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Japan’s JCR Pharma to build new plant to produce COVID-19 vaccine solution

by tuoitrenews.vn

TOKYO — JCR Pharmaceuticals Co said on Thursday it would build a new plant in Japan to expand production of ingredients for COVID-19 vaccines over the longer term.

JCR Pharma along with Daiichi Sankyo Co and other Japanese partners are cooperating to produce and distribute the COVID-19 vaccine developed by AstraZeneca Plc and Oxford University. The Japanese government has arranged to buy 120 million doses of the vaccine, which was submitted to domestic regulators for approval on Feb. 5.

JCR Pharma said in a statement that it has been making bulk substances for the vaccine at an existing plant but will build another one to comply with government requirements.

The Japanese drugmaker signed a contract in December to make substances for the AstraZeneca vaccine. But as a condition for a government grant to reinforce the country’s vaccine production capability through 2030, it needed to build another facility.

JCR said it will spend about 11.6 billion yen ($108.28 million) to build the facility in Kobe City, western Japan, with construction due to start in July and finish by October 2022.

The AstraZeneca vaccine is a critical component in Japan’s inoculation plan, as the doses will be made mostly in the country, and don’t need to be stored at the ultra-cold temperatures required for Pfizer Inc’s COVID-19 vaccine.

Japan kicked off its COVID-19 inoculation campaign in the middle of February using Pfizer’s vaccine, the first to be approved by Japanese regulators. But the Pfizer doses have been imported from European factories and are in short supply.

Local media has reported that Moderna Inc will file for approval of its vaccine as early as Friday via its Japanese partner Takeda Pharmaceutical Co.

Vietnam repatriates first citizens from Australia, New Zealand

by hanoitimes.vn

The Hanoitimes – Both Australia and New Zealand are easing restrictions except border controls.

Vietnam on June 2 repatriated 344 citizens from Australia and New Zealand, the first repatriation flight from those two countries amid strict travel rules there due to coronavirus.

Passengers on the flight. Photo: Vietnam Airlines

The flight by national flag carrier Vietnam Airlines picked up passengers in Sydney and Auckland and landed at Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City.

The passengers are those of priority like children under 18, the elderly, those with pre-existing diseases, pregnant women, workers having expired visa, student without dormitories, and stranded visitors.

All passengers required to wear personal protection equipment. Photo: Vietnam Airlines

Australia has become one of the main destinations for Vietnamese students and visitors.

Due to rising coronavirus infections, Australia has limited travel options. It is up to each state and territory to decide when and how far they will relax restrictions.

Meanwhile, New Zealand’s government will consider a move to lift all Covid-19 restrictions except border controls.

As of June 2, Australia reported 7,221 coronavirus cases while New Zealand has 1,504 infections.

Under the request by Vietnam’s Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, Vietnamese diplomatic missions abroad and Vietnam Airlines continue to bring citizens home depending on the citizens’ demand, the pandemic evolution, and the country’s quarantine capacity.

So far, the country has repatriated more than 5,000 citizens from different parts of the world.

Until now, Vietnam has not allowed international flights and keeps borders closed to foreign visitors, except for diplomatic staff, skilled workers, and experts.

HCMC proposes developing five new railway lines

by english.thesaigontimes.vn

HCMC proposes developing five new railway lines

The Saigon Times

A train is seen running on a rail track. The government of HCMC is working on a plan to propose the development of five new railway lines – PHOTO: VNA

HCMC – The government of HCMC is working on a plan to propose the development of five new railway lines, with a focus on high-speed train routes, to cope with a high freight growth rate in the city.

These five railway lines include the HCMC-My Tho-Can Tho route; the HCMC-Tay Ninh route connected with the HCMC-My Tho-Can Tho route at the Tan Chanh Hiep Station in HCMC; the Thu Thiem-Long Thanh airport route; a high-speed railway on the north-south route, with sections with high demand such as HCMC-Nha Trang to be developed first.

The fifth route is a double-track rail line connecting the national railway line to the Hiep Phuoc Port in HCMC and the Long An international terminal.

This plan is part of a scheme, which was recently passed by the city’s government, to develop the logistics sector in the city until 2025 with a vision toward 2030, the Office of the municipal government announced on March 3, reported Sai Gon Giai Phong newspaper.

According to the scheme, the logistics costs of some sectors in HCMC remained high. For instance, the seafood sector’s logistics costs accounted for 30% of its operation costs. Roads within HCMC and those linking the city with major economic zones in the south are facing overloading, thus extending the time needed to transport goods and raising logistics costs.

Vietnam considers reopening to foreign tourists in new normalcy

by hanoitimes.vn

The Hanoitimes – Hotels in Quang Ninh province were over crowded over the weekend.

The Vietnamese government is considering reopening to foreign tourists as the country and the world enter a new normalcy driven by the Covid-19 pandemic, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said at a meeting with key leaders of Quang Ninh province on May 24.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc addresses at a meeting with key leaders of Quang Ninh province. Photo: VGP

Phuc also asked other localities across the country to strongly promote and prepare all conditions for welcoming domestic travelers in the time ahead.

In the context of the pandemic.

Welcoming back foreign tourists should be prepared with a focus on the safety of tourists, said experts in the field. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism will submit a schedule for re-starting inbound tourism in the coming time.

In the first four months of 2020, international arrivals to Vietnam plunged 37.8% year-on-year to 3.7 million, according to the General Statistics Office.

In April alone, the number of tourists fell 98.2% from a year earlier and 94.2% against March. The pandemic impacted on the whole tourism industry and its goal of welcoming about 20.5 million international visitors this year is highly unlikely.

At the meeting on socio-economic restoration measures of Quang Ninh province in the post-Covid-19 period, the prime minister praised the encouraging restart of the province’s tourism industry with a focus on domestic travelers. Depending greatly on the tourism industry, the province suffered a great loss due to the pandemic.

PM Phuc said he was impressed witnessing the large turnout of domestic tourists to Quang Ninh province almost immediately after the province, home to the UNESCO-recognized heritage Ha Long Bay, reopened for tourists. On May 23 alone, roughly 11,000 people visited the bay.

A resort in Cam Pha City, Quang Ninh province.

In the first months of the year, the province has managed to maintain production and social order as well as perform the dual goal of fighting the disease and ensuring economic development. This year, the province aims its economy to grow 12%.

Quang Ninh has become a strong and comprehensive growth pole in the Northeast of the country. However, the prime minister asked the provincial authorities should not rest on the laurel and be vigilant, especially as the pandemic is still evolving unpredictably worldwide.

Thuduc House denies connection with companies to commit tax fraud

by english.thesaigontimes.vn

Thuduc House denies connection with companies to commit tax fraud

By Van Phong & Dung Nguyen

An office of Thuduc House. The firm has denied cooperating with other companies to commit tax fraud – PHOTO: TPO

HCMC – Thu Duc Housing Development Corporation (Thuduc House), in its latest announcement, has denied any collusion with 70 companies to commit tax fraud as mentioned in a report by the General Department of Vietnam Customs.

In response to the customs agency’s report on some southern firms’ appropriation of value added tax (VAT) refunds, smuggling and illegal cross-border cargo transport, Thuduc House said it had no connection with Saigon Southwest Trading JSC, a subsidiary of Saigon Trading Group, as well.

As for the trade of electronic accessories, from 2018 to 2019, Thuduc House purchased the products from a domestic partner, An Lanh Phat Co., Ltd, through its subsidiary–Thuduc House Wood Trading JSC–and exported them to other countries.

Thuduc House, Thuduc House Wood Trading and An Lanh Phat are operating legally, with seals, legal representatives and headquarters and have sufficiently paid VAT as well.

Regarding the news that one of the importers of the products of Thuduc House could not import the products to Hong Kong and two others in Cambodia had no import data in 2018 and 2019, Thuduc House explained that it did not know if its partners had complied with their countries’ regulations and had no jurisdiction to ask them to prove their compliance with the law.

According to Thuduc House, KGL Vietnam Company, which transports the products of Thuduc House, confirmed that it had transported the products to the Phnom-Penh International Airport in Cambodia and the Hong Kong International Airport in Hong Kong and handed them over to the importers.

The conclusions of the inspectors of the HCMC Tax Department and the report of the General Department of Vietnam Customs are being verified. Courts and investigative agencies have yet to conclude that Thuduc House falsified documents to get VAT refunds.

Earlier, the HCMC Tax Department had ordered Thuduc House to pay more than VND451.3 billion in the tax refunds the firm is alleged to have illegally received from the tax authorities by asking banks to extract money from the company’s accounts and block all of its accounts.

The firm later opposed the HCMC Tax Department’s decision and filed a lawsuit against the taxman to the municipal People’s Court.

The court temporarily suspended the tax agency’s decision but withdrew its decision several days later.

According to the General Department of Vietnam Customs, Thuduc House exported nearly VND5.3 trillion worth of electronic accessories from February 17, 2017, to August 2, 2019. It later received VAT refunds valued at VND261 billion.

Enterprises selling the products to Thuduc House regularly changed their information about their headquarters, owners and legal representatives.

According to the customs agency, Thuduc House and its partners established subsidiaries to purchase local products at low prices, then exported them at much higher prices and appropriated tax refunds of hundreds of Vietnamese dong, causing huge losses for the State budget.

The Investigative Police Department for Corruption, Smuggling and Economic Crimes under the Ministry of Public Security has detained 20 people and seized 200 seals of local and foreign units involved in the case.

Vietnam in fifth place in happy planet index rankings

by vov.vn

According to the Happy Planet Index (HPI) as announced by UK-headquartered New Economics Foundation (NEF), the country, which is home to an array of mountains and tropical forests, has a strikingly low Ecological Footprint and economic output per head, almost 24 times smaller than that of Hong Kong (China). Indeed, it is one of just three countries to mark the top 10 of the Happy Planet Index rankings with an Ecological Footprint that is small enough to be considered environmentally sustainable.

The report also notes that, “While wellbeing in Vietnam is more modest than in other countries in the top 10 HPI rankings, its average wellbeing score is still higher than Hong Kong’s – despite the Vietnamese economy being significantly smaller and Vietnam’s Ecological Footprint being less than a fifth of the size of Hong Kong’s.”

“Vietnam has an impressive average life expectancy. Both Vietnam and the Gambia have similar sized economies with similar levels of GDP per capita, yet on average, people from Vietnam live more than 17 years longer.”

Vietnam’s inequality of outcomes rating, which measures inequality in wellbeing and life expectancy scores within the country, is better than that of HPI’s first-placed country Costa Rica – a likely testament to Vietnam’s robust public service provision. School enrolment is among the highest in the world at 98% in 2012, and the number of colleges and universities continues to grow rapidly.

Vietnam is on a steep development trajectory. The country has been hailed as a global poster child for poverty reduction – the number of people living in poverty fell from 58% in 1993 to 10.7% in 2010,” the report outlines.

Costa Rica tops the overall list with 44.7 points. Making up the rest of the top five are Mexico with 40.7 points, Colombia with 40.7 points, Vanuatu with 40.6 points, followed with the nation fifth on 40.3 points.

Other Southeast Asian countries also have high places in the rankings, including the Philippines at 14th, Indonesia in 16th, Laos at 19th, Malaysia at 33rd, Myanmar in 39th, Thailand at 41st, Singapore in 49th, and Cambodia at 80th.

Typically, wealthy countries have modest places in the rankings, such as Italy in 69th, France in 71st, the UK in 74th, Japan in 75th, Canada in 89th, Australia in 102nd, with the United States languishing down in 108th.

At the bottom of the list is Chad at 140th, with an HPI of 12.8.

The HPI aims to measure what matters, namely sustainable wellbeing for all. It therefore informs readers about how well nations are doing in achieving long, happy, and sustainable lives.