Vietnam and DPR Korea played to a 1-1 draw in their friendly at the My Dinh Stadium in Hanoi on Tuesday.
The teams are preparing for the AFC Asian Cup UAE 2019 and the match allowed the coaches of both teams to have an indepth look at their respective sides before the Continental showpiece kicks off on January 5.
Vietnam, fresh from winning the 2018 AFF Championship, took the lead in the 54th minute through Nguyen Tien Linh.
DPR Korea, however, fought back to equalise through Jong Il-Gwan in the 81st minute.
Vietnam, who will be appearing in the AFC Asian Cup for the first time since they co-hosted the 2007 edition, are in Group D along with three-time champions Islamic Republic of Iran, Iraq and Yemen.
Park Hang-seo’s side will be confident of their chances as Vietnam have enjoyed a successful 2018. Besides winning the 2018 AFF Cup, the Golden Dragons finished runners-up in the 2018 AFC U23 Championship and fourth in the 2018 Asian Games Indonesia.
DPR Korea will also be on a mission as they are determined to advance to the knockout stage of the AFC Asian Cup UAE 2019 after having been eliminated at the group stage in the last two editions.
Kim Yong-jun’s side will play in Group E with Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Lebanon.
A total of 152 Vietnamese out of 153 who arrived with tour groups in Kaohsiung last week have gone missing, the Tourism Bureau confirmed Tuesday.
The four groups flew into the southern Taiwanese city on December 21 and 23 respectively, but on Tuesday, the Taiwanese travel agency handling them told the Tourism Bureau that it was unable to locate 152 of the 153 travelers, the Central News Agency reported.
As a result, the bureau told the Ministry of Foreign Affairs it had decided to stop applications for group visas from Vietnam, one of the countries Taiwan has targeted with its New Southbound Policy aimed to foster closer ties and attract more tourists.
The visa applications were made under a special program launched in 2015 which included simplified visa procedures it at least five people traveled together. Under the program, the participating visitors did not need to supply evidence of their financial situation, CNA reported.
According to CNA, over the past three years, an estimated total of 150 visitors disappeared, but this time, 152 travelers from Vietnam went missing in one go.
With world GDP growth initially predicted to peak at 3.1 per cent in 2018, the year looked to hold much economic promise for Vietnam.
This held true initially, with first quarter real GDP expanding by almost 7.4 per cent, boosted by strong export growth in manufacturing and agriculture. The service sector also saw robust growth in domestic demand and tourism. But global conditions became more worrying and uncertain as the year progressed, particularly with the continued structural slowdown in China and threat of a US–China trade war.
In the short term, changes in the supply chain away from China benefit Vietnam, provided there is sufficient dynamism in the domestic private sector to respond to rapid increases in external demand. For instance, it seems that Foxconn — the world’s biggest electronics contract manufacturer and a key Apple supplier — is trying to set up a Vietnamese base. Other manufacturers are reportedly doing the same.
The long-term impacts are much less certain though, with major powers moving away from the rules-based global trading system that has benefitted smaller open economies like Vietnam.
Despite these challenges, the Vietnamese economy continued to show resilience overall. GDP growth is estimated to be sitting at around 6.8 per cent, inflation at 4 per cent and the current account is projected to stay in surplus at 2.2 per cent of GDP. Real wages grew by 3.2 per cent in the first half of 2018 and the reported unemployment rate remained at 2.2 per cent.
The Vietnamese dong depreciated against the US dollar by 2.7 per cent but is constrained against further depreciation because of Vietnam’s relatively high level of public debt (around 45 per cent) denominated in US dollars. As a result, Vietnam’s real effective exchange rate actually appreciated by an estimated 2.5 per cent. Vietnam needs to focus on lowering trade costs to remain competitive in the medium term.
Credit growth in the second half of 2018 moderated to around 17 per cent, compared to 19.5 per cent in the same period last year. But the overall credit-to-GDP ratio remains high at over 130 per cent.
The growth in public debt is being contained by a combination of state asset sales and tighter fiscal policy. But Vietnam still needs substantial investment in infrastructure and energy generation. For this to happen the government must involve the domestic private sector and encourage its development through structural reform.
Vietnam seems to have slipped behind reform in other countries and has fallen in the World Bank ‘Ease of Doing Business’ rankings from 68 to 69 (of 190 economies).
One promising trade development this year was Vietnam’s ratification of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) in November. This is an important step for Vietnam as the CPTPP involves a significant reduction in tariff and non-tariff measures (NTMs) for participating countries.
According to World Bank analysis, the average trade weighted tariffs for Vietnamese exporters to CPTPP markets will fall from 1.7 percent to 0.2 percent and NTMs are expected to decline by 3.6 percentage points on average in ad-valorem tariff-equivalent terms. By 2030, this translates into estimated additional GDP growth of 1.1 per cent. The sectors that will reap the largest benefits are food, beverages and tobacco, clothing and leather, textiles, some manufacturing, and services.
The CPTPP’s rules of origin are likely to encourage investment and development of upstream industries and extend backward linkages to Vietnamese industries currently constrained by inefficient state-owned enterprises (SOEs). Reaping these benefits will require government policies that promote competition and reform of inefficient SOEs. Behind-the-border issues such as customs reform are also needed to reduce the costs of clearing and moving goods.
After a strong performance in 2017, Vietnam’s economy has continued to stay strong. The external buffer of international reserves is being managed through healthy export performance and foreign direct investment inflows. The internal buffer of public finance is being managed via more rapid privatisation of SOEs as well as gradual reforms of tax and expenditure systems.
But the challenges and risks are mounting and the government needs to continue with more ambitious reforms, including of the fiscal, public administration and higher education systems. If not, Vietnam will struggle to meet the significant infrastructure, energy and skills needs that are required to keep the country on a rapid growth path before its population begins to age in the next two decades.
Suiwah Leung is an Honorary Associate Professor of Economics at the Crawford School of Public Policy, The Australian National University.
This article is part of an EAF special feature series on 2018 in review and the year ahead.
A Vietnamese woman, who holds a Hong Kong identity card has been caught by HongKong’s police with a suitcase containing 7.3 kilograms of heroin on Saturday.
She told police that she was not aware of the bag’s contents and was only delivering it to someone. The police operation found compressed plates of heroin worth US$651,100 concealed in the bottom of a suitcase she was carrying. Atimes.com reported
She is in police custody after being intercepted in the city’s Tuen Mun district on Saturday with a suitcase containing 7.3 kilograms of heroin worth about HK$5.1 million (US$651,100).
Police stopped the 42-year-old in a street in the district and arrested her for drug trafficking, but she insisted she was only “helping a friend to deliver the suitcase” and was unaware of its content.
Police mounted the operation after receiving information from an undercover officer. The focus of the investigation by the narcotics bureau was to find out if the woman was paid and manipulated by a cartel to carry the drugs as well as to trace the source of the heroin intercepted.
Police mounted the operation after receiving information from an undercover officer and arrested a Vietnamese woman in Tun Mun district for drug trafficking. Photo: Google Maps
The Apple Daily cited a source as saying that the woman was lured by a hefty five-digit payment to deliver the case to another middleman. A police anti-narcotics superintendent told the media that the heroin was in compressed plate-like form and concealed inside a false compartment at the bottom of the suitcase.
He also warned that with the festive season now in full swing and black market demand on the rise, drug dealers are looking for people who need cash to deliver bags or cases. He appealed to members of the public to stay alert and avoid breaching the law.
We begin with Kim Jong Un, the leader of North Korea, and Moon Jae-in, South Korea’s president, holding hands back in April.
They crossed the northern side of the border of the Demilitarized Zone between the two nations.
Kim was the first North Korean leader to set foot in South Korea since the end of fighting in the Korean War in 1953.
This shot was taken by the Inter-Korean Summit Press Corps.
Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s CEO
Facebook seemed to go from one crisis to another in 2018. The drop in the company’s share price meant Mark Zuckerberg’s fortune took a big hit this year.
And the CEO faced a grilling from the House Energy and Commerce Committee in Washington in April, when @dcdrewphoto took this portrait.
Jack Ma, The Executive Chairman of Alibaba
China’s richest man heralded the end of an era this year. Jack Ma outlined plans to hand over the executive chairman role at Alibaba, something that’s due to happen next September.
He intends to focus on philanthropy and education but also pursue “new dreams” that haven’t yet been specified.
The billionaire was photographed by @tomoohsumi.
Black Hornet Personal Reconnaissance System drone
This is a Black Hornet Personal Reconnaissance System drone.
Militaries all over the world are looking at ways to incorporate similar technology into their operations. Devices in the pipeline range from monster spy planes to small, battery-powered quadcopters that can fly through underground tunnels without GPS.
@luke_macgregor_photography’s shot was taken at an exercise in southern England.
Pedestrian and vehicle recognition system in Beijing, China
China has made artificial intelligence technology an important strategic goal, because of its potential military and intelligence applications.
@gillessabrie took this photo during a demonstration of SenseTime Group’s pedestrian and vehicle recognition system in Beijing.
You can see how people and objects can be instantly identified by the technology. It’s another of our most striking images of 2018.
Crew Dragon spacecraft of SpaceX
You’re looking at a model of the Crew Dragon spacecraft at SpaceX headquarters in California.
NASA astronauts will be the first to fly on the American-made commercial spacecraft to and from the International Space Station, on a mission scheduled for April.
@patrickfallon took this shot, which is another of our most memorable images of 2018.
Demonstrators with a “Trump Baby” blimp in London
Donald Trump’s visit to Britain in July was met by tens of thousands of demonstrators with a “Trump Baby” blimp.
Protesters expressed outrage at the U.S. president’s views on issues ranging from climate change and immigration to chlorinated chicken.
@luke_macgregor_photography took this shot in London.
Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Putin won re-election as Russia’s president in a landslide in March, despite the fact that he barely campaigned.
@andrey_rudakov’s photo is another of our best of 2018, and it shows panels rotating on an election campaign billboard in Moscow.
In Vietnam, Christmas is not a public holiday, but it has been received much recognition from the local residents.
From the beginning of December, Hanoi’s streets are all decorated with Noel’s patterns that create a festive environment helping any expats off being homesick in the night of Christmas. Hanoi’s weather also supports the day which is often cold and dry; the only missing factor for a perfect Noel is snow.
If you are in Hanoi this week, integrating with its festive environment, you can totally have fun for Christmas. Here are our suggestions to the best place to go for Christmas in the capital of Vietnam:
Church
Praying in church is an indispensible for any Christian believer in the night of Christmas. Luckily, there are many churches around Hanoi in which ones may enjoy a wide variety of religious activities as well as hymns singing and other music performance. Among the churches around Hanoi, Saint Joseph Cathedral (40 Nha Trung Street, Hoan Kiem) should be the most magnificent and famous one. Besides, ones may visit Ham Long Church (21 Ham Long Street, Hoan Kiem) or Cua Bac Church (56 Phan Dinh Phung, Ba Dinh).
Thousands of locals & expats flocked to the streets and churches to join Christmas Eve celebrations. | Photo credit: NDO
Hang Ma Street
Located in the heart of Hanoi’s Old Quarter, Hang Ma Street always catches up with the trend by selling ornaments in special events like International Children’s Day, Mid-Autumn Festival, New Year Eve, Tet Holiday and Christmas. Anything you need to decorate your Christmas tree as well as gifts and greeting cards can easily be found here with low prices.
Making full use of your trip to walk around Hanoi’s Old Quarter should be a good idea since it may remind you of your hometown with Christmas Trees being put up in front of restaurants; snowmen made from cotton near Ice-cream shops or numbers of Santa and his reindeers on sides of clothe stores. It’s not weird if you see one or two Santa driving motorbike instead of the reindeers on streets because they are actually gifts delivers.
Christmas in Hang Ma Street, Hanoi, Vietnam | Image source: Pinterest
Music shows and parties
On the night of Christmas or the night before, there are many fantastic music shows of many genres such as pop-ballad; classic or jazz occurring in Hanoi, especially the outside area of Hanoi Opera House and the inside as well. The themes of those shows are no doubt about Christmas.
Additionally, international organizations and universities and embassies usually organize Christmas party to welcome their native civilians and ones with the same interest to join and cheer up for the night.
Hanoi opera house
Shopping malls
Because there is no Black Friday in Hanoi, Noel and New Year Eve are good chances for shopping malls launching their biggest promotional campaign of the year which shocking sale off and hundreds of new arrivals. Trang Tien Plaza, Vincom Plaza Tower, Ruby Plaza and Garden Mall are the most remarkable shopping centers in Hanoi. Don’t miss this golden opportunity to pick up one or two most trendy pieces of fashion.
Trang Tien Plaza, Hanoi
Hotels dinner buffet
Christmas is when high-star hotels in Hanoi offer the most luxury buffet party and hilarious music performance. Standing out among the hotels should be Sofitel Metropole Hanoi where 1001 fairy tales are reproduced in one night in its La Beaulieu and Spices Garden restaurant. Artists wearing Aladdin, Snow White or Peter Pan costume will entertain you with special art shows while tasting excellent international foods. The price is USD 75 for an adult, USD 46 for children aging 9-12 and USD 33 for kid from 3-8.
Red bean Restaurant in Hanoi
With a lower price range, from USD 20-40, tourists can still enjoy a luxury Christmas night at Hilton Hanoi Opera, Melia Hanoi or Hanoi Daewoo.
The HCMC Center for Flood Control Program has proposed building seven anti-flood reservoirs with Japanese cross-wave technology, for total costs of VND475 billion. However, some experts doubt the reservoirs will help.
The seven reservoir complexes would have a capacity of 1,500-20,000 cubic meters in the districts of Go Vap, Binh Thanh, Phu Nhuan, Tan Binh and 10.
An anti-flood reservoir with cross-wave technology on Vo Van Ngan Road was built by Sekisui Company from Japan as part of a pilot program. The 109 cubic meter reservoir has the function of mitigating floods on the street. It is buried deep underground and installed with cross-wave modules.
The outstanding advantage of the reservoir cross-wave materials is the high mechanical durability, and ease of implementation of construction and installation. When the city no longer needs the reservoirs any longer, the cross-wave modules can be taken away for other construction works.
An official of the anti-flooding center said the solution can be applied in small and narrow areas with water storage capacity of over 90 percent and friendly to the environment. When it rains, the rainwater can be naturally absorbed into the earth, or stored for reuse.
Cross-wave reservoirs can be placed in many different areas, under stadiums, parks, schools or parking lots. The solution is applicable to cities with limited public land like HCMC.
Ho Long Phi, Director of the Center for Water Resources Management and Climate Change, said he believes that building reservoirs is just a supporting solution, and that HCMC needs a master solution which includes construction of water drainage sewers and tide control sluices.
Under the water drainage program, called Program 752 approved by the PM in 2001, HCMC will build more than 6,000 kilometers of sewers by 2020.
Do Tan Long from the Anti-flood Control Center, HCMC, has prioritized construction and improvement of drainage sewers. These include a project on dredging and upgrading Tham Luong – Ben Cat – Nuoc Len Canal, and a project on building eight tide control culverts.
Some experts recommended heightening the road beds to hasten drainage.
However, Nguyen Trong Dan, a member of the Vietnam Society for Hydraulic Association, said this is an unreasonable solution. The higher roads will block the water drainage of lower areas which will cause residential quarters to suffer more heavily from floods.
Hoa said that reservoirs with small capacity will have no significance if they have a small capacity. They will be useful when they have a large capacity, from tens to hundreds of thousand cubic meters.
International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group supported $100 million in funding to Vietnam’s Oriental Commercial Bank (OCB) for its lending program for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and women-owned enterprises.
“We are in negotiations with the IFC over loans, not only this mid and long-term facility but also a master cooperation agreement, including a short-term credit line, consultancy, and support programs on solutions for OCB to reach regional and international management standards faster,” Nguyen Dinh Tung , OCB’s CEO told media in a statement.
According to a report by Hung Cao on VNEconomictimes, OCB was just one of many Vietnam’s banks securing foreign loans over the past year. Commercial banks are now borrowing capital from foreign banks or international financial institutions when they need more medium and long-term capital. Struggling to attract domestic funds, many are rushing to seek foreign capital ahead of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV)’s tightened policy on medium and long-term lending coming into force early next year and in the context that foreign ownership in Vietnamese banks is still restricted.
In a rush
In early September, the Saigon-Hanoi Joint Stock Commercial Bank (SHB) and the International Investment Bank (IIB) signed a five-year deal on the latter’s provision of $20 million in loans to the former to develop the latter’s infrastructure work in Vietnam and the import-export activities of goods from IIB member countries. The two sides will also share information and experience in enhancing operational efficiency and management capacity. On the same day, a framework sponsorship contract between the International Bank for Economic Cooperation (IBEC) and SHB was also signed, with an initial value of $22.7 million.
A few days prior, the Vietnam Postal Union Joint Stock Bank (LienVietPostBank) signed a contract with JP Morgan Chase Bank N.A. Singapore, which will provide it with a $50-million loan with a three-year term. The bank also received another three-year syndicated loan worth $50 million, in May, from eight Taiwanese banks headed by Cathay United Bank. “The loans help the bank integrate more deeply into the international finance market,” said Ms. Nguyen Anh Van, Deputy CEO of LienVietPostBank. “It will also supplement its medium- and long-term foreign currency resources, improve its capital mobilization structure, and partly respond to local businesses’ demand for borrowing foreign currencies.”
In July, the IFC also provided a $100-million syndicated loan to the Tien Phong Joint Stock Bank (TPBank) after outlaying $17.3 million to acquire 5 per cent of its shares in 2016. The IFC-led financing package will help the bank further extend long-term funding to micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) and individual borrowers through digital delivery channels, according to TPBank.
Many other lending deals were reported in 2017, including the Vietnam Prosperity Joint Stock Bank (VPBank) borrowing $100 million from Deutsche Bank, $122 million from the IFC, and $41 million from Credit Suisse. The An Binh Commercial Joint Stock Bank (ABBank), meanwhile, received $150 million from the IFC, and the Vietnam International Joint Stock Bank (VIB Bank) secured a syndicated loan of $185 million from the IFC and three foreign banks.
Even the State-owned VietinBank has borrowed capital from foreign banks, signing a contract in June last year for a $100 million loan from eight financial institutions. A year before that, it borrowed $200 million from 18 foreign banks.
Mobilizing funds from overseas can help banks tap into wider foreign and, usually, lower cost funding sources. “Many Vietnamese banks have been upgraded by international rating agencies such as Moody’s and Fitch recently,” said Ms. Nguyen Thi Thuy Anh, Research Analyst at the Viet Dragon Securities Corporation (VDSC). “The positive ratings, according to Fitch, consider the enhanced operating environment of Vietnam’s banking system, with improved economic policies. Authorities promote a stable and predictable macroeconomic environment, and we believe this contributes significantly to Vietnamese banks’ chances of coming to loan facility deals with international financial organizations.”
Lending in turn
Funding from international financial organizations is used by Vietnamese banks for lending that has strong socioeconomic benefits, including boosting financial inclusion and improving access to credit for the country’s SMEs, according to Ms. Rebaca Tan, an Analyst with Moody’s Investors Service. “While foreign loans increase banks’ reliance on market funds, we view the credit lines provided by international financial institutions like the IFC and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) as stable and helping to improve banks’ asset liability profile,” she said. “Further, Vietnamese banks seeking loans need to comply with certain financial covenants and improving financial transparency is also key in getting these loans, which are both credit positives.”
The fact that some international financial organizations are funding local banks reinforces the latter’s reputation, creditworthiness, and position not only in Vietnam but also in global markets, according to Ms. Thuy Anh. “Cross-border loans might also support the development objectives of international financial organizations and local banks’ strategies, especially those focusing on the retail and SME segments.”
For example, a loan of $185 million was provided to VIB by the IFC in 2017 to serve the unmet borrowing needs of SMEs and households, she noted. For SMEs, long-term funding is becoming more important since Vietnam wants to become a manufacturing and trade center in Southeast Asia. According to VIB, the loan facility provided by the IFC is expected to double the loan portfolio for this segment in the next five years.
In recent years, LienVietPostBank has made structural movements into retail banking. “The bank has now reached 60 per cent in the density of retail revenue per total mobilized capital and 50 per cent in lending,” said Ms. Van. “We will continue moving strongly towards the retail model, ensuring a density of retail per total mobilized capital of around 80 per cent.”
Similarly, if the loan contract between the IFC and OCB is signed, “the facility will be used for retail and SMEs’ credit lines in order to develop the private sector,” Mr. Tung from OCB said. “It will also help affirm the bank’s reputation in approaching new capital resources from new markets and investors for its long-term development.”
Generally, overseas borrowings can help banks enhance liquidity and provide flexibility within their capital structures. The goal is to satisfy regulations on improving the ratio of short-term fund used for long-term lending, and banks can retain earnings or issue long-term bonds. Funds borrowed from international financial organizations is also one way to mobilize long term, which supplements mid and long-term funding.
Major pressure
Local banks have been in a rush to seek cross-border borrowings to meet the Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR) under Basel II standards, according to Mr. Nguyen Hong Khanh, Head of Analysis and Research at the Vietnam International Securities Company (VIS). “Under Basel II standards, applied as a pilot at the ten largest Vietnamese banks, in order to meet a CAR of under 8 per cent, banks must find funding, especially ‘Tier-1 Capital’,” he said. “Upgrading owners’ equity from 1.5 times to double within one or two years would put major pressure on local banks, especially the larger ones. This would require Vietnam extend the foreign ownership limit in State-owned banks. As at the end of the third quarter of this year, charter capital in listed banks had increased 17 per cent and is expected to grow 10-15 per cent in the time to come.”
Meanwhile, Ms. Tan from Moody’s said longer-term funding helps banks meet the SBV’s regulations on asset liability management, which requires they lower the maximum ratio of short-term funding for loans longer than 12 months to 40 per cent of total short-term funding by 2019, from 60 per cent in 2016. “We expect Basel II capital rules to shave 150-220 basis points off banks’ capital ratios,” she said. “The current limit on foreign ownership will pose a challenge in raising new equity capital, especially for banks that are close to the limit.”
Moreover, the ratio of short-term funds used for long-term lending under Circular No. 16/2018/TT-NHNN was to be reduced to 45 per cent by January 2018 and 40 per cent by January 2019. Interest rates on long-term mobilized capital has increased suddenly over the last two months, revealing rising demand among local banks for capital sources.
Ms. Thuy Anh from VDSC said that borrowing banks need to deal with exchange rate fluctuations. The negotiation process and procedures may also take long as there is often no precedent for local banks. In addition, the fact that there are different laws in each country and different regulatory requirements could also slow down the implementation of cross-border financial transactions.
International capital flows have now tended to run to State-owned banks in Vietnam, while some developing commercial banks are also in need of capital mobilized from overseas, according to Mr. Khanh from VIS. However, in order to mobilize funds successfully, local banks are required to prove that their operational capacity and development potential meet the high expectations of international investors. “The main purpose of the government in the future is to build two or three large banks that are among the top in Asia, so local banks in the years to come will certainly need more foreign capital to boost their capital raising roadmap,” he said.
Even after changes, the Ministry of Health’s draft law on the prevention and control of alcohol-related harms still draws varied responses from stakeholders. Nguyen Van Viet, chairman of the Vietnam Beer-Alcohol-Beverage Association, discussed with VIR’s Bich Thuy the methods which could harmonise the benefits of all parties involved.
While companies raised objections against the draft law because it might harm their business, many international health organisations supported it as the strongest legal tool for the country to fulfil its sustainable development commitments. Where does the Vietnam Beer-Alcohol-Beverage Association (VBA) stand?
We welcome the recommendations from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Ministry of Health’s (MoH) aim to protect people’s health via the draft law. However, some of the arguments by representatives of WHO Vietnam and other international organisations are not persuasive. Statistics from international organisations used as reference are being used as official figures in the draft law. The statistics should instead be based on the Vietnamese government’s General Statistics Office and the Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trade.
The VBA and our members completely agree with reasonable regulations. However, there are some regulations that could negatively impact not only the beverage industry but also tourism and other sectors, while possibly causing losses to the state budget.
First, we do not agree with the name of the draft law because it could cause negative impacts on business activities. Our preferred wording is either the “Law on Control of Alcohol” or the “Law on Prevention and Control of Harms of Alcohol Abuse.”
No other country in the world has a law to prevent and fight against wine, spirits and beer in this way. A few countries have similar laws, but with different names based on simple wording, such as the law on control of alcohol.
What is more, wine, beer and spirits are part of each country’s culture. It is an important part of traditional and political parties. We believe the draft law seems to go against tradition.
We also have issues regarding regulations on the time, location, and ways to sell beer, wine, and spirits as well as advertising. For example, the draft law proposes a ban on selling beers, wines, and spirits from 10 PM to 6 AM. This will not help the country reduce consumption, but may cause negative impacts on the development of the beverage and tourism industries.
Beer, wine, and spirits are not a conditional business. Thus, the ban on selling the products on the Internet is not in line with investment laws and goes against trade trends within Industry 4.0. This can prevent buyers from buying genuine products, while leading to a rise in smuggling and difficulties in tax collection.
Domestic and international experts have said that the harmful use of alcohol not only damages people’s health, but also greatly diminishes the economic, social, and development prospects of Vietnam. Should businesses not be willing to give up a small part of their ambitions for the sake of the community?
First, we should reaffirm the necessity of building the draft law, as the country right now already has too many legal documents covering production, sales, and consumption of beer, wine, and spirits.
Businesses do not need to give up their benefits if we have a law harmonising the benefits of the business community, the government, and our citizens by having reasonable regulations on
management, production, business, food safety, and the responsible use of these products. Many developed countries such as Russia, South Korea, Germany, and Japan, where far more alcohol is consumed than in Vietnam, have strong economies and also a stable and healthy society, despite this consumption.
At present, beer, wine, and spirits are subject to many kinds of taxes in this country, including a special consumption tax of 65 per cent, 10 per cent value added tax, corporate income tax, environment tax, and more.
Despite recent changes, the draft law still fails to satisfy all the stakeholders. What are your suggestions to help the draft harmonise the benefits for all, as you stated?
We do hope that the draft law would have feasible regulations to facilitate our member companies’ activities, while protecting people’s health and ensuring the benefits of the government. The fact is that this is a very difficult task as the MoH has designs on health protection, while other stakeholders and VBA members have economic preferences.
To control the consumption of these types of alcohol, we have many measures available. One example is the requirement of a credit card, or identification card. In this way, only people aged 18 and older can own this type of card and therefore have access to the products.
The draft law should tighten control over the thorny issue of homemade wine and low-quality wine products which seriously harms people’s health, so as to achieve the target of eradicating unlicensed home-made wine production by early 2023.
Recent cases of wine poisoning have all been caused by low-quality methanol containing wine. According to the MoH, only 15 per cent of homemade breweries, and nearly 50 per cent of the volume of homemade wine sold are licensed.
Retailer’s Board approves Business Plan for FY2019.
The Board of Directors at the Mobile World Investment (MWG) has approved the Business Plan for FY2019, with net revenue targeted at VND108.4 trillion ($4.67 billion) and net after-tax profit VND3.6 trillion ($155.2 million).
The plan will now be presented to the AGM, tentatively scheduled for March.
The phones and consumer electronics retail business will remain the main pillar generating revenue and net profits for the company in 2019. Consumer electronics retail is considered the key driver of MWG’s growth, with aims to acquire a market share of approximately 40 per cent. Phones retail, meanwhile, will retain its leading position and achieve higher growth than MWG’s competitors.
MWG recorded consolidated net revenue of VND79 trillion ($3.4 billion) in the first eleven months of this year, up 34 per cent year-on-year, while after-tax net profit was VND2.6 trillion ($122.1 million), an increase of 33 per cent year-on-year.
As a result, MWG has fulfilled 92 per cent of the revenue target for FY2018 and exceeded the net profit target.
Year-on-year revenue growth in the first eleven months was 70 per cent in consumer electronics products, 18 per cent in phones and tablets, and 214 per cent in food and FMCG.
Online revenue reached VND10.9 trillion ($469.3 million) in the period, equal to 13.8 per cent of total net revenue. Online turnover rose 113 per cent year-on-year and represented 109 per cent the 2018 target.
As at November 30, MWG’s Bach Hoa Xanh (BHX) had 404 stores in operation and recorded net sales of VND484 billion ($20.8 million) in November. The Average Monthly Sales Per Store for stores opened before November 1 was over VND1.1 billion ($47,300).
It now has 310 standard and large stores in Ho Chi Minh City and Binh Duong, Long An and Dong Nai provinces, or approximately 77 per cent of the total, up from 270 at the end of October and including 20 large-scale stores and 23 provincial stores.
BHX has 30-40 stores either newly-opened or upgraded from the old format every month, and proactively closes some legacy underperforming stores. This effort will slow down during the holiday season and conversions are expected to be completed within the first quarter of 2019.
MWG has concentrated on online FMCG retail at Vuivui.com since September because grocery retail has been contributed approximately 70 per cent of total sales in Vietnam, according to a Euromonitor report. Demand for online shopping of food and necessities are therefore considerable.
Due to this strategy, MWG transferred the website’s backend, logistics, and delivery force to Bachhoaxanh.com on November 27, to better serve customers shopping for food and necessities and realize MWG’s ambitious goal of becoming a Top FMCG online retailer in the country.
Its target is to dominate the online retail business in the three categories that account for the largest share in Vietnam’s retail market by value: mobile phones, consumer electronics, and groceries, through the successful operation of the Thegioididong.com, Dienmayxanh.com, and Bachhoaxanh.com websites.
Vietnamese doctors have successfully transplanted six organs from one donor to four patients for the first time.
Tran Binh Giang, head of Hanoi-based Vietnam-Germany Hospital announced on December 24 that the donor was a 40-year-old brain dead patient. According to his family, he had expressed the desire to donate organs to hospitals when he was still healthy.
His organs, including two lungs, two kidneys, a liver and a heart, were donated and came to the needy via Ninh Binh Red Cross Organisation and the National Center for co-ordinating Human Organ Transplants. The patient who received his lungs is only 17 years old and was being treated at Bach Mai Hospital in Hanoi. He is diagnosed with the last stage of Pulmonary Langerhans cell histiocytosis and may die soon.
Dr Nguyen Huu Uoc said, “Most of his lungs have been ruined and can’t function anymore. A lung transplant is his last chance to live.”
The transplant was carried out immediately after the organs were taken out at 9 am on December 12. The 14-hour operation is a success and the patient recovered well in the next 10 days. However, his condition is still serious due to deteriorated health. As of December 24, he no longer needed a ventilator.
The patient who was given the heart transplant is a 60-year-old man with dilated cardiomyopathy. He was estimated to be able to live for only one month without a new heart. A 63-year-old woman with liver cancer and a 41-year-old man with kidney failure also went through successful operations.
A 15-year-old boy in HCM City who is in the last stage of kidney failure was also given a kidney in time.
Giang said this was the first time the hospital successfully carried out the lung transplant operation from a brain-dead donor with only Vietnamese doctors. This is also the first time a record number of six organs were taken out from a donor.
“Hundreds of employees worked overnight to take out the organs and started the operations,” he said.
As of December 21, Vietnamese doctors completed 3,200 kidney transplants, 105 liver transplants, 27 heart transplants and three lung transplants. Doctors at Vietnam-Germany Hospital carried out 756 organ transplants.
On February 26, five organs were taken out and two lung transplants were completed at Hospital 103 and Hospital 108.
Complex opens in northern province on December 23.
The Masan Nutri-Science Corporation (MNS) officially opened the MNS Meat Processing Complex at the Dong Van IV Industrial Park in Kim Bang district, northern Ha Nam province, on December 23.
Masan’s chilled meat products – Meat Deli – are officially available on the market and meet the National Standards TCVN 12429: 2018 on chilled meat proposed by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and approved by the Ministry of Science and Technology on October 16.
The opening of the processing complex completes Masan’s integrated meat value chain, from operating an animal feed factory that meets Global GAP standards to high-tech livestock farms in Nghe northern An province meeting the same standards and, finally, the BRC-standard chilled meat technology processing complex. The entire supply and distribution chain ensures that Meat Deli products are brought to consumers fresh and clean.
“We believe that Vietnamese people absolutely deserve to consume international quality products at reasonable prices,” said Mr. Nguyen Dang Quang, Chairman and CEO of the Masan Group. “We have built a complete 3s standard chain from farm to table, starting operations of a pig farm in Nghe An province with total investment of over VND1.4 trillion ($60.1 million) on nearly 200 ha.”
The farm strictly selects healthy pig sources and applies closed pig raising technology according to world standards, so the breeding process minimizes the impact of hot weather in summer and the winter cold on the herd. It also applies Global GAP standards and a food traceability system to provide pork products that are safe, non-antibiotic, without lean substances, and comply with strict controls on disease and biosecurity.
“Today we finished the final piece to complete Masan’s integration of a meat value chain, with a capacity of 1.4 million pigs per year,” said Mr. Quang.
According to Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Xuan Cuong, animal husbandry has major potential in Vietnam but a weakness of the industry is processing and distributing products.
With free trade agreements, in particular the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), to be implemented in 2019, the industry is classified as being weak. “To strengthen the industry in general, especially pig breeding, this is a way to focus on improving the two weakest stages of processing and distribution,” said Mr. Cuong. The opening of the complex, he added, is important and contributes to the development of the industry in the future.
The company currently operates 12 nationwide feed mills operating under Global GAP standards, with total capacity now standing at more than 3 million tons per year.
The naked body of a young Vietnamese woman was found Friday in a house she’d rented in a Malyasian province.
Malaysian police said the body has been sent for a post mortem, but it looked as though the woman had been dead for two or three days, a New Strait Times report said.
The report identified the 26-year-old woman as Nguyen Thi Thuong, who’d rented the house in Seberang Perai Province, around one hour southeast of downtown Penang, for over four months.
Her death was discovered after Thuong’s friend Luong Thi Bac reported her absence to local police after not being able to contact her for several days. When Bac visited the victim’s house, she found the door unlocked but the lights still turned on.
When they entered Thuong’s house, they discovered her naked body sprawled on the sofa. Her face was covered with a towel and pillow, police said. There were blood stains on the floor near the victim, and on the wall near the sofa, the site reports as citing police.
A forensic examination found injuries on her hand and a stab wound on her neck.
Police believe the murderer was an acquaintance of the victim, based on the lack of signs of a struggle.
Last month, a Vietnamese woman, Le Thi My Diem from the central province of Binh Dinh, was found dead with injuries to the neck in her rented apartment in Japan’s Osaka City. She had came to Japan as an internship student. Her death is being investigated.
Travellers preparing for the Tet (Lunar New Year) holiday are facing higher fares and a shortage of tickets, with some flyers having to book late evening flights, or book early or late, to save money on domestic routes.
Thu Ha, who works for a bank in HCM City, had to pay more than VND20 million (more than US$880) for three return flights on Vietnam Airlines to Da Nang for a family reunion during the traditional Tet festival.
Thu Ha will depart three days before Tet and return 10 days after the first day of Tet.
“This year’s airfare is much higher than in previous years,” Ha said.
A man named Vinh from HCM City’s Phu Nhuan District said he paid for a flight at 10am, but it was recently changed to an early evening flight.
Many other passengers were facing the same challenges.
Hung, an air ticket sales agent from Nha Trang City in the central province of Khanh Hoa, said that passengers flying with low-cost airlines were facing the same situation.
Budget carrier Vietjet Air has announced that tickets for its HCM City-Vinh flights between January 29 and February 1 (three days before Tet) have sold out. Tickets on February 3 cost over VND2.8 million.
Similarly, Jetstar Pacific said there were no more tickets on its four daily flights from HCM City to Vinh between January 31 and February 2.
These three airlines have sold out HCM City-Hue flights between January 29 and February 2. However, tickets are still available on these dates for flights from HCM City to Da Nang, Nha Trang and Ha Noi.
Tickets remain available for HCM City-Ha Noi flights during the same period because there were many more flights on this route.
More flights for Tet
The number of air passengers during the New Year and Tet holidays are expected to rise by 11 per cent compared with the previous year, according to forecasts from the Civil Aviation Authority of Viet Nam (CAAV).
CAAV has also asked agencies in the aviation sector to gather resources to meet passengers’ rising demand for transport.
Dinh Viet Thang, head of CAAV, said carriers would add 32 airplanes during the holiday period, bringing the number of aircraft used for domestic flights from 158 to over 180.
Jestar Pacific said the carrier would add 80,000 seats for domestic flights over the period, and will have more flights on the Ha Noi-Can Tho route, using Airbus aircraft.
Vietnamese defender Doan Van Hau is named among five U-21 stars predicted to play well in the upcoming AFC Asian Cup 2019 by the foxsportsasia.com.
Hau, who has won the best young male footballer of the country, was an integral part of Vietnam’s squad that lifted the 2018 AFF Suzuki Cup trophy. The young full-back made seven starts, including in both legs of the final, and also provided one assist.
Hau, who has won the best young male footballer of the country, was an integral part of Vietnam’s squad that lifted the 2018 AFF Suzuki Cup trophy. The young full-back made seven starts, including in both legs of the final, and also provided one assist.
“Just 19 years old, Hau has already cemented his spot in Hanoi’s defence, winning the league this past season, and has earned 10 national caps as well. Vietnam had one of the youngest squads in the Suzuki Cup, and that is set to continue in the Asian Cup as well, with coach Park Hang-seo’s focus on youth,” the website wrote.
Besides Hau, the website also named four young stars including Ahmed Abdul-Ridha of Iraq, who helped his team win the AFC Cup in 2016 and 2017, Jasurbek Yakhshiboev of Uzbekistan, Alex Gersbach of Australia, and Ritsu Doan of Japan.
The AFC Asian Cup 2019 will be held in the United Arab Emirates from January 5 to February 1.
