Flyover leading to HCM City airport completed 2 months early A flyover leading to both the domestic and international terminals at Tân Sơn Nhất airport in HCM City opened to traffic early on Monday in the presence of HCM City’s leaders. The Y-shaped steel structure rises from Trường Sơn Street in Tân Bình District before forking towards the two terminals and is expected to ease the congestion that has for long been plaguing the roads around Việt Nam’s busiest airport. The branches leading to the domestic and international terminals are respectively 150m and 300m. The construction, begun last February, was completed two months ahead of schedule. The 7.5m-wide flyover cost VNĐ242 billion (US$10.66 million). Also yesterday one branch of another major flyover near the airport opened to traffic after four months of construction, also two months ahead of schedule. The eponymous flyover, starting at the Nguyễn Thái … [Read more...]
2017 Mekong Beauty Show eyes four emerging markets
Leading international exhibition organiser Informa has joined hands with Kintex, a leading K-beauty show organiser from South Korea, to launch the Mekong Beauty Show in HCM City from June 15-17. Mekong Beauty Show, which will be held on an area of 10,000 square metres at the Saigon Exhibition and Convention Center (SECC) in District 7, will be an exclusive opportunity to gain exposure, find new partners and set up strategic global alliances in the four emerging Mekong countries: Viet Nam, Cambodia, Laos, and Myanmar. According to an IMF forecast, the four countries are expected to have a combined GDP of US$441 billion by 2020. The region is also an emerging market in the consumer beauty and personal care products, with average annual growth of 30 per cent in the last few years. The only international business-to-business beauty exhibition in Viet Nam will feature more than 200 exhibitors from Europe, South Korea, Thailand, Singapore, Japan, China, Taiwan, and Viet Nam. The expo will … [Read more...]
Policy, financial hurdles stymie Vietnam auto industry
Auto maker Vinaxuki recently announced plans to sell its plant in Hanoi’s Me Linh District to repay its debts amid prolonged losses. It has laid off most of its employees leaving mainly security guards in a factory that used to employ hundreds of workers and engineers. It owed VND1.6 trillion ($72.7 million) to banks as of late last year and VND 17.7 billion in taxes as of late June besides VND9.8 billion for employees’ social and health insurance premiums in 2014. The company has yet to make public the reasons for its business failure, but its director, Bui Ngoc Huyen, has told reporters on several occasions that difficulties in getting loans and high taxes imposed on domestically produced cars have stymied the development of local car makers. They can only get loans for one to three years whereas the industry requires long-term investment. The high taxes make locally made cars too expensive, he said. In Vietnam, cars are subject to a slew of tariffs and fees like import, … [Read more...]
Vietnam among countries with highest ageing rate
Reservoir floods spark torrent of controversy Despite parched farmland in many central areas being desperate for water, vegetable farms in lowland areas of central Thua Thien Hue Province have been ruined by sudden floods surging from hydro-power electricity plants. Authorities in Quang Dien District said unexpected floods from local power reservoirs had destroyed 300ha of land used to grow lettuces, green onions and herbs, causing huge losses for local farmers. The district's diminished vegetable supply is expected to influence the local market, causing price increases. The district is assisting farmers by providing seeds for new crops in a bid to secure livelihoods and stabilise the market. Despite the crop losses, authorities are actually happy with the floods, saying they have brought much needed alluvium soil to rice paddies. The district had not been flooded for almost two years and soil had shown signs of degradation, with rice production waning, according to Nguyen Dinh Duc, … [Read more...]
National strategy on pharmaceutical industry launched
National strategy on pharmaceutical industry launched Domestically-made medicines making up 80 percent of total consumption is one of the goals set forth in a national strategy to develop the Vietnamese pharmaceutical industry until 2020. The strategy also envisions that all medicines are sufficient for disease treatment and prevention, including vaccines for an expanded national inoculation scheme with 30 percent for public services. All drugstores as well as vaccine and medical biological product test stations are expected to meet good pharmacy practice standards while the entire sector is able to meet 20 percent of materials demand for medicine production. At a conference to launch the strategy in Hanoi on December 6, Deputy Minister of Public Health Pham Le Tuan revealed that as many as 133 drug manufacturers and nearly 10,000 drugstores satisfy good pharmacy practice standards as of late November this year. He pointed out that most of all domestically-made drugs sold in … [Read more...]
Hanoi tightens supervision on private health clinics
Hanoi tightens supervision on private health clinics Ha Noi People's Committee has urged authorities to increase supervision over the operation of private health clinics. Municipal health authorities recently closed down about 110 of the clinics after inspections revealed many medical violations. Many district and commune officials said they were puzzled about the management of the clinics, said the Committee's Vice-chairwoman Nguyen Thi Bich Ngoc at a workshop on Tuesday. Inspectors from the municipal health department visited 771 private health and pharmaceutical establishments and fined 371 a total of more than VND 3.4 billion (US$142,800), according to the department's deputy director, Nguyen Van Yen. He said as many as 110 private health clinics were suspended. Vice Chairman of Hai Ba Trung District's People's Committee Cap Sy Phong said a shortage of medical inspectors made it difficult to regularly inspect all establishments. The district's Health Office had only two officials … [Read more...]
Thai Nguyen University of Economics and Business Administration: Improving Training Quality for Int’l Integration and Competition
Thai Nguyen University of Economics and Business Administration: Improving Training Quality for Int’l Integration and Competition In the context of international integration, the University of Economics and Business Administration - Thai Nguyen University (TNU- UEBA) has defined international cooperation in training and scientific research as a key development strategy, helping strengthen its development background and lift its position and image at the international level. Hence, in the past 10 years, the university has accelerated international cooperation and achieved significant results. On the occasion of "Vietnam - Korea Economic Forum", Vietnam Business Forum interviewed Dr Tran Chi Thien, Secretary of the TNU- UEBA Party Committee. Duy Binh reports. Would you please introduce some outstanding results of the university in the 2014 - 2015 academic year? And, what are the major orientations for 2016? The University of Economics and Business Administration - Thai Nguyen … [Read more...]
Korean firm fined for mistreating workers
Korean firm fined for mistreating workers A South Korean company specialising in assembling electronic components in the northern province of Hai Duong has been fined more than VND490 million (US$23,300) for 14 administrative violations. The JK Electronics Co Ltd, located in Lai Cach Town, Cam Giang District, was prosecuted for not paying enough social insurance and unemployment insurance to more than 100 workers involved in work with poisons, for not providing periodic health examinations, for making employees work beyond regulated hours, and for not paying enough salary to night-shift workers. Chairman of the Hai Duong People's Committee Nguyen Manh Hien told the company to immediately find ways of correcting its mistakes. HCM City police bust hi-tech crime ring Police in HCM City have caught an alleged criminal group of people from Taiwan using high technology to defraud others, mainly Chinese. Municipal police said it was co-ordinating with other relevant agencies to expel … [Read more...]
2017 Mekong Beauty Show eyes 4 emerging markets
HCM CITY - Leading international exhibition organiser Informa has joined hands with Kintex, a leading K-beauty show organiser from South Korea, to launch the Mekong Beauty Show in HCM City from June 15-17. Mekong Beauty Show, which will be held on an area of 10,000 square metres at the Saigon Exhibition and Convention Center (SECC) in District 7, will be an exclusive opportunity to gain exposure, find new partners and set up strategic global alliances in the four emerging Mekong countries: Việt Nam, Cambodia, Laos, and Myanmar. According to an IMF forecast, the four countries are expected to have a combined GDP of US$441 billion by 2020. The region is also an emerging market in the consumer beauty and personal care products, with average annual growth of 30 per cent in the last few years. The only international business-to-business beauty exhibition in Việt Nam will feature more than 200 exhibitors from Europe, South Korea, Thailand, Singapore, Japan, China, Taiwan, and Việt Nam. … [Read more...]
BUSINESS IN BRIEF 1/11
SBV slashes deposit rate cap The annual interest rate cap for short-term Vietnamese dong deposits will be cut from 6 per cent to 5.5 per cent. The State Bank of Viet Nam (SBV) made this announcement at its regular monthly meeting here yesterday and added that the decision, the second of its kind this year in support of business, would take effect as of today. The annual interest rate cap for US dollar deposits of one to six months duration will likewise be slashed from 1 per cent to 0.75 per cent. The interest rate cap for short-term dong loans granted to the five top-priority sectors of agricultural and rural development, exports, support industries, small – and medium-sized companies and high-technology enterprises, will likewise be reduced from 8 per cent to 7 per cent. People's credit funds and micro-finance organisation will be allowed to apply an interest rate cap of 8 per cent. The SBV also decided yesterday to maintain the policy rates for refinancing, discount and … [Read more...]