• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

VietNam Breaking News

Update latest news from Vietnam

  • Home
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Disclaimers
  • DMCA
  • Privacy Policy
  • Submit your story

Cross border e commerce platform

Thailand’s cross-border trade to grow up to 6 percent this year

March 1, 2021 by en.vietnamplus.vn

Bangkok (VNA) – Thailand ‘s cross-border trade is expected to recover to growth of 3-6 percent this year, spurred by COVID-19 vaccine distribution and the global economic recovery.

According to Keerati Rushchano, Director-General of the Thai Foreign Trade Department, cross-border trade, which includes transit trade, is likely to generate 1.36-1.40 trillion baht (44.6-45.9 billion USD), up from 1.31 trillion baht in 2020.

Last year, overall border trade, including transit trade, declined 1.7 percent from the year before mainly because of the pandemic and the closed border checkpoints to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus, in addition to the strong baht.

Of last year’s figures, exports represented 766 billion baht, down 2.16 percent year-on-year, while imports shrank by 1.05 percent to 553 billion baht, resulting in a trade surplus of 213 billion baht.

Border trade with four neighbouring countries amounted to 760 billion baht, down 8.01 percent year-on-year. Malaysia was the biggest partner by value, with two-way trade totalling 249 billion baht (down 9.1 percent). It was followed by Laos at 190 billion baht (down 3.85 percent), Myanmar at 165 billion baht (down by 14.7 percent) and Cambodia at 156 billion baht (down by 3.15 percent).

Transit trade, mainly with Singapore, Vietnam and southern China, rose 8.41 percent last year to 559 billion baht.

Transit trade with southern China and Singapore went up by 20 percent and 17.2 percent, to value 238 billion baht and 88.7 billion baht, respectively. Transit trade value with Vietnam and other countries fell by 1.3 percent to 172 billion baht.

Keerati pledged to accelerate negotiations with neighbouring countries to promote border trade by reopening more border checkpoints that were closed because of the outbreak. Only 39 of 97 border checkpoints are reopened./.

VNA

Filed Under: World Thailand, COVID-19, cross-border trade, 2021, transit trade, border closure, Vietnam News Agency, Vietnamplus, ASEAN, ..., high potentials crossing borders, cross border transactions m&a, eu parliament passes new rules on cross-border payment charges, akhaura check post border trade, kidnapping to cross border, global e smart cross border, xbid cross border intraday market project, proposal to modernise vat for cross-border e-commerce, crossing borders serie, crossing border without passport, crossing border canada to us, thailand vietnam border river

NATEC and Enterprise continue cooperation to unlock Vietnam’s innovation potential

March 2, 2021 by www.vir.com.vn

natec and enterprise continue cooperation to unlock vietnams innovation potential
Pham Hong Quat, director general, NATEC and Leon Cai, regional director (Ho Chi Minh City), Enterprise Singapore

The Vietnamese agency (NATEC) and Enterprise Singapore (ESG) have renewed their cooperation for another two years. What will be the focuses in the next stage? How will it benefit the innovation landscape for Singapore and Vietnam?

Pham Hong Quat: Singapore is considered to be the hub of innovation as well as a “paradise” for startups, with startup-friendly policies including subsidies and a range of incubation schemes. With its advanced IT infrastructure, strong government support, intellectual property laws, and deep tech talent pools, Singapore has become a world-leading technology innovation centre.

Thus, the cooperation between NATEC and ESG will provide an open space for best practices and know-how sharing, particularly on the crafting and execution of startup and innovation supporting policies, as well as building and operating startup hubs.

Through market access programmes and joint events, Vietnamese startups will have a chance to experience and benefit from peer-to-peer learning with their counterparts. Operating in the world’s leading and most vibrant ecosystem, Singaporean startup founders and teams have admirable skills and qualities, for example, creative thinking; entrepreneurship and management skills; fundraising and management; as well as research and development (R&D). Moreover, there will be a high chance that our startups can find great partners or clients in a new market.

One of the biggest concerns for Vietnamese startups might be how to get funding from venture capital funds or angel investors and how to manage them wisely, especially during the crisis. Thus, what they need to focus on is acquiring valuable know-how and skills from their counterparts and taking any opportunity to interact and learn from experienced investors and mentors.

Leon Cai: The renewed MoU will build on existing partnerships between Vietnam and Singapore to facilitate collaborations for startups, ecosystem builders, and the tertiary institutions of both countries, especially in strengthening the global innovation communities’ access to Vietnam’s startup landscape, connecting startups from Vietnam to major technology hubs, and facilitating venture capital activities. In addition, the renewal will have an additional focus on leveraging existing open innovation initiatives such as the Singapore Open Innovation Network to crowd-source solutions for corporates in Vietnam. ESG will also share best practices with NATEC to develop similar open innovation platforms for Vietnam, among other initiatives.

Trade and business links between Vietnam and Singapore have been robust ever since the countries established bilateral diplomatic relations back in 1973. In recent years, we have observed growing interest from Singaporean companies in Vietnam’s technology and innovation sector. With this renewed memorandum, we hope to build a vibrant ecosystem, leveraging the strengths of different innovation players from both countries to create an environment that enables startup and corporate partnerships, and catalyses business transformation and economic growth.

How important s Vietnam’s startup and innovation scene to the rest of ASEAN, the world, and to Singapore? Has there been any changes over the past five years in this regard?

Pham Hong Quat: The Vietnamese government started to pay attention and set up initiatives to build and support the startup ecosystem since 2016 with the National Programme to Support Innovative Startup Ecosystem in Vietnam until 2025, also known as National Programme 844. Since 2017, Vietnam has emerged as a hub for startups, closely competing with Indonesia and Singapore. In the first half of 2019 for instance, Vietnamese startups raised $246 million with startups such as Tiki, VNPay, and VNG capturing 63 per cent of these deals. The first half of 2020 witnessed a 22 per cent reduction in deals compared to the same period in 2019, owing mainly to the economic impact of COVID-19. However, fundraising by Vietnamese startups has shown signs of recovery in the second half of 2020.

To encourage entrepreneurship, the Vietnamese government has established a number of funds at state and provincial/city level to support startups.

Our ecosystem is booming and emerging and in only two years Vietnam jumped from the second-least-active startup ecosystem among the six largest ASEAN countries (Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines) into the third rank, trailing behind only Indonesia and Singapore, according to Southeast Asia-focused venture capital firm Cento Ventures.

Vietnam, driven by its growing internet penetration, smartphone adoption, and young demographics, offers huge potential for startups, especially ones focusing on fintech, e-commerce, and enterprise solutions. These sectors have attracted significant portions of funding in the last year. Other emerging sectors include education technology, agri-tech, and logistics.

Leon Cai: In the past five years, from 2015 to 2020, there has been an exponential increase in deal counts and investments into Vietnam, compared to the five years before then. Regulatory changes, too, have been passed in Vietnam to make it easier for startups to access tech from aboard. National agencies such as NATEC and innovation centres across Vietnam have been established to champion innovation. These are indicators that venture capitalists welcome and boost confidence among investors. Vietnam has risen significantly in 2019’s Global Innovation Index rankings.

Within ASEAN, Vietnam is one of the top three innovative nations, together with Indonesia and Singapore. As a whole, Southeast Asia has built a strong reputation in the innovation scene, with 13 unicorns groomed here. The region has also been attracting a significant number of global investors. According to DealStreetAsia , one of the biggest funds that closed this year in the region is global venture capital firm B Capital Group with more than $700 million that focuses on Southeast Asia.

What lessons should Vietnam learn from Singapore to develop its startup and innovation ecosystem? Which best practices will ESG share with NATEC to develop similar open innovation platforms for Vietnam?

Leon Cai: ESG has been working with public and private partners in Singapore to grow our open innovation ecosystem. As open innovation involves a “win-win” partnership between larger corporates and innovative startups and SMEs, these efforts include setting up the Singapore Open Innovation Network , which is a national gateway to aggregate all open innovation challenges out of Singapore, and the Startup SG Network featuring local startups and ecosystem partners. Most of the innovation calls are open to global solution providers and startups to apply. ESG also collaborates with foreign partners on international co-innovation programmes such as the EUREKA GlobalStars-Singapore call and the recently-launched inaugural Southeast Asia Open Innovation Challenge.

Under the renewed MoU, we look forward to more opportunities to work with NATEC to facilitate exchanges between startups, corporates, investors, and other ecosystem players from Vietnam and Singapore, leveraging on existing initiatives such as the Singapore Open Innovation Network or through new collaborations like the Southeast Asia Open Innovation Challenge.

Pham Hong Quat: Business-incubating infrastructure, tax incentives, cash grants, or financing schemes are outstanding government support initiatives from Singapore that push the ecosystem to the next level and those best practices are what we desire to learn.

Most importantly, we are impressed by the way they form public and private partnerships in open innovation – a global phenomenon and our focus in the past few years. We believe that this is an appropriate approach to build up sustainable ecosystem as government funding and supports are limited while there are a lot of opportunities from the private sector. By creating an open innovation platform where the government plays a role as facilitator, we can draw private resources into startup support activities on a sustainable win-win basis.

We are positive that the renewed MoU will bring more impacts and benefits to the startup ecosystem of the two countries via a number of detailed activities such as market access and exchange, joint pitching sessions, capacity building, and open innovation platform.

What successful tie-ups have there been between startups and corporations under the MoU? What are your future expectations?

Leon Cai: ESG and NATEC signed the MOU at the sidelines of TechFest 2018 in Danang, Vietnam on November 30, 2018 to facilitate collaborations for startups, ecosystem builders and tertiary institutions between both countries.

Over the past two years, the MoU has supported a number of initiatives:

  1. Strengthening the global innovation communities’ access to Vietnam’s startup landscape. NUS Enterprise, the entrepreneurial arm of the National University of Singapore (NUS), partnered Becamex IDC Corporation to launch ecosystem builder BLOCK71 Saigon in October 2020. As an entrepreneur enclave of startups, venture capitalists, and incubators, BLOCK71 Saigon connects Vietnam’s innovation players with a network of mentors, global tech talents, and resources from corporates and government agencies;
  1. Connecting startups to major technology hubs. BLOCK 71 augments the efforts of Enterprise Singapore’s Global Innovation Alliance (GIA) in Ho Chi Minh City, a partnership with Saigon Innovation Hub (SIHUB) and Singapore-based venture fund Quest Ventures that was launched in 2019. GIA is a network of global innovation hubs which Vietnam’s ecosystem players can tap on to access the latest R&D efforts, whilst familiarising the global startup community with market demands unique to Vietnam. More than 10 Singapore-based startups from various sectors participated in the first run of the GIA HCMC market immersion programme, which concluded recently with a number of participating startups in discussion for partnerships or pilot projects with Vietnamese partners; and
  1. Facilitating Venture capital activities. We have observed more fund raising activities from Singapore-based venture capital firms looking to invest in Vietnam’s fund and startups. Sea Group and Vertex Holdings invested in the recently launched Do Ventures fund, targeting Vietnamese startups. Other noteworthy fund-raising activities include Singapore companies, Insignia Ventures Partners, and TRIVE investments into Vietnamese technology companies Logivan and CoderSchool, respectively. Singaporean edtech startup Kalpha also raised seed funding from Vietnam-based VC Nest Tech VN.

Moving forward, we hope to facilitate more co-innovation partnerships between startups and corporates. One example is the ongoing Southeast Asia Open Innovation Challenge that was launched at the Singapore Week of Innovation and TeCHnology in December last year. VNG Cloud launched its call to source for partners to co-innovate complementary technologies to support its eKnow Your Customer (eKYC) solution which enables digital banking for banks and financial institutions. The Open Innovation Challenge also saw participation from a number of other regional corporates including Central Group (Thailand), Hong Leong Holdings (Malaysia), Emtek (Indonesia), and Sunway (Malaysia), aiming to leverage Singapore’s business friendly environment, strong infrastructure and proximity to Southeast Asia to co-develop and scale new innovative solutions.

The Vietnamese government has a number of supporting policies for startups. Do you think they are enough to facilitate startup development and lure Singaporean startup and venture funds?

Leon Cai: Policies to support innovation has been remarkable in the last 10 years. At the enterprise level, MoUs such as those between ESG and NATEC further strengthen the role of the business sector in Vietnam’s innovation landscape. Our MoU encourages private and public partnerships, enterprise investments in science and technology initiatives, and expands public support for R&D at firm level by linking Vietnamese enterprises with research institutions.

Efforts to strengthen training and knowledge transfers between research centres, academia, and foreign companies and national science and technology networks will also assure more domestic firms can access the latest technologies and build capabilities to improve on productivity and quality benchmarks.

These efforts make Vietnam an attractive investment for Singaporean companies.

By Bich Thuy

Filed Under: Uncategorized Singapore, MoU, innovation, ESG, NATEC, startups, Investing, cooperatives in vietnam, brian tracy how to unlock your potential, why potential is continuous, potential unleashed how to unlock, unlocking your full potential, how firms use cooperative strategies to innovate, lean enterprise how high performance organizations innovate at scale, meditation unlock your hidden potential, who unlocked gohan's potential, for continued cooperation, soar 9 proven keys for unlocking your limitless potential, women-owned enterprises in vietnam perceptions and potential

Effective EVFTA, EVIPA to bring about more opportunities for Hanoi: AHK

June 26, 2020 by hanoitimes.vn

The Hanoitimes – Marko Walde, chief representative of the Delegation of German Industry and Commerce in Vietnam, spoke with Hanoitimes about opportunities from a trade deal with the EU and what needs to be done to make use of it.

I would express my respects to Hanoi’s encouragements in terms of trade and investment promotion. As the capital of Vietnam, Hanoi with a good infrastructure basis, completed industrial zones and convenient transportation, is one of the centers of economy, industry, trade, and services.

Marko Walde, chief representative of the Delegation of German Industry and Commerce in Vietnam. Photo: AHK.

The city’s implementation of its “one stop shop” mechanism is also evidence of its dedication to bring in a clearer and more transparent investment environment. By completing other infrastructure projects, especially the metro lines, they city would increase their attractiveness tremendously.

From our point of view, for the long run, Vietnam and Hanoi should establish a stable and reliable legal framework and economic policy to support businesses, local and international ones. In particular, Hanoi should develop a practical oriented dual vocational training and education projects in order to gain high skilled labor force and support local businesses in improving their technology competence as well as their competitive advantages.

Hanoi should continue improving general infrastructure as well as conducting a suitable platform for direct experience exchanges and direct dialogue between authorities and businesses as well as between local and international ones.

As I mentioned before, for the purposes of sustainable development and attracting more high-value-added foreign direct investment, the legal and regulatory framework of many sectors and the economic policies should be improved further and be consistent.

The other challenges are the lack of qualified workers in Vietnam, the undeveloped supporting industries, especially the weakness of the domestic supply chain. These matters might cause problems in the long term and Vietnam should solve it quickly. We hope that in the long run, once the EVFTA and EVIPA come into force, they will bring more opportunities for Hanoi and other provinces.

I strongly believe that there will be many FDI flows for high-valued projects into Vietnam, in the long term, including from Germany. German investors would bring their well-known technology in management and training to this country, allow more value-added production, less waste of material and resources.

At the upcoming “Hanoi 2020 – Investment and Development Cooperation” conference, the city’s leaders will issue licenses for 116 projects with registered capital of a combined VND339.67 trillion (US$14.66 billion), according to the municipal People’s Committee.

The event, scheduled to take place at the National Convention Center on June 27, is set to attract up to 1,850 delegates, including senior government officials, 29 ambassadors and diplomatic officers, representatives from eight international organizations, foreign experts, among others.

Filed Under: Uncategorized EVFTA, EVIPA, Hanoi's investment, German investors, business environment, investment opportunities mass effect 2

Vietnamese man jailed for helping S.Korean illegally enter Cambodia

March 2, 2021 by tuoitrenews.vn

A Vietnamese man has been sentenced to one year in prison for organizing a South Korean man’s illegal entry into Cambodia from Long An Province, located in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta region.

The People’s Court of Long An Province on Monday handed down the sentence on Nguyen Van Luy, a 33-year-old man dwelling in An Thanh Commune in Ben Cau District, situated in southern Tay Ninh Province.

According to the indictment, Luy worked as a ‘xe om’ (motorbike taxi) driver at the Moc Bai border gate in Tay Ninh, where he got to know a South Korean man named Kim.

On August 6, 2020, Kim texted Luy to ask the Vietnamese man to help his South Korean brother cross the border into Cambodia.

After accepting the job for US$1,000, Luy asked an unknown person, who worked as a motorbike taxi driver in the area of Tho Mo Market in My Quy Tay Commune in Long An’s Duc Hue District, to transport the South Korean man to Cambodia for a wage of VND10 million ($434).

On August 7, 2020, Luy booked a car to pick up the South Korean man at a hotel on Hau Giang Street in Tan Binh District, Ho Chi Minh City and take him to Tho Mo Market.

From Tho Mo Market, Luy brought the South Korean man to the border area in Hamlet 1 in My Quy Tay Commune at 8:30 pm on the same day and was arrested by My Quy Tay Border Station’s patrol team.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!

Filed Under: Uncategorized Vietnam Life - Vietnamese man jailed for helping S.Korean illegally enter Cambodia, TTNTAG Cambodia, TTNTAG illegal entry, shoreham man jailed, 81 year old man jailed, about rich man poor woman korean drama, man crosses north korean border, man jailed for collecting rainwater, jailed south korean president, illegally enter turners uneven gap between peaks, tallest vietnamese man, most illegals enter by air, man booker prize how to enter, how do most illegals enter the united states, vietnamese american jailed in vietnam

Time for Hanoi to focus on greener and cleaner investments: Norway envoy

June 26, 2020 by hanoitimes.vn

The Hanoitimes – Ambassador of Norway to Vietnam Grete Løchen has shared her thoughts with Hanoitimes about how Vietnam and Hanoi, as a safe and stable investment destination for investors, can advance green growth.

In May 2019, Chairman of the Hanoi People’s Committee’s Nguyen Duc Chung, while accompanying Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc on his official visit to Norway, had a meeting with leading companies and business groups of Norway to discuss cooperation opportunities.

Ambassador of Norway to Vietnam, Grete Løchen. Photo: Embassy of Norway

Covid-19 has also showcased the importance of developing better digital platforms within health, education, finance as well as more focus on healthy living and eating habits. With a more health-conscious Vietnamese population, fresh Norwegian seafood would be very attractive for the Vietnamese market. As soon as Vietnam resumes international commercial flights, I’m confident that Norwegian businesses will be coming to Vietnam and Hanoi.

Not just Vietnam’s economy has been hit hard due to the Covid-19 pandemic but the global economy as well. It’s important to recognize that the pandemic is not over at the global level and in some countries, we do see increasing numbers of infected persons.

The challenge for every country is to balance the task of containing the virus while reopening the economy. In short, the world needs to learn to live with the virus until we have an affordable vaccine available to all.

I do think it’s important to recognize that it is not about getting back to the situation before Covid-19 but that there is a new normal after Covid-19. This goes for businesses as well. The Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated trends in the global economy such as protectionism and digitalization.

It’s important to safeguard a rule-based international trade regime and to look for new business opportunities in a sustainable manner. It’s not about quick fixes, but more about innovation and ensuring fair distribution. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are more relevant than ever before.

Ambassador of Norway to Vietnam Grete Løchen and Hanoi’s mayor Nguyen Duc Chung hold a meeting. Photo: Embassy of Norway.

It is encouraging to see the entire Vietnam and Hanoi city are now striving to perform the dual tasks of recovering the economy while containing Covid-19. The fact that the city is to organize the “Hanoi 2020 – Investment and Development Cooperation” Conference in the current situation shows the City’s determination to speed up economic recovery and continue to grow.

Many analysts feel Vietnam’s performance with the fight against Covid-19 would enhance its credibility among the international community and could make it more attractive to foreign investors. Asia was the first continent hit by Covid-19 and the first one probably recovering. This gives Asia probably some advantages.

It is true that Vietnam and Hanoi remain a safe and stable investment destination for investors. In general, foreign investors always consider several important factors when making their investment decisions, which include (1) the political stability, (2) a business enabling environment with consistent and predictable legal and policy frameworks, (3) transparent and accessible information, (4) simplified administrative procedures, and (5) skilled workers.

However, the way to attract foreign investors post Covid-19 should be different from the traditional one. First of all, it means that Vietnam must open up again its international borders for business. Incentives should be specific and meet foreign investors’ expectations matching it with Vietnam’s needs to strengthen and develop its domestic private sector.

It is time to focus on greener and cleaner investments to tackle Hanoi’s serious challenges, when it comes to air pollution and to ensure sustainable and environmentally friendly development.

At the upcoming “Hanoi 2020 – Investment and Development Cooperation” conference, the city’s leaders will issue licenses for 116 projects with registered capital of a combined VND339.67 trillion (US$14.66 billion), according to the municipal People’s Committee.

Filed Under: Uncategorized investment, green and clean investments, safe and stable investment destination, Norway of, norway citizenship investment, hanoi which time zone, hanoi is what time zone, hanoi how much time, train times hanoi to hai phong, time tested strategy for successful investing, greener dry cleaners, cleaner greener quincy, greener cleaner 60640, brussels sharpens focus on ‘sustainable’ investment, time limited focused psychotherapy, norway time to malaysia time

Primary Sidebar

RSS Recent Stories

  • Restaurants and cafes in Hà Nội can reopen, street stalls and bars remain closed
  • The Local Game: Time to put fans first
  • Mekong Delta provinces step up COVID preventive measures as 2 test positive in Đồng Tháp
  • HCM City told to get creative to enhance gender equality
  • Students in HCM City back in school
  • Revamped bicycles change lives of disadvantaged students

Sponsored Links

  • Google Home Mini at Rs 499: Here’s how to get discount
  • LG may deliver displays for Apple’s foldable iPhones: Report
  • Flipkart quiz February 19, 2021: Get answers to these five questions to win gifts, discount coupons and Flipkart Super coins
  • Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War to get new zombies mode ‘Outbreak’
  • Why Amazon Echo is the AirPods of smart speakers in India
Copyright © 2021 VietNam Breaking News. Power by Wordpress.