American oil and gas corporation ExxonMobil is set to reach final agreement with Vietnam over the development of a massive gas project in the East Vietnam Sea by no later than 2019, a company executive said on Tuesday.
The project, code named Blue Whale or ‘Ca Voi Xanh’ in Vietnamese, involves the exploitation of a gas field of the same name that lies 88 kilometers off Vietnam’s central coast.
The Blue Whale gas field has an estimated 150 billion cubic meters of reserves, and is scheduled to begin production in 2023.
“We are actively involved in progressing the largest offshore gas investment ever made in Vietnam,” ExxonMobil Development Company president Liam Mallon was quoted by Channel NewsAsia as telling a business forum on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Leaders’ Week in Vietnam’s Da Nang.
ExxonMobil Development Company is an off-shoot of Exxon Mobil Corporation, an American multinational oil and gas corporation headquartered in Texas.
According to Mallon, the upcoming project would be the corporation’s largest and most complicated offshore investment involving the extraction of gas from a depth of 1,500 meters.
The gas would then have to be transported onshore via an 88km pipeline to power four power plants yet to be built in Vietnam’s central Quang Nam Province, he said.
Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc (L) speaks at a business summit during the APEC Economic Leaders’ Week in Da Nang, November 7, 2017. Photo: Tuoi Tre
The Blue Whale deal was first announced during then-outgoing U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry’s final visit to Vietnam in January.
Last month, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc told Exxon Mobil that he hoped to have the project begin officially at the APEC summit, when U.S. President Donald Trump and U.S. government officials are expected to attend, national broadcaster Vietnam Television reported.
PetroVietnam, Exxon Mobil’s Vietnamese partner, has said the project would contribute nearly US$20 billion to the state budget.
Mallon said the project would be progressed in time for an official launch in late 2019, with specific agreements expected to be reached by the end of this year.
Three photos taken by Vietnamese photographers have claimed the top three prizes at the APEC Photo Contest 2017.
The winners were announced by the APEC Secretariat’s Executive Director Alan Bollard at the Concluding Senior Officials’ Meeting on Tuesday morning in the central Vietnamese city of Da Nang, according to a press release issued by the APEC Secretariat the same day.
According to the announcement, Tinh Than won the first prize for his photo titled “Sunset Life,” while Huong Vinh with “The Sea Flower” and Dinh Thuong Tran with “Building the Flower Industry” were awarded the second and third prizes.
The Popular Choice Award went to “Up and Forward” by Yu-Han Kung from Taiwan.
In order to reach a wider audience, for the first time this year the contest welcomed entries from Instagram through the APEC Secretariat’s official account, @apec, with the hashtag #TradeforAll.
A special “Influencer Award” was also introduced and the winner was selected by the number of likes the photo received.
The first winner of the award was Oky Arisandi from Indonesia whose photo titled “Harvest Time” received nearly 3,000 likes.
The APEC Photo Contest is an annual initiative of the APEC Secretariat to collect stakeholders’ views on APEC’s messages and priorities.
The contest seeks the public’s visual interpretation of APEC’s priorities for 2017 including promoting sustainable, innovative and inclusive growth; deepening regional economic integration; strengthening small businesses’ competitiveness; and enhancing food security and sustainable agriculture.
The winners were evaluated by a judging panel consisting of world-renowned photojournalists, industry experts and senior public officials including APEC Executive Director Alan Bollard, AFP Photo Editor for North America Eric Baradat, award-winning photographer Palani Mohan, multi-year APEC Photo Contest winner and photographer Truong Huu Hung, and Permanent Deputy Foreign Minister and Chair of APEC 2017 Bui Thanh Son.
Now in its seventh year, the 2017 contest received 2,126 entries from various APEC member economies including: Australia, Brunei Darussalam, China, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Taiwan, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.
Below are the winning photos of APEC Photo Contest 2017:
The photo titled “Sunset Life” by Vietanmese photo grapher Tinh Than which won the first prize at APEC Photo Contest 2017
“The Sea Flower” by Huong Vinh
“Building the Flower Industry” by Dinh Thuong Tran
Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has underlined three key solutions for boosting Vietnam’s development during a business summit held in parallel with the ongoing 2017 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) week.
The first Vietnam Business Summit (VBS) was organized in the central city of Da Nang on Tuesday with the attendance of Vietnamese government leaders and officials, representatives from prestigious international organizations, scholars and hundreds of business influencers from across the Asia-Pacific region.
During his speech at the event, PM Phuc said that Vietnam was determined to build an action-oriented, enabling government in the service of its people and businesses.
“We will continue to pay attention to macro-economic stability, institutional and legal policy reform, sustainable development, job creation and the improvement of living conditions for the people,” he continued.
The head of government highlighted three essential solutions for national development in the coming years.
Firstly, Vietnamese authorities will continue improving the legal, institutional and policy frameworks, encouraging private sector development, strengthening state governance capacity, maintaining macroeconomic stability toward sustainable growth, ensuring social progress, and narrowing the gap between income groups.
“We will focus on investing in infrastructure connecting urban areas to the countryside, mountainous regions and remote areas,” the premier said, adding that Vietnam already pays great attention to the development of healthcare and education, as well as social welfare.
Secondly, the country will strengthen its growing start-up and innovation economy by providing favorable conditions, protecting innovative ideas and new inventions, and ensuring intellectual property rights within the framework of Intellectual Property Law as well as within the FTAs that Vietnam is currently party to.
PM Phuc called on investors to participate, and hoped for the operation of more start-ups and venture funds in Vietnam to further encourage a strong start-up culture.
Finally, focus will be directed toward tax reform to increase the country’s competitiveness, with the aim of meeting the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development ‘s high standards of transparency, fairness and efficiency.
Vietnam’s corporate income tax is currently at 20 percent and will be reduced to 15 to 17 percent in the near future, the premier added.
Vietnam will also establish tax incentives for investors in priority fields including high-tech industry, supporting industries, high-tech agri-business, and labor-intensive industries.
Answering a question by Virginia Foote from Amcham Vietnam, PM Phuc said that Vietnam would try to achieve a GDP growth target of at least 6.7 percent this year, despite many challenges, including natural disasters.
The country will strive for an average GDP growth rate of 6.5 to seven percent in the coming years, the PM continued, adding that the goal will only be met with a stable political and social situation.
Speaking at the VBS, Victoria Kwakwa, the World Bank’s Vice President for the East Asia and Pacific Region, said that the WB had been supporting businesses in Vietnam, especially smaller-scale ones and those run by female entrepreneurs.
Several countries have recently asked for the establishment of a fund exclusively for female entrepreneurs, Kwakwa added.
According to Philipp Roesler, managing director of the World Economic Forum, the organization has signed an important deal with Vietnam for economic development.
The 2017 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) week is the culmination of Vietnam’s year-long hosting of APEC meetings.
Running from November 6 to 11, the week’s conferences will be attended by world leaders like U.S. President Donald Trump, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Valdimir Putin, and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
Editor’s note: Denis Hew, Director of the APEC Secretariat Policy Support Unit, spoke to Tuoi Tre News on the challenges to be addressed at the ongoing 2017 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Economic Leaders’ Week in the central city of Da Nang.
What are the topline points of the APEC summit most relevant to Vietnam?
One of the key issues for Vietnam is how to come up with an action agenda for economic, financial as well as social inclusion. For many years we have looked at promoting open trade, free trade and globalization, but we know that there are people left behind in this growth, and we also see a concern around job losses and long term unemployment; so growth should be more inclusive.
The action agenda that Vietnam is trying to have endorsed will be very important. In the future, if it is endorsed and implemented, when taking initiatives on trade or investment, we should take into account inclusion so people will not be left behind once we open the market and promote trade.
Another emerging issue is how to promote business opportunities for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME); how they are able to utilize technology to move forward on the global supply chain. We have come out with something we call the APEC Internet and Digital Economy, which addresses key areas like how to support and provide business opportunities for MSME.
The other worrying thing is that technology is changing things very quickly. We all know that. Of course the impacts of these new technologies are great in advanced economies. We see new kinds of technology like Uber and Airbnb that change an entire industry and how business is being done, but they can also create job losses. That’s beginning to impact developed economies, and new technology like artificial intelligence will have an impact on jobs in developing nations.
In the past, when we talked about global value chain, what companies were trying to do was to move part of their production to Vietnam and other developing countries where wages were lower. But in the time of new technology, this is not possible because they no longer have to do that: businesses will stick to their own countries and use robots or different kinds of machinery to do the job.
These are things we need to understand and find solutions that address some of these challenges.
Talking of inclusive growth, what is the simplest explanation for this? Is it that growth must be achieved in a way so that ‘no one is left behind’?
That’s right. We want to make sure no one is left behind, especially for the most vulnerable groups of society, children, women or handicapped people. The problem is what kinds of policy can be put in place so that everyone tends to benefit when we increase globalization.
There are things that have been done by a number APEC economies, and we are trying to learn from each other what we can do.
The TPP-11 is being discussed in Da Nang during the APEC summit. Do you think it can be finalized within the framework of this event?
Right now we don’t know because negotiations are still in progress. We only know they are trying to come to an agreement to move forward with the TPP-11.
The TPP is still quite important for Vietnam as it is one of the few developing economies in the TPP. Vietnam will be one of the biggest beneficiaries in terms of global chain connectivity if TPP can move forward.
We have to wait and see what happens next.
What will the upcoming official visit of U.S. President Donald Trump mean to Vietnam-U.S. trade ties?
It’s only the first year of the Trump administration and we are trying to get a clearer understanding of his view. We will know in a few days’ time what his trade policies are.
TPP is a free trade agreement previously involving 12 member states of the Asia-Pacific region, including Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the U.S. and Vietnam, and had been expected to serve as a counterweight to China’s growing regional dominance.
However, the White House announced the United States’ withdrawal from the deal in January, leaving the remaining 11 members to adopt the new name of TPP-11 to continue negotiations without the U.S.
Vietnam stocks firmed to hit a fresh near decade high on Wednesday, while Singapore held on to two-year highs.
Vietnam shares gained 0.9 percent, with real estate developer Vingroup Joint Stock Company climbing 4.7 percent to an all-time peak.
Global equities were largely muted as concerns of a delay in U.S. tax reform proposal and apprehension over Saudi Arabia’s rising tensions with Iran soured investor sentiment.
“Markets seem unsure which way to go next – equity markets are largely becalmed…,” ING analysts said in a note.
Most Southeast Asian stock markets were muted today, with Indonesia slipping from a record close, as investors took a breather in the absence of market-moving data.
Indonesian stocks slumped 0.3 percent from a record close, dragged by the telecommunications sector, with Perusahaan Perseroan (Persero) PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia Tbk, down 1.7 percent.
Singapore index was largely flat, with real estate giant CapitaLand Ltd down 1.1 percent and Keppel Corp Ltd giving up 0.9 percent.
Philippine stocks edged 0.3 percent lower, with industrial stocks accounting for majority of the losses, as SM Investments Corp slumped 2.8 percent, and food processor JG Summit HoldingS dropped 1.2 percent.
Real estate stock Ayala Land was the biggest drag on the index, declining 2 percent. Manila-based RCBC Securities analyst Fio De Jesus attributed the stock’s move to profit-taking after it rose 1.3 percent in its previous session on strong nine-month earnings.
Thai shares pared early gains in the session to trade down 0.1 percent ahead of the Bank of Thailand’s rate decision due later in the day. The central bank is expected to leave its benchmark interest rate near record lows again, with the current level seen supporting the country’s economic recovery while inflation stays benign.
The country raked in $4 billion in corporate tax from its 1,000 biggest contributors in 2016.
A list of the 1,000 businesses that paid the most tax last year in Vietnam has been released, and includes three foreign firms in the top 10.
Military-run telco giant Viettel topped the list after earning a pre-tax profit of nearly VND40 trillion ($1.76 billion), followed by Japanese motorbike and automobile producer Honda and state-owned energy group PetroVietnam, according to a report by the General Department of Taxation.
Viettel is Vietnam’s largest telecom firm in terms of earnings, and operates mobile networks across 10 countries in Southeast Asia, South America and Africa with further plans for expansion. UK-based Brand Finance ranks its brand value seventh in Southeast Asia and 93rd globally.
Japanese automobile maker Toyota and Dutch brewery Heineken were also named among the top 10 biggest tax payers in Vietnam last year.
The rest of the top 10 was made up of state-owned enterprises: telecom firm MobiFone, major lenders Vietcombank and VietinBank, dairy giant Vinamilk and the Airports Corporation of Vietnam.
Details of how much tax each company paid were not released, but the report said that the 1,000 biggest payers contributed more than VND90 trillion (nearly $4 billion) to the state budget in 2016, up 12 percent from the previous year.
The top 10 accounted for nearly 75 percent of that figure, it said.
Vietnam imposes a corporate tax rate of 20 percent.
Canadian PM Justin Trudeau has already stamped his mark on an official visit.
Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and his Canadian counterpart Justin Trudeau signed a comprehensive partnership agreement at a press briefing held in Hanoi on Wednesday, marking a milestone in Vietnam’s partnership with the G7 member.
The two leaders, who met previously at the G7 Summit in Japan in May last year, agreed to enhance cooperation for economic development and peace in the region.
Phuc expressed his support for Canada’s engagement in Asia, while Trudeau said his government will not be too hasty before making a decision on the in-the-balance Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement.
The fate of the trade deal has been left hanging after the Trump administration withdrew the U.S. from the pact at the start of the year.
Trudeau said Canada is willing to develop trade relations but will not rush to push the TPP forward.
He said his government will study the agreement to ensure it benefits the Canadian people.
Trudeau, 45, arrived in Hanoi on Wednesday morning for his first official visit to Vietnam, which will include a trip to Ho Chi Minh City on Thursday.
He will join the APEC Summit on Friday in Da Nang, when U.S. President Donald Trump, Japan’s Shinzo Abe and China’s Xi Jinping are expected to speak at the CEO Summit. The Leaders’ Meeting, the most important event of the summit, will be held on Saturday, gathering leaders from the 21 APEC economies.
Trudeau first visited Vietnam as a traveler in 1995. He is the second Canadian prime minister to visit Vietnam since the two countries established diplomatic relations in 1973.
Three agreements worth $60 million are expected to be signed during his visit.
Vietnam is Canada’s biggest trade partner in Southeast Asia. Two-way trade has been increasing steadily between the two counties, reaching $2.34 billion in the first eight months of 2017, a 20 percent increase from the same period last year.
Economic growth and the productivity of the bloc have slowed while inequality has risen.
Businesses from APEC economies should do more to help the Pacific Rim to flourish, Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang said at a forum held today in central Vietnam as part of the ongoing Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit.
Thanks to contributions from businesses, both global and macro, the Asia-Pacific region now accounts for 60 percent of world’s gross domestic product (GDP).
“APEC has become an effective mechanism for businesses to develop,” Quang told the CEO Summit, that opened on Wednesday and will run until Friday in Da Nang.
The bloc has made remarkable achievements over the past 30 years and saved hundreds of millions from poverty, he said, while calling for more contributions from businesses to boost the development of the bloc.
APEC’s top priorities should be connecting member economies and the global economic recovery, while continuing to work as a pioneer of free world trade and achieving the goals that APEC leaders set when they gathered in Indonesia in 1994.
Those goals included achieving free and open trade and investment by 2010 for industrialized economies, and by 2020 for developing economies, by reducing trade and investment barriers and promoting the free flow of goods, services and capital.
He urged all businesses to support inclusive growth, social development, ensure food, water and energy security and spread the spirit of entrepreneurship and startups, while increasing economic empowerment for women.
For a better future, APEC members should try harder to realize its vision of a peaceful, stable, dynamic, connected and prosperous Asia-Pacific, Quang said.
Vietnam will continue its transformation with a focus on the completion of market economy institutions, the development of human resources and infrastructure, and deeper international integration, he added.
The CEO Summit has gathered more than 2,000 local and foreign businesses and is one of most important events of the APEC Summit, which is being joined by leaders from the 21 Pacific Rim nations and thousands of businesspeople, including Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, UPS CEO David Abney, and chairman and CEO of J.P. Morgan Asia Pacific Nicolas Aguzin.
Speaking at the opening ceremony of the CEO Summit, Vu Tien Loc, chairman of Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), shared the same views as the president.
APEC has achieved a lot over the years, but is now facing certain difficulties as economic growth and the productivity of the bloc have slowed while inequality has risen, leading to an increase of trade protectionism that is causing more obstacles for the globalization progress.
“Further development and integration for mutual prosperity has now become a vital requirement for all APEC economies,” Loc said.
In order to do that, governments and businesses should work together to create a good environment and foundation for very-small, small and medium companies, companies with female leaders, and agricultural development, he said.
As residents of central Vietnam are cleaning up after Damrey, more flooding looms with water being released from 49 reservoirs.
Vietnam’s deadliest storm this year, Typhoon Damrey, has killed 106 people, while dozens of dangerously full reservoirs release water as the southeast Asian nation prepares to host a regional summit.
As of Wednesday, 106 people were known to have died because of the year’s 12th major storm, which struck on Saturday, leaving 25 missing and 197 injured, the country’s search and rescue committee said.
Authorities said vigorous efforts were being made to avoid flooding around the central city of Da Nang, which will host U.S. President Donald Trump, China’s Xi Jinping and Russia’s Vladimir Putin among Asia-Pacific leaders at this week’s summit.
Water was being released from at least 49 reservoirs that were dangerously full, the Steering Committee for Disaster Prevention said, with levels at major reservoirs being constantly monitored.
As much as 1,700 mm (67 inches) of rain was recorded at one weather station in the week to Monday. Rain is expected to continue until Wednesday before slackening off on Thursday.
Meetings of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) grouping began on Monday, with Trump, Xi and Putin due to join other regional leaders at the main event on Friday and Saturday.
The rain has not disrupted the meeting schedule, but the leaders’ spouses may not be able to make an excursion to the UNESCO heritage town of Hoi An planned for Saturday.
Vietnam’s long coastline makes it prone to destructive storms and flooding. Floods killed more than 80 people in the north last month, while a typhoon wreaked havoc in central provinces in September.
The storm hit a key coffee-growing region of the world’s biggest producer of robusta coffee beans near the start of the harvest. But farmers in Dak Lak, the heart of the region, said the damage was limited.
GBS – Vietnam International Bank (VIB) has announced it will approve loans of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) within 48 hours of submission of all documents.
The programme is part of the bank’s strategy to prioritise corporate loans and offer SMEs easy and flexible banking products to help them gain more business opportunities.
SMEs which need short-term loans for their production and business activities, may also access VIB credit packages with a preferential interest rate. SMEs can receive loans worth up to 80 per cent of their value of mortgage assets.
“SMEs are our core customers. Therefore, we have focussed on developing products and services to best serve this customer segment,” VuongThiHuyen, VIB’s head of wholesale banking, said.
“We believe that the bank’s fast-track loans will help SMEs expand their production and business activities, sharpen their capacities in current competitive business environment,” she said.
Last year, VIB was honoured as the ‘Leading SME Trade Bank” by the Asian Development Bank for its efforts in financing import-export enterprises as well as improving their productivity and competitiveness in the market.
A delegation from Taiwan has arrived in the central Vietnamese city of Da Nang to attend the ongoing 2017 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit week.
A private jet carrying James Soong, the founder and chair of Taiwan’s People First Party, landed at Da Nang International Airport at 1:40 pm on Tuesday.
Soong was welcomed by Vu Tien Loc, chairman of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), and received a guard of honor.
The representative and his Taiwanese delegation are scheduled to participate in the APEC Economic Leaders’ Week being held in the central Vietnamese city.
This is the second time Soong has led a delegation from Taiwan to attend an APEC summit week, following last year’s event in Peru.
APEC is a regional economic forum established in 1989 and comprised of 21 member economies, including Australia, China, Japan, South Korea, Thailand, the United States, and Vietnam, among others.
The Economic Leaders’ Week, the culmination of Vietnam’s year-long hosting of APEC meetings, runs from November 6 to 11 in Da Nang
It is expected to be attended by world leaders including United States President Donald Trump, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping, and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
It’s difficult to remember that the Internet was considered partially illegal from 1993-1997
Dr. Mai Liem Truc, head of the National Administration of Posts (now the Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group), often tells stories of an era when he and his associates, all craving access to the Internet, were forced to “resort to all lines of reasoning to persuade each other and their superiors to reach a consensus.”
Vu Hoang Lien, chairman of the Vietnam Internet Association and former director of Vietnam Data Communication Co. (VDC), revealed that VDC was expected to give demonstrations to State and Party leaders and officials from competent agencies on what the global computer network was all about in order to push them towards acceptance of the new technology.
“We should have given online demos, but our technicians would download the programs and run them on an offline server instead to ensure that nothing went wrong,” he said.
The delegates were as impressed by the fast, smooth running Internet as they were of the bulky equipment.
After Tran Ba Thai, one of the pioneers credited with introducing the Internet to Vietnam, and his associates from the Institute of Information Technology, successfully tested the country’s first-ever email system in 1993, VDC was able to launch a data transmission system in 1995.
Two other groups, VAST and Tri Tue Viet Nam (Vietnam Intelligence), comprised of technicians from FPT, now a leading technology corporation in Vietnam, also conducted successful tests of the country’s first Intranet.
Lien further revealed that VDC launched its first project, worth VND7 billion (US$ 304,150 with today’s foreign exchange rate), to provide Internet services in 1996.
In early 1997, when the Internet hadn’t yet been made publicly accessible in the Southeast Asian country, VDC began providing internet services for the Committee on Overseas Vietnamese.
Just a few weeks later, around the Lunar New Year which typically falls in late January or early February, Que Huong (Home Country) Magazine became the first Vietnamese publication to join the global grid.
Que Huong’s approach to internet publishing remained simple. After articles were translated into English, they were copied onto floppy disks and published online by VDC. Nowadays, articles are published directly.
“The emotional moment that we first saw the magazine content online was imprinted in our minds,” Lien shared.
He added one of the most convincing lines of reasoning was the firm’s assurance of security and safety.
The word ‘firewall,’ which was repeatedly employed to reassure the officials, worked in their favor.
“Society was curious and expectant before the internet was officially unveiled in Vietnam. Que Huong Magazine going online almost one year prior to the official launch proved a persuasive push to the Party and State,” Lien noted.
The tremendous efforts in persuasion and demonstration paid off. Dr. Truc, head of the then National Administration of Posts and his associates were finally granted a permit to establish the National Internet Coordinating/Steering Board in Vietnam to prepare for the official launch of the global computer network in November 1997.
Earlier, in April 1997, the Government issued Decree No. 21/CP, which was a temporary order on the management of the Internet.
The core principle was “services are launched to the extent that they are controllable,” Dr. Truc further recalled.
The National Internet Steering Board, comprised of representatives from the National Administration of Posts, the Ministry of Public Security, and the Vietnam Science Institute, did their utmost to speed up the Internet launch in Vietnam, with their efforts including compiling regulations and inter-ministry guiding documents, issuing service rates, and providing Internet Service Providers (ISP) applying for permits with instructions on how to check international connection portals and firewalls.
The last-minute concern from the Politburo Standing Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam was whether they could filter out and block all the damaging information currently rampant on the web.
“The Internet is instrumental to international trade and will help lure foreign investment in the current era of international integration,” Dr. Truc told the officials.
“The web will also considerably augment the amount of information available on the by disseminating it around the world and to overseas Vietnamese settling in North America and Western Europe,” he added.
Dr. Truc noted they he had been under the mounting pressure to turn international integration into a key advantage of introducing the internet to Vietnam.
Following Vietnam’s entry into the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in 1995, the bloc raised the issue of electronic access.
“A lack of Internet access would certainly hinder Vietnam from being part of the playground,” Dr. Truc remembered arguing.
The pundit, Nguyen Khanh Toan, then-Deputy Minister of Public Securit, and Chu Hao, Deputy Minister of Science and Technology, later reported their progress at a meeting with the Politburo Standing Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam.
Mr. Le Kha Phieu, who later became Party General Secretary, raised several questions.
Upon getting the nod from Politburo Standing Committee, Dr. Truc and his group moved on to persuade the government leaders.
They were presented to the then Prime Minister Phan Van Khai at his own home.
After a few hours of information exchange, the premier gave Dr. Truc a tap on the shoulder, urging that the launch had to be implemented properly and a shutdown must be avoided once the Internet was in place.
Dr. Truc and his contemporaries could not fully visualize the power of the Internet, which has brought tremendous success to the country.
“What we could envisage was that the connection would open to the door to economic growth, facilitate scientific research, and broaden people’s knowledge,” he admitted.
The intelligentsia, particularly researchers at universities and institutes and enterprises would be the first to benefit most from ready, limitless access to information.
“The key to our success in convincing the country leaders was in the trust we created that connecting Vietnam to the global grid was a worthy cause. Those behind that cause are trustworthy and work unconditionally for the people’s and country’s sake,” Dr. Truc underlined.
Michelle Bachelet will meet with leaders in Hanoi and leave for the regional summit in Da Nang on Thursday night.
Hanoi welcomed Chilean President Michelle Bachelet for an official state visit on Wednesday at the invitation of Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang before she joins other world leaders at a key economic summit in Da Nang on the central coast later this week.
The president and her delegation arrived at Noi Bai Airport at around 11:35 a.m.
She is scheduled to meet with Vietnamese leaders on Thursday before leaving for Da Nang the same night.
Bachelet, 66, was the first woman to be appointed president of Chile in 2006. After losing her reelection bid in 2010, she regained the position in 2014.
Vietnam and Chile signed a free trade agreement at the beginning of 2014.
Bilateral trade reached $1.03 billion last year, with Vietnam holding a $740.4 million trade surplus, according to official figures.
The Chilean leader arrived in Hanoi less than hour after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Both of them will join other leaders of the 21 Asia-Pacific economies at the APEC CEO Summit in Da Nang this Friday and the Leaders’ Meeting on Saturday.
Speeches are expected from U.S. President Donald Trump, Japan’s Shinzo Abe and China’s Xi Jinping.
The final fate of the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement, with the remaining 11 members after the U.S. withdrawal, is also likely to be announced at the event.
Four leaders of Vietnam’s large corporations have been invited to participate in the APEC CEO Summit 2017, being held from November 8 to 10 in the central city of Đà Nẵng.
The APEC CEO Summit is Asia-Pacific’s premier business event and is held within the framework of the APEC Economic Leaders’ Week, taking place on November 6-11 in Đà Nẵng.
According to business news website cafef.vn, the Vietnamese invitees include Nguyễn Đức Thuận, founder of TBS Group, joining the discussion session on the topic “Future Of Works.”
The second person is Nguyễn Thị Phương Thảo, CEO of Vietjet Air, participating in the discussion session on “Connecting For Growth.”
Dương Thị Mai Hoa, general director of Vingroup, will be a guest speaker during the discussion session on “New Job Creation.”
The last invitee is Thái Hương, chairwoman of TH True Milk Group, who will share her views during the discussion session on “Resource Efficient Use and Sustainable Growth.”
Nguyễn Thị Phương Thảo (left above), Nguyễn Đức Thuận (left below ), Dương Thị Mai Hoa (right above) and Thái Hương (right below) are the four Vietnamese entrepreneurs participating in the APEC CEO Summit held in Đà Nẵng on November 8-10. — Photo cafef.vn
The summit is expected to draw 2,000 delegates from APEC member economies and is the most anticipated event for businesspeople.
It will provide unparalleled opportunities for global business executives to engage in dialogues with APEC leaders, high-level government officials and influential thought leaders.
The event will gather leaders of the world’s most dynamic economies, speakers from the most influential global organisations and more than 800 senior executives of corporations and groups from the Asia Pacific region.
APEC CEO Summit 2017 will comprise 10 sessions of discussion focusing on globalisation, trade liberalisation, sustainable development, connectivity for growth and the development of technology and the digital era.
Guest speakers are leaders from several global organisations, such as the World Trade Organisation, World Bank and World Economic Forum, in addition to many representatives from large corporations and groups, such as COO Facebook Sheryl Sandberg; Robert S. Franklin, President at ExxonMobil Gas & Power Marketing Company, a subsidiary of Exxon Mobil Corp and Mark Konyn, chief investment officer at AIA Group; besides representatives of many emerging startups like Rappler, OFO, Malong and Air BnB.
Two years ago, Apple’s authorized resellers included iCenter, Future World, KTC and Phong Vu shops. Now, most of the agents belong to The Gioi Di Dong and FPT Shops.
The network of Apple’s older authorized resellers have remained unchanged, but The Gioi Di Dong and FPT Shop chains have expanded greatly.
A search of AAR (Apple authorized resellers) and APR (Apple premium reseller) shops in HCMC shows that Apple system gives 99 results. Of these, 51 belong to The Gioi Di Dong and 24 to FPT Shop.
The two largest retail smartphone distribution chains in Vietnam hold 75 percent of Apple authorized resellers.
The current situation is different from two years ago, when Apple mostly distributed iPhone through FPT Trading and mobile phone operators, and distributed Macbook and iPad through authorized agents such as Future World and iCenter. In general, retailers distributed the products they got from FPT Trading and rarely sold Macbook and iPads.
At that time and now, Future World and iCenter can sell only computers and tablets, but they cannot sell iPhone officially, unless they re-distribute products from mobile network operators or FPT Trading.
Since Apple changed its distribution policy in March 2015, The Gioi Di Dong and FPT Shop, the two retail chains, can import iPhones directly from Apple, not through FPT Trading.
At first, the two retailers could only import iPhones. Later, they could import Macbook and iPad from Apple as well. With the new rights, the two retail chains have significant strength compared with other Apple partners.
Apple applies two authorized reseller models in Vietnam – AAR and APR. At first, the shops only sold Apple’s products and did not sell products of other manufacturers. This policy is still used at iCenter, Future World and other agents. However, The Gioi Di Dong, FPT Shop and some other chains which have AAR such as Mai Nguyen and Vien Thong A now sell a wide range of products with different brands.
Mai Trieu Nguyen, the owner of Mai Nguyen chain, said the Apple-only shops won’t be competitive with the shops with diverse products. At Mai Nguyen, Apple products just account for a part of its showrooms.
Also according to Nguyen, with the current policy, Apple product distribution is carried out through different channels. Different Apple products are distributed by different distributors. This means that one shop cannot have all of Apple products to sell.
Nguyen Viet Anh, deputy CEO of FPT Shop, said that the old authorized resellers, or ‘traditional AAR’, are meeting difficulties. Only chains which can operate in accordance with the standards and obtain sufficient revenue can exist and develop in Vietnam.
