Wastewater ruining Ha Long Bay

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The UNESCO World Heritage Site of Ha Long Bay in Quang Ninh Province faces severe threat of pollution as only 20% of domestic wastewater is treated before being discharged into the bay.

Most locals do not dare to go out for a swim in the bay’s long beach despite the hot weather since wastewater is being discharged without treatment.

Pham Manh Hung in Hong Hai Ward said he lived near the beach but hadn’t gone out to swim for quite a long time because of foul water and the amount of the rubbish being dumped near the beach. He recently ventured out to the sea but the water still looked polluted. The areas near sewers are even worse since there is the rubbish floating in the black water.

Hung said his house was 10km away from the well-known Bai Chay Beach so some people still put up with the pollution despite being covered in rubbish after a swim.

Tran Xuan Bac in Bach Dang Ward said he felt itchy after swimming in the sea and had to switch to swimming pools which are always crowded. Many people like swimming but are too scared of the polluted water.

According to Ha Long Urban Environment Company, 15.500 cubic metres of domestic wastewater is discharged into Ha Long Bay every day. Of which only 20% is treated under the USD30m project funded by Denmark in 2008.

However, the percentage of treated wastewater is decreasing because of increasing number of apartment complexes without wastewater treatment system.

Quang Ninh Province People’s Committee is completing procedures to borrow ODA loans from Japan for a USD150m wastewater treatment project. Wastewater from Tuan Chau and Viet Hung wards will not be connected to the system because of their location. However, a huge amount of wastewater is being discharged in Tuan Chau since it is the major tourism destination with a huge wharf.

Source: Dtinews

Two hacked customers lose VND200 million in DongA Bank overnight

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Two DongA Bank cardholders confirmed that they are still holding their ATM cards and have never given them to anyone, but VND201 million ($8,855) was stolen from their accounts in the middle of the night.

Nguyen Thi Phuong Thuy (District 12, Ho Chi Minh City) is a client of DongA Bank who had VND86 million ($3,790) withdrawn from her account through an ATM early on June 26.

Thuy said at around 3.30 AM on June 27, DongA Bank sent her several messages informing her that VND60 million ($2,640) has been transferred from her account to three others. A few minutes later, she was informed that another VND20 million ($880) was withdrawn in cash while she was still sleeping.

At 4 AM, another message showed that another VND5 million ($220) was withdrawn from her account. She woke up and found her ATM card in her bag. “I called DongA Bank’s hotline to freeze the account, but it was too late, only VND900,000 ($40) was left on it,” Thuy said.

In the morning, she went to DongA Bank to report the incident that lost her altogether VND85 million ($3,750). The bank told her that money was withdrawn at an ATM machine in Tan Phu district, Ho Chi Minh City, and that they will find out more within the next five days.

Thuy confirmed that she did not share her password with anybody. “A day before, I withdrew VND2 million ($88) from an ATM in Quang Trung Street. And I cannot tell for sure whether any device has been used to copy my information,” she added.

In another case, Doan Thi Ngoc Duyen (District 12) reported to VnExpress.net that she also had money withdrawn from her account at around 3.55 AM on June 27. DongA Bank sent five messages to inform that VND96 million ($4,230) had been transferred (in five installments) to other accounts.

A few minutes later, Duyen received another messages about withdrawing an additional VND20 million ($880) in cash from her account. As a result, she lost a total of VND116 million ($5,110).

She was very worried and made sure that her card was still in her wallet. She called the hotline of DongA Bank to freeze the account, but she was too late as only VND320,000 ($14) was left on the account.

In the morning, she went to DongA Bank to report the incident. The bank identified that the same ATM was used at the same time to withdraw her and Thuy’s money.

The representative of DongA Bank told VnExpress.net that this bank is investigating the incident and is going to respond to the client as soon as possible. Against the trend of high technology crime increasing rapidly in Vietnam, the safety of cardholders is the priority, and the bank would do their utmost to strengthen security for them.

He said that in addition to using skimming devices to copy and forge fake cards, another leading cause of losing money is revealing card information to family members or friends. DongA Bank’s representative recommended customers to keep the PIN codes secret from everyone.

The Ministry of Public Security’s Department of Hi-Tech Crime (C50) showed several methods criminals use to hack bank accounts. The most popular measure is to steal data at ATMs. A set of skimming devices includes an ultra-small camera set up with a sighting on the ATM’s keypad, a card skimmer inserted into the card slot, and a keypad skimmer placed over the ATM’s keypad.

This equipment is used to appropriate the PIN code and card number of anyone using the ATM. Then the criminals create fake cards and will start stealing money via ATM withdrawals.

Another way is when criminals create websites and inform victims via Facebook, Zalo, Viber, and SMS that they won a valuable prize, asking them to sign in on the website and get their prize. Criminals may also act as bank officer to contact cardholders to ask them to provide information (PIN code, card number, OTP code). Thereby, customer should improve their knowledge and be vary of suspicious signs of hi-tech fraud.

Source: VIR

Vietnam’s former central bank official jailed

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A court in Vietnam on Monday jailed a former deputy governor of the central bank for three years, his lawyer said, the most senior banking official put on trial in the Southeast Asian nation amid a crackdown on corruption.

Vietnam’s banking system was rocked in the early 2010s by a string of mismanagement scandals and under-regulated lending, and is still reeling from nonperforming loans. Reuters reported

In 2012, Dang Thanh Binh, 64, and four accomplices were accused of “lack of responsibility”, leading to losses of up to 15 trillion dong ($654 million) at the privately-owned Vietnam Construction Bank, lawyer Pham Van Dam said.

“The trial has ended and Binh and four other defendants were charged with ‘lack of responsibility, causing serious consequences’,” Dam said, without saying if Binh would appeal.

Binh had failed to fulfill his duties and follow the instructions of the central bank and the prime minister, the official People’s Police newspaper said, citing the indictment.

Vietnam Construction Bank, formerly known as Great Trust Commercial Joint Stock Bank, suffered heavy loses and was forcibly taken over in 2015 by the State Bank of Vietnam, the country’s central bank.

“I regret that I did not fulfill the tasks assigned to me by the state, but I and other leaders at the central bank were innocent in our motives,” the paper quoted Binh as telling the jury at his trial.

MobiFone to exit TPBank as part of strategy to focus on core business

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Vietnamese mobile network operator MobiFone plans to divest its entire holding in Tien Phong Commercial Joint Stock Bank (TPBank), targeting to raise $7.14 million from the transaction.

In a disclosure to Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange, MobiFone will transfer its 5.5 million shares, or 0.95 per cent, of the bank’s charter capital to potential investors.

The minimum bid price is set at VND29,510 ($1.29) apiece and the average reference price at within 30 trading days on the stock market. At the price, the mobile network operator is expected to earn at least VND163.7 billion ($7.14 million) from the transfer.

“The transfer of the shares is not intended to raise capital for the company, but only to change the ownership ratio in the shareholding structure while not to change the company’s registered charter capital,” MobiFone stated in the disclosure.

In February, MobiFone sold 33.4 million shares in Southeast Asia Commercial Joint Stock Bank (SeABank), equivalent to 6.11 per cent of charter capital at an average price of VND 9,978 ($0.4) apiece, earned nearly VND334 billion ($14.5 million).

The mobile network operator earlier announced that it would hold the second round of auctions to divest its shares in SeABank and TPBank. If successful, the telco expects to pocket at least VND400 billion ($17.6 million) from the auctions based on the starting price.

MobiFone had previously held an auction to sell its shares in SeABank and TPBank last April as part of its strategic plan to focus on its core businesses.

However, no investor was keen to bid for SeABank’s shares while MobiFone sold only 61 per cent of its offering of 14.28 million shares in TPBank and raised VND77.7 billion ($3.4 million) at that time.

Vietnamese lender TPBank plans to sell about a 15 per cent stake to investors via a private placement and issue 28 per cent of dividend and bonus shares during the last three months of the year.

It expects to raise its registered capital to VND8.5 trillion ($372 million), up from its current VND5.84 trillion ($256.9 million), this year through the shares issuances.

TPBank’s major shareholders include the International Finance Corporation (5%), FPT Corporation (8.68%), DOJI Gold and Gems Group (7.60%), Vietnam National Reinsurance Corporation (VinaRe) (5.14%) and SBI Ven Holdings (4.61%).

By Quynh Nguyen

Source: Dealstreetasia

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Artwork on imaginary rural Vietnam wins regional Signature Art Prize 2018

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Phan Thao Nguyen’s installation about a children-only Vietnam won Grand Prize, while Singapore’s Shubigi Rao and Thailand’s Thasnai Sethaseree bagged the Jurors’ Choice Awards.

An art installation that imagined a rural Vietnam populated only by children won for Vietnamese artist Phan Thao Nguyen the Grand Prize at this year’s APB Foundation Signature Art Prize.

Meanwhile, Singapore’s Shubigi Rao and Thailand’s Thasnai Sethaseree received the Jurors’ Choice Awards, while the People’s Choice Award went to Indonesia’s Gede Mahendra Yasa.

Vietnamese artist Phan Thao Nguyen’s Tropical Siesta installation won the Grand Prize at the APB Foundation Signature Art Prize 2018. (Photo: Singapore Art Museum)

The results were announced tonight (Jun 29) at a ceremony graced by Minister of Culture, Community and Youth Grace Fu at the National Museum of Singapore (NMS).

Given out every three years, the awards were launched in 2008 by the Singapore Art Museum (SAM) and the Asia Pacific Breweries Foundation, and is considered one of the most prestigious contemporary art prizes in the Asia Pacific region. For this edition, it has also extended towards Central Asia.

This year’s winners were chosen from a pool of 15 finalist artworks, all of which will be on view at NMS until Sep 2.

Singaporean artist Shubigi Rao’s Pulp – A Short Biography of the Banished Book. Vol I Written in the Margins, 2014-2016) was one of two Jurors’ Choice Award recipients at the APB Foundation Signature Art Prize 2018. (Photo: Singapore Art Museum)

Nguyen’s grand prize-winning work is titled Tropical Siesta. It comprises two videos and six oil paintings that portrayed an imaginary community, based on 17th-century observations by a French missionary.

SAM senior curator and jury member Joyce Toh described the winning artist’s work as “quiet and deeply poetic”.

She added that “the film pulls the viewer into its enigmatic world – a world governed entirely by children. Even as it explores a number of complex issues in Vietnamese history, the work feels fresh and very much alive”.

“My artwork, Tropical Siesta, is a video installation that explores hidden histories of Vietnam imaginatively through the lens of children. The artwork is not just about historical events, but also how an artist feels and sees a particular narrative, and develops it into the language of painting and video,” said Nguyen.

She added: “Winning the Grand Prize is extremely significant to me. Singapore is a place that has helped me develop and mature as an artist, as I spent a year studying here, and also completed an artist residency.”

For their Jurors’ Choice Awards, Rao presented Pulp: A Short Biography Of The Banished Book. Vol I: Written In The Margins (2014–2016), a mixed-media installation that touches on the history of the destruction of books and libraries. Sethaseree, meanwhile, had created Untitled (Hua Lamphong), a huge collage on canvas featuring Thai Buddhist monks’ robes.

Said Rao: “Winning one of the Jurors’ Choice Awards is truly a validation of my work. I am originally from India and I’ve been living in Singapore for 18 years now – so this work was born out of this cross-national identity, and grapples with what it means to have culture, what it means to lose it, and ultimately what gets retained as cultural capital.”

Thai artist Thasnai Sethaseree’s Untitled (Hua Lamphong) was one of the two Jurors’ Choice Awards at the APB Foundation Signature Art Prize 2018. (Photo: Singapore Art Museum)

The People’s Choice Awardee Gede received the highest number of on-site votes at the exhibition for his Paradise Lost #1, a dense and richly detailed painting depicting everyday Indonesian life and history.

The Balinese artist, however, was unable to personally receive his award, after the island’s airport was closed earlier today due to the volcanic eruption.

The grand prize winner will receive a cash award of S$60,000, while the two Jurors’ Choice Awardees will receive S$15,000 each. The People’s Choice Award comes with S$10,000.

Aside from Toh, the jury panel comprised Mori Art Museum’s Mami Kataoka, Kochi Biennale Foundation’s Bose Krishnamachari, National Gallery of Australia’s Dr Gerard Vaughan and artist-curator Wong Hoy Cheong.

By Mayo Martin

Source: CNA

Vietnam smartphone makers break from Samsung empire

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HANOI – Vietnamese companies, including some that are new to the sector, plan to launch or expand production of smartphones, in a challenge to foreign makers, especially Samsung Electronics, which dominates the market in the country – Reported by Nikkei Asia

Vingroup, the biggest property developer in Vietnam, has announced a plan to produce smartphones starting in 2018, while home electronics maker Asanzo is set to produce 600,000 smartphones in 2018, up 50 times from the previous year.Both peers are using the technology acquired from their experience in original equipment manufacturing to capitalize on the rapidly growing market.

While Samsung has captured nearly half of the smartphone market in Vietnam, local companies will embark on marketing offensives with low-priced models.

Vingroup recently set up VinSmart with a capital of $131 million to break into the smartphone market. The new subsidiary will build a manufacturing plant in an industrial park in Hai Phong, a coastal city in northern Vietnam.

Samsung has created a smartphone production hub in Vietnam by bringing in South Korean, Japanese and other suppliers, some of which have begun providing parts to Vietnamese markers. Technologies needed for smartphone production are being accumulated in Vietnam through such developments as engineers joining local companies.

The smartphone market in Vietnam has been rapidly growing at an annual pace of around 10%, more than doubling sales in 2017 from 2014 to 15 million units. Oppo, which entered the market in 2012, surpassed Apple as the second-largest smartphone supplier in Vietnam in only five years, thanks to such features as advanced selfie functions. Another Chinese maker Xiaomi is striving to expand its market share through a sales tie-up with leading Vietnamese consumer electronics retailer Digiworld.

The company announced a decision last September to manufacture automobiles and is building a plant in the industrial park. The smartphone factory will be set up next to the auto plant.

It will first enter the affordable segment, as it did with its automobile strategy, and later move into products with higher added value, said Nguyen Viet Quang, vice chairman of the group. He suggested that the subsidiary will initially promote inexpensive smartphones.

Vingroup has already tied up with an overseas smartphone maker in a bid to produce low-priced and profitable models. It will in the meantime learn technologies from the partner, according to sources familiar with its strategy.

Asanzo, which primarily produces TVs, will spend 200 billion dong ($8.73 million) to sharply increase its production of smartphones this year. The company entered the smartphone market with two models in 2017 and has since produced a total of only 12,000 units.

In 2018, Asanzo plans to release new models every quarter, hoping to produce more than 600,000 units.

Asanzo is considering releasing inexpensive models, priced at 1 million dong, with simplified functions, said company Chairman Pham Van Tam. Samsung’s handsets are sold in the country in the range of 2.5 million to 25 million dong while price tags for Apple’s iPhone range from 9 million to 30 million dong.

The company chalked up 4.62 trillion dong in sales in 2017, about 90% of which came from TVs. Smartphones contributed to less than 1% of total sales, but the company plans to raise the ratio to 30% in 2020.

Bkav, a leading security software company in Vietnam, put the country’s first domestically made smartphone on the market under the name of Bphone in 2015. As suggested by the name, Bkav had Apple’s iPhone in mind when it released its smartphone as a high-end model priced some 40% lower than iPhones at the time.

While word is circulating that Bkav will introduce a new model this summer, the company has made no announcement yet.

The smartphone market in Vietnam has been rapidly expanding in recent years and an estimated 30 million to 40 million units are in use. In 2017 alone, 15 million smartphones were sold.

Samsung, which produces smartphones in Vietnam, has taken a 46.5% share of the local market, followed by Oppo Electronics of China at 19.4% and Apple at 9.2%.

Vietnamese companies are able to produce smartphones thanks to the presence of Samsung. The South Korean electronics giant began making smartphones in the northern Vietnamese province of Bac Ninh in 2009.

Low-priced smartphones are only a niche market in Vietnam, maintaining a low level of demand, because low-income people tend to buy flip phones.

Even well-known companies struggle in Vietnam, because local consumers are highly selective about their purchases. For example, smartphones offered by Nokia of Finland and Sony of Japan enjoy little popularity in the southeast Asian country.

The future of smartphones produced by Vietnamese companies will depend on whether they can manufacture products having appealing features on top of low prices and attract consumers through social networking services and other marketing strategies.

By ATSUSHI TOMIYAMA

Vietnam manufacturing improves sharply in June

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Manufacturing activity in Vietnam improved to one of the largest extents since the survey began in March 2011. The Nikkei Vietnam Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index, or PMI, rose to 55.7 in June from 53.9 in May. A reading above 50 signals an improvement, while one below 50 points to a contraction in manufacturing activity – Reported by Nikkei

Output and new orders were accelerated amid general improvements in client demand. This led to a record rise in employment and purchasing activity. Record rise in staffing levels was also seen as a result.

“The Vietnamese manufacturing sector appears to be motoring midway through 2018,” commented Andrew Harker, Associate Director at IHS Markit which compiles the survey. “The current growth phase has been extremely positive for Vietnamese workers, with firms taking on extra staff at a record pace during June.”

Beer Is Big Business in Vietnam

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In Vietnam, beer is big business.

Young people fill large, newly built beer halls for drinks after a long day. Foreigners are launching small businesses and making their own beer in the country. Foreign companies from Heineken to Sapporo hope the Vietnamese market will drive their sales growth. At the same time, some investors are looking for the chance to buy Sabeco, Vietnam’s top beer producer.

Beer seems to be popular nationwide, but the government is getting worried. Now government officials are considering ways to restrict advertising for beer.

The Ministry of Health has proposed a measure that would limit ads for beer, which it fears could soon become a threat to public health. The rules would ban roadside signs for beer, ads in films, on shows with children, and on social media.

Vietnam already bans ads for hard alcohol. But in countries that ban ads for beer and drinks known as spirits, drinking is 11 percent lower than in countries that mainly focus on hard alcohol. That information comes from Tran Thi Trang, deputy director of the Ministry of Health’s legislation department.

“Every year, the alcohol companies spend trillions of dong on advertising and marketing,” she was reported as saying. She added that beer manufacturers would not spend so much money if the ads truly failed to bring people to their products. Her comments appeared on the government’s news website.

A man drinks Sabeco’s 333 beer at a restaurant in Hanoi, Vietnam, Dec. 18, 2017.

Excited about beer

It is because of the fact the Vietnamese have developed a new love of beer that the Health Ministry proposed the restrictions on advertising.

In Vietnam, alcohol-related enjoyment is very old – from people who made their own rice wine to the American soldiers who loved 33 Beer, a locally made product, during the Vietnam War.

But today is different, as Vietnamese citizens in peace time have the growing wealth and freedom to drink beer into the early morning. Beer often costs less than a bottle of water.

Policymakers worry that as the drinking culture increases, so will Vietnam’s rates of alcohol-related health problems and drunk driving. The World Health Organization says the country already has a large number of cases of hepatitis B, the main cause of liver cancer.

Industry’s objections

“Beer and alcohol production play an important role in the development of the economy and society, noted Nguyen Van Viet, chairman of the Vietnam Beer, Alcohol, and Beverage Association.

Yet the WHO estimates that damage linked to alcoholic drinks can cost a country anywhere from 1.3-12 percent of gross domestic product (GDP). GDP is a measure of all the goods and services produced in a country over a 12-month period.

Bottles of beer move along a production line at a factory of Saigon Beer Corporation (Sabeco) in Hanoi, Vietnam, June 23, 2017.

Officials aim to balance those costs with the benefits of beer to the economy, investment, and trade. Even Australia credits its beer-related exports whenever officials speak of improved trade with Vietnam, where it has become the biggest supplier of wheat and other products required to make beer.

Regan Leggett is the executive director for thought leadership at Nielsen, which released a report in March on discretionary spending in Vietnam and four other countries. He said beer and treats are not just fun, but represent the way the local economy is growing.

Beer is big business, and some Vietnamese are concerned new restrictions could affect the number of visitors. Trang, however, is not worried.

“If visitors come to Vietnam just because their country controls alcohol use, and Vietnam does not,” then Vietnam needs to rewrite its policies because drinking is an international practice.

Reported by Ha Nguyen

Stocks seen staying negative on investor fears

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The recent volatility of global stocks and the outflow of foreign capital have dampened investors’ confidence in Vietnamese shares in the past few weeks and the troubles are forecast to last into the near future.

The benchmark VN Index on the HCM Stock Exchange gained 0.36 per cent to close at 960.78 points on Friday. VNS reports

The HNX Index on the Hanoi Stock Exchange declined for a fourth straight day, losing 0.83 per cent to end at 106.17 points.

The VN Index and the HNX Index finished the week 2.3 per cent and 5.2 per cent lower than the previous week’s end, respectively.

Trading liquidity on the two local exchanges fell on a weekly basis to some 190.4 million stocks worth VNĐ4.5 trillion (US$197.4 million) being traded in each session last week.

According to analysts, the local market will face further difficulties as investors continue worrying about the rising tensions between China and the US, which could lead to a large-scale trade war between the two largest economies and have negative impacts on global stock markets.

Foreign capital outflow is another concern as foreign investors have kept net-selling Vietnamese shares in response to the appreciation of the US dollar against other currencies after the US Federal Reserves raised interest rates on June 14 and signalled two more hikes will come later in 2018.

The exchange rate between the Vietnam Dong and the dollar has been on rise in the last two weeks, touching a high of VNĐ23,000 per dollar.

Foreign investors last week net-purchased total VND2 trillion worth of Vietnamese stocks, including VNĐ2.2 trillion worth of put-through deals for shares in the media firm Yeah1.

If the net-purchase of Yeah1 was not included, foreign investors posted VNĐ329 billion worth of net selling last week. They net-sold VND594 billion in the previous week.

The risk of a further correction remains high, according to securities firms. The stock market will likely be highly volatile this week.

Sài Gòn-Hà Nội Securities Company said in its weekly report that capital had not returned to the stock market, given the depleting liquidity and high volatility, and it proved investors are cautious and have become less attracted to the stock market.

Low market sentiment kept investors uninterested in buying stocks even though listed firms have released early earnings forecasts for the second quarter of the year and the macroeconomy has remained stable in the first half.

The General Statistics Office (GSO) last week announced the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) was estimated to grow by 8.08 per cent in the first six months. It was the highest six-month growth rate since 2011.

Vietcombank has estimated its six-month pre-tax profit rose 52.7 per cent year on year to VNĐ7.72 trillion, but its shares fell 1.2 per cent last week with low demand.

Declining liquidity has also damaged expectations for the earnings of securities firms such as Saigon Securities Inc (SSI), VNDirect Securities (VND) and HCM City Securities (HCM). The three stocks dropped between 7.3 per cent and 9.8 per cent last week.

Oil and gas (energy) stocks recorded modest gains despite being supported by the increase of crude prices. The US benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) was up 8 per cent last week and Brent crude gained 5 per cent.

Crude prices are forecast to keep increasing this week following US sanctions on Iran and disrupted supply in Canada, Libya and Venezuela. Crude prices are expected to touch $90 a barrel.

The VN Index may continue to settle in the range of 950-1,000 points this week as it has done in the last eight sessions, SHS said.

Technical indicators signalled high risk that the market would fall further in the coming week as blue-chip stocks continued to weaken, according to FPT Securities Company (FPTS). This may be the reason investors have stood aside rather than buying, and they are expected to remain cautious.

Lotte duty free opens 2nd store in Nha Trang, Vietnam

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South Korea’s Lotte Duty Free said Sunday that it has opened its second store in Vietnam at Nha Trang Cam Ranh International Airport as it strives to expand its presence in the Asian market and better serve Chinese and Russian visitors.

The company, a major player in the duty free business, said its new store started operating Saturday as the new passenger terminal at the airport opened for business. It said Lotte has the right to solely operate the duty free store at the airport till 2028. Korea Times reports.

The airport serves the Nha Trang area in the central part of the Southeast Asian country, with both domestic and international flights being offered to users.

The opening of the latest store comes a year after Lotte launched its duty free operations at Da Nang International Airport.

The Cam Ranh store covers 1,680 square meters and handles cosmetics, perfume, watches, fashion items, liquor and cigarettes.

It said South Korean cosmetic brand Sulwhasoo, as well as many labels favored by Chinese and Russian visitors, such as Dior and Yves Saint Laurent, will be sold at its stalls. Data showed that among international travelers using the airport in 2017, 58.9 percent were Chinese nationals and 27.4 percent Russian.

The region, famous for its sunny climate, attracts 2 million tourists annually.
“The goal is to attract Chinese and Russian travelers, with the store expected to generate some 700 billion won (US$628 million) in sales in the next 10 years,” Lotte said. The company said it wants the Cam Ranh store to turn a profit in the first year.

It added that Lotte will strive to become a beloved duty free store in Vietnam by offering excellent service and a wide range of goods to customers.

The company opened its first overseas store in Indonesia in 2012 and presently operates seven outside South Korea, including its latest branch in Vietnam.

By Yonhap

Vietnam drug bosses killed after two-day police standoff

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Two alleged heroin kingpins in Vietnam were killed in a shootout with police following a dramatic days-long standoff at their tunnel hideout in a mountainous northern border zone near Laos, authorities said on Friday.

Deadly clashes with police are extremely rare in the country, which has some of the toughest drug laws in the world. AFP reported.

Major drug busts are common in the areas close to Laos where tonnes of narcotics stream in through the porous borders every year.

Few were as dramatic as the shootout this week that left two cartel bosses and one of their staff dead. Another three dealers were arrested in the operation that also unearthed a large arms cache.

Around 200 police and armoured trucks barrelled into the area in northern Son La province on Wednesday around where the cartel was hiding out in manmade tunnels that were manned by armed guards.

Police and guards exchanged fire in a two-day standoff in the small village close to the Laos border.

“We killed three men in the attacks, two of them the ring leaders,” a Son La police source told AFP, declining to be named.

“Another three men were arrested alive while police confiscated four guns and rifles, three grenades and hundreds of bullets,” the report said.

The bosses, Nguyen Thanh Tuan and Nguyen Van Thuan, were believed to have moved nearly a tonne of heroin in their years running the drug ring.

Police were first tipped off about the cartel in a 2015 bust of 120 kilogrammes of heroin hidden inside gas canisters in the area, according to the Cong An Nhan Dan newspaper, the mouthpiece of the Vietnam’s Public Security Ministry.

Security was tight in the area on Friday as police hunted some members of the cartel believed to have gone into hiding.

Earlier this year police made a record seizure of USD3 million worth of heroin hidden inside tea packets smuggled in from Laos.

The heroin was being transported through Vietnam to a third country, though officials did not say where.

Vietnam is a key transit point in the “Golden Triangle” drug trade, a region that cuts across parts of Laos, Thailand and Myanmar.

The area is awash with drugs including synthetics, much of it pumped out of Myanmar’s Shan state.

This week, Myanmar, Thailand and Laos marked the International Day against Drug Abuse by torching huge stockpiles of narcotics.

Record seizures and arrests of low-level smugglers have become routine. But the capture or killing of cartel bosses remains rare across Southeast Asia.

The United Nations and others called for regional governments to stamp out corruption to stem the flow of drugs, with local police accused of turning a blind eye – or even profitting from – the illegal trade.

Vietnam’s no-nonsense drug laws are some of the most severe in the world.

Anyone possessing or smuggling 600 grammes of heroin or more than 2.5 kilogrammes of methamphetamines could face death.

Jollibee opens 500 stores, bullish in Vietnam

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Jollibee Foods Corporation, the largest Asian food service company, is planning to invest P12 billion this year for the opening of 500 new stores and expansion of its commissaries in order to sustain its strong growth trajectory.

“We expect revenues and profit to continue to at least sustain historical growth rates in 2018 and in the years ahead,” said Jollibee President Ernesto Tanmantiong during the firm’s annual stockholders’ meeting. Philippine News reported

Last year, JFC profits rose 15 percent to P7.09 billion as system-wide sales hiked 15.2 percent to P171.77 billion while first quarter 2018 earnings surged 17.3 percent to P1.8 billion with system-wide sales jumping 19.3 percent to P45.98 billion.

Tanmantiong noted that, “Jollibee is planning to open 500 new stores worldwide.

Of the P12 billion capex, P7 billion will be used for new stores and renovations while P5 billion will be for commissary investments.”

The firm continues to invest in manufacturing plants and its facility in Canlubang, Laguna will increase capacity by 75 percent so it can serve at least 1,000 stores.

Jollibee Chairman Tony Tancaktiong said 250 to 300 of the new stores will be opened in the Philippines while the balance will be opened by its various brands overseas.

For the stores outside the Philippines, the biggest number will be in China and Vietnam.

“Vietnam is growing fast and it has a young population and both Jollibee Vietnam and Highlands Coffee are growing very well,” said Tancaktiong.

He added that “we have an aggressive expansion of Highlands Coffee in Vietnam. Highlands Coffee is already the number one chain in Vietnam and we expect PH to follow.

“We are very excited with Vietnam because it will be a large consumer country because of the population and there is a lot more room to grow,” said Tancaktiong.

UN Tourism ranks Vietnam 7th on their list of emerging markets with 25% growth rate

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Vietnam has been endowed with a vast tourist infrastructure.

Vietnam has received more than 7 million foreign tourists, an average of more than one million 300 thousand per month, and is moving towards the goal of hosting 15 to 17 million in the year. Devdiscourse.com reported

The visits in these first six months exceeded by 27.2 percent the same period of 2017, a sign of the impressive growth rate of the so-called industry without chimneys in the Indochinese nation. According to the General Statistics Office, there were important increases in the markets of the five continents: Asia, 32.7 percent; Europe, 11 percent; United States, 13.5 percent, Oceania, 10 percent; and Africa, 22.2 percent, as per Prensa Latina.

Vietnam has been endowed with a vast tourist infrastructure that in terms of accommodation translates into the existence of more than half a million rooms, distributed mostly in 116 hotels Five Stars, 259 Four Stars and 488 Three Stars. In recent years the country has won several international tourist awards and titles under an intense and intelligent promotion program.

The National Tourism Administration recently announced that from September 25 to October 7, it will carry out new and important actions of this type in France, Spain, Italy, and Germany. As of July 1, in addition, hikers from these four countries and those from the United Kingdom will be exempt from visa.

Last year Vietnam received a record number of 13 million foreign tourists and the aspiration in this is to go from 15 million and approaching 17 million. According to the United Nations Tourism Organization, this beautiful country ranks seventh in the list of emerging markets with an average annual growth rate of 25 percent.

Vietnam expects textile industry to growth at high rate

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The textile and apparel industry has been forecast to have one of the country’s highest growth rates over the next 12 years.

Speaking at the 4th Vietnam Textile Summit 2018 held in Hanoi on Wednesday, Dr Tran Du Lich said he believed the future would be bright. Vietnam News/ANN reported

“Garment and textile is a key economic sector in terms of employment creation and contribution to exports. It creates 20 per cent of jobs in Vietnamese industry,” said Lich.

This sector has the second highest export turnover and occupies the fifth position in the world. Last year saw goods worth more than USD31 billion, exported, representing 10.23 per cent year-on-year increase.

The rapid growth rate was expected to continue this year with an estimated turnover of USD33 billion.

In addition to maintaining traditional markets such as the US, Europe, Japan and South Korea, Vietnamese garment and textile firms have been expanding to new areas such as China, Russia and Cambodia.

It also promotes the development of the cotton fibre industry; petrochemical industry and other textile supporting industries as well as trading, services, and fashion industry.

“The textile industry contributes to the success of FDI attraction policy. FDI accounts for about 60 per cent of apparel and textile export turnover,” he said adding that in the economy industrialisation strategy, the industry played an important role in the economic structure of Vietnam.

However, he said the government policies played an important role to help businesses develop. Vietnam’s vocational training policies in the industry had not been effective and would need further support.

In addition, the government should encourage enterprises to mobilise capital on the stock market. The application of the Decree No 111/ND-CP on supporting industries should be promoted and be included in research budgets, application of new technologies and reduction of corporate income tax.

The government should also encourage the linking of value chains by supporting small and medium enterprises under the Law on the promotion of small-and-medium sized enterprises (SMEs).

Tran Thanh Hai, Deputy Head of the Department of Export and Import under the Ministry of Industry and Trade said new Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) which Vietnam signed or negotiated would benefit the country’s garment and textile sector.

“In the 2018-22 period, the export tax of some products would be reduced to zero, creating new opportunities for the country to increase export added value and promoting the economic growth,” Hai said.

On the other hand, the competitive labour costs and preferential policies would continue to help Vietnam become one of ideal destinations for investors in the sector.

However, Vietnam should continue to compete to maintain competitiveness with countries such as Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Cambodia.

Sharing the ideas, Ven Tran, director of Vietnam Office of Weave Services Limited said Vietnam had experienced strong growth in textile manufacturing thanks to three key advantages as trade barriers are gradually removed.

In addition, Vietnam ranked second lowest in the regions, after Bangladesh. Its global position made it an ideal choice for investors who want to leave China.

However, there were still three main challenges to sustain this strong growth including low productivity, environmental regulation and long lead time, he said.

Long lead time means retailers and manufacturers fail to meet customers’ expectation and managing raw materials is key to speeding up productivity. Material accounts for a half of total lead time and it can even be 70 per cent when it comes to overseas supply.

He suggested the solutions were to set up a common language with supply methods while factoring in risk.

The event co-organized by ECV International and Vietnam Cotton and Spinning Association (VCOSA) aimed to better understand the market, as well as mitigate risks and identify new opportunities. Meanwhile, the summit can also act as a platform for exchanges, communication and mutual assistance.

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