US$33 million educational scheme withdrawnVietNamNet Bridge – The Ministry of Education and Training (MOET), on Tuesday, scrapped a scheme to renew the national high school examination from 2018 to 2020. Hung Yen Province estimates some 13,000 of its students will take the national high school examination in 2018. - VNA/VNS Photo Pham KienThe scheme, which was set to cost VND749 billion (US$33 million), triggered social uproar recently as its content indicated that the national high school examination would have little change compared to the one in 2017 for the next three years. The only significant difference is the preparation of technical infrastructure and software for the 2021 national high school examination. He recommended considering education system reform when drafting the scheme as well as its impacts to the present high school education.

Thai artist finds strong energy in VietnamVietNamNet Bridge – For Thai artist Wattanachot Tungateja, he finds inspiration from something that cannot be seen but is all around us. Two of a kind: Thai artist Wattanachot Tungateja and Vietnamese sculptor Vu Binh Minh at Ha Noi March Connecting event. And whenever he comes to Vietnam, the energy follows him. “Vietnamese and Thai people have been familiar in culture and behaviour, we can understand so easy and respect each other,” he said. — Photo courtesy of TungatejaGood vibrations: For Thai artist Wattanachot Tungateja, he finds inspiration and motivation from energy or precious mineral which is buried within the Earth.

Vietnam’s GDP projected to grow 7 percent in 2018Vietnam’s economy could grow by 7.02 percent in 2018 under a high growth rate scenario, according to the National Center for Socio-Economic Information and Forecast (NCIF). Vietnam’s economy could grow by 7.02 percent in 2018 - Illustrative imageThe NCIF predicted two economic development scenarios for Vietnam’s economy this year, including a basic scenario marked by a medium growth rate and a high economic growth rate scenario. This economic model could see more restructure, but the capital and exports are expected to remain the backbone of economic development. Under this scenario, the economy could grow by 7.02 percent in 2018, with average inflation at 4.8 percent. The NCIF also projected 2018 will be the year that Vietnam’s enterprises are able to integrate further into the regional and world markets.

Train crashes into truck in central Vietnam, killing 2VietNamNet Bridge – Two people have died and ten others injured after a passenger train crashed into a truck in the central province of Thanh Hoa early Thursday morning. A North-South passenger train crashed into a truck at a level crossing in central Vietnam, resulting in two casualties and 10 injured passengers. Initial reports say the train, numbered SE19, was carrying 400 passengers on route from Hanoi to HCM City when it collided with a dump truck at a level crossing in Truong Lam Commune. Two guards of the level crossing were summoned by the police for questioning. North-South railway, the main rail line of the country, was temporarily disrupted following the accident.

Reclaim Hanoi’s long-delayed projects: People’s CouncilVietNamNet Bridge – The supervision group of the Hanoi’s People’s Council has asked the municipal Department of Natural Resources and Environment to work with the city’s authorities in order to reclaim long-delayed projects which violate the current Land Law. During a working session on Tuesday, the supervision group pointed out the department’s shortcomings in the management of these projects. The department has been slow in consulting with city’s authorities to address these projects’ difficulties, and given too few updates on the status of long-delayed projects, the supervision group said. Vice chairman Tuan pointed out that land management is a complicated issue that is of particular concern to citizens. Land management and use has been part of the local People’s Council supervision programme this year.

Techcombank shares to be listed on HOSE on June 4The Vietnam Technological and Commercial Joint Stock Bank (Techcombank) will begin selling its 1.1 billion shares coded TCB on the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange (HOSE) on June 4 with a starting price of 128,000 VND (5.62 USD) per share. Techcombank’s board of directors answered questions at the pre-listing conference on May 23At the price, the bank is valued at 149 trillion VND (6.5 billion USD), making it Vietnam’s second-biggest listed bank after State-owned Vietcombank at 192 trillion VND (8.4 billion USD). Techcombank’s capitalisation is even higher than that of the BIDV and Vietinbank, whose charter capital is three times higher in comparison. Last month, Techcombank raised 922 million USD in one of the country’s biggest initial public offerings (IPO). Last year, the bank’s total asset was 269.3 trillion VND (11.8 billion USD) and integrated pre-tax profit was 8 trillion VND (351.2 million USD), double than 2016.

Vietnam hosts 2018 ASEAN-Japan cyber securityThe Vietnam Computer Emergency Response Center (VNCERT) hosted the 2018 ASEAN-Japan information security drill, which took place in Hanoi, central Da Nang city and Ho Chi Minh City on May 23. Statistics of the VNCERT show that Vietnam recorded 4,035 cyber attacks this year to May 19, with 2,661 Deface incidents, 776 Malware attacks, and 608 Phishing scams. Therefore, drills on information security in responding to relevant issues should be regularly organised as part of effort to deal with that, he noted. In the drill scenario, Japan first detected small DDoS attacks on the first day, and large-scale attacks took place the following day, blocking access and email of victim units. During the drill, participants focused on creating coordination mechanisms, quickly and accurately operating information transfer stages in all units involved in the case of cyber attacks.

HCM City medical tourism guide releasedThe Ho Chi Minh City Department of Tourism and Department of Health on May 23 released a bilingual Medical Tourism Guide with basic information about travel and healthcare in the city. Ho Chi Minh City Medical Tourism Guide (Source: sggp.org.vn)The guidebook in Vietnamese and English has the names, addresses and phone numbers of 14 health facilities in the city, including the HCM City Heart Institute, Dermato-Venereology Hospital, HCM City Paediatrics Hospital, Odonto-Maxillo-Facial Hospital, Otalaryngology Hospital, University Medical Centre, Traditional Medicine Institute, Tu Du Hospital, Hoan My Hospital, and HCM City International Hospital. Nguyen Thi Anh Hoa, deputy director of the Department of Tourism, said the city’s medical tourism potential remains untapped. To fulfil the potential, the two departments have cooperated to promote medical tourism and the guidebook is part of that cooperation, she said. The city would focus on promoting medical tourism in neighbouring markets such as Cambodia and Laos and to overseas Vietnamese, she said.

Seafood shipments to EU dropShipments of seafood, excluding fish, to many markets, especially the European Union (EU), showed signs of reduction recently, according to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP). The association’s statistics showed the export value of tuna in April dropped nearly 4 percent from the previous month. Also in April, export of cuttlefish and octopus to the EU fell by 41 percent and that of bivalve down 19 percent. The decrease in seafood exports to the EU showed that the EU’s yellow card on Vietnam due to IUU (illegal, unreported and unregulated) fishing had begun to exert negative effects on shipments to this market. After the inspection, the EU will give its final decision over whether it seeks to withdraw the “yellow card” from Vietnamese offshore seafood.-VNA

Vietnam’s foreign reserves hit $64 billionVietnam’s foreign reserves has increased by 130 percent to nearly 64 billion USD in the past two-and-a-half years, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has said. In addition to this, the domestic supply-demand relationship with the dollar was relatively stable, thanks to foreign currency supply from exports, foreign investment, official development assistance, tourism and remittances. The SBV affirmed it would continuously try to build up the country’s foreign reserves this year to cushion external shocks, besides supporting efforts to stabilise the forex market. Fitch Ratings recently also forecast that Vietnam’s foreign reserves would increase to about 66 billion USD by the end of this year from 49 billion USD in 2017. This year, the SBV has changed its way of purchasing foreign currency.

Quang Ninh province scraps chemical factory planAuthorities have rejected an investor’s proposal to build a chemical factory near the UNESCO World Heritage Site Ha Long Bay in the northern province of Quang Ninh. Since 2013, Tan Tien has operated a chemical and coal dust manufacturing factory at Viet Hung industrial zone in Quang Ninh province. In May 2016, the provincial economic zone management committee granted a certificate of investment registration for the project. The provincial economic zone management committee met with Tan Tien about the project’s pollution risks. The company then applied for a new factory project manufacturing Sodium hydroxide, PAC and Javen, the project authorities have rejected.-VNA

Dr Bui TrinhWhat do you think about the Ministry of Finance’s proposal to levy the environmental tax on oil and gas at the peak level? How do you envisage the negative impacts of the increase of the petroleum environmental tax on the economy and people’s living conditions? In other words, the petroleum environmental tax will impact all Vietnamese, including enterprises. No doubt, the increase in the tax will become a factor to increase the production price index and increase production costs. What’s more important, the principle of transparency and accountability must be upheld so that all tax payers know how their money is used.

Manpower export: benefits, risksVietNamNet Bridge - Vietnam exports laborers to help youth get a good job and to improve the professional qualifications of Vietnamese workers. And he gave a negative answer when asked about his working skills and qualifications. Besides money, foreign language skills and discipline, Vietnamese export workers can obtain qualifications through practice. However, as analysts say, the qualifications and working skills are low. VnExpress cited a report showing that 50 percent of 500,000 Vietnamese working in foreign countries are untrained workers with low skills.

Vietnam building roadmap on greenhouse gas emissions mitigationVietNamNet Bridge - The draft decree stipulating the schedule and modalities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions has been opened for public opinion by the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment (MONRE). Ngu said that international agreements Vietnam signed don’t have any legal mechanism that forces Vietnam to implement commitments on greenhouse gas emissions reduction. He said the decree needs to show Vietnam’s typical characteristics as an agricultural country, not strong in industrial production. It needs international support in capital, technology and knowledge to reach the goals on greenhouse gas emission reductions. Hong said if Vietnam cannot properly define the figures about greenhouse gas emissions, it is likely to 'fall into foreigners’ trap’.

Vietnam firms lack brand building strategy: surveyVietnamese businesses lack a proper strategy to build brands, a survey by British brand consultant Mibrand has found. Many Vietnamese SMEs lack long-term strategies to build their brands. Among the biggest problems Vietnamese firms face when building brands are the lack of an instruction toolkit and standard methods to assess outcomes, Phung Thai Duong of Mibrand said. For newly established businesses and start-ups, it is not a good choice.”Nearly 90 percent of the firms in the survey said they were in need of a branding strategy but developing it was not an easy task. “These tools offer a solution to companies for building and managing brands.