12 million facility

The Hanoitimes – The airport, located 40km east of Ho Chi Minh City, plays a vital role in socio- economic development and national defence and security.

Vietnam Airlines Group plans to invest VND9.9 trillion (nearly US$430 million) in Long Thanh International Airport in the southern province of Dong Nai.

Vietnam Airlines plans to invest nearly US$430 million in Long Thanh International Airport. Photo: ACV

The plan has been submitted to the Ministries of Transport, Planning and Investment and the Commission for the Management of State Capital at Enterprises.

Dang Ngoc Hoa, Chairman of Vietnam Airlines Group said that, in the development strategy for 2021-30, the company and its member units give priority to allocating maximum resources to participate in the construction and operation of infrastructure at the Long Thanh Airport, providing synchronous services for its activities and other carriers.

Vietnam Airlines plans to invest in the supply of aviation fuel, ground technical services, meals, cargo terminal, aviation logistics center, lounge services, duty free sales and other aviation services at Long Thanh International airport.

The group and its subsidiaries, including Vietnam Airlines, Pacific Airlines, Vasco, expects to directly invest in infrastructure construction or establish a joint venture with the Airports Corporation of Vietnam (ACV) to implement such projects.

In the short term, the group has proposed to be immediately allotted a land location so as it could build aircraft construction, maintenance and repair facilities at the Long Thanh Airport.

Once the proposal is approved, Vietnam Airlines and its affiliates will prepare specific investment projects and submit them to competent authorities according to regulations.

As the aviation industry was among the hardest-hit sectors by the pandemic, the airline’s post-tax profit was VND11.1 trillion (US$482 million) in 2020. Last November, the National Assembly agreed to allow the State Bank of Vietnam to provide refinancing loans worth VND12 trillion (US$518.6 million) for Vietnam Airlines to maintain its operation.

In January, the construction of the first phase of the Long Thanh Airport was kicked off, with an estimated investment of more than VND109 trillion (US$4.6 billion).

The 5,500-ha airport will be built in three phases and is expected to have four runways and four passenger terminals to ensure a capacity of 100 million passengers and five million tons of cargo per year by 2040. Once fully operational, it will become a major international aviation hub in the region.

The Hanoitimes – Most of this sum will go to the COVAX Facility, which is procuring and financing vaccines for developing countries.

The German government has pledged to donate EUR1.5 billion (US$1.83 billion) to the global fight against Covid-19 through the COVAX vaccine-sharing scheme, making Germany one of the largest donors to this program.

Bottle with vaccine serum. Photo: Colourbox.de

Chancellor Angela Merkel made the commitment at the G7 Summit held online last weekend, according to the Embassy of Germany in Vietnam.

The move is aimed to ensure low- and middle-income countries have access to Covid-19 vaccines amid virus mutations.

Vietnam is among countries benefiting from the COVAX Facility, the fair vaccine distribution mechanism led by the World Health Organization (WHO).

Vietnam has secured to get between 4.88 and 8.25 million doses of vaccines through the COVAX Facility. Its Health Minister Nguyen Thanh Long said the country might receive 30 million doses this year from this program.

Commenting on the Germany’s commitment, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said “We are not safe unless everyone is safe”

That is why the German government is backing a joint, multilateral approach, namely the Access to Covid-19 Tools Accelerator (ACT-A) coordinated by the WHO, he added.

The additional EUR1.5 billion includes the majority for vaccination for people in humanitarian crises, EUR110 million coming from the Federal Foreign Office, and EUR10 million for the WHO’s emergency fund which can be used flexibly and at short notice, Maas noted.

To date, only 0.5% of vaccinations are administered in poorer countries compared to the goal of having at least 20% of the population by the end of the year. However, funding for this has not been secured yet, even after the G7 Summit.

To make the goal achievable, the COVAX vaccine platform needs a total of US$27.7 billion.

Earlier this month, US President Joe Biden at G7 meeting pledged US$4 billion to COVAX Facility.

In another move, United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for a Global Vaccination Plan and proposed that the Group of 20 (G20) set up an emergency task force to prepare the scheme.

Addressing a high-level meeting of the UN Security Council on February 18, the UN chief said only 10 countries have administered 75% of all vaccinations while 130 countries have not received a single dose of vaccine.

He demanded a global effort to get all people in every nation inoculated as soon as possible.

The Hanoitimes – With Petrolimex share price of VND50,400 (US$2,17) apiece at the close on August 25, Eneos is set to fork out at least VND650 billion (US$28 million) to complete the deal.

Japan-based Eneos Corporation, a subsidiary of Nippon Oil & Energy Vietnam, is planning to purchase 13 million shares, or a 1% stake of Vietnam’s largest petroleum distributor Petrolimex, according to a filing to Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE).

Japanese shareholders are looking to increase their stake at Vietnam’s largest petroleum distributor.

The transaction period is set to take place from August 27 – September 25 through order matching.

Eneos has yet to own Petrolimex shares. However, the firm is a subsidiary of Nippon Oil & Energy Vietnam, Petrolimex’s second largest shareholder with 103.5 million shares, or 8.73% stake, only behind Vietnam’s Committee for State Capital Management (CSCM) with 981.68 million shares, or an 82.79% stake.

Once completed, shareholders related to Nippon Oil & Energy Vietnam would increase its stake holding at Petrolimex to 9%.

With Petrolimex share price of VND50,400 (US$2,17) apiece at the close on August 25, Eneos is set to fork out at least VND650 billion (US$28 million) to complete the deal.

Petrolimex currently holds a 50% market share in Vietnam’s petroleum distribution sector with a retail network of more than 2,400 petrol stations and nearly 3,000 retail outlets across the country.

Due to severe impacts from the Covid-19 pandemic, Petrolimex posted revenue of VND65.2 trillion (US$2.81 billion) in the first six months of 2020, down 29% year-on-year, resulting in a net loss of VND1.08 trillion (US$46.6 million). The figure remained in stark contrast with a net profit of VND2.6 trillion (US$112.14 million) recorded in the same period last year.

For this year, Petrolimex plans a sharp decline in revenue of 36% year-on-year to a 10-year low of VND122 trillion (US$5.26 billion), and a 72% plunge in profit to VND1.57 trillion (US$67.74 million).

Vietnam’s Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) previously proposed the government allow foreign investors to join the local petroleum retail market. Under the proposal, local oil and petrol traders could be allowed to transfer their stakes to foreign investors but foreign ownership should not exceed 35%.

The Hanoitimes – Hanoi said this year’s inspection focuses on hygiene procedures, quality and origin of food for Tet holiday, as well precautionary measures against Covid-19.

Hanoi has set up a cross-functional team to conduct inspection on food safety in the city ahead of the Lunar New Year or Tet holiday.

Cross-functional team takes sample in a company in Tay Ho District. Photo: Kinhtedothi

The team, led by Dr Tran Van Chung, deputy director of the municipal Department of Health, started its mission on January 12 in Tay Ho District where more than 1,600 food and beverage production establishments and restaurants are located.

The team has examined food safety and hygiene at 182 establishments, fined one establishment that breached hygiene procedures.

When working with local authorities, Dr Chung asked them to focus on goods of high demand for Tet and facilities at risk of unsafe practices, as well as supermarkets and wet markets.

Head of Hanoi’s Food Administration Division Tran Ngoc Tu said this year’s inspection focuses on hygiene procedures, quality and origin of food for Tet holiday, and precautionary measures against Covid-19 at food production and service facilities.

The body has asked establishments to disinfect regularly, screening temperature of customers, and preventive measures against the pandemic.

In the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development’s 2019 ranking, Hanoi topped localities nationwide in terms of the management of food safety over agro-forestry-fishery products.

In a research title “Consumer concern about food safety in Hanoi, Vietnam” by Thanh Mai Ha, Shamim Shakur, and Kim Hang Pham Do, customers express concerns over three factors namely pesticide residues, food preservatives, and hormone in livestock.

With a limited capacity to self-supply food and weaker social and kinship networks, urban consumers’ concerns over food safety, therefore, was higher than their rural counterparts, the authors said in the research.