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Vietnam suffers nationwide shortage of rabies vaccines

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Hospitals across Vietnam have emptied their stock of vaccines for rabies, while new shipments are not expected to arrive for the next few weeks.

Patients bitten by animals were told to go home and wait as there were only two remaining venues in Ho Chi Minh City where they could get vaccinated against the deadly disease as of Wednesday afternoon.

There are two types of rabies vaccines in use in Vietnam, Verorab and Abhayrab, which are produced in France and India, respectively.

As of Wednesday afternoon, the Vaccination Center for Children and Adults (VNVC) in Phu Nhuan District and the Gentical General Clinic in Tan Binh District were the only two places in Ho Chi Minh City where the vaccines were still available.

However, patients visiting VNVC were asked to book an appointment at least two days in advance, while only the Indian-made Abhayrab was available at Gentical.

A similar shortage is reported in Hanoi, where there are only 300 doses of Verorab left at the municipal Preventive Medicine Center.

“We save the French-made vaccines for patients who had already received at least a dose, while the Indian-made drugs are used for those getting vaccinated for the first time,” said Nguyen Nhat Cam, director of Hanoi’s Preventive Medicine Center.

According to doctors, Verorab is clinically proven to have no adverse effect on female fertility or embryo development, and therefore is prioritized for use on pregnant or breastfeeding women.

Meanwhile, there is no evidence to suggest or rule out that Abhayrab can cause birth defects, so doctors are advised to weigh the pros and cons before prescribing the vaccine for pregnant women.

Limited doses of the two vaccines have been made available at the Pasteur Institute in Ho Chi Minh City as a temporary measure while it waits for new shipments to arrive, a doctor told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper.

According to a representative of Sanofi Pasteur, a distributor of Verorab in Vietnam, supply of the French-made vaccine is running out due to rising global demand.

It is expected that the earliest shipment of Verorab will arrive in Vietnam in May, the representative said.

Source: Tuoi Tre News

Vietnamese doctor awarded 2018 Nikkei Asia Prize

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Nguyen Thanh Liem, a leading paediatric surgeon, has been awarded the 2018 Nikkei Asia Prize in the Science and Technology category.

Liem is director of the Stem Cell and Gene Technology Institute at the Vinmec Times City International Hospital.

He is expected to travel to Tokyo, Japan, to receive the award on June 14.

Liem, who was also former director of the National Paediatrics Hospital and Vinmec Times City International Hospital, will be the first Vietnamese physician to be honoured with the prestigious award.

“I was pleasantly surprised when I heard the news. I never thought I would get the prize because I believed my scientific research was still modest compared to other scientists and researchers in the region,” Liem said.

Last year’s prize went to Michael Ming-Chiao Lai, a world-renowned Taiwanese virologist, for his long-term dedication to research on coronavirus, hepatitis C and D viruses and especially for his contribution to the prevention of severe acute respiratory syndrome in 2003.

This year, Liem has been awarded the prize for his outstanding achievements in scientific and clinical researches on paediatric endoscopic techniques and stem cell transplantation. He has also performed many complicated surgeries to separate conjoined twins, giving hope to parents and twins in the country.

During his tenure as director of the National Paediatrics Hospital from 2002 to 2012, he created nine new surgical techniques.

Prof. Liem performs a stem cells transplant at the Stem Cell and Gene Technology Institute in Hanoi. — Photo courtesy of Vinmec Times City International Hospital

At the Stem Cell and Gene Technology Institute in Ha Noi, Liem has recently achieved remarkable results in the transplant of bone marrow mononuclear cells to treat children with bronchopulmonary dysplasia. His State research project has successfully applied stem cell therapy to treat 30 cerebral palsy and autistic children at the Vinmec Times City International Hospital since July 2016.

“Among the 30 children, 28 have improved their disease condition. Of them, five have had very positive changes, 19 positive changes and four have changed. Only two kids did not respond to the treatment,” Liem said.

Established in 1996, the annual Nikkei Asia Prize recognises outstanding achievements and contributions to the region’s sustainable development and creation of a better future for Asia. The prizes are awarded in three categories: Economic and Business Innovation, Science and Technology and Culture and Community. Recipients may be an individual or a group or organisation in any Asian country, except Japan, and is awarded three million yen along with a certificate.

Previously, several Vietnamese have been awarded Nikkei Prizes in the categories of culture and regional growth, including film director Dang Nhat Minh in 1999, agriculture expert Vo Tong Xuan (2002), novelist Bao Ninh (2011), chairman and CEO of FPT Corp. Truong Gia Binh (2013) and chairwoman and CEO of Vinamilk Mai Kieu Lien (2015).

Source: VNS

Hanoi tightens monitoring over officials’ luxury weddings

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Dozens of state officials in Hanoi have been punished for organising extravagant wedding parties.

In 2012, the government issued Directive 11 ordering state officials to set a good example by not holding luxury weddings. The weddings must not have more than 300 guests or be held at five-star hotels or resorts.

At a review meeting, the city party committee concluded that most officials had followed the regulations in the past five years. Many people have criticised officials for luxury weddings, questioning them how that they were able to hold such wedding with meagre wages. It is also said that many officials may use the weddings for personal benefits.

Directive 11 also banned officials from attending weddings during work hours or using state vehicles.

The city party committee praised Dong Anh District for setting up a regulation that if an official invited more guests than allowed, most of his co-workers will not attend. However, there are still many officials ignored the rule.

An official in Thanh Tri District was reprimanded for inviting too many guests. He claimed that there are too many relatives to cut down the tables. Ha Dong authorities also punished 20 officials. Last year, the chairman of Vat Lai Commune, Ba Vi District, was reprimanded for holding his child’s wedding during work hours.

Ngo Van Nam from the Department of Culture and Sports said officials should not hold extravagant weddings while there are still many people in difficulties. “The more modern society becomes, the less complicated practices should be,” he said.

He went on to say that the officials are putting others in a difficult situation if they invite all 2,000 co-workers at their departments and even in other departments to the weddings. According to Nam, most officials will not be able to afford luxury weddings anyway.

“If there is any luxury weddings the media and even co-workers will file a report,” he said.

Hanoi People’s Committee continued to ask the authorities at all levels to follow the directive and submit reports every six months.

By Quang Phong (Dtinews)

Facebook’s new policies leave online community in chaos

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Facebook, the favoured social network in Vietnam, has issued new policies in the last few days that have frustrated the huge community of users in the country.

On March 27, 2018, fanpages and online services simultaneously reported problems related to apps developed on Facebook and Messenger platforms in Vietnam.

The log-in to the website system via Facebook accounts has been suspended. Relevant apps like Facebook Shop and third-party developed apps using API (application program interface) to collect users’ personal information are not working.

The chatbot system still works normally with old scripts, but it is interrupted when connecting with new chatbots.

“The apps of Vietnamese developers connecting with Facebook and messengers all have been suspended,” Nguyen Thanh Tung, a programmer who gives support to sales websites in HCM City, said on March 29.

Tung said the features related to user information on websites and apps requiring users to provide personal information have all been affected.

“It has become chaotic and we cannot do anything except wait,” Phan Ha, a seller on Facebook, complained. Her business has been stagnant because the tools to sum up orders and interact with customers cannot be used.

According to Doan Trung Thong from an e-commerce business in Hanoi, online salespeople must use tools for conservation management on Messenger and interact with customers.

If they cannot use the apps, they have to use the default toolkit of Facebook, which is less effective.

On March 26, 2018, Facebook informed developers using Messenger about the changes related to API and third-party apps. The social network is reconsidering existing API to restrict the volume of data collected from users.

The API reconsideration was followed by the launch of a feature to create personal pages and the removal of the feature after a short time.

Vietnamese Facebook users days ago repeatedly received notices about new personal pages created by their friends. In fact, the feature was provided a long time ago, but it was locked later and reopened some days ago.

Many users complained about notices which caused inconveniences to them. On March 30, Facebook locked the feature in Vietnam unexpectedly, as it did when launching.

The feature is still being used in other countries.

Facebook is facing problems from the Cambridge Analytica scandal which led to the leakage of personal information of 50 million customers. CEO Mark Zuckerberg has apologized for the scandal.

Source: VNN

Vietnam’s three most newsworthy divorce settlements

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Divorce disputes of public figures have always received ample publicity, especially where assets worth millions of dollars or thousands of jobs hang in the balance. So here are the three most noteworthy cases of divorce property settlement in Vietnam.

$65-million separation of coffee magnates

In April 2015, Dang Le Nguyen Vu, founder, president, and general director of $65-million coffee giant Trung Nguyen Group, abruptly dismissed Le Hoang Diep Thao, permanent deputy general director of Trung Nguyen and also Vu’s life partner who was the co-founder of the coffee empire.

In October 2015, general director Vu hosted a last minute board of directors (BOD) meeting with the main purpose to eject Thao from her position at the company. The extraordinary meeting took place without the presence of Thao as the main target of the meeting, aiming to replace her as the legal representative of the company.

Parallel to this, Thao filed for divorce for the first time. In addition, she also petitioned the Chief Justice of the Supreme People’s Court for immediate measures in order to secure her joint ownership rights with her spouse in the company during the divorce proceedings.

Trung Nguyen, Vietnam’s largest coffee brand, specialises in the production, processing, and distribution of coffee in the domestic and foreign markets. Currently, the coffee giant has a total charter capital of VND1.5 trillion ($65.85 million), 93 per cent of which belong to the group’s two co-founders, Dang Le Nguyen Vu and Le Hoang Diep Thao.

Half billion dollar post-love settlement

In 2011, the property settlement between Bui Duc Minh and Nguyen Thanh Thuy, vice president of Bao Son Group, drew the public’s attention as the total assets involved in the dispute rounded up to $500 million.

In late 2010, Minh filed an appeal against the final judgment of the Hanoi People’s Court on their divorce because the judge’s settlement of mutually-owned assets, residential land, and shared debt obligations of both partners did not meet his expectations.

In early 2012, given the unresolved property settlement, Minh was arrested by the Hanoi police to be investigated for slander.

Three decades of dispute

Le An, who was born in 1938 and became one of the wealthiest Vietnamese entrepreneurs by net worth, was involved in a 30-year divorce settlement with his first ex-wife, Le Ngoc Lan.

In 1965, An and Lan purchased a house in Ho Chi Minh City briefly after they got married. In 1980, the fat-cat businessman was captured for illegal border crossing and was later sentenced to four years in prison.

When An was released, his spouse filed for a divorce and obtained an approval from the People’s Court, which he spent the next 30 years appealing against. In 2013, the business tycoon gained the final judgment from the city court, stating that the house in Tan Binh district, Ho Chi Minh City would belong to Le An.

The 30-year divorce settlement with his first wife was not the only legal dispute the business tycoon had to cope with. To date, after five failed marriages, Le An was reported to be involved in back-to-back settlements over allegations of lying, cheating, and manipulating his ex-wives. Currently, the 78-year-old business tycoon is “happy with his sixth wife who is 55 years younger.”

Source: Vnexpress

Blooming buckwheat flowers bring color to Hanoi

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No more mountains to climb for a glimpse of the stunning flowers.

Travelers familiar with the northern mountains of Vietnam know that a field of buckwheat flowers are worth the hours of riding on motorbikes through stunning but eerie passes.

The picturesque buckwheat flowers, or “chez” as the H’mong tribe in Vietnam call them, can come in white, pink or purple. Buckwheat is usually found on mountain fields where local people cultivate them as a tasty and healthier alternative to wheat.

Fortunately for the those who live in Hanoi, no mountains need to be climbed this month as the renowned flowers are in bloom closer to home. A buckwheat field in Thach Cau, Long Bien, is captivating the hearts of many who want to see the flowers up close.

The buckwheat fields, approximately seven kilometers (4.3 miles) from downtown Hanoi, cover an area of 5,000 square meters.

Usually, buckwheat flowers bloom from September to December.

“This is a strong plant which grows easily,” said Bo, the caretaker of the field.

Buckwheat flowers bloom for about a month, changing from white at first to a shade of pink.

A house and a train are added for aesthetic value at the flower field.

The flowers will stay in bloom for about a week more, said gardeners at the field.

The buckwheat field has attracted many visitors in the last month who want to escape the city.

Source: Vnexpress

Vietnamese footballer listed among world’s top 500 most important players

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Nguyen Quang Hai is the first Vietnamese player to make it onto the list, alongside the likes of Ronaldo and Messi.
Rising Vietnamese football star Nguyen Quang Hai has been named among the 500 most important players on the globe by World Soccer, an English football magazine.

Hai, who plays for Hanoi FC, is the first Vietnamese player ever to make it onto the list, and stands aside legends such as Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.

Hai was part of Vietnam’s U23 team that shook the nation after battling all their way to the final of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) U23 Championship in China back in January. The team captured the hearts of Vietnamese fans before falling in the last minutes of extra time against Uzbekistan. Their valiant efforts throughout the championship united the entire nation, and the players shook social media and were welcomed with a rockstar return from China.

The 21-year-old superstar scored five goals for his country during the championship, putting him in the spotlight as one of Vietnam’s top young talents. One of his show-stopping efforts in the final was voted Goal of the Championship on AFC’s official website back in February.

Vietnamese football has been on a roll lately, and the national team have qualified for the finals of the 2019 AFC Asian Cup.

Source: Vnexpress

Latitude Tree’s Vietnam plant sustains RM21.45m damage from fire

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Latitude Tree Holdings Bhd’s major operating subsidiary in Vietnam sustained damages totalling US$5.5mil (RM21.45mil) due to a fire early Thursday.

The furniture maker said one factory belonging to its indirect unit RK Resources Co. Ltd in Binh Duong province was affected by a fire which started at 12.30am. It was put out at 7am.

The affected building houses the assembly and packing line, inventories of work-in-progress and finished goods.

Latitude Tree said RK Resources’ other plants were not affected and production was running as normal.

It said the estimated loss caused by the fire was US$5.50mil of which US$3mil was due to loss on inventories, US$2mil on building and US$500,000 on machinery.

“The fire department and insurance representatives are still conducting investigation to ascertain the cause of the fire. All the assets are adequately covered by insurance. Sufficient insurance coverage has been taken for consequential business loss,” it said.

Latitude Tree said RK Resources was assessing the operational and financial impact from the fire.

“RK Resources has also commenced discussion with affected customers to reschedule shipments of finished goods and plans to increase production hours by additional overtime to replenish destroyed finished goods,” it said.

Source: The Star (KUALA LUMPUR)

Why do real estate developers want to legalize condotels?

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Real estate experts believe that selling condotels can bring huge profits to investors and savings in fees that apartment developers usually pay.

The first condotels appeared in Vietnam several years ago and have been developing very rapidly since then. According to the Ministry of Construction (MOC), there are 148 ongoing condotel projects developed by 52 investors. It is expected that 27,000-29,000 condotels will be launched into the market in 2017-2019.

Despite the existence of numerous products, condotels have not been recognized by the law. Condotels remain out of the management of state agencies.

However, in the last six months, ministries and branches have urged to legalize condotels. At the same time, condotel developers have been repeatedly organizing workshops to lobby policymakers for recognizing condotels as a new type of housing.

The investors have proposed creating standards for condotels and grant land use right certificates for an indefinite time.

Lawyer Bui Sinh Quyen from the Hanoi Bar Association, said that condotel development is just a new ‘phenomenon’ and ‘there is no need to run after every phenomenon’, because this will only benefit investors.

Many investors, when advertising condotels, give unclear information which does not coincide with the purpose of projects approved by state management agencies. This has led to misunderstandings among buyers not knowledgeable about the law.

According to Quyen, resort tourism projects must be seen as production and business projects, not as housing. The decisions on allocating and leasing land for project implementation show clearly the purposes and land use duration.

The 2013 Land Law stipulates that the duration can be no more than 70 years in difficult areas and 50 years in other areas.

Le Hoang Chau, chair of the HCM City Real Estate Association (HoREA), said investors repeatedly urged to recognize condotels because local authorities called for investments and created favorable conditions in land access and administrative procedures to attract investments in condotel projects.

Condotels are sold by primary investors at VND25-55 million per square meter, or VND1-3 billion for each condotel. The prices, according to Chau, are equal to prices of mid- and high-end apartments in HCM City.

There are still no required standards for design, functions and fire prevention and fighting set specifically for condotels. An architect said that condotels were like hotel rooms, but with a kitchen and more bedrooms.
The condotel market is forecast to remain attractive to investors in 2018, with increasing amounts of capital poured into the segment.

Source: VnExpress

Vietnam pulls plug on demand for Facebook, Google to install servers in the country

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But they might still have to provide Vietnamese users’ information when required for ‘national security.’

Vietnam has made a u-turn on a draft bill that would have required foreign companies such as Facebook and Google to install servers in the country.

The draft was submitted by the Ministry of Public Security last year over national security concerns, but faced strong opposition from international organizations and companies.

The Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry said the bill went against the commitments Vietnam had made when it joined the World Trade Organization and EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement.

A joint letter sent by the U.S., Australian, Canadian embassies and the European Union in August 2017 also voiced strong concerns over the bill, saying it went against the trade commitments Vietnam had made.

This opposition prompted a meeting on Wednesday between the National Defense Committee (CNDC) and Diplomatic Committee, which concluded that foreign companies do not need to install servers in Vietnam.

However, authorities decided that a clause in the bill stating that foreign businesses should have representative offices in Vietnam and that they should store Vietnamese users’ data should remain.

The CNDC said these requirements would help if there is a cross-border internet security breach involving Vietnamese users, while providing a way of removing any information posted against the Communist Party or governement.

Tax concerns were also raised at the meeting regarding Facebook and Google, as for the last two years, the country has only collected VND120 billion ($5.2 million) in tax because the companies do not have representative offices in Vietnam, according to the Ministry of Finance.

Due to the lack of representative offices for Facebook and Google, Vietnam’s tax authorities can only charge Vietnamese advertising agencies and businesses that use the two digital giants’ services.

Facebook announced last year that it will change to a local selling structure from using a tax avoidance method which involves routing sales through Ireland. The new form of operation is believed to “provide more transparency to governments and policy makers around the world who have called for greater visibility over the revenue associated with locally supported sales in their countries,” its CFO said in a press release.

The company plans to have all its offices in place in the first six months of 2019.

Source: VnExpress

Zero-VND tours damaging Vietnam’s tourism environment

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The so-called zero-dong tours with Chinese tourists continue despite great efforts by local authorities to stop them.

After a short period of interruption, zero-dong tours have resumed. “You can meet Chinese travelers everywhere in Quang Ninh, from old to young people, from healthy to disabled,” said N.V.T, a tour guide.

The Tuan Chau Tourism Port in Ha Long was full with Chinese travelers recently, though it was very early in the morning. About 100 45-seat coaches were seen in the coach area, ready to serve travelers.

Everything at the port seemed to be set up to serve Chinese. Signboards and billboards were all written in Chinese. The boards hung over the shops were in Chinese. The shops sell Vietnam-made products such as agarwood and pearl.

According to the Quang Ninh Inland Waterway Port Authorities, about 600 ships are licensed to visit Ha Long Bay each day, and 70 percent of visitors have Chinese nationality.

“It is understandable,” T said. “Most Chinese travelers to Quang Ninh book zero-dong tours. Only a few Chinese come on cruises. To save money, travelers can go by land from the Mong Cai Border Gate.”

Ha Long Bay in Quang Ninh is an ideal destination used by travel firms for low-cost tours.

It is estimated that Quang Ninh receives tens of thousands of Chinese travelers a day.

Most of them enter Vietnam through the Mong Cai International Border Gate. They are carried inland on 45-seat buses. Each tour lasts two days and one night, or three days and two nights.

Most of them enter Vietnam through the Mong Cai International Border Gate. They are carried inland on 45-seat buses. Each tour lasts two days and one night, or three days and two nights.

When Chinese arrive in Ha Long City, they stay in low-cost guesthouses with the rate of VND200,000-300,000 per head. Each room may contain 5-6 travelers. Travelers are served spare meals with little fish and meat, and have to pay additional money if they order seafood.

Because of the high number of travelers, the excursion points in Ha Long Bay are usually overloaded. When reporters set foot on Titov Island, they saw many travelers jostling in a small area at the harbor.

Other excursion points in Ha Long such as Sung Sot, Thien Cung and Luon Caves are also full of visitors. Travelers sometimes have to queue up for several hours to be able to enter the caves.

After lunchtime, when travelers have spare meals or banh my (bread) and water, travelers are led to go shopping. The shops serve Chinese travelers.

Travelers have to wear name tags to be able to enter the shops. Many shops like these were forced to shut down one year ago. However, many others have opened since then.

By Thanh Lich (Vietnamnet)

Vietnamese photographers win big at Smithsonian Photo Contest

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Vietnamese photographers Nguyen Huu Thong and Tran Tuan Viet have emerged triumphant at the 15th annual Smithsonian Photo Contest.

Nguyen Huu Thong from Bac Giang province stood out from 60 finalists competing in the contest to win the Grand Prize worth US$2,500, for his photo ‘Bua Sang Tai Cho Phien’ (Breakfast at the Weekly Market).

Thong revealed that the photo was taken accidentally in the morning at a rural market in the northern province of Ha Giang during the Tet (traditional lunar New Year) festival 2017.

Sharing the background of the photo, Thong explained that in northern Vietnam, people come to the weekly market to exchange goods and culture. They usually wake up very early to go to the market and have breakfast there.

Photo ‘Lam Huong’ (Making Incense) by Tran Tuan Viet won the Travel category of the contest

Meanwhile, the photo ‘Lam Huong’ (Making Incense) by Tran Tuan Viet from Hanoi won the contest’s Travel category. The photo captured decoratively dyed bundles of incense drying in Quang Phu Cau village, Ung Hoa district in Hanoi.

Viet’s photo is one of the most-viewed images in the history of the photo contest, with more than 50,000 views so far.

The two winning photos were among more than 48,000 entries submitted by photographers from 155 countries and territories from around the world, in six categories: The natural world, The American experience, Travel, People, Altered Images, and Mobile.

Source: Dtinews

Better safety performance for VN: Climbing the ranks of the world’s safest countries

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Keeping people safe is one of society’s most important responsibilities. Safety is about the commitment to doing the right things to protect people, families and communities whether they are in public, on the roads, at work or simply going about their daily lives at home. VietNamNet Bridge would like to introduce an article by safety expert David Wroth, who is Director of Data Science of the Underwriters Laboratories (UL), which makes the annual UL Safety Index.

Each year, our organization conducts a global analysis of safety performance, and as a result we have a good indicator of which countries are the best at keeping their citizens safe, which are the most challenged, and which are making progress or falling behind.

The UL Safety Index™ is based on data-science and algorithms, and it is designed to help policy makers, leaders and civic organizations make decisions that will help keep their citizens safe. The type of safety we focus on measuring is preventable. This would include any type of unintentional accident but excludes injuries or deaths related to disease, crime or violence.

In Vietnam, we are pleased to report that safety on a national level is improving, and the country now ranks amongst the middle tier of Southeast Asian nations for safety performance. Safety doesn’t happen by accident, and this is clearly the case in Vietnam, where policy makers and leaders have taken multi-faceted steps to improve the country’s overall safety performance.

According to our 2017 UL Safety Index, Vietnam’s Safety Index score is 66 (on a scale of 0-100) and ranks fifth amongst the 11 countries in Southeast Asia. This marks an improvement for Vietnam of four points, up from 62 a year ago.

How did Vietnam get better with safety performance?

In the weeks ahead, as we formally launch the UL Safety Index in Vietnam, we will share specifics about what Vietnam has done very well at, and also highlight areas in which Vietnam can do better to further improve safety performance.

In general, the UL Safety Index points to a few indicators that Vietnam has improved upon. Firstly, Vietnam’s strong progress in upgrading its educational institutions has positively impacted the country’s overall safety landscape. As education is a key driver of safety awareness, the level of safety in the country has also improved alongside heightened education levels. Efforts by the Vietnamese government to improve education, such as the recent Higher Education Renovation Project to upgrade the education system and competitiveness, have contributed to this accomplishment.

Economic growth also drives improvements in safety. As one of fastest-growing economies in the world, Vietnam has more potential and resources to make investments in robust infrastructure and programs to keep people safe. Economic growth also empowers Vietnamese citizens with greater ability and opportunities to buy higher quality and safer products.

While there has been great progress made in Vietnam’s safety performance, there are also some areas for improvement for the country. Road safety remains a well-publicized source of serious injury and death in Vietnam, and taking strong measures to reduce threats of drink-driving would be a good initial step to improve traffic safety. Another area of needed improvement in Vietnam is water safety. Vietnam ranks in the lower tier for drowning deaths in Southeast Asia, and there are intervention programs from countries such as Japan and Korea that could be applied to reduce these numbers. In addition, Vietnam has a high incidence of injuries and deaths caused by falls, which may be attributed to the country’s aging population. Better support for older citizens will help to reduce these figures.

Overall, people in Vietnam are living safer lives. Vietnam may not yet be as safe as countries at the top of the Index, such as Norway, the Netherlands, and in Asia Pacific, Australia and Singapore, but it is far safer than countries at the bottom tier of the Index.

The best evidence for Vietnam’s growing capacity for safety is the increased life expectancy of its citizens, which has risen from 70 years in 1990 to 76 years today. While there is still much for Vietnam to accomplish before it can climb into the upper ranks of the world’s safest societies, we should recognize that the country’s annual progress is significant, and that it has even become an Asia-Pacific leader in categories such as fire safety. Vietnam’s safety performance for fire, heat and hot substance injuries is second in the region and is in the top fifteen in the world.

Vietnam is showing us that a safer society doesn’t happen by accident. The country’s policymakers are taking clear steps to improve safety performance each and every year, and the results have been positive and encouraging.

Source: David Wroth

TrueMoney scores Vietnam payment services license

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TrueMoney Vietnam (“TrueMoney”), part of Southeast Asian Fintech company Ascend Money, has obtained the Intermediary Payment Services License from the State Bank of Vietnam to operate digital financial services in e-money, e-payment, wireless transfers, and payment gateways.

TrueMoney is processing over one million transactions per month, with 500,000 customers a month transacting with TrueMoney agents and TrueMoney Wallet.

Tanyapong Thamavaranukupt, President of Ascend Money, said, “Winning the license to operate digital financial services cements our presence in Vietnam, an important market for Ascend in our expansion throughout Southeast Asia. This means TrueMoney is now able to deploy a broad range of safe, affordable and convenient digital money solutions to Vietnam’s population of 90 million. In particular we hope to provide equal access to financial services for the unbanked.”

Consumers can now use TrueMoney Wallet to make online purchases, pay bills and top up their pre-paid mobile and gaming cards, as well as to transfer money from their bank accounts to the digital wallet and from their wallet to other wallets. Offline and online merchants can use TrueMoney’s system as a payment gateway. Companies will soon be able to disburse payroll to their employees via TrueMoney Wallet.

TrueMoney has a network of over 5,000 agents across 40 provinces in Vietnam. Agents are small business owners who conduct financial services for customers, enabling the largely underserved Vietnamese population to access fast and easy services such as top-up and bill payment near their location. TrueMoney Vietnam will soon offer additional financial services such as loans and insurance, in the second quarter of 2018.

Vietnam has one of the lowest banking penetration rates in the region, with only one third of the population having an account with a formal financial provider, compared to the regional average of 69%.

“While Vietnam has the potential to surpass China in GDP growth by 2020, the country urgently needs to connect its people and businesses to financial services, to reap the benefits of inclusive growth. As Southeast Asia’s fastest growing mobile commerce market, as well as one of its largest unbanked populations, Vietnam poses a key opportunity for TrueMoney to innovate and scale,” Tanyapong continued.

TrueMoney, an e-payment and financial services provider for digital and unbanked consumers, is the only Fintech company with e-money licenses to operate financial services in Thailand, Myanmar, Indonesia, Cambodia, Philippines, and Vietnam. Across Southeast Asia, Ascend Money has reached over 35 million customers in 2017 and aims to reach 100 million customers by 2020.

Vietnam, along with the Philippines, Indonesia, and Myanmar, has been identified by the World Bank as among the top 25 countries to focus strategic efforts on financial inclusion. According to the World Bank, in 2014 Vietnam had the lowest credit card usage in Southeast Asia, and only 50 per cent of the debit cards in circulation were in use.

Tanyapong added, “The blurred lines between the unbanked and the underbanked—those with formal access but limited engagement—points to the need for not just access to bank accounts, but the regular use of banking in the daily lives of the population. This means that digital financial services can reach a much larger segment of the population if delivered through a comprehensive platform—addressing not just the need for a digital wallet, but also broader daily needs of merchants and users to transition from offline to online payment methods seamlessly. By strengthening the overall prevalence and convenience of e-money in daily life, Ascend Money plays a leading role in unlocking the potential of the digital economy in Southeast Asia for digital consumers and the underbanked alike.”

Vietnam is the second country in the region to launch TrueMoney Wallet after Thailand. Following the successful roll-out of TrueMoney Wallet across Thailand in major retail outlets such as 7-Eleven convenience stores, with almost 10,000 branches nationwide, Ascend has continued to expand in markets that are among the region’s lowest in financial inclusion rates.

TrueMoney Wallet was officially launched in Vietnam this year during the Lunar New Year with the TrueGift campaign, in which celebrities and users sent virtual red packets (hongbao) to their fans and friends to celebrate the special holiday.

The Asian Development Bank estimates that bringing digital financial services to Southeast Asia’s unbanked population can boost the GDP of economies by as much as 6%.

Source: TrueMoney

Vietnamese TV firm faces questions after cutting foreign channels

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22 international channels bit the dust on Sunday, sparking uproar from clients.

Vietnam’s trade ministry has asked a local cable network company to explain why it has cut off 22 foreign channels after a backlash from disgruntled customers.

The Vietnam Competition Authority (VCA), under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, has asked VTVCab to account for its decision to remove 22 foreign channels from its broadcasting service on Sunday without notifying customers. Among the removed were HBO, BBC Earth, Discovery, Animal Planet, National Geographic and Disney Channel.

Bui Huy Nam, director of VTVCab, said the switch was part of VTVCab’s content strategy to adapt its programs on multiple platforms.

“We’ve researched our customers’ tastes and received valuable feedback for our updated programs,” he said.

The company’s move has been slammed by angry customers.

“I didn’t receive any notification from VTVCab regarding the change,” said Tuyet Loan, a customer from Hanoi. “I signed the contract. If there’s any alteration to the list of programs, the company is supposed to inform and explain it to me,” she said, as reported by Thanh Nien.

“If VTVCab has violated consumer rights, we will take action in accordance with Vietnamese law,” the VCA said.

This isn’t the first time customers have had beef with the cable company. Just last June, VTVCab suspended broadcasts of several foreign sports channels, saying it was trying to give more airtime to local channels.

Source: VnExpress