(Reuters) – Vietnam has demanded that China remove an oil survey vessel and its escorts from the Southeast Asian country’s exclusive economic zone, amid a month-long standoff in waters seen as a potential global flashpoint as the United States challenges Beijing’s maritime claims.
Reuters first reported on Tuesday that the Haiyang Dizhi 8, conducted by the China Geological Survey, had returned to the area escorted by at least two Chinese coast guard vessels.
“Vietnam has made contact with China to protest its repeated violations and demanded that China withdraw the vessel group from Vietnamese waters,” Vietnam’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Le Thi Thu Hang said in a statement.
At least five Chinese coast guard ships were escorting the survey vessel, and at least two Vietnamese navy vessels were following the group of Chinese ships as of late Friday, according to data from Marine Traffic, a website that tracks vessel movements.
The Haiyang Dizhi 8 first entered the zone under Chinese coast guard escort in July and appeared to conduct a seismic survey of waters there.
Chinese survey ship in Vietnam’s East Sea
The latest impasse has fueled anti-Chinese sentiment in Vietnam, where previous tension between Beijing and Hanoi over the disputed waters has triggered protests.
Last week, police broke up a brief protest outside China’s embassy in Hanoi against the operations of the survey vessel and its escorts.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has criticized Chinese “coercion” in the disputed South China Sea, while Beijing’s top diplomat, Wang Yi, said last month that maritime problems involving Vietnam should not interfere with two-way ties.
After the Haiyang Dizhi 8 left Vietnam’s EEZ on Aug. 7, the survey ship docked at Fiery Cross Reef, a man-made island controlled by China and built on a disputed South China Sea reef claimed by Vietnam and the Philippines.
Hang said in her Friday statement that Vietnam is determined to protect its legitimate and legal interests in the area.
“Vietnamese authorities continue to take measures to exercise sovereignty, sovereign rights and jurisdiction in accordance with Vietnamese law and international law,” Hang said.
Amazon has established a subsidiary in Vietnam, Amazon Selling Vietnam’s CEO Tran Xuan Thuy told media at the Vietnam Online Marketing Forum on Wednesday.
This was the first official announcement of the subsidiary.
Amazon officially entered the Vietnamese market in March last year. The US e-commerce giant has co-operated with the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) on many programs to enable local businesses to sell goods on its platform to expand their export potential.
Amazon’s representative said the company had long encouraged individuals to sell goods on the marketplace but now the trend was changing. Amazon was gearing up to help small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) do business on its e-commerce platform.
“Currently, about 50 per cent of Amazon’s sales come from enterprises and individuals account for another 50 per cent, I think the proportion of individual sales will continue declining in the coming year.” Thuy was quoted as saying by ttvn.vn.
He said companies had advantages over individuals in product quality and price as well as professional sales programs.
Before working for Amazon Vietnam, Thuy spent eight years with Alibaba Group in the position of Country Manager. He also served as vice president in charge of seller operation for Lazada Group for more than one year.
Alibaba and Amazon, both e-commerce giants, are taking steps to attract Vietnamese businesses to their platforms. Experts have said e-commerce is an effective channel to help Vietnamese SMEs export their goods.
Vietnam’s trade office in Houston, the United States, has provided detailed instruction for Vietnamese SMEs on how to take advantage of e-commerce to increase exports to the US.
According to data provided by the trade office, US customers spent US$517.3 billion online in 2018, with the number continuing to rise every year.
A deputy director of the Hà Nội Department of Agriculture and Rural Development has reportedly died after falling from the top floor of an apartment building in Hà Nội.
At around 5pm on Thursday, residents of the Vinaconex 1 apartment complex in Cầu Giấy District found a body lying still on the ground. The man had died by the time police arrived.
Police later identified the victim as Phạm Văn Khương, deputy director of the city’s Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.
The department’s director on Thursday night confirmed with Tuổi Trẻ (Youth) newspaper that Khương fell from the 27th floor of the building.
The 56-year-old official took office in May last year. He previously served as deputy director of the Hà Nội Department of Planning and Investment.
The International Franchise Association ranked Vietnam eighth out of the 12 most valuable markets for global expansion, according to Nguyen Phi Van, chairwoman of Retail & Franchise Asia.
The potential sectors for franchising include food and beverage (F&B), education, healthcare and nutrition, business services, hospitality, fashion, beauty and skincare, entertainment, children’s services, and convenience stores.
According to a report by the Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corporation, Vietnam is the most popular destination for 43 percent of companies from the Republic of Korea. As for presence, the total number of Korean F&B outlets reached 360 stores in Vietnam.
In regards to market outlook, Van said Vietnam will remain an appealing destination for international brands, especially regional brands, in the next three years.
Health services, salons and repair services will be a trend of franchises, she noted, adding the model requires enterprises to invest in plans and resources before the franchise progress.
Franchising began in Vietnam in the 1990s with the introduction of well-known fast food chains like KFC, Lotteria and Jollibee. It began in regional countries like Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand in the 1980s.
The Vietnamese franchise market is still relatively new, and local businesses do not have much understanding of or experience with it.
Last year, the Minisry of Industry and Trade reported it had granted 206 franchise licences to foreign brands since 2007.
An elderly Australian man has been brought to the hospital after having a heart attack at Tan Son Nhat Airport in HCM City on August 15.
While walking down stairs during a transit flight at Tan Son Nhat Airport to Australia, 76-year-old Robert Edward Johnson suddenly had severe chest pains. He was quickly transferred to Military Hospital 175 where doctors said he was in critical condition as 90% of his blood vessels were blocked.
Doctor Ta Anh Hoang at the hospital said, “This is a serious case with a high fatality rate. We had to operate to put a stent into the artery.”
The patient has recovered and is being monitored at the hospital.
According to the doctor, heart disease is the leading cause of death for both men and women. A heart attack occurs when one or more of your coronary arteries become blocked. It can be caused by unhealthy lifestyles, diabetes or genetic diseases. The patients often have chest pains, cold sweat and nausea.
It’s best to go to the doctors within three to four hours when the heart attack starts because late admission means higher fatality rate and after-effects. The patients can suffer from severe neurological and motor after-effects, adversely affecting the quality of life.
Vingroup, Vietnam’s largest privately-run conglomerate, signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Vietnamese ride-hailing app FastGo on Thursday, which will see cars manufactured by its automotive arm VinFast used in the latter’s tech-based transportation services.
Under the agreement, VinFast will provide cars from two of its product lines, the four-seater hatchback Fadil and luxury sedan LUX, to FastGo, which will use the vehicles for its FastCar and FastLux ride-hailing services, respectively.
In the first phase, VinFast will deliver 1,500 Fadil cars to FastGo, before starting to supply the LUX sedans for FastLux in the second phase.
FastGo will begin using VinFast vehicles for its services from September 15, the ride-hailing company’s CEO Nguyen Huu Tuat told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper on Thursday.
The first 200 Fadil cars will be handed over to FastGo from September to December this year, while a 300-car batch will be delivered on a monthly basis in the subsequent months.
Moreover, FastGo passengers will receive discounts if their journeys include stops in parts of VinGroup’s ecosystem of services and products, which range from apartment complexes and grocery stores to schools and hospitals.
VinFast was founded by Vingroup in 2017 and delivered its first batch of made-in-Vietnam cars to customers in late June.
FastGo was developed by a Vietnamese start-up in the NextTech Group umbrella, a group of companies operating within Southeast Asia’s digitized commerce industry.
FastGo has been offering motorbike ride-hailing service in Vietnam since June 2018.
Vietnam plans to speed up its equitization program by selling stakes in 93 major state-owned companies by the end of 2020.
The government will sell up to 35 percent stake in major state corporations (SOEs) including Agribank, Vietnam National Coal & Mineral Industries Holding Corp (TKV), and Vietnam Northern Food (Vinafood 1), it said in a statement late Thursday.
Agribank, formally known as the Vietnam Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development, is the country’s biggest bank by assets. TKV is the country’s largest coal miner, and Vinafood1 is one of the nation’s biggest rice exporters.
The government will sell as much as 49 percent stake in 62 enterprises, which include Vietnam Posts & Telecommunications Group (VNPT), MobiFone, and the Vietnam National Coffee Corporation (Vinacafe).
It will also sell 50 percent to 100 percent of its shareholdings in 27 companies, which include a major jewellery producer, real estate developer, and several power companies.
According to a report by the Steering Committee for Enterprise Renewal and Development released last month, Vietnam’s privatization efforts are way behind schedule with only 35 of 127 enterprises, equivalent to 27.5 percent of the government’s 2017-2020 plan, equitized thus far.
While state enterprises blame recent changes in regulation for delays, National Assembly deputies in June pointed out that group interests had interfered with the equitization process of several companies, and that authorities were slow to penalize violations.
Home Credit Vietnam collaborates with iPrice Group to provide millions of consumers a new eCommerce price comparison & products aggregating feature on its mobile application
The partnership is an extension of the original cooperation first established with Home Credit Indonesia in 2018 and aims to introduce a comprehensive shopping experience in finding the best deals and payment options all in a single platform
Millions of consumers on Home Credit’s application can conveniently compare prices and find the best deals from more than 15 million products in this new feature, formed in collaboration with iPrice Group. This partnership between Home Credit Vietnam & iPrice Group is an extension of the original partnership established with Home Credit Indonesia since 2018.
A report released by Nielsen Việt Nam Smartphone Insights Report in 2017 stated that smartphone users cover 84 percent of Vietnam’s population and the rapid adoption of smartphones is driven by the increased affordability of mobile devices & abundant options. As such, this partnership between Home Credit & iPrice Group is aimed specifically to transform the way consumers shop online for mobile devices and to support the growth of the tech trend in Vietnam.
Mr. Dmitry Mosolov, CEO of Home Credit Vietnam explained that the introduction of the new feature is part of its digitalization & strategic priorities of Home Credit Vietnam in 2019. “We will be moving to integrate our digital customer experience with the full e-commerce journey. iPrice integration has an importance in that sense as it is being one of the milestones”
“Currently our customers can apply for a loan by using our mobile app and disburse their money via e-wallet. With our new integration, customers could purchase the mobile devices which they have compared prices with iPrice, from our partners’ store with a 0% interest rate” Mr. Mosolov elaborates. As of May 2019, Home Credit Vietnam’s mobile app has recorded 3.7 million downloads and is used by more than 2 million consumers.
The New Feature on Home Credit, Now Available Even to Consumers Without a Registered Profile
With the new feature, smartphone buyers have access to information of more than 15 million products, offered by hundreds of merchants even without signing into the app. Users with a registered profile can also access the feature by clicking on the “Compare Price” button at Home Credit homepage.
Upon tapping on the button, users will be directed to iPrice Group’s smartphone product listing page where consumers can easily view the latest mobile devices offered by all major e-commerce merchants in Vietnam. Consumers can also compare information such as pricing, payment options, warranty, and other details when tapping on products offered by two or more e-commerce merchants. All product availability, pricing, and other details are updated every 24 hours to ensure that all information is valid on a regular basis.
More Than Two Million Consumers to Gain from Home Credit’s New Price Comparison & Aggregate Feature, Powered by iPrice Group
Mr. David Chmelar, Co-founder and CEO of iPrice Group said “Due to the availability of attractive deals by various e-commerce merchants and the increased spending power of Vietnamese consumers, shoppers have become increasingly prudent and has integrated online research as a vital part of the consumer decision journey. As such, we are delighted to extend the partnership for Vietnamese consumers which was first established with Home Credit Indonesia that has seen success in the past year.”
Partnership Formed in Support of the Growth of the Vietnamese Internet Economy
The introduction of the new feature is also in line with the rising popularity of online shopping for tech products in the country. A recent report by Google in 2018 stated that e-commerce in the country is expected to grow 43% in compound annual growth rate (CAGR) between 2018-2025 to become an industry worth more than 300 trillion VND (US$15 billion) in gross merchandise value (GMV).
Mr. Chmelar said “One of the most attractive products in the world of e-commerce is tech consumer products such as smartphones. Paired with the growing demographic of mobile phone users, the aim of the Home Credit & iPrice Group partnership is to become highly relevant to online shoppers by creating a comprehensive user experience to cater users’ needs.”
Home Credit Vietnam has officially operated in Vietnam since 2008, providing leading consumer financial products with quick-processing and simple procedures. In Vietnam, Home Credit is one of the leading consumer finance providers of instalment loans. After 10 years of operation, Home Credit has built a network of 9,400 retail outlets in 63 cities and provinces across Vietnam.
iPrice Group is a meta-search website operating in seven countries across Southeast Asia namely in; MalaysiaSingapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, Vietnam, and Hong Kong. Currently, iPrice compares and catalogues more than 500 million products and receives close to 20 million monthly visits across the region. iPrice currently operates three business lines: price comparison for electronics and health & beauty; product discovery for fashion and home & living; and coupons across all verticals.
You’ve probably read it in books and seen it in movies that Vietnam is one of the most beautiful and exciting places in Southeast Asia. Well, Vietnam is indeed a great place to visit, a gorgeous country with an ample supply of treasures and surprises to discover.
But, to explore one Vietnam, you need to be well-prepared because while the natural landscapes, sceneries, captivating spots, and architecture are enough to make your visit worthwhile, some of the surprises you will encounter in Vietnam aren’t for the faint-hearted. But, have no fear; here are 15 interesting facts about Vietnam. You should find them helpful on your visit to the Southeast end of Asia. Hannah Smith reports on Travelers Today.
Vietnamese cuisine is one of the healthiest in the world
Vietnamese cuisine often features vegetables, fresh herbs, and seafood combined with traditional cooking techniques that involve little or no frying. You have nothing to worry about in Vietnam, in terms of your meal, because all foods are prepared from natural ingredients.
Vietnamese eat half-hatched eggs
Have you ever tasted half-hatched eggs before? Don’t think so! Be prepared to take a lot of them – if you want to, though – for breakfast in Vietnam. Known as Balut, this developed bird embryo is boiled and eaten from the shell.
Dogs are no pet
At least not in an outright manner! Vietnamese eat what most Westerners keep as pets – dog meat. Although some people keep dogs as pets in Vietnam, most people kill them for consumption. In fact, Vietnam is the second-largest consumer of dog meat in the world, with almost five million dogs being killed yearly. In Vietnam, dog meat is believed to bring good fortune, hence their consumption.
Vietnam is the world’s leading exporter of black pepper and cashew nuts
In 2016, Vietnam exported 348,000 tons of cashew nuts and 180,000 tons of black pepper.
Vietnam and its caves
The Son Doong cave, which is situated in Vietnam, is the second-largest cave in the world. San Doong is so big that a Boeing 747 could fly through its largest cavern.
Do not give handkerchiefs as gifts in Vietnam
Some gifts are simply considered bad luck in Vietnam. It seems strange, right? Well, that’s part of what makes Vietnam fun-filled. Giving handkerchiefs, yellow flowers, black-colored gifts, or chrysanthemum is considered unlucky in Vietnam.
They drink snake wine for health reasons
Vietnamese drink snake wine, also known as Ruou ran, for vitality, health and restorative purposes. Ruou ran is a pickled snake in rice wine.
Motorbikes are your best bet of transportation
For the most part of your journey in Vietnam, you should expect to take a lot of motorbikes. Cars are quite expensive, so most people in Vietnam opt for the cheaper option – motorcycles. In fact, there are supposedly 45 million registered motorcycles in Vietnam.
The Vietnamese language can be confusing
In Vietnam, changing the tone of a certain word could imply another word entirely. Hence, it is very easy to mix things up if you are not so careful with your choice of tones. The Vietnamese language has six different tones.
Relatively low unemployment
It would indeed be a fallacy to suggest that all Vietnamese are employed. But the country’s unemployment rate is listed as one of the lowest of all developing countries in the world. With an unemployment rate of 3.70%, the country is listed as having the 32ng lowest unemployment rate in the world.
High literacy level
Would you have believed if anyone had told you that Vietnam has a literacy level of 97.3% for people within the age brackets of 15-50 years? That is even beyond many Western nations! Despite the poor economy of the country, Vietnam can still boast of having such a high literacy level.
The Vietnamese flag has a significant meaning
Consisting of a red background and a golden star with five points, each point of the golden star represents workers, farmers, intellectuals, soldiers, and youth, while the red background pays tribute to the bloodshed during the Vietnam wars.
Vietnam is the best place for you if you are a coffee lover
Vietnam owns approximately 20% of the coffee market share, being the second-largest producer of coffee in the world.
You always have to bargain in Vietnam
If you love to bargain for a better price for all your products, then Vietnam is the perfect place for you. Bargaining is simply a way of life in Vietnam. In fact, merchants place tags and markup on their products to give buyers the opportunity to bargain for a better price.
Do not forget to visit the Binh Chau hot natural springs
The Binh Chau Hot Natural Springs get so hot that they can boil your eggs. These hot springs get so hot with temperatures reaching 82 0C.
A global strategy is one that a company takes when it wants to compete and expand in the global market. In other words, a strategy businesses pursue when they wish to expand internationally. A global strategy refers to the plans an organization has developed to target growth beyond its borders. Specifically, it aims to increase the sales of goods or services abroad.
Steve Sidhu – CEO and Global Business Executive at CSS Partners will visit Vietnam and talk about “Defining Global Strategies to Go Abroad”. Details as below:
Time: 09:00-11: 00am, Friday 30th August 2019 Venue: En Tea House & Restaurant, Floor M, 308c Dien Bien Phu, Phuong 4, District 3, HCMC Register: Click here Ticket Fee: 400,000 VND (Professionals)
In this presentation the speaker will talk about Vietnam in the past, today and its future process to go abroad. Vietnam has come along way since 1986 and currently has outperformed in the local market with significant increases in GDP, FDI, tariff reductions and other areas.
Organizations go abroad for a number of reasons hence mostly speaking to increase and grow their operations. These may include generating more revenues, competing for new sales, expanding from home base, investment opportunities, diversifying and recruiting new talent to grow the business more by bringing exceptional talent.
Looking abroad is a strategy that is influenced by many factors and is typically implemented and takes time. At times governments will incentivize expansions into global markets.
With the digital era this has enabled small businesses to expand their reach beyond the domestic market and to tap into a segment of the global audience that is interested in their products and services. In fact, a global strategy can ensure long-term success of a company, and should cover some of the most important aspects.
The speaker will cover all these points in the presentation to enable Vietnamese companies to cross borders and know what is required in developing that global strategy to make their business a success.
This topic would have benefit anyone wanting to know more about global expansion.
About Steve Sidhu
He is an accomplished global business executive living in Tokyo Japan, born in Australia. Steve is award-winning and results-driven global executive who has excelled at creating new business and utilization of networks. He has demonstrated success in building relationships with global companies in business development expansion covering international, sales and marketing strategies and advisory work. He has assisted some global companies in expanding abroad covering various products and services.
His aim is to educate corporates on the requirements on going abroad and points to consider.
Canadians who owed money on their credit cards with Chase Bank have a little less debt on their plate after the company recently forgave all outstanding balances as it exited the Canadian credit card market.
The bank, that is part of JPMorgan Chase & Co., canceled all accounts relating to two Canadian credit cards: the Amazon.ca Rewards Visa and the Marriott Rewards Premier Visa, the CBC reported.
According to the CBC, the New York-based bank had originally closed all credit card accounts in the country in March 2018 and customers were still expected to pay their debts.
That was until the recent move by the bank on Friday that eliminated all existing and unpaid debt.
“Chase made the decision to exit the Canadian credit card market,” said Maria Martinez, vice president of communications for Chase Card Services. “As part of that exit, all credit card accounts were closed on or before March 2018. A further business decision has been made to forgive all outstanding balances in order to complete the exit.“
No details have emerged regarding exactly how much debt was forgiven, but when the CBC interviewed various customers, they found some owed upwards of $6,000.
Needless to say, people were over the moon when they heard the news.
Douglas Turner of Coe Hill, Ontario, told the CBC he couldn’t believe he was off the hook for the $6,157 he still owed.
Martinez, meanwhile, said that the company “felt it was a better decision for all parties, particularly our customers, to forgive the debt.”
(Reuters) – Vietnam plans to speed up its privatisation programme by selling stakes in nearly 100 state-owned firms by the end of 2020, including Agribank, the government said late on Thursday.
The Southeast Asian country has been selling stakes in state firms in recent years to improve their performance and to fill the government’s coffers, but the pace has been slower than scheduled recently.
The government now plans to sell stakes in 93 firms by the end of next year, it said in a statement. They will include up to 35% stakes in Agribank – the country’s biggest bank by assets which was formally known as the Vietnam Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development – as well as in Vietnam National Coal–Mineral Industries Holding Corp, the country’s largest coal miner, and in Vietnam Northern Food Corp.
Agribank, which has total assets of nearly $56 billion, said last week it targets pretax profit of 10 trillion dong ($429 million) this year, up 32.9% from last year.
The government said it will also sell up to 50% stakes in mobile telecom carrier MobiFone and as well as in Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group and Vietnam National Chemical Group.
It also plans to sell up to 100% of Vietnam Paper Corp. by the end of next year and two power-generating units of Vietnam Electricity Group, it said.
With no clear sign that the Sino-US trade dispute will be over anytime soon, multinational firms have increasingly shifted their manufacturing from China to Vietnam to avoid US tariffs and to find new low-cost suppliers in Asia.
As a result, Vietnam’s realized foreign direct investment (FDI) capital has risen by 7.8 percent in the first five months of 2019, totaling about $7.3 billion.
Vietnam has also continued to liberate its economy and gain access to new markets, signing several significant Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) such as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTTP) and the European Union Viet Nam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA). These moves are expected to increase the country’s FDI about 8 to 10 percent, in excess of $20 billion disbursed for 2019, according to Kevin Snowball Founder, CEO, and CIO of PXP Vietnam Asset Management.
The Southeast Asian nation has become one of the fastest-growing sources of American imports, moving from the 12th place to 8th place this year.
Thieu Thi Nhat Le, CEO of VAM Vietnam Fund Management JSC, agrees and believes that major FTAs will give the country’s growth a major boost as FDI contributes around 70 percent of the country’s export revenue. She adds that from January to May of this year, Vietnam’s FDI value increases to 38.7 percent, mostly driven by Chinese firms as well as the manufacturing and processing sectors.
“Given favorable conditions for investment in Vietnam including political stability, the skilled workforce at competitive labor cost, young population, strong domestic demand, several FTAs with large trade partners, I believe the FDI flow into the country will continue to be resilient in coming years,” said VAM Vietnam Fund Management CEO. “We have also seen foreign/multinational companies shifting their manufacturing from China to Vietnam amidst escalating trade war between the US and China.”
Vietnam Manufacturing PMI
A PMI above 50 indicates expansion, while a PMI below 50 indicates a contraction.
Vietnam’s manufacturing PMI increased to 52.5 in June, according to Nikkei Purchasing Managers’ Index. The growth is supported by new product launches and increased customer orders. PXP Vietnam Asset Management’s Snowball explains that Vietnam recorded a higher PMI number than some of its neighbors because “Vietnam is coming from a much lower base than, for example, Singapore, Thailand, or Malaysia and is following the Chinese model of attracting foreign investment in order to modernize and industrialize its economy.”
Relationship With The US
Vietnam runs about $600 million in trade surplus with the US, according to Bank of America Merrill Lynch. The Southeast Asian nation has become one of the fastest-growing sources of American imports, moving from the 12th place to 8th place this year.
The surplus attracted US President Donald Trump’s attention when a Fox Business host asked the president whether he would impose tariffs on Vietnam. Trump immediately expressed frustration with Vietnam and described it as ‘the single worst abuser of everybody’.
“A lot of companies are moving to Vietnam, but Vietnam takes advantage of us even worse than China,” said Trump. The following week his administration slapped duties on more than 400 percent on steel imports from Vietnam.
The clock is ticking for Trump as the 2020 presidential re-election campaign moves into high gear. With no trade deal yet reached between the US and China, PXP Vietnam Asset Management’s Snowball warns that “It is entirely possible that Trump sets his sights on Vietnam as a supposed ‘easy’ target, particularly given his ability to isolate particular issues from the bigger picture of geostrategic relationships.”
James Lan, portfolio manager at Thailand’s local wealth management Six Sigma Capital, agrees and points and explains Trump’s steel duties only has trivial economic effect mainly, he says, because “Vietnam’s steel export revenue to US accounts to only 0.3 percent of its GDP – a small percentage when compared to the total revenue from steel export of Vietnam which stands at 2 percent of the GDP.”
As of now, there are no signs that the Trump administration will be targeting other major export products from Vietnam.
(Reuters) – Facebook is restricting access to increasing amounts of content in Vietnam, a government official said on Thursday, as the Southeast Asian country ramps up a campaign to tighten access to the internet.
The social media platform is widely used in Vietnam where, despite sweeping economic reform and increasing openness to social change, the ruling Communist Party continues to censor media tightly and does not tolerate criticism.
“Facebook now meets 70 to 75% of the Vietnamese government’s requests, compared to around 30% earlier, information minister Nguyen Manh Hung said at a parliament meeting in Hanoi.
Hung was referring to government requests for Facebook restrictions, meaning a piece of content posted to the website which cannot be viewed in some countries because it is deemed to violate local laws.
Facebook said in May it had increased the amount of content to which it restricted access in Vietnam by over 500% in the second half of 2018.
Facebook did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Vietnam has been tightening internet rules over the last few years, culminating in a cyber security law which came into effect in January and which requires companies like Facebook to set up local offices and store data in the country.
Hanoi has in the past accused the U.S. social media giant of violating local laws by allowing subversive comments to be published on its platform.
Google’s YouTube now meets 80%-85% of the government’s requests, up from 60% a year earlier, Hung told the meeting.
He also said that Vietnam has built a centre to monitor the content of news websites and social media platforms which can sort millions of data points into categories like “positive” and “negative”.
“The ratio of ‘negative’ information had been 30%, but now we’ve taken action that ratio has basically been brought to below 10%,” said Hung.
Separately, the information ministry has asked Facebook to disclose the identities of account users, initially in Hanoi, the capital, and Ho Chi Minh City, the country’s southern business hub, local media reported on Thursday.
Only authenticated accounts would be allowed to broadcast live video on the platform, the online newspaper VnExpress reported.
Nearly 10% of the 128 prisoners held in Vietnam for expressing dissenting views were jailed for posting anti-state comments on social media platforms such as Facebook, an Amnesty report said in May.
(Reporting by Khanh Vu; Editing by James Pearson and James Drummond)
Vietnamese shares traded in negative territory on Thursday morning as worries about the downtrend of the global economy hit local market sentiment.
The benchmark VN-Index on the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange fell 0.37 per cent to close at 965.36 points.
The VN-Index was up 0.22 per cent on Wednesday.
More than 88 million shares were traded on the southern bourse, worth VNĐ1.9 trillion (US$81 million).
Overall confidence was dampened as global stocks moved down overnight Wednesday on worries about global economic issues.
Sectors that pulled the market up on Wednesday such as technology, securities, real estate, retail, and food and beverage turned negative on Thursday morning.
Large-cap stocks struggled and the blue-chip VN30-Index dropped 0.46 per cent to end at 876.44 points.
On the derivatives market, the VN30F1908 futures that expire on August 19 lost 0.56 per cent to 872.70 points.
Other VN30 futures that expire in September, December and March next year also fell.
This indicated investors were expecting the market to decline in the short term.
On the Hà Nội Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index decreased by 1.08 per cent to end at 100.88 points.
The northern market index had fallen a total 0.81 per cent in the previous two days.
More than 17.6 million shares were traded on the northern bourse, worth VNĐ239.6 billion.
