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Vietnam documented zero COVID-19 infections in the past 12 hours as of 6:00 am on March 1, leaving the national tally unchanged at 2,448 patients, according to the National Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control.

Earlier, Vietnam reported 16 COVID-19 cases at 6pm on February 28, including 12 locally infected cases in the northern province of Hai Duong, the country’s largest COVID-19 hotspot, and four imported cases in the southern provinces of Tay Ninh and Dong Thap.

Of the total infections, there were 1,542 domestically-transmitted cases, including 849 recorded since the latest outbreak hit the northern province of Hai Duong on January 27.

Ten cities and provinces nationwide have gone through 16 consecutive days without any locally-infected cases of COVID-19, including Hoa Binh, Dien Bien, Ha Giang, Binh Duong, Hung Yen, Bac Giang, Gia Lai, Bac Ninh, Quang Ninh, and Ho Chi Minh City. Meanwhile, Hanoi has recorded 14 straight days of no coronavirus cases.

A total 60,693 people who came in close contact with COVID-19 patients or arrived from pandemic-hit areas are under quarantine nationwide, including 560 at hospitals, 12,298 at other quarantine sites, and 47,835 at home.

Among patients under treatment, 62 have tested negative for SARS-CoV-2 once, 53 twice, and 95 thrice.

Report from the Treatment Sub-committee showed that Vietnam has seen 1,876 recoveries so far.

In a bid to live safely with the pandemic, people should strictly follow the Ministry of Health’s 5K message: khau trang (facemask), khu khuan (disinfection), khoang cach (distance), khong tu tap (no gathering), and khai bao y te (health declaration)./.

Hai Duong dissolves COVID-19 treatment hospital No.1

Chairman of the Hai Duong provincial People’s Committee Nguyen Duong Thai, who is also head of the provincial Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control, on February 27 decided to dissolve the hospital No.1 for COVID-19 treatment as the locality has basically kept the pandemic under control.

All the COVID-19 cases being treated at the hospital were transferred to the COVID-19 treatment hospital No.3 at Sao Do University in Chi Linh city, which is managed by the Hai Duong General Hospital.

The hospital No.1 was established on February 2 at Chi Linh city’s medical centre to serve treatment for COVID-19 patients after a new COVID-19 outbreak in the locality, with hundreds of infections were confirmed.

According to the provincial Centre for Disease Control, as of 4:00 pm on February 27, Hai Duong recorded a total of 653 coronavirus infections. The number of F1 cases is 16,385, of which 3,328 are quarantined in concentrated quarantine sites. The locality has so far collected over 400,000 samples for SARS-CoV-2 testing.

Vietnam reported no new COVID-19 case on February 28 morning, making the national count unchanged at 2,432, according to the National Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control.

A total 1,844 COVID-19 patients have recovered so far, and the death toll remains at 35./.

HCM City plans to trial exclusive lanes for buses

The HCM City Public Transport Management Centre has announced plans to trial bus lanes on Điện Biên Phủ and Võ Thị Sáu streets during peak hours.

Private vehicles will be prohibited from entering the lanes at that time.

The lanes, 3.25 metres wide, will be separated from the other lanes by barriers.

Nguyễn Trung Tín, former head of the department’s road transport management, said the city used to have an exclusive bus lane on Trần Hưng Đạo Street (District 5), but it did not work efficiently though they are successful in other countries.

This was because other vehicles kept intruding and there was lack of support from the public since the lanes affected shops and other businesses, he explained.

Before the pandemic buses would often get stuck in traffic during peak hours and be late.

The centre also plans to start new 21 bus routes with high-quality service, free wi-fi and other modern conveniences.

Gia Lai rapidly expands forest cover, helps improve livelihoods

The Central Highlands province of Gia Lai has been growing new forests and protecting existing ones in recent years to expand forest cover and improve people’s livelihoods.

The province, which has the largest forest cover in the Central Highlands region, planted nearly 25,300ha in 2017-20, 6.3 times its target.

In Mang Yang District’s Hra Commune, the Hra Protective Forest management board allocated more than 6,300ha of forests last year to individuals, households and communities to exploit while also protecting them.

Nguyen Van Chin, head of the board, said besides planting and protecting forests, the board focuses on advocacy activities to enhance awareness of households and communities living near forests of the need to protect them.

Together with local authorities it organises advocacy activities to annually reach around 1,500 people in the commune’s 12 villages.

With these and support for illegal loggers to overcome their family’s financial difficulties, it has managed to stop the logging and make loggers forest guardians.

Seeing the good examples set by the former illegal loggers, other residents in the commune have also stopped cutting trees and are instead keen to be allotted tracts of forest for protection.

The money authorities pay them for this task helps them have a stable life.

Krong Chro district is one of the localities to do well in growing and protecting forests through advocacy.

Nguyen Lam, deputy head of its forest protection bureau, said the district organises meetings in villages to encourage people to grow trees on deforested lands.

“The new forests are growing well, creating jobs and improving people’s incomes.”

There were nearly 200 households in the district registering to grow nearly 400ha of new forests last year, according to the bureau.

Around 700 households in the district, mostly ethnic minorities, registered to plant trees on nearly 2,250ha in 2017-19, comfortably higher than the target the province People’s Committee set the district.

The province’s Forest Protection Sub-department has petitioned the Government to increase the fee paid to ethnic households for forest protection.

Gia Lai wants to increase its forest cover rate to 47.5 percent by 2025.

It has 633,325ha of forests now, including 543,131ha of natural forests, according to the department./.

Hanoi police investigate attacks on foreign women

Police in Tay Ho district, Hanoi are conducting an investigation after they were informed that several foreign women were attacked by a group of youngsters while they were strolling around the West Lake, Hanoi Police said on February 28.

Initially, 25 suspects were found to have close links to the case.

The police have summoned an individual suspected of carrying out violent assaults against the foreign women.

Earlier, the women reported to the police in Quang An ward (Tay Ho district) that they were attacked by a group of youngsters who drove motorbikes. The young men even threw stones, and used belts to hit them./.

Vinh Phuc moves towards sustainable population development

The northern province of Vinh Phuc plans to have its entire population managed by the national population database system.

Under the province’s population strategy in the 2021-2025 period, it will provide health insurance and offer medical examinations and treatment to all elderly people at home and in healthcare facilities.

Vinh Phuc aims to maintain a reasonable age structure, with the ratio of children under 15 years old to be 23.5 percent and people aged 65 and over to be 9 percent.

It will bring the fertility rate closer to the replacement fertility level, increase the rate of women of reproductive age having convenient access to modern contraception and support in reproductive health to 95 percent, and halve the number of unwanted pregnancies.

The province aims to have 70 percent of young men and women obtaining health advice and check-ups before marriage, 50 percent of pregnant women being screened for at least four of the most common birth defects, and 70 percent of new-born babies being screened for at least the five most common congenital diseases.

It expects to see life expectancy of 75 years, while the urban population rate is to stand at 50 percent of the total.

The province is working to fully tap into its “golden population structure”, adapt to population aging, and improve quality of the population, thus contributing to its socio-economic development.

To reach these targets, provincial authorities will focus on improving mechanisms, policies, and laws on population, and bolstering the quality of population-related services.

It also has policies to encourage organisations, businesses, individuals, and production and distribution establishments to provide population-related services./.

150 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine to be offered free of charge for Vietnamese people

Vietnam has planned to provide around 150 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine for local people free of charge this year.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has issued a resolution on the purchase and use of Covid-19 vaccines this year.

According to the resolution, Vietnamese people aged from 18 years old will be vaccinated with 150 million doses of Covid-19. The vaccines are sourced through purchase, import and aid.

The vaccines will be prioritised to medical workers; people in the anti-pandemic efforts (Covid-19 prevention and control steering committees of all levels, quarantine facility staff, reporters.); diplomats, customs officers and people working entry and exit procedures; military personnel; public security forces; teachers; those aged above 65; essential workers (aviation, transport, tourism staff, utility workers, etc.); people with chronic health issues; people who want to study or work overseas; and people in virus-hit regions.

The priority ranking is evaluated based on criteria such as areas where Covid-19 cases are present, areas with Covid-19 deaths occurred, major cities with high population density and localities considered traffic and transit hubs.

The government is also encouraging agencies to hold Covid-19 vaccination services for their staff.

The resolution, however, does not mention the specific time for the vaccination.

Gia Lai rapidly expands forest cover, helps improve livelihoods

The Central Highlands province of Gia Lai has been growing new forests and protecting existing ones in recent years to expand forest cover and improve people’s livelihoods.

The province, which has the largest forest cover in the Central Highlands region, planted nearly 25,300ha in 2017-20, 6.3 times its target.

In Mang Yang District’s Hra Commune, the Hra Protective Forest management board allocated more than 6,300ha of forests last year to individuals, households and communities to exploit while also protecting them.

Nguyen Van Chin, head of the board, said besides planting and protecting forests, the board focuses on advocacy activities to enhance awareness of households and communities living near forests of the need to protect them.

Together with local authorities it organises advocacy activities to annually reach around 1,500 people in the commune’s 12 villages.

With these and support for illegal loggers to overcome their family’s financial difficulties, it has managed to stop the logging and make loggers forest guardians.

Seeing the good examples set by the former illegal loggers, other residents in the commune have also stopped cutting trees and are instead keen to be allotted tracts of forest for protection.

The money authorities pay them for this task helps them have a stable life.

Krong Chro district is one of the localities to do well in growing and protecting forests through advocacy.

Nguyen Lam, deputy head of its forest protection bureau, said the district organises meetings in villages to encourage people to grow trees on deforested lands.

“The new forests are growing well, creating jobs and improving people’s incomes.”

There were nearly 200 households in the district registering to grow nearly 400ha of new forests last year, according to the bureau.

Around 700 households in the district, mostly ethnic minorities, registered to plant trees on nearly 2,250ha in 2017-19, comfortably higher than the target the province People’s Committee set the district.

The province’s Forest Protection Sub-department has petitioned the Government to increase the fee paid to ethnic households for forest protection.

Gia Lai wants to increase its forest cover rate to 47.5 percent by 2025.

It has 633,325ha of forests now, including 543,131ha of natural forests, according to the department.

Police break up cross-border infant trafficking ring

Police forces operating in Hanoi and Cao Bang have busted a group trafficking newborn babies, saving the lives of four infants and subsequently arresting four mothers.

The police searched houses on February 25 to investigate traders hired to take care of the newborn babies before selling them on to China.

Four mothers were arrested on suspicion of getting involved in the trafficking ring, while four babies were also rescued.

During the operation, the police also discovered an eight-month pregnant woman who had intended to sell her child once the baby is born, along with two other pregnant mothers who had been brought to China.

The police said the large-scale nature of the newborn trafficking ring involves the participation of both domestic and foreign suspects.

At present, the four babies are now being taken care of by a social welfare centre operated by the Vietnam Women’s Union.

The police are expanding the scope of investigation.

HCM City to provide support to both public and private schools

The HCM City Department of Education and Training has proposed to provide financial support to both public and private schools to lower tuition fees.

Private primary schools and public primary schools which have been granted financial autonomy will get the support. This move aims to create education equity between all kinds of educational facilities and students since primary education is mandatory.

Not only will the plan help ease the burden on the students’ families, but it will also have positive impacts on the development of the private sector and help deal with the overcrowding problems at public schools. It will encourage more investment in private schools. The funds will come from the city’s budget.

At some public schools in HCM City, students go to schools in both the morning and afternoon, half of the day is mandatory and another half is voluntary with parents and schools needing to reach an agreement over tuition fees.

The HCM City Department of Education and Training also proposed giving VND70,000 per student per month to students that go to all-day public primary schools for the 2021-2022 school year.

COVID-19: Made-in-Vietnam vaccine protects people against UK variant

Nano Covax, Vietnam’s first locally-produced COVID-19 vaccine, has elicited a host of antibodies that help to protect those injected against the B.1.1.7 variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus which originates from the UK, according to a leading Vietnamese scientist.

Prof. Do Quyet, director of the Vietnam Military Medical Academy, outlined the information as part of a brief announcement during the launch of the second phase of human clinical trials on Nano Covax which took place on February 26 in Hanoi.

“Preliminary research results show that the potent antibodies elicited by Nano Covax prove to be effective against the variant B.1.1.7 from the UK,” said Prof. Quyet.

The country kick-started the initial phase of human trials of Nano Covax last December, marking the first vaccine of its kind to be produced locally by Nanogen Pharmaceutical Biotechnology JSC, one of the four COVID-19 vaccine producers currently operating in the country.

It is now in the process of launching the second phase of trials in both Hanoi and the southern province of Long An with the participation of approximately 560 volunteers aged between 12 and 75.

The second phase is set to be focused on the safety and efficiency of the vaccine, especially the generation of antibodies, as the vaccine will also be tested on elderly people suffering from underlying health issues, according to Prof. Quyet.

“In phase 2 we will continue to evaluate whether these antibodies can resist the variant from South Africa,” he said.

Vietnamese scientists have conducted genome sequencing and found there are five variant strains of the SARS-CoV-2 virus since the initial COVID-19 outbreak erupted in January 2020.

Most notably, variants VOC202012/01 and B.1.1.7 which originate from the UK and A.23.1 from South Africa have recently been detected at COVID-19 hotspots in Hai Duong province and Ho Chi Minh City, respectively.

While locally-made vaccines are currently in the process of undergoing clinical trials, the country is striving to ramp up the import of COVID-19 vaccines as part of the national vaccination campaign.

The initial batch of AstraZeneca vaccine arrived in Ho Chi Minh City on February 24, with more than 117,000 doses landing in the country.

The Ministry of Health (MoH) is due to ramp up the inoculation programme in early March, with priority set to be given to frontline healthcare workers, soldiers, border guards, policemen, along with those on duty in isolation areas and quarantine facilities.

Vietnam requires at least 150 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines for the national vaccination programme this year. However, Health Minister Nguyen Thanh Long believes the country is likely to receive only 90 million doses in 2021.

Along with the import of 60 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine agreed with AstraZeneca and COVAX, the nation is also negotiating to import a further 30 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine of the United States.

The MoH is therefore considering licensing two additional COVID-19 vaccines produced by Moderna of the United States and Generium of Russia.

British Council announces In Progress-series in Vietnam

Cutting across multiple disciplines, the In Progress will introduce 12 interesting events ranging from exhibition, multisensory puppet show, film screenings to a workshop bridging art and education, a new engagement with an old art form, and many more. In the context that COVID-19 is still complicated, there is likely a change in time and organisation form for each event.

During the time of the program, from March to May 2021, the British Council will be closely monitoring the situation and ready to take necessary measures as well as cooperate with local government agencies to put all necessary measures in place. Follow the council’s Website and Facebook for the update and further information about the 12 events.

With an aim of contributing to the enrichment of the cultural life of Vietnamese people by bringing diverse art and cultural events to the public; and to offer opportunity for cultural and creative hubs from different parts of the country to connect with each other and to work with artists and creative practitioners in designing and organising art and cultural events, in November 2020, under the Cultural and Creative Hubs Vietnam, the British Council launched an open call to the artistic and creative community for proposals to organise art and cultural events in all parts of Vietnam.

The response to the Open call has been overwhelming and 12 event proposals were selected to form In Progress that includes:

1. A visual art exhibition named ‘Abracadabra’ by Old Soul Art hub, Danang

2. A group exhibition ‘Virtual Private Realms’ by Vân Đỗ and Hà Ninh, Hanoi

3. A series of exhibition, discussion, and poetry reading ‘I write (in Vietnamese)’, by BlueBirds’ Nest, Hanoi

4. An experimental project with a library, an installation, a performance, workshops and talks ‘A queer museum’ by Đinh Thị Nhung, Hanoi

5. An educational concert and storytelling concert ‘Mummy’s Heart’ by Phạm Thị Hoài Anh, Hanoi

6. A public art event ‘Edge of the Citadel’ by Mơ Đơ, Hue

7. A series of art for children workshops and training of trainers ‘Listen to the Little Ones’ by Đông Thanh creative learning hub and Vẽ Voi (Drawing Elephant) project, HCM City

8. A journey with films ‘Như Trăng Trong Đêm’ by the Centre for Assistance and Development of Movie Talents (TPD), HCM City

9. Hai Phong: A week of Culture and creativity by Cửa Biển creative and cultural hub, Hai Phong

10. A multisensory puppet show ‘Little Peanut and the Sneeze Theory’ by Mắt Trần Ensemble, Ninh Binh

11. A series of exhibition, mini concert, and audience-interactive activities ‘Eyes of Xẩm’ by Chèo 48h, Hanoi

12. A concert and film screening event ‘Wandering/Sheltering’ by The Empathy Museum, Hanoi

One of the challenges that In Progress posed to all participating artists and creatives was to reach out to the harder to reach groups, and to thrive to create tangible values for those who might not have previously been benefiting from independent artistic and cultural practices.

All 12 projects have taken up this challenge brilliantly by not only aiming to reach people who live outside of megacity areas, but also by demonstrating how the arts and culture can become effective vehicles in exploring, understanding and improving many aspects of life for a wide range of audiences of different age groups and backgrounds, thus contributing to enhance people’s awareness and wellbeing.

In Progress is truly an unprecedented opportunity for creative hubs and cultural practitioners to connect with artists across the country and thereby reaching out of their areas to new groups of audiences, shared by Vu Thi Thanh Binh, project manager of Hai Phong: A week of Culture and creativity.

Meanwhile, Tran Duy Hung, project manager of ‘Như Trăng Trong Đêm’ has good expression that In Progress is an exciting project with a look of a festival. The program is highly valued for its diversity in the content, in form of presentation as well as difference in location of events. He does hope this will be a stepping stone for many similar programs from the British Council in the future.

ASEAN seeks to strengthen minerals cooperation

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has held a workshop on the Development Prospects for the ASEAN Minerals Cooperation (DPAMC) and Scoping Study of the ASEAN Minerals Database and Information System (AMDIS), aiming to promote regional minerals cooperation.

During the two-day workshop, participants discussed the initial findings and recommendations from the drafts of the DPAMC Study and the AMDIS Scoping Report under the “Strengthening ASEAN Cooperation in Minerals” project.

The DPAMC Study will stock-take existing ASEAN minerals development and cooperation in the context of global markets and minerals industry, and propose corresponding regional strategies and measures.

The study’s recommendations are expected to help define the future direction of ASEAN minerals cooperation and will be considered in the development of Phase 2 (2021-2025) of the ASEAN Minerals Cooperation Action Plan.

Meanwhile, the development of an effective ASEAN minerals database is crucial to minerals cooperation which includes facilitating much needed investment into minerals exploration and development in the region. AMDIS Scoping Study’s recommendations are expected to be considered in the enhancement of the current system.

Both project components aim to promote economic activities in the post-COVID-19 period, as well as ASEAN’s efforts to respond to the challenges and opportunities of a more minerals-intensive future.

The project is a collaboration between the Energy and Minerals Division of the ASEAN Secretariat and the ASEAN-Australia Development Cooperation Programme II, along with a team of experts from the University of Queensland. The final reports are expected to be completed by November 2021./.

Youth Month 2021 launched in Thai Nguyen province

The youth unions of the Central Agencies Bloc and the northern province of Thai Nguyen on February 28 co-organised a ceremony in the locality to kick off the Youth Month 2021, and launch a tree-planting festival.

The event was in response to the 90th founding anniversary of the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union (March 26, 1931-2021).

A wide range of programmes and activities were held in the framework of the event, including presenting gifts to 15 former volunteer youths, bikes to 10 students with special circumstances in Dai Tu district and bookcases to local schools, and supporting the building of house for one poor household, among others.

Following the launching ceremony, the participants and local youths planted trees, and clean up the Vietnamese youth historical relic site, and several roads in Dai Tu district./.

ASEAN, Canada, UN Women advance women’s role in conflict prevention

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Canada and UN Women recently launched a five-year programme to expand and strengthen women’s leadership and participation in conflict prevention, resolution and recovery in Southeast Asia.

The 8.5 million CAD (6.36 million USD) programme, “Empowering women for sustainable peace: preventing violence and promoting social cohesion in ASEAN”, is funded by Global Affairs Canada to support ASEAN and the implementation of the ASEAN-Canada Plan of Action 2021-2025, with the support of UN Women as a lead UN partner.

“Canada is proud to launch this flagship initiative that uses the women, peace and security approach to promote inclusive and sustainable peace and security in the region, while addressing the systemic gender inequality,” said Diedrah Kelly, Canada’s Ambassador to ASEAN.

ASEAN has made important strides to advance women, peace and security agenda, including the adoption of the first ‘Joint Statement on Promoting Women, Peace and Security in ASEAN’ in 2017, the launch of the ASEAN Women’s Peace Registry in 2018, and convening the first ASEAN Symposium on Women, Peace and Security in 2019 and the ASEAN Ministerial Dialogue on Strengthening Women’s role for Sustainable Peace and Security in 2020.

Secretary-General of ASEAN Dato Lim Jock Hoi said, “ASEAN is working concertedly to advance women, peace and security agenda across the three ASEAN Community Pillars as part of our commitment to promote gender equality and the roles of women in the implementation of the ASEAN Comprehensive Recovery Framework.”

The COVID-19 impact has increased the risks for women and girls in fragile and conflict-affected contexts and this challenges us to re-examine threats to human security. “The pandemic highlights the important linkage between peace, humanitarian and development and the critical need for women’s leadership and participation to ensure effective and comprehensive response, from policy decision-making to peace building and pandemic response,” said Jamshed Kazi, UN Women Representative and Liaison to ASEAN.

The new programme reflects the commitment of ASEAN and Canada to promote gender equality and to respond to an increasingly widespread call across the globe for women to be empowered to lead and participate in peace and development.

ASEAN includes Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam./.

Đồng Tháp Province tightens control of border gates, trails after Vietnamese woman with COVID-19 enters illegally

The People’s Committee in the Mekong Delta province of Đồng Tháp on Saturday instructed local authorities and agencies to strengthen control of border gates, trails and crossings following the illegal entry of a Vietnamese woman who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2.

Đoàn Tấn Bửu, vice chairman of the People’s Committee and standing deputy head of the Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control, said that health officials should quickly track down and quarantine people who have come into contact with the woman.

Previously, the woman was quarantined at Hồng Ngự Vocational Training School after it was discovered that she illegally entered the province with another woman from Cambodia and booked a room at a guesthouse in Tân Hồng District’s Sa Rài town on February 23.

On February 25, testing results at HCM City Pasteur Institute showed that one of them had tested positive for SARS-CoV-2. The Vietnamese patient worked at a casino in Phnom Penh.

The other woman tested negative for the virus.

The patient is being treated at Hồng Ngự General Hospital in the province.

According to provincial agencies, 11 people have had close contact with the woman. Of these, nine, including three from Cần Thơ, have been quarantined. The remaining two are still being traced.

Forty people, who are contacts of her close contacts (F1), are quarantined at home.

Bửu warned that people in the province should comply with the Ministry of Health’s 5K message: Khẩu trang (facemask) – Khử khuẩn (disinfection) – Khoảng cách (distance) – Không tụ tập (no gathering) – Khai báo y tế (health declaration).

People should contact local health officials to report people suspected of returning to the province from COVID-19 hit areas.

The province shares a 50-kilometre border with Prey Veng Province in Cambodia. The province’s border guards have been working with police to patrol the border for illegal entries.

Village elder dedicated in Krêl economic and cultural development

In Krêl Village in Đức Cơ District of Gia Lai Province in the Central Highlands, one ethnic minority member stands head and shoulders above the rest.

Rơ Mah Chel is a inspiration to his peers and has gained the trust and respect of all those around him.

Together with the head village and local authority, he has helped residents improve their education, change the old habits, and apply advanced techniques in cultivation and husbandry to get out of poverty.

He is also the person who informs people of the Government’s policies and conveys their aspirations to the local authority.

Chel has been a teacher since he was 20. He chose the career as he believed that knowledge would change his life and he could help his villagers improve theirs too.

Chel said he started his job when the village was quite poor and underdeveloped. He had to go to every students’ house to persuade their parents to let the kids go to school. In the morning, he came and picked up the students and took them home, even continuing lessons late into the night.

Years have gone by and some of his students have become officials with the local authorities. He is still dedicated to the job at Võ Văn Kiệt Primary School in Ia Dơk Commune in Đức Cơ District.

Among few literate people in the village, Chel read books on techniques of cultivation. He realised that the land of his village was nutritious, but the crops’ productivity remained poor due to people’s lack of knowledge and old fashioned habits.

He decided to be the pioneer to change people’s cultivation techniques. He took courses on coffee and rubber planting and applied these methods himself.

After the first year, he had earned nearly VNĐ300 million (US$13,070) from two hectares of rubber trees, one hectare of coffee trees and more than 100 pepper trees. After several years, he built a new house much to the surprise of local residents.

People rushed to his home to ask for advice and Chel was happy to share his knowledge and experience with the villagers. The more he shared, the more he gained their trust and respect.

It was time for Chel to make revolution in changing people’s bad habits. He taught them to cook and preserve food properly. He told them to move the animal farm far away from the residential areas. He encouraged them to eliminate old habits and apply new technology in cultivation to improve the productivity.

Chel is also the person to give mediation for local couples and young people. He is enthusiastic about preserving the traditional culture of the Central Highland. Chel opens free gong classes to teach the young generation how to play musical instruments and contributes to rebuild the traditional Rông community houses in the village.

Đức Cơ District’s People’s Committee chairman Siu Luynh said the local authority highly appreciated Chel’s contribution to the cultural and economic development of Krêl Village.

He was among reputable and knowledgeable person dedicated to the cultural preservation of the ethnic minority in the locality.

Mekong Delta farmers get bumper harvest, high prices for winter-spring rice

Farmers in the Cửu Long (Mekong) Delta, the country’s rice granary, are having a bumper winter-spring harvest and getting high prices for their grain.

In Tiền Giang, farmers in the Gò Công freshwater zone have harvested around 4,000ha and got an average yield of 6.5 tonnes per hectare, 1.2 tonnes more than last year, according to the province Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.

The zone, which comprises Gò Công Đông, Gò Công Tây and Chợ Gạo districts and Gò Công Town, is well known for growing fragrant and high-quality rice varieties for export.

Nguyễn Văn Mẫn, the department director, said farmers there sowed more than 21,800ha of rice, or 96 per cent of the target, almost all of it with fragrant and high-quality varieties.

Traders have been buying at the field at VNĐ8,600 per kilogramme, VNĐ1,900-2,000 higher than last year, enabling farmers to earn nearly VNĐ32 million (US$1,520) per hectare, VNĐ13.3 million ($580) higher, according to the department.

The delta’s 12 provinces and Cần Thơ City had sowed the crop about one month earlier than normal to escape the impacts of saltwater intrusion and lack of freshwater during harvest.

Farmers grew 1.5 million hectares, slightly down from last year since in some places they were worried about possible saltwater intrusion and drought.

However, they have had sufficient water for irrigation.

In Cà Mau Province, they have harvested more than 2,000ha of the 36,000ha grown so far, according to its Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.

In Trần Văn Thời District, which has large areas under the rice-shrimp farming model, many farmers have started growing high-quality rice varieties like ST 24 and ST 25.

Both the rice and shrimp farmed under this model are clean since little chemical is used.

In Trần Văn Thời District, farmers are getting a high price of VNĐ9,000 for ST 25, which ranked first in the 2019 World’s Best Rice Contest.

In Hậu Giang Province, farmers are selling their rice at VNĐ500-800 a kilogramme higher than last year.

Trần Chí Hùng, director of its Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said local authorities and farmers had been regularly warned about saltwater intrusion so that they would take proactive measures to protect themselves.

A salinity level of 0.39 per cent or more has been recorded in Vị Thanh City since the middle of this month while 0.24 per cent has been found in Long Mỹ District.

Most rice varieties can only cope with a salinity level of up to 0.1 per cent.

The peak saltwater intrusion in the delta this year is forecast between February 25 and March 4.

Farmers are expected to complete harvest of the rice crop by May, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development’s Plant Cultivation Department.

Bus goes around HCM City supplying free face masks

A ‘face mask bus’ has been going around HCM City, dispensing high-quality face masks for free.

Painted bright yellow, it has a sensor that automatically sprays hand sanitiser first when someone puts their hand in before coming up with the mask.

People have to stand in a queue and keep a distance of two metres from others.

The vehicle has travelled to some crowded places like Miền Tây and Miền Đông bus stations, several industrial zones, the cultural house in Tân Bình District and other public places.

It was launched on February 6.

Phạm Quang Anh, director of Dony International Joint Stock Company, came up with the idea six months ago when COVID-19 was raging.

The masks it dispenses are certified as meeting Germany’s REACH standards for protecting human health and the environment.

They can be reused several times, reducing the impact on the environment, Anh said.

Beside donations from sponsors, Dony also plans to spend 5 per cent of its revenues on providing the masks.

The bus also plans to travel to Hải Dương Province, a COVID-19 hotspot.

Aid offered for development of homegrown COVID-19 vaccine

The Ministry of Health (MoH) on February 27 received VNĐ20 billion (US$866,620) from conglomerate Vingroup for the clinical trials of homegrown COVID-19 vaccine COVIVAC.

The candidate vaccine is being developed by the MoH’s Institute of Vaccines and Medical Biologicals (IVAC).

Speaking at the handover ceremony, Minister of Health Nguyễn Thanh Long spoke highly of the support of enterprises, organisations and individuals for Vietnam’s fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

The first “Made-in-Vietnam” ventilators were produced under the collaboration of the ministry and Vingroup, he noted, adding that the machines have been provided to localities nationwide.

Vietnamese scientists have regarded vaccine development as the key factor to contain the pandemic, and the MoH has spared no efforts in the research for vaccine in order to be able to produce the vaccine as soon as possible.

The COVIVAC vaccine project has been rolled out since May 2020.Results of pre-clinical trials affirmed its safety and efficiency, and the IVAC has been able to produce three batches of vaccine consisting between 50,000 and 10,000 doses each.

Clinical trials of the vaccines are projected to start this March and complete by October, said IVAC Director Dr Duong Huu Thai.

A dose may cost no higher than 60,000 VND and the vaccine is effective against emerging coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 variants originated from the UK and South Africa, he affirmed.

Meanwhile, the third domestic candidate vaccine VABIOTECH  developed by the Company for Vaccine and Biological Production No 1, is also set to enter clinical trials in the coming time.

Restaurants, other services in HCM City to reopen

The city authorities of HCM City have allowed the reopening of restaurants and other services starting from March 1.

There have been no community transmitted COVID-19 cases in the city since February 11.

Dương Anh Đức, deputy chairman of the city’s People’s Committee, said the city could reopen tourism activities, food and beverage businesses, wholesale markets, wet markets, museums and libraries.

However, services such as bars, pubs, beer clubs, sports facilities and gyms will remain closed until further notice.

Activities not included in these groups can reopen but must comply with COVID-19 epidemic prevention and control regulations.

Ceremonies, religious and worship activities can be held with no more than 50 people at the same time. Attendees must follow COVID-19 prevention regulations and maintain social distancing of one metre or more.

On February 24, the city People’s Committee approved the Department of Education and Training’s proposal to reopen schools from Monday (March 1).

The People’s Committee on February 9 directed related units to stop all cultural, sports, entertainment activities, and temporarily close all beauty salons, karaoke, pubs, bars, beer clubs, massage, video games, theatres, movie cinemas, sports facilities, yoga classes and gyms to avoid the spread of the COVID 19.

Three in Hà Nội arrested for role in cross-border baby selling ring

Hà Nội police announced Friday they have arrested three people in a “major ring” charged with trafficking Vietnamese infants to China and rescued four babies last night.

The three are Mai Minh Chung (born in 1985) and Đặng Trương Đào Nguyên Anh (born in 1996), both residing in Ngọc Hồi Commune, Thanh Trì District, Hà Nội, and Ninh Thị Hải Yên (born in 1988), residing in Quán Thánh Ward, Ba Đình District, Hà Nội.

According to police, in 2019, Chung worked in Fujian Province, China, and met a man named Tính, who claimed to be from the central province of Thanh Hoá and served as a middle man to bring Vietnamese to China to work in factories.

Chung learned Tính had been selling Vietnamese infants to buyers in China and asked to be involved in the ring.

Chung was tasked with finding pregnant mothers who cannot afford to provide for the babies or those who want to put their babies for adoption, police said.

Via social media, Chung reportedly colluded with people identified only as Lương Ngọc and Hải Nga (whose identities remain unknown) to have these two people receive the pregnant women in the border province of Cao Bằng and then guide them to China through unofficial routes and hand them over to Tính.

For every successful handover, Tính is thought to have paid VNĐ30 million (US$1,300) to Chung and VNĐ80 million ($3,400) to the mother.

From 2020 November to January 2021, Chung allegedly colluded with three Vietnamese people known only as Út, Loan and Sáu, and found seven pregnant women who wished to sell their babies – including one who had crossed over to China to give birth to the baby and sell it to Tính, two women who came to Cao Bằng Province but could not cross the border, and four others that they lost contact with.

On January 31, 2021, Chung rented an apartment in Hà Nội and worked with Ninh Thị Hải Yến to find four pregnant women. Two went to China to give birth and handed the babies to Tính while two had given birth but were waiting to bring their babies to China.

In addition, through his girlfriend Đặng Trương Đào Nguyên Anh, Chung learned about a woman in the southern province of Cần Thơ who was eight months pregnant and brought her to Hà Nội, waiting for the day to go to China.

Tính is thought to have paid Chung VNĐ66 million for this case.

This is a major infant trafficking ring that the criminal police has been following for a long time, Colonel Phan Mạnh Trường, deputy head of the Ministry of Public Security’s Criminal Police Department said.

The police raided locations related to the ring’s activities on Thursday night and rescued four babies that were about to be brought to China.

Four mothers have been arrested, including the eight-month pregnant woman.

The police also managed to identify two other expecting women who had been brought to China, Trường told the media.

The investigation is ongoing.

Source: VNA/VNS/VOV/VIR/SGT/Nhan Dan/Hanoitimes

Dozens of children in Vietnam have been born to infertile parents under a program that pays for the costs of the expensive in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment for low-income couples who struggle to conceive naturally.

The annual program, known as ‘Uom mam hanh phuc’ (Sowing Happiness), was launched in 2014 by Prof. Dr. Nguyen Thi Ngoc Phuong, who spearheaded the introduction of IVF treatment in Vietnam in the late 1990s.

Each year, organizers select from hundreds of applications and provide financial as well as medical support to some dozen couples who need help the most.

Selected couples are sponsored for all steps of a standard IVF treatment, which is a process of fertilizing an egg with sperm outside of the body.

This treatment involves monitoring and stimulating a woman’s ovulatory process, removing ova from the woman’s ovaries, letting sperm fertilize them in a laboratory, and implanting the resultant embryo in the female’s uterus.

A couple plays with their child born through in vitro fertilization sponsored by a program that supports infertile couples in Vietnam. Photo: Huu Thuan / Tuoi Tre

According to Dr. Dang Quang Vinh, deputy director of My Duc General Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City that provides the treatment, selected couples will have all their medical costs covered, including those of storing unused embryos, which can be accessed for future IVF attempts.

Under this program, each couple can save up to VND80-100 million (US$3,500 – 4,300) per attempt.

As of the time of writing, 80 children have been born to parents who underwent IVF treatment sponsored by the program, while six mothers are expected to give birth through IVF treatment soon.

This year, on its fifth annual call for candidates, the program has received 621 applications from infertile couples from across the country and selected 167 satisfying all criteria laid out by the organizers.

“As our funds are limited, we have no choice but to give priority to couples who are in most dire need of financial support,” said Dr. Vinh said.

Dr. Dang Quang Vinh, vice-director of My Duc General Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City. Photo: Huu Thuan / Tuoi Tre

The program is funded by donations from My Duc General Hospital employees and philanthropists. In 2017, VND2.7 billion ($116,000) was raised from these donations to help 33 couples selected for the fourth edition of the program.

“It pains us every time we have to reject an application,” he said.

The birth of ‘Treasure’

Hoang Van Hung, 36, and his wife Huynh Kim Hue, 29, who live in a small house in District 12, Ho Chi Minh City, were one of the 86 couples who were blessed with a child after being chosen for the program.

The couples’ dream of having a child became more and more far-fetched as they still struggled to conceive years after getting married.

Hue managed to get pregnant after their first attempt at seeking medical intervention by manually inserting her husband’s semen into her uterus, but their unborn child was pronounced dead by doctors eight weeks into her pregnancy.

After spending some time getting over the shock of their first child’s death, Hung and Hue sought help from private clinics multiple times to no avail.

Huynh Kim Hue plays with her first child born through in vitro fertilization sponsored by a program that supports infertile couples in Vietnam. Photo: Duyen Phan / Tuoi Tre

Financially exhausted, the couple decided to apply for the third edition of the ‘Uom mam hanh phuc’ program and got selected to undergo free IVF treatment at My Duc General Hospital.

It was Dr. Vuong Thi Ngoc Lan, Dr. Phuong’s daughter, who implanted the lab-cultured embryo into Hue’s uterus.

The couple’s happiness doubled when the first ultrasound result came out, showing that Hue had conceived twin babies.

However, one of the babies was pronounced dead after only 11 weeks.

Following this incident, Hung told Hue to refrain from all labor activities and to spend her days watching comedies to stay in a good mood.

Hue gave birth to the remaining twin on October 15, 2016 after 37 weeks of pregnancy. The couple had asked doctors to perform a C-section three weeks earlier than the expected date for fear of another miscarriage.

“It was only after hearing our child’s first cries that we could breathe a sigh of relief,” Hung said.

“It was a special moment that we wouldn’t ever be able to forget.”

A medical worker tends to the first child of Hoang Van Hung and Huynh Kim Hue after the boy is delivered at My Duc General Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City on October 15, 2016 in this photo provided by the couple.

They named their first child Bao Lam, which translates as ‘treasure of the forest.”

Now pregnant with her second child through IVF treatment, Hue said she and her husband could finally put an end to their restless search for a child which they had thought was without any hope.

Renewed hope

According to a 2018 research conducted on 14,300 married couples in Vietnam, 7.7 percent of the couples who were in childbearing age suffered from infertility.

The research estimated that around one million couples nationwide were infertile, half of which were under the age of 30.

Although the figure is not high when compared to the average global infertility rate of 6-12 percent as per WHO statistics, Dr. Phuong said it is alarming due to the fact that unhealthy lifestyles contribute much to infertility in Vietnam.

Heavy smoking and drinking habits affect one’s ability to conceive naturally, she added.

Prof. Dr. Nguyen Thi Ngoc Phuong, former director of Tu Du Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City. Photo: Duyen Phan / Tuoi Tre

More than 20 years since the first child was born through IVF in Vietnam in 1998, tens of thousands of children have been born thanks to this medical technique, Dr. Phuong said.

“Although the cost of IVF treatment in Vietnam is the lowest in the world, it’s still a huge expenditure for low-income couples,” Dr. Phuong said.

“If [all infertile couples in Vietnam] get access to free IVF treatment, around 70 percent of them will be able to conceive,” she added.

Dr. Phuong expressed her hope that IVF treatment will soon become available in each of Vietnam’s 63 provinces and municipalities so patients can cut down on their traveling and accommodation expenses.

An infertile patient undergoes a medical checkup at My Duc General Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City. Photo: Duyen Phan / Tuoi Tre

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An orderly working for Transport Hospital in Hai Phong city, northern Vietnam, has been confirmed as a COVID-19 patient in Vietnam.

The female worker, 26, has been diagnosed with the SARS-CoV-2 virus after a COVID-19 screening campaign for all healthcare workers at Hai Phong Transport Hospital.

She has tested positive for the virus twice, said the Hai Phong Preventive Medicine Centre on February 22, adding the remaining 88 workers have tested negative.

The patient was said to have stayed in Hai Phong for the past 14 days. She showed no flu-symptoms.

She was transferred to Vietnam-Czech Republic Hospital for medical surveillance and treatment.

Relevant agencies scrambled to cordon off Transport Hospital and Lo village in Thuy Nguyen district, her hometown, for chemical disinfection and epidemiological investigations.

They also tracked down people who had come into contact with the patient for immediate quarantine and testing.

Earlier Hai Phong recorded just one case at its Children’s Hospital who was then transferred back to Hai Duong province, the country’s biggest coronavirus hotspot at present.

As many as 795 cases have been confirmed in Vietnam since the virus recurred in Hai Duong late last month. The outbreak has spread to 13 cities and provinces across the country, with Hai Duong, a gateway to Hanoi capital, reporting 615 cases alone.

Haiphong locks down commune due to new Covid-19 case

Haiphong City locked down Hoang Dong Commune after a 26-year-old woman living there tested positive for Covid-19 today, February 22.

Haiphong Transport Hospital at No. 40, Street 5, Hong Bang District, where the patient works, has also been locked down and disinfected.

The woman, residing in Hamlet 4, Hoang Dong Commune, Thuy Nguyen District, has neither left Haiphong City nor developed Covid-19 symptoms over the past 14 days.

Pham Thu Xanh, head of the Covid-19 quick response team of Haiphong City, said the local authorities are identifying venues the patient visited and people who came into contact with her. The citizens are not allowed to enter or leave Hoang Dong Commune until further notice.

The steering committee for Covid-19 infection prevention and control of Haiphong City asked people who had close contact with the patient to immediately contact the nearest medical center for health declarations, an epidemiological investigation and quarantine procedures.

Local residents were encouraged to strictly comply with preventive measures such as wearing masks while stepping out, using hand sanitizers, keeping a safe physical distance from each other and avoiding large gatherings. They should immediately contact the health authorities if they develop symptoms such as a fever, a cough or shortness of breath.

Nearly 35,000 returnees from Covid-19 regions to Hanoi tested negative for coronavirus

Hanoi has recorded 36 cases, with health authorities saying that the outbreak could last longer if drastic measures to control the disease are not taken.

The Hanoi Department of Health on February 21 reported 34,600 returnees from the northern epicenter of Hai Duong province and other pandemic-hit areas have tested negative for the novel coronavirus.

As of February 21, the number of returnees from Cam Giang district, a Covid-19 hotspot in Hai Duong province, stands at 2,388, of which 2,368 have been tested in Hanoi. More than 1,900 people have tested negative while the results of the rest are pending, the municipal health department reported.

The number of returnees from other parts of Hai Duong province and 11 high risk provinces and cities from February 2 is 46,460 people, of them, 44,355 people have taken Covid-19 test and 32,692 people tested negative. The results of the rest are still pending, the department added.

Hanoi has gone five days without confirming any new cases of Covid-19. At the time of writing, Hanoi has recorded 36 cases, with health authorities saying that the outbreak could last longer if drastic measures to control the disease are not taken.

There have been 791 cases confirmed across Vietnam since the pandemic resurgence late January. Quang Ninh is the country’s second latest Covid-19 outbreak with its first case being detected on January 28. The infection has since then spread to 13 other cities and provinces.

Vietnam has so far had 2,383 cases, 627 of them active.

Capital “rescues” unsellable produce from pandemic-stricken province

Volunteer groups and authorities from Hanoi over the weekend after Lunar New Year successfully distributed and sold tons of unsellable agricultural produce from Hai Duong Province, which has been in Covid-19 lockdown for weeks.

A whopping 15 tons of fresh produce from Hai Duong were sold on February 21 alone at makeshift vegetables stalls at 38 Giai Phong Street in Hanoi, which received 30 tons more the following day.

The produce and transporting vehicles were disinfected at least thrice – at the source, when going through quarantine posts in Hai Duong, and before entering the capital city.

According to the Deputy Director of the Domestic Market Department under the Ministry of Industry and Trade Le Viet Nga, some major domestic distributors have reached out to Hai Duong authorities with offers to help distribute slow-selling products.

Meanwhile, the Hanoi Department of Industry and Trade transported and distributed 300 tons of agricultural produce from Hai Duong and Quang Ninh province over the course of last week.

Hai Duong Province during the Lunar New Year holiday locked down multiple localities for 14 to 21 days, including the major Hai Duong Province, making regular citizens as well as retail distributors refrain from entering these regions.

Hanoi Mayor urges enterprises to put health, safety as utmost priority

The Hanoi Mayor expected local firms to accelerate the digital transformation process, which remains the city’s priority for development in the next five years.

Chairman of the Hanoi People’s Committee Chu Ngoc Anh urged local firms to put health and safety as utmost priority to prevent a potential Covid-19 spread, which in turn leads to disruption of production chain.

The Hanoi’s Mayor gave the remarks during his visit to TOTO Vietnam, INTERSERCO Vietnam International Trade My Dinh, and CMC Technology & Solution last week.

Business Manager of TOTO Vietnam (located at Thang Long industrial park, Dong Anh district) Takashi Yokoyama expressed his thanks to local authorities’ efforts in effectively containing the Covid-19 pandemic.

“As the pandemic continues to cause severe impacts to the global economy, many subsidiaries and affiliates of the corporation were forced to close, but TOTO Vietnam remains operational and records positive growth,” said Yokoyama.

In 2020, TOTO Vietnam posted revenue of nearly VND4 trillion (US$173.5 million), in which export turnover contributed VND2 trillion (US$86.75 million).

Chairman of the Hanoi People’s Committee Anh highlighted TOTO Vietnam’s creativity and flexibility in timely adjusting its business strategy to cope with Covid-19 impacts.

“Hanoi is committed to accompanying TOTO Vietnam and other FDI enterprises during their operations in the city,” he noted.

Meanwhile, INTERSERCO My Dinh during the recent Covid-19 outbreak gave permission for employees from Hai Duong province, the country’s pandemic hotspot, to stay at home but still get paid their full salary until the situation is under control.

Anh expected INTERSERCO My Dinh to continue focusing on logistics as its core business activity in 2021 with greater application of modern technologies and higher level of automation.

At CMC Technology & Solution, the Hanoi’s Mayor was briefed on the firm’s advanced technologies application in real-time monitoring, analyzing and warning in the fields of traffic and environment.

Anh requested CMC to accelerate the digital transformation process and enhance its competitiveness.

“Hanoi gives priority to innovation and digital transformation in the next five years,” stated Anh, adding the city expects digitalization to make up 30% of the total gross regional domestic product by 2025.

NA Standing Committee examines preparations for general election

The National Assembly Standing Committee is to convene its 53rd session in Hanoi on February 22 to discuss preparations for the upcoming general election.

The NA Standing Committee is scheduled to approve the report following in-depth discussions.

Vietnamese people will cast their ballots to elect deputies to the 15th National Assembly and local People’s Councils in May this year.

The following legislature is expected to be comprised of 500 deputies, including 207 deputies working at central agencies. 95 deputies are members of the Party Central Committee.

The Standing Committee will also examine preparations for the 11th session of the 14th National Assembly, the last in its 2016-2021 tenure.

No new COVID-19 infections recorded on early February 22

Vietnam posted no new locally-transmitted COVID-19 cases in the past 12 hours until 6am on February 22, keeping the national tally at 2,383, according to the National Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control.

Of total, 791 cases have been found since January 27 when a new COVID-19 wave broke out.

The number of recoveries and fatalities remains at 1,717 and 35, respectively.

Among patients still undergoing treatment, 69 have tested negative for the virus once, 39 twice and 55 thrice.

At present, a total of 120,827 people who had close contact with confirmed COVID-19 patients or entered Vietnam from pandemic-hit regions are being under quarantine nationwide, including 588 in hospitals, 12,984 in state-designated establishments and 107,255 others at their residences./.

Vessels need to proactively respond to storm Dujuan

The National Center for Hydro-meteorology Forecasting and warning centers in the Asia-Pacific region predicted that storm Dujuan will quickly downgrade to a tropical low pressure system and dissipate at sea when it enters the East Sea this week.

Amidst the warnings, the Standing Office of the Central Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control asked provinces and cities from Quang Ninh to Ca Mau to regularly keep in touch with captains, ship owners and timely provide information related to big waves and blustery winds at sea under the impact of an ongoing cold air mass and storm Dujuan.

The General Department of Natural Disaster Prevention and Control informed that the number of fishing vessels in the East Sea would be numerous as it has been in the fishing season.

Accordingly, storm Dujuan yesterday made landfall in the Philippines.

Hai Duong province sees 90 new recoveries from COVID-19

Ninety patients were discharged from the temporary hospital for COVID-19 treatment No 1 of northern Hai Duong province on February 21 after making a full recovery.

This is the largest number of COVID-19 patients discharged at a time in Hai Duong, the largest hotspot of the coronavirus transmission at present, in the latest outbreak.

They will have to conduct self-quarantine and health monitoring at home for another 14 days, after which they will undergo testing again.

The COVID-19 hospital No 1 of Hai Duong, based at the healthcare centre of Chi Linh city, has provided treatment for 293 patients, including nine children and four pregnant woman, since the new outbreak began on January 27.

As of February 21 morning, this province had recorded 603 infections, including five new cases linked with a previously confirmed patient in Kim Thanh district, according to the provincial steering committee for COVID-19 prevention and control.

Pham Quang Hung, Chairman of the Kim Thanh People’s Committee, said authorities have sealed off the entire Kim Lien commune, where the new patients live, sent persons in close contact with them to concentrated quarantine sites, and speeded up taking samples from local residents to carry out testing. They look to complete sample collection on February 21./.

HCM City Writers’ Association honours best literary works in 2020

The HCM City Writers’ Association has honoured publicly acclaimed literary works created in 2020 at an awards ceremony held in HCM City.

The memoir Gánh Gánh… Gồng Gồng… (Burden of Life) by female documentary filmmaker Nguyễn Thị Xuân Phượng of HCM City was named the best literary work.

The 308-page book includes stories about the ups and downs of the life of the 92-year-old Phượng since 1945.

Phượng quit school to join the war of resistance against the French in Huế City in 1945.

She served as a dynamite maker and a doctor, before being assigned by President Hồ Chí Minh to become an interpreter and guide to foreign journalists and filmmakers in 1967.

In 1968, she became a documentary director and war correspondent for the Television Department (now Việt Nam Television).

She has made a series of documentaries about the country’s historical events such as Khi Tiếng Súng Vừa Tắt (When Gun Sound Ends), 1975; Khi Những Nụ Cười Trở Lại (When Smiles Return), 1976; and Hai Tiếng Quê Hương (My Homeland), 1978.

In 2011, she was conferred the Ordre national de la Légion d’honneur (National Order of the Legion of Honour), the highest French order of merit, both military and civil, for her contributions to developing Việt Nam – France relations.

Gánh Gánh…Gồng Gồng… was published by the Culture, Literature and Arts Publishing House.

The association also awarded a prize to the novel Đất K (Land K) by author Bùi Quang Lâm, and poetry book Bấm Chân Qua Tuổi Dại Khờ (Walking by Innocent Age) by poet Cao Xuân Sơn.

Both works were released by the Writers’ Association Publishing House.

According to the association’s managing board, the association will recruit 21 new members at the ceremony.

Author Trịnh Bích Ngân, chairwoman of the association’s managing board, said: “The association is working to build solidarity among members and create inspirations for each member to release more quality literary works in the future.”

Ca Mau launches tourism stimulus programme

The southernmost province of Ca Mau has launched a tourism stimulus programme for this year with the dual goal of fighting COVID-19 and developing a safe, efficient, and sustainable tourism sector.

The Ca Mau Cape national tourism area is offering free entry to teachers and students nationwide.

To promote the potential that local tourism holds, the province plans to hold the “Ca Mau Destination 2021” event, with activities including cultural-artistic activities, and famtrips to local tourism areas.

Nearly 70,000 people visited local landmarks from February 10 to 16, with revenue standing at over 2.21 million USD.

Tourist arrivals to Ca Mau last year slumped by more than 56 percent compared to 2019, leading to a decline of over 71 percent in revenue./.

Hanoi launches tree-planting festival on New Year of Ox

The launching ceremony of a tree-planting festival on the New Year of Ox was held in Hanoi on February 21 as part of this year’s efforts in response to the Government’s programme on planting 1 billion trees to 2025.

Addressing the launching event, Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee Chu Ngoc Anh said tree planting has remained as the city’s annual programme. Planting a tree is just the beginning; it is more important to take good care of it and let them grow well, he said, adding that it is a responsibility of everybody.

He asked all districts and towns to accelerate public awareness campaigns on the meaning of the tree planting festival and the importance and benefits of growing and protecting trees.

Hanoi sets to plant more than 300,000 trees this year and strives for each Hanoian to plant at least one tree by 2030, he unveiled.

Minister of Environment and Natural Resources Tran Hong Ha said increasing natural disasters and extreme weather events have taken heavy toll on Vietnam for years. At the same time, pollution, especially air pollution, has been rising in an alarming rate, causing harmful effects on the quality of life in humans and social and economic activities in metropolises, while rapid urbanisation and industrialisation have put enormous pressure on the environment, he added.

He highlighted the significance of the five-year campaign of growing one billion trees, saying that various effective models, initiatives and actions have been put in place to scale up the tree planting campaign nationwide in response to President Ho Chi Minh’s teaching and the one-billion-tree-planting campaign.

Previously, the capital city has fulfilled its goal of planting one million trees two years ahead schedule. It has planted around 600,000 new trees along over 250 urban streets to not only expand urban tree canopy cover but also prevent dust and noise pollution.

On November 28, 1959, President Ho Chi Minh wrote an article published in the Nhan dan (People) newspaper stressing the significance of tree planting for each person, each family, and the entire nation. Since the first tree planting festival was held in the spring of 1960, the activity has become a common practice whenever a new year arrives./.

Vietnam attends int’l round-table on preserving linguistic diversity

Vietnam has been among countries attending an expert round table on “Topical Issues of Preserving Linguistic Diversity” held to mark International Mother Language Day (February 21).

The virtual event was organised on February 19 by the International Union of Non-Governmental Organisations “The Eurasian People’s Assembly” under the auspices of the Commission of the Russian Federation for UNESCO.

It gathered member states of the Commonwealth of Independent States (SNG) and countries from other parts of the world.

The aim of the round table was to find ways to expand the linguistic and intercultural communications of peoples, to promote multilingualism in the interests of Eurasian integration.

Its discussion focused on a number of issues, for example, the role of the native language as a carrier of culture, traditions and history of each nation; increasing interest in languages and stimulating the study of native languages; the role of education in the preservation and development of the languages of the people of Eurasia; creation of an accessible communicative language environment in the context of Eurasian integration; and the role of public associations in the preservation and development of the languages of the people of Eurasia.

At the event, To Thi Tuyet Khanh, a representative of the Banking Academy of Vietnam in Russia and advisor to the union’s first vice secretary-general, delivered a report focusing on education of Vietnamese and Russian languages in both countries.

Vietnam and Russia have boasted a long-standing cooperation in education and training, particularly in linguistics, which has produced good results, she said.

Hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese students have pursued education in Russia and with their acquired knowledge, they have made contributions to the national construction and development in Vietnam and strengthening the bilateral relations, Khanh noted.

She voiced her hope that the Vietnamese will be taught in Russia’s schools and universities as a foreign language, especially for Vietnamese children born in Russia.

PM asks for greater effort for Phu Yen to further prosper

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc on February 20 urged Phu Yen to exert efforts so as to attract more investment into key projects, thus creating breakthroughs for the locality’s development.

In a working session with key officials of the central coastal province, PM Phuc stressed that the locality needs to give attention to developing the private economic sector, making the area’s growth stronger.

It should work hard to accelerate the implementation of investment projects, especially in agriculture, real estate and tourism, in order to fully tap its strengths and potential in these fields.

Phu Yen’s tourism is like a rare and raw gem that needs the hands of skilled and qualified workers to make it shine, the leader said.

He also emphasised the importance of proper planning and vision in attracting investment and prompting sustainable development in the locality.

PM Phuc praised local authorities’ strong determination to promote socio-economic development, saying that the province has concentrated on the planning work, applying information technology, proposing mechanisms, and improving its business and investment environment.

Phu Yen has done well in implementing core strategies, including developing economic and industrial zones, tourism areas, transport, airport and seaport infrastructure, he noted.

Despite difficulties facing the locality amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Phu Yen still completed and even exceeded important socio-economic development goals, particularly in poverty reduction, the PM noted.

However, he also pointed out weak points the province needs to overcome in the coming time, especially in improving the investment and business environment and speeding up the progress of projects./.

Quang Ninh has no COVID-19 cases in community in 12 days

The northern province of Quang Ninh has gone through 12 straight days with no COVID-19 infections in the community, and four consecutive days without any new cases.

As of February 19, only 20 COVID-19 cases out of the 43 infections in Quang Ninh had tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 virus.

From February 14 -18, 15 cases were cured in the locality.

Since the first case of COVID-19 in the community confirmed on January 27, the locality has recorded 60 infections, of which two cases are being quarantined and treated at the Central Hospital of Tropical Diseases in Hanoi’s outlying district of Dong Anh, and the rest are treated in health facicalities in Quang Ninh.

Regarding testing, more than 136,000 locals have been tested from January 27 to February 19.

Provincial authorities on February 8 announced that the pandemic was kept under control in the locality.

OVs in Malaysia get support for COVID-19 prevention

The Vietnamese Embassy in Malaysia, on behalf of the State Committee for Overseas Vietnamese Affairs under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, presented medical equipment, antibacterial cloth face masks and sanitiser to the Vietnamese community in the country at a ceremony on February 20.

The activity is part of the programmes conducted by the committee to support overseas Vietnamese in preventing the COVID-19 pandemic.

Addressing the event, Ambassador Tran Viet Thai touched upon difficulties and challenges facing the mankind amid the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, including the Vietnamese community in Malaysia.

The committee has made every effort to support the Vietnamese community in the fight against the pandemic, helping them overcoming difficulties posed by the health crisis, he stressed.

The ambassador also announced the COVID-19 vaccination programme for foreigners in Malaysia, which is expected to be held in May or June. He affirmed that the embassy will serve as a bridge to support Vietnamese citizens in this programme.

The Vietnamese Party and State always pay attention to the Vietnamese community abroad in general and Vietnamese expats living and working in Malaysia in particular, Ambassador Thai said.

He also highly appreciated contributions by overseas Vietnamese to the homeland’s development./.

Tree planting festival: Individual trees make a forest

The tree planting festival initiated by President Ho Chi Minh has beeen a tradition in Vietnam for more than 60 years, encouraging afforestation and forest protection and greatly contributing to national development.

On November 28, 1959, President Ho wrote an article in the Nhan dan (People) newspaper stressing the significance of tree planting for each person, each family, and the entire nation.

Since the first tree planting festival was held in the spring of 1960, following the late leader’s teachings, authorities and sectors from the central to grassroots levels, along with people nationwide, have joined hands in planting trees whenever a new year arrives.

To uphold this tradition and cope with global climate change, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc on December 31, 2020, issued Directive No 45/CT-TTg on organising a tree planting festival and stepping up forest protection and development at the beginning of 2021.

Accordingly, Vietnam is to plant 1 billion trees from now to 2025, including about 182 million this year.

In response, many cities and provinces nationwide have been promoting tree planting this spring.

On February 17 (the sixth day of the Lunar New Year), Party General Secretary and State President Nguyen Phu Trong, together with leaders of central agencies and Hanoi, offered incense in commemoration of the country’s ancestors, heroes, and martyrs at the Imperial Citadel of Thang Long. They also planted trees there on the occasion.

Apart from the tree planting festival, the Vietnam Environment Administration is also establishing a plan for the implementation of a 1 billion tree programme, with a view to protecting the environmental, adapting to climate change, preventing natural disasters, and moving towards sustainable development.

The country views its forests as important ecological resources for socio-economic development and community happiness.

About 25 million Vietnamese people earn 20-40 percent of their annual income from forests./.

Spring festivals suspended as part of COVID-19 prevention efforts

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has requested that localities nationwide cancel all spring festivals in order to prevent mass gatherings, therefore minimising the potential spread of the COVID-19 pandemic following the Lunar New Year (Tet).

With the country facing fast-spreading outbreaks, people nationwide are required to limit their attendance of cultural festivals, with local authorities suggesting that such events should be suspended to protect residents from SARS-CoV-2.

Following the Prime Minister’s guidelines, many localities have decided not to hold spring festivals, including the long-standing Huong Pagoda festival, the Hai Ba Trung Temple festival in Hanoi, the annual Hoa Ban, also known as Bauhinia variegate, festival in Dien Bien province, and a traditional boat race in Quang Ngai province.

Hanoi families faces shortage of home helpers after Tet

Many families in Hanoi are facing difficulties finding home helpers after Tet Holiday due to Covid-19 pandemic.

Duong Thu Huong from Thanh Xuan District said she has a two-year-old child and is in need of a home help before she returns to work. She already placed advertisements online but has not been able to find anyone suitable yet.

“I can’t contact our previous home helper after Tet. As schools are still closed for Covid-19 prevention, I need someone to take care of my child from 7 am to 7 pm nearly all week, except Sunday,” she said. “People I have interviewed either can’t work right away or only want to only work in the afternoon. I want to find someone healthy and who can work for us for a long time. The starting wage is VND5m (USD216) a month and will increase.”

Trinh Thi Linh from Nam Tu Liem District had a good relationship with a home help for two years. But after the Tet Holiday, their home help said she wanted to take leave for several months and has stayed in her hometown as Hanoi is still discovering new cases.

“We’re really busy, so we need someone to take care of our two children. We’ll pay VND7m (USD302) a month and a Tet bonus,” she said.

Nguyen Van Thuong from Cau Giay District also said he wanted to find a home help who could stay at their house and work for a long time. Thuong said he was willing to pay VND10m (USD432) a month if the house helper can take care of all housework.

“There are many three-generation families that have both old people and young children like us,” he said. “I want to find someone in their forties and fifties. I had the same difficulties last year too and I had to let my old parents look after the children at home.”

Quang Binh fishermen enjoy big post-Tet catches

Fishermen in Nhan Trach Commune, Quang Binh Province have enjoyed bountiful catches after Tet.

For the fishermen in Nhan Trach, the first fishing trip after Tet Holiday is meaningful and signifies their luck for the new year. Most fishing boats in Nhan Trach are small so they often have a quick trips overnight and return in the early morning. The beach was busy with all the boats and activity.

Pham Nguyen said his crew were able to bring back 700kg of anchovies. “We’re all really happy to have such a good trip after Tet. We’ll be able to earn about VND20m (USD866). We just hope for good weather and bountiful trips,” he said.

Another fisherman, Pham Tan, said they caught nearly a tonne of anchovies. As they reached the shore, they could see the traders already waiting along the beaches. Anchovies and baby shrimp can be sold for VND30,000 (USD1.30) or VND20,000 per kilo respectively. Both of them can be used to make fish sauce and shrimp paste.

According to the fishermen, if they have a bountiful trip with baby shrimp they will have good herring scad and cutlass fish trawls too.

Nguyen Van Nghi, chairman of Nhan Trach Commune People’s Committee said they have over 100 fishing boats. They are mostly nearshore fishing boats so they only work seasonally. Bountiful anchovies trips also mean local fish sauce manufacturing facilities will have good materials and an optimistic outlook.

Construction of My Thuan – Can Tho expressway and My Thuan 2 bridge commenced

The construction of the My Thuan – Can Tho expressway and the My Thuan 2 bridge recently commenced in the southern province of Vinh Long in the presence of Minister of Transport Nguyen Van The.

The My Thuan – Can Tho expressway and My Thuan 2 bridge are expected to be completed in 2022 and 2023, respectively.

The My Thuan – Can Tho expressway is nearly 23 km long, passing through Vinh Long province and Chau Thanh district in Dong Thap province while the My Thuan 2 bridge is 6.6 km long. The two projects are being funded by the State budget with a total investment of over VND10 trillion.

* The Management Authority for the Urban Railways of Ho Chi Minh City (MAUR) and contractors kicked off work on the power supply for the southern economic hub’s first metro line project on February 19, which now has 82 percent of work completed.

Consultation and construction are now underway to link the power sources from the 110kV Binh Thai and Tan Cang electricity stations to supply all power stations along the metro line.

According to the MAUR, if COVID-19 can be controlled, the work of cable pulling will be completed in the second quarter of this year, which would allow for trial runs and commercial operations to take place earlier.

* The Vietnam National Textile and Garment Group (Vinatex) said that 150,000 workers from the Group’s units have returned to work after the week-long Lunar New Year (Tet) holiday.

Currently, Vietnamese textile and garment enterprises, including Vinatex have secured signed orders until the end of April. This is considered a good signal for the recovery of the Vietnamese textile and garment industry, especially as the country in a good position in a global supply chain redeployed after the COVID-19 pandemic crisis in 2020.

* The Trung Nam Construction Investment Joint Stock Company has launched the first phase of the Ca Na port project in Thuan Nam district in the south-central coastal province of Ninh Thuan.

The project covers an area of ​​more than 108 hectares, including two ports of 70-100 thousand tonnes; a port of 20 thousand tonnes, a warehouse, and service infrastructure.

Nature-friendly farmers in the Delta

Over the years, the Mekong Delta has fallen victim to drought and salinity invasion which cause great damages for the local people. However, there are some rays of hope. During the past five years, facing the shortage of freshwater in the dry season, some farmers in Dong Thap—a province of the Mekong River—have taken regulatory measures in agricultural production to adapt to climate change in a “nature-friendly” approach.

Many models of water-saving agricultural practices have been underway, contributing partly to reducing the volume of water used, greenhouse gas emissions and production costs in unfavorable weather conditions. Local farmers also practice alternate wetting and drying techniques, the use of in-field concrete irrigation systems, smart fertilizers, IoT (Internet of things) in irrigation pump system management.

This model was pioneered by My Dong 2 Agricultural Service Cooperative in Thap Muoi District of Dong Thap Province. According to Ngo Phuoc Dung, director of My Dong 2 Cooperative, to cultivate rice, farmers had to use a significant amount of water for irrigation. However, rice paddies do not have to be submerged in water all the time of the growth process. There are times, rice paddies can develop very well in a dry field. Therefore, applying alternate wetting and drying techniques and watering by concrete troughs may help save the volume of water used.

“Compared to the technique of flooded fields using pumped water, the new farming practice helps reduce 30% of water and also 20-30% of electricity costs. These figures represent not only economic benefit but also a message to the community that we farmers are making a change to be more responsible to the environment,” said Mr. Dung.

Aside from rice, water-saving models are also integrated in the cases of vegetables, flowers and fruit trees across the localities in Dong Thap. By the end of last year, the total area with the new economical irrigation system had reached 24,299 hectares versus 21,506 hectares in 2019. In addition, other agricultural models have been applied, such as net houses and smart water-saving irrigation systems along with training programs for farmers. From these State-supported models, quite a few farming households have taken in the integrated fish-rice or lotus-fish systems, which  yield a high economic efficiency, and, at the same time, use freshwater rationally.

During a recent meeting with leaders of Dong Thap Province discussing the impacts of climate change on agriculture in the region, Assoc. Prof. Le Anh Tuan, deputy director of the Institute for Climate Change of Can Tho University, stressed on the necessity of being “nature-friendly” in cultivation. “Climate change is inevitable and we need to come face to face with it,” said Mr. Tuan. “However, rather than seeing it as a confrontation, we should adapt ourselves to be more nature-friendly.”

According to Mr. Tuan, in the past, although climate change grew more extreme, the people in some provinces have come up with adaptive and effective agricultural practice models. For instance, the integrated rice-shrimp system in the coastal provinces, discharge dike system in Dong Thap to lure natural fish instead of building dikes for the third rice crop and the integrated lotus-fish or lotus-tourism systems. “To be harmonious with nature, people in the Mekong Delta have come up with new measures,” said Mr. Tuan. “The crucial point is we need to change our mindset about climate change to live in peace with nature.”

What’s more, experts say facing climate change which is ravaging the world, commodity production has to comply with environmental protection criteria, which is also one of the top binding regulations on imports under new-generation free trade agreements (FTA) singed by Vietnam.

That is how farmers in Dong Thap are going more “nature-friendly” to introduce their products to the world market.

HCMC proposes to exchange information of illegal immigrants

Ngo Minh Chau, Deputy Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee proposed to exchange information of illegal immigrants through trails along borderlines with neighboring countries.

In his urgent letter to provincial administrations in the southern provinces of Binh Phuoc, Tay Ninh, Long An, Dong Thap, Kien Giang and An Giang which share a border with other neighboring countries, Mr. Chau stated clearly that for the past time, many immigrants have entered Vietnam through trails along borderlines violating the governmental regulations of Covid-19 prevention and control.

Deputy Chairman Chau said in the letter that illegal immigrants have traveled many places contacting with many people; as a result, they have been causing the widespread transmission in the community.

Subsequently, state competent forces must be mobilized to track down all contacts as well as adopted preventative measures and quarantine contacts for the safety of city dwellers.

Therefore, to proactively prevent Covid-19 locally-transmitted cases because of illegal immigrants, the municipal People’s Committee made proposal to administrations of six neighboring provinces to send the information of illicit immigrants who are permanent dwellers or temporary residents in HCMC so that the People’s Committee have timely tracking and preventative measures.

Vietnam to deploy 500 policemen to Covid-19 hotspot

Hai Duong, the fresh coronavirus outbreak, is home to dozens of industrial parks with hundreds of thousands of workers.

The Ministry of Public Security will send 500 policemen to support the fight against Covid-19 in Hai Duong, the fresh epidemic center in Vietnam since late January.

The deployment of police officers to the coronavirus hotspot is to respond to the call for support by the local government, according to Sen. Lt. Gen. Nguyen Van Son, deputy minister of Public Security.

So far, Hai Duong recorded nearly 600 infections after the locality was affected by the resurgence of SARS-CoV-2 in late January. Rising infections have brought some localities under lockdown while the entire province is observing shelter-in-place order.

Police will help local authorities check the enforcement of safety rules in residential areas and at industrial parks to ensure social distancing and economic activities.

They assist the local government in keeping social security, residency management and illegal immigration.

At present, there are 959 checkpoints deployed with policemen to tighten control over quarantine and stay-at-home order.

According to Associate Prof. Tran Nhu Duong, deputy head of the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology (NIHE), Hai Duong currently has nearly 18,000 people who made contact with confirmed cases (F1), nearly 67,000 made contact with suspected cases (F2), and nearly 50,000 F3.

More than 160,000 people have been tested for the virus.

As the situation remains complicated, Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Truong Son said Hai Duong needs to prepare for the worse-case scenario in which the pandemic breaks out again.

As the Covid-19 outbreak remains uncertain, the local government has called for both financial and medical support by the central government. So far, some cities and provinces have committed money and face masks to the hotspot.

Source: VNA/VNS/VOV/VIR/SGT/Nhan Dan/Hanoitimes

EC allows Vietnamese exporters to extend deadline of REX applications

In particular, the first month of 2021 reported export revenue of US$27.7 billion, up 0.2% compared to December 2020 and up 50.5% compared to the same month in 2020. Important markets such as the US, China, the EU, and Japan all maintained growth in their demand of between 15 to 111%, compared to the same period in 2020.

Deputy Director of the Import and Export Agency under the Ministry of Industry and Trade Tran Thanh Hai said that the lessons learnt from dealing with adverse situations in 2020 will continue to be applied this year. The disruption of the global supply chain due to the COVID-19 pandemic has motivated Vietnamese enterprises to develop solutions to help them survive including enhancing online trading or shifting to the production of goods designed for pandemic prevention and control.

The business community has also made efforts to maintain competitiveness, improve product quality, and seek export orders, particularly for key commodities such as phones and components, electronics, computers, footwear, textiles, mechanics, and rice.

Rice export, which was a bright spot in agricultural exports in 2020, is facing an opportunity to increase export turnover thanks to high demand around the world and improvements to the quality of Vietnamese rice.

Economist Pham Tat Thang commented that enterprises are taking advantage of traditional markets combined with rapid penetration into new markets through free trade agreements ​​in order to take advantage of the new tax incentives therein.

With the efforts of authorities and enterprises, total export turnover in 2021 is expected to increase by 4-5% compared to 2020.

PV Power to divest subsidiaries and streamline operations

PetroVietnam Power (PV Power) has confirmed plans to divest from some of its subsidiaries.

PetroVietnam Power Corporation JSC (PV Power, HSX: POW) has just announced its plans for the period of 2021-2025 with several large sell-offs of its interest in subsidiaries.

Specifically, PVPower would reduce its majority ownership in four subsidiaries, including Hua Na Hydropower JSC (UPCoM: HNA), PetroVietnam Power Nhon Trach 2 JSC (HSX: NT2), PetroVietnam Power Technical Services Center (PV Power Services), and PetroVietnam Power Renewable Energy JSC (PV Power REC).

Besides, a number of new subsidiaries might be established to serve future activities.

PV Power will also take a different approach on Luang Prabang Co., Ltd., an associate, following the directions of the government and relevant authorities.

PVPower also plans to continue the full divestment of several other firms which it had plans to cut loose in 2016-2020. These include Nam Chien Hydropower JSC, Song Hong Energy JSC, PetroVietnam Urban Development JSC, Song Tranh 3 Hydropower JSC, EVN International JSC, PetroVietnam Mechanical and Electrical JSC, Viet Lao Power JSC, and PetroVietNam Machinery-Technology JSC.

At the same time, PetroVietnam will reduce its interest in DakDrinh Hydropower (PV Power DHC) below 65 per cent of the charter capital or the entire contributed capital. In case the corporation successfully equitises the company, it has to comply with regulations of the Vietnamese government, the Ministry of Finance, and credit contract with Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank – its foreign lender.

In addition, the firm is also implementing relevant procedures for the termination of the operation of Son Tra-Song Da Hydropower and Asia-Pacific Energy in accordance with the law.

As of September 2020, the company recorded a revenue of VND21.795 trillion ($947.6 million), down 17 per cent on-year. Its after-tax profit reached VND1.487 trillion ($64.65 million), down 40 per cent on-year.

VAMC bad debts exchange platform to soon receive approval

The Vietnam Asset Management Company (VAMC) bad debts exchange platform will be approved by the central bank at the beginning of 2021.

VAMC also handled and cooperated with credit institutions to handle the collection of non-performing loans (NPLs) with VND47.515 trillion ($2 billion) of principal balance (temporarily calculated), reaching 95.03 per cent of its plan for 2020.

As of December 31, 2020, VAMC bought bad debts with special bonds of around VND374.622 trillion ($16.3 billion). Moreover, the company’s debt recovery activities reached VND167.019 trillion ($7.26 billion). VAMC’s debt collection results accounted for 63 per cent of its total accumulated debt collection.

Furthermore, VAMC also coordinates with local authorities to assist customers in purchasing and completing relevant legal procedures to speed up debt collection. At the same time, VAMC also implements proper provisioning for better risk management.

Thang also revealed that the NPL exchange platform will soon be approved by the SBV soon in 2021. However, it will not be until early 2022 for the platform to be officially established.

Previously, the SBV issued the VAMC Development Strategy for 2021-2025 with a vision to 2030. The strategy clearly states that one of the major tasks for VAMC is to complete the establishment and put into operation the debt exchanging platform.

Nguyen Kim Anh, Deputy Governor of the SBV, suggested VAMC to continue to settle NPLs, according to the National Assembly’s Resolution No.42/2017/QH14 on the pilot settlement of bad debts of credit institutions dated June 21, 2017.

The Deputy Governor also requested VAMC to make great efforts to implement debt settlement and recovery plans, speed up the progress of handling bad debts, strengthen NPL trading activities as per the market mechanism, and soon put VAMC Debt Exchange into operation.

At the same time, VAMC needs to coordinate effectively with credit institutions in dealing with bad debts, actively implementing measures to control and limit arising bad debts in order to bring the NPL ratio on the balance sheet to a safe ratio (below 3 per cent), according to the SBV’s Directive on organising the implementation of key tasks of banking sector in 2021.

Authorities give long-awaited nod to huge property projects

Two long-delayed property ventures in the south and south-central regions of Vietnam have finally been given the go-ahead by authorities.

Meanwhile, ITC Spectrum last week also received the green light from Binh Dinh People’s Committee to continue its $250 million Vinh Hoi Hotel and Resort Complex, which initially received approval to be built back in 2006.

The 3-year delay in the Lotte venture was mainly due to overlapping of legal regulations. Lotte proposed to build the eco-smart city on a 5-hectare land plot in Thu Thiem New Urban Area in 2009.

“We have made a turnaround. Regarding how we proceed from now is up to discussion with the city people’s committee,” an official from Lotte Properties Ho Chi Minh City last week told VIR.

Resolution No.195/NQ-CP dated December 31 cited that the government approved the proposal from Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee, the Government Inspectorate, and the Ministry of Planning and Investment to assign Lotte Properties Ho Chi Minh City to continue to be the investor of the eco-smart city project.

“The People’s Committee is permitted to follow all of the procedures the investor had given previously, and Lotte has to finish all tax obligations as regulated by the law,” the resolution stated.

Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee was also assigned to instruct and inspect the investor to implement this project according to commitments on investment scale, timelines, planning, and other legal issues with an aim to ensure the highest efficiency for the project, it added.

In 2013, a consortium of four of the group’s South Korean affiliates and three other partners from Japan was set up to implement the project.

In 2015, Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee suggested selecting this consortium to implement the project by granting it the investment appointment without an auction. This selection, according to the committee, was based on Article 4 of the Law on Bidding 2013, citing that a certain investor can be chosen if it is the only one registered for this project.

The following year, the Lotte consortium advanced VND120 billion ($5.2 million) to implement the project. Later in 2016, the three Japanese investors withdrew. From then, the group was managed by Lotte Properties Ho Chi Minh City and investment capital dropped to $900 million.

The project, however, was halted by the city authorities to review the process of choosing investment and resetting all procedures in accordance with the current laws on bidding and investment.

According to Conclusion No.1041/TB-TTCP dated June 2019 by the Government Inspectorate, Lotte’s appointment by Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee did not comply with the relevant provisions of the Law on Bidding and the Law on Land. In addition, no land lease fees and taxes had been collected from the investor, despite it already occupying the area.

At the end of 2019, the committee also released two official documents to report the obstacles which have been halting the project. According to the documents, two solutions were proposed. The city could either nullify and reorganise the auction to choose new investors or retain Lotte as the investor to implement the venture.

In 2020, the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI) issued a document that analysed the advantages and disadvantages of both options. According to its assessment and opinions collected from related authorities, the latter option had more advantages.

In order to keep Lotte involved, the MPI suggested that the prime minister assign the Government Inspectorate to review all outstanding issues in order to establish a solid foundation for the final decision.

The inspectorate, meanwhile, cited that the permission for Lotte must be based on legal documents and suggested the MPI applies Article 26 of the Law on Bidding which regulates the “selection of investors in special cases”.

The government’s approval of this selection opens up the road for Lotte to go full steam ahead with the project, removing a gaping hole from the vista of Thu Thiem New Urban Area.

Meanwhile, the Vinh Hoi Hotel and Resort Complex may finally be able to lift off in Binh Dinh province.

After being licensed over a decade ago, the province last week ordered the prolonged preparatory work to be finished by April.

ICT Spectrum embarked on the project with great ambitions, signing with Marriott International to manage the project under two luxury hotel brands, Ritz-Carlton and JW Marriott, with the expectation that the project would be operational in 2014.

The project would have included an oceanfront, fully-integrated, mixed-use development including three resorts, an 18-hole championship golf course designed by Robert Trent Jones II, the residential villas, a retail village, an arboretum, and other recreational amenities.

However, after handing over the first 130ha of the 325ha project in 2011 for a total consideration of VND37 billion ($1.6 million) in land lease fees by the developer, construction has been stalling ever since.

The main reason for the huge delay, according to the committee, was the vast expense of land clearance and compensation.

“In many other projects, developers mostly advance a sum for the local authorities to do the land clearance and compensation. This advancement will be deducted from the developers’ land tax. This is the most feasible way to process the project,” said an official from the local committee, adding that such an arrangement was not reached for the project as neither sides could gather the funds required for the scope of the work.

In 2012 the government agreed to extend the lifetime of the project from 50 to 55 years to partly compensate for the delay. Some main facilities such as the road system around the project were built, but actual construction was never started.

The deadlock lasted until 2015 when the committee decided to revoke the project but the developer threatened to take the case to court. The chairman therefore directed local authorities to collect opinions from the related authorities and draft a plan to solve the impasse.

The committee chairman also requested the developer to submit the detailed design of the project to the competent body for approval, which was followed by further immobility.

This was broken last week, when in a document Binh Dinh People’s Committee Chairman Nguyen Phi Long urged local authorities to accelerate land clearance to allow the developer to begin the project before April.

Binh Dinh is one of the second-tier provinces attracting renewed interest from domestic and foreign developers.

In 2020, despite the impact of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the province has approved the choice of investors for 13 projects with a total investment capital of around VND28.5 trillion ($1.23 billion).

According to Nguyen Thanh Hai, director of Binh Dinh Department of Planning and Investment, in 2020 the province has attracted proposals for 155 investment projects with a total capital of VND51.6 trillion ($2.2 billion), up 28.63 per cent in the number of projects and up 4.03 per cent in total capital compared to 2019.

Foreign investors looking to develop wind farms in Lang Son

Foreign investors from the US and Singapore are interested in either surveying or implementing wind farms in Lang Son province.

“We realise that Vietnam is a country with abundant wind potential and Lang Son is one of the provinces with good potential for building wind farms in Vietnam. Research, survey, and development of wind power projects in Lang Son province,” stated the document.

The second one is the 253MW Ai Quoc project. Covering an area of 3,817ha in Loc Binh and Dinh Lap districts, the project would have a total investment capital of VND12.9 trillion ($560.86 million), expected to generate power in the period of 2024-2025.

Previously, the province approved Singapore-based BayWa r.e Wind Pte., Ltd. to study and survey three wind farms in Chi Lang, Loc Binh, Cao Long, and Van Quan since the third quarter of 2020.

In December, the company submitted a document to propose the province to approve its member company to handle the study and survey on these three projects once its member company is established in Vietnam.

According to BayWa r.e Wind Pte., Ltd., the company completed the procedure to establish BayWa r.e Wind Projects Vietnam Co., Ltd. in August 2020, which has chartered capital of VND232.9 million ($10,126), however, this member company has yet to be established due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

BayWa r.e Wind commits that when the member company is established, it will take over the work relating to these three projects.

EU supports Vietnam in adopting better management of packaging waste

The European Union cooperates with the Vietnamese Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MoNRE) and other stakeholders to take steps towards efficient plastic waste management in Vietnam to reduce marine plastic litter.

The information was stressed at a consultation workshop on Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) for Plastic Packaging co-hosted by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MoNRE), the EU and Expertise France on January 20 in Ho Chi Minh City. The principle of EPR mechanism is outlined in the revised Law on Environmental Protection (LEP) in Vietnam.

It requires companies to be responsible for recycling used packaging in accordance with the recycling rate and recycling standard set by MoNRE, in equivalent targeted amounts of what they put on the market.

Rui Ludovino, first counsellor of the Delegation of the EU to Vietnam told VIR that, “Plastic pollution is a global issue and affects all countries in the world. The EU is highly committed to sound waste management in our member states. We have been working on this topic for many years. In 2015, the first circular economy action plan was in place. Now, we have the second action plan on the circular economy, which is linked to a comprehensive European Strategy on Plastics in the Circular Economy.”

The plastic pollution around the world is dramatic. It affects the economy, the environment, and people’s health. If the rivers and the ocean are polluted in one country, this has also an impact on other countries. Therefore, this global issue needs international cooperation.

“The EU Plastics Strategy includes actions along different axes. The first one is to make recycling profitable for business. New rules on packaging aim to improve the recyclability of plastics used on the market and increase the demand for recycled plastic content. This will lead us to the second and third axes that is that plastic waste and pollution, particularly in the sea, should be substantially reduced. We need to manage packaging from products in a sustainable way by reducing, reusing, and recycling packaging. We have made efforts to improve waste management, sorting and recycling to create a market for secondary materials. For plastics being recycled and reused, there are a lot of economic gains in terms of materials, environment, and people’s health. With expertise in this field, the EU will work with Vietnam to support the implementation of the EPR policy,” he added.

In particular, this is provided in the framework of the project “Rethinking Plastics – Circular Economy Solutions to Marine Litter”, which supports the transition towards a circular economy for plastics in Vietnam and six other countries in East and Southeast Asia to contribute to a significant reduction of marine litter. It is co-funded by the EU and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) and Expertise France.

Besides other activities, “Rethinking Plastics” is supporting a pilot project in Ho Chi Minh City, which was launched in November 2020 to increase the collection, sorting, and recycling of plastic packaging to reduce its environmental leakage. It is implemented jointly by the French National Research Institute for Sustainable Development (IRD) and the Hanoi Architectural University (HAU), who amongst others, work on a guideline to classify and measure plastic packaging collection and recycling in rural and urban areas, improve waste sorting at source, and define best practices.

According to Phan Tuan Hung, director of the Legal Affairs Department of the MoNRE, Vietnam is exploring international practices with existing EPR systems in Europe and around the world, as well as practical tools and guidelines to implement such EPR mechanisms. Most EPR systems in the world have the obligatory ratio and process of recycling. This is the first time Vietnam sets the specific ratio and process for recycling, which will be applied to six sectors including batteries and accumulators, tires, lubricants, vehicles, and packaging.

“EPR schemes help enhance financial flows and multi-stakeholder partnerships that are important to boost the collection and recycling rates of plastics. We are working closely with key stakeholders, especially the business sectors to identify practical and feasible regulations in drafting the EPR Chapter in the Decree guiding the LEP to achieve the better management of packaging waste in Vietnam,” he said.

Better management of Vietnam’s packaging waste is also in line with a chapter on trade and sustainable development under the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA). In this chapter, the EU and Vietnam commit on both sides to cooperate on environmental issues like climate change response. If Vietnam can improve the management of plastic, it will improve the use of resources and reduce emissions.

Ludovino said that the EU is also enabling research and innovation for new plastics that can be better recycled and reused, as part of the Plastics Strategy. For Vietnam, it is important to identify the current practices to find solutions focusing on Vietnam reality with the involvement of different stakeholders. There is no one-solution fits all countries approach, even in the EU.

“I see a huge potential for a good economic model in Vietnam. Better management of plastic waste provides a lot of gains in terms of economic and environmental aspects, as well as resource efficiency. There is a lot of goodwill and commitment from the Vietnamese authorities, the government, MoNRE, and other ministries and provincial authorities and a lot of interests from the different producers and recyclers,” he said, noting that by adopting sound, efficient, and clean technology and practices, Vietnam can become more attractive to EU investors.

Representatives of the EPR National Platform – a national multi-stakeholder mechanism established by the MoNRE for exchange, dialogue, and synergy to facilitate the EPR implementation in Vietnam – and other academic associations and international organisations joined the workshop to lay the ground for the next steps for Vietnam’s packaging waste management.

For example, a dedicated handbook will be elaborated by the Rethinking Plastics project together with the EPR National Platform to provide a guiding reference to Vietnamese companies and other stakeholders on packaging waste management aspects.

HCMC collects VND40 trillion in tax revenue in January

In the first month of 2021, HCMC’s tax revenue reached VND40 trillion (US$1.7 billion), meeting 11% of the target for the whole year, said municipal vice chairman Vo Van Hoan.

At an online meeting of the Government with localities on the socioeconomic development in the month, Hoan said the revenue from local production and business activities was more than VND29.8 trillion and the earnings from import-export activities reached VND10 trillion, the local media reported.

On average, the city collected some VND2 trillion per working day, or 135% of the target. If the momentum is maintained, the city can meet the revenue collection target of nearly VND365 trillion in 2021.

Hoan said the city’s socioeconomic development indicators last month increased over the same period last year. Specifically, the total retail sales of goods and services picked up over 12%; export revenue, 16.4%; the export revenue from hi-tech products, 28.3% and the index of industrial production, 34.5%.

However, the tourism sector posted a plunge of 70% and catering services, 6.4%.

Enterprises in the city have increased the volume of goods to ensure sufficient supplies and prevent a price hike during the Lunar New Year holiday.

As for the fight against Covid-19, Hoan said since the first cases were detected in the northern provinces of Hai Duong and Quang Ninh, HCMC has detected the 1,660th patient. Those in direct contact with the patient have tested negative for the disease. Nearly 2,900 people are being quarantined in centralized quarantine centers and some 1,900 others at home and lodging facilities.

The city has yet to report locally-transmitted Covid-19 cases but faces a high risk of infection, so it has employed multiple measures to prevent the spread of the virus from outside, such as calling on residents to make health declarations, wear face masks and use hand sanitizers regularly, reducing the scale of events and festivals and allowing 1.7 million students to study online.

HCMC tourism association proposes solutions to support tour operators

The HCMC Tourism Association has proposed some solutions related to taxes and fees to support tourism firms that are facing a wave of tour cancellations due to the new coronavirus outbreaks.

Many tour operators are under stress as they have to refund their customers who have canceled tours, Tuoi Tre Online reported.

Meanwhile, they still have to make payments to service providers or negotiate with them to jointly share the risks since the new coronavirus wave emerged on January 28.

As such, the association proposed the competent agencies come up with suitable and flexible solutions to help tourism firms, lodging service providers and restaurants overcome the hardship, including reducing value-added tax by 50%.

Aside from the proposal to exempt them from land rent for the 2021-2022 period, the association proposed creating favorable conditions for tour operators to access preferential loans with a zero interest rate to help the firms retain workers and speed up recovery.

Also, the association proposed extending their debt payment deadline and re-issuing business licenses for free to tour operators and reducing electricity bills for restaurants and hotels this year.

Further, the association’s proposals include allowing tourism firms and employees active in the tourism sector to delay social insurance payments from 2021 to June 2022.

Nguyen Thi Khanh, chairwoman of the HCMC Tourism Association, said that the proposals were aimed at helping tourism firms overcome the hardships caused by the coronavirus.

Vietnam’s internet economy expected to hit US$43 billion by 2025

Vietnam’s internet economy is projected to reach US$43 billion in 2025 and new tech unicorns, which are technology startup companies with a valuation of US$1 billion or more, could appear in the country, according to a report of Do Ventures, a venture fund targeting startups in Vietnam and Southeast Asia.

Do Ventures said that Vietnam was highly valued thanks to the rise of the middle class and the surging number of internet users. Due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, more Vietnamese are opting for online platforms and services, including cashless payment methods.

In 2019, Vietnamese tech startups earned up to US$861 million in capital from 123 investment deals. In the first quarter of 2020, the amount of capital poured into the field totaled US$284 million.

In 2019, the country recorded 109 investors in the technology sector. In the first half of 2020, only a limited number of new investors joined the market, with investments mostly from domestic firms and foreign investors who had worked in Vietnam.

Do Ventures added that the Vietnamese market still remains highly attractive to tech investors. In the next 12 months, 50 investment funds operating in the six strongest economies in Southeast Asia will likely focus their attention on Vietnam and then on Indonesia, targeting the fields of education, healthcare and finance.

Tech investors have chosen Vietnam as their investment destination as they see better opportunities here than in other markets. In addition, they recognize the other favorable conditions such as macro factors, demographics and great growth potential owning to the rapid increase in consumption and undervaluation during the pandemic.

Among the Southeast Asian countries, Vietnam now ranks third in terms of the number of internet users, third in the mobile penetration rate and second by the average speed of mobile internet.

The Do Ventures report also praised Vietnam’s telecom industry as its three major telecom carriers—Viettel, VNPT and MobiFone—have piloted 5G services. The popularity of the internet helped raise the value of the local internet economy to US$12 billion in 2019.

Further, Do Ventures forecast that the online payment market in Vietnam would obtain further growth as the Mobile Money service will be launched in the upcoming time with the participation of various telecom carriers.

Quang Tri to start work on airport project this year

After receiving approval from the Ministry of Transport over its detailed plan for an airport project, Quang Tri Province is set to begin work on the airport in 2021.

Le Duc Tien, vice chairman of the provincial government, confirmed to the local media on January 26 that the Ministry of Transport had made a decision passing its detailed plan to build the Quang Tri airport.

Accordingly, the Quang Tri government asked the T &T Group to draw up a prefeasibility study report for the project.

The province will wait until many investors join in the construction in June and hold an auction, Tien said, asserting that the province will break ground on the airport, which is set to cost some VND8 trillion, this year.

The airport project is expected to contribute to the province’s socio-economic growth, Tien said.

The projected Quang Tri airport will be built on an area of over 316 hectares in Gio Linh District under the public private partnership format.

The Quang Tri airport will be constructed under the 4C standards of the International Civil Aviation Organization and handle one million passengers and 3,100 tons of cargo per year.

Vietnam cuts corporate income tax for science, tech firms

Companies active in the science and technology sectors in Vietnam will enjoy the exemption and reduction of corporate income tax for up to 13 years, beginning from March 1, 2021, according to Circular 03 issued by the Ministry of Finance.

Corporate income tax will be completely exempted in the first four years and reduced by half for the next nine years for new science and technology companies in accordance with Clause 12 of the Government’s Decree 13/2019/ND-CP and the Law on Science and Technology.

To be eligible for the tax reduction, the companies are required to have a Certificate of Science and Technology Enterprise issued by the relevant authorities.

Their annual revenue from producing and selling tech-based products must account for no less than 30% of their total revenue. Moreover, revenue from tech-based applications must come from new services, not services that already exist in the market.

Besides this, science and technology companies must comply with accounting and bookkeeping regulations and fulfill their tax liability in line with the law.

The corporate income tax reduction is expected to help boost the development of science and technology in Vietnam, the Ministry of Finance said.

HCMC to review property projects to prevent risks

The HCMC government has assigned the municipal Department of Natural Resources and Environment to work with other relevant agencies and departments to check and review realty projects, mainly high-end buildings, which have been approved for investment, to prevent potential risks.

If such property projects are delayed, their land will possibly be revoked in line with the law.

Besides, the municipal government told the HCMC Department of Planning and Investment to collaborate with the central bank’s HCMC branch to tighten control over foreign investment in the real estate sector and the transfer of proceeds from property projects to foreign countries to prevent money laundering and tax evasion.

In addition, the city will review mortgaged projects and long-delayed ones facing obstacles over regulations on land or delays in land use fee payments or the slow handover of house use right certificates.

Moreover, the municipal Department of Construction was tasked with keeping a close watch on the property market to promptly stabilize it to avoid a price hike and real estate bubbles.

The municipal government’s directives were made following an imbalance in the housing market in the city with high-end apartments increasingly abundant and homes for low-income people falling short.

The shortage of social homes and mid- and low-end houses has caused many difficulties in ensuring social welfare for medium- and low-income residents, according to a recent report of the HCMC Real Estate Association.

As such, the association proposed realty firms increase their investment in the mid- and low-end segments to contribute to addressing the imbalance in the housing market.

Furthermore, the association also expected the firms to closely collaborate with each other to control the prices of houses to avoid a housing price surge in 2021.

Commercial banks warn against fraudulent messages, websites

Scammers during the Tet holiday shopping craze are finding new ways to launch spoofing attacks through social media messages, even posing as commercial banks’ representatives to extract consumers’ info.

Multiple clients of Saigon Thuong Tin Commercial Joint Stock Bank (Sacombank) allegedly received phone messages from the bank’s SMS system, requesting password verification or offering transaction discounts. After filling out online forms as instructed, the clients found large sums of money had disappeared from their bank account.

According to Sacombank’s representatives, their SMS service provider had confirmed the messages were not sent from the bank’s phone system, and they are working with competent authorities to look into the matter.

Meanwhile, people have been baited into depositing money for low interest loans due to shopping demands in the Tet season. The Orient Commercial Joint Stock Bank (OCB) warns people against an elaborate scheme involving scammers impersonating loan agents of the bank using forged paperworks.

According to their representative, the bank does not require deposits, pre-payments or fees of any kind during loan review and analysis.

All commercial banks in face of the situation have advised against clicking on SMS links before verifying the domain, giving away their card security code and one-time password (OTP), or logging in to their bank accounts on public devices and networks. They also recommend clients to contact the official telephone hotline or the nearest branch for transactional support.

A number of found fraudulent websites include http://agribanks3.asia; http://agribanks.space, http://agribanks.edu.vn; http://agribanking.com.vn, http://agri2021.co, sacombank.net.vn, iisacombank.com; e-sacombank.com, among others.

The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) has requested credit institutions and related units to ensure network safety and security during important events and holidays in 2021 by closely monitoring activities and logs on their core transaction systems like ATM and Internet Banking, and strengthening defense against malware and targeted attacks.

Dong Nai considers extending completion time of road BOT project

The People’s Committee of Dong Nai Province is considering the suggestion to extend the time to complete the prolonged Road 319 BOT project by six months.

The project connecting with Ho Chi Minh City- Long Thanh- Dau Giay expressway was designed with its length of 1.9 kilometer and four lanes for vehicles. Construction started in July 2017 and its completion time was expected on December 31, 2020.

However, the project currently reaches only 73 percent of total volume so BOT 319 Cuong Thuan CTI Corporation, the project investor, asks permission of extending the implementation period until June 30, 2021.

Liquidity soars to record high in Vietnam stock market in January

Compared to the same period of last year, liquidity surged a whooping of 291.04% in transaction volume and 334% in value.

In January, Vietnam stock market continued to remain an attractive investment channel with investors pouring in VND335.9 trillion (US$14.6 billion) and 14.78 billion shares changed hands, up 17.37% and 8.71% month-on-month, respectively.

This average transaction value of VND16.8 trillion (US$730 million) for 739 million shares per trading session, representing increases of 34.97% month-on-month in value and 25.01% in volume.

Compared to the same period of last year, liquidity surged a whooping of 291.04% in transaction volume and 334% in value.

In January, foreign investors were involved with transaction value of VND64.2 trillion (US$2.78 billion) accounting for 9.57% of the total in the stock market. While they remained net sellers with VND3.4 trillion (US$147.7 million), the figure was down 16.93% against last month.

This came as foreign investors went for bottom-fishing strategy during a strong volatile period of the market that witnessed the benchmark Vn-Index to suffer a historic slump of 73.23 points late January, or a decline of 6.67% from the previous session, to 1,023.94.

However, since then, the market has been on a strong recovery trend and ended at 1,111.29 at the close yesterday [February 3], up 35.76 points or 3.32% from a day earlier.

As the Vn-Index’s free-fall occurred on the same day of the Covid-19 resurgence in Vietnam, Lan Anh, a broker expert at SSI Securities Corporation, told Hanoitimes that the government’s drastic measures to keep the situation under control would help further boost the market.

“Stable economic outlook and positive business performance of public firms in 2020 would gradually stabilize the market and even help it rebound strongly after the Tet holiday,” said Mrs. Lan Anh.

As of late January, total number of shares listed on the stock market amounted to 101 billion with the market capitalization of over VND3,900 trillion (US$169.3 billion), up 3.32% month-on-month and equivalent to 62.69% of the GDP in 2020.

Recruitment demand of foreign manufacturers surges in 2021

Foreign investors will likely expand their scales in new industrial zones in the south this year.

The recruitment demand of foreign manufacturers at industrial zones in the southern provinces of Binh Duong, Dong Nai and Long An and Can Tho City will increase in 2021, according to the latest report conducted by Navigos Search.

A report on middle and senior recruitment demands in Vietnam market in Quarter 4, 2020 and outlook in 2021 recently showed that many manufacturing enterprises from Europe, the US, China and Japan are exploring the market to invest in building their factories and developing production and business activities in Vietnam. Due to the land shortage in Ho Chi Minh City, the investors will likely expand their scales in new industrial zones further south.

According to Navigos Search’s analysis, Japanese manufacturing enterprises in the electronic and automotive spare parts plan to expand in 2021. Despite being heavily affected by Covid-19, Japanese manufacturing companies in Vietnam have officially returned to production and recruitment since the fourth quarter of 2020. A number of electrical/electronic enterprises have increased their production capacity to meet the market demand, and some in the furniture industry have doubled their yield compared to the pre-pandemic time.

There are also significant changes in recruitment demands in Japanese companies. For candidates who can speak Japanese only, both job opportunities and salaries considerably drop, meanwhile those fluently both English and Japanese are almost a decisive factor in recruitment.

Huge recruitment demand in IT this year

Navigos Search observed a quick recovery of recruitment in the information technology (IT) industry in the fourth quarter of 2020. The enterprises continue to recruit, focusing on high-quality people who master the most up-to-date technologies to increase their products and services’ competitiveness. New entrants are quickly building their recruitment brands and having good salary and bonus policies to attract qualified personnel.

Although the pandemic delayed recruitment in the IT industry, businesses in the sector are studying and making plans to recruit 1,000 engineers in 2021.

The report also found that local banks are planning to recruit a large number of employees for credit sales (customer relations). In addition, hiring in the technology and data sectors will be boosted due to strong demand for digital transformation at commercial banks.

Regarding the insurance industry, as a number of life insurance companies have signed exclusive contracts with commercial banks in bancassurance, they are in need of hiring consultants to work full time.

Vietnam tourism develops unique, unusual tours to lure visitors in 2021

The tourism industry identifies domestic travelers as the key segment for its development this year.

Local enterprises have offered many new unique and unusual products to lure domestic visitors in 2021, along with traditional tours to adapt to the new normal context, according to Chairman of the Hanoi UNESCO Travel Club Truong Quoc Hung.

Mr. Hung told Ha Noi Moi Newspaper that in addition to traditional tours such as eco-tourism and hospitality, adventure tourism and wildlife discovery are forecast to be a new trend this year.

In 2021, many localities plan to organize running events, as well as other major sports tournaments to attract athletes and tourists, such as Tien Phong Gia Lai (in March), the Vietnam Jungle Marathon (slated for March), the VnExpress Marathon Amazing Halong (August), the Hanoi International Heritage Marathon (September).

International paragliding tournaments in the northern provinces of Lai Chau and Lao Cai are expected to take place this year.

Many adventure tours are expected to be held in 2021 such as mountain climbing and trekking for young people who love to explore nature. On January 14, the Hanoi UNESCO Travel Club organized a new caravan and trekking farmtrip to conquer the Puxailaileng Mount (the central province of Nghe An) with the aim of developing adventure and community tourism products for the province.

In 2020, a number of sport tournaments was suspended due to the impact of Covid-19, while some others still went on attracting thousands of athletes and visitors.

Quang Ngai, the central province of Vietnam, witnessed the participation of about 2,000 local and international runners at the 61st Tien Phong Marathon held last July in Ly Son Island. The event was successfully and safely organised thanks to good preparation of local authorities and relevant branches.

Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Quang Ngai province Nguyen Minh Tri said that the marathon held in Ly Son Island opened up great potential for local tourism, allowing Ly Son to organize other large-scale activities with the participation of thousands of people.

Other successful events included the Mekong Delta Marathon 2020 held last November in the Mekong Delta province of Hau Giang with more than 7,000 athletes; the 2020 Open Putaleng Paragliding Tournament held last December in the northern province of Lai Chau; and another paragliding event was open in Mu Cong Chai district in the northwestern province of Yen Bai in June.

Forum looks to reduce energy consumption in transport

Experts gathered at a forum in Hanoi on February 5 to discuss measures to reduce energy consumption in the transport system towards effective use of energy for economic development in the sector.

Attributing traffic congestion and exhaust emissions from old and ragged vehicles to bad air quality that threatens local health, Associate Professor Nguyen Hong Thai, vice chairman of the Vietnam union of railway transport, suggested the transport sector integrate reduction of greenhouse gas emission into transport planning and investment projects.

It is necessary to raise public awareness of measures to cut greenhouse gas emissions such as using biofuels, and limiting personal vehicles with a view to building a green public transport system, he said.

According to deputy head of the Environment Department under the Ministry of Transport Nguyen Huu Tien, development of energy-saving transportation has been integrated in the sector’s development policies.

“In the past time, the sector has paid due heed to branching out energy-saving means of transportation, while issuing regulations on stamping fuel efficiency labels to nine-seat cars and motorbikes “, he said, adding the ministry also worked with the Ministry of Science and Technology to set up and issue Vietnamese standards on fuel consumption limit for cars and motorbikes.

Tien said in the coming time, priority should be given to developing bulk carriers which are energy saving such as railway and waterway towards establishing multi-mode freight transport firms.

The transport sector should continue to outline standards on fuel consumption or several vehicles, and pen policies and a roadmap to switch the use of fossil-fuelled vehicles to those that use renewable energy, contributing to ensuring energy security and protecting the environment, he stressed./.

Source: VNA/VNN/VNS/SGGP/VOV/NDO/Dtinews/SGT/VIR

The Ho Chi Minh City tourism sector this year plans to focus on digitalisation of the industry and promotion of domestic tourism amid a downturn in tourism because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The sector will continue its efforts to boost domestic tourism as the main factor driving the recovery of the tourism industry.

The tourism communication and stimulus campaign, ‘Hello Ho Chi Minh City,’ has been implemented to promote the city as a safe, vibrant and friendly destination.

Tourism cooperation and linkages between HCM City and the Northeast, Northwest and the Central regions will also serve to boost domestic travel.

The city aims to receive 33.5 million domestic visitors this year if COVID-19 remains under control in the country./.

Tet sales increase sharply on low prices

With a week to go for Tet (the Lunar New Year) sales of goods bought to celebrate the Lunar New Year have increased by 30-40 percent from normal times, according to market observers.

They attribute it to prices remaining steady and people’s increasing income at the end of the year.

Saigon Co.op’s supermarket chains have managed to meet market demand thanks to early preparation of goods, accurate forecast of demand and discounts, Nguyen Anh Duc, its permanent deputy general director, said.

In January sales increased by 37 percent compared to the same period in the previous month, with growth of fresh and processed foods, cosmetics, kitchen appliances, and garments being high, he said.

There have been no shortages of goods, especially pork, and no price hikes, he said.

Dinh Quang Khoi, head of marketing and customer care at MM Mega Market Vietnam, said customers have bought Tet goods earlier than usual, and retail sales increased by more than 10 percent compare with same periods of last year, while the increase is 5 -6 percent if the wholesale segment is included.

Shopping malls in Ho Chi Minh City like Vincom Central Dong Khoi, Takashimaya and Aeon Celadon Tan Phu are crowded, especially at weekends.

Sales of processed foods are expected to go up by more than 20 percent.

People are switching more and more to poultry meat and eggs instead of pork because the pork price is rising to the delight of companies like San Ha, Ba Huan and Vinh Thanh Dat.

According to experts, the prices of many items have never been so stable as this year as the Covid-19 pandemic caused global demand to shrink.

Many products could not be exported, and so producers and distributors switched their focus to the domestic market, increasing supply.

To sustain demand in this scenario enterprises have had to improve quality and keep prices competitive./.

HCM City in top six most preferred markets for investment: CBRE

There was an increase in interest in Ho Chi Minh City which ranked sixth among Asia Pacific investors’ most preferred property markets for investors, according to a survey by market research firm CBRE polling more than 490 Asia Pacific-based investors in November and December 2020.

With the diversification of supply chains encouraging more manufacturing investment in the city, industrial and logistics assets are keenly sought after, said the CBRE’s 2021 Asia Pacific Investor Intentions Survey.

“HCM City has already been on the radar of investors in recent years, especially those who are looking to invest in Southeast Asia, as the city is viewed as having the potential for greater appreciation in property values and higher yields,” said Dang Phuong Hang, CBRE Vietnam Managing Director.

The survey outlines top 10 Preferred cities for cross-border investment, with Tokyo (Japan) in the first place, followed by Singapore, Seoul (the Republic of Korea), Shanghai and Beijing (China), HCM City, Shenzhen (China), Sydney (Australia), Osaka (Japan) and Melbourne (Australia).

Investors who expressed interest in investing in Southeast Asia indicated that they are willing to pay more for real estate purchase. 39.4 percent of these investors are comfortable to pay more than 10 percent higher this year than what they are willing to pay in 2020, while 19.7 percent are willing to paying up to 10 percent higher.

In the search for returns, investors looking at Southeast Asia are turning to value-added and core assets, even though there are some who are starting to look at distressed assets. Industrial/logistics and office remain their preferred sectors, while the hospitality sector is gaining favour.

Henry Chin, CBRE’s Global Head of Investor Thought Leadership and Head of Research, Asia Pacific, said: “stronger interest in core investment reflects investors’ greater emphasis on tenant credit and stable cash flows.”

“Assets with a solid rent roll of three years or longer typically attract far more bidders than those lacking this type of security,” he added.

Logistics was the most popular sector for investment as the pandemic-driven acceleration of e-commerce consumption boosted demand for this asset class. While interest in the office sector weakened, investors retain an optimistic view towards this sector, expecting a contraction in office purchasing activity of no more than 10 percent over the next three years./.

January sees largest capital injection into stock market since early 2020: SSI

January saw the largest amount of investment capital poured into Vietnam’s stock market since the beginning of 2020 on the back of strong exchange traded fund (ETF) inflows, according to a report by SSI Securities Corporation.

Vietnam is Asia’s only stock market with non-stop capital injection over the last four week as it attracted more than 100 million USD last month thanks to massive ETF inflows, outweighing the net capital withdrawal of around 23.5 million USD, said SSI’s February strategic stock market report entitled “Co hoi trong bien dong” (Opportunity in volatility).

ETFs have also raked in about 129 million USD, or two third of the total inflows in 2020, mostly into VFM Diamond ETF (1.31 trillion VND or 57.15 million USD) and VFM VN30 ETF (860 billion VND).

The market also experienced strong foreign buying in the last three days of the month, raising foreign players’ net purchases of shares in January to about 127 billion VND.

SSI stated that Vietnam has become a quite attractive market largely owing to the country’s successful containment of COVID-19, positive economic growth and the fact that it remains a destination of the ongoing global production shift.

Though the pandemic has been a key contributor to the market volatility during this period of time, capital injection from ETFs into Vietnam remains a positive driver of the stock market, SSI said, adding that this also means increasing level of volatility.

According to the report, more than 81 billion USD was poured into stocks in both developed and emerging markets across the worrld last month, also with the domination of the ETFs./.

Vietnam increases pork imports to cool off rising domestic prices

Vietnam imported more than 141,000 tonnes of pork worth 334.4 million USD in 2020, representing a rise of 382 percent and 500 percent over the previous year, respectively, customs statistics showed.

The increase in imports was to make up for the shortage in pork supply caused by African swine fever which pushed up domestic prices in the first months of 2020.

The pork was mainly imported from Brazil, Russia, Poland, the US and Canada. Brazil was the largest exporter of pork to Vietnam last year, accounting for 24.5 percent of the import volume.

The average pork import price was 2.2 USD per kilo.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Vietnam approved 25 countries to export livestock and poultry meat to Vietnam, including more than 800 enterprises from 19 countries allowed to export pork to Vietnam.

Vietnam imported more than 43,300 pigs for breeding, mainly from Thailand, Canada, the US, Denmark and Taiwan (China).

Live hog prices tended to increase in many provinces across the country from early January due to increases in consumption demand ahead of Tet (Lunar New Year) to around 80,000 – 84,000 VND (4 USD) per kilo, around 5,000 VND higher than the end of December.

However, in recent days, pork prices decreased by around 1,000-5,000 VND per kilo.

Nguyen Van Trong, Deputy Director of the ministry’s Department of Livestock Production, said pork prices dropped in recent days because processing companies reduced their purchases as they had enough goods for consumption during Tet.

The enhanced prevention against smuggling of pork to China together with the increase in supply also helped lower pork prices.

Now Vietnam had 27.3 million pigs, an increase of 21 percent over a year ago and equivalent to 88.7 percent of the time before the disease occurred.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade said that early preparations were made to ensure enough supply of pork for Tet with many enterprises launching price stabilisation programmes./.

Australian expert highlights Southeast Asia’s trade prospects

Richard Maude, Senior Fellow at Australia’s Asia Society Policy Institute, has spoken highly of trade prospects of Southeast Asian nations against the backdrop of COVID-19.

In an article, he said that global trends in trade, foreign investment and production offer a mix of peril and opportunity for the Southeast Asian governments as they try to steer their damaged economies towards recovery.

“Beset by lockdowns, disrupted supply chains and travel restrictions, world trade volumes fell by historically steep levels in the first half of 2020. Southeast Asia was no exception – the region’s economies rely heavily on external demand and many play increasingly significant roles in East Asian supply chains,” he continued.

In the second quarter of 2020, for example, the value of goods exported from the ten members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) fell by 15 percent on a year-on-year basis and imports fell by 27 percent.

Foreign direct investment flows to Southeast Asia also declined sharply early in 2020.

The vertiginous plunge in world goods trade, at least, may now be bottoming out, but the International Monetary Fund (IMF) remains decidedly gloomy about prospects for a trade-led recovery in Asia.

Even so, amid all the uncertainty and downside risk, Southeast Asia may yet find itself better placed than other regions to trade itself out of trouble, the expert said, citing that East Asian economic regionalism will strengthen as one of the reasons.

Most major East Asian economies – China, Japan, the Republic of Korea and Taiwan – have managed to re-open their economies. China’s giant economy in particular is once again growing and helping keep Southeast Asian trade afloat.

Domestic consumption in Southeast Asia could double to 4 trillion USD over the next ten years.

Within the region, there are also signs the deep economic slump of the first half of 2020 is easing, at least in those parts of the region where the pandemic has been tamed. The decline in ASEAN global goods exports and imports, for example, slowed in the third quarter of 2020 on a quarter-on-quarter basis.

Vietnam, one of the best performing ASEAN economies, managed to eke out a small increase in economic growth in 2020, he cited.

Once it enters into force, the newly signed Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) trade deal will give intra-Asian trading another boost. It is an incentive for large corporations to locate as much of their supply chains as possible within the bloc.

“ASEAN is also well placed to benefit from supply chain diversification within East Asia. Some manufacturing was already shifting to Southeast Asia before the pandemic.”

The pandemic has now reinforced interest from companies from around the world in regionalisation and supply chain diversification. Some governments, Japan, for example, is offering financial incentives to some of its companies to build production sites in Southeast Asia.

Like the rest of the world, the region faces headwinds and uncertainties, Maude noted, putting forth some suggestions for regional countries to use trade to help drive economic recovery./.

Tet sales increase sharply on low prices

With a week to go for Tet (the Lunar New Year) sales of goods bought to celebrate the Lunar New Year have increased by 30-40 per from normal times, according to market observers.

They attribute it to prices remaining steady and people’s increasing income at the end of the year.

Saigon Co.op’s supermarket chains have managed to meet market demand thanks to early preparation of goods, accurate forecast of demand and discounts, Nguyen Anh Duc, its permanent deputy general director, said.

In January sales increased by 37 per cent compared to the same period in the previous month, with growth of fresh and processed foods, cosmetics, kitchen appliances, and garments being high, he said.

There has been no shortages of goods, especially pork, and no price hikes, he said.

Dinh Quang Khoi, head of marketing and customer care at MM Mega Market Viet Nam, said customers have bought Tet goods earlier than usual, and retail sales increased by more than 10 per cent compare with same periods of last year, while the increase is 5 -6 per cent if the wholesale segment is included.

Shopping malls in HCM City like Vincom Central Dong Khoi, Takashimaya and Aeon Celadon Tan Phu are crowded, especially at weekends.

Sales of processed foods are expected to go up by more than 20 per cent.

People are switching more and more to poultry meat and eggs instead of pork because the pork price is rising to the delight of companies like San Ha, Ba Huan and Vinh Thanh Dat.

According to experts, the prices of many items have never been so stable as this year as the Covid-19 pandemic caused global demand to shrink.

Many products could not be exported, and so producers and distributors switched their focus to the domestic market, increasing supply.

To sustain demand in this scenario enterprises have had to improve quality and keep prices competitive.

One Commune One Product attracts Tet shoppers

Many products made under a programme called ‘One Commune One Product’ have become a big hit with consumers seeking to buy gift hampers for Tet (Lunar New Year).

Sticky rice grown by the Khau Nua Lech Thuong Quan Rice Cooperative in Bac Kan Province’s Ngan Son District is one such.

The co-operative has had to mobilise a lot of manpower to fulfil the mountain of orders it got.

Its rice is renowned for its plasticity and aroma, and is well known to consumers across the country.

According to a co-operative spokesperson, 100 additional workers were hired for packaging and delivery but demand still not be met.

In the last month or so it supplied more than 10 tonnes of rice to markets such as HCM City and Ha Noi.

Phan Thanh Hieu, director of the Phuong Nam Food Joint Stock Company, said this year, due to the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic, businesses had prepared for low demand, but two high-end products, organic ST 25 and ST 25 rice varieties, grown together with shrimp in Soc Trang Province, are out of stock.

“We have had to turn down many orders or deliver less than the ordered quantity though the rice prices are four to five times higher than that of other rice. ST 25 grown together with shrimp has a price of VND285,000(US$12.4) for 5kg, VND15,000 higher than ST 25.”

Le Kieu Phuong, director of Phuc Thinh Production and Commerce Co. Ltd, said her company recently got a One Commune One Product (OCOP) certificate for its three prawn cracker production lines in Ca Mau Province.

It is now working on selling the products to major supermarket chains before Lunar New Year with the aid of the certificate, she said.

In Dong Nai Province, where more and more people are becoming interested in regional specialties, seven OCOP producers have signed contracts with Central Retail Viet Nam to sell 21 items.

Nguyen Thi Bich Van, media director of Central, said the two supermarkets would design their display shelves to ensure OCOP products easily catch the eye of shoppers as part of a commitment to support them.

MM Mega Market is also selling 56 OCOP confectionery and jam products for Tet at discounts of up to 50 per cent to introduce them to customers.

Do Quoc Huy, marketing director of Saigon Co.op, said the company is helping develop OCOP goods, but their limited production means they could only be sold locally and not across its retail chains.

The two-year-old OCOP programme has helped a number of localities develop a wide variety of agricultural and non-agricultural products, providing steady incomes to many locals.

COVID-19 pandemic continues to ravage travel industry

A resurgence of Covid-19 just before the Tet (Lunar New Year) holiday has hugely impacted travelling, again demonstrating its impact on the tourism industry.

“There has been an immediate impact on the hospitality business with several cancellations across the country, not only in the affected destinations but anywhere with access via an airport,” Mauro Gasparotti, director of Savills Hotels Asia Pacific, said.

“Prior to these local transmissions, the industry was anticipating increased travel demand during and after the Tet holiday, which would have been a good start to the year,” Gasparotti said.

Travel interest is diminishing amid a mist of uncertainty with air travel demand dropping 15 per cent immediately after the news release.

Online flight search demand to Da Nang and HCM City during this peak period of the year dropped 35 per cent and 34 per cent week-on-week respectively, according to OTA Insight.

Some companies immediately enforced travel restrictions, with requests to limit attending events and large gatherings.

This has directly affected MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions) business in city hotels, where several conferences have been put on hold or delayed.

Drive-to destinations have also been affected by weekend cancellations.

Last year international arrivals to the country numbered just 3.8 million, a 78 per cent decline from 2019.

Domestic traveller numbers fell 34 per cent to 56 million.

Hotels and resorts suffered badly, with many being forced into temporary closure.

Last year occupancy and average daily rates (ADR) both dropped, while revenues fell 70 per cent.

In Ha Noi, the average occupancy was 32 per cent compared to 80 per cent in 2019 while it dropped to 23 percent in HCM City from 72 per cent.

The national average of 62 per cent in 2019 plummeted to just 24 per cent last year.

January started on a positive note, with hotels in key destinations seeing increased MICE and event bookings while at some resorts corporate bookings started to return, Gasparotti said.

“The market in 2021 is expected to be broadly similar to most of 2020, at least until borders reopen to leisure and business trade. Hotels have adapted by considerably reducing operating costs to establish lower breakeven points.

“The good news is that several destinations are still performing at acceptable levels.”

The performance in December and January was positive for destinations like Phu Quoc and Vung Tau, which appeal to both local leisure travellers and year-end company trips.

Some hotels have used promotions, such as ‘staycation’ packages and F&B deals to nurture local demand, which have propped up their numbers.

Fruit and vegetable exports decline by 7.6% in January

Vietnamese fruit and vegetable exports in January endured a drop of 7.6% to US$260 million compared to the same period from last year, largely due to unpredictable developments relating to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD).

The MARD’s Agro-Processing and Market Development Authority stated that China was the leading importer of local fruit and vegetables last year, making up 56.3% of the total market share, although fruit and vegetable exports to this market fell by 25.7% to US$1.84 billion compared to 2019.

Elsewhere, the United States market ranked second with US$168.8 million, followed by Thailand with US$157.2 million, the Republic of Korea with US$143 million, and Japan with US$127.7 million.

Furthermore, January saw the country’s import value of fruit and vegetables enjoy an annual increase of 22.3% to US$140 million, with China, the US, and Australia representing the three largest suppliers to the Vietnamese market.

Moreover, the import value of fruit and vegetables from China in 2020 decreased by 21% compared to 2019’s figures, while imports from the US and Australia witnessed respective increases of 2.3% and 1%.

Due to complicated developments relating to COVID-19, the nation’s fruit and vegetable export activities have been significantly impacted as consumers have changed their shopping habits with several countries also moving to tighten import procedures as a way of securing their borders.

Experts have therefore advised local firms to strive to strengthen their supervision over product quality to avoid violating quarantine regulations, and ensure that food and safety rules are followed as a means of facilitating relevant customs clearance processes.

Acceleration opportunity for Vietnamese AI startups

The AI Accelerator Challenge 2021, organised by VSV Foundation under the auspices of the Ministry of Science and Technology and funded by the Australian Embassy, is officially open for registration.

The AI Accelerator Challenge 2021(AAC 2021) is an acceleration programme specifically designed for Vietnamese AI startups with innovative ideas and products that address the practical needs of the market.

AAC 2021, themed “AI in pandemic – Adapting to the new normal”, has been organised with the goal of identifying, incubating, promoting, and developing potential AI-powered applications in numerous fields such as finance, commerce, electronics, telecommunications, manufacturing, agriculture, healthcare, education, transportation, and smart city development. Participants will have the opportunity to undertake a 4-week online training course, after which the top five teams will be awarded prizes including a service support package worth VND500 million($21,740), a business promotion and mentoring course worth VND200 million ($8,700) and up to VND200 million in seed investment with no equity required.

The programme will assist Vietnam’s economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as help to foster the development of a vibrant AI startup environment. “Vietnam should be very proud of its successes in tackling COVID-19,” said Andrew Barnes, Australian Chargé d’Affaires to Vietnam. “Through sponsoring programmes to promote innovative applications using AI, Australia is demonstrating its strong commitment to assisting Vietnam in overcoming the COVID-19 pandemic, supporting economic recovery, and strengthening its innovation system.”

“The government is trying to implement many activities to cope with disruptions caused by COVID-19, in which innovation and the application of advanced science and technology have been defined as the key to increase the resilience of businesses and the recovery of the economy. AI is one of the core technologies that promise to revolutionise many of Vietnam’s key socioeconomic sectors such as health, education, business, commerce, finance, and agriculture,” Deputy Minister Bui The Duy from the Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST) added.

“We are proud to be a part of this programme,” said Thach Le Anh, founder of VSV Foundation. “AAC 2021 will not only allow Vietnamese AI startups to receive mentoring from top AI technology experts but also support them with business development and fund-raising, including by raising capital from angel investors and leading domestic and foreign venture capital funds. The startups will be able to raise up to VND2 billion ($86,960) after the programme ends.”

This programme is funded by Australia’s flagship Aus4Innovation programme which will disburse AUD11 million ($8.44 million) over four years (2018-2022) to strengthen the Vietnamese innovation system and prepare for Vietnam’s economic and digital future. It is funded by the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and managed by the Australian Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation in strategic collaboration with the MoST.

Investors give EVN Genco 2 cold shoulder at IPO

Despite Power Generation Corporation 2 (EVN Genco 2) owning substantial interests in several thermal and hydropower plants, 99.97 per cent of the stake it offered at its initial public offering (IPO) was unmarketable.

The Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange (HSX) has published the results of the auction registration for the stake of EVN Genco 2.

The company offered 580 million shares or 48.9 per cent of its charter capital to investors with the initial price of VND24,520 ($1.06) per share and expected to acquire VND14.225 trillion ($618.5 million) from the sale.

However, only 14 investors registered to join the auction, registering 262,500 shares, including 200,000 shares from a single foreign investor, 10,500 shares by five Vietnamese people, and 52,000 shares by eight domestic investors.

At present, EVN Genco 2 owns a 100 per cent stake in Trung Son Hydropower One Member LLC, which operates Trung Son hydropower plant with the designed capacity of 1 billion kWh per year.

It also owns a series of thermal power companies including Pha Lai, Haiphong, and Thac Mo, among others.

According to its financial statement, the company generated 17.8 million kWh, equaling 97 per cent of its plan for the whole year and 7 per cent of the power coursing through the whole national power grid.

The unmarketable IPOs of EVN Genco had precedent because they own too many member companies and subsidiaries. Buying stakes in the plants one by one will help investors limit risks.

Previously, EVN Genco 3 failed in its IPO in February 2018 when only 2.8 per cent of the offered shares was sold.

Vietnam targets 60 – 62 bln USD from agro-forestry-fisheries export by 2030

Vietnam has set a goal of earning around 60-62 billion USD from agro-forestry-fisheries export by 2030 under a project recently approved by the Prime Minister.

The project looks to fully and sustainably join the global supply chain of agro-forestry-fisheries, improve the quality and value of their export to meet regulations of importers, and develop their trademarks in international markets.

Of the figure, 25 billion USD will be from major farm produce, 16-17 billion USD from forestry products, 15 billion USD from aquatic products, 3-4 billion USD from animal husbandry products, and nearly 2 billion USD from others.

Agro-forestry-fisheries export is expected to grow by some 6-8 percent annually. About 40 percent of export will be national brands, 70 percent have their origins traced, and around 60 percent of exports are processed and deeply processed ones.

To such end, the project targets fine-tuning mechanisms and policies to ensure food safety and develop support industry, assisting firms in protecting intellectual property right in export markets, popularising trademarks on domestic and foreign media./.

Central localities seek new development routes amid COVID-19

Central provinces must adjust their socio-economic development goals and strategies to minimise the adverse effects brought by the COVID-19 pandemic and natural disasters in 2020, officials have said.

Nguyen Tan Tuan, Chairman of the People Committee of Khanh Hoa province, said while the province’s tourism industry was hit especially hard, growth in the industrial sector managed to stay positive.

“Since the beginning of the pandemic, we have made it our highest priority to keep the virus in check. Our effort has allowed us to attract a number of foreign investors as they moved from regions hard-hit by COVID-19,” Tuan said.

He said the province has been making use of the downtime to upgrade and invest in its tourism infrastructure, waiting for international tourists to return. In the meantime, Khanh Hoa has started several promotion campaigns to attract domestic travellers.

Meanwhile, Quang Nam made significant gains in developing modern agriculture in 2020 despite being one of the central provinces severely hit by natural disasters last year.

“Agriculture has always been a key priority in our province’s development scheme. During the pandemic, it has become Quang Nam’s economic driver,” said Le Van Dung, Deputy Secretary of the provincial Party Committee.

Dung said with tourism and commerce disrupted because of the pandemic and natural disasters Quang Nam chose to make large investments in industrial projects to mitigate the economic damage to the province in the long run.

Quang Ngai, a traditionally strong economic performer in the region thanks to being home to the country’s largest oil complex the Dung Quat Refinery, has been looking for ways to become less reliant on the oil industry.

Dang Van Minh, Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee, said the province has been working with its partners to set up numerous large-scale industrial parks.

“We want to become one of the country’s best destinations for investments and industrial development. The province aims to build a transparent and healthy business environment to win over potential investors,” said Minh.

Meanwhile, Da Nang, the central region’s main economic hub and the city most affected by the pandemic with nearly 200,000 jobs lost during 2020, said it has set a new course to push for greater digitalisation of commerce, smart city technologies and star ups culture.

“The city aims to diversify its economy. While we still identify tourism and services as major industries we want to see strong development on the fronts of information technology and digitalisation in the near future,” said Nguyen Dinh Vinh, head of the municiapal Party Committee’s Board for Information and Education./.

Cambodia to resume farmed fish import from Vietnam

The Cambodian Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries on February 8 issued a press release on the resumption of the import of aquatic products, including farmed fish, from neighbouring countries, including Vietnam.

The import suspension was announced by the Cambodian side one month ago.

On January 19, Vietnamese Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh sent a letter to Cambodian Minister of Commerce Pan Sorasak, saying Vietnam’s shipments of farmed fish failed to pass through customs and were returned.

The import ban showed signs of running counter to the trade liberalisation spirit of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and the ASEAN Economic Community, of which both countries are members, he said.

In the press release, the Cambodian Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries said it will continue to collect feedback from the Cambodian Aquaculture Association, importers and exporters, and concerned agencies that are Cambodia’s trade partners to build and recognise technical standards.

Le Bien Cuong, head of the Vietnamese trade affairs office in Cambodia, told the Vietnam News Agency on February 8 that the Cambodian side has shown its goodwill and active response.

Cambodia would consider imposing additional non-tariff technical measures in farmed fish import, including certificates of product origin and quality, he said.

According to the Vietnamese ministry, in recent years, Vietnam has exported about 60 million USD worth of aquatic products to Cambodia annually. Although Cambodia is not a major market of Vietnamese aquatic products, its stable import demand has contributed significantly to cross-border trade development, as well as job creation and income generation for local residents./.

VinFast acquires licence to test self-driving electric vehicles in California

VinFast has just become the 57th automaker to receive a licence to test self-driving electric vehicles in California, the US.

The company said its three SUV models VF31, VF32 and VF33 met the highest global safety standards including five-star ratings from the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the European New Car Assessment Programme.

VinFast has just become the 57th automaker to receive a licence to test self-driving electric vehicles in California, the US.

Automakers, including big names such as Apple, Tesla, BMW, and Volkswagen according to California’s Department of Motor Vehicles website, have also secured their licences to test run their vehicles in the Golden State, the world’s largest technology and innovation hub.

All three of the company’s models are to be equipped with level 2-3 autonomous features, which include 30 smart features divided into seven groups: intelligent steering assist system, lane control system, active journey control system, multi-point collision warning system, comprehensive collision mitigation system, intelligent automated parking system and driver monitoring system.

Models VF32 and VF33 will be sold in the US, Canada and Europe markets from 2022. The launch of high-tech electric vehicles, including electric scooters, electric buses and personal electric cars, is part of VinFast’s pre-defined roadmap since entering the automotive market three years ago.

Customers can start ordering the cars in May this year in Vietnam and in November in the US, Canada and the EU.

In Vietnam, Vietnamese automakers also started to install electric vehicle charging stations at commercial centres at Vinhomes Ocean Park, Vincom Long Bien in Hanoi to serve the first electric cars produced, expected to be available this year.

VinFast sold 31,500 cars in Vietnam last year, with its VinFast sedan and SUV models among the bestsellers in their respective segments./.

Agricultural, forestry, fisheries exports up sharply in January

Vietnam’s exports of agricultural, forestry, and fisheries products grew 27.1 percent year-on-year to 3.49 billion USD in January.

Rubber was the best performer in the opening month of the year, following on from its uptrend last year and totalling 200,000 tonnes worth 321 million USD, increases of 2.2-fold and 2.4-fold, respectively, year-on-year.

Shipments of key forestry products totalled 1.33 billion USD, up 47.8 percent year-on-year. Exports of wood and timber products alone reached 1.25 billion USD, up 48.4 percent.

Fisheries exports rose 19.6 percent to about 600 million USD, following repeated declines last year, especially after the outset of COVID-19.

Prawn exports experienced the highest growth last year among all fisheries items, up 11 percent to 3.7 billion USD.

Several major export earners, meanwhile, declined in January, including rice, fruit and vegetables, coffee, and pepper.

The country exported around 280,000 tonnes of rice for 154 million USD in the month, down 29.5 percent and 20.2 percent, respectively, from a year earlier.

A similar trend was seen in fruit and vegetables, with shipments reaching just 260 million USD, a year-on-year decline of 7.6 percent./.

Da Nang developing supporting industries

The central city of Da Nang has set a goal of developing supporting industries in tandem with high-tech industry to create products with high added value for export.

Under action programme No 01-Ctr/TU issued by the municipal Party Committee on December 10, 2020, the industry-construction sector is to grow by 11-11.5 percent annually between 2020 and 2025.

The municipal Department of Industry and Trade has reported that several large-scale projects in supporting industries have gradually joined the global supply chain.

Since 2016, Da Nang has attracted 24 new supporting industry projects worth over 9 trillion VND, two of which are foreign-invested, with 240 million USD, specialising in manufacturing aviation and automobile spare parts.

Da Nang is now home to around 110 supporting industry firms, accounting for 6.3 percent of all industrial enterprises in the city.

However, the number of domestic companies in the field remains limited, and most are of small scale with average technological capabilities. Meanwhile, foreign firms mostly process and assemble imported materials because the rate of domestically-made items remains low. Links between foreign and domestic businesses, meanwhile, are still less than needed.

General Director of the Long Hau Company, Tran Hong Son, said a number of local companies have yet to meet requirements for being recognised as supporting industry enterprises or manufacturers under Vietnam’s regulations.

He suggested quickly completing planning for an area devoted to supporting industry enterprises inside the Da Nang Hi-tech Park (DHTP) and putting it into operation to attract capable investors.

Head of the management board of the DHTP and industrial parks in Da Nang, Pham Truong Son, said the municipal People’s Committee has completed the planning for a supporting industrial park in the DHTP, which has been submitted to the Prime Minister for approval.

Once approved, Da Nang will outline a list of sectors in need of investment and then set up the park, the first of its kind in supporting industries in the city. Investors in the park would work with those at DHTP to create an industrial ecosystem.

If Da Nang develops supporting industries, investment will also pour into nearby localities, he said.

Under Politburo Resolution No 43/NQ-TW, Da Nang is to be a nucleus of the central key economic region and will develop hi-tech industries and information technology. To this end, Son suggested making the best use of its geographical location, infrastructure, human resources, and supporting industry.

Under the pending plan, the supporting industrial park is to cover an area of over 102 ha in Hoa Vang district, adjacent to the DHTP and the city’s information technology park.

In line with Resolution No 01-NQ/TU from the standing board of the municipal Party Committee, supporting industry enterprises will increase in number by 2030 and be capable of producing highly-competitive products, focusing on spare parts, software, and key services in support of priority industries. The city will also attract multi-national groups to guide and facilitate technology transfer.

By 2025, the city expects to have over 150 supporting enterprises, with at least 10 percent of domestic supporting enterprises being able to supply products to manufacturers. The value of the supporting industry will make up around 30 percent of added valued in the manufacturing and processing sector. At least one multi-national group or company is to invest in manufacturing end products.

Of the more than 300 supporting enterprises to be in business by 2030, at least 15 percent are to be able to directly supply products to manufacturers and assemblers. The value of the supporting industry will account for nearly 40 percent of added value in the manufacturing and processing sector and at least one multi-national group or company will invest in manufacturing end products./.

Source: VNA/VNN/VNS/SGGP/VOV/NDO/Dtinews/SGT/VIR