BUSINESS NEWS IN BRIEF 11/9 AEON ends tie-up with Fivimart after four years of no success Retail giant AEON has judged that its partnership with Fivimart will yield no fruits and is terminating the tie-up after four years of cooperation.  In AEON’s Japanese-language press release, AEON Co., Ltd said that it has dissolved its partnership with Hanoi-based Fivimart, getting rid of its 30 per cent stake in Fivimart.However, there is no information about who will take over this stake yet. With the aim to help AEON set up a distribution network of goods and reduce the amount of initial capital outlay while laying the groundwork for its plan to construct a series of shopping malls in Vietnam in the future, AEON acquired 30 per cent of Fivimart and 49 per cent of Citimart. AEON decided to terminate the partnership believing that it will not prove fruitful due to the stark differences in their management strategies, including ways to open outlets. This means AEON will withdraw from 23 Fivimart stores, while maintaining its partnership with Ho Chi Minh City-based Citimart. AEON said that this movement will not affect its operations in Vietnam. AEON Group is preparing to open more small stores in emerging Asian markets like Cambodia, Myanmar, and Vietnam. In particular, it aims to raise the number of its stores in Vietnam almost nine-fold to 500 by 2025. AEON Group has four shopping malls in Hanoi, Binh Duong, and Ho Chi Minh City and is regarded as a major competitor on the Vietnamese retail scene. It plans to build a new mall in Hanoi and another in Haiphong in the short run, and have 20 malls across the country by 2020. Meanwhile, AEON Group has been in partnership with Japan’s Sojitz Corporation to develop Ministop convenience stores. The two firms aim to raise the number of their joint outlets to 800 in the next eight years. WEF puts focus on ideas for ASEAN With Industry 4.0 on the rise, Vietnam is emerging as a dynamic economy with high growth potential. The World Economic Forum on ASEAN 2018 in Hanoi next week will put a spotlight on this perspective, with vast opportunities for businesses and investors to meet and exchange business and investment ideas. Khoi Nguyen reports. For years, Truong Gia Binh, chairman of FPT Group – Vietnam’s IT leader – has participated at almost all events within the World Economic Forum (WEF), which is considered a global forum for great ideas by global economic leaders. “More accurately, the WEF should be regarded as a market of ideas, in which FPT can look for partners who are global corporations with new products and novel ideas like Airbus. FPT have seen lots of opportunities from the WEF,” Binh said. Last month, FPT and Intellinet, a US-based purpose-driven management consulting and technology services firm, reached an agreement for FPT to become its major shareholder, expanding FPT’s footprint in the US. This partnership enables both firms to deliver end-to-end strategic IT services on a global scale, helping clients to accelerate their digital transformation journey. With a team of 150 Intellinet consultants joining FPT’s taskforce, the two companies can provide a full range of technology solutions to clients worldwide, including consultancy, requirement definition, system design, development, implementation, and maintenance. “Becoming a technology partner of global enterprises in the Fourth Industrial Revolution, we realise that there exists a huge demand for digital transformation consultancy and implementation services. By making a strategic investment in Intellinet, FPT is now more than ready to provide comprehensive digital transformation solutions for top companies, elevating Vietnam’s position on the global technology map,” Binh said. Currently, FPT is preparing to partake in the WEF on ASEAN 2018 (WEF ASEAN 2018) scheduled to take place in Hanoi on September 11-13. “This event will be like a big market where investment and business ideas are exchanged, which will help FPT seek new partners,” Binh said. “Businesses and investors in Vietnam can learn from the experience of global companies. In some cases, your company can change its business strategy completely thanks to a single word of wisdom from a foreign partner. Then your company’s future will be quite different from what you currently envisage,” he said. At a press conference on the WEF ASEAN 2018 held late last month in Hanoi, the WEF’s president Borge Brende stressed that the Vietnamese economy has grown from strength to strength over the past few years, making the country one of the fastest-growing economies in the world. “Vietnam grew by nearly 7 per cent last year, which is an impressive achievement,” Brende said. “Vietnam has been highly valued by many international organisations thanks to its unceasing efforts in improving its business climate.” Justin Wood, head of Asia Pacific and member of the executive committee at the WEF, told VIR that Vietnam has been opening up and engaging in the international community on many fronts, but particularly from an economic perspective. “If you look at the country’s trade, you’ll see that Vietnam’s trade volume has grown significantly. The Vietnamese government is also pursuing many free trade agreements, which have and will give many opportunities to Vietnam,” Wood said. “Also, if you look at foreign direct investment (FDI) in Vietnam, it has increased to a record level. So I think it’s clear that over recent years, Vietnam’s position in the world has become much more integrated and much more connected.” Vietnam’s total export-import turnover hit a record figure of $425 billion last year, and $308.07 billion in in the first eight months of this year, when the country enjoyed a trade surplus of $2.75 billion. As of August 20, 129 nations and territories invested in Vietnam, with the total registered capital of over $333.83 billion. Vietnam’s position has been improving in the international arena. Vietnam has made steady progress in improving its investment climate, as evidenced by higher scores on the WEF’s competitiveness index (up five points to 55th in the world), and the 2018 World Bank ease of doing business ranking (68th in the world, up 31 places since 2014). “All of this shows that Vietnam’s business and investment climate is improving,” Wood said. “I believe that by bringing the global business community to Vietnam, it provides a fantastic opportunity for the country to talk about its reform process, the way to steer the economy in a new direction, and efforts by the government on improving the business and investment landscape,” he continued. The Vietnamese government and the WEF will jointly organise the WEF ASEAN 2018, which will welcome eight ASEAN heads of state or government and top public figures from South Korea, Sri Lanka, and Thailand. The event will take place under the theme “ASEAN 4.0: Entrepreneurship and the Fourth Industrial Revolution”. According to WEF leaders, there will be lots of strong, positive stories about Vietnam at this event, and the global business community will have an opportunity to hear these stories and share them with the world. “There are many startup businesses in Vietnam, and we will have opportunities to meet and connect them with global companies at the WEF ASEAN 2018,” Brende said. “We will bring more than 100 successful ASEAN businesses to the event this time. Hopefully, this will inspire all startup businesses there.” Issues to be discussed at the meeting include Asia’s new balance of power, Asia’s next frontier, the future of jobs in ASEAN, Asia’s economic outlook, accelerating the ASEAN Economic Community, ASEAN pluralism, and designing cities 4.0. Topics surrounding Industry 4.0, including emerging technologies like autonomous vehicles, blockchain, drones, and fintech, will also be highlighted. The meeting will also include workplace sessions on topics such as sexual harassment at work, and workplace 4.0. “Vietnam has become one of the strong points of interest at the WEF ASEAN 2018 event, because the global business community has recognised the rising influence and importance of Vietnam. They want to come here. They want to understand what the country is doing. They want to understand how Vietnam is integrating into the ASEAN region and the world,” Wood said. One of the ideas the WEF leaders want to share with Vietnam is the need for the country to invest more into education and training, and application of technologies related to artificial intelligence, self-driving cars, the Internet of Things, and blockchain, in a bid to develop itself into a digital economy in line with Industry 4.0. “If you want to visualise everything in the 21st century, you would need all these technologies, which means adequate research and development resources have to be provided. Please invest more in students, universities, and technology,” Brende said. Binh of FPT said that the group, along with hundreds of thousands of other Vietnamese companies, wishes to play a bigger role on the global playing field. “One of the most important things is that we need a spirit of innovation and big thinking. The WEF ASEAN 2018 will offer great opportunities not only to FPT, but to all businesses in Vietnam,” Binh said. Vietjet to open daily service to Japan Budget airline Vietjet Air will begin operating three daily flights to Osaka and Tokyo in Japan late this year and early next year, said an official at a Vietnam-Japan tourism seminar, on the sidelines of the International Tourism Fair in HCMC. Nguyen Duong Binh, deputy general director of Vietjet Air, said that since 2014 the airline has teamed up with a number of tourism firms to operate flights to ten Japanese cities. These flights have got positive responses and Vietjet now regards Japan as a key market to open daily service. The flights from Hanoi and HCMC to Osaka will be launched on November 8 and December 14, respectively, while service between Hanoi and Tokyo will be opened on January 11, 2019. He said the airline is willing to arrange separate flights to carry large Japanese parties of tourists, such as those with some 200 people. Experts from the ASEAN Promotion Center on Trade, Investment and Tourism (ASEAN-Japan Center) and the Japan Association of Travel Agents (JATA) said Vietnam is a favored destination among Japanese tourists. However, the local tourism sector should pay special attention to working out marketing strategies, creating specific products for each customer segment, improving the quality of services, as well as forging close relationships with Japanese partners. Hideaki Murai, deputy head of the Outbound Travel Promotion Division at JATA, named three main segments – family tourists, middle-aged tourists, and tourists belonging to F1-F2 generations. Among these, the segment of middle-aged tourists is vital, as they have high incomes and time to travel, while family tourists have great potential, as they seek increasing demand for overseas travel. The final segment could create powerful promotional  opportunities for their destinations. Data from the General Statistics Office of Vietnam shows that, as of August, more than 545,000 Japanese tourists had come to Vietnam in 2018, up 5.3% from a year earlier. HCM City to host innovation and startup week The 2018 Ho Chi Minh City Innovation, Startup and Entrepreneurship Week (WHISE 2017), the city’s biggest startup event of the year, will be held from October 15-19, with the aim of promoting innovation and startups in the city. During the course of the week, HCM City will summarize contests for Startup Wheel initiatives, startup transaction floor and investment, Internet of Things (IOT) solutions for smart cities, and Creative Idea Contest (CiC) startup initiatives. In addition, it will present awards to the winners of AIOT and Smart Cities contests, connect students through an “innovation and startup in the digital era” program, as well as reviewing an “innovation in high-tech agricultural production” contest and the activities of Vietnam Silicon Valley 2018 while organizing a final round and an exhibition of STEM contests. Furthermore, a series of seminars, a technology exhibition, and a technology, equipment and environment solutions for the health sector fair will be held within the framework of the week. Vietnam software industry sees robust growth Vietnam's software industry is growing strongly with revenues of existing companies surging and Vingroup announcing its entry into the sector. Quang Trung Software City in Ho Chi Minh City,  the country’s top information and technology hub, reported revenues of VND3.3 trillion (US$142 million) in the first half this year for the 155 businesses operating inside. This figure, which was up 25.5% year-on-year, included US$93.4 million worth of software exports, up 36.5%. Revenues of Quang Trung Software City last year were worth over VND8 trillion (US$344 million), a 25% rise over 2016. These growth rates are common for top software companies, including giant FPT Software, which has been reporting them since 2010. Last year FPT’s exports were worth VND6.2 trillion (US$266 million). It plans to increase that number to VND7.7 trillion (US$331 million) this year, and to US$1 billion by 2020. The high growth rates obviously mean increasing job creation by the sector. Data from VietnamWorks, a leading recruitment company, shows there were 15,000 new jobs in the information technology sector last year, 1.5 times the 2015 number. More than half of them were in HCMC, the country’s largest technology hub. Last month realty and retail behemoth Vingroup announced plans to focus intensively on the technology sector by establishing VinTech, which will focus on AI, software and new materials. Vietnam’s software exports last year were worth VND58.5 trillion (US$2.5 billion), up 4.4% from 2016, according to the Ministry of Information and Technology. Vietnam offers new equity prospects for Japanese businesses The equitisation of State-owned enterprises, public-private partnerships (PPP) in infrastructure development and startups in the Revolution 4.0 are present new opportunities for Japanese businesses as they seek to penetrate Vietnam. The information was shared by participants at a Vietnam-Japan Investment Cooperation Forum held in Yokohama, Kanagawa prefecture, Japan on September 7. The event saw the presence of more than 200 businesses and leaders from Yokohama, the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO), the Vietnamese Ministry of Planning and Investment (MoPI), the Vietnamese Embassy and Hung Yen, Long An and Ha Nam provinces. At the forum, Kanagawa Governor Kuroiwa Yuji said this is the fourth such event to be held under the framework of Vietnam Festa in Kanagawa, showing the due care and support of the Vietnamese Government and Yokohama authorities for businesses from the two countries. To date, six Vietnamese businesses have invested in Yokohama while the Kanagawa prefecture has poured investments into four industrial parks in Vietnam, Mr Yuji said. MoIP Deputy Minister Vu Dai Thang emphasized the advantages of Vietnam’s business environment such as its huge market with nearly 100 million customers, competitive labour costs, political and macroeconomic stability, and an increasingly transparent legal institution in line with international standards. Vietnam has signed 12 free trade agreements, been an active member of ASEAN and APEC and established ties with many countries and regions, especially G7 and G20. Regarding new opportunities in Vietnam, Mr Thang said the country is attracting foreign investors in the equitisation of State-owned enterprises and infrastructure development such as transport, electricity and seaports through the PPP model. The country is accelerating the delivery of Industrial Revolution 4.0 innovations and developing a startup ecosystem, which will offer a plethora of opportunities for Japanese businesses. At the forum, the provinces of Hung Yen, Long An and Ha Nam presented their strengths and foreign investment attraction policies. The forum serves as a platform for Japanese and Vietnamese businesses to expand investment cooperation, contributing to the further development of Vietnam-Japan ties. Korean financial firms make beeline for Vietnam Recent expansion plans and stake acquisitions reflect keen Korean interest in Vietnam's banking and finance sectors. Korean giant KB Financial Group is completing procedures to open a branch of its Kookmin Bank in Hanoi. The lender’s first branch has opened in Ho Chi Minh City, and KB Financial Group’s chairman and CEO Yoon Jong Kyoo has told Deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue at a recent meeting the company plans to invest a further US$110 million in Vietnam. In 2017 KB Securities, a subsidiary of KB Financial Group, sealed a deal to take over 99.4% of Vietnam’s Maritime Securities for US$33.2 million. Yoon said he was impressed by Vietnam’s development and prospects, and the group’s business here is profitable. “So we want to expand our banking and finance business in Vietnam.” Hue told Yoon the government has agreed in principle for the State Bank of Vietnam to go ahead with procedures to license the bank’s Hanoi branch. Lotte Card’s CEO Kim Chang-kwon, at a meeting with Hue on September 6, also spoke about the firm’s expansion trajectory in Vietnam. Last March the company signed a deal with one of Vietnam’s biggest private lenders, Techcombank, to buy out its subsidiary, Techcom Finance. The acquisition made Lotte Card the first Korean credit card company to enter the Vietnamese market. Neither party has disclosed the value of the deal, but Korean newswire The Investor estimated it at VND1.7 trillion (US$74.67 million). Kim said the buyout would enable Lotte Card to expand its business in Vietnam, where it now has 1.5 million clients. Lotte Card, a subsidiary of Lotte Group, is focusing on non-cash consumer finance and application of fintech in Vietnam. Since last year there has been an influx into Vietnam by Korean financial institutions with a string of acquisitions. Shinhan Bank Vietnam acquired ANZ Vietnam’s retail business for an undisclosed sum, and there was the KB Securities-Maritime Securities deal. Last January Shinhan Card bought out Prudential Vietnam Finance for US$151 million, while the Lotte Card-Techcom Finance deal happened a couple of months later. The Republic of Korea (RoK) is more or less a maturing economy with relatively low GDP growth rate of 2%-3%. Its companies including financial institutions are looking for growth opportunities and Vietnam is one of their first options. More Korean financial institutions are eyeing Vietnam to cater to the needs of Korean manufacturers who entered the country earlier. RoK is the largest foreign investor in Vietnam, according to the Ministry of Planning and Investment. As of August 20 it had registered to invest US$61.08 billion, or 18.3% of the country’s total FDI pledges, followed by Japan with US$55.84 billion. Apart from catering to the needs of Korean manufacturers in Vietnam like Samsung and LG and their hundreds of parts suppliers, Korean financial institutions also see a potentially huge consumer market in the country’s quickly expanding higher- and middle-income groups. Hue told Yoon that, given the country’s improved economic conditions, the government wants to expand the financial market, especially amid the fourth industrial revolution and digitization. “The government will accelerate equitization, state equity divestment and stock market listing, and consider launching derivatives in the stock markets.” The government has also tasked the central bank with speeding up the restructuring of credit institutions including non-banking entities, he said. At the meeting with Kim, he said his government is keen on developing consumer finance via fintech and mobile payment solutions. It encourages and supports Lotte Card’s investment in non-cash consumer finance, he said. ETF trading to shake markets      The latest announcement from UK-based FTSE Russell’s exchange-traded fund FTSE Vietnam ETF to add Vinhomes shares to its quarterly-reviewed investment portfolio is expected to shake the Vietnamese stock market in the coming week. The benchmark VN-Index on the HCM Stock Exchange on Friday gained 1.12 per cent to end at 968.90 points after having fallen total 3.17 per cent since the beginning of the week. The HNX Index on the Ha Noi Stock Exchange was up 1.11 per cent to finish last week at 111.70 points. The VN-Index fell 2.08 per cent week-on-week and the HNX Index dropped nearly 1 per cent. An average of more than 216.3 million shares was traded on the two local exchanges in each session, worth VND4.36 trillion (US$193.8 million). After the VN-Index approached its old peak of 1,000 points, the stock market was on the downtrend for four consecutive sessions starting from Friday (August 31), as stocks ran out of momentum under pressure from international trade tensions, the possibility of a Fed rate hike this month and the quarterly portfolio reviews of exchange-traded funds (ETFs). A strong market rebound on Friday gave investors confidence about the VN-Index having consolidated around the range of 960 points, Viet Capital Securities Corp (VCSC) analyst Chau Thien Truc Quynh told online newspaper tinnhanhchungkhoan.vn. However, there was still uncertainty about that as some investors assumed the VN-Index may continue rising and consolidate in higher ranges, for example, 972-977 points, Quynh said. According to Quynh, one of the main factors that could have an impact on the stock market this week is the trading of FTSE Vietnam ETF. FTSE Vietnam ETF on Friday announced it would buy in shares of high-end property developer Vinhomes and the Vietnam Electrical Equipment Joint Stock Corporation (Gelex) while removing shares of Binh Minh Plastic JSC from its portfolio. Trading of the FTSE Vietnam ETF will complete by the end of September 21, which will have a big impact on the stock market as Vinhomes (VNM) is a blue-chip stock with significant influence on the local market, Quynh said. Vinhomes is listing nearly 2.68 billion shares on the HCM Stock Exchange with ticket VHM and market capitalisation of VND280.8 trillion ($12.5 billion). VHM is the second-largest stock by market capitalisation behind its own parent firm Vingroup (HoSE: VIC). Gelex is listing 338.8 million shares on the HCM Stock Exchange with ticket GEX and market capitalisation of VND9.43 trillion. According to BIDV Securities JSC (BSC), FTSE Vietnam ETF will buy in $47 million worth of 10.5 million Vinhomes shares and $4.4 million worth of 3.67 million Gelex shares. Therefore, the UK-based ETF will have to sell some blue-chip stocks in its portfolio to afford the purchase of VHM and GEX, Quynh said. The trading of ETFs from now to the end of September will create more pressure on the stock market and there will be more falling sessions until the ETFs complete their portfolio shake-ups, Vietinbank Securities JSC (VietinbankSC) analyst Nguyen Nhat Cuong said. On Friday, US president Donald Trump threatened his government will impose tariffs on all Chinese imports, shaking global markets about the escalation of the China-US trade war. The US Federal Reserve (Fed) is also expected to hike lending rates this month after keeping them stable in early August. According to VietinbankSC analyst Cuong, those are the macro-economic factors that could drive market sentiment either in a positive or negative way. Foreign capital will remain a problem despite foreign investors scoring a net buy value of VND156.7 billion. “Our data shows that foreign investors have generally net-sold in the last 10 sessions” and “it proves foreign capital has not completely returned to the Vietnamese market,” he said.  Deal signed to provide training for startups      The HCM City Institute for Development Studies (HIDS) and the Institute of Startup Success on Saturday signed an agreement to conduct research and organise start-up training programmes in the 2018-23 period. Hang Nhat Quang, director of the HCM City branch of the Institute of Startup Success, said that starting a business was never easy, and that nine out of 10 new startups have to close or declare bankruptcy in one to three years. Problems facing startups include lack of business knowledge and strategies, or poorly researched strategies, he said. With the current business environment, mapping and implementing a business strategy consistently is vital for success of start-ups. Dang Duc Thanh, director of the Institute for Start-up Success and deputy chairman of the Advisory Council for Start-ups and Enterprise Development in Ben Tre Province, said to succeed, business executives should have a strategic mindset and be able to predict customer and market trends and demand. Many businesses operating in the same market succeed but others fail. Those that succeed have identified market trends and the development potential of business sectors, he said. Thousands of new enterprises are set up each year, but only about 10 per cent of them survive, he said. “If we want to start a business, we have to learn how to start it first.” Professor Nguyen Van Trinh, HIDS deputy director, said his institute had organised many training courses for the local business community to help them adjust to a fast-changing environment, but the number of business executives participating in such courses was modest, and most businesses sent staff to attend the courses. Through cooperation with the Institute of Startup Success, HIDS expects to expand business support programmes and create a robust environment for young people to develop start-ups, especially in the technology sector. The aim is to upgrade the position of Viet Nam in the region and world as well as enable the city to have 500,000 businesses by 2020, according to Trinh.  Qatar Airways to launch direct flights to Da Nang this December Qatar Airways will launch direct flights to Da Nang starting December 19 as the third Vietnamese destination on the award-winning airline’s rapidly expanding global network. The airline said in a statement on September 6 that it will offer four-times weekly flights with a Boeing 787-8 aircraft, featuring 22 seats in Business Class and 232 seats in Economy Class. Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive Akbar Al Baker said: “We are delighted to announce the launch of our newest gateway to Vietnam, the beautiful city of Da Nang. This new direct route demonstrates our commitment to expanding our presence in the Far East, a highly-important market for Qatar Airways." Qatar Airways began direct services to HCM City in 2007, and launched its Hanoi service in 2010. Currently, the airline provides twice-daily direct flights to Vietnam’s capital city and 10 times weekly flights to HCM City. The launch of direct flights to Da Nang followed the newly announced service to Gothenburg, Sweden. As part of its continued expansion plans, Qatar Airways plans a host of new destinations throughout 2018, including Gothenburg, Tallinn (Estonia) and Valletta (Malta). In October 2017, Qatar Airways announced its interline partnership with Vietnam-based Vietjet Air, allowing Qatar Airways’ passengers to travel to and from points in Vietnam not served directly by Qatar Airways using a single reservation across both airlines’ networks. Da Nang, one of the major cities in Vietnam, hosted 6.6 million tourists including 1.67 million foreigners in 2017. The city expects the new air route will help promote trade, investment and tourism between the central region and the Middle East. Sound investment climate makes Tra Vinh more attractive   Improvements in investment climate have made the Mekong Delta province of Tra Vinh more magnetic to investors, said a local official. Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee Dong Van Lam said that the province lured 66 projects with total investment of 233 million USD in the first eight months of the year, up 17 projects as compared to the same time last year. The province is currently housing 274 valid projects, 236 of which have been invested by domestic investors with total capital of more than 101.6 trillion VND (4.37 billion USD), and 38 projects worth nearly 3.3 billion USD by foreigners. Most of the projects are in agricultural processing, wind power, and ship building. According to Lam, the province has accelerated administrative procedure reforms to invite investors to land high-tech projects, and inject money into the fields of its strength. Tra Vinh has announced preferential treatment for projects on high-tech shrimp farming, eco-shrimp cultivation, processing and selling coconut-based products, fruit processing, ship building, and cultural and tourism site development, among others. Accordingly, those who invest in these fields will enjoy various preferences in land policy, compensation, land clearance, infrastructure, recruitment and labour training. VinFast, LG Chem cooperate in battery production VinFast Trading & Production Ltd. and LG Chem Ltd., a subsidiary of LG Corporation of the Republic of Korea (RoK), on September 7 signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on the production of batteries that meet international standards and environmentally friendly criteria. The partnership will provide batteries for all products in the ecosystem of VinFast – a subsidiary of Vingroup, including scooters, electric cars and buses, smart phones and other products in the future. In the short term, the cooperation will focus on producing batteries for VinFast’s e-scooters.  Accordingly, VinFast will be responsible for building workshop and installing production lines at the company’s Supplier Park located in the northern port city of Hai Phong, ensuring that the facility will be operational in the second quarter of 2019.  Meanwhile, LG Chem will provide technologies for battery production and personnel training.  Vo Quang Hue, Deputy CEO of Vingroup, said the partnership is an important initial step for VinFast in particular and Vingroup in general to grasp global advanced technologies in order to produce premium products and contribute to the development of Vietnam’s support industry.   LG Chem Ltd. is the RoK’s largest multi-sector chemical company which specialises in petrochemical, IT and electronic materials, and energy solution.  With over 20 years’ experience in battery production, LG Chem has affirmed itself as one of the world’s leading Lithium-ion manufacturers. The company is the primary supplier of lithium batteries throughout the world for mobile phone and hybrid/electric vehicle industries and energy storage system. Vietnamese dairy producer expands operation in Russia Vietnam’s dairy group TH True Milk recently began construction on a milk processing plant at Kaluga Special Economic Zone in Borovsk district, Kaluga province of Russia. The plant is part of the group’s ten-year investment worth 2.7 billion USD in Russia. Equipped with automatic systems from the world’s prestigious suppliers, it will produce milk and dairy products such as pasteurised milk, ultra-high temperature processing milk, yogurt, drinking yogurt, butter, kefir, ryazhenka, and ice cream. Capable of producing 1,500 tonnes of milk per day, it will become the plant with largest production capacity in Russia, with materials from TH cow farms in Moscow and Kaluga. According to leaders of Kaluga province, the project is the most important one in the locality. Once becoming operational, it will help settle milk insufficiency in Russia while boosting exports to international markets like China and the Asia-Pacific. The group is considering building farm and milk processing plant complexes in Tyumen province and Bashkortostan.  Also, it will carry out a cow breeding and milk processing project in Primorye province of Russia’s Far East. Up to 350,000 head of cow are expected to be raised in an area of 140,000 hectares during the three-phase project. Nearly 1.8 million tonnes of milk will be produced per year. TH plans to set up a distribution chain with 300 True Mart stores across Russia. Last year, Vietnam and Kaluga province enjoyed a trade revenue of 30 million USD, 7.6 times higher than 2015. In the first six months of this year, the figure was 22.3 million USD. Derivatives market not alluring to institutional investors yet   Although derivatives market has proved its role as an effective investment channel, it is still not much attractive to institutional investors. According to the Hanoi Stock Exchange, 98.7 percent of the trading volume came from domestic individuals in August while the participation of institutional players just accounted for a small percentage of 0.76. Foreign transactions in August rose 12.4 percent from July; however, they only made up 0.13 percent of the total trading volume. More than 1.8 million futures contracts were traded in the month, a month-on-month drop of 35.67 percent. The average trading volume of the market was 79,539 contracts per section, down 38.47 percent from the previous month. However, trading account number rose 9.64 percent to 43,453 accounts.  Total Open Interests (OI) declined 9.12 percent to 15,320 contracts. With the participation of Rong Viet Securities Corporation, the derivatives market had ten members as of August 31. The Hanoi Stock Exchange said that after one year of operation, the derivatives market has enjoyed stable growth, and become an effective risk-management tool, helping stabilise investors’ sentiment and anticipate market trends. HCM City maintains leading position in FDI attraction   Since policies to attract foreign direct investment (FDI) were applied from January 1, 1988, Ho Chi Minh City has led the way in luring investment. Statistics from the municipal People’s Committee show that after 30 years of FDI attraction, the city has hosted 7,700 FDI projects with a total capital of 44.87 billion USD, clinching the first position in the field. In 2016-2018 (as of June 2018), the city lured 14.4 billion USD in new projects and through deals with domestic ones, along with 2.14 billion USD injected into 525 underway projects. The city also approved  6,340 investors to contribute capital and buy shares of Vietnamese firms to the tune of 7.27 billion USD. Commenting on the role of FDI to the city, Nguyen Thanh Phong, Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee said the city highly values the important contributions of foreign firms to its development. From only 11.3 percent of Ho Chi Minh City’s GDP in 1995, FDI enterprises’ contributions rose to 22.9 percent of the city’s GDP in 2010 and sit at 17 percent currently, he noted. In 1995, FDI made up 8.8 percent of the city’s total export revenue, but the figure increased to 23.9 percent in 2010 and 55.9 percent currently, said Phong. The city leader said that along with helping the city transform its economic structure and create new production, distribution and consumption methods, FDI firms have also created jobs for 270,000 direct  labourers and millions of indirect ones. They have also contributed to transforming a low-income workforce to a qualified and high-income one. According to the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee, FDI in the city has continued to rise in terms of capital and investment methods. The most attractive areas for foreign investors include real estate, wholesale and retail, science-technology service and tourism.  As land rental demand is rising, real estate services continue to see big investment at more than 40 percent of total FDI. Su Ngoc Anh, Director of the Department of Planning and Investment of the city attributed the city’s success in FDI attraction to the fast growth of the economy and improved investment environment.  Anh said the city’s priorities to the development of science-technology, tourism and investment improvement as well as equal competition also make it more attractive for foreign investors. Two Vietnamese hotels sparkle as Asian heritage gems Two colonial-era hotels in Vietnam have charmed their way into international broadcaster CNN's list of Asia's best heritage gems. The Hotel Continental Saigon in HCM City's Dong Khoi Street and Sofitel Legend Metropole in Hanoi's Ngo Quyen Street have showed up on the list of Asia’s most beautiful heritage hotels compiled by CNN. Just a short walk from Saigon’s Notre Dame Cathedral, Hotel Continental Saigon was built in 1880 and was the place to be for many high-ranking French colonial officials.  It was shut down in 1980 and resumed operations in 1989. Despite the ups and down of the history, it has retained much of its classic charms from “candlelit street-side dining, wrought iron balconies, a frangipani-filled courtyard, wood-paneled rooms to excellent French cuisine,” CNN says. Founded in 1901, the Sofitel Legend Metropole is a “beautiful example of colonial architecture” in the heart of the capital city. The hotel is home to a two-meter-high wartime bomb shelter which was discovered by chance in 2011. It was where many famous figures of the Vietnam War, including actress Jane Fonda and anti-war activist Tom Hayden, took refugee as bombs rained down on Hanoi. Other heritages in CNN’s list include Raffles in Singapore, Yabshi Phunkhang Heritage hotel in China, Raffles Hotel Le Royal in Cambodia, the Majestic Malacca in Malaysia and Manila Hotel in the Philippines. E-procurement underpins adaptation to Industry 4.0 E-procurement is considered an emerging and inevitable trend which will assist with Vietnam’s participation in the Fourth Industrial Revolution. In the era of Industry 4.0, the impacts of geographical boundaries and space on industry will be mostly eliminated. Instead, innovation in automation, digitalisation, and connection between real and virtual worlds is creating the starting point for the replacement of traditional trade and business with Industry 4.0. E-procurement is gradually replacing traditional procurement, and is becoming part of Industry 4.0, enhancing transparency and efficiency in state budget management. According to the Vietnam National e-Procurement Centre, in 2017, the number of e-procurement packages more than doubled compared to 2016, reaching 8,200 packages with the total value of approximately VND9 trillion ($398.23 million). In just the first seven months of 2018, about 8,900 packages were procured online, exceeding the total for the entirety of 2017. Notably, the largest package was worth VND194 billion ($8.6 million). Established in 2009, the Vietnam National e–Procurement System (VNEPS) is managed by the Vietnam National e-Procurement Centre under the Ministry of Planning and Investment’s Public Procurement Agency. The system supports enterprises and bidders to approach thousands of business opportunities from publicly funded projects in all categories – goods, civil works, consulting, and non-consulting services. VNEPS meets the four requirements established by Forbes for Industry 4.0, and opens up precious opportunities for enterprises to participate in public procurement. One major challenge for enterprises wanting to expand into public procurement is information access. VNEPS is the solution for this challenge. Simply put, VNEPS is an e-commerce intermediary platform helping to connect enterprises with procuring entities in public-funded projects. These projects will be opened for competitive procurement on the VNEPS website: http://muasamcong.mpi.gov.vn. By registering a membership profile, bidders are able to access all information about the projects and procurement opportunities, and participate in the bids easily and conveniently. The system brings an advantage of removing geographical obstacles. With only an internet-connected laptop, every bidder, anytime, anywhere, is able to participate in procurement packages on the system. All trading and information exchange processes between bidders and procuring entities during bid preparation and bid evaluation are conducted completely online via the system. All procurement information, including procurement plan, invitation for prequalification, invitation for bids, bidding documents, and bidder selection results, is made public on the system. Users can easily access this information on the VNEPS website. Besides, an e-procurement mobile application, named “Mua Sam Cong: Dau thau”, is now available on the iOS and Android mobile platforms. Users can access information about bidding packages with this app anytime, anywhere. VNEPS helps to reduce the risk of collusion by keeping the quantity and identities of participating bidders confidential until opening of bids. Specifically, no entity – not even the system administrator – is able to know that information before the bid opening. Therefore, an equal and competitive environment exists for all bidders participating in e-procurement. Bidding documents (request for proposals) can be downloaded free of charge via VNEPS, and the bid participation fee is only VND330,000 or $14.6 (including VAT). Thanks to the system, bidders can also save transportation, printing, and accommodation costs to participate in bidding. Human resources and time spent on procurement are reduced significantly when many steps can be done online. For firms, e-procurement helps reduce expenses and increase efficiency. For procuring entities, the reduced cost can enhance the effectiveness of state budget usage. According to estimates, bidding packages average 9.23 per cent cost-saving ratings, approximately VND475 billion ($21 million). Taking the northern province of Son La as an example, 53 e-procurement packages in 2017 had cost-saving rates of 9.5 per cent compared to 1.2 per cent in traditional procurement conducted in this province. E-procurement also helped cut down human resources costs to open a bid, from 10-12 people to fewer than three people when conducing e-procurement. The whole e-procurement process on the system is simplified and optimised throughout: from preparing and advertising procurement plans and bidding documents, preparing and submitting bids, and opening bids, to evaluating and announcing bidder selection results. Information on the system can be saved and used for multiple actions. For procuring entities, bidding information submitted on the system such as bidder selection plans, invitations for tenders, and bidder selection results are linked with each other. The system automatically fills those information in relevant forms. Bid prices are automatically calculated and updated from priced bill of quantities or price schedules, so that the system can prevent distortion and adjust mathematical mistakes in every package. For bidders, information like business information, financial capacity, implemented contracts – can be prepared in advance in the bidder’s profile and then those can be used when preparing bids. In 2018’s last quarter, the Ministry of Planning and Investment plans to issue a circular regarding sample for bid evaluation report forms for e-procurement, in which the examination of bidder’s qualification can be done automatically by the system. The system is being continuously upgraded to improve transfer speed and file upload size. As more and more steps are done online, more time and money will be saved. VNN