New statistics show a five-star hotel room in the capital now costs an average of $151 a night, compared to $118 in Saigon.
Five-star hotels in Hanoi have raised prices by 38 percent on average since last year and are charging significantly more than their peers in Saigon, with statistics showing a strong increase in the capital’s international arrivals in the first nine months.
A report from real estate consultancy firm Savills showed Hanoi’s luxury hotels charged an average of $151 per night in the third quarter, which was a slight drop compared to what spring holidaymakers had to pay, but a massive leap from a year ago.
Room rates at three and four-star hotels also went up slightly to $48 and $73 per night, leaving the city’s average hotel fee at $108, up 26 percent from last year.
The industry’s supply has expanded 8 percent from last year to 9,840 rooms, but tourism figures show that arrivals have been growing at a much faster rate. International arrivals to Hanoi in the first nine months increased 24 percent on-year to around 3.5 million, according to the city’s statistics office.
Also according to Savills, Hanoi’s luxury hotels are now much more expensive than in Saigon, where five-star hotels now charge an average of $118 per night, compared to $67 for a four-star room and $43 for three-star accommodation.
The southern megacity, which received 4.2 million foreign visitors in the first nine months, plans to add more than 3,600 hotel rooms in the next three years.
Hanoi and Saigon, the country’s largest and most expensive cities, are also the top tourist destinations in Vietnam thanks to a mixture of historical sites and modern vibrancy.
In April, budget tourism site Price of Travel named the cities among the cheapest tourist spots in Asia for 2017, with daily expenses for a backpacker estimated at $18.16 in Hanoi and $18.33 in Saigon.
Hanoi, a 1,000-year-old city, was also named the cheapest travel destination by TripAdvisor travelers between 2014 and 2016. The travel site’s report last year estimated that a three-night holiday for two in Hanoi costs only $494, which is nearly four times less than New York, the most expensive travel destination in the ranking.
Seemingly priced out of the game, drivers, passengers and experts discuss the fate of local cab firms.
A phone call and a five-to-ten minute wait. A few more phone calls and a cab arrives…if you’re lucky. If not, an apology from the call center and you’re late for the airport.
That was three years ago, but now for many Vietnamese, the idea of dialing a taxi call center is an alien concept. In the new era of technology, Grab and Uber are beating street taxis with just the click of a button.
And it is not just the passengers who have been won over. Easy registration and flexible working hours have drawn over 50,000 cab drivers to work for Uber and Grab in Vietnam, with many leaving traditional taxi firms in search of a better living.
Vinasun, Vietnam’s biggest taxi firm in 2014, lost 8,000 drivers this year, almost half of its employees, while rival Mai Linh Taxi also lost 6,000 drivers.
A doomsday scenario for traditional taxi firms is foreseeable.
“I honestly don’t care if traditional taxis disappear,” Nguyen Huyen Trang, a 26-year-old Hanoian working in Saigon told . “Even if they do survive, I don’t think I need them.”
“It’s not worth investing in a motorbike when you’re lazy and afraid of being stopped by the traffic police,” Trang elaborated. “I’m not familiar with Saigon’s streets so it’s best just to book cheap Uber or Grab rides.”
A professional ride-hailing app user, Trang has no difficulty booking rides even late at night or early in the morning. She also books her rides to the airport – a destination still dominated by taxi companies.
In her six months as a Grab and Uber regular, Trang has only hailed a street taxi once when it was stormy.
“I was in a hurry,” Trang said. “If I hadn’t been I wouldn’t have minded waiting 5 or 10 minutes for an Uber or Grab.”
Trang went on to extol the perks of ride-hailing apps: clean cars and rating-aware drivers, hence a better attitude and a feeling of safety. She also expressed her distaste for traditional taxis that she said are outdated and often overcharge.
The comments section on multiple posts on social media agree with Trang. To the public, traditional taxis have long been associated with reckless driving, dirty seats, an unwillingness to take short journeys and the risk of being overcharged.
A video captured in July showing a Vinasun driver fighting with a call center operator for booking short trips confirms the stigma.
Vain attempts
Ta Long Hy, chairman of Vinasun, did not reply to calls on Tuesday as the company was in the middle of a media crisis.
From October 7-9, thousands of Vinasun taxis poured onto Saigon’s streets displaying red and yellow bumper stickers saying: “Grab and Uber must abide by Vietnamese law” and “Stop pilot scheme for Grab and Uber.”
While Hy told local media that the “drivers had stuck the stickers on themselves”, a video recorded shows a driver recalling how he had been instructed to add the bumper stickers by the company’s technical team.
A Vinasun taxi seen on the street on October 8, 2017 with bumper sticker saying “Grab and Uber must abide by Vietnamese law” – Photo: Hong Nhut
“We don’t have the spare money to do this to a company car,” the driver said. “Before, I earned VND800,000 to VND1,000,000 ($35-$44) a day. Now there are days when I go home without earning anything,” the driver said.
Officials from the Ministry of Industry and Trade told that the slogans were derogatory and may have violated the Competition Law.
Uber and Grab operate legally in Vietnam as part of a pilot scheme that also allows for 10 or more app-based ride-hailing services, including the apps launched by Vinasun and Mai Linh.
The taxi firms also plan to launch their own motorbike ride-hailing apps, but that hasn’t stopped Vinasun from threatening to sue Grab and Uber for unfair competition on multiple occasions.
But with fares almost double their rivals, their way out is limited.
“Before, these taxi firms formed associations that created rules and barriers,” said Huynh The Du, a public policy expert at the Fulbright Economics Teaching Program in Saigon. “They have been enjoying limited competition for a very long time, but now Grab and Uber are breaking down the wall.”
“Even if taxi firms are able to cut costs by eliminating these barriers, and Grab and Uber stop their price war, there’s still a big price gap,” Du continued.
“The evolution of technology can’t be reversed, and that’s the brutal truth for traditional taxi firms.”
Photo: Tri Thuc Tre
In search of a lifeline
With the price and service war seemingly already lost, driver and customer numbers may be the only light at the end of the tunnel for these taxi firms.
Nguyen Thi Thu Thuy, 59, a retiree who doesn’t own a mobile phone and relies completely on traditional taxis, thinks local road knowledge trumps all – a reason London’s black cabs and New York’s yellow cabs are also clinging to in the fight against ride-hailing apps.
“I like to hop into a taxi as soon as I hail one in the street, and traditional taxis, they know the roads,” Thuy said. “My daughter has booked Grab for me a few times but it was time-consuming. They just drive around not knowing exactly where they are going.”
But Trang, the Grab and Uber regular, found the idea amusing.
“Honestly, a lot of traditional taxis don’t know their way around either. I’d rather pay a cheap price and help the driver out using GPS.”
Against all odds, Vietnamese pride is another lifeline that could be thrown to traditional taxi firms.
“I support traditional taxis because they are Vietnamese firms,” Thuy said. “I think it’s better to have both kinds of taxis. The more competition there is, the better service customers receive.”
Grab drivers in a Facebook group also told that if they were offered a better salary, they’d be happy to switch to support a local business.
Bui Quang Huy, a 35-year-old who bought a new car to work full time as a Grab driver, thinks the competition is healthy. “It gives drivers like us more options,” he said.
Every day he earns VND500,000 to VND700,000 ($22-$31) working 10-to-12 hours straight. Huy estimates he needs three years to break even.
But regarding concerns of a future monopoly or limited competition, Du, the public policy expert, dismissed the notion with a laugh.
“There’s no need to worry about oligopoly when the traditional form of taxi disappears,” Du said. “The market is open to any brand of ride-hailing services, not just Grab and Uber.”
“There will come a time when the market, the number of drivers and their salaries balance themselves out,” he said.
“Any protests or threats of legal action are just temporary delays. Traditional taxis will have to transform or they’ll disappear.”
Telecom operator Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group (VNPT) expects to hold its initial public offering (IPO) in 2019, according to the group’s chairman Tran Manh Hung.
“There is still a lot of work to be done for the group’s IPO, such as selecting advisors, valuating the firm and seeking a strategic partner,” Hung told Dau tu (Investment) newspaper.
“The selection of advisors alone is a complicated process, as each component of the IPO plan will require a specific advisor to work on it. The VNPT will look for cooperation from foreign, reputable IPO advisors.”
He added that “the company will try to finalise its IPO portfolio and complete all the required procedures in 2018, then do the IPO in 2019”, as there were still problems with the firm’s IPO plan that required the Government to make the final decisions.
The preparation of the IPO will be carried out after the restructuring plan, which has been submitted to the Ministry of Information (MIC) and Communications and the Prime Minister, is approved, he said.
To complete the restructuring plan, the VNPT has founded a board, which specialises in the firm’s equitisation process, and asked its member companies to compile corporate reports.
The VNPT has completely restructured its three corporations, which are telecommunication services provider VNPT VinaPhone, network operator VNPT Net and value-added services provider VNPT Media.
New corporation
The VNPT has also proposed that the MIC establish a new corporation that would focus on technology development and produce both software and hardware components. The establishment of the fourth corporation under the management of VNPT has got the green light from the MIC.
After two years of restructuring, the information-technology sector of VNPT says it has made rapid and strong development in different fields.
The business unit has been able to develop and provide software applications for the Government, its agencies and ministries; smart city applications for provinces and cities; and products for other sectors, such as healthcare and education.
As part of the restructuring plan, the VNPT also wanted to hold 20 per cent in MobiFone to make up for the reduction of its charter capital when the latter split away in August 2014.
Two years later, the VNPT proposed that the Government allow it to spend parts of the income from the equitisation of MobiFone on the firm’s business activities.
Responding to the company’s request, the Prime Minister has assigned the MIC to develop the equitisation plan for MobiFone and submit that plan to the Government for review.
Park Hang Seo from the Republic of Korea (RoK) has officially become the head coach of the men’s national, U23 and Olympic football teams of Vietnam.
Park’s contract with the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) lasts from October 2017 until the end of 2019.
Park Hang Seo, born in 1959, used to be a player of the RoK national team before starting a professional coaching career. He was known as the No 1 assistant of Guus Hiddink, who led the RoK team to the semi-finals of the World Cup 2002 and the RoK’s U23 team to win the bronze medal at the Asian Games in the same year.
He and his teams obtained many achievements at different tournaments of the RoK. Notably, he set a record in 2013 when he led the Sangju Sangmu FC with all players being RoK citizens to win 11 consecutive victories at the K.League Challenge.
Before the VFF inked the contract with Park, the football teams of Vietnam were temporarily led by Mai Duc Chung, head coach of the women’s national team. Chung replaced coach Nguyen Huu Thang, who resigned after the national U22 team was defeated at the 29th Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games 29) in Malaysia in August.
The first challenge to Park is to lead the national team in a match against Afghanistan at My Dinh Stadium, Hanoi, on November 14, within the fifth qualification round of the 2019 AFC Asian Cup.
The new coach expressed his hope to receive support from football fans and the media. He also wants to bring new vitality to the national, U23 and Olympic teams so that they will gain the best results at upcoming international events.
Now in its third year, the forum is the country’s biggest e-payment event.
World famous billionaire and Alibaba chairman Jack Ma is expected to visit Hanoi next month to attend a forum on e-payment services.
Now in its third year, the annual Vietnam E-Payment Forum (VEPF), co-hosted by VnExpress and the National Payment Corporation of Vietnam, provides an opportunity for the government, experts and businesses to sit down together and discuss the latest trends in e-payment services and the best ways to apply them in Vietnam.
This year, mobile payment will be in the spotlight.
As a speaker at the event, Jack Ma, founder and executive chairman of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, will talk about his experiences of developing e-commerce and mobile payment services in China.
E-payment has gradually replaced cash in Vietnam’s northern neighbor, and these days, most Chinese people pay for products and services using their smartphones.
According to iResearch, the leading provider of online audience measurement and consumer insights in China, the mobile payment market was valued at $5.5 trillion last year in China, nearly 50 times greater than that of the U.S., and Ant Financial Service, a subsidiary of Alibaba, contributed a lion’s share of 54 percent.
Idemitsu Kosan has opened its first 100 percent foreign owned filling station in the country.
The Japanese oil & gas group on October 5 announced that the first Idemitsu Q8 filling station opened in Hanoi.
This is the first time a 100 percent foreign invested enterprise has joined the local petroleum retail market. Decree 83 on petroleum trading covers Vietnamese businesses only.
Idemitsu Kosan more than one year ago decided to cooperate with KPI, the oil & gas from Kuwait to establish a joint venture – Idemitsu Q8 – with a 50/50 capital contribution structure. The joint venture has plans to distribute (retail and wholesale) petrol products through the network to be built throughout the country.
Hiroaki Honjo, general director of Idemitsu Q8, said its joining the retail market would help improve the sources of supply for Vietnam.
He said after the filling station opens in Thang Long Industrial Zone in Hanoi, the company is considering expanding its network in the north and south of the country.
For a long time, petroleum retailing has been the privilege of Vietnamese businesses. There are 29 retailers in the market, but the market is being controlled by a few big players, namely Petrolimex, PV Oil and Saigon Petro.
Therefore, analysts commented that the presence of Idemitsu Q8 would remap the market and create a real competition in the market.
“It is quite understandable that foreign energy giants want to join the petroleum retail market. The more retailers there are, the bigger benefits consumers can get,” Ngo Tri Long, a pricing expert, said.
The Japanese conglomerate contributes 35.1 percent of capital to the Nghi Son Oil Refinery in Thanh Hoa province. Therefore, its retail network will help consume Nghi Son’s products once the oil refinery enters commercial development, slated for the end of the year.
Some experts, anticipating that more foreign investors would jump into the petroleum retail market, have proposed to amend Decree 83 to fit the new circumstances.
However, Long said that there was no need to amend the legal document, though it only covers Vietnamese petroleum retailers.
“The decree has a provision that foreign businesses who trade petroleum products in Vietnam under the international treaties of which Vietnam is a member must comply with regulations stipulated in the decree,” he explained.
“This means that when joining the market, Idemitsu Q8 will also be covered by Decree 83. And if it holds more than 30 percent of the market, share, the State will intervene in pricing,” Long said.
Most commercial banks responding to a survey by the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) said their business performance had seen considerable improvement in the third quarter, and they expect high profits this year.
Eighty-nine percent of banks think their pre-tax profit would have positive growth this year compared with 2016. The expected growth rate in the latest survey was 13.63 percent, a bit higher than the rate in June’s survey (13.22 percent).
Banks have a positive outlook about clients’ financial health levels: 79.1 percent of banks said the general risk is at ‘normal level’, while 13.2 percent said at ‘low level’ and only 7.7 percent said ‘high level’.
Banks were optimistic about the liquidity of the banking system with 85 percent of banks saying their liquidity is ‘good’ for both Vietnam dong and foreign currencies and 12 percent saying their liquidity is ‘stable’.
Nearly 90 percent of credit institutions said their ratio of bad debt on outstanding loans in the third quarter ‘did not increase’ or ‘slightly decreased’ compared with the second quarter.
The survey found that capital mobilization in the banking system is expected to see higher growth rate – 5.32 percent – in the fourth quarter.
Nguyen Quoc Hung, director of SBV’s Credit Department, told the local press recently that the 20 percent credit growth rate in 2017 was ‘attainable’.
The outstanding loans provided to manufacturing, mining and supporting industries have seen a growth rate of 18-19 percent compared with the same period last year.
The outstanding loans to agricultural production have increased by 10 percent. Banks have disbursed VND35 trillion under the program on funding hi-tech agriculture projects.
While the number of outstanding loans has been increasing rapidly, the interest rate is expected to decrease. Large and small joint-stock banks hope the average lending interest rate will decrease by 0.09 and 0.03 percentage points, respectively.
While state-owned banks have maintained low deposit interest rates since the end of 2016, some joint stock banks have to offer high deposit interest rates to attract capital.
The group of four state-owned banks, including Vietcombank, VietinBank, Agribank and BIDV, set interest rates at 4.3-4.4 percent for short-term deposit (less than one month), while the other banks offer interest rates of 5.4-5.5 percent.
Unlike previously, when banks set nearly the same interest rate, they now tend to set different rates. Large-scale banks with large networks and good brands offer interest rates much lower than smaller banks. Despite the low deposit interest rates, Vietcombank and BIDV still saw deposits increase by 10 percent in the first six months of the year.
The death toll continues to mount as heavy rains leave a trail of destruction.
Heavy rains have triggered flash floods in northern and central Vietnam over the past two days, leaving 40 dead and 22 missing and causing havoc in many provinces.
A landslide in the early hours on Thursday in Hoa Binh Province has collapsed seven houses, burying 18 people. So far, three people have been rescued and seven are confirmed dead.
The incident has increased Hoa Binh’s death toll to 15, the highest among all provinces. Nghe An and Thanh Hoa have reported eight deaths.
Five deaths have been reported in Son La Province, while three people are missing and hundreds of houses and many hectares of crops have been destroyed.
In Yen Bai Province, four people were killed and 11 people are missing, including a Vietnam News Agency reporter who was swept away when a bridge connecting Highway 32 in Nghia Lo Commune collapsed.
The floods are the result of a tropical depression that is sweeping through northern and central provinces.
Vietnam has already suffered destructive stormy weather this year. Floods in northern Vietnam killed at least 26 people and washed away hundreds of homes in August before Typhoon Doksuri, the strongest to hit the country in years, killed at least eight people in the central region last month.
Last year, tropical storms and flooding killed 264 people in Vietnam and caused damage worth VND40 trillion ($1.75 billion), nearly five times more than in 2015.
It would be delisted from the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange if shareholders approve the resolution.
Board members of Vietnam’s Sacombank STB.HM are seeking shareholder approval to switch the bank’s listing to the Hanoi Stock Exchange .HNXI from the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange .VNI, a bank resolution on Tuesday showed.
Sacombank, or Saigon Thuong Tin Commercial Joint Stock Bank, is among Vietnam’s biggest private-listed banks. It would be delisted from the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange, the country’s main bourse, if shareholders approve the resolution.
The bank, which has had a new chairman since June, did not give a reason or a time frame for the move.
Over the past month, Vietnamese netizens have been eagerly discussing the ‘paradox’ of low wages and ‘wasteful spending’. We’re here to dissect it.
The new school year had already kicked in but a tea house overlooking Hoan Kiem Lake on a Thursday afternoon was still packed with students.
In groups of four or five, the so-called bubble tea generation was either busy discussing trending topics or staring at their phones.
As one pact had just left for a new picture perfect spot in Hanoi, four 19-year olds were busy discussing the recent H&M opening in Saigon and why it hadn’t made it to Hanoi. The conversation then quickly turned to the latest beauty trends, including the pros and cons of microneedling, a procedure which involves using fine needles to create hundreds of tiny puncture wounds in the top layer of skin. It it said to minimize the signs of aging and improve the appearance of acne scars.
“We meet up everyday at cafes, mostly for bubble tea. It’s sweet and tasty,” said second year university student Ha Trang to the approval of her BFFs (best friends forever) from middle school, Phuong Linh, Trung Hieu and Le Hieu. Three of the four are studying business and management at different universities, a major they consider to be “hot” and highly employable, but Le Hieu failed to make the grades to continue his education in Vietnam and is hoping for an opportunity to study in the U.S.
A survey conducted in May of 350 men and women aged from 15 to 39 in Hanoi and Saigon by Vietnamese market research firm Q&Me revealed that 50 percent of them drink the tea at least once a week. Bubble tea fever even increased land lease prices on “teahouse streets” in Saigon by 20-90 percent in August compared to a year ago, according to a report by Gachvang, a city-based property research firm.
Urban Vietnamese, especially young people in large cities, have recently found themselves at the center of online criticism over their “wasteful spending habits.”
It all started with an article on the Vietnamese edition of VnExpress written by Nguyen Thi Thu Huyen, a recent PhD graduate who found city life too expensive for her level of income.
She compared it to her lifestyle when she was still studying in the U.K. Working three hours per week earned her GBP26, which was enough to buy food for an entire week. In contrast, her full time job as a lecturer in Saigon paid only VND5 million, the equivalent of GBP165 or $220 per month, just enough to pay for meals which she made sure never exceeded VND100,000 each.
Checking in on Instagram is “customary” for millennials when they go for bubble tea. Photo by linhchimm on Instagram
This left Huyen baffled because she had no idea how fancy restaurants and cafes in HCMC were always packed, especially tea houses selling bubble tea to students, many of whom still depend on their parents.
The article garnered dozens of follow up pieces and comments, each with its own reasoning. Those who agreed with the author said spending so much on bubble tea was shallow and inconsiderate, while the other side of the debate stressed on freedom of choice.
“What we see here is an interesting generational gap, but not the the gap between parents/grandparents and their children” said Phan Tuong Yen, a psychology lecturer at Hoa Sen University in Saigon. “It’s much closer than that and it’s clearly a conflict of personal values.”
The majority of comments criticizing the wasteful spending came from young people who had been working for quite a while, aged from 28-40. Those who defended these habits were mostly aged from 18-25 or young people with high incomes.
The former, born from the late 1970s to the early 1990s, grew up in a transitionary period when traditional Confucian values still largely shaped lifestyles and moral standards. These were tough times economically and tightening your belt became part of life, even a worthy “trait”. This generation was also the first to access the internet and western cultures and ideals.
But it’s those born from the mid 1990s onward who have welcomed a strong cultural wave that carried the concepts of freedom, individuality and right to indulge along with an economic boom.
While the average Vietnamese worker earned only $2,200 last year, according to the World Bank, around 450,000 people now make more than $100,000 per year, three times the current number of tea houses.
The so-called “middle and affluent class” earning $714 a month or more in Vietnam willdouble to 33 million people, about a third of the population, between 2014 and 2020, according to Boston Consulting Group.
The bubble tea generation, globally referred to as millennials, “feel they are part of this booming wealth, more so than in the earlier days of austerity,” said Yen. “Therefore, the notion of freedom between these two generations somewhat differs, and so does the concept of cautious spending.”
While Huyen, the lecturer, argues that $2 for a cup of bubble tea is too much — twice the cost of a typical office lunch — the millennials see it differently.
“Our time together is more valuable than a cup of bubble tea,” said student Trang. “Bubble tea shouldn’t be a reason for us not to meet. Just a short walk together is already tiring and we have to drink something. I can’t think of anywhere else we could go.”
Her group has already tried everything in Hanoi, a city notorious for lacking public space. In March, the Administration of Technical Infrastructure under the Ministry of Construction warned that Vietnam’s biggest cities have only two to three square meters of green area per person. That is less than a third of what the World Health Organization has recommended for a healthy urban life.
Trung Hieu, the quiet one in the group, added his own two cents on the economics of bubble tea.
“I don’t think bubble tea is expensive. I only need to work for two hours to pay for it.”
Three members of the gang work part-time in cafes, fast food chains or cinemas in the evenings, which pays them on average VND15,000 per hour. In a day, the young Hanoians who still largely depend on their parents but don’t want to ask for extra pocket money can make from VND100,000 to VND250,000.
“He [Le Hieu] is the exception,” they laughed, pointing at the “joker” of the group and the only one without a job. “He’s rich.”
It’s now quite common for students, especially those in their third or fourth years at university, to work part time or even run small online businesses.
“The money they earn during their studies helps prove themselves and opens opportunities for them to live freely and ‘enjoy life’ as they wish, going beyond the enclaves of family or other financial barriers,” Yen, the psychologist, told VnExpress International.
And so the bubble tea group shrugged off the notion that their long chit-chats reflect they’re lazy and waste money.
“We put a lot of effort into work so we deserve time to rest and enjoy the fruits of our labor. I can go out, but when I’m home, I still have to do chores like cooking and washing the dishes,” said Linh. “Whatever I earn, I spend so we can all have a good time. I’ll start saving once I start work,” she added, referring to a full-time job after graduating, preferably as a manager of a big company.
With “a lot of free time at university”, as Linh put it, they can divide their time among things that matter to them. Studying for a better future, going to the gym to stay healthy, family, shopping, holidays and of course, meeting up with friends.
When their pockets are half empty, they go for cheaper alternatives like iced tea.
“It’s not just today’s youth but people aged from 13-23 in any generation want to prove themselves,” said Yen, referring to psychological research that shows in this period each individual tries to define him or herself through talent, character or social status.
“What’s important is that society accepts this and gives them a sense of direction instead of criticizing them,” said the psychologist who’s been working with Vietnam’s urban youth for six years. “The question is whether they take responsibility for how they spend, not what they buy.”
The bubble tea group tries not to take the online criticism personally, saying every story has two sides to it.
“They wrote these articles from a point of view of an older person. Our parents don’t like bubble tea; they like tea and coffee,” said Trang. “You can’t compare two generations. […] Living standards are increasing, we just want to perfect ourselves.”
Or as Le Hieu said: “Today’s parents do as their children say” – a way of twisting a saying to describe the previous generations – “Children do as their parents say” (Cha me dat dau con ngoi day).
The group quickly jumped to dismiss it as a joke, saying young people today have simply more freedom to do what they want, and that parents are more ready to trust their decisions.
An exhibition of artifacts, entitled “The Vietnam War: 1945 – 1975”, is underway at the New-York Historical Society Museum, New York, the US until April 22, 2018, giving museum goers an insight into conflict.
The exhibition’s opening ceremony took place on October 10 with Permanent Representative of Vietnam to the UN Ambassador Nguyen Phuong Nga alongside more than 400 historic scholars, anti-war activists and veterans in attendance.
Speaking at the event, Ambassador Nga said she believes the exhibition will give people a better understanding of the value of peace.
This event will provide visitors a closer look at history, enhancing mutual understanding between people of Vietnam and the US, Nga stated.
(Photo: Dantri)
Vietnam and the US established a comprehensive partnership four decades after the war ended, she stressed, adding that the robust development of bilateral relations largely owes to the two countries’ efforts to leave the past behind, overcome disagreements and look to the future.
More than 300 artifacts, photographs, artworks, documents, films, and interactive digital media on display at the exhibition convey the story of the war since the end of the World War II.
The items include a lacquer graving named “Spring in Tay Nguyen”, created by northern Vietnamese painter Tran Huu Chat in 1962. The 84-year-old artist made an exact reproduction for the exhibition.
It is the first time the New-York Historical Society has held an exhibition on the Vietnam War and it took the museum three years to collect exhibited materials, according to the museum’s CEO Louise Mirrer.
Vietnam’s Pho and Goi cuon (fresh spring rolls) have been named in the list of the best 30 dishes of the world under a survey by CNN (Cable News Network).
Pho was ranked 28th while Goi cuon stood at the 30th place in the list. As a symbol of Vietnamese cuisine culture, Pho is present anywhere around the world where Vietnamese people live. In addition to rice noodle, a few herbs, thinly-sliced beef or chicken meat and broth as the main ingredients, a slice of fresh lemon and a splash of chilli sauce are indispensable to a delicious bowl of Pho.
A dish of Goi Cuon (fresh spring roll) – Photo: CNN
Meanwhile, the main ingredients for making Goi cuon dish consist of boiled pork, shrimp, herbs, rice vermicelli and rice paper. It is served at room temperature with the erupting flavours of refreshing herbs.
The sauce for Goi cuon is made from a variety of ingredients, such as a dash of fish sauce, coconut milk, a squeeze of tamarind, chopped garlic, hot pepper, onions, ground peanuts, fried sesame seeds and cooking oil.
In the CNN’s list, the top 10 dishes of the world are chicken muamba of Gabon, ice cream, tom yum goong of Thailand, Penang assam laksa of Malaysia, hamburger of Germany, Peking duck of China, sushi of Japan, chocolate of Mexico, Neapolitan pizza of Italy and Massaman curry of Thailand.
Chinese e-commerce group, Alibaba, on Thursday authorised Viet Nam’s Novaon Internet Corporation to be its reseller in the Viet Nam market.
Under the authorised dealer agreement, Novaon will become the official distributor of Alibaba.com’s export-import support services packages, helping Vietnamese enterprises to access, exploit and master this online business platform.
Tran Thanh Hai, deputy director of the Import-Export Department under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, said export-import activities require interactions between e-commerce and traditional trade; therefore, enterprises need partners and policies to promote the use of e-commerce.
Novaon is Alibaba’s third authorised dealer in Việt Nam, after OSB Investment and Technology Joint Stock Company and Clever Advertising Corporation (Cleverads).
The global platform is a relatively comprehensive concept applied at a high level in dynamic and developing economies, encompassing large interactive online platforms on a global scale.
The world’s leading online business platforms include Alibaba, Google, Facebook, eBay and Amazon.
However, in Viet Nam, most of the enterprises still rely on traditional export channels or exploit online business channels on a very basic level, such as website or email.
Therefore, Novaon has built a comprehensive solution for online export; of which, Alibaba.com, the well-known business to business (B2B) online website for export-import, is considered one of the most significant parts of the overall package.
Novaon also launched the programme “1000 online pioneer export enterprises” on this occasion.
The programme is designed to create 1,000 exporters who are capable of applying and exploiting global online trading platforms on an advanced level, and then diffusing and motivating the export community.
The abrupt resignation of Tong Quoc Truong, CEO of Vietnam Lottery Co., Ltd. (Vietlott) is rumoured to be related to the violations at PetroVietnam Finance Corporation (PVFC) that took place during his time in office as CEO at PVFC and are currently under investigation.
According to newswire Dantri, Truong officially left the CEO position of Vietlott on October 1 due to personal reasons, which was accepted by the Ministry of Finance (MoF).
MoF has assigned his deputy Nguyen Thanh Dam to hold the fort until a new CEO can be picked next week.
Truong had been Vietlott’s CEO since the company’s foundation in August 2012.
Before moving to the lottery firm, Truong was the general director of state-owned oil and gas group PetroVietnam’s subsidiary PVFC between June 2007 and March 2010.
PetroVietnam and its subsidiaries, including PVFC, have been under legal scrutiny for economic mismanagement by former executives that had resulted in enormous financial losses.
In a statement on September 29, the People’s Court of Hanoi sentenced former PetroVietnam chairman Nguyen Xuan Son to death for his misdeeds causing serious economic damage and abuse of power to misappropriate company assets.
Regarding PVFC, in the 2006-2011 period, including the time that Truong was in office, PetroVietnam poured capital into PVFC and permitted it (at the time under Truong’s lead) to conduct illegal investment activities, causing massive losses for the state budget.
Vietnam Airlines and Air France have inked a joint venture deal, which is due to start from November 1, to bring more benefits to passengers on their air routes between Vietnam, France and Europe.
Speaking at the signing ceremony in Hanoi on October 10, Director General of Vietnam Airlines Duong Tri Thanh said the historical agreement will help tighten the comprehensive cooperative ties between the two airlines
It will not only make it easier for air travel between the two countries but also promote trade, investment, and cultural exchanges between Vietnam, France and Europe, bringing huge benefits for people and businesses, he added.
The agreement also demonstrates the commitment and determination of Vietnam Airlines to increase investment in the global arena, especially the French and European markets via the key route between Vietnam and France, he noted.
For his part, Director General of Air France Franck Terner said the join venture deal with Vietnam Airlines is one of the strategic development plans of Air France, namely “Trust Together”.
At the signing ceremony (Credits: dtinews)
This agreement will bring long-term benefits to the two airlines as well as their customers, he said, adding that the ultimate goal of Air France is to maintain and develop its position in the promising region.
Over the past 20 years, Vietnam Airlines and Air France have established sustainable cooperative relations in various fields. In 2010, the two airlines signed a code share deal for air routes between Paris and Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City as well as provided mutual support in maintaining airplanes and human resources training.
France has been one of the most important markets of Vietnam Airlines in Europe since it launched the first direct air route to Paris in 2003. The two airlines carry more than 400,000 passengers every year.
