Vietnam Economy Forum

[Viet]

Vietnam shortly to take full control of communication satellites


English.news.cn 2013-02-19 16:59:04
Xinhua

VINASAT-1

VINASAT-2

Que Duong Satellite Station on the outskirts of Hanoi

Engineers keep a close watch on satellite operations



HANOI, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam plans to take full control of its two communication satellites from next month after years with foreign assistance in running the systems, according to the Vietnam Post and Telecommunications Group (VNPT) on Tuesday.

Vietnam launched the first satellite, called VINASAT-1, in 2008 and the second one, VINASAT-2, in 2012. In the beginning of their operations, the country received foreign assistance in controlling the systems. VNPT and U.S. contractor Lockheed Martin had joint training courses for Vietnamese engineers.

Vietnamese engineers from VNPT, the owner of the two satellites, have successfully controlled the first VINASAT-1 for 27 months after it entered the orbit nine months ahead of schedule, reported the Group.

With this experience, VNPT plans to shorten the hand-over time for VINASAT-2, launched nine months ago, and to fully control the two satellites next month without direct foreign assistance.

According to VNPT, VINASAT-1 started providing services from August 15, 2012, while VINASAT-2 is designed to operate for up to 20 years and will make profits after ten years.

In addition to domestic clients, the Group looks for foreign partners in Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar and other countries who may want to hire the satellites.

However, it is difficult to fully exploit the frequency capacity of VINASAT-2 as the satellite market is experiencing fierce competitions in the context that all countries in the region have their own satellites, reported VNPT.

 

[Viet]

BMGF, UNICEF finance rural area IT project

2/20/2013 9:38:20 AM
VOV online

Bill and Melinda Gates


The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) will provide US$500,000 for central Da Nang city to bring information technology (IT) to its rural areas in 2013.

The city’s Department of Information and Communications is coordinating with relevant agencies to promptly complete related procedures to receive the sum and implement the project.

Earlier, the BMGF financed a pilot project to improve computer use skills and Internet access in Vietnam with a total sum of US$50.6 million.

BMGF is the largest transparently operated private foundation in the world, founded by Bill and Melinda Gates. The foundation aims to enhance health care and reduce extreme poverty globally.

 

[Viet]

USAID awards Danang dioxin remediation contract to TerraTherm Inc

2/19/2013 4:55:34 PM
VOV online

Site preparation is underway for environmental remediation of dioxin contamination at Danang Airport. Photo: USAID

USAID-Vietnam logo


The US Agency for International Development (USAID) revealed in a February 19 announcement it has signed a contract with TerraTherm Inc to conduct thermal dioxin remediation Vietnam's Danang Airport.

TerraTherm's remediation technology plays a vital role in the US-funded project's efforts to address Danang Airport’s dioxin contamination in areas used for storing and handling Agent Orange during the US-Vietnam War.

USAID is closely coordinating with the Government of Vietnam and other contractors to implement this ongoing project through to 2016.

 

[Viet]

Haiti media hail Viettel

QĐND - Tuesday, February 19, 2013, 20:18 (GMT+7)

Haitian customers purchase mobile phones from Viettel in Haiti. VNS Photo

(photo source: Viettel)


Haiti has lauded Viettel, one of the leading telecommunications groups of Vietnam, for its contribution to the Latin American and Caribbean country’s revolution in the sector.

The e-newspaper Haitilibre.com on February 18 noted Viettel poured its investment in Haiti to establish the joint-venture telecommunication company NATCOM, the first and biggest foreign direct invested project in the country since it suffered the tragic earthquake in early 2010.

Since the launch of its services in September 2011, NATCOM has created a breakthrough in Haiti’s telecommunications by building a 3,500 km broadband fiber optic cable network, high-speed videoconference and 3G mobile internet services nationwide.

Military-run telecom group Viettel is the fastest growing group in Viet Nam. Its revenue has doubled year-on-year from 2005-2009. In 2010, Viettel's revenue reached US$5 billion.

Viettel is looking to expand its global reach to 400-500 million people by 2015 and 1 billion by 2020 and be among the top ten biggest telecom firms in the world. — VNS

 

[Viet]

Japanese-funded e-customs project to facilitate trade


Updated : 2/21/2013 9:56:13 AM
VOV online

The Vietnam Automated Cargo and Port Consolidated System and the Vietnam Customs Information System (VNACCS/VCIS) will speed up an e-customs project to be put into operation by the end of this year.

With financial and technical assistance from the Japanese Government, the project is an important step for Vietnam to automate customs procedures, thus facilitating and better managing the circulation of imports and exports, said General Director of the General Department of Customs (GDC) Nguyen Ngoc Tuc.

In late March 2012, the project started following the signing and exchange of a diplomatic note between Japan and Vietnam relating to a 2.6 billion JPY non-refundable aid for the latter’s project to build and implement e-customs and national one-stop-shop customs mechanism in favor of customs modernisation.

It aims to transfer Japan’s automatic customs system to Vietnam’s GDC and assist the department and other governmental bodies to deploy the national one-stop-shop customs mechanism.

VNACCS/VCIS will also facilitate trade and investment activities in Vietnam to increase the country’s competitiveness in addition to further improving customs management efficiency.

VNACCS/VCIS is expected to be completed late this year and handed over to Vietnam in 2014.

 

[Viet]

Consumer trust in local products grows

Updated : 2/21/2013 9:00:00 AM
VOV online

VN´s street market


(VOV) - Made-in-Vietnam products have gained consumer trust over the last three years since the “Vietnamese People Buy Made-in-Vietnam Products” campaign began, according to the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

Deputy Minister Ho Thi Kim Thoa says in many localities 58 percent of consumers actually preferred Vietnamese grown fruit and vegetables and up to 80 percent voiced a preference for domestically produced garments.

The number of consumers who believe local products are of high quality has increased to 71 percent compared to just 23 percent before the campaign was launched.

Products made in Vietnam are also becoming ubiquitous in supermarkets. At Big C, they account for nearly 90 percent of the goods on sale; at Vinatex Mart, everything is produced in Vietnam.

 

[Viet]

Siemens donates equipment to hospital


Updated : 2/21/2013 3:36:04 PM
VOV online

Siemens Vietnam on February 20 donated a US$400,000 syngo.phaza Picture Archiving and Communication System (PACS) solution to Cho Ray Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City.

Dr. Bern Montage, CEO of Imaging and Therapy Systems at Siemens AG said the company understands very well the challenges facing Vietnamese hospitals, and thus hopes that the donated PACS system will support the hospital to optimise its workflow and improve performance significantly.

This health care IT solution, composed of hardware and software components plus professional services, will help improve the imaging diagnostic workflows within the hospital.

 

[Viet]

World Bank agency offers assistance to Vietnam


Updated : 2/20/2013 6:34:39 PM
VOV online

(VOV) - The Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), a member of the World Bank Group, wants to cooperate with and assist Vietnam to develop infrastructure.

MIGA Vice President Michel Wormser made the offer at a reception hosted by Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai in Hanoi on February 20.

The visiting executive told Hai that his organisation wants to explore opportunities for cooperation with Vietnam, especially in development projects.

He proposed MIGA guarantee the Hanoi-Haiphong expressway project and the National Highway 20 upgrade project linking Dong Nai and Lam Dong provinces.

Through guaranteeing, MIGA wants to reduce non-commercial losses in investment, helping increase investor trust in these projects, said Wormser.

For his part, Deputy PM Hai thanked MIGA for lobbying foreign investors to pour investment into Vietnam. He said the organisation’s interest in infrastructure projects in Vietnam will help attract more renowned financial organisations and banks to the country.

 

[Viet]

Ground broken on $20 mln parking garage in city

| Tuoitrenews | Feb 21, 2013 14:28 pm

Saigon

Model of the facility


Mechanical and construction firm Tien Tien Co Ltd has broken ground on a new multi-story car-park, or parking garage, in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon).

Spanning 37,000 square meters at 71 Che Lan Vien, Tan Phu District, the five-story building is capable of holding 3,000 vehicles. Total investment is $20 million, the investor said.

Buses and large trucks will park at the ground floor, while the upper floors will be for vehicles with fewer than 16 seats. The garage will be automatically operated using Japanese technology.

Drivers will also be able to enjoy a car washing service, with a capacity of 60 vehicles per hour, and a filling station at the facility.

 

[Rechoice]

Vietnam steps up bank, state enterprise reforms in economic roadmap

Feb 22 (Reuters) - Vietnam has approved a broad plan to boost its economy to 2020, focusing on restructuring public investment, banks and state-owned enterprises while controlling inflation and maintaining growth.

The Southeast Asian nation's economic growth fell to a 13-year low of 5.03 percent last year as reduced consumer demand piled up inventory at many firms, forcing many into bankruptcy, further adding to banks' bad debt problems.

The master plan aims for a prudent monetary policy to tame inflation while ensuring "reasonable growth", Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung said in a 29-page directive signed on Feb. 19, and seen by Reuters. The plan takes effect immediately.

Vietnam will conduct tight fiscal policy, promote exports and tightly control imports while boosting domestic production of consumer goods, the directive said.

Moody's downgraded Vietnam to its lowest rating ever in September last year, citing a weak banking sector likely in need of "extraordinary support", dealing another blow to a country once tipped as Southeast Asia's next emerging market star even as many of its neighbours prosper.

The directive said banks will focus on dealing with the sector's overall bad debts as well as those of individual lenders, expand their core businesses, improve payment systems, avoid cross-ownership and increase transparency as part of measures to reform the sector by 2015.

Vietnam's banking system is grappling with one of the region's highest bad debt ratios, which rose to 8.82 percent of loans in September 2012 from 3.07 percent at the end of 2011, central bank data showed.

Analysts said the downgrade of Vietnam and eight of its banks - including two controlled by the state - did not signal a full-blown banking crisis and that the slowing economy should return to form if the government takes action.

Still, the cut compounded concerns about bad debts and the pace of so-called "doi moi" reforms begun in 1986 to build a socialist-oriented market economy.

The government directive said bad debt should be cut to below 3 percent of loans by 2015, stricter than a previous statement by the prime minister that the bad debt ratio be cut to 3-4 percent of loans by the end of 2015.

A weak financial system is one of the country's biggest economic problems. Fitch Ratings has put the non-performing loan figure at 13 percent.

Vietnam will aim to maintain total social investment at 30-35 percent of the country's gross domestic product, the directive said, "maximising the scale and opportunity for private investment, especially the domestic private sector".

Restructuring of state-owned enterprises will focus on businesses in the defence industry and those which have monopoly or are providing essential goods and services while more state-owned firms should go public, it said, without providing details.

The directive also reiterated a policy on divestment by state-owned economic groups in their non-core businesses while encouraging the establishment and development of domestic private economic groups.

The government plans to accelerate economic growth this year to 5.5 percent while keeping annual inflation at between 6.0-6.5 percent, after inflation was 9.21 percent in 2012.

(Reporting by Hanoi Newsroom; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)

FINANCIALS

 

[Viet]

Vietnam’s investment environment introduced in Japan

Updated : 2/22/2013 12:27:15 PM
VOV online

Japan’s Ehime prefecture

(VOV) - A seminar has been held in Japan’s Ehime prefecture to promote investment in Vietnam.

Addressing the seminar, Vietnamese ambassador to Japan Doan Xuan Hung briefed more than 200 participants on Vietnam’s cultural, socio-economic and political situation. He said that Ehime has great potential for cooperation with Vietnam in the field of hi-tech machinery, garment and textiles, and human resource training.

Vietnamese Counselor for Investment Le Huu Quang Huy said Vietnam is located in the most dynamic economic development region of South East Asia and its growing relations with Japan have made the country ever more attractive to investors.

Director of Ichihiro Vietnam Co, Ltd, Itsuhiro Ochi exchanged his experience in seeking right locations and partners to do business in Vietnam.

Director of Tact Noda Company, Mr Noda emphasized the need to train Vietnamese workers for small and medium-sized enterprises in Ehime. However, he said there remain snags in the training process due to high costs and language barriers.

 

[Viet]

Doctoral laureate steles to be recognized by UNESCO

Updated : 2/22/2013 11:51:44 AM
VOV online

Temple of Literature - main gate - Vietnam's first university

Temple of Literature - Altars to Confucius and his disciples

Temple of Literature - doctoral laureate steles

Temple of Literature, inside pic


(VOV) -Eighty-two doctoral laureate steles under the early Le, Mac and late Le dynasties (1442-1779) in Hanoi’s Van Mieu (Temple of Literature) will get UNESCO’s Global Memory of the World Programme’s certificate.

Pham Thi Thuy Hang, Deputy Director of the Temple of Literature's Centre for Cultural and Scientific Activities, says a grand ceremony will be held on February 25 with a screening of a documentary film on the temple’s history, arts performances and a seminar on the preservation and development of its cultural values.

The Temple of Literature was built in 1070 in dedication to Confucius and other scholars.

Six years later, Vietnam's first university, named Quoc Tu Giam or known as the Imperial Academy, was established there. The temple has remained a symbol for Vietnam’s culture and intelligence for nearly 1,000 years.

 

[Viet]

HR firm highly Vietnam’s potential


Updated : 2/22/2013 3:40:07 PM
VOV

Hunter Arnold President, CareerBuilder Asia Pacific


Careerbuilder, a leading human capital solutions provider headquartered in the US, announced its official entry into Vietnam on February 21. The company said that it see good development potential in the country despite the serious economic downturn.

It has acquired HR Vietnam and Kiem Viec, two of four main sites belonging to Vietnam Online Network (VON), for an undisclosed sum.

Company officials said they see their business in Vietnam as a base from which it can expand in the Asia-Pacific region especially Southeast Asia.

Hunter Arnold, President of Careerbuilder Asia-Pacific, who has spent the last four years travelling around Asia, said he is optimistic about the Vietnamese market’s education levels and its “hungry” workforce.

 

[Viet]

Vietnam’s first observation satellite to be launched


Updated : 2/22/2013 3:47:47 PM
VOV

model of VNREDsat1


(VOV) -Vietnam’s first observation satellite VNREDsat1 will be launched into orbit on April 19, according to Vice Director of the Space Technology Institute Bui Trong Tuyen.

Under a launch plan approved by the Government, the 120-kg satellite will be launched by the vehicle VEGA with the cooperation of France. This is the first remote sensing satellite of Vietnam aiming to monitor natural resources and managing environment and natural disaster in the country.

The VNREDsat1 project has a total investment capital of 55.8 million EUR, funded by the French Government’s official development assistance (ODA).

 

[Viet]

Vietnam, Laos, Thailand increase transport cooperation


2/21/2013 6:08:39 PM
VOV

(VOV) - The transport ministers of Vietnam, Laos and Thailand gathered at a conference in Hanoi on February 21 to discuss objectives and solutions to enhance trilateral transport cooperation.

At the inaugural event, ministers from each nation agreed to quickly complete internal procedures for the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between their respective Governments, which will add national roads No. 8 and No. 12 in Vietnam and Laos to Protocol No.1 of the Greater Mekong Sub-region Cross-Border Transport Facilitation Agreement (GMS-CBT).

The opening of these routes for cross-border movement will reduce transport times and costs, thus making the of transit of goods between northeastern Thailand, central Laos and Vietnam ’s Vung Ang and Hon La ports more viable, especially those enroute to Northeast Asia .