What can be done to help Vietnam’s SMEs?

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Small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are central to Vietnam’s economic growth, providing significant contributions to job creation, export promotion and poverty reduction.

However, despite accounting for some 98 percent of the country’s enterprises, 40 percent of GDP and 50 percent of employment, the performance of SMEs is still constrained by many factors, both internal and external, such as shortage of qualified human resources and limited access to technology, as well as administrative hurdles. An article on lexology.com mentioned

Despite the obstacles, the number of SMEs continues to grow, adding around 100,000 in 2016, thanks to government reforms. For this trend to continue, and to meet the goal of one million enterprises by 2020, changes are needed to smooth the entry of firms to the market and help startups to grow. Here are three steps to ensure the sustainable development of smaller firms in Vietnam:

Improve access to credit

Among the detrimental external factors, lack of access to credit is considered the primary obstacle preventing the growth of SMEs. Up until now, banks providing commercial loans have allocated their resources to larger firms rather than smaller enterprises, citing higher default risks, lack of financial transparency and lack of assets as factors in the decision.

Complex banking procedures and a shortage of appropriate loan packages for SMEs compound the problem.

According to the World Bank’s ‘Doing Business 2018’ report, Vietnam ranked 68 out of 190 economies – jumping 14 places against the previous year. The country ranked 29 out of 190 economies in terms of their access to credit. In terms of both score and ranking, Vietnam measured well above the average for OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) members and East Asia-Pacific countries.

The World Bank attributed the country’s position to its legal framework regarding the expansion of collateral assets and the completion of the credit information system from 2008 to 2017. Specifically, the Civil Law 2015, which came into effect on January 1, 2017, has expanded the scope of assets to be used as mortgages, which helps improve access to credit and puts businesses and investors in a better position.

Despite the positive figures, a large number of enterprises still find it cumbersome to access bank credit and are often denied.

Therefore, one of the most important measures to support SMEs is to improve their access to loans. Diversified capital raising channels and a credit market for SMEs, with appropriate lending packages based on demand, could help to decrease the dependency on banks. In return, small firms should work on improving transparency to reduce risks.

Link up to global supply chains

As of 2017, only 21 percent of Vietnamese SMEs were participating in global supply chains, much lower than neighbours like Thailand and Malaysia, sitting at 30 percent and 46 percent, respectively. Integrating further with global supply chains in terms of procurement, operations and sales will allow firms to manage competition, reduce risks and cut costs.

Slow progress in dismantling state-owned enterprises, sluggish productivity and an uncompetitive private sector result in a shortage of private medium-sized enterprises. This ‘middle segment’ needs to link up with well-managed supply chains to dominate markets, gain trust from customers and expand business strategies. Vietnamese firms have struggled to join big markets and are left out of crucial supply chains.

This situation can change. As a member of APEC, ASEAN and the WTO, Vietnam holds a critical position politically and geographically. Vietnam’s proximity to southern China, home to many production networks, also gives it a competitive edge. Taking advantage of these trade opportunities, as well as coming digital and e-commerce trends, would help to streamline the country’s supply chains and build a more dynamic private sector.

Cut red tape

A survey released last year by the Vietnam Private Sector Forum showed that 44 percent of enterprises said they had missed market opportunities because of legal barriers and restrictions.

In an effort to simplify and remove barriers to businesses, Vietnam’s Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) has moved to cut business and investment red tape in half. Such a move is designed to make administrative procedures easier for the private sector, and especially small and medium enterprises. The country’s business environment has been gradually changing as the government moves to develop the private sector.

This is a step in the right direction, however, the results are neither meeting the expectations of enterprises, nor government targets. Vietnam’s administrative environment has long been criticised for being too complicated and creating unnecessary barriers for businesses. Analysts often complain that the many conditions and regulations in the country do not meet international standards, such as requirements on minimum or legal capital or human resources rules.

The World Bank suggested that the country needs to do better at supporting early-stage businesses, particularly in dealing with construction permits, registering property and enforcing contracts.

These are just some of the obstacles standing in the way of Vietnam’s smaller businesses. With the Law on Support for Small- and Medium-sized Enterprises (SME Law, 04/2017/QH14) coming into force at the start of 2018, it is hoped that the challenges detailed above will be addressed. A dynamic, competitive and innovative private sector, in which SMEs play a leading role, is a solid guarantee of Vietnam’s future prosperity and growth. The government has shown a desire to help the country’s fledgling firms, now is the time to put words into action.

By Duane Morris LLP - Giles T. Cooper

3 reasons smart investors are banking on Vietnam

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Vietnam’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) expanded by 6.81 per cent last year, marking its highest growth rate in a decade. The country continues to impress, with the economy growing by 7.38 percent in the first quarter of 2018 – one of the fastest rates in Asia – and total growth is expected to be in the region of 6.7-6.8 percent for the year. It could even hit 7.1 percent, according to the Asian Development Bank.

Looking ahead, the Vietnamese Government is seeking to maintain the country’s good growth until at least 2020, with the Prime Minister encouraging private companies – currently accounting for 43 per cent of GDP – to grow and increasing investment into rural areas. Lexology.com reported.

There’s much to celebrate about Vietnam’s growth over the last few years, and many investors have already taken note and got in on the action. For those still on the fence, here’s just three reasons why a bet on the country’s economy may pay off handsomely.

Switched on to electronics

Other countries in the region tend to export raw materials or components to China, where they are assembled into other products. Vietnam exports mainly finished goods.

One such producer, the Samsung Electronics factory in Thai Nguyen, in northern Vietnam, employs more than 60,000 people and produces more mobile phones than any other facility in the world. Samsung Electronics’ combined factories in Vietnam produce almost a third of the firm’s global output. So far, the company has invested a cumulative US$17 billion in the country.

The relationship has been mutually beneficial, helping to make Vietnam the second-biggest exporter of smartphones in the world, after China. Samsung alone accounted for almost a quarter of Vietnam’s total exports of US$214 billion last year.

The company’s presence in Vietnam will not stop there, with co-CEO, Koh Dong-jin, recently informing the Prime Minister of plans to expand production and open further plants.

Samsung isn’t alone in Vietnam’s exciting electronics landscape. The export turnover of electronics and household electrical appliances accounted for 28.9 percent of total export turnover. Mobile phones & components, cameras and other machinery brought in revenue of US$61.8 billion, an increase of US$14.45 billion compared to the year before.

An international mindset

Vietnam received FDI worth 8 percent of GDP last year — more than double the rate of comparable economies in the region. Foreign-owned firms now account for nearly 20 percent of the country’s output. They have grown more than twice as fast as state-owned enterprises over the past decade, despite the country’s nominally communist government.

In contrast to China, a large rival in the cheap manufacturing stakes, Vietnam is liberalising its economy to welcome foreign industry. In 2015 the government opened 50 industries to foreign competition and cut regulations in hundreds more. It sold a majority stake in the biggest state-owned brewer, Sabeco, to a foreign firm last year. Similar sales are expected in the coming months.

Vietnam’s enthusiasm for free-trade deals has made it especially alluring to foreign investors. It is a founding member of the Trans Pacific Partnership, a multilateral trade agreement that includes Australia, Canada and Japan, among others. Although the agreement fell apart without US support, it was quickly repurposed and renamed. A significant trade pact with the European Union is also on the horizon. The deal signed with South Korea a few years ago has made it South Korea’s fourth-biggest trading partner.

Fertile ground for start-ups

The government has put forward a number of regulations and programmes to support start-ups, especially innovative ones, including Decree 38/2018/ND-CP (Decree 38) on innovative start-up investment. Decree 38 identifies and recognises innovative start-up investment activities as a business, and cements the legal status of innovative start-up companies and funds.

The decree is expected to provide a legal basis for private investors when jointly contributing capital to establish a creative start-up fund and streamline capital flows for creative start-up activities.

According to the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), the country boasts a strong entrepreneurial drive and ranks among the 20 economies with leading entrepreneurial spirit.

Up to US$291 million was poured into Vietnamese start-ups last year, a year-on-year increase of 42 percent. However, this figure lags behind the region as whole, which saw investment of US$7.86 billion. The number of M&A deals remains small and no startup has yet made an IPO. Clearly, there is still a lot of room for growth in this sector.

The great potential hasn’t gone unnoticed and the government has recognised the tremendous importance that the start-up movement has to the economy and accelerated its development.

As well as a young, cheap and plentiful supply of workers, the Vietnamese economy possesses a dynamism unlike others in the region. Nurturing such domestic entrepreneurship is the key to sustainable growth. The Vietnamese government has already set out ambitions of creating a vibrant ‘start-up nation’, with a million new enterprises being born by 2020.

These are just a few of the reasons why smart investors should be seriously considering Vietnam as their next investment destination. In addition to the above, economic growth will be driven by manufacturing and export expansion, rising domestic consumption, strong investment fueled by foreign investors and domestic firms, and an improving agriculture sector. These is an abundance of optimism over the country’s future, and the signs are that this year Vietnam will be one of the strongest performers in the region.

By Duane Morris LLP - Giles T. Cooper

Rosneft to start drilling offshore production wells in Vietnam

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Rosneft Vietnam B.V. has started drillling of LD-3P (Lan Do field) production well as part of Block 06.1 development. Rosneft acts as an operator of this project which proves high level of its competencies in implementation of complex offshore drilling programs that are technically challenging.

According to a report by worldoil.com,  target depth of the well is about 1,200 m along the wellbore, sea depth at the drilling site is around 160 m. As estimated, Lan Do field has initial natural gas reserves of 23 Bcm. Underwater infrastructure objects will be built and connected to operating offshore objects of Block 06.1 (Lan Tay platform) in order to develop additional reserves of the field. Processed gas and natural gas liquid are delivered from the platform to the shore by the two-phase Nam Con Son pipeline that is 370 km long. It is the longest two-phase pipeline in Southeast Asia. Due to the two-phase technology gas and gas condensate are delivered to the onshore processing facility simultaneously.

Apart from that during 2018 Rosneft is also planning to perform sidetracking of previously drilled PLD-1P exploration well on Phong Lan Dai field (Wild Orchid), which is also located within Block 06.1. Target depth of the well is 1,300 m. As a result, the well will be reclassified as a production well.

Wild Orchid field was discovered during drilling campaign of 2016 when Rosneft was engaged as an operator of an international offshore drilling project for the first time.The field revealed commercial gas reserves of 3.4 Bcm.

Offshore infrastructure objects are being constructed on Lan Tay platform in order to deliver gas and natural gas liquids from Wild Orhid field.

Drilling on Lan Do and Phong Lan Dai will be carried out using Japanese drilling equipment Hakuryu-5 made by Japanese company Japan Drilling Co., Ltd. (JDC).

Block 06.1 production wells will be connected to existing infrastructure objects which will provide synergy between two projects, help to speed up wells commissioning and maximize effectiveness of Block 06.1 fields development in Vietnam.

Under Vietnam offshore projects Rosneft implements the most advanced technologies available on the market.

In 2017 about 9% of Vietnam energy needs were covered by gas produced by the Company.

HDBank offers loans at 6 per cent

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The HCM City Development Joint Stock Commercial Bank (HDBank) is offering an attractive credit package with 6 per cent interest for the first two months or 8.5 per cent for the first six months for doing business and agriculture.

The rates will be applicable only for loans approved by June 30 and disbursed by July 31, and will be fully secured by property.

Borrowers will also be issued credit cards with a maximum limit of VNĐ500 million (US$21,929).

At the end of last year, the lender’s total outstanding loans were nearly VNĐ110 trillion after increasing by 27 per cent.

Non-performing loans accounted for 1.51 per cent.

Source: VNS

Hanoi to launch open-top bus tour

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Hanoi will launch open-top double-decker bus tour service later this month.

The Hanoi Department of Transport has issued a decision to approve the open-top double-decker bus tour route.

The route will have 13 stops, including one located near Hoan Kiem Lake to provide tourism information for visitors. Initially, three buses will be used for the route.

There will be different kinds of tickets for customers to choose such as tickets for one day for two days.

Information about Hanoi’s landscapes and historical sites to serve travellers have been submitted to Hanoi authorities for consideration.

The municipal People’s Committee has asked municipal management agencies to trim trees and adjust electric wires for the operation of the tour service.

Earlier in June last year, Hanoi piloted this bus tour service in the city-centre area. However, one month later, the Ministry of Transport asked Hanoi and localities nationwide to halt this to wait for the government’s instruction.

Source: Dtinews

Tiki reports second year of losses

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Tiki’s consecutive losses raise the question whether these are still planned losses or are a result of losing the e-commerce race to competition.

Tiki was established in 2010 as a startup e-bookstore but has since diversified operations to sell phones, tablets, digital devices, electrical appliances, toys, and souvenirs.

In August 2013, Tiki signed a strategic partnership with Japan’s Sumitomo Corporation and became the first e-commerce company in Vietnam to receive investment from the Japanese company.

Under the partnership, Sumitomo would hold a 30 per cent stake in Tiki to become its second strategic investor, after Japanese investment fund CyberAgent Ventures (15 per cent).

In May 2016, VNG Corporation, Vietnam’s top provider of Internet content, completed a VND383-billion ($17.02 million) deal to acquire a 38 per cent stake in Tiki. Accordingly, VNG spent VND104,000 ($4.57) per share, with the expectation to acquire benefits from one of the largest e-commercial platforms in Vietnam.

With backing from Japanese investors Sumitomo Corporation and CyberAgent Ventures, which own a combined stake of 45 per cent, in collaboration with the investment from VNG, Tiki was expected to become a heavyweight in the e-commerce sector in the country. However, the firm has been reporting losses for two consecutive years now.

Notably, according to the financial statement of VNG Corporation, a shareholder of Tiki, in 2017 Tiki reported a loss of VND282 billion ($12.38 million), triple its charter capital and seven times higher than the loss in 2016. Hence, Tiki’s total losses two years after receiving investment from VNG were VND320 billion ($14.05 million).

Tiki CEO Tran Ngoc Thai Son stated that the losses are a part of the firm’s long-term development plan. Tiki is expanding its scale of operations via investing in infrastructure, warehouses, human resources, and technology.

In reality, according to the statistics of Euromonitor, Tiki ranked sixth among the online shopping sites of Vietnam in 2017 with the visitor volume of 15.08 million. However, according to customers, there is a painful lack of transparency in Tiki’s promotion programmes. Notably, the firm often increases selling price quietly to then provide discounts at the original price.

Earlier this year, Tiki received $54 million in Series C investment made by Chinese internet giant JD.com and South Korea’s STIC Investments. The additional capital is expected help Tiki to consolidate its market presence.

At present, the Vietnamese e-commerce sector holds great potential but is also a playground ruled by strict competition by numerous heavyweights.

The fierce competition was shown after a series of e-commerce floors had to shut down because of big losses. Beyeu, Deca, and Lingo left the market after long struggles to survive.

According to industry insiders, companies need to allocate enormous expenses for their e-commerce business from sales and marketing to warehousing and logistics, so it can easily eat up profits. Also, many platforms suffered losses from special discount offers and promotion campaigns to snag new customers.

At present, it is still early to conclude that the consecutive losses of Tiki is a show of weakness, however, Beyeu, Deca, and Lingo are signals that the market is not for players lacking financial potential or methodical development strategies.

Source: VIR

Online tourism businesses thrive in Vietnam

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Many travel firms, after making heavy investments in online tourism, are earning increasingly high revenue. 

Nguyen Duy Vi, marketing and media director of Vietnam Adventure Tours (tugo.com.vn), said when setting up Tugo four years ago, the founder of the firm could see many problems in the traditional tourism model, especially in marketing the staff.

The traditional firms have to spend big money on marketing, but could not measure the effects of the marketing campaigns. To access more clients, the firms have set up more offices and increased the number of workers, leading to higher operation costs.

Therefore, Tugo decided to use technology to fix the problems of the traditional tourism model. Vi said that the company’s business performance wouldn’t be good if it did not develop online booking services.

Online tourism has made a great contribution to the revenue growth of Saigontourist. Vo Anh Tai, CEO of Saigontourist, said revenue from travel was VND4.25 trillion in 2017 and from online tourism in the last 10 months VND130 billion.

The traditional firms have to spend big money on marketing, but could not measure the effects of the marketing campaigns. To access more clients, the firms have set up more offices and increased the number of workers, leading to higher operation costs.

The statistics shown at the 2018 Vietnam Online Tourism Forum (VOTF) showed that some tourism companies were gaining high growth rates even among stiff competition in the market because they can attract high numbers of tourists through online sales.

Le Tuan Anh, deputy director of the VNAT’s International Cooperation Department, said 71 percent of foreign travelers to Vietnam in 2018 checked information about the destinations on internet, and 64 percent booked services online for their trips to Vietnam.

He cited Google’s Consumer Barometer in 2016 as saying that the number of smartphone users in Vietnam was just equal to 72 percent of the US, but 48 percent of Vietnamese used smartphones to look for hotels, while the figure was 18 percent  in the US.

While 42 percent of Vietnamese searched for tourism information at the destination, only 25 percent of Americans did. Around 37 percent of Vietnamese searched for information about flights, but the proportion was 18 percent for Americans.

At the forum, Truong Sy Vinh, deputy director of the Tourism Development Research Institute, said Google and Temasek Holdings predicted a sharp increase in the value of the SE Asian online tourism market from $21.6 billion in 2015 to $89.6 billion by 2025. Of this, Vietnam’s online tourism accounted for 10 percent, or $9 billion.

Euromonitor International predicted that revenue from online tour sales would maintain a 12 percent growth rate in 2015-2020.

Vietnam’s online tourism grew by 50 percent in 2017, according to the Vietnam E-commerce Association (VECOM), twice as much as the growth rate of the entire e-commerce sector.

Source: Vietnamnet

Chinese tourists made to take off illicit map T-shirts

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A group of Chinese tourists were asked to change their T-shirts after authorities in the central coastal city of Nha Trang complained they displayed the illicit ‘nine-dash line’ map that suggests Chinese territorial claims in the East Vietnam Sea on them.

Head of the Security Police Department at Cam Ranh International Airport, Nguyen Van Quan, said that the tourists arrived at the airport on the evening of May 13.

“After completing immigration procedures, the tourists went out to wait for buses to Nha Trang,” Quan said.

“They took off their coats and only wore the T-shirts. And we saw the T-shirts. We immediately asked them to change their clothes and confiscated all their T-shirts.”

The Chinese tourists were travelling to Vietnam on a tour operated by Aladdin Co. Ltd.

A representative from the tour company said it was not until the Chinese tourists had passed immigration that the company’s tour guide realised their clothes featured the map.

“We asked them to get changed and confiscated all the T-shirts at the airport to be handed over to the authorities,” Aladdin’s representative said.

Quan said they were working closely with officers from the Khanh Hoa police department and security personnel at the airport to ‘investigate’ the incident.

The ‘nine-dash line,’ is a widely-rejected cow tongue-shaped line illegally created by China to claim its sovereignty over about 80 percent of the East Vietnam Sea, including the Paracel and Spratly archipelagos.

Source: Dtinews

Mirae Asset to launch a merged entity in Vietnam

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Mirae Asset Life Insurance, a South Korean insurer, has launched a merged entity with Prevoir Vietnam Life Insurance.

The dongA.com – a South Korean news channel reported, the South Korean life insurance company announced Monday that it had held a launching ceremony on Friday for its merged entity with Prevoir Vietnam Life, whereby changing the name of the Vietnamese firm to “Mirae Asset Prevoir Life Insurance.”

In July 2017, the South Korean insurer bought a 50 percent stage of Prevoir Vietnam Life Insurance, the tenth largest insurer in Vietnam, for 1.1 trillion VND (about 51.7 billion Korean won). Having completed the payment over the past 10 months, Mirae Asset has decided to change the name of its Vietnamese entity and participate in management in earnest.

Mirae Asset Prevoir Life Insurance has boasted a steady growth, posting the largest premium income in Vietnam for the past four years. Currently, the Vietnamese headquarters are focusing on bancassurance in collaboration with seven local banks, with an exclusive alliance with NCB, a large-sized bank in Vietnam.

Mirae Asset management established a local office in Vietnam in 2006 as the first South Korean asset management company to do so, and since then, Mirae Asset Financial Group has expanded its financial territory, branching out into securities business, asset management, finance, as well as insurance.

By Yoo-Hyun Kang

Fitch to Upgrade Rating for Vietnam

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Vietnam won a sovereign rating upgrade from Fitch Ratings on rising foreign-exchange reserves and strong economic growth.

Bloomberg reported, the rating on the nation’s long-term, foreign currency-denominated debt was raised one level to BB, with a stable outlook, Fitch said in a statement on Tuesday. The upgrade puts Vietnam at the second-highest speculative grade and on par with Costa Rica.

Vietnam’s government has committed to containing debt and reforming its state-owned enterprises, boosting its track record of policy making. The economy will probably expand 6.7 percent in 2018, making it among the fastest-growing economies in the Asia-Pacific region, and fastest among BB rated peers, Fitch said.

Reserves are forecast to climb to about $66 billion by the end of this year from $49 billion in 2017, while general government debt is likely to decline to below 50 percent of gross domestic product by 2019, according to Fitch calculations.

By Karl Lester M Yap

Rhino horn used to comfort the terminally ill in Vietnam

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From treating cancer and erectile dysfunction to managing hangovers, the horns of endangered wild rhinoceros are widely used as a medical cure-all in parts of Asia. A new Danish-Vietnamese study from the University of Copenhagen uncovers new reasons for why Vietnamese consumers buy illegal rhino horn. This knowledge can now be used in campaigns to save endangered rhinoceros.

The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) estimates that 1,054 rhino were killed by poachers in South Africa in 2016 and the worldwide number of rhinos remaining is estimated to be 30.000. Eurekalert.org reported

A new study conducted by the Department of Food and Resource Economics at the University of Copenhagen and the Vietnamese office of Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) has found a shift in values driving illegal procurement of horn from endangered rhinos. Powdered horn is believed to have healing properties and can fetch up to 500,000 kroner per kilo (€67,000). The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) estimates that 1,054 rhino were killed by poachers in South Africa in 2016 and the worldwide number of rhinos remaining is estimated to be 30.000.

Until now, the prevailing wisdom has been that consumers seek out rhinoceros horn for medical and health-related reasons, such as cancer treatments, hangovers and other ailments. The new study reveals more.

“For us, the surprising trend is that horn is increasingly being used as a symbolic gesture to console terminally ill family members. The horns are intended to provide the ill with a final source of pleasure and to demonstrate that their families have done everything possible to help them,” explains Associate Professor Martin R. Nielsen of the Department of Food and Resource Economics. Along with colleague Dang Vu Hoai Nam of GIZ, Nielsen conducted in-depth interviews with 30 recent purchasers of rhino horn in Hanoi and Ho Chi Min City, Vietnam.

The information gained by the study can be used by public authorities and organisations working to reduce the illegal trade in rhinoceros horn by improving their understanding of consumers and will be an important aspect of future campaigns aimed at reducing demand.

“Understanding the motivation of horn buyers is vital for addressing this problem. Among other things, our results demonstrate that the nature of demand changes over time. As a result, we must continually rethink strategies to curb the trade in rhinoceros horn,” says Martin R. Nielsen.

Hangovers and a lack of respect for the rule of law

Besides using horn to console terminally ill family members, the 30 Vietnamese interviewed also used horn for treating hangovers and as a status symbol in business relations. The study also found that buyers are mainly interested in horn sourced from wild rhinos and willing to pay a premium for wild rather than farmed animal horn. Consequently, the researchers believe that a legal, controlled trade of farmed rhino would most likely not serve to reduce poaching.

“The study suggests that information about the decline of rhinoceros populations and awareness about hunting being controlled by organised crime does not affect consumer demand. Dealing with the problem requires other strategies,” explains Martin R. Nielsen.

The rhino horn trade is among one of the most organised forms of environmental crime, and the number of rhinos killed by poachers has increased markedly since 2008. Because Vietnam is the country with the greatest demand for rhinoceros horn, it also bears the brunt of the blame for poaching.

The majority of remaining wild rhinoceros live in South Africa, where the population of white rhinoceros is estimated to be between 19,000 and 21,000.

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Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system.

FACULTY OF SCIENCE – UNIVERSITY OF COPENHAGEN

Intermediary payment service to bloom in Vietnam

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Intermediary online payment service is developing strongly in Vietnam with active participation of foreign players, according to the country’s central bank on Monday.

According to a report by Xinhua, to date, 27 intermediary payment service providers such as Alipay, Momo and Payoo have been licensed with majority of them having foreign investments, including those from Chinese conglomerate Alibaba and global investment bank Goldman Sachs, said an official from the State Bank of Vietnam.

The intermediary payment service providers offer users a digital wallet or electronic wallet (e-wallet) which allows them to make electronic transactions using computers or smartphones. An individual’s bank account can also be linked to the digital wallet.

Vietnam’s total e-wallet transactions rocketed to 53.1 trillion Vietnamese dong (2.3 billion U.S. dollars) in 2016 from 5 billion Vietnamese dong (220,300 U.S. dollars) in 2009, up 64 percent against 2015.

Local experts have attributed the intermediary payment service’s boom to its high convenience, insignificant charges, no foreign ownership cap at merchants, and increasing popularity of smartphones.

According to the National Payment Corporation of Vietnam, which operates a 17,200-ATM inter-bank network, a 270,000-POS system, and over 100 million domestic cards issued by 46 commercial domestic and foreign banks in Vietnam, 267 million transactions worth 28.9 billion U.S. dollars were made via its service last year.

As of August 2017, cash payment accounted for 11.5 percent of total means of payment in Vietnam which plans to lower the rate to 10 percent by 2020, according to the central bank.

 

Editor: Li Xia

Police raid downtown Saigon restaurant for drugs, ‘sexy’ services

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Police barricade part of Ton That Tung Street in Saigon early on Sunday as a team raid a restaurant. Photo by VnExpress/Quoc Thang

These services are available at many bars and restaurants in the city’s tourist district.

Saigon police launched a dawn raid on a downtown restaurant on Sunday and arrested dozens of suspected drug users, including more than 50 waitresses.

Around 100 police officers blocked off Ton That Tung Street in District 1 from both ends before busting into the Dmax Restaurant, one of the most popular night hangouts in the downtown area.

The alarm system did not go off and dozens of waitresses in skimpy clothing were caught red-handed “playing” with drunk customers on sofas, police said.

All restaurant employees were taken away for drug tests.

The restaurant was fined for operating an unlicensed karaoke business, late opening and offering “sexy” services.

The raid was part of an operation to tighten “sensitive” business services, which can be found at many restaurant and bars in the tourist district.

Vietnam is considering lifting its late night curfew to 2 a.m. Most bars and nightclubs in Saigon, the country’s largest city, are now only allowed to serve until midnight.

Figures from Vietnam’s social affairs ministry show that Saigon has nearly 22,000 registered drug addicts, the highest number in the country and nearly 10 percent of the country’s total.

Drug use is banned in Vietnam, and producing and dealing in drugs are criminal offenses.

By Quoc Thang, Source: Vnexpress

Imported waste floods Vietnamese ports

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Many containers stuck at Cat Lai Port

Many violations have been found in scrap import activities as a huge amount of scrap are being abandoned at local ports, threatening the environment.

According to the Customs Risk Management Department, from January 1, 2017, to March 12, 2018, 928 firms imported scrap and submitted 49,200 declarations. 407 firms imported plastic waste, 254 firms imported paper scraps and 369 firms imported iron and steel scrap.

Decision 73 issued in 2014 states that firms are allowed to import 36 types of scraps as manufacturing materials. However, the Customs Risk Management Department has found many violations. Le Vy Company imported 95 air conditioners, 279 bicycles and three motorbikes to Cat Lai Port in HCM City but didn’t submit any declaration and then abandoned the cargo.

Another company from Binh Dinh Province imported 44,000 tonnes of plastic waste in Hai Phong, HCM City and Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province from January 1, 2017, to March 12, 2018. However, it was discovered that this company was not granted a scrap import licence for January 1, 2016, to May 2, 2018 period and there are signs that documents had been falsified.

The department quickly reported to the General Department of Vietnam Customs and the anti-smuggling police department to investigate the case. “The investigating agencies will prosecute all involved individuals and organisations,” said a leader of the Customs Risk Management Department.

They also sent the list containing 16 cargo owned by 10 firms that showed violations to the General Department of Vietnam Customs and a list of 11 cargo of other seven firms to the anti-smuggling police department.

Falsified and altered documents are often seen in scrap imports when a firm want to import cargo that are on the banned list. After providing information about suspicious cargo to provincial and city customs departments, they discovered that the importers of all of four cargoes had violated regulations.

The Pollution Control Department said on May 7 that there were many shortcomings in the communication and information exchange between the customs departments and Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment.

Ngo Minh Tuan, deputy head of Saigon Newport Corporation, said about 5,200 containers, which contain plastic and paper waste, have been stored for 90 days or longer. If there is no action from the authorities those goods will remain at the port.

Source: Dtinews
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