94,500 operational firms recorded in January-JulySome 94,500 enterprises have been newly established or have resumed operations so far this year, according to the General Statistics Office (GSO). As many as 2,970 companies have also opened their doors again after suspension, while nearly 8,000 others have suspended their operations. Between January and July, the country has had roughly 75,800 new companies with registered capital of VND771.1 trillion (US$33.1 billion), rising by 3.9% and 11.6%, respectively, from a year earlier. Operational companies have so far registered an additional VND1,460 trillion (US$62.8 billion) to fund their expansion plans, bringing the total freshly pledged capital to over VND2,231 trillion (US$96 billion), in the period. New companies have registered to employ 623,500 people, down 13.5% compared with the same period last year.

Dinh Ngoc He, born 1971, was former Senior Lieutenant Colonel and Deputy Director General of the Thai Son Corporation under the Defence MinistryBefore being charged, Dinh Ngoc He, born 1971, was Senior Lieutenant Colonel and Deputy Director General of the Thai Son Corporation. Born in 1965, Tham was Colonel and Chairman of the Board of Directors and Director General of the Thai Son Corporation before being charged. The new company – named the Thai Son Development and Investment JSC was licensed by the Ho Chi Minh City’s Department of Planning and Investment. The Thai Son Corporation held a 51 percent stake in the Thai Son JSC. After the Thai Son Corporation withdrew its 31 percent of stake, the Thai Son JSC still did business in the name of a military company.

Customs warns of increasing drug smugglingVietNamNet Bridge – Customs officials in HCM City discovered 40 shipments of various drugs in the first six months of 2018 and seized 54.5kg. Huynh Nam, chief of the bureau’s drug enforcement team, told Nguoi Lao Dong (the Labourer) newspaper that foreign and local drug lords have collaborated to set up drug gangs and transnational crime organisations that are operating in a sophisticated manner. False personal papers have been used to complete customs formalities for such shipments to evade the law if the drugs are discovered by authorities. Last Tuesday (24 July 2018) customs officers at the Tan Cang Cai Mep-Thi Vai Port in Ba Ria-Vung Tau found a shipment of 17 containers suspicious and decided to inspect it. The Ba Ria-Vung Tau police said this was the largest ever drug haul in the province.

Five short films projects fundedFive excellent short film projects will receive funding of VND200m (USD8,000) each from the CJ Cultural Foundation Korea and CJ CGV Vietnam during the first CJ Short Film Project which is being held from June 15 to November 16 in Vietnam. Interviewing a contestantOver 250 projects with various themes from young filmmakers were sent to the organisers, with 11 making the presentation round. Three other winning directors are Pham Thien An, Nguyen Le Trung Hai and Duong Dieu Linh. Five winning directors will be mentored by the members of the judging panel to successfully make their films. The five winning projects will be made and released by CGV Vietnam on the final nights.

VN stock market to touch 980 points in AugustVietnamese shares are expected to go up in August as investors look forward to listed companies’ earnings prospects in the remaining five months of the year, especially banks and financial firms. The benchmark VN-Index on the HCM Stock Exchange gained 0.58 per cent to close last week at 935.52 points, totalling a two-day increase of 0.85 per cent. The HNX Index on the Ha Noi Stock Exchange added 1.07 per cent to end Friday at 105.70 points. An average of more than 252 million shares, worth VND4.82 trillion, was traded in each session of last week. “The market is expected to increase slightly this week with moderate trading liquidity, indicating investors are still cautious with the market conditions,” said Duc.

Vietnam mulls solutions to encourage organic agricultureVietNamNet Bridge - The legal framework on supporting agricultural enterprises to shift to organic production has been set up, but this is not enough to kickstart the industry. It is expected to cause a breakthrough in organic agriculture production in Vietnam. The government has released Decree 57/2018 encouraging businesses to invest in agriculture, which will bring great opportunities to “clean” agriculture and organic production. Only when media can help improve people’s awareness will farmers make higher investments in organic agriculture production. RELATED NEWSForeign organic products find it difficult to enter VietnamHarvesting the potential of the organic cafeKim Chi

Mekong Delta turns to tech to fight climate changeVietNamNet Bridge – Experts have urged authorities in the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta region to use cutting-edge technologies to restructure the agricultural sector in the face of climate change. To cope with climate change, the Mekong Delta needs to restructure agriculture by using hi-tech methods, experts have recommended. He recommended setting up a regional information and data centre in the Mekong Delta to facilitate the operation of the network. He said it was essential to ensure water security in response to climate change, and to help agricultural enterprises improve their value chains. Dr. Nguyen Van Hoa, director of the Southern Fruit Institute, said that major achievements had been made in development of high-quality fruit tree varieties.

Closed trial for Vu case permissible under lawVietNamNet Bridge – Vietnam News Agency talks to Dinh The Hung PhD, Head of the Criminal Law Department at the Institute of State and Law, Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences, about cases in which the court may permit a closed trial instead of an open (or public) trial in light of the upcoming trial of Phan Van Anh Vu. A closed trial is a trial in which not everyone can be present, as opposed to a public trial. The court granted the request of the victim’s family (the victim was a minor at the time of the trial) for a closed trial. In reference to the upcoming trial of Phan Van Anh Vu, who was charged with leaking State secrets, a closed trial was permissible under Clause 1 of the State Secret Protection Act. A closed trial in this case was necessary to protect State secrets, which were deemed not beneficial or not yet appropriate to be divulged.

Moody’s: Vietnam’s banks show diverging capital profilesThe profitability of Vietnamese banks is strengthening as robust economic growth fuels credit demand and supports an improvement in asset quality, but challenges are also apparent, Moody’s Investors Service says in a recent report. — Photo tapchitaichinh.vn"Credit growth is outpacing internal capital generation, weighing on capital ratios, and the State-owned banks – unlike their private-sector counterparts – have been slow in raising external capital even as their capital ratios slide," says Rebaca Tan, a Moody’s analyst. "Against such a backdrop, a continued deterioration of capitalisation will weaken the competitiveness of the State-owned banks and ultimately their credit profiles," says Tan. By contrast, state-owned banks have been slow in raising external capital even as their capital ratios slide – primarily because the government prefers strategic investors. As a result, Moody’s expects their credit profiles will fall behind those of private sector banks.

List of websites violating e-commerce rules to be publishedThe Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) plans to publish a list of e-commerce websites and mobile applications that violate laws and regulations on online trading. The draft decree would require e-commerce websites to register with the Ministry of Industry and Trade. The draft decree would require e-commerce websites to register with the ministry. They have to remove the prohibited products from their e-commerce websites. In addition, owners of the e-commerce websites are required to have technical solutions to prevent and remove information relating to counterfeit goods, smuggled goods or products and services violating intellectual property rights.

Talking about her tenure in Vietnam, Ambassador Farhane noted a highlight in the first year, which was the organisation of two international seminars on sharing historical memories between Vietnam and Morocco and experience in administrative decentralisation. In the time ahead, the ambassador said her priority is to consolidate bilateral economic ties and raise two-way trade. The same day, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh also sent a congratulatory message to Prak Sokhonn, Senior Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Cambodia. The high-tech agricultural production model is an important direction of Vietnam’s agriculture, bringing high value of farm produce and raising income for farmers, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said. The same day, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh extended his sympathy to Senior Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Prak Sokhonn.

Storm Son Tinh prevents cruise ships from visiting VietnamThe number of tourists coming to Vietnam by sea in July has declined by an estimated 74.6% as Tropical Storm Son Tinh struck coastal provinces from Thai Binh to Ha Tinh some 10 days ago, according to the General Statistics Office. Of this figure, tourists to the country by air and road have increased by 2% and 8.6%, respectively, while cruise passenger arrivals have plunged by 74.6% as a result of Son Tinh, known in Vietnam as Storm No.3. However, the fall has failed to affect the country’s general growth due to the small number of passengers on international cruise ships. In the past seven months, the country has seen international visits surging 25.4% against the same period last year to over nine million arrivals. The European market takes second place, with over 1.23 million arrivals, up 10.4%.

Automobile manufacturers race to expand distribution networksVietNamNet Bridge - The success of automobile manufacturers is determined not only by product quality and design, but also by distribution networks and post-sale services. The success of automobile manufacturers is determined not only by product quality and design, but also by distribution networks and post-sale services. Within the first half of June, Honda Vietnam opened two agents in Son La and Ninh Binh, a part of its strategy on expanding the distribution network in the north and bringing genuine Honda services to more clients.Honda’s authorized dealers are all standard 5S (sale, service, spare parts, safe driving guide and social contribution).The automobile manufacturer now has 29 agents in cities/provinces, but it is still seeking more partners to increase the number of agents.Prior to that, in April and May, Toyota Vietnam put into operation two agents in Hai Phong and Quang Ninh, raising the total number of agents to 50, now present in 22 cities/provinces.Ford Vietnam in April 2018 inaugurated the 37th agent and upgraded the scale and equipment at Dong Nai Ford agent. Both the agents have large scale and observe Ford’s most modern standards (Ford Signature and Quality Care).Meanwhile, Mercedes-Benz Vietnam has the largest luxury-car agent system with 14 sale and authorized service centers. In addition, they will receive financial consultancy and support to access bank loans.As for Toyota Vietnam, 1.14 million clients received services at its agents in 2017.

In the first half of the year, 75 people were killed or missing while 48 others were injured during natural disasters. Total economic damages reached VND868.5 billion (US$37.73 million), according to the Central Steering Committee on Natural Disasters. Fifteen thousand hectares of rice and 1,700 ha of industrial plantations also suffered damage, while nearly 9,000 fowl and 17,000 cattle were killed due to natural disasters. Last year, 16 storms and six tropical depressions formed in the East Sea. Of the number, five storms and three tropical depressions hit Vietnam.

Liem draws with Chinese defending champion chess playerVietNamNet Bridge – Top Vietnamese chess player Le Quang Liem took black and shared the score with host player, chess grandmaster Yu Yangyi, at the first round of the ninth Danzhou Super Grandmaster Chess Tournament held in China on Saturday. Le Quang Liem draws with host player, chess grandmaster Yu Yangyi. — Photo thethao.vnecdn.netYu, who has an Elo rating of 2,762, constantly switched pieces with Liem (Elo 2,728). Yu is the second-ranked chess grandmaster in mainland China, and holds the highest Elo at the tournament. Liem will face Duda in the second round of the tournament, with Liem taking white.