Photo: VietNamNetPrimary school students look tired on a school bus at Giap Nhat Street. (Photo:Vietnamnet)Vehicles creep along at a snail’s pace as traffic jams at Kim Lien tunnel in Xa Dan Street, Hanoi from the early morning. (Photo: Vietnamnet)In HCM City, thousands of vehicles are packed into the streets leading to Tan Son Nhat airport. (Photo: Labour Newspaper)Serious traffic congestion in front of the entrance to Tan Son Nhat airport. (Photo: Labour newspaper)As Tet nears, people are crowding into the international terminal at Tan Son Nhat airport from morning till midnight.

HCM City industrial park hosts Tet flower fairVietNamNet Bridge – More than 200 booths are showcasing a wide variety of flowers and speciality foods at the Hiep Phuoc Industrial Park Spring Flower Fair in HCM City that opened on Wednesday. Blossom pickers: Visitors at HCM City’s Hiep Phuoc Industrial Park Spring Flower Fair 2018. — Photo sggp.org.vnThe fair with a flower gate featuring a family of dogs – marking the Year of the Dog — seeks to entertain workers at the industrial park and local residents in Nha Be District during the Tet (Lunar New Year) holiday. The Nha Be People’s Committee and the Hiep Phuoc Industrial Park will organise a fireworks show on February 16 to mark the Lunar New Year. The industrial park will give gifts to 500 workers not returning home for Tet.

Hai Phong slashes investment paperworkFor two years, Hai Phong Chamber of Commerce, Investment and Tourism has played a key part in making the northern port city one of the most attractive destinations in the country. Work on the Lach Huyen deepwater port in Hai Phong. Deputy heads from Hai Phong’s major administrative bureaus, such as Planning and Investment, Finance, Construction and Natural Resources and Environment, have offices at the chamber. For example, during the construction of deepwater port Lach Huyen, the chamber provided the company with legal counsel and instructions regarding the recently revised Investment Law as well as other administrative procedures to cut paperwork in half, said Pham Hong Minh, Deputy Director of the Port of Hai Phong JSC. Numerous leading world and Asian companies have major investments in Hai Phong, including LGGE, Bridgestone, AEON, SunGroup, and VinGroup.

Hanoi to end use of deadly stovesVietNamNet Bridge – Hanoi plans to stop the use of beehive-shaped coal bricks by 2020 as part of measures to improve air quality and living conditions, according to the municipal Department of Natural Resources and Environment. Le Thanh Thuy, a representative from the department, said the use of the coal stoves was one of the key sources of environmental pollution. “I prefer using coal stove as it is cheaper, particularly when you have to braise food like meat and fish. They normally produce carbon dioxide, but in unventilated rooms, they start to produced deadly carbon monoxide, which is a killer. As part of the plan to end the use of the stoves, the environment office has chosen Ba Dinh and Hoan Kiem districts to pilot a campaign to raise public awareness while introducing new kinds of stoves using clean fuel.

VN, India eye greater trade in paper productsTrade in paper between Viet Nam and India is quite low and there is significant potential for growth, a meeting between Indian and Vietnamese paper companies heard in HCM City on February 9. “Viet Nam has started importing paper from India with the volume increasing year after year. Thanks to the Free Trade Agreement between ASEAN and India (AIFTA), the import tax on main paper lines is decreasing gradually, increasing the competitiveness of Indian paper. “We believe that there is plenty of opportunity for co-operation between Viet Nam and India in both paper production and trading.”Nguyen Ngoc Minh Thy, vice president of the Viet Nam Packaging Association, said packaging paper is the main product of the country’s paper industry. Consumption in Viet Nam is still low at 33kg per person compared to the global average of 57kg, he said.

Mobile service providers ready for Tet rushLeading mobile phone service providers Viettel and MobiFone have said they are ready to cope with the expected rush during the Lunar New Year. To prepare for 300 places that will set off fireworks on New Year’s Eve, Viettel has installed new BTSs and readied hundreds of mobile BTSs on trucks. It has also installed 220 wifi routers in crowded places like central areas in cities and railway and bus stations. It has increased internet capacity by 200 Gbps, 80 per cent up from 2016, for big data services. Its customer service at 1090 will support customers all day during Tet.

Government committed to slash business costsThis year, the Vietnamese Government intends to further slash business costs and regulations as well as fostering co-operation between domestic enterprises and their foreign direct investment (FDI) counterparts. According to the Government, there have been promising gains made from ties between FDI enterprises and domestic companies. Some FDI enterprises have put in place plans to co-operate and support Vietnamese enterprises to develop supporting industries. In 2014, there were only four Vietnamese suppliers to Samsung, now there have been 29 direct suppliers and still counting. Domestic enterprises showed insufficient efforts to upgrade their infrastructure, technology, and improve their capacity to produce higher quality products and services.

Banks battle Tet ATM overloadAs demand for cash withdrawals at ATMs doubles or triples around the Vietnamese Tet holiday, banks are recommending customers use electronic payment or scan their cards at POS machines or use quick response (QR) codes instead of withdrawing cash at ATMs. A long queue in front of ATMs due to shopping demand near the Tet holiday, near Hoa Lac Highway, Ha Noi. On the other hand, at the time before and during the Tet holiday, banks as well as goods and services suppliers have many promotions and discounts for customers when using cards. Huynh Buu Quang, General Director of Maritime Bank, said that by paying via QR code, customers do not have to spend much time waiting and queuing; even when forgetting wallets or bank cards, customers still can pay bills at shopping points. Despite the ceaseless increase in the number of ATMs and POSs, with the demand for cash withdrawal during the days near Tet, ATMs have become obstructed.

HCM City seeks visa waiver extension to boost tourismThe HCM City People’s Committee wants the Government to extend the visa waiver period for tourists from key foreign markets to increase the country’s tourism competitiveness and attract more visitors. Foreign visitors at Thiên Hậu Pagoda in HCM City’s Chợ Lớn (Chinatown). Half of all foreign visitors coming to the country visit the city. Its tourism revenues rose 12.6 per cent to VNĐ116 trillion (US$5.1 billion), accounting for a fourth of the entire country’s tourism receipts. It targets 7.5 million foreign visitors this year.

More IT specialists, workers needed in 2018VietNamNet Bridge - IT workers are in very high demand as technology firms are planning to expand staff this year. IT workers are in very high demandIT workers are in very high demand as technology firms are planning to expand staff this year. Meanwhile, 70 percent of large corporations with staff of more than 5,000 workers plan to attract more technology specialists this year.JavaScript is still among the languages most used by programmers. Most companies said the value they gain in exchange for the costs is better than in other markets. RELATED NEWSMost workers in manufacturing in danger of being eliminatedVietnam to lack 1 million IT workers in 5 yearsThanh Mai

Workers busy to make dog-shaped savings containersMany ceramic workshops in the southern province of Binh Duong have focused on producing dog-shaped savings containers to welcome the Lunar Year of the Dog. This year the traditional dog-shaped savings container will also come in the shape of dogs to celebrate the Year of the Dog. Most of the ceramic workshops in the province use gas, instead of using wood as previously to fire their kilns. Now there are few workshops which still use wood for making products, including one owned by Le Quang Loi in Tan Vinh Hiep Commune, Tan Uyen District. Loi’s workshop has 10 workers who have started the production of dog-shaped savings containers since October.

Domestic telecom providers face new challengesThe number of mobile phone subscriptions nationwide stood at about 127 million at the end of 2017, down 2.1 percent year-on-year. The decrease came as telecom providers withdrew unregistered SIM cards as directed by the Ministry of Information and Communications. Apart from opportunities, 2018 is forecast to pose challenges to the domestic telecom providers’ efforts to maintain their market shares and achieve their goals in revenue and development. The fourth industrial revolution, which comes with new notions like cloud computing, internet of things, artificial intelligence and big data, will also generate challenges for Vietnamese telecom suppliers, they said. The experts, therefore, suggested telecom providers create innovation and update technologies to use the opportunities offered by the revolution.-VNA

SeABank general director resignsNguyen Canh Vinh stopped assuming the position of general director of Southeast Asia Joint Stock Commercial Bank (SeABank) from February 8. Nguyen Canh Vinh stops assuming the position of general director of SeABank from February 8. After Vinh’s termination, deputy general director Le Van Tan will take charge till a new general director is appointed. Prior to his stint at SeABank, Vinh was Techcombank’s deputy general director. Vinh took charge as the new general director of SeABank on September 25 last year.

PM appoints chairman of State capital management committeePrime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc signed a decision on Thursday to appoint Nguyen Hoang Anh to the post of chairman of the special committee to manage State capital at enterprises. He held the post of Secretary of Cao Bang Province Party Committee from March 2015 to December 2017 before assuming the new role in the State capital management committee. Phuong said the model of the committee would be different from the State Capital Investment Corporation (SCIC). State-owned enterprises (SOEs) in the country have total capital and assets worth an estimated VND5.4 quadrillion (US$239 billion). The committee is expected to separate ownership from management functions to boost the efficiency of State capital when the Government hastens the restructuring of SOEs.

Property market attractive to both eastern, western investorsWhile Asian investors are dominating real estate investment and mergers and acquisitions (M&As) in Vietnam, many European and American firms have chosen to invest in listed property companies, according to a specialist of Savills Vietnam. Vietnam's property market is attractive to both eastern and western investorsOver the last three years, the Vietnamese market has recorded strong investment from Singapore, Hong Kong (China), Japan and the Republic of Korea. Foreign investors’ investment targets and methods are affected by many factors, including cultural differences and geographical distance. Meanwhile, property investment is greatly influenced by local regulations, especially legal affairs, which may be barriers to European and American investors. European and American investors are still taking part in Vietnam’s property market by different means, he said, adding that “they cannot rule such an attractive and potential market like Vietnam out of their investment map.”Some foreign investors said a real estate market with a large young population is a very attractive opportunity.