VIETNAM'S BUSINESS NEWS HEADLINES JULY 16   02:10         Foreign businesses proposed joining petroleum products trading The Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) has recently submitted to the Government draft amendments and supplements to a number of articles featured in Decree No. 83 with regard to the trading of petroleum products. The highlight of the draft is to permit the participation of foreign-invested enterprises in the distribution of petroleum products.  In line with the amendments, aside from petrol and oil traders that have been granted approval by the Prime Minister to transfer their shares to foreign investors, traders will have the right to transfer shares to foreign investors with sharesholding ratio not exceeding 35%. According to the MoIT, the participation of foreign financers in some large state-owned enterprises which have been granted by the Prime Minister have served to contribute to significantly improving corporate governance, enhancing efficiency and competitiveness, especially with regard to increasing the corporate value through the value of their stocks./. Fee reduction bolsters domestic automobile market After much anticipation, the Government has issued Decree No 70 on reducing registration fees on domestically-manufactured and assembled motor cars. With the resultant 50% cut in fees, car-owners will save tens of millions or even hundreds of millions of Vietnam dong if they buy a car this year. The reduction, however, does not apply to imported vehicles. At this car dealership, visitor numbers have been on the rise, and both dealer and buyers are confident that the new policy will help revive the local auto market. According to experts, however, motor car prices are still largely dependent on supply and demand factors. If the lower registration fees push up demand to a point that exceeds supply, the price of the car may not be reduced by as much as expected. But now is still considered a good time to buy, as demand and hence prices always increase towards the end of the year./. Efforts exerted to promote spiritual tourism post-COVID The Tam Chuc Spiritual Tourism Complex in northern Ha Nam province has seen some positive signs recently, with tourism groups now visiting the site once more. The number remains modest, however, compared to prior to COVID-19. In order to address the situation, Ha Nam has worked with other localities in the Red River Delta and travel agents to identify practical measures to recover the tourism industry. The Trang An Scenic Landscape Complex in nearby Ninh Binh province has also seen a sharp decline in tourist numbers. Before the pandemic, Ninh Binh, as host of National Tourism Year 2020, had planned numerous tourism activities but could not host any due to COVID-19. Ha Nam and Ninh Binh provinces and Hanoi have introduced a tour connecting three spiritual tourism destinations: Hanoi’s Perfume Pagoda, Ha Nam’s Tam Chuc Spiritual Tourism Complex, and Ninh Binh’s Trang An Scenic Landscape Complex, to attract more visitors. With no coastline, Hanoi, Ha Nam, and Ninh Binh face greater difficulties than elsewhere in attempting to recover their tourism sectors. They have therefore been aggressively diversifying their tourism products and offering attractive packages to win over visitors./. $32.5million solar power farm opens in Ninh Thuan A new solar farm valued at VND750 million (about US$32.5 million) was officially opened for operation in the south-central province of Ninh Thuan on Thursday. Financed by LICOGI 16 Joint Stock Co, the 35MWp Nhon Hai-Ninh Thuan solar farm covers 42ha in Nhon Hai District. LICOGI 16 General Director Tang Quoc Thuoc said the farm will contribute 59 million kWh per year to the national grid, raking in about VND136 billion annually and creating stable jobs. During the opening ceremony, vice chairman of the provincial People’s Committee Le Van Binh praised the investor’s efforts to ensure the project, the first-ever in Ninh Hai District, remained on schedule despite many challenges. He also asked departments, sectors, and authorities in the district to create optimal conditions for the company to invest in related fields, contributing to local socio-economic development. Blessed with abundant sunshine and wind all year round, Ninh Thuan has given priority to wind and solar power, liquefied natural gas, and pumped-storage hydroelectricity projects, in a bid to become the country’s renewable energy hub. It is now home to 23 operational solar power projects with a combined capacity of about 1,403MWp. By late 2020, eight more projects will have been put into operation, raising total capacity to 2,123MWp and generating approximately 2.5 billion kWh./.  Digital transfomation expected to bring prosperity Viet Nam has a comparative advantage in digital transformation thank the country's large number of strong telecommunications and IT businesses and a top official has said it's time for the country to make a breakthrough in the field. Nguyen Manh Hung, Minister of Information and Communications made the statement at the launch of the Viet Solutions 2020 contest in Ha Noi on Wednesday. The contest was organised by the Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC) and Viettel Group to search for innovative technology products or solutions that can integrate into social industries in the national digital Transformation programme. Viet Solutions is searching for products and applications in telecommunication, health care, education, finance and banking, agriculture, transport, logistics, energy, natural resources and industrial production. The competition is for people around the world. Candidates will be connected with potential partners and participate in training courses to improve financial management skills and marketing to seek investment. The initial pilots have been carried out by Viettel for two years. This is also the first time the country’s IT industry has organised an annual contest like this. “Digital transformation is a universal revolution. Products and solutions will be found, nurtured as well as widely applied and honoured. Digital transformation is the cradle for the birth of Vietnamese digital technology businesses. From here, Vietnamese firms, products and solutions will go abroad and make Viet Nam famous. Therefore, this competition is to find solutions to Vietnamese problems, but also to solve global ones,” he added. He said the best solution to accelerate digital transformation is to quickly develop platforms, especially Vietnamese ones. “A successful digital transformation platform can solve problems for millions of people and thousands of businesses. In particular, if data is considered a resource, then this resource must be stored in Viet Nam, by the Vietnamese platform." Le Dang Dung, acting chairman cum general director of Viettel Group, said as the largest technology and industrial group in Viet Nam, Viettel will be ready to work with technology enterprises whose products are selected through this competition. “Viet Nam's problems are many. This is an opportunity for technology companies. Solving these problems is to contribute to building the digital citizens, digital society and nation that the Government is aiming for. Once we have the same goal, we can share our advantages, complement each other and create a resonance in the community,” Dung said. Viettel with more than 100 million customers in 11 international markets will help competitors complete technology products at national and global scales. The winning team will receive a cash prize of VND200 million (US$8,593). The second and third teams will receive VND100 million and VND50 million, respectively. In addition, the winning teams also have the opportunity to sign business co-operation contracts with Viettel and enjoy profit-sharing of up to 75 per cent. Viettel also pledged to sponsor all expenses for the three winning teams participating in the C1 Start-up Cup competition in the US with a total prize value of $50,000 or attending the World Mobile Conference (MWC) 2021 in Barcelona. Submissions should be sent online at website: vietsolutions.net.vn from now till September 20./.  THACO ships another 80 Kia Grand Carnival cars to Thailand  Vietnamese conglomerate THACO, also a leading automaker in the country, has delivered to Thailand another 80 Kia Grand Carnival cars that were manufactured at its Thaco Kia plant at the THACO Chu Lai Industrial Park in Quang Nam Province. It is the second batch of passenger cars that THACO has exported to Thailand, Southeast Asia’s biggest auto hub, this year through Yontrakit Kia Motor Co., Ltd. The first consignment of 40 ones was delivered in February. As planned, Yontrakit will buy a total of 560 Grand Kia Carnivals this year. In February this year THACO had shipped to Thailand 40 of the same cars through the company. This is a “going upstream” story because most passenger cars Vietnam imports are from Thailand. The Kia Grand Carnival (known as the Kia Sedona in the Vietnamese market) is equipped with modern features, a spacious interior with 11 seats in four rows, and right-hand drive to meet Thai traffic laws. Yontrakit Kia Motor Co., Ltd said the import from Vietnam is a fuel-efficient product line, its design suits customers' tastes and its price is more competitive than that of imports from Korea. THACO has ensured the products meet Kia Motors’ global quality standards and delivery times. Implementing a strategy of increasing penetration into the global value chain, along with efforts to research and develop products and expand its markets over the past years, THACO has exported buses, trucks, cars, and semi-trailers to Thailand, the Philippines, Cambodia, Singapore, Myanmar, Japan, and the US. At the end of 2019 THACO exported 15 buses to the Philippines and 120 Kia Cerato cars to Myanmar. So far this year, in addition to the 120 Kia Grand Carnival cars shipped to Thailand, THACO has also exported 80 Kia Cerato cars to Myanmar and 36 semi-trailers and two modular house drawbar trailers to the US. On July 13 the company plans to ship to the US another 33 semi-trailers, the remaining of the 69 contracted with PITTS Enterprises, its partner in that country. They include 20/40 feet 2-axis semi-trailers and 20/40 feet 3-axis semi-trailers. The semi-trailers’ overall length can be retracted to 31 feet 10 inches (9,629 mm) and extended to 42 feet 2 inches (12,478mm) to carry a variety of containers. The products meet the US’s transportation standards such as DOT, AAR, ANSI, TOFC, FMVSS, SAE, and TTMA. THACO plans to increase exports to existing markets and explore and enter new markets, set up distribution systems in importing countries and set up joint ventures and partnerships to expand markets. The company’s 2020 export plans include shipping more than 1,400 vehicles of various kinds to Myanmar, Thailand, the Philippines, Singapore, the US, and Japan, as well as expanding its exports to Malaysia, Korea, Armenia and some other markets./.  Liquidity on the Ha Noi Stock Exchange rises 33 per cent in H1, only four new listings Liquidity on the Ha Noi Stock Exchange (HNX) grew steadily in the first six months of 2020 as foreign investors returned from May, despite a decline in newly listed companies due to economic uncertainty. In a meeting on July 9 to review the exchange’s operation in the last six months, deputy general director Nguyen Nhu Quynh said Viet Nam’s stock market suffered a steep decline at the end of the first quarter due to catastrophic consequences of the COVID-19 outbreak. The situation has improved since May when the economy gradually returned to normal along with prompt support measures of the Ministry of Finance and the State Securities Commission. Ending June, a total of 357 enterprises are trading shares on the northern bourse with listing value of more than VND137 trillion (nearly US$6 billion). The bourse welcomed only four new listings in the last six months while 13 companies left the market. The average trading value reached VND547 billion per session, up 33 per cent year-on-year. On the Unlisted Public Company Market (UPCoM), 903 companies are trading, including 42 new listings in the past six months, with average trading value of VND312 billion, up 5.7 per cent compared to the same period of last year. In the first half, HNX held 85 auctions of government bonds, mobilising more than VND54.4 trillion for the State Treasury. The secondary market also attracted investors with average trading value rising 10 per cent to VND9.47 trillion per session. Foreign trading accounted for 2.6 per cent of the total value. The derivatives market has also developed after three years of opening. Average trading volume of the first six months reached 162,000 contracts per session, an increase of 83 per cent compared to the 2019 average. Open Interests (OI) volume maintained an upward trend, reaching 27,068 contracts as of June, up 67.3 per cent since the beginning of the year./.  Macquarie Bank buys 2.3 million FPT shares Australia-based fund Macquarie Bank Limited has purchased 2.3 million shares of tech firm FPT Corporation (FPT) from Truck Capital Master Fund Ltd, according to the Vietnam Securities Depository (VSD). FPT is one of the stocks that have run out of room for foreign ownership. Therefore, foreign investors often transfer FPT shares to each other. Shares of FPT closed on Friday at VND47,800 per share. Macquarie Bank has repeatedly purchased millions of FPT shares via VSD. By the end of 2019, it owned a 4.33 per cent stake in FPT. FPT recorded consolidated revenue of VND27.7 trillion (US$1.18 billion) last year, a year-on-year increase of 19.4 per cent. Its pre-tax profit was VND4.7 trillion, growing 20.9 per cent./.  Quy Nhon Port affirms honest business results The Quy Nhon Port Joint Stock Company (code: QNP) affirmed that the company's 2019 financial statements faithfully reflected its business results. This was the response of Quy Nhon Port after the Viet Nam Association of Financial Investors (VAFI)'s said that the Quy Nhon Port had inflated business performance with some dishonest business indicators in its financial statement in 2019. The Quy Nhon Port said that its financial statement was published on websites of the company and the State Securities Commission in 2019 with transparent business indicators. According to the statement, the volume of goods handled through the Quy Nhon Port in 2019 reached 9.1 million tonnes, an increase of 9.5 per cent compared to 2018. Of which, container cargo reached 136,817 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs), a surge of 7.5 per cent compared to 2018. In 2019, the port gained a year-on-year increase of 11.6 per cent in total revenue to VND812.8 billion. Of which, its business and service revenue reached VND800 billion, up 11.5 per cent over the same period. Its profit before tax in 2019 was VND128.6 billion, an increase of 7 per cent compared to 2018. The Vietnam News Agency quoted Phan Tuan Linh, Quy Nhon Port general director as saying: “Those figures in the port’s 2019 financial statement were audited by an independent auditing company on the list of the State Securities Commission's eligible companies. Thus, VAFI saying that the Board of Directors of Quy Nhon Port inflated business performance in 2019 was unfounded. This would create negative impacts on the reputation of Quy Nhon Port,” Linh said. The port has emphasised that the business performance in 2019 objectively reflected the actual situation in the Quy Nhon Port with efficient business activities, ensuring income for workers. In addition, it had invested in assets to improve loading and unloading capacity for increasing cargo loaded and unloaded at the port. If excluding the factors with increasing costs, such as changes in basic salary and repair of equipment and facilities, the company's total profit in 2019 would have exceeded those figures in the financial statements, Linh said. The port said in the first six months of 2020, the volume of goods through the port reached more than 5.2 million tonnes, up 12 per cent compared to the same period in 2019 despite the serious impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The revenue from business and services reached VND421 billion, up 4 per cent over the same period in 2019. This result was proof of good management and operation of Quy Nhon Port by the Vietnam National Shipping Lines (Vinalines), Linh said./.  PVN achieve $12.2 billion in revenue in six months The Viet Nam Oil and Gas Group (PVN) reported total revenue of VND283.5 trillion (US$12.2 billion) in the first half of this year, contributing VND32 trillion to the State budget. Total oil production in the first six months reached 10.73 million tonnes, exceeding by 4.2 per cent the 6-month plan and equal to 52.7 per cent of the yearly plan, of which the output of oil exploitation reached 5.92 million tonnes, exceeding the 6-month plan by 8 per cent. Gas output touched 4.81 billion cu.m, equaling 100 per cent the 6-month plan and equaling 49.4 per cent of the yearly plan. Electricity production in six months reached 10.90 billion kWh, completing 98.7 per cent of the 6-month plan and 50.5 per cent of the yearly plan. Nitrogen production totaled 962,400 tonnes, exceeding the 6-month plan by 13.5 per cent and equaling 61.6 per cent of the yearly plan. Petrol production reached 6.40 million tonnes, equaling 96.3 per cent of the 6-month plan and 54.2 per cent of the yearly plan. PVN's General Director Le Manh Hung said that the group will continue to keep close watch on market developments, update the trend of supply and demand, inventory of crude oil, petrol products and petrochemicals over the world and in the country to timely make responsive decisions with the goal of optimising benefits, compensating for losses during the COVID-19 pandemic./.  SSI Securities to pay cash dividend at rate of 10 per cent SSI Securities Corporation (SSI) plans to pay a 2019 dividend in cash at a rate of 10 per cent. This means every shareholder will receive VND1,000 for each share they hold. Payment time is scheduled for July 31 this year. SSI will spend about VND600 billion (US$25.9 million) on this dividend payout. In 2019, SSI achieved more than VND3.3 trillion of consolidated net revenue. Pre-tax profit reached VND1.1 trillion and post-tax profit totalled more than VND907 billion. As of the end of 2019, SSI Securities had more than VND2.94 trillion of undistributed post-tax profit. The company also had VND392 billion in a financial reserve fund and VND477 billion in a reserve fund to supplement charter capital. In 2020, SSI Securities aims to achieve VND2.75 trillion in consolidated revenue. Pre-tax profit is estimated at VND868 billion. These targets are lower than the revenue and profit achieved in 2019./.  Vietnamese enterprises seek to export consumer goods to China Vietnamese enterprises are seeking cooperation opportunities with their peers in Zhejiang Province of China to export consumer goods to the Chinese market. Speaking at an online conference last week, Vu Ba Phu, director of the Trade Promotion Department, said that in recent years, China has been continuously the largest export market of Viet Nam among more than 200 countries and territories having import and export activities with the Southeast Asian country. In the first five months of this year alone, in the context of the complicated developments of the COVID-19 pandemic, the two countries promptly took many measures to maintain trade as well as implemented initiatives to promote business exchanges via online platforms, bringing bilateral trade to more than US$44.35 billion, up nearly 2 per cent over the same period in 2019. According to Phu, Viet Nam has close and direct trade relations with many provinces and cities of China, with Zhejiang, with a population of 57 million, being a very important trading partner. In order to support Vietnamese and Chinese enterprises to promote bilateral trade, Phu said his agency has opened a trade promotion office in Hangzhou, the capital of Zhejiang province. This is Viet Nam's second trade promotion office in China, established in 2018 after the first one in Chongqing, helping Zhejiang firms seek long-term business and investment collaboration opportunities with Vietnamese counterparts. Sharing the view with Phu, Zheng Rongxin, head of the Chinese council’s Hangzhou branch, expressed his wish that the two sides will enhance their friendship and cooperation to maintain a mutually beneficial trade environment. After the conference, businesses of both sides engaged in an online session during which Vietnamese companies introduced Zhejiang importers to Viet Nam’s high quality products such as fresh and dried fruits, aquatic products, beverages and natural rubber gloves. The conference was co-organised by the Trade Promotion Department under the Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trade and the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade – Hangzhou branch, the event drew the participation of nearly 50 Vietnamese and Zhejiang enterprises. The online trading session will last until July 10. According to the statistics of Viet Nam Customs, in the past two years, two-way trade turnover between Viet Nam and China reached more than $100 billion per year./.  Foreign investors confident in Vietnam’s business environment: official With the successful control of COVID-19, Vietnam has been widely recognised by the international community as a safe and attractive investment destination. Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Vu Dai Thang said while the global flows of foreign direct investment (FDI) could decline by up to 40 percent in 2020 due to the impact of the pandemic, the FDI attraction in Vietnam in the first six months remained positive. Specifically, in January-June, the total amount of capital registered by foreign investors reached 15.67 billion USD, a year-on-year drop of 15.1 percent. However, the newly-registered and added capital increased 13.8 percent and 26.8 percent to reach 8.43 billion USD and 3.72 billion USD, respectively. “These are positive signs, showing the confidence of foreign investors in the business environment in Vietnam,” Thang said. Particularly, Vietnam is home to over 32,000 projects worth 378 billion USD from 136 countries and territories. While countries across the world are still in the fight against COVID-19, Vietnam has resumed business activities as usual and become one of the first countries to diversify the supply chains, said Envoy Okabe Daisuke from the Japanese Embassy in Vietnam. Foreign investors are looking at Vietnam as a potential investment destination in the post-pandemic era, he said. He cited a survey from the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) in February 2020 showed that over 63 percent of Japanese businesses in Vietnam plan to expand investment, the highest rate in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)./. New regulations about corporate bond issuance Privately-placed corporate bonds can no longer be sold within their first year of issuance, according to a new decree. The decree amends several points of Decree No 163/2018/ND-CP dated December 4, 2018, about corporate bond issuance with new regulations tightened trading of privately-placed corporate bonds in the domestic market. According to experts, small-sized enterprises have been issuing corporate bonds in large volumes, creating potential risks for both issuing businesses and investors. Under Decree No 163, privately-placed corporate bonds were issued to less than 100 investors excluding professional securities investors. However, as trading time was not limited, it created a loophole which allowed companies to issue bonds to less than 100 investors who could sell the bonds freely on the secondary market to more investors. The new decree, which will take effect on September 1, aims to better manage the corporate bond market which has seen rapid development in recent years and posed significant risks to investors. According to the new decree, depository organisations must provide information about corporate bond trading within one working day of the trading being completed. Regular updates about bond registration and depository must be provided to the stock exchange monthly, quarterly and yearly. The new decree also means violations of private corporate bond issuance will be handled in compliance with regulations about handling administrative violations in securities, securities market and other relevant regulations. The Ministry of Finance said tightened regulations about corporate bond issuance aimed to protect investors and ensure safety for the bond market. Recently, the ministry warned about the overheated development of the corporate bond market, urging investors to be cautious and to invest only when they thoroughly understand the issuing company. The ministry also said investors should not buy corporate bonds without studying possible risks. The finance ministry’s statistics showed outstanding corporate bonds expanded rapidly, from 6.29 percent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) in 2017 to 9 percent of GDP in 2018 and about 11 percent in 2019 (worth around 640 trillion VND or 27.58 billion USD). Vietnam has targeted that the corporate bond market size would be equivalent to 7 percent of GDP by the end of this year. In the first four months of this year, enterprises raised about 58 trillion VND from issuing bonds, around half issued by real estate companies hungry for capital while credit policies for the property sector were tightened. Some companies even offered very high yields, about 1.5 percentage points higher than the common rate in the market./. Tax policies must support firms to boost revenue: official The General Department of Taxation must hasten reforms to create a favourable environment for enterprises to recover their business from the ravages of the COVID-19 pandemic, which was critical to increase tax revenue, Deputy Minister of Finance Tran Xuan Ha has said. Speaking at a recent taxation department conference in Hanoi, he said the pandemic was heavily affecting production and business and weighing on budget revenue. Statistics showed tax revenue hit 574.2 trillion VND (24.75 billion USD) in the first half of this year, equivalent to 45.8 percent of the plan for the full year, the lowest rate in recent years (51.1 percent in 2019, 49.6 percent in 2018 and 48.2 percent in 2017). Only 34 out of 63 provinces and cities had recorded tax collection revenue equivalent to half of their goal for the full year or higher, with tax revenues mainly from land-use taxes and fees. The other 29 provinces and cities had slow tax collection because their revenues were mainly from value-added tax, special consumption tax and natural resource tax. Cao Anh Tuan, Director of the General Department of Taxation, said the tax watchdog would review the tax base to find sources which had potential to increase tax collection to make up for the drop caused by the pandemic. Tuan added that tax management would be enhanced in sectors which benefited from the pandemic such as e-commerce, online business and telecommunications services. Reaching the goal of collecting more than 1.25 quadrillion VND in taxes for the State budget for the full year would be a tough task, he said. He said that the General Department of Taxation would strive to collect taxes at the highest level possible, adding the watchdog would create favourable conditions for taxpayers through administrative reforms and online services as well as enhancing inspection to prevent tax evasion. Hà told the conference that tax collection on the foreign direct investment (FDI) sector and non-State sector remained lower than planned and said there must be a focus on preventing transfer pricing. He also urged the tax department to speed up the provision of online public services and the progress of applying e-invoices nationwide. The tax department must also hasten reforms in the next 10-year period to create convenience for taxpayers and have policies to support businesses to overcome the difficulties caused by the pandemic. “More than anyone, the tax department must provide support to enterprises in the post-pandemic recovery, which is critical to increasing budget revenue,” Ha said. He said the project on expanding the tax base must be continued with a focus on related party transactions, e-commerce and digital-based businesses./. Canon Chie-Tech automation contest comes back for second year The 2nd Canon Chie-Tech, an automation competition for technology students, was launched at a ceremony in Hanoi on July 13. Co-organised by the Central Committee of the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union (HCYU), the Vietnamese Students Development and Support Centre, and the Canon Vietnam Co. Ltd, the event aimed to improve students’ skills in automation research and development. It gives them the opportunity to learn and exchange knowledge for sharpening their skills. This year, the test is making an automatic machine to assemble ballpoint pens. The machine will be judged based on its innovation, stability, effectiveness, convenience, size and cost. The four-round competition will accept ideas submitted before September 15. Selected ideas will then be made completed products for assessment by the technical team of the contest, who will select which will be advanced to the final round scheduled for December. At the final round, contestants will join an exhibition and introduce their creations. About five days before the last round, there will be an online voting for most-loved products. The first and second prize winners will walk away with 30 million VND (1,295 USD) and 20 million VND, respectively, while the third place will pocket 10 million VND. Products with highest number of votes will receive 3 million VND each. Contestants with good performance at the event will have a chance to make internship at Canon Vietnam. Speaking at the ceremony, Secretary of the HCYU Central Committee Bui Quang Huy described the contest as a meaningful activity that contributes to creating a favourable environment and conditions for youths to do sci-tech research. The organisers will spare no effort to improve its quality and draw more contestants in a bid to build a high-quality workforce for the support industry in Vietnam, he stressed./. Belgian firms updated on business opportunities in Vietnam An online conference on business and investment opportunities for Belgian firms in Vietnam was jointly held by the Belgium – Vietnam Alliance (BVA) and the Belgian- Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce (Beluxcham) in Vietnam on July 13 in Brussels. The event offered a chance for Belgian businesses to understand more about the Vietnamese market, thus fully tap opportunities brought by the European Union – Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) when it is enforced. The EVFTA, which will take effect on August 1, is expected to bring positive impacts to Belgian exporters when Vietnam's economy still sees a promising growth outlook despite the COVID-19 pandemic. According to Vietnamese Ambassador to Belgium Vu Quang Anh, the EVFTA is the most modern, comprehensive and ambitious agreement ever signed between the EU and a developing country. It will create a strong momentum for the trade relations between Vietnam and the EU in general, and Vietnam and Belgium in particular. He expressed his hope that Vietnam and Belgium would expand their bilateral trade and investment ties in areas of mutual benefit such as smart agriculture, food safety, environmental technology, and logistics, towards the common goal of post-pandemic sustainable growth and development. The diplomat stated that Vietnam is capable of facilitating Belgian export and investment activities in terms of seaport, digital technology, and rail and sea transport networks. In their speeches, EU and Belgian attendees praised Vietnam's achievements in the fight against COVID-19, and the country’s effective measures to recover its economy. Deputy head of the EU Delegation to Vietnam Axelle Nicaise highlighted advantages of the EVFTA, saying that the agreement opens up opportunities for European businesses to compete fairly with other countries that signed FTAs with Vietnam. Vietnam’s commitments to sustainable development will be realised when the agreement takes effect, creating an increasingly favourable business environment, she said, adding that thanks to the EVFTA, EU firms are likely to relocate their production lines from other countries to Vietnam, thus generating more jobs for the Vietnamese side. During the event, participants shared useful information about opportunities and challenges in investment and business in Vietnam with Belgian businessmen. Chairman of the European Chamber of Commerce (EuroCham) Nicolas Audier said Vietnam could become a hub for direct investment from the EU to ASEAN./. Indonesia, Australia roll out worker exchange programme Indonesia will conduct a worker-exchange programme with Australia to boost its human resources, a senior government official announced just days after the Indonesia-Australia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (IA-CEPA) entered into force. Indonesian Trade Minister Agus Suparmanto said Indonesian workers in health care, telecommunication, transportation, tourism and other sectors were eligible to join the programme and could get up to six months of training and work experience in Australia. The government is aiming for 100 Indonesian workers to join the programme in the first year, while the number of participants is expected to gradually increase to 500 within five years. During a video press conference last weekend, Suparmanto said the government will partner with the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin), the Indonesian Employers Association (Apindo) and the Indonesian-Australian Business Council (IABC) during the implementation. With the IA-CEPA, he said Indonesia aimed to slash the country’s export deficit to Australia by half in 2021 to around 1.5 billion USD from 3.2 billion USD last year. Furthermore, Indonesia and Australia have also decided to prioritise industry partnerships in food agriculture and electric vehicles as well as technical and vocational education and training (TVET) within the first year of IA-CEPA, according to the minister./. Singapore Airlines plans to operate at 7 pct of capacity in August Singapore Airlines (SIA) and its regional arms SilkAir and Scoot will operate at approximately 7 percent of its scheduled capacity in August, up from 6 percent this month. Accordingly, SIA will run more flights on the Singapore-London, Singapore-Kuala Lumpur and Singapore-Osaka routes. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the airline is currently flying between Singapore and 27 cities in 18 countries spread across five regions - South-east Asia, North Asia, South-west Pacific, Europe and the United States. The carrier cancelled 96 percent of its scheduled flights between late March and the end of May in response to travel restrictions worldwide and a plunge in demand for air travel. Customers who have had their flights cancelled by SIA and SilkAir will be able to either get a refund or flight credits with a bonus. SIA said it will continue to adjust its capacity to meet the demand for international air travel. It has slowly increased the number of flights since early June. But a full recovery to the level before the pandemic is expected to take years./. Lao Cai, Ninh Binh foster tourism links A conference was held in the northern mountainous city of Lao Cai on July 13 to boost tourism cooperation between Lao Cai province and Ninh Binh province, also in the north. Ninety companies were in attendance and questions were asked on how to spur tourism development in the two localities, especially as regards incentives to attract tourists and help with the recovery of the tourism sector post-COVID-19. Specialties and tourism products in the two provinces were also introduced. Pham Duy Phong, Director of Ninh Binh’s tourism promotion information centre, said its tourism sector was hit hard by the pandemic and will adopt solutions to recover and attract holiday-makers, adding that more than 40 businesses have registered to reduce their prices. The conference was also a chance to promote Ninh Binh and its tourism and people among other provinces in the north. Ninh Binh is home to the Trang An Landscape Complex, which was recognised by UNESCO as a mixed cultural and natural heritage - the first of its kind in Southeast Asia. The complex was also used as a location for the movie ‘Kong: Skull Island’, one of the biggest Hollywood blockbusters of 2017. Other popular destinations in Ninh Binh include Bai Dinh Pagoda, Cuc Phuong National Park, the Tam Coc - Bich Dong cave system, and the former royal citadel Hoa Lu. Host of the 2020 National Tourism Year, Ninh Binh plans to welcome some 7.8 million tourists this year, including approximately a million foreigners. It welcomed 7.6 million visitors in 2019, a year-on-year increase of 3 percent. They included 970,000 foreign holidaymakers, up 10.7 percent, according to the provincial Department of Tourism. Lao Cai, meanwhile, is known for its picturesque mountains, rivers, waterfalls, and rich ethnic minority culture. It aims to attract 2.5 million tourists this year. Numbers in the first five months were down 73.2 percent to 666,000 because of COVID-19. Both were named in a list of the 14 most attractive destinations in Asia by the US’s Trips to Discover./. Thai swine breeders asked to limit prices The Thai Department of Internal Trade (DIT) Director-General Whichai Pochanakij has asked the Swine Raisers Association of Thailand to limit pig prices to 80 baht (2.56 USD) per kilogram. The present price is around 75 baht to 80 baht per kilogram, The Nation Thailand reported. DIT Deputy Director-General Wattanasak Sur-iam said the price needs to be controlled so that pork prices are at most 160 baht per kilogram. He also added that if pig prices went beyond 80 baht per kilogram, his department would limit swine exports. The pork price has increased due to a lifting of the lockdown, with restaurants and hotels ordering more pork to meet an expected increase in demand. The reopening of schools has also spurred demand, Wattanasak said. Another factor for the increase in pork prices was African swine fever in nearby countries and China, he said. However, the department estimated that the increase in price would be only short term. Wattanasak said the DIT won’t intervene over this “short-term” increase, as it would be advantageous for swine raisers, who had been affected by low prices. The country exported 400,000 to 500,000 pigs last year. In 2020, exports are expected to touch 2.16 million to 2.88 million pigs. This number is estimated to be at a safe level and will not affect domestic consumption./. VNN