Vietnam Economy Forum

[Viet]

Road to Hell in Saigon!

 

[Viet]

Largest power plant to be inaugurated in December
14:41 | 11/11/2012
Voice of Vietnam

The Son La hydro-electric power plant, the largest of its kind in Southeast Asia, will be connected to the national power grid in December 2012, two years ahead of schedule.

Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai gave instructions on preparations for the inauguration ceremony at a meeting of the National Steering Committee on the Son La hydro-electric power plant project in Hanoi on November 10.

The plant, which got off the ground in December 2006, has six groups of turbine with a total design capacity of 2,400MW. According to plan, all its six groups of turbine will generate approximately 10.2 billion kWh a year.

The project has a total investment of more than VND420 trillion. Nearly 18,000 local households in Son La, Lai Chau and Dien Bien provinces have been relocated to reserve land for the plant’s reservoir and facilities./.

 

[Battle of Bach Dang River]

Road to Hell in Saigon!

Traffic in Vietnam is terrible, especially in Hanoi.

Instead of doing better urban plans, expanded administrative area to stretch to population density lessening (as the project moving the national administration from center Hanoi to Ba Vi, a suburban district, 60 kilometers from center Hanoi - but the plan was opposed and stopped), people prefer to live in the cramped old urban areas, and the government sought to limit cars by high taxation.

Same a car, In Vietnam It has a price 3 times higher than in the US. It's ridiculous!

 

[Viet]

Japanese businesses need more Vietnamese workers
The voice of Vietnam | 11/11/2012 5:29:42 PM

(VOV) -Japanese businesses are seeking to employ 10,000 additional Vietnamese workers, mostly in agriculture and aquatic product processing, in 2012.

Vietnamese workers in Japan


The information was unveiled at a conference in Dong Nai province to introduce Japanese employment opportunities to Vietnamese students. The event was jointly organized by the Dong Nai Provincial Vocational College and the Esuhai-Kaizen Yoshida School (Esuhai) of Japan.

Besides receiving information and advice on the Japanese labour market, attendees had chances to register to work for Japanese-invested businesses in some of the province’s industrial zones, or even in Japan as apprentices.

According to Esuhai, the demand for foreign labourers in Japan is huge and most of its businesses prioritise Vietnamese recruitments.

During the past 10 months, more than 4,000 Vietnamese nationals have been employed in Japan, raising the total number of Vietnamese workers there to nearly 18,000. Workers earn an average salary of VND30 million per month (1.400 USD).

Nguyen Huu Nghia, Deputy Director of Esuhai, said most Vietnamese workers consider Japan a lucrative market offering high wages. Many potential employees, however, think Japan only wants highly skilled labour.

The fact is that Japanese businesses have diverse labour demands, with some—particularly in the mechanics, seafood, and garment industries—content to hire unskilled workers.

Japanese employers are especially keen to recruit Vietnamese employees, partly thanks to the goodwill engendered when many volunteered to remain in Japan after the severe earthquake and tsunami in March 2011.

Nghia also advised Vietnamese workers to directly approach legal employment companies instead of using middlemen.

 

[Viet]

Vietnamese Investment bank opens rep. office in Czech Republic
11/10/2012 7:16:13 PM | The voice of Vietnam

(VOV) - The Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV) has recently inaugurated its representative office in the Czech Republic.

The new office has testified to the bank’s efforts to expand its operations in the European market in the context of the global economic slowdown.

The facility is expected to help promote trade and investment ties between Vietnam and the Czech Republic, as well as fully tapping into the potential of the Vietnamese community there.

The Czech Republic is considered a promising market that can offer various banking and finance services for BIDV. It hopes that the European Union country will serve as a gateway for the bank to reach out to other East European countries like Slovakia, Poland, and Hungary.

 

[Viet]

Vietnam to be among top three rubber exporters

11/10/2012 12:14:34 PM | Voice of Vietnam

(VOV) - Vietnam expects to produce 955,000 tonnes of natural rubber by the end of this year, to surpass Malaysia to rank third among the world’s largest rubber exporters.

The set target represents a year-on-year increase of 17.6 percent, according to the Association of Natural Rubber Producing Countries (ANRPC).

Vietnam’s rubber output in the first nine month was estimated at 930,000 tonnes, more than India’s 920,000 tonnes, making it the world’s fourth largest rubber exporter.

The global rubber output is likely to rise in 2012, and Vietnam is making significant contributions to that growth, said the ANRPC. The Association also revealed that China and India are now the two leading importers of rubber.

Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia account for 70 percent of the total global rubber output, and they are all members of the International Tripartite Rubber Council (ITRC).

Vietnam is expected to join the Council in the near future.

 

[Viet]

Overseas remittances likely to hit 11 billion USD
18:18 | 02/10/2012 | cpv

Remittances from overseas Vietnamese (OVs) are likely to reach 10-11 billion USD this year, marking a rise of nearly 20 percent from 2011 and a significant jump from an annual growth of 10 -15 percent recorded in the recent years.

Nguyen Hoang Minh, Deputy Director of the State Bank of Vietnam Ho Chi Minh City branch said remittances through commercial banks in HCM City amounted to 2.95 billion USD as of late September. This figure was expected to rise by 20 percent from that of last year.

Meanwhile, the State Committee for Overseas Vietnamese Affairs (COVA) reported that money remitted home by OVs in the first half of this year hit 6.3 billion USD, contributing to 70 percent of total remittances last year.

In an interview granted to Thoi bao Ngan hang (Banking Review) on the sidelines of the second conference for OVs, Deputy Foreign Minister Nguyen Thanh Son affirmed that the Vietnamese Government always considers OVs as an integral part of the nation.

A host of mechanisms and policies has been adopted to assist OVs in acquiring citizenship and home purchase at home as well as to protect them abroad, he said.

As the homeland is carrying out a strategy to become a modernity-oriented industrial one by 2020, OVs’ brainpower and experience are a valuable resource, Son said.

Currently, there are over 2,000 OV-invested projects worth around 6 billion USD in the country, mainly in agriculture, healthcare, education, industry, real estate and tourism, COVA said.

Around 4.5 million Vietnamese, including 500,000 guest labourers, are living in more than 100 countries and territories worldwide. Over 80 percent of them are settling in developed nations.

Last year, Vietnam received remittances of 9 billion USD, which helped make up 92 percent of the country’s trade deficit./.

 

[Viet]

According to the US Energy Information Agency (EIA), Vietnam now ranks third in terms of proven oil reserves for the Asia-Pacific region. Vietnam held 4.4 billion barrels (bbl) of proven oil reserves as of January 2012, a marked increase over its 0.6 bbl in 2011. The increase is in part a result of Vietnam’s exploration and development efforts of its offshore fields. Experts claim that as Vietnam intensifies its exploration activities the figure will increase since Vietnam’s waters remain largely under explored.

The country’s natural gas production has also risen rapidly since the late 1990s and is used entirely to support Vietnam’s expanding population and economy. According to the EIA, Vietnam held 24.7 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of proven natural gas reserves as of January 2012. In 2010, Vietnam produced 290 billion cubic feet (Bcf) or 0.8 Bcf/d of natural gas, more than double 2005 production and it expects production will rise to 1.4 Bcf/d by 2015. Currently the country is self-sufficient in natural gas.


The Sino-Indian-Vietnamese Energy Triangle Part 1 | StratRisks

 

[yusheng]

Sixteen Degar Montagnard Christian Worshippers Attacked, Brutally BeatenTwelve Beaten Unconscious, One Arrested by Vietnamese Police
August 17, 2011

WASHINGTON DC (ANS) -- A violent attack against indigenous minority Christians in the central highlands of Vietnam took place this past July, leaving sixteen men and women severely injured and one man still under arrest; his welfare remains unknown to date.

ICC (International Christian Concern) Persecution News of Churches Persecuted & Christian Sufferings says the systematic persecution of Degar Montagnard Christians continues, with this brutal attack as proof of the regime’s purposeful policing, harassment, and aggressive oppression of this indigenous people and minority religious group.

Sixteen Degar Montagnard Christian Worshippers Attacked, Brutally Beaten



For Christians, Vietnam war ragesFor Christians, Vietnam war rages - Washington Times

 

[Rechoice]

Sixteen Degar Montagnard Christian Worshippers Attacked, Brutally BeatenTwelve Beaten Unconscious, One Arrested by Vietnamese Police
August 17, 2011

WASHINGTON DC (ANS) -- A violent attack against indigenous minority Christians in the central highlands of Vietnam took place this past July, leaving sixteen men and women severely injured and one man still under arrest; his welfare remains unknown to date.

ICC (International Christian Concern) Persecution News of Churches Persecuted & Christian Sufferings says the systematic persecution of Degar Montagnard Christians continues, with this brutal attack as proof of the regime’s purposeful policing, harassment, and aggressive oppression of this indigenous people and minority religious group.

Sixteen Degar Montagnard Christian Worshippers Attacked, Brutally Beaten



For Christians, Vietnam war ragesFor Christians, Vietnam war rages - Washington Times

The conflict for religious reason may happen everywhere in the world. Degar is belong to protestants
We have problem with a part of Christien pops in the past and now. I think relation between China and Vatican is not so good.

On 23 November, around 100,000 believers gathered in a small town near Hanoi to celebrate the 350th anniversary of Catholicism in Vietnam.
That evening, a message by Pope Benedict XVI was read before a sea of flickering candles and pious eyes.
The Pope wrote that the jubilee was " a time for reconciliation", as well as of building "a just and fair society… through genuine dialogue, mutual respect and healthy collaboration".
The message of "reconciliation and hope" was a fresh sign of efforts to bridge the divide between the communist country and Catholicism.
It came after a period that saw large protests erupting in Hanoi and elsewhere in Vietnam to reclaim Catholic lands and properties seized by the communist government when it came to power.

BBC News - Vietnam and the Vatican promote reconciliation

 

[Battle of Bach Dang River]

Sixteen Degar Montagnard Christian Worshippers Attacked, Brutally BeatenTwelve Beaten Unconscious, One Arrested by Vietnamese Police
August 17, 2011

Please note you this is a topic about Vietnam economy.

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Japanese locality eyes investment in Vietnam
16/11/2012 | 11:50:52

The Governor of Japan’s Hyogo prefecture is leading a business delegation on a visit to study conditions in industrial zones in Vietnam’s southern provinces.

At a Nov 15 meeting with Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee Chairman Le Hoang Quan, Governor Toshizo Ido said many Japanese small- and medium-sized enterprises have shifted attention to investment in Vietnam.

The governor went on to say that his visit aims at updating information on the investment environment in Vietnam for such potential investors.

He expressed his belief that more small and medium-sized Japanese firms will pour their capital in Vietnam in the time to come, especially in the available industrial areas.

Japanese locality eyes investment in Vietnam -- Vietnam+ (VietnamPlus)

 

[yusheng]

Vietnam Economy | Latest News

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HCMC: Foreign tourists should be aware of gambling fool

VietNamNet Bridge – Over ten Filipino entered Vietnam as travelers to snare foreign visitors in HCM City by gambling fool.

On October 31, HCM City police arrested three Filipino nationals, including: Oliver Due, Cavite Nestor Camesis (both born in 1968) and Tagapan Bartolome Gerbasa (1966) to investigate of "swindling to appropriate property".

According to investigators, a group of over ten Filipino nationals, led by Oliver Due, entered Vietnam as travelers. In HCM City, they stayed at hotels in District 1 and rented the house No. 64/16, Cu Lao Road, Ward 2, Phu Nhuan District as place to snare gambling fool over foreign visitors to Ho Chi Minh City.

Oliver Due hired his compatriot, including Cavite Nestor Camesis and Tagapan Bartolome Gerbasa, with wages of $100 - 200/person/case. These people’s task is wondering at crowded public sites and tourist attractions like 23/9 Park, 30/4 Park, Pham Ngu Lao Street, the Great Church, etc. to seek and get used to tourists and entice them to the house at No. 64/16 Cu Lao to play cards.

At the house, Cavite Nestor Camesis and Tagapan Bartolome Gerbasa would introduce Oliver Due as an employee of a casino, who could show the victims tricks to surely win in gambles at casinos. At the same time, they would arrange one female accomplice to disguise as a tourist who goes to the house to play cards with Oliver Due.

This group of Filipinos usually urged the victims who had just been taught with "unique tricks" to play cards with the woman who just arrived. The victims would win many games in a row.

They would encourage the victims to bet all of their money in the last game and the victims surely lost.

 

[Viet]

@yusheng,
pls only post updates about economic news on Vietnam.

 

[yusheng]

Made-in-Vietnam phones only have plastic covers made in Vietnam

VietNamNet Bridge – Vietnam’s phone set exports have been increasing steadily year after year. However, most of the exports are made by foreign invested enterprises.



The made-in-Vietnam products

Vietnam reportedly exports 2.3 billion dollars worth of phone sets in 2010. Since that year, phones have been added into the list of the key export items of Vietnam and the list of the products with high growth rates.

In the first nine months of 2012, the phone set export turnover reached 8.63 billion dollars, up by 122 percent in comparison with the same period of the last year.

However, the high export turnover does not mean the strong development of the Vietnamese phone manufacturing industry.

2009 and 2010 were considered the golden age for the manufacturers that make the products bearing Vietnamese brands, namely Q-Mobile and Bluefone.

The “Vietnamese brand mobile phones” means the products are bearing Vietnamese brands, but are made in China. The only thing that can be made in Vietnam is just the phone’s plastic cover, which makes up less than one percent of the value of the product.

“We don’t have chip, board or battery manufacturing factories. How can we make really Vietnamese mobile phone products?” said Dinh Anh Huan, Business Director of The Gioi Di Dong (Mobile World), one of the biggest mobile phone distribution chains in Vietnam.

Dr Nguyen Minh Phong, a well-known economist, said that Vietnamese enterprises deserve no credit for the high achievement. The big export turnover of mobile phone products has been associated with the South Korean manufacturer Samsung whose export turnover is up to one billion dollars a month.

What does it mean by “Vietnamese phone industry?”

Experts all affirm that Vietnam still cannot make mobile phone products from A to Z. Vu Minh Tri, General Director of Microsoft Vietnam, said Vietnamese enterprises just simply assemble parts, or import finished products for domestic sale, do the marketing for foreign products, or make some mobile apps.

Nguyen Van Dao, Deputy General Director of Samsung Vina, also said made-in-Vietnam mobile phones have been churned out and distributed all over the world since 2009, when a Samsung’s mobile phone factory in Bac Ninh province became operational.

However, a purely Vietnamese mobile phone, designed and made in Vietnam, or designed and outsourced to foreign companies has not come out yet.

“Vietnam still does not have a fundamental for the electronics – telecom industry. We can design some parts of the products or organize small scale production, but we are not experienced enough to design and make a complete product,” Dao said.


see whole in http://english.vietnamnet.vn/fms/business/51277/made-in-vietnam-phones-only-have-plastic-covers-made-in-vietnam.html

 

[Viet]

PetroVietnam seeks $7 bln in European investment
Last Updated: Friday, November 16, 2012 09:00:00 | Vietnam latest news - Thanh Nien Daily | Home

Vietnam state oil and gas group PetroVietnam seeks investment of US$7-$7.5 billion from European firms to help fund eight major projects, including the country’s first liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal, a senior executive said.

“We will receive the government’s loan guarantee for the power projects, and the foreign investors will have the government’s support in converting local currency to foreign exchange,” Nguyen Tien Dung, PetroVietnam vice president, said on Wednesday.

The Thi Vai LNG receiving terminal, Nam Con Son 2 gas pipeline, three thermal power plants and Phuoc An port are among the projects offered, the Hanoi-based group said in a separate statement.

PetroVietnam has been calling for investment in the past few years to fund several dozen projects including expansion of its existing refinery and plans to build a third, nine power plants and a series of upstream projects domestically and overseas.

Dung Quat, the nation’s sole oil refinery, aims to raise its capacity to as much as 12 million tons a year, or 240,000 barrels per day, from an initial plan of 10 million tons, Dung said.

“We have been seeking strategic partners who would buy the stakes in the plant and ensure its crude oil supply after the expansion,” he said.

Investors from Japan, Singapore, Russia, Venezuela, Korea have shown interest, he said.

State media have reported that Japan’s JX Nippon Oil and Energy Corp and Venezuela’s state oil company PDVSA could sign a memorandum of understanding with PetroVietnam to join the expansion plan. The head of the refinery said the companies have shown interest but there have been no negotiations with them.

The 135,000 bpd plant will mix 30 percent of imported crude oil with domestically pumped oil, instead of 10 percent at present, as output declines from the domestic fields that supply the facility, Dung said.

Output from the Bach Ho (White Tiger) field, which provides most of the sweet crude to the plant, has fallen to 5-6 million tons a year from a peak of more than 10 million tons.

PetroVietnam has also been pushing up the construction date of a second refinery, Nghi Son, Dung said.

Investors in the plant aim to sign the engineering, procurement and construction contract with the contractor in December and start construction shortly after that, he said.

Idemitsu Kosan Co, Japan’s third-largest refiner, has said it is delaying a final investment decision on the Nghi Son refinery and does not expect to start operations until 2016, instead of the earlier target date of 2014.