finance & business news 31 August 2017 · Similarly, Nguyen Duc Vinh, CEO of VPBank said the profit that FE Credit brings about VPBank as much as 50% of total profit and consumer

31 August 2017

finance & business news

FINANCE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1Reference exchange rate up 5 dong 1Worries still remain as SBV is likely to pour to the market

nearly 700tr dong 2Is credit growth worth worrying? 3Which banks benefit when the ratio of short-term funds

for long-term loans is not yet tightened? 4FE credit launches Fast Cash, Simply Text – Get Cash 5BC Card Signs MOU with Vietnam's NAPAS 5Growing interest in transaction banking 6Minister optimistic about achieving economic growth target 8Set targets might be unachievable without drastic efforts: PM 8Cutting regular spending, not raising taxes, will reduce public debt 9Standing witness to Vietnam’s rise 10IIP up 6.7 per cent in eight months 13August CPI edges up on food, fuel price hikes 13Strong exports in Jul-Aug help narrow trade deficit 14Asia seen as key buyer of Vietnam shrimp 15Large-scale investments promise FDI breakthrough 16Health insurance fund may grapple with overspending 16PM orders prompt settlement of admin procedures in September 17HCMC demands more for regular spending 18HoREA proposes not classifying tourism land as farmland 18Insufficient land use affects Can Tho’s economy 19Finance Ministry wants 1% tax on transfer price in M&A deals 19New circular delays modern slaughterhouses 20Taxman will closely supervise casino operations 21Vietnam Customs holds dialogue with European businesses 22SOEs divest 163.4 million USD in 8 months 22Increase in registered capital in real estate sector

not yet the signal to feel happy 23Startups on the move in Vietnam social media market 24Vietnam nearly stands the last in Southeast Asia in online sales 25Domestic brands held at gunpoint by international fashion brands 25Automobile importers hit hard by recent scandals 26State-owned aviation firms soon for heavy divestment 27Mining industry indicator continues to dip 28

Tra Vinh approves VND850 billion for Cau Quan IP project 28CII to spend VND3.4 trillion on infrastructure projects 29Vung Ang attracts investments after Formosa incident 29

BIZ NEWS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30Business Briefs August 31, 2017 30Markets fall on ETF withdrawal 31VN Index rebounds, boosted by VIC and MSN 31HSX up while HNX down 32Derivatives trading: Individual investors must pay 0.1% tax 32Cash flows will rotate faster 33LHG issues 1.3mln shares to invest in Long Hau 3 industrial park 34New buildings in Hanoi must have underground parking lots 34Real estate inventory falls sharply 34Ha Noi taxis to use common operating software 35Huge steel projects in Ha Tinh are scrapped 35Quang Binh gets green light for cable car project 36Loss-making PVTex may have way out 36VNITO to open ‘bridge’ engineer training center this year 37Vinalines, Belgium’s Rent-A-Port N.V ink cooperation deal 38RoK group invests in renewable energy power in Quang Binh 38Mobile World and Tran Anh confirm acquisition 39BKAV puts faith in tapping high-end phone market 39Vinpearl Land launches giant Sky Wheel 41Mövenpick’s Asian hospitality expansion to ramp

up presence in Vietnam 41$9 billion Nghi Son refinery and petrochemical complex

about to start operating 42Ho Tram Strip moves ahead: Kahuna unveiled 43Investor accused of lying about apartment sizes 44Biologist warning on building paper mill 44Lee&Man warned to have pulp mill license revoked 45Over 700 businesses to attend Int’l Travel Expo HCM City 4614th China ASEAN Expo on horizon 47Tech Expo 2017 held in HCMC 47AgroViet 2017 set for HCMC 48

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FINANCEReference exchange rate up 5 dong

31/AUG/2017 INTELLASIA| TIN TUC

The daily reference dong/US dollar exchange rate set by the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) on August 31 was 22,438 dong, up five dong from the previous day.With the current trading band of +/- 3 percent, the ceiling rate applied by commercial banks on August 31 is 22,116 dong and the floor rate is 21,770 dong per US dollar.Exchange rate at commercial banks almost saw no change.Vietcombank kept both rates unchanged from a day ago at 22,695 dong (buying) and 22,765 dong (selling).BIDV also maintained the same rates as on August 30 at 22,695 dong (buying) and 22,765 dong (selling).Similarly, both rates at Techcombank were kept unchanged for the third consecutive day at 22,680 dong (buying) and 22,775 dong (selling) per US dollar.

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Vietnam finance & business 31 August 2017

Worries still remain as SBV is likely to pour to the market nearly 700tr dong

31/AUG/2017 INTELLASIA| THOI BAO KINH DOANH

Recently, the Government has asked the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) to calculate the ability to raise the credit growth target for the whole year to 21-22% instead of 18%. If this goal can be achieved, this is the year that marks the return after seven years of credit growth at less than 20%.As per the National Financial Supervisory Commission (NFSC), during August 14-18, interbank interest rates may increase slightly 0.3-0.5 percentage points in terms but as of August 25, interbank interest rates gradually decreased to 1-1.3%.As per NFSC's assessment, the current interest rates in the interbank market are still relatively low and are similar to the same period of 2016. It is forecasted that the low interest rates will maintain in Q3/2017.The State Bank issued 15 trillion dong worth of T-bills via outright method with 7-day term and 0.3% interest rates. During August 21-25, there were 21 trillion dong matured T-bills under outright method. Generally, the State Bank net withdrew six trillion dong during the week.As per NFSC, it is expected that at the end of this week, there will have 15 trillion dong matured T-bills under outright method while T-bill interest rate still maintains at record low level of 0.3-0.4%.The plentiful liquidity of the banking system along with flexible operating policies, stable lending rates, even the downward trend of interest rates in some priority sec-tors, etc. are positive factors that support the economy and the credit growth target.Earlier, in the Government's regular meeting in July, the Prime Minister asked to raise the whole year credit growth target to at least 20%. If this target is completed, this year will be the first year since 2010 that credit growth is more than 20%.With the Prime Minister's aforementioned suggestion, if this year's credit growth reaches the highest level of 22%, that means a four percent increase in capital from the initial estimate (at 18%), equal to about 220 trillion dong.As per the estimate of economic experts, the total outstanding loans to the economy at the end of 2016 was about 5,500 trillion dong, equal to the growth rate of 22% in the aforementioned assumption, which may have an additional of about 1,210 trillion dong this year.NFSC's data show that in the first seven months of this year, credit has grown about 9.3%. Following the aforementioned growth direction of 22%, there will have about 698.5 trillion dong additional capital to accrue in the last five months of the year. Many credit experts said since the beginning of this year, credit has grown quite strongly in terms of outstanding loans especially consumer credit and real estate cred-it. Meanwhile, in production sector, many businesses still have difficulties in assessing loans.As per the data of the Business Registration Department under the Ministry of Plan-ning and Investment, in the real estate business sector, in January-August, the number of newly established businesses were 3,156 units (up 65.8%) and the registered capital was 217.139 trillion dong (up 62.8%)That means real estate is showing signs of prospering again. Therefore, the massive in-crease in credit may cause real estate sector to absorb the most capital not business and production sector.Dr. Vo Tri Thanh, former Deputy Head of the National Economic Research Institute (NERI) said the total real estate outstanding loans are about eight percent out of the total credit but consumer loans are mostly real estate loans. If that is included, the fig-ure must be more than 10%.Interbank interest rates are currently relatively low and tend to decrease in the coming time, but with the likelihood of adjusting lending rate to achieve the credit growth tar-get under the requirement of the Prime Minister, the State Bank is likely to pour to the market nearly 700 trillion dong.The end of the year is the time when the demand for real estate booms, especially the low-cost housing segment and resort real estate. The people's consumer loans to pur-chase houses have increased rapidly over the last period and is expected to continue rising sharply in the last five months of the year.So, is there any other way to limit the flow of money into real estate? As per economic experts, money from bank from now until the end of the year, though unwilling, is still most likely to run partly into real estate. Therefore, the State Bank must have monetary tightening policies to divest this capital flow to the right target. Only by doing so can the economy really be supported.It is known that the State Bank has directed functional departments to tighten control

Intellasia 31 August 2017 2 / 48

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over outstanding loans in potentially risky areas such as real estate, BOT and securi-ties. For example, in Directive 01/2017, the State Bank requires commercial banks to regularly review and assess the lending to potentially risky areas such as real estate credit, loans secured by real estate, credit for large customer groups, etc. to set appro-priate management criteria, ensuring safety and efficiency in operation.

Is credit growth worth worrying?

31/AUG/2017 INTELLASIA| BAO DAU TU

Compared to the same period last year, many banks have almost used up the credit room allocated at the beginning of the year at 14-16% due to significantly improved outstanding loan growth, especially for individual customer segment, thanks to the warming of real estate market.Truong Dinh Long, Deputy General Director of Orient Commercial Joint Stock Bank (OCB), said for individual customer segment, not only housing demand, car purchase need the financial support from banks but consumer lending trend is also growing quite strongly. For example, in the first half of this year, the bank's total outstanding loans to market 1 swelled nearly 25% year-on-year.Similarly, Nguyen Duc Vinh, CEO of VPBank said the profit that FE Credit brings about VPBank as much as 50% of total profit and consumer finance loans are consid-ered as the "golden egg" for the bank.Pham Manh Thang, Deputy General Director of Vietcombank also said the bank's credit growth has improved significantly in the first months of this year. Loans to cus-tomers at Vietcombank in the first half of this year reached 524 trillion dong, up 14% year-on-year. Deposits of customers touched 649 trillion dong, up 10%.Thang said with the gradual warming of real estate market, Vietcombank focuses on strengthening the lending, mainly the housing segment for individual customers.However, as per the macro-economic report in May 2017 by the National Financial Su-pervisory Commission (NFSC), there still has real estate credit circumvention in banks. Specifically, consumer loans are estimated to hike 29.7% compared to the end of 2016. Of which, the lending for home repair and purchase surged 38.4% from the end of 2016, reckoning for as much as 52.8% of the total consumer loans (at the end of 2016, this figure was more than 49%). Generally, credit across the system in the first five months of the year improved 6.8%, compared to just 5.7% in the same period last year. Of which, credit structure changed towards reducing medium and long-term credit (to 54.6% compared to 55.1% at the end of 2016). Currently, consumer credit reckons for about 12% of the entire system's total outstand-ing loans. If consumer loans related to real estate are included, the proportion of real estate credit will jump to about 14%.The fact that credit still heavily bases on real estate in the context that business and pro-duction recovers slowly makes many experts to concern.As per Dr. Tran Du Lich, member of the Prime Minister's Advisory Group, the con-cerning thing is the capital investment in real estate may cause real estate credit "bub-ble". On the other hand, the fact that commercial banks lend to "backyard companies" also has many potential risks.However, as per the State Bank of Vietnam, to achieve the credit growth result of the entire banking industry at more than nine percent in the first six months of the year, the State Bank maintains the control of credit growth associated with credit quality. Especially, the State Bank directs credit organizations to continue shifting credit struc-ture towards focusing capital on business and production, especially on priority sec-tors while limiting the concentration of credit on potentially risky areas having long capital recovery duration such as real estate investment projects; BOT, BT projects in transport sector.State Bank Governor Le Minh Hung affirms that the current credit structure mainly fo-cuses on business and production sector.Evaluating this year's credit growth, economic expert Le Xuan Nghia said this year's


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credit growth at more than 20% can be achievable. However, to raise capital absorp-tion of the economy and increase the competitiveness of businesses, the important thing is to lower interest rates.

Which banks benefit when the ratio of short-term funds for long-term loans is not yet tightened?

31/AUG/2017 INTELLASIA| ZING.VN

Hochiminh city Securities Company (HSC) has recently released a report on the im-pact of the proposal of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) on extending the implementa-tion of regulation in Circular 36 about the maximum ratio of short-term funds used for medium and long-term lending. Specifically, the proposed time is 2019 instead of 2018. Banks will have one year to reduce this ratio from the ceiling level to 40% from the cur-rent level of 50%.According to HSC, this information is positive for banks in the context when the gov-ernment has instructed SBV to raise the credit growth target in 2017 from 18% to 21%.So far, four banks are having the ratio of short-term funds for medium and long-term loans of above 40%, including Vietnam Prosperity Commercial Joint Stock Bank (VP-Bank), Vietnam Technological and Commercial Joint Stock Bank (Techcombank), Sai-gon Hanoi Commercial Joint Stock Bank (SHB), and Vietnam International Commercial Joint Stock Bank (VIB). HSC believed that these four banks are the ones that benefit from the extension of the time to lower this ratio to 40%.According to SBV’s Governor, the medium and long-term fund currently accounts for 13-15% of the total mobilisation fund for the economy, while medium and long-term loans account for up to 53-55% of the total lending.Since five out of 10 listed banks are having this ratio of over 40% in late June 2016 which leads to the risk of lower credit growth in the end of the year, the roadmap to implement Circular 36 should be extended in order to ensure the achievement of credit growth of 21%.SBV’s report shows that the ratio of short-term funds for medium and long-term lend-ing in late May reached 33.35%, higher than the 30.86% in the first quarter of 2016, much lower than the new ceiling but it increased against the direction of the manage-ment agency.According to calculation of HSC, the average ratio of short-term funds for medium and long-term loans of state-owned banks including Commercial Joint Stock Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Agribank), Commercial Joint Stock Bank for In-vestment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV), Commercial Joint Stock Bank for For-eign Trade of Vietnam (Vietcombank), and Commercial Joint Stock Bank for Industry and Trade of Vietnam (VietinBank) is currently 37.16% (34.25% by the end of the first quarter of 2016). At joint stock banks, this ratio is currently 35.76% (35.65% by the end of the first quarter of 2016).Specifically, HSC estimated this ratio at VPBank, Techcombank, Export Import Com-mercial Joint Stock Bank (Eximbank), SHB, Lien Viet Post Commercial Joint Stock Bank (LienVietPostBank), and VIB is at high level, ranging from 45-50%. Meanwhile, Viet-combank maintains this ratio of about 30%, while VietinBank and BIDV control this ra-tio at respectively 35% and over 40%.To bring this ratio to the required level, banks have boosted lending in the first half of 2017. As of late June, among the group of listed banks, the proportion of short-term loans compared to the same period of 2016 increased by 27%, while the proportion of medium and long-term loans rose by 15.8%. The proportion of short-term loans in the total outstanding loans reached 51% in the second quarter of 2017, increased by nearly three basis points compared to the same period of last year.However, according to HSC, the mobilisation from customers is developing in the op-posite direction as short-term deposits grew by 19.2% while medium and long-term deposits fell by 0.7% compared to the same period of 2016. If including the mobilisa-tion of valuable papers, short-term mobilisation increased by 20% while medium and long-term mobilisation only increased by 10.8%. That pulled down the ratio of medi-um and long-term mobilisation to 14.5% in the end of the second quarter of 2017, from 15.5% in the same period of 2016.


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In HSC’s point of view, the pressure to mobilise medium and long-term funds has caused mobilisation costs to rise by about 0.3% compared to the same period of 2016. Accordingly, the extension of the application of Circular 36 will reduce pressure on the medium and long-term mobilisation and avoid pushing up mobilisation costs. This is an important factor for commercial banks to promote lending in the second half of 2017 in order to complete the goal of 21% credit growth.Since the credit growth from the beginning of the year only reached 9.3%, the room to grow credit in the second half of the year will be very large. As assessed by HSC, rais-ing the credit growth target to 20% for listed banks will significantly affect the 2017 profit of banks. Accordingly, seven listed banks in HSC’s list recorded pre-tax profit growth of 22.7% in the first half of the year compared to the same period of 2016, esti-mated at 18 trillion dong.HSC also forecasted that banks would attain a total pre-tax profit of 36.2 trillion dong in 2017, up by 18% and average credit growth of 17.2%. If the credit develops as ex-pected at 20%, banks’ profit will be higher.

FE credit launches Fast Cash, Simply Text – Get Cash

31/AUG/2017 INTELLASIA| VNS

VPBank Finance Company Ltd (FE CREDIT) launched an exclusive feature, Fast Cash, Simply Text – Get Cash last week to provide first-time credit-card users with unprec-edented convenience.Fast Cash allows customers to gain access to cash from their credit card limit by simply sending an SMS from their mobile phone and getting a unique code, which can be pre-sented at designed distribution points of Vietnam Post and Sacombank branches for cash withdrawal.The customers do not need to pay a withdrawal fee.Kalidas Ghose, CEO of FE CREDIT, said: “As a market leader, we believe in creating unique Fast and Easy experiences for our customers. Fast Cash, Simply Text – Get Cash is a pioneering initiative which will provide a tangible benefit to our valued card-holders.”A pioneer in Consumer Finance, FE CREDIT, has established a solid foundation to be-come the market leader of the unsecured consumer loans market.FE CREDIT currently provides consumer lending services such as personal loans, two-wheeler loans, consumer durable loans and credit cards. FE CREDIT serves more than six million customers and cooperates with 5,500 partners at 9,000 Points of Sale (POS) nationwide.http://bizhub.vn/banking/fe-credit-launches-fast-cash-simply-text-get-cash_288580.html

BC Card Signs MOU with Vietnam's NAPAS

31/AUG/2017 INTELLASIA| HUFFINGTON POST

BC Card announced Wednesday that it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on payment business with Vietnam’s National Payment Corporation of Viet-nam (NAPAS).The MOU signing ceremony was held Wednesday at the NAPAS headquarters in Ha-noi, Vietnam, with BC Card President Chae Jong-jin, NAPAS chairman Nguyen Tu Anh, NAPAS president Le Quoc Hung, and BC Card Global Head Lim Nam-hoon in attendance.With the latest MOU, BC Card will cooperate with the Vietnamese payment service provider for the development of a cashless economy, which is the project of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV), and to transfer money between Korea and Vietnam.“The partnership with NAPAS, the leading infrastructure company in Vietnam that will boost economic growth of ASEAN countries, is very significant. We will contrib-ute to the development of the Vietnamese card market based on our various payment solutions and platform operating know-how,” said Chae.Established in 2015, NAPAS is the payment service provider licensed by the State Bank of Vietnam. It provides financial payment services to 43 banks in Vietnam and 100 mil-lion customers through 2.2 million franchises, 270,000 POS and 17,000 ATMs.


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Currently, more than 80% of consumers in Vietnam are using debit cards issued by lo-cal banks. The SBV and NAPAS are seeking ways to reduce the number of cash pay-ments to account for less than 10% of total market transactions by 2020.http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/bc-card-signs-mou-with-vietnams-napas_us_59a69e92e4b0d81379a81c55

Growing interest in transaction banking

31/AUG/2017 INTELLASIA| VIR

Pivoting its focus onto wholesale banking, ANZ Vietnam has been investing its re-sources in transaction banking, putting the bank one step ahead of its competition in the field. Aseem Goyal, Head of Transaction Banking ANZ Vietnam and Greater Me-kong Region, gives VIR’s Trang Nguyen more insights into the business.Is transaction banking a key business for ANZ?It has been a critical component of our institutional banking strategy for many years, and fits extremely well with the bank’s overall strategy of facilitating trade and capital flows throughout the region. ANZ has made, and continues to make, significant in-vestments in the business. In order to appreciate why ANZ and other banks are fo-cused on transaction banking, it is important to understand what value transaction banking brings for our customers.As we all know, institutional clients buy and sell goods and services as their core busi-ness. Transaction banking, which consists of Trade Finance and Cash Management products, firstly facilitates these activities for the clients through payments and trade finance, whether the customer business is local or cross-border. Second, it helps cus-tomers to better manage their liquidity so that they can have access to funds to pay for these goods or alternatively, invest their surplus cash. Third, it helps customers make their Treasury and Finance operations more efficient through automation, outsourcing of non-core activities, and access to information. In other words, transaction banking supports and facilitates the core day-to-day activities for our institutional customers. This link to the customers’ core business can provide banks with a relatively stable business and revenue.Having said that, not all bank propositions are similar. There is plenty of room for dif-ferentiation. While the products across all banks can be similar, or become similar over time, the differentiation is primarily on how well a bank can understand their clients’ business and propose and deliver a solution to meet their objectives.Finally, transaction banking requires significant initial and continuing investment in capability build, technology, and delivery. It uses less capital than a normal lending business but requires scale to achieve the desired profitability. These are some of the considerations banks have to think about before they enter the business in any specific market.How does ANZ measure up in this business?ANZ is a leading player in transaction banking in Vietnam, has full capabilities to meet the requirements of its target client base, and continues to invest in the business in line with the overall focus on our institutional clients. In addition, we have been leading the market with certain initiatives which have been recognised in the marketplace through various industry awards. I would like to give one example.We recently won the Global Finance Innovation award for a receivable management solution we implemented for one of our insurance clients. This solution combined our standard bank products as well as unique technology from our home market to auto-mate the reconciliation of client receivables. Now, this product might be available at other banks as well, but the key to success was our ability to understand how our client organises operations in terms of various business lines, how their customers pay, through what channels, how our customers reconcile, and what their challenges are. Through this detailed and thorough understanding of our client, we were able to pro-pose an overall solution and prove to them that they can streamline and automate their existing manual processes, reduce errors, and make the process scalable. These deliv-erables were directly linked to the customer’s overall objectives of growth and profit-ability.


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As more banks are now realising the value of transaction banking activities and thus shifting their resources to leverage this banking business, is competition heating up? Are there any rivals in the local market that ANZ ought to watch out for? What helps ANZ stay ahead of the game?The competition is definitely heating up and the Vietnamese market is following the same trends as we have seen in other Asian markets. If you go back, let’s say 2-3 years, a handful of foreign banks were the main players in transaction banking. These were banks who had invested in local product capability, in technology, in having the right expertise to support client discussions, and organised themselves internally in rela-tionship, product specialist, and client service teams. Thereafter, a few Asian banks who were in the business in their home markets started to expand into this area and targeted customers from their home country as initial targets.However, lately the most serious competitive threat is coming from local banks, who have always had the technology and certain advantages, such as extensive branch net-works and local market knowledge, but did not have the internal focus or expertise in this business. As I mentioned, this has started to change and these banks are now com-ing up with strategic plans to build the business, make internal organisational changes, and most importantly, taking talent and experience from foreign banks. We can expect the competition to continue to intensify.But transaction banking will be an area where foreign banks such as ANZ will contin-ue to play in and do well. There are a few reasons for this. Firstly, the market for trans-action banking should continue to grow in line with the growth of trade and investment flows throughout our region and as local corporates focus on automation and efficiency issues, the potential business opportunity will grow. Secondly, banks such as ANZ have built some inherent advantages in terms of experience and expertise over the years which cannot be replicated or changed overnight. Finally, foreign banks can support FDI clients through multi-country solutions by virtue of their presence in multiple markets, not just through single country solutions. This is an important con-sideration for MNCs and local corporates as they invest overseas, who expect as much consistency as possible in solutions and pricing across various markets.How does ANZ’s transaction banking fit into the Vietnamese and the ASEAN econom-ic landscapes? How has the ASEAN and the formation of AEC at the end of 2015 helped ANZ foster the transaction banking business across the area?As I indicated earlier, ANZ is a leading player in the local market and our transaction banking business continues to grow. Our products and technology are global, which we offer in every market we operate in, but we have combined these capabilities with our understanding of the local market requirements and with our local knowledge and expertise to create an attractive client value proposition. Let me give you one example. As you probably know, simplification of how corporates pay for taxes has been a major objective of the government as it seeks to make it easier to do business in Vietnam.Three years ago, we were the first foreign bank to establish a direct link with the Cus-toms Department which helped us automatize and simplify the process of how cus-tomers pay customs duty and get their goods released. Last year, we were again one of the few foreign banks to extend this capability to other forms of taxes corporates have to pay, thereby further streamlining their internal processes. Earlier, I gave the example of our receivable reconciliation solution which has been recognised through an industry innovation award. As you can see, in both cases, our technology and prod-ucts are global, but the difference has been our understanding of the local market and customer requirements.The formation of AEC and other similar economic initiatives should help ensure that the Greater Mekong region continues to be an attractive place for investment. As insti-tutional customers increase their focus on the region, and more Vietnamese corporates start investing in new frontier markets, such as Myanmar, our focus in transaction banking has changed to multi-country solutions. In other words, targeting customers across all five markets, as opposed to doing it country by country. This means internal organisational changes in how we organise ourselves and how we focus more broadly


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and also provided growth and development opportunities for our teams as they get involved in multiple markets. Corporate customers also prefer this broader focus and consistency since in many cases they are using similar systems and also have their sen-ior management covering multiple markets across the region.Therefore, we are responding to the market changes and taking steps to stay ahead of the increasing competition.http://www.vir.com.vn/growing-interest-in-transaction-banking.html

Minister optimistic about achieving economic growth target

31/AUG/2017 INTELLASIA| VNA

Minister and Chairman of the Government Office Mai Tien Dung said the economic performance in the January-August period is very positive, raising hope about achiev-ing the target of 6.7 percent economic growth this year.During a press conference following the monthly Government’s meeting in Hanoi on August 30, Dung said the government and the Prime Minister have drastically direct-ed ministries and agencies concerned to remove difficulties for enterprises. The Gov-ernment held a specialized meeting on law building, with cutting unnecessary business procedures high on the agenda.The ministries of finance and transport were assigned to review legal regulations on BOT tolls and cut specialised inspection fees for exports-imports. Currently 35 percent of exports and imports are subject to such inspection, he said, adding that the govern-ment has required cutting the rate to 15 percent.Dung added that ministries, agencies and localities should study proposals raised by the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MoPI) and the Vietnam Chamber of Com-merce and Industry on cutting and amending nearly 2,000 business conditions.In order to achieve a 6.7 percent growth, Dung said the agricultural sector should ex-pand by 3.05 percent. He noted that agro-forestry-fisheries exporters could bring home 35 billion USD compared to the planned 33 billion USD thanks to favourable weather conditions.In industry, electricity production and manufacturing and processing have been per-forming well. Moreover, disbursement for projects has been sped up while interest rates dropped by 0.5 percent and credit growth hit 21-22 percent.According to the MoPI, as of August 21, credit increased by 10.06 percent from Decem-ber 2016. Inter-bank interest rates are on a declining trend, the foreign exchange mar-ket has stabilised and liquidity has improved.http://en.vietnamplus.vn/minister-optimistic-about-achieving-economic-growth-tar-get/117177.vnp

Set targets might be unachievable without drastic efforts: PM


If development tasks are not implemented in a drastic manner in September and the fourth quarter of 2017, they might not be achieved, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said at the Government’s August regular meeting on August 30.Cabinet members discussed solutions to fulfil socio-economic targets for this year and gave opinions on the implementation of the State budget plan for 2017 and estimates for 2018, the allocation of the central budget in 2018, and other hot issues emerging in August.Concluding the meeting, PM Phuc applauded tireless efforts by ministries, sectors, lo-calities, organisations, individuals and businesses in carrying out 13 socio-economic targets set for this year, with eight of them expected to surpass the plans.The Cabinet chief ordered them not to be subjective while continuing to review each target and exert all-out efforts to realise the targets.He requested the Ministry of Finance to review budget collection and expenditure tar-gets to ensure national financial security and major financial balances. He urged ac-tions to prevent tax fraud, debt and over-collection and to promote tax revenues.It is also necessary to strongly reform the budget, increase expenditure on develop-ment investment and debt repayment, and sharply decrease frequent spending, the Government leader said.


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To facilitate the capital flow for production and business activities, the PM asked the State Bank of Vietnam to cut down lending interest rates by another 0.5 percent since this is an important solution to stimulate the economy. It has to take necessary meas-ures to support businesses while ensuring a credit growth rate of at least 21 percent and strictly dealing with credit-related violations.Regarding the acceleration of investment and ODA capital disbursement for infra-structure construction, he instructed the Ministry of Planning and Investment to promptly allocate capital under the Government’s resolution while inspecting units which directly use public investment capital.In the short term, the increase of taxes, fees and charges needs to be postponed to avoid impacts on enterprises and the business environment, he noted.At the meeting, PM Phuc asked the agricultural sector to attain the planned growth rate of 3.05 percent and farm produce export turnover of 35 billion USD, which will set a new record. He also ordered examination of big industrial provinces to remove dif-ficulties and accelerate industrial projects.If the industrial, agricultural and services sectors fail to realise their targets for only one month, it will be hard to achieve the targeted growth rate of 6.7 percent for 2017, the PM said, stressing that the tourism industry must strive to serve 15-17 million tour-ists this year.

Cutting regular spending, not raising taxes, will reduce public debt

31/AUG/2017 INTELLASIA| VIETNAMNET

While the Ministry of Finance (MOF) is seeking approval for tax hikes to increase the state budget revenue, economists point out that only reasonable government spending will help ease the budget deficit.MOF plans to raise the VAT (valued added tax) rate from 10 percent to 12 percent, im-pose luxury tax on soft drinks, and increase personal income tax on Vietlott lottery winners.MOF said that EU countries impose a VAT rate of 19 percent, and OECD countries 18 percent. The ministry believes that it is necessary to increase the tax rate to come in line with international practice.Similarly, when attempting to tax 30 percent on lottery winners, MOF explained that the 10 percent tax rate in Vietnam is low compared with the tax that lottery jackpot winners in the US have to pay.MOF said that Laos, Cambodia, France, the Netherlands and Hungary all impose taxes on soft drinks.Some months ago, the ministry proposed raising the environmental protection tax to VND8,000 per liter, saying that the tax is even lower than the tax in South Korea and Cambodia, while the petrol price in Vietnam is lower than the price in Singapore, Hong Kong and Laos.However, analysts said that it is necessary to have a comprehensive view on taxes, and review income per capita and social conditions in Vietnam, rather than just look at tax rates.Dinh Tuan Minh, a renowned economist, said when planning any tax hike, policymak-ers need to find out how the changes would affect people and society.“MOF needs to show the possible positive and negative impact of the moves. For ex-ample, what will happen if the VAT rate is raised to 12 percent,” he said.However, when asked how the VAT increase affects revenue of the state budget, a rep-resentative of the Tax Policy Department said the department will only make calcula-tions if the tax amendment plan is put on the National Assembly’s working agenda.HCM City Securities Company estimates that if the VAT rate is raised to 12 percent, the state budget would collect VND59 trillion more and revenue from VAT collection would account for 33 percent of total revenue.Economists emphasized that what Vietnam needs to pay attention now is the public spending. Minh commented that the government seems to be meeting difficulties in cutting regular expenditures.


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Standing witness to Vietnam’s rise


On the occasion of Vietnam’s National Day on September 2, VIR gets an insight into foreign CEOs’ thoughts and feeling about the country’s vitality and development, and why Vietnam has become their home away from home.Ronan Le Bihan CEO at Mango Bay Resort, Phu QuocIn 2002, I was offered a position for the setup of “Le Domaine de Tam Hai”, a beach resort in Chu Lai Open Economic Zone, Quang Nam.At that time, the only knowledge I, and many people in my country had, was that Vi-etnam was one of the fastest-growing economies in Southeast Asia. But obviously it was still early days and development was far from where we are now.With experience in Quang Nam province and Phu Quoc island, I’ve seen two of the top tourism destinations become what they are. Both went from small village spirit to international tourism destination.The work done in Hoi An/Danang is most impressive. Not only did we see develop-ment in terms ofhotels and resorts, but also in infrastructure: roads, airports, schools… everything has been done to make tourists welcome and development possible.I’ve made Phu Quoc my home for 11 years, and left it only three months ago. I’ve seen many things happen there. Of course, I’ll always miss the feeling I had the first time I came to Phu Quoc: red dirt roads, empty beaches,forest drives… but I spent enough time there to appreciate the way the development of infrastructure improved local life, with roads, electricity, and hospitals. I personally left Phu Quoc because I couldn’t get a proper school for my young kids. So I hope in-frastructure development will continue, not only real estate development.My only worry when I see so much happening is that the offerings won’t match needs as fast as people are expecting.Finally, I would like to thank Vietnam for allowing me to be part of that great adven-ture.Aik Meng Eng Chairman of Vietnam Integrated Medical ServicesVietnam has the sort of beauty and timeless charm you can’t find anywhere else in the world, but it is accompanied by a dizzying level of energy, passion, and hope. I have seen the fascinating transformation of Vietnam in the last 15 years, and the hopes and dreams of its people being realised every day.In the early days roads were clogged with cyclos and bikes, but now they are even more crowded with cars and trucks! Nevertheless, the spirit of the Vietnamese people still remains strong.Personally, there is nothing more enjoyable than enjoying a bowl of pho with thick Vi-etnamese coffee on a sidewalk while watching the buzz of the country go by. It’s still one of my favourite things to do here. Once you have eaten the local street food here, it’s almost impossible to compare it with food anywhere else on the planet.The Vietnamese people have always believed in getting better and doing more, they are hardworking yet gracious. They look to the future but have never forgotten their wonderful culture and traditions. This is a pool of talent and consumers that is hard to find anywhere else in the world!Professionally, I have seen investors flock to this country and can only imagine more coming. Vietnam offers many business and investment opportunities, but the consum-ers are now getting more sophisticated and demanding so it will be wise for foreign businessmen to understand the Vietnamese nuances well. As consumers, the Vietnam-ese are also now much more global and plugged into the latest trends, willing to spend more.One thing that really amazes me about Vietnam is the close relationships people have with their families and friends. This is something that gets lost in many other countries as they progress, and I hope that Vietnam does not lose this.We opened our Singapore Vietnam Cancer Center in May this year to offer the Viet-namese an option to receive testing, diagnosis, and treatment at an international cancer facility that will have both Vietnamese and Singaporean doctors working together.


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This will allow patients to receive treatment partly in Vietnam and Singapore, or if they choose, entirely in Vietnam so they can be close to their families. We know that this is an important consideration to Vietnamese patients and their families.Alexander Bischoff CEO of DIGI-TEXX VietnamVietnam’s development is amazing. I like to take pictures and if you compare those taken during the last five years, you can see a lot of construction going on in Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, and Danang. I hope the infrastructure can keep up with the growing traffic, especially in the downtown areas. Today most young Vietnamese can read, write, and speak decent English, and this opens many opportunities to connect to the outside world. In the area of education, the English language opens up doors to the lat-est research and will help the development of Vietnam excel.The founders of DIGI-TEXX made the right decision to set up the company in Vietnam. We were among the first business process outsourcing firms in the country, arriving several years before others showed up. If you are the first, you always have some ad-vantages. One of which was that many Vietnamese studied in Germany and spoke the language. This helped to build immediate trust with our customers. It also made com-munication much easier. Throughout the years we have received a lot of support from Quang Trung Software City and from the local government. We were able to find loyal employees who were willing to contribute their ideas, time, and effort to build our company.I have called Vietnam home for many years now. This is where I have put the centre of my life. When I am away for more than two weeks I miss Ho Chi Minh City and when I arrive at Tan Son Nhat airport, I am still excited to be home.Of course I am still very interested in what happens back in Germany, and I follow the news regularly. With the availability of communication systems, I can keep in close contact with my family and friends in Europe. It feels as if over the years Vietnam and Germany have come closer and the time difference become less important. Only when you hop on a plane and fly between the continents does the distance become apparent.Mikio Masawaki General Director of Sapporo Vietnam LimitedI first came to Ho Chi Minh City in 2009 and lived there from 2014 until now. I felt so excited about the city, in the medley of sound and colour. The life is full of energy and vivid, which is quite different from the clean and quiet city life in Japan. I was really amazed at the drinking culture in Vietnam, as everyone, from the youth to the elderly, love drinking beer. People prefer to hang out and enjoy glasses of beer in a happy at-mosphere. This culture has made Vietnam the key investment destination for Sapporo.Vietnam is likely to surpass Japan to become Asia’s second largest beer market in the next 10 years. Vietnam has a fast growing economy so people’s lives are better with rising incomes and consumer expeditures. As a result, the demand for quality and safe products has been increasing sharply, which offers tremendous opportunties for Sap-poro.I grew up in rural areas in Japan with a lot of paddy fields and mountains. During my stay in Vietnam, I have had a chance to visit the outskirts of the city and different towns in the country. The atmosphere and scenery here are similar to my hometown, which makes me feel like I’m at home. In addition, Vietnamese cuisine is diverse, abundant, and attractive. My favorite dishes are traditional specitilies like pho and other noodles from different regions in Vietnam. I have been attracted to the country’s culinary scene for a long time, which makes my living experiences in the country be-come more exciting.Vietnam is dynamic, with plenty of room for development. For its long-term invest-ment future in the country, Sapporo Vietnam has the following mission: “contribute to enrich Vietnamese cuisine culture”. We are trying our best to build a foundation and accelerating our efforts to fulfil that mission.Murat Utemissov CEO of Kusto HomeI still remember my first visit to Vietnam was in 1998. Later on, we started to recognise potentially strong future demand for high-end property due to growing consumption and a developing economy.


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I spent two years with my family in Ho Chi Minh City, which helped me to better un-derstand the local culture and specifics on doing business. In fact, we can list many fac-tors that make Vietnam a precious gem – a very young population, a stable political environment, strong FDI – and as a result, we can see a very fast growing middle and upper class.District 2 in Ho Chi Minh City is a good example. It used to be a quiet and empty area some time ago, but now, one would be surprised by its fast development of residential and commercial buildings introduced by famous international investors.Our company, Kusto Home, is proud to be among other big foreign developers con-tributing to the development of the area. We are dedicated to delivering high quality, international standard products to provide buyers with a better living experience. The big focus at Diamond Island is on creating a favourable environment, introducing amenities for all generations. Kids can have their own paradise for playing and learn-ing, the parents can take care of their health by swimming or doing sport activities, the elderly can enjoy relaxing at the Zen Garden, and the whole family can get together for a nice BBQ.Based on the strong success of Diamond Island, I am optimistic about the long-term business environment in Vietnam. Our company is now working on new investment projects in this rapidly developing and beautiful country.Kent Wong Partner and Head of Banking and Capital Markets at VCI LegalIn 2012, I relocated to Ho Chi Minh City, in part, to try and do my small bit in taking Vietnam to the next level globally. Vietnam has emerged as one of Asia’s great success stories. In a nation once ravaged by war, the economy has continually posted annual per capita growth of at least 5.3 percent since 1986 – greater than any other Asian econ-omy apart from China.Vietnam has benefited from a programme of internal restructuring, a transition from an agricultural base toward manufacturing and services, and demographic positives powered by a young population.The image of the country’s youth riding carefree on modern, sporty motorbikes under the big, bright lights of skyscrapers epitomises Vietnam’s new environment.I settled down here and made Vietnam my ‘second home’ almost five years ago. I had fallen in love with Vietnam after a sightseeing trip to Halong Bay in 2009, and also be-cause of the wealth of commercial and lifestyle opportunities – so many beaches! – the diverse natural countryside, and its welcoming and hospitable people.I believe that Vietnam can act decisively to head off short-term risks and embrace a productivity-led agenda to make the country internationally competitive. If Vietnam does so, it can build on its many intrinsic strengths – a young labour force, abundant natural resources, and political stability, to name but a few – to create a second wave of growth and prosperity.Strategically positioned in the centre of Asia, Vietnam’s economy will consistently rank as one of Asia’s most attractive destinations for foreign investors. Undoubtedly there will be challenges, but I believe that with the resilience and diligence of the Viet-namese people, they can be overcome.My warmest congratulations and best wishes for a happy celebration to the people of Vietnam on Vietnam National Day 2017!Soon Su Long Indochina CEO and Vietnam country head at MaybankI've been living in Vietnam since 2012. The five years I’ve been here have perhaps been some of the most eventful in my life.Even though this isn’t the first foreign country I’ve lived and worked in, it’s by far the most dynamic and unpredictable. Up to then I’d lived and worked in more economi-cally-developed countries like the UK, Malaysia, and Singapore. Vietnam from both an economic and social perspective is a younger and faster-evolving environment than those other countries. It has been transitioning from an agricultural economy to one based on manufacturing, and opening up its economy more and more along the way… which comes with its attendant conflicts in terms of balancing the interests of the gov-ernment against the private sector, and balancing local and foreign interests. Socially,


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as Vietnam becomes more exposed and integrated internationally, it’s interesting to see the differences in thinking between the older and younger population, as well as between those who are exposed to foreign culture and those who aren’t.Overall, why I find my time in Vietnam exciting is because I see myself here as both a player as well as a witness to a country in rapid change. And let’s not forget one thing.How a foreigner views a country is primarily dictated by the character of its people. On that score, I’ve been most impressed by the general friendliness, sense of curiosity, and down-to-earth nature of the Vietnamese. That’ll be the key reason why Vietnam will continue to attract foreigners to come and contribute to its growth story.http://www.vir.com.vn/standing-witness-to-vietnams-rise.html

IIP up 6.7 per cent in eight months


The national index for industrial production (IIP) increased 6.7 per cent year-on-year in the first eight months of this year, the General Statistics Office (GSO) reported.The metric was lower than the growth of 7.2 per cent recorded in the first eight months of 2016, and 9.9 per cent recorded in the same period of 2015, GSO said.The low growth rate was due to the reduction of 6.9 per cent in production in the min-ing industry, one of key industrial production sectors.Other industrial products with drops in production included crude oil (10.8 per cent), natural gas (9.2 per cent) and liquid petroleum gas – LPG (13.4 per cent), automobiles (4.5 per cent) and mobile phones (0.8 per cent)The processing and manufacturing industry, which accounted for over 70 per cent of total industrial output, saw a yearly IIP rise of 10.8 per cent.Many industries also enjoyed a surge in IIP, such as electric production and distribu-tion (8.6 per cent), water supply and waste treatment (7.4 per cent), metal production (21.2 per cent), electronics, computer and optical products (17.8 per cent), rubber and plastic products (10.4 per cent), paper production (10.1 per cent) and weaving (10 per cent).Among key industrial products that posted high IIP increases in eight months were television sets (34.4 per cent), raw steel and iron (23.9 per cent), urea (17.3 per cent), fabric (17.7 per cent) and processed seafood (9.4 per cent).According to the GSO, the consumption index of the processing and manufacturing in-dustry rose 9.5 per cent year-on-year, higher than the growth of 8.1 per cent year-on-year in the first eight months of 2016, contributing to the growth of production in this industry.GSO said that to continue growth in industrial production in the future, the industrial sector should increase the index of consuming products to reduce inventory because the inventory index of the sector in the first eight months witnessed a year-on-year surge of 9.8 per cent, higher than the 8.9 per cent year-on-year growth in the first eight months of 2016.http://bizhub.vn/news/iip-up-67-per-cent-in-eight-months_288586.html

August CPI edges up on food, fuel price hikes

31/AUG/2017 INTELLASIA| THE SAIGON TIMES

The consumer price index (CPI) has picked up 0.92% this month against July as food and fuel products in the basket of commodities used for CPI calculation have marked up.Data of the General Statistics Office shows food prices have risen by a sharp 1.64% against July. Of which, the prices of livestock and poultry meat have edged up again after staying low for a long time due to their substantial oversupply. Besides, rain and flood have had adverse effects on vegetable farming, resulting in their prices increas-ing.The price of food and catering services, which are the most-weighted group in the bas-ket of commodities for CPI calculation, has picked up 1.06% month-on-month.Notably, the traffic group has significantly risen by 2.13% over the previous month, as a result of fuel price hikes on August 4 and 19.Some other commodity groups with marked price hikes include medicines and health-


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care services rising by 2.86%, education by 0.57%, and housing and construction ma-terials by 0.93%.The remaining groups, namely beverage and cigarettes; apparel, footwear and hats; culture, entertainment and tourism; as well as other goods and services have seen their prices increasing by less than 0.1%.On the contrary, the group of postal services and telecommunications has seen prices falling 0.04%.Overall, this month’s CPI has inched up 1.23% over December last year and 3.35% year-on-year. The index in the year to date has expanded 3.84% compared to the same period last year.Core inflation based on the CPI excluding food and foodstuff, energy and commodi-ties under State management including healthcare and education services has grown by a mere 0.1% this month against July and 1.31% year-on-year.Core inflation in the eight-month period has gone up 1.47% over the same period last year.The CPI in cities has been outgrown by that in rural areas, with respective rises of 0.82% and 1.01%.Many localities have seen their CPI higher than the country’s average, with Hanoi re-porting a pickup of 1.34%, Khanh Hoa (1.04%), Vinh Long (1.28%) and Can Tho (1.64%).Meanwhile, HCMC has seen CPI increasing by a mere 0.5%, the lowest compared to other localities where prices of many goods have stayed unchanged.http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/55879/August-CPI-edges-up-on-food-fuel-price-hikes.html

Strong exports in Jul-Aug help narrow trade deficit


Export earnings in the past two months have outpaced import spending, helping nar-row the trade deficit in the year to date, according to data from the General Statistics Office.Vietnam posted a trade surplus of US$266 million in July and US$400 million in Au-gust after incurring a huge trade deficit in the first half, according to GSO data. This helps push down the trade deficit in January-August to US$2.13 billion, accounting for 1.6% of the country’s total export revenue.In particular, the country’s August exports have generated about US$18.2 billion, a 3% rise against a month ago, while import spending in August is estimated at US$17.8 bil-lion, increasing 2.3% compared to July, resulting in a surplus of US$400 million. To-gether with a trade surplus of US$266 million achieved in July, Vietnam has posted a total trade surplus of US$666 million in the past two months.Data of the General Statistics Office showed that in the year to date, Vietnam’s total ex-port revenue has reached US$133.5 billion, up 17.9% year-on-year. Meanwhile, total import spending in January-August has increased 22.3% year-on-year to US$135.63 billion, leading to a trade gap of US$2.13 billion.The foreign investment sector fared much better than the domestic sector in trade in the January-August period.Specifically, domestic enterprises have obtained only US$37.83 billion in export reve-nue in the first eight months, but spent US$54.24 billion on imports, causing a trade deficit of a whopping US$16.41 billion. Meanwhile, foreign-invested enterprises have made US$95.67 billion in export revenue but spent US$81.39 on imports, bringing a trade surplus of US$14.28 billion.The U.S. has remained the key market for Vietnamese exporters. In the year to date, the country has shipped US$27.2 billion worth of goods stateside, up 9.7% year-on-year, US$24.7 billion to the EU, up 12.7%, US$18.3 billion to China, up 41.8%, US$14.1 billion to ASEAN countries, up 26.6%, US$10.9 billion to Japan, up 16.1%, and US$9 billion to South Korea, up 24%.Vietnam has this year imported the most from China, with US$36.4 billion worth of goods, up 14.7% over the same period last year. In addition, the country has imported


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US$30.2 billion worth of goods from South Korea, up 47.5% year-on-year, US$18.1 bil-lion from ASEAN countries, up 17.8%, US$10.5 billion from Japan, up 8.9%, US$7.9 bil-lion from the EU, up 12.5%, and US$6.2 billion from the U.S., up 17.5%.According to the General Statistics Office, the trade surplus in August is helped by higher export sales of some items. In particular, exports of machines, equipment, tools and other accessories, footwear, computers and electronic products, and phones and phone parts have grown 26.9%, 18.4%, 16.4% and 14.9% against July respectively.In the first eight months, exports of phones and phone parts have amounted to US$26 billion, up 14.8% year-on-year. Other commodities whose exports have edged up in-clude textiles and garments with US$17 billion, up 7.2%, computers and electronic products with US$15.7 billion, up 39.3%, and footwear with US$9.6 billion, up 30.1%.On the other hand, imports of machines, equipment, tools and other accessories have shot up 33.5% year-on-year to US$24.1 billion. Imports of computers and electronic products, and phones and phone parts have surged 24.8% and 33.3% to US$22.1 billion and US$8.7 billion respectively.http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/55875/Strong-exports-in-Jul-Aug-help-narrow-trade-deficit.html

Asia seen as key buyer of Vietnam shrimp


Asia has been forecast to become the key market for Vietnam’s shrimp products due to increasing demand for frozen seafood, while the European Union (EU) and the U.S. may be good markets for other products of high added value like organic shrimp in the future.At a seminar on Vietnam’s ability to meet global shrimp demand held by the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP) on August 29, Pham Anh Tuan, former deputy general director of the Directorate of Fisheries, said China has set an ambitious target to become the largest seafood trading center in the world. There-fore, boosting shrimp export to China is an important target.According to VASEP, in the first half of the year, Vietnam fetched nearly US$283 mil-lion from shrimp shipments to China, up 30% year-on-year. In the coming time, the neighboring country will continue importing shrimp products from Vietnam thanks to close proximity which helps reduce transport costs and make selling prices more competitive than other markets in the region and the Americas.In addition, China and other Asian countries such as South Korea and Japan have in-creasing demands for seafood.The EU and the U.S. are still large markets for Vietnamese shrimp products but these markets tend to prefer organic products of higher added value.In the past three years, more organic products have been sold at supermarkets in EU countries. Vietnamese firms should focus more on exporting products that are of high quality and meet safety and hygiene standards to choosy markets rather than turning to costlier organic products, Tuan added.http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/55886/Asia-seen-as-key-buyer-of-Vietnam-shrimp.html

Large-scale investments promise FDI breakthrough


Many large-scale investment projects and cooperation agreements have been signed for the near future, promising a breakthrough in foreign direct investment (FDI) attrac-tion in Vietnam.Just in the last 10 days, numerous investment cooperation agreements have been signed within the framework of Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong’s visit to Indonesia and Myanmar and Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc’s visit to Thailand.One of these is the agreement between PT Intra Asia (Indonesia) and Hong Phat Coal and Resources to build a port for coal import in Vietnam. The project is expected to have up to $1 billion investment and capacity of 15 – 20 million tonnes per year, help-ing cut the cost of transporting imported coal from Indonesia.“The construction of the port will help the sustainable development of exporting coal


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from Indonesia to Vietnam and secure the input for thermal electricity plant”, said Lut-fi Ismail, chairman of PT Intra.Another agreement was signed between Thailand’s Superblock PCL and a Vietnamese partner to develop renewable energy in Vietnam. Superblock PCL, one of the largest renewable energy producer in Southeast Asia, plans to invest up to THB20 billion ($602 million) each year to expand production inside and outside the country to meet the increasing demand for clean energy.In the next 3-4 years, Superblock PCL will increase their capacity to around 2,000 meg-awatts, 700MW of which will be contributed by wind power projects in Vietnam. Su-perblock PCL has not ruled out the possibility of investing in solar power, either.Other notable agreements signed during the PM’s visit to Thailand include a legal agreement to implement Quang Tri buil-operate-transfer (BOT) thermal power project between Vietnam’s General Department of Energy under the Ministry of Industry and Trade and Thailand’s EGAT International Co., Ltd. (EGATi), a memorandum between Vietnam Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam) and SCG (Thailand) Co., Ltd. on promot-ing the Long Son petrochemical complex in the southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau, and cooperation in research and development of other petrochemical projects in Viet-nam.Additionally, there were also memorandums signed between SCG and PetroViet-nam's subsidiaries such as Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical Co., Ltd., PetroViet-nam Ca Mau Fertilizer JSC, PetroVietnam Fertilizer and Chemicals Corporation.Of the abovementioned projects, at least two carry a billion-dollar price tag. The Quang Tri BOT thermal power project is expected to start construction in mid-2019 with $2.2 billion capital. The Long Son petrochemical complex project has $5.4 billion investment capital, with 71 per cent contributed by SCG.The completion of these agreements will contribute a lot to Vietnam’s FDI flows.Many economic experts have said that even without the Trans Pacific-Partnership (TPP), Vietnam is still very attractive to foreign investors thanks to the numerous re-cently signed trade agreements and ceaseless efforts to improve the business environ-ment. In a recent report, PwC predicted: “In the future, low cost business environment and great economic potential will continue to make Vietnam an attractive destination to foreign investors.”http://www.vir.com.vn/large-scale-investments-promise-fdi-breakthrough.html

Health insurance fund may grapple with overspending


The country’s health insurance fund may have to struggle with a huge deficit of VND10 trillion (US$442.15 million) this year and the reserve fund may be exhausted by 2020, according to a report by Vietnam Social Security (VSS).At a press conference in Hanoi City on August 29, VSS reported costs of medical check-ups and treatments amounted to more than VND41 trillion in the first half of the year, an increase of VND6.5 billion against the year-ago period.In addition, many localities have used up to 70% of the allocations planned for the whole year. The rate was 90% in Quang Nam and Quang Tri provinces.According to VSS, 59 provinces have overspent their health insurance funds. Some lo-calities faced an overspending of VND500-1,000 billion such as Nghe An, Thanh Hoa, Thai Binh, Quang Nam and Danang. Only four cities and provinces – HCMC, Dong Nai, Binh Duong and Dak Lak – can manage their funds well.Last year, the health insurance fund also suffered a deficit of more than VND7.6 tril-lion.Le Van Phuc, deputy head of the Health Insurance Policy Implementation Department at VSS, attributed the overspending to an upsurge in medical check-ups and treat-ments, the connection between medical centers, an increase in in-patients as insurance does not cover the insured using out-patient services at provincial- and central-level hospitals.Besides, many individuals and healthcare centers have sought to profiteer from the fund which also led to the overspending.


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VSS deputy general director Pham Luong Son said that between 2010 and 2015, VSS had raised VND50 trillion for the central reserve fund to support the poor, adjust healthcare service prices reasonably and create favorable conditions for medical cent-ers to apply advanced technology.The health insurance fund has to pay an additional VND10 trillion a year to cover med-ical examination and treatment expenditures for the insured if health insurance contri-bution rates are not increased.http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/55884/Health-insurance-fund-may-grapple-with-overspending.html

PM orders prompt settlement of admin procedures in September


Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc urged ministries, departments and localities to concentrate on addressing administrative procedure problems, especially removing tax and fee burdens imposed on businesses, while chairing the government’s regular monthly meeting in Hanoi on August 30.He asked the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Transport to review current reg-ulations on build-operate-transfer (BOT) fees to pave the way for business develop-ment.The PM expressed his dissatisfaction over the fact that up to 35 percent of import-ex-port goods batches still suffer from specialised inspection costs, while the target is only 15 percent.He also cited the World Bank’s report that Vietnamese businesses have to pay social insurance premiums 12 times per year, equivalent to 189 hours, whilst it takes only 48 hours in Thailand and 46 hours in Indonesia.“This is one of the obvious issues that ministries and departments have to address as soon as possible,” he said, adding that concrete measures are needed to remove diffi-culties for specific fields.Evaluating the socio-economic performance in the first eight months of 2017, the PM recognised positive outcomes in the macro economy.The inflation was curbed while the consumer price index (CPI) increased by 0.92 per-cent in August and 3.84 percent in eight months.Vietnam recorded strong export growth of 18 percent in January-August. The country served the highest volume of international tourists in August (1.23 million), helping the total foreign arrivals over the past eight months expand by 30 percent.The newly-registered and increased foreign direct investment (FDI) and shares capital were estimated at over US$23.3 billion. In the past eight months, over 104,000 new businesses were set up.As the APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting is taking place in the central coastal city of Da Nang in November 2017, the PM directed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to ensure the best preparation for the event.During the meeting, the Ministry of Finance will brief the implementation of the State budget in 2017 and estimates for 2018, and a draft plan for the State finance and budget in 2018-2020, and the central budget allocation for 2018.The Ministry of Industry and Trade is due to deliver a report on particular mechanisms and policies to ensure the progress of investment in building urgent electricity projects within the national power development scheme.http://www.vir.com.vn/pm-orders-prompt-settlement-of-admin-procedures-in-sep-tember.html

HCMC demands more for regular spending


The HCMC government has proposed the central Government increase regular spend-ing for its State machinery in order to guarantee the quality of its public services, said Nguyen Duy Tan, deputy head of the State Budget Department under the Finance Ministry, at a meeting on August 29.According to the municipal government, Tan said, its public servants have their labor productivity much higher than those in other cities and provinces, but their incomes


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are just the same. As such, the city demanded more incentives for its public servants.He cited the argument of the municipal government as saying that the city has over 600,000 public servants who serve more than 10 million residents while other localities also have the same number of State employees, but they just serve three million resi-dents on average.He did not reveal detailed information but said central agencies have yet to consider the proposal.In a related development, he said, the proportion of regular expenditures has account-ed for 74% of total State budget spending in the year to this month. However, the cen-tral Government would find it more difficult to allocate more for such expenditures as the minimum wages are set to rise by 7% a year by 2020.He added the Government has in recent years called on private investors in a bid to reduce the State fund for capital construction and increase regular spending on health-care and education.As a result, the State budget has allocated an additional VND20-30 trillion for regular expenditures a year, owing to wage hikes, in order to ensure social welfare among dis-advantaged residents.Overall, he predicted, State budget revenue may exceed its estimate this year. Howev-er, its revenue may not meet the set targets in the coming years, as many localities are expected to fail their assigned ones.http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/55871/HCMC-demands-more-for-regular-spend-ing.html

HoREA proposes not classifying tourism land as farmland


The HCMC Real Estate Association (HoREA) has just proposed not classifying land used for tourism purposes as farmland and also amending the 2013 Land Law to this effect to facilitate tourism development.HoREA stressed that tourism land should not be used to build houses or residential blocks to prevent technical and social infrastructure overload. However, tourism land should also be considered non-agricultural land so as to allow for permanent use of such land for tourism purposes.Le Hoang Chau, chairman of HoREA, said the 2013 Land Law regulates that non-ag-ricultural land includes land used for developing industrial zones, hi-tech parks, air ports, trade and service facilities. This means land for tourism is not on the list.Despite such regulations, some localities have treated tourism land as land of long-term use other than farmland, and collected land use fees accordingly. Given such treatment in certain localities, some condotel investors have promised potential buyers that they could obtain long-term home ownership and long-term land use right certif-icates.“This violates the current regulation as the 2013 Land Law allows condotel developers to use land for a certain period of time,” said Chau.Some localities have suggested that owners of condotel units should be granted long-term home ownership and land use right certificates, and tourism land should be sub-ject to land use fees like residential land, which Chau said is a reasonable idea for con-sideration.However, as long as the 2013 Land Law is not amended toward this end, investors of condotel projects are not allowed to promise the secondary investors that they can get long-term land use right certificates.The Ministry of Construction has earlier proposed creating new policies for the classi-fication and use of multi-purpose land, which can be used to build both residential fa-cilities and trade-service facilities. The ministry has thus suggested granting land use right and home ownership right certificates for owners of this type of land.http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/55885/HoREA-proposes-not-classifying-tourism-land-as-farmland.html


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Insufficient land use affects Can Tho’s economy


The division of land into small lots for sale may hamper economic growth in Can Tho City as land for trade and services has shrunk, said Vo Thi Hong Anh, vice chairwom-an of Can Tho, at a meeting on August 29.Anh said a majority of real estate projects in Can Tho focus on dividing land into small lots for sale. The situation will solve housing demand in the short run, but will not help generate as good revenue as commercial and service facilities.The vice chairwoman noted that this situation will lead to a shortage of land for infra-structure projects aimed at developing the local economy, trade and services, and will have negative effects on the city’s budget revenue.For instance, she said, the city’s domestic budget revenue was around VND9 trillion, of which Ninh Kieu District – the driving force behind Can Tho’s economic growth – contributed VND2.2 trillion.However, she explained, the district has used up 2,200 hectares of land out of its total area of 2,900 hectares in order to generate revenue for the city’s budget. As such, the revenue of VND2.2 trillion from 2,200 hectares that has been used up is meager.Notably, she said the district has used land plots in an inefficient manner, as much of the land has been divided into small residential lots. This has made land for commer-cial purposes scarce.As such, the district’s budget collection did not fare well, she noted, adding the local government should change its mindset in the allocation of land plots. Otherwise, the local and municipal economies may slow down in the long run.Under the city’s economic plan for the coming years, Ninh Kieu District is assigned to contribute some VND7 trillion to the municipal budget by 2030. With only 700 hectares of land available now, the goal will be unattainable if the district relies on land the same way as in the past.Meanwhile, Van Kim Khanh, a member of the Mekong Delta Association of Realty Brokers, said the real estate market in Can Tho City has shown positive signs, as hous-ing projects like Hong Phat, Nam Long and Hoang Quan Can Tho have seen their transactions and selling prices rising, compared to late last year.Truong Dinh Thao, general director of Hoang Quan Can Tho Real Estate Investment JSC, said the segment of apartments having their selling prices of less than VND2 bil-lion has fared well.http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/55880/Insufficient-land-use-affects-Can-Tho%E2%80%99s-economy.html

Finance Ministry wants 1% tax on transfer price in M&A deals


In an effort to prevent involved parties from evading tax by inaccurately declaring profits from M&A deals, MOF plans to tax one percent on the transfer price, to be ap-plied to businesses, and one percent on income, to be applied to individuals.The current CIT Law stipulates that the government determines tax rates on capital transfer deals made by foreign institutions that have no presence in Vietnam.However, in Decree 12/2015, the government has not set a specific percentage tax rate. Therefore, MOT has set a temporary tax rate of 20% on income.A problem has arisen that the majority of foreign institutions declared transfer prices equal to cost prices so as to avoid tax. In principle, if they don’t make a profit, they don’t have to pay CIT.Meanwhile, Vietnam still finds it difficult to check transfer prices. This explains why in recent M&A deals, Vietnam’s taxation agencies could only collect tax on the differ-ence of exchange rates between the time of transfer and time of capital contribution.To make it easier to control tax collection and avoid loss of revenue for the state budg-et, MOF believes that it would be better to impose the same tax rate of one percent on revenue. The tax rate would be applied to both foreign institutions with or without res-ident offices in Vietnam.The tax duties for transfer deals in the oil & gas sector will be shown in another specific document to be released by MOF.


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Many large M&A deals have been made recently, including the transfer of Metro Cash & Carry distribution chain in Vietnam to TCC Group and the takeover of Big C by Cen-tral Group. Most recently, Siam City Cement acquired a stake in LafargeHolcim, a ce-ment manufacturer.Sources said that taxation bodies finally were able to collect trillions of dong in tax from investors in the deals, but they could only do this after many arguments and dis-cussions with involved parties.The big difficulty was that the legal entities which conducted the transfer deals were outside the Vietnamese territory.An official of the HCMC Taxation Agency admitted that most foreign institutions de-clared wrong prices, but the taxation agency still had to accept the deals because it could not prove if the declaration was wrong.MOF is also facing the same problem with transfer deals made by individuals. Under current law, the taxable income in capital transfer deals equals the selling price minus (buying price + related costs). However, taxation agencies find it difficult to discover the transfer price and related costs.http://english.vov.vn/economy/finance-ministry-wants-1-tax-on-transfer-price-in-ma-deals-357484.vov

New circular delays modern slaughterhouses


A new circular issued by Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has post-poned the opening of modern slaughterhouses and delayed the closing of old facilities.In late August, contractors finished levelling ground for the US$15 million slaughter-house of An Ha LLC in C Chi District, HCM City. However, Nguyen Thi Hong Tham, director of An Ha Company, is worried that the construction of some important de-partments will be delayed while other facilities will need to be changed to adapt to standards regulated by the new circular.The company will have to adjust its design plan or move some departments to avoid violating the circular. “We have to move the factory away and upgrade animal shelters to fit regulations,” Tham told the Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper.However, the most difficult condtition is that “a slaughter has to locate at least 500m from residential areas, schools and hospitals” which was not cited in former circulars. Therefore, An Ha Company stopped building its cold storage facility and moved the main slaughter away from neighbours’ fences to meet the requirement.“How can we make sure our factory is 500m away from residential areas since beyond the fence is their land? In the future, if they build a house, we will, again, violate the circular,” she said.Due to those changes, nearly 100 containers of equipment imported from Germany are being stored at a port, awaiting shipment to Viet Nam.“At present, we are dividing the plan into smaller categories. For each category, we must prepare documents to report to city authorities,” Tham added.An Ha Company is not alone. Many other slaughterhouses approved by HCM Peo-ple’s Committee will have to adjust their plans to adapt to the circular.Miss the goalThe city has planned to develop modern slaughterhouses to replace old ones since 2010, according to HCMC Department of Agricultural and Rural Development, with the city People’s Committee approving a plan aiming to operate six industrial slaugh-terhouses by the end of 2016. However, due to financial and administrative difficulties, no facility opened last year, and thus the city still could not close the old facilities .On April 25, 2017, HCMC People’s Committee approved “The planning of slaughter-house system in HCMC from 2016 to 2020”. Its goal is to put six industrial slaughters into operation by the end of 2017 and close all existing outdated slaughterhouses ex-cept for two plants in Can Gio District.Per the plan, all the city’s slaughter activities will be run in six industrial slaughter-houses with capacity of 10,000 to 15,000 pigs per day.However, at present, the goal seems likely to be missed as almost all the projects won’t


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be finished by the end of 2017.For some projects, investors have just started levelling the ground, while the An Ha Company project has to change its design and plans to begin operating by 2018 at the earliest.Bach Dang Quang, director of Tan Hiep Cooperative, the investor of Tan Hiep Food Processing Factory in Hoc Mon District said that they were facing difficulties in terms of infrastructure. Specifically, though the co-operative has the capital to build a factory and set up facilities, the road leading to the factory has not been built, despite the city promising to build it.“The current riverside road is small and seriously eroded. We do not know whether there will be a new one for lorries when the factory is built,” said Quang.http://vietnamnews.vn/society/392857/new-circular-delays-modern-slaughterhous-es.html

Taxman will closely supervise casino operations


The Ministry of Finance has suggested that tax agencies directly manage the operation of casino-operating enterprises, and that stringent supervision be conducted to ensure due tax collection.In a draft circular on management of tax collection at casinos, the ministry suggested that casino-operating businesses must have an office or space inside their casinos with sufficient tools and equipment for a management team of the local tax agency to direct-ly manage casino operations.Surveillance cameras must be installed at gambling areas, cashier stands, warehouses and other areas related to the casino’s operations to facilitate management. Data of the cameras must be stored for at least 10 years.The management team will monitor transactions related to money, and daily report to the tax agency’s head. Any violations or signs of violation should be reported imme-diately to take timely actions.The ministry stressed that members of the management team must not have any rela-tion with each other or with the managers of the casino. They should not be spouse, parents, adopted parents, son or daughter, adopted son or daughter, brother or sister, brother-in-law or sister-in-law of any of the others.If the enterprises were granted business certificates before Decree No. 03/2017/ND-CP on casino business management took effect on March 15, 2017, they will have to set up such office or space for the tax team within 90 days from the date of the circular going into force.In case the enterprises were granted business certificates but their facilities have not been put into operation, or they were granted business certificates after the effective date of Decree No. 03/2017/ND-CP, they will have to finish setting up such office or space available at the time the casinos are put into service.http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/55874/Taxman-will-closely-supervise-casino-opera-tions.html

Vietnam Customs holds dialogue with European businesses


The General Department of Vietnam Customs held a dialogue with European busi-nesses in Ho Chi Minh City on August 30 to help clear customs issues of their concern, especially customs revaluation.The European Union (EU) holds a major proportion in trade with and investment in Vietnam. Bilateral trade jumped almost 11 times from 4.1 billion USD in 2000 to 45 bil-lion USD in 2016 and is forecast to hit 50 billion USD this year.A survey by the European Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam (EuroCham) shows that most of the questioned businesses still know little about regulations on customs re-valuation.EuroCham Executive Director Almut Roessner said as most revaluation decisions in Vietnam were made by basing on customs database or reference values collected in the internet, they haven’t been objective or in line with regulations.


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According to the HCM City Customs Department, only 2-3 percent of commercial goods had their customs value revaluated in 2016. The 25-percent figure provided by EuroCham might include non-commercial goods.In response to European firms’ opinions, Nguyen Quoc Toan, deputy head of the de-partment’s export-import tariffs division, assured that customs valuation has always been conducted in conformity with legal regulations and in a transparent manner. Customs database is not used as a basis for adjusting goods’ customs value.To tackle obstacles during the handling of customs procedures, the customs sector will work harder to popularise new legal documents and regulations among businesses, thereby helping to promote their awareness and coordination with customs agencies in enforcing law, preventing smuggling and trade fraud, and creating a healthy busi-ness and competition environment, he said.Deputy General Director of Vietnam Customs Hoang Viet Cuong appreciated EU businesses’ contribution to Vietnam’s economic growth, noting that improving the business climate and businesses’ competitiveness is critical to the sustainable growth and competitiveness of the Vietnamese economy.The customs sector is striving to realise trade facilitation targets, including cutting down the time needed to handle customs procedures for export goods from 108 hours to 70 hours, and for import goods from 138 hours to 90 hours, the official added.http://en.vietnamplus.vn/vietnam-customs-holds-dialogue-with-european-business-es/117165.vnp

SOEs divest 163.4 million USD in 8 months


State-owned enterprises divested more than 3.7 trillion VND (163.4 million USD) in book value from investment in non-core operations during the first 8 months of 2017, according to the Ministry of Finance’s Corporate Finance Department.They earned over 15.8 trillion VND (695.3 million USD) for the State coffer from sale of their investment.The State Capital Investment Corporation (SCIC) sold nearly 1.4 trillion VND (61.4 million USD) worth of stakes in 21 SOEs, earning over 12.2 trillion VND (538.5 million USD). The amount included 5.4 percent of its total shares in Vietnam Dairy Products JSC (Vinamilk) that were sold for more than 11.3 trillion VND (496.6 million USD).Seven SOEs have had their equitisation plans approved in August.So far, equitisation plans of 33 SOEs have been approved in the first eight months of this year, with total real state capital in those enterprises worth approximately 20.9 tril-lion VND (918.7 million USD).The Ministry of Finance recommended the government to assign the Ministry of In-dustry and Trade to fast-track the divestment of state ownership at top brewers Habeco and Sabeco this year. If divestment announcements are not released before September 30, the ownership’s right over the State capital in the two firms should be transferred to SCIC to ensure the pace of divestment, it proposed.http://en.vietnamplus.vn/soes-divest-1634-million-usd-in-8-months/117161.vnp

Increase in registered capital in real estate sector not yet the signal to feel happy

31/AUG/2017 INTELLASIA| THOI BAO KINH DOANH

As per the recently released data by the Department of Business Administration Man-agement under the Ministry of Planningand Investment (MOPI), the number of newly established businesses in August were 12,404 units (up 6.2%) with the registered cap-ital of 131.378 trillion dong (up 39%). The proportion of average registered capital per business reached 10.6 billion dong (up 30.8%). Generally, in January-August 2017, the country has an additional of 85,357 newly es-tablished businesses with the registered capital of 822.116 trillion dong, up 16.3% in the number of businesses and 44.8% in registered capital compared to the same period of 2016. Of which, for real estate sector, the number of newly established businesses were 3,156 units (up 65.8%) and the registered capital was 217.139 trillion dong (up 62.8%).The number of businesses that return to operations in January-August 2017 were


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19,154 units, up 2.4% year-on-year. The number of businesses in real estate sector in-creased nine percent with 322 units. This is a relatively high growth rate compared to other sectors.Regarding the attraction of foreign investment, in the first eight months of 2017, real estate business ranked the fifth, attracting about $0.7 billion (up 16% from the same pe-riod), of which there are 39 projects with $0.5 billion newly registered capital.Economic experts said the aforementioned figures show that the number of estab-lished real estate businesses are not much compared to other sectors but the amount of capital is the highest. That means real estate has always been the sector that attracts the largest number of businesses to participate and invest.In general, some experts believe that the data on the number of real estate businesses' establishment and dissolution in recent time have contributed very well to the Govern-ment's reports and especially to the Government's objectives to reach two million busi-nesses in 2020.However, there are also comments from economists that these figures are not condu-cive to the sustainable development of the country because the proportion of average registered capital per business established in the past eight months was nearly 69 bil-lion dong each while businesses that create sustainable value for the economy such as the manufacturing and processing industry have only generated an average of nine billion dong each.Earlier, experts forecasted that in 2017, credit packages to real estate may increase 10%, raising the outstanding loan to this sector to 300 trillion dong. However, NFSC said so far real estate outstanding loans were 14% including consumer loans.Savills' experts said tourism is targeted to be the spearhead of the economy so in many provinces and cities from the North to the South, the appearance of many resorts has created momentum for the resort real estate segment to thrive.Recently, the Government has decided to introduce two trillion dong credit support package for social housing projects and commercial housing projects and many busi-nesses will also return to operation and it is forecasted that from now till the end of the year, real estate businesses will continue developing.The US dollar deposit rate policy at zero percent that the State Bank is applying will attract idle capital flow from the people, overseas Vietnamese to real estate. Experts have warned about non-potential risks when there appears waves of US dollar with-drawal from banks to invest in property.Moreover, many foreign investors, due to legal issues, have shifted to merger and ac-quisition (M&A) and this trend has taken place strongly since the beginning of this year with a large number of Chinese and Japanese giants acquiring large projects.Especially, MOPI has recently submitted to the Government a draft on development of Van Don special economic administrative zone, Bac Van Phong, Phu Quoc, focusing on development of resort tourism and it is likely that from now till the end of the year, real estate businesses will continue to be established to catch up with this wave.As such, there are many reasons for the State capital, foreign capital to continue flow-ing into real estate. Meanwhile, the supply of high-end apartments, condotel, commer-cial apartments, etc. are having signs of oversupply, creating a "patchy" real estate picture. The lesson from 2008-2014 when the real estate fell into excess crisis and rampant bad debt still exists. Experts' advice shows that it is impossible to be happy as real estate sector now still remains "hot".

Startups on the move in Vietnam social media market

31/AUG/2017 INTELLASIA| VOV

Over the past decade, the social media market in Vietnam has been booming and shows no signs of slowing anytime soon, say representatives of Vietnam Social Media Corporation.VSMC is one of the leaders in the social media segment of Vietnam that has success-fully taken on multinational giants such as Google, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Microsoft.


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The company, founded in 2007, is based out of the capital city of Hanoi and has a pri-mary business strategy of catering to the younger generation of computer users with it three main products ACC, Ciao and Dore.ACC is a social network specifically targeted for individuals with a passion for Japa-nese manga and animation. Ciao is a national destination directory and location searching service.Dore is a mobile comic publishing business developed in-house and available on 3G and WiFi networks.Another up and coming startup is NCT Corporation, which was founded in 2008 and originally named Nhaccuatui Corporation. Its first product, says company rep Nhan The Luan, was a music sharing website where customers could share their favourite music with family and friends.In 2009, the company decided to expand business to e-commerce and nava.vn was born as the first professional B2C website in Vietnam. Nava.vn quickly became popu-lar within the internet community and shows great promise for yet further increased future sales and earnings.In 2010, viss.vn, an online dating service was introduced and quickly attracted internet fans. So, in just two short years the company developed three major products, experi-enced triple digit growth and grew to some 35 employees.But it is without question not the end.To win in the marketplace, you must first win in the workplace, says The Luan. For a startup, one of the most daunting challenges is recruiting top talent — the very same talent leading enterprises like Facebook and Google are trying to recruit.Vietnam Communications Corporation is another leading startup internet company in Vietnam, with top products in online content, e-commerce, social media, ad networks and mobile value-added services.Nguyen The Tan, general director of VC Corp, boasts it is the largest ecosystem of on-line and mobile services in Vietnam.VC Corp provides its customers a wide array of online portals. Its sites include Kenh14, Afamily, GameK, Soha, CafeF, Muachung, Muare, Rongbay, Enbac, Soha-phim, Sohatv, Sannhac, Admicro.Several of the company’s sites are in the top 100 most visited in Vietnam, says The Tan.Since 2012, the company has sourced most of its funding from Intel Capital, Intel’s glo-bal investment and M&A organization, which invests heavily in innovative technolo-gy start-ups and companies worldwide.Lastly, the startup VTC Technology & Digital Company, a subsidiary of Vietnam Mul-timedia Corporation, has officially been operating since January 2006. Its success has been largely attributable to its young creative workforce, says Director Nguyen Thanh Hung.VTC Intecom is one of top social media companies in Vietnam with its primary strength in the digital content segment. It’s a startup on the move, says Thanh Hung, with big plans for future development in Vietnam— a market with unlimited poten-tial.http://english.vov.vn/economy/startups-on-the-move-in-vietnam-social-media-mar-ket-357525.vov

Vietnam nearly stands the last in Southeast Asia in online sales

31/AUG/2017 INTELLASIA| VNECONOMY

Among the six largest economies in Southeast Asia, Vietnam is the last nation in online retail sales and its proportion out of the total retail sales.As per Bloomberg, online shopping has grown explosively in Thailand in recent years as consumers in the country in this country are increasingly technologically savvy. This is seen as a signal for the take-off of e-commerce in Southeast Asia in general.Online retail sales of all Thai items, from washing machines to TVs and fish sauce, are growing at a rate of more than 100% per year, far exceeding the traditional retail sales growth of about 10%.Such growth rate is thanks to the combination between fast, strong connection speeds


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in Thailand and the success of online retailers such as Lazada. Thailand's third-largest mobile operator i.e. Total Access Communication estimates that Thai people spend six hours per day on social networking sites like Facebook and Youtube.As per Maybank Kim Eng, Thailand is the only country in Southeast Asia to separate online retail sales from the general retail sales. This data is a useful guide about the growth of e-commerce in the region.A recent report of Maybank says that despite strong growth, e-commerce in South East Asia has just accounted for less than four percent of the total retail sales.In larger markets such as China and South Korea, the proportion of online retail sales was 16% and 18% respectively. This demonstrates the great potential for Southeast Asia region where revenue from online shopping may reach 5-10% of total retail sales over the next five years, according to Maybank.Estimates show that the largest online shopping market in Southeast Asia in terms of revenue is Indonesia, with new revenue reaching only $1.7 billion a year, equal to 0.6% of total retail sales. In Vietnam, the figures are $0.4 billion and 0.6% respectively.Recently, billionaire Jack Ma, the founder of China's e-commerce giant Alibaba, has be-come a member of an Indonesian committee on promotion of e-commerce in the most populous nation in Southeast Asia. Macquarie Research forecasts that online retail sales in Indonesia may reach $65 billion by 2020.Maybank said that the strong growth of e-commerce and the lack of official data on this sector means that the potential of the Southeast Asian market may be assessed to be insufficient against the reality. Therefore, according to Maybank, tracking consum-er trends will be more useful than just looking at official retail numbers.

Domestic brands held at gunpoint by international fashion brands


In the context of more and more fashion brands entering the Vietnamese market and gaining significant market share, domestic firms in the fashion industry have to draw up solutions to regain market share and seize back their position.Massive surge of international fashion brandsAccording to newswire Vietnamnet, there are nearly 200 foreign fashion brands in Vi-etnam, which hold up to 60 per cent of the market share. Many of them are affordable fashion brands, luring in customers by their diverse fashion products at reasonable prices, such as Mango, which has been present in Vietnam since 2004, the UK brand Topshop, which entered Vietnam in 2013, and the famous affordable brand Zara with its debut in 2016, and recently, Hennes & Mauritz AB (H&M) from Sweden announced launching its first store in Ho Chi Minh City on September 9 this year.The images of long queues of fans in front of fashion shops show the great potential of the Vietnamese market. Thus, some domestic fashion brands may worry about being dominated by these famous brands, as Vietnamese youth prefer foreign labels to catch up with the latest trends in the world.However, the price is still a barrier for these famous brands, as “affordable” in devel-oped countries may not be really “affordable” in a developing country like Vietnam, although people’s incomes are gradually enhanced, increasing the demand for cloth-ing.Therefore, there is still room for Vietnamese fashion brands if they understand Viet-namese taste and offer products at more reasonable prices. Besides, spending more on advertising to grab the attention of customers may go a long ways to accelerating brand awareness.Promising modern marketing toolThe dominance of foreign fashion brands has awakened domestic enterprises, forcing them to look for solutions to regain market share and survive. Otherwise, they may gradually lose customers to foreign brands and then go bankrupt.Realising the rising market competition and the strength of its rivals, K&K Fashion, a well-known Vietnamese office fashion brand, has followed the upward trend of e-commerce and utilised the application of Criteo Commerce Marketing Ecosystem to specify its targeted customers and accelerate sales revenue.


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After six months of applying this modern marketing tool, K&K Fashion reported pos-itive results of 43 per cent growth in click-through rate, 66 per cent growth in conver-sion rate, and 121 per cent increase in successful transactions.Criteo Commerce Marketing Ecosystem is an open, secure, transparent, and fair envi-ronment where retailers, brands, and publishers collaborate to put data into action at every point of the purchase journey.The Wall Street Journal commented on this marketing tool, “The idea is that with more accurate data covering consumers’ offline and online shopping habits, retailers and brands can better target ads at people who are most likely to make purchases.”K&K Fashion’s case is an example of a fashion brand gaining success by the applica-tion of modern technology in marketing in the era of globalisation.It is also hoped that in the future more Vietnamese enterprises will turn to innovative strategies and utilise advanced technology to push up their sales and compete with nu-merous rivals, especially international giants.http://english.vov.vn/economy/domestic-brands-held-at-gunpoint-by-international-fashion-brands-357505.vov

Automobile importers hit hard by recent scandals


The imported automobile market in Vietnam have had numerous disturbances after the scandal of the official BMW distributor importing its newly introduced BMW 320i Sport illegally as well as the withdrawal of the official Renault distributor.Due to consecutive losses in business operation, Auto Motors Vietnam, the authorised distributor of Renault, has narrowed down its operations and wants to transfer its dis-tribution rights to other businesses in order to withdraw from Vietnam.According to newswire Lao Dong, automobile sales, particularly imported units, has seen a plunge, impacting Auto Motors Vietnam’s revenue to a degree that the compa-ny now wants to withdraw from Vietnam after seven years of operation.The company sold out the remaining automobiles and stopped importing new units, while simultaneously looking for a partner to transfer the distribution rights before they withdraw from Vietnam.At present, the company’s showrooms in Ho Chi Minh City are closed. Regarding the showroom in Hanoi, it has stopped sales and is completing the procedures and sup-plying services for passengers who previously bought automobiles.Auto Motors Vietnam started to distribute Renault automobiles in mid-2010 and grew its distribution system rapidly. However, Renault is in the high-end automobile seg-ment with high prices, thereby, after a short time under sales pressure, the company was forced to cut prices of some models by hundreds of millions of dong.Auto Motors Vietnam is a 100 per cent foreign-owned company and a subsidiary of Jean Rouyer Automobile based in Cholet, France.Since 2010, Auto Motors Vietnam is the exclusive importer of Renault in Vietnam. With five showrooms in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Vinh city in the central province of Nghe An, Pleiku city in the Central Highlands province of Gia Lai, and Buon Ma Thuot city in the Central Highlands province of Dak Lak, Renault offered customers a range of six models - Renault Koleos, Renault Duster, Renault Latitude, Renault Logan, Re-nault Megane, and Renault Sandero.The company planned to continue expanding its showroom network all over the coun-try.Regarding Euro Auto Corporation (EAC), the authorised distributor of BMW, the Gen-eral Department of Vietnam Customs decided to stop clearing Euro Auto’s imported BMW units from December 1, 2016 after discovering signs of smuggling and trade fraud. However, earlier in May, EAC introduced a new model and handed over nu-merous units to customers.Euro Auto had been found using fake papers, including contracts, invoices, packing lists, and certificates of quality (C/Q), to import BMW car units to Vietnam.However, in earlier June, EAC confirmed that it was not importing its newly intro-duced BMW 320i Sport illegally and neither did it commit tax fraud.


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After this scandal, EAC’s revenue also plunged. According to newswire Giao Thong, at present, EAC’s business operations are sluggish as customer demand is low. Almost all of EAC’s sellers left.http://www.vir.com.vn/automobile-importers-hit-hard-by-recent-scandals.html

State-owned aviation firms soon for heavy divestment


Amid growing interest among foreign investors in the aviation market, Vietnam Air-ports Corporation and Vietnam Airlines – the two most influential corporations in the aviation sector – will continue to divest large state stakes to fund future development plans.Deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue signed Decision No.1232/QD-TTg on August 17, approving the state stake divestment for state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and cor-porations in 2017-2020, with Vietnam Airports Corporation (ACV) and the flag carrier Vietnam Airlines (VNA) both named among the many in line for divestment.ACV will have to sell off 20 per cent of its state stake in 2018 and 10.4 per cent in 2019, while VNA will have to sell 35.16 per cent in 2019, thus cutting state ownership in the firms to 65 per cent and 51 per cent, respectively.“The divestment will be a good chance for foreign investors to join the local aviation market. Many foreign investors are interested in acquiring stake in the firms,” Deputy Transport Minister Le Dinh Tho told VIR.According to Thomas Treutler, partner and managing director of Tilleke & Gibbins Consultants Limited, foreign investors will certainly be interested in investing in well-established airlines. Travel to Vietnam for business and tourism will continue to rise, as will outbound travel for Vietnamese businesses reaching out internationally to in-vestors and Vietnamese citizens travelling internationally for tourism.“Domestic travel within the country is also booming, with more affordability. Thus, it certainly has the potential for continued development and can be a lucrative invest-ment,” Treutler said.ACV and VNA are quite appealing to foreign investors, both having demonstrated sol-id performance in 2016.ACV – the operator of 22 airports across the country – made a net revenue of VND13.4 trillion ($609 million) last year, up 23 per cent on-year, while its pre-tax profits rose 58 per cent on-year to over VND4 trillion ($181.8 million).VNA – which holds a 42 per cent market share in the domestic airline sector – reaped consolidated revenue of VND76 trillion ($3.45 billion) last year, up 10 per cent on-year. It also achieved record-high consolidated pre-tax profits, raking in VND2.5 trillion ($113.6 million), up 140 per cent on-year.The two groups are also planning ambitious future investments to increase operation-al efficiency. Specifically, the Hanoi-based carrier has decided to invest a large sum to increase its fleet from 93 to 120 aircraft by 2020. It is also set on maintaining its annual growth of 16.1 per cent during the next three years.The robust performance and future potential of the aviation industry has made it very attractive to foreign investors compared to other forms of transportation.According to the Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam (CAAV), Vietnam’s avia-tion industry, which contributes $6 billion to the country’s GDP annually, grew 29 per cent on-year in terms of passengers in 2016.In addition, Vietnam’s passenger:population ratio is less than 1:1, compared to rates of 4:1 or 5:1 in more developed markets like Singapore, Hong Kong, and the US. Thus there is plenty of room for future growth.“Foreign investors often target large-scale firms and firms that are in the same business field as they are. VNA and ACV are good examples of past targets,” said another sen-ior official in the Ministry of Transport.In 2016, the stake sales by VNA and ACV were among the hottest in the aviation in-dustry, as many multi-national corporations lined up to take part in the auctions.Paris Aéroport, which manages 37 airports, outbid rivals including Singapore’s Changi Airport International, and Japanese investors Taisei and JATCO to become


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ACV’s strategic foreign investor.Also last year, VNA gained a valuable partner when ANA Holdings – Japan’s largest airline – bought an 8.8 per cent stake in the state-owned firm for VND2.38 trillion ($108 million).http://english.vietnamnet.vn/fms/business/185576/state-owned-aviation-firms-soon-for-heavy-divestment.html

Mining industry indicator continues to dip

31/AUG/2017 INTELLASIA| SGGP NEWS

Even though mining industry plays a pivotal role in the country’s economy, the indus-try dipped in two years because of difficult exploitation and dependence on world markets.The mining production indicator in August has seen a year-on-year rise of 8.4 percent.Amongst them, the mining sector dropped by 5 percent; the manufacturing sector in-creased by 12.4 percent; electricity production and distribution soared by 9.6 percent; and water supply and waste treatment sector leaped by 7.3 percent.In eight months of the year, the industry production indicator represented a 6.7 per-cent year-on-year rise, 7.2 percent lower than the same period last year. For instance, mining sector dipped by 4.8 percent; meanwhile process sector increased by 10.4 per-cent; electricity production and distribution soared by 12.3 percent and water supply and waste treatment sector is up by 6.8 percent.Accordingly, the manufacturing sector rose by 10.8 percent contributing 7.5 percent-age point to the general increase; electricity production and distribution was up by 8.6 percent attributing 0.6 percentage point to the whole.Amongst second level industries, metal production, computer and electronic product manufacturing, rubber and plastic product production, paper and paper product rose. Meantime, medical, pharmaceutical and herbal sector fell by 2.1 percent and crude oil and natural gas exploitation dipped by 10.1 percent.Amongst localities, the northern province of Hai Phong has drastic growth of20.6 per-cent in industry indicator in eight months compared to same period followed by the northern province of Thai Nguyen with 18.1 percent; Bac Ninh with 14.1 percent and Ho Chi Minh City with 7.3 percent.http://sggpnews.org.vn/business/mining-industry-indicator-continues-to-dip-68704.html

Tra Vinh approves VND850 billion for Cau Quan IP project


The Mekong Delta province of Tra Vinh has given the nod to HCMC-based Dong Do Development Construction Investment JSC to develop Cau Quan Industrial Park with a total investment of VND850 billion (US$37.58 million).Local media cited Tra Vinh Economic Zone Management Board as saying on August 29 that in the first phase, the project will be implemented on more than 130 hectares in Tieu Can District, Tra Vinh Province.Dong Do Development Construction Investment JSC has been also permitted to invest VND1.2 trillion in Co Chien Industrial Park covering nearly 200 hectares in Cang Long District of the province.Tra Vinh now is home to Dinh An Economic Zone in Tra Cu and Duyen Hai districts, Long Duc Industrial Park in Tra Vinh City, together with Co Chien and Cau Quan in-dustrial parks.Dinh An Economic Zone and Long Duc Industrial Park currently have 60 projects in-cluding 43 local investment ventures totaling VND96 trillion and 17 foreign invest-ment projects worth over US$3 billion.The approved projects occupy 15% and 90% of land at Dinh An Economic Zone’s phase one and Long Duc Industrial Park respectively.http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/55894/Tra-Vinh-approves-VND850-billion-for-Cau-Quan-IP-project.html


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CII to spend VND3.4 trillion on infrastructure projects


HCMC Infrastructure Investment JSC (CII) plans to spend VND3.4 trillion on infra-structure and real estate projects in the next three years.Between 2018 and 2020, CII will pour VND3.4 trillion into some of its key projects, in-cluding VND1.64 trillion for infrastructure projects and VND1.76 trillion for the prop-erty segment, the company said in a statement sent to investors on August 29.The company will invest VND300 billion in the second stage of the Binh Trieu road and bridge project and VND520 billion to expand Hanoi Highway. In addition, CII will purchase shares at potential projects and companies where it has yet to become a major investor.According to CII, mergers and acquisitions (M&A) projects will help it secure long-term growth and raise holdings at large projects such as the Trung Luong-My Thuan Expressway. CII will focus on the Mekong Delta and HCMC, where it has developed a solid portfolio of build-operate-transfer (BOT) projects.For the property sector, CII will invest VND950 billion in Thu Thiem Riverpark high-class condo project in cooperation with Hong Kong Land. Besides, it will develop a high-rise building project with a total cost of VND310 billion.At the Thu Thiem area in HCMC’s District 2, CII will develop a lake project and get more land there in exchange.Meanwhile, CII will focus on its existing water supply projects, especially the key ones such as Tan Hiep 2 and Cu Chi. In the next three years, however, the firm will not in-vest in new water supply projects or conduct M&A deals with water supply compa-nies.To mobilize capital for the scheme, CII will issue additional shares for existing share-holders at a 2-for-1 ratio within this year. It expects to sell the shares at VND15,000 each, raising VND1.85 trillion.Besides, CII will use its own equity and take out loans worth VND1.55 trillion. It tar-gets to obtain nearly VND1.5 trillion in revenue next year and VND2 trillion in 2020 while its profit growth is estimated at 18% a year during the period.Regarding risks at BOT projects, CII general director Le Quoc Binh said the firm has stopped seeking investment opportunities at small BOT projects since 2015. It is diffi-cult to find out a profitable BOT project due to sensitive issues at present.CII will concentrate on large BOT projects with investment capital from VND10 trillion as their scale and procedures are different from small ones, he said.http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/55878/CII-to-spend-VND34-trillion-on-infrastruc-ture-projects.html

Vung Ang attracts investments after Formosa incident

31/AUG/2017 INTELLASIA| DTI NEWS

Businesses have successfully resumed operations in the Vung Ang Economic Zone in Ha Tinh Province after the Formosa pollution incident last year.Vung Ang Economic Zone was established in 2007 as Vietnam's steel and thermal power centre. It also had a deep water port. It attracted 118 out of 182 investment projects to the province’s economic and industrial zones including 69 domestic projects valued at VND48.3trn (USD2.1bn) and 49 foreign projects worth USD11.6bn.Some of the most notable projects are USD1.6bn Vung Ang 1 Thermal Power Plant and USD10.8bn Son Duong Port and Integrated Steel Mill Complex. These projects were in-tended to play an important role in the economic development and help ensure the country's steel and energy security. It has also contributed hugely to the provincial budget. In 2010, it contributed VND719bn (USD31.6m) and VND7.5trn five years later.However, after the Formosa pollution incident in June 2016 that killed tonnes of fish in the four central provinces, it has been difficult to attract investment and the develop-ment process of various projects slowed down.The authorities of Ha Tinh Province have issued orders to resume key projects and held dialogue with potential domestic investors while inviting foreign investors to Vung Ang. Ha Tinh’s authorities have also tried to provide skilled employees for busi-nesses.


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SVietnam finance & business 31 August 2017

In the first six months, Vung Ang Economic Zone management consulted 1,900 people about job opportunities, an increase of 18.75% compared to last year, and introduced 891 people to various projects, an increase of 64.08% on last year.Since early 2017, many projects resumed and five new projects with an investment of over VND1.6trn (USD70.4m) were given investment permits.Hundreds of people returned to their jobs as Human City Company continues the VND1.5trn five-star hotel and office building project. Several investors from Germany, South Korea, Japan and the US have visited and have researched harbour investment projects.http://dtinews.vn/en/news/018/52557/vung-ang-attracts-investments-after-formosa-incident.html

BUSINESSIZ NEWSBusiness Briefs August 31, 2017

31/AUG/2017 INTELLASIA |

* ThongAn Vegetable Oil Company (TAC) plans to issue over 1.6 million shares in an employee stock ownership plan within this year. The shares have a lock-up period of 12 months from the issuance date. Earlier, the firm sold around 13 million shares ata 10-for-7 ratio to revise up its capital to VND322 billion. In the first half of2017, TAC ob-tained over VND50 billion in after-tax profit, surging 34% year-on-year. * Vietnam Rubber Industry Group (VRG) and South Korea's Dongwha Group put the second stage of a medium-density fiberboard (MDF) factory into operation in Binh Phuoc Province on Monday. Invested with over VND4.8 trillion, the factory cov-ers 6.4 hectares at Minh Hung III Industrial Zone and has the capacity of 480,000 cubic meters a year, according to Dau Tu Chung Khoan website. * Nam Kim Steel Group (NKG) has announced a list of 10 strategic investors in its, plan to issue 30 million shares. VEIL Limited has registered to purchase 7.5 million NKG shares, or 25% of the total issuance, while chairman Ho Minh Quang will be buying 904,000 shares. NKG plans to sell the shares at VND27,000 each, or 16% lower than the current market price of around VND32,000. Of the VND81O-billion proceeds, the steelmaker will spend VND400 billion buying materials. Recently, the board of directors of NGK has passed a plan to invest VND2,2 trillion in a steel sheet factory project. * VSM Securities will be selling one million shares of Binh Thuan Mineral Industry Company (KSA) from nowro September 29 to reduce its holding to 2%. Earlier, the brokerage offloaded nearly 2.4 million KSA shares in two stages to cut its ownership to 3.07%, or 2.86 million shares. * Sacom Investment and Development Company (SAM) closed its shareholder list yes-terday in a plan to offer over 61.5 million bonus shares to shareholders at a 100-for- 34.15. After the issuance, SAM will raise its chartered capital from VND1.8 trillion to over VND2.4 trillion. * Vietnam Steel Corporation (TVN) will inject VND300 billion into Southern Steel Co Ltd to raise its capital to VNDI trillion next month. Besides, it plans to add VND200 billion o the firm in 2018.

Markets fall on ETF withdrawal


Shares declined more steeply on August 29 afternoon trading after many heavyweight shares were sold, potentially driven by the withdrawal of an exchange-traded fund (ETF).The benchmark VN Index on the HCM Stock Exchange edged down 0.42 percent to close at 774.03 points. The southern market index picked up 0.73 percent on August 28.On the Hanoi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index decreased 0.37 percent to end the ses-sion at 103.52 points. The northern market index rallied 1.23 percent in the previous session.Large-cap stocks led the market downturn with 23 stocks in the VN30 basket (the 30 largest shares by market value and liquidity on the HCM Stock Exchange) lost value while only six gained.Many stocks tumbled in the At the Close Order (ATC) under heavy selling pressure


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which harmed the market. Big losers included dairy giant Vinamilk, insurer Bao Viet Holdings, confectionery Kido Group, Sacombank, Vietcombank, Vietinbank, PV Gas, brewery Sabeco, Masan Group and Novaland Investment Group.According to Nguyen The Minh, head of the capital market analysis at Saigon Securi-ties Inc, the market slump on August 29 was likely caused by the withdrawal of Va-nEck Vectors Vietnam ETF (VNM ETF) while he indicated that most of the big stocks being sold heavily in the ATC were in this ETF’s portfolio.Minh said VNM ETF’s fund certificates had been trading at a discount to net asset val-ue since the beginning of August and this might have prompted the fund to withdraw. In addition, macroeconomic factors and political tension in some countries might have fueled the withdrawal.However, Minh reckoned the net selling would only happen in one or two sessions and not persist in the next sessions as the fund’s discount situation had declined con-siderably.VNM ETF was traded at a 0.98 percent discount on August 28 on the New York Stock Exchange at 14.49 USD per fund certificate, higher than 14.07 USD on August 22. Its net asset value reached 293.4 million USD on August 28.Investors withdrew 2.87 million USD from VNM ETF last week, marking two consec-utive weeks of net selling. The fund is expected to announce its portfolio restructuring in the third quarter on September 8.Cash continued to flow into speculative stocks in the real estate sector. Six of the 10 most active stocks on the southern bourse were of property firms, with FLC Group and Hoang Quan Consulting-Trading-Service Real Estate JSC leading with over 60 million shares and 30.9 million shares being traded, respectively. Others saw trading of 4.5 million to six million shares.Trading volume was nearly unchanged with a total of 314.5 million shares traded in the two markets but the value of trades decreased 5.8 percent from the previous ses-sion, exceeding 4.9 trillion VND (217.7 million USD).http://en.vietnamplus.vn/markets-fall-on-etf-withdrawal/117124.vnp

VN Index rebounds, boosted by VIC and MSN


Viet Nam’s benchmark VN Index rebounded on Wednesday morning, driven by prop-erty developer Vingroup and food and beverage producer Masan Group.The benchmark index on the HCM Stock Exchange gained 0.31 per cent to close at 776.43 points, bouncing back from Tuesday's fall of 0.4 per cent.More than 125.6 million shares were traded on the southern bourse, worth VND1.94 trillion (US$86.4 million).The southern stock exchange was lifted by Vingroup (VIC) and Masan Group (MSN) following the two companies’ announcement on their business activities.After being audited, parent company Vingroup reported net profit of VND1.62 trillion for the first half of 2017, an increase of 6.7 times from the pre-audit number.Vingroup explained that the high improvement in its net profit was attributed to the dividend payouts it received from its subsidiaries. Vingroup’s shares jumped 3.8 per cent in the morning.Shares of Masan Group recorded a similar growth rate of 3.8 per cent. On September 1, Masan Group will trade additional 9.87 million shares on the HCM Stock Exchange, raising the number of outstanding shares to more than 1.15 billion shares.On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, the HNX Index ended the morning session at 103.53 points, nearly unchanged from Tuesday’s close of 103.52 points.More than 23 million shares were traded on the northern market, worth VND284.4 bil-lion.The afternoon trading session starts at 1pm.http://bizhub.vn/markets/vn-index-rebounds-boosted-by-vic-and-msn_288577.html

HSX up while HNX down

31/AUG/2017 INTELLASIA| VN ECONOMIC TIMES

Mixed day on Vietnam's stock market on August 30.


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Main indexes on HSX closed up on August 30 while those on HNX lost ground.On HSX, the VN-Index rose 4.62 points (0.60 per cent) and the VN30-Index 9.98 points (0.32 per cent).On HNX, the HNX-Index fell 0.18 points (0.17 per cent), the HNX30-Index 0.5 points (0.26 per cent), and the UPCoM-Index 0.10 points (0.18 per cent).Liquidity on HSX reached VND3.2 trillion ($139.1 million), 21 per cent lower than yes-terday, and on HNX was VND505.2 billion ($21.9 million), 12.8 per cent lower.The VN-Index opened at 774.31 points and rose to 776.11 points before ending the morning at 776.43 points. It then closed the day at 778.65 points.In food and beverages, BBC gained 6.9 per cent, TAC 4.4 per cent, VCF 2.6 per cent, and VNM 0.3 per cent, while KDC lost 0.5 per cent and TLG 0.4 per cent.In banking, MSN increased 3.5 per cent and MBB 1.1 per cent. BID lost 1.5 per cent, STB 1.3 per cent, CTG 0.8 per cent, EIB and BVH 0.4 per cent, and SSI 0.2 per cent, as VCB, VCI, and VPB closed at their opening price.In energy, PVT rose 3.5 per cent, PGD 2.4 per cent, and PPC 1.8 per cent. PVD lost 2.1 per cent, PLX 1.5 per cent, and NT2 0.8 per cent, while GAS closed at its opening price.In construction and real estate, VIC gained 6.8 per cent, ROS 2.8 per cent, DXG 2 per cent, QCG 1.2 per cent, HT1 1 per cent, and CTD 0.2 per cent. FLC lost 6.9 per cent, ITA 1.5 per cent, and REE 0.9 per cent. NVL closed at its opening price.The Top 5 shares bought by foreign investors were VIC (VND38.7 billion ($1.7 mil-lion)), CTD (VND11.4 billion ($495,652)), VNM (VND9.8 billion ($426,086)), DXG (VND9.2 billion ($400,000)), and HSG (VND8 billion ($347,826)).On HSX, NVL was the largest net sold share, with VND17.5 billion ($760,869), fol-lowed by VCB (VND15.1 billion ($656,521)), HBC (VND13 billion ($565,217)), SKG (VND7.1 billion ($308,695)), and SCR (VND6 billion ($260,869)).CVT was the largest net sold share on HNX, with VND3 billion ($130,434), followed by PVS (VND2.99 billion ($13,000)), PVE (VND513.4 million ($22,321)), VGC (VND383.7 million ($16,682)), and IDJ (VND341 million ($14,826)).On UPCoM, foreign investors bought 266,910 shares worth VND11.69 billion ($508,260).They net bought on HSX by VND68.3 billion ($2.96 million) and on HNX by VND4.02 billion ($174,782).http://vneconomictimes.com/article/banking-finance/yq89jxdk-hsx-up-while-hnx-down

Derivatives trading: Individual investors must pay 0.1% tax


Individual investors that participate in derivatives trading market have to pay a 0.1 per cent income tax for derivatives trading transactions.The tax is imposed on the trading prices of derivatives transactions, which could be sell and buy orders and expiry of the futures contracts.A similar tax rate has also been imposed on foreign institutional investors, while do-mestic institutional investors have to pay tax in accordance with Viet Nam’s corporate income tax regulations.The tax rate is regulated under Document 11133/BTC-CST, issued by the Ministryof Fi-nance on August 21, on taxing investors’ income from trading derivatives futures con-tracts.Taxation on investors’ income from derivatives trading transactions began on August 10, the day the derivatives market begins operation.http://bizhub.vn/markets/derivatives-trading-individual-investors-must-pay-01-tax_288581.html

Cash flows will rotate faster

31/AUG/2017 INTELLASIA| NGUOI QUAN SAT

Although the stock market has risen significantly since the beginning of the year and many stocks have bought impressive profitability to investors, many investors still be-lieved that there are still numerous opportunities to make profit as enterprises posted positive profit information in the last two quarters of the year.


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This confidence is seen in the fairly strong cash flowing towards the stocks in the sec-tors which have good earnings prospects, such as real estate.Increasing early since the beginning of the year, some real estate stocks such as DXG, LDG, and TDH have soon been adjusted and accumulated in the last three months. In the past two weeks, this group of stocks have again attracted cash flows.Some real estate stocks that increased later such as DIG and IJC have also been traded excitingly and not significantly adjusted in price despite their sharp and fast growth in the previous time. For real estate enterprises, the second half of the year is the time en-terprises generate most of the revenue and profit of the plan. Going along with the increase momentum of the stocks in real estate sector is the rise of the stocks in construction material sectors, specifically steel. Decreasing in price in the second quarter of the year as raw material prices fell sharply, in the third quarter of the year, the group of steel stocks has attracted great attention of domestic and foreign investors as prices of billet and hot rolled coil prices on the world market have risen stronger again.The domestic selling prices have also risen significantly. This promises a better profit prospect for steel stocks in the third quarter of 2017 compared to the second quarter, which is a springboard for steel companies to complete the 2017 profit plan.Currently, the shares of two leading steel companies including HPG and HSG are be-ing net purchased by foreign investors.The group of securities stocks is forecasted to rise positively, due to the expectation of further improvement in profit which is thanks to the good liquidity of the stock mar-ket, in which many sessions saw record high liquidity in the history of the stock market of Vietnam.The group of bank stocks is also predicted to lead the stock market in the last months of the year, thanks to the prospect of the significant profit growth when the credit growth limit is loosened; the improved earnings from lending, which accounts for about 80% of the profit structure of banks; and the active bad debt settlement.Overall, when investors still have the confidence that the business results of enterpris-es will continue to be positive, stock prices will be less likely to fall deeply, although the adjustment to many stocks is essential due to their overly-fast growth in the first half of the year.The stock indexes continue to be supported by optimistic profit expectations of com-panies across the industries. The daily trading value of FLC shares has reached up to a trillion dong, partly signalling that cash does not flow out of the market.Many forecasts suggest that in the last months of the year, we can hardly see even stocks increase like in the first half of the year but there will be clear differentiation for each stock and each sector. The cash flows will rotate faster among the stocks in order to maximise profits, while the overall index will not increase sharply.

LHG issues 1.3mln shares to invest in Long Hau 3 industrial park

31/AUG/2017 INTELLASIA| SGGP NEWS

Long Hau Joint Stock Company (LHG) will issue 1.3 million shares at a cost of VND 13,000 per share for its current shareholders.Total revenue from selling shares will be used for land clearance compensation work of Long Hai 3 Industrial Park project.The park covers an area of 124 hectares with total investment capital up to VND 1,1trillion. It is expected to be completed and put into operation in the 4th quarter of 2019.For the first half this year, LHG said it profited VND 26.7billion, decrease of 31 percent compared with the same period last year.http://sggpnews.org.vn/business/stock_market/lhg-issues-13mln-shares-to-invest-in-long-hau-3-industrial-park-68671.html


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New buildings in Hanoi must have underground parking lots


New construction projects in downtown Hanoi City must have underground parking space equivalent to the surface area, according to regulations of the city government.The city has issued guidelines for determining the scale of underground parking lots of construction projects proposed by the municipal Department of Planning and Ar-chitecture. Criteria will apply to parking lots of projects in the city’s old quarter and expanded inner-city area.The old quarter, or the historic inner-city area as stated in the regulations, is bordered by Ring Road No. 2 and also cover Ba Dinh political center, while the expanded inner-city area includes the area between the second and fourth ring roads, satellite and ec-ological urban areas.The area for the parking lot is regulated to be confined to the construction area or the total area of the land lot used for the project with a maximum of five basements.Housing projects required to have basement parking lots include high-end tenements, and commercial, social or resettlement housing blocks.Public and mixed-use facilities, offices, hotels, commercial centers, and buildings for urban services such as vocational education, culture, sport, entertainment, tourism, fi-nance, banking, insurance and telecommunications are also within the scope of the new regulations.Agencies of the Communist Party, the Government and ministries, administrative agencies at all levels and schools must have car parks in their basements to meet the demand for parking of vehicle owners working at these agencies.However, as regulated by the Ministry of Construction, kindergartens, preschools, houses for old and disabled people, hospitals and dormitories of boarding schools are not allowed to have parking lots in the basements.The regulations also encourage investors of projects to build basements to make room for parking bicycles and motorbikes.Previously, the Department of Planning and Architecture had issued a regulation that a building must have at least three underground floors for car parking, but soon after, it was withdrawn due to strong opposition.http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/55881/New-buildings-in-Hanoi-must-have-under-ground-parking-lots.html

Real estate inventory falls sharply

31/AUG/2017 INTELLASIA| TIEN PHONG

In Hanoi, apartment prices dropped sharply by about 0.3% compared to the first quar-ter of 2017. In particular, the segment of high-end apartments saw price decrease of about 0.9%, while this decrease was about 1.3% for the segment of affordable apart-ments. However, the segment of mid-end apartments increased by about 0.3% in price. For individual housing, the prices also slightly rose by about 0.39%.Similarly, the trading price of apartments in Hochiminh city also fell slightly by about 0.4%. According to report of the Institute of Construction Economies, as of late July, the total real estate inventory in the whole country was about 27.065 trillion dong, down by 3.958 trillion dong compared to the end of 2016.

Ha Noi taxis to use common operating software


Ha Noi’s Department of Transport has proposed to make it compulsory for all taxi transport businesses to use a common taxi operating software from July 1, 2018.This proposal is one of the contents of the draft policy on the management of taxi trans-port businesses in the capital, and a response to the demands of agencies, policymak-ers and the public for better supervision of taxi operations in the city.The software will connect passengers, taxi agencies and taxi drivers through smart de-vices such as smart phones and tablets. Taxi drivers and operators will not be allowed to use technical measures or peripheral equipment that interferes with this software.Ha Huy Quang, deputy director of Ha Noi’s transport department, said the software was the application of science and technology and would help passengers hail taxis faster and would be more convenient. It would also ensure that businesses share ben-


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efits and would create a transparent playground for all firms.The city has asked the Department of Information and Communications to collaborate with the transport department and the taxi association to build the software, Quang added.Ha Noi will also set up a unified traffic management centre, build intelligent transpor-tation systems to manage and operate its entire traffic infrastructure (traffic lights, public parks) by connecting it to software data at the centres, routes, State manage-ment agencies, transportation units and locals.The joint operating centre of taxi transport units must be connected to the city’s traffic management centre.http://bizhub.vn/news/ha-noi-taxis-to-use-common-operating-software_288582.html

Huge steel projects in Ha Tinh are scrapped


Ha Tinh’s people once put high hopes on many huge steel projects in their province but most of them have been closed.In 2007, the Vung Ang Economic Zone’s management board gave an investment cer-tificate to the Ha Tinh Iron & Steel JSC, which planned to develop the Van Loi steel complex with capacity of 250,000 tons in the first phase and VND500,000 tons in the second phase.The project was expected to cover an area of 25 hectares, wirh huge registered capital of VND1.7 trillion.The steel complex planned to churn out commercial steel billets on a trial basis in Au-gust 2010. However, things did not go as planned.Hundreds of billions of dong worth of imported equipment have been left idle in theopen air since 2010. In 2016, Vung Ang EZ revoked the project.The death of the project hurt several commercial banks. VND750 billion disbursed for the project became bad debt and creditors could only get back the scrap left in the open air for years.The failure of the project also led to the death of a 500,000 ton per annum iron sorting factory. The VND158 billion factory was set up to provide materials to the steel com-plex. However, the exploited materials were not sold.On August 7, Ha Tinh provincial authorities revoked the license granted to the mining project. Nine years after receiving the license for mining iron in Son Tho commune, the investor did not organize mineral exploitation and did not pay money for granting of the rights for mineral exploitation.Ha Tinh’s people are proud of Thach Khe iron ore mine, which is believed to be the biggest mine in South East Asia. However, the Thach Khe $1 billion mining project has had troubles since the beginning.Vinacomin, Vietnam’s largest mineral exploitation group, in late 2016 proposed to resume tmining at Thach Khe. The plan is supported by MOIT (the Ministry of Indus-try and Trade), but is facing opposition from MPI (Ministry of Planning and Invest-ment).MPI cited many reasons to argue that it would be better not to continue the mining, including the immeasurable consequences to the environment and the problems in in-vestors’ financial capability.The ministry also pointed out that no one can be sure about the consumption of ore. Formosa, the largest steel complex in the central region, doesn’t intend to buy iron ore from Thach Khe.The government has not made a final decision on the project. However, experts say they don’t think the project resumption has high feasibility.http://english.vietnamnet.vn/fms/business/185291/huge-steel-projects-in-ha-tinh-are-scrapped.html

Quang Binh gets green light for cable car project


Quang Binh has got the green light from the Prime Minister for its proposal to install a ca-ble car system in local Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park, an protected natural area.


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Local authorities proposed the 5.2km cable project at a meeting late last week with Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc during his visit to the central province. The PM agreed but he told Quang Binh to ensure that the environment was protected in the na-tional park.The cable car system will connect the local section of the Ho Chi Minh Trail to Hang En, which is said to be the world’s third biggest karst cave. The cave is 2km from the famed Son Doong Cave, which is known as one of the most popular destinations in the world.The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism would be involved in the investigation, consultation, and assessment of possible environmental impacts.Local authorities are responsible for working with related agencies and the UNESCO country office to prepare the details of the project before it is submitted to the PM for final approval.Quang Binh expects the cable system to attract more visitors and boost tourism in the locality. However, local residents and conservationists are worried about the negative impacts of construction on the natural habitat of the park.Three years ago, the province proposed a similar cable car system to transport visitors to Son Doòng, which is said to be the world’s biggest grotto. Strong public opposition caused the investor to withdraw from the project and it was later cancelled.The 1,233sq.km Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park is a protected area because of its outstanding natural habitat. It was recognised twice by UNESCO as a natural heritage, once in 2003 for its geography and once in 2015 for its biodiversity.http://www.vir.com.vn/quang-binh-gets-green-light-for-cable-car-project.html

Loss-making PVTex may have way out


Dinh Vu Petrochemical and Fiber JSC (PVTex), a loss-making affiliate of Vietnam Na-tional Oil and Gas Group (PVN), may see light at the end of the tunnel after long years of being mired in huge troubles, as some corporations have expressed interest in its products.At least two foreign companies and a local concern have agreed to buy products from PVTex once the company resumed operation, now that prices of yarn and fiber as its main products have been rising while material costs are in decline.Singapore’s Fortrec Chemicals and Petroleum Pte Ltd and India’s Reliance Industries Limited have expressed interest in cooperating with PVN to consume products for the Dinh Vu Petrochemical and Fiber JSC (PVTex).PVN holds a 74% stake in the company whose operation has ground to a halt for around three years.The Ministry of Industry and Trade has since August 2016 urged PVN to negotiate with the Singaporean partner in a bid to reach a compromise and restart the operation of PVTex.Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Hoang Quoc Vuong, however, said many problems need to be solved before the costly factory can restart operations.For example, the Government has pledged not to inject additional investment capital into loss-making projects. Therefore, PVN cannot pour money into PVTex to hire con-sultants and restart this factory.The company had incurred accumulated losses of a hefty VND1.3 trillion, and liabili-ties of VND7 trillion as of late 2015.Fortrec had earlier said in its proposal on a two-year cooperation contract with PVTex that the Singaporean company would supply material for the test operation period and would be in charge of selling products at competitive prices.The Singaporean partner had expected to get the approval of the Vietnamese Govern-ment by late last month. However, it has yet to receive any answer to date. Therefore, Fortrec has recently asked PVN to come up with another plan.In addition to Fortrec, Reliance Industries Limited of India also wants to team up with PVN, but the two sides have yet to start detailed negotiations.The dilemma is that PVN intends to invite partners to purchase PVTex’s stakes while


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these potential partners only want to strike cooperation deals to trade in PVTex’s prod-ucts.Vietnam National Textile and Garment Group (Vinatex) has also emerged as a partner to solve the problem. The apparel group at a working session early this month with PVN suggested purchasing all of PVTex’s products if the company operates again. Earlier, Vinatex had only agreed to buy 40-50% of PVTex’s output.According to Vinatex, the fiber price on the global market is now some US$200 higher per ton than two years ago, while material costs are lower. If PVTex can restart opera-tion, its products could sell well, which is a viable way for the factory to settle huge losses.PVTex, which is one of 12 loss-making projects under the trade ministry, has a total in-vestment of US$325 million.http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/55877/Loss-making-PVTex-may-have-way-out.html

VNITO to open ‘bridge’ engineer training center this year


The Vietnam Information Technology Outsourcing Alliance (VNITO Alliance) this year will open a Bridge System Engineer (BrSE) training center to supply qualified IT manpower meeting Japanese standards for the market, said VNITO Alliance President Lam Nguyen Hai Long.Many of VNITO Alliance’s members see Japan as a key market but engineers cannot satisfy employment requirements of Japanese firms. Demand for IT human resources, especially bridge engineers, is forecast to surge in the coming time.Bridge engineers are those who are fluent in Japanese and good at specialist knowl-edge to adapt well to the working environment in Japan. They must have scientific thinking and good communication skills to connect software outsourcing firms in Vi-etnam and customers in Japan.Nguyen Huu Le, chairman of TMA Solutions, said VNITO Alliance this year will pay more attention to Japan as this is a highly potential market. Japan is facing a shortage of engineers to implement its technology development projects and it is interested in the software outsourcing sector of Vietnam rather than other countries such as China and India.However, some IT outsourcing firms said that revenue from exports to Japan remains low compared to North America. The Japanese market accounts for 10-15% of TMA Solutions’ revenue.Therefore, VNITO Alliance will launch short-term training courses to equip trainees with specialist knowledge and the Japanese language in HCMC. Experts of IT enter-prises will participate in training programs to help trainees practice at enterprises.Earlier, VNITO Alliance cooperated with Saigon Tech to establish Information Tech-nology’s Human Resource Solution Center (ISC Quang Trung) at Quang Trung Soft-ware City. Trainees of the center could have a chance to work at VNITO’s members after graduation.The bridge engineer training program aims at IT engineers and students at universities who may work for IT outsourcing companies in Japan or their partners in Vietnam.http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/55883/VNITO-to-open-%E2%80%98bridge%E2%80%99-engineer-training-center-this-year.html

Vinalines, Belgium’s Rent-A-Port N.V ink cooperation deal


The Vietnam National Shipping Lines (Vinalines) and Belgian Rent-A-Port N.V signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on August 30 on the possibility to cooperate in grain specialised port, processing zone and logistics system projects in Lach Huyen port and Dinh Vu industrial zone, in Hai Phong city.Rent-A-Port is an engineering and investment company, specialised in the develop-ment of marine infrastructures and industrial zones worldwide. It offers services rang-ing from consultancy and full project management to co-investment in marine related projects and industrial zones.Under the MoU, the two companies will seek collaboration opportunities in a joint


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venture company to develop grain handling port in Hai Phong International Gateway Port. They are also keen on another joint venture firm to construct a 250 hectare logistic centre opposite the grain port, facilitating grain loading, storage, processing and dis-tributing.Along with joining the construction of a 630-metre port in Dinh Vu industrial park, which is currently invested by Vinalines Dinh Vu JSC, the Belgian enterprise can buy 10 percent of Vinalines’s charter capital when the company becomes privatised in April, 2018.Thus, Rent-A-Port N.V will attach its long-term benefits to Vinalines as well as support the Vietnamese company in advanced technology transfer, human resources training, financial capacity improvement, business management, service supply and market de-velopment.With adorable port infrastructure and logistic system coupled with considerable man-agement experience and financial capacity, collaboration between the two enterprises is expected to enhance competitiveness and maintain crucial roles of both sides in ma-rine port and logistic sectors in Vietnam.Vinalines is a leading marine business in Vietnam, especially in port and marine serv-ices in Hai Phong city. The firm will make an initial public offering (IPO) in December this year. Under the IPO plan, the State will hold 65 percent of the company’s regis-tered capital of 12.3 trillion VND (541.2 million USD) while it will sell 35 percent to do-mestic and foreign businesses.Vinalines is also allowed to hold 65 percent of registered capital at key ports, including Hai Phong, Sai Gon and Da Nang.Vinalines currently manages a fleet of off-shore vessels with total capacity of nearly two million tonnes, occupying some 25 percent of the national fleet’s capacity. It has contributed capital to 14 sea port businesses, which have a total length of more than 13,000 metres, 30 percent of the total length of ports nationwide. They include a number of deep-water harbours that can receive 190,000 tonne vessels.http://en.vietnamplus.vn/vinalines-belgiums-rentaport-nv-ink-cooperation-deal/117157.vnp

RoK group invests in renewable energy power in Quang Binh


Dohwa Engineering Company Limited from the Republic of Korea (RoK) has began construction of a renewable energy power complex in Le Thuy district of the central coastal province of Quang Binh.The 55-million-USD project includes sub-projects of generating 550MW of solar pow-er, 100MW of biomass power and building resort areas and water parks.In the first phase, the Korean group will construct a solar power plant with a capacity of 49.5MW.The project is expected to be put into operation at the end of 2018.http://en.vietnamplus.vn/rok-group-invests-in-renewable-energy-power-in-quang-binh/117127.vnp

Mobile World and Tran Anh confirm acquisition


In early August, rumours took flight that Mobile World Investment Corporation (MWG) will acquire Tran Anh Digital World JSC (Tran Anh), and have now came true as both parties confirmed the acquisition plan, which is still waiting for the approval of shareholders.MWG acquires to dominateTalking with VIR, Tran Xuan Kien, chairman of Tran Anh, said that leaders of both en-terprises have reached a mutual agreement on the acquisition plan. However, accord-ing to Kien, nothing is definite just yet, as MWG and Tran Anh are awaiting approval of their shareholders.“If this plan is approved by both parties, we will implement the necessary procedures soon to prepare for the mergers and acquisitions (M&A) process,” Kien said and add-ed that Tran Anh and MWG are listed on the stock exchanges with all transparent fig-


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ures and information published, so if approved, the M&A deal will be implemented quickly.Earlier, at the shareholders’ meeting on August 28, MWG’s shareholders agreed with an 85.93 per cent approval rate to spend VND2.5 trillion ($110 million) on acquiring some retail chains, including one in the field of electronics and one in the pharmaceu-tical industry. This budget is five times as much as the initial one approved by its an-nual shareholders’ meeting in early 2017. The sources of funding will originate from borrowings, bond issuances, undistributed profit, and new stock issuances.Regarding Tran Anh, a document has been submitted to its shareholders asking for ap-proval on the sale of more than 25 per cent of the chartered capital to MWG. August 31 is the deadline for Tran Anh’s shareholders to vote for this plan and the final results will be published in short order.Kien said that there has not been a final decision by Tran Anh’s shareholders, so MWG cannot estimate the specific chartered capital it may acquire. However, Kien revealed that he had private talks with some of Tran Anh’s shareholders and he is confident that the acquired amount would be large enough for MWG to dominate and decide on Tran Anh’s activities.Tran Anh’s stock priceKien did not mention the price as he said that both parties are negotiating. However, he revealed that MWG is planning for a private placement of 6-7 million shares for its M&A activities and this number of stocks may be exchanged for Tran Anh’s shares held by no more than ten large shareholders.The trading price of Tran Anh’s ticker TAG on HNX was VND32,600 ($1.4) per share on August 28, 2017, when MWG held its shareholders’ meeting for approval of its M&A plan. According to Ho Chi Minh City Securities Corporation (HSC), to control Tran Anh, MWG may have to purchase TAG stocks held by Tran Anh’s shareholders at the price of VND50,000 ($2.2) per share, which is 50 per cent higher than the market value.Afterwards, these shareholders will have to spend the money purchasing 6-7 million MWG shares issued in the private placement. Basically, this is a stock swap for a group of less than ten Tran Anh shareholders.According to Kien, if Tran Anh’s shareholders approve the plan of acquisition, MWG wishes to purchase all TAG stocks from small and big shareholders alike. Regarding small shareholders, the purchasing price offered will not be less than big shareholders.http://www.vir.com.vn/mobile-world-and-tran-anh-confirm-acquisition.html

BKAV puts faith in tapping high-end phone market


BKAV Technology Group spent eight years and VND500 billion (US$22 million) to make the first “Made in Viet Nam, Designed by BKAV’ smartphone. Viet Nam News speaks with Nguyen Tu Quang, chairman and CEO of the company, about its latest of-fering, the luxury Bphone 2017.Why did BKAV choose the hard way by designing and manufacturing a luxury smart phone and not a budget or medium-level phone in the market where the competition is intense?BKAV Technology Group has a long vision and great passion to contribute to Viet-namese development with progress in technology, and we hope in the near future Viet Nam will have a technology brand name like Apple or Samsung. To start with, we de-cided to invest capital and human resources to create a smart phone fully manufac-tured by the Vietnamese. After eight years, we are very proud to say that we have achieved our goal.Our Bphone 2017 is fully made in Viet Nam, with only 0.9 per cent of parts sourced from China, and totally designed by BKAV staff. The quality of our Bphone 2017 matches that of any other luxury phone in the world, and we can proudly say that we can do everything in the design and manufacture of smart phones that famous tech-nology companies in the world like Apple and Samsung can.Now, at a price of nearly VND9.8 million ($440), we still have to suffer a loss of around


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several million Dong (around $200) on each phone. But this is the only way to position our product as luxurious and top quality.With our current technology, it is very easy for us to make a budget smart phone. We might achieve success with regard to income but we would never become a big name like Apple or Samsung. Budget Chinese smart phones offer a lot of benefits, but in cus-tomers’ minds, they are low-level products. It’s exactly what we don’t want to do. In the future, we might introduce mid-range products, but the Bphone brand must be closely linked with luxury.BKAV has the Gold Bphone export version. Can you tell us about it?We have orders from our Dubai partner for very highly secure smart phones. We are manufacturing the Gold Bphone version to meet the requirements of the luxury mar-ket, and of course the price of the Gold Bphone would be much higher than that of the local version.The core business of the BKAV Technology Group is network security. All the money ($22 million) that we invest in designing and manufacturing the Bphone comes from network security. This is our strength and it allows us to make a highly secure smart phone.Besides Dubai, we also think about other markets around the world, but we have rec-ognised that no smart phone can be successful outside before achieving success in the domestic market.So we are focusing on the local market with a fully Vietnamese high-tech product and I believe our Bphone can meet all requirements. Right now, we have to gain Vietnam-ese customers’ confidence that a Vietnamese company can manufacture a really good smart phone, and it could be among the products in the world with the smallest ratio of Chinese parts at only around 0.9 per cent. When we manage to gain customers’ trust, turnover and profits will follow. We have a desire that in future every Vietnamese will have a Bphone and Viet Nam will have a technology brand name like Apple and Sam-sung.Why did you take a long time for Bphone?As I said before, BKAV Technology Group is a network security. We are very strong at software but had little experience in hardware, especially smart phones in the begin-ning. We got the idea of making smart phones after, in 2003, I visited Japan and was excited to see their smart houses where everything was controlled automatically. After returning to Viet Nam, BKAV started to manufacture smart devices for homes, and we have achieved great results despite the fact that the Vietnamese market is not very big.With this foundation in software and hardware, we moved to smart phone manufac-turing. But in the first three years, major companies refused to make them for us and we had to go to small companies, but they were not professional and we had to strug-gle to fit the mainboard. Later Qualcomm agreed to make chipsets for us. All other tasks like engineering, electronics, software, marketing, sales were also very new for us.The first version of Bphone was introduced in 2015, but it was not as successful as ex-pected. But from that we learnt a lot and many improvements have been made in Bphone 2017.Now I can proudly say that Bphone 2017 is good enough to fit into the VND10 million segment. We have also improved our distribution by co-operating with The Gioi Di Dong, the leading smart phone retailer in the market, to bring Bphone 2017 to custom-ers.http://vietnamnews.vn/economy/392918/bkav-puts-faith-in-tapping-high-end-phone-market.html

Vinpearl Land launches giant Sky Wheel


Property developer Vingroup JSC (Vingroup) officially launched its Sky Wheel, one of the 10 highest wheels in the world, at Vinpearl Land Nha Trang on Wednesday.With an impressive height of 120m, Vinpearl Sky Wheel has been recognised as Viet Nam’s largest wheel by the Guinness World Records, as large as the famous Mel-


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bourne Star (Australia) and Sky Dream Fukuoka (Japan), and is the latest attraction of Nha Trang Bay.Vinpearl Sky Wheel has 60 modern cabins, accommodating up to 480 passengers per turn.It is deployed by Intamin Amusement Rides, a company with 50 years of experience in creating thrill rides and roller coasters worldwide.From the top of Vinpearl Sky Wheel, visitors can experience excitement and over-whelming dazzling beauty, capturing the entire stunning landscape of one of the 29 most beautiful bays in the world.With a unique vision, Vinpearl Sky Wheel offers a wonderful experience that only ex-ists in Nha Trang and is a special landmark among the impressive tourism projects of Viet Nam.Not only has it made a record in terms of size, Vinpearl Sky Wheel also breaks the record of completion time. In just an eight-month construction period, hundreds of steel frames were transported from the mainland to the island to create a new symbol for Khanh Hoa Province’s tourism.Vinpearl Sky Wheel is the most anticipated among the eight recently-built items in the summer of 2017 at Vinpearl Land Nha Trang, bringing the total to up to 90 "check in" areas on a 70ha site.Along with the world’s longest sea-crossing cable car, the largest floating bay in the world, Van Hoa Hill and King’s Garden -- the first and only open zoo in Nha Trang -- Vinpearl Land Nha Trang has become the "land of the records," bringing the joy of dis-covery and great experiences to visitors.In addition, visitors can enjoy hundreds of games at the modern amusement park, such as the Water Park with thrilling rides, the world’s largest floating bay, Water Mu-sic Theatre with capacity of over 5,000 seats, the Aquarium and Dolphin Bay.Right at the foot of Vinpearl Sky Wheel is the King’s Garden and Van Hoa Hill, where hundreds of precious plants and animals are housed, such as leprechaun, silver lion, Bengal tiger and rare birds, as well as thousands of rare species of flowers and herbs from all continents.Notably, as a customer of Vinpearl, visitors have the opportunity to enjoy the entire system of hotels, resorts, villas and five-star golf course of Vinpearl Nha Trang.Developed on a large scale and needing two or three days to explore and fully experi-ence, Vinpearl Nha Trang has become an "indispensable destination" on the current tourism map of Viet Nam.http://bizhub.vn/corporate-news/vinpearl-land-launches-giant-sky-wheel_288583.html

Mövenpick’s Asian hospitality expansion to ramp up presence in Vietnam


Swiss hospitality company Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts is fast establishing itself as a leading international brand in Vietnam, with ambitions to own 10 hotels within the next five years.Olivier Chavy, president and CEO of Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts, shared at a press meeting on the occasion of its leadership team visiting Vietnam that, “Vietnam is stra-tegically important for Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts. It is one of the region’s most high-growth hospitality markets and has strong development prospects for our company."“Our ambition is to grow our portfolio to 10 hotels within the next five years—a move that would make us one of the largest international hotel companies operating under one single brand in the country,” added Chavy.Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts currently operates one property in Vietnam, the 154-key Mövenpick Hotel Hanoi and has signed management agreements for five additional hotels—a move that will grow its portfolio to more than 2,200 keys countrywide by 2020.This expansion will kick-off next year with the opening of Mövenpick Resort Cam Ranh Bay featuring 250 rooms, 132 residences, and 121 villas. The company’s Vietnam-ese development strategy will gain further traction with the launch of Mövenpick Re-


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sort Phu Quoc in 2019 with 305 rooms, 296 residences, and 87 villas, the opening of Mövenpick Resort & Spa Quy Nhon with 180 rooms and 52 residences, the 504-room Mövenpick Hotel & Residences Han River, Danang, and the 219-room Mövenpick Ho-tel Quang Binh in 2020.Executive committee (ExCom) of Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts will visit Hanoi, Dan-ang, Cam Ranh, and Phu Quoc as the global hospitality firm pursues its Asian expan-sion plans. During their visit to Vietnam, the ExCom delegation will meet with colleagues and local hotel owners and visit the locations of the upcoming properties before heading to the Philippines and Indonesia to conduct similar meetings. The team has already visited Thailand and Malaysia.Today the company operates 10 hotels and resorts in seven Asian destinations. In ad-dition to its property in Hanoi, the firm manages five hotels and resorts in Thailand and one property each in China, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Sri Lanka.17 new projects have already been signed, all of which are on track to open by 2020, growing the Asia portfolio to 27 properties. The goal is to operate at least 30 hotels and resorts in the region by the end of the decade.The breakdown of the signed projects is as follows: Vietnam (five), Thailand (four), Malaysia (three), Bangladesh (two), and one in each of the following locations – China, the Philippines, and the Maldives.“We will have at least 30 properties under our management in Asia by the end of the decade and looking beyond 2020, we expect our property development activity across the continent to become a bigger percentage of our total portfolio,” said Andrew Lang-don, chief development officer of Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts, one of the ExCom members taking part in the ‘Grand Tour of Asia.’“We are on track to open two new hotels and resorts this year, the Mövenpick Resort Khao Yai in Thailand and the Mövenpick Resort & Spa Boracay, our second property in the Philippines,” Langdon added.http://english.vov.vn/economy/movenpicks-asian-hospitality-expansion-to-ramp-up-presence-in-vietnam-357506.vov

$9 billion Nghi Son refinery and petrochemical complex about to start operating


Nghi Son refinery and petrochemical complex’s preparations for its debut in the fourth quarter of 2017 have been completed, so the complex is in a rush to finish all minor re-maining tasks for a perfect launch on time.Nghi Son refinery and petrochemical complex is jointly invested by Vietnam Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam), Kuwait Petroleum International (KPI), Idemitsu Kosan Co., Ltd., and Mitsui Chemicals, Inc.The construction started in July 2013 and has been basically finished and handed over to Nghi Son Refinery and Petrochemical LLC (NSRP) by now. Currently, the complex is testing some of its components parts.As scheduled, Nghi Son complex will be put into official operation from the fourth quarter of 2017. Accordingly, every month, NSRP will welcome three crude oil tankers from KPC.With the annual capacity of 10 million tonnes (about 200,000 barrels of oil per day), Nghi Son refinery will meet 40 per cent of domestic oil and gas demand and export millions of tonnes of petrochemical products, such as benzen, paraxylen, and polypro-pylene.On August 20, the huge crude oil tanker Millenium arrived at the single point mooring (SPM) of Nghi son complex and pumped 14,000 cubic metres of crude oil through 35 kilometres of pipelines to Nghi Son complex’s tanks. Each tank has a volume of 120,000 cubic metres. It is forecasted that filling up all the tanks may take about three days.Dinh Van Ngoc, deputy general director of NSRP, said that this is the first time a Viet-namese refinery welcomed such a huge crude oil tanker, which makes Nghi Son a milestone marking the strong development of the Vietnamese seaport industry.On July 26, the Thanh Hoa Department of Technology and Science established an in-spector team to overview the “nuclear radiation safety” of Nghi Son complex and it


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has done well to keep to the stipulated standards.Also, on August 8, after the inspection, Vice Chairman of the Thanh Hoa People’s Committee Nguyen Duc Quyen concluded that Nghi Son complex has been following state regulations on environment protection, including wastewater, solid waste, emis-sions, and noise.Especially, besides the standardised sewage system, Nghi Son complex also regularly checks its wastewater by taking water samples three times a day for analysis in the dis-tributed control system (DCS) system. All the indicators will be reflected in the screen of the system to show abnormalities in the wastewater.Licensed in 2008, Nghi Son complex has a total investment capital sum of $9 billion. Of this PetroVietnam has a 25.1 per cent stake, KPI 35.1 per cent, Idemitsu Kosan 35.1 per cent, and Mitsui Chemical International 4.7 per cent.http://www.vir.com.vn/9-billion-nghi-son-refinery-and-petrochemical-complex-about-to-start-operating.html

Ho Tram Strip moves ahead: Kahuna unveiled


At a spectacular function held at Gem Centre in Ho Chi Minh City’s District 1 last night, Ho Tram Project Company Ltd. (HTP) launched its Kahuna Ho Tram Strip con-dotel and villa project. The event was attended by several hundred potential investors who were entertained and presented with a virtual reality tour of the highly anticipat-ed resort development.Kahuna Ho Tram Strip is a 244-key resort development made up of 164 condotel units situated in a 12-storey tower, 36 double key villas, and eight beach front villas all for long-term lease.Investment costs range from VND2 billion ($88,800) for a one-bedroom standard unit to VND9.11 billion ($400,000) for a penthouse and from VND8 billion ($350,000) to VND20.5 billion ($900,000) for a villa.HTP guarantees a return of 8 per cent per annum for two years of net lease cost. Fol-lowing this, lessees benefit from a favourable 60/40 net rental revenue share for the re-maining eight years of the rental pool agreement. In addition, lessees enjoy 21 room nights per annum in the resort.Designed by leading Ho Chi Minh City architects Korn and international engineers OROCON, Kahuna, named after the legendary waves of Hawaii, captures the essence of a beachside holiday experience. It offers a compelling opportunity to be part of a slice of this fast-developing coastal holiday destination.Michael Kelly, executive chairman of HTP, described the condotel and villa develop-ment as “featuring a design inspired by a luxury cruise liner with sleek nautical lines” and added that “in reinforcing the origins of its name and its coastal location, an aquat-ic concept has been incorporated throughout the resort design.”With over $1.1 billion deployed and forward deployed capital, Ho Tram Strip repre-sents the largest foreign-invested tourism development undertaken in Vietnam and is among the largest private equity investments in the country from the US.“The company that first brought Vegas to Vietnam, brought the best Asian Tour event that the golfing world has seen, is today thrilled to announce that we are riding that Hawaiian wave across the Pacific and onto the shores of Vietnam’s East Sea with our new resort development,” Kelly said.In the future, HTP plans to develop a private international airport in the vicinity of Ho Tram Strip aimed at further enhancing tourism to Vietnam, whilst other zones of the 164-hectare land parcel are earmarked for such facilities as a Water Park, Amphithea-tre, Wellness Centre, Theme Park, and many more attractions.HTP, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Asian Coast Development Ltd., leads the develop-ment of Ho Tram Strip which is located two hours from Ho Chi Minh City. It compris-es 164 hectares along 2.2 kilometres of pristine beachfront and is surrounded to the west by natural forest.Kahuna is the fifth phase of the Ho Tram Strip development, adjoining the existing 541 room 5-star Grand Hotel, Vietnam’s largest and most awarded integrated resort, and


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the 559 room 5-star Beach Club (the newest hotel product currently under construc-tion). To the west are located the award-winning Greg Norman-designed Bluffs Golf Course and the prestigious Gallery Villas residential development.“We have made it our primary focus to ensure that Ho Tram Strip is Vietnam’s enter-tainment capital. This is not just another resort development. It is a chance to be part of all the energy that has made Ho Tram Strip what it is today,” Kelly concluded.http://www.vir.com.vn/ho-tram-strip-moves-ahead-kahuna-unveiled.html

Investor accused of lying about apartment sizes


Dozens of households at Imperia Garden, a high-grade apartment project in Hanoi have denounced the project investor for selling apartments which were smaller than advertised.Imperia Garden, located on Nguyen Huy Tuong Street in Thanh Xuan District, was de-veloped by HBI Company.Having suspected their apartments were smaller than advertised, the households hired an independent measuring firm and found out that these apartments were from one square metre to four square metres smaller than according to the floor plans they had been shown.Speaking with DTiNews, Dinh Thi Nguyet, the owner of apartment D2405 said her apartment was 2.6 square metres smaller than it should have been.“Besides the papers to hand over the apartment, we weren’t given any other papers to show that the building was checked by authorities as regulated,” Nguyet added.Nguyet also complained about rainwater leaking through the window into the house and moisture on the floor of the toilet.Le Thi Kieu Oanh who owns apartment A1909 said that her apartment was three square metres smaller than according to the contract.A representative from the investor said all the apartments had been measured by the Hanoi Land Office before being provided with a red book.Under the contracts signed between the households and the investor, in cases where there is a difference between the measured area, the investor will arrange the meeting for measuring units to compare their figures and methods to find out what is more suitable for the regulations of the law.“We’ll pay compensation for customers in cases where their measuring method is more accurate,” said a representative from the investor.http://dtinews.vn/en/news/018/52559/investor-accused-of-lying-about-apartment-siz-es.html

Biologist warning on building paper mill


A planned wood-pulp plant in Binh Son District would destroy 50ha of nipa palm for-est, causing pollution, loss of biodiversity, and irrevocable damage to local lifestyles, biologists and residents warn.Biologist and vice rector of Da Nang’s Teachers’ Training College Vo Van Minh made the case against the plant in a petition to the provincial People’s Committee last week.As planned, the province will allow the agricultural irrigation development company VNT 19 to build a paper mill in Long Phu Village in the district’s Binh Phuoc Com-mune. The mill would require the construction of an 85ha lake in the commune, of which 50ha are to be built where a century-old nipa palm forest now stands. Construc-tion on the plant will likely not begin for two to three years, as ministries and depart-ments conduct assessments on the planned facility.Local residents say they rely on the forest for survial. Nguyen Ngc Minh, 70, said he grew up with the nipa palm forest, and it creates a major income for some households living around the forest.“Local residents still fish in the forest and collect leaves of nipa palm for house build-ing. We could earn VND300,000 (US$13.3) each day from fishing in the area,” Minh said.“The forest creates a ‘green’ landscape and shelter for aquatic fish, shrimp and oyster.


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It also protects our farming land from erosion and salinity,” he said, adding that the forest had sheltered the army’s soldiers and guerillas during wars in the 20th century.Vo Van Minh said that 400 households in the area rely on the forest for income from fishing and leaf collecting.Nguyen The Nhan, chairman of Binh Phuoc Commune said the province had asked the company to replant an area of forest equivalent to which would be cleared to build the lake. The province proposed a VND25 billion (US$1.1 million) payment from the company for the replanting.Vo Van Minh said the province should conduct an assessment of the environmental impact on nipa palm forest and coastal mangrove swamps in Binh Son District before approving an industrial project.Minh, who is head of Environment Biological Resource Teach Research Team (DN-EBR), said the team, in co-operation with the Centre of Biodiversity Conservation, GreenViet, a NGO, had surveyed the biodiversity in the nipa palm forests and man-grove swamps in the district and found them extremely rich.“Seventy five species of flora and fauna were found on total 120ha of nipa palm forest. The 100-year-old forest area is also a safe shelter for 26 migrant bird and waterfowl species. Almost 90 per cent of aquatic animals and fishes in the coastal area are grown in the ecological system of nipa palm forest before moving to the sea,” Minh said.The controversy over the wood-pulp plant comes as the region struggles to balance conservation with economic development. According to latest report from the provin-cial agriculture and rural development, the province has 197ha of coastal mangrove forest, nearly 60 per cent decrease from 2002.In 2015, the province grew 45.7ha coastal mangrove forest in three communes of Binh Phuoc, Binh Dông and Binh Dong in the district under the Climate Change Resilience and coastal mangrove swamp project.But regrowth projects can’t keep pace with the destruction of forests. Last month in Binh Son District, a microorganism, Sphaeroma terebrans Bate (a mangrove-boring isopod) killed 32.4ha of mangrove.http://dtinews.vn/en/news/021/52542/biologist-warning-on-building-paper-mill.html

Lee&Man warned to have pulp mill license revoked


The $348-million pulp mill invested by Hong Kong-based Lee&Man Paper Group has been warned to have its investment certificate withdrawn due to violations of the Law on Land and the Law on Investment.The Hau Giang People’s Committee has proposed the Ministry of Planning and Invest-ment to revoke the investment certificate of the Lee&Man pulp mill due to its long de-lay in construction, a violation of the Law on Land and the Law on Investment.The project was licensed in mid-2007 and was adjusted in June 2011. It has a total in-vestment capital amount of $348.7 million with the annual capacity of 330,000 tonnes of pulp.According to the initial plan, the construction would be implemented in October 2013 so that the mill could come into operation at the end of 2015. However, due to the long delay, in mid-2016, the investor asked the province to extend the deadline to start con-struction to May 2017 and complete it in August 2018. However, the investor still missed the May 2017 deadline. To date, after holding the investment certificate for 11 years, the date to implement the construction is still unknown.The investor’s reason for the delay is that it had registered to develop two projects in Hau Giang, a paper manufacturing and a pulp mill. At present, Lee&Man is focusing on the test operations of the paper mill and is researching the market demand, leaving little time and resources for the pulp mill.Regarding Hau Giang, the province said that the investor was granted the certificate of land use rights for an area of 40.8 hactares in 2008, however, to date, it had yet to implement the construction, meaning that it violated the Law on Land.However, the underlying cause of the investment certificate revocation is concerns of environmental pollution after the pulp mill comes into operation. Such concerns have


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been consistently raised for both the paper manufacturing factory and the pulp mill since the beginning.Previously, numerous associations, experts, and residents expressed concerns that Lee&Man’s paper manufacturing factory may cause serious environmental pollution if its waste treatment system is not scrutinised.On June 20, 2016, the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP) proposed the Vietnamese government to scrutinise the waste treatment sys-tem of the paper manufacturing factory before it comes into operation in August.In late July, 2016, the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) asked the government to stop the development of the pulp mill on the same grounds.Amid increasing concerns, Lee&Man held an unregistered press conference where general director Chung Wai Fu confirmed that the plant has a modern wastewater treatment system with a capacity of 20,000 cubic metres a day. Besides, they will not use sodium hydroxide (NaOH), a major pollutant, at any stage of the production proc-ess.Fu added that once operational, the wastewater treatment facility would be super-vised by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment.At present, the paper mill is in test operations.http://www.vir.com.vn/leeman-warned-to-have-pulp-mill-license-revoked.html

Over 700 businesses to attend Int’l Travel Expo HCM City


More than 700 businesses from 32 localities nationwide and 18 countries and territories will participate in the 13th International Travel Expo Ho Chi Minh City (ITE HCMC), which will run at the Saigon Exhibition & Convention Centre from September 7 to 9.The ITE HCMC, which is a leading tourism event in the Mekong sub-region, is held annually by the HCM City People’s Committee and the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.It is viewed as an opportunity for Vietnamese and foreign firms to introduce their tour-ism products and services. This year, with the theme “Your Gateway to Tourism in Asia”, there will be more than 300 booths, a rise of 15 percent compared to last year’s figure.A highlight of the event will be a programme designed especially for international buyers and the media, with the expected attendance of nearly 300 buyers and 40 re-porters and bloggers from the UK, France, the Netherlands, Germany, India, New Zea-land and Thailand, said Bui Ta Hoang Vu, Director of the HCM City Department of Tourism, at a press conference on August 30.An array of networking events will be held in the framework of the fair, including a meeting of tourism ministers and seminars on tourism-related topics such as introduc-tion of HCM City’s tourism and Vietnam-Italia travel cooperation development.According to Ngo Hoai Chung, Deputy Director of the Vietnam National Administra-tion of Tourism, Vietnam aims to serve 13 million international visitors in 2017, an in-crease of 30 percent compared to 2016.To realize the target, Vietnam’s tourism sector has stepped up activities to promote tourism and increased links with travel agents and airlines.http://en.vietnamplus.vn/over-700-businesses-to-attend-intl-travel-expo-hcm-city/117174.vnp

14th China ASEAN Expo on horizon


September 12-15 expo to focus on mutually-beneficial cooperation between China and ASEAN, introducing prestigious products from both.The 14th China - ASEAN Expo (CAEXPO) will be held in Nanning, Guangxi province, China, from September 12 to 15.A spokesman for China’s Deputy Minister of Commerce said that trade and economic cooperation between China and ASEAN via CAEXPO has made important strides for-ward.“ASEAN-China bilateral trade was more than $452 billion in 2016,” he said. “ASEAN


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is currently China’s third-largest trading partner, fourth-largest export market, and second-largest importer.”Direct Chinese investment into ASEAN, he went on, has reached $9.31 billion this year; $3 billion more than direct investment from ASEAN into China.As at the end of May, bilateral investment between China and ASEAN stood at more than $183 billion in total.Bilateral cooperation in infrastructure has substantial potential and has brought posi-tive results to date. As at the end of May, signed agreements in infrastructure invest-ment between China and ASEAN exceeded $296 billion.China is also actively involved in the economies of ASEAN and East Asia.A representative from the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region said that CAEXPO has contributed to cooperation between China and ASEAN in recent years and has be-come a symbol of the region.The 14th CAEXPO will continue to give priority to investment, cooperation, and eco-nomic exchanges between ASEAN and China. It will focus on mutually-beneficial co-operation between China and ASEAN, introducing prestigious products from both, and will also enhance the quality of its exhibitions.The expo will also focus on innovating and promoting achievements gained and ex-panding and enriching cultural exchanges to create a more effective cooperative mech-anism.Kazakhstan will be a special partner of CAEXPO 14, according to the China - ASEAN Expo Secretariat.The Kazakh delegation is expected to be led by Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Ms. Gulmira Isayeva, who will deliver an address at the opening ceremony. Kazakhstan will also host national trade promotion conferences, open national pavilions, and con-duct other trade links to showcase its advantages in agriculture, trade, and investment, as well as promote the country’s image for international cooperation.http://vneconomictimes.com/article/vietnam-today/14th-china-asean-expo-on-hori-zon

Tech Expo 2017 held in HCMC


Organized by the Navigos Group on August 29, IT jobs expo attracted 37 employers and 1,500 jobseekers.VietnamWorks, together with TopITworks, both members of the Navigos Group, or-ganized the largest technology career fair - Tech Expo 2017 - in Ho Chi Minh City on August 29.With the theme “Tomorrow Land”, Tech Expo 2017 saw the participation of 37 spon-soring employers and more than 1,500 jobseekers in the IT sector. Every recruitment booth received between 100 and 200 CVs.Compared to last year, Tech Expo 2017 was much more dynamic, with candidates be-ing proactive in job seeking rather than just looking around. Many employers scanned profiles and arranged interviews with potential employees.The KMS Company, one of the leading outsourcing companies in Vietnam, had more than ten recruitment staff at the expo, who received CVs and described job require-ments. “Our company often misses its recruitment targets at all levels, as there is a shortage of qualified candidates,” said Ms. Phuong Le, Recruitment Manager at KMS. “Many jobseekers don’t meet our requirements in terms of professional skills, and we must give them two months of training. Young employees are still short of career ori-entation and engagement, which creates challenges in hiring at KMS.”KMS has tried to shorten its interview process to two rounds and hoped to recruit po-tential candidates at the expo who meet its requirements and have the abilities needed to join the company as soon as possible.There were also representatives from various Japanese companies in attendance, in-cluding those seeking candidates in Vietnam and recruitment service companies look-ing for candidates to work in Japan. “Due to the scarcity of Japanese speakers, we have targeted English speakers as well,” said Mr. Yoshiki Matsubara, Chief Sales Officer at


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Igs Asia. “Candidates will be trained in the Japanese language. Those possessing Jap-anese language skills will receive a salary 5 per cent higher than others. For candidates who want to work in Japan, besides specialized knowledge, they must also improve their global mindset and teamwork ability, and be passionate about studying Japanese culture.”“How to secure a $5,000 IT Job” was the topic of a panel discussion at the expo and received much attention. Ms. Nguyen Phuong Mai, Managing Director at Navigos Search, discussed the obstacles that impact IT employees’ salaries. “IT candidates often demand benefits before contributing to the company, and this attitude leads to con-cerns about paying high salaries,” she said. “In addition to specialized knowledge and skills, employers also pay attention to a candidate’s attitude. Building a personal im-age is of overriding importance, since employers can check a candidate’s behavior, even on social platforms. Therefore, it’s important to show your personal image con-sistently, in reality and on online channels. Candidates must contribute to the compa-ny before demanding more benefits.”According to Navigos Search, one recruitment process for a senior position paying $7,000 involved 15 interview rounds, included specialized knowledge, skills, personal testing, and IQ tests.http://vneconomictimes.com/article/vietnam-today/tech-expo-2017-held-in-hcmc

AgroViet 2017 set for HCMC


17th International Agricultural Trade Fair to be held in HCMC from September 21 to 24.The 17th International Agricultural Trade Fair (AgroViet 2017) will be held in Ho Chi Minh City from September 21 to 24 and attended by more than 200 domestic and in-ternational enterprises.Conferences and seminars on safe agricultural products and high-tech agricultural tourism will also take place. With 300 booths, the fair displays and introduces agricul-tural products that are regional specialties, as well as food safety and hygienic food chains and the application of scientific advances.According to the organizers, the promotion of safe products in Vietnam has seen a lot of changes, especially in the context of many fruit and vegetable products of the coun-try competing strongly with imported products.Mr. Dao Van Ho, Director of the Center for Trade Promotion of Agriculture, said that AgroViet 2017 is held in Ho Chi Minh City because it is a market of potential in the south and the Mekong Delta. Products such as rice, fruit, and seafood have built up brands and are found in many global markets.The fair is also an opportunity to promote the production and consumption of safe products, ensuring food safety and hygiene in agricultural products for export. “The fair aims to create opportunities and identify export markets and foreign partners,” Mr. Ho said. “Many Vietnamese agricultural products are competitive not only in the domestic market but also in export markets, contributing to the sector’s export turno-ver.”http://vneconomictimes.com/article/business/agroviet-2017-set-for-hcmc End


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finance & business news 31 August 2017 · Similarly, Nguyen Duc Vinh, CEO of VPBank said the profit that FE Credit brings about VPBank as much as 50% of total profit and consumer