Grab says it will not pay any back taxes owed by Uber in Vietnam

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Despite departing Vietnam this Sunday, Uber allegedly still owes over $2.3 million in back taxes.

Ride-hailing firm Grab Vietnam on Thursday said it would not be paying any back taxes rival Uber might still owe in Vietnam despite its deal to acquire the latter’s operations in Southeast Asia.

“This matter is Uber’s responsibility. Grab did not buy Uber’s legal status in Vietnam, which is the unit bearing all legal responsibilities for settling tax-related issues with the tax department,” a Grab representative said, adding that all questions related to the issue should instead be sent to Uber.

An official from Ho Chi Minh City’s tax department said that the department is still waiting for Grab to submit an official report on the acquisition deal before deciding on how to handle the issue.

Commenting on Grab’s announcement, lawyer Doan Van Hau, chairman of the Vietnam Lawyers’ Commercial Arbitration Center, said Grab’s refusal is in violation of Vietnamese law and international practices.

Quoting Vietnam’s Enterprise Law, he stressed that Grab as the acquirer is responsible for paying all back taxes owed by its target firm Uber.

“Even if Uber and Grab have their own agreements on how to handle this issue, then those agreements must still conform to Vietnamese law,” Hau said.

In September last year, Ho Chi Minh City’s tax department ordered the Netherlands-based Uber B.V. to pay VND66.7 billion ($2.91 million) in back taxes and tax evasion penalties by December 23. However, the company only paid VND13.3 billion after complaining to the Ministry of Finance that it should not be subject to certain taxes according to Vietnam’s agreement on double taxation avoidance with the Netherlands.

The tax department subsequently asked five local commercial banks to help it collect the outstanding sum from Uber’s accounts, but failed after discovering the company does not have a bank account in Vietnam.

Uber has since filed two lawsuits against the department and has yet to pay the remaining VND53 billion.

Source: Vnexpress

V is for Vietnam, not volatility

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Despite the return of market volatility, a Vietnam equity fund managed by JP Morgan Asset Management has soared to the top as best performer, according to data from FE Analytics.

Global equity markets have been volatile this year, led by a market correction in February and prompting analysts to herald “the return of volatility” after years of calm, incremental upside. The S&P 500 plunged 6% to 2,648.94 after the first five days in February, according to Bloomberg data, but the first quarter as a whole has been jumpy.

Yet Vietnam investments may provide some insulation. JP Morgan Asset Management’s Vietnam Opportunities Fund was the best performing equity fund, returning 107.41% on a three-year period ending 31 March, among the universe of SFC-authorised funds with AUM of at least $100m, data from FE Analytics shows.

But investment opportunities in Vietnam are difficult to find, said the fund’s manager, Isaac Thong, in a previous interview.

“There is a lack of high-quality, well-rounded companies [in Vietnam], and because of that, fund managers have to search through many companies to find some gems,” he said.

The fund, which received a Gold award in Fund Selector Asia’s Fund Awards in Hong Kong this year, has been consistently in the top quartile, with a cumulative five-year return of 129% ending June 2017 versus 15.7% for the sector.

A number of industry players have warned about a more volatile market environment this year, such as Bank of Singapore, Pictet Asset Management and Eastspring Investments.

Could Vietnam be a safehaven? In the first quarter of 2018, the MSCI Vietnam Index returned 17.59% and the S&P 500 returned -0.76%, according to FE data.

The next four best performing funds are two China-focused funds, which are both managed by UBS Asset Management, and two technology funds, one managed again by UBS AM and the other by Blackrock.

The top five performers in Q1 2018

Source: FE. Universe is SFC-registered products with at least $100m in AUM.
All fund NAVs converted to US dollars for comparative purposes.

 

Vietnam continues to reduce poverty

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Poverty in Vietnam continues to fall, particularly amongst ethnic minorities, who saw their rate of poverty decline significantly by 13 percentage points, the largest decline in the past decade, says a new World Bank report.

According to Climbing the Ladder: Poverty Reduction and Shared Prosperity in Vietnam, released today by the World Bank, improving income from highland agriculture can help Vietnam further reduce poverty, which has fallen by almost 4 percentage points since 2014, to 9.8 percent in 2016. Ethnic minorities – many of them living in highland areas – account for 72 percent of Vietnam’s poor, and encouraging them to grow more profitable industrial crops may improve their earnings.

“Vietnam has achieved tremendous results in reducing poverty and improving the quality of life for millions. The decline in poverty amongst ethnic minorities is encouraging, and more focused efforts on improving their incomes can further broaden their opportunities and reduce persistent inequalities,” said Ousmane Dione, World Bank Country Director for Vietnam. “The aspirations of those with less opportunities cannot be ignored.”

Outlining recent trends and patterns of poverty in Vietnam, the report proposes solutions for that untapped agriculture potential in highland areas where the poor are concentrated. Land use and cropping decisions, for example, contribute more to agriculture income differences between households. Low-income families in highland areas use their land to grow basic crops such as rice or maize instead of raising more profitable crops such as coffee, black pepper, or rubber.

Improving access to credit may help highland farmers make the necessary investments for higher-earning agricultural production. Strengthening earning capacity can help narrow inequalities between groups. The average per capita consumption of ethnic minorities, for example, remains less than 45 percent of the Kinh and Hoa. Moreover, the poor faces a widening gap in terms of access to upper secondary education and improved water and sanitation.

At the same time, the report recognizes that 70 percent of Vietnam’s population is now classified as economically secure, including the 13 percent who are now part of the global middle-class. These income classes are growing rapidly, rising by over 20 percentage points between 2010 and 2017. An average of 1.5 million Vietnamese joined the global middle class each year since 2014, confirming that households continue to climb the economic ladder after escaping poverty. The rise of the consumer class changes society’s aspirations and the focus of the poverty and shared prosperity agenda shifts from combatting extreme poverty to effecting broad improvements in the quality of life and supporting the further expansion of the middle class. Rapid job creation and an ongoing transition to wage employment are driving gains in poverty reduction and shared prosperity.

The report suggests several areas of strategic priorities to further reduce poverty and promote shared prosperity, including:

  • Boosting labor productivity and investing in infrastructure to sustain job creation and wage growth without losing competitiveness.
  • Implementing education reforms designed to equalize opportunities and develop workforce skills.
  • Spurring agriculture structural transformation through changing farmland use patterns, strengthening land user rights, and improving skills of the poor farmers.

While reducing inequality remains a challenge, the report notes that the number of individuals vulnerable to falling back into poverty declined to only 2 percent between 2014 and 2016. In contrast, the period saw the middle class expanding by more than 3 million people.

One of the prioritized areas under the new World Bank Group Country Partnership Framework with Vietnam for the period from FY18 – FY22 is inclusive growth, with a specific objective for the “economic integration of the poor and vulnerable groups” under which the Bank will provide support for targeted interventions to expand economic opportunities for people in lagging areas.

Source: MD

Vietnam set for Heineken F1 event in Ho Chi Minh City!

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Vietnamese F1 fans will get their first glance of a Grand Prix car next month, when David Coulthard races through Ho Chi Ming City thanks to Heineken.

The Dutch brewing company and F1 partner is set to organise an event entitled “Perfect Experience with F1” which will blend beer, music and demo runs by Coulthard with a Red Bull Racing charger.

The event will also support Heineken’s long-standing commitment to responsible driving by raising awareness for its “When you Drive, Never Drink” campaign that wa slaunched last September in several countries, including Vietnam.

“The ‘Perfect Experience with F1’ campaign is an important opportunity for us to contribute to consumers’ driving awareness and behavior after consuming alcohol,” said Mr. Leo Evers, Managing Director of Heineken Vietnam.

“F1 has always focused on the message ‘Think before you drive’. We will continue to spread the message of ‘When You Drive, Never Drink’ at subsequent events in Vietnam.

“Heineken shook hands with Formula One Management (FOM) to become a Global Partner of Formula 1 in 2016, aiming its sponsorship at promoting its responsible drinking campaign.”

Liberty Media, F1’s commercial rights owner, is rumored to be working on a deal to bring an F1 Grand Prix to the streets of Hanoi sometime in the near future.

Former F1 boss Bernie Ecclstone came close to signing a deal with Vietnam a few years ago, but ultimately declined to award a franchise to the country because of its complete lack of motorsport history.

“The deal I could have signed with Vietnam would have been $64 million,” he told Forbes last month.

“Liberty are going to get the deal done with the people in Vietnam for sure.”

Source: F1

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.
Other flowers are also planted.
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)

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