Spring – Summer Fashion Week launched

A design by Le Len

Nhan Dan Online- The Spring-Summer Fashion Week 2007 with the theme of ‘Classy Creativity’ will be held in five days, from March 29 to April 2 at Sofitel Plaza Hotel, Hanoi.

During a press conference held yesterday in Hanoi, executive director of the Vietnam Textile Corporation, the co-organiser of the event, said the week will introduce over 1,000 designs of designers nationwide over five nights. Two nights of which will showcase designs by the Viet Tien Garment Company, Garment Company 10 and the Phuong Dong (Orientation) Garment Company.

The two remaining nights will see designs by experienced designers such as Minh Khoa, Viet Lien, Thu Giang, Hoai Sang and Hung Viet.

Nhan Dan Online- The Spring-Summer Fashion Week 2007 with the theme of ‘Classy Creativity’ will be held in five days, from March 29 to April 2 at Sofitel Plaza Hotel, Hanoi.

During a press conference held yesterday in Hanoi, executive director of the Vietnam Textile Corporation, the co-organiser of the event, said the week will introduce over 1,000 designs of designers nationwide over five nights. Two nights of which will showcase designs by the Viet Tien Garment Company, Garment Company 10 and the Phuong Dong (Orientation) Garment Company.

The two remaining nights will see designs by experienced designers such as Minh Khoa, Viet Lien, Thu Giang, Hoai Sang and Hung Viet.

Travelling to Nha Trang on 5-Star Express

The central coastal city of Nha Trang is well known for its beautiful beaches, and Nha Trang Bay is regarded as one of the 29 most beautiful bays in the world. Located about 448 kilometres to the east of Ho Chi Minh City, Nha Trang City has a temperate, pleasant climate and beaches with rows of green poplars, sky-blue water and white sand, making it a wonderful place for a vacation.

Visitors to Nha Trang can now experience the new three-day-and-two-night tour called “5-Star Tour in 5-Star Express”, offered by Ben Thanh Tourist.

The tour transports tourists to Nha Trang on the 5-Star Express Train, which offers luxurious accommodation and professional service. The 5-Star Express has ten carriages including a restaurant carriage, a recreation carriage, a luggage carriage and a carriage for conferences. Meals made by well-trained cooks from the 5-Star Express will be served, and travellers can also treat themselves to the luxurious facilities in the train, watch recently released Hollywood films, or simply enjoy the landscape on the way. Businessmen will appreciate the well-equipped and comfortable conference carriage, where they can get some work done.

On arrival in Nha Trang, tourists will stay at Hon Ngoc Viet – Vinpearl, a recreation and tourism complex. Guests can relax in this complex, benefiting from the clean, fresh air, the beautiful beach and watching the sunrise. They may also take a ride on the world’s longest cable car system across the sea, which runs from Vinpearl to Nha Trang, a distance of 3.3 kilometres.

There are many attractions to visit in Nha Trang City such as Long Son Pagoda, the largest of 20 pagodas in the city. This pagoda was built at the end of the 19th century and rebuilt in 1940 with a new design.

Another interesting stop is Dam Market, the largest market in the city, which is famous for its round shaped architecture and its location, which used to be a 7-hecta wide lagoon. Tourists can buy sea food products and the specialties of the city here. Ponaga tower and Tri Nguyen tourism area are two more stops on the tour.

The 3-day-and-2-night “5-Star Tour by 5-Star Express” tour is open every day. The cost is VND 4,064,000/pax for every 10-person group staying at the five-star hotel.

For travellers interested in the train ride, Ben Thanh Tourist is also the official agency for the 5 Star Express (route is Saigon – Nha Trang – Saigon). The round-trip ticket costs VND 900,000 for 5-Star Club seat while deluxe seat is VND 600,000 and Standard seat is VND 440,000. (SGT

Vietnam Man Sleepless For 27 Years, But Still Healthy

Another extreme case of insomnia has come to light in Vietnam. This time it is a 49-year-old man who has not slept in 27 years but remains healthy.

Nguyen Van Kha, a tiller, chicken farmer, and carpenter, tells Thanh Nien he has never slept since 1979 when he was a soldier in an artillery division.

One day, closing his eyes had begun to cause a burning sensation. But he did not dare report to his seniors fearing discharge.

“But for my sunken eyes and black circles, nobody could guess I could not sleep. The black circles appeared 10 years ago.”

While speaking with Thanh Nien, he regularly scrubs his eyes saying it eases a burning sensation.

At night, he watches TV until 9 pm before lying down to “rest”.

“Even if I close my eyes for a short while, I feel a pricking sensation and must open them.”

He has tried western and herbal remedies but all in vain. Strangely, he rarely falls sick.

Last year Thanh Nien reported the case of the now 65-year-old Thai Ngoc, a farmer in Quang Nam province who suffers the same condition since catching a fever in 1973.

Considerate, helpful man

Kha, who has a high forehead and long hair, recalls he was involved with at least five girls in his life. L. was special and he had been “head over heels” in love.

He was posted in the former Ha Bac province in the north and it was here that he had met L. who always made excuses to stay beside him.

At some point her mother had given him permission to marry her but he had wanted to first fulfill his duties as a soldier.

Asked why he did not get married after leaving the army, he says by then he had the insomnia and did not want to “burden” anyone.

Nghia, his neighbor, tells Thanh Nien that Kha is a good man who volunteers to help others without asking for money and he hopes Kha always remains healthy.

The other insomniac

Thai Ngoc told Thanh Nien last year: “I don’t know if the insomnia has affected my health – I’m still healthy and can farm like any other.” He said he carried two 50kg bags of fertilizer for 4km everyday.

Ngoc is married and his wife said doctors in Da Nang city had given him a clean bill of health, except for a minor decline in liver function.

“I have tried sleeping pills and Vietnamese traditional medicine but nothing helps, even to sleep for a few minutes”.

Phan Ngoc Ha, director of the Hoa Khanh Mental Hospital in Danang said sleep disorders often cause anorexia, lethargy, and irritability. But in a small number of cases, people could handle it and live and work normally. Thanh Nien

Over 500 Businesses To Join Vietnam Expo 2007

More than 500 local and foreign businesses will participate in the 17^th Vietnam International Trade Fair, Vietnam Expo 2007, which is scheduled to take place at the Vietnam Exhibition and Fair Centre in Hanoi from April 4-8.

This year Vietnam Expo entitled "Vietnam enhances integration for development" is designed to have specific areas for each sector, including key export sectors such as wooden products, handicrafts, agricultural products, foods, beverages, garment and textile, footwear, electricity and electronics, information technology, machines, industrial equipment and construction materials. This design plan will make it easier for partners to meet during the fair.

Deputy Minister of Trade Luong Van Tu said at a press briefing in Hanoi on March 28 that Vietnam Expo 2007 is expected to help boost the country's exports to hit the target of US $47 billion in export revenues this year. The annual fair is also seen as an opportunity for Vietnam to attract more investment and foreign visitors, he added.

The organising board said that Vietnam Expo 2007 will have 700 booths for Vietnamese and foreign businesses from 18 countries and territories such as China, Turkey, the Republic of Korea, Malaysia and others, covering 20,000 square metres

Fifty-four foreign trade missions and 20 trade promotion delegations from provinces and cities nationwide will attend a forum on Vietnam's exports and a seminar on investment and trade between Vietnamese and Chinese localities.

A number of import-export contracts are expected to be signed between Vietnamese enterprises and foreign partners at the fair.

In particular, an online transaction fair will be held in parallel with the event for the first time at the website http://www.vietnamexpocenter.com.

Vietnam Expo is the largest trade event of the Ministry of Trade every year. The event was first organised by the Trade Promotion Agency and Vietnam National Trade Fair and Advertising Company (Vinexad) 16 years ago.

The Vietnam Expo 2006 attracted 415 Vietnamese and foreign enterprises to 659 pavilions on a total area of 20,000sq.m. The trade fair attracted 38,000 businesspeople and 42,000 people from 21 nations and territories, according to statistics of Vietnam Expo 2006 organisation board. Some 1,306 contracts and co-operation agreements were signed among enterprises during the trade fair, including 880 contracts and co-operation agreements between Vietnamese enterprises. Nhan Dan

Sea, Sun and Sand And More At Furama

The Furama Resort in Danang is offering a package for locals and expatriates to experience the sea, sun and sand ahead of summer in central Vietnam.

The package, which runs until April 24, costs from US$68 nett per person per night, on a twin or triple sharing basis, and includes daily American buffet breakfast and car transfers to and from Danang International Airport.

Other benefits are complimentary daily scheduled shuttle bus to the World Heritage ancient town of Hoi An, Cham Museum and the Marble Mountains, in-room ADSL internet and wireless internet in public areas, tai chi, beach volleyball, ocean kayak, golf putting green and book reading.

There are interesting activities for children such as dragon dancing, face painting, swimming lessons and sand castle building on the beach voted by Forbes magazine as one of the most beautiful beaches in the world.

For more information, contact Ms. Xuan at 26 Phan Boi Chau Street in Hanoi and on (04) 942 8858 or Ms. Vi Van at Suite 706 of the Saigon Trade Centre at 37 Ton Duc Thang Street in HCMC's District 1 and on (08) 211 888.

Email: marketing@furamavietnam.com and website: www.furamavietnam.com.

(Source: SGT)

Wiring Blamed As Probable Cause Of Fire At City Skyscraper

Colonel Tran Trieu Duong

An investigation into the fire at Ho Chi Minh City’s tallest building Tuesday revealed wiring in storage room may have been the culprit, according to a city firefighting officer.

Colonel Tran Trieu Duong, director of the Ho Chi Minh City Fire Department said the fire came out of a 10-sq.m storage area containing toilet paper and washing chemicals on the first floor of the 33-story Saigon Trade Center in District 1.

Talking with Thanh Nien, Duong said relevant agencies were still examining the scene to find the exact cause of the fire, which broke out at 5:44pm Tuesday.

“According to initial results, the fire may have been sparked by faulty wiring,” he said.

Asked why firemen faced difficulty with extinguishing the fire, Duong explained it was due to the structure’s ventilating system.

Thick smoke throughout the first floor made it difficult to discover the exact location of the fire.

Also on Wednesday, the Luks Land Vietnam Company which manages the Saigon Trade Center reported the storage area was part of a room used by the Aden Company since 1998.

Staff and guests in the building were all guided out safely, and no injuries or property lose was reported.

During peak times, the building houses nearly 3,000 staff.

Vietnam Brewery Plans August IPO

State-owned Sabeco, Vietnam's largest brewing company, is planning to sell 20 percent of its shares in an IPO in August.

"A public auction is projected for August, so when the firm becomes a share-holding entity, the state stake will account for 80 percent," general director Nguyen Quang Minh told the Vietnam Economic Times.

The VND5.5 trillion (US$343.75 million) Sabeco holds around a third of Vietnam's fast-growing beer market.

The Vietnamese Ministry of Industry has planned to gradually reduce state ownership in Sabeco to 51 percent, as well as to diversify the company into financial investment, mining, hydropower development, banking and real estate.

Two years ago, the Vietnamese government signed a deal with Anheuser-Busch on cooperation in the country's beer market.

The Vietnamese beer market has grown by around 15 percent over the last two years to 1.5 billion liters and has attracted investment from SABMiller, Carlsberg and Asia Pacific Breweries.

Source: Vietnam Economic Times

Vietnam Drilling Keeps Premier On Target

Successful drilling in Vietnam has increased reserves at Premier Oil, putting the company on track to reach its target of 50,000 barrels of oil a day as it increased profit onthe back of higher oil prices.

The company makes two-thirds of its turnover from oil and gas in India, Pakistan, Vietnam and Indonesia.

The rest of its output comes from the North Sea and west Africa.

Simon Lockett, chief executive, said: "2006 was one of the best years for adding barrels.

"We have added 60m barrels [of reserves] at a cost of $120m (£61m), which is about $2 a barrel. In the current climate, that's a good result."

Mr Lockett said that, although oil production was mostly flat at about 33,000 barrels a day, the addition of reserves meant that Premier Oil would soon reach its target output.

"We have had a target of achieving 50,000 barrels a day in the medium term and we are set to break through that in 2010 and carry on to 70,000 barrels per day in 2011," said Mr Lockett.

Premier Oil intends to spend $200m a year, for the next five years, developing its oil wells.

Approximately 80 per cent of that will be spent in south-east Asia, 15 per cent in the North Sea and the rest in Pakistan.

Pre-tax profit for the year ending December 31 rose from $125.8m to $172.8m.

Revenues from continuing operations dipped less than one per cent to $358.8m.

Earnings per share more than doubled to 105.3 cents (48.1 cents) and no dividend was proposed.

Shares in Premier Oil fell 16p to close at £12.36 yesterday. Financial Times

Breakneck Expansion Of Exports Puts Severe Pressure On Ports

The top of a crane at Ho Chi Minh City's Vietnam International Container Terminals affords a fine view of the bustle created by a trade boom that has made Vietnam one of the world’s fastest-growing shipping markets.

Even on a Monday, generally the terminal's quietest day, most of the containers stacked below stand five high – as high as the lifting equipment can handle. Down in the Saigon River, the container ship ACX Cherry is manouevring into a berth and a small flotilla of barges is waiting to carry boxes further upriver.

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Yet the signs of strong activity also signify the threat from constraints on port and other transport capacity to the breakneck expansion of Vietnam’s trade – container volumes grew at 20 per cent year-on-year in the first two months this year after the country joined the World Trade Organisation in January. The barges are carrying the containers partly because trucks are banned in daytime from the clogged streets of Vietnam's commercial capital and because the end of the road leading to the terminal is no more than a dirt track.

VICT and Cat Lai Port, the only two dedicated container ports serving the exporting shoe, garment and furniture industries concentrated around Ho Chi Minh City, are so heavily used that most container ships can secure only short times on berths. As a result, many, including Japan’s NYK Line, operator of the ACX Cherry, have to send vessels to both to secure time to load and unload fully.

The position should ease from late next year when Saigon Premier Container Terminal is due to be the first to open of at least seven new container ports planned for the area around Ho Chi Minh City. From 2009 or 2010, a group of far more ambitious projects at Cai Mep on the Thi Vai River about 100km from Ho Chi Minh City should start to open.

Yet it is touch and go whether trade growth can continue at present levels until the opening of the new projects without being harmed by the increased costs and reduced efficiency, says Paul Hoogwaerts, general director in Vietnam of Maersk Line, the world’s biggest container carrier. “Our immediate concern is everything between now and when these new terminals open,” he says.

The system has just been seriously tested in the run-up to the annual Lunar New Year holiday in February, when the rush to export goods before the holiday coincides with demand in western Europe and north America for the season’s first outdoor furniture.

“We could have benefitted from being able to have more ships alongside,” Mr Hoogwaerts says of the ports. “But the way we managed was to space it out and tell the customers, ‘Not this week, next week’ and try to make ends meet.”

After the new facilities open, the country should attract direct calls from large, long-distance container ships rather than only short-distance feeders and could even become a hub itself, collecting cargo heading to and from other countries such as the Philippines.

“Once [the new terminals are] fully functional, we'll be in good shape,” Mr Hoogwaerts says.

An important regional role in shipping would be fitting given that the then South Vietnam in 1967 became the first Asian country to have regular services using new container shipping technology – because the US military adopted containers to handle shipments during its military build-up in the country.

For the moment, however, southern Vietnam continues to rely on ports located a long way up the slow-moving, shallow rivers typical of tropical Asia. Ships such as the ACX Cherry which are small enough to reach such ports carry around a tenth of the cargo of the largest modern ships. According to research commissioned by Neptune Orient Lines, a Singapore-based shipping company which owns 47 per cent of VICT, such vessels’ relative inefficiency and the extra costs of trans-shipping cargo at ports outside Vietnam raise the cost of moving a 40 ft container to Yokohama in Japan to $1,070 from Ho Chi Minh City and $1,480 from Hanoi, against only $940 for the same journey from nearby Singapore.

Even when expansion comes, some of the new facilities will continue to face restrictions. Saigon Premier, 80 per cent owned by Dubai’s DP World, will be accessed via the same Long Tau River used by vessels serving the present ports and will be able to accommodate ships no larger.

Roy Cummins, chief executive of Saigon Premier Container Terminal, says that, while targetting the whole market, his project should have a particular strength in intra-Asian trades, which use smaller vessels. “We have great optimism about the potential in the market,” he says. “The market growth means there's going to be a good position for us to have a slightly different market focus from our competitors.”

Most shipping lines, however, say they are more interested in using the Cai Mep terminals. Until they open, lines are trying to ensure they use the largest vessels the present limited facilities can accept. Terminals are seeking to stack containers higher, bring in more cranes and to store some containers awaiting loading or collection away from the main terminal.

The consensus among shipping lines, port operators and logistics companies is that such measures should just allow trade growth to continue until new ports open – though most appear to say it as an expression of hope rather than certainty.

Rosa Du, general director of the Vietnamese branch of Hong Kong-based Kerry Logistics, says a way to carry the goods will be found but that it will not be easy. “We have to fight every day to survive,” she says. Financial Times

HCM City’s Highest Building On Fire

Employees of the centre have to evacuate from the building

At about 6 pm on March 27, a fire broke out on the first floor of the highest skyscraper in HCM City, the Sai Gon Trade Centre at 37 Ton Duc Thang Road in District 1.

Hundreds of employees working in the Centre poured out into Ton Duc Thang and Nguyen Trung Ngan roads. A foreigner working on the 15th floor said he had smelt smoke and hurriedly grabbed his laptop and ran as fast as he could downstairs.

5 firefighting trucks and tens of firefighters from the Zone 1 Fire Station, which is the central fire station in HCM City, arrived on time. The area around Ton Duc Thang and Nguyen Trung Ngan was blocked.

According to Captain Tran Trieu Duong, Vice Director of the HCM City Police Department, who was present at the site of the fire, the fire originated in a 10m2 room storing toilet paper. Heavy smoke caused a great deal of trouble for firefighters who had to wear masks and break the walls of the room in order to extinguish the fire.

The fire died down at 7.30 pm. No one was injured. There hasn’t been any report on property damage and the cause of the fire. But Captain Tran Trieu Duong said, “The toilet paper room certainly had some problem.”

First Qatar Airways Flight Arrives In Ho Chi Minh City

Qatar Airways landed in Ho Chi Minh City, marking the first time the Oryx livery has graced the airport of Vietnam’s commercial capital. It was a red carpet affair with specially invited VIP guests disembarking from the inaugural flight to a warm Vietnamese welcome. They were received by the deputy mayor of Ho Chi Minh City, Nguyen Trung Tin, officials from the airport and civil aviation authorities.

Qatar Airways Chief Executive Officer Akbar Al Baker addressed the gathering, signalling the new destination as one of growing importance to international trade and tourism. He cited his airline’s role in linking passengers from the Middle East, Europe and North Africa to the growing Asian travel market.

“The growing economy of Vietnam and its ascension into the World Trade Organisation has seen a large influx of business and leisure visitors to the country. We look forward to attracting passengers to our award-winning Five-Star service here in Ho Chi Minh City,” he said on arrival at Tan Son Nhat International Airport.

Al Baker added that it had been a busy two days for Qatar’s national carrier, which has also launched flights to Chennai in southern India and the tropical Indonesian island of Bali.

“We anticipate trade and travel in this region will continue to expand and view our role as an international airline as one of facilitation and service, both in terms of business travellers and tourists,” he said, adding that the new flights would provide excellent connections to Europe, Middle East and Africa via the airline’s operational hub of Doha.

The addition of Bali and Ho Chi Minh City sees Qatar Airways’ Far East network increase from 12 to 14 destinations. The airline already serves Hong Kong, Osaka, Beijing, Seoul, Shanghai, Singapore, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, Yangon, Manila and Cebu.

Man Wanted For Faking Mortgage Papers To Secure $1.25 mln Credit

Police Tuesday issued an arrest warrant for a businessman in central Vietnam that faked title deeds to seven houses and land plots he does not own to borrow over US$1.25 million from several banks.

Police said Tran Thai Vu, 37, director of Tran Vu Company Limited in Da Nang City last year faked the city government’s seal and the deputy mayor’s signature on the deeds.

The state Vietnam Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development or Agribank alone lent him VND12.5 billion ($781,250) on the phony mortgages.

When Vu failed to pay the principal and interest early this year on the loans, Agribank staff called him. This time, he brazenly used another deed to attempt to obtain another loan, when the scam was detected.

Police have seized 8 trucks belonging to him, only equal to VND1 billion in assets.

Source: Tuoi Tre

World's Tallest Man Gets Married

Mr Bao placed advertisements across the world

The world's tallest man has married a woman who is 25 years younger than he is - and two-thirds of his height.

After a global search for a suitable bride, herdsman Bao Xishun ended up marrying a saleswoman from his home city of Chifeng in northern China.

Mr Bao, who stands at 2.36m (7ft 8.95in) tall, tied the knot with Xia Shujian, 29, several days ago.

The 54-year-old gained fame last year when he saved two dolphins by pulling dangerous plastic from their stomachs.

He used his long arms to remove shards that the animals had swallowed at an aquarium in Fushun, north-east China.

News of Mr Bao's wedding has delighted commentators in China.

The Beijing News reported: "After sending out marriage advertisements across the world and going through a long selection process, the efforts have finally paid off."

Mr Bao was confirmed as the world's tallest living man by Guinness World Records last year.

He overtook the previous holder, Radhouane Charbib of Tunisia, by just 2mm.

Guinness World Records say Mr Bao was of normal height until 16 but then put on a spurt that doctors were unable to explain, reaching his full height in seven years.

Vietnam may obtain GDP growth of over 10%: ADB

According to the Asian Development Bank (ADB), Vietnam can completely obtain a double-digit growth rate in 2007, much higher than its goal of 8.5% if economic reform is intensified.

Director of ADB in Vietnam, Ayumi Kinishi, confirmed that after Vietnam becomes a member of WTO, export will be more favourable while domestic demand also grows strongly so this organization believes that Vietnam will achieve high growth rate this year.
ADB’s Asia Prospect Report 2007 released today, March 27, predicts that Vietnam can obtain GDP growth rate of 8.3% in 2007 and 8.5% in 2008.

However, ADB Vietnam Country Director emphasised that the number-one priority of Vietnam should be economic reforms.

“Vietnam should not focus on numbers. It is worrying if the growth rate is more than 9% or higher but it doesn’t come from reforms,” Mr Konishi said.

Omkar Shrestha, Deputy Director of ADB Vietnam, commented that Vietnam’s growth mainly relies on input factors like capital, human resources, and land, which are limited. The effectiveness of the use of input factors of Vietnam is reducing, he added.

For each US dollar pumped into production, China creates 3.4 units of products, 2.7 in Thailand and it is only 2.3 in Vietnam. In addition, Vietnam’s contingent of skilled labourers accounts for just 27% of the workforce compared to 50% of the region.

ADB experts, thus, warn that the country needs to shift its growth, which currently relies on capital, to growth based on creativeness and reforms.

“When the government speeds up reforms, high growth rate is a fact,” he said.

According to ADB Vietnam Director, Vietnam’s stock market is at the initial stage so many changes is unavoidable.

“It is worried if the stock market sees no adjustment,” he said.

He optimistically said that the stock market will continue growing but he warns that the problem comes from local investors.

“It is important to know how many investors who really understand about the stock market, how many investors who can read financial reports to analyses how are companies growing,” he said.

Companies’ provision of sufficient and accurate information for investors and the management ability of state bodies are also worried, he said.

Source: VnExpress

Investment On Famous Fish Sauce Islands Surges

The southern province of Kien Giang has licensed or agreed in principle 46 projects for investment in the high-quality eco-tourist site on Phu Quoc islands.

Of them, 12 projects are medium and small-scaled investment capitalised at up to VND1.5 trillion (US$93.75 million) focusing on restaurants, hotels and sea-born tourism.

The remaning 34 projects are large scale with a combined investment estimated at VND15 trillion (US$937.5 million), also investing in tourist services.

In addition, over 100 investors, both at home and abroad, have applied for investment on the islands which are famous for fish sauce the world over.

The trend of investment onto the islands kicked off in the fourth quarter of 2006 and the first quarter of 2007 after the Government issued a decision on developing a high-quality eco-tourist site, offering big stimuli’s for investors.

Among major projects with investment up to several billions of USD each are those from leading US and Swiss consortiums.

The ground reserved for the site alone reaches some 4,200 hectares, not counting land for construction of international air- and sea-ports on the islands, which has been fully occupied.

Local authorities have strictly followed rules of environmentally-friendly investment and sustainable development in licensing projects.

Source: Vietnam Agency

Malaysian With Fake ATM Cards Arrested In Vietnam

Police in Vietnam’s metro Ho Chi Minh City has arrested a Malaysian national who owned 18 fake ATM cards and was attempting to use one of them.

Tipped by staff of an ACB Bank branch in District 3, the police arrested the man, who said his name was Murugian, while he was trying to withdraw money from an ATM there last Friday.

Murugian, 39, arrived in Vietnam two days earlier from Laos, but he could not produce his passport to the police.

The district police are investigating further into the case.

New Budget Service On Singapore-HCMC Sector

Jetstar, the budget carrier run by Qantas Airways Ltd., begins Sunday a daily direct service between Singapore and Vietnam’s southern hub Ho Chi Minh City.

It will deploy Airbus A320 aircraft and fares one way will begin at US$39 plus taxes and charges.

Unlike Tiger Airways, another no-frills carrier flying to Singapore, it will land at Changi airport’s main terminal rather than the budget terminal.

It will also allow passengers to carry up to 20 kg of luggage while other budget airlines allow only 15kg.

This will be Jetstar’s second Vietnam service. It has been operating a HCMC-Sydney service since November last year.

It has entered into a code-share agreement with Vietnam Airlines. Thanh Nien

Vietnam Metro Seeks Closer Ties With India

India and Ho Chi Minh City should boost cooperation in trade, high tech and IT industries, and education and training, the city’s mayor told the visiting head of India’s parliament Monday.

Le Hoang Quan also expressed hope that the visit by Speaker of the Indian House of the People, Somnath Chatterjee, would further foster the friendship and multifaceted cooperation between the two countries.

Chatterjee predicted HCMC would become one of Asia’s most important cities in the future.

He agreed that increased cooperation would be fruitful for relations between the two countries.

Chatterjee visited HCMC’s neighboring province Binh Duong the same day and met its leaders.

The chairman of the Binh Duong People's Council informed his guests that many Indian investors had invested in the province.

During his visit in Hanoi, which began Mar. 22, Chatterjee met Vietnamese Communist Party leader Nong Duc Manh, President Nguyen Minh Triet, National Assembly Chairman Nguyen Phu Trong, and Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung.

Source: Tuoi Tre

Piaggio Aims To Grow In Vietnam

Italian scooter maker Piaggio revealed Monday it would build plants in Vietnam as part of its expansion in Asia in the next three years.

"The markets that we plan to develop are Vietnam and Brazil," Piaggio Chief Executive Roberto Colaninno told reporters.

Although Piaggio already sold some scooters in Vietnam, it was looking at building a plant and establishing a sales network in the country, he said.

The plan would be presented next month at the company’s board meeting.

Source: Reuters

Crabs From Vietnam, You Will Never Know

There's something fishy about our seafood."

Even when you pay top dollar for a seafood dish, you might not get what you're expecting. About 70% of the time, for example, those Maryland crab cakes on the menu weren't made using crabs from the Chesapeake Bay, says James Anderson, chairman of the Department of Environmental and Natural Resource Economics at the University of Rhode Island. Because of high demand, crabs are often from other eastern states or imported from Thailand and Vietnam. (Look closely at the menu: "Maryland-style" crab is the giveaway.) There's also the problem of outright substitution — inexpensive fish, such as pollack, getting passed off as something pricier, like cod. How widespread is the problem? In 2006 the Daytona Beach News-Journal sent fish samples to a lab to prove that four out of 10 local restaurants were pawning a cheaper fish as grouper. The same lab also checked seafood from 24 U.S. cities and found that, overall, consumers have less than a 50/50 shot at being served the fish they ordered.What can you do? Ask where the fish comes from. "If they're not sure if the fish is from Alaska or Asia, I order the beef," Anderson says.

Pay Day For Shamed Glitter

Paedophile Gary Glitter will get £200,000 when he is released from prison in Vietnam after serving his sentence for child abuse, it has been reported.

The former rock star is due the cash after one of his singles was used in an advertising campaign in the US, The Sun said.

Bosses picked Rock and Roll (Parts 1 and 2) for the 30-second ad for the sports channel of XM Radio.

The song was also used at US football stadiums to celebrate touchdowns but was axed when it was realised Glitter would get royalties.

Glitter was convicted in March 2006 for molesting two girls aged 11 and 12.

He is due to be released in August next year.

But officials in Vietnam have indicated he may be freed earlier.

Glitter will be deported back to the UK where he will be forced to sign the Sex Offenders' Register.

Vietnam Men Help UK Cyber Thieves Steal $368.8 mln

Vietnamese police recently arrested two hackers for stealing credit card information from the UK and US and selling them on the Internet, enabling cyber thieves in the UK to steal an estimated US$368.8 million.

Nguyen Ngoc Lam of Thai Nguyen province, whose online aliases are Shanakal and Migawa, admitted to earning $35,000 from selling information about thousands of credit cards to British crooks.

But Vietnamese police said he could well have earned $72,000 by selling information about 18,000 accounts by October last year.

He has handed in $20,000 to the police.

Nguyen Ngoc Thanh of Ho Chi Minh City, the other hacker who uses the online alias cvvselller, confessed to getting paid $81,000. He has handed in VND1.4 billion ($87,500).

The police said Thanh could have earned as much as $190,000 at $2.5 per account.

Thanh destroyed his computer hardware before the police could lay their hands on it and Vietnamese authorities and the UK’s Serious Organized Crime Agency (SOCA) are likely to work together to restore the hardware and identify victims.

The Vietnamese police said the two had hacked into shopping networks, mostly in the UK, to steal the information.

SOCA said ₤188 million ($368.8 million) could have been stolen using information the two sold.

Source: Sai Gon Giai Phong

Four Dead In Tragic Oil Tank Blast In Central Vietnam

More details have come in on the horrific oil tank explosion at a storage depot that rocked Da Nang city Thursday, leaving four dead and five others in critical condition.

The blast ripped through the Nuoc Man oil storage depot in Da Nang’s Ngu Hanh Son district at 7.30am, causing nearby residential areas to rumble, sending residents into a panic.

It tore through a 5-milimeter-thick steel lid on the 15-meter high, 12,500L tank, sending flames an estimated 10 meters into the air.

Three welders working on the tank’s lid were reportedly killed instantly, with the other perishing after being hospitalized.

The five seriously injured are in a Da Nang hospital where doctors are struggling to save their lives.

Eight fire engines and eight ambulances were dispatched to the scene to tackle the explosion.

Firefighters had the fire under control in minutes, allaying worries it could spread to surrounding areas.

The exploded tank, constructed by Petrolimex Construction Company No. 3, was in its final stages of production with four others. Technicians were testing the tank by pumping water into it to check for breaches.

The police are scrambling to scour for any other worker feared to be trapped under the tank as a result of the blast.

Several technicians said that when water was being pumped into the tank, gasoline could have remained in the pump, sparked off by the welding torches.

Further investigations were underway, authorities said.

Devastating tragedy

Of the three ill-fated workers who died instantly at the scene, including Thang, Tuyen, Nang, Thang and Tuyen, all hailed from the central highland province of Thai Nguyen.

Several days prior to the explosion, Thang and Tuyen had received their wages and were waiting to return home as the construction was nearly completed.

Autopsies were being performed in Da Nang hospital, VnExpress newswire reported.

Of the five injured, Vo Van Nam has already lost a hand. Nguyen Van Thanh and Nguyen Tan Hieu suffered serious burns, while Huynh Minh Em and Nguyen Van Phu suffered severe head injuries.

Most of the victims are relying on the support of their employer as their families live far from Da Nang.

Source: Thanh Nien

Buy Into Vietnam, Online!

Want to buy into Vietnam? Now you can as a novel website has put nearly 200 enterprises up for sale, with prices ranging from millions of dollars to just one.

The adverts range in size and sophistication, from just getting the message across to going into full detail with market research.

A Hanoi cotton swab company advertised on the website: “At present, we have occupied a large market stretching from the northern area to Hue City and little by little penetrating into Ho Chi Minh Market. The sales output is about 10 ton/month – 15ton/month. There are four prestigious trade names on market.

Due to financial difficulty, we want to transfer the entire enterprise with a price of US$ 1.00 (one US Dollars) (sic).”

Another one is on sale for over $21.8 million.

“Based in Quang Nam [province in the north], the company is engaged in assembling motorbikes. At present, we have an automobile plant on a 6.2 ha piece of land for duration of 50 years. The plant has been built for 4 years, including shop-floor and office areas. We have got motorbike production and assembling machinery and equipment with values ranging from $750 – $6,250”.

There are also stakes and franchises on offer.

Tran Trong Hieu, director of IDJ, the brokerage company which manages the websites, said there had been 70-80 successful transactions so far.

According to an investment-consulting lawyer, since Vietnam joined the WTO January this year, his company has been receiving overseas orders for money-losing firms or those about to go bankrupt.

He said that trading in companies is very common in the world but new for Vietnam, adding the buyout market is likely to prosper in the future.

If you want to make a deal, you can access the website at www.muabandoanhnghiep.com.vn.

Thanh Nien

Former NA Deputy Gets 8 Years In Jail

Mac Kim Ton and Tran Thi Anh.

A former National Assembly deputy and former senior education official of the northern province of Thai Binh has been sentenced to eight years’ imprisonment.

Mac Kim Ton, former Director of the Thai Binh Provincial Department of Education and Training, received the sentence for misusing power in service.

In addition, Ton has to pay back over VND270 million (US$16,870) to Kien Cuong Company and some schools.

The former deputy and director was involved in a scandal orchestrated by Tran Thi Anh, who cheated several schools out of funding and was arrested in mid June by Thai Binh police.

In early 2006, Anh and Ton went to Kien Cuong Company, which trades IT equipment, and introduced themselves as members of the project management board of the Thai Binh People’s Committee. They said they were looking to purchase IT equipment for a project that would provide computers to several schools in the province.

Finally, they signed a contract to buy 267 computers worth nearly VND1.87bil (US$117,000), deferring payment against their positions. After donating a handful of the computers to 20 schools in Thai Binh, Anh claimed commissions of VND22-29mil ($1,375-$1,812) from each school.

However, the project that Anh and Ton claimed to be operating under in their contract with the Kien Cuong Company was bogus, and Anh was not a member of the project management board of Thai Binh Province.

Tran Thi Anh was also sentenced to 11 years in jail for swindling to appropriate assets.

Source: VNE

Airports ‘Blossoming’ In The South

Ca Mau, Rach Gia and most recently Can Tho airport have been programmed to be built and developed in the period from now to 2015.

By 2015, the three airports in the south will have the capacity of receiving 1.4mil passengers a year, not including the new

airport of Phu Quoc, which will be able to receive 2mil passengers a year, and put into operation in 2010.

“Developing civil aviation proves to be the shortest way to connect the Cuu Long River Delta with the world and with other provinces and cities in Vietnam,” Huynh Duong Hiep, Deputy Director General of the South Airport Authority (SAA), said at the ceremony to announce the Can Tho airport development programme.

This explains why local authorities are trying to set up new airports in the region.

However, the problem is, how can local authorities raise enough funds to build and upgrade the airports?

It will take some VND5,695bil to build a Can Tho airport which can receive 2mil passengers a year by 2025. In addition, the Phu Quoc airport construction will need VND2,500bil. Analysts have made a comparison that the total money to be injected in the two airports is higher than the budget allocated for education and training in 13 provinces and cities in the Cuu Long River Delta in 2006 (VND7,227bil). In addition, it will take some VND529bil to upgrade the Ca Mau airport.

“We need nearly VND3tril over the next 3-5 years to invest in Can Tho airport,” Mr Hiep said. SAA, though it began looking for capital for the airport projects in 2004, just can arrange some VND1tril for the airports.

Mr Hiep also revealed that SAA would have to arrange capital for the project on expanding Tan Son Nhat terminal, which is being put under the management of SAA. Some $8bil will also be needed to build the Long Thanh airport to replace the operational Tan Son Nhat airport, which has been too old and overloaded for some years.

Analysts have pointed out that four new airports would be more than enough for the south. The airports would be very costly to develop, and the benefits the region would receive from them are debatable. A tourist, flying to the south, can only land at one airport. Meanwhile, if he or she wants to travel to other provinces in the region, the person is likely to choose another means of transportation, like the bus or railway.

In 2006, with the existing eight airports, SAA carried 8,975,120 passengers, while Tan Son Nhat alone served 8,472,437 passengers. The same year, the three airports of Rach Gia, Phu Quoc and Ca Mau received nearly 300,000 passengers.

The expected efficiency of the airport projects proves to be an issue worthy of careful consideration. VNN

HCMC Police Raid Nets Gang Making Fake Cosmetics

Police in Ho Chi Minh City busted a gang making fake cosmetics Thursday and seized tons of shower creams, whitening creams, and shampoo.

After recently finding a truck transporting a large amount of cosmetics without certificates of origin, they began to stake out a house in Binh Thanh district where the driver, Vo Thanh Lam, said he had been instructed to deliver the goods.

A search of the house following the raid showed many of the products stored there were fake with the owner Nguyen Van Khoa unable to produce papers to prove their origin.

It took the police over seven hours to inventory the contents in the house.

They did not divulge if they had made arrests. Thanh Nien

Vietnam Leader To Visit Brunei

Vice President Truong My Hoa

Vietnam’s Vice President Truong My Hoa will pay an official visit to Brunei on March 25-28.

It aimed to affirm Viet Nam's foreign policy of attaching importance to friendship and multi-faceted cooperation with neighboring and regional countries, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Le Dzung said.

It comes at the invitation of Prince Haji Al-Muhtadee Billah, senior minister in Brunei’s Prime Minister's Office.

During her visit, Hoa would discuss promoting bilateral cooperation, particularly in the economic, trade, and investment spheres, the spokesman added.

Source: VNA

Vietnam Stocks Slide Further

Vietnamese stocks fell again Thursday, with both the Ho Chi Minh City and the Hanoi indexes taking nosedives.

HCMC’s VN-Index shed 11.81 points to close at 1099.82. Hanoi’s HASTC-Index lost 5.7 points to close at 437.27. Turnover in HCMC was 5.74 percent down at VND1 trillion (US$62 million). There were 84 losers and only 12 gainers out of the total 109 stocks. Half the losing stocks hit the 5 percent limit. Many blue chips like Sacombank, REE, and SAM, were among the losers. STB continued to lead the market in terms of volume and turnover with 1.4 million shares changing hands for VND235 billion ($15 million). Foreign investors continued to be net sellers, offloading VND132 billion worth shares. Analysts forecast strong declines to continue amidst worries of a major correction and lack of buying by foreign investors. Hanoi saw trading volumes of 2.2 million shares and turnover of VND279 billion, down 7.16 percent from Wednesday. Concerns over the skyrocketing stock market took center stage at a recent conference in Hanoi on investment in Vietnam. Foreign experts urged the government to put up a strong regulatory framework and severe punitive actions to safeguard the market. They predicted the market to fall by 30–40 percent. Kevin Snowball, director of PXP Vietnam Asset Management, said the bourse needed a deep correction and the VN-Index should fall to a more appropriate level of 900 points.

My Linh Voted Singer Of The Year

At the 2^nd Musical Contribution Awards Ceremony that took place on March 20 at the HCM City Opera House, singer My Linh won the Singer of the Year title.

In the Singer of the Year category, pop stars My Tam and Dan Truong also won great numbers of votes but were still far behind My Linh, who didn’t attend the ceremony for family reasons.

The Musician of the Year category was chiefly a race between musicians Do Bao and Vo Thien Thanh, the latter of whom was the winner.

Though My Tam aimed for originality with her latest album Vut Bay (Soaring), which was recorded in the Republic of Korea, and Thu Minh was very sexy in Thien Dang (Paradise), they were both defeated by Tran Thu Ha’s made-in-America album Doi Thoai 06 (Dialogue 06) in the race for the Album of the Year title.

TV musical contest Sao Mai Diem Hen 2006 (Morning Stars - Rendezvous 2006) beat another TV musical contest Bai Hat Viet 2006 (Viet Song 2006) to win the title of Programme of the Year.

The Musical Contribution Prize’s jury was made up of culture reporters from newspapers, radio and TV stations.

Tien Phong

Vietnam Vows Action Against Pro-Democracy Activists

Communist Vietnam, under pressure over its human rights record, stressed through its state-controlled media on Thursday that it would take action against dissidents who challenge the one-party state.

The deputy security minister said Vietnam would defend its political system against pro-democracy activists, several of whom have recently been detained, according to a lengthy English-language online newspaper report.

"The Vietnamese constitution states that Vietnam has a one-party political system," Deputy Public Security Minister Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Van Huong was quoted as saying in the Thanh Nien daily.

"It's illegal if some people want to establish another party, not to mention secretly inciting other people to join their organisation and aim to overthrow the existing government," he was quoted as telling a US diplomat this month.

According to the report on the meeting, Huong said Vietnam was right to prosecute activists such as Catholic priest Nguyen Van Ly and members of the pro-democracy 'Bloc 8406,' named after its April 8 launch last year.

"Vietnam will continue to take action against people who incite others to act against the Vietnamese state," he said, adding that these included Hanoi lawyers Nguyen Van Dai and Le Thi Cong Nhan, detained early last month.

The three have been accused of breaching article 88 of the criminal code, which bans 'defaming' the government and carries a maximum 20-year jail term.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice last week raised human rights questions with Vietnam's visiting Foreign Minister Pham Gia Khiem following protests from US Congress members and Swedish parliamentarians, among others.

Foreign ministry spokesman Le Dung said on Thursday both sides had different views on human rights due to their different political systems and levels of economic and cultural development, but he said the dialogue would continue.

New York-based Human Rights Watch two weeks ago accused Vietnam of launching "one of the worst crackdowns on peaceful dissidents in 20 years."

Vietnam had been 'emboldened' to act against its opponents after achieving the long-sought goal of joining the World Trade Organization in January and hosting an Asia-Pacific summit last November, the US group said.

The online article of Thanh Nien, which like all Vietnamese media operates under state control, represented an unusually detailed and open rebuttal from the Vietnamese government to its critics.

The article said Huong stressed the desire for good US ties but also said "the US side has interfered too deeply with Vietnam's internal affairs."

The deputy minister had asked the US diplomat to elaborate on "why the US was interested in some criminals imprisoned in Vietnam."

Huong said that Father Ly, who is expected to face trial soon in the central city of Hue, had contacted US-based Vietnamese dissidents to found the Bloc 8406 and other anti-government groups.

"Ly always claims he is a priest, which makes it easy for people to mistakenly think we are suppressing religions," he said, charging instead that "he is a conspirator planning violent activities to cause public disorder."

Sending a conciliatory signal, Huong also said prominent dissident journalist Nguyen Vu Binh, jailed since 2003, may be considered for amnesty, reiterating a comment made previously by the foreign minister.

Former enemies the United States and Vietnam have done much to restore ties since their war ended with the fall of Saigon in 1975.

"A blossoming era of bilateral relations will surely come," Huong reportedly said, "and these 'people of interest to the US' cannot undermine it and are not worthy of consideration by the leaders of the two countries." Chaindia.com

Tien Giang Applies EU Standards In Pineapple Cultivation

The Mekong delta province of Tien Giang has started a 3.6 billion VND programme on developing pineapple cultivation in Tan Phuoc district.

The four-year programme will be deployed on 50 ha in Tan Phuoc under the European Union's Good Agricultural Practice (GAP) standards.

To increase pineapples' quality and output, the programme will provide advanced technology to farmers in the field.

Tan Phuoc district now has more than 10,000 ha of pineapple, 9,000 ha of which are currently yielding fruits but the productivity and output are not high.

Source: Vietnam Agency

New Oil Discovery Capable Of 5,000 Barrels Per Day

A prospect well drilled into the Te Giac Trang field in Cuu Long basin offshore Viet Nam has yielded an oil flow of approximately 5,000 barrels per day, according to the Thang Long Joint Operating Company (Thang Long JOC).

The well in one of the Lower Miocene reservoirs, at a depth of 2640-2700m below sea level, showed that the Te Giac Trang oilfield is located on both Block 15-2/01 operated by Thang Long JOC and Block 16-1 operated by Hoang Long JOC. The oilfield is located off the coast of Vung Tau, about 125 km southwest from Ho Chi Minh City.

Following the discovery, Thang Long JOC will discuss a plan of development at Te Giac Trang field with Hoang Long JOC, a joint-venture between the Viet Nam Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam) and three foreign-invested companies.

This year, Thang Long JOC plans to drill three additional exploration wells in other prospective areas to evaluate the hydrocarbon potential of Block 15-2/01.

Thang Long JOC was formed on May 16, 2005 between Talisman (Viet Nam 15-2/01) Ltd. of Canada, holding 60 percent of interest share, and PetroVietnam Exploration and Production Company (PVEP) of Viet Nam, holding 40 percent.

Source: Vietnam Agency

Motorbikes Still Rule In Vietnam

Motorbikes will remain the main mode of transport in Vietnam until at least 2020 with the number of units, almost at a saturation point in major cities, increasing by a whopping 2 million annually.

Vietnam, with a population of 84 million, has about 20 million motorbikes, experts said at an international seminar on motorbike management, which was held by the Vietnam Development Forum (VDF) in Ho Chi Minh City Wednesday.

By 2020, the number of motorbikes nationwide is expected to hit 33 million, or one motorbike for every three people.

But in the country’s metros of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, the average ratio motorbike to persons was already 1 to 2, according to experts quoting results of a recent survey.

The one-month survey was conducted in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and Can Tho City prior to the seminar under a cooperative project between the Hanoi Economics University and the Tokyo-based National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies.

More than 73 percent of those surveyed proposed reducing the number of motorbikes in big cities, almost 60 percent of whom agreed to use economic measures such as increased petrol prices or higher tariffs.

At the seminar, the participants suggested developing public transport to gradually replace motorbikes, tightening the granting of driving licenses and cooperating with makers to develop motorbikes that are environmentally friendly.

Source: SGGP

HCM City: Trial Of Foreign Diamond Smuggler Postponed

The jury of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Court has decided to put off the trial of Chen Hsin Hsiung, a native of Taiwan, for illegally smuggling more than 15,000 diamonds.

A decision was made on March 19 for further investigation.

During the interrogation, Chen Hsin Hsiung confessed to being a paid employee of diamond smugglers Xiao Li and Xiao Wu who are based in Hong Kong but have branches in Taiwan.

According to the indictment, from March until September 2004, Chen Hsin Hsiung and his accomplices brought 15,411 diamonds from Taiwan to Viet Nam without declaration at the customs. Chen later sold 6,278 of these for $900,289 in Vietnam. During the investigation, the police seized 2,510 diamonds from Chen.

The total value of the smuggled diamonds exceeded $1.3 million.

(Source: VNA)

Jolie Leaves Vietnam With Adopted Son

Angelina Jolie and her newly adopted 3-year-old son left Vietnam in a private jet on Wednesday, en route to the boy's new home in the United States.

The superstar adopted Pax Thien Jolie in Ho Chi Minh City last week, but they later came to the capital city of Hanoi to pick up a visa allowing him to enter the United States.

Jolie left a pack of disappointed paparazzi in her wake, fleeing from them before boarding the awaiting Gulfstream jet at Noi Bai Airport.

During her week in Vietnam, Jolie spent her time cooped up in luxury hotels, shielding Pax from the photographers that trailed them everywhere.

On the few occasions they came out to do adoption paperwork, they traveled in cars with darkened windows and only emerged after parking in basement garages that were sealed off from the media horde.

Jolie and her partner, Brad Pitt, made a surprise trip to Vietnam last November, when they visited the Tam Binh orphanage on the outskirts of Ho Chi Minh City. Pax had been living at the orphanage since he was abandoned as an infant.

Jolie filed adoption papers as a single parent because she and Pitt are not married.

They have three other children: 5-year-old Maddox, adopted from Cambodia, 2-year-old Zahara, adopted from Ethiopia, and another daughter, Shiloh, born to the couple last year. Topix

Price Fixing Occurring On Stock Market: NA Deputy

Deputy Chairwoman of the National Assembly’s Economics and Budget Committee Duong Thu Huong said that she can see price fixing in securities transactions and urged to set up a committee to supervise the activities in the stock market.

Mrs Huong asserted that she can see price fixing on the stock market by watching online transaction boards. “Imagine that the market operates in normal conditions, and then appears a surprisingly big order, or a small order but with abnormally high prices, these are the signs of price fixing,” she said.

Mrs Huong has stressed the need of the supervision over the market, saying that it is the right time to set up a committee to supervise the activities in the stock market.

In fact, the State Securities Commission (SSC) is taking the responsibility for supervising the market, acting as the stock market watchdog, however, according to Mrs Huong “SSC’s inspectors would be unendurable as the supervision work proves to be very complicated”.

She said that other countries set up their committees in charge of finance, banking, securities and insurance supervision. These all are very big and powerful committees, which allow the countries to keep effective and tight control over securities transactions. Meanwhile, in Vietnam, inspection division is set up in every branch and ministry, which would not be capable to cover all the problems.

The main tasks of the committee is to keep the market operate in normal and healthy conditions and supervise the market operation, for example, inspecting securities companies. Price fixing, insider trading and speculation activities would be found by the committee, and they must be heavily punished.

Mrs Huong said that she believes the stock market would be steps by steps stabilised. Price fluctuations and unknowledgeable investors are the main characteristics of the market at this moment. Many investors in the stock market are just making deals by feeling, but they will be the knowledgeable investors in the future, when they become more familiar to the stock market.

She said that the main problem of the stock market now is the supply and demand imbalance. The market is heating up because of the supply shortage. If there are more commodities, investors would have more choices, thus keeping the prices stable.

Regarding the foreign portfolio investment management, Mrs Huong admitted that it is really a very difficult job to control the capital flow, while successfully avoiding big negative changes. She said that it is not the time for administrative orders, and that the Government should find out economic measures to control the market. VNN

Vietcombank Plans IPO By August

State-owned Vietcombank, Vietnam’s second largest bank by assets is set to launch an initial public offering (IPO) by August and list on the stock market by October.

Vietcombank would begin selling shares to the public in July or August at the latest, said Vu Viet Ngoan, general director of the bank.

The bank has completed the final steps to prepare for the IPO, and the detailed plan will be submitted to the government late next month.

As planned, the bank will have two IPOs, the first in the country and the second in an overseas market next year.

The government will consult relevant agencies over four to five weeks and the plan is expected to get final approval in June.

After going public, the state will hold a 70 percent stake in the bank and the remaining 30 percent will go to investors via domestic and overseas IPOs.

The bank plans to launch an IPO in Hong Kong or Singapore next year, where stock exchanges have recognized Vietcombank as qualifying under their basic requirements, according to a top executive.

By the end of 2006, Vietcombank had assets of VND169.46 trillion ($10.06 billion), up 23.9 percent on year.

It made a net profit of VND2.47 trillion during the year, up 91.5 percent year on year, bank figures showed.

Vietcombank is one of the four state-run banks ordered by the government to offer shares to the public this year.

The other three including Vietnam's third-largest bank Incombank and the Mekong Delta Housing Development Bank and the Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development , will follow in 2008.

Currently, Vietnamese law allows foreigners to have a 30 percent maximum stake in its domestic banks.

Market view

Vietnam’s stock market lost steam Tuesday after multi-day increases, despite positive forecasts for the market in the second annual Vietnam Investment Forum recently, according to market watchdogs.

The Ho Chi Minh City’s VN-Index shed 1.42 percent, or 16.09 points, 1117.25 and the Hanoi’s HASTC-Index also plunged by 2.88 percent, or 13.25 points, to 446.11.

Fifty-three stocks lost, including major blue chips, and 30 gained in the HCMC bourse.

Investors yesterday bid for 16.7 million shares, a decline 17 percent over the previous session while offers mounted to 20.4 million shares, up 30 percent.

The market closed with a trading volume of 10.6 million shares and turnover of VND942 billion ($59 million), down VND158 billion over the previous day.

Foreign investors resumed their aggressive interest in stockpiles, becoming net buyers with 1.3 million shares for VND194 billion.

The Hanoi stock exchange closed with a trading volume of 3.13 million shares changing hands for VND408 billion, a decline of VND122 billion.

Hanoi To Get Horse Racing Track

The Hanoi administration is set to approve construction of a horse racing track and resort with work to start this year.

The city people’s committee said the US$200 million complex will be built in Soc Son district on an area of 1,200 hectares.

The project, to be jointly invested by a British partner, was under negotiations since 2005.

Once it opens, it will be the second racetrack in Vietnam after the Phu Tho course in Ho Chi Minh City.

Source: Tien Phong

Flying to Singapore with US$17

US$85 for five one-way tickets and $170 for five round tickets, that’s what Australia’s JetStar Airways offers for its first flight from HCM City to Singapore on March 25.

If one by ten one-way tickets at the same time, the price would be $150 and $300 for round tickets.

The official airfare for the HCM City - Singapore route of JetStar Airways is $42 per one-way ticket and $83 for return ticket. Those prices are without tax and airport fees.

JetStar will use Airbus A320 for HCM City - Singapore flights. Except for a flight in the evening of Tuesday, others will be in the morning for the remaining days of the week. VNN

Dirty Money Being Washed In Stock Market: SBV

Deputy Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam Phung Khac Ke affirmed that dirty money was being laundered in the stock market.

Deputy Governor Phung Khac Ke

There are two sources of investment capital in the stock market: domestic and foreign sources. Mr Ke said that a proportion of the domestically invested capital comes from illegal sources, i.e. from corrupt affairs.

Recently, Government inspectors have announced the ratio of losses in capital construction works at 10% - a very big figure. Every year, Vietnam spends VND200tril ($12.5bil) on capital construction works, and 10% of this amount, or VND20tril ($1.25bil), is pocketed by corrupt officials. They try to launder the money by throwing the money onto the stock market.

Mr Ke has stressed that the flow of illegal capital sources is one of the reasons for the heating up of the stock market.

He said that money laundering through the stock market should be stopped right now. The most effective long-term solution is to prevent and reduce the loss proportions in capital construction projects, which will only be attained by drastic measures to fight corruption. The State Bank and commercial banks will help by improving payment services and make it easier for people to open accounts. In the long term, the Government has to apply measures to encourage people to make payments via banks, which will help control money flows.

Regarding loaning to securities investors, Mr Ke confirmed the figures about the total outstanding loans funding securities investment deals that newspapers have reported. He said that this figure represents a very small percentage of capital of commercial banks, and that this should not be considered a worry.

“In general it is unreasonable to say that banks have injected too much money in the stock market,” Mr Ke said.

He has also announced that the stock market will have new commodities soon, when state owned banks are equitised. These commodities, according to Mr Ke, will be ‘valuable commodities’ for two reasons. First, the bad debts of the banks had been settled by 2000. Second, the chartered capital of the banks has been raised in the recent past, making the banks more attractive in terms of brand names and financial capability. VNN

Vietnam Needs To Push On With Reforms: International Investors

State sector reform and attracting foreign investment should be the sustained goals if Vietnam hopes to receive more funds for development, speakers stressed at a forum in Hanoi Monday.

Maintaining momentum in the equitization program was a key factor in attracting new investment, Mike Geoghegan, chief executive of HSBC, told the second annual Vietnam Investment Forum, themed Financing Growth-Asia’s Next Tiger.

In equitizing more than 3,000 enterprises the government had made impressive progress, he said, adding it was vital that this continued.

Reducing the size of the public sector from its current level of 40 percent of GDP would improve the efficiency of the economy and corporate governance.

To win the competition for capital, Vietnam must develop a clear and transparent legal and regulatory framework for the finance and banking sector.

Speaking later at a press conference on the sidelines of the meeting, Geoghegan revealed that HSBC was planning to establish a fully-owned bank in the country.

Stock market

The booming Vietnamese stock market was a topic of great interest among delegates at the conference.

John Shronpton, director of Dragon Capital Group, said the market capitalization had risen to an “incredible” US$22 billion.

The market would post even stronger growth this year but face challenges.

Market regulators had to have better oversight to ensure the capital market was stable.

Clear and transparent financial reports by companies, tools to manage mortgages, and taxes on profits were key measures that would help regulate the market.

Jack Lin, regional managing director, Asia Pacific, Franklin Templeton Institutional, said since the stock market was the premier channel to mobilize capital for the country’s economic development, it should be well-regulated.

Jean Pierce Bernard, Asia-Pacific and India director of French bank BNP Paribas group, called on Vietnamese authorities to set up a sound legal framework for the market.

Reform to be deepened

Minister of Finance Vu Van Ninh said economic reform would be deepened since Vietnam sought to attract more funds in the coming years.

Improving the business environment and developing the capital market would be the government’s focus since the country needed to mobilize at least $140 billion for development in 2006-10.

It would encourage foreign investors to tap the country’s financial market, Ninh told delegates.

An official from State Capital Investment Corporation, the investment arm of the government, said around 550 state enterprises would offer shares worth $7 billion to the public from the second quarter, and foreign investors could buy up to 49 percent stakes in them.

The conference, which wraps up Tuesday, has attracted over 1,000 participants from 36 countries and territories.

Angelina Jolie Arrives In Hanoi To Get Visa For Her Adopted Vietnamese Son

Men takes off some luggage from a plane reportedly carrying American actress Angelina Jolie and her children as they arrive in Hanoi, Vietnam on Monday, March 19, 2007. Jolie arrived in Hanoi to complete some documents for her newly adopted 3-year-old Vietnamese boy.

Angelina Jolie arrived in Hanoi on Monday to complete the procedures necessary to take her adopted son Pax Thien Jolie to his new home in the United States.

The 31-year-old actress dodged reporters on her way from the airport after flying from Ho Chi Minh City, where she adopted the newest member of her family at an orphanage on the outskirts of the city last week.

Jolie was expected to meet with U.S. Embassy officials Tuesday to apply for a visa for 3-year-old Pax. Once the visa is issued, she can take him to the United States. She was expected to leave Hanoi on Wednesday.

Jolie’s oldest child, 5-year-old Maddox, who was adopted from Cambodia, came with her to Vietnam. She also has two daughters: Zahara, 2, who was adopted from Ethiopia, and 9-month-old, Shiloh, who was born to Jolie and her partner, Brad Pitt, in May.

Ever since she was young she has wanted to adopt children, Jolie said in an interview published Friday in a Vietnamese newspaper.

“Everyone would agree that children need to have a family,” the paper quoted the Oscar-winning actress as saying. “I have the ability to help children fulfill that desire. Why should I say no?” Recordonline.com

Fruit And Vegetables Sector Faces New Opportunities

Mangro variety GL6 imported from Australia and domesticated at the Fruits and Vegetables Research Institute under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

The fruit and vegetable sector has undergone dramatic development in the recent period, and now faces new challenges following the country's entry into the World Trade Organisation due to its poor competitiveness. Bao Trung sees that many opportunities lie ahead for the sector to expand production and export.

Positive changes

The past ten years has seen rapid growth in the fruit and vegetable sector in Vietnam. In 1995, the country had only 328,000 hectares under vegetables and bean plants, providing an output of 4,155 tonnes and then the land area expanded to 840,000 hectares with a yield of 9.6 million tonnes of products. During the same period, the area of cultivated land growing fruit trees in 2005 was estimated at 766,900 hectares together with 6.5 million tonnes of fruits as compared to 420,000 hectares and 3.5 million tonnes in 2000. The processing capacity of the sector stood at 290,000 tonnes of products per year, a double increase over 1998. Export turnover in 1995 maintained at US $56.1 million and rapidly jumped to US $259 million in 2006, of which US $76 million came from the Vietnam National Vegetables, Fruits and Agricultural Products Corporation. The major processed fruit items for export include frozen and canned pineapples, vinegar-picked cucumbers, rambutan and fruit juices together with fresh vegetables and fruits such as cabbages, mango, bananas, litchi and green dragon fruit. The products are already available in 50 markets from Japan, China, Russia, the US, Britain, France and Germany.

However, the development of the sector is still a far cry as far as real potential is concerned due to poor planning. Only some localities in the Mekong River delta have focussed on growing high quality and high yield vegetables and fruits while other areas continue to maintain their old farming ways and fail to apply new preservation techniques, leading to significant loss. Meanwhile, a number of processing factories operate at low capacity due to the shortage of supplies and this limits the delivery of large quantity.

Challenges and opportunities

having joined the WTO, the country is committed to reducing import tariffs of agricultural products to an average rate of 20.9% and removing export subsidiaries. Foreign businesses are allowed to participate in producing and exporting vegetables and fruits, thus bringing greater pressure to bear on the sector. Fresh and processed fruits from China and Thailand are pouring in Vietnam. This requires domestic businesses to renew the planting and processing techniques as well as management methods to make high quality and low price products. Vietnam is to be open to 149 WTO members, an opportunity for the sector to expand co-operation, exchange experience and seek new technologies in order to raise competitive abilities.

Processing pineapple at Dong Giao Foodstuff Export Company in Ninh Binh.

In recent years, the Vietnam National Vegetables, Fruits and Agricultural Products Corporation has taken a number of measures aimed at building a long-term development strategy to boost processing and export activities. Several processing plants have been built with modern facilities such as the Dong Giao fruit processing plant in Ninh Binh province, the canned and cold vegetable and fruit plant in Bac Giang province and the Tan Binh plant in Ho Chi Minh City. Many products including cold vegetables and fruit juices have met high requirements of customers in Japan, the US, Britain, France and Germany. The corporation has invested in planting 10,000 hectares of pineapple in Ninh Binh, Bac Giang, Quang Nam and Kien Giang to ensure sufficient material for processing.

In fact, the sector needs to implement further measures in order to improve planning of cultivated areas, build modern processing factories and raise abilities in the area of marketing and consumer research, thus helping businesses to select appropriate production plans.

It is expected that Vietnamese vegetables and fruits businesses will make greater efforts in the coming period so as to raise their competitiveness and make full use of opportunities in the process of international integration. Nhan Dan

Vietnamese Can Go Abroad To Donate Organs To Only Relatives

Vietnamese citizens can go abroad to donate their tissues and viscera to people in a foreign country, providing that they are of the same blood or related to each other within three generations, the health ministry has said.

The regulation is aimed at preventing the sales of organs of Vietnamese people in foreign countries, local newspaper Youth on Monday quoted the Legal Department under the ministry as reporting.

Also under the regulation, all foreigners and overseas Vietnamese are allowed to use tissues and viscera of Vietnamese citizens for transplant in Vietnam, providing that they are of the same blood, or they are related to each other within three generations, or the donor voluntarily offers organs to the recipient.

In November 2006, Vietnam passed the Law on Donating, Getting, Transplanting Human Issues and Organs and Donating and Getting Cadavers, under which Vietnamese citizens aged 18 upwards have the rights to donate their tissues and viscera like kidneys and livers. It also allows the establishment of private issue banks which receive, preserve, transport, supply and exchange tissues for non- commerce purposes.

The law, to take effect in July 2007, stipulates that foreigners have the rights to donate issues and organs to Vietnam and undergo issue and viscera transplants in the country.

Between 5,000 and 6,000 chronic kidney patients in Vietnam currently need to undergo kidney transplant surgery, and thousands of other local people want liver transplant, according to the country's Health Ministry.

However, Vietnam is facing scarcity of kidney and liver sources for transplant, so some local patients have to undergo operation abroad at high cost. Vietnam's first liver transplant was successfully conducted in 2004 with the liver donor being a 31-year-old man and the recipient being his 10-year-old daughter. The country has carried out kidney transplants since early 1990s.

(Source: Xinhua News)

Vietnam May Soon Have 100% Foreign Owned Bank

Mr Alain Cany

The Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) is moving ahead with its plan to set up a legal entity in Vietnam. If approved, this would be the first 100% foreign owned bank in Vietnam.

On the sideline of the 2^nd annual Vietnam Investment Forum this morning, HSBC Chief Executive Officer (CEO) in Vietnam Alain Cany confirmed that the group was taking necessary steps to set up a bank in

Vietnam.

HSBC hopes to open 5-10 branches in Vietnam within the next four or five years, Mr Cany said.

Under the commitments Vietnam made for joining the WTO, as of April 1, 2007, 100% foreign owned banks will be allowed to operate in Vietnam, and will receive the same treatment as domestic banks. These foreign owned banks will be allowed to provide nearly all the same services as domestic banks.

Foreign bankers must have the minimum assets of $10bil to be eligible to set up a bank in Vietnam. In order to set up a new branch, the parent banks must have assets of more than $20bil and the minimum capital of $15mil for every branch.

Soon after Vietnam joined the WTO, many foreign bankers expressed their desire to set up banks in Vietnam and asked about requirements and procedures. HSBC is the first bank to follow through with its plan to set up a subsidiary in Vietnam.

Mike Geoghegan, HSBC Chief Executive Officer, attended the Vietnam Business Forum this morning, and he is expected to have a meeting with Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam Le Duc Thuy and Minister of Finance Vu Van Ninh. The details of the meeting have not been revealed, but Mr Geoghean said that the topic would be the future of HSBC in Vietnam as well as the long-term investment commitments of the group in Vietnam.

Together with the plan to set up a bank in Vietnam, HSBC is also planning to double its capital contribution to Techcombank (the Vietnam Technological and Commercial Joint Stock Bank) as soon as the Government raises the ownership proportion foreign strategic partners can hold in a local bank from 10% to 20%.

HSBC would pay $85mil to buy another 10% in Techcombank, three-fold higher than the sum of $27mil it paid for 10% of Techcombank shares in 2005.

VNE

Canada Says Vietnam's Food Safety Okay: Reports

Representatives from Canada’s Ministry of Fisheries and Oceans said no complaints have been filed regarding the hygiene of Vietnam’s seafood exports, according to reports by a Canadian mission to Vietnam.

Vietnamese Fisheries Deputy Minister Nguyen Thi Hong Minh attended a working session in Ottawa with Canadian officials on Mar. 16 and reported the findings to the Vietnam New Agency. Deputy Minister Minh, who led a delegation from the ministry attended the world seafood fair in Boston, Massachusetts, also met with officials from the Canadian Ministry of Fisheries and Oceans. Talking to Lorne Wheeler, Senior Advisor for Policy, and Lori Ridgeway, Director of the Department for International Policies and Integration of the Ministry of Fisheries and Oceans, Minh introduced Vietnam's potential in seafood exports – which have increased some 35-40 percent a year to the EU, the US, Japan and other ASEAN countries. Minh further stated that Vietnam was joining many regional and international fishery organizations and expressed her wish that the two fisheries ministries would soon boost cooperation and exchange. The Canadian side said they were interested in the development of Vietnam's fisheries and discussed various experiences in management of production, fisheries and fishermen. The Vietnamese delegation met with Canadian seafood representatives from import-export companies in Toronto and discussed Vietnamese seafood and import-export policies. The Canadian entrepreneurs expressed their hope for further cooperation with Vietnam as well as to learn more about growing, fishing, processing and preserving seafood in Vietnam. Source: VNA

Vietnam Upgrades Border Gates With Cambodia

Vietnam has decided to upgrade three national border gates with Cambodia into international ones, local newspaper Labor reported Monday.

Under a governmental decision, the country will improve the border gates of Xa Xia, Dinh Ba and Le Thanh in the two southern provinces of Kien Giang and Dong Thap, and central highlands Gia Lai province, respectively.

The country will also upgrade three small border gates in Kien Giang, southern Long An province and central highlands Dac Lac province into national ones.

Ten of Vietnam's 64 cities and provinces border nine localities of Cambodia.

Trade between the two countries, which increased to 900 million U.S. dollars in 2006 from 117 million dollars in 1998, is expected to reach 2 billion dollars in 2010, according to the Vietnamese Trade Ministry.

Source: Xinhua

Vietnam To Hail Forth International Airport This year

The Phu Bai Airport in central Vietnam’s Thua Thien Hue province, 15 km from UNESCO-listed Hue city, is set to become the fourth international airport this year in the country, authorities said Sunday.

The provincial government said the Ministry of Transports recently instructed the National Civil Aviation Administration to carry out plans to upgrade the local airport into an international one.

Phu Bai would thus be the forth international air station besides the three: Ho Chi Minh City-based Tan Son Nhat Airport in the south, Hanoi-based Noi Bai Airport in the north, and Da Nang Airport in the namesake city in the central region.

Authorities in Hue are to release the timelines for the project at a later date, with Phu Bai targeting over one million passengers by 2010. Thanh Nien

Vietnam Metro Hopes To Cut Poverty To Below 2 Percent

Ho Chi Minh City has set itself a target of cutting poverty rate from above 5 percent to less than 2 percent this year by providing more jobs and preferential loans to the needy.

Over 22,000 poor families would receive financial support to achieve a per capita annual income of US$400.

There are an estimated 1,400 families whose annual income is less than $250 per capita and the authorities plan to provide them special support.

It would lend $310 to $620 per family for doing business and create more jobs for them.

The administration has instructed concerned agencies including the Steering Committee on Jobs and Poverty Elimination to mobilize $56.1 million from the city budget and other sources for the program.

Source: Nguoi Lao Dong –

Cyber Criminals Charged With Stealing Money From Foreign Accounts

The Vietnamese prosecutor’s office has filed charges against 10 people for faking ATM cards to steal over VND1.6 billion (US$1 million) from accounts abroad.

They include 21-year-old Nguyen Anh Tuan of Ho Chi Minh City who stole $27,700, and Nguyen Dinh Cuong, also of HCMC, who stole $49,000.

All of them are either IT students or workers.

The gang came under police surveillance in October 2005 and was busted two months later.

But it is still not clear if they will be tried in Vietnam or in the countries from where they stole.

Tuan admitted to buying a magnetic card writer and unused cards from abroad. He later began ‘phishing’ – a ploy to get somebody to provide their bank or credit card information by sending a fraudulent e-mail purporting to be from a bank, etc. – by launching a website and claiming to act as an intermediary for some major foreign banks.

He sent emails to cardholders in the US and UK and snared them into divulging personal, financial, or account information.

Many local and foreign banks are connected with Vietcombank’s ATM network in Vietnam, including Chohung Vina Bank, Habubank, Eximbank Vietnam, Techcombank, Phuong Nam Bank, Military bank, ANZ, and VIB.

International credit card holders can withdraw cash from ATMs in Vietnam if the card-issuing banks have agreements with Vietnamese banks.

Thus, sitting in Vietnam, it is possible to withdraw money from accounts held in banks elsewhere.

Source: Tuoi Tre

Coast Mired In Mysterious Oil Slicks; Analysis Narrows Source

With many provinces throughout Vietnam adversely impacted by mysterious oil slicks, recent tests suggest that the oil did not come from oilrigs offshore Vietnam as earlier surmised.

Four oil samples from Quang Nam, Quang Ngai provinces, and Da Nang City in the central region analyzed by the Vietnam Oil and Gas Corporation and the Hanoi University of Mining and Geology were found to contain a high content of 15a (H) 17a (H) 27 norhopane, 30d and 18a oleanane (300).

Crude oil being exploited off Vietnamese shores generally has a low content of these chemicals.

Meanwhile, the oil has spread to several communes in the central Phu Yen province.

The province’s environment department said Saturday that oil has just been discovered running along beaches for nearly 2km in Hoa Hiep Bac commune.

US Asia Hawaii Ventures, whose shrimp raising farms nearby are under threat, has mopped up 500kg of the oil.

There are possibly two separate spills, one spotted early last month and the other this week. They have already greased Ha Tinh province in the north, nine provinces in the central region, and Ba Ria Vung Tau, Tra Vinh, Tien Giang and other localities in the south.

Source: Thanh Nien

Jolie 'Sorry' For Media Exposure

Actress Angelina Jolie has apologised for bringing the glare of publicity onto her newly adopted Vietnamese son.

Speaking in an interview with Ho Chi Minh City newspaper Phap Luat, Jolie said: "I want to say sorry for bringing this into Pax's life."

The three-year-old boy has been renamed Pax Thien, the Latin for peace and Vietnamese word for heaven.

The film star added she would stay at home to help the boy, who speaks no English, settle into his new life.

'Most important thing'

"We have to learn to adapt to each other and study each other's languages," Jolie told the newspaper.

"I have four children, and caring for them is the most important thing for me now," added the 31-year-old Oscar winner.

Jolie has already adopted two children, from Cambodia and Ethiopia, and last year she gave birth to a daughter, Shiloh, with actor partner Brad Pitt.

The actress, a United Nations goodwill ambassador, vowed to pay regular visits to Vietnam.

"To the best of my ability, I want to understand more about your country and see what I can do to help," she said. BBC

Jolie Adopts Vietnamese Orphan

Angelina Jolie adopted her fourth child on Thursday, a Vietnamese boy from a Ho Chi Minh City orphanage.

Government officials said the boy was renamed Pax Thien Jolie and is almost three-and-a-half years old.

"Thank you for taking such wonderful care of my son," the Oscar-winning actress wrote in the visitors' book of the Tam Binh orphanage. "I am sure he will miss your beautiful, caring staff as much as you will miss him," she added.

The adoption will be final once US embassy officials in Hanoi approve the paperwork for the child to travel to the United States. Jolie and Vietnamese officials have already signed adoption documents in Ho Chi Minh City.

Senior officials said Jolie's adoption had been speeded up, partly due to her celebrity status. She filed papers in early March, although she visited last November. The length of time it takes to adopt in Vietnam varies, with an average of about six months.

Orphanage director Nguyen Van Trung said the boy had been abandoned at birth at a local hospital and has been at the orphanage since 2003.

He cried when Jolie came to the orphanage.

Bui Thi Bich Tuyen, the woman who took care of the boy there said, "he's just like the other children but maybe a bit more dynamic. He is shy with new people, he always cries."

Jolie took the boy with her to the Justice Department building in the city center to sign the adoption documents. Her car left half an hour later.

A witness said she wore a black T-shirt and black pants.

"She was very beautiful. She signed and had her photo taken," department official Dao Van Tran said outside the building.

Jolie has two adopted children and a biological daughter with partner Hollywood star Brad Pitt.

She flew into the southern Vietnamese city formerly called Saigon on Wednesday night from Japan on a chartered plane. Her son Maddox and daughters Zahara and Shiloh Nouvel accompanied her.

Jolie, 31, filed adoption papers in early March through an unidentified American agency without Pitt because under the law in Vietnam an unmarried couple cannot adopt a child, while a single person can.

Jolie and Pitt visited Ho Chi Minh City last November and met children at the orphanage.

The couple say they have no plans to marry but are committed to raising their children together. Their biological daughter, Shiloh Nouvel, was born last year. Jolie adopted Maddox from Cambodia and Zahara from Ethiopia before her relationship with Pitt, who has now become their adoptive father.

The couple starred in the 2005 movie "Mr. & Mrs. Smith."

They are also working together on the film "A Mighty Heart" about the killing of a US journalist by Pakistani militants.

Jolie won an Oscar in 1999 for best supporting actress in "Girl, Interrupted." She starred in the 2001 movie "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider" which was filmed in Cambodia, neighboring Vietnam.

Source: Reuters

HCMC Doctors File Income Tax Returns But Demand Deductions

Thirty three Ho Chi Minh City doctors filed income tax returns under orders from the tax agency but complained bitterly about not being allowed deductions even for professional expenses.

They have to pay more than VND1.3 billion (US$81,161), including VND1 billion in back taxes for 2004 and 2005.

But they were indignant that the tax department did not deduct the expenses they had incurred to improve their professional skills. They had to spend large amounts to do refresher and advanced medical courses at home and abroad, including expenses for food, travel, and lodging while abroad.

However, when they returned to Vietnam they had been asked to pay income tax straightaway without deductions for their expenses abroad.

Another matter of concern for them was that doctors in Vietnam did not enjoy occupational insurance.

They suggested launching an insurance service for doctors and making the premiums tax deductible.

The 33 doctors who filed returns include 11 from the Tropical Disease Hospital, six from the Medicine and Pharmaceuticals Hospital, five from the Orthopedics Hospital, and four from the Binh Dan Hospital.

The taxes to be paid by the top three in the list have been assessed at VND285.9 million, VND237.4 million, and VND215.6 million ($17,849, $14,821, and $13,460).

Cargill Building Animal Feed Factory In Central Vietnam

Cargill Inc. of the US is building a US$6 million plant to make animal feed in Vietnam’s central Binh Dinh Province.

The factory, based in the Long My Industrial Park, will produce 60,000 tons of cattle and poultry fodder a year mainly for the local market.

It will raise Cargill’s output in Vietnam to over 700,000 tons per year.

Cargill, a global food, agriculture, and risk management product and services provider, already has plants in the southern Dong Nai province, the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho, and Hung Yen province in the north and the new plant will take its investment in the country to over $80 million.

It also plans to start construction of another factory, its sixth, in the southern province of Dong Thap this year.

Other interests

The company has proposed a plan to the Vietnamese government for buying cocoa beans from farmers and providing them with farming technologies.

It will set up two cocoa buying centers in Dak Lak Province in the central highlands and the southern province of Ben Tre where cocoa is cultivated.

The company is also seeking the go-ahead to set up a distribution offshoot in Vietnam to supply agricultural-based products.

It hopes to sell livestock feed, farm products, fertilizers, and materials for chocolate manufacturing.

Cargill, which now operates through its representative office here, has a presence in 66 countries and annual revenues of $66 billion.

Source: Thoi bao Kinh te Vietnam,

JOLIE SLAMS PHOTOGRAPHERS AFTER TERRIFYING VIETNAM SCENE

ANGELINA JOLIE has lashed out at paparazzi who turned her new adopted son's first encounter with celebrity into a terrifying experience. The actress and her adopted Cambodian son MADDOX were leaving an orphanage outside Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam yesterday (15MAR07) with the latest addition to their family when photographers swarmed their vehicle. And Jolie, who was sickened by the extent the snappers went to get a shot of her adopted son PAX THIEN, is speaking out through her international advisor TREVOR NEILSON. In a statement released late yesterday (15MAR07), he says, "As Angelina left the orphanage they (photographers) opened the door of her car, banged on the doors and threw things under the wheels to try to get them to stop. "How would the paparazzi feel if someone was doing this to a car their child was riding in?" The chaos in the car ride away from the orphanage, from which three-year-old Pax Thien was collected by his new mum and brother, was a stark contrast to the peace in the institute, where Jolie thanked those who have been caring for her new son. The actress signed a guest book, writing, "Thank you for taking such wonderful care of my son." Jolie is now heading to Vietnamese capital Hanoi to finalise the adoption.

Vietnam Property Draws Foreign Cash, Local Talent

Vietnam is starting to draw global property investors, but many are wary about finding the right local partners as cold-war-era firms with no building experience turn themselves overnight into developers.

Foreign-run fund managers in Vietnam are talking up the huge demand for resorts, offices and homes in an export-oriented economy that was boosted by entry into the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in January.

Gross Domestic Product grew at an average 7.5 percent a year 2001-2005 and last year expanded by 8.2 percent.

The spiel is working. VinaCapital closed a $407 million property fund this month, turning away around $200 million of subscriptions, and IndoChina Capital raised $205 million last year. Now Vietnam's biggest fund manager, Dragon Capital, is following the same path.

"The demand is huge, the difficult part is commiting the capital," said Neil Thurston, associate director at Dragon Capital. "In a developing market, investors have to be creative," he said, adding that he was looking at the leisure and service sectors.

But investors new to Vietnam should do serious homework on local partners, which have turned to the property sector from activities as diverse as vehicle imports and soft drinks. Typically, Vietnamese firms have contributed land, while the foreign partner delivers the capital.

"Failures have come when wealthy local entities with land ignored advice and put up buildings in bad locations or with design defects," Thurston said.

Opaque:

In its most recent property market transparency survey, Jones Lang LaSalle puts Vietnam in its bottom, "opaque" ranking, below China and Indonesia. The consultants say reliable market information is scarce, and it is tough to obtain detailed master plans for development and navigate bureaucracy.

But property executives from around Asia meeting in Ho Chi Minh City this week were impressed by the city's verve -- especially after a nerve-jangling mass tricycle rickshaw ride among the honking Toyota SUVs on once-tranquil streets.

Some fund managers were cautious, wondering whether the heavy due diligence involved could justify the relatively small allocations they would make compared with India and China. Others said the right choice of local partner would be crucial.

"It's got great potential," said Richard Yue, chief executive of Arch Capital, which is teaming up with the Philippines' Ayala Land to raise a $250 million "opportunistic" property fund for Asia.

"But in this market you have to ally yourself to local players with access to land. It takes connections -- very much like China 15 years ago," Yue said.

Typical of the new breed of developers is Viet Nga company, part of state-owned Sovico Group, which once imported trucks from Russia before exporting rice, sugar and coffee in the United Nations-run Iraq oil-for-food programme.

The firm is now turning its hand to a five-star hotel and casino, timeshare villas, a shopping mall and an international school in the central Vietnamese city of Danang, and building a 12-storey office block in Ho Chi Minh City.

Hot:

"The real estate market in Vietnam is hot," said Nguyen Manh Tien, a deputy general director at Viet Nga who studied architecture in Moscow. "There are not enough offices or apartments, especially with so many foreign companies coming in."

Vacancy rates at top office buildings in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City are at rock bottom, and rents have jumped about 20 percent in the last two years to double Bangkok levels. But offices still give 10-12 percent yields, compared to 4-5 percent in Hong Kong or Singapore.

With almost no other outlet for investment for much of Vietnam's communist rule, land appreciated in price to such an extent that prime sites rank fourth in the world after Tokyo, London and Hong Kong.

Landowners tend to be politically well-connected.

Pham Phu Truong, vice chairman of developer Saithanh International at the age of 32, said the business was based on land bought by his father, who founded beverages firm Tribeco before representing the government in a joint venture with PepsiCo.

Saithanh is developing a $16 million resort with VinaCapital and Truong is keen to work with more foreign investors.

"They bring expertise, help us look at the market in a more professional way and know how to evaluate prices of land," Truong, an economics graduate, said. "New winds are blowing in Vietnam."

Turkish News

Vietnam Journalist Indicted For $10,000 Blackmail

Vietnamese prosecutors have just filed a charge against a journalist who was caught in December last year extorting US$10,000 from a businessman in return for covering up his alleged tax evasion.

Nguyen Hung Son, 38 of the Dien Dan Doanh Nghiep (Business Forum) newspaper in Hanoi was indicted for “extorting property” when he blackmailed two companies in the northern Hai Duong province.

He claimed he had evidence to show the two firms had evaded tariff on cars import worth billions of dong (VND1 billion = $62,500) and demanded Trinh Thang, director of Hai Van Transportation Company, one of the two firms, to pay him $10,000 or he would publish his wrongdoings in the newspaper.

Son was apprehended just as he was receiving the bribe from Thang at a coffee house.

Source: Tuoi Tre

Domestic Ad Agencies Must Improve To Gain Market Share

With rock bottom rates, domestic advertisers are between a rock and a hard place to provide the service quality of foreign rivals, who have deeper pockets and plenty of business savvy.

Ad enterprises met recently in Ho Chi Minh City to seek measures to sharpen competitiveness in the face of the foreign market domination.

According to international ad association norms, ad companies’ service fees account for 17.65 percent of the total expenditure for advertising.

Vietnamese ad firms cut the rate to between 4 percent and 6 percent in a bid to attract more clients.

Vietnam’s advertising association has urged local marketing firms to improve service quality instead of racing to cut service charges to compete with foreign rivals.

The Vietnam Advertising Association (VAA)’s figures showed that said some 20 foreign advertisers with representative offices in Vietnam hold 80 percent of the market.

Vietnam’s 3,000 domestic advertising companies take home just 20 percent of the industry’s US$1 billion in annual revenue.

Domestic disadvantages

Foreign companies hold the monopoly on the more lucrative full service advertising contracts, as domestic companies have yet to ink one.

However, foreign ad companies often sub-contract parts of the full service deals to domestic firms.

Some 50 -100 out of the local 3,000 advertisers run their business activities in the true sense of advertising, according to the VAA.

The remainder only offer menial services like setting up public relation events and expositions.

VAA’s survey found that designing logos for company trademarks was the most important task in advertising, yet few domestic companies understood the craft.

Vietnam, to date, is without a school dedicated to advertising, meaning companies must train their own employees.

The result is often major gaps in domestic staff knowledge compared to those from multinationals trained overseas.

Additionally, domestic manufacturers and service businesses are also unaware of the usefulness of a good advertising company.

Some businesses entrust their entire trademark development strategy to advertising companies, just paying the money and ignoring anything to do with the process.

On the other hand, international firms often submit ideas or constraints to be maintained in a logo or advertising plan to foreign advertisement companies once making investments in Vietnam.

Effective partners like Coca-Cola and Mc Cain or Unilever and advertiser J.W.Thompson work together to refresh the image they present to clients to increase sales.

Advertising companies also complained of feeling "harassed" by the advertising regulations of local governments, including ‘forbidden’ outdoor signage and time-consuming licensing procedures.

An insufficient legal framework also hinders the development of the domestic advertising industry, according to an advertisement company.

The advertisement sector is forecast to grow at between 20 and 30 percent annually, suggesting an influx of even more foreign companies to profit from new ad contracts. Thanh Nien

Two Nabbed In Vietnam For Forging Customs Papers, Illegal Import

Police in Ho Chi Minh City arrested two businessmen Monday for faking documents and spiriting away four containers of contraband from the US from right under the noses of customs officials.

They said Tran Xuan Duc and Tran Lan Huong, both directors of city private companies, had produced documents bearing forged seals and signatures of customs officials to take away used medical equipment whose import into Vietnam is controlled.

The containers had been blacklisted by customs officials for lacking the special permits needed to import secondhand medical equipment.

Although the Customs Office Region 1 based in the city even assigned two teams to watch over the contraband and arrest anyone showing up to collect them, Duc and Huong used their faked contracts to somehow take them away on February 13.

Alarmed that the containers were removed despite the surveillance, customs investigated and discovered the containers had been transported to a company in district 4.

But the company was still closed for the Lunar New Year holiday and officials had to wait a week to search its warehouses. Only 72 out of a total 329 healthcare items including specialized beds, stainless steel shelves, medical carts, treadmills, ultrasonic scanners, heart equipment, respirators, and radiograph machines remained unsold and the officials seized them.

Three other businesspeople, Tran Tien Thinh, 51, Phan Thanh Hoa, 57, and Pham Thi Thuy, 30, have been identified as importing the containers and were apprehended earlier this month. Thanh Nien

Four Foreign Firms Hit By Wildcat Strike In Southern Vietnam

Over 4,000 workers walked out over low pay Monday at four foreign companies in the southern Vietnamese province of Dong Nai and are continuing to strike work at three of the firms.

The workers of the Singapore-owned Asia Garments returned to work after the company agreed to raise their salary by 7 percent pay a monthly allowance of VND50,000 (US$3.1).

Workers at the Taiwanese-owned textile company, All Super, complained not only about low wages but also about being forced to work up to 1,000 hours overtime a year which is five times higher than allowed by the Labor Law.

The company wanted workers not only to work Sundays but also to forego all leave if there were contracts.

At a mediation session brokered by the local labor union, the company promised to reduce overtime and not to work Sundays.

But since it only agreed to raise wages by 3-3.5 percent, the workers rejected the proposal and continued their strike.

The managers of Japanese-owned Haranda company also refused a significant raise.

Another Japanese company, the chemical manufacturer Mitani, decided to give its workers a 15-day holiday to “discuss and settle the situation”.

In another Dong Nai-based foreign company, Hong Kong’s Peaktop, where over 740 workers began a strike earlier, it continued into the fourth day Monday after the management refused to raise their wages by more than 5 percent.

Some 15,000 workers have taken part in 16 walkouts, mostly wildcat strikes, in the province since January.

In Vietnam, strikes that do not go through labor unions are illegal.

A wave of strikes hit foreign-owned companies across southern Vietnam last year, with tens of thousands of workers participating.

The government has, since, increased the minimum wage at foreign firms by 25 percent. Thanh Nien

Vietnam Feb Car Sales Surge Amid Equity Windfalls

Vietnam's car sales rose 58.6 percent on year last month on demand linked to a surge in the stock market and subsequent capital gains for the country's growing investor class, Dow Jones Newswire reported Tuesday.

The report quoted the Vietnam Automobile Manufacturers' Association as saying that 2,992 cars had been sold last month, up from 1,886 in February last year.

On month, however, sales were down 36.6 percent from 4,722 units in January, when car companies gave various incentives to local buyers in advance of the Lunar New Year holidays.

The sales figures include both domestically produced and imported automobiles.

Dow Jones quoted analysts as saying sales rose because of strong buying by stock market investors who saw the average value of their shares rise more than 45 percent in the first two month this year.

"Thousands of people have reportedly made huge fortunes in the recent months, prompting them to buy new house and cars to show their new wealth," said automobile analyst Le Thang from Ho Chi Minh City.

According to government data issued earlier, Vietnam imported 1,400 assembled cars valued at $28 million in the first two months this year, down 9 percent on year by volume and down 2.6 percent by value.

Imports of cars and car parts together were worth $74 million, down 6.7 percent on year.

Vietnam has four major automotive joint ventures between local and foreign firms: VMC, Vina Star, Vidamco and Mekong.

The following is a breakdown of the auto sales figures:

	Jan-Feb '07	% change
Toyota	2,193	+49
VMC (including BMW,
Mazda and Kia)	143	+249
Vina Star (including
Mitsubishi and Proton)	580	+634
Vidamco (Daewoo)	738	+243
Ford	713	+30
Daihatsu	98	+81
Mercedes	167	+161
Isuzu	271	+62
Mekong (including Fiat,
Iveco and S-Young)	110	+6
Suzuki	223	+57
Hino	173	+154
Samco	85	+52
Truong Hai	998	+86
Vinacoal	17	-32
Vinaxuki	484	+159
Honda	721	N.A.

Source: Dow Jones Newswires

Vietnam Province Earmarks $13.8mln For Tea Cultivation

Lam Dong province in Vietnam’s central highlands has approved a project to cultivate and process high-quality tea at a cost of over VND221 billion (US$13.8 million).

The three-year project will attempt to attract more domestic and foreign investments to cultivate an additional 1,300 hectares of tea, especially high-quality and special varieties like Kim Tuyen, Tu Quy, and O Long, all originally from China and Taiwan.

Five more tea processing factories will be built.

Several companies, many of them Taiwanese, have already entered the business, growing over 2,000 ha of high-quality teas.

Each hectare of these special varieties fetches VND200-250 million ($12,492-15,615) per year from exports, ten times higher than traditional Vietnamese varieties.

Source: Tuoi Tre

Over 2.5mil Motorbikes To Be Purchased In 2007

Motorbike consumption is on the rise, and it is estimated that more than 2.5mil motorbikes will be sold this year.

According to the Vietnam Association of Bicycle and Motorcycle Production (Vinacycle), in 2006, manufacturers sold 2.2mil units, and in the first two months of this year the number of sold bicycles was 150,000 units higher than the same period last year.

Four motorbike joint ventures, including Honda Vietnam, Yamaha Vietnam, Suzuki Vietnam and SYM sold 174,000 units in January, up by 29%, and 128,000 units in February, up by 28%, compared to the same periods last year. Honda Vietnam and Yamaha Vietnam saw the biggest increases in sales. Honda Vietnam sold 175,000 units, up by 41% over the same period last year (124,000 units), while Yamaha sold 100,000 units, or 33,000 units more than February 2006. Meanwhile, Suzuki Vietnam saw sales down with only 10,000 units sold in the first two months of the year, while the figure was 15,000 units in the first two months of 2006.

Dinh Ngo Tuan, Marketing Director of Yamaha Vietnam, said that the north and the central region were the two markets which had seen the biggest sales increases this year, at 30% and 40% respectively.

Domestic owned manufacturers have also seen satisfactory sales. Do Quang Hien, Chairman of T&T, said that the sales growth rate of the company was 10% in January and February. Meanwhile, Hoa Lam Kimco has reported the sales growth rate of 50% for scooters.

In fact, many people did not buy motorbikes in the last months of 2006 as they hoped motorbike prices would go down after Vietnam joined the WTO. Now they are rushing to buy motorbikes as they have not seen any price decreases.

In addition, the consumption level is increasing because of the higher demand for motorbikes. With the newly enacted regulations on easing the procedures for motorbike registration, immigrant students and workers, who live in cities, can also register their motorbikes. Meanwhile, in the central region, coffee and seafood price increases can bring higher profit to farmers, who then spend money on motorbikes.

Experts said that the motorbike market would still see further growth in the time to come, estimated at 25%, partially because of the hot stock market, where many investors can get big profit. Moreover, buyers will rush to buy motorbikes soon as it is said that state agencies will raise taxes and registration fees.

According to Kenichi Ohno, Prof from the Japan Policy Research Institute, the demand for motorbikes in rural and mountainous areas is very high. Japanese experts said that Vietnam’s motorbike market would still be growing in 10 years. The market will be saturated when there are 30mil rolling motorbikes and the population reaches 100mil.

The professor said that the conclusion was made after considering what happened in Thailand. In this country, the market became saturated when there was a motorbike for every 2.5 persons. By that time in Vietnam, many people would have switched to driving cars, and the motorbike industry scaled down its production.

Michael Jackson Possible Visit To Vietnam

Michael Jackson with Japanese Admirer.

Michael Jackson arrived in Japan on Sunday for his second visit in recent years to host an exclusive party where admirers pay $3,500 dollars to dine and spend 30 seconds face-to-face with the pop icon.

A smiling, relaxed-looking Jackson wearing sun glasses and a black leather jacket was ushered by guards past hundreds of screaming fans at Narita Airport on Sunday afternoon. Some carried signs that read "We love Michael" and "Welcome to Japan."

Jackson will also host a fan art contest while in Tokyo for those who cannot afford VIP tickets, organizer Broderick Morris said in an e-mail.

"Over the years, as Michael Jackson has performed in cities around the world, he has been pleased, honored, and impressed by the large amount of fan art of him," said Morris. "He would like to meet fan artists, and more fully appreciate and enjoy their creative expressions."

Three winning artists chosen by Jackson will have brunch with the star and their picture taken together.

Jackson's VIP meet-and-greet party was scheduled for Thursday, with the fan art contest on Friday. It was not clear when Jackson would leave Japan. Discussions has prompted possible visits to other Southeastern Asia including Vietnam.

Jackson, 48, is not obligated to perform at either event, and promoters would not say how much he would be paid.

Xinhua News

World Longest Cable Car System Inaugurated

Inauguration ceremony

After 15 months of construction, the world longest sea cable car system, Vinpearl, was inaugurated on March 10 in Nha Trang City, Khanh Hoa Province.

Officials of Khanh Hoa Province, representatives of the HCM City People’s Committee, Vietnam Airlines, Vincom Group and many visitors attended the inauguration ceremony.

Vinperar is the first sea-crossing cable car system in Vietnam, which link Nha Trang beach city to Vinpearl Land resort in central Khanh Hoa province.

The Vinpearl cable car system is 3,310m long, with seven sea pillars of 55-64m high. The departure station is built at the Phu Quy tourist port in the An Vien tourism zone. The incoming station is in the Vinpearl Land Park on Hon Tre Island.

The Vinpearl cable car system, possibly the longest in the world, with 65 cabins, is capable of carrying 1,500 passengers per hour.

A round ticket is priced at VND100,000 (US$6.25). VNN

Vatican Dignitaries Conclude Vietnam Visit

A Vatican delegation led by Monsignor Pietro Parolin, the Vatican Under-Secretary of State for Relations with States, paid a working visit to Vietnam from March 5 to March 11.

The Vatican representatives' annual working visit was made following the approval of Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung.

During the visit, the Vatican dignitaries held working sessions with a Vietnamese delegation headed by Nguyen The Doanh, Vice Head of the Government Committee for Religious Affairs. The Vietnamese delegation was accompanied by officials from the Foreign Ministry.

At these working sessions, the Vietnamese side introduced to the Vatican representatives the country's renewal achievements in the fields of economy, culture, social affairs and diplomacy over the past years, especially 2006.

They also informed the Vatican guests of the Vietnamese State 's policy that respects and ensures the freedom of beliefs and religious practices for citizens.

They highlighted the country's immense gains made from the implementation of the policy regarding unity and further policies designed for religion in Vietnamese society in general and for Catholicism in particular.

The Vatican officials spoke highly of the achievements that Vietnam has obtained during the course of development and renewal process.

They congratulated the country for its admission to the World Trade Organisation and welcomed positive outcomes Vietnam has achieved in all domains of society, including religious affairs.

The Vietnamese and Vatican officials discussed a number of issues concerning the Viet Nam Catholic Church and other matters of mutual concern.

They agreed that the meeting between Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and Pope Benedict XVI and other Vatican senior officials on January 25, 2007 was an important event in the relations between Vietnam and the Vatican.

The Vietnamese side welcomed all initiatives proposed by the two sides that aimed at boosting the relationship between Vietnam and the Vatican for the sake of peace, stability, and development.

The Vietnamese side also suggested that the diplomatic agencies of both sides meet to discuss the bilateral ties.

In a follow-up step, a joint expert team, including representatives of both sides, will be established to exchange, study and unify proposals regarding fundamental principals of this relations, the Vietnamese side said.

The Vietnamese side underlined that the team will also work on measures and specific steps to make the Vietnam-Vatican relations develop in a more appropriate and positive manner in the future to be mutually beneficial to the best extent possible.

The Vatican officials positively acknowledged Vietnam's proposals.

These working sessions took place in an atmosphere of openness, construction and mutual respect.

During their stay in Vietnam, the Vatican representatives met with representatives of the Viet Nam Episcopal Council of the Viet Nam Catholic Church.

They paid a courtesy visit to the Chairman of the National Assembly's Committee for External Relations and met with officials from the Foreign Ministry and the Party Central Committee's Commission for External Relations.

The Vatican dignitaries were received by Vu Mao, Chairman of the National Assembly's Committee for External Relations, Le Cong Phung, Standing Deputy Foreign Minister and Pham Xuan Son, Deputy Chairman of the Party Central Committee's Commission for External Relations.

They also called at the People's Committee of central coastal Binh Dinh Province, the office of the Bishop of Quy Nhon Diocese and attended Mass held at the main Church and the church of Go Thi parish in Binh Dinh Province.

The Vatican representatives also visited the People's Committees of the Central Highlands provinces of Kon Tum and Gia Lai, and the office of the Bishop of Kon Tum Diocese. They also attended Mass at the Kon Tum Church and the church of Ploichuet parish in Gia Lai Province.

Also during their visit of Vietnam, the Vatican dignitaries made a tour of the world heritage site of Ha Long Bay and attended Mass organised at the Hon Gai parish's church in Quang Ninh Province.

At these localities, the Vatican officials were welcomed solemnly by provincial leaders, officials of relevant agencies, bishops, priests, clergymen and followers.

(Source: VNA)

Ba Ria - Vung Tau: 8 Tonnes Of Oil Collected From Beaches

The southern city of Vung Tau, Ba Ria Vung Tau Province, Sunday mobilized nearly 2,000 residents to collect more than 8 tonnes of oil from its beaches.

On the same day, the provincial People’s Committee asked related agencies to take measures to deal with oil spills to restrict its impacts on aquaculture, salt production and salt-marsh forests.

The local Environmental Observation and Analysis Centre also took water and oil samples for testing to define the pollution level.

Le Minh Long, Vung Tau City’s Vice Chairman, said that oil began to conquer the city’s coast in the evening of March 9. Oil then spread to 10km of coast from Nghinh Phong to Cua Lap.

The reason is not defined yet, but it is highly possible the consequence of the illegal cleaning of tank boats or from oil exploration activities.

Ba Ria - Vung Tau has reported the situation to related ministries and agencies. It has also asked the cooperation from the Vietnam Oil and Gas Corporation (PetroVietnam) to seek the reason and measures to deal with the problem.

Tuoi Tre

Southern Resort City Falls Prey To Oil Slick, Source Unknown

An unidentified oil spill on Sunday darkened local beaches in Vung Tau City, 120km northeast of Ho Chi Minh City, with cleanup efforts reportedly retrieving around 8 tons of oil.

The slick appeared in Vung Tau Saturday and began to densely blacken its coasts a day later.

It greased 10km of coast stretching from the Nghinh Phong Cape to Cua Lap tourist site, where tourists usually show up in droves on weekends.

Besides, coastal districts of Long Dien and Dat Do were also plagued by the spill.

The cleanup, conducted by some 2,000 locals, has so far recovered around 8 tons of spilled oil.

The cause of the slick has yet to be ascertained. But there are grounds to attribute the spill to illegal oil discharge from seafaring oil tankers or a leak in offshore oilrigs, Tuoi Tre newspaper reported.

Oil samples have been collected for further analysis.

The provincial administration said they would seek support from the Vietnam Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam) to determine the source and tackle the spill.

Local authorities also instructed agencies concerned to keep a close eye on the impact of the slick in the ecological vicinity and other affected industries like fisheries and salt production.

Source: Thanh Nien

A Market With A Past

December 19 market in Hanoi is smaller than other markets in the city but it’s very well stocked with fresh vegetables and fruit of high quality plus it’s steeped in history.

During the resistance war against the French colonialists in 1946 the small market was located along a short street next to Hanoi’s Supreme Court that connected Ly Thuong Kiet with Hai Ba Trung street.

Under French colonial rule the street was first known as Rue Simoni, the name of the French officer, who was appointed Resident Superior in the North of Vietnam during 1909-1912, then it became Le Chan street in 1945-1946.

In 1946-1947, at the height of the fighting between the resistance movement and French regime, the street was home to a tomb for the people who died in places around Hang Bong street and Cua Nam crossroads.

According to Phan Khanh, the Vice Chairman of Thang Long-Hanoi Association of Cultural Heritages Preservation, during the war against the US the market was a simple place of trade, which started after some sellers moved from Hang Da and Hang Be markets to avoid bombing. It was dubbed Am Phu (which means the Underworld, like Hades) at the time.

Over the years the market has became more popular and officially became Cho 19/12 in 1982. This auspicious date is when the War of Resistance against the colonial French officially started, led of course by then President Ho Chi Minh. In 1986, remains of the dead people were removed to another cemetery. The street since then has also been named December 19 street to mark the national war of resistance against the French colonialists and as a tribute to the people who died during the war.

But, despite the grim history, today the market is just a typical place. Perhaps not of interest for foreigners shopping for their Sunday roast, the market is famous for its dog meat! About 500-1,000kg of dog meat arrives at the market every day.

Aware of the history beneath their feet, if you visit the market, you will see vendors burning incense all day long in the hope that the dead people once buried at the market will bless them. Timeout

Police Bust Gambling Den, 121 Detained

Police in northern Vietnam’s Ha Tay province Sunday busted a large casino and detained 121 gamblers, seized over VND1 billion (US$62,500) and dozens of cars and motorbikes.

Police said the casino in Thach That district is the largest in the province.

Gambling is illegal in Vietnam except for one casino in Hai Phong city in the north where only foreigners are allowed.

Vietnam Promotes Exports of Dragon Fruit

The Trade Promotion Department under the Ministry of Trade is carrying out a program to promote the export of dragon fruits to the European market – a large consumer for this sweet and nutritious fruit.

Dragon fruit is a key fruit export item of Vietnam beside durian, pomelo, mango, litchi, longan and pineapple.

The country plans to cultivate dragon fruit trees on 14,300 hectares by 2010 with southern Binh Thuan having the largest area, yielding an estimated output of 236,500 tons of fruits.

As of late 2006, farmers in Binh Thuan province reportedly planted more than 7,000 ha of dragon fruit trees, of which 5,000ha are currently producing fruit.

The province plans to expand the area to 11,277ha by 2010, producing 350,000 tons. Some 30-40 per cent of the fruit will be earmarked for export, with total expected earnings of US$30-40 million.

Last year, dragon fruit-growing Ham Minh Cooperative based in Binh Thuan was awarded the certification of European Retail Produce Good Agricultural Practices (EurepGap) after implementing a project funded by the US Agency for International Development (USAID).

Dragon fruit is also grown in large areas in the southwestern region, especially Long An and Tien Giang provinces.

Vietnamese dragon fruit growers are working to implement EurepGap standards in their fields.

Vietnam & World Economy

Red Tape Blocks Door To Viet Kieu Housing Requirements

Since the government opened the domestic housing market to Vietnamese expats in 2001, few have purchased houses due to restricted regulations, even with amendments to the directive governing the process.

Tuoi Tre newspaper quoted an investment company as saying that with around 100,000 overseas Vietnamese seeking to buy houses worth US$100,000 each, state coffers could profit to the tune of $10 billion.

Not only would the domestic real estate market benefit, but it would also help woo back highly skilled human resources living abroad, an official said.

To date, only 100 Viet Kieu have attained the eligibility to buy houses in the country over the past five years, the Ministry of Industry reported.

The root cause of the problem has been attributed to dated regulations that have yet to be approved governing house purchases for Vietnamese expats.

With the directive issued in 2001 making available houses for a certain number of overseas Vietnamese, houses have only been sold to investors and scientists, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Natural Resources and Environment reported.

Though the government amended the directive last October, stipulating Vietnamese expats residing in Vietnam more than six months would be allowed to buy houses, the situation has shown no signs of improvement.

Agencies concerned said they faced difficulty due to the lack of government scripted and issued circulars guiding the specification of the residence period in Vietnam of those expatriates, resulting in the failure to implement the amended directive.

Viet Kieu also continue to complain about superfluous formalities in the process guided by the new directive that discourage them from purchasing houses.

Despite the issuance of the directive, Vietnamese agencies still adhere to the original when dealing with applications of house purchase of overseas Vietnamese. Tuoi Tre

Vietnam Determined To Bolster Relations With Cuba: Party Leader

The Communist Party and people of Vietnam are committed to strengthening ties with Cuba, party General Secretary Nong Duc Manh told his visiting Cuban counterpart in Hanoi Thursday.

Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba Central Committee (CPCCC), Fernando Remirez, who is also head of the CPCCC's Department for External Relations, told his host that Cuba would strive to take Vietnam-Cuba relations to new heights.

He conveyed an invitation to Manh from President Fidel Castro and Vice President Raul Castro to visit Cuba.

Manh praised the Cuban people’s achievements under the CPC leadership despite the “unfair” embargo imposed by the US and thanked the CPC and the Cuban people for their support for and solidarity with Vietnam.

Fernando and his staff earlier had a meeting with Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Gia Khiem.

Source: VNA

Hanoi Losses VND1bil/Day Due To Pollution

Hanoi suffers loss of around VND1 billion (US$62,500) per day because of air pollution, mainly caused by exhaust gas from motorbikes, according to the Labour Health Institute.

All types of toxic gas at Vietnamese cities have exceeded the acceptable standards, reported a workshop entitled “Programme to control exhaust gas from motorbikes and cars in big cities: international experience and the conditions in Vietnam” held in Hanoi by the Vietnam Registration Agency and the Vietnam - Switzerland clean air project.

Dust and smoke pollution measured at some places in Hanoi nearly reach the smoke and fog pollution in London in 1952, which killed thousands of people, said Michael Walsh from the International Council for Clean Traffic (ICCT).

Le Anh Tu from the Vietnam Registration Agency said that toxic gases like HC, Co, SO2, CO2, NOx in the air of Vietnamese cities highly exceed the acceptable levels, even over two times higher at some places.

Losses caused by exhaust gas from motorbikes is more than $50 million in HCM City and over $20 million in Hanoi, according to research. Notably, the losses is increasing, accounting for 0.3-0.6% of GDP of Hanoi, while the number of motorbikes is also rising, up to 18 million last year.

The Vietnam Registration Agency has proposed three groups of measures to control exhaust gas, particularly exhaust gas discharged by motorbikes. However, it is very difficult to control exhaust gas from motorbikes since the number of motorbikes in Vietnam is too high.

Lao Dong

Thien Viet’s Share Prices Plunge

Shareholders of Thien Viet Securities Company are now on tenterhooks after the Goldman Sachs’ representative confirmed that the group does not have any official association with Thien Viet.

Thien Viet’s shares (TVSC) prices have dropped dramatically in the last few days, when there were a lot of offers for sale and very few advertisements for purchasing.

While only a few investors are seeking to purchase TVSC at VND11-12,000/share, the lowest offered selling price is at VND25,000/share.

The information from sanotc.com, the online OTC share trading floor, showed that on March 4 and 6, only seven transactions of TVSC were successful, under which, the shares were traded at VND12-20,000/share.

Meanwhile, the shares were traded at VND60-70,000/share a couple of weeks ago, when the information about cooperation between Thien Viet and Goldman Sachs was released. The highest TVSC price level once was 6-7 folds higher than the nominal value.

In general, the stock market boom has led to the sharp increase of share prices, both in the official and OTC (over the counter) markets. Hoang Anh Gia Lai, for example, has seen the price increase by several tens times compared to the face value.

However, the case of Thien Viet proves to be quite different. The company has not been well known until the information about the cooperation with Goldman Sachs was released. Only on December 25, 2006 did the company receive the operation license from the State Securities Commission (SSC).

Experts said that the share of a little known company such as Thien Viet, would not have been sold at the price six to seven folds higher than the nominal value, if there had not been the news about the cooperation with Goldman Sachs.

The expectations put by investors on Thien Viet shares sharply increased when they heard about the news, which also implied that Goldman Sachs would make investment in the company.

The experts said that the decreases of TVSC will not affect Thien Viet founding shareholders much as they are not allowed to sell shares at the first phase of operation. “Only the individual investors will suffer most,” they said.

Vietnam Bridges Ideological Divide

Japan and North Korea chose the Vietnamese capital, Hanoi, as the venue for their delicate talks on normalising relations after decades of hostility.

Their choice has highlighted Vietnam's policy of simultaneously courting capitalism while maintaining ties with its one-time communist allies.

Japanese companies are some of the largest investors in Vietnam. Canon, for example, makes half its computer printers here.

Sachio Kageyama, the director of Canon Vietnam, says the company chose Vietnam for obvious reasons.

"Firstly, there's a very stable political situation here plus very stable economic growth and also a very intelligent workforce. These are big advantages in Vietnam."

Partly to facilitate such investment, the Japanese government is one of the biggest donors to Vietnam - building the country's biggest road and railway bridges.

But at the same time many parts of Vietnam's communist system maintain friendly links with countries who were once allies against what they regarded as Western imperialism, among them North Korea.

Last month, Vietnam's ministry of defence presented a bouquet of flowers and a special card to the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-il.

The army regularly sends comradely greetings to Pyongyang.

But perhaps something of greater geo-political significance was the discovery, last July, of 10 North Korean accounts at Vietnamese banks.

Reports at the time suggested that most of them were held at the army-owned Vietnam Military Bank.

The US Treasury's Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, Stuart Levey, visited Hanoi.

Significantly, when they were faced with the choice of losing US support for their membership of the World Trade Organisation or ratting on an ally in communism, Vietnam's leadership chose the WTO and closed the bank accounts.

Arms purchases

When it comes to security, though, Vietnam's main allies continue to lie in the former communist bloc.

Until 2002, there were still Russian troops based at the Cam Ranh naval base in the south of the country.

The hearts of many in Vietnam's administration may still lie in socialist brotherhood but their financial heads face firmly in the opposite direction

Despite their withdrawal, Vietnam continues to rely on Russia for most of its arms purchases.

The country is currently spending more than $1bn on new missiles, warships and other military from Russian suppliers.

But perhaps more sinister is the recently-announced internal security training programme between Vietnam and Belarus.

In January, the head of Belarus's interior ministry, Vladimir Naumov, was invited to Vietnam to discuss plans for future co-operation.

On his return he said that Vietnam was interested in acquiring "special technical materials" from Belarus - a phrase the authorities there use to describe crowd-control equipment such as truncheons, tear gas, electric shock weapons and personal armour.

When asked why, of all the countries in Europe offering police training, Vietnam had chosen the one with the worst human rights record, the government spokesman, Le Dzung, was frank.

"The co-operation against terrorism requires us to diversify our co-operation and learn from the experiences and lessons from as many countries as possible," he told a news conference last week.

"Anti-terrorism is a technical issue that has nothing to do with human rights."

Special bond

But there is much more to Vietnam's ties with its former communist allies than security.

Central and Eastern Europe is home to tens of thousands of Vietnamese who went to work or study there during the Cold War and never went home.

The legacy can be seen in Hanoi in the long queues outside the visa offices of the Czech and Polish embassies, among others.

None of the people the BBC spoke to outside the Czech embassy were willing to give their names for fear of jeopardising their visa applications, but their stories show how long-established the ties are.

"I studied in Ukraine and worked in the Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia," said one middle-aged man. "And I'm here today to get a visa to visit my wife and children who have been living in Prague for the past eight years."

Several women who were at the front of the queue were hoping to find work in the Czech Republic and all had friends who were already employed in factories or homes there.

Even today Vietnam feels a special bond with those countries that supported it during the war against the US-backed south and with leftist parties around the world.

Fidel Castro of Cuba is highly regarded, as is Hugo Chavez of Venezuela. But in both these cases - feelings of comradely unity can be trumped by the motivation of hard cash.

Cuba, Venezuela and Vietnam have recently announced a joint venture to make fluorescent lights.

But the quantity of investment pales into insignificance when compared to the amount of US, Japanese, South Korean and Taiwanese cash currently flowing into Vietnam.

The hearts of many in Vietnam's administration may still lie in socialist brotherhood but their financial heads face firmly in the opposite direction. BBC

Five Face Charges After Kidnapping At Gunpoint, $10mln Ransom

Phan Duc Binh (L)

Police are seeking charges against five men arrested last December for an armed kidnapping of a wealthy Ho Chi Minh City resident, demanding a ransom of US$10 million on his life.

Police asked the city Prosecutor’s Office to press charges of “kidnapping” and “possession and trading of military arms” for mastermind Pham Duc Binh, 35, and similar charges for four collaborators, most of whom are in their late 20s.

After the five kidnapped Tram Trong Ngan, son of Tram Be in Binh Tan District, they took him to a hotel in southern Ba Ria-Vung Tau province and kept him there one night before being caught the day after.

Earlier this year, Be was listed in a local newspaper as one of the richest persons in Vietnam.

Police have since seized five guns, two grenades, and 350 bullets.

Binh, a close associate of Vietnam’s most notorious underworld boss Nam Cam for more than 10 years, was sentenced to three years’ forced labor in 2001 and after being released in early 2004, opened a bar in the city.

Nam Cam was executed in 2004.

Binh’s four collaborators are all ex-convicts.

Deputy Trade Minister, Son To Stand Trial Next Week, 21 Summoned

A Ho Chi Minh City `court – set to try 14 defendants including a former deputy trade minister and his son next week for bribery involving stateside garment shipments – has summoned 21 people to the trial.

Former deputy minister of trade Mai Van Dau, 65 and 13 other defendants, including his son, will be brought to trial March 13. Dau is charged with receiving bribes of US$6,000 from textile companies to grant them quotas.

His son Mai Thanh Hai, also a ministry official, is to be tried for accepting $35,000 in bribes and for using a fake university diploma to secure his ministry post.

Le Van Thang, former deputy director of the ministry's Import-export Department, is to be tried for taking bribes of $18,000.

Witnesses, persons with interests involved

Others summoned to testify, a source said, are Dau’s wife Nguyen Dien Hong, businessmen and trade officials initially indicted who have had charges dropped because they cooperated in the case.

Among them are Dang Vu Quang, who brokered a bribe of VND560 million (US$35,000) to Hai, Tsang Tak Lung, director of Leader One Limited company, We Chun Te, of Lawn Yard Co., Chou Ming Chen of De Vuong Co., and Nguyen Duc Chinh, of Qualitex Co.

The Supreme Prosecutor’s Office recently asked the government to discipline 7 officials involved in the quota scam – but not to the point of criminal liability – including senior officials from the northern Hai Phong city. They include Do Cuong Thanh, director of the city trade department, Dan Duc Hiep, deputy director of the planning and investment department and Nguyen Dinh Quan, head of the export processing and industrial zone authority.

The charges arise from their alleged efforts to violate quotas on textile and garment exports to the US, which were capped at US$1.7 billion a year in 2003, when the crimes are alleged to have occurred.

Under the quota system, textile and garment firms in Vietnam had individual caps on the amounts they could sell each year.

The defendants — business executives and government officials — are accused of offering or accepting bribes so that companies could increase their share of the US$1.7 billion. Thanh Nien

Vinamilk Vies To Become Vietnam's First Foreign Listing

Company execs have announced Vietnam's largest dairy products company, Vinamilk, plans to float 5 percent of its shares on the Singapore stock exchange by the end of this year.

The company – the second largest listed on the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange – said in a statement on Thursday that it will offer 8.85 million new shares in the Singapore listing, but did not say how much money it expected to raise.

Mai Kieu Lien, the company's chief executive said the overseas listing must still be approved at a shareholders meeting on March 31.

The decision comes amid an aggressive courtship of Vietnamese authorities by many foreign stock markets, such as Singapore, Hong Kong, Seoul and even Prague, all seeking to secure listings from companies operating in one of Asia's fastest-growing economies.

But in mid-December, Singapore appeared to get a leg up on its rivals, announcing it had reached an exclusive deal with the Vietnamese government to help it modernize its capital markets.

Kevin Snowball, director of PXP Vietnam Asset Management said the move by Vinamilk, which is still 50.1 percent state owned, is just "testing the waters" to see the reception for Vietnamese companies in foreign markets, though he suggested it was a "pretty expensive" move for the company.

"The Vietnamese authorities have had people knocking on their doors extolling the virtues of listing Viet companies on a more developed stock exchange," he said.

"It is our opinion that Vietnam is developing into a proper exchange itself and doesn't really need this," he said. "But it's obviously just a test to see what happens."

Yet it remains to be seen whether Singaporean investors will be as enthusiastic about the company as investors at home.

Vinamilk - which produces dairy products, juices and other beverages and has a 75 percent market share - is currently trading on the domestic stock exchange at a price that's 43 times 2006 earnings, and 32 times projected 2007 earnings.

Vietnam's stock market, which rose 144 percent in 2006, is up another 50 percent so far this year. The market frenzy has alarmed Vietnamese authorities, who have been considering measures t