Nam Long Group, one of the leading housing developers in Vietnam, will put 40 million shares on sale to whip up money for its key projects, one of which is the $341 million Akari City in Binh Tan district, Ho Chi Minh City.
The starting price for Nam Long’s shares will be VND26,500. The group expects to acquire VND1 trillion($43.8 million) from the sale.
Foreign investors can buy a maximum of five million shares, equalling 12.5 per cent of the offered shares.
With the sale, Nam Long becomes the first private firm in Vietnam to conduct a share sale via an auction to increase its charter capital.
Nam Long stated that it will use the money from the sale to invest in its commercial real estate projects and expand land funds in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi.
Most recently, in April, Nam Long signed a strategic partnership agreement with its Japanese partners Hankyu Hanshin Properties Corp. and Nishi Nippon Railroad to develop the Akari City township project.
Accordingly, the two Japanese investors and Nam Long will contribute 50/50 per cent of the total investment of about VND7.676 trillion ($341 million). This will be one of Nam Long’s key projects in the next 3-5 years and the fifth project to be built in cooperation with the two Japanese partners.
According to Steven Chu Chee Kwang, CEO of Nam Long, the company and the two Japanese partners are increasingly tightening relations to create not only homes but also a real estate system where properties for various purposes—commercial properties, schools, hospital, services, and entertainment, etc.—are developed synchronously, offering residential communities high-quality and unique lifestyle.
The project has a total floor area of 539,000 square metres, consisting of 4,600 apartments designed following the standards of Nam Long’s Flora product line, with separate facilities, such as community club, swimming pool, children’s playground, gymnasium, and many other facilities.
Weapons would be exported to third-party nations, said India’s Defense Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
India wants to build armament factories in Vietnam to export to third countries, a military industry meeting heard Wednesday.
The meeting was a part of a series of events organized on the occasion of Indian defense minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s visit to Vietnam.
Meeting with top Vietnamese leaders during her four-day visit that ends Friday, she said India-Vietnam military cooperation doesn’t stop at buying and transferring military technologies.
India looks to set up armament factories in Vietnam for export to third-party countries, she said. She also hoped that Vietnam would become a prime destination for Indian businesses, especially in defense and military sectors.
India’s Defense Minister Nirmala Sitharaman speaks at a meeting in Hanoi on Wednesday. Photo by VnExpress/Vu Anh
Vietnam is strengthening its military cooperation with India as part of its “peaceful” defense policy, foreign ministry spokeswoman Le Thi Thu Hang had said at a press briefing last year.
He also said the two countries were having “open, direct” dialogue regarding military technologies and weaponries.
She was responding to an inquiry about India’s offers to sell a batch of short-range ramjet supersonic cruise missiles, BrahMos, to Vietnam.
Hang said the procurement of defense equipment “was consistent with the policy of peace and self-defense and “normal practice.”
“The bilateral security and defense ties have been making practical contributions to peace, stability, cooperation and development in the region and the world at large,” she said.
India has already supplied patrol vessels to Vietnam and has been providing military training. The BrahMos missiles deal, once finalized, would be the first arms trade deal between the two countries.
Owners of cafés and restaurants across Vietnam have to seek approval from the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) before treating their customers to the 2018 World Cup matches, a senior official of national broadcaster Vietnam Television (VTV) has said.
VTV announced on June 7 that it had signed an agreement to broadcast Russia 2018 matches in the country, just a week before the event kicks off.
Vietnam was the last country to obtain broadcasting rights to this year’s largest football competition, according to FIFA.
As of Thursday afternoon, as the opening of the football fiesta is only a few hours away, restaurants and coffee shops throughout the country were busy finalizing their preparations to let customers enjoy the football games while eating and drinking.
Just like previous World Cup and Euro seasons, managers of these venues would prepare large TV screens or projectors to show the matches that are broadcast live on state television.
However, Nguyen Ha Nam, a senior VTV official, announced on Thursday that such public viewing could infringe the 2018 World Cup copyrights, which belong to the FIFA.
Nam underlined that owners of diners and cafés must obtain approval from the world football’s governing body in order to let customers watch the event live on their premises.
“VTV did not purchase the rights to air the World Cup games in public places, thus individuals or organizations in the country must seek permission from FIFA to do so,” Nam elaborated.
He, however, failed to provide the instruction on how to contact a FIFA representative to ask for their approval.
“We will discuss the matter with [FIFA] and will make further announcements later,” Nam said.
An owner of a beer bar in Hanoi expressed his concern and confusion following the announcement from the VTV official.
“My shop has long been a favorite place for local football lovers to gather during such special occasions as the World Cup,” the owner said.
“I have no idea how to obtain such permission from FIFA.”
Meanwhile, regulations regarding public viewing rights on FIFA’s official website highlighted that “Non-Commercial Public Viewing Event,” meaning the exhibitor does not in any way gain commercial benefit from staging the games, does not require a license.
Public viewing events in commercial establishments such as bars, restaurants, or cafés are considered Non-Commercial Public Viewing Events unless additional commercial activities, namely direct or indirect admission fees or sponsorship activities, take place, according to FIFA.
Facebook and Google will have to install servers in Vietnam from January 1, 2019 as the Law on Cybersecurity comes into effect.
The National Assembly on June 12 officially approved the Law on Cybersecurity with 423 out of the 466 delegates (86.96 per cent) attending the National Assembly meeting in favour of the proposal. 15 delegates disagreed and 28 delegates abstained.
The requirement for foreign firms to install servers in Vietnam is stipulated in Article 26 of the law. Accordingly, domestic and foreign firms providing telecommunications and internet services and value-added services in the Vietnamese cyberspace, have to authenticate and protect users’ information as they register digital accounts.
In addition, the firms have to provide access to users’ information to the agency specialised in cybersecurity (the Ministry of Public Security) and are obligated to support the Ministry’s investigation related to violations of the Law on Cybersecurity.
Domestic and foreign firms have to store data at Vietnamese servers in accordance with the government’s regulations in case of collecting, exploiting, and analyising personal information and the relations of people using the firms’ services in Vietnam.
Finally, foreign firms specialised in cyber activities have to install servers and establish representative offices in Vietnam. The law will come into effect from January 1, 2019.
Thus, from early 2019, Facebook and Google will have to install servers and establish representative offices in Vietnam.
Tran Tuan Hai left his past life as a prison inmate behind to establish himself as a successful businessman by the age of 29.
An ex-con who spent several years in prison has reinvented himself as an entrepreneur in Vietnam, “paying it forward” by creating jobs in his hometown.
Tran Tuan Hai bounced back from a five-year prison stint to take charge of a now well-established eatery, growing the business into a local staple which serves an average of 250 tourists each month and provides a serious boost to the local economy.
Born into a financially-disadvantaged family in Quang Binh, a north-central province in Vietnam, Tran Tuan Hai had no choice but to drop out of school to help support his family.
An attempted mugging eventually landed the young man a five-year prison sentence, the time he spent reading his way through the Dong Son Penitentiary library’s business selection.
“During my time in jail, I sincerely regretted my wrongdoings. But I was still young and had time to turn my life around,” Hai recalled.
Hai was released six months early for good behavior. His next step was figuring out how to move forward.
Imprisonment does not always end when an inmate is released.
For Hai, the joy of freedom was short-lived after the realities of being an ex-convict set in.
Rumors about his past began spreading around town and Hai quickly found himself isolated and looked down on.
Leaving prison was easy, rebuilding his life would be much more difficult.
“If I hadn’t overcome the hatred and scorn, I might have repeated my mistakes,” Hai shared.
Hai knew that his history would make getting a job difficult, but he refused to give up.
In an attempt to take destiny into his own hands, Hai decided to start his own business right in Quang Binh.
Quang Binh is famous for the Phong Nha National Park, a tourist area which attracts hundreds of international and domestic visitors each year.
Taking advantage of the area’s thriving eco-tourism industry, Hai teamed up with two friends to open O O Lake Silence Eatery – a 25-table eatery situated near a small lake at the foot of O O Mountain.
The restaurant attracts an average of 250 tourists each month, provides jobs for nine local youngsters, and brings in enough cash for Hai to feel financially secure.
Hai openly admits, “some people wonder why I don’t hide my past, but I don’t find shame in admitting my background.
“That was part of my life and I’ve left it behind. Now I’m moving forward and it’s time to talk about my future.”
The plan on inspecting motor vehicle emissions, approved by the Prime Minister eight years ago, has yet to be implemented because agencies have not set detailed plans.
Under the plan, the Vietnam Register (VR) has suggested the examination be carried out with 15-year-old vehicles or older initially, and after that, other vehicles will be examined.
The examination will be conducted once every two years in Hanoi, HCM City, Hai Phong, Da Nang and Can Tho. Automobile registration centers will be in charge of the examination.
Three are three options for the examination roadmap. With Option 1, from July 1, 2018, the motorbikes with cylinder capacity of 175 cubic meters and higher will be forced to have mandatory examinations.
With Option 2, the motorbikes with cylinder capacity of 175 cubic meters will begin examination from July 1, 2018, and smaller motorbikes from July 1, 2020 (vehicles with more than 15-year use, registered for the first time prior to July 1, 2005). The vehicles with over 10 years of use will be examined from July 1, 2022.
Meanwhile, from July 1, 2025, the examination will be implemented for motorbikes with more than five years of use.
With Option 3, registration agencies will examine emissions of motorbikes with cylinder capacity of 175 cubic meters and more from July 1, 2018, and motorbikes with 130 cubic meters and more from July 1, 2020.
The motorbikes found meeting emission standards after the examination will be given certificates.
According to the HCM City Police, by early March 2018, the city had 7,493,592 motorbikes and 677,309 cars, a major source of pollution.
Lack of regulations cause delays
Asked why the motorbike emission examination could not be implemented, a representative of the HCM City Transport Department attributed it to a lack of regulations.
In principle, the examination needs to be implemented in accordance with Circular 70 dated in 2015. However, the emission standards stipulated in the circular are very low. They can be applied only to automobiles in circulation, while there are still no regulations for motorbikes.
In addition, Decision No 49 dated in 2011 did not apply to vehicles in circulation.
According to Nguyen Minh Dong, an automobile expert, if the emission controls can be implemented, air pollution caused by motor vehicles could fall from 80 percent to 50 percent in three to four years.
Every morning, Cam Nhung, 14, and her two younger siblings, 12 and 10, walk to their second-grade class at a Catholic convent to study Vietnamese and math. After class, they sell lottery tickets to people on the streets with their mother to supplement the income from their father’s work at a construction site. The family of five lives in a rundown rented leaf house.
However, the children are luckier than others from their community who don’t have the chance to get even this basic education. They are from Khmer minority communities in the Mekong Delta’s Soc Trang Province, one of largest Khmer-populated provinces in southern Vietnam.
Many Khmer people are unable to read or write Vietnamese, and some are completely illiterate. Most do not own land and live in extreme poverty, making irregular incomes of 80,000 dong ($3.50) per day selling lottery tickets or 150,000 ($6.60) per day working construction sites.
Over two decades ago, Sisters of Lovers of the Holy Cross of Can Tho volunteered to educate illiterate Khmer adults at their convent in Soc Trang City to introduce the mostly Buddhist population to Catholicism and help them live better lives.
Sr. Anna Nguyen Thi Huyen, one of the nuns who initiated the program, said at the time, the government had no courses to teach Khmer people to read.
“Some people found our course helpful to their daily life and asked us to teach their children,” Huyen said.
“We also visited poor families and tried to encourage them to allow their children to attend our classes,” she said, adding that under the circumstances Khmer people prefer their children to work and help support their families.
Cam said the nuns’ classes are the only chance she and her siblings get to study.
“We try to learn well here to improve our life because we have no money to study at schools,” she said.
Khmer ethnic people account for over 30 percent of the Soc Trang Province’s population of 1.3 million, and most of them embrace Theravada, a branch of Buddhism. They are served by 1,728 monks and 1,567 religious dignitaries at 92 pagodas in the province, including Kh’leang Pagoda, which was built in the style of Khmer architecture and dates back to 1533.
Fr. Francis Xavier Phan Van Triem of Soc Trang Parish, the oldest parish in the province dating back to 1888, said the parish serves 6,700 Catholics, but only 100 of them are Khmer people. Most of the Khmer people have deep roots in Buddhism, and “it is hard to introduce Christianity to them,” he said: Even Khmer people who have converted to Catholicism still worship Buddhist statues at pagodas.
Huyen said some 40 children from economically disadvantaged families attend the free daily classes at the convent. Most of the students, who are between 5 and 15 years old, are Khmer, and the rest are Vietnamese. Few have government-issued birth certificates, which are required to enter public schools and get health insurance.
From first to third grade, the sisters teach the students, who are between the ages of 9 and 16, manners, Vietnamese, and math. They are offered books, pens, notebooks, clothes and food, which the nuns pay for through donations and their funds for people who live in poverty.
Huyen said some of the children are ashamed that they are illiterate at their ages, when most students are in fourth through ninth grade, and do not want to attend classes.
After class, they go to work — at small restaurants at markets, selling lottery tickets, or begging for money from tourists at pagodas.
Lieu Phuoc and his two daughters pose for a photo in his house. (Joachim Pham)
Lieu Phuoc, a father of four, said all his children are able to read and write thanks to the sisters’ classes. Now two of his daughters, ages 9 and 12, are in second grade. Two older children were in the course earlier but now work to support the family.
“We are too poor to send our children to schools,” said the man, who himself has not finished second grade.
He said he irregularly earns 150,000 dong ($6.60) a day as a bricklayer, and his wife sells lottery tickets. They live in a 20-square-meter house built by the government at a cemetery.
Huyen said in the past, the nuns had government authorities grant students birth certificates and helped good students enter public schools. As a result, some finished high school and college. But in the past five years, she said, local public schools have stopped admitting the sisters’ students because the sisters do not issue official report cards.
“We are persuading government authorities to work with school officials to create conditions for good students to study further,” she said. The nuns also help former students find opportunities to study vocational skills so they can get jobs that are more stable than selling lottery tickets or working construction sites.
She said thanks to the financial support from the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, which also funds Global Sisters Report, the nuns plan to build a new house for children to attend the course, as the old house is in bad condition.
“It is important that education courses are ways of building bridges between the nuns and Khmer people to learn one another’s cultures and traditions and find effective ways to help improve their material and spiritual life,” Huyen said.
She said when students’ parents come to collect them from the convent, they learn and understand the nuns’ life and learn more about Catholicism.
Mary Tran Thi Muong, right, and Sister Anna Nguyen Thi Huyen visit a student whose arm was broken by an accident. (Joachim Pham)
“We have chances to establish close relationships with them,” she said.
She said some Khmer monks invite nuns to attend their ceremonies and festivals, while nuns invite them to attend nuns’ vow ceremonies and Christian feasts.
“We visit and have meals with one another,” she said.
Huyen said the nuns also hired Mary Tran Thi Muong, a Khmer ethnic teacher, because the nuns do not understand Khmer culture well.
Muong, 60, has taught students in the nuns’ classes for 18 years and now teaches her own classes to Khmer children after teaching at the convent in the mornings.
“Inspired by the nuns, I have gathered 30 children from poor families around and teach them basic education at my home in the afternoon,” Muong said.
Muong, a former public school teacher, said she annually builds Nativity scenes at her house, attracting many Khmer neighbors. She also offers food and clothes to her students on Christmas.
She and her two other siblings converted to Catholicism and are active Catholics. They join in choirs and doing other pastoral work and charitable activities.
“We try our best to give basic education to poor children so that they can escape from illiteracy and improve their live in the future,” Muong said. “That is what we can do for our people.”
Kh’leang Pagoda, which dates back to 1533, is pictured in March 2013. (Wikimedia Commons / Bùi Thụy Đào Nguyên)
The PhotoSolver app was created by GotIt!, founded by its CEO Tran Viet Hung.
Users connect the app with a smartphone camera and take pictures of the math questions. The AI (artificial intelligence) of the app will then give exact answers to the questions.
AI will also instruct users to solve problems step by step from start to finish. Users will be able to understand the problems as if they are listening to explanations from teachers.
AI not only can recognize print letters in books, but also handwriting, including poor handwriting.
To test the recognition ability of the app, Hung wrote “x” in two different ways in the same equation. He also wrote number ‘1’ in two ways, including a simple ‘1’ and a number 1 with underlining, but these all could be identified.
Asked how he developed AI for PhotoSolver, Hung said the app would be developed in a way so that AI can teach mathematics.
GotIt! is among the most successful and best known startups in Vietnam. The app for the education sector created by Hung in 2013 has won many awards.
It received $15 million worth of investment from leading investment funds in Silicon Valley.
In mid-2016, local newspapers reported that GotIt!, an app allowing users, primarily students, to pick the brains of experts for ten minutes raised over $9 million in Series A and Seed funding.
Soon after launching, GotIt! added its name to the top apps in the App Store in the US and became a favorite education app.
GotIt! helps connect mentors and learners who can seek help from experts and teachers on GotIt! to solve their questions.
Hung admitted that there are limitations to PhotoSolver. It can only solve formulas such as equations. The questions with long text or unformulated arithmetic problems still cannot be solved by PhotoSolver’s AI.
Like other AIs, GotIt! is still developing, PhotoSolver needs improvement step by step. For example, the chat between AI and users needs to be more lively. When AI solves questions step by step, if users don’t understand something, AI needs to cite knowledge in textbooks to help users understand the problem.
“The problems sound simple, but it will take one year to deal with them,” Hung said.
By that time, PhotoSolver’s AI will not only help solve math problems, but act as teachers or tutors who give knowledge related to the exercises.
OXLEY subsidiary, Oxley MK Holdings Vietnam Company, has subscribed for 49 per cent of the charter capital in MK Thao Dien Company for 19.6 billion Vietnamese dong (S$1.14 million).
MK Development Management Company holds the remaining 51 per cent.
MK Thao Dien was incorporated in Vietnam in August last year, and has been dormant since. The plan is for the company to “undertake property development projects in Ho Chi Minh City”, Oxley said. Its investment will be funded by internal resources.
In a separate filing to the Singapore Exchange, Oxley said that its joint venture company in Vietnam, Oxley MK Hanoi Joint Stock Company, has seen its capital increase from 20 billion dong to 320 billion dong, with additional shares issued to shareholders of Oxley MK Hanoi in proportion to their shareholdings. Oxley MK Holdings Vietnam has a stake of 20 per cent in the joint venture.
In addition, Oxley MK Holdings Vietnam has acquired 2.88 million shares from one of the joint venture partners, Tran, for some 65.96 billion dong. Therefore, its stake in Oxley MK Hanoi has since risen from 20 per cent to 29 per cent.
Vietnam doctor, China environmentalist and India reformer honored. All three made contributions to fighting stubborn ills in their societies
A Chinese founder of an online pollution database, a Vietnamese doctor who brings life-changing treatments to children and an Indian reformer who fights the curse of poor sanitation received awards here on Wednesday recognizing outstanding Asians. Nikkei reports
The Nikkei Asia Prizes are given to individuals and groups in Asia that have made outstanding contributions to the region’s development. This year was 23rd time they were awarded.
Vietnamese doctor Nguyen Thanh Liem, called the father of pediatric medicine in Vietnam, won the prize for science and technology in recognition of his work advancing health care for children.
“We can change the lives of many children suffering from what were said to be incurable diseases in the past,” Liem said, showing a video of a girl with cerebral palsy who is being treated with stem cell transplants and is now starting to walk on her own.
Liem performed Asia’s first laparoscopic surgery on a child. Commonly used on adults, the procedure involves making small incisions in the abdomen, but is more difficult to perform on children because their bodies are smaller, leaving less room to work.
Having learned minimally invasive surgery from French pioneer Philippe Mouret, Liem was determined to “bring pediatric endoscopic surgery to Vietnam” to reduce the need for major procedures that leave serious pain and scars. In 2014, he became one of pioneers in using stem cell transplants to treat serious disorders such as cerebral palsy. He now serves as director of the Vinmec Research Institute of Stem Cell and Gene Technology in Vietnam.
The Nikkei Asia Prizes were created in 1996 to commemorate the 120th anniversary of Nikkei’s main Japanese language newspaper. Past winners include Manmohan Singh, who won in 1997 before becoming India’s prime minister, and Bangladeshi social entrepreneur Muhammad Yunus, who was honored in 2004 and went on to receive the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize for pioneering the concept of microfinance.
Vietnam’s earnings from fresh fruit and vegetable exports rose by nearly 20 per cent in the first five months of this year
Vietnam earned nearly US$1.7bn from exporting fruits and vegetables in the first five months of this year, up 19.6 per cent on 2017, according to Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development figures quoted on Xinhuanet.com.
The website added that the Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trade has accelerated negotiations with some foreign countries to intensify exports of star-apple and mango to the US market; red dragonfruit to Japan; lychee, longan and rambutan to Australia; as well as other fruits and vegetables to new markets.
Provincial authorities in Vietnam’s northern Hai Duong province have plans to export 1,000 tonnes of its unique lychee variety ‘thieu’, the site said
The Thieu lychee trees are grown according to VietGAP or GlobalGAP standards, meeting strict requirements of export markets such as the US, Australia and the EU, as the fruitnet said.
According to Business Standard, Navratna Defence PSU Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) today announced the inauguration of its first “representative office” in Vietnam, by Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
‘BEL is fast expanding its global presence, putting its best foot forward to give a thrust to exports worldwide, especially South East Asian countries like Myanmar, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Philippines,’ the company said in a release.
It said spotting a niche market in Vietnam, BEL hasnow set up its first representative office for addressing export business opportunities and to provide unstinted product support and services to users in the region.
This office will aim to promote BEL’sexports in areas such as weapon systems, radar systems, navalsystems, military communication systems, electronic warfaresystems, combat Management system and coastal surveillancesystem, it added.
Sitharaman today symbolically handed over the key of the representative office to Gowtama M V, Chairman & Managing Director, BEL, during the Vietnam-India Defence Industry Business Meeting at Hanoi.
P Harish, Ambassador of India to Vietnam, Dr Ajay Kumar, Secretary (Defence Production), and other senior officials of India and Vietnam Defence forces were present, it said.
USB the leading cause of system malware because it takes advantage of human trust, an expert says.
Government officials and IT experts worried about the escalating rate of malware and information security problems in Vietnam are pointing fingers at the humble USB – Vnexpress reported.
They say that up to 80 percent of the USBs in the country get infected at least once a year.
The concerns about information security were expressed at a conference held on Monday by the Ministry of Information and Communication and Vietnam Information Security Association.
The conference aimed to hold extensive discussions with industry leaders in order to find causes and solutions to the problem.
Vu Ngoc Son, vice chairman of the network security company Bkav Corporation, said USB was the leading cause of system malware because it takes advantage of human trust.
Using or borrowing USBs from “trusted” people, assuming that they would not be infected, allows malware to spread rapidly and widely, he said.
Son said up to 80 percent of USBs in Vietnam get infected at least once a year.
According to Bkav, between one and 1.5 million new viruses are discovered daily and there were a total of 12.3 trillion malware attacks in 2017.
Son said Vietnam’s computers do not use the latest software versions to protect their computers’ Server Message Block, a computer network protocol.
Users’ lack knowledge and awareness about information security and their habit of using software of unknown origins are other reasons why malware spreads, turning internet browsers into tracking devices and stealing users’ information, he added.
Nguyen Dai Vu, Vice Chairman of Office of the legislative National Assembly, said Vietnam needs a comprehensive central information security control to protect computers throughout the whole system, from the network infrastructure to the end user, to deal with the country’s information security problem.
As of April 2018, the Information Ministry had recorded more than 13 million Vietnam IPs visiting malware IPs and domains around the world. Vietnam has around 380,000 IPs listed on the blacklist of international organizations.
Earlier this month, Bkav’s website reported that 1.2 million computers in the country were infected with virus W32.XFileUSB which causes them to lose data.
HO CHI MINH CITY, June 14 (Xinhua) — Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City received overseas remittances of 2 billion U.S. dollars in the first five months of this year, higher than the figure in the same period last year.
Most of the remittances were poured into production and business, instead of real estates, stocks or savings as previously, the Ho Chi Minh City branch of the State Bank of Vietnam, said Thursday.
Vietnam received approximately 13.8 billion U.S. dollars in 2017, up 16 percent on-year, ranking the 8th in the world, according to the World Bank’s Migration and Remittances.
Up to 60 percent of the remittances to Vietnam last year came from the United States, while Europe accounted for nearly 20 percent of the sum.
Ho Chi Minh City remained the biggest recipient of remittances in Vietnam, with the inflows of 5.2 billion U.S. dollars in 2017, up 4.5 percent against 2016.
Vietnam’s high numbers of overseas Vietnamese residing in foreign countries and people working abroad as guest workers, and its macroeconomic stability, flexible monetary policies and improved business environment are mainly attributed to stable flows of remittances to the country, although the central bank has imposed the interest rate of zero percent on deposits in U.S. dollar, according to local experts.
Trade Minister Greg Hands speaks to businesses at the UK-Vietnam Joint Economic and Trade Committee (JETCO) in Manchester, on government support for trade with Vietnam.
I’d like to firstly welcome Vice-Minister Vuong here to the UK: I’m looking forward to a valuable discussion later today. And to the PM’s trade envoy and my good friend, the Right Honourable Ed Vaizey. And thank you to the Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce for letting us host you here.
I believe many of you are also attending the workshop the Department for International Trade is running at 10am, to show you how you can trade more effectively in Vietnam.
But I want to touch on something slightly different.
Not how you can trade, but why: why do we think you should trade with Vietnam? Why is the government so keen to support you?
It’s helpful here if we take a step back and fix our eye on the wider context.
Britain is one of the world’s natural trading nations.
Manchester itself is a great example of that – we’re barely 2 minutes’ walk from the old Free Trade Hall, which as the name suggests was literally built to celebrate the fruits of trade. I’m a great Manchester enthusiast – except for the football; I’m MP for Chelsea and Fulham.
But people often mistakenly think that’s something historical.
I’m sure those of you who work in manufacturing will have heard that annoying phrase – “why doesn’t Britain make anything anymore?”, which isn’t even true. People say the same to me about exports.
But actually, exporting is an unsung success story: and is going on right now.
In recent years we’ve leapfrogged long-term competitors, and we now export more than France and Japan.
We’re now the world’s fourth largest exporter – and the second largest exporter of services.
The figures speak for themselves: we export well over £600 billion per year.
We’ve also got more than £1.2 trillion invested abroad.
So we’re good at trade; it’s one of our strengths.
And that’s why the government is interested.
If we want a future with higher incomes and higher employment, we need to play to our strengths as a country, and seize the opportunities of free trade.
And the greatest opportunities are in countries like Vietnam.
According to the IMF, 90% of world growth in the next 10 to 15 years is going to come from outside Europe. Vietnam itself grew at nearly 7% last year.
Our trade has leapt up 22% in a single year, and that’s only going to be the start.
In politics we often slip into abstractions when we talk about the economy. But for Vietnam that has meant literally millions of people lifted out of poverty.
And it means tangible opportunities for firms like yourselves.
Because I believe that British businesses have a lot to offer Vietnam.
Our business and professional services are world-renowned.
Our firms and manufacturers are exceptionally innovative.
And that’s supported by a world-class science base – we’re ranked third worldwide for academic citations – and Manchester is one of our leaders here, the discover of graphene and home to Christies, the world-renowned cancer hospital.
To give just one example, Vietnam is a growing and popular market for British education companies, for both services and equipment; and the UK is a popular destination for Vietnamese students.
The British curriculum is the most popular choice for Vietnam’s rapidly growing international schools system, and there’s an increasing interest in vocational training partnerships in key sectors such as automotive and aviation.
That’s not a one-off – it’s replicated in sector after sector.
So trade with Vietnam is a great opportunity, and it’s one you, and other firms in the North-West and across Britain, are uniquely placed to understand.
And I can promise you that the government can and will help you with that.
Trade is one of the government’s top priorities.
For the first time ever we have a government department solely devoted to increasing international trade. We now have 4 trade ministers, and we’ve made over 160 overseas visits in less than 2 years.
And we’ll soon be publishing our new Export Strategy, to drive a step-change in our exporting.
And Vietnam is a country we want to trade more with, which is why I’m so pleased to welcome the Vice Minister here today; and why the Prime Minister appointed someone of the calibre of my friend and colleague Ed Vaizey as our trade envoy.
And the North-West is a region we want to trade more from.
That’s why the driving theme of the government’s Industrial Strategy was to increase growth outside London and the South-East.
That’s why we have the Northern Powerhouse.
I know the Vietnamese government also value regional growth, and I welcome the delegation from Quang Ninh province.
So we can help you trade – we can give you the help you need to sell overseas.
That partly means giving direct export support – UK Export Finance now has up to £2 billion in credit for the Vietnamese market – or giving advice, for instance through our Vietnam-based team of trade advisers.
But it also means supporting you to have the best market access possible.
Within the EU, we’ve been one of the strongest supporters of a Vietnam-EU trade agreement. We look forward to that being signed.
And we look forward to transitioning that trade deal as we leave, to become a UK-Vietnam Trade Deal – between the world’s fifth-largest economy and the world’s 14th most populous country.
Because trade has delivered so much to this city, and so much to both our countries.
And it can continue to flourish; I predict it will.
