Long term investments properly diversified include the following mutual funds

A medical worker gets vaccinated against COVID-19 in Sungai Buloh town of Malaysia on March 2, 2021 (Photo: AFP/VNA)

Hanoi (VNA) – The Malaysian Government has issued a new emergency ordinance allowing it to use funds derived from oil and gas contributions to pay for vaccine procurement, part of efforts to accelerate COVID-19 vaccination.

The ordinance will enable the government to use the 17.4 billion MYR (4.23 billion USD) under the national trust fund to secure vaccines “for an epidemic of any infection disease”, according to the law published in the federal gazette.

The trust fund, which takes contributions from state energy company Petronas and others involved in petroleum exploitation, was set up to support infrastructure and other development and provide federal loans to Malaysia ‘s states.

In January, King Al-Sultan Abdullah declared a nationwide state of emergency to curb the spread of COVID-19, giving the government more power to enact temporary laws without parliamentary approval.

Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin in March nearly doubled the country’s COVID-19 immunisation budget to 5 billion MYR with a view to helping achieve the government’s target of inoculating 80 percent of the country’s 32 million population by December.

As of April 20, nearly 750,000 people in Malaysia had been fully vaccinated against the coronavirus disease while about 462,000 others are awaiting their second shots.

With nearly 382,000 cases, Malaysia has the third highest number of COVID-19 infections in Southeast Asia, following Indonesia and the Philippines./.

Vietnam possessing advantage in AI field, illustration photo

South Korea’s Naver Corporation and the Hanoi University of Science and Technology (HUST) – Vietnam’s leading research university – in late March launched the AI International Research Centre under the Symposium on Information and Communication Technology, marking the first Southeast Asian AI research centre in Hanoi. Accordingly, the two parties will together build and operate the centre with the purpose to deeply research and train a high-quality labour force in terms of AI.

Along with implementing a search to create core “Make in Vietnam” technology, the centre will also focus on developing AI applications for different sectors and industries in order to promote Vietnam’s digital transformation and the Industry 4.0 process. The deal between Naver and HUST are motivation for South Korean enterprises in the AI sector arrive to Vietnam to expand their operation in the context the country’s demand on developing the AI sector is also increasing.

Vietnam has seen increase in such investment inflow from South Korea as well as other countries under deals between domestic and foreign investors. Notably in March 2020, Samsung officially kicked off construction of the largest research and development (R&D) facility in Vietnam.

The new centre will become the largest for the tech giant in all of Southeast Asia, becoming a leader towards researching, deploying, and applying new technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. In addition, the centre will also be a place to train high-tech human resources and especially technologies such as AI and big data.

Jeong Sam Yong, general director of Samsung SDS Vietnam, said that the group is interested in joining Vietnam’s digital transformation process, and that becoming the strategic shareholder in domestic tech group CMC Corporation is a bold example.

“Samsung is assisting Vietnam in implementing IT solutions and applying management software in production operations. In addition, the group supports telecommunications and system integration solutions,” Yong said. “In the future, the group will promote the construction of smart cities and smart buildings thanks to Internet of Things (IoT) applications, cloud computing, and AI in Vietnam.”

A year ago FPT Corporation signed an MoU with Hancom Corporation, the largest productivity software manufacturer in South Korea. The two parties will work together to develop six sectors: office software for the Vietnamese market, smart cities, AI, IoT, education, and self-driving vehicles.

Around the same time, VinAI Research, VinGroup’s AI research arm, announced addition of a cutting-edge supercomputer to its AI computing platform. The machine, a 5-petaflop accelerated data centre in a box, is the first deployment of such a system in Southeast Asia.

Numerous large international groups are also investing for R&D activities in Vietnam along with their operational activity. German technology giant Bosch already boasts two R&D centres in Ho Chi Minh City.

These investments are playing a major role in Vietnam’s goal of nurturing its high-tech sector and becoming an AI research and development leader by 2030 as similar as the target mentioned in the national strategy on R&D and application of AI approved by then-Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc last month.

The strategy outlines that by 2025, Vietnam is to become a centre for innovation, as well as development of AI solutions and applications. The country will establish two national innovation centres for AI and simultaneously increase the number of innovative related startups and total investment in the sector. In addition, Vietnam is also focused on upgrading and forming 10 new key research and training institutions on AI. As per the strategy, Vietnam expects to rank among the top four countries in ASEAN and in the top 50 worldwide in R&D and application of AI by the end of the decade. The country has plans to set up 10 renowned AI centres as well as develop three national centres for big data storage and high-performance computing, connecting domestic data centres and high-performance computing centres to create a shared network.

In order to realise the targets, the government has asked to “allocate resources on developing essential AI products and services that Vietnam possesses a competitive advantage in; and strategise key investments in AI application in fields related to national defence and security, natural resources and environmental management, and public services. Besides this, it is necessary to vigorously develop AI application enterprises and AI startups,” the strategy noted.

Developing AI is also a part of the economic target by 2030 as defined by the 13th National Party Congress. Vietnam determines that the rapid and sustainable development on the basis of science, technology, innovation, and digital transformation is one of three key elements in the country’s development strategy.

Choi In Hyuk, COO of Naver said, “Naver has been impressed with Vietnam’s growth in the science-technology sector in recent years and we see that it has potential to expand AI personnel training.”

The US – Vietnam Bilateral Trade Agreement has been a fundamental foundation in economic relations between the two countries, providing Vietnamese traders with opportunities to access to the world’s largest economy and open door for global economic integration.

Vietnam’s Chief Negotiator of the US – Vietnam Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) Nguyen Dinh Luong today [April 23] launched a book tiltled ” Viet Nam – Loi re cua mot nen kinh te ” (Vietnam – New Pathway of an Economy) in Hanoi, sharing with readers his version of ups and downs behind the historic agreement, and more importantly, how it turns former foes into partners.

In a letter sent to Luong at the book launching ceremony, US Chief Negotiator for the BTA Joseph Damond wrote: “It was a totally unexpected experience for me that eventually you and I would not be adversaries across the table, but almost become partners with the same mission.”

“That mission was to build mutual understanding, so that we could craft an agreement of mutual benefit. We became like brothers,” he noted.

Overview of the book launch. Photos: Quang Tan

Chairwoman of the American Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam (AmCham) Virginia Foote, who read out the US Chief Negotiator’s letter at the event, said: “With this book, I and Joe [Joseph Damond] are very excited to relive this history again.”

AmCham Chairwoman Virginia Foote reads letter from US Chief Negotiator for the BTA Joseph Damond

Regarding the BTA, Foote told Hanoitimes the deal has been a fundamental foundation in economic relations between Vietnam and the US. “Later on, it proved to be the most important document for our relationship,” she added.

More than 20 years since the signing of the BTA [July 13, 2000], the book shed light from the Vietnamese side on the story behind the negotiation process that took five years and 11 negotiation rounds to complete.

The move later became a major turnaround for the Vietnamese economy at that time, providing local traders with opportunities to access to the largest economy in the world, and more importantly, an open door for global economic integration.

Vietnamese Chief negotiator for BTA Nguyen Dinh Luong

During the five-year period after the normalization in 1995, bilateral trade rose modestly from US$450 million to US$1.09 billion. However, trade turnover surged by an average of 20% annually since the BTA kicked in.

In 2020, trade revenue between Vietnam and the US stood at US$76.4 billion, a 76-fold increase against 2000 and 170-fold compared to 1995. As such, the US remained Vietnam’s largest buyers and accounted for 30.5% of the latter’s exports.

In his own book 13 years after the signing of the BTA, titled Give Trade a Chance, Joseph Damond revealed his biggest impression throughout the negotiation was that two sides of little understanding of each other had learned to work together to build mutual trust and sympathy.

Former General Director of the Vietnam News Agency Ho Tien Nghi said the book gave readers insight on various fields from economy, trade, politics to global integration.

“This makes people change their mindset and thoughts on issues facing Vietnam on the road towards prosperity,” he said.

Editor in Chief of the Economic and Urban Newspaper Nguyen Minh Duc speaks at the launch.

Editor-in-Chief of the Economic and Urban Newspaper Nguyen Minh Duc referred to a statement from Chairman of the Party Central Committee’s Economic Commission Tran Tuan Anh that there have not been any trade deal like the BTA that not only addresses trade, investment and services, but also leads to a complete revision and perfection of Vietnam’s legal framework for opening the economy to the world.

“Right after the signing of the BTA, Vietnam’s National Assembly started a process of revising nearly 300 laws to ensure their compatibility with the BTA and international laws,” said Duc, saying this shows the deal’s significant impacts on Vietnam’s policymaking.

AmCham Chairwoman Foote added while the BTA has made a difference for Vietnam, “it also made a big difference in the US, of how to go from war to peace, and from enemy to friendship.”

“It was a very important process for both countries,” she stressed.

The book was jointly launched by the Economic and Urban Newspaper and Vietnam News Agency Publishing House, with financial support from AZ Vietnam.