed with practical activities, such as annually organising four direct dialogues on different topics between city leaders and food and foodstuff enterprises towards resolving difficulties faced by enterprises during their production and trading processes.In addition, at least two seminars will be held annually to provide enterprises with the latest information about international integration, development trends and other in-formation related to the food and foodstuff processing industry, he said.In addition, the two sides will join hands to organise at least two trade promotion pro-grammes in the food and foodstuff industry at home and abroad.Dong said trade promotion activities will not stop at just boosting retail sales of food and foodstuffs, but also target to enhance the connection between the city's food and foodstuff producers and domestic and foreign distributors to create opportunities for producers to expand their market shares at home and abroad.The two sides will co-ordinate to establish an information channel to collect feedback from enterprises to solve problems in a timely manner.Tran Vinh Tuyen, deputy chair of the HCM City People's Committee, said it is very necessary to enhance the role of business associations in the context of economic inte-gration and in line with the city's orientation to develop a strong business force.After signing this cooperation programme, the City People's Committee will continue to study cooperation programmes with other business associations in the city.Ly Kim Chi, FFA's chairwoman, said businesses in the industry are facing difficulties and challenges in improving their competitiveness and accessing markets.The cooperation programme will create a close linkage between the city authorities and businesses via the association so as to timely solve difficulties faced by businesses, she said.The city is home to more than 1,700 enterprises involved in producing and processing of food and foodstuffs. The food and foodstuff industry is one of the city's four key in-dustries.http://bizhub.vn/news/hcm-city-to-develop-food-industry_285705.html


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HCM City to relocate construction material facilities


The HCM City Department of Construction has unveiled a master plan for construc-tion material by 2020 in which cement grinding stations and other building material facilities will be moved out of the city in the next four years, while more trading venues for construction materials will be set up in the city.The production value of the construction material sector accounts for a very low pro-portion of the city's overall industry, falling from 1 percent in 2010 to 0.57 percent in 2015, the department said at a seminar here last Friday. This suggests the sector is not the city's strength, according to deputy manager of the removal project Nguyen Thi Thu Ha.Besides, the city's natural resources and minerals used for building material produc-tion are limited in types. Therefore, the city will become a large-scale trading and ex-hibition centre of building material products, instead of focusing on production in the near future.The city will have relocated cement grinding stations to other localities with appropri-ate planning by 2020. Besides, the majority of material production facilities that are not in line with the master plan will be moved into industrial parks or out of the city.She said the city has great demand for construction materials like stone and sand but they have yet to be produced in the city.The city is expected to have 20 ports and six supermarkets specialising in construction materials to keep up with the rising demand citywide.Le Hoang Chau, chair of the HCM City Real Estate Association, urged municipal au-thorities to strengthen the management of the construction material market. He said the price of sand has skyrocketed for the past several weeks, making life more difficult for housing investors and local residents.Ngo Minh Lang, deputy general director of Ha Tien 1 Cement Joint Stock Company, urged the city's leaders to rethink the relocation plan, saying the cement transport cost from the north to HCM City is higher than on-site production."Each tonne of cement shipped from the north will cost an extra VND200,000, multi-plied by 4.8 million tonnes according to the master plan - the city will have spent an additional VND1 trillion (US$44.1 million) by 2020," he said.http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/53599/HCM City-to-relocate-construction-material-facilities.html

ABB drives Vietnam power's digital era

25/APR/2017 INTELLASIA| VIR

Vietnam has a large established base of power generation and transmission infrastruc-ture. This infrastructure has been installed over many decades and sourced from mul-tiple locations worldwide.Vietnam now has one of the highest growth rates in the region and in the world. This growth can be attributed to the rising population and the expanding economy.In order to continue to develop at a sustainable pace, a reliable power supply is need-ed. The existing power infrastructure cannot easily be replaced. As with any equip-ment, if it is maintained in a structured way it can perform reliably and last for a long time.Vietnam has started to upgrade its national grid to meet the requirements of the "smart revolution". Many substations have had new measurement technologies installed to help with remote monitoring and control. City electrification and mass transportation have led to the increase in electrical power demand, emphasising the need for digital-isation within the national grid.Vietnam's energy requirements are driven by the need for a reliable supply to reduce dependence on imported fuels and enable developing rural areas to access affordable electricity.Vietnam's progress towards digitalisation in distribution has already begun:Phase 1: Completed- Pilot projects for automatic metering and renewable energy sources are underway.- Hanoi and HCM City monitoring systems have been upgraded and are ready for


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"smart grid" operation.- More than 95 per cent of all substations 110 kilovolts or bigger are automated, ready for smart grid operations.Phase 2: To 2022- The country should extend the automatic metering system.- Commission pilot projects for "smart homes" and "smart cities".- Develop technical standards for energy storage and smart appliances.Phase 3: 2022 onwards- The progress in expanding information, communication, and technology infrastruc-ture should continue.- Smart grid applications should be implemented, which will balance supply and de-mand at the consumer level.- Use renewable energy in the distribution grid with time-of-use pricing rates.Sustainability in the power sectorPower sustainability is built on five pillars:- Efficiency is the key to a sustainable energy future.- Smart transmission and distribution grids are necessary to support efficiency and re-newable energy.- Integration of renewables and reliability improvements are increasingly important.- Managing and optimising two-way power flow and information is vital.- Technology in the form of digitalisation will remain a key factor in addressing market opportunities.Where ABB Ability comes inABB Ability is a unified, cross-industrial digital capability - extending from devices to the cloud - with devices, systems, solutions, services, and a platform that enables cus-tomers to access more information and use it to enhance their efficiency. ABB Ability connects customers to the power of the Industrial Internet of Things, and through their services and expertise, they can go further by turning data insights into direct actions that "close the loop" and generate tangible value in the physical world.ABB tailored digital solutionsAgeing infrastructure, new regulations, distributed energy resources, and the conver-gence of information technology and operations technology are just a few of the issues that are dramatically changing the utility landscape today.ABB Ability provides tailored digital solutions and products for the differing needs of utility providers, from power generation to transmission and distribution. Be it ad-vanced diagnostics that prevent unplanned downtime or the complete control of indi-vidual coal-fired boilers, ABB Ability grants utility providers an in-depth understanding of their processes and gives them unparalleled control.Virtual power plantsABB Ability provides central control and complete optimisation for more than 2,800 distributed units within one of the world's largest virtually-controlled power plants.Reliability is a core deliverable for the power industry, which is challenged by the var-iability of renewable supply, the unpredictability of consumer demand, and, as any-one in Vietnam's central provinces will tell you, the capricious volatility of Mother Nature. Better modelling - and modelling that improves over time - can have implica-tions not only for service uptime, but also for cost management.ABB Ability solutions handle real-time processing of large signal and data sets. It man-ages and controls equipment to insure optimal functionality, regardless of the external scenario.ABB's system for utilities lowers the costs for produced energy and optimises internal production. It also improves nominated load schedule fulfilment by enabling utility providers to get power where it is needed, when it is needed.Power plant boilersABB Ability can reduce boiler startup costs by 15 per cent, improve efficiency, and de-crease NOx emissions by 5-15 per cent through remote services.The cost of equipment failure is not measured by downtime alone. The negative mon-


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etary effects of faulty equipment are exacerbated by the time and cost of getting the equipment functioning again - as well as the impact of the failure on all processes and outputs both up and down the internal value chain. The figures get particularly expen-sive when core equipment is involved, so maintaining the performance integrity of the entire system is paramount.ABB Ability solutions for utilities can remotely monitor a plant and activate a notifica-tion mechanism should the performance of a unit falter. This will prompt investiga-tion, analysis, and a subsequent service recommendation. If necessary and available, standby units or other workarounds to maintain the performance integrity of the sys-tem will be initiated.Power plant automationABB Ability can help to optimise processes, reduce risk, and increase operator efficien-cy and plant availability by reducing abnormal events by 40 per cent.At least 40 per cent of the world's cyber-attacks target the energy sector, and up to 40 per cent of abnormal events within a given plant are due to operator actions or errors. Maintaining the integrity of the system is therefore an emergent issue that cannot be ignored.The ABB Ability solution leads to improvements in reliability, availability, forced out-age rates, and human resource allocation. Risks are reduced by increasing cyber secu-rity, while alarm management results in greater operator efficiency and accident avoidance. Improved control loop performance leads to higher plant availability and efficiency.Connected equipment lifecycle managementThe right work, on the right equipment, at the right time, using the right resources can increase a piece of equipment's lifespan by three years, save up to 15 per cent in oper-ation and maintenance costs, and reduce overtime costs.More than ever, utility companies are being challenged to maintain high equipment availability, reliable capacity, and ubiquitous safety, all the while dealing with finan-cial pressures caused by ageing infrastructure and the limited capital available for maintenance and replacements.ABB Ability Connected Equipment Lifecycle Management ensures that the right work is being done on the right equipment at the right time - driving down maintenance costs, reducing unplanned equipment failures and system outages, and increasing per-formance, availability, and reliability.Digital substationsABB is bringing the Industrial Internet of Things to electrical substations and cutting downtime by up to 50 per cent.Conventional electrical substations typically use miles of copper cabling for point-to-point connections. Copper is expensive, has limited signalling capacity, and, in the en-vironment of a substation, introduces potential safety risks to workers and equipment.This outdated method of signalling results in expensive testing and maintenance, leav-ing critical information stranded until periodic checks are made on location. If super-visors were able to leverage the data in real time, it would be a huge opportunity to improve grid integrity and reduce power interruptions.By replacing copper wires with fibre-optic connectivity, ABB is able to lay the founda-tion for automated, high-performance digital substations. Through ABB's fibre-optic network, they can collect and analyse data using cloud-based software to arrive at so-lutions that optimise power-grid equipment health.http://www.vir.com.vn/abb-drives-vietnam-powers-digital-era.html

PM: Tra Vinh expected to become new trading centre


With its fertile soil and great development potential, Tra Vinh province is expected to become a new centre for trading, aquatic product processing and high-value agricul-ture of the southern region and the whole country in the near future, said prime min-ister Nguyen Xuan Phuc.PM Phuc made the remarks while addressing a conference promoting investment,


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trade and tourism in the Mekong Delta province of Tra Vinh on April 24, which saw the participation of central and local officials, along with representatives of hundreds of Vietnamese and foreign businesses.He said that this prospect is achievable since Tra Vinh owns synchronous infrastruc-ture, including National Highways 53, 54 and 60, and a big seaport capable of handling 20 million tonnes of cargo each year and receiving container vessels of up to 50,000 dwt.Tra Vinh is located between the Tien and Hau Rivers, the two main branches of the Me-kong River, which is convenient for connecting with other south-western provinces, HCM City and other countries, PM Phuc noted.While there are certain advantages such as a long coast to develop wind and solar power, the local climate is also ideal for growing rice, coconut trees, sugar canes, pea-nut trees and fruit trees to provide materials for the processing industry.The government leader asked Tra Vinh to take breakthrough solutions and zone off in-dustrial parks so that the industrial sector could serve agriculture and aquatic product processing while attracting investment in renewable energy development.The province should help investors to gain a thorough understanding of local advan-tages, as well as cultural, historical and religious features, thereby capitalising on its agricultural, sea-based economic and tourism potential, he added.The government and provincial authorities want to listen to investors' opinions so as to tackle obstacles hindering their operations, the PM stressed.Chair of the provincial People's Committee Dong Van Lam said the province is offer-ing a number of incentives for investors and will assist businesses during their opera-tions here.Tra Vinh has attracted 161 investment projects, including 32 foreign direct investment (FDI) ones. Twenty-two of the FDI projects have been put in operation, contributing 60 percent to Tra Vinh's export revenues and providing jobs for more than 35,000 work-ers, he noted.At the meeting, the provincial People's Committee presented investment certificates and decisions to five Vietnamese enterprises and one foreign firm whose projects are worth 240.5 million USD in total.http://en.vietnamplus.vn/pm-tra-vinh-expected-to-become-new-trading-centre/110725.vnp

Ban Gioc to become national tourism site


The prime minister has approved a master plan to turn Ban Gioc Waterfall into a key tourism site of Cao Bang Province and the country. The plan is aimed to boost socio-economic development together with strengthening national defense and security.Under the plan, the tourism site will cover a total area of 1,000 hectares while over 150 hectares will be zoned for the Ban Gioc Waterfall tourism centre, according to Decision 485 signed by deputy prime minister Trinh Dinh Dung on April 13.The Ban Gioc tourism site will offer various tourism products of sightseeing, relaxa-tion, adventure sports, recreation and special products of Ban Gioc.It is expected to welcome 750,000 visitors by 2020 and 1.2 million people by 2030. Hotel rooms will be increased from 1,010 by 2020 to 1,750 by 2030.The tourism centre is designed to consist of four areas including the Ban Gioc Waterfall landscape, the landscape along the Quay Son River, mountainous ecological landscape and agro-ecological landscape.The Ban Gioc Waterfall landscape will be built on 20 hectares of land to preserve and develop typical features such as the main and auxiliary waterfalls, paddy fields, pine hills, creeks and perennial trees. Facilities will be also built in the zone to serve tourism.In the 22-hectare landscape along the Quay Son River, river tourism, decorative wood bridges and 1,000-square-metre wharves will be developed.The agricultural landscape has an area of 31 hectares, consisting of the paddy fields of Toong Dua, Na Gao, To Ma and Na Giao. Na Gao is planned to become a theme park combined with many tourism services.


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http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/53609/Ban-Gioc-to-become-national-tourism-site.html

Association sees busier property market in Q2


Vietnam's property market will see more sale launches and transactions in the second quarter of this year, the Vietnam Real Estate Association has forecast.At a conference on Friday, Nguyen Manh Ha, the association's deputy president, said the realty market would be bolstered by the stable macro-economic situation, rising number of tourist arrivals to Vietnam and foreign direct investment into the property sector.He cited statistics showing that Vietnam had received more than 3.2 million foreign tourists in the first quarter of this year, up by 29 per cent over the same period last year. FDI inflow jumped by more than 91 per cent to a total of $334 million in the January-March period.Ha said the slowdown in transactions in Q1 was because of the nation's biggest holi-day, which fell in late January.However, the market started to get busier from March with more transactions and property developers gearing up for sale launches in the coming quarters.He said projects which benefited from infrastructure development, such as those along rapid bus and metro routes, had good liquidity.Several developers were expected to develop and release a huge supply of affordable homes, which would contribute to improving transactions and market liquidity, ac-cording to the Vietnam Association of Property Brokers.Regarding tourism property, the association anticipated strong development, driven by the dynamism of foreign developers as well as the rising middle-income class in the country.Property popular on social networkThe property sector ranked the sixth most discussed topic on social networks in the first quarter of this year, based on a survey by SocialBeat, according to the association.Apartments and resort property were the two most discussed segments, with 33 per cent and 24 per cent share, respectively. Affordable housing segment attracted signif-icant market attention, especially information about the location of a project, planning, facilities, handover time and sale policies.The association said previously, the property business focused mainly on traditional marketing channels, such as phone, advertisements through banners, posters, news-papers and magazine. However, there was now a shift towards social marketing.http://bizhub.vn/property/association-sees-busier-property-market-in-q2_285713.html

Traditional markets need to be nurtured


In an effort to overcome current shortcomings and improve the efficiency of traditional markets, Hanoi will review and adjust the market network in tandem with infrastruc-ture planning.Hanoi has many modern supermarkets but many people still shop at traditional mar-kets for their cultural value, out of habit and as they are priced well for lower-income people.People in rural areas, meanwhile, are unfamiliar with supermarkets.Traditional markets, for them, are not just a place to purchase necessities but also a place to sell products.According to the Hanoi Department of Industry and Trade, the city built 43 new mar-kets, rebuilt 16 and about 95 others were upgraded from 2011-16, with total investment of more than VND3 trillion (US$133 million).However, Le Hong Phong, the department's director said that most of the built mar-kets in this period were in inner-city areas while some districts and new urban areas in the city still don't have traditional markets due to a lack of funds.Individuals and enterprises are not interested in building and upgrading this market


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model as the system of legal documents issued by central agencies related to markets have many inadequacies in building and managing traditional markets, Phong said.Some departments do not have any guidance related to construction investment, mechanisms and policies to encourage enterprises and cooperatives to invest in build-ing, trading and managing markets, he said.It also caused difficulties for People's committees in districts to approve projects.A survey from the Economic and Budget Affairs Department, Hanoi People's Council showed inefficiency at some of the city's markets.Many traditional markets have been in place for a long time but do not operate effi-ciently.Many of them have become dilapidated and are below fire prevention, food safety and hygiene standards.Nga Tu So, the 8,000sq.m market located between Dong Da and Thanh Xuan districts, with nearly 800 stores, has faced many problems in trading due to infrastructure deg-radation, leading to less customers.Traders have moved their business from the market, wasting land and finances.Some trade centres such as Mo, Cua Nam and Hang Da have a combined model of tra-ditional and modern markets but still operate inefficiently.To attract investment from individuals and enterprises in building markets, director Phong has petitioned the city People's Committee and government to devise more pol-icies to support localities, investors and traders.According to experts, the maintenance and development of traditional markets is nec-essary, but any development plan requires a feasibility study.The city must identify what type of market will serve which demographic group, as well as the buying power each group possesses, avoiding a situation where markets are unoccupied while many traders rush to streets to set up temporary markets, they said.Pham Thi Thanh Mai, head of the Economic and Budget Affairs Department has pro-posed Hanoi People's Committee use the State budget for investment, upgrading and exploitation of markets through public-private partnerships.http://bizhub.vn/news/traditional-markets-need-to-be-nurtured_285729.html

Corporate profit falls 60pct in 2010-2015


The corporate profit growth stood at 7.5 percent from 2010 - 2015, falling 60 percent from the rate of the 2005-2010 period, according to the general Statistical Office under the Ministry of Planning and Investment.According to Pham Dinh Thuy, director of the Office's Industrial Statistics Depart-ment, the global development crisis has taken a toll on the operation of Vietnamese firms, despite numerous tax incentives offered by the government.The total pre-tax profit of businesses reached 552.7 trillion VND (24.31 billion USD) in 2015.From 2000 - 2015, the corporate profit grew 19 percent per year, while the capital and revenue rose 22.8 percent and 21.6 percent, respectively.In 2015, enterprises contributed 746 trillion VND (33.61 billion USD) to the State budg-et. On average, the business sector's contributions to the budget grow 18.2 percent year-on-year, lower than the growth of capital, revenue and profit.According to a representative from the GSO, 97 percent of enterprises are small- and medium-sized, with out-of-date technology, resulting in the sluggish growth of corpo-rate profit.The number of newly-established firms surged in the first quarter this year, however, the GDP grew slowly because most of them haven't yet operated and contributed to the economy.Moreover, 59 percent of the enterprises set up in 2016 are yet to generate revenue. So far, only 570,000 firms have really operated and contributed to the economy.However, experts hope the newly established firms, once operational, will contribute greatly to the economic growth in the near future.


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To improve the operational efficiency of businesses, the Ministry of Planning and In-vestment is completing the Law on Small- and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) to better support their development.It is also developing a project to reduce production costs for enterprises, thus enhanc-ing the competitiveness of the economy.The ministry will work with relevant bodies to complete legal framework on condi-tional business sectors and promote online administrative services to save time and cost for enterprises.http://en.vietnamplus.vn/corporate-profit-falls-60-percent-in-20102015/110733.vnp

Vietnamese firms reach deals with Burma partners


A number of Vietnamese firms reached partnership deals with Myanmar companies during the Vietnam-Myanmar Trade-Services-Tourism Fair 2017 in Yangon, as part of their market research trip lasting two weeks, according to Sai Gon Giai phong (Liber-ated Saigon) on April 24.Luan Thuy Duong, Vietnamese Ambassador to Myanmar, spoke highly of the out-comes of the trip and committed to supporting Vietnamese enterprises in the country.She urged State agencies to offer more trade promotion programmes to bring more Vi-etnamese goods to Myanmar and to connect well-established and domestic firms.Vietnamese Commercial Counsellor in Myanmar Vo Thi Ngoc Diep said trade be-tween the two countries soared 26 percent yearly to 548.3 million USD last year, 461.9 million USD of which was Vietnam's exports, up 22 percent annually.Vietnam leapt from the 10th last year to seventh place in February 2017 among 49 countries and territories investing in Myanmar with 14 projects with total registered capital of more than 2 billion USD, five of them were wholly-owned by Vietnam and the remaining were joint-ventures with Myanmar businesses, according to the direc-torate of Investment and Company Administration of Myanmar.Vietnam has opened 138 representative offices, company branches, joint-ventures and wholly-owned firms in Myanmar. Meanwhile, no Myanmar investor has been licensed to do business in Vietnam.Apart from seeking consumer goods distributors, Vietnamese businesses also want partners capable of bringing electrical appliances, construction materials and equip-ment to construction works and factories.Mechanical engineering firms such as Hong Ky, Nhon Hoa, Quy Phuc, Nhat Linh and Robot introduced their latest products at the fair.During their trip to Pro 1, CT Mart supermarket chain or Zuzana and Bago wholesale markets in Myanmar, they found out that Vietnamese goods are competing well with goods from China, Thailand and Malaysia.Myanmar consumers are snapping up made-in-Vietnam products such as Kangaroo household appliances, LIOA electrical devices, Hong Ky machines and Senko electric fans.Cao Duy Thinh, Executive director of Hoang Anh Gia Lai Group, suggested seeking partners and inviting them to factories, adding that firms should choose large-scale and prestigious distributors to avoid risks when signing contracts.http://en.vietnamplus.vn/vietnamese-firms-reach-deals-with-myanmar-partners/110716.vnp

Local firms unprepared for climate change adaptation


Although many enterprises to some extent show their awareness of the impact of cli-mate change on business and production activities, they have not taken specific actions to deal with climate change.Speaking at a conference on climate change in HCM City on Friday, Nguyen Tri Thanh, senior executive at the Asia Foundation, said a recent survey on more than 500 enterprises in 18 industrial parks showed that most enterprises have absolutely no plan for environment protection, emergency response or recovery after natural disas-ters.


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The effects of climate change in recent years include temperature rise, rainfall decrease in the north and increase in the south, more frequent droughts in the dry season and more devastating storms.According to Thanh, the most noticeable impacts of natural disasters and climate change on business and production activities are increasing production costs, bank-ruptcy after disasters, decreasing demand for goods and services, instable supply chain, and high recovery costs among others.Tran Thi Hanh, director of Khai Thinh Transportation Co., Ltd, said unpredictable storms have caused great damages to the shipping business of her company in recent years. Specifically, a sudden storm in Phan Thiet in 2014 sank the company's newly built $3 million passenger ship.In the field of agriculture, droughts in recent years have led to a shortage of materials for many factories and salt water intrusion has caused great damages to farmers in the central region, the Central Highlands and southern areas.For many enterprises, actions to mitigate the effects of climate change on production are mainly limited to saving on electricity, water and materials and using environmen-tally friendly equipment and technology.Statistics show that in 2016, natural disasters caused damage of up to VND39,700 bil-lion in the country.http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/53610/Local-firms-unprepared-for-climate-change-adaptation.html

FDI firms leading loss-making rate for years

25/APR/2017 INTELLASIA| SAIGON-GPDAILY.COM

Foreign direct investment (FDI) companies have taken the lead in loss-making ratio in Vietnam for many years, reported the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Friday.In 2008-2009, the ratio of loose making FDI companies was 51.2 percent and 49.8 per-cent respectively but they still broadened investment in Vietnam.Secretary general of the chamber Pham Thi Thu Hang said that the ratio topped 40 per-cent in the phase of 2007-2015 showing transfer pricing had not been tackled.Despite reporting much loss, FDI companies were always in the lead of return on asset (ROA) ratio.FDI companies just reduced losses after the government applied some measures to control transfer pricing through inspections in 2010 and 2011, when the rate dropped to 44.2 percent and 45 percent.In the phase of 2012-2015, it rebounded in line with the common trend of the econo-my's difficulties.In 2015 alone, FDI firms ranked second in the loss making ratio after state own enter-prises.http://www.saigon-gpdaily.com.vn/Business/2017/4/124188/

Industry 4.0 a threat to textiles sector


Myriad challenges brought about by fourth industrial revolution, according to Vinatex CEO.The fourth industrial revolution (Industry 4.0) will present a challenge for Vietnam's textiles and garment sector within the next five years, according to Le Tien Truong, CEO of the Vietnam National Textile and Garment Group (Vinatex).Automated production systems in the sector are yet to meet the requirements of Indus-try 4.0, he said, in particular the application of big data, the Internet of Things (IoT), and artificial intelligence (AI)."Industry 4.0 will create very rapid changes and unpredictable factors in the econo-my," he went on. "If there are no careful preparations, production systems in the sector will not be sufficiently competitive to adapt to the changes. This will be a major chal-lenge within the next five years."In the 2017-2020 period, he believes, Vinatex must pay more attention to research and apply the technological achievements of Industry 4.0, improving workplace produc-


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tivity."The most important thing is ensuring the group is not excluded from global chains," he said. "It will be difficult to achieve this goal as it requires the group focus on the de-velopment of resources."2017 will be a year with many challenges for Vietnam's textiles and garments. The only positive signs in the first quarter were the recovery of main markets such as the US, the EU and Japan and growth of 12 per cent year-on-year.If there are few fluctuations in the economic and political situation, Vietnam's textiles and garment sector may see growth of more than 10 per cent this year. Favourable cir-cumstances are the key factor for enterprises under Vinatex to have an effective year, Truong said.Vietnam's textile and garment exports failed to reach the targeted $29 billion in export turnover in 2016.Export turnover was estimated at $28.5 billion, up 5.4 per cent year-on-year but short of the $29 billion target, which was previously $30-$31 billion. "Growth is at its lowest since 2010," Truong told VET. "But growth in absolute value was higher than in pre-vious years."Vinatex's business performance was disappointing in 2016. Industrial production val-ue increased just 3 per cent, to VND37.7 trillion ($1.65 billion), while export turnover of VND2.47 trillion ($108.6 million) was up 4 per cent.Total revenue reached VND40.5 billion ($1.78 million), up 3 per cent, and pre-tax profit stood at VND1.43 trillion ($62.9 million), up 9 per cent. Main markets such as the US, Japan, and South Korea saw single-digit growth.Vinatex aims to maintain growth of 13 to 15 per cent this year, with exports totalling $4 billion.http://vneconomictimes.com/article/business/industry-4-0-a-threat-to-textiles-sector

Vietnamese pig farmers hard hit by imported meat

25/APR/2017 INTELLASIA| TUOITRE NEWS

Vietnamese pig farmers have been hit by the double whammy of slumping domestic pork prices and rising imports of cheap meat.In the year to March 15, Vietnam spent more than $9.4 million importing nearly 7,800 metric tonnes of pork of all kinds, a 15.8 percent increase in volume and 21.2 percent rise in value, according to preliminary customs data.Fresh and frozen pork accounted for 2,400 metric tonnes in volume and $4.5 million in value respectively.The imported meat varied from the common cuts of loin and ham to spare ribs from Canada, hearts from Spain and feet and tails from Poland, according to import data re-viewed by Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper.In 2016, the Southeast Asian country spent as much as $139,000 on 94 metric tonnes of imported pig tails.In 2017, Vietnam's pork production is expected to top 3.7 metric tonnes, up 3.2 percent on last year's number.However, local pig farmers are being hit by slumping pork prices as China, tradition-ally Vietnam's biggest customer, has recently cut imports.The situation is worsened by the rising demand for frozen meat imports, according to the agriculture ministry.Live pigs are sold for VND23,000 ($1.03) a kilogram, while imported pork costs only VND27,000 ($1.21) per kilogram on average.Vietnam is also importing huge quantities of poultry and cattle meat, according to sta-tistics covering the first three months of this year.The country's chicken imports were worth $19 million over the three-month period, constituting 20,600 metric tonnes out of a total of 41,000 tonnes of imports of meat of all kinds.The country also spent $35 million on 11,800 metric tonnes of cattle meat during the first quarter.http://tuoitrenews.vn/business/40656/vietnamese-pig-farmers-impacted-by-import-


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Private investors in infrastructure suffer disadvantages

25/APR/2017 INTELLASIA| VIETNAMNET

According to the Asian Development Bank (ADB), emerging economies in Asia, in-cluding in Vietnam, will need $26 trillion from now to 2030 to develop infrastructure.The figure is similar to recent estimates by the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI) that Vietnam needs $480 billion more for infrastructure projects, including 11 power plants with total capacity of 13,200 MW and 1,380 kilometers of highway.Vietnam has received invitations from ADB, the World Bank (WB) and Asian Infra-structure Investment Bank (AIIB), the new lender, to borrow capital to develop the projects. However, analysts warned that Vietnam will have to pay the price for the loans.Nguyen Tri Hieu, a renowned finance and banking expert, said in 2016, both Standard & Poor's and Fitch gave a BB-/B credit rating to Vietnam, while Moody's gave B1.With the ratings, Vietnam will have to pay relatively high interest rates for loans from international institutions.Meanwhile, the exchange rate fluctuations will increase Vietnam's public debt burden. To date, the public debt has nearly hit the ceiling as per Vietnam's calculation method and has exceeded the ceiling as per international practice.Therefore, the government will have to think carefully before borrowing foreign mon-ey, even for infrastructure development.Seeking capitalWhile it is more difficult to look for capital from international institutions, mobilising domestic sources proves to be a good solution.In Vietnam, private investment in infrastructure projects just accounts for 10 percent of total investment, while the figure is 30 percent in India.This is because investment in infrastructure, in private investors' eyes, is unattractive with high risks, high site clearance and a long time needed to take back the capital.Pham Tat Thang from the Trade Research Institute, pointed out that private investors are not interested in the infrastructure sector because they have few opportunities to develop foreign funded projects, while state-owned enterprises have better opportu-nities to access the projects.Analysts cited official reports as saying that the investment rate in infrastructure in Vi-etnam is the highest in the world - VND215 billion per kilometer, or $10 million.It is not an easy task for private investors to call for capital to develop infrastructure projects. Powerful commercial banks, mostly banks in which the state holds control-ling stakes, won't provide loans if they don't receive guarantees in policies."The meat is not reserved for private investors, while no one is foolish to get bones," an analyst commented.http://english.vietnamnet.vn/fms/business/176840/private-investors-in-infrastruc-ture-suffer-disadvantages.html

Angel investors come together to support startups


Nine angel investors sign up to iAngel Network and commit to providing assistance in capital and consultancy.Nine angel investors have signed a commitment to build the iAngel Network to pro-vide capital and consultancy for startups.The nine are the Vietnam Startup Fund (under the Ministry of Science and Technolo-gy), the Innovation Hub JSC, the National Private Fund Investment and Startup JSC, the Vietnam Management Consulting JSC, the Angels 4 Us Company, SongHan Incu-bator, the Hanoi Technology Development Investment JSC, the Capella Vietnam JSC, and the Hanoi Young Entrepreneurs Association.The organisations committed to building the iAngel Network, which will become the first choice of young startup entrepreneurs when needing financial and non-financial assistance."The most difficult thing for startups is capital, and administrative policies for angel


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investors in Vietnam remain limited, so we will build the iAngel Network to support startup projects," said Ly Dinh Quan, director of SongHan Incubator. Tran Anh Vuong, President of the Hanoi Young Entrepreneurs Association, said that investors are committed to building the iAngel Network based on needs in the startup community, not on profit. "This network will be active in both quantity and quality for startups," he said.iAngel invested in some startups last year but Nguyen Tien Trung, director of the Na-tional Private Fund Investment and Startup JSC, sees this as only the beginning. "We will try to promote iAngel to become a reliable support tool for startups," he added. "Other angel investors have similar targets."http://vneconomictimes.com/article/vietnam-today/angel-investors-come-together-to-support-startups

BIZ NEWS

Business Briefs April 25, 2017

25/APR/2017 INTELLASIA |

* Kien Long Bank at its annual general meeting last week announced a plan to list on the UPCoM, the market for unlisted public companies, in the second quarter ofthis year. The lender plans to offer a dividend of 8 percent for 2017.* KIDO Group Corporation (KDC) obtained over VND1.2 trillion in revenue and VND30.4 billion in after-tax profit in the first quarter of 2017, up 217 percent and 10%year-on-year respectively. In 2017, KDC will expand its business in the frozen food sec-tor as its Bac Ninh factory, which came into operation at the end of2016, will help KIDO Frozen Foods Joint Stock Company (KDF) save transport costs and meet cus-tomer demand in the north. KDC has recentlyorganised a roadshow to sell a 35 percent stake ofKDF at VND52,000 each. After the sale, KDC will hold a 65 percent stake at the affiliate, which will list on the UPCoM within this year.* KIDO Group Corporation (KDC) obtained over VND1.2 trillion in revenue and VND30.4 billion in after-tax profit inthe first quarter of 2017, up 217 percent and 10 percent year-on-year respectively. In 2017, KDC will expand its business in the frozen food sector as its Bac Ninh factory, which came into operation at the end of2016, will help KIDO Frozen Foods Joint Stock Company (KDF) save transport costs and meet customerdemand in the north. KDC has recentlyorganised a roadshow to sell a 35 percent stake of KDF at VND52,000 each. After the sale, KDC will hold a 65 percent stake at the af-filiate, which will list on the UPCoM within this year. * Viglacera Corp Company (VGC) has received approval from its shareholdersto auction 120 million shares to raise its registered capital by 39 percent to VND4.27 trillion viathe Hanoi Stock Exchange on May 29. VGC plans to sell the shares at an initial price of VND 12,300 each. The company plans to use proceeds from the sale to invest in its projects and supplement its working capital.* PetroVietnam Technical Services Corporation (PVS) will ask for shareholder approv-al to transfer listing to the Hochiminh Stock Exchange. It plans to raise capitalby 32 percent through a 2017 share dividend at a ratio of 100:7, which implies 31 million new shares issued, and 4:1 rights issuance (four existing shares will give holders the right to buy one new share). This will be equivalent to 112 million new shares issued.

Stocks fall further on poor market sentiment


Shares fell on the two local markets on Monday morning due to low investor confi-dence despite companies announcing positive development outlook at their annual shareholder meetings.The benchmark VN Index dropped 0.3 per cent to close at 710.47 points. Vietnam's key index has fallen a total of 0.6 per cent in the previous two days.The HNX Index on the Hanoi Stock Exchange was down 0.4 per cent to end at 88.52 points. The northern market index moved up 0.5 per cent on Friday.

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Market trading liquidity was low with more than 98 million shares being traded, worth nearly VND1.8 trillion (US$79.8 million).Investors remained cautious about current market conditions, given that the market is nearing a short national holiday this week, even as listed companies continued to an-nounce ambitious business plans for the future.Consumer goods producer Masan (MSN) on Monday morning held its annual share-holder meeting, targeting post-tax profit of VND3.2-3.4 trillion for 2017, an increase of 15-22 per cent compared with 2016. MSN shares ended flat on Monday morning.Other sectors also underperformed, including banks, insurance and brokerage firms, energy and plastic producers.Among these companies, Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BID) and Vietnam National Petroleum Group (PLX) were down 0.9 per cent and 0.6 per cent, re-spectively.The afternoon session starts at 1pm.http://bizhub.vn/markets/stocks-fall-further-on-poor-market-sentiment_285730.html

Lack of info to keep stocks quiet


Vietnam's stock market outlook will likely remain negative this week as a lack of sup-porting business information and potential global risks drive investor confidence down, according to analysts.The benchmark VN Index dropped slightly on Friday to finish last week at 712.41 points. Vietnam's key index has declined for two consecutive days and fell a total 0.8 per cent from the previous week.The minor HNX Index on the Hanoi Stock Exchange closed up 0.5 per cent on Friday, ending last week at 88.87 points. The northern market index lost 0.9 per cent week on week.It also marked the second consecutive losing week for the VN Index and the fourth for the HNX Index, signaling a tough trading week ahead.Market trading volume decreased by 12.4 per cent from the previous week to an aver-age of more than 230.8 million shares being traded in each session, but market trading value gained 7.3 per cent to VND4.92 trillion (US$218.78 million).According to some analysts, the correction of the stock market last week with lower trading activities is a sign that the market will continue to decline and that decline is necessary given current market conditions.The VN Index has consistently increased since December 2016, adding more than 70 points from the level of 650 points, extraordinary improvement, with the market now needing a break before climbing higher, said Nguyen Hong Khanh, head of analysis division at Sacombank Securities Company.From this week onwards, investors will continue to offload their portfolios as the stock market runs out of supporting information as firms will soon complete organising their annual shareholder meetings and report their first-quarter results, he said.In addition, earnings reports published last week by companies, such as brokerages, did not result in positive moves for their stocks as earnings had been priced in earlier by investor expectations and the share prices increased in the past few months, Khanh said.Analysts also warned that potential global risk and the familiar "Sell in May" mind set will drive investor confidence down.Vu Minh Duc, head of individual investor analysis division at Viet Capital Securities Company, said that market trading liquidity had declined in recent sessions as inves-tors were cautious.Investors have been cautious with market trading on global risks, which are occurring in the Korean Peninsula and in the Middle East, he said.Petrolimex and BIDV in focusThis week, the stock market may see strong changes in the shares of the Bank for In-vestment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV) and the Vietnam National Petroleum Group (Petrolimex).


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BIDV will attract investors after the bank decided at its annual shareholder meeting on Saturday to pay a 7 per cent dividend in cash on the request of the finance ministry.Meanwhile, analysts foresee a downward trend for Petrolimex's shares as the compa-ny may suffer from profit-taking.Nguyen The Minh, an analyst at Sai Gon Securities Inc, said that Petrolimex shares would have to withstand heavy pressure from profit-taking after being listed on the HCM Stock Exchange on Friday.He said that the number of Petrolimex shares had increased in 2016 and the company's share prices also rose strongly when they were traded in the over-the-counter market.Minh warns that Petrolimex is now among the 10 largest companies by market capi-talisation and its shares will have strong impact on the market. Potential risks for the development of Petrolimex will be included in the volatile global oil prices and the company's business policies.http://bizhub.vn/markets/lack-of-info-to-keep-stocks-quiet_285701.html

Experts: Further stock losses likely this week


Securities experts have projected the market will continue its downtrend this week as the VN Index has declined for two consecutive sessions given low trading value last week.Nguyen Hong Khanh, head of analysis at Sacombank Securities Company, said that the market has enjoyed a long winning streak from December 2016 with the VN Index jumping nearly 70 points. Therefore, a correction phase is anticipated now.Many securities enterprises announced good business results last week. However, stock prices barely increased as good earnings results had been predictable and fac-tored into prices that had jumped in previous months. Other sectors also posted mild gains as their first-quarter results had been estimated earlier.Therefore, when the annual general meetings season is over, the market could possibly enter a correction phase. The market is expected to see profit taking soaring this week, Khanh said at an interview with the stock market news website tinnhanhchung-khoan.vn.Nguyen The Minh from Saigon Securities Inc. (SSI) said that the market entered a short-term downtrend last week with the VN Index falling to under 720 points on low turnover, suggesting that investors turned cautious at political uncertainties world-wide.The market is expected to continue falling this week as short-term risks remain and there is no supporting information, he said.Vu Minh Duc, head of the individual customers division of Viet Capital Securities Company, noticed a strong slump in market turnover in recent sessions. Speculators sharply reduced transactions after the VN Index had lost the 730-point threshold.The correction was caused by technical developments and concerns over political ten-sions. Besides, investors may reduce trading as the long national holiday is nearing.Therefore, if the VN Index moves sideways or makes a slight rise, market turnover will hover around the average level like now. In case of a drop, turnover will likely im-prove.The market is facing downside risks in short term, which may send the VN Index down to 680-700 points in May. However, the correction is necessary for the market to strengthen its uptrend in the medium term, Duc said.Both markets slid further last week with the VN Index shedding 0.84 percent at 712.41 and the HNX-Index losing 0.86 percent at 88.87. Turnover strongly declined as match-ing volume averaged out at 142.3 million shares a session on the HCM City market and 60.7 million shares on the Hanoi bourse, down 21.5 percent and 16.3 percent from a week earlier respectively.http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/53612/Experts-Further-stock-losses-likely-this-week.html


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Agencies asked to publicise equitised SOEs not listed


All relevant agencies have been ordered to publicise 578 equitised State-owned enter-prises (SOEs) not listed on the stock market as of December 31, 2016.The order was made recently by deputy prime minister Vuong Dinh Hue.Of the 578 equitised SOEs, 301 have not registered to list on the stock exchange, 205 have not met the listing requirements and 72 have not registered to list even after meet-ing the requirements, according to the Ministry of Finance.Among the companies that have not registered for listing, subsidiaries of the Electric-ity of Vietnam (EVN) and the coal and mining group Vinacomin (TKV) are not quali-fied for the number of shareholders.The list of the 578 equitised companies created by the Ministry of Finance was based on reports sent to it by 14 ministries, 41 localities, and 29 State-owned corporations and groups.The deputy PM said all ministries, localities and State-owned corporations should ask representatives of the concerned SOEs to list their shares on the market as soon as they meet all the requirements to do so.He asked the government Office and the Ministry of Finance to publish the list of the 578 SOEs on the websites of the government and the ministry.The Ministry of Finance must make a separate list of the SOEs that have not listed de-spite meeting all the requirements to do so and submit it to the prime minister.According to experts, the delay in listing equitised SOEs will have negative impacts within the companies and also make further equitisation less attractive to investors, es-pecially foreign investors, resulting in a loss of income to the State.Delayed listing of SOEs will also reduce the chance of holding successful IPOs, because the number of investors participating in the auctions will be low, leading to low bid-ding prices.The delayed listing will also result in SOEs being unable to transparently show their financial status, and investors will not be keen on investing in firm whose operations they cannot monitor.http://en.vietnamplus.vn/agencies-asked-to-publicise-equitised-soes-not-listed/110713.vnp

Price developments of defensive stocks get exciting in 2017

25/APR/2017 INTELLASIA| NDH

The stock market in the last two years has experienced significant changes from poli-cies to the quality of listed stocks. The typical changes are the extension of the foreign investor ownership and the acceleration of equitisation and state capital divestment in state-owned enterprises. Thanks to that, enterprises with good business quality have attracted foreign investors to invest, pour capital and participate in their corporate governance and administration.Such policy changes and the development of the stock market from marginal to emerg-ing market have drawn more foreign capital from international financial institutions.In the past, the shares of pharmaceutical industry were considered as defensive stocks, which mean the stocks of enterprises having steady profit growth and large dividends but no significant fluctuations in share prices like real estate or midcap stocks.However, the stock price movements of this sector in 2017 are fairly surprising. The typical cases are DHG Pharmaceutical Joint Stock Company (DHG) and Domesco Medical Import Export Joint Stock Company (DMC).DHG is one of the listed companies which have been able to maintain dividend pay-ment ratio of over 30 percent annually. The company paid cash dividends at 30 percent in 2015, and 35 percent in 2016. On May 17th 2017, DHG will pay dividends for year 2016 at 35 percent in cash to its shareholders. The list will be finalised on May 5th 2017. The stock price of DHG has sharply risen from 94,000 - 98,000 dong per share in late 2016 to 139,000 dong per share on March 31st 2017, equivalent to a more than 42 per-cent growth. In addition to receiving a huge dividend payment, investors of DHG may earn a large profit when investing in this stock.Meanwhile, DMC is the stock that has opened room for foreign investors. Thus, the


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biggest shareholder of DMC up to now is CFR International SPA (related to Abbott Group) with more than 17.9 million shares, equivalent to more than 51.69 percent. The dividend payment rate of DMC in the recent years has been fairly good. In 2016, the company paid dividend at 20 percent in cash and in bonus shares at the ratio of 10:3.The price of DMC in late 2016 was around 65,000-68,000 dong per share, marking the period when the stock prices of DMC in particular and of pharmaceutical and health-care sector in general recorded significant growth compared to the market. The highest price of DMC shares in the first quarter of 2017 was 98,000 dong per share, recorded in the March 28th 2017 session, equivalent to a nearly 50 percent increase compared to the price in the end of 2016. Thus, it can be seen that investors choosing these two stocks have grossed huge profits in a not very long period of growth.Following pharmaceutical and healthcare sector, a notable point was seen in a listed company operating in a specific business sector on the stock market - Phu Nhuan Jew-ellery Joint Stock Company.PNJ shares have achieved a remarkable jump after a long period levelling off. From 66,000 dong per share, PNJ price is currently over 82,000 dong per share, after hitting the peak ever of 84,500 dong per share on April 22nd 2017, equivalent to about 25 per-cent rise.Where does such growth come from?For the group of pharmaceutical stocks, the profit has been following an upward trend in the recent time. DHG's profit increased from more than 533.7 billion dong in 2014 to 592.7 billion dong in 2015, and to 712.950 billion dong in 2016.Meanwhile, DMC's profit rose from 132.3 billion dong in 2014 to 141.5 billion dong in 2015, and 168.46 billion dong in 2016. This increase is fairly good, along with the high dividend payment rate of pharmaceutical and healthcare firms, which is suitable for value investors and foreign organisations.In addition to the above mentioned stocks, the rapid growth has also been recorded in the group of real estate stocks, trade stocks, and food and beverage stocks, etc. How-ever, compared to the overall growth of the market, the stocks of pharmaceutical and healthcare firms have achieved strong development not only in price but also in the quality of the businesses.The growth of the units is the process of corporate governance as well as foreign in-vestment and technology attraction in order to maintain the internal strengths of the firm as well as the strengths of high-quality personnel from the participation of foreign parties. Typically, the management model of DHG sees not only the role of the State Capital Investment Corporation (SCIC) but also the participation of Taisho - the stra-tegic partner joining in DHG with technical support and upgrade of production lines in accordance with international standards.Regarding the SCIC's divestment in DHG, the SCIC said that in the near future, the agency will continue to accompany DHG to achieve its business objectives. Thus, in the long run, the stock of the firm will continue to have opportunities to grow.It can be seen that after a long quiet time of the market when investors may have missed the chance to invest in the stocks that recorded growth in the recent time. The stocks recording impressive development in the recent time are those of the firms hav-ing good business results, steady growth over the years, and efficient process to select reputable foreign institutional investors to jointly run the business towards the com-mon goal of high efficiency in operation and achievement of good business results.

Viettel gets ready for April ipo in Tanzania


Viettel Tanzania Limited Company (Halotel) is completing an IPO prospectus and cor-porate valuation in preparation for its IPO filing on the Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange (DSE) in Tanzania this month, Viettel Global reported.This is assumed to be the first listing of a Vietnamese company in a foreign market.Tanzania is the second largest telecoms market in East Africa behind Kenya, with a penetration of 79 per cent of the total population. Tanzanian law requires telecommu-nication companies to sell the public 25 per cent of their stakes and list on the stock ex-


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change.Halotel, a subsidiary of Viettel Global, is among seven telecommunication companies in Tanzania which provide landline and mobile phone operation services.The Vietnamese company has hired five compulsory consultation services for a regu-lated IPO transaction and is preparing its prospectus to file for the public sale this April, Viettel Global said in an email to Vietnam News."Tanzania's Capital Markets and Securities Authority (CMSA) is careful when approv-ing IPO plans of telecom operators because they understand the market cannot absorb a massive amount of shares," Viettel Global said.The local stock market is small with total market capitalisation of about $9.72 billion in 2016.The IPO requirements apply to all companies in the telecommunications sector includ-ing mobile operators, landline operators, Internet providers, broadcasters and trans-mission firms. About 89 companies are assumed to qualify.Halotel, launched in October 2015, is Viettel's fourth investment in Africa after Movi-tel, Lumitel and Nexttel in Mozambique, Burundi and Cameroon, respectively. The company has attracted three million subscribers in the first 15 months of operation. It reported total sales of about $21.5 million in the first six months of 2016.http://bizhub.vn/markets/viettel-gets-ready-for-april-ipo-in-tanzania_285709.html

PV Power prepares for August IPO


PetroVietnam Power Corporation (PV Power) will make its initial public offering (IPO) this August, the electricity producer announced.The Ministry of Industry and Trade has approved the business valuation of the com-pany, said a representative of PV Power. It has worked to devise an equitisation plan and seek strategic investors for the IPO.PV Power is a wholly-owned unit of the Vietnam Oil and Gas Group, with current charter capital at 21.7 trillion VND (958.7 million USD).Established in May 2007, PV Power operates eight power plants with combined capac-ity of over 4,208 MW.It generates more than 16 billion kWh of electricity annually, 15 percent of the nation's electricity.During its 10-years of operation, PV Power has provided 136 billion kWh of electricity to the national grid, earning 8.6 trillion VND (378.6 million USD) of profit.http://en.vietnamplus.vn/pv-power-prepares-for-august-ipo/110707.vnp

Vietjet airline records positive business results in Q1, 2017


Vietjet Aviation Joint Stock Company recorded positive results for the first quarter of 2017 with its aviation transport revenue standing at 5,095 billion VND (224.2 million USD), up 44.2 percent year-on-year.The low-cost airline said on April 22 that the revenue exceeded target by 10.6 percent, while revenue proportion for international routes rose sharply.Meanwhile, profit rose 6.8 percent compared to the same period of the previous year.Profit before tax stood at 432.64 billion VND and profit after tax at 381.65 billion VND.The airline carried 3.7 million passengers, an increase of 29.4 percent compared to the same period of 2016.In the first quarter of 2017, Vietjet launched three more international routes, increasing its air routes to 63, with high load factor of 88 percent, OTP of 87.7 percent, an increase of 4.1 percent compared to 2016.The first quarter of 2017 saw strong growth in its total asset which reached 21,727 bil-lion VND, an increase of 17.37 percent compared to the early year period in which cash and cash equivalents sharply rose to 2,777 billion VND. For the same period of the pre-vious year, cash and cash equivalents stood at approximately 944 billion VND. All this showed that the company's cash flow was very healthy. Its equity rose 69.7 percent from 3,072 billion VND to 5,213 billion VND.In 2017, Vietjet plans to operate A320/A321 NEO family which will result in 15 percent


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fuel savings.According to Vietjet Managing director Luu Duc Khanh, the company operation cost has been within the world's top airlines.Within the first 90 days of 2017, Vietjet operated 22,353 safe flights, recorded technical reliability at 99.59 percent, a slight increase of 0.02 percent compared to 2016. Flight op-eration, ground operation and engineering safety indicators were listed in the group of highest quality airlines in the Asia Pacific regionhttp://en.vietnamplus.vn/vietjet-airline-records-positive-business-results-in-q1-2017/110721.vnp

Vietnamese firms set for active mergers season


In late February Indian State-owned mining giant, the National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC), was in talks with Masan Resources Corporation(MSR) to buy a stake in the latter's Nui Phao tungsten mine.The mine located in the northern province of Thai Nguyen has the biggest tungsten re-serves in the world with an estimated 66 million tonnes, or a full third of all known global reserves.The negotiations mark the beginning of the 2017 mergers & acquisitions (M&A) sea-son, which is expected to be hectic thanks to the State Capital Investment Company (SCIC)'s plan to sell off many major State-owned companies this year.SCIC's auction of 9 per cent stakes in Vinamilk late last year saw Thailand's Fras-er&Neave (F&N) snapping up 5.4 per cent of the shares, raising its ownership of the dairy giant to 16.35 per cent.The Thai company bought more VNM shares in March to raise its ownership to 17.7 per cent.There is talk that F&N wants to take control of VNM and is likely to take part in SCIC's next VNM share auction.The Binh Minh Plastics Company (BMP) is one of 10 firms the SCIC plans to sell off. It holds a 29.5 per cent stake in BMP and 37.1 per cent another company in the industry, Tien Phong Plastic Joint Stock Company (NTP).The sovereign fund's auctions of shares of these two companies are expected to attract many foreign investors, especially since it appears that BMP will vote to allow 100 per cent foreign ownership to at its upcoming shareholders meeting.Thailand's Nawaplastic Industries (Saraburi) Company owns a 20 per cent stake in BMP to be its biggest foreign shareholder.If it manages to buy more stakes in BMP and NTP when they are sold by SCIC, it would be able to control the Vietnam's plastics industry's two leading players.Analysts foresee many major M&A deals this year, with foreign investors being in-volved.The fact that several large companies plan to launch their initial public offering this year is also expected to have an impact on M&A activities. They include MobiFone, PV Oil, Satra, and Becamex IDC.The increase in the number of M&A deals involving foreign investors indicates two things: firstly the attractiveness of the Vietnamese market, and secondly that foreign investors are targeting companies that have good brands, big market shares or the right to exploit some precious natural resource.The involvement of foreign investors means the government can speed up its pull-out from companies, while the companies could benefit from the management skills the foreigners bring.Many domestic investors too are eyeing M&A deals to perfect their value chains, en-large their market shares and acquire a going concern.Though M&A activities between domestic companies often take place without much fanfare the number of such deals is expected to increase significantly this year, partic-ularly in the banking sector.The first deal in the sector this year is due to take place between PGBank and Viet-inBank, with the latter fully acquiring the former.


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The Asian Development Bank plans to buy weak Vietnamese banks.In the real estate sector, many M&A deals are being done between domestic investors, with long-delayed projects being the focus of attention.For instance, Novaland is carrying out the necessary procedures to buy shares in projects like ICON, Galaxy 9, The Tresor, Lexington, and RiverGate Residence.http://english.vietnamnet.vn/fms/business/177128/vietnamese-firms-set-for-active-mergers-season.html

FPT Telecom's 2016 revenue at $290mn


Revenue up 1.7 percent and pre-tax profit 14.6 percent, April 24 AGM hears.2016 was a year of success for FPT Telecom, with revenue reaching over VND6.6 tril-lion ($290.4 million), a 1.7 per cent increase against 2015, according to the company's report released at its annual general meeting on April 24.Pre-tax profit came in at nearly VND1.2 billion ($52.8 million), up 14.6 per cent, and after-tax profit VND1 trillion ($44 million).The Board of directors proposed the approval of a dividend payment of 30 per cent for 2016, of which 20 per cent is in cash and 10 per cent is in shares. At the end of last De-cember, the company advanced the 20 per cent cash dividend to shareholders, while the dividend in shares will be paid shortly.FPT Telecom targets revenue of VND7.74 trillion ($340.5 million) this year, up 16 per cent compared to last year. Revenue from telecommunication services is expected to reach VND7.16 trillion ($315.04 million) and revenue from advertising services VND578 billion ($25.4 million).Pre-tax profit is to reach VND1.21 trillion ($53.2 million), up 1.5 per cent, and pay a dividend no lower than VND2,000 ($0.08) per a share. The Board of directors also plans to expand its business in telecommunications and technology and other services relat-ing to computers.At the end of last year, FPT Telecom was granted a trading code on the UPCoM, of FOX, according to Vietnam Securities Depository (VSD).It has 137,078,609 shares, equivalent to charter capital of VND1.37 trillion ($60.2 mil-lion). Actual charter capital is VND1.2 trillion ($52.8 million), equivalent to 124.6 mil-lion shares.The State Capital Investment Corporation (SCIC) is a major shareholder of FPT Tele-com, with 62.5 million shares, or 50.16 per cent. The FPT Group holds 56.88 million, or 45.64 per cent, and other shareholders the remaining 4.18 per cent.As planned, the SCIC will divest all of its capital at FPT Telecom. This is an opportu-nity for the FPT Group to purchase the available shares and increase its holding.The divestment is expected to take place this year. Dang Quyet Tien, deputy director of the Ministry of Finance's Corporate Finance Department, told local media recently that the move is part of the SCIC's efforts to withdraw capital from several major en-terprises in the early stages of this year.http://vneconomictimes.com/article/business/fpt-telecom-s-2016-revenue-at-290mn

Proposal to upgrade City airport mooted


The Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam (CAAV) has submitted a detailed pro-posal to upgrade and expand Tan Son Nhat International Airport by 2020 to the Min-istry of Transport.It estimates the cost of newly building and upgrading the runway area, terminals and transport system around the airport at around VND19.3 trillion (US$850 million).With demand expected to grow by 15 per cent a year, the airport will need to handle 50 - 60 million passengers by 2025, when Long Thanh International Airport in neigh-bouring Dong Nai Province is expected to be inaugurated.By 2020 the CAAV seeks to upgrade Tan Son Nhat Airport to serve 43 - 45 million pas-sengers a year with parking space for 80 aircraft of various kinds like ATR72, A320, A321, B747, B777, B787, and A350.It seeks to keep the existing two runways and build three more.


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One more terminal, T4, with a capacity of 15 million passengers a year will be built in addition to the existing terminals, which have a capacity of 28 million passengers.Of the three existing ones, one is used by the military.The city plans to build a Y-shaped flyover to link Truong Son Street with the airport.The CAAV wants to entrust the work inside the airport to Vietnam Airlines Corpora-tion, meaning the carrier has to mobilise the resources needed to build the runways and terminal.The city will finance the upgrade and expansion work outside the airport.http://bizhub.vn/news/proposal-to-upgrade-city-airport-mooted_285728.html

Binh Duong starts operating second wastewater treatment plant


The southern province of Binh Duong on Friday put into operation a wastewater treat-ment plant in Thuan An Town, the second of its kind in the province.Tran Thanh Liem, deputy chair of the People's Committee, said that with a capacity of 17,000cu.m per day in the first phase, the plant would collect and treat wastewater for 40,000 households, which will help ensure the community lives in healthier conditions as well as contribute to realising the national environment protection strategy.Households near Ba Bo canal will benefit greatly from the project. Currently, it is one of the most polluted canals as wastewater from the households flows into it. The plant will reduce the canal's pollution level.The plant's capacity is expected to double in the second phase.A part of the Nam Binh Duong water environment improvement project, the plant's total investment comes to nearly VND2.5 trillion (US$110 million). Around 85 per cent of this amount comes from Japan's Official Development Assistance (ODA) source, and the rest is from the local budget.Earlier, the province launched its first wastewater treatment plant in Thu Dau Mot Town, which has a capacity of 17,650cu.m per day. The plant was built at the cost of VND2 trillion.http://bizhub.vn/news/binh-duong-starts-operating-second-wastewater-treatment-plant_285734.html

Hoi An starts $44.2 million tourism property project


Quang Nam Province has begun construction of the Hoi An Royal Residences project, with total investment of VND1 trillion (US$44.2 million) in Cam An Commune in the suburbs of Hoi An City.The province said the project is funded by the Hoang Gia Hoi An company, and covers 70ha near Cua Dai beach and the Co Co River.The project will be built in two phases with 44 villas, 87 shop villas, condotels and re-sorts.It's one of the biggest tourism property projects to be built in Hoi An city this year.Last year, the province began construction of the Nam Hoi An Integrated Resort Project, invested by VinaCapital and Gold Yield Enterprises Corporations in coastal Thang Binh and Duy Xuyen districts with total investment of $4 billion between 2016 and 2035.http://bizhub.vn/banking/hoi-an-starts-442 million-tourism-property-project_285733.html

Ca Mau gas processing plant to start commercial production in June


A gas processing plant in U Minh district of the southernmost province of Ca Mau, de-signed with a capacity of 6.2 million cubic metres per day, will finish trial operations and begin commercial production in June 2017.According to deputy head of the management board of the factory Nguyen Tien Hai, the project has completed 99 percent of the workload, and ran for 2.5 million hours without any incidents on a pilot basis.The project, worth 300 million USD was invested by the PetroVietnam Gas Joint Stock Corporation (PV Gas), aims to process natural gas from blocks PM3 and 46-CN to cre-


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ate high value products, including liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and natural gas con-densate, he added.With the application of the latest technologies to treat wastewater without using chem-icals to rinse pipes, the project ensures environmental protection.Once put into operation in June, the gas processing plant will be able to produce 600 tonnes of LPG and 34 tonnes of condensate per day.http://en.vietnamplus.vn/ca-mau-gas-processing-plant-to-start-commercial-produc-tion-in-Jun/110718.vnp

New technology ups rice value in Can Tho


The installation of automated processing lines in a major rice mill is set to boost hi-tech marking in Can Tho City, officials say.The Phung Hoang Rice Export Import Jsc, in cooperation with Swiss group Buhler, has automated all production lines in one of its rice mills.The automated production lines at the Phung Hoang 3 Rice Mill, which began operat-ing last Thursday, allows the mill to process 60 tonnes of rice per hour.All activities, including separating paddy from husk, whitening the rice and removing almost 95 per cent of impurities, are automated. Phung Hoang is the first enterprise in Vietnam to apply this technology.Le Van Tam, vice Chair of Can Tho People's Committee, said the new processing meth-od deployed by Phung Hoang 3 Rice Mill will contribute positively to high-tech farm-ing development in the southern city.Tam added that applying modern technology will also help the city attract more in-vestment, improve its competitiveness and facilitate deeper integration into the inter-national market.Can Tho cultivates rice on nearly 240,000ha every year, with about 90,000ha dedicated to the winter-spring crop. Food production is estimated at about 1.5 million tonnes yearly, Tam said.The new processing technology used by Phung Hoang 3 Rice Mill has boosted rice con-sumption both in Can Tho City and neighbouring provinces like An Giang and Dong Thap, increasing the value of rice and also ensuring the quality of rice for export, Tam said.Othmar Hardegger, Swiss Consul general in HCM City, noted that Vietnam was one of the world's leading rice exporters with plenty of favourable conditions to maintain and increase its share in the world market. However, in order to compete with foreign suppliers, it is essential that the country ensures that its rice meets international quality and food safety standards.The latest technology and expertise of the Buhler Group will help Can Tho rice meet the standards, leading to improved labour productivity, safe working environment and better management on food safety and hygiene.Huynh The Nang, Chair of the Vietnam Food Association (VFA), praised Phung Hoang's efforts to applying modern technology in rice production. It was a bold deci-sion by the company to adopt hi-tech farming, he said.Phung Hoang Rice Export Import Joint Stock Company, established in 2007, is one of the leading rice exporters in Vietnam. The Phung Hoang 3 Rice Mill, located in Thoi Thuan Ward, Thot Not District, has a daily capacity of 500 tonnes of rice that meets in-ternational standards.Buhler is a leading Swiss company with more than 150 years of experience in the field of grain processing. In addition to Vietnam, it is also present in Thailand and India, other leading rice producers and exporters.In 2016, Buhler opened a factory in Long An, marking its presence in Vietnam. Phung Hoang was the first company in Vietnam to use Buhler's technology in rice production and processing.http://bizhub.vn/news/new-technology-ups-rice-value-in-can-tho_285702.html


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Rent-A-Port leads in green foresight


Rent-A-Port NV, the Belgium-based major investor of Deep C Industrial Zones, has made green growth and sustainability central focuses of its mission in Vietnam.Earlier this month, Rent-A-Port's subsidiary Rent-A-Port Green Energy inked a mem-orandum of understanding (MoU) with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Devel-opment (MARD) on wind and solar-driven micro-desalination, to solve the problems of salinisation in the rice fields of the Mekong Delta.At first, the Belgian firm and MARD will set up five demonstration wind-powered wa-ter desalination plants with an investment of $15 million, capable of providing fresh water for at least 200 hectares of rice fields in five locations across the Mekong Delta. Each demo plant consists of two water production units, with a total combined peak capacity of 400 cubic metres per day. The salinity of the fresh water produced would be below 0.1 per cent, making it suitable for irrigation and even drinkable."We are expecting around 250 such plants to be built in the region, as a part of support-ing Vietnam in improving rice production and the livelihoods of the region's farmers. We are also willing to help Vietnam identify and seek the most suitable financing source for the development of such plants in the Mekong Delta," Marc Stordiau, man-aging director of Rent-A-Port, said at the MoU signing ceremony.Besides this project, the company is planning a series of projects aimed at providing green energy to parts of Hai Phong and Quang Ninh, where the Deep C cluster is lo-cated."We hope to contribute to the community in which we operate. We are committed to a long-term business strategy in Vietnam, where Rent-A-Port will apply its core phi-losophy of sustainable development and environmental protection," Stordiau added.The Deep C cluster began with Dinh Vu Industrial Zone (DVIZ) on the Dinh Vu penin-sula in the northern port city of Hai Phong. From a deserted area mainly used for fish-ing, over the past 20 years, Dinh Vu peninsula has turned into a fully-functioning industrial zone with reliable state-of-the art utility systems. So far, DVIZ has drawn $3 billion in investment from 70 multinational companies, creating more than 10,000 jobs directly and 50,000 indirectly.Thanks to the success of DVIZ - also known as Deep C I - the company has expanded to the south of Dinh Vu for Deep C II and Cat Hai Island for Deep C III. This last Deep C installation is located next to Lach Huyen Deep Sea Port, adding another 1,000ha of industrial land to Hai Phong. The group is also currently expanding its base in the neighbouring province of Quang Ninh to 1,500-plus hectares. Together, all these de-velopments will form the Deep C cluster of over 3,000ha in northern Vietnam.According to Stordiau, Deep C III, whose construction is going to start by the end of this year, is planned to be Vietnam's first eco-industrial zone.Frank Wouters, general director of Dinh Vu Industrial Zone JSC, added that the com-pany has started projects in green energy including wind-powered water desalination in Hai Phong, pioneering solar energy in northern Vietnam, and waste-to-energy mod-ules in Dinh Vu and Uong Bi. It is also considering developing inland waterway ports in Hai Phong and the northern province of Hai Duong, which would divert truck de-liveries to a safer and more ecological route by sea.Subsidiary Rent-A-Port Green Energy's management was the driving force behind the pioneering C-Power "far-shore" wind farm in the North Sea. This was the first time that wind turbines were built so far offshore - 30 kilometres off the coast. According to Wouters, Deep C Power - the twin of C-Power - will soon come to Hai Phong.Rent-A-Port has also helped Vietnam get greener in more visible ways. In August 2016, the group worked with the Quang Ninh People's Committee on a project to clean Halong Bay. The project, with the estimated cost of $125 million, which will last from 2017 to 2026, will collect and treat waste on the bay and from the cruises operating there.http://www.vir.com.vn/rent-a-port-leads-in-green-foresight.html


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IREX set to benefit from solar flare-up


IREX Energy JSC, the country's leading solar panel producer, is expected to ride the coming solar investment wave into the local solar energy market.Vietnam's potential for solar is great, with 1,600-2,700 sunlight hours per year and an average direct normal irradiance of four-to-five kilowatt-hours (kWh) per square me-tre, comparable to Thailand, the Philippines, Spain, and Italy.However, the solar photovoltaic (PV) market in Vietnam is still in its early stages, with approximately six-to-seven megawatts ( MW) of solar PV capacity currently installed. Its projected potential, if the most beneficial scenarios occur, might be two-to-five gi-gawatts (GW) for residential and commercial rooftops and 20GW for solar PV plants.Vietnam's renewable energy sector is lagging behind other countries in terms of tech-nology, policy, and feed-in-tariffs (FiT). Thus, many international energy firms have remained hesitant to make investments in Vietnam, despite the country's tremendous potential for renewable energy developments. The latest move of the government to raise the solar FiT to 9.35 US cents/kWh is expected to shake up the local power market. The new FiT is sufficient for investors to cover expenses and help to develop the solar energy industry in its early stages. As a result, more foreign energy firms will study the possibilities of doing business here as well as hunt for competent local partners.However, only Vietnamese firms with serious investment in solar energy are capable of embracing these opportunities. Some local firms have even developed international standard technology and accumulated experience in both local and foreign markets. IREX is one of the exemplary Vietnamese renewable energy brands, which has contrib-uted to the growing presence of Vietnam's solar panels in the global market.IREX is well known among international investors thanks to attending InterSolar, the world's leading exhibition series for the solar industry. At the InterSolar 2016 solar in-dustry exhibition in US' San Francisco IREX - the only representative from Vietnam - introduced their business model: "From cells to a turn-key solution."IREX panels also meet the following European and US standards issued by TUV Rheinland: IEC 61215:2005, IEC 61730:2004, and UL 1703.In Vietnam, IREX is the solar energy leader in successful installations for large projects and for residential needs. The company's strength is in the direct production of solar panels and components such as PV modules and cells, made to internationally-com-pliant standards.IREX is now turning its focus to the local renewable energy sector, which forecasts to experience fast growth in the upcoming years, following the implementation of fa-vourable incentives. To step up its game, IREX has invested in a new high-tech energy equipment complex in Phu My I Industrial Park, in the southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau's Tan Thanh commune.With a capacity of over 300MW per year, the new factory is equipped with automated and semi-automated machinery to ensure the high quality of its products, especially IREX's mainstay Solar System Operation Centre (SSOC). The solution makes monitor-ing and management processes more convenient, allowing users to easily access ex-perts via any device connected to the internet.According to the firm's director Dong Van Sen, IREX's strategy is in line with that of its sister company Bach Khoa Investment and Development of Solar Energy Corpora-tion (SolarBK). The company focuses on differentiating its products and achieving the highest efficiency - providing all-in-one solutions for both businesses and households.Take the Green One UN House in Hanoi for example - the building incorporates IREX's SSOC solutions to ensure tight security. Together with cooperation from So-larBK, IREX's research-and-development (R&D) team has developed a remote moni-toring system specifically for the building - an example of the tailored solutions that give IREX the edge over competing firms with imported technology.Solar PV panels on the building's roof generate 10 per cent of the building's annual electricity requirements. As a result, the Green One UN House is becoming a role mod-el for green buildings in Vietnam. It was also the first building in the country to be awarded the Gold Lotus Rating from the Vietnam Green Building Council.


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Another prominent project marked the sucessful cooperation between SolarBK and IREX, "Light up the Spratly Islands", is providing electricity for the historic and geo-graphically important Truong Sa island group. This project brought SolarBK, as well as IREX the prestigious 2012 Energy Globe Award.IREX's Sen said that soon the energy market will become more competitive than ever before, due to the increasing entrance of foreign investors. These new entrants multi-ply the number of options for customers and stir up competition in the domestic mar-ket. "To obtain the expansion's objective, IREX will not stop at producing PV panels, but increase investment in different segments of the solar energy field. We have plans to expand existing manufacturing facilities and upgrade production lines in 2017. A new R&D centre will be developed to produce more clean energy applications in the country," he said.Founded in 2012, IREX has inherited 40 years of research and the creative values of So-larBK in manufacturing and selling renewable energy products. With this strong back-ground, the company has the competence to be proactive in controlling materials, consulting, designing, implementing, managing, and transferring PV projects.http://www.vir.com.vn/irex-set-to-benefit-from-solar-flare-up.html

HCM City transport authority comes up with new parking fee plan


The HCM City Department of Transport has proposed a plan in which the nearer the city centre, the higher the parking fees will be.According to the plan which the department presented at a conference on traffic man-agement last week, the parking fees in the heart of the city would be the highest and the farther from the city centre the lower the parking charges would be.Some types of vehicles would be banned on certain main roads permanently or at peak hours.The city would provide public bicycle rental service downtown, reorganise the com-muter bus system, launch river buses, build parking lots and develop new interprovin-cial-bus stations this year.In 2018-2020, the city will continue finding ways to reduce traffic congestion such as launching a new river bus route connecting the Bach Dang Wharf in District 1 and Dis-trict 8, putting more eco-friendly buses running on compressed natural gas into serv-ice, establishing a public transport management centre, inviting tenders for bus services, and opening more pedestrian streets in the centre of town.Bui Xuan Cuong, director of the Department of Transport, said the city will complete the formulation of a public transit development strategy in October 2017 with detailed mechanisms, solutions and roadmaps for coping with traffic congestion in the coming years.The city has 4,870 roads with a total length of more than 4,000 km and over 7.9 million motorcycles and automobiles registered in the city, plus more than one million vehi-cles registered in other provinces but in circulation in the city.http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/53606/HCM City-transport-authority-comes-up-with-new-parking-fee-plan.html

HCM City to open more tourist streets

25/APR/2017 INTELLASIA| SGGP

HCM City administrators are planning to open more tourist streets to attract travellers to the city.The news was announced on April 22 in the radio programme "Talks to city adminis-tration" themed "Measures to boost city tourism".According to the Department of Tourist in HCM City, the contribution of the "smoke-less industry" gradually increased within five years with an estimation of VND80 tril-lion ($3.5 billion) a year, accounting for 9 percent of the city's gross domestic product.Deputy Chairwoman of People's Committee in District 5 Truong Thi Minh Kieu said as per the district administration's plan, jewellery streets' were scheduled to be put into operation on April 27 in streets Nhieu Tam, Nghia Thuc and Bui Huu Nghia where the gold making developed in the 1980s in the district.


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Moreover, Nguyen Trai Street will become a fashion street in addition to traditional medicine street and jewellery street.Tourists will be protected while shopping in these streets.The Local government will send more police officers to keep orders and security in these streets as well as installing cameras. Goods prices in these shops are listed to pre-vent shop assistants from overcharging.Before on April 21, at a meeting to develop tourist sector, deputy Chair of People's Committee Tran Vinh Tuyen confirmed the city will focus on developing specific tour-ist products.The city plans to have one tourist festival a month; for instance Ao dai festival in March or Flower street Nguyen Hue in Tet holidays ( Lunar New Year), said Tuyen.The tourist sector targets to receive seven million international visitors and 25 million local tourists in 2017, earning VND120 trillion.To achieve the target, the sector needs to make much efforts, said director of the mu-nicipal tourism department Bui Ta Hoang Vu.Travel agents, local governments play important roles in connecting destinations by keeping orders and security, food safety.Additionally, boosting images of Vietnam to potential holiday-makers is an important factor; accordingly, the sector is placing adverts to potential markets such as Russia, Japan and India.http://www.vir.com.vn/hcm-city-to-open-more-tourist-streets.html

Vina Kraft's second paper plant becomes operational


Vina Kraft Co. Ltd on April 24 inaugurated its second paper and packing factory in the My Phuoc Industrial Park 3, Ben Cat town, the southern province of Binh Duong.Vina Kraft, a joint venture between Siam Kraft Industry Co., Ltd - a subsidiary of Thai-land's Siam Cement Group (SCG) and Rengo Company Limited of Japan, was estab-lished in January 2007 and began commercial activities in February 2009,Covering on an area of 380,000 sq.m, the factory was built at a total cost of 330 million USD.Vina Kraft is considered the largest and most modern paper and packing factory in Vi-etnam, with a combined capacity of 500,000 tonnes per year.According to Sangchai Wiriyaumpaiwong, Vina Kraft general director, with seasoned experience in paper and packing industry of both SCG and Rengo, Vina Kraft is able to produce various kinds of high-quality wrapping, meeting domestic demand and re-placing imported paper.Vina Kraft's second factory uses green and environmentally friendly technologies, which help reduce the use of water and energy.Addressing the launching ceremony, Chair of the provincial People's Committee Tran Thanh Liem hailed Vina Kraft for building the plant, saying that this affirms the com-pany's determination to do long-term business in the locality.Liem said the local authorities always pay attention to supporting and making it easy for enterprises to effectively operate in the province.Binh Duong will focus on improving investment climate, accelerate administrative re-form and increase investment in infrastructure development to call for more investors.The province ranks second in the country in foreign direct investment (FDI) attraction, after HCM City. It is home to more than 2,900 foreign-invested projects with a total capital of over 27 billion USD.http://en.vietnamplus.vn/vina-krafts-second-paper-plant-becomes-operational/110740.vnp

Vietnam's Saigon Petro seeks diesel ahead of plant maintenance

25/APR/2017 INTELLASIA| REUTERS

Vietnam's fuel importer Saigon Petro is seeking 50,000 tonnes of diesel ahead of a ma-jor refinery maintenance in the country, traders said on Monday.It is seeking five cargoes of 500ppm sulphur gasoil for delivery into Catlai over June 1 to 5, June 8 to 12, June 21 to 25, July 1 to 5 and July 10 to 14, they said.


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Sellers have the option to offer the cargoes on a free-on-board (FOB) Singapore, Thai-land or Malaysia basis.The tender closes on April 27, with same-day validity.Vietnam's imports of diesel are expected to rise ahead of a planned shutdown of the country's sole 130,000 barrels-per-day (bpd) refinery in June, expected to last 52 days.Sales of diesel have been stronger than usual in Vietnam recently, a fuel distributor in Vietnam said, declining to be named as he was not authorised to speak with the media.Inventory of diesel from Dung Quat refinery is also short as the refinery has been max-imising gasoline production over diesel, he added.Saigon Petro's import requirement could boost the Asian gasoil margin as spot availa-bility of the oil product is tight amid peak refinery maintenance in Asia, traders said.http://tuoitrenews.vn/business/40668/vietnam-s-saigon-petro-seeks-diesel-ahead-of-plant-maintenance

Samsung enhances smartphone checks after last year's Note 7 fires


Samsung Electronics has enhanced checks on its new smartphones manufactured in Vietnam after Note 7 fires last year, said a leader of the company.Nguyen Van Dao, deputy general director of Samsung Electronics Vietnam, said that after Galaxy Note 7 fires in 2016, the production process and quality control of Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus models have been made more stringent.Dao said at Samsung Thai Nguyen factory, Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus smart-phones are put to trial run for 72 consecutive hours after completion to ensure quality before packing. Previously, the test-run of Samsung's products usually took only two hours but after the incident of Note 7s, this stage has been strengthened and the com-pany has used more machines for quality test.Dao said that currently, 90 percent of the manufacturing processes of Samsung phones are done by machines and robots and the remaining 10 percent are done by hand in the last steps such as packaging.Production processes and product quality are the same for Vietnam and other markets around the world such as the US and Europe. After production, some specifications of the phones will be customised to meet the specific requirements of each market.Dao said that the company's two factories in Thai Nguyen and Bac Ninh provinces are producing 50 percent of the Samsung smartphones sold globally, including the latest models Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus that were launched in Hanoi on Saturday.In 2011, Samsung operated the first cellphone factory in Bac Ninh Province and in 2014, the second one in Thai Nguyen Province was put into operation. Samsung Elec-tronics Vietnam's cellphone export value jumped from $6 billion in 2011 to $36.2 billion in 2016.Currently, two factories of Samsung Electronics Vietnam in Thai Nguyen and Bac Ninh employ 110,000 people.http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/53604/Samsung-enhances-smartphone-checks-after-last-year percentE2 percent80 percent99s-Note-7-fires.html

First industrial waste power generation plant inaugurated


The first industrial waste power generation plant in Vietnam was inaugurated and of-ficially put into operation at the Nam Son Waste Treatment Complex in the Hanoi out-lying district of Soc Son, Hanoi, on April 24.The plant covers an area of 16,809 square meters in Nam Son commune with a total investment of over 645 billion VND (28.3 million USD), including nearly 472 billion VND (20.7 million USD) from the Japan's New Energy and Industrial Technology De-velopment Organisation (NEDO) and 173 billion VND (7.58 million USD) from the lo-cal budget.After 22 months of construction, the plant was installed with technical lines and put into trial operation in September 2016.All equipment and technology of the plant were provided and transferred by Japan's Zosen Hitachi Company.


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The Hanoi Urban Environment Company (URENCO) built technical infrastructure and put technological lines into use under the supervision and evaluation of Japanese experts.The plant is designed with a capacity of treating 75 tonnes of waste per day with the application of the Japanese latest technologies.On March 16, the plant produced around 1.93 MW of electricity for the first time, and added 1.2 MW of power to the national grid.Speaking at the inaugural ceremony, vice Chair of the municipal People's Committee Nguyen Doan Toan said the plant is the symbol of the special friendship between Vi-etnam and Japan.It marks one of the major strides in Hanoi's efforts to protect the environment and re-cycle waste for the industrial development purpose.The plant will be handed over to URENCO for management and operation in October 2017.Counsellor at the Japanese Embassy in Vietnam Yoshito Nakajima said Vietnam should improve some legal frameworks to expand this model in other localities.Japan is ready to help Vietnam carry out projects on environmental improvement and energy development, he added.http://en.vietnamplus.vn/first-industrial-waste-power-generation-plant-inaugurated/110737.vnp

Vietnamese airlines roll out new international flights


Vietnamese airlines have drawn up plans to expand their international presence to serve the increasing demands of both domestic and foreign passengers.Low-cost carrier Vietjet Air will open a new flight connecting Hanoi and Singapore on April 27, its second air route to the country after the flight between HCM City and Sin-gapore was launched in 2014. Meanwhile, flights from Da Nang to the Republic of Ko-rea (RoK)'s Seoul are set to begin from May 31.The carrier also launched services between Hanoi-Siem Reap (Cambodia) and HCM City-Taichung (Taiwan) at the outset of this year.Another budget airline, Jetstar Pacific, will offer services on the Dong Hoi-Chiang Mai (Thailand) route in June as part of its plan to expand in Asia. On March 27, the airline began Da Nang-Hong Kong (China) flights.The national flag carrier Vietnam Airlines commenced direct flights from Hanoi to Sydney on March 28. This is the airline's third air route to Australia, following flights connecting HCM City and Sydney and Melbourne.Opportunities will arise for trade between Vietnam and foreign cities as other interna-tional airlines have fleshed out plans to fly to Vietnam. Da Nang City and the RoK's Daegu City have been linked by T'way Air, a low-cost airline in the RoK, from April 2. Also, Emirates Airline will operate daily non-stop flight from Hanoi to Dubai from July 2.Meanwhile, promotional air fares will be provided by Australian Jetstar Group for passengers flying between Australia's Sydney and Melbourne cities and HCM City from May.http://bizhub.vn/news/vietnamese-airlines-roll-out-new-international-flights_285732.html

PAN Group reports positive performance


PAN Group, Vietnam's leading agricultural firm, recorded positive performance across its core sectors.Speaking at the annual general shareholders' meeting on April 22, general director Nguyen Khac Hai said that PAN Group generated VND 2.75 trillion ($121.13 million) in revenue and VND336 ($14.78 million) in after-tax profit in 2016 amid the country's deepening climate change issues.He attributed the positive results to the firm's drastic shift to technology-intensive productsthat have good resistance to climate change as well as better management in


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the core agricultural and food industry sectors.In the agricultural sector, PAN Group has established PAN Farm JSC with the total chartered capital of VND1 trillion ($44 million) last year. The group then transferred its investments in agricultural companies, including Vinaseeds (NSC) and PAN Salad-bowl JSC (PSB), to PAN Farm. NSC has contributed 48 per cent of its revenue and 50 per cent of its profits to the group's total business results.Meanwhile, PAN and its Japanese partners joined hands to establish PSB in the first quarter of 2016. PSB specialises in setting up greenhouses and developing premium vegetable and flower products for the domestic and foreign markets. PSB will expand its flower farming area to 200 hectares in the next five years.In 2016, the group's food processing arm PAN Food established PAN Food Manufac-turing (PFM) with the chartered capital of VND200 billion ($8.8 million) to research and develop new food products. Under the plan, PAN Food will establish a network of distribution channels to launch PFM's new products, like gummy candy Huro, Pan Food moon cakes, and Bon Ami biscuits.PAN Food also concluded some merger and acquisition deals to raise its ownership in Aquatex Bentre (ABT) to 72.82 per cent, LAF (Lafooco) to 80.52 per cent, BBC (Bibica) to 43.7 per cent as well as acquired 22.4 per cent of the shares of 584 Nha Trang Seafood JSC.During the year, PAN Group completed the transfer of its 80 per cent share in utility services PAN Services to Nihon Housing Limited. The group's withdrawal serves its strategy to focus on agriculture and food business.http://www.vir.com.vn/pan-group-reports-positive-performance.html

Following BKAV, Viettel aims to make luxury smartphone


Though BKAV (Bach Khoa Anti-virus Centre) did not succeed with its BPhone, Viettel plans to develop a 'made-in-Vietnam' smartphone, targeting the high-end market with a selling price of over $1,000, according to Tinhte.vn, a leading hi-tech forum.It is still unclear what Viettel will name its smartphone model. However, some sources saw images of the product and said it would be called Viettel Luxury Phone - Smart-phone 4G.It is expected that the products would be introduced in the second half of 2017. There would be two versions - premium and standard.Unlike other products bearing Vietnamese brands, Viettel Luxury Phone is forecast to target high income earners instead of the low-end market.According to Tinhte.vn, Viettel plans a high price level because the phone is integrated with leading security chips, anti-eavesdropping technology, and automatically erases data when stolen.A source said the extra high-end version won't have wi-fi or camera so that security would be enhancedViettel Luxury Phone would use high-end materials such as leather cover and gilded frame.Thoi Bao Kinh Te Vietnam quoted a Viettel senior executive as reporting that Viettel Luxury Phone will be designed and made by Viettel with the localisation ratio of 90 percent.He said that a microprocessor in the product will be imported from Qualcomm.BKAV once launched a 'made-in-Vietnam super-product' - Bphone. Its 24K gilded ver-sion 128 GB version had the retail price of VND22 million.However, despite the advertisement campaign and market policy which aroused 'Vi-etnamese pride', BKAV did not succeed with BPhone as users said they could not find anything special.BKAV launched its first smartphone Bphone on May 26, 2015 after many advertising campaigns.Bphone uses Snapdragon 801 chip, 3GB RAM, 5-inch Full HD screen, 13 megapixel back camera and 5 megapixel front camera. It has a aluminum frame and two tough-ened glass sides.


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The smartphone is 7.5 mm thin, uses 3,000 mAh battery and the Quick Charge Tech-nology 2.0 that enables fast charging, doubling the normal one.This has raised questions about high selling prices for a made-in-Vietnam product.A senior executive from Viettel said some phones with anti-eavesdropping technology are priced at $15,000-20,000, while Viettel's product would have a security level equal to the phone being used by German Chancellor Angela Merkel.Viettel, one of the leading mobile network operators in Vietnam, officially launched 4G services on April 18.http://www.vir.com.vn/following-bkav-viettel-aims-to-make-luxury-smart-phone.html

Vietjet to offer a million promotional tickets


Vietjet will give away one million promotional tickets selling from zero dollars from tomorrow to June 15 in a move to celebrate the upcoming summer.As part of the airline's campaign "Free summer, Fly for free", the super-cheap airfares will be available from noon to 2pm at www.vietjetair.com.Also, from May 8 to June 4, participants of "Free summer - Fly for Free" game at Viet-jet's microsite freesummer.vietjetair.com will be able to win weekly prizes of five free return flights for a five-person group and a grand award of a free package tour.In the first quarter of this year, Vietjet's aviation transport revenue stood at more than VND5 trillion (US$219.3 million), representing a year-on-year increase of 44.2 per cent or exceeding 10.6 per cent of targets.Vietjet's pre-tax profit hit VND433 billion while its after-tax profit topped VND382 bil-lion in the period.http://bizhub.vn/corporate-news/vietjet-to-offer-a million-promotional-tickets_285708.html

BIM Group - Syrena Vietnam receive Strong Vietnamese Brand award


BIM Group and its property development brand Syrena Vietnam recently received the Vietnam Strong Brand Name 2016 award for its contribution to the economic develop-ment of the country.This was the third time BIM Group - Syrena Vietnam won the award."The award is a motivation for us to promote our development, affirm our brand's im-age as a prestigious property developer providing quality construction, and win the trust of investors and partners," a representative from BIM Group said.Consistent with the principles of sustainable development, quality and brand value in its investments in property, traffic infrastructure developments and services, BIM Group - Syrena Vietnam always strives to bring the best quality products and services to its customers, he added.The brand BIM Group - Syrena Vietnam includes several high-profile projects, such as serviced apartments Fraser Suites, Syrena Shopping Centre, and Aeon Mall Ha Dong, which will be one of the largest shopping centres in Vietnam.BIM Group also owns Halong Marina Urban Area in Quang Ninh Province. The urban area has developed infrastructure and facilities, including component projects such as luxury apartment Green Bay Towers, resort townhouse Lotus Residences, Coral Townhouse, Halong Marine Plaza, Little Vietnam Homestay, Pearl Villas and condo-hotel Citadiens Marina Halong.On Phu Quoc Island, BIM Group is developing Phu Quoc Marina Complex with Inter-Continental Phu Quoc Long Beach Resort and Residences, Regent Hotels and Resorts, Park Hyatt Hotels, Boutique Hotels, and Phu Quoc Waterfront and Sailing Club.BIM Group has also expanded its presence in Laos with a five-star hotel, the Crowne Plaza, and the Royal Square office building.In 2017, BIM Group will expand cooperation with leading names throughout the world, such as InterContinental Hotels Group Plc, Regent Group, Aeon and the Ascott Limited, while developing its projects.Strong Vietnamese Brand is an annual award by the Vietnam Economic Times and the


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Vietnam Trade Promotion Agency, issued since 2001 to recognise contributions to the Vietnamese economy.http://bizhub.vn/corporate-news/bim-groupsyrena-viet-nam-receive-strong-vietnam-ese-brand-award_285731.html

Vietlott's distribution system through mobiles to be launched


The Vietnam Lottery Company (Vietlott) will roll out its distribution system through mobiles by the end of this year, according to Vietlott deputy general director Nguyen Thanh Dam.He made the statement at a press conference on April 21 to announce the company's business results in 2016 and the first quarter of this year.Vietlott will roll out its third product in July, after the computerised lottery Mega 6/45 and game Max 4D. The company will branch out its business activities in more than 20 provinces nationwide in the near future.Vietlott's sale revenue in the first three months of this year reached over 1 trillion VND (44 million USD).Statistics showed that the company has so far presented over 2.45 million winning tick-etholders with prizes worth nearly 602 billion VND (26.5 million USD). Some 13 jack-pot prizes valued at 425 billion VND (18.7 million USD) were awarded to the winners in Quarter I.Last year, ticket sales in Vietlott's 12 markets stood at nearly 1.6 trillion VND (70.4 mil-lion USD), accounting for 2.1 percent of the national lottery revenue.Vietlott's first tickets were sold in HCM City then expanded to others provinces and cities, including Can Tho, An Giang, Binh Duong, Dong Nai, Ba Ria-Vung Tau, Khanh Hoa, Dak Lak, Hanoi, Hai Phong and Quang Ninh.http://en.vietnamplus.vn/vietlotts-distribution-system-through-mobiles-to-be-launched/110723.vnp

CapitaLand partners with internationally Acclaimed Feng Shui consultant Dato' Joey Yap


CapitaLand Vietnam co-organised a "Feng Shui and Astrology 2017" seminar by the world's leading authority on Feng Shui and Chinese metaphysics, internationally ac-claimed Feng Shui Consultant, Dato' Joey Yap, in HCM City and Hanoi.CapitaLand Vietnam recognises the role that Feng Shui plays when customers pur-chase residential projects. Feng Shui on a scientific and metaphysical science level is an astronomical study of how the planetary bodies in our solar system affect our planet. In essence, Feng Shui is a study of how these planetary bodies impact earth, and as these positions change annually or over time, their impact also changes.This will be the second time that CapitaLand Vietnam has organised such a seminar for homebuyers. As CapitaLand Vietnam sets its customers as priority, the company continues to look after its homebuyers with a special team called the Customers Rela-tions team.This seminar is one of CapitaLand Vietnam's activities to show its care and apprecia-tion for its customers. Last year, the "Feng Shui and Astrology 2016" seminar by the same internationally acclaimed Feng Shui Consultant, Dato' Joey Yap, was highly ap-preciated by the Vietnamese audience. Dato' Joey Yap was also the Feng Shui consult-ant for Feliz en Vista and D1MENSION, CapitaLand Vietnam's high-end residential projects in HCM City."Feng Shui and architecture are intertwined with shared basic principles. When an ar-chitect designs a building, they are conscious of the environment. Similarly, Feng Shui also emphasizes harmony with nature and the environment by going with the flow of Qi. Some principles in Feng Shui are also common architectural principles. For exam-ple, having a sharp or solid structure too close to the main door would block the Qi," Chen Lian Pang, CEO of CapitaLand Vietnam, shared. "In architecture terms, this would also be done to create a comfortable space after the main door. We hope to spread knowledge to the Vietnamese market on the practical benefits of Feng Shui in residential projects, and change the mindset that they are only relevant in other places


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such as Singapore or China."Dato' Joey Yap is an internationally acclaimed and bestselling author with more than 160 books published. His literary work has been translated and published in every continent of the world, making it to local bestsellers list on numerous occasions and having sold more than four million copies worldwide. Some of his bestsellers have also earned The Merit Award from The Asean Book Publisher Association. He is also a pas-sionate and internationally renowned speaker who is highly sought after in business communities and corporate events. His talks have an appeal that transcends barriers of age, culture and occupation.During the "Feng Shui and Astrology 2017" seminar, Dato' Joey Yap will illuminate on five key aspects. Firstly, how to gain competitive edge with industry sights, trends and patterns. Secondly, how to acquire decision-making tools that will help you soar high-er in your endeavours, be it in career, business or investment. Thirdly, how to trans-form your life and navigate health as well as relationship problems with finesse. Fourth, how to create your own personal path to success by tapping into his systems and strategies. Finally, how to unlock the secret to Chinese metaphysics and see how it works, and what it can do for your life.http://www.vir.com.vn/capitaland-partners-with-internationally-acclaimed-feng-shui-consultant-dato-joey-yap-48792.html

2017 Vietnam Property Awards short list to be announced


Following several months of deliberations, the jury of the PropertyGuru Vietnam Property Awards will announce the short list of nominees for the annual awards in HCM City on April 26.To be given away by Kohler this year, the third edition of the awards will honour the best developers, developments and designs in HCM City and Hanoi.More awards will be given for outstanding residential development in Phu Quoc, Dan-ang and Nha Trang, the country's emerging resort destinations.The awards are given in the three categories of Developer, Development, and Design.New categories this year include Best Mixed Use Development and Best Universal De-sign Development, with the latter being open to residential and commercial develop-ments across the country.Nominations are judged by experts based on comprehensive and equitable criteria.Winners and up to four Highly Commended awardees will be then revealed at a black-tie gala dinner on June 2 at the InterContinental Asiana Saigon.The recipient of the Real Estate Personality of the Year special award will be an-nounced before the ceremony.Supervising the judging process is BDO, the world's fifth largest auditing and account-ancy firm.Thien Duong, managing director of Transform Architecture, once again heads the 10-member central panel that comprises experts in the real estate sector and related fields.There are additions to the panel this year: Heng Long Beh, development director, Tamouh LLC (UAE); Edward Haysom, general director, MODE/HAYSOM Architects Vietnam; David McDonald, general director, WT Partnership (Vietnam) LLC; and Dang Van Quang, associate director, PAM Services, JLL Vietnam.Terry Blackburn, founder and managing director of the PropertyGuru Asia Property Awards, said: "I would like to thank the chair of the judges, the central panel and eve-ryone who have assisted the site visits, for the long hours that they've put in to ensure that the awards process is ethical, fair, transparent and credible. The panel represents the finest real estate professionals in Vietnam and we're very appreciative of their con-tributions."Early bird tickets for the gala dinner are available until May 5. For reservations or more information about the PropertyGuru Vietnam Property Awards, email [email protected] or visit the official website, AsiaPropertyAwards.com/vietnam.http://bizhub.vn/property/2017-vietnam-property-awards-short-list-to-be-announced_285737.html


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Vietnamese Camau Bananas exported to Dubai


A shipment of 20 tonnes of Cavendish banana, organically grown in U Minh Ha forest, the Mekong Delta province of Ca Mau, is on its way to the United Arab Emirates' Du-bai city.This is the fifth batch of bananas exported under the brand name Camau Bananas to Dubai in the past month.The bananas are sold for 8,000 VND (0.35 USD) per kilogramme.http://en.vietnamplus.vn/vietnamese-camau-bananas-exported-to-dubai/110704.vnp

Ly Son islanders abandon lobster farming


Seafood farmers in Ly Son Island, Quang Ngai Province, have suffered billions of dong in losses after their lobsters died and prices dropped.In 2015, people in Ly Son Island District began setting up lobster farms. About 62 cages with 100,000 lobster were raised.They hoped that the lobsters could be harvested in early 2017 and bring in billions of dong in profits.However, this bright future proved a mirage, and they are now incurring huge losses and many people plan to abandon the farms. ILe Van Doi, vice head of the Office of Economic and Rural Infrastructure, said the in-vestment cost in the island was much higher than anywhere else as the feed had to be transferred from the mainland.The farmers need to invest VND1.5bn (USD66,000) per lobster cage and they would still make a profit if a kilo of lobster could be sold at VND1.8m and the mortality rate remained below 20 percent.Unfortunately, the farmers face huge losses because the mortality rate went up as high as 50 percent and market prices sharply decreased."A kilo of lobster is sold at VND1.5m ($66) so the farmers lost half of their investment. There may be a lot of reason for high mortality rate, one of which is low-quality breeds," Doi said.Initial statistics show that the farmers in Ly Son Island have incurred over VND40bn ($1.7m) in losses. Many people now no longer want to raise lobsters."There are only 10 cages of lobsters left. Most people have sold their lobsters to find another job," Doi said.http://english.vietnamnet.vn/fms/business/177165/ly-son-islanders-abandon-lobster-farming.html

'VND0 tours' for Chinese travellers: how to stop them


A lot of shops which sell products at exorbitant prices to Chinese tourists under "zero-dong tours" have been forced to shut down.Analysts say Vietnam is not the only destination of zero-dong tours from China. Chi-nese travellers also flock to Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Thailand and other South East Asian markets.The travellers bring money to the local economies but also problems.Chinese travellers under zero-dong tours don't have to pay tour fees to travel firms. However, travel firms earn money from the tourists' purchases at exorbitant prices at certain shops where the firms take them.In 2015, in Hong Kong, a Chinese traveler was beaten to death by four workers of a jewellery shop because he tried to stop a fight between a member of the travel group, who refused to buy anything in the shop, with the tour guide.Regional governments have taken actions to stop 'zero-dollar tours', leading to a sharp decrease in the number of travellers. In Thailand, after one month, the number of Chi-nese travellers fell by 20-25 percent.Reports all show a sharp increase in the number of Chinese travellers to Vietnam.Lao Dong reported that 99,000 Chinese travellers came to Quang Ninh in 2011, while the figure had soared to 596,000 by the end of 2016, and 60 percent of the travellers


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came under zero-dong tours.It is estimated that each traveler spends VND10 million for tours which last three nights and four days. As such, 300,000 Chinese travellers would spend VND3 trillion every year in Vietnam, much higher than the Ha Long Bay excursion fee Quang Ninh collects every year.However, the local authorities cannot collect tax from the businesses. As the transac-tions at the shops are carried out in Chinese yuan, banks cannot earn any money from foreign exchange services.However, analysts say Vietnam should encourage and welcome Chinese travellers who come to Vietnam in small groups by themselves, not under cheap tours.Vietnam's travel firms have been advised to seek travellers from different markets in-stead of relying on the Chinese market. This will help them minimise the negative im-pacts in the immediate time.While many people have expressed concern about the thousands of Chinese tourists coming across border gates, businesses think it presents great opportunities to develop tourism.http://www.vir.com.vn/vnd0-tours-for-chinese-travellers-how-to-stop-them.html

Beverages greatest contributor to FMCG growth


Beverages accounted for the largest proportion of all fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) sales in the first quarter of this year, at roughly 45 per cent, according to the Quarterly Market Pulse report released by Nielsen Vietnam.Following were cigarettes and foods, with slightly below 19 per cent and 13 per cent, respectively.FMCG growth nationwide in the first quarter reach a three-year high of 9.6 per cent versus 5.3 per cent last year, mainly driven by an impressive 8.5 per cent volume growth.When looking deeper into the six super FMCG categories (Beverages, including beer, and Food, Milk Based, Household Care, Personal Care, and Cigarettes), the recovery was reflected in positive growth in all six.Four of the six saw double digit growth in the quarter: Food, Household Care, Person-al Care, and Milk Based, with 13.9 per cent, 12.4 per cent, 12.2 per cent, and 10.3 per cent, respectively. Beverages grew 9.1 per cent and Cigarettes 5.6 per cent."The positive sentiment during the Lunar New Year helped drive FMCG growth, as consumers were willing spenders and retailer sentiment also improved," said Nguyen Anh Dung, director - Retail Measurement Services at Nielsen."It was the first time in three years we saw positive growth across all categories."Rural has constantly grown as a new source of growth for many manufacturers over recent years and this was again the case in the first quarter.The report revealed that rural grew 12.4 per cent, contributing 51 per cent to total FMCG sales nationwide, while urban only rose 6.5 per cent. The good news was that the pick-up from both urban and rural was mostly driven by volume increases.Despite the slowdown in the rural sector due to agricultural challenges seen last year, the sector has bounced back strongly, according to Dung.Over 60 per cent of Vietnam's population live in rural areas and there are excellent op-portunities for companies in the sector.Rural consumers have rising incomes and greater access to product information than ever before, through the internet and their uptake of smartphones."Manufacturers that have access to the latest knowledge and information on rural trends and consumer demands will be best placed to capture growth opportunities," Dung said.http://english.vietnamnet.vn/fms/business/177166/beverages-greatest-contributor-to-fmcg-growth.html


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Businesses can still donate autos to State agencies - draft law


State agencies can still receive autos donated by enterprises and individuals according to the draft amendments to the law on management of State assets.At a session of the National Assembly Standing Committee last week, National As-sembly vice Chair Phung Quoc Hien said the fact that enterprises and individuals do-nate cars to State agencies should be treated as normal.What should be done is to make sure that donated vehicles are used for right purposes, he noted, so a flexible approach should be adopted when it comes to setting rules for receipt of donations from businesses and individuals.But the use of donated assets for private purposes would be prohibited as provided by Clause 4, Article 10 of the draft amended law.A couple of local governments recently returned expensive cars to corporate donors after the issue made big headlines in local media given concerns over conflicts of inter-est.General Secretary of the NA Nguyen Hanh Phuc said car donations by companies and individuals to State agencies should not be banned but these vehicles should be used for charitable and humanitarian activities.Phuc said it would be fine if recipient agencies put up these cars for auction to raise money for the poor.However, the head of the National Assembly People's Aspiration Committee, Nguyen Thanh Hai, said voters had expressed concern over conflicts of interest. Certain enter-prises donate cars to State agencies because they expect they can get something back, such as preferential treatment. Therefore, transparency should be ensured, he added.Chair of the NA's External Relations Committee Nguyen Van Giau said he had seen companies in foreign countries donating cars to State agencies. But he noted such do-nations in Vietnam seem to have gone unchecked."There should be specific regulations on donation of specialised vehicles such as am-bulances. Meanwhile, receiving a Mercedes from an enterprise is unacceptable," Giau said.http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/53603/Businesses-can-still-donate-autos-to-State-agencies---draft-law.html

Dow works for environment protection on Earth Day


Dow joined hands with the Vietnam Environment Administration, Centre for Envi-ronment and Community Research and the United States Embassy to celebrate Earth Day 2017 on Sunday in Hanoi.With the message "Join! Act! - For the clean water of Vietnam", the annual event, which was held at Thong Nhat Park, aimed to raise public awareness on regulating and pro-tecting water and on educating citizens about their responsibilities in conserving water through specific activities.The event attracted thousands of locals, who took part in various such as cleaning the park, cycling for clean lakes and water resources, and visited the environmental edu-cation exhibitions."We have been operating for more than 20 years in Vietnam, and we are proud to ac-tively and effectively help Vietnamese people address pressing challenges such as ac-cess to safe and clean drinking water, sustainable operations, and environment protection. We hope that the spirit of Earth Day will be disseminated so that environ-ment protection will not be carried out just today but become everyone's daily prac-tice," said Luu Mong Thu Huong, commercial manager of Dow's water & process solutions in Vietnam. Dow has carried out many Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programmes such as water and environment protection projects by donating water purification devices at schools and hospitals in Vietnam. It has donated an emer-gency water purification mobile unit to the Vietnam Red Cross Society and has helped around 2,300 enterprises nationwide gain knowledge about cleaner production and waste management. It has also been promoting the circular economy concept for Viet-namese enterprises for sustainability and environment protection.


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Dow has been in Vietnam since 1995 and promotes trade, market research and techni-cal exchanges between itself and Vietnamese enterprises in the manufacturing sector. Its products are used by manufacturers in the country for construction and infrastruc-ture, appliances, electronics, car manufacturing, footwear, leather, clean solutions, and the packaging industry.https://www.vietnambreakingnews.com/2017/04/dow-works-for-environment-pro-tection-on-earth-day/

New GM for Eastin Grand Hotel Saigon


Estuardo De San Nicolas took the helm at the five-star HCM City hotel in early April.Eastin Grand Hotel Saigon appointed Estuardo De San Nicolas (Stuart) as its general manager in early April.Stuart has more than 17 years of experience in the luxury hotel business, including sen-ior positions in a number of prestigious international properties in France, Pakistan, and Thailand. He is now responsible for all areas of operations at Eastin Grand Hotel Saigon in vibrant HCM City."Being at the helm of Eastin Grand Hotel Saigon, the personal satisfaction of our val-ued guests is my foremost priority," he said. "I truly believe that life should be lived with style and my sole intention is that Eastin Grand Hotel Saigon becomes a home away from home for every person who walks through our doors."Stuart began his career as a receptionist at the Hyatt Regency in Roissy, France, before gaining extensive operational experience at business and luxury hotels in both France and Asia prior to being appointed general manager at the Kenzi Azghor in Morocco.Before joining Eastin Grand Hotel Saigon (Absolute Hotel Services), he spent two and a half years as a general manager with Marriott in Pakistan and Starwood in Peru (now Marriot), and with a long and distinguished career in hospitality brings a wealth of in-ternational experience and an affinity for superlative guest service to Eastin Grand Ho-tel Saigon.Fluent in French, English, Spanish, Arabic, and Italian, Stuart holds a Master's Degree in Management as well as academic and hospitality certifications from universities and schools in France.As general manager of Eastin Grand Hotel Saigon, he has a clear vision of the direction he wishes the hotel to take, with a goal of becoming one of the leading five-star hospi-tality brands in HCM City.Eastin Grand Hotel Saigon is ideally located between the city centre, which can be reached in 15 minutes, and Tan Son Nhat International Airport. It offers five-star lux-ury with excellent hospitality and provides conference rooms with state-of-the-art fa-cilities and great dining experiences at its three restaurants and one bar.The hotel offers 268 well-appointed rooms, club rooms, and suites. All are equipped with LCD flat screen TVs with a wide selection of local and international channels, a minibar, a safe, and tea and coffee making facilities, with complimentary wi-fi accessi-ble throughout the hotel.Guests staying in the hotel's club rooms are entitled to additional benefits that are cer-tain to interest the discriminating business traveler.http://vneconomictimes.com/article/biz-traveler/new-gm-for-eastin-grand-hotel-sai-gon End


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