Security magazine

Volunteers and the young clean the beach in Khánh Hoà Province. — Photo tinhdoankhanhhoa.org.vn

HÀ NỘI — Việt Nam will join the ASEAN Working Group on Climate Change (AWGCC), as well as continue its coordinating role in performing activities in 2021, according to the ASEAN Senior Officials on the Environment (ASOEN)’s office in Việt Nam (ASOEN Vietnam Office).

This year, within ASOEN cooperation, Việt Nam will promote cooperation and sharing of information, data and experiences, and perform its role as the host country of the 11th AWGCC Meeting, the 5th ASEAN Environmentally Sustainable City (ESC) Award, the 4th ceremony to award the potential ESC certificate.

Việt Nam will proactively participate in and cooperate closely with Japan and other ASEAN member countries in implementing the ASEAN-Japan cooperation project on environment, climate change and marine waste, while maintaining close cooperation with the Republic of Korea and other member states to carry out cooperation programmes and projects on the environment and climate change.

It will work with partner countries and international organisations to implement ASEAN cooperation activities, including Norway, Germany, the European Union (EU), and the German Development Cooperation Agency (GIZ).

As a responsible member of the ASEAN Community, in 2020, Việt Nam demonstrated its efforts and determination to successfully fulfil responsibilities, contributing to the regional integration process in terms of natural resources and the environment, as well as playing a crucial role in expanding environmental cooperation.

Marine plastic debris, and marine and coastal environmental problems are seen as the biggest environmental challenges facing ASEAN countries, the office said.

Việt Nam strongly supports the building of an ASEAN action plan on marine plastic waste prevention, said Nguyễn Quế Lâm, Deputy Director-General of the Việt Nam Administration of Seas and Islands and head of the ASEAN Working Group on Coastal and Marine Environment (AWGCME).

Through building and implementing the regional action plan, ASEAN member states will agree on common standards, concepts and data, and jointly build a regional foundation serving sharing of knowledge, experience, and advanced applications in monitoring and minimising plastic waste, he stressed.

Việt Nam has been recognised as a country with high biodiversity. This has made a great contribution to ensuring food security and livelihoods for people, maintaining genetic resources of animals and plants; supplying construction materials and fuel and pharmaceutical sources, and forming natural landscapes.

Việt Nam has actively joined international treaties on biodiversity such as the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Ramsar Convention, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change  (UNFCCC) and the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

Regarding the building of the ASEAN action plan on marine plastic waste prevention, Việt Nam and other ASEAN member countries have shown a spirit of cohesion to coordinate with the international community in solving global environmental issues.

At the 31st Meeting of ASEAN Senior Officials on the Environment (ASOEN 31) and related meetings, the Vietnamese delegation actively contributed comments and proposals to important issues, demonstrating its responsibility for the region, and strengthening multilateral relations as well as ties with each country within ASEAN and ASEAN+3.

Việt Nam also petitioned other ASEAN member countries to address urgent environmental problems, including cross-border water and air pollution, ocean plastic debris and climate change.

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Việt Nam also called on ASEAN member countries to closely cooperate and gather resources to effectively control the crisis. — VNS

A customer at a branch of Military Bank (MBB). Shares of MBB rose 1.1 per cent on Thursday. Photo courtesy of MBB

HÀ NỘI — Shares bounced back on Thursday on the back of large-caps, banking and energy stocks.

The benchmark VN-Index on the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange gained 0.29 per cent to close at 1,165.43 points.

It had lost 1.33 per cent to close Wednesday at 1,162.01 points.

More than 510.4 million shares were traded on the southern bourse, worth VNĐ13.5 trillion (US$589 million).

Market breadth was neutral with 220 gainers and 214 losers.

“The VN-Index is still in a consolidating span at the 1,160-1,200-point range,” said BIDV Securities Co.

“Liquidity declined compared to the previous session, market band was narrowed and market breadth was positive, showing that investor sentiment is stabilising.

“Foreigners continued to be net sellers on the HoSE while they were net buyers on the HNX.

“BSC recommends mid and long-term investors to open positions in some good fundamental stocks in this short-term consolidating span,” it said.

Foreign investors net sold VNĐ460.80 billion on HOSE, including dairy firm Vinamilk (VNM) (VNĐ233.40 billion), Vietnam National Petroleum Group (PLX) (VNĐ47.4 billion), and real estate company Khang Điền House (KDH) (VNĐ36.2 billion). They were net buyers on the HNX with the value of VNĐ10.44 billion.

The oil and gas sector index gained 2.4 per cent, becoming one of the best-performing sectors in Việt Nam on Thursday, data on vietstock.vn showed.

Vietnamese oil and gas stocks grew well, including PetroVietnam Gas JSC (GAS), Viet Nam National Petroleum Group (PLX), PetroVietnam Drilling & Well Services Corporation (PVD), PetroVietnam Power Corp (POW), and PetroVietnam Technical Services (PVS).

Besides the petroleum industry, financial stocks also performed well with the banking and industry indices rising 0.3 per cent and 0.3 per cent, with gainers including Vietcombank (VCB), Military Bank (MBB), HDBank (HDB), Bảo Việt Securities Co (BVS), MB Securities Co (MBS), Ho Chi Minh City Securities Corporation (HCM), Saigon-Hanoi Securities Co (SHS) and VNDirect Securities Co (VND).

The large-cap tracker VN30-Index gained 0.23 per cent to stay at 1,169.82 points.

Fourteen of the 30 large-cap stocks in the VN30 basket increased while thirteen lost ground.

On the Hà Nội Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index rallied 3.49 per cent to end Thursday at 246.20 points.

The northern market index had dropped 0.38 per cent to end Wednesday at 237.89 points.

More than 115.4 million shares were traded on the northern market, worth VNĐ1.9 trillion. — VNS

Investment funds kept buying in stocks in January even though the market was turbulent. — Photo tapchitaichinh.vn

HÀ NỘI — Despite negative performance due to strong fluctuations in Việt Nam’s stock market in January, big investment funds in the market remain optimistic.

Việt Nam Enterprise Investments Limited (VEIL), a closed-end investment trust managed by Dragon Capital and the biggest investment fund in Việt Nam’s stock market, recorded negative growth during the period.

The fund’s performance was negative 3.61 per cent in January. VEIL manages assets worth US$1.7 billion.

As of the end of January, VEIL’s biggest investments were in banking sectors, accounting for 27.13 per cent of its investment value. Followed by investments in real estate (26.43 per cent) and food and beverage (10.17 per cent). However all investing sectors had poor performance with banking and real estate sectors posting the biggest losses.

After gaining points in the first half of January, the stock market witnessed some strong corrections as profit booking dragged down the VN-Index. The profit taking was magnified by panic over margin calls.

The market benchmark VN-Index declined 4.28 per cent in the first month of 2021.

Dragon Capital said that recently, the fund restructured its investment process with the number of target stocks cutting down to 28 – 32 from 35 – 40.

Finnish equity fund PYN Elite also witnessed is its net asset value (NAV) drop 5.39 per cent in January, mostly due to losses in Việt Nam Engine and Agricultural Machinery Corporation (VEA), Vietnam JSC Bank for Industry and Trade (CTG) and PetroVietnam Power Corporation (POW). It marked the worst performance of PYN Elite since 2017.

The fund manages total assets worth US$572 million.

In a letter to investors in February, Petri Deryng, portfolio manager of PYN Elite, said that Việt Nam’s stock market began 2021 on a negative note, but the prospects for the whole year are still very positive.

Việt Nam’s economy, which has obtained some achievements, rising profits of listed companies and appealing stocks’ valuation are factors contributing to the bright prospects of the market.

The market saw strong fluctuations after the VN-Index surged quickly from 900 points to 1,200 points in just ten weeks.

During the turbulent month, PYN Elite used all of its resources to buy Vinhomes JSC (VHM) shares, making it the biggest investment of its portfolio. At the moment, VHM shares account for 9.82 per cent of its portfolio, worth VNĐ1.5 trillion.

Another investment fund posting negative performance in January was AFC Vietnam Fund, with growth of negative 1.9 per cent.

The fund assessed the plunge of the market after rising over 20 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2020 and gaining 8 per cent in the first seven trading sessions of 2021 was a healthy movement. And reaching the 1,200 point level by the VN-Index was really attractive, luring new strong inflows to the market.

Top five investments of AFC Vietnam Fund were Agriculture Bank Insurance JSC (ABI), accounting for 8.1 per cent of its investment value, LienVietPost Joint Stock Commercial Bank (LPB), Đình Vũ Port Investment and Development JSC (DVP), VNDirect Securities Corporation (VND) and Phú Tài JSC (PTB).

As of the end of January, the fund invested most in the financial sector (35 per cent of its portfolio) and industrial sector (23.5 per cent). — VNS

Cát Lái traffic junction connects HCM City with provinces in the Southeast region of Viet Nam and the Northern provinces. — hanoimoi.com.vn

HÀ NỘI — Việt Nam is predicted to record positive growth this year, especially in the context of US-China trade tensions that may persist in the coming years.

As a leading financial newspaper run by Japanese media giants Nikkei Inc, Nikkei Asia stated that: “Southeast Asia’s growth leader in 2021 may well be Việt Nam,” during a recent article detailing ASEAN’s GDP forecasts for the year ahead.

According to Nikkei, the country recorded economic growth of 2.9 per cent last year due to its success in containing the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), in addition to robust exports of electronics and other consumer products, with the nation reportedly targeting a growth rate of 6.5 per cent this year.

Gareth Leather, senior Asia economist at Capital Economics, said that Vietnamese exports should continue to be supported by tariffs imposed by the US on Chinese goods.

He noted that: “To avoid US tariffs, importers have shifted demand from China to alternative suppliers. With US-China relations likely to remain strained over the years ahead, this trend is likely to continue.”

The newspaper also stressed that before the pandemic, Southeast Asia achieved collective annual growth of approximately 5 per cent over the course of many years, therefore making it one of the world’s best-performing regions in economic terms.

According to media reports, the region has become an attractive investment destination, with a relatively young population that drives demand and provides plenty of manufacturing labour. Although these factors can be viewed as advantages that can boost economic growth, the region’s top priority in the short term is to stamp out COVID-19.

Previously, many Japanese and international newspapers made positive forecasts about Việt Nam’s economic prospects. In the article entitled Overcoming the COVID-19 pandemic, Việt Nam’s economy grows favorably , Dr. Bùi Mạnh Hùng attributed Việt Nam’s successful control of the COVID-19 pandemic to three main reasons: absolute trust in the Vietnamese Government’s direction, strict compliance with the Government instructions, and people’s unity and awareness of the dangers of the pandemic, and that has attracted great attention of Japanese readers.

The article said that the COVID-19 pandemic is causing terrible impacts on the socio-economic development of countries around the world and many countries have suffered negative economic growth. But, Việt Nam’s economy in 2020 achieved a surprising growth of 2.91 per cent and is forecast to continue to grow at a high level in 2021, becoming a bright spot of the world economy, according to an article published in Japan’s journal Security Anpo , January edition.

The author quoted Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc in emphasising Việt Nam’s economic growth of 2020 with a stable macro economy, low-level inflation, positive growth and improved economic balance. Although investment and trade shrank due to the pandemic, the economic growth was still at a high level compared to other countries in the region and around the world.

With its success in pandemic response, Việt Nam has worked out effective policies and measures to restore the economy, according to Security Anpo .

The article highlighted Việt Nam’s success in signing international economic agreements. On November 15, 2020, ASEAN, including Việt Nam and five partner countries Japan, China, India, Australia, and New Zealand signed the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). This agreement is expected to promote the formation of global supply chains to contribute to the economic development of member countries including Việt Nam. Previously, the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and the Free Trade Agreement with the EU (EVFTA) was also signed, demonstrating Việt Nam’s determination in implementing its economic commitments.

The author said Việt Nam is attracting great attention from foreign investors. Signing many international agreements, Việt Nam commits itself to create favourable conditions for foreign investors. Many investors from the US, Japan, and South Korea want to move their businesses to the Vietnamese market or plan to start a business in Việt Nam, the article said.

The author said that there were many forecasts about Việt Nam’s economic growth in 2021. A reputable UK bank forecasted that by 2021, the Vietnamese economy would likely reach 7.8 per cent growth, while Asian Development Bank (ADB) forecasted 6.3 per cent. Many other experts and prestigious economic organisations were also optimistic about Việt Nam’s economic growth in the coming years.— VNS

Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc (centre) and delegates press buttons to launch the national database systems on population and citizen identification card issuance and management at a ceremony held in Hà Nội on Thursday. — VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — The national database systems on population and citizen identification card issuance and management made its debut on Thursday with Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc in attendance.

The two systems, developed and run by the Ministry of Public Security, are part of Government efforts to shift from paper-based to electronic document management.

The national database on population is the most important system among the six national databases to help form an e-Government.

The project on citizen identification card production, issuance and management was approved by the Government last September. The Ministry of Public Security expects to issue chip-based ID cards to 50 million citizens by July 1 this year.

Under the Law on Citizen Identification in 2014, people from 14 years of age can obtain an ID card, which is renewed when they turn 25, 40, and 60 years of age.

More than 29,000 citizens have obtained new ID cards to date, including 1,369 delegates to the 13th National Party Congress.

Addressing the event, PM Phúc applauded the Ministry of Public Security’s efforts and ministries for completing the two projects, saying they were important for the building of an e-Government towards the digital government, digital economy and digital society.

Minister of Public Security Tô Lâm said the two systems will serve as a centre to provide information about citizens and support people, businesses and organisations by simplifying administrative procedures.

They would help reduce time and costs for handling paperwork relating to administrative procedures and reduce State budget expenses.

“Research and analysis of experts found that total money saved by people and businesses when using eight administrative procedures on the national public services portal is estimated at nearly VNĐ5 trillion (US$215 million) each year,” he said.

“Particularly, the operation of the two systems will contribute to renewing State management over social order and people and support the fight against criminals and to ensure social order and security,” he added.

According to the National Population and Housing Census conducted in 2019, Việt Nam’s population had exceeded 96.2 million people, making it the third-most populous country in Southeast Asia after Indonesia and the Philippines, and the 15th most populous country in the world. — VNS