FLC Group proposes Tan Son Nhat Airport terminal investment

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FLC Group, the investor in newly-operated Bamboo Airways, has proposed investing in Terminal 3 at Tan Son Nhat International Airport.

The information was given by Deputy Minister of Transport Nguyen Ngoc Dong at the cabinet meeting on Friday.

The recommendation was sent to the Ministry of Transport, but more details have not yet been specified by the group, Dong added.

The Airports Corporation of Vietnam (ACV) previously sent the same proposal to the ministry. The new terminal would cost more than VND11.43 trillion (USD488 million) and ACV proposed to entirely cover the investment.

ACV has also mentioned details of the project. The firm plans to kick off the project in the third quarter of 2020 and complete it in the second quarter of 2022.

ACV said that once operational, the terminal can serve 20 million passengers annually.

According to Dong, in cases where more than one investor was interested, the ministry would hold a tendering process.

According to a report on NLD

Hong Kong tops foreign investors in Vietnam

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Hong Kong (China) topped the list of 66 countries and territories investing in Vietnam in January-February with a total investment of 4.3 billion USD, making up 51 percent of the new FDI inflow into the country.

It was followed by Singapore with 979 million USD and the Republic of Korea with 873 million USD. VNA reports.

Hong Kong secured the position after many years thanks to a 3.85 billion USD beer production project in Hanoi and another project worth 260 million USD producing electronic and internet equipment and multimedia audio products.

According to VNA, as of February 20, foreign investors have poured 8.47 billion USD into Vietnam, 2.5 times higher than the same period last year, according to the Foreign Investment Agency under the Ministry of Planning and Investment.

This number included newly registered capital, capital contributed and shares purchased by foreign investors.

The country granted 514 new investment licences to projects with a total registered capital of 2.44 billion USD, up 75.7 percent over the same period of 2018.

As many as 176 projects registered to adjust their capital with a combined additional capital of 854.8 million USD, up 22.1 percent year on year.

Meanwhile, the value of capital contribution and share purchases by foreign investors reached 5.17 billion USD, four times higher than the same period in 2018 and accounting for 61 percent of total registered capital.

Foreign direct investment (FDI) projects were estimated to have disbursed 2.58 billion USD in the first two months of this year, up 9.8 percent. This is the highest level of two-month growth in the last three years.

Foreign investors pumped their money into 18 sectors, of which the manufacturing and processing industry remained the hottest with a total pledged capital reaching 6.93 billion USD, equivalent to 81.8 percent of the total registered value.

The real estate and science and technology sectors were ranked second and third with respective values of 478 million USD and 306.7 million USD.

Hanoi was the most attractive among 44 provinces and cities receiving FDI with 4 billion USD, or 47.3 percent of the total. Ho Chi Minh City came second with more than 1 billion USD, followed by Bac Ninh province with 541.7 million USD.

The foreign investment sector remained the major exporter with a total export value of all goods (including crude oil) reaching 25.95 billion USD, up 3.7 percent year on year and making up 70.7 percent of Vietnam’s total export turnover.

Its import value also increased 5.1 percent during the reviewed period to 21.47 billion USD.

To sum up, the FDI sector recorded a trade surplus of 4.48 billion USD.

Any support investors may need to start your new business in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, contact GBS, an authorized Business Registration Agency via

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Will Vietnam develop 5G with Huawei’s equipment?

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Analysts say that Huawei’s equipment will be the least expensive, but believe that in the long term Vietnam needs to produce its own equipment.

While the world is looking at Huawei skeptically, the Chinese technology group is still confident that it will be able to expand in Vietnam and win the bid to provide 5G equipment to the country.

Fine Fan, CEO of Huawei Technologies Vietnam, said in Nikkei Asian Review that the group is confident of expanding in Vietnam.

He also said that Huawei is ready to conduct negotiations with potential partners in Vietnam about the trial use of 5G in Vietnam this year.

Huawei has been facing obstacles implementing its expansion plan as western countries have prohibited or reconsidered the possibility of allowing Huawei to provide equipment to 5G projects in their countries.

The Los Angeles Times on February 13 reported that the White House is drafting a decree on prohibiting Chinese firms from selling equipment to US telecom networks for fear of spy and cyberattack risks.

It did not specify the names of Chinese companies, but Huawei was assumed to be the company that the decree is targeting.

However, Huawei is still earning big money in Southeast Asia. Foreign media reported that leading Filipino telco Globe Telecom has chosen Huawei as the major equipment supplier for its 5G project.

Vietnam’s mobile network operators plan to officially launch 5G services by 2021. This is the right time for telecom equipment manufacturers, including Huawei, to approach telcos and conduct negotiations.

Many experts have protested against the use of Chinese equipment, saying that the equipment is a big threat to Vietnam’s security.

On technology forums, members have called on to ‘boycott’ Chinese products. The 40th anniversary of the Vietnam-China 1979 border war, a political event, stands as a highlight on technology forums.

However, it is not easy to replace all Huawei’s equipment with Nokia’s, Ericsson’s or Samsung’s. And it is clear that Huawei is a potential candidate.

However, experts said that in the long term, Vietnam should not rely on import equipment, but produce its own equipment, for security reasons.

Hieu Minh, a technology expert, in an article on Thoi Bao Kinh Te Sai Gon, recalled an event that happened more than 40 years ago. At that moment, the Institute of Computational Science and Control cherished the dream of made-in-Vietnam personal computers.

However, the plan was canceled because of the view that it would be better and cheaper to import computers for domestic use. The problem, however, was not only economic efficiency and profits, but also national security.

According to a report on Vietnamnet

Vietnam ranked 16th among the leading trade partners of the US

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Two-way trade turnover between Vietnam and the US has increased nearly 120 times, reaching over 60 billion USD in 2018 from 450 million USD in 1994, since the normalisation of bilateral relations 25 years ago.

At present, Vietnam is ranked 16th among the leading trade partners of the US and the annual bilateral trade growth reaches 20 percent.

Statistics showed that Vietnam’s exports to the US in January 2019 were estimated at over 5.1 billion USD, up 42.1 percent compared the same period last year.

Garment-textile exports to the US increased 34.1 percent to hit over 1.59 billion USD. Other Vietnamese staples include footwear with the export turnover of 620 million USD, up by over 100 million USD; wood and timber products at 475 million USD, up by 156 million USD; and mobile phones at 473 million USD, up 259 million USD.

According to the department in charge of Asian and American markets under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the US made up 23.3 percent of Vietnam’s total export turnover in January, maintaining its position as a key trade market.

Additionally, a range of Vietnamese goods have been growing in popularity in the US. Vietnam has been able to export mangoes to the US after a decade of negotiations and the completion of all procedures required by one of the most choosy markets in the world.

In January, the country imported over 1 billion USD worth of goods from the US, resulting in Vietnam’s trade surplus of over 4 billion USD to the market.

Minister Counsellor Bui Huy Son, head of the Vietnam Trade Office in the US, stated that his office recently worked with one of the biggest Asian food distribution chains in the US, the Rhee Brothers, to expand Vietnamese food distribution in the market.

Through traditional exchange channels and electronic trading tools, the office has connected the two countries’ businesses in numerous fields such as garment-textiles, seafood, rice, coconut products, timber products, mechanical goods, manufacturing, chemicals, cosmetics, electric cables, electronic equipment, and semiconductors.

With the largest total import value of over 2.4 trillion USD in 2018, the US will continue to be a key export market of Vietnam in the coming years, Son said, adding that this is also a fiercely competitive one.

According to experts, the trade relations between Vietnam and the US in 2019 will see important changes because the US looks likely to recognise the market economy of Vietnam after July 1, 2019. Therefore, the bilateral ties will be laid on the important legal foundation of international commitments.

To promote exports to the US, Son suggested that government agencies and the business community continue to create a favourable environment, while also improving goods quality, building brands, making good use of distribution systems, and effectively implementing trade promotion activities.

Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh said that besides programmes and orientations on increasing the support for building national competitiveness, the ministry will carry out big projects to increase the competitiveness of export products, especially of the industry and processing industry sectors.

Businesses themselves should proactively develop markets and increase domestic production capacity, as well as look to get deeper involved in the global supply chains.
They are recommended to build and implement effective business strategies to make inroads into the US, noted the minister.

- VNA

Amazon selects 100 Vietnamese firms to join its network

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Amazon Global Selling and The Vietnam Trade Promotion Agency (Vietrade) will select 100 Vietnamese businesses to sell their products on the retail giant’s online network.

Vietrade and Amazon experts will guide the firms how to complete export-import and customs procedures, build online shops on Amazon.com, study the US market and develop their products and brands.

The businesses will also receive training on e-commerce and selling skills on Amazon.

According to the General Statistics Office (GSO), 98.1 percent of Vietnam’s businesses are small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Meanwhile, the World Bank reported that 60 percent of SMEs in 2018 could not access loans from official sources. They still cannot make appropriate investments to upgrade the quality of products for both domestic consumption and exports.

Before Amazon, Walmart carried out a campaign to seek Vietnamese suppliers. Vinamit’s fruit chips are available at Walmart China, while Trung Nguyen coffee is sold at Walmarts in Chile, Brazil, Mexico and China.

Vietnam’s e-commerce value climbed to about 4 billion USD in 2015 and hit 5.1 billion USD in 2016 and 6.2 billion USD in 2017, becoming one of the fastest-growing markets in the world.

Revenue from online retail in the country is forecast to hit 10 billion USD by 2020, accounting for 5 percent of the country’s retail market.

-VNA

Lotte Vietnam Finance to join Vietnam Banking Association

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Lotte Vietnam Finance Company Limited (Lotte Finance) has become the first Korean financial institution to become an official member of the Vietnam Banking Association (VBA).

The admittance, which comes just five months after it started operations in Vietnam, shows the Korean firm’s commitment to long-term development in Vietnam’s finance industry.

“Becoming a member of the VBA places the foundation for co-operative relations for mutual development between Lotte Finance and other financial companies, banks and businesses,” said Kim Jong Geuk, general director of Lotte Finance.

Lotte Finance’s general director Kim Jong Geuk (left) receives the decision of being admitted to the Vietnam Banking Association. — Photo courtesy of the company

Kim highly appreciated the VBA’s professional ethics and code of conduct and expressed support and willingness to comply with the code besides the company’s international code of conduct.

He said Lotte Finance would actively participate in VBA activities, share and exchange experiences and technical expertise among members, contributing to the development of the VBA.

VBA’s secretary general Nguyễn Toàn Thắng praised the growing economic co-operation between Vietnam and Korea, particularly in the finance industry. He said by being a member of the VBA, Lotte Finance would be protected by the association’s legitimate rights and interests in accordance with the law.

Lotte Finance entered Vietnam’s market in September 2018 with 100 per cent capital from Lotte Card – a credit company with the largest service network in the Republic of Korea and the first Korean credit card company licensed to operate in Vietnam.

It launched its first consumer loan service in December and plans to issue credit card products in the first quarter of this year.

— VNS

Big potential for Vietnam-US business cooperation

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On the sidelines of the DPRK-USA Hanoi Summit on Wednesday, three Vietnam airlines, Bamboo Airways and Vietjet Air signed deals with US firms worth more than US$21 billion, but will this spell the start of an increase of bilateral agreements between America and Vietnam.

What the investors think about the future of bilateral relations between Vietnam and the US?

Here is the answers from Adam Sitkoff, Managing Director of the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) in Hanoi, Vietnam.

This year, AmCham celebrates 25 years of working in partnership with our many friends in the Government to help improve business conditions that strengthen the private sector and promote economic and social development here. AmCham members have had a transformative role in the development of Vietnam. From managerial practices and technologies to service standards and business ethics, the US business community here has affected Vietnam in many positive ways. Today, the US and Vietnam are partners – something once thought unimaginable – and American companies and investors are now active in almost every sector of Vietnam’s economy, helping to integrate the country into the global supply chain, creating quality jobs and making the country more productive, safe and clean.

Earlier this week, President Trump and President Trọng witnessed the signing of commercial agreements worth over US$20 billion, with several of the airlines in Vietnam agreeing to buy Boeing jets and technology from the US. President Trump praised the Vietnamese for substantially reducing the trade deficit and complimented the country, tweeting: “Vietnam is thriving like few places on earth.” I believe these business deals reflect the growing economic ties and strengthening partnership between Vietnam and the US.

Today, I see tremendous opportunities in Vietnam – for both the domestic and foreign business sectors. Ongoing US-China trade tensions have highlighted the risk of concentrating production bases in a single country and are triggering supply chain re-organization. Companies are shifting some production out of China and Vietnam is gaining some of that business. The question is how Vietnam can fully capitalize on this opportunity in order to continue its rapid upward economic trajectory.

I believe that the business climate can best be helped by actions that increase productivity and reduce the costs and risks of doing business in Vietnam. Whether looking at financial services, healthcare, consumer goods, hospitality or other industries, it is critical that Vietnam maintains a conducive environment that allows competition between and among local and foreign players to promote innovation and more cost-effective solutions and products.

AmCham will continue to work on lowering barriers to trade to help the Vietnamese Government make it easier to do business and to create a high-standard, transparent and stable business environment here.

” To be advised about how to start your business in Vietnam as a foreign investor, you may contact GBS, a business & legal services firm in Vietnam at: info@gbs.com.vn or visit the website: https://gbs.com.vn

- VNS

Foreign visitors to Vietnam set a new record in Feb

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An estimated 1.59 million foreigners visited Vietnam in February, a month-on-month increase of 5.8 per cent. Visitors from mainland China account for 889,900, the largest number of foreign tourists to Vietnam.

According to the General Statistics Office, this was a record high for foreign visitors in a month due to the festival season at the beginning of the year with many attractive events for international visitors.

In the first two months of this year, foreign visitors to the country were estimated at 3.1 million, a year-on-year surge of 8 per cent, the office said

Of which, arrivals traveling to Vietnam by air and road increased 5.5 per cent year on year to 2.4 million and 29.5 per cent to 611,700, respectively. However, arrivals to Vietnam by sea fell 40.7 per cent to 54,900 against the same period last year.

Asian visitors reached 2.3 million, accounting for 75.2 per cent of total foreign visitors to Vietnam in the first two months, up 9.4 per cent year on year.

Visitors from mainland China account for 889,900, the largest number of foreign tourists to Vietnam but the figure was down 1.3 per cent year on year. Meanwhile, visitors from South Korea increased by 24.6 per cent to 772,200; from Japan 9.5 per cent to 150,800; from Taiwan 27.1 per cent to 141,000; from Malaysia 5.3 per cent to 91,500; and from Thailand 36.9 per cent to 80,000.

European arrivals are estimated at 461,500, up 4.6 per cent from the same period last year. Visitors from the Americas reached 208,600 people, also up 4.6 per cent, including 158,100 from the US, up 7 per cent.

But visitor numbers from Australia fell 2 per cent year-on-year to 88,500 in the first two months.

— VNS

Vietnam’s steel exports started 2019 on a strong note

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Vietnam steel exports kick off 2019 with a spike in Jan shipments, with a total of 771,056 mt of steel products shipped out, a 73.9% spike year on year amid higher shipments to Cambodia, latest customs data showed.

Cambodia was the top destination for the products in January, reaching 160,775 mt, a 55.7% hike from the year before. Cambodia is an important market for Vietnam as the country does not have a steel industry, and the number of high-rise construction projects there has been increasing.
“Cambodia mostly imports longs steel products from Vietnam. Emerging markets like Cambodia and Myanmar are really full of potential,” a Vietnam-based mill source said, adding that the sharp increase in exports could be partly attributed to recent ramping up of steel capacity in Vietnam.

For instance, Formosa Ha Tinh Steel Corp. fired up a second blast furnace on May 18, 2018, and doubled its crude steel production capacity to 7 million mt/year.

Coming in second was Indonesia with 91,712 mt of Vietnamese imports, a 37.4% rise year on year, while the US was third with 83,463 mt in shipments, a 66.8% rise.

Though not in the top three, several destinations more than doubled their import volumes from Vietnam, such as the Philippines with 51,772 mt, more than triple the 15,353 mt posted a year ago.

Another destination was Thailand with 68,469 mt, more than double the 30,483 mt a year earlier.

Overall imports for January dipped slightly to 1.15 million mt versus 1.16 million mt as shipments from Japan, South Korea and Taiwan fell.

Although overall imports were lower, shipments from Russia more than tripled to 89,793 mt versus 26,635 mt, while China sent 526,764 mt, 30.5% higher year on year.

In 2018, total exports and imports stood at 6.26 million mt and 13.5 million mt, respectively. The former was 33.1% higher on the year while the latter was down 9.8%.

- SP Global

Inside source: North Korea is Far From Being Another Vietnam

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By Donald Kirk

The slogan “Hanoi, City for Peace” would have seemed unimaginable when I was a correspondent in Saigon at the height of the Vietnam War nearly half a century ago.

This capital of what we then called “North” Vietnam was the heart of a desperate surge southward that is still not entirely understood. The face of the drive was communist but the motivating force was a historic nationalist desire to reunify a nation that had inexorably expanded southward centuries before.

So doing, the Vietnamese had resisted Chinese control, had overrun the Cambodian or Khmer kingdom in the Mekong River delta, and then all but destroyed the Cham civilization that had also once flourished in the south. The fierce instinct for unity fed the war against the French colonialists that culminated in their defeat at Dien Bien Phu, the artificial division of Vietnam between two Vietnams in 1954 and unremitting warfare against U.S. forces and the Saigon regime that finally collapsed nearly half a century ago.

Against this background, it is almost unreal to be visiting here in an atmosphere not only of peace but of U.S.-Vietnamese friendship that had once seemed totally impossible. The atmosphere is made all the more incredible by the sight of the flags of Vietnam, the United States and North Korea testifying to Vietnam’s emergence as a strong and prosperous country eager for friendship on all sides.

It would be a mistake, however, to compare the experiences of Vietnam and North Korea. Yes, they are both communist countries, dominated by powerful central party rule, but Vietnam has long since gone capitalist with private enterprise flourishing on innumerable levels. The GDP of Vietnam increased by an amazing 7 percent last year even as the government expanded relations with the United States, seen as a foil against Chinese domination.

North Korea, in stark contrast, remains so tightly controlled that private markets have to flourish illegally or semi-legally for the sake of survival while legitimate large-scale private enterprise is largely unknown. Kim Jong Un’s switch to emphasis on economic development is more talk than substance even if he’s not ordering nuclear tests.

The contrast is even more striking when one considers the differences between latter-day South Korea and the entity we knew as “South Vietnam” during the Vietnam War.

South Korea’s economy is now the 12th-biggest in the world, defended by a military establishment that’s capable of withstanding attack from the North. South Vietnam was never more than an economic dependency of the United States even if the Vietnamese entrepreneurial spirit was evident then, as now, in the South as well as the North.

South Korea today is so strong economically that for sure North Korea is going to need lots of aid and investment beginning with construction of roads and railroads. All the while Kim Jong Un holds a club over the South in the form of a nuclear and missile program that threatens the region.

Which leads to the overwhelming difference between North Korea and Vietnam today. North Korea’s nuclear program makes it a rogue nation, breathing defiance for no reason other than to bolster the ego of a despotic dynastic ruler. Unlike North Korea, Vietnam has never wasted its resources on nukes and missiles or left its people to go hungry while sending tens of thousands into prison camps and kidnapping hapless victims from South Korea and Japan.

In theory, North Korea might share Vietnam’s suspicions, sometimes hostility, toward the overweening power of China. While Vietnam stood up against the Chinese in a border war 40 years ago, however, Kim has prostrated himself before China’s President Xi Jinping in visits to Beijing with his wife, sister, aides and advisers, looking for Chinese assurances and support.

Besides defying China decades ago, Vietnam has sought to counter China’s claims over the South China Sea. That’s a bold, risky policy in which Vietnam is ill-equipped to compel the Chinese not to exploit resources of oil and gas within its territorial waters. For that reason alone, Vietnam needs military ties with the United States that would have seemed the stuff of fantasy when I was writing about the war from Saigon in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Yes, Saigon is now “Ho Chi Minh City,” named for the founder of modern Vietnam, but it’s a commentary on life in Vietnam these days that a younger generation that never knew the war still tends to call it Saigon. Vietnam may not be a “free country” politically, but the Vietnamese enjoy a degree of real freedom that North Koreans can only fantasize.

About the Author
Donald Kirk has been a columnist for Korea Times, South China Morning Post, and many other newspapers and magazines.
Read original article on Insider Source

Vietnam welcomed more than 2,600 international journalists to cover Trump-Kim summit

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For a one-party communist state without a free press, there were bound to be some kinks when Vietnam agreed to welcome more than 2,600 journalists from around the world to its capital for one of the biggest news stories of the year.

But Vietnamese officials also saw an upside to hosting media from around the world: This was a unique chance to polish their country’s image and perhaps boost tourism and investment.

They were also keen to show themselves as members in good standing of the global community by hosting the second summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Hanoi was chosen for the summit location roughly two weeks ago, and Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Le Thi Thu Hang said whatever bumps might occur would be the result of having very little time to prepare for the largest number of foreign media to ever descend on Vietnam’s capital at one time.

Reporters generally agree security during the summit is tight – maybe a bit too tight for their liking.

When Kim transferred at the China-Vietnam border from his personal train to an armored limousine for the two-and-a-half hour drive to Hanoi, Highway One was closed to traffic and thousands of police and military personnel were deployed along the route.

Whenever he or Trump ventures out from his Hanoi hotel, barricades ensure the streets along his route are deserted when his motorcade passes through.

While Kim’s travel plans and itineraries are routinely kept secret, getting information relating to Kim’s activities has been harder in Vietnam than it was in Singapore during the first summit last June, said Peter Wang, who works for Taiwan’s Eastern Broadcasting Company.

“You can even follow Kim Jong Un, his personal activities, while he went out middle of the night in Singapore. All reporters when they knew the information, they could rush to the location trying to get a shot to film what Kim Jong Un did,” he said. “But here it’s very hard. They blocked the road a couple of blocks away and police are very strict.”

Some reporters received a rude awakening about their host’s priorities just before the leaders arrived in town. The White House press corps was forced to leave its established work space at the Melia Hotel after last-minute word that Kim would be staying there. The White House-based journalists now share space at the International Media Center.

Their ouster reportedly came at the request of the North Korean delegation. Some members of the elite press group were so irate at being turfed out that they posted their outrage on Twitter.

The White House also restricted press access during the summit, prohibiting four print reporters, including one from The Associated Press, from covering the beginning of Trump’s dinner with Kim in Hanoi on Wednesday. That came after two of those reporters asked questions of the president during earlier events at the summit.

Hanoi Mayor Nguyen Duc Chung told city residents to be on their best behavior, noting the presence of foreign journalists.

In a message on the city’s website, he urged them to “maintain and sustain Hanoians’ code of behavior, heighten the image of civilized, elegant, friendly and hospitable Vietnamese people and Hanoi residents in the eyes of international press and friends.”

He also pleaded for businesspeople to “refrain from hiking prices of goods and services during the summit.”

“This is the best opportunity to publicize the culture, development and image of Vietnam and capital Hanoi to the international community, maintaining peace and friendship,” his statement said.

All his exhortations, though, couldn’t tame Hanoi’s traffic.

Robert Costantini, the White House correspondent for Westwood One News, a U.S radio news network, found maneuvering on the streets a challenge.

“The traffic here is just kind of really amazing,” he said, noting it was like nothing he had experienced before. “All the people on motorbikes, and the bus will turn in front of them, and then they stop and try to squeeze through. It’s just amazing visually for me.”

Getting around in Hanoi is totally different than in the “very rigid and disciplined society” of Singapore at the first Trump-Kim summit, Costantini said.

However, in pondering the main attraction rather than the sideshows, a Finnish reporter who also covered the Singapore meeting saw a reason for the differences in the two summits.

“This is a different summit in all aspects. There was really excitement simply to see Kim Jong Un and his caravan coming through Singapore,” said Mika Hentunen, the U.S. correspondent of Finnish Broadcasting Company YLE. “Now there’s not that excitement anymore. Now it’s like they want to have results. That’s why it’s more businesslike.”

 

By TRAN VAN MINH, AP
Follow all of AP’s summit coverage: https://apnews.com/Trump-KimSummit

Trump holds press conference after US-North Korea fail to reach deal

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Trump: No current plans for third summit with North Korea

President Trump said he has not committed to a third summit between himself and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, while holding a press conference in Hanoi.

“We’ll see if it happens, it happens,” Trump said adding he has not committed to another.

Trump, speaking to reporters, said he secured a continued commitment from Kim during a Wednesday dinner to cease missile and nuclear testing.

“He’s not going to do testing of rockets and nuclear,” Trump said. “I trust him and I take him at his word. I hope that’s true.”
Despite that vow, Trump left Hanoi without a joint agreement with the North Korean dictator.

Trump: “Some really bad things happened” to Otto Warmbier

President Trump said he regretted what happened to US citizen Otto Warmbier, who was detained in North Korea for 17 months before being returned to the US in 2017, where he died days later.

Warmbier’s parents have accused the North Korean government of torturing their son and causing his death.

Trump said he discussed the issue with Kim Jong Un, and said “I don’t believe he would allow that to happen.”

“Those prisons are rough, rough places, and bad things happen,” he added. “I don’t believe he knew about it, he felt badly about it, he felt very badly.”

He added that while Kim “knew the case very well,” he knew about it “later.”

“Some really bad things happened to Otto,” Trump said.

“(Kim) tells me he didn’t know about it and I will take him at his word.”

Trump says his relationship with Kim is “very warm”

President Trump referred to his relationship with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un as “very warm” and insisted that the meeting didn’t end contentiously but with “a very friendly walk.”

“This wasn’t a walk away like you get up and walk out,” Trump told reporters of the end of the summit.

“The relationship was very warm and when we walked away it was a very friendly walk,” Trump said.
Trump also took digs at former presidents for not taking action on North Korea saying, “this should have been solved during many presidential runs — and people talked about it. They never did anything.”

Trump says he will call South Korea’s Moon

Responding to a question about whether South Korean President Moon Jae-in had hit a “glass ceiling” when it came to pursuing peace on the Korean Peninsula, President Trump said he would speak to the South Korean leader Thursday.

“We’ll be calling President Moon very soon, as soon as I get on the plane,” Trump said. “He’s been working very hard, he’d love to see a deal.”

He added that he would also be speaking to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

Trump slams Democrats for scheduling Cohen to testify during his summit with Kim

President Trump slammed Democrats for scheduling the Michael Cohen hearing during his summit with North Korea as a “terrible thing.”

“I think having a fake hearing like that and having it in the middle of this very important summit was really a terrible thing,” Trump said. “Having it during this very important summit is sort of incredible.”

Trump says Cohen testimony was “pretty shameful”

President Trump said he watched some of former fixer Michael Cohen’s testimony Wednesday on Capitol Hill and called it “pretty shameful.”

Trump said while Cohen “lied a lot,” he was “impressed” by one thing: “He said no collusion with the Russian hoax.”

“I said, ‘I wonder why he didn’t lie about that too like he lied about everything else,'” he said.

Trump continued: “He said no collusion and I was you know a little impressed by that frankly. He could have gone all out. He only went about 95% instead of 100 %.”

Trump: “I want to take off the sanctions so badly”

After he acknowledged that the summit in Hanoi ended with no deal due to sanctions, President Trump said he wanted to see the economic restrictions lifted on North Korean in future.

“I want to take off the sanctions so badly, because that country has got so much potential to grow,” Trump said.

He has repeatedly highlighted North Korea’s economic potential during the summit in Hanoi and meetings with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. The country is currently subject to tough international sanctions, severely limiting its growth and exports.

Trump: “It was about sanctions”

Responding to a question about whether it was North Korea’s desire to see the back of sanctions which derailed talks, Trump said it was.

“Basically they wanted the sanctions lifted in their entirety, and we couldn’t do that,” he said.

“We haven’t given up anything,” Trump added, saying he looked forward to future talks with North Korea. “They have tremendous potential, unbelievable.”

“He wants to denuke, he just wants to do areas that are less important than what we want,” Trump said of Kim.

He added that ultimately the breakdown of the summit “was about sanctions.”

Trump said Kim promised he would not do future nuclear or rocket testing.

“He has a certain vision and it’s not exactly our vision, but it’s a lot closer than it was a year ago and I think eventually we’ll get there,” Trump said of the North Korean leader. “For this particular visit we decided that we had to walk.”

Trump acknowledged that “there is a gap” between the two sides and said Kim appeared willing to denuclearize certain portions of his country “that are less important than we want.”

Trump: “Sometimes you have to walk”

President Trump said he had a “really productive time” during discussions with North Korean leader Kim.

But he added it “wasn’t a thing to be signing anything” today.

“He’s quite a guy, quite a character,” Trump said of Kim. “We had some options but at this time we decided not to do any of the options.”

“Sometimes you have to walk,” the President added. “This was just one of those times.”

Read more on CNN

White House: No agreement reached between Trump and Kim

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The White House says no joint agreement was reached between President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at their closely watched second summit.

“No agreement was reached at this time, but their respective teams look forward to meeting in the future,” press secretary Sarah Sanders wrote in a statement.

Sanders added: “President Donald J. Trump of the United States and Chairman Kim Jong Un of the State Affairs Commission of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea had very good and constructive meetings in Hanoi, Vietnam, on February 27-28, 2019.”

“The two leaders discussed various ways to advance denuclearization and economic driven concepts,” she said.

Kim and Trump headed back to their hotels

After their planned working lunch was called off, amid speculation a signing ceremony may not be taking place today either, the motorcades for both President Trump and North Korean leader Kim are now en route back to their hotels.

South Korean stocks continued to fall after the apparent change in summit schedule between the two leaders.

 

Lunch and signing ceremony off

A planned working lunch between US President Donal Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un appears to have been canceled, as potentially has a joint signing ceremony.

After preliminary negotiations between Trump and Kim went over time, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders told reporters waiting to cover the lunch that it had been called off.

Negotiations would be wrapping up in the next 30 minutes, she said, after which Trump will return to his hotel for a press conference at 2 p.m. local time (2 a.m. ET).

She declined to comment when asked several times about the signing ceremony, which was originally scheduled for 2 p.m.

South Korea’s stock market dipped suddenly after the news of potential difficulties at the summit, but it quickly recovered some of its losses.

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How Vietnam has changed over the past 25 years, since Bill Hemmer last reported from there

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Bill Hemmer‘s road to national TV news is a unique one. In the early ’90s, he was a young sports anchor at WCPO-TV, the CBS affiliate in his native Cincinnati when all of a sudden he abruptly put his rising TV news career on hold, and decided to backpack around the world.

Not a choice many 20-somethings make.

Hemmer would go on to backpack for nearly a year—traveling through China, India, Nepal, the Middle East, Vietnam and various parts of Europe. He documented his trip throughout South and Southeast Asia, writing reports and submitting tapes for WCPO, as well as for The Cincinnati Post. All of these pieces were eventually combined into what would later be called “Bill’s Excellent Adventure.”

That “Excellent Adventure” fetched him two regional Emmys, a gig as a news reporter at WCPO and eventually a job at CNN Atlanta in 2005.

Fast forward to 2019: Hemmer is the veteran co-anchor of America’s Newsroom, and now back in Vietnam for the first time in 25 years.

We managed to catch up with Hemmer on Tuesday. Here’s what he had to tell us about Vietnam in the year 2019.

TVNewser: It sounds like you jumped at the opportunity to head back to Vietnam. Tell us about the initial discussions you had with your bosses regarding this assignment, and why Vietnam is a place that means so much to you. I’d imagine it brings back memories of your “Excellent Adventure.”

Hemmer: The discussions, frankly, did not take long. Jay Wallace, the president of Fox News, got the schedule from Washington and sketched out our coverage within days. When I came through here 25 years ago, I was lucky because Vietnam had just altered some of its local laws on ownership of cafes and hotels. Independent travelers were no longer required to book through the state-owned tourist agency. This was a great opportunity. I worked my way through the entire country—Ho Chi Minh City in the south, up through Danang, Hue and into Hanoi—using local buses and trains on my own. Hanoi had a different look then—mostly low-lying buildings and tree-lined streets—but today West Hanoi has exploded. It is a sprawling town with new hotels, housing and a lot more traffic.

Sure, climate-controlled studios are nice, but you made a name for yourself out in the field and I know you enjoy being there. Can we expect to see you reporting from the field more frequently going forward?

When it works for the show and the story, absolutely. We did a similar thing in Helsinki last July for the Trump-Putin Summit. So when it is right, we’ll do it.

I think the last time we spoke, back in June, you and Sandra [Smith] had just been given another hour of America’s Newsroom. How has the show evolved since that time?

Sandra is terrific. We have developed a great relationship and that is so important when you are balancing three hours of coverage each day. This news cycle has shown an unquenchable thirst and we walk into that hurricane of coverage together every morning.

I know the president has already sat down with Sean. Will you be getting some time with him as well?

The request is always out there.

Yes, it’s a business trip first and foremost, but hopefully you’re getting a bit of time for sight-seeing. Tell us some of the interesting places you’ve checked out.

We had a chance to tour the city the day we arrived. Vietnam has been growing at nearly 7 percent for several years. Yes, a lot has changed, but the single biggest difference is not in their roads, or buildings, or a government policy. The biggest difference is that every driver on every motor scooter in Hanoi carries a smartphone in their pocket. They have access to nearly everything we do. In a Communist-ruled country, that is a modern day revolution.

Bill Hemmer is an American journalist for the Fox News Channel, based in New York City. 
He is a morning co-anchor of America's Newsroom. Previously, he reported and anchored at CNN between 1995 and 2005.

By A.J. Katz on AdWeek.com

Boeing Stock Jumps With $16 Billion Deal Amid Trump-Kim Summit in Vietnam

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North Korean leader Kim Jong-un traveled to Vietnam for the 2nd Trump-Kim summit by train but some of the major business deals that be conducted on the sidelines of the meeting involved air travel.

According to Reuters, Vietnamese startup airline Bamboo Airways is set to ink a deal to acquire 10 Boeing 787 passenger jets. This is in addition to an order the airline placed in 2018 for 20 Boeing 787 planes. The new order is valued at $3 billion according to a source who spoke to Reuters.

Currently, Bamboo Airways’ fleet consists largely of Airbus planes and this is mostly the narrow-body models.

Since the year started, Boeing’s stock has risen by over 30% and recently touched an all-time high of almost $430.

Boeing stock price | Source: TradingView

Boeing to Bag Yet Another Deal in Hanoi

Vietnamese budget airline VietJet is also set to sign an agreement with Boeing ahead of the Trump-Kim summit. VietJet will sign the deal to acquire 100 Boeing 737 MAX passengers worth nearly $13 billion.

Additionally, VietJet is expected to finalize another provisional deal it had inked with Boeing in 2018 at the biennial Farnborough Airshow.

 

Direct Vietnam to U.S. flights

The Vietnamese airlines are making the passenger jet purchases following the awarding of a Category 1 safety rating to Vietnam by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration. The rating allows authorized Vietnamese airlines to not only fly directly to the United States but also codeshare with U.S. carriers, according to an FAA statement:

With the Category 1 rating, Vietnamese air carriers that are able to secure the requisite FAA and DOT authority can establish service to the United States and carry the code of U.S. carriers.

Bamboo Airways is already planning to fly directly to the U.S. beginning late this year or early next year. Boeing is expected to deliver the first 787 jet, suitable for long-haul flights, beginning in next year’s Q3. Per the chairman of the startup airline, Trinh Van Quyet, Boeing has lent enormous support to Bamboo Airways over this:

Direct flights between Vietnam and the U.S. will not only push tourism activities, but also further facilitate bilateral trade and investment. We are receiving huge support from Boeing to deploy our flights to the U.S.

 

Vietnamese Carriers Keeping the Tradition

The deals between Boeing and the Vietnamese airlines seem to be in line with a recent tradition where the carriers have been announcing major deals during visits by foreign heads of states and governments.

Last year in November, a deal between VietJet and Airbus was finalized for the purchase of 50 A321neo jets. The $6.5 billion deal was finalized during a visit by the Prime Minister of France, Edouard Philippe, to Hanoi.

In 2016 when ex-U.S. President Barack Obama was in Hanoi, VietJet inked an agreement to purchase Boeing 737 Max planes numbering 100.

After words, numbers are my other love… mostly when they are going up and they have nothing to do with taxes or expenses. That makes green my favorite color!

 

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