Cross border ecommerce report

Starting in September and lasting until December 31, the Malaysia International Halal Showcase (MIHAS) is the halal industry’s number one business platform. It brings with it international visitors and traders to the same forum, and delivers opportunities across the global halal markets, including Vietnam. Themed, Empowering Halal, Tomorrow, Together, MIHAS 2021 is focusing on showcasing 12 key pillars including education, pharmaceuticals, modest fashion, cosmetics and personal care, e-commerce and more. MIHAS is a premier event that is not limited to the ASEAN region alone but is also supported internationally, and this year’s event has welcomed seven Vietnamese companies to join the virtual exhibition. “Digitally enabled trade is the way forward and key in rebuilding economic resilience. In keeping up with the current trend and due to the current pandemic situation, MIHAS this year spearheads the digitalisation agenda for the halal industry in bringing patrons, investors and … [Read more...] about Halal digital event showcases trade

Pham Anh Nguyet was happy, thinking she would go to Australia after waiting 20 months, despite pandemic uncertainty. The girl from northern Nghe An Province, currently living and working in Ho Chi Minh City, got accepted to a university in Sydney at the beginning of this year. But because of the outbreak, she had to defer her admission and start online classes in September. After shutting its borders in May 2020 and allowing only a restricted numbers of citizens and permanent residents to enter, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced on Nov. 22 the country would reopen its border to foreign visa holders on Dec. 1, including international students and skilled workers who have had two doses of a Covid-19 vaccine. About three days after Morrison's announcement, Nguyet decided to book a flight on Dec. 23. A few days later, when she heard about the new Covid variant Omicron, the college freshman tried to reschedule her flight to an earlier date due to concerns … [Read more...] about Delay to Australian border opening devastates Vietnamese int’l students

Africa has little chance of overcoming the COVID-19 pandemic unless 70% of its population is vaccinated by end-2022, yet "extreme vaccine discrimination" is leaving the continent behind, a report published on Monday said. The discovery of the Omicron variant in southern Africa has heightened claims that low inoculation rates can encourage viral mutations, which can then spread to countries where rates are much higher. Yet only five of Africa's 54 countries are on track to reach a World Health Organisation target of fully vaccinating 40% of the population by end-2021, the Mo Ibrahim Foundation said in a report on COVID-19 in Africa. One in 15 Africans has been fully vaccinated, against nearly 70% in the G7 group of richer nations, according to data from the foundation, which was set up by the Sudanese telecoms billionaire to promote better governance and economic development in Africa. "From early in this crisis, our Foundation and other African voices have been warning that an … [Read more...] about ‘Extreme’ vaccine discrimination risks leaving Africa behind: report

The decision, signed on November 19, recognizes those border guards’ excellent performance of the pandemic prevention and control task, contributing to the Fatherland construction and defense. The granting of the merit certificates demonstrates the Ministry of National Defense’s leaders’ acknowledgement and high appreciation for these individuals’ high sense of responsibility and efforts in controlling COVID-19. It is also a source of encouragement for them to continue overcoming difficulties and hardships and boosting close coordination with other border guards, local Party committees, authorities, and authorized forces to promptly and successfully curb and push back COVID-19. The awardees were (1) Lieutenant Colonel Tran Quy Hoa, a medical staff of the Military Medical Team of the headquarters of the Vietnam Border Guard Command, Department of Administrative-Logistic Affairs of the Staff of the Vietnam Border Guard Command; (2) Lt. Col. Nguyen Thi Tran Thanh, a member of the … [Read more...] about Defense Minister awards outstanding female border troops in COVID-19 fight

Schools are requested to enforce pandemic prevention and control measures in line with guidelines given by the municipal Departments of Health and Education and Training. Around 40,000 twelfth graders in Hanoi resume offline learning today [December 6] after seven months of online schooling due to the Covid-19 pandemic’s impacts. The Hanoi Department of Education and Training yesterday decided to allow twelfth graders to go back to school instead of all high school grades (students of tenth, eleventh and twelfth grade) as planned as the city has recorded hundreds of new Covid-19 infections every day in recent days, making returning to school risky for students. Accordingly, only twelfth-grade students have joined ninth-graders in Hanoi’s 18 low-risk suburban districts and towns who returned to schools on November 9 and 22. Students of Viet Duc High School in Hanoi's in Hoan Kiem District on the first day of returning to school. Photo: Ngoc Tu Schools are … [Read more...] about Hanoi resumes in-person classes for twelfth graders

The local economy should have had expanded by over 7% in the 2020-2021 period, but instead, it settled at 2.91% in 2020 and would achieve an estimated 2.5% this year. The Covid-19 pandemic in the past two years has caused losses of VND847 trillion (U$37 billion) for the local economy. Electronics production for export at Rang Dong Company. Photo: The Hanoi Times Vice-Chairman of the Party Central Committee’s Economic Commission Nguyen Thanh Phong revealed the figure at a business forum on December 5. According to Phong, without the pandemic, the economy would have expanded by 7% for the past two years. However, in fact, the country’s GDP expanded only 2.91% in 2020 and an estimated 2.5% this year. This resulted in losses of VND160 trillion ($7 billion) in 2020 and VND346 trillion (15.1 billion) in 2021, or around VND507 trillion ($22.2 billion)  according to the purchasing power of 2010, and VND847 trillion ($37 billion) in current purchasing power. … [Read more...] about Vietnam’s economy loses US$37 billion on Covid-19