11 of the best things to do in Ho Chi Minh

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Get the most out of a trip to Ho Chi Minh and discover everything from chic coffee shops and street food to Vietnamese art and Vespa tours

There’s a lot of history to Ho Chi Minh, some of it still pretty raw, but it’s also one of the fastest-growing, most vibrant cities in Asia. You can easily while away three or four days enjoying eclectic dining and interesting tours, in the city formerly known as Saigon, at the start or end of a south-east Asia tour.

Coffee and kitsch

Transport yourself back to the Vietnam War era, with a visit to Cong Caphe, a coffee chain with a retro, Vietcong-inspired decor.

Hipster-style spot: head back in time at Cong Caphe

Decorated with Communist propaganda posters, vintage typewriters and army kitbags, this hipster-style spot has the theming of a tourist attraction but also draws in locals with its ambiance and artisanal approach to coffee. Try the house special, a coconut coffee, or refresh with a Vietnamese staple, iced coffee with condensed milk.

Picture this

If a picture paints a thousand words, then Vietnamese art can fill an entire library with its stories. Sophie’s Art Tour takes a closer look at the country’s history through the eyes of artists and curators. The small-group guided tours run Monday to Saturday 9am-1pm, taking in private collections, museums and contemporary art spaces.

The narrative delves not just into Vietnam’s tumultuous recent history, but its contemporary creative art scene, and Sophie and her fellow guides add an extra layer to the city tour experience with their informative and thought-provoking approach.

Sensory overload

Is the smell of chocolate in the dark even more tempting? To debate this and other important culinary questions, try Noir – a tasty indication of Ho Chi Minh’s increasingly sophisticated gastro scene.

Noir’s gourmet plates are served in a pitch-black restaurant by blind or visually impaired staff. This is so much more than a meal, it’s a sensory dining experience built around flavours and textures. You won’t be able to see what you’re eating, but the meal will stick in your mind for a long time after.

Retro ride

You’ll need to hold your nerve while weaving in and out of Ho Chi Minh’s heavily congested traffic as a passenger on a vintage Vespa. The Italian scooters have been a part of Vietnamese culture ever since they were introduced decades ago by the French but they fell out of favour when cheap Japanese and Chinese motorbikes flooded the market.

A man on the back of a Vespa in Ho Chi Minh

On your bike: enjoy an unforgettable experience on a vintage Vespa CREDIT: QUINN RYAN MATTINGLY
Using lovingly restored models, Vespa Adventures offers the best adrenalin rush in the city – if you dare to join the chaotic columns of motorbike traffic that snake around the streets. Trust your guide to navigate the roads with the determination of a marching ant and enjoy the ride.

The concrete jungle quickly fades into the Mekong Delta, a fertile area of rice paddies, rivers and swamps. Here on the outskirts of the city, tourists melt away and village life steps forward – a beguiling picture of farmers tending fields, market sellers peddling wares, children playing streetside and dogs and hens roaming free.

Skyline views

Historic French architecture and tree-lined boulevards record Saigon’s time as a French colony, but there’s energy flowing through this city, and Ho Chi Minh is rapidly growing skywards.

The tallest beacon on the skyline since 2010, the 68-storey, 262-metre Bitexco Financial Tower has an unusual shape, owing to a helipad cantilevered out from the 55th floor. Ascend to the SkyDeck for 360-degree views – or for the price of a beverage that’s roughly the same as the viewing platform entrance fee, you can visit the bar on the 50th floor to drink in the views.

Frozen in time

An imposing concrete block, surrounded by gardens, the Reunification Palace is a time capsule that bore witness to dramatic moments in Vietnamese history. In 1975 tanks belonging to the North Vietnamese Army crashed through the gates, signifying victory for the communist party and the end of the Vietnam War. Two of these original tanks are parked on the lawns outside.

Staff escaped from the rooftop helipad minutes before the palace was taken over, part of Operation Frequent Wind, the largest helicopter evacuation in history. As the former seat of South Vietnamese presidential power, the palace hides secret rooms, a warren of tunnels, and a war command centre with maps fixed to walls. Although the palace is still used for national events, as you wander around, there’s an eerie sense that time stopped in 1975.

Hotel on the frontline

Another landmark with echoes of wartime is the Caravelle, one of the city’s most prestigious hotels. It’s been a hotel since 1959 and during the war, it was the office and social hub for the international media. By its closing days, they could see the frontline from their bar stools.

Landmark hotel: the Caravelle is one of the most prestigious hotels in the city CREDIT: AAPHOTO

Skyscrapers have muscled in on the view from the foreign correspondents’ beloved Saigon Saigon Bar, but Lan Som Square, Saigon Opera House and Notre Dame Cathedral are all still in the picture. Visit between 4pm-7pm for happy hour specials and after 9pm for live music and dancing on the black and white tiled floor.

Puppet wizardry

A water puppet show is a traditional form of Vietnamese art, and the most popular venue in Ho Chi Minh is the Golden Dragon Water Puppet Theatre. The daily 50-minute show depicts the culture, traditions and folklore of Vietnamese life and has a soundtrack of old-fashioned music played on authentic instruments.

Golden Dragon Water Puppet Theatre
Walking on water: visit the Golden Dragon Water Puppet Theatre CREDIT: GETTY
Don’t worry that the dialogue is in Vietnamese – the puppeteers, immersed in water to the waist and hidden behind the set, create a show that is comical, poetic and visually spectacular.

Hipster house

Want to rub shoulders with an industrious young crowd? Head where the hipsters go, to Cafe Apartment on Saigon’s Walking Street – an art deco nine-storey apartment block that is chock-full with one-off cafes and boutiques. Before you tackle the stairs, step back and admire the view of the tower block from the street below.

Each balcony is decorated a different way, giving the block the look of a giant doll’s house. The building may have seen better days, but the funky personalities of its tenants makes this one of Ho Chi Minh’s most vibrant addresses.

Shop til you pho

Ben Thanh market in central Ho Chi Minh is one of the city’s most diverting areas. An archetypal Asian urban market, Ben Thanh bursts at the seams with edibles, essentials, and expendables.

A social buzz lingers around the tight grid of aisles, and spills out into the surrounding pavements, as locals chitchat and tourists indulge in a spot of good-natured haggling.

Venture beyond the conical hats, lacquerware and T-shirts to see pyramidal stacks of exotic-looking fruit and vegetables, and the eye-popping sights of buckets of eels and baskets of pigs’ snouts. If that’s not the sort of “delicacy” you can stomach, you’ll find everything that’s good about Vietnamese cuisine here too, with the nourishing pho – spicy noodle soup – a lip-smacking winner.

Dare to beer

A popular evening pastime in Vietnam is drinking cheap, mass-produced beer, most commonly consumed street-side while sitting on a low plastic stool. But beer tastes are maturing in Ho Chi Minh. In the past couple of years more than a dozen artisan brewers have brought their trade to the city, giving beer drinkers stronger and bolder alternatives to the ubiquitous Bia Hoi and Saigon beers.

Leading this imbibing revolution are the likes of Heart of Darkness, East West Brewing Company, and Pasteur Street Brewing Company. Their professional craft-brewing expertise and their use of all-natural ingredients produces an intriguing choice of beers.

Infused with hints of tropical fruits, spices, chocolate or coffee, you’re unlikely to stop at one. Feeling particularly thirsty? Then walk and talk with self-confessed beer geeks Saigon Craft Beer Tours to learn about the rapid growth of the city’s craft beer movement.

Icon of the Sky

If you want to see the world and get there in comfort and style, the incredibly well-connected Singapore Airlines is the connoisseurs’ choice, with 17 flights a week to Ho Chi Minh alone, and more than 35 weekly flights to Vietnam as a whole.

Singapore Airlines works with the finest chefs and best staff to ensure wherever you fly on its extensive network is as good as it gets at 30,000 feet.

By Katherine Lawrey

Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/icons-of-the-sky/ho-chi-minh-best-things-to-do/

Saigon stretches its legs with new walking streets plan in backpacker district

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The public will have their say on the expansion of the city’s already popular pedestrian area.

Saigon is polling public opinion about making more streets in its backpacker area pedestrian-friendly, a plan which aims to provide a bigger venue for the Lunar New Year celebrations in mid-February.

At a meeting on Monday, the city’s government instructed its tourism department to seek public opinion on turning De Tham and Do Quang Dau into walking streets. Both streets cross Bui Vien, which is already pedestrianized over the weekends.

The switch, if approved, should ideally be completed by the Lunar New Year, the country’s biggest festival which will peak on February 16, the city said, as cited by Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper. Vietnam’s labor ministry has proposed a seven-day break from February 14-20 to mark the holiday, which will need the official nod from the prime minister.

Bui Vien and the two streets up for discussion sit at the heart of Saigon’s popular tourism precinct, which is packed with bars, restaurants and dance clubs. The area pulls in around 2,000 tourists on its best days and earns more than VND37 billion ($1.63 million) a year.

The city spent VND13 billion ($572,300) on granite paving, music stages, surveillance cameras, security guards, free wifi and public toilets to turn Bui Vien into a weekend walking zone in August.

Nguyen Hue, the first walking street to open in the crowded city in 2015, has become an attraction to locals and foreigners alike.

Saigon, Vietnam’s biggest commercial center, is one of the most popular destinations in the country.

During the first six months, foreign arrivals increased 14 percent from a year ago to nearly 2.8 million, while the tourism sector raked in VND53.6 trillion ($2.4 billion), up 12 percent from the same period last year, according to the city’s tourism department.

Source: Staff Reporters

Vietnamese equities lead Asia-Pacific price gains in November

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The Vietnam index rose more than 13 percent in November.

Vietnamese shares reached decade-highs and topped Asia-Pacific with the highest price gains in November, bolstered by rising foreign interest during the month.

Foreigners were net buyers of about $500 million of shares in the country’s stock market in November, the highest monthly purchases in at least seven years.

Singapore-listed Jardine Cycle & Carriage Ltd’s purchases of about $900 million in Vinamilk’s shares was seen as a positive for Vietnamese markets, with government aiming to trim its stakes in more state-owned firms.

Vietnam will also kick off the sale of a majority stake in Sabeco, the country’s biggest brewer, in December.

The Vietnam index rose more than 13 percent in November.

Hong Kong and Japanese shares rose more than 3 percent each in November.

Sri Lankan stocks led the losers with a fall of 3.11 percent, followed by China and Taiwan shares with declines of more than 2 percent.

South Korean, Malaysian, Thai, Philippine and Indian equities fell between 1 to 2 percent.

Source: Reuters

Smartphone ownership keeps growing: Nielsen Vietnam report

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Smartphone ownership has continued to grow in both urban and rural areas in Vietnam, according to the 2017 Nielsen Vietnam Smartphone Insights report.

The number of people using smartphones in major cities has surged to 84 percent out of the 95 percent of people using mobile phones, an increase of six percentage points from last year.

In secondary cities, 71 percent use smartphones out of 93 percent using mobile phones, a year-on-year growth of nine points.

In rural areas, it is 68 percent out of 89 percent.

“The rapid uptake of connected devices, especially smartphones and tablets, is inevitable in our country,” Doan Duy Khoa, director of Nielsen Vietnam’s department of consumer insights, said in a release.

“This could correspond to the fact that smartphone brands are offering consumers abundant choices at affordable and reasonable prices.

“Another reason is that consumers are enjoying an improving standard of living and expressing their desire for connectivity anywhere and anytime.”

Earlier this year Nielsen had conducted another study in co-operation with Younet Media to shed light on the evolving rural consumer trends.

It found that social media has emerged as a key platform for information, entertainment and keeping in touch with relatives, friends and children, with 22.5 million Facebook users living in rural areas compared with 23.5 million 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.

“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 report, using online survey method, polled 1,882 frequent online users in major cities, 1,930 users in secondary cities and 2,027 users in rural areas aged 16 years or above

Source: VNA

Vietnamese English learning app gets Google’s support

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Monkey Junior, the English learning app which won first prize at the Vietnamese Talent Awards 2016, has just received Google start-up financial support funding of USD100,000.

Monkey Junior is Vietnam’s only representative selected for this fund among 24 other projects and businesses from 14 countries.

This is the 5th Google Launchpad Accelerator programme.

Dao Xuan Hoang, Monkey Junior founder, said that Google support would help his app be more widely-known internationally.

The Launchpad Accelerator is a six-month acceleration programme that matches top growth-stage startups from emerging ecosystems with the best of Google people, network, and advanced technologies – to help scale products.

Besides the USD100,000, selected firms will be also offered the two weeks of all-expenses-paid training at Google HQ in Silicon Valley. They also have the chance to meet with senior Google IT experts as well as those worldwide.

Monkey Junior won the first prize of Vietnamese Talent Awards 2016 and Global Initiative 2016. To date, Monkey Junior has attracted around 3 million users across the world.

Newly-launched Monkey Stories, a huge digital library of interactive e-books for kids aged 2-8, has received a positive response from many parents.

The founder Dao Xuan Hoang noted that he and his colleagues will launch other useful apps such as Monkey Maths and Monkey Science.

Source: dtinews

Fintech sees strong rise in Vietnam

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Foreign conglomerates have poured hundreds of millions of dollars into Vietnamese fintech firms, as more bank-fintech cooperation agreements have been signed recently.

Though fintech is still in the early stage of development, it has attracted hundreds of millions of dollars from investment funds.

UTC Investment from South Korea has spent VND542 billion to acquire a 65 percent stake of VNPT Epay, while SEA has a 45 percent stake in VNPAY.

A series of investment deals were made in 2016, including $28 million by SCPE and Goldman Sachs in Momo e-wallet, and Credit China Fintech’s acquisition of a 51 percent stake of Amigo Technologies

Foreign investors have poured money into Vietnam fintech firms as they can see the great potential in the market, analysts said. The 4.0 industry revolution with e-payment solutions is irreversible and Vietnam will have to follow the trend.

Vietnam has 45 million internet users, ranking sixth in Asia, while its internet penetration- population ratio was 48 percent in 2015, higher than the Asian average level of 38 percent and the world level of 45 percent.

According to VIRAC, a market analysis firm, by June 2017, the number of bank cards issued had reached 121.5 million. There are 76 institutions which provide payment services via internet and 39 institutions which provide mobile payment services.

By the end of 2016, the number of domestic cards had reached 92.1 million

However, despite the good payment infrastructure, most of the card transactions are made to withdraw cash, accounting for 87 percent. This is both a challenge and opportunity for fintech to develop.

The proportion of online shoppers in Vietnam is now at the average level compared with other regional countries. The conversion rate from the number of visits to websites into orders remains very low compared with traditional retailing.

Analysts noted that commercial banks were joining forces with fintech firms to develop financial services.

The Military Bank (MB) has joined hands with Startup Fintech to develop a technology which allows users to carry out transactions on Facebook’s Messenger app, while VP Bank has been working with Fintech Timo.

The 2015-2017 period witnessed a boom of fintech firms with the appearance of MoMo, Payoo, 123pay and Finsom.

There are 40 operational fintech firms in Vietnam which provide diversified financial services, from payments, remittances, capital mobilization and financial management.

Source: VietNamNet

A jungle book on Truong Son Mountain Range

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Readers, especially children, can now go on a journey through one of the wildest and most biodiverse parts of the world – a range of rugged mountains bordering Laos and Viet Nam, the Truong Son Mountain Range.

A bilingual book, Wonders of the Annamites, was launched yesterday in Hanoi by Nha Nam Culture and Communications Company.

The story follows a local father, daughter and son on a trek to visit their grandmother in this ancient, almost mystical, mountain landscape.

They journey along rivers and through groves of bamboo, past rocky cliffs and into steamy tropical forests – and discover a wondrous world of wildlife along the way.

Children will learn about the rare and recently discovered animal species exclusive to the Annamites such as the Sao La, White-Cheeked Gibbon, Crested Argus, Red-Shanked Douc and other incredible species.

The book comes out from a long-time research project by Laos-based Camille Coudrat, director of a non-profit conservation project called Project Anoulak.

She has teamed up with Eric Losh, an art director and illustrator from New York, to offer colourful illustrations depicting twelve different habitats and 60 species.

“The Annamite Mountains of Laos and Viet Nam (Truong Son Mountain Range) are home to an abundance of rare wildlife, and now you can explore the mountain range’s natural wonders from your own home,” said Coudrat.

Educational project

An Indochinese Tiger (Panthera tigris corbetti) strolls through a bamboo forest past a hidden Annamite Striped Rabbit (Nesolagus timminsi) and its babies. Illustration courtesy of Eric Losh.

“For a few years I had in mind a children’s book that would feature key species on the Annamite Mountains,” said Coudrat.

“This would not only be used at the site where Project Anoulak is working, but all across the region …and beyond. It could also be used in the West to raise awareness of the international community about this very special mountain range and its very special species.”

Coudrat said she first became aware of Losh’s art through the Holiday cards that he illustrated for the Saola Working Group (of which she is a member).

“They led me to discover more of his artwork, including a beautiful children’s book he did in 2013 about primates in Uganda called The Chorus of Kibale. It was clear that he would be a perfect fit for our project.”

Their collaboration began via a Skype call between the US and Laos.

All the species mentioned in the book are imperiled by habitat loss and rampant poaching, Losh said.

“The situation is grim, and unfortunately, most people outside of conservation circles don’t even know that the region exists.”

He said he hopes that with the distribution of this book, he and Project Anoulak can raise awareness of local and international communities and also funding for the conservation of the Annamites.

“The Annamite Mountains ecosystem teems with biodiverse wildlife, but humans have also been an important part of the landscape for generations. So we would be remiss to not include them in the portrayal of life in the mountains.”

Losh said this was why they decided to use a family’s journey as a narrative to open and close the story, to give the book some context of the people who live there, and make it relate to their daily lives.

Coudrat came up with a list of the key species she wanted to be illustrated in the book, specifically ones that are endemic, rare, beautiful, iconic, evolutionarily distinct, little known, and highly threatened in the region (and beyond).

Losh spent a lot of time looking through tons of pictures from the field and from camera-traps pre-selected by Coudrat to get a better idea of the details of not just the animals, but everything from orchids to ferns to tree barks.

The family encounters the rarest animal in the Annamites: the saola (Pseudoryx nghetinhensis). Illustration courtesy of Eric Losh.

Many of the illustrations in the book were directly inspired by certain locations in the photos.

“Despite the fact that it remains an illustrated children’s book, it was very important for it to be as ecologically accurate as possible, including the representation of certain behaviours of the different species,” he said.

There is a section at the end of the book that provides additional facts and details about all of the wildlife featured throughout.

The authors sought advice, suggestions, and comments from wildlife experts and colleagues working in the region to compile it.

The book will be produced in four language editions as physical and/or e-books in English, English/French, English/Lao, and English/Vietnamese.

Source: VNS

HCM City to host Food Fest 2017

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The 2nd Food Fest 2017 is set to transpire on December 8-10 in Ho Chi Minh City where guests can indulge their palates with as many as 1,500 types of food and drinks prepared by leading cuisine experts.

Festival goers will have a chance to get free food at 10-10:30am, and 4- 4:30 pm, join cooking classes run by well-known local and international chefs staring from 4pm, and enjoy a music programme at 8 pm.

Gourmands can also tempt their taste buds at Food Studio at 5 p.m.

The first event of its kind was held at the Royal City Mall in Hanoi in April this year, offering an opportunity to guests to savour 1,000 Vietnamese and foreign delicacies, and diverse beverages from almost 300 domestic and foreign brands.

Source: VOV

Solar power to light up Tuy Hoa walking street

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The central province of Phu Yen has launched the first public solar power project in the provincial capital city of Tuy Hoa after six months of construction.

The province said the project, which will provide lighting for the city’s Walking Street, marks the first step of promoting a series of renewable energy projects in the near future.

The solar power system, which generates energy from 78 solar panels on the rooftops of two public rest-stops on downtown’s Doc Lap, will supply 81.12 Kwh (kilowatts per hour) in ‘green’ power each day, saving 65 million VND (nearly 3,000 USD) annually and reducing carbon emissions by 20 tonnes.

According to the province, the ‘green’ power system will light up the coastal pedestrian street at night for tourists and locals.

Phu Yen is regarded central Vietnam’s second-strongest province in developing public solar power projects, after Da Nang.

In September, the province began piloting a solar-powered watering system for a 10ha sugarcane farm in Son Hoa district.

The latest report from the provincial Department of Industry and Trade notes that 16 investors have been seeking investment in solar, wind and gas-driven power projects in the province.

Last month, the province officially launched the first stage of the 30MW (Megawatts) biomass power plant.
Phu Yen province also plans to operate a solar-powered automatic watering system at a 6ha public park in Tuy Hoa city.

Source: VNA

Vietnam’s retail market: convenience stores mushroom

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Vietnam is witnessing the strong expansion of small supermarket and convenience store chains applying high-tech solutions in sales, storage and customer management.

Vietnam is listed among the 30 most attractive retail markets and has returned to the sixth position in GRDI (global retail development index) as announced by AT Kearney.

There are 800 supermarkets, 150 shopping malls, nearly 9,000 traditional markets and 2.2 million retail households throughout the country.

According to A.T. Kearney, small supermarket and convenience stores are the fastest growing segment in the retail market.

To date, FamilyMart chain has 100 stores and it plans to have 800 by 2020. 7-Eleven plans to open 100 shops within three years and 1,000 within 10 years. Meanwhile, Vinmart+ hopes to raise the number of shops from 1,000 in 2016 to 2,500 by the end of 2017.

A survey by Kantar Worldpanel found that one-third of Vietnamese households bought things at small supermarkets and convenience stores at least once and 10 times a year on average.

Nielsen reported that the growth rate of the modern retail channel was 7.7 percent in the months from April 2016 to March 2017, higher than the 6.1 percent of the traditional retail channel.

Meanwhile, a report from the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT) shows that the modern retail growth has slowed down, now accounting for 25 percent of total retail revenue. High retail premises rent, higher retail prices and the Vietnamese habit of going to traditional markets are the major reasons for the slower growth.

The Leader quoted Nguyen Huy Hoang from Kantar Worldpanel as saying that the market share of FCMG at convenience stores has increased from 2-3 percent in 2015 to 4 percent.

Hoang predicted that the figure would continue to increase and reach 8-10 percent by 2022.

The expert noted that convenience stores with the area of 200 square meters which sell FCMG and food is the choice of many retailers because it doesn’t need large retail premises, while it can satisfy demand from busy urban consumers.

“Convenience stores have been expanding. They appear in residential quarters, jostle among supermarkets, hypermarkets and street front shops,” he commented.

A report of the HCMC Industry & Trade Department showed that by the end of September, the city had 1,079 convenience stores, including stores specializing in food and FCMG. The average growth rate of convenience stores was 15 percent in 2014-2016.

According to Do Quoc Huy from Saigon Co-op, the retail chain has opened 177 food convenience stores bearing the brand Co.op Food, and 70 modern groceries called Co.op Smile.

By the end of February, Satrafoods had 100 food convenience stores, while the figure has risen to 150 in HCMC and 50 in Can Tho.

Source: Viet Nam Net

Bright outlook for VN-Index in December

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November’s uptrend in Viet Nam’s stock market could extend on the back of strong capital inflows from both domestic and foreign investors, analysts say.

The VN-Index of the HCM Stock Exchange rose 2.65 per cent last week, concluding Friday at 960.33 points, the highest since December 7, 2007.

Viet Nam’s key market index gained nearly 13.5 per cent in the past one month and has climbed 44.5 per cent since the beginning of this year.

In north, the HNX-Index rose 4.2 per cent last week, closing Friday at 115.49 points. The northern market index has also expanded over 44 per cent this year.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT)’s announcement on the long-awaited competitive share offering of Sai Gon Beer-Alcohol-Beverage Corporation, better known as Sabeco (SAB), and the Development Investment Construction Joint Stock Company (DIG) has spurred investors’ interest in the stock market.

SAB was also among the biggest gainers with a weekly gain of 3.5 per cent given that it is the most expensive stock in the market, at VND330,000 (US$14.47) per share.

MoIT has said that 343.6 million, equivalent to 53.59 per cent of Sabeco’s charter capital, will be offered at an initial selling price of VND320,000 a piece on December 18, as the State looks to reduce its holding from nearly 90 per cent to 36 per cent.

Meanwhile, DIG’s shares increased over 17 per cent last week, trading over VND20,000 a share, when the Ministry of Construction successfully offloaded its entire holding of nearly 50 per cent in the construction corporation.

The investor excitement has spread to other large caps and lifted their prices, including Vinamilk (VNM), up 5.9 per cent; Masan Group (MSN), up 6.5 per cent; and Ha Noi Beer Alcohol and Beverage JSC (BHN), up 7.9 per cent.

Banks were also on the winning side with most stocks gaining value. Sai Gon-Ha Noi Bank (SHB) and Asia Commercial Bank (ACB) on the Ha Noi Stock Exchange posted weekly rises of 13.3 per cent and 3.2 per cent, respectively.

The value of Military Bank (MBB), Sacombank (STB), VPBank (VPB), Vietinbank (CTG), Vietcombank (VCB) and BIDV (BID) shares on the HCM Stock Exchange increased by between 1-4.8 per cent.

Shares of the two biggest oil and gas companies, PV Gas (GAS) and Petrolimex (PLX), rallied 2 per cent and 8.3 per cent, respectively, thanks to positive developments in the global oil market.

“Cash inflows alternately running into different blue chips of different groups have backed up VN-Index, minimising the chance of tumbles,” said Tran Hai Yen, a stock analyst with Bao Viet Securities JSC.

In a note last week, Yen said money may keep pouring into large caps early this week and this will have positive influence on mid-cap and penny stocks, though this effect may be short-lived.

Thien Bui, senior analyst at Viet Dragon Securities JSC, agreed that strong capital inflows are supporting the market. Many large caps faced corrections but other shares have moved up and pulled the market.

“It implies that investors are very active in this period. However, there might be a risk, as we do not know whether the current capital is financed by (a lot of) margin lending or not. If it is, the capital will be very fragile in the context of a highly volatile VN-Index,” Bui wrote in a report.

Liquidity was high last week with an average of nearly 315 million shares worth VND7.3 trillion being traded in the two markets per session.

However, according to Duong Van Chung, head of MB Securities Co’s northern branch, the market this year has been very bullish, drawing not only big foreign capital but a great proportion of available money from residents into stocks.

“Thus, the market is longer dependent heavily on margin lending,” Chung was quoted as saying on tinnhanhchungkhoan.vn.

Foreign traders were net buyers of stocks worth nearly VND11.3 trillion ($495.6 million) in November, lifting the 11-month net buy value to VND25.7 trillion, the highest ever recorded, according to Bao Viet Securities.

The record was motivated by divestment in State-owned enterprises and the outlook for an upgrade of Viet Nam’s stock market. Strong buys by foreign investors are expected to continue provide momentum for the VN-Index rally

Source: VNS

Next-generation FDI: what’s the new strategy?

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The draft strategy on attracting FDI in 2018-2023 is being compiled by the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI) with support from the World Bank.

After 30 years of foreign investment, 24,000 projects with total investment capital of $313 billion have been implemented in Vietnam. FDI accounts for 25 percent of total investment capital and makes up 20 percent of GDP.

Vietnam, in an effort to attract FDI, has pursued an open policy, offering many incentives to investors.

Analysts say the policy has problems and is no longer suited to the new circumstances. Vietnam needs a new strategy for the next development period.

Most foreign investors told the World Bank that Vietnam has offered big investment incentives and has a cheap labor force.

However, after a six-month study, Wim Douw, a senior expert on investment, trade and competition from the World Bank, found that Vietnam’s advantage of a cheap labor force is disappearing.

In the context of global integration, Vietnam has to develop its economy on the basis of labor skills, technology and production chains.

Commenting about the current investment situation, David Brown, WB’s senior advisor on investment policy, said Vietnam relies on incentives to attract investors.

Brown suggested that Vietnam needs to change its policy on attracting FDI based on low labor costs and preferential treatment, while local authorities need to stop running a race of offering incentives to lure investors. State management agencies need to remove the barriers to businesses to join the market.

Nguyen Anh Tuan, former deputy director of FIA, also thinks that in the context of the fourth industrial revolution, Vietnam needs to have an FDI attraction policy which does not aim to get FDI at any cost.

Meanwhile, Truong Thi Chi Binh, director of SIDEC, stressed that the next-generation FDI policy needs to set up policies that encourage foreign investors to build production networks in Vietnam.

“Large multinational conglomerates such as Samsung and Intel have their factories in Vietnam, but the factories only do simple assembling,” Binh said.

“We need to think of solutions which can help retain them, encourage them to expand production chains in Vietnam and transfer technology,” she said.

Simon Bell from the World Bank noted that experts have emphasized the need to attract investment in projects which create high added value, but they do not show how to do it and which business fields should be the focus.

Experts believe Vietnam should focus on high-tech/ICT, processing and manufacturing, supporting industries, tourism, and high-tech agriculture.

Source: Viet Nam Net

Vietnam offers world’s most attractive office yields

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Vietnam offers the most attractive office yield in the world, according to the latest Savills’ World Office Yield Spectrum 2H 2017 report.

The report, which compared 54 major office markets across, Asia, Europe, the United States and Australia, confirmed that Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City posted the highest yields at 8.65 and 7.86 percent.

Savills Vietnam’s Managing Director Neil MacGregor said that Vietnam’s office market had shown excellent performance, with occupancy rates exceeding 95 percent in central business districts in the two cities.

In contrast, Taipei and Hong Kong were placed at the bottom of the ranking with about 2 and 2.4 percent yields.
According to Savills, for three years running, optimism has dominated the Asian office sector as cheap money has continued to flood local markets and rents and capital values have continued to rise.

The increasing capital inflows have resulted in cap rate compression to decade lows but buoyant demand has led to more new prime office completions and vacancy rates are beginning to creep up.

Investors have generally adopted a positive outlook for local office markets, their confidence bolstered by strong economic growth expectations. The most active markets have been China, followed by Japan and Hong Kong.

However, limited stock for sale in prime areas has meant investors have increasingly turned their attention to development projects in secondary locations.

Source: VNA

Child abuse in Vietnam’s kindergartens continues to keep parents awake at night

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Lack of supervision, increased stress at work and low salaries have been blamed for recent shocking reports.

Three-year-old Ha Van Thang sat quietly in a shabby room while the popular Disney movie “Frozen” was playing on the television.

When the movie ended and the song “Let It Go” began, Thang looked around at his mother, and seemed to want to say something.

But he didn’t. He speaks very little, and almost never completes his sentences.

His mother wants to send him to a kindergarten so that he can develop the social skills needed to one day become a functioning adult. However, she has hesitated in recent months following a series of child abuse scandals at private kindergartens.

Late last month, Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper published a video showing shocking footage of infants being beaten in a private day care center.

The video shows the owner of the Ho Chi Minh City-based Mam Xanh (Green Buds) Daycare Center slapping a little boy repeatedly in the face to force him to say hello to her, and hitting a small girl on the head with a big plastic can because she had crawled out of her place.

She and two babysitters can be seen slapping, kicking and punching the children, caning the soles of their feet and shoving their heads against a wall.

They beat the children with anything close to hand: a slipper, a comb, a broom, a spoon, a pan lid and even a knife. One of the women is seen swinging a knife at the children to browbeat them into eating, and tapping it on one of their heads.

“This is terrifying,” Thang’s mother said, sharing the video on her Facebook page to inform more people of the problem. “I’m worried about sending my son to kindergarten. I’m not sure he’ll be safe there.”

The incident is not the first in Vietnam, but one of a growing number of cases to hit the country’s booming preschool education industry. This spate of scandals was serious enough for President Tran Dai Quang to in late November call for swift action to put an end to the problem.

Earlier this year, a private nursery school in Hanoi fired two teachers after an online video showed them hitting children in the head with various objects, including a slipper.

The two-minute video showed the teachers screaming at the children to stop crying, and one was seen kneeing a child in the stomach.

Footage from an online video shows two teachers hitting their students at a nursery in Hanoi.

Many Vietnamese parents now say they are worried about potential lapses in supervision at private preschools.

Le Hong Van, the mother of a 4-year-old girl in Hanoi, said child abuse has become alarming because it’s getting more and more common.

According to government data, more than 2,000 children in Vietnam suffer serious abuse that requires special help and intervention every year.

“Parents are feeling they have no sense of security anymore. It can happen to their children,” Van said. “Many of my friends have been asking their children if they’ve ever been beaten at nursery school.”

Stressful job

Most cases of child abuse are reported at private nursery schools due to insufficient supervision.

In Vietnam, children often attend kindergarten for three years before starting school at six. But the demand for nursery schools far outstrips supply, so private businesses have stepped in to take advantage of the market.

In Ho Chi Minh City, nearly 52 percent of preschoolers attended private day care centers in the 2015-2016 school year. The percentage slightly increased to nearly 53 percent in 2016-2017, according to the city’s Department of Education and Training.

“Insufficient government supervision of private kindergartens has contributed to the problem,” Nguyen Tung Lam, chairman of the Hanoi Association of Education Psychology, said. “Many of them hire unqualified teachers to cut costs. This has worsened the problem.”

Low incomes are another reason. A kindergarten teacher who has worked in the sector for 1-5 years earns VND2.5-8 million ($113.6-363) per month, while those who have worked for 10-15 years can earn VND5-11 million. (Vietnam’s average annual income was around $2,200 last year.)

Due to the low income, many people don’t want to work in the sector, and Vietnam now faces a dearth of over 32,000 preschool teachers, according to the Ministry of Education and Training.

Nguyen Thanh Loan, a teacher at a public kindergarten in Hanoi’s Hai Ba Trung District, said every kindergarten class of 50 children has 2-3 teachers who have to do everything from feeding children and coaxing them to sleep, to teaching them and cleaning the classrooms.

“It can be tiring caring for just one or two preschool children, while we have to deal with 50 children every day. The stress is unavoidable,” she said. “Parents should sympathize with us.”

Nguyen Ngoc Quynh Dao, head of the Preschool Department at Saigon University, said some teachers can experience psychological problems due to long term stress, which is another cause of child abuse.

To minimize child abuse, the government is looking at ways to increase wages for kindergarten teachers, and improve resources and standards in nursery schools.

Experts say in the short term, more surveillance in kindergartens, especially private centers, is needed.

But Thang’s mother isn’t convinced.

“The authorities keep saying they will step in to address these issues, but these scandals are happening over and over again in Vietnam,” she said. “I still don’t have a solution for my son.”

Source: Ngan Anh

Da Lat neighbor offers free factory visits to tourists during flower festival

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Free factory visits that offer an insight into how tea and silk are produced in Vietnam’s Central Highlands will be available as part of the 2017 Da Lat Flower Festival.

Running from December 23 to 27, the event is Vietnam’s biggest flower festival, attracting hundreds of thousands of visitors to Da Lat City in the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong.

This year, the festival includes a cultural week featuring the craft of making tea and silk by Vietnamese highlanders that will be held in Da Lat’s neighbor, Bao Loc City.

Tourists who are in Bao Loc during the flower festival can register with organizers to be taken on a complimentary trip to one of the major tea and silk factories in the city.

The experience will include witnessing the entire process of producing a finished product and learning about what makes Lam Dong silk and tea unique.

The year 2017 marks the seventh edition of the biennial flower festival, which is themed ‘Da Lat Flowers – The Crystallization of Earth’s Marvels.’

Fifteen main events and 14 complimentary programs will be organized over the five-day period, including a wine festival, flower displays, and a greens market.

The opening ceremony will be held at 8:00 pm on December 23 at Da Lat’s lakeside Lam Vien Square.

Source: Tuoi Tre News

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