Seafood shipments to EU drop
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
Source:VietNamNet News
May 24, 2018 03:11 UTC
Quang Ninh province scraps chemical factory plan
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
Source:VietNamNet News
May 24, 2018 03:00 UTC
Vietnam’s foreign reserves hit $64 billion
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.
Source:VietNamNet News
May 24, 2018 03:00 UTC
Transparency and accountability must be upheld
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.
Source:VietNamNet News
May 24, 2018 02:48 UTC
Manpower export: benefits, risks
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.
Source:VietNamNet News
May 24, 2018 01:41 UTC
Vietnam building roadmap on greenhouse gas emissions mitigation
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’.
Source:VietNamNet News
May 24, 2018 00:56 UTC
Vietnam firms lack brand building strategy: survey
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.
Source:VietNamNet News
May 24, 2018 00:56 UTC
The man with a ‘made-in-Vietnam’ software dream
The man with a ‘made-in-Vietnam’ software dreamVietNamNet Bridge - On a nice day in 2013, Lam Quoc Vu, full of hope, met investors to raise funds for QA Symphony, his two-year-old business. Vu is one of the persons deserving credit for training first-generation software engineers in Vietnam. At that moment, the world’s economy entered a recession and software outsourcing companies suffered. Vietnam’s name in the world’s software market is a dream cherished by Lam since the very first day of KMS. In the past, Vu hoped that Vietnam would have more talented software engineers.
Source:VietNamNet News
May 24, 2018 00:22 UTC
Over $71.7mil. raised from Gov’t bonds
raised from Gov’t bondsThe State Treasury of Vietnam raised a total of 1.615 trillion VND (71.77 million USD) during an auction of government bonds worth 6 trillion VND at the Hanoi Stock Exchange (HNX) on May 23. Accordingly, on offer were five-year and 20-year bonds worth 1 trillion VND each and 10-year and 15-year bonds valued at 2 trillion VND each. Bonds with 10-year maturity raised 700 billion VND with an annual interest of 4.26 percent, up 0.03 percent from the previous auction. Since early 2018, the State Treasury raised over 57.6 trillion VND via auctions at the HNX. The bonds had an average annual interest rate of some 6.07 percent, down 0.2 percentage points against 2016, according to the Ministry of Finance.-VNA
Source:VietNamNet News
May 23, 2018 15:11 UTC
VN-Index increases by 3 points
VN-Index increases by 3 pointsThe benchmark VN-Index of the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HOSE) recovered on May 23 with a rise of 3.03 points to close at 988.94 points. The VN-Index fluctuated around 975 points in the morning thanks to a huge supply in the market from the beginning. In the afternoon, demand climbed and some groups of shares were bought by investors at sharply increased prices. On the northern bourse, the HNX-Index rose 1.39 points to 118.11 points while the UpCOM-Index was up 0.34 points to 54.7 points. Total transaction value in the whole market approximated 7.27 trillion VND (320.5 million USD).-VNA
Source:VietNamNet News
May 23, 2018 15:11 UTC
14 former overseas Vietnamese injured in bus accident in Laos
14 former overseas Vietnamese injured in bus accident in LaosA bus carrying 41 former overseas Vietnamese (OVs) in Thailand and Laos skidded and overturned in Packsan town, Laos’ central province of Bolykhamsay, on May 23 morning, injuring 14 people. The injured were rushed to the general hospital of Bolykhamsay province. The injured were rushed to the general hospital of Bolykhamsay province. The May 17-23 trip was organised by the Vietnam-Thailand Friendship Association to mark the 128th birthday of the late Vietnamese leader (May 19). After learning about the accident, representatives of the Vietnamese Consulate General in central Laos came to the hospital to visit the victims and help them complete procedures to move to the general hospital in Vinh city, Vietnam’s central province of Nghe An.
Source:VietNamNet News
May 23, 2018 13:30 UTC
Police bust illegal gambling ring in poker tournament disguise
Police bust illegal gambling ring in poker tournament disguiseVietNamNet Bridge – HCM City’s police busted an illegal gambling operation run by Dang Van Quy, 45, a native of southern Dong Nai Province on Tuesday. Poker chips and cash found at the venue. They were found gambling with real money in the disguise of a poker tournament. Similar illegal operations were stopped by the police earlier this year in Phu Nhuan District and District 7 with dozens of gamblers arrested. Poker clubs can be found in many cities and provinces across the country which are gathering places for players and may host poker tournaments.
Source:VietNamNet News
May 23, 2018 10:41 UTC
VN aims to eliminate mother-to-child transmission of HIV, hepatitis B and syphilis
VN aims to eliminate mother-to-child transmission of HIV, hepatitis B and syphilisVietNamNet Bridge – Children and pregnant women lack access to health services in remote, border and island areas, creating a major challenge for the national programme to eliminate the transmission of HIV, hepatitis B and syphilis from mothers to children, Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Viet Tien said in Hanoi on May 22. Therefore, the prevalence of hepatitis B virus among pregnant women is also high. A draft on the National Action Plan to eliminate the transmission of HIV, hepatitis B and syphilis from mother to child in the 2018-30 period has been completed by the Ministry of Health. At the workshop, participants discussed issues such as antenatal care and pre-testing for disease discovery, interventions for pregnant women, mother-to-child transmission, funding for the implementation of the plan, inter-sector coordination and monitoring. These diseases can be prevented through simple and accessible interventions, including pre-testing for pregnant women and vaccination of infants after birth.
Source:VietNamNet News
May 23, 2018 10:41 UTC
VN among countries with highest gestational diabetes rate in Asia-Pacific
VN among countries with highest gestational diabetes rate in Asia-PacificViet Nam is among the countries in the Asia-Pacific with an alarming incidence of gestational diabetes, Dr Le Quang Thanh, head of Tu Du Hospital in HCM City, has said. The Viet Nam-France-Asia-Pacific Conference discussed many issues related to obstetrics and gynaecology, including gestational diabetes. Photo Courtesy of FrieslandCampina VietnamSpeaking at a conference last week he said many hospitals in the city, for instance, have seen an increase in the number of cases of gestational diabetes. Pregnant women with diabetes treated at his hospital account for 18 per cent of all diabetics, while the rate is 15 per cent at Hung Vuong Hospital, he said. In Singapore, 30 per cent of pregnant women with gestational diabetes have to be forced to terminate their pregnancy, and the remaining 70 per cent develop two type 2 diabetes after the pregnancy, Tan said.
Source:VietNamNet News
May 23, 2018 09:33 UTC
Pollution behind mass fish deaths incident in Dong Nai
Pollution behind mass fish deaths incident in Dong NaiSouthern Dong Nai Province’s agriculture department said the unsual high level of NH4 (Amoni) and NO2 (Nitrite) may be the reason behind Monday’s mass fish deaths on the La Nga River based on a test done on water sample collected at the site. Mass fish deaths on the La Nga River. The test showed a NH4 level 5.6-11 times higher than farm fish tolerance level while NO2 was found to be at 10-20 times higher. It was possible that a large volume of water heading from upstream carried enough pollution, which in combination with NH4 and NO2 was deadly to the fish. Vinh also said if natural causes were the cause of mass fish deaths, around 80 fish farming households would eligible for support from the Government.
Source:VietNamNet News
May 23, 2018 09:33 UTC