Smart city building

Vice Chairman of the HCM City People’s Committee Duong Anh Duc has signed a programme on artificial intelligence (AI) research and development in the city for the 2020-2030 period.

Bangkok (VNA) – Thailand’s National Economic and Social Development Council ( NESDC ) has approved a framework for the country’s 13th national economic and social development plan , spanning from 2022 to 2026, with the focus placed on high value-added economic development.

The next national economic and social development plan should aim to provide Thailand a high value-added economy , according to the state planning unit.

This is an appropriate time for Thailand to restructure the manufacturing sector to focus more on high value-added activities, said Danucha Pichayanan, Secretary-General of the NESDC.

A high value-added economy focuses on those activities that generate a large margin between the final price of a product or service and the cost of the inputs used to produce it, thus creating higher profits for businesses and higher wages for workers.

He said under the 13th national plan, Thailand’s development will focus mainly on four areas over the next five years.

The first area is to restructure the industrial sector towards higher technology.

Danucha said companies listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand are still engaged in conventional industries, in contrast to those listed on the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which contains high-technology companies.

Thailand needs to transform the manufacturing sector to higher value-added industry and high technology such as the bio-, circular, green economy, which can increase the value of farm products; electric vehicles, which can create supporting industries including smart electrical parts and a smart grid; and an emphasis on the medical industry, tourism, logistics and digital services, he said.

Danucha said Thailand should no longer focus on a high volume of foreign visitors, instead attempting to attract high-quality foreign visitors with relatively high spending.

The second area of the new plan is to build opportunity for Thais to have more security in their life, both in terms of income and well-being, in order to narrow income disparity, he noted.

Thirdly, the government needs to ramp up its support for community-based businesses and small and medium-sized enterprises, smart city development and a better environment, added Danucha.

The fourth area is high-quality workforce development, improvement of government management to facilitate investors, and public services, he said./.

VNA

Foreign tourists mainly were technical experts and skilled workers who are allowed to enter Vietnam to work, and truck drivers transporting goods through international border gates.

In the first two months, the country welcomed 28,700 foreign visitors, a year-on-year decrease of 99.1 percent.

According to the report, HCMC saw a decline of 14.1 percent, Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province and Da Nang City decreased 15.9 and 16.1 percent, Hanoi and Hai Duong slid 7.6 and 7.8 percent compared with last year.

Tourism revenue fell 62.1 percent over the same period last year to VND2,500 billion (US$108.6 million). The most severe drops were seen in Hanoi at 47.7 percent, Da Nang by 67.7 percent, HCMC by 69.2 percent, Thua Thien-Hue Province by 73.3 percent and Hai Duong Province by 89.4.

The tourism industry has proposed many preferential policies to support travel firms and laborers that have been severely affected by the Covid-19. However, there was not much support and many businesses could not receive these preferential treatments. A further decline is expected in the coming months, said the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT).

At the present, more than 500 enterprises that can not continue their operations have proposed for the withdrawal of the certificate of business registration. In addition, 90-95 percent of travel agencies have stopped operating as a result of the crisis.

The tourism sector must spend 5-7 years to recover the workforce. A large number of laborers in the hospitality industry have to move for a new job.

Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyen Van Hung said that the tourism industry needs to develop key solutions and long-term plan until the next five years, such as putting the Support Fund into operation, restructuring the tourism industry, building tourist products and smart ecotourism system, implementing digital transformation in boosting Vietnamese tourism.

He asked the VNAT to coordinate with Ninh Binh Province to organize the National Tourism Year 2021, and the Vietnam Sports Administration to build tourism marketing plans on the occasion of the 31st Southeast Asian Games (31st SEA Games) which is scheduled to take place in Hanoi at the end of this year; as well as strengthen the connection with Hanoi and HCMC to speed up cooperation agreements between the two major cities and other localities nationwide.

In January 2019, the group merged a number of its affiliated units specializing in defense industry, telecommunications, and commercial production into Viettel Hi-tech Corporation. Two years after the foundation, Viettel Hi-tech Corporation (VHC) is running smoothly and becomes an important technological segment of Viettel’s production and business ecology.

Developing typical hi-tech products

Regarding defense industry production, VHC has produced a number of advanced hi-tech military equipment and weaponry systems equivalent to those used by NATO forces. These include control systems, optoelectronic products, and communication equipment, contributing to modernizing the military.

In 2020, VHC successfully tested various valuable hi-tech equipment and products and is ready to transfer them to military units.

In terms of telecommunications, VHC manufactured 5G NodeB base stations, the 5G core network, RFIC and DFE integrated circuits for 5G networks. Particularly, the core equipment made by VHC has helped Viettel’s 5G network test-run smoothly in a number of areas in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City since November 2020. Additionally, VHC has also created Viettel Online Charging Service (vOCS), Viettel IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) and Viettel Site Router. These Viettel-made products and systems have been employed to Viettel’s telecommunication and communication networks in Vietnam as well as in its invested markets, such as Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, and Burundi. In fact, few telecoms in the world can produce the above mentioned products and services.

In commercial production, VHC focuses on technologies, services, and products for a digital society. As a result, it attaches much importance to researching, developing, and investing in IoT platform, AI camera, smart power distribution system, vessel monitoring system, remote cardiac monitoring device and air purifiers. Most of the products and systems have been tested successfully and are now in mass production. It is expected that commercial production of hi-tech products will hike 24% in revenue in 2021.

Focusing on defense industry development

As a key component of Viettel in research and development, VHC completed 48 research projects on core technologies while it had 66 patents recognized in 2020. Especially, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) licensed four patents to VHC last year while domestic competent agencies granted protection certificates to 19 patents, five technological solutions, and seven industrial designs of the corporation. Additionally, 25 articles were published in prestigious science and technology journals or presented at international seminars.

The above results of VHC’s research and development has contributed to building Viettel’s competitiveness in the global market as well as helped the group realize its strategy “Make in Vietnam” (researching, developing, and making hi-tech products in Vietnam).

According to the Military Balance 2020 released by the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), VHC is considered one of leading Asian defense industry companies. The report underlines that VHC is successfully developing advanced military equipment and weaponry, particularly products and systems related to signal, communication and control.

Regarding its production orientation in 2021 and the coming time, VHC Director General Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Vu Ha said that Viettel has been assigned to play the core and leading role in Vietnam’s defense industry by the Ministry of National Defense in the near future. As a major defense industry branch, VHC is the nucleus of the core of Vietnam’s defense industry.

Although VHC invests in all three sectors: commercial products, telecommunications and defense industry, VHC will attach more importance to defense industry, according to its development strategy, the official stressed.

“We will continuously upgrade our technologies to produce hi-tech products of both civilian and military use,” VHC Director General said.

Translated by Thu Nguyen

Hanoi (VNS/VNA) – Vietnam needs about 128.3 billion USD of investment capital to develop its electricity industry in 2021-2030, according to draft electricity planning released by the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT).

On February 9, the MoIT issued a draft national electricity development planning project for 2021-2030, with a vision to 2045 or the power master plan VIII and asked other ministries and agencies to contribute their ideas.

With forecasts that Vietnam’s GDP growth will reach an average of 6.6 percent per year in 2031-2045 and 5.7 percent per year in 2031-2045, the MoIT forecast the supply of commercial electricity to reach 491 billion kWh by 2030, and 877 billion kWh by 2045.

The draft expected by 2030, the total installed capacity of electricity sources in the country would reach 137.2 GW including 27 percent from coal-fired thermal power, 21 percent from gas thermal power, 18 percent from hydroelectricity, 29 percent from wind power, solar and renewable energy and 4 percent from the imported sources and 1 percent from other types of energy from storage devices.

The MoIT’s draft said by 2045, the total installed capacity will reach nearly 276.7 GW including 18 percent from coal-fired thermal power, 24 percent from gas thermal power, 9 percent from hydroelectricity, 44 percent from wind power, solar and renewable energy and 2 percent from the imported sources and 3 percent from other types of energy from storage devices.

The power master plan VIII encourages the development of renewable energy and discourages hydroelectricity. Renewables made up 13 percent of power in 2020 and are aimed to make up 30 percent by 2030 and 44 percent by 2045.

Regarding the power grid development programme, the plan proposes to continue building the 500kV power transmission system to transmit electricity from major power source centres in the Central Highlands, south-central, north-central and central regions to the large load centres in Ho Chi Minh City and the Red River Delta. It also asked to strengthen the interconnected transmission grid to support the transmission of power capacity.

In the draft, they also research the application of smart grid and the 4.0 technology in power transmission to calculate and propose in the master plan.

The MoIT calculated total investment capital for electricity development in 2021-2030 of about 128.3 billion USD including 95.4 billion USD for electricity and 32.9 billion USD for the grid.

For the next 15 years, the ministry calculated the need at about 192.3 billion USD including 140.2 billion USD for electricity and 52.1 billion USD for the grid.

Combining the two periods, Vietnam needs 320.6 billion USD to develop its national power system./.

VNA