Juvenile and domestic relations court

On behalf of the real estate enterprises, Mr. Le Hoang Chau, Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City Real Estate Association (HOREA), said that compared to the previous year, there was an additional petition of Gamuda Land Joint Stock Company. The petition states that while waiting for the Prime Minister to decide on a VND514-billion deduction following the recommendations of the Government Inspectorate, over the past time, construction investment and business activities of the company have been stagnant, affecting the reputation and brand of this company in 10 years of operation in Vietnam.

As for the matter of social housing, Mr. Le Huu Nghia, CEO of real estate developer Le Thanh, said that they were considering whether to develop social housing again. Because of too many difficult procedures, many people advised him to play safe by switching to develop commercial real estate. At the Le Thanh Tan Kien social housing project in Binh Chanh District, although the HCMC People’s Committee had directly instructed to remove obstacles, after three years of implementing the project, now it backs to square one.

Although the regulation for the processing time of the application by authorities is 215 days, in fact, the processing of the application can take a lot longer than that because the application must be transferred between departments and districts. Even a document from the urban management office to the district People’s Committee takes several months. Moreover, although the social housing projects are invested by enterprises from start to finish, they are audited as projects using capital from the State budget. Meanwhile, the auditors are too strict. They slap them with high fines on petty mistakes, discouraging investors, Mr. Le Huu Nghia explained.

Le Thanh Company is one of 20 enterprises that have petitioned the city through the summary of HOREA. This list shows that many petitions had been raised by investors at meetings with the city leaders in the past years, but they kept repeating because they were not resolved, or resolved sluggishly.

For Novaland Group Corporation, out of a total of 14 problematic projects, only 4 projects were solved. Seven projects that have handed over houses to customers in Phu Nhuan District and have been facing obstacles in the past years, merely stay at the stage of “being actively considered and settled by the Department of Natural Resources and Environment and relevant departments”.

Entanglements at the Dragon City project in Nha Be District of Phu Long Real Estate Company have lasted for 16 years. In 2004, the company won the auction of 14 land plots with a total area of 44.49 hectares, which are clean land. The investor has fulfilled all financial obligations as prescribed, at the same time embarked on implementing the housing project as planned. However, one subdivision of the project still has a house that refuses to move, causing the company to be unable to deploy the rest of the project. Although the company has sent many petitions to the People’s Committee of HCMC, the People’s Committee of Nha Be District, and relevant authorities over the past years, so far, there has been no progress in compensation settlement.

The HOREA raised a hot issue that although the project does not include public land, the Department of Planning and Investment still requests the investor to supplement the documents many times. Up to now, the department has not submitted to the municipal People’s Committee for issuance of the decision on investment policy for the project, causing enterprises to face many difficulties. The representative of the Department of Planning and Investment explained in writing as follows: In the process of handling documents, the department does not require investors to amend and/or supplement their documents many times. However, in the case that after consulting the departments, if there is a request, the department will ask the investor for additional documents following the opinion of these agencies. The Department of Planning and Investment also suggests that in the future, if there is an unreasonable request for additional documents many times by the Department, the HOREA should inform the department so that it can respond promptly.

So for public land, which are roads, trails, canals scattered and interlaced in the projects, how will it be handled? The representative of the Department of Planning and Investment answered that the department can only review and process dossiers for investment policy approval after the Department of Natural Resources and Environment submits to the City People’s Committee to handle the issues related to the receiving of transfer, capital contribution, renting agricultural land use rights to implement projects and small land parcel managed by the State.

HCMC People’s Committee Chairman Nguyen Thanh Phong asked relevant agencies to focus on solving difficulties and speeding up the progress of real estate projects because the implementation was extremely slow. This delay is due to the inspection and auditing work. The city had had to work a lot, with the Government Inspector alone inspecting 164 projects. When being inspected, the projects must halt, affecting greatly the operation of enterprises. Besides, there are some projects related to public land, the city also had to stop.

“I understand that currently, real estate businesses are facing many difficulties. It costs a lot if the project is behind schedule, so departments must understand and share this,” Mr. Nguyen Thanh Phong noted.

HCMC now has 13 million people. After five years, it will increase by 1 million people, so the pressure on technical and social infrastructure is tremendous. This is also a great potential for real estate enterprises. The real estate industry plays an important role and position and has a close relationship with many industries and many other markets, such as capital, labor, and construction materials. Since 2000, real estate is considered one of nine important service industry groups of HCMC. Up to now, out of 10,200 businesses with a capital of VND100 billion upwards, real estate enterprises account for 32 percent and 35 percent of the capital. Statistics also show that in the nine important service industries contributing 56.5 percent of the gross regional domestic product of HCMC, real estate accounts for 4.2 percent, contributing 8.2 percent to domestic revenue.

Mr. Nguyen Thanh Phong affirmed that removing difficulties for real estate is to remove difficulties for the economic development of the city. The city leader felt concerned after hearing that most real estate businesses have been encountering difficulties. He requested that based on the petitions of enterprises, Vice Chairman of the People’s Committee Le Hoa Binh should schedule to work with departments to resolve each issue and give specific conclusions. As for the 61 projects facing difficulties in investment procedures, the Director of the Department of Planning and Investment was assigned to study and report to the investment working group of the city. These works must be completed by April 15.

The Hanoitimes – To date, Hanoi has completed a similar process for 630 OCOP products achieving 3-star rating and above, exceeding the target of having at least 500 OCOP products.

For the next five years, Hanoi targets to complete the evaluation and classification process for at least 2,000 products under the national’s One Commune, One Product (OCOP) program.

Hanoi leaders visit display section of OCOP products. Photo: Trong Tung.

Director of the municipal Department of Agricultural and Rural Development Chu Phu My announced the plan at a conference taking stock of the OCOP program in 2020 on December 25.

To date, Hanoi has completed a similar process for 630 OCOP products achieving 3-star rating and above, exceeding the target of having at least 500 OCOP products.

Along with the development of OCOP products, Hanoi has launched 13 OCOP showrooms in the city and organized four OCOP trade promotion events for products from northern mountainous, Red river delta, central highlands, and southern region.

Vice Chairman of the Hanoi People’s Committee Nguyen Manh Quyen said in the coming time, the city will continue to push for greater efficiency in the implementation of the OCOP program.

“Hanoi is expected to continue cooperating with other provinces/cities in promoting trade and taking the OCOP products from all over Vietnam to distribution channels,” he noted.

From December 25–27, Hanoi will launch an exhibition fair to showcase OCOP products at the Cultural Friendship Palace, located at 91 Tran Hung Dao street, Hoan Kiem district.

The OCOP program, with a view to honoring prominent craft villages’ goods and products, has been identified by Hanoi’s authorities as one of the solutions to boost domestic consumption at a time when the Covid-19 pandemic is causing severe consequences on the local economy.

The Hanoitimes – Covering an area of 100 square meters at the Agricultural Trade Promotion Center, the store sells over 400 OCOP products and goods from 15 provinces and cities, including clothes, beverages, vegetables, and furniture.

Hanoi’s Department of Industry and Trade on November 18 launched a new store to promote and sell products under the One Commune, One Product (OCOP) program in Bac Tu Liem district.

Overview of the launch.

It is located at the Agricultural Trade Promotion Center at No.489 Hoang Quoc Viet street, Bac Tu Liem district.

Covering an area of 100 square meters, the store sells over 400 OCOP products and goods from 15 provinces and cities, including clothes, beverages, vegetables, and furniture.

Previously, the municipal Department of Industry and Trade in collaboration with People’s Committees of Ha Dong and Gia Lam districts and Son Tay town opened OCOP stores in Van Phuc ward (Ha Dong district), Bat Trang village (Gia Lam district), Duong Lam ward (Son Tay village), among others.

In parallel with the launch of new stores, the trade department is carrying out the Hanoi Promotion Month 2020 to boost domestic consumption in the post-Covid-19 period, in which hundreds of thousands of products are offered with steep discounts of up to 70%.

In the first ten months of 2020, revenues from retail sales in the city expanded by 9.7% year-on-year. The municipal Department of Industry and Trade targets growth of 10.5% this year.

The Hanoitimes – The OCOP program, with a view to honoring prominent craft villages’ goods and products, has been identified by Hanoi’s authorities as one of the solutions to boost domestic consumption.

Hanoi is committed to creating favorable conditions for other provinces/cities to sell their products under the national’s One Commune One Product (OCOP) program in the capital city.

Vice Secretary of the Hanoi Party Committee Nguyen Thi Tuyen made the statement at the trade promotion event for OCOP products from southern region on December 18.

Vice Secretary of the Hanoi Party Committee Nguyen Thi Tuyen at the event. Photo: Pham Hung.

The OCOP program, with a view to honoring prominent craft villages’ goods and products, has been identified by Hanoi’s authorities as one of the solutions to boost domestic consumption at a time when the Covid-19 pandemic is causing severe consequences on the local economy.

To date, Hanoi has completed the evaluation and classification for 630 OCOP products achieving 3-star rating and above, noted, Mrs. Tuyen.

“The city is cooperating with other provinces/cities to promote OCOP products across the country to both domestic and international customers,” she added.

This year, the agricultural sector has emerged as a driving force for Hanoi’s economic development, posting a  growth rate of 4.2% year-on-year, which is considered high, Mrs. Tuyen added.

Delegates visit OCOP products display section. Photo: Pham Hung.

During the 2018-20 period, Hanoi allocated VND82 billion (US$3.54 million) to classify 800-1,000 goods and products under the OCOP program and acknowledge other 500 as OCOP products. So far, 630 products have been classified as OCOP products, exceeding the original target.

Along with the development of OCOP products, Hanoi has launched 13 OCOP showrooms in the city and organized four OCOP trade promotion events for products from northern mountainous, Red river delta, central highlands, and southern region.

Visitors at the event. Photo: Pham Hung.

Under the instruction of Hanoi’s leaders, the municipal Department of Agricultural and Rural Development hosted four conferences on connecting supply – demand of OCOP products, which have resulted in 500 contracts signed for distribution of agricultural productsin Hanoi’s market.

Prof. Dr. Andreas Stoffers – Country director, Vietnam The Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom

The United Kingdom is an important trading partner of Vietnam. In 2020, trade turnover between the two countries amounted to $6.6 billion. With $5.8 billion in exports, Vietnam’s trade balance was clearly positive, which also underlines the country’s strong interest in reaching an amicable agreement with the UK. In recent years, despite the uncertainties associated with Brexit, the growth of trade relations has been unbroken, averaging 12.1 per cent per annum in 2011-2019.

The trade relations between the EU and Vietnam are naturally greater given the fact that the EU is the world’s largest market. In 2019, the EU was the second-most important overseas market for Vietnamese products with a total trade volume of $56.45 billion, of which Vietnam’s exports accounted for two-thirds ($41.55 billion). This is 16 per cent of the country’s total export volume. In 2020, exports to the EU increased to $34.8 billion, and imports to $14.5 billion.

Vietnam benefits significantly more from bilateral economic relations than the EU. The continuous surplus Vietnam enjoys in its bilateral trade relations with the EU has been instrumental in offsetting Vietnam’s huge trade deficits with China and South Korea.

Vietnam exports mainly electronics, footwear, clothing and textiles, coffee, seafood, and furniture. The most important goods of EU exports to Vietnam are high-tech products including boilers, machinery and mechanical products, electrical machinery and equipment, pharmaceuticals, and a very limited number of motor vehicles. The EVFTA opens many opportunities for producers and traders on both sides, including small- and medium-sized enterprises.

The EVFTA is of course one of the most modern and far-reaching agreements of its kind. It plays an important role in promoting trade liberalisation between Vietnam and the EU.

Combined with the new Law on Investment which entered into force on January 1, and the other FTAs concluded by Vietnam, the Southeast Asian country has set an important course to improve its position as a trading partner and investment destination. From Vietnam’s perspective, the UKVFTA goes in the same direction.

The UK, looking to strike deals in the aftermath of Brexit, used the EVFTA as a template for a Vietnam deal, photo Le Toan

Differences and similarities

“Recognising their longstanding and strong partnership based on common principles and values, and their important economic, trade and investment relationship”. This formula replaces the preamble of the EVFTA in the UKVFTA. If one reads both agreements in parallel, one notices the large overlaps, not only at the beginning, where only some words are replaced by others.

In fact, there are so many similarities between the two FTAs that it is fair to call the UKVFTA a clone of the EVFTA. However, there are some small but subtle differences.

In 14 sectors of the agreement, the UK allows Vietnam to export at zero tax with a certain quota: egg yolks and poultry, garlic, sweetcorn, milled rice, milled rice, tapioca starch, tuna, surimi, sugar and products high in sugar, mushrooms, ethanol, mannitol, sorbitol, Dextrin, and other modified starches.

In the area of banking services, Vietnam agreed to favourably allow UK credit institutions to increase their foreign holdings to 49 per cent of their charter capital in a Vietnamese joint stock commercial bank. Similar to the EVFTA framework, this commitment is only valid for five years (after that, Vietnam will not be bound by this commitment) and not applicable to the four joint stock commercial banks with a dominant government share, BIDV, VietinBank, Vietcombank, and Agribank.

In addition, the implementation of this commitment will be required to fully comply with regulations on procedures for mergers and acquisitions as well as safety and competition conditions, including the applicable shareholding limit. Vietnam allows the EU to raise 49 per cent in two banks while allowing the UK for the equal or even higher treatment of a bank (mostly HSBC and Standard Chartered) to raise their holding to the ceiling.

Within the EVFTA, one of the signing parties may grant subsidies when they are necessary to achieve a public policy objective. The parties acknowledge that certain subsidies have the potential to distort the proper functioning of markets and undermine the benefits of trade liberalisation. In principle, a party should not grant subsidies to enterprises providing goods or services if they negatively affect, or are likely to affect, competition and trade.

As far as the UKVFTA is concerned, the policy is less tolerant. “In principle, a party should not grant subsidies to enterprises providing goods or services if they significantly negatively affect or are likely to significantly negatively affect trade between the two parties.”

In several areas, the EVFTA is more specific than the UKVFTA. There are for instance some notes on fruit and vegetables in accordance with the Common Customs Tariff provided for in Commission Implementing Regulations and successor acts, laying down detailed rules.

Binding Vietnam into more specific rules is a wise strategy to make sure products are high quality and stops sub-standard products entering difficult UK markets.

Global Britain

Following the UK’s decision to leave the EU, the UK faces many challenges. A key one was how to manage trade relations with countries that had previously benefited from the EU’s trade agreements. As a huge trading bloc encompassing 27 European nations the EU is, in terms of trade policy, a power factor that can forcefully assert its interests.

Of course, a medium-sized single country like the UK does not have this power. Therefore, concessions have to be made that a giant like the EU does not have to make. However, the sheer size of the EU means that the individual and sometimes conflicting interests of the individual member states have to be taken into account. As a result, decision-making processes sometimes remain protracted, as can be seen in the decade-long negotiations on the EVFTA.

Accordingly, Great Britain has the advantage of being very agile. This means that FTAs can be launched much more quickly. This is especially true if no major concessions are expected on the part of the contracting partner. In addition, existing agreements – such as the very comprehensive and modern EVFTA – can be used as a model.

“Global Britain” is the British government’s leitmotif for its post-Brexit foreign policy. It was used by Theresa May in her first major speech as prime minister at her party’s conference. It signals that the country would not be inward-looking after Brexit, but on the contrary would have a global perspective that goes beyond Europe.

As stated in the joint agreement between the UK and Vietnam in last December, the UKVFTA is “also a key step towards the UK joining the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership”. Therefore, the UKVFTA is only one, but an essential building block of the post-Brexit UK’s liberal trade policy. Many more agreements will follow.

In order to reposition Vietnam after the COVID-19 crisis, both the EVFTA and the UKVFTA are an important element on the road to economic recovery. After the pandemic has started to shake the world’s economy, Vietnam has used the time well.

In addition to these two FTAs, there are many other steps to take, above all the new investment law, which helps Vietnam to emerge stronger from the crisis. Vietnam’s goal in repositioning its economy is not reaching a “V-shaped” curve of improvement, as so many other nations hope; rather, it lies in a “square-root recovery” where the pre-crisis level is not only to be reached, but clearly surpassed in order to continue growing at a higher level.

The efforts of the Southeast Asian nation will be crowned with success, and most analysts are bullish about Vietnam’s prospects. The EVFTA and the UKVFTA stand for the open and liberal politics of Vietnam, and they will make Vietnam – especially in conjunction with the new investment law and EU-Vietnam Investment Protection Agreement – more attractive for foreign investors.