Foreign investment in vietnam

Vietnamese, Cuban deputy foreign ministers hold political consultation

March 4, 2021 by en.qdnd.vn

Participants in the event included Vietnamese Ambassador to Cuba Le Thanh Tung and Cuban Ambassador to Vietnam Orlando Nicolas Hernandez.

Deputy Minister Son spoke of Vietnam’s situation, including the prominent outcomes of the 13th National Party Congress, measures in response to COVID-19, economic development, and social security ensuring.

He affirmed that Vietnam always treasures and wishes to continue deepening the special traditional friendship and comprehensive cooperation with Cuba.

For his part, Gonzalez also informed about the situation of his country, countermeasures to address difficulties caused by sanctions and the COVID-19 pandemic, and the updating of the socio-economic model.

The two officials reviewed and assessed the areas of cooperation between Vietnam and Cuba, as well as between the two foreign ministries. They also looked into ways to develop bilateral relations in a more intensive and comprehensive manner.

They agreed to keep close coordination to organize high-level visits when possible; effectively carry out cooperation mechanisms; increase exchanges between the countries’ ministries, sectors, and businesses; promote trade and investment ties; and work together in such spheres as food security, education, healthcare, science – technology, culture, sports, and tourism.

At the consultation, the deputy foreign ministers had in-depth discussion about global and regional issues of shared concern. They concurred in the continuation of coordination and mutual support at international organizations and multilateral forums of which both Vietnam and Cuba are members.

Source: VNA

ADB provides US$176 million for Vietnam’s socio-economic development

March 4, 2021 by en.qdnd.vn

PANO – The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Vietnamese Government on January 17 ^th signed four loan agreements valued at $176 million to help the Vietnamese Government on capacity building to strengthen public-private partnerships (PPP) and infrastructure investments, enhance competitiveness of towns along Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) economic corridors, improve food safety, as well as develop national capacity to mitigate HIV risks.

With the first loan agreement, ADB provides US$20 million from its Asian Development Fund (ADF) to fund the Public Private Partnership Support Project. The project will use the fund to establish a Project Development Facility (PDF) to help bring efficient PPP projects to the market. Ministries and government agencies will use the PDF to fund PPP project preparation activities, including pre-feasibility studies, full feasibility studies and the engaging of transaction advisors to structure deals to bring to the private sector for bidding.

The signing ceremony. Photo: baohaiquan.vn

The second loan of US$130 million will help transform the GMS corridor towns of Dong Ha, Lao Bao and Moc Bai into economic hubs by improving urban-environmental infrastructure and strengthening institutional capacities of provincial and local authorities. The GMS Corridor Towns Development Project will finance 10 sub-projects in the three towns.

To help Vietnam improve food safety, ADB provides $11 million in ADF loans to finance the Trade Facilitation, “Improved Sanitary and Phytosanitary Handling in GMS Trade Project”. The project will support the country to establish, strengthen and implement surveillance and inspection programs for food safety, including safe food handling in the tourism industry, and regional cooperation and harmonization of sanitary and phytosantary management in food trade in the GMS.

The final loan of US$ 15 million from ADF is to finance GMS Capacity Building for HIV/AIDS Prevention Project to address current gaps in effectively reaching high-risk and vulnerable populations in border areas along shared economic corridors with other GMS countries. The project helps the Government develop its national and regional capacity to mitigate HIV risks and vulnerability, primarily in 15 border provinces in Vietnam.

Addressing the ceremony, Tomoyuki Kimura, the ADB Country Director for Vietnam said that the provision of adequate physical infrastructure is a necessary condition to ensure the country’s economic growth and people’s access to services and opportunities. The challenge then is how to mobilize the financing needed to develop infrastructure, and clearly this will largely rely on encouraging more private sector investment, such as well placed public financing coupled with support to overcome policy, institutional, information and risk barriers to investment.”

Chung Anh

Trading value hits monthly high as VN-Index dips

March 4, 2021 by e.vnexpress.net

The index started off in the green before dipping by nearly 28 points starting at around 10.40 a.m. while a slight recovery in the afternoon was unable to bring it back to the starting point. It closed with a 18.43-point drop, ending a chain of five consecutive gaining sessions.

Trading value on the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange (HoSE), on which the index is based, rose 9.8 percent to VND16.8 trillion ($728.4 million), the highest since February 1. The bourse saw 95 stocks gain and 362 lose.

Many investors reported overloads on the bourse even in the morning. There were times when buy orders were delayed for two or three minutes, they said.

The VN30 basket, comprising the 30 largest capped stocks on the HoSE, saw 29 stocks in the red. VIC of biggest conglomerate Vingroup was the only ticker with no price change at VND106,900.

Losing blue chips were led by TCH of real estate company Hoang Huy Investment Financial Services JSC, down 4.2 percent, and SSI of SSI Securities Corporation, down 4 percent.

They were followed by five banks, including TPB of private TPBank, down 3.7 percent, STB of Ho Chi Minh City-based lender Sacombank, down 3.4 percent and TCB of the largest private lender Techcombank, down 3.2 percent.

Foreign investors were net sellers for the 10th session in a row to the tune of VND229.6 billion, with the strongest pressure on VNM of dairy giant Vinamilk, VIC and VCB of state-owned lender Vietcombank.

The HNX-Index for stocks on the Hanoi Stock Exchange, home to mid and small caps, gained 0.66 percent, while the UPCoM-Index for stocks on the Unlisted Public Companies Market fell 0.18 percent.

Hanoi ready to restart socio-economic activities with Covid-19 under control: Mayor

March 4, 2021 by hanoitimes.vn

The Hanoitimes – Hanoi’s mayor called for local governments to provide support for businesses affected by the pandemic, and review current existing supporting programs to ensure greater efficiency.

Hanoi is ready to restart and accelerate socio-economic activities as the Covid-19 situation in the city has been put under control.

Chairman of the Hanoi People’s Committee Chu Ngoc Anh speaks at the meeting.

“The priority in March is to strictly comply with anti-Covid-19 measures and boost socio-economic development,” Ngoc Anh said.Chairman of the Hanoi People’s Committee Chu Ngoc Anh gave the remarks at the city’s monthly meeting on March 4.

Among measures to boost the local economy, the Hanoi’s mayor requested greater efficiency in global integration to boost exports, while adopting a more selective approach in attracting high quality foreign direct investment (FDI).

“Hanoi aims to create a favorable business environment to further attract investment capital, along with more support to spur the growth of the private sector and pubic investment,” he noted.

A corner of Hanoi. Photos: kinhtedothi

As public investment continues to be a key solution to aid economic recovery this year, Ngoc Anh urged local authorities to closely monitor the progress of public projects and those financed by ODA funds.

Ngoc Anh called for local governments to provide support for businesses affected by the pandemic, and review current existing supporting programs to ensure greater efficiency.

Hanoi’s economic performance in the first two months stayed positive with the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) expanding by 7.5% year-on-year, higher than the 5.8% rate recorded in the same period last year.

The city’s trade turnover also witnessed strong recovery as exports in the two-month period reached US$2.3 billion, up 12.7% year-on-year, staying in stark contrast with a contraction of 19% in first two months of last year.

Foreign direct investment (FDI) commitments to Hanoi in the year to February 23 hit US$58.9 million. The investors registered to pour US$14 million into 28 fresh projects, and an additional US$4.1 million into nine existing projects. They have also injected US$40.8 million to acquire stakes or contribute capital in local companies.

This year, Hanoi targets an economic growth of 7.5-8%, a strong rebound from the 3.98% in 2020.

Mozambique praises Vietnamese role as ASEAN Chair and non-permanent UNSC member

November 24, 2020 by vov.vn

Mozambican Foreign Minister Verónica Nataniel made the statement during a working session held alongside Vietnamese Ambassador to Mozambique Le Huy Hoang on November 23, with the event taking place as part of activities to mark the 45th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

During the meeting, the Minister Nataniel stated that she hopes Vietnam will continue to share its experience that it has learned from these successes in order to help her nation make faster progress in terms of the process of regional and international integration.

Minister Nataniel also expressed her great appreciation for the nation’s impressive achievements over recent years, considering the country to be a model that needs to be learned from in terms pandemic prevention and socio-economic development.

She went on to affirm that the Mozambican side has always placed great importance on its relationship with the nation and hopes that both sides continue to tighten their friendship and co-operation ties across a variety of fields, especially in the exchange of experts on agriculture and education and health care. She also anticipates that the country will continue to encourage businesses in order to intensify their investment in the East African nation.

She therefore suggested that both sides join hands in preparation for the fourth meeting of the inter-governmental committee, and arrange a visit to Vietnam for Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi as soon as possible.

In response, Ambassador Hoang conveyed a message of congratulations from Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh to Mozambique on their achievements in its role as the Chair of the Southern African Development Community (SADC).

The two sides compared notes on measures aimed at boosting the bilateral traditional friendship, including the sharing of experience in terms of external affairs at regional and international forums. This comes as Mozambique gets ready to run for a non-permanent seat at the UNSC for 2022 to 2023 period.

The Ambassador also told the press that following the meeting, Mozambique can be considered one of the African nations which the country has been able to maintain close ties with in recent decades.

With an investment capital of US$600 million, the Movitel telecom joint venture in Mozambique that has received investment by Viettel Military Telecom Corporation is currently the country’s largest investment project throughout Africa.

HCMC focusing on training AI human resources

March 4, 2021 by sggpnews.org.vn

According to the comprehensive plan to develop the IT human resources, Vietnam needed 1 million workers in the IT field in 2020. Yet the reality shows that there are only 600,000 IT students being trained in 400 higher educational institutes and 8 key IT training centers nationwide.

Statistics from the Institute of Information Technology Strategy (under the Ministry of Information & Communications) show that 72 percent of IT students lack practical experience, while 42 percent are weak at team work. Only 15 percent of IT graduates satisfy the demands of employers.

Vietnam now has over 700 IT companies working in key fields of the IT industry, including 220 foreign ones. They mostly locate in major cities or software parks.

Notably, despite a high job potential, the AI field still attracts little attention from both learners and trainers. There is no formal university department or school to specifically provide tertiary education in this field. Most curriculum focus on software developing, which is a rather old trend of the previous decade. This calls for a serious curriculum redesign to answer the current needs of IT companies, both domestic and international.

There should be an establishment of AI departments in universities or the development of such majors as computer vision, natural language processing, Big Data, robotics. Tertiary educational institutes should cooperate with IT businesses for internship programs, career guiding fairs, academic challenges, and training equipment provision (like server clusters, computing clusters, GPU, robots, IoT devices).

Experts voiced that in order for HCMC to own sufficient core AI human resources, the municipal authorities must first identify the market needs and the ability to apply research result in reality. They then have to actively link the development of smart city, innovative urban areas with the growth of talented AI employees.

These actions will gradually form a complete AI ecosystem so that HCMC can transform into a database center of the whole Southeast Asian region in 2030, and of the world in the far future.

There must be clear short-term as well as long-term strategies to turn HCMC into a smart city, including the three key points of research and training, technology mastering, and innovation promotion.

Regarding the first key point, more investment should be pour into the AI field via supporting funds, collaboration with national and international partners to take advantage of all possible strengths.

A kind of ‘shared university’ for AI training could be formed, where educational facilities are located in one place, and the teaching staff or research teams come to perform their tasks. This model does need specific policies to regulate particular responsibilities and rights of each partner, as well as the role of the municipal authorities in the project.

Director of Vietnam National University – HCMC Vu Hai Quan stated that the potential of key AI research teams directly shape the training direction for new AI workers. They are the model for the young generations to look up to.

Therefore, the AI human resources training project should consist of financial aid for major AI research teams to expand their study in various fields, the construction of AI labs, the organization of academic contests about AI to tackle existing problems in the community.

These actions will no doubt increase the position of Vietnam in the global AI top list and the awareness of AI importance in the society.

By Thanh Hung – Translated by Thanh Tam