The three share sales are expected within three months, the government said.
Vietnam hopes to raise a total of more than $570 million by selling stakes in an oil refinery, an oil distribution firm and a power company, the government website said on Saturday.
The country has accelerated its privatization program in recent weeks, partly because of the need to fund a budget deficit and in the face of growing public debt.
Vietnam aims to raise at least $297 million by selling a 20 percent stake in PetroVietnam Power Corporation and at least $155 million by selling 7.79 percent of the Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical company, the government said.
In addition to the sale of those shares in initial public offerings (IPOs), the government said it planned to sell a 28.9 percent stake in the power company and a 49 percent stake in the refinery to strategic investors.
The government also approved an earlier planned IPO in oil distribution firm PetroVietnam Oil Corp (PV Oil), aiming to raise at least $122 million by selling a 20 percent stake.
The three share sales are expected within three months, the government said, without giving more precise details of the timing.
Last month, Vietnam unveiled plans to sell a stake of up to 54 percent, worth $5 billion, in the nation’s biggest brewer, Sabeco, in what is set to be the country’s largest privatization yet.
The head of the city’s transport department says the increased fines are not aimed at boosting the city’s budget.
Ho Chi Minh City is deliberating a plan to double fines for traffic violations in an effort to sort out its streets and reduce gridlock and accidents.
According to the proposal, floated by the city’s transport department, drivers who park illegally or drive in the wrong lane, and contractors that do not clear barriers and signs from construction sites once work is completed, will all receive higher fines.
The plan, which was put forward at a meeting of the municipal legislative People’s Council on Monday, is to discourage drivers from violating the rules and has nothing to do with the city’s budget, Bui Xuan Cuong, the department’s director, told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper on Friday.
3,960 traffic accidents were reported in the city last year, and 805 people were killed, up 5.54 and 14.6 percent, respectively, against 2015.
Part of the revenue from the increased fines will be used to train traffic officers, while the rest will be allocated to the city’s police and the National Traffic Safety Committee, he said.
The proposal will be open for public opinion.
Councilor Le Nguyen Minh Quang, head of the HCMC Urban Railway Management Authority, agreed with the proposal, saying that the current fines are too low.
“Traffic chaos worsens during rush hour as drivers ride onto the sidewalk and drive into oncoming traffic,” he said.
The city’s mayor, Nguyen Thanh Phong, said in August that up to 7.6 million motorbikes and 700,000 cars were being used in the city.
Traffic congestion has plagued HCMC for a long time, so the city has been trying to find different ways to deal with the problem.
Aside from building overpasses, its latest effort is a plan to impose a congestion charge in the center during rush hour to restrict the number of four-wheel vehicles.
When the plan was rolled out in September, it said the charge could come into force at the same time the city’s first metro line is launched in 2020.
In July, the city came up with a roadmap to limit private vehicles. But Cuong, the transport director, said that the city would not ban motorbikes before 2030.
Recently-released Nielsen Vietnam Smartphone Insights Report 2017 reveals latest trends in smartphone use around the country.
Growth in the number of smartphone users in Vietnam continues, with rural smartphone users reaching up to 68 per cent of mobile phone users, according to the latest Nielsen report released on November 24.
According to the Nielsen Vietnam Smartphone Insights Report 2017, the number of people using smartphones among mobile phone users enjoyed growth of 84 per cent in 2017, compared to 78 per cent in 2016.
In secondary cities, 71 per cent of local people use a smartphone among 93 per cent of people using mobile phones. More notably, in rural areas, while 89 per cent of the population owns a mobile phone, 68 per cent possess a smartphone.
“The rapid up-take of connected devices, especially smartphones and tablets, is inevitable in Vietnam,” said Mr. Doan Duy Khoa, Director of Consumer Insights at Nielsen Vietnam. “This could correspond with the fact that smartphone brands are offering consumers abundant choice at an affordable and reasonable price. Another reason is that consumers are enjoying increasing standards of living and expressing their desire for connectivity anywhere, anytime.”
Nielsen conducted another study earlier this year in cooperation with Younet Media to shed light on evolving trends in rural consumption. The study revealed that social media has emerged as one of the key platforms for obtaining information, being entertained, and keeping in touch with family and friends, with 22.5 million Facebook users compared to 23.5 million Facebook users in urban areas.
“This plays an instrumental role in media consumption shifting beyond traditional media formats such as broadcast and cable TV, and also beyond traditional time parts,” said Mr. Khoa. “For media owners and advertisers, it is becoming increasingly important to understand both urban and rural consumers’ viewing habits in order to deliver the right content at the right time.”
The Nielsen Vietnam Smartphone Insight Report, which looks at the market landscape, smartphone brand performance, and smartphone use and attitudes, reveals major trends on smartphone penetration, segment movement, product life cycle, purchasing factors, brand satisfaction, and expectations from consumers towards a brand.
A sample of 1,882 frequent online users in key cities, 1,930 users in secondary cities, and 2,027 users in rural areas aged 16 years or older and who used the internet in the last month were captured using online survey methodology.
The next time you are offered one or two tiny pieces of candy in lieu of small change from a supermarket or grocery store in Vietnam, insist on getting the banknotes, no matter how small the denomination.
Vietnam’s biggest banknote
is the VND500,000 bill, equal to US$22, while those with smaller face values, such as VND200 and VND500, are often ignored or considered nearly worthless.
That attitude has led to retailers, ranging from supermarkets to sidewalk stalls, offering candy in place of small change.
Unbeknownst to many, however, is that the lowest value Vietnamese banknote in circulation is actually VND100, a fact that sparked serious debate when the ‘forgotten’ bill grabbed headlines following a ‘tollgate scandal’ in southern Vietnam.
Vietnamese dong with small face values and their issuing dates. Photo: Tuoi Tre
Surprise comeback
In a show of protest against what many believe is an unfairly positioned toll station in Tien Giang Province, many drivers chose to pay the VND25,000 toll fee with VND25,100 before insisting on receiving their VND100 change.
The Cai Lay toll station was forced to temporarily shut down after failing to meet the demand, due primarily to the fact that the VND100 banknote has been effectively absent from circulation for nearly a decade.
The situation led the State Bank of Vietnam, the country’s central bank, to issue a statement asserting that the VND100 bill is still valid as legal tender and immediately provided a huge stock of the banknotes to the operator of the contested tollgate.
The 100 dong bill is currently listed in the “Vietnamese banknotes” section of the central bank’s official website.
A driver (right) poses with a VND100 bill he receives from the Cai Lay tollgate. Photo: Tuoi Tre
Currency is national sovereignty
Protests at the toll station are one issue, but the refusal of many businesses to use banknotes with small face values is becoming a hot topic across the country.
Many businesses employ a ‘candy as change’ policy that many local consumers oppose, yet still accept rather than waste energy on insisting they be given a VND200 or VND500 banknote.
However, with the ‘return’ of the VND100 banknote, a call to end the policy is beginning to circulate amongst the public.
Those who welcome the low value notes say the issue runs deeper than just what one can buy with 100 Vietnamese dong, or 1/220 of a U.S. dollar.
“In other countries businesses are expected to give every single cent of change back to customers. This shows respect for that nation’s currency,” one reader wrote on news outlet VnExpress.
The 100 dong banknote is seen in this photo taken from the website of the State Bank of Vietnam.
Many countries also have laws against destroying national currency or refusing to pay in the national currency on home soil.
“National currency is a designation of a country’s sovereignty, aside from its national flag and official name,” Assoc. Prof. Vo Tri Hao, told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper.
In Vietnam, the erstwhile Penal Code 1985 criminalized such activities, but the current law only slaps a civil fine on violators, according to Hao.
“Money, of a small or large denomination, is national currency and no one is allowed by law to refuse payment in small change,” Hao underlined.
The professor added that those drivers who protested the Cai Lay tollgate will not be fined, because “it is those who refuse to use small change, such as supermarket cashiers or tollgate attendants, are the real law offenders.”
“There are no legal documents that ban the use of small change in payment,” he added.
Industry insiders and experts are calling on the government to rewrite local tax rules to force major Internet companies to pay tax on profits they make from the Vietnamese market.
As more and more Vietnamese holidaymakers get used to booking their trips online, hotel booking platforms such as Agoda and Booking.com earn hundreds of millions of U.S. dollars per year in the country.
Making it a win-win for these international companies is the fact that they do not have to pay taxes, with the responsibility shouldered by their Vietnamese partners due to loopholes in current tax rules, according to pundits.
Understanding ‘foreign contractor tax’
It’s essential to understand ‘foreign contractor tax’ in Vietnam before digging deeper into the issue.
Foreign contractor tax consists of value-added and corporate income taxes, with rates set by tax authorities depending on the type of services.
The current rate is 5 percent for both value-added and corporate income tax for foreign companies that generate income via services offered in Vietnam.
When a Vietnamese entity contracts a foreign party that does not have a licensed presence in Vietnam, the payment the contracting party makes to the contractor is subject to foreign contractor tax.
As the contractor does not have a legal presence in Vietnam, the contracting party has to pay the tax on its behalf.
The Vietnamese entity can offset this obligation by deducting the foreign contractor tax when calculating the payment it has to make to the contactor.
For example, if a Vietnamese company has to pay a foreign contractor of $1,000, the foreign contractor tax will be $100.
According to the law, the Vietnamese company must negotiate the payment at $900, setting aside the $100 to pay the local taxman.
However, local hotels have claimed that it is not so easy to do so when working with companies like Booking.com.
Two tourists look up information on online booking platforms prior to taking their trip to Da Nang. Photo: Tuoi Tre
Local firms take the burden
Booking.com, which is based in the Netherlands, collects a 20 percent commission from Vietnamese hotel owners on every room booked through its platform, and this income is subject to foreign contractor tax.
However, Pham Ha, CEO of Luxury Travel, said Booking.com will not accept the tax deduction by its Vietnamese partners, saying it should enjoy a tax exemption thanks to a double taxation avoidance agreement between the Netherlands and Vietnam.
The online platform will regularly threaten to cease their partnership if Vietnamese companies insist on the deduction, Ha said.
“Many local companies have been forced to use money from their own pocket to pay the taxes, fearing that the contract termination with Booking.com will affect their sales,” the insider said.
“This is a double whammy for Vietnamese companies as they already have to pay their own corporate income tax. “
Pham Xuan Anh, chairman of Viet Excursions Co., confirmed the phenomenon that Vietnamese companies have no choice but to pay the tax for Booking.com, as the online service insists they receive a 20 percent commission without tax deduction.
“Some Vietnamese companies have to accept smaller profits as they have no other choice,” Anh said.
Tax losses
Le Dac Lam, CEO of the hotel booking website Vntrip.vn, said revenue from the Vietnamese hotel sector is expected to reach US$21 billion by 2020, with 50 percent, or $10.5 billion, coming from online booking platforms.
Supposing that domestic tourists contribute 50 percent of the revenue, online booking companies will rake in approximately $1.25 billion, which leaves a significant amount of tax Vietnam is unable to collect.
Lawyer Tran Xoa, principal at the Minh Dang Quang law firm, said many Internet companies have taken advantage of loopholes in current tax rules, including the double taxation avoidance agreement, in order to avoid paying foreign contractor taxes on incomes generated in Vietnam.
According to the law, a foreign company is still recognized as not having a permanent presence in Vietnam even when it has a representative office or a subsidiary in the country.
Booking.com or Uber have said they only work with local hotels and drivers rather than having a presence in the country, so they should be able to enjoy the tax exemption.
Authorities in Ho Chi Minh City plan to open bidding on contracts for the management and maintenance of green trees across the metropolis.
Deputy Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee Tran Vinh Tuyen recently approved auctioning contracts in order to select suitable contractors to care for trees in 12 out of 24 districts in the southern city.
The plan will take effect on January 2, 2018.
Areas included in the scope of work include District 2, District 7, District 9, District 12, Tan Phu District, Tan Binh District, Thu Duc District, Hoc Mon District, Cu Chi District, Binh Chanh District, Nha Be District, and Can Gio District.
Bidding for tree management in Tao Dan, Gia Dinh, and Le Van Tam, three of the city’s major parks, will begin in the second quarter of 2018, following flower festivals and markets held in the parks in celebration of the Lunar New Year holiday in mid-February.
City officials will evaluate the effectiveness of the maintenance plan after the first year in order to determine whether it should be conducted in the remaining districts, Tuyen said.
The municipal Department of Transport will be charged with the process, the official continued.
The management and maintenance of green trees in Ho Chi Minh City was previously overseen by Greenery Parks Company and a local public services firm.
However, an unofficial auction of the management tasks was carried out and several other organizations now oversee the process.
Vietnam launched a new national hotline for child protection at 111, which citizens are encouraged to reach for reports of child abuse, harassment and other forms of violence against children.
The three digits were chosen for their memorable pattern compared to the old hotline number of 1800 1567.
Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam was among the government leaders to attend the hotline’s launch ceremony in Hanoi, organized by the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA) in cooperation with the Government Office.
Deputy Prime Minister Dam on Wednesday was also appointed chairman of the newly established National Committee for Children, Vietnam’s latest effort in promoting children’s rights.
MOLISA Minister Dao Ngoc Dung was appointed vice chair of the committee, which oversees the running of the child protection hotline.
Speaking at the ceremony, Minister Dung said the brief and memorable hotline would ensure that it is known to as many people as possible and becomes a go-to number for people who wish to make reports of child abuse, harassment and violence.
Reports of all kinds are welcomed, whether they are made by individuals, organizations or educational institutions, Dung underlined.
Three call centers in Hanoi, Da Nang and An Giang Province are in charge of handling calls from the northern, central and southern regions of Vietnam, respectively.
The hotline is toll-free and available 24/7, including holidays, to guarantee uninterrupted support of children in an emergency.
The old hotline of 1800 1567 will be kept temporarily active until the public becomes familiar with the new number and no more calls are made to the old one, according to a counseling official from MOLISA.
Since the establishment of the national child protection hotline in 2004, over 2.5 million calls have been received by operators, at an average rate of 240,000 calls per year, according to the official.
The new hotline is on stream amidst repeated reports of violence against children in Vietnam in recent weeks, including the brutal beatings of kids at a household-run daycare center in Ho Chi Minh City and the alleged torture of a seven-year-old with heated iron by her own father.
Just last month, a 65-year-old woman in northern Vietnam became the prime suspect in the death of her weeks-old grandson, whom she allegedly killed over superstition.
Earlier, a court in the southern beach city of Vung Tau sentenced a 77-year-old man to three years in prison for molesting two preteen girls aged six and 11.
Hanoi is scheduled to break ground on the construction of a multibillion-dollar ‘smart city’ in an outlying district next year.
A consortium between Japan’s Sumitomo and Vietnam’s BRG will develop the ‘smart city’ on a 272 hectare plot in Dong Anh District in five separate phases, according to a plan released after a working session between the consortium and Hanoi chairman Nguyen Duc Chung on Thursday.
The new US$4 billion project will feature a modern traffic system along the Nhat Tan-Noi Bai route using Japanese technology and will connect with the No.2 urban railway route in Hanoi.
Dong Anh District lies about 16km north of Hanoi’s central area.
Hanoi and the Sumitomo – BRG consortium signed a memorandum of understanding on the smart city development in June, during Vietnam’s Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc’s official visit to Japan.
The consortium is scheduled to complete planning for all five stages of the project by the end of the month and submit its proposal to the Hanoi administration for approval, BRG chairwoman Nguyen Thi Nga asserted at the meeting.
The project is scheduled to break ground within the first quarter of next year.
And whether they come back is another big question.
The number of foreign tourists arriving in Vietnam has been rising steadily, but new data has revealed that they are spending less.
The average foreign visitor in Vietnam spent $1,283 in 2004, well below the amount they spent in Thailand ($1,865) and Singapore ($2,670).
Shopping made up the largest slice of the pie in Vietnam, accounting for 16.6 percent of total spending, compared to 19.6 percent in Thailand and 22.3 percent in Singapore, according to the General Statistics Office.
A survey conducted by the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) in 2014 found that foreigners spent on average $1,114 in Vietnam, falling from a decade before.
VNAT also found in August this year that up to 80 percent of tourists said they would not return to Vietnam after their first trip to the country.
Ken Atkinson, chairman of Grant Thornton and vice chairman of the Vietnam Tourism Advisory Board, said he “personally believes the actual return rate for tourists is actually lower than the quoted 20 percent, as some reports record return tourists at less than 10 percent.”
The main reason for the low return rate is that Vietnam has yet to really establish itself as a destination for family holidays, as Thailand and Indonesia have managed to do. It is believed that the return rate for tourists in Thailand is closer to 50 percent, he told VnExpress International.
In order to establish itself as a family destination, he suggested that Vietnam should have a more friendly visa regime, more activities for family recreations and better infrastructure, as well as higher quality services and safer roads.
“Nevertheless, our tourism numbers continue to boom but we need to start to look at the quality of those tourists and their average spend in country,” he said.
Vietnam is on track to receive as many as 12.8 million foreign tourists this year, a rise of 28 percent against 2016.
Official data from the General Statistics Office show more than 11.6 million foreign tourists arrived in Vietnam between January and November this year, up 28 percent against the same period last year.
Last year, foreign visitors surged 26 percent from the previous year, reaching an unexpected all-time high of 10 million.
In 2015, Vietnam received 7.9 million tourists and forecast just 8.5 million for 2016.
Vietnam’s economic powerhouse will be marching into the next decade with its property market on the rise.
Ho Chi Minh City has been ranked third in a survey of 50 cities worldwide for property rental growth.
The survey, conducted by real estate firm Savills, also ranked Vietnam’s southern metropolis fifth in terms of investment prospects, and second for development prospects.
In its new publication, “Impacts: the future of global real estate”, Savills said cities that are resource rich, young and fast-growing, economic powerhouses, or at low risk from natural disasters, are the ones to watch for over the next decade.
Troy Griffiths, deputy managing director of Savills Vietnam, said: “This is an annual, long-running survey across a multitude of sophisticated property investors that demonstrates the strong sentiment towards Ho Chi Minh City and Vietnam as a highly favorable investment destination.”
“This is underwritten by the first position across all surveyed cities as buy options for office, retail, industrial and residential assets,” he added.
According to another report, “Emerging Trends in Real Estate Asia Pacific 2016”, jointly published by the Urban Land Institute and consulting firm PwC, foreign investors, mainly from Japan, South Korea and Singapore, are interested in the city’s property market on expectations of an annual return of between 20 and 25 percent.
The city is an attractive destination to investors mainly due to the government’s efforts to stabilize the local currency, control inflation, ease property lending regulations and improve market access for foreigners.
Global investors prefer entering Vietnam’s real estate market through mergers and acquisitions. Many are eying beach resorts, serviced apartments, residential buildings and hotels, mostly in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang.
‘Bitcoin now seems like a charging train with no brakes.’
Bitcoin flirted with $17,000 on Thursday, triggering a warning the cryptocurrency was like a “train with no brakes” and prompting fresh concern about its looming launch on mainstream markets.
Still under $14,000 in Asian trading hours, it smashed through $15,000 in European trading and got as high as $16,777 before pulling back, according to Bloomberg data. Near 2145 GMT, bitcoin stood at $16,070.
The rally came just a day after the virtual currency, which has been used to buy everything from an ice cream to a pint of beer, hit the $12,000 mark for the first time. The eye-popping rise has seen the currency’s value soar more than 50 percent in just one week, and from just $752 in mid-January.
Bitcoin — which came into being in 2009 as a bit of encrypted software — has no central bank backing it and no legal exchange rate.
It has surged dramatically in the past month, driven by growing acceptance among traditional investors of an innovation once considered the preserve of computer nerds and financial experts, and sometimes more shady users.
But some, including the U.S. Federal Reserve, have warned against dabbling in bitcoin as it could threaten financial stability, and fears of a bubble have increased as the price has soared.
“Bitcoin now seems like a charging train with no brakes,” said Shane Chanel, from Sydney-based ASR Wealth Advisers. “There is an unfathomable amount of new participants piling into the cryptocurrency market.”
But he warned: “Once the hype slows down, we will most certainly see some sort of correction.”
Financial industry concerns
There also are mounting concerns about its introduction into the mainstream financial system after a U.S. regulator last week cleared the way for bitcoin futures to trade on major exchanges, a decision which analysts say has helped spur the recent rally.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission decision allows bitcoin derivatives to be offered on the Cboe Futures Exchange starting this weekend and on the world’s biggest futures venue, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), from December 18.
But the Futures Industry Association, which groups some of the world’s biggest derivatives brokerages, criticized the CFTC’s move in a letter to the regulator, saying contracts are being rushed through without properly weighing the risks.
“A more thorough and considered process would have allowed for a robust public discussion among clearing member firms, exchanges and clearing houses,” the association said.
Bitcoin transactions happen when heavily encrypted codes are passed across a computer network.
Goldman Sachs, an FIA member, plans to clear bitcoin futures contracts for some clients, meaning it will serve as intermediary to enable transactions, a spokeswoman said.
“Given that this is a new product, as expected we are evaluating the specifications and risk attributes for the bitcoin futures contracts as part of our standard due diligence process,” she said.
The NiceHash marketplace was meanwhile on Thursday investigating a security breach resulting in the theft of bitcoin.
“Clearly, this is a matter of deep concern and we are working hard to rectify the matter in the coming days,” NiceHash said in a statement.
“In addition to undertaking our own investigation, the incident has been reported to the relevant authorities and law enforcement and we are co-operating with them as a matter of urgency.”
Bitcoin and other virtual currencies use blockchain, which records transactions that are updated in real time on an online ledger and maintained by a network of computers.
In 2014 major Tokyo-based bitcoin exchange MtGox collapsed after admitting that 850,000 coins — worth around $480 million at the time — had disappeared from its vaults.
Bitcoin’s use on the underground Silk Road website, where users could use it to buy drugs and guns, also raised suspicions about the virtual money.
The city’s tax office is likely to miss its revenue target this year, and is looking at more effective monetary management.
Ho Chi Minh City’s Tax Department has suggested that customers should pay for restaurants and other high-end services using bank cards rather than cash to make it easier to collect tax revenue.
Tran Ngoc Tam, the department director, said the proposal could help manage tax payments for high-end services.
His unit is working with other agencies before submitting the plan to the city’s government for approval.
Tam said that cash payments are no longer popular. Vietnam does not allow cash paymentss worth VND20 million ($880) or more, and that threshold is likely to go down to VND5 million soon “when we have the infrastructure to boost electronic payments,” he said.
The role of cash in all payments across Vietnam fell from 14 percent in 2010 to 11.5 percent in August 2017, according to figures from the central bank.
HCMC’s tax office raised the card payment proposal amid reports that the department is likely to miss its target this year.
The department was set to bring in nearly VND239 trillion ($10.5 billion) in taxes, but has so far only reached 87 percent of the target, Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper reported.
Legislators in the city, the biggest contributor to the state budget, earlier this week also suggested that celebrities who advertise products on Facebook should be taxed.
Facebook is the most popular social network in Vietnam with more than 52 million active accounts to advertisers, and is also used as a e-commerce platform that tax authorities have struggled to keep track of.
Businesses in Beijing and Tianjin and Hebei provinces in China want to promote investment and trade with Vietnamese partners, according to the Tianjin Foreign Economic and Trade Promotion Association.
Speaking at the trade and investment promotion conference between Việt Nam and China’s Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei provinces in HCM City yesterday, Geng Wei, the association chairman, said Việt Nam is a promising market.
Nguyễn Thị Huyền Ngọc of the Investment Promotion Centre for southern Việt Nam, said China currently ranks eighth out of 120 countries and territories investing in Việt Nam with $12 billion in 1,784 projects.
Chinese firms invest mainly in manufacturing, production and distribution of power, gas and water, real estate, hospitality, construction, and mining, she said.
Võ Tân Thành, director of the Việt Nam Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s HCM City office, said Việt Nam and China have good relations, especially in commerce.
China is Việt Nam’s largest trade partner and Việt Nam is that country’s largest trading partner in Asean and ninth largest in the world, he said.
Last year their trade was worth US$72 billion, with Việt Nam’s imports being worth $52 billion, he said.
But according to Chinese customs’ statistics, trade was actually worth $98 billion last year if cross-border trade is considered, he said.
“This year trade is expected to top $100 billion, a target the two sides had set only for 2020.”
Việt Nam’s main exports are telephones, crude oil, coal, rubber, rice, fruits and vegetables and seafood and imports include feedstock for manufacturing garment and textiles and steel and agricultural produce.
“In recent years China has increased investment in Việt Nam, and this is expected to continue in the future,” Thành said.
Ngọc said the processing and manufacturing sectors are expected to attract more Chinese investment.
With its stable political situation, rapid economic growth, clear and transparent investment policies, large workforce, improved infrastructure, and regional and global economic integration, Việt Nam is an attractive investment destination, including for Chinese investors, she said.
She also spoke about investment procedures in Việt Nam, tax breaks offered to priority sectors and projects that are soliciting investment.
Việt Nam has 324 industrial parks, of which 34 have foreign investors.
It currently focuses on calling for investments in high value-added projects, hi-tech and environment-friendly projects, large-scale projects, IT and bio-technology serving modern agriculture, infrastructure development in the form of PPP, and modern services as well as encouraging a gradual switch from sub-contracting to production, she said.
Thành said Chinese businesses could find a lot of opportunities in Việt Nam including HCM City.
The conference is a good opportunity for businesses from the two countries to understand each other’s markets and enhance investment and trade ties, he added.
Organised by Vinexad and the VCCI in collaboration with other organisations, the conference was part of the 2017 Vietnam Expo that is being held at the Saigon Exhibition and Convention Centre in HCM City from December 6 to 9.
More than 150 exhibitors from China’s three provinces are participating in the trade fair to study Vietnamese market and seek business opportunities here, Geng said.
At the conference, Geng also called on Vietnamese businesses to come to Tianjin to explore investment opportunities there.
For a destination that’s equally rich in history, culture, and natural beauty, there’s no better place than Vietnam. From its ancient Hindu temples and modern city streets buzzing with motorbikes, to the trendy food scenes and remarkable natural landscapes, there are so many reasons people are choosing this Southeast Asian country over popular destinations like Thailand and Cambodia.
Here are just a few of the things that are going to make you want to plan a trip to Vietnam.Ha Long Bay
Ha Long Bay
Ha Long Bay
The view that launched a million Instagram photos. Ha Long Bay is probably the most iconic destination in the country – as well as the most crowded with international tourists. The bay in north Vietnam is an other-worldly sight, with emerald green waters and thousands of jungle-topped limestone islands growing out of the seafloor. It’s one of the world’s natural wonders and a top destination for scuba divers, rock climbers, and cavers.
Don’t let the crowds deter you. A visit to Ha Long Bay should certainly be on the top of your list of places to see in Vietnam. Just give yourself plenty of time to enjoy the scenery and take in the experience. Rather than booking a rushed day cruise, you might want to buy a three-day ticket that provides overnight accommodations – and enjoy a few leisurely days on the water.
Hanoi
Vietnam’s busy capital city offers a vibrant glimpse into local life. Motorbikes speed down the narrow streets, cars honk, merchandise spills out of shops onto the city sidewalks. Throughout the city, you’ll see a mix of French Colonial and Southeast Asian architecture styles reveal how cultures have blended over time to result in the rich combination that now exists.
While you’re there, wander the narrow streets in the Old Quarter to negotiate prices with silk vendors. Buy a delicious bowl of steaming noodle soup from a street vendor. Or, get cultural at the Vietnam Museum of Ethnology and Vietnam Fine Art Museum.
Hanoi
Hue
Hue is the home of the Nyugen family dynasty, 19th-century emperors who made this central Vietnam city the national capital between 1802 and 1945. If you’re anything of a history buff, this city should be at the top of your list of things to see in Vietnam.
Its most famous site is the Citadel, an imposing stone fortress with a beautiful pagoda roof that’s surrounded by ornately decorated gates. It was located in the heart of the Imperial City in Hue, and sits next to the royal palace. The city is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is undergoing major preservation and restoration processes to return the city to its pre-Vietnam War era glory.
Hue
Mekong Delta
Known as the the ‘rice bowl’ of the country, the Mekong Delta is a floating city where a one-third of Vietnam’s food is produced. The green, lush, and wet environment what supports the surrounding orchards, rice paddies, and swamplands.
Visit, and you’ll be amazed to see the houseboats, the floating markets where customers fiercely negotiate prices, the small sampan boats gliding down the region’s intricate network of canals, streams, and rivers. It’s an easy trip from nearby Ho Chi Minh city and well worth the trip to taste the local produce fresh and spend a day in the jungle.
Mekong Delta
Ho Chi Minh City
Ho Chi Minh City is no longer the capital of Vietnam, but you’d be forgiven for making that mistake given its bustling nightlife, art scene, thriving culture, and tourism.
It was once the famous city of Saigon, and to this day, you can still visit the tunnels the Viet Cong dug during the war to secretly navigate below Ho Chi Minh City. It’s the largest city in Vietnam by population, and is packed with bars, restaurants, street vendors, and nightlife. it’s also making a name for itself in the tech world, with several new urban areas popping up with modern architecture and daring city planning.
Ho Chi Minh
My Son
Whether you’re a history buff or not, you will appreciate a trip to My Son. Here, you’ll find ancient Hindu temples dating back to the 4th century that are perhaps the most sacred in all of Vietnam. While Angkor Wat in Cambodia gets most of the tourist attention, My Son is just as spectacular and special, with uniform red brick architecture on the hitoric structures.
It’s located an hour outside of the coastal city of Da Nang in the center of the country, so you can plan a perfect day trip here and stay in the city by night.
Hoi An
To get away form Vietnam’s sprawling, loud cities, head to Hoi An. Once a large port town, it’s now time capsule of the past, and has excellently preserved its architecture and old world heritage. It’s a charming city where you can walk through old town, peruse what the ware of local merchants, and learn about the silk trade that has been a cornerstone of this town for centuries.
If you venture a little outside Hoi An, you’ll find incredible walking and biking paths, and boat tours. Like My Son, it’s located near Da Nang, making it easily accessible on a trip through central Vietnam.
Hoi AnAn
Phong Nha-Ke Bang
It’s easy to see why Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park was designated a World UNESCO Heritage site. The park is home to underground rivers, intricate cave systems that run for miles. And the oldest karst mountains in Asia are an outdoor enthusiast’s dream. It was once extremely remote with few amenities surrounding the park, but as tourism has increased, it’s been modernized to make for a comfortable trip.
Vietnam has a lot to offer. There are breathtaking hiking, ancient ruins, pristine bays, and world history. It may not have the famed beaches of Thailand, or the world-renowned temples in Cambodia, but it has a lively and rich culture worth experiencing. The people there are genuine, and once you get off the beaten tourist path and see life through their eyes, you will fall in love with Vietnam.
Military-run mobile network operator Viettel has been ranked the most valuable brand in Vietnam this year, followed by dairy firm Vinamilk and telecommunications company VNPT, according to a local trade promotion agency.
The Vietnam Trade Promotion Agency, under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, and Brand Finance, an independent branded business valuation consultancy, announced the latter’s own rankings at a forum on Monday morning.
Viettel led the list of Vietnam’s Top 50 Brands for 2017, with its brand valued at US$2.5 billion.
Vinamilk, last year’s front-runner, placed second, valued at $1.4 billion.
Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group (VNPT) came third with $726 million worth of brand value, followed by Vinhomes, the real estate subsidiary of conglomerate Vingroup, at $604 million, and the Saigon Beer-Alcohol-Beverage Corporation (Sabeco) at $598 million.
According to Samir Dixit, managing director of Brand Finance Asia Pacific, the total value of the top 50 brands this year rose 32 percent compared to 2016.
Among the 50, the top 10 accounted for 68 percent of total brand value.
Some 11 new brands made it to the top 50 this year, Dixit added.
Brand valuation plays an important role when a business is listed on the stock market or carries out mergers and acquisitions (M&A), the managing director stated.
There are still limitations to this process in Vietnam, causing M&A transactions here to be less frequent than in other nations in the region, he added.
Agreeing with the opinion, Dang Xuan Minh, co-founder of the Vietnam M&A Forum, said that brand valuation in the Southeast Asian country is often done subjectively.
He believes that the state should promulgate a specific legal basis for the process.
