|
BUSINESS
IN BRIEF 2/11
AmCham
forecasts
The American
Chamber of Commerce in
The report, which
provides an update of the
AmCham elevated the
two-way trade revenue between
It also expected
that
In addition, AmCham
estimated that
The commerce
chamber also said that
Value-added
services crucial to VN telecom
Developing
value-added services is a must for telecom service providers to survive, as
voice mail and SMS are no longer reeling in high profits, Le Nam Thang,
deputy minister of the Information and Telecommunications, said at a seminar
held yesterday in
"Vietnamese
telecom service providers must focus on value-added services. It is an
international trend thanks to significant development of technology and
domination of over-the-top content (OTT)," he said.
The seminar on
value-added services development was organised by the Viet Nam Mobile Telecom
Services (MobiFone).
With more than 40
million mobile telephone subscribers, and a market share of 30 per cent,
MoiFone saw the turnover proportion of 61 value-added services increase from
17.1 per cent in 2008 to more than 33 per cent in September.
"Within the
next two years, we would like to co-operate with value-added services
providers in mobile applications, mobile e-commerce, mobile advertising,
mobile entertainment, machine-to-machine (M2M) and enterprises
solution," Mai Van Binh, chairman of MobiFone, said.
One-third of the
e-commerce transactions in the
Of the more than
130 million mobile subscribers in the country, 27 million are 3G subscribers.
Data usage via tablets and smartphones has increased by 25 per cent in recent
years.
"Value-added
services cover not only telecommunications and mobile service industry but
also many different aspects of life, such as banking, agriculture, healthcare
and public administration. This is the big chance to bring technology to
people in their daily lives," deputy minister Thang said.
More than 300 local
value-added services providers along with international hardware
manufacturers took part in the seminar.
Loans boost
tra fish farming
Businesses and
farmers in the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta have so far this year received
short-term loans worth VND59 trillion (US$2.8 billion) to invest in agricultural
export products.
According to the
Southwest Steering Committee, thanks to the loans, the total tra fish farming
area in the region has expanded to 6,400 ha. The region's output has so far
hit 902,325 tonnes, of which 540,000 tonnes were exported, generating $1.4
billion in revenue.
In addition, local
enterprises processed and exported 4.3 million tonnes of rice, worth $1.95
billion.
The Viet Nam Tra
Fish Association called upon the local banking sector to provide more
flexible long-term loans and information to facilitate credit access for
local farmers and businesses.
Exhibition
to promote retail trade
The three-day Viet
Nam International Retail and Franchise Exhibition will open tomorrow,
offering franchising opportunities for superrmarkets, restaurants, shopping
centres and small shop owners and fashion shops.
Seventeen
countries, including
Seminars will be
held on the first two days on acquisition of franchised brands, success with
franchised start-up businesses, and updates on
The franchise event
will be held by Vinexad in coordination with local and Korean partners, at
the Saigon Exhibition and Convention Center,
The Vietbabyfair
will feature products for mothers and children from more than 90 foreign
companies.
Dong Nai
exports more wood
The southern Dong
Nai province generated more than US$760 million in revenue from the export of
wood products in the first 10 months of the year.
This represents a 6
per cent increase year over year.
According to the
provincial Statistics Department, in October alone, the export revenue
increased to more than $89 million, up by $12 million from the previous
month.
According to the
provincial Industry and Trade department, wood products are one of the four
commodities with the highest value, after footwear, garments and textiles.
The most popular wood products – furniture and plywood – are exported to
large markets such as the European Union, the
Chairman of the
provincial Handicrafts and Wood Industry Association Phan Van Binh said that
the association has organised a number of trade promotion programmes with a
view to support local businesses in studying markets, taking part in
exhibition fairs and providing export and import training. The member firms
are also promoting afforestation in a number of provinces in
VN filters
desalinate Saudi water
Doosan Heavy
Industries Viet Nam Company has shipped the last of four massive 4,500-tonne
plug-n-play multistage flash desalination evaporators to the Yanbu Phase III
seawater desalination project in
This is the eighth
desalination plant that Doosan Vina has completed since it started production
in 2009.
Ryu Hang Ha, Senior
Vice President of Doosan Heavy Industries Korean and CEO of Doosan Vina,
said, "The Yanbu Phase III contract for four desalination units was
signed in March 2013. We mark the completion and shipment of these
‘Made-in-Viet
The four salt water
filtering systems are expected to produce a total of 380 million litres of
clean water per day, meeting the demand of more than one million Saudi
Arabians. Nearly all the workers who implemented the project, with a total
capital of US$1.47 billion, were Vietnamese.
Following the
success of Vietnam 100 Best Places To Work Survey 2013, Anphabe, a pioneer
agency in employer brand solutions, continues to partner with international
research agency Nielsen to conduct the same survey of 2014 with more advanced
methodology and at larger scale.
This is the only
professional survey in
This year survey
applies advanced methodology to measure Employer Brand’s Attractiveness based
on AIDA model (Awareness, Interest, Desire and Action).
Accordingly, each
Employer Brand will be measured by Anphabe and Nielsen by four phases of its
talent attraction process: Awareness (Target talents know/ hear about company
as an Employer), Interest (Target talents may consider to work for company in
the future), Desire (Target talents perceive company as Ideal workplace), and
finally Action (Target talents are willing to apply for relevant openings at
company).
Beside Employer
Brand Attractiveness Diagnosis using AIDA model, another new point of this
year survey is the Employer Brand Love Diagnostic rated by employees of each
attending company.
The perception gap
between internal employees and external talents will help company understand
its Employer Brand from multi perspectives, hence having more realistic
improvement steps.
Tentatively in
January 2015, all companies taking part in this survey will receive its
Employer Brand Health Diagnosis (internal and external) as well as Total
Market Employer Brand Report comprising latest career motivations / Employer
Branding trends and the list of Vietnam 100 Best Places To Work 2014.
When announcing result
of the survey, Anphabe and Nielsen will also share a special report on Talent
Segmentation, the first specialised research about typical
Thanh Nguyen,
founder & CEO of Anphabe said, “The key for success in human resource
strategy is not recruiting the best talents but the most suitable ones. The
specialised research on
According to Hoang
Thach Thao, head of Marketing & Communications of Nielsen
In this year
survey, in addition to the ranking of Vietnam 100 Best Places to Work,
Anphabe and Nielsen will apply more sophisticated Employer Brand Health Index
to meet specific information needs from companies as it’s one of the ground
factors to build Employer Brand strategy.
VNCB has
new general director
Dam Minh Duc has
been appointed general director of Vietnam Construction Bank (VNCB).
VNCB announced his
appointment at a recent meeting on the bank’s business plan for the fourth
quarter of this year.
On July 29, the
police detained Pham Cong Danh, former chairman of Thien Thanh Group, Phan
Thanh Mai, former general director and board member of Thien Thanh, and
another former board member of the group, on alleged charges of intentionally
violating State regulations on economic management causing serious
consequences.
Danh was serving as
chairman of VNCB and Mai as general director of VNCB shortly before their
arrests.
After Danh and Mai
were removed from their posts at the bank, the then deputy general director
Dam Minh Duc was picked to temporarily serve as general director and Vu Bach
Yen as chairwoman of VNCB.
On August 1, the
Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam (Vietcombank) struck a deal to help VNCB
refund short-term deposits for clients and manage VNCB’s operations in the
long term.
Vietcombank said it
will cooperate with VNCB in developing banking services and sharing customer
data.
Long Thanh
airport necessary but not urgent
Nguyen Duc Kien,
vice chairman of the National Assembly Economic Committee, has said the
committee recognizes the need to build the multi-billion-dollar
Kien said last week
that before talking about how to raise billions of U.S. dollars for the
project in the southern
Such an
international airport is needed for the country’s rising role but “what
should be discussed here is when to proceed with the project to ensure the
use of state capital is most efficient, not how much money to raise,” he
said.
The NA has also
asked the Government to review the performance of some operational airports
such as Tan Son Nhat in HCMC, Can Tho in the Mekong Delta city of the same
name and Cam Ranh in
In line with
Resolution 49 of the NA, investment projects of national importance must go
before the NA for approval in two consecutive sessions.
Earlier, a north-
south express railway project presented by the Government and the Transport
Ministry was turned down by the NA of the previous tenure.
Jetstar
kicks off Singapore-HCMC service
Jetstar Pacific
Airlines on October 27 launched a daily air service between HCMC and
The new flights
depart at 7:05 a.m. from HCMC’s
On the same day,
the low-cost carrier opened its 11th domestic service linking
Speaking at the
launching ceremony of the new services, Le Hong Ha, general director of the
private carrier, said the new international air route offers more options for
travelers to buy low airfares to
Jetstar Pacific
Airlines currently operates 11 domestic services to
As planned, the
airline will also launch a new international service connecting HCMC and Thai
capital
City
retailers boost purchases of Dalat tomatoes
A number of
supermarkets in HCMC have increased purchases of tomatoes from Dalat and
support farmers to cut losses after the price of this farm produce tumbled
due to a bumper crop in the
Supermarkets in
HCMC have plans to promote tomatoes of Dalat in addition to their efforts to
buy the product at higher prices than those offered by local traders.
Saigon Co.op buys a
kilo of Dalat tomatoes at around VND6,000 and sells a kilo at VND6,900,
higher than the buying price offered by traders and lower than the selling
price on the market since the end of September when tomato prices started to
fall.
Vo Hoang Anh,
marketing director of Saigon Co.op, said the operator of the Co.opMart
supermarket chain nationwide, Co.opXtra Plus supermarket in Thu Duc District
and Co.op Food store chain in the city consumes an average daily volume of 12
tons on weekdays and 16 tons on weekends.
So far, Saigon
Co.op has bought more than 300 tons of Dalat tomatoes.
Sales of tomatoes
at Big C total 150 tons, according to Ho Quoc Nguyen, director of external
affairs at the supermarket chain.
To help farmers
ride out tough times, Big C has decided to sell tomatoes at the prices it
offers to farmers at its stores in the south while covering transport costs
for the tomatoes sold in the central and northern regions.
Viettel
insists on mobile tariff cuts
For the second time
in four months, military-run telecom firm Viettel has failed to secure
approval from the Ministry of Information and Communications to cut its
mobile tariffs.
Through the
proposed reductions, the company could apply the same tariffs on calls on the
same network and those to other networks. Viettel subscribers who phone those
on other networks have to pay a fee that is 13% higher than that for the same
network.
At a recent meeting
with the ministry, Viettel deputy general director Le Dang Dung suggested the
ministry allow the firm to do away with the difference in tariffs between
same-network and other-network calls.
Pham Hong Hai,
director of the ministry’s Telecommunications Department, said mobile
carriers have the right to adjust charges but their reduced fees must not be
kept below cost to protect smaller networks.
“The Ministry
always requests Viettel and other networks to report on their costs and those
reports are used as a basis to approve mobile tariff reduction proposals by
carriers,” Hai said.
Viettel is the
country’s biggest mobile carrier with more than 40 million subscribers, so
subscribers on the Viettel network tend not to make a lot of calls to other
networks due to the higher tariff, thus impacting on call connection revenues
of smaller networks.
If Viettel was
allowed to cut its tariffs, smaller networks would be placed in a more
disadvantageous position, according to the ministry.
However, if
approval was forthcoming, Viettel’s 40 million-plus subscribers would
benefit. And if other carriers followed in Viettel’s footsteps, subscribers
in the country would benefit as well.
A report by Vietnam
Report Joint Stock Company shows that among the highest corporate income
taxpayers this year are three major mobile carriers – Viettel, MobiFone and
VinaPhone operator VNPT.
Helicopter
tour to UNESCO-recognized Phong Nha park suspended
The helicopter tour
which took tourists to UNESCO-recognized Phong Nha- Ke Bang National Park in
northern
The tour, which was
offered by Oxalis- a local tour operator, took a total of more than 60
passengers to the park during three trips starting April 2014.
Nguyen Chau A,
Oxalis’s CEO, which also offers tours to the park’s
It’s expected that
planes won’t be available on a regular basis for the tour until next year, he
added.
The tour was
jointly launched by Oxalis, Farmstay- a local tour service provider- and
Northern Helicopter Co., which belongs to the Ministry of Defense.
The tour offers
tourists a chopper ride around the Phong Nha- Ke Bang Park and bird’s-eye
views of the stunning landscapes beneath, including Son Doong’s
The chopper also
landed and dropped tourists around En (Swallow) and Tu Lan Caves.
The one-hour ride
costs US$3,400 for 22 tourists at one time.
Recognized as a
UNESCO World Heritage site in 2003,
The vast area is
home to resplendent formations including 65 km of caves and underground
rivers.
Provincial
authorities are taking into consideration the construction of a cable car
system in and around
The Son Doong
Grotto- the world’s current largest- was discovered in 1991 by Ho Khanh, a
local, but only became well-known after a group of scientists from the
British Cave Research Association, led by Howard and Deb Limbert, explored it
in 2009.
The largest chamber
of Son Doong is more than five kilometers long, 200 meters high, and 150
meters wide.
Business shutdowns
outnumber startups
The number of firms
going bust or temporarily shutting down business in October overtook that of
newly-established enterprises, indicating domestic businesses are facing huge
challenges, according to the General Statistics Office (GSO).
The office’s latest
report showed that 6,830 new businesses were established while over 7,140
firms were suspended or dissolved nationwide this month.
Overall, the
country’s number of start-ups was 60,000 in January-October with total
registered capital of VND352.5 trillion, down 6.5% and up 9.5% respectively.
The new enterprises were estimated to have generated 883,200 jobs in the
period, a year-on-year fall of 0.2%.
Domestic
enterprises, newly-established and operational ones alike, had additional
registered capital of VND827 trillion in the first 10 months of the year,
with start-ups accounting for VND352.5 trillion and the rest belonging to
operational enterprises.
Meanwhile, around
54,300 businesses went bust and suspended operations in the period, rising
9.3% year-in-year. Some 7,730 of them were dissolved, 9,260 temporarily
suspended operations and nearly 37,300 others stopped operations to wait for
business code closures.
These ailing
enterprises had total registered capital of VND455.9 trillion, including
VND61.7 trillion at those enterprises that completed dissolution procedures,
VND44.9 trillion of companies that were suspended, and VND349.3 trillion from
those ceasing their operations to wait for business code closures.
There were roughly
13,000 enterprises resuming operations in the period, up 10.7% year-on-year.
The statistical
report also shows the sectors that fared better in the period in terms of the
numbers of new startups and shutdowns.
The accommodation
and catering sectors saw the number of new start-ups rise 7.9% and that of
shutdowns slide 16.8%.
Wholesale, retail
and vehicle repair saw an increase of 58.5% in new start-ups and 25.8% in
closures, construction up 28% and 2.7%, and the processing and manufacturing
industry up 21.3% and 2.7%.
On the other hand,
in certain other industries, the number of shutdowns far outpaced that of new
startups.
The healthcare and
social support sector as a whole reported a 15.5% drop in new start-ups and
an 11.2% rise in closures; mining down 8.5% and up 7.8%; art and
entertainment down 3.7% and up 18.7%; and finance, banking and insurance down
2.5% and up 8%.
The two-way trade
turnover between
Both governments
have launched efforts to significantly expand bilateral trade and investment,
which has resulted in an uptick that is expected to develop even more rapidly
in the future, he said.
Malaysian
enterprises are also keen on recruiting Vietnamese guest workers, thanks to
their agricultural skills in the areas of cultivation and production, the
Ambassador said.
Forum talks
hydropower-related issues
Residents in the
Central and
They voiced their
request when attending a forum in Thua Thien-Hue province on October 28 to
address environmental and social issues with the developers of hydro-power
projects since they have left observable damage over recent years.
The participants
came from Dak Lak, Dak Nong, Phu Yen, Quang
A survey showed
that the Binh Dien hydropower plant in Thua Thien-Hue has negatively affected
residents’ living conditions in upstream and downstream areas and reduced the
population of some species of freshwater fish.
Highlighting the
regions’ substantial potential of hydro-power production, the Director of the
Centre for Social Research and Development (CSRD), Lam Thi Thu Suu, who is
also the coordinator of the Vietnam Rivers Network, agreed that the activity
had social and environmental impacts and needed to be addressed promptly.
To ensure
sustainable hydropower development and environmental and social protection,
the Prime Minister has directed ministries, branches and localities involved
to operate hydropower plants as processes approved, ensure power generation
efficiency, and regulate sufficient water sources for the downstream.
Local
businesses seek ways to penetrate Korean food market
However, the Consul
General emphasised that the export value remains low as a complete supply
chain is not established yet.
He said first of
all, the two nations should strengthen trade exchange in order to add value
to
In the first ten
months of the year, two-way trade turnover reached some US$23.3 billion.
Especially, the RoK now tops foreign investors in
According to Ms Bui
Thi Thanh An, deputy director of the Vietnam Trade Promotion Agency
(Vietrade), local businesses should exert greater efforts to fully tap the
potential market and enhance their capacity to meet the strict requirements
of product quality.
In addition, the
business community of both nations should always be prepared to seize
opportunities of the Vietnam-RoK Free Trade Agreement (FTA) expected to be
signed late this year and will give fresh impetus to the development of
bilateral trade and investment.
During the seminar,
several RoK businesses expressed hope to seek Vietnamese partners to further
introduce Vietnamese products to the RoK market.
Mekong
Delta, RoK boost economic ties
The ongoing
establishment of the Mekong Delta Development Institute is expected to
strengthen economic, social and scientific-technological cooperation between
the region and the
He said local
authorities hoped Korean experts will play an active role in driving the
friendship between the two countries forward, pledging to create favourable
conditions for partners from the RoK to implement the project with the best
results possible.
Suh Kyo II, Rector
of the
Can Tho city and
the delta in general are among optimal destinations for RoK investors due to
the abundance of natural and human resources.
Once operational,
the Mekong Delta Development Institute will play a huge role in
socio-economic growth and bilateral ties between the two countries, he said.
During the
workshop, participants talked about their shared vision and discussed
activities for their collaboration.
Representatives
from Can Tho and
Meanwhile, the
municipal Centre for Trade, Investment and Tourism Promotion and the RoK Consultation
Development KOVI D&C signed a Memorandum of Understanding on encouraging
international investors, especially those from RoK, to invest in Can Tho
city, including concrete measures to secure more foreign direct investment.
RoK experts later
visited the Vietnam-RoK technology nursery located at the
Vietnam
posts trade deficit with Laos
For the nine-month
period, bilateral trade value between Vietnam and Laos jumped by 37.3%
on-year to US$964 million with Vietnam exports reaching US$330 million, up
6.9% while imports were valued at US$634 million, up 61.8%.
Major imported
products from
Last year,
Vietnam-made
desalination equipment shipped to
Doosan Heavy
Industries Vietnam (Doosan Vina) transported the last of four shipments of
desalination equipment to its client, the
The freshwater
generator, which is capable of purifying 95 million litres of seawater per
day, is the eighth of its kind made by Doosan Vina’s plant in the Central
Weighing
approximately 4,500 tonnes, the gigantic machine is 34.4m wide and 143m long.
The machine is scheduled to arrive in
Doosan Vina General
Director Hang Ha Ryu said the successful completion of orders like this
demonstrated the high level of technical competence and skills of Vietnamese
workers.
Doosan Vina is a
joint investment in
SMEs
receive training to enhance export capacity
Vietnamese small
and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) joined their counterparts from
According to the
Vietnamese Embassy’s Trade Office in
In
The trainees were
equipped with marketing and management skills to better cater for the demands
of European customers.
They also had an
opportunity to study the market trends and competitiveness at the Global Food
Marketplace (SIAL) – the world’s largest food exhibition, in
Next year,
Viettrade and the CBI will arrange for more Vietnamese businesses to attend
similar training courses and organise a workshop to help Vietnamese food
producers outline proper strategies to promote their potential products such
as tea and honey in
The two sides will
also help ECP beneficiary businesses to attend the Vietnam FoodExpo in
A conference on
transfer pricing, including strategies for tax management agencies to tackle
the issue, was held in
Managers and
experts said pricing transfer and tax avoidance is a global issue.
Nguyen Van Phung,
Deputy Director of the Department for Tax Administration of Major
Corporations under the Ministry of Finance’s General Department of Taxation,
said enterprises tend to evade tax payments by exploiting loopholes in the
legal system. The challenge to management agencies is how to detect law
violations in such behaviours.
Director of the
Ministry of Planning and Investment’s Foreign Investment Agency Do Nhat Hoang
said it is essential to uncover evidence of transfer pricing, which aims to
dodge tax duties, and penalise violators according to the legal framework.
Economic expert
Nguyen Minh Phong presented his analysis of the issue, saying that transfer
pricing is used by enterprises to avoid tax, which distorts the investment
climate, reduces the efficiency of state management, creates a high risk of
corruption, and causes losses in State revenue.
Successfully combating
transfer pricing depends on legal mechanisms and policies, as well as the
professional skills of tax officers, participants noted.
In order to
maximise State efforts, the Government assigned the Ministry of Planning and
Investment to work with relevant agencies and authorities to set up an
anti-transfer pricing project.
The Ministry of
Finance, which was commissioned to implement the project, has focussed on
developing training programmes, running communication campaigns and
implementing a number of other measures in an effort to detect and deal with
firms that show signs of transfer pricing.
Over the last 26
years, foreign direct investment has played a crucial role in boosting
According to the
General Department of Taxation, out of the 39,000 firms that were inspected
by tax agencies during the first eight months of this year, nearly 2,000
showed signs of transfer pricing. The agencies collected over 1 trillion VND
in fines (47 million USD).
Hai Duong
authorities help Japanese firms overcome difficulties
Authorities in the
northern province Hai Duong will support foreign businesses, including those
from Japan, in overcoming difficulties, Chairman of the provincial People’s
Committee Nguyen Manh Hien announced at a meeting with Japanese enterprises
on October 29.
He said local
leaders are doing their utmost to improve the investment climate and reform
administrative procedures.
The official took
note of the difficulties Japanese businesses are facing, as well as their
feedback on labour permits, infrastructure improvements, taxation regulations
and services, and business operations.
The entrepreneurs
suggested apartment buildings and trade centres be built next to industrial
parks; human resources be improved, especially with regard to foreign
languages; and the stability of the investment climate be secured.
Local authorities
agreed to simplify administrative procedures to issue labour permits and
upgrade the electricity infrastructure to provide a reliable supply of power
for businesses.
The province also
approved a housing development project in urban areas and industrial parks by
2020, and issued an investment licence for the construction of 1,000
apartments and a number of markets for workers at Tan Truong industrial park
in Cam Giang district.
The tax, public
security, and electricity sectors set up hotlines to be able to respond to
businesses’ queries.
Hai Duong is home
to 283 investment projects from 24 countries worth 6.3 million USD.
Most Japanese
projects apply green technologies and follow the State regulations on
environmental protection.
More than 30,000
local workers are employed by Japanese businesses.-
Intra-ASEAN trade exceeds external trade
Trade within ASEAN
increased faster than trade between ASEAN and non-member states during the
1993-2013 period.
An annual growth
rate of 10.5 percent was recorded for trade within ASEAN during the 1993-2013
period, compared to 8.9 percent for trade between ASEAN and non-member
states, according to
Bernama quoted the
ASEAN Secretariat’s statistics released in October 2014 as saying that the
proportion of intra-ASEAN trade increased from 19.2 percent in 1993 to 22
percent in 2000 and 24.2 percent in 2013, accounting for 25 percent of the
region's total GDP in 2013.
Data on foreign
direct investment (FDI) inflows in ASEAN showed that between 2000 and 2013,
FDI within the bloc grew at an average annual rate of 25 percent, with FDI
from non-ASEAN states posting an average annual growth of 13 percent.
Total FDI in ASEAN
reached 122 billion USD in 2013, with non-ASEAN states providing 101 billion
USD.
In 2013, the
majority of FDI comprised 22 percent provided by the EU, 18.7 percent by
The services sector
benefitted from FDI the most at almost 70 percent, closely followed by
manufacturing.-
Quang
The central
The industrial
production of the province reached 24.96 trillion VND in 2011 and rose to
28.965 trillion VND last year, with an average annual growth rate of 18.17
percent. Private industrial establishments increased by 1,035, from 15,450 in
2011 to 16,485 in 2013.
Local industrial
clusters have attracted more investment into rural areas in the central
province of Quang
According to the
annual plan, the province’s total industry promotion funding is 2.72 billion
VND, including 1.38 billion VND from the central budget. Quang Nam has spent
464 million VND on industry promotion activities deployed in 10 districts and
cities including pottery training in Hoi An, industrial sewing in Dien Ban
and Duy Xuyen, and rattan weaving in Thang Binh and Duy Xuyen; and organised
seven Vietnamese goods fairs in the districts of Tay Giang, Dong Giang, Que
Son, Thang Binh, Nam Giang, Duy Xuyen and Bac Tra My.
Thanks to improved
industrial development activities, rural people, especially for the poor,
have gained access to vocational training, been employed, and gradually
escaped from poverty.
Quang
The local authority
has also offered soft loans to rural industrial establishments, helped boost
their sales, and encouraged private sector to participate in rural industrial
development schemes.
Forum talks
hydropower-related issues
Residents in the
Central and
They voiced their
request when attending a forum in Thua Thien-Hue province on October 28 to address
environmental and social issues with the developers of hydro-power projects
since they have left observable damage over recent years.
The participants
came from Dak Lak, Dak Nong, Phu Yen, Quang
A survey showed
that the Binh Dien hydropower plant in Thua Thien-Hue has negatively affected
residents’ living conditions in upstream and downstream areas and reduced the
population of some species of freshwater fish.
Highlighting the
regions’ substantial potential of hydro-power production, the Director of the
Centre for Social Research and Development (CSRD), Lam Thi Thu Suu, who is
also the coordinator of the Vietnam Rivers Network, agreed that the activity
had social and environmental impacts and needed to be addressed promptly.
To ensure
sustainable hydropower development and environmental and social protection,
the Prime Minister has directed ministries, branches and localities involved
to operate hydropower plants as processes approved, ensure power generation
efficiency, and regulate sufficient water sources for the downstream.
Customs
mechanism in spotlight
At a press
conference on the mechanism which was held here yesterday, Adrian Ball, ASEAN
Tax Managing Partner for EY, also said pre-classification customs mechanisms
helped businesses to classify the codes, taxation values and origins of
imported goods before allowing them into
Under the
mechanism, issued in November 2013, enterprises are required to submit
documents on imported goods to customs agencies 90 days before the arrival of
the goods.
Under the same
mechanism, customs agencies and businesses will have a unification in the
number of tax payments. This could also help businesses to avoid risks if
goods are stuck at port or the tax payments are higher than initial
estimates.
According to
current regulations, goods could be cleared and investigated within one to
three years. If the customs agencies uncover any tax arrears, businesses
could be fined up to 20 per cent of the total value of goods. Sometimes, the
fines could reach several millions of dollars.
However, the
Vietnamese business community thought the mechanism has not really been
effective, and the policy has not been applied to all businesses.
At the press
conference, Pham Thi Thu Trang, deputy general director of EY Viet Nam, said
responses from businesses showed that none of the applications made under the
mechanism were accepted.
Trang attributed
this to "several impossible conditions that
She noted that the
first requirement was for importers to submit documents 90 days before the
arrival of the goods, along with formal contracts with seals.
Normally,
businesses do not decide on import-export transactions 90 days before
arrival, making the requirement difficult to meet, Trang explained.
In addition, in
terms of taxation value, the mechanism only accepts goods which had not been
imported before. Enterprises are required to make payments using letters of
credit 90 days in advance.
Ball agreed, saying
the
"The most
important thing is to classify based on whether it is a real company with a
real transaction," he added.
Textile,
garment exports seen hitting $25b in 2014
Garment and textile
exports are expected to rise by 15-16 per cent this year to between US$24.5
billion and 25 billion, according to the Viet Nam Textile and Apparel
Association.
Shipments in the
first nine months were worth nearly $18 billion, an increase of 19 per cent
year-on-year, said Nguyen Dinh Truong, deputy chairman of the association,
said. With this, the sector is confident of exceeding the year's target by
$500 million to $1 billion, he said.
However, in the
first nine months import of feedstock by the sector cost $11 billion.
Truong said
companies are switching to domestic feedstock from imports while speaking at
the opening of the 14th Vietnam International Textile & Garment Industry
Exhibition in
As a result of an
18 per cent increase in the sales of feedstock the textile and garment
industry saw revenues rise by 12 per cent, he said.
The export market
has already seen positive signs for next year with a surge in the number of
orders for the first quarter, he said.
But the industry
needs to improve its productivity, quality, and competitiveness with
investment in new technologies, machinery, and innovation, he said.
At the exhibition
more than 200 companies from 10 countries and territories like mainland
China, India, Japan, Singapore, Taiwan, Turkey, and the US are displaying the
latest machinery, equipment, and technologies.
The products
include machinery and equipment and accessories for spinning and weaving,
embroidery, steaming, bleaching, and washing besides chemicals and dyes.
The Association of
Garments, Textiles, Embroidery and Knitting is set to hold seminars on the
sidelines to discuss current trends and the latest techniques and
technologies in the industry.
The event at the
Tan Binh Exhibition & Convention Centre will go on until November 1.
|
Chủ Nhật, 2 tháng 11, 2014
Đăng ký:
Đăng Nhận xét (Atom)
Không có nhận xét nào:
Đăng nhận xét