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Passengers board a Vietnam Airlines jet. The airline's loss has contributed to the contraction of SCIC's consolidated profit in 2021. — Photo nld.com.vn The State Capital Investment Corporation (SCIC) has recently published its financial report for 2021, announcing consolidated revenue of around VND10.1 trillion (US$438 million), 50 per cent higher than the figure for 2020. Of the amount, VND4.3 trillion came from dividends and distributed profits, VND1.9 trillion from capital sales and VND1.4 trillion from banking deposit and bond interests. The returned provision for devaluation in investments also contributed VND3.4 trillion to the figure. Despite high revenue, SCIC earned a consolidated after-tax profit of just VND3.6 trillion last year, a 10-year low, due to losses from its affiliated companies. Notably, SCIC held 31.14 per cent ownership of the national flag carrier Vietnam Airlines. By late Q3/2021, Vietnam Airlines equity fell to about VND1.5 trillion, leading to a … [Read more...] about SCIC posts lower profits due to affiliated company losses

DigiSpark aims to inspire and mobilise all employees to build the future-fit digital capabilities that we need to be successful in driving the company’s growth and people’s development in a fully digitised world. The event will feature our leaders talking about the vital role digital is playing in Unilever’s future and our strategic priorities. Providing a further perspective, external speakers will cover digital trends that are impacting our business. This is an opportunity for everyone at Unilever to learn more about the future of work and how to get future-fit with our One Unilever digital upskilling programme. The DigiSpark event is a part of Unilever’s digital transformation programme, Digital 4 Growth, which began in 2021 and continues to accelerate the company’s strategic choices this year. The key deliverables are to: Implement Digital Marketing and Commerce Hub’s globally, enabling faster and more effective digital asset creation and deployment to … [Read more...] about DigiSpark: Your window to our digital world

GENEVA — The World Economic Forum’s Community of Chief Economists expects lower economic activity, higher inflation, lower real wages and greater food insecurity globally in 2022, pointing to the devastating human consequences of the fragmentation of the global economy. Reversing previous expectations for recovery, the majority of respondents to the latest survey expect only a moderate economic outlook in the United States, China, Latin America, South Asia and Pacific, East Asia, sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East and North Africa in 2022. In Europe, the majority expect the economic outlook to be weak. The choices of both business and government are expected to lead to greater fragmentation in the global economy and unprecedented shifts in supply chains, creating a perfect storm of volatility and uncertainty. These patterns are expected to create further difficult trade-offs and choices for policy-makers, and – without greater coordination – shocking human costs. These are the … [Read more...] about Chief economists outlook warns of dire human consequences from the fragmentation of the global economy

According to Richard B. Freeman, Herbert Ascherman Professor of Economics at Harvard University, a global workforce is a term that first appeared in the 1980s to describe the workforce in advanced countries, parts of Africa, and most of Latin America. However, the development of a workforce and increasing job opportunities have redefined the concept of a global workforce in business language, required degrees, and workplaces. Is English proficiency a must to globalise yourself? English still maintains its position as an important language to communicate globally. But the term global language has since been expanding to other languages including Chinese, Japanese, French, and German, due to the expansion of multinational conglomerates. There are 133 companies based in China, 53 companies based in Japan, 31 companies based in France, and 27 companies based in Germany that appeared in the 2020 Fortune Global 500 list. English is not the only language for global … [Read more...] about Global workforce and the stories untold

Shrimp-rice fields grown to organic standards in Bac Lieu Province. — VNA/VNS Bac Lieu (VNS/VNA) - The Mekong Delta province of Bac Lieu is expanding the use of organic fertilisers in rice cultivation to improve farmer’s incomes and protect the environment. In the last winter-spring rice crop, Phuoc Long district’s Bureau of Agriculture and Rural Development launched a pilot programme for increasing the use of organic fertilisers and reducing the use of chemicals on a total area of 110ha, with 60 farmers involved. Pham Van Cau, one of the farmers, said: “The prices of inputs, especially fertilisers, have shot up, and so the use of organic fertilisers helps farmers reduce costs while rice plants still have high yields and quality.” He grew 2ha of Dai Thom 8, a speciality rice variety, and got nearly 10 tonnes per hectare, and earned more than 300 million VND (13,000 USD), he said. Organic fertilisers cost less than chemical fertilisers, and farmers in fact can … [Read more...] about Bac Lieu expands growing rice to organic standards

Map of the HCMC-Moc Bai expressway The assessment board consisting of 18 members who are representatives of the relevant departments will be responsible for preparing and completing reports of the project. The board will evaluate the pre-feasibility study report on the construction project of the HCMC-Moc Bai expressway which will be built under the PPP (Public-Private Partnership) format. According to the construction project, the HCMC-Moc Bai expressway has a total length of over 50 kilometers with six lanes, starting from the Ring Road 3 in HCMC’s Cu Chi District, spanning over the Vam Co River and linking up to Moc Bai International Border Gate in Tay Ninh Province’s Ben Cau District. The section running through HCMC is 23.7 kilometers. The highway costs nearly VND15.9 trillion (US$690 million), including the cost of compensation of VND7, 433 billion (US$322.5 million). The new expressway is expected to reduce traffic pressure on the National Highway No 22 and … [Read more...] about HCMC establishes assessment board of HCMC-Moc Bai expressway project