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VNFOREST believes its target is well within reach

According to Prof. Pham Van Dien, deputy director general of VNFOREST, the target is achievable because last year Vietnam made VND2.566 trillion ($111.57 million)from these services, accounting for 91 per cent of the initial expectation. Besides, the forestry sector will earn an average VND300-500 billion ($13.04-21.73 million) from decreasing emissions and increasing absorption of CO2.

VNFOREST plans to expand revenue sources for forest environment services to ecotourism, industrial manufacturing facilities, and aquaculture facilities. In addition, it will also implement project to increase carbon absorption (for example by changing the type of tree and expanding the area of mangrove forests).

VNFOREST is completing The National Forestry Development Master Plan for 2021-2030 with a Vision to 2045 to submit to the government for approval, along with the public investment programme on sustainable forestry development for 2021-2025.

Besides that, the country will develop forest environment services, diversifying income sources, with the expectation of acquiring VND3.5 trillion ($152.17 million) a year from the field by 2030.

Statistics from the Vietnam Forest Protection and Development Fund under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development shows that the revenue from forest environment service creates a livelihood for households and people joining the forest protection and development work in the country’s mountainous regions. Besides, these services would provide an alternative revenue source for forest companies when they cannot exploit natural forests.

By Kim Oanh

Workers from Vietnam Electricity (EVN) instruct a business owner in Hà Nội’s Thanh Oai District on how to use power economically and efficiently. — VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — The World Bank, acting on behalf of the Green Climate Fund (GCF), has signed a grant worth US$11.3 million with the State Bank of Việt Nam to support the development of a commercial financing market for industrial energy efficiency investments.

The total financing from the GCF also includes a $75 million guarantee.

Out of the grant, $8.3 million will be used to build capacities for the private sector to identify, appraise and execute energy efficiency projects.

It will also provide technical assistance to the Ministry of Industry and Trade and authorities to strengthen policy frameworks and regulations and create an enabling environment to accelerate the energy efficiency market in Việt Nam.

The remaining grant funds and the guarantee will be used to establish a risk-sharing facility to provide partial credit guarantees to support local banks who may risk potential defaults on loans for energy efficiency projects.

By reducing lending risks, the facility is expected to mobilise about $250 million of commercial financing to be provided to industrial enterprises and energy service companies at competitive terms and with low collateral requirements.

Carolyn Turk, Country Director for the World Bank in Việt Nam, said: “Scaling up energy efficiency is the single best and lowest cost option to achieve multiple goals at once: meeting energy demand, preventing pollution and reducing greenhouses emission while also increasing industry competitiveness.”

“Against the context of limited public financing for energy, the risk-sharing facility is an innovative financial instrument to crowd in private sector investment financing for a greater uptake of industry-wide energy efficiency measures,” she added.

The grant and guarantee are executed under the ‘Việt Nam Scaling up Energy Efficiency Project’ which aims to support the country in achieving energy efficiency targets in the Green Growth Strategy as well as emission reduction objectives under the National Determined Contributions.

According to the World Bank, as a country whose level of energy intensity and emission intensity is among the highest in the region, Việt Nam is actively embarking on the green energy transition and decarbonisation pathway.

The World Bank’s Low Carbon Study estimates Việt Nam could save up to 11 GW of new generation capacity by 2030 if comprehensive demand-side energy efficiency investments are carried out. The energy efficiency investment need for key industries in Viet Nam has been estimated at around $3.6 billion. — VNS

The New Zealand Embassy will provide NZ$ 50,000 (US$35,540) to a project to support 350 women workers in informal employment as street vendors, junk collectors, or housemaids, in cities of Đà Nẵng and Huế over the coming three months. Photo courtesy of New Zealand Embassy

HÀ NỘI — As many as 350 women in the informal economy will receive cash and training assistance worth NZ$50,000 (US$35,540) to overcome the impact of COVID-19.

The assistance, delivered by a project by New Zealand Embassy and ActionAid Vietnam, will reach female workers in the cities of Đà Nẵng and Huế who are working as street vendors, junk collectors, or housemaids.

Speaking at the launch of the project “Leave No One Behind in the Struggle Against COVID–19”, New Zealand Chargé d’Affaires Joseph Mayhew said this was is a practical initiative to help ease the economic impacts of COVID-19 and strengthen the resilience of more than 350 women workers, and their families, in Đà Nẵng and Huế’s informal sectors.

“I believe that supporting women workers in sectors that are hardest hit by the pandemic is a vital component of robust, inclusive, and equitable recovery,” he said.

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted Việt Nam’s tourism industry, with Đà Nẵng and Thừa Thiên-Huế, the two major international tourism hubs, particularly affected.

The project includes training on household economic literacy and management, women’s rights and child nutrition. The financial support can be used to purchase food, living essentials or small livelihood options.

According to ActionAid Vietnam’s recent research, more than 90 per cent of tourism sector workers lost employment and income due to COVID-19. In Đà Nẵng and Thừa Thiên-Huế, almost 90,000 people either became unemployed or suffered from greatly reduced income.

Only 22 per cent of the (ActionAid’s) surveyed workers currently have access to the Government’s VNĐ62 trillion relief package.

“This project is one way to help women workers become more visible in the public eye, and at the same time trying to set up a practical model where support can be delivered to the target groups and individuals in an efficient and transparent manner,” said Hoàng Phương Thảo, Country Director of ActionAid Vietnam.

“We want to contribute to the commitments of Việt Nam and New Zealand, of Leaving No One Behind in the struggles to overcome COVID-19,” she said. — VNS

A customer carries out a transaction at a branch of Asia Commercial Bank (ACB) in Hà Nội. ACB lost 2 per cent on Monday. Photo courtesy of ACB

HÀ NỘI — Vietnamese shares trimmed early gains on Monday with the VN-Index closing lower as banking stocks came under selling pressure towards the final minutes of trading.

The benchmark VN-Index on the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange edged down 0.04 per cent to close at 1,168.27 points.

It had risen 0.02 per cent last week.

More than 652.7 million shares were traded on the southern bourse, worth VNĐ15.6 trillion (US$673.9 million).

Market breadth was positive with 274 gaining stocks and 183 losers.

After the lunch break, the market fluctuated in a quite negative direction as many banking stocks dropped sharply and pushed the VN-Index down to the reference level.

Asia Commercial Bank (ACB) fell 2 per cent to VNĐ31,800 per share, VPBank (VPB) lost by 1.1 per cent to VNĐ41,350 per share, Vietcombank (VCB) declined by 1.5 per cent to VNĐ95,200 per share and Techcombank (TCB) dropped by 0.9 per cent to VNĐ38,850 per share.

On the opposite side, the oil and gas sector increased, becoming one of the best-performing sectors in Việt Nam on Monday, data on vietstock.vn showed.

Vietnamese oil and gas stocks grew well, including PetroVietnam Gas JSC (GAS), Viet Nam National Petroleum Group (PLX), PetroVietnam Drilling & Well Services Corporation (PVD), PetroVietnam Power Corp (POW), and PetroVietnam Technical Services (PVS).

“The market was moving sideways around 1,168 points. Liquidity increased slightly from the previous session and market breadth was positive, showing that investment cash flow is spreading,” said BIDV Securities Co.

“Foreigners were net sellers on both HoSE and HNX. The VN-Index is likely to consolidate in the range of 1,160-1,200 points in the coming sessions,” said the company.

Foreign investors net sold VNĐ1.25 trillion on HOSE, including PVPower (POW) (VNĐ212.8 billion), Vinamilk (VNM) (VNĐ203.9 billion) and Hòa Phát Group (HPG) (VNĐ171.5 billion). Foreigners were net sellers on the HNX to the tune of VNĐ9.56 billion.

The large-cap tracker VN30-Index gained 0.33 per cent to stay at 1,170 points.

Seventeen of the 30 large-cap stocks in the VN30 basket decreased while 12 climbed.

In the VN-30 basket, Masan Group (MSN) was the biggest decliner with a 2 per cent drop, Vinhomes (VHM), Vietcombank (VCB), VPBank (VPB), Mobile World Group (MWG) and Khang Điền House (KDH) all lost more than 1 per cent.

In contrast, PVPower (POW) maintained its uptrend momentum of a more than 5 per cent increase, PetroVietnam Gas JSC (GAS) advanced 2 per cent, while Novaland (NVL) and The Refrigeration Electrical Engineering Corporation (REE) both climbed 1 per cent.

On the Hà Nội Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index rallied 1.39 per cent to end Monday at 263.42 points.

More than 144.7 million shares were traded on the northern market, worth VNĐ2.1 trillion. — VNS

More tough times could be ahead for Hà Nội FC. Photo thanhnien.vn

Peter Cowan

At long last, Vietnamese football is back.

Alright, by the time SHB Đà Nẵng and Hà Tĩnh kick-off this coming Saturday we’ll only have gone without V.League 1 football for 42 days.

That may not be that long in the grand scheme of things, but it certainly felt like an interminable wait, especially for those of us tasked with writing a football column without any actual football taking place!

To celebrate the imminent return of the beautiful game, I’m going to stick my neck on the line and make a few bold predictions for the rest of the season.

Hà Nội FC will finish outside the top three

The country’s top team over the last few years may be languishing at the very bottom of the table right now, but few pundits or fans expect them to stay there.

I’m not so sure a bounce back to title contention is on the cards though.

Yes, Hà Nội have been hit badly by injuries and will be getting some key defensive players back soon, but I think their problems lie further up the park.

Coach Chu Đình Nghiêm is blessed with attacking talent in spades and that embarrassment of riches is what I think may prove his downfall.

Too many forward-thinking players are often crammed into the Hà Nội starting XI, leaving them exposed in the middle of the park where football matches tend to be won and it’s hard to see that changing without Nghiêm making tough decisions and leaving out some well-paid star men.

Hà Nội have too much talent to stay in the bottom half, but I can see them failing to mount a proper title challenge.

Viettel make it out of their Champions League group

Việt Nam’s champions face formidable opponents in the AFC Champions League’s Group F in the form of South Korea’s Ulsan Hyundai, Thai champions BG Pathum United FC and the winner of a playoff.

It will be a big ask for Viettel to go through and they’ll deservedly be underdogs, but I fancy Trương Việt Hoàng’s men to make a nuisance of themselves.

Let’s not forget they won the title last season on the back of five 1-0 wins and a 0-0 draw with Hà Nội, all the matches coming within a 25-day window.

Due to the pandemic, their six group stage matches will take place in just 12 days and I think the manner in which they won the league will give them the confidence that they can put a similar run together in a competition where it’s essentially all about one good run of form.

Keeping things tight at the back and hoping to nick a goal is the Viettel formula and it could serve them well in continental competition.

Nguyễn Hoàng Đức becomes a national team starter

If Viettel are pull off a minor miracle and qualify for the knock-out stages, midfielder Nguyễn Hoàng Đức will have a big part to play and I think play his way into the national team.

The 23-year-old runs the show from the middle of the park for Viettel and while his team suffered a poor start to the season, he was the best player on the pitch in both the Super Cup and their league opener against Hải Phòng.

He’s composed on the ball, controls the tempo and carries a goal threat and while he may be a bit of a lightweight for international football, it’s not like any of coach Park Hang-seo’s other options are built like Tyson Fury.

Indeed Đức has been in better form of late than national team stalwarts like Nguyễn Tuấn Anh and Lương Xuân Trường of Hoàng Anh Gia Lai, and if he can keep it up he should add to his solitary cap in the upcoming World Cup qualifiers. VNS