Vietnam is among the top three investment destinations in Southeast Asia for Singapore-based companies in the next two years, according to the latest HSBC study.
The survey, done by the Singapore Business Federation for HSBC, asked 1036 companies about their interest in overseas expansion.
Eighty-six per cent of them are SMEs, defined as those with an annual turnover of S$100 million (US$73 million) or less than 200 workers.
Seventy-six per cent said they already have operations in Viet Nam and 30 per cent of them expect to expand their business in the country in the next two years, a rate exceeded only by Indonesia and Malaysia.
Vietnam’s growing consumer market and overall investment climate are key drivers for future inbound investment, the survey found.
It said 81 per cent of respondents who plan to invest or expand in Vietnam cited potential customer demand in the country, 75 per cent highlighted overall investment climate and 63 per cent pointed to business costs.
Winfield Wong, country head of wholesale banking, HSBC Vietnam, said: “Whilst Viet Nam’s growing consumer base is already well recognised by Singapore corporates, the report shows that many businesses are looking to double down on our demographic dividend.
“Beyond the consumer piece, Vietnam’s manufacturing – whilst already strong – is now entering into the higher-end space. So while many corporates may base their treasury and other back-office functions in Singapore, a lot of revenue-making operations are [carried out in] Vietnam. This is only expected to ramp up with Vietnam climbing up the supply and value chain.”
Partnership opportunities
Most of the Singapore-based SMEs entering or expanding in Vietnam will have or are seeking an in-country relationship. The research found more than 63 per cent of those surveyed had a distributor or joint-venture arrangement in Vietnam.
“Most Singapore-based SMEs recognise that the recipe for success in overseas ventures includes selecting the right local partners and advisers,” Wong said.
“To seize these opportunities, local enterprises need to take a proactive stance, by plugging into the network and actively reaching out to expanding Singapore-based SMEs in advance,” he added.
In 2016 Singapore was the third largest source of FDI for Vietnam, accounting for $2.41 billion.
As of October last year the island nation had invested a cumulative $41 billion, according to the Vietnam Trade Promotion Agency.
Vietnam’s gasoline import structure has seen a huge swing to 95 RON gasoline in 2018 as domestic demand shifts to the grade after the full rollout of E5 92 RON gasoline early this year.
The replacement of conventional 92 RON gasoline with E5, which is 5% blended with ethanol, also turned Vietnam into a regular importer of the lower octane 90 RON gasoline for gasohol blending.
Vietnam rolled out E5 nationwide on January 1 and has been actively promoting its use.
However, more drivers in Vietnam are opting to fill their tanks with 95 RON gasoline instead, trade sources in Vietnam and Singapore said.
“Both motorbike and car owners think that 95 gasoline should be safer for their engines than E5,” a Vietnamese fuel distributor said Friday.
“Consumption of E5 is not as high as expected; [it] accounts for just 50% of the total [sales],” a trade source in Vietnam said.
Previously, conventional gasoline accounted for the majority of gasoline sales and imports as motorcycles far outnumber cars in Vietnam and most of those cars do not require 95 RON gasoline.
The change in the domestic consumption structure created a radical swing in import grades from South Korea, Vietnam’s largest gasoline supplier with a 90% share of its gasoline imports in 2017, according to customs data from the two countries.
During the first half of 2018, about 59% of exports from South Korea to Vietnam were of 95 RON grade, and 23% 92 RON — a sharp reversal from a ratio of 30:70 last year, according to estimates by trade sources.
Average monthly shipments of 95 RON gasoline from South Korea to Vietnam in H1 almost doubled from full-year 2017 to around 1.25 million barrels, while average monthly 92 RON gasoline exports plunged 70% to about 480,000 barrels, according to traders’ estimates.
This year also saw a surge in South Korea’s shipments of 90 RON gasoline to Vietnam, which averaged 400,000 barrels/month or 19% of total imports in H1, presumably for E5 blending. South Korea’s exports of this grade to Vietnam averaged only 17,000 barrels/month in 2017.
“Only majors can blend E5, such as PV and Petrolimex,” a trader in Singapore said. “The rest are focusing on [importing] 95 RON now.”
Motorists now appear to be willing to pay the extra cost in pump prices for 95 RON, which reflects not just the difference in octane, but also tighter specifications.
95 RON gasoline with Euro 4 equivalent specifications currently retails at Dong 21,370/liter (92 cents/liter) and 95 RON gasoline with Euro 3 equivalent specifications at Dong 21,170/liter.
In comparison, the pump price of E5 92 RON gasoline with Euro 2 equivalent specifications is a lower Dong 19,610/liter, or 92% and 93% of Euro 4 and Euro 3 equivalent 95 RON gasoline prices respectively, according to Vietnam’s largest retailer Petrolimex.
Still, ample supply from Vietnam’s 6.5 million mt/year (130,000 b/d) refinery at Dung Quat, which has significantly increased its operating rates since the government slashed the tax on its fuels from 20% to 10% in 2017, and the start of gasoline sales from the greenfield 10 million mt/year refinery at Nghi Son is curbing Vietnam’s requirement for gasoline imports.
Exports from South Korea to Vietnam fell to an average 2.1 million barrels/month in H1 from an average 2.3 million barrels throughout 2017.
Petrolimex has not issued any tenders seeking spot gasoline since Nghi Son refinery started selling gasoline cargoes to domestic distributors in May.
The refinery can produce up to 46,000 b/d of Euro 4 equivalent gasoline at full capacity, according to official data. This comprises 92 RON gasoline not blended with ethanol and 95 RON gasoline of Euro 3 and Euro 4 specifications, according to trade sources in Vietnam.
But trade sources in Japan — where two of Nghi Son’s four joint venture partners are from — believe the refinery’s operating rates will not ramp up to a reasonably high level until next year. The reason for this was not clear.
However, it could explain why Vietnam’s gasoline imports did not plunge in May and June. The country received 290,454 mt in May and 318,260 mt in June, largely in line with the monthly average of 305,000 mt over H1, Vietnam’s customs data showed.
Separately, Dung Quat refinery may have to export Euro 2 equivalent gasoline if domestic demand for the grade falls below its output, a source close to the refinery’s parent company, state-owned PetroVietnam, said earlier this year.
The refinery currently cannot produce Euro 4 equivalent gasoline. Its gasoline has sulfur levels as low as 150 ppm, though other parameters are unclear.
Its expansion and upgrade, which will enable it to produce up to Euro 5 equivalent gasoline and gasoil, is expected to be completed around 2022.
Google now handles more than three billion searches a day.
The vast majority are for complete words or phrases. But premature pushes of the enter key mean many end up being for single letters too.
Most of us simply go back and try again.
But some of those unique-character searches throw up intriguing results and serve as a snapshot of popular culture.
So, we went for a run round the alphabet to see who or what the search giant associates with each letter.
The results were sourced from queries made via an anonymous Google UK Search, ignoring ads, recent news stories and dictionary/wiki-based results.
They were carried out via a browser cleaned of cookies and other tracking data.
Your own personalised results may differ, and the ever-evolving nature of the web means some may have changed in the period between writing and publication.
Ali-A – YouTube channel
More than 14 million people follow the British video-maker’s YouTube channel, in which he shows off his gaming skills.
The popularity of his Call of Duty videos led to him being awarded several Guinness World Records in 2015, but these days you’re more likely to find him blasting and dancing his way through Fortnite.
B – a smart digital banking service
Clydesdale Bank’s app makes the most of its compact name, beating BBC iPlayer into second place in the UK.
But the same search in much of the rest of the world yields the B Corporation’s impact assessment test. The non-profit organisation measures how socially and environmentally responsible other organisations are, and awards them a certificate if they get a high enough score.
C – the programming language
This guide to the four decade-old coding language comes courtesy of the GeeksforGeeks website.
It’s the place to go if you want to learn the difference between function prototypes and _Noreturn function specifiers.
D – another programming language
Wired magazine described D as the “next big programming language you’ve never heard of” four years ago.
It’s probably safe to say most of you remain untroubled by its existence.
But a recent survey indicated that it’s currently the 23rd most commonly-used type of code. And some big-name firms are listed among its users including Facebook, Netflix and eBay.
E! News
NBCUniversal’s celebrity-obsessed news service trumps eBay for the top spot in the UK and most of the world.
But Google’s Estonian search results are an exception.
There the country’s native e-Estonia portal takes precedence, inviting locals and foreigners alike to sign up for a government-issued e-residency ID.
Facebook
Inevitably, the people-connecting and sometimes data-leaking social network tops the list.
Bearing in mind that the only countries the platform is currently banned in – China, Iran and North Korea – are also ones without a local Google Search, its dominance of the letter F is complete.
Google
It’s no shock that Google claims the G title.
But perhaps what is surprising is that G-Technology – one of hard disk-maker Western Digital’s brands – comes second.
That puts it ahead of Google’s own G Suite of apps, including Gmail.
@halsey
The US pop star’s one-letter Twitter account helped place her in this list.
The 23-year-old rose to fame via self-recorded songs and videos posted to social media ahead of the breakthrough track Closer.
Curiously, her ex-boyfriend is the rapper G-Eazy – seen on the left in the image above – whose Instagram account ranks highly for “g” in Google’s US-based results.
I – music video
The YouTube promo for Kendrick Lamar’s Grammy-winning song takes the vowel’s top placing.
The stylish video – which features a cameo by funk pioneer George Clinton – has been viewed more than 67 million times since its 2014 debut.
J Cole – YouTube channel
The American hip hop star’s contraction of his first name – Jermaine – has worked in his favour in the UK.
But elsewhere in the world, Samsung’s Galaxy J phones, Japan’s J1 football league and the Colombian reggaeton singer J Balvin lead the way.
K – YouTube music video
The band behind this song – Cigarettes After Sex – is known for a sub-genre of music known as “dream pop” or “shoegazing”. And K’s slow beat and ethereal vocals certainly deliver on that promise.
“Listening to this song while it’s raining, looking out of the window towards the cold dark damp forest,” reads one comment below the YouTube clip, which seems like the perfect environment to be swallowed up by its mood.
L-com cables
This North Andover, Massachusetts-based firm is one of the list’s more obscure entries. But if you’re in the market for data cable components it offers quite the choice.
More curious is an entry close behind: the Twitter account @L.
Its profile image of Pooh Bear is accompanied by the description: “Go Away. Please. I want to be alone.”
M Restaurants
While the Gaucho chain of steak restaurants sinks into administration after over-expanding, one of its former managing directors is taking things slower with this new brand, which is currently limited to three locations.
Switching over to Google’s Russian service, a search for the same letter yields Mail.ru – one of the country’s biggest tech firms.
Its bare bones home page resembles that of Yahoo from yesteryear, but the firm is a powerhouse that also owns the nation’s two biggest social networks: VKontakte and Classmates.
Netflix
Netflix is arguably the biggest tech success story of the past decade. But it could all have been very different.
Its former marketing chief Barry Enderwick revealed a while back that when it originally planned to move into video-streaming, the intention was to do so via its own set-top box.
“In 2007, we were so far down the path with the Netflix-branded streaming device that we were shooting promotional videos for it,” he revealed.
“Then the handbrake was pulled – and hard.”
Instead Netflix opted to stream its service to others’ hardware, and recently temporarily overtook Disney to be the world’s most valuable entertainment company.
O – Cirque du Soleil’s aquatic show
The Canadian circus water-themed spectacular turns 20 later this year and remains one of Las Vegas’s most popular attractions.
Cnet took a deep dive into the tech underpinning the show last year, revealing that its 75 performers are outnumbered by 122 technicians behind the scenes, most of whom are certified scuba divers.
Android P – developers page
Will it be Popsicle, Pistachio, Pancake or – and admittedly this is a long-shot – Pontefract cakes?
Google likes to keep the sweet-themed names of its new Android operating systems under wraps until their release dates. But many of the features have already been confirmed, including device-usage feedback and improved battery life.
Q Magazine
The music magazine pre-dates its movie-themed stablemate Empire by several years, but these days Q’s print edition lags a long way behind in terms of circulation.
Even so, the fact it has survived more than 31 years, well into the digital age, is an achievement in itself. Melody Maker, Smash Hits, Select and NME’s physical edition all folded on its watch.
Its high Google placing, however, is the result of a twist of fate. The original intention was to call the magazine Cue – as in “cue the music” – but its founders reportedly feared it would be mistaken for a snooker publication and opted for the letter instead.
The R Project for Statistical Computing
Somewhat confusingly, the R Project’s programming environment is based on the earlier S computing language and can run much of its code unaltered.
In any case, it is targeted at statisticians and others involved with data analysis, who prefer to do their work by writing functions and scripts rather than clicking their way through Excel spreadsheets.
Astrid S – BBC Music
Singer-songwriter Astrid S got her break on a Norwegian TV music competition – Idol: Jakten på en superstjerne – in which she came fifth in 2013.
More recently, the 21-year-old topped her home country’s singles charts with Think Before I Talk, though she’s better known abroad for providing vocals to Blonde’s Just For One Night.
While she can claim S for her own in the UK, in Norway she’s placed much further down Google’s results behind Tesla’s Model S car and a video of Sia singing about the letter S on Sesame Street.
Twitter
The tweet-filled social network takes top spot for the 20th letter of the alphabet.
And for double points, the owner of its @T account is Tantek Celik – a Turkish-American computer engineer who helped develop the Macintosh version of Microsoft’s Internet Explorer.
U – ‘The Unbank’
“U is not a bank,” its website declares, just in case there’s any doubt about what being an “unbank” involves.
“You get all the benefits you’d expect from a bank,” the Yorkshire-based firm then adds, before clarifying in its small print that it doesn’t offer overdrafts.
Over on Google Japan, a search for the same letter brings up U-Next, which claims to be Japan’s biggest on-demand video service with themed sub-sections including “flashy police action” and “women who love bad guys”.
V – 1980s TV series’ IMDb page
The top-ranking entry for V – courtesy of Amazon’s Internet Movie Database (IMDb) – is for the original 1983 sci-fi mini-series rather than the 2009 reboot.
The story centred on lizard-like aliens attempting to take control of Earth and had been inspired by the anti-fascist novel It Can’t Happen Here.
The same book has also inspired some liberal commentators to criticise the presidencies of George W Bush and Donald Trump.
W – Luxury hotels
There are now more than 50 locations in Marriott International’s premium hotel brand, which targets the wealthy young.
The chain now has Africa in its sights with openings planned in Egypt and Morocco.
But it also abandoning its original Lexington Avenue spot in New York, with critics suggesting the hotel is “no longer unique or trendy” and would probably cost too much to upgrade.
Apple iPhone X
Apple’s top-end smartphone is now outsold by the second-rung iPhone 8, if market analyst reports ring true.
But the handset proved a sizeable chunk of the public were willing to spend £1,000 on a phone, and made the “notch” a thing.
Now, there’s just the matter of what to call the successor… the X2, XI or Y? Presumably XS might be too close to the bone.
YouTube
YouTube’s chief recently revealed 1.9 billion people log in to view at least one video a month on the platform. Many of them, of course, watch a lot more.
Despite this, many of its clips have never been watched at all. You can help address that via this site, which serves up YouTube’s previously unclicked content.
Z Hotels
This chain is much lower down the luxury scale than W Hotels, but it’s also a lot more affordable. Just don’t expect a lot of space around your bed.
In much of the rest of the world, Jay-Z’s video for his song Legacy takes the top spot. Which seems like a decent pay-off with which to leave you.
The My Parking app, which collects automobile parking fees via drivers’ smart devices, will be used on 23 streets in HCM City beginning on August 1, according to the HCM City Department of Transport.
The app was developed by the city’s transport department and Viettel Telecom, and has been piloted on Le Lai, Phan Boi Chau and Phan Chau Trinh streets in District 1.
The 23 streets include 13 streets in District 1, four in District 5 and the rest in District 10.
Car owners must download the app on their smart devices so they can find and book parking spaces through the app.
City authorities have completed camera installation on the 23 streets. The cameras will record the number of vehicles, their parking duration, and the number of parking slot available. The information will be relayed to a data processing centre and then sent to the user.
The My Parking app, which collects fees via drivers’ smart devices, will go into effect on August 1 on 23 streets in HCM City.
The department has directed People’s Committees in districts 1, 5 and 10 to post supervisors at these parking areas.
In addition, HCM City has approved higher parking fees for automobiles that park on streets in districts 1, 5 and 10.
The new parking fee will be calculated by the hour. Vehicles are currently charged a maximum of VND5,000.
The fee will be VND20,000-25,000 (US$0.88-1.1) per hour for the first and second hour, VND25,000-30,000 for the next two hours, and VND30,000-35,000 from the fifth hour onwards.
Overnight parking fees will cost VND150,000-180,000 ($6.5-7.8).
Vietnam is highly appreciated for protecting both cultural heritages and intangible cultural heritages, as well as actively participating in building UNESCO’s policies on World Heritages and sustainable development, however, Vietnam is facing many large challenges in preserving the heritages.
UNESCO has identified these challenges at a conference held in Hanoi on the protection and promotion of the values of Vietnam’s heritages for sustainable development, affirming that UNSCO will provide concrete support to Vietnam.
Concerns on livelihoods for indigenous communities
According to UNESCO, some of Vietnam’s heritages are facing the challenge of stabilising the lives of indigenous communities. Chief Representative of UNESCO Office in Vietnam Michael Croft said that the recent recommendation of the UNESCO World Heritage Centre for the World Heritage site of Ha Long Bay, made mention of concerns on resettled communities in Ha Phong ward since June 2014.
While there is no report on the post-resettlement situation, the Quang Ninh province’s report in 2016, through the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, noted that certain households were experiencing difficulties in adapting to the new habitat, while they are returning to the Bay for “illegal activities “.
The reasons reflected by the people are a lack of public infrastructure, such as markets and schools being located far away from resettlement sites, fishing ports, boat docks (12 kilometres).
The same situation has occurred in Phong Nha – Ke Bang, which is a natural world heritage with typical ethnic minority groups that have lived through generations in the forested core zone.
These groups, including the Ruc ethnic minority, are at risk of being separated from the social development rhythms due to strict protection regulations that prevent them from accessing caves and collecting forest products, while they are finding it hard to find a position in the tourism value chain.
According to UNESCO, the recent programmes targeting ethnic minorities, who are the most vulnerable, have not taken into account the sensitive cultural approach that is leading to the erosion and risk of diversification of culture, especially as a consequence of resettlement projects.
Tourism in Phong Nha – Ke Bang is growing, but the people are at risk of being isolated from the pace of social development and losing their traditional livelihoods, while having almost no opportunity to benefit from the heritage income.
Pressure from development and modern life
Hoi An is the most typical example of this pressure. The demand to develop a modern city, tourism and infrastructure creates pressure for Hoi An. Michael Croft estimates that the rise of construction works in the buffer zone located very close to the old town, and the rapid growth of hotels and infrastructure around the town, overloaded transportation and a lack of coordination of functional forces put a heavy burden on the core zone of heritage.
Recently, during construction of the Hoi An Impression Theme Park, the public expressed concern over how the project directly affects area I – the strict conservation area, and also impacts the flow of the Thu Bon River. Although the work is known to have been included in the plan, this also shows that even the planning must be consistent with the actual conditions of the heritage.
Also related to the demand to develop tourism, the illegal walkway construction in Cai Ha Mountain in Trang An (Ninh Binh) also raised concerns for UNESCO. Although UNESCO has highly appreciated the timely action of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism in dealing with this incident, UNESCO still recommends empowering the World Heritage Committee and to be more actively engaged in providing guidance as well as dialogues with both the private sector and the local people to improve law enforcement and prevent similar violations in the future.
According to UNESCO, although the Hue imperial relic site’s development pressure is less severe, UNESCO has proposed that it is necessary to build a landscape management plan, because the value of the heritage is not only in the individual heritage elements, but also in the relationship of the statue and feng shui, that reflects the unique philosophy of Vietnam, emphasising the harmony between humans and nature.
UNESCO also recommends the need for specific guidelines, with an approach basing on heritage preservation principles. Michael Croft affirmed that UNESCO is not just an advisory body but will continue to have specific support for the preservation of heritages in Vietnam.
Vietnam Entertainment Fund (VEF) – founded by Yeah1CMG, R&B Capital Group, Surfing Holdings, MBC Studio and Green International – has launched with a capitalisation value of $50 million, targeting medium- and long-term investments in the entertainment sector. This is the first open-ended fund, an investment holding company, focused on entertainment sector in Vietnam.
The five shareholders own 20 per cent each in the vehicle.
The fund, established in consultation with VinaCapital Fund Management, will operate to maximize profits for investors by increasing the capital value and dividend yield from initial investments, such as with intellectual property assets of films and fixed assets.
“It will contribute 5-45 per cent of investment capital in each film project, depending on producers’ demands,” said VEF’s CEO Nguyen Cao Tung.
According to its plan, the fund will invest in 30 A-class film projects and 20 B-class projects, purchase all films released in the 2013-2017 period, advertise projects in 40 cinema complexes by 2020, and own a new cinema complex by 2022.
It will not participate in production but provide support in capital, media and marketing consulting for film producers.
The fund sets a minimum income growth plan of 8 per cent per year and a maximum of 10.5 per cent per year for the 2018-2019 period, and minimum revenue growth of 10.5 per cent for 2020-2022.
Other financial benefits for investors include the right to buy preferred stocks at the time of issuance, as well as stock value expecting to climb at least five-fold on the initial investment after three years. Its goal is to invest in an average of 20 film projects each year.
VEF will look at an initial public offering (IPO) five years after its establishment.
The Vietnamese movie industry is estimated to generate a revenue of VND2.3 trillion ($98.9 million) per year with a growth rate of 25 per cent, according to a report.
The movie and entertainment scene in Vietnam has witnessed quite a few deal-related developments in recent months. South Korea’s largest multiplex cinema chain CJ CGV aims to list its Vietnamese arm CGV Vietnam on the Korean Stock Exchange to raise fresh capital to strengthen its leading position in the Southeast Asia market, Korea’s Pulse News reported.
Earlier, Vietnam-based media company Phuong Nam Cultural JSC proposed to sell its 12.5 per cent stake in CGV Vietnam, which operates the country’s largest multiplex cinema, CGV to real estate developer Black Diamond Investment JSC.
Yeah1CMG, a shareholder of VEF, is a subsidiary of DFJ VinaCapital-backed entertainment group Yeah1 which was traded in Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange at the reference price of VND250,000 ($11).
NextTech has announced a comprehensive cooperation with 12Trip.vn to dominate market share of online payment in tourism.
Accordingly, customers can easily find cheap airline tickets, save and export their booking code on their cell phones or clicking through website without any price changing until the end of the payment. Free cancellation and other online check-in services are also provided.
12Trip has the largest database in Vietnam with nearly 2 billion hotel rooms and airfare of more than 600 domestic and international airlines, coupled with many special features appearing for the first time in Vietnam such as 0% interest rate within 12 months.
With nearly 2 million hotel rooms connecting with Booking.com database, 12Trip offers cheaper prices with better service for customers. Browsers’ information is also completely confidential with modern payment technology provided by NganLuong.vn.
According to Mr. Ngo Van Quan, CEO of 12Trip, the demand of tours information in Vietnam is increasing sharply in recent years. Online travel is predicted to reach USD9 billion by 2025 with the growing speed up to 50% annually. 80% of market share, however, may be possessed by foreign enterprises. With the strategic cooperation with NextTech, 12Trip sets an aim to account for 10% of online payment in Vietnam’s tourism sector for the next 3 years.
Officials in Vietnam’s capital Hanoi decided to vote unanimously on July 4 to ban motorbikes in attempt to combat pollution and traffic congestion. In a city where it is hardly possible to swing a dead cat without hitting a motorbike, the plan might come as a shock – from a view of Dung Phan (Culture Trip‘s contributor) on the issue
It was not just a coincidence when Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie spent Thanksgiving in Vietnam, they decided to rent a scooter for shopping and sightseeing in Ho Chi Minh City. Hopping on a motorbike, squeezing yourself in the chaos of the bustling, traffic-clogged streets can give you a chance to glimpse the real character of the city, way more revealing than any museum or guided tours.
“I traveled across the country on a motorbike and it gave me memories I will remember for life,” recalled Aleks Robert, a Bulgarian traveler to Vietnam for two months. “For me, the scooter is one of Vietnam’s symbols.” That amusing and interactive side itself can well explain why there is an increasing number of motor tours in most cities and private services for renting scooters or bikes.
However, the decision to ban motorbikes was recently approved by 95 out of 96 city councillors. A report found an “alarming” increase in motorbikes regarding Hanoi’s environmental concerns and severe road congestion. “The ban will be implemented in metropolitan districts and public transport options would be increased to wean people off their scooters”, the report says. The effort is supposed to modernise the city as seen in Seoul or Tokyo, which can also be associated with HCMC’s recent pavement clear-up projects to create an orderly “little Singapore.”
In a country where there are five million motorbikes in proportion to its population of about seven million people, a motorbike presents something more than just a staple means of transportation. People do everything with their motorbikes: carry a pile of goods or a group of four people on a motorbike; sleep on a motorbike, “walk” a dog along a motorbike, sit on a motorbike nearby the riverbank on a date…
Especially for Hien Nguyen, an office worker who commutes daily by motorbike, it provides an insight into Vietnamese behaviours and their mindset. “Look at the hectic, non-stop flow of traffic. People have to be quick, flexible and mostly acting upon their habits. No one has time to think, looking back or forwards, which can explain why they rarely think of anything in a long term,” Nguyen said.
The ban, however, does not include cars. While it mainly aims to boost the number of people using public transport as opposed to the current 12%, some residents at least are having a different plan. “I am not too concerned about the ban. By 2030, I think I save up enough money to afford a car,” said Hanoi resident Hoang Xuan Huong.
According to a report from Dtinews, the accident involving a wedding party which killed 13 and left four others in critical condition on July 30 might have been caused by the sleepy coach driver
Lieutenant Colonel Phan Thanh Hong, deputy head of the traffic police department in Quang Nam said the conclusion was made after gathering evidence from the scene of the accident and taking statements from the truck driver.
According to the truck driver, he was driving at 2.10 am when he saw the coach on the opposite direction from 30-50 metres away. The truck driver slowed down and ran toward the side of the road but the coach rammed into him.
Vice Chairman of the National Traffic Safety Committee Khuat Viet Hung said that the truck was driving at 51km/h. The speed of the coach hasn’t been confirmed.
Minister of Transport Nguyen Van The also arrived at the scene and visited the victims. “This is a straight road with street lights and signs. Initial evidence also points to the coach driver falling asleep at the wheel. He was also not a long-distance driver. The groom’s family hired a driver at their hometown for a long overnight trip,” he said.
Minister of Transport Nguyen Van The speaks with the media about the accident on July 30
The said the authorities would tighten management over contracted car services.
Nguyen Van Thuong, a local in Quang Nam, said he heard a loud bang at around 2 am. The locals helped the authorities carry out the bodies and bring the wounded to the hospital. Dinh Van Thu, chairman of Quang Nam Province said he had sent out all ambulances to the scene and help bring the bodies of the victims to their hometowns.
The accident happened at 2.10 am when a coach which was carrying a wedding party with 17 people from Quang Tri to Binh Dinh Province collided with a container truck in Quang Nam. Ten people in the coach including the groom died on site, three died while being treated at the hospital, while four others were in critical condition. The truck driver has minor injuries.
Foreign investors, mostly from Asia, continue making serious investments in Vietnam’s real estate sector.
Japanese Hinokiya and Vietnamese TWG are moving ahead with a plan to set up a joint venture to develop real estate projects in Vietnam after signing a cooperation agreement on June 22.
According to TWG’s CEO Le Cao Minh, the first project to be co-developed will be a Japanese style housing project in HCMC, covering an area of 9.7 hectares.
In mid-May, BW Industrial, a joint venture between Warburg Pincus and Becamex IDC, presented before the public. With initial capital of $200 million, of which 70 percent is from the foreign partner, BW Industrial plans to provide modern storehouses, ready-made workshops, and industrial properties.
Warburg Pincus’ CEO Charles R. Kaye said many foreign investors are coming to Vietnam because of high growth rate. He believes that industrial real estate and logistics markets will have a big impact on economic growth, noting that there are now many foreign investors relocating their factories to Vietnam.
According to the Foreign Investment Agency (FIA), FDI into the real estate sector is increasing steadily with $5.5 billion worth of capital registered in the first six months of the year, which accounted for 27.25 percent of total registered FDI capital.
The committed investment capital is higher than the $3.05 billion in 2017, which accounted for 8.5 percent of total FDI capital of the year.
Meanwhile, investors are targeting many different market segments, including housing development, industrial production, retail premises, offices and tourism real estate.
FIA noted that many large-scale projects have been registered recently. In late March, Amata Vietnam received a license to develop an industrial city in Quang Ninh covering an area of 714 hectares.
Most recently, South Korean investors got a license to build the Lotte Mall Hanoi project, a complex of shopping mall, hotel, office building and condotels, capitalized at $600 million.
However, the project is small compared with the Smart City project in the communes of Hai Boi and Vinh Ngoc of Dong Anh district in Hanoi. The mammoth project has investment capital of $4.138 billion, registered by a Japanese corporation.
Meanwhile, the M&A market has become very busy. Nomura Real Estate has acquired 24 percent of ownership in Sunwah Tower, an A-class office building with usable area of 20,800 square meters in the central business district 1 in HCMC.
After taking over a 0.9 hectare project in Tay Ho district in Hanoi, CapitaLand will expand its investment portfolio with 12 projects to develop residential quarters, one integrated complex, and 21 serviced house blocks in six cities of Vietnam.
The Vietnamese Prime Minister has decided that the country will export no natural ores or minerals until 2035.
The decision is contained in his approval of a $400 million investment plan for mineral exploration and exploitation for the 2025-2035 period.
It also says that specific policies regarding the exploration and exploitation of minerals like gold, copper, nickel and molybdenum will be completed soon, but stresses that these activities have to comply with all environmental and labor safety regulations.
The 11-year plan aims to produce more than 146,400 thousand tons of gold ore; 216,000 tons of copper ore; and 103,000 tons of nickel ore. It splits the $400 million investment into $164 million for gold, $122 million for copper and $92 million for nickel and other minerals and elements.
The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment will be responsible for reviewing and directing project investors on implementing this plan. It will also deal with all illegalities detected under the nation’s laws.
Singaporean businessman Neo Gim Siong Bennett will take over as general director of Sabeco (code: SAB) as of August 1, 2018.
The Board of Management of Saigon Beer-Alcohol-Beverage Corporation (Sabeco) has just announced who will take the positions of chairman and general director for the period 2018-2023.
Neo Gim Siong Bennett, former deputy general director has been appointed as general director and the second legal representative of Sabeco, replacing Nguyen Thanh Nam, who was appointed by the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) one year ago.
Born in 1946 in Singapore, Neo Gim Siong Bennett studied at Singapore’s Nanyang University before gaining 22 years experience working in the sectors of beer, oil and gas, maritime, and supply chains across Asia, the United States, and the United Kingdom.
Thai Beverage first proposed to the MoIT to appoint Bennett as general director of Sabeco in April 2018, however, at that time the proposal was not approved, and he became deputy general director instead.
Bennett is also chairman of Saigon Beer Trading Company Limited, established last week with VND10 million ($440) in charter capital, and chairman of Chuong Duong Beverages JSC (code: SCD), a subsidiary of Sabeco.
Meanwhile, Koh Poh Tiong will continue as chairman of Sabeco’s Board of Management, and the first legal representative of Sabeco.
The new appointments are the result of the Board of Management’s meeting which took place right after the annual general shareholders meeting (AGM) on July 21. At the AGM, shareholders approved a new seven-member board of management, including four members recommended by the Thai billionaire Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi namely Koh Poh Tiong, Tran Kim Nga, Michael Chye Hin Feh, and Pramoad Phornprapha.
The three remaining members are Nguyen Tien Dung (chief accountant of Sabeco), Luong Thanh Hai (deputy general director of Saigon Beer Trading), and Nguyen Tien Vy (vice chairman of the Vietnam Beer-Alcohol-Beverage Association).
Earlier, in December 2017, Thai Beverage, the corporation owned by Thai billionaire Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi, acquired 53.59 per cent of Sabeco’s charter capital. Since then Sabeco has targeted over VND4 trillion ($176.52 million) of 2018’s after-tax profit, down 19 per cent in comparison with 2017’s performance. The rate of dividends is expected at 35 per cent, equivalent to that of 2017.
Sabeco has also restructured and removed some of its business sectors, including trade advertising and its domestic and international travel business.
The non-performing loan (NPL) ratio at Viet Nam’s credit institutions has dropped from 3.61 per cent in 2013 to 2.18 per cent currently, according to the Viet Nam Asset Management Company (VAMC).
Deputy governor of the State Bank of Viet Nam (SBV) Nguyen Kim Anh hailed the operation of VAMC over the past five years, saying that the company contributed significantly to lowering the NPL ratio of the entire banking system to below 3 per cent, while supporting enterprises during the debt-restructuring process.
According to VAMC chairman Nguyen Tien Dong, until June 30 this year, nearly VND310.52 trillion (US$13.5 billion) of NPLs were resolved through VAMC, accounting for 40 per cent of the entire banking system’s total NPLs. Of the total, VAMC coordinated with credit institutions to recoup nearly VNĐ100 trillion.
Thanks to the National Assembly’s new resolution on NPL effective last year, the company recouped VNĐ30.85 trillion of NPLs in 2017, equal to nearly two thirds of the total NPLs recouped in 2013-2016, Đông said.
Besides the purchase of NPLs from credit institutions by using its special bonds, VAMC has so far also bought more than VND3.1 trillion according to the market mechanism.
According to Dong, VAMC will gradually reduce the use of special bonds to buy NPLs and increase the purchase according to the market mechanism.
However, Dong suggested SBV increase the VAMC’s charter capital to VND5 trillion by the end of this year and VNĐ10 trillion by the end of 2020 as approved by the Prime Minister in a move to provide it with more capital to buy NPLs according to the market mechanism. Currently, the company’s charter capital is only VNĐ2 trillion.
VAMC plans to recover VNĐ24.89 trillion of NPLs in 2018. It also sets to buy some VND30.5-35.5 trillion of NPLs from credit institutions this year.
The company is also stepping up its auctions of bad debts in 2018. So far this year, it has sold some VNĐ380 billion in mortgages. These include auctioning the properties of the Tan Quoc Duy Steel Company’s property in southern Binh Duong Province, Puzolan Gia Lai Cement Company’s mortgage for a loan at Saigon-Hanoi Bank and bad debts belonging to Kim Son Building Material Production Company at the Commercial Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam. The auctioned Kim Son’s assets, with a starting price of VNĐ8.727 billion, was handed over to the new owner for VNĐ9.427 billion.
Many credit institutions this year also expect to increase their repurchasing of NPLs that they sold to VAMC thanks to the country’s macroeconomic stability and a new National Assembly resolution on NPLs which helps institutions to resolve bad debts through real estate assets. Previously, banks had to sell their debts to the VAMC to keep their NPL ratios below 3 per cent as regulated by the central bank, but they still had to make provision for the debts. In fact, banks have identified the VAMC as a bad debt “landing” as the recovery of the debts at the VAMC is slow. The banks therefore have taken the initiative to handle the debts by themselves.
According to banking expert Bui Quang Tin, credit institutions should be capable of dealing with NPLs, fuelled by the warming of the real estate market as most of these debts have collateral in the form of real estate assets.
The Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) plans to publish a list of e-commerce websites and mobile applications that violate laws and regulations on online trading.
The details of individuals and organisations who own the websites in question will also be published.
Dang Hoang Hai, director of the ministry’s Vietnam E-commerce and Information Technology Agency (Vecita) said there were new forms of online business, as well as rapidly increasing use of social networks, over the past few years.
This was the reason the ministry is building a draft decree on management of e-commerce website and mobile apps to reduce shortcomings in the management of the new online business forms.
Hai said the current Decree 52/2013/NÐ-CP stipulated regulations relating to e-commerce transactions. However, reports from the Departments of Industry and Trade showed that the decree has a number of shortcomings.
The draft decree would require e-commerce websites to register with the ministry.
The websites are those partially or wholly serving the following activities: purchasing and selling of goods or provision of services; displaying and introducing goods or services to contract commitment and service provision, and payment and after-sales service.
Therefore, almost all websites that sell and introduce goods and provide services on the internet are e-commerce websites, which must be registered or notified to the ministry as prescribed by the law.
The draft decree also stipulates that organisations and individuals using e-commerce websites and mobile apps are not allowed to trade in hunting rifles and shotguns, sports weapons; cigarettes, cigars and other finished tobacco products; alcohol of all kinds; and rare wildlife. They have to remove the prohibited products from their e-commerce websites.
In addition, owners of the e-commerce websites are required to have technical solutions to prevent and remove information relating to counterfeit goods, smuggled goods or products and services violating intellectual property rights.
A representative office is not an independent legal entity and hence, may not conduct direct commercial or revenue-generating activities with the execution of contracts, receipt of funds, sale or purchase of goods, or provision of services.
ROs are generally used as a first step for foreign enterprises looking to enter Vietnam. While not permitted to engage directly in revenue-generating activities, ROs are used to provide a wide range of ancillary support to their head offices overseas.
Establishment process
There are four steps that need to fulfilled to set up a representative office and operate legally:
1) Obtain the main license.
2) Submit the chief representative’s income tax and labour declaration.
3) Obtain the operation license.
4) Obtain the representative office stamp
Approval for the establishment of a Vietnamese RO is only granted if the parent company has a certified business registration certificate in its country of incorporation and has been in operation for a minimum of one year since the effective date of incorporation.
An application dossier for a Vietnam representative office license must be submitted to the Provincial Department of Industry and Trade. An RO license, valid for a maximum of five years with an option for renewal, shall be issued within 15 working days of receipt of valid application documents, excluding any time spent amending or supplementing the application.
In general, ROs are allowed to:
Act as a liaison office to oversee the business environment;
Search for trade and/or investment opportunities and partners;
Supervise and assist with the execution of contracts entered into between its head office and Vietnamese partners;
Act on behalf of its head office to supervise and direct the implementation of projects in Vietnam.
Advisory services
GBS – one of the best business law firms in Vietnam with a network South East Asia, Middle East, Japan, HongKong, Malta and Poland – offers simple direct advice to start your operations in Vietnam. They provide the help you need to understand your options, obtain your business license and complete the registration of your Representative Office in Vietnam.
