Southeast Asian stocks were largely subdued on Tuesday after data showed China’s factory growth slowed more than expected in October, with Vietnam dropping nearly 1 percent, while Thailand gained for the sixth session on strong industrial output data.
In Vietnam, real estate developer FLC Faros Constructions fell 4.6 percent after briefly touching a record high earlier in the session, dragging the main index.
The builder said its third-quarter net profit fell 20.8 percent, year over year.
“A purely speculative stock in the Vietnamese market that has been going up ceiling after ceiling in the last week-and-a-half has become one of the largest companies on the stock market and so has an exaggerated impact on the index,” said Fiachra Mac Cana, head of research at Ho Chi Minh Securities.
Singapore shares closed down 0.1 percent, with the city-state’s largest mobile network operator Singtel pulling down the index.
The index gained 4.8 percent this month, after two straight months of losses.
“Southeast Asian markets fared mixed as the fall in China PMI numbers… affected the economies with strong trade ties with China namely Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam,” said Redza Rahman, head of research at MDIF.
Growth in China’s manufacturing sector cooled more than expected in October in the face of tighter pollution rules that are forcing many steel mills, smelters and factories to curtail production over the winter.
Meanwhile, Thai shares closed 0.2 percent higher, buoyed by industrials and energy stocks.
Thailand’s industrial output rose for a third straight month in September on an annual basis, beating forecasts. The country’s October inflation data is due on Wednesday.
Airports of Thailand rose 1.7 percent, while renewable energy company Energy Absolute surged 8.1 percent.
The Thai index has risen nearly 3 percent this month, marking its fifth straight monthly gain.
Indonesian shares snapped three straight sessions of declines to close 0.5 percent firmer.
The index has risen 1.8 percent this month, its ninth straight monthly gain.
Bank Central Asia, the country’s largest lender by market value, led the gains and rose 2.3 percent, while Chandra Asri Petrochemical surged 7 percent.
The Philippine stock market was closed on Tuesday and will remain shut on Wednesday on account of public holidays.
Overview of best prospect sectors, major infrastructure projects, significant government procurements and business opportunities.
Continued strong economic growth, ongoing reform and a large population of 93 million —half of which are under the age of thirty — have combined to create a dynamic and quickly evolving commercial environment in Vietnam. Sales of equipment, technologies and consulting and management services associated with growth in Vietnam’s industrial and export sectors and implementation of major infrastructure projects continue to be a major source of commercial activity and interest for U.S. firms. In terms of infrastructure, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) released figures in April 2017 that mark Vietnam’s public and private infrastructure investment as the highest in Southeast Asia, accounting for an average of 5.7 percent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP).
Per capita GDP was estimated to be $5,370 in 2014 (in 2011 PPP). The government’s recently stated goal is to increase this to at least $18,000 by 2035. With disposable income levels in major urban areas four to five times the national average, significant opportunities in the consumer and services sectors are fast emerging, as evidenced by strong growth in the number of Vietnamese students attending university in the United States, and the growing number of middle-class that are choosing the U.S. as a vacation destination.
Telecommunications, information technology, oil and gas exploration, power generation, transportation infrastructure construction, environmental project management and technology, aviation and education will continue to offer the most promising opportunities for U.S. companies over the next few years as infrastructure needs continue to expand with Vietnam’s pursuit of rapid economic development. Health care will also be a growing sector as the government expands programs and an increasingly wealthy population spends more on medical treatment.
The government of Vietnam (GVN) plays a significant role in the economy, with state-owned enterprises (SOEs) making up 35 percent of GDP. The GVN strategy to “equitize” (partially privatize) SOEs in all sectors of the economy is slowly moving forward. While the GVN will maintain majority ownership in the largest and most sensitive sectors of the economy, which includes energy, telecommunications, aviation and banking, the equitization process could present opportunities for U.S. companies.
Key U.S. agricultural inputs to production such as hardwood lumber, cotton, hides, skins and feed ingredients will also continue to play a key role in helping fuel Vietnam’s export led manufacturing strategy, as noted earlier, and are responsible for U.S. agricultural products accounting for nearly half of total exports to Vietnam. Demand continues to also grow for consumption oriented products such as meat, dairy and fresh and dried fruits.
Prepared by our U.S. Embassies abroad. With its network of 108 offices across the United States and in more than 75 countries, the U.S. Commercial Service of the U.S. Department of Commerce utilizes its global presence and international marketing expertise to help U.S. companies sell their products and services worldwide. Locate the U.S. Commercial Service trade specialist in the U.S. nearest you by visiting http://export.gov/usoffices
Famous silk brand Khaisilk may face a range of investigations after a scandal triggered widespread calls for the boycott of the once-luxury Vietnamese brand last week.
The Ministry of Industry and Trade said on October 30 it had passed on all relevant documents to the police, who are set to launch a criminal probe into Khaisilk after an inspection last week uncovered fake Chinese-made products at one of its Hanoi outlets.
Trade Minister Tran Tuan Anh set up a joint task force on October 30, tasked with launching an independent probe into the case. “Khaisilk’s actions violated the law, damaged the value of Vietnamese brands, and deceived Vietnamese consumers,” Minister Anh said at a meeting on the same day.
The scandal came to light on October 23, when a businessman in Hanoi took to Facebook to rail against products his company had bought from the brand, saying they were actually made in China.
According to the post, the company bought 60 Khaisilk-branded scarves at the Hang Gai shop in Hanoi for VND644,000 ($28) each, but one scarf had two labels: “Khaisilk Made in Vietnam” and “Made in China”.
The company said it had checked the rest of the scarves and found signs that “Made in China” labels had been removed.
The brand’s owner, Hoang Khai, later admitted that half of the silk used by Khaisilk came from China, while the remainder came from Vietnamese craft villages. But he was adamant that his company always used high-quality materials.
Khai said there has been a shortage of domestic silk from handicraft villages while market demand saw diverse requirements. For this reason, they imported silk from China without noting the origin of the products.
He also admitted that, due to expanding business into other fields such as real estate and tourism, the silk business had not been controlled and supervised strictly.
Khai has apologized to customers and offered compensation. However, the public has begun questioning whether Khaisilk had received help from market surveillance authorities, as the brand’s shops have allegedly been selling Chinese silk for years without being detected.
Khaisilk is a renowned high-end brand with a history of over 30 years, famous for its supposedly high-quality “Made in Vietnam” products. The scandal has triggered widespread boycott calls. Vietnamese lawyers have also weighed in, saying aside from denting public confidence, the Khaisilk Group, which owns the eponymous brand, could face legal action.
Its outlets in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City have been closed since October 27.
He reached the French capital by crossing through 23 countries in just 150 days.
Tran Dang Dang Khoa, a 30-year-old backpacker from Vietnam’s southern province of Tien Giang, arrived at the Eiffel Tower last Saturday. This symbol of Paris marks the end of the first part of his journey around the world by motorbike, which he started on June 1. According to Khoa, he has been dreaming about embarking on this journey for 20 years and spent 2 years preparing for it.
Khoa finished the third quarter of his journey to Paris in Italy more than 20 days ago. He shared that the book “In Vespa. Da Roma a Saigon” by the late Italian writer Giorgio Bettinelli served as an inspiration for him to embark on his journey.
One of his most memorable experiences was being escorted for 2,000 kilometers (1,242 miles) through a dangerous area by police in Pakistan.
Being a pilot was another of his childhood dreams, and Khoa was able to realize that dream when he reached Bulgaria. For just BGN50 ($30), he was able to enjoy 30 minutes of flying a real aircraft with a flight instructor.
Santorini, Greece was the first island Khoa visited on his journey. While the island offered a large variety of activities such as snorkeling and donkey riding, Khoa spent most of his three days there relaxing, taking pictures and refueling.
On day 18 of his journey, Khoa experienced a traditional Hindu wedding ceremony in Bandipur, Nepal.
In Georgia, Khoa had a surprise meeting with Vietnamese singer Ho Quang Hieu, who was also visiting the country at the time. From strangers, the two soon became friends as they explored Georgia’s capital Tbilisi together.
Georgia is also where Khoa celebrated the 100th day of his journey, as well as where he took the best pictures, enjoyed the tastiest food and met many good friends.
However, there were also times when he felt scared and depressed, such as when he rode through Iran’s scorching hot desert on roads that seemed endless.
The first half of Khoa’s journey was 20,000 kilometers (12,500 miles), costing him 500 liters (110 gallons) of gasoline and 25 bottles of motor oil, and taking him through 23 countries: Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Nepal, India, Pakistan, Iran, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Bulgaria, Greece, Albania, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Italy, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Austria, Germany, Luxembourg, Belgium and France.
Some of the coins and banknotes Khoa managed to collect on his journey
On day 108 of the journey, Khoa boarded a cargo ship to cross the Black Sea from Georgia to Bulgaria. As the only passenger on board, he was given a VIP room which even included an en suite bathroom.
In Bulgaria, Khoa was invited by his friend Lesley, a Bulgarian motorcyclist who has traveled across Europe, to visit Granitovo. He also met Bob Dibble, a 70-year-old man who was traveling the world on his Honda CT110.
During the first part of the journey, Khoa lost 7.5 kilograms (16.5 pounds). However, he has not fallen sick and says a healthy diet and a good balance between traveling and resting is the key to staying fit.
Khoa was reunited with his friend Fabio in Ligura, Italy after first meeting him in Pakistan when they were traveling in opposite directions. Khoa was heading to Europe while Fabio was heading to Asia, but while Fabio has returned home, Khoa is still on the road.
“A journey is not measured by the number of kilometers covered but by the number of friends made. Only now do I fully understand that statement,” Khoa said.
Throughout his journey, Khoa has received help from both locals and the Vietnamese communities in Europe.
His motorbike, nicknamed Memo for Mekong Delta Motorboat, has broken down multiple times but Khoa has always managed to put it back together.
A selfie with local children in Bulgaria.
Pakistan is one of Khoa’s most memorable destinations. This is where he met and became good friends with a group of motorcycle enthusiasts from Lahore.
A group of locals help Khoa change the oil in Sukkur.
Khoa and Memo on the snow-capped Alps in Switzerland.
Việt Nam spanked Myanmar 3-0 to set up a semi-final showdown with Malaysia at the ongoing Southeast Asian Futsal HDBank Cup in Hà Nội yesterday.
Việt Nam came into the game with Myanmar knowing they needed a win to avoid tournament favourites Thailand in the semi-final on November 1.
Though unfancied, Myanmar have improved recently and withstood continuous pressure from Việt Nam in the opening stages, before Phùng Trọng Luân opened the scoring in the 12th minute with a shot in the left corner.
The Myanmar defence stiffened and the first half finished without any further goals.
In the second half, Việt Nam dominated possession but were largely thwarted by the Myanmar defence.
With only a few minutes left, Myanmar pressed for an equaliser, almost scoring when Pyae Phyo Maung struck goalkeeper Văn Huy’s post with a shot.
That was the closest Myanmar would come, with Ngọc Sơn’s header with 20 seconds left sealing victory, before goalie Huy tapped into an open goal to secure the 3-0 win.
Việt Nam have won all four games so far and will feel confident of besting their best ever result in the tournament of second in 2009 and 2012.
Viettel has won one gold and four silver awards at the 2017 International Business Awards – Stevie Awards in various categories and for its operations in various countries.
The Gold Award went to Viettel’s Youtube fee package (in Cambodia, Peru and Tanzania) in the best Entertainment – Communication Product of the Year category.
Within six months of the package’s launch it had garnered over one million customers in the three countries by helping achieve a breakthrough in the consumption of entertainment on smartphones and saving 40 – 80 per cent cost when using data.
The four silver awards were for Fastest-Growing Company of the Year in Europe, Middle East and Africa for Halotel (Tanzania); Most Effective Marketing Campaign of the Year for Bitel (Peru); Best Customer Care Service of the Year for My Viettel application (Việt Nam); and Best Telecommunication Product of the Year for telecommunication secure solution (Việt Nam)
This is the first time that Halotel, Viettel’s Tanzanian operation, has won an international award.
Within three months of launching its mobile service in October 2015 Halotel had signed up one million subscribers, and after nine months doubled the figure, both records that no other international telecom service provider has ever achieved.
Halotel remains one of the fastest growing telecom companies in Tanzania. As of October 2017 it has over 3.5 million customers to rank fourth out of eight telecom companies in the country after surpassing some that have been in the business for over 10 years.
According to the Tanzanian Communication Regulatory Authority, the speed of growth of Halotel’s subscriber numbers in July and August surprised authorities after it signed up a full 50 per cent of the 427,500 new mobile customers.
When the country switched to a system of migrating between networks while retaining the mobile number in March 2017, Halotel attracted the highest proportion of customers wanting to switch, with around 1,000 from other networks joining it every month.
The company has the country’s largest telecom network with 2,500 base-transceiver stations and 18,000 km of optic-fibre cable and covering 90 per cent of the country. It was also the first to set up and provide mobile broadband connections to some 3,000 villages which had never enjoyed internet or mobile services until then.
Tanzania is now Viettel’s biggest overseas market with a population of 55 million and is also where it has made the biggest investment – worth US$800 million. Its investment in Tanzania was considered the best project in 2014 in Eastern, Western and Central Africa at the 2015 Global Investors Conference.
The International Business Awards – Stevie Awards is a leading global award given annually for achievements and contributions by enterprises and individuals that benefit the community, including in information technology and telecommunication.
To win, candidates must persuade 200 examiners, all famous CEOs or entrepreneurs. The name “Stevie” comes from Stephen, which is Greek for “Crowned”.
Coc Coc, or “Knock Knock” in English – a Vietnam-based search engine – has become one of the most popular browsers in Vietnam, with around 23 million users as of August.
Le Van Thanh, co-founder of Coc Coc, said that in the local market, the browser has made strong leaps, just behind Google’s Chrome and has surpassed all other browsers of foreign brands like Firefox.
Data from internet-monitoring firm StatCounter shows Chrome has taken the lead with 58.7% of users, followed by Coc Coc (26.6%) and Firefox (7.5%).
Thanh ascribed the strong growth to the integration of many features such as search, automatic punctuations, correct spelling suggestions, dictionaries, Facebook access, download and shopping suggestions among others.
The Vietnamese search engine, behind Google and Facebook, has made up around 20% of the online advertising market. The number of Coc Coc users has helped the company take the second place, accounting for 26.6%.
Not many countries worldwide develop their own Internet browser, according to Thanh.
Set up in 2010, Coc Coc launched the Coc Coc Internet browser in 2013. Germany’s media platform Hubert Burda Media injected US$14 million into the Vietnamese enterprise in 2015.
Peter Kennedy, chairman of Hubert Burda, said Coc Coc had respective growth rates of 100% in 2015 and 80% in 2016. The figure is estimated at 50% this year.
He said the company is very pleased with this investment. Vietnam is an attractive place to invest in, as online services are growing fast compared to other places, and the online community is very strong.
Thanh revealed Coc Coc reached the break-even point in the first quarter of this year. Meanwhile, Kennedy added the current value of Coc Coc may be four or five times higher than the initial investment, but he could not determine its market value.
The firm’s profits and share price have rocketed this year.
South Korean tech giant Samsung Electronics logged a record profit of 11.2 trillion won — $10.0 billion — in the July to September period, it said Tuesday, its best for any quarter.
The world’s biggest memory chip and smartphone maker has faced the jailing of its de facto leader for bribery and a recall of its flagship device, but said in a statement its net profits soared 148 percent on the same period a year ago.
The figures come only two weeks after its chief executive Kwon Oh-Hyun resigned, saying South Korea’s biggest company was facing an “unprecedented crisis” and its current profitability was “merely a fruit of decisions and investment made in the past”.
The firm described Tuesday’s numbers as an “overall robust performance”.
Operating profit nearly tripled on-year to 14.5 trillion won — also a quarterly record — thanks to strong sales of its memory chips and a recovery in smartphone sales from the huge recall of its Galaxy Note 7 device a year ago.
At the time the firm suffered a crippling blow to its mobile business due to the scandal over exploding batteries.
Third-quarter sales also surged to a quarterly record of 62.05 trillion won.
Samsung’s semiconductor unit, which has been riding high on surging global demand for memory chips for servers and smartphones, saw its operating profit soar nearly 200 percent to 9.96 trillion won.
Samsung Electronics is the key subsidiary of the sprawling Samsung Group, whose heir Lee Jae-Yong was found guilty in August of bribery, perjury and other charges stemming from payments to the secret confidante of ousted president Park Geun-Hye.
Lee, who was jailed for five years, says he is innocent and is appealing.
The firm’s profits and share price have rocketed this year and it said separately it would double its dividends in 2018, although it would keep them fixed for the following two years.
It also confirmed a further share buyback for the fourth quarter.
Widespread public backlash. A raft of looming investigations. What’s next for the once-posh Vietnamese garment brand?
Khaisilk is poised to face a series of investigations after a made-in-China scandal has triggered widespread calls for the boycott of the once-posh Vietnamese silk brand since last week.
On Monday, the Ministry of Industry and Trade said it had transferred all relevant documents to the police who are all set to launch a criminal probe into Khaisilk after an inspection last week uncovered fake products made in China at one of the brand’s Hanoi outlets.
Trade minister Tran Tuan Anh also on Monday set up a joint task force charged with launching an independent probe into the case.
“Khaisilk’s action has violated the law, damaged the value of Vietnamese brands and deceived Vietnamese consumers,” Anh said at a meeting on Monday.
The scandal came to light on October 23 when a businessman in Hanoi took to Facebook to rail against products his company had bought from the brand, saying they were actually made in China.
According to the post, the company bought 60 Khaisilk-branded scarves at the Hang Gai shop in Hanoi for VND644,000 ($28) each, but one scarf had two tags: “Khaisilk Made in Vietnam” and “Made in China.”
The company said it had checked the rest of the scarves and found signs that “Made in China” tags had been removed.
The brand’s owner Hoang Khai later admitted that half of the silk used by Khaisilk came from China, while the rest came from Vietnamese craft villages. But he was adamant that his company always used high-quality material.
Khai has apologized to customers and offered compensation. However the public has started questioning whether Khaisilk had been receiving help from the market surveillance authorities, as the brand’s shops have allegedly been selling Chinese silk for years without being detected.
Khaisilk is a renowned high-end brand with a history of over 30 years, famous for its supposedly high-quality “made in Vietnam” products.
The scandal has triggered widespread boycott calls. Vietnamese lawyers have also weighed in, saying aside from denting public confidence, Khaisilk Group, which owns the eponymous brand, could face legal action.
Since Friday, Khaisilk has shut down its outlets in both Saigon and Hanoi.
Viet Nam topped the Group A of the ASEAN Football Federation Futsal HDBank Championship after their 18-0 win over Brunei in HCM City yesterday.
With three wins, the hosts led the group and met their target of advancing to the semi-finals. They also secured a berth in the Asian Futsal Championship final next year.
Being one of two best teams in the region, Viet Nam met with no difficulty in setting up their domination over Brunei from the beginning.
Brunei played defensively, but they could not stop the Vietnamese players from scoring early.
Duc Hoa opened the result with a crossing finish just 45 seconds from the first whistle.
The hosts continued scoring six more goals in the first half by Quoc Hung, Thai Huy, Van Toan, Trong Luan, Ngo Ngoc Son and Quoc Nam.
Brunei was under heavy pressure in the second period. Viet Nam made a shower of goals with 11 successful finishes.
Thai Huy and Danh Phat netted a hat-trick each. Luan and Son added a double to their own hat-trick, while the last one went to Xuan Du.
After the match, coach Miguel Rodrigo of Viet Nam said it was not a difficult game for his side. Players were asked to score as many goals as possible to ensure they have the advantage of better goal difference when vying for the top position.
The Spaniard was satisfied with the team’s performance. The next step would be to secure the top position in the group and prepare for the last-four round, he said.
Viet Nam will vie for the top position in the group with Myanmar in the last qualifying round match at the Phu Tho Gymnasium today.
Rodrigo said the match against Myanmar would not be a piece of cake. Viet Nam played Myanmar in the recent Southeast Asian Games and Myanmar have shown great progress, he noted.
On the other side, coach Yonos Yusof of Brunei said Viet Nam were the toughest rivals among the three teams that they had met in this tournament. It was a team of strong players. Brunei tried to defend but did not succeed, he said.
Brunei will play the last match against the Philippines, who are at the same level, and Yusof hopes to secure a win before leaving Viet Nam.
Myanmar beat Indonesia 3-2 yesterday in a crucial tie to make the cut for the semi-finals. They have also qualified for the first time ever for the Asian championship.
“The game was very important. So we had to be patient and not react too quickly,” said Myanmar head coach Htay Myint on aseanfootball.org.
“The game was very close, but in the end, we were a little lucky to win this game, especially, when Indonesia went for the power play at the closing stage.”
Meanwhile, Indonesian head coach Vic Hermans said: “We were losing out in the one on one just like yesterday (against Viet Nam). This is the price we pay when we only train for months without playing any matches. We were just lacking in the defence.”
Vietinbank pocketed their first National Super Volleyball Cup in their fourth attempt after beating VTV Binh Dien Long An 3-1 in the final match on Saturday.
It was the only title that Vietinbank lacked in their collection.
Vietinbank with young players such as Doan Thi Xuan, Thu Hoa and Dinh Thi Thuy made it difficult for Binh Dien Long An to resist their strong attacks in the first two sets, which they won 25-20, 25-17.
Binh Dien Long An, without their key spiker Tran Thi Thanh Thuy, played below expectations. They could only fight back in the third set to win 25-20, before losing quickly 16-25 in the fourth.
Not many can remember when the Internet was in its infancy in Vietnam just over two decades ago.
NetNam Co., based in Hanoi, is considered the pioneering Internet provider in Vietnam.
Founded in 1994, the firm was among the country’s first four Internet Service Providers (ISP) back in the 1990s, according to its website.
The company’s Internet, online and managed services have been highly trusted by individual users, organizations and enterprises ever since.
Feeling their way
Internet services were officially introduced in the Southeast Asian country in December 1997.
However, insiders began seeking ways to obtain a permit from the government as far back as 1993.
In 1991, Dr. Mai Liem Truc, head of the National Administration of Posts (now the Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group), attended an international seminar in the U.S., where he was first introduced to the Internet.
The National Administration of Posts was the country’s watchdog and sole supplier of post and telecoms services back then.
Applying his great vision, Truc was positive the Internet would be indispensable to his country’s integration and growth.
The global computer network would help Vietnam free itself from isolation and connect to and keep pace with the rest of the world.
NetNam, originally comprising scientists from the Institute of Information Technology under the Vietnam Institute of Science and Technology (now the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology), was tasked with the mission of pioneering the country’s first Internet services.
Despite Vietnam not adopting an open-door policy until the 1990s, the Vietnam Institute of Science and Technology had earlier sent its academics to Eastern and Western European countries for training, according to Tran Ba Thai, a former NetNam director.
Employees work at a software company in Ho Chi Minh City. Photo: Tuoi Tre
“This greatly facilitated the institution’s and NetNam’s efforts as pioneers,” he noted.
Thai along with some other pundits from the institute attended an international conference in Kobe, Japan in 1992, when the use of the global network was limited to the intelligentsia and a number of universities in the U.S. and Europe.
“We initially considered the Internet an instrument for scientific study only,” he added.
The Internet’s comprehensive value soon dawned on the scientists, however, who later formed a partnership with a research group from the Australian National University (ANU), a national research university located in Canberra, to test the network.
Bound by ‘destiny,’ Thai and Professor Rob Hurle from the Australian institution soon embarked on experiments in connecting computers in Vietnam and Australia through landline phone lines.
Hurle designed a new piece of software for the UNIX system, a family of multitasking, multiuser computer operating systems, so that modems could be utilized to link computers in Vietnam, allowing the exchange of computer information.
The experiment was a success, delivering the earliest experiences of the Internet to Vietnamese users, who could then use their own email boxes, though with the Australian domain .au.
Thai and Prof. Hurle were then able to exchange emails, believed to be Vietnam’s first-ever email system.
In September 1993, Prof. Hurle and a colleague from the University of Tasmania, also located in Australia, partook in a seminar in Hanoi to address plans to foster Internet use in the Southeast Asian country.
“With Vietnam’s domain .vn not yet registered, our first email address was registered in Australia, hanoi@coombs.anu.edu.au, and we used it to receive and send emails from Vietnam to people around the world,” Thai recalled.
Users in Vietnam had an email address using the Vietnamese domain, username@hanoi.ac.vn, to which the coombs.anu.edu.au was affixed for international exchange, he explained.
Driving forces
One of the main facilitators of the introduction of the Internet to Vietnam was Thai’s awareness of its immense potential, working as a chief engineer of a United Nations information technology project back then.
“Another stroke of luck was that the visionary leaders of the Vietnam Institute of Science and Technology at that time were warmly receptive to change and supportive of our drive to explore the Internet world,” Thai stressed.
A senior citizen gets access to the Internet on a laptop in Vietnam. Photo: Tuoi Tre
The third element was the relatively lax government control.
“These three factors were conducive to our initial successes in connecting Vietnam to the global network,” the expert added.
State agencies, however, were not really ready for the launch.
“We met with tremendous hurdles because of high-ranking officials’ reluctance. Opponents raised concerns including risks of revealing confidential state information, spreading defamatory, anti-state information, and users’ exposure to morally and culturally corrupt content,” Dr. Truc, the then-leader of the country’s post and telecoms sector, elaborated.
After providing a complimentary email service on a two-year pilot basis, NetNam became the country’s first carrier of Internet services in 1994, offering the Vietnamese domain .vn in their email addresses.
Thousands of users gained access to free email-based services such as forums, internal communication and electronic libraries only one year following the launch, with NetNam receiving sponsorship from the Australian government and Telstra, Australia’s leading provider of phones and broadband Internet, to cover international connection expenses.
“We tried to talk the high-ranking officials into embracing the Internet launch by underlining its various merits and suggesting ways to keep a rein on its problems,” Dr. Truc recalled.
“They finally gave their nod on the establishment of the National Internet Coordinating Committee in Vietnam,” he said.
In March 1997, the government issued temporary statutes on the management, tapping and usage of the Internet, followed by the National Administration of Posts granting a temporary Internet Service Provider (“ISP”) permit to the Institute of Information Technology in October 1997, before the network was officially launched just over one month later.
In 2001, Asia Week named Tran Ba Thai, along with two others from India and Mongolia, Digital Revolutionaries for their tremendous efforts in bringing the Internet to their communities.
‘Our pivot to Asia is driving higher returns and lending growth, particularly in Hong Kong.’
HSBC said Monday that profits were up more than five-fold in the third quarter as its Asia business drives higher returns.
Reported pre-tax profit jumped to $4.6 billion in the three months to the end of September, compared with $843 million over the same period in 2016.
The Asia-focused banking giant has been on a recovery drive over the past two years to streamline the business and slash costs, and has laid off tens of thousands of staff.
Shares were up 1.1 percent at HK$77.95 ($9.99) by lunch, shortly after the results were released.
Chief executive Stuart Gulliver said the bank had “maintained good momentum in the third quarter”, with higher revenue across its main global businesses.
“Our pivot to Asia is driving higher returns and lending growth, particularly in Hong Kong,” he added.
Poverty and extreme inequality are not destiny. They can be challenged and eliminated.
Next week Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders will meet in Vietnam’s central city of Da Nang. They face a region divided as ever between a few rich and the rest.
After decades of leading the world in economic growth that benefited everyone, Asia today is rapidly becoming a fractured region with sharp economic and social divisions between the rich and the underdogs.
The Da Nang summit should be a reflective moment for APEC political and business leaders to critically review their policies and growth paradigm which are failing to achieve shared prosperity and just helping a minority to increase their wealth while leaving millions of women, workers and peasants behind.
In Asia- Pacific, the population-weighted income Gini coefficient, based on household income estimates, increased from 0.37 to 0.48 between 1990 and 2014; an increase of almost 30 percent in less than three decades. In using the Gini coefficient, zero represents perfect equality and 100 perfect inequality.
In Indonesia, the four richest men have more wealth than the poorest 100 million people. In Vietnam, 210 of the country’s super rich individuals earn more than enough in one year to lift 3.2 million people out of poverty and end extreme poverty. Similarly, 1 percent of rich people in Thailand own 56 percent of national wealth, and half of the wealth in Indonesia is owned by just 1 percent.
Despite political pronouncements and inclusive growth mantras, why is exactly the opposite happening? There are four major causes.
Firstly, the economic growth model pursued in the region is sucking benefits upward from women, workers, fisherfolk, peasants and small producers. Instead of increasing access to land and other productive resources, the growth model has helped a few rich to capture resources.
Secondly, women’s work is not treated equally. Women are burdened with unpaid care work and low paid jobs, exacerbating gender inequality. Low paid and unpaid care work by millions of women in Asia has anchored rapid economic growth, but the very system they support is leaving them behind.
Thirdly, unjust fiscal systems, where rich corporations and individuals are not contributing their fair share to national revenue, are affecting public investment in essential services. Dwindling public services such as universal healthcare, quality education and social protection are shrinking the opportunities for future generations to break the poverty cycle.
Fourthly, people not only lack access to decent wages, productive resources and public services, they also lack a voice and an ability to participate in policy and decision-making processes. Much of the economic decision making happens behind closed doors, with no mechanisms in place to ensure broad citizens’ participation.
APEC leaders agreed that inclusive growth should be at center stage in the upcoming leaders’ meeting. The Vietnamese government, which hosts this year’s meeting, underscores the importance of promoting economic, financial and social inclusion as strategies to achieve inclusive growth.
In Oxfam’s new policy paper, “Redefining inclusive growth in Asia- How APEC can achieve economies that leave no one behind,” we propose eight simple ideas to turn APEC’s inclusive growth aspiration into a reality.
1. APEC leaders must recognize that rapidly growing inequality is a serious threat to growth and prosperity in the region. They should agree to all set national timebound targets to reduce the gap between rich and poor, in line with their commitments under Sustainable Development Goal 10 (SDG 10).
2. Revenue mobilization is critical to finance sustainable development goals and provide public services. APEC leaders must work together to create tax systems where rich individuals and corporation pay their fair share and put a stop to tax evasion and tax dodging. APEC must foster regional and global tax cooperation to end tax base erosion and profit shifting frameworks, and enhance tax administration capacity.
3. Essential public services have transformational power, therefore APEC members should reaffirm their commitment to increase resources for essential public services such as education, health and social protection. They should respect global targets to spend a minimum of 15 percent of their budgets on health and 20 percent on education.
4. APEC leaders should legislate and implement living wages as a central component of a strategy to promote economic inclusion and reduce the gender pay gap. Governments must live up to the Bali Declaration on labor rights and the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.
5. Support Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) led and owned by women. APEC should ensure and expand women’s access to credit and capital, and invest in their capacity building, particularly on enterprise development and management.
Equally important, APEC must encourage its members to extend and expand public services aimed at supporting care work, reducing and redistributing unpaid care work. This will allow women to invest time and energy to establish and manage enterprises, and expand women’s life choices beyond economic areas alone.
6. Uphold direct citizen engagement in APEC pillars for inclusion. APEC leaders should promote direct citizens’ engagement in all three pillars of social inclusion – economic, social and financial. APEC can create an enabling environment in which communities contribute to decision-making, ensuring that workers are represented in corporate structures.
7. Create an APEC stakeholders’ engagement mechanism so that representatives from people’s organizations and civil society groups can participate in and contribute to APEC processes. The creation of these mechanisms will demonstrate APEC’s commitment to inclusion.
8. Measuring progress in reducing inequality. SDG 10 states that by 2030, all countries progressively achieve and sustain income growth of the bottom 40 percent of the population at a rate higher than the national average. Therefore, APEC members must set clear national targets to reduce inequality and collect accurate data on top incomes and wealth, aiming to achieve SDG 10.
Poverty and extreme inequality are not destiny. They can be challenged and eliminated. APEC leaders are in a unique position to put an end to these long-standing problems by building a human economy, where no one is left behind and where we can build a better world for our children and grandchildren.
*Babeth Ngoc Han Lefur is country director of Oxfam in Vietnam, a worldwide development organization that mobilizes the strength and voice of people against poverty, inequality and injustice. The views expressed here are her own.
The 2017 Global Destinations Cities Index produced by credit card company Mastercard said foreign arrivals in the city grew at 16.4 percent between 2009 and 2016, the fastest after Osaka, Chengdu, Colombo, Abu Dhabi, Jakarta and Tokyo.
Tourists stand on “The Huc” Bridge, which leads to Ngoc Son Temple on Hoan Kiem Lake in Hanoi
Jakarta’s and Hanoi’s entry into the top 10 point to Southeast Asia’s rising significance as a key travel hub, the report said.
In the previous edition, which measured arrivals growth between 2009 and 2015, Hanoi ranked 13th, while the Indonesian capital came in at 11th.
The survey, which ranked 132 cities, found the Asia-Pacific leading global tourism by dominating in terms of visitor arrivals and revenues, raking in 91.16 billion USD in 2016, compared to 74.74 billion USD for Europe and 55.02 billion USD for North America.
Hanoi was named the cheapest travel destination by TripAdvisor travellers between 2014 and 2016. The travel site estimated last year that a three-night holiday for two in Hanoi cost only 494 USD, a quarter of the New York cost, the most expensive travel destination in the ranking.
International arrivals in Hanoi topped 3.5 million in the first nine months of this year, up 24 percent from a year ago, according to the city’s statistics office.
