Minister of Industry and Trade Vu Huy Hoang spoke to the Vietnam Government Portal on how Vietnam can make use of the free trade agreement signed with the Republic of Korea in Hanoi on May 5. Q: Vietnam is the first FTA partner to gain market access in the RoK for agricultural products such as garlic, ginger, honey, and sweet potatoes ─ products Vietnam has a comparative advantage in producing. In your opinion, what criteria must domestic enterprises meet to export these items to the RoK? A: Exports from Vietnam will enjoy many new market opportunities because of the strong market access commitments from the RoK. The RoK liberalised 97.2 percent of import values (calculated according to 2012 figures), accounting for 95.4 percent of all tariff lines, including many of Vietnam's key agricultural commodities and seafood products such as shrimp, crab, fish, tropical fruits and industrial goods like textiles, furniture, and engineering products. Vietnam is the first FTA partner with which … [Read more...] about Bản in : Vietnam-RoK FTA brings new opportunities: Minister
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Environmental changes challenge Vietnam government
VietNamNet Bridge - About a year ago some farmers from Binh Thanh commune in Vietnam's southern rice growing heartland suspected the worst -- that their irrigation water had become too salty. They telephoned Vo Thanh, the head of An Giang province's hydro-meteorology center, and he came to take water samples from the commune, which is about 20 km (12 miles) from the sea. The farmers' hunch turned out to be right. The brackish water would damage their crops, so Thanh advised officials to tell farmers to stop pumping it into their rice fields immediately. Not everyone took heed. "Those who didn't suffered losses," Thanh said. "Some 4,000 hectares (9,880 acres) of rice were damaged." Cropland salination represents just one of the many increasingly acute environmental challenges in Vietnam, exacerbated by climate change, that are testing the government's ability to coordinate countermeasures. While negotiators in Cancun work to lay the foundation for a deal to try … [Read more...] about Environmental changes challenge Vietnam government
Legal Advice: Vietnam opens more logistics service sectors to foreign investors
In recent years, Vietnam’s government has been facilitating foreign investment in almost all types of logistics services excluding inspection services, certificate granting for conveyances, transport auxiliary services, and other restrictions on transport related services. As of January 22nd, 2014, the Prime Minister of Vietnam issued Decision No. 169/QĐ-TTg approving the development scheme for logistics services in Vietnam’s transport sector by 2020. This scheme aims to enhance economic efficiency by increasing exploitation and use of seaports. Furthermore, with a long-term developmental orientation also stated in such scheme, logistics services are hoped to have developed into an important service industry, conceivably contributing 5-10% to Vietnam’s Gross National Product (GNP) by the year of 2030. In addition, Decision No. 169/QĐ-TTg proposed development solutions for transport infrastructure and international cooperation, as well as construction … [Read more...] about Legal Advice: Vietnam opens more logistics service sectors to foreign investors
Pharmaceutical firms expand business in Vietnam
VietNamNet Bridge - Vietnam is emerging as one of the fastest growing economies in the Asia – Pacific region. Like in other emerging markets, the financial burden of falling ill in Vietnam is becoming larger as incomes increase and lifestyles change. There are vast unmet medical needs in Vietnam, and with it come many challenges in terms of access, affordability and healthcare infrastructure. In that situation, more and more internal as well as external pharmaceutical firms are boosting their business in the market. Satisfying the unmet healthcare needs Satisfying vast unmet medical needs by the pharmaceutical firms receives warm responses from the patients. For example, research shows that about 3,000 Vietnamese women die of the cervical cancer annually, while Stephen Walter, Managing Director of MSD in Vietnam assumed that about 10% of Vietnamese women possibly have exposure to HPV virus (the major cause of cervical cancer). … [Read more...] about Pharmaceutical firms expand business in Vietnam
Combating corruption for improved quality of public services in Vietnam
Introduction Experiences from developed countries have shown that transparency, accountability and participation significantly reduce corruption, which in turn helps increase access to and improve the quality of public services. When it comes to developing countries, the links between governance, corruption and public service quality are under debate due to the prevalence of corrupt practices in public services and challenges in combating corruption in the public sector. In Vietnam, corruption has been formally and openly recognized by top leaders as a key obstacle for the country to prosper. However, it is also commonly but arguably perceived that, under a complex public sector and malfunctioning formal institutions like those in Vietnam, corruption may help “greasing the wheels”, thus promoting efficiency of public services, because it creates incentives for public employees to earn their living from serving the state and its people. Efforts to promote transparency, … [Read more...] about Combating corruption for improved quality of public services in Vietnam