High-Priced Prostitution Ring Broken Up In HCMC

Chu Hoang Thao Tram

Ho Chi Minh City police raided the Quang Hotel in District 1 Tuesday, cracking a major prostitution ring that provided women for affluent clients and arrested its leader, who also worked as a prostitute.

Chu Hoang Thao Tram, 29, who was caught red-handed "entertaining" a customer in the raid, had allegedly supplied girls to wealthy businessmen at USD $100 per customer.

Besides, Tram also procured prostitutes for clients on business trips or travel tours in other provinces at up to USD $500 a person.

Tram admitted in her statement to police that she regularly scoured bars and discotheques in districts 1 and 3 as well as northern Vietnamese provinces for beautiful girls to entice them to work for her ring.

Of sex workers hired by Tram, there were even university students and, wryly enough, men who had undergone gender-conversion surgeries.

Further investigations would be continuing, the police said.

Elsewhere, the police also smashed Tuesday another prostitution ring in Rach Gia town in southern Kien Giang province.

The ring, organized by 27-year-old Thai Thanh Long, had clandestinely carried on prostitution activities since January 2006.

Eight people involved, including pimps and procurers, were under police custody pending further investigations.

Prostitution is illegal in Vietnam.

US Training Ship Rolls Into Da Nang For 4-Day Visit

A US maritime training ship docked at the Tien Sa Port on May 31, kicking off its four day visit to central Da Nang city.

Crew from the Golden Bear which works under the California Maritime Academy (CMA), are also expected to hand out a package of charitable goods worth 55,000 USD to local maternity and paediatric hospitals.

The package includes a mobile dental therapy surgery, incubators and a blood-pumping machine that is used in open-heart surgeries.

A training agreement will also be signed between CMA and the Viet Nam Maritime University.

Female Tennis Player Earns Modest ITF Ranking

Vietnamese tennis player Nguyen Thuy Dung has for the first time in her career made the International Tennis Federation world rankings.

The Vietnam News Agency reported from Ho Chi Minh Cith that Dung now has the modest achievement of being 1,372nd in the world, which she earned after competing in key competition on the women’s international tennis circuit, including two pro-tournaments in Thailand.

Dung is currently training in Ho Chi Minh City under the guidance of coach Tran Duc Quynh.

In early June, she will begin training in Thailand before jetting off to compete in Japan.

Over 100 Business Execs To Accompany Vietnam President To US

Spokesman Le Dzung

Executives from more than 100 Vietnamese firms will accompany President Nguyen Minh Triet during his proposed visit to the US, a business chamber official said in Hanoi Tuesday.

Pham Gia Tuc, general secretary of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), said over 130 businesses had registered to accompany the president and the number was expected to rise.

However, priority would be given to enterprises that had set up joint ventures or inked large deals with US partners, Tuc told a meeting organized by the VCCI and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Earlier foreign ministry spokesman Le Dzung told reporters at a press briefing in Hanoi Monday that a ministry delegation would visit the US this month to prepare for Triet’s visit.

US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, Christopher Hill, had also discussed the preparations with the Vietnamese side during his visit to the country last week, Dzung said.

President Bush made a bilateral visit to Vietnam last November while he was in the country for an Asia-Pacific leaders’ summit.

Triet’s visit, the schedule for which is to be fixed yet, will be his first to the US since becoming President last June.

Vietnamese Party Chief’s Visit A Milestone: Da Silva

The Vietnamese party chief’s visit to Brazil marks a milestone in the history of bilateral relations, which will facilitate further improvements of comprehensive cooperation, the Brazilian president has said.

In a meeting with General Secretary Nong Duc Manh in Brasilia Tuesday, President Lula da Silva also said that Brazil was studying Vietnam’s valuable experiences in economic development and poverty reduction achievements.

Da Silva and Manh agreed that the two countries should foster their comprehensive partnership for mutual benefits.

They agreed to hold more bilateral high-level meetings to exchange experiences on in-depth development policy, particularly in promoting social justice and hunger eradication and poverty reduction.

The two countries would also work to boost bilateral trade, encourage investment and broaden the two countries’ cooperation, especially in such fields as hydro-electricity, bio-energy, steel production, and agriculture.

Manh reaffirmed Vietnam’s support to Brazil’s candidacy for a permanent seat in the United Nations Security Council once it is expanded.

Meanwhile, the Brazilian president reiterated Brazil’s support to Vietnam’s bid for a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council for the 2008-09 term.

The two leaders agreed that closer relations should be forged between the South American Common Market (Mercosur) and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

They discussed the prospects of promoting cooperation between the two blocs in health, biomedical sciences, bio-fuels, technology and sports.

During his two-day visit, General Secretary Manh also met Senator Tiao Viana, Acting President of the Brazilian Senate, and Deputy Arlindo Chinaglia, President of the Chamber of Deputies.

He received leaders from the Workers’ Party (PT), the current left-wing ruling party in Brazil, and the Communist Party of Brazil (PCdoB).

On the occasion, Vietnam and Brazil signed a health cooperation agreement.

Brazil is the second leg of Manh’s Latin American trip after Chile. His next stops are Venezuela and Cuba.

Source: TTXVN

Higher Cargo Costs Take Bite Out Of Rice Exports

Higher transport costs have eaten away at Vietnam’s rice exports through the first five months of this year, the Vietnam Food Association (VFA) has reported.

Vietnam earned US$516 million from shipping 1.8 million tons of rice in the first five months, a year-on-year plunge of 14 percent and 4 percent in terms of both value and volume, reported the VFA.

They attributed the decrease in value to a jump in cargo tariffs by 30 to 35 percent, though the country was enjoying rice prices that are up 26 percent from earlier this year.

VFA said the cargo fee to Asian countries went up to $25 - $30 per ton, and to $110 - $120 to Africa.

However local exporters complained that it’s difficult to hire vessels despite the hikes.

Over the last three months, 10, 15 and 25 percent broken rice have accounted for 96 percent of the total turnover in exported rice.

Some 80 percent of total exports were made up of the 15 percent broken price, fetching $310 per ton, up $64.

Vietnamese-grown rice, sold mainly in Indonesian and the Philippines markets, has fetched an average of $325 per ton during the last three months, a fresh record for over the past few years.

The Philippines alone have sealed contracts to import 889,000 tons of Vietnamese 25 broken rice in the first half of this year.

The Ministry of Trade said if harvests are good this year, the country could export as much as 5 million tons of rice.

It had earlier capped the export at 4.5 million tons because of pest infestations in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam's main rice-growing region, but said now the problem was not as bad as initially feared.

With Thailand, one of the world’s leading rice exporters concluding its harvest, Vietnamese rice prices are expected to continue on their upward trend for the near future.

Vietnam: 10% Of Population May Die Young From Smoking

Without timely action, around 10% of Vietnam’s population may die young because of smoking-related diseases, warns the World Health Organisation (WHO).

The warning was delivered at a workshop held on May 29 on the occasion of World Non-smoking Day.

According to WHO, the number of people who will die from smoking in 2020 can exceed the total number of deaths caused by HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and traffic accidents.

A recent survey reveals that 15 million Vietnamese people smoke, with 50% of males and 3.4% of females of the age of 16 and upwards smoking.

Seven years ago the government issued a decision designating non-smoking places such as clinics, schools, kindergartens, cinemas, public vehicles. However, smoking in public sites is still popular.

In a recent instruction dated May 2007, the Prime Minister again bans smoking at schools, hospitals, production areas, offices and public sites.

The theme of World Non-smoking Day 2007 is Smoke-free Environments.

First National Assembly Deputy Becomes A Blogger

Mr Duong Trung Quoc

National Assembly deputy Duong Trung Quoc has become the first congressman of Vietnam who makes a blog.

Mr Quoc said that anybody can have his blog but it is a little bit different for a politician opening a blog because he can use the blog to run electoral campaigns or to send his messages to the people in a closer manner than speeches delivered at the National Assembly.

However, there are some problems for a politician who owns a blog, Mr Quoc said. Once opening a blog, the politician will become a blogger. Though he can think that he is a blogger and he can say whatever he wants because the blog is his own world. However, this is not the case, according to Mr Quoc.

“The issue here is the awareness of the people of blogs,” he emphasised. If readers can’t differentiate the personal part and the business part of the politician-blogger, it is the readers’ fault, he said.

“My goal is sharing, firstly sharing with those who care for me. It means that there is a limit, which will gradually expand. I don’t plan to use my blog as a forum with everyone yet,” the National Assembly deputy said.

“First of all, I only want to have a place where I can put all of my writing for the young people’s comments. Most of the issues that I write about are on social awareness,” he added.

Mr Quoc is also one of the first National Assembly deputies to use a laptop at National Assembly sessions.

Vinh Thinh

Vietnam Sues US Agent Orange Companies

To date, over 700,000 people in the world have signed a petition supporting Vietnamese victims of Agent Orange in their suit against US corporations that produced chemical weapons used against that country.

Len Aldis, secretary of the British Society of Friendship with Vietnam, voiced her hope that many more people will sign the document on www.petitionline.com, Vietnamese News Agency AVN reports Wednesday.

The New York Court of Appeals will hold a hearing on the lawsuit June 18.

More than three million people have suffered dioxin consequences in Vietnam, and that nation presented a suit in favor of those victims, which a district court denied and it now in appeal.

A delegation from the Vietnamese Association of Victims of Agent Orange will attend the hearing in the United States.

Concern Grows Over Hanoi Deal

Authorities in Vietnam are under pressure to ensure Morgan Stanley’s landmark joint venture with a leading state investment agency does not result in the US bank being favoured in the country’s mass privatisation programme.

Morgan Stanley an­nounced in March that it was to form a groundbreaking securities joint venture with the State Capital Investment Corporation, placing it in pole position to take advantage of Vietnam’s booming economy.

The joint venture will provide investment banking services, including underwriting and trading of stocks and bonds, and make principal investments.

The Hanoi-based venture, which is subject to regulatory approval, is expected to begin operations in October.

SCIC was created in 2005 to take capital ownership of the communist-ruled country’s 5,000-plus state-run enterprises, which account for about 70 per cent of Vietnam’s tax revenues.

Many of the enterprises are expected to join the stock market in the next few years and Morgan Stanley’s rivals fear that, as a result of the joint venture, they could be frozen out of lucrative mandates to advise on capital raisings.

It is understood that some rival investment banks have expressed their concerns over the issue to the government, as part of the approvals process. One rival banker, who declined to be named, said: “The government has been made fully aware of the feelings of other banks on this. The authorities should ensure that, regardless of the joint venture, there is a level playing field when it comes to choosing advisers for IPOs.”

Morgan Stanley declined to comment. However, it had previously signalled it was confident of securing full approval and that SCIC had chosen it as a partner because of its history in China where it owns a 34 per cent stake in CICC, the mainland investment bank.

The stakes are high as Vietnam is Asia’s newest battleground for deal-hungry investment banks. FT

More Officials Indicted In $2.8 Million Postal Scam

Vietnamese prosecutors have filed charges against 22 more postal officials for defrauding the state in a 2005 equipment purchase scam.
Nguyen Lam Thai

The Supreme Prosecutor’s Office has ratified charges against nine former directors and deputy directors and 13 chief accountants and senior officials from state-run post offices in eight provinces, mostly in the Mekong Delta. A total of 56 people have been indicted so far.

Police said they used public funds to buy low-quality security cameras, digital cameras, and furniture from Nguyen Lam Thai at several times their actual prices, and shared the difference amount with Thai.

Thai was arrested in 2005 for conspiring with many post offices across Vietnam to supply low-quality equipment at astronomical prices. He has confessed to paying at least over VND1 billion ($62,500) in bribes to top officials in nine post offices.

Thai, along with many senior officials, have already been charged. Authorities estimate they stole VND45 billion (US$2.8 million) in the scam.

Ex-policewoman Admits To Demolishing House For Money

A former Hanoi policewoman pleaded guilty in court Wednesday of colluding with hoodlums to destroy private property at an ongoing trial.

Prosecutors said former Lieutenant Colonel Duong Bich Thuy took VND140 million (US$8,750) from Tran Viet Son to flatten his neighbor’s house in Hanoi in May last year.

Son had paid gangster Ta Hong Ngoc VND150 million for the ‘job’ to settle a grudge with a neighbor over a land dispute.

But Thuy claimed in court she had only helped Son wreck the house because the neighbor had encroached on Son’s land and not just for the money.

The prosecutors said Thuy had gone to Son’s house to survey the situation and demanded half of the VND150 million ($9,375) Son paid Ngoc. Ngoc had handed Thuy VND50 million in return for support.

Some 30 thugs used crowbars and hammers to knock down the house. When police arrived, half the house had been destroyed.

After Ngoc got the remaining VND75 million from Son, he gave Thuy another VND30 million.

Within a month the police arrested Son and his brother sought Thuy’s help. She then took VND60 million from him.

She hired a hood who had nothing to do with the demolition of the house to act as a scapegoat. The man handed himself in to the police and said he was responsible for the destruction.

But police noticed irregularities in his testimony and finally got on to Thuy.

Strangely, prosecutors are only seeking a sentence of 10-12 months for her but 5-6 years for Ngoc. Son is also on trial but they are yet to ask for a sentence.

The court is expected to pass its verdict this Thursday.

Source: Thanh Nien

Buddha's Birthday Celebrated Across Country

Buddhist monks, nuns and followers have been flocking to celebrations around the country to mark the 2551st birthday of Buddha.

In Hanoi alone, close to 600 pagodas dotted around the capital have been holding celebrations since May 24, with municipal and district leaders holding meetings with Buddhist dignitaries to extend their greetings to Buddhists.

Buddhists in Hanoi's pagodas have also been hard at work organizing humanitarian activities to help the disadvantaged and sick while celebrating the event.

In Thua Thien-Hue province, the localities' leadership and the provincial Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee have also sent delegations to visit the Executive Board of the provincial Buddhist Sangha and pagodas to extend their own greetings.

On May 30, a delegation of the People's Committee, People's Council and Fatherland Front Committee of central Da Nang province visited the Executive Board of the Da Nang Buddhist Sangha to show support for the local Buddhist population.

Most Venerable Thich Giac Vien, acting Chairman of the Executive Board, expressed his gratitude to the city's authorities for their assistance and cooperation in allowing the committee to fulfil its tasks.

Source: VNA

World’s Top Hip-Hop Dancers Set To Enchant Vietnam

French group Pockemon Crew, the world hip-hop dance champions, will stir up audiences in Ho Chi Minh City Thursday with their frenzied dancing.

The group came together in 1996 when a few young break-dancers with a passion for hip-hop met in front of France’s National Opera in Lyon.

By August 2003 they had become the hip-hop champions of France.

They went to add the European and the world titles.

Thanks to its energy and reputation, the nine-member group has grown into 20-member global force.

Ryad Fghani is the oldest member of the group, and has also become artistic director and choreographer. The other founding members are Hassan El Hajjami, Yann Abidi, Ali Ramdani Lilou, Brahim Zaibat, Georges Fagbohoun, Douniel Fghani, Rodolphe Gasnier, and Moncef Zebiri.

Invited to Vietnam for the first time by the CulturesFrance Organization, French consulate in HCMC, and Vietnam’s Arts Performance Department, Pockemon Crew will perform at the Ben Thanh Theater.

Vietnam Hottest Place To Invest

Among countries in Indochina, Thai investors see Vietnam as having the greatest investment potential thanks to its market size.

The consensus emerged among participants yesterday at a seminar on ''Export and Overseas Investment'', which the Export-Import Bank of Thailand staged to highlight opportunities in Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, and Burma.

Vietnam has a population of 84 million but not a wide array of consumer products, noted Mongkol Banthrarungroj, director for CTY TNHH Thai Corp, a distributor of various Thai consumer goods in Vietnam which has been in business for a decade.

Some products are not sold in Vietnam not because they lack potential or are unpopular among the Vietnamese, but rather because they are simply not available. In fact, the case at the moment is that few manufacturers are willing to take risks, said Mr Mongkol.

For instance, there are only two popular brands of oyster sauce in Vietnam, compared with at least five in Thailand. Since the Vietnamese eat a lot of vegetables, oyster sauce should do well in this market, he said.

In any case, investors should not expect a return on investment in the first few years. Instead, they should look for long-term businesses.

Somhatai Panichewa, senior vice-president for Amata Corporation, said Amata was conducting a feasibility study for its second industrial estate project in Vietnam. The study would be completed by the end of the year.

According to Mrs Somhatai, the second project would be around six times larger than the first one. It would cover the area of 2,000 or 3,500 hectares in Long Thanh district.

The Vietnamese government is actively promoting foreign investment in the country. Any business that the Vietnamese can operate is open for foreigners as well. The government has facilitated regulations on land occupation while the country has political and economic policy stability.

But Supachai Verapuchong, deputy managing director for Thainakornpattana Co Ltd, a local pharmaceutical producer, does not recommend foreign investors to enter into partnerships with their Vietnamese counterparts unless they have at least 90% trust in them.

He added that Thai investors should lease land plots in Vietnam if they benefit their businesses because land prices have risen dramatically. In South Saigon land is now $2,000 (70,000 baht) per square metre while land downtown costs between $10,000 and $12,000 per sq m.

As for Cambodia, Mr Supachai does not recommend that Thai investors invest in manufacturing businesses there because of high infrastructure costs and a small market. For example, electricity costs between 20 and 25 US cents per kilowatt/hour _ about double the rate in Thailand.

Deputy Industry Minister Piyabutr Cholvijarn said that while Thailand was losing its competitiveness in export markets, local businessmen saw opportunities in investing overseas.

Thailand is currently ranked 23rd in the international export market, with a share of 1.13%, down from 1.16% last year.

''Although our competitiveness in world exports is declining, one good sign has emerged _ more and more Thais are exploring investment opportunities abroad,'' he said.

Last year, the total overseas investment made by Thai businessmen stood at 35 billion baht, a sharp rise from 9.8 billion baht in 2001.

Narongchai Akrasanee, chairman of the Exim Bank, said that judging from the bank's loan portfolio, Cambodia was the most popular investment destination for Thai businessmen.

The Cambodian government is welcoming overseas investments and the return on investment in Cambodia is the highest when compared with other countries in the region.

Pitsanu Lianmahasarn, deputy permanent secretary to the Commerce Ministry, said businesses with high potential in these countries were contract farming and any business that benefited from the Generalised System of Preferences granted to those countries so that products could be made at low costs and then exported.

Soya Sauce Stirs Worry And Discontentment Among Public

The public is outraged that the though HCM City Department of Health discovered soya sauce products with high rates of 3-MCPD carcinogen in 2001 but it didn’t report the violations until recently and thus millions of consumers have used soya sauce products with the carcinogenic substance for nearly six years.

According to Tuoi Tre Newspaper, the HCM City health agency found 3-MCPD in 15 samples of soya sauce in November 2001, which were from 23 to 5,644 times over the permitted thresholds. In December 2001, 9 out of 10 samples tested violated safety levels, including one 6,090 times over safety levels.

In 2004, the HCM City Institute of Hygiene and Public Health found 33 of 41 sample of soya sauce with high rates of 3-MCPD, including six samples with up to 11,000 to 18,000 times more 3-MPCD than permitted. In 2005, the institute continued to test 137 samples and over 100 samples containing 3-MCPD that were from two to nearly ten thousand times more than the permitted level.

In the third quarter of 2005, the HCM City Department of Health sent samples of soya sauce of 30 producers to the institute for testing and products of 20 producers found with 3-MCPD, which were from several to thousands of times more than the safe level. The HCM City Centre for Chromatography Education and Training tested 38 samples in 2005 and discovered 21 samples with 3-MCPD rates higher than the permitted threshold.

In 2006, the HCM City Institute of Hygiene and Public Health continued to detect 28 of 135 samples with high rates of 3-MCPD. The HCM City Centre for Experimental Analysis Services, the HCM City Preventive Health Centre and the HCM City Centre for Chromatography Education and Training also found many samples with high contents of 3-MCPD in 2006 as well.

All testing results are reported to the HCM City Department of Health and the Health Ministry so in 2005 the Health Ministry issued a decision on the permitted level of 3-MCPD on soya sauce and some other kinds of sauce (less than 1mg/kg).

However, till now the list of violators in 2005 and 2007 have recently made public and the remaining cases of violation in the other years are still in secret. And the HCM City Department of Health only released the information after Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Sinh Hung instructed the Health Ministry to order relevant agencies to timely and accurately provide verification results of food hygiene and safety to the press, including the verification of 3-MCPD.

Why didn’t the health sector reveal the information and let consumers use products with carcinogens?

At a press conference held on May 25, Deputy Director of the HCM City Department of Health, Le Truong Giang, said the Ministry of Health had not banned the toxin 3-MCPD until March 2005. He also said that several years ago HCM City didn’t have laboratories that could perform standard quality tests on such products, which led to inconsistent testing results and the department feared that if it made public the testing results, soya sauce producers could be affected unfairly.

Nguyen The Dung, Director of the HCM City Department of Health, said in an interview with Tuoi Tre Newspaper that the department was afraid that if it announces the information unlawfully, they will be sued. Is this explanation convincible?

After the media voiced the covering up of information on soya sauce testing results in HCM City in March 2007, the Health Ministry’s inspection agency requested the HCM City Department of Health to report the testing results and provide the names of violators to the media. But till May 7, the HCM City Department of Health submitted the report of its testing results of 11 soya sauce producing establishments to the Health Ministry.

The Ministry of Health has slammed the HCM City Department of Health for making a delayed announcement of the latest results.

At another press conference on May 25, the HCM City Health Department’s chief inspector Nguyen Duc An officially announced the results of the department’s inspection of quality of soya sauce in the city in 2007. Accordingly, 10 of 14 brands of soya sauces tested contain high rates of 3-MCPD, including Dong Phuong, Truong Thanh, Nam Phuong, Loi Ky, Lam Thuan, Thai Dai Loi, Thai Chan Chanh, Nosafood and Song Ma.

By May 26, only five of ten blacklisted firms reported to the HCM City Department of Health how did they deal with violated batches of products, including Nam Duong, Nosafood, Dong Phuong, Truong Thanh and Tu Huu.

Major supermarkets in HCM City and Hanoi have stopped selling carcinogenic soy sauces in the blacklist.

However, a source from the Health Ministry said that the number of soya sauce brands with high rates of 3-MCPD is not 10 but 92.

The report of the HCM City Institute of Hygiene and Public Health sent to the Food Hygiene and Safety Agency dated May 16, 2007 shows that of 210 samples tested from January 1, 2006 to April 2007, 66 samples exceeding the permitted 3-MCPD level.

The report of the Centre for Quality Standard and Measurement Technology No.3 dated May 15, 2007 says that 16 of 37 samples tested in 2006 and 2007 containing high rates of 3-MCPD. And the total number is 92.

The HCM City Department of Health said that it will test 3-MCPD of soya sauce products of all violated firms this week and it will withdraw quality certificate of the firms that continue violating the 3-MCPD standards. Within one week, all soya sauce producers must submit to the department the 3-MCPD testing results of their products within the past six months.

The Food Hygiene and Safety Agency on May 26 asked the HCM City Department of Health and the Institute for Hygiene and Public Health to perform some measures to ensure food hygiene and safety. Accordingly, any firm that continues to violate the 3-MCPD standard must be closed.

Tuoi Tre,

Vietnam-Chile Joint Statement Calls For Closer Ties

Party General Secretary Nong Duc Manh (R) and Chilean President Michelle Bachelet Jeria

Vietnam and Chile Friday issued a joint statement at the end of Party General Secretary Nong Duc Manh's visit to Chile, affirming their wish to further their cooperation and reinforce bilateral ties.

The joint statement highlighted the two countries' burgeoning economic ties, especially in trade and investment, the Vietnam News Agency reported.

It said now is the right time for the two countries to develop new all-round cooperative mechanisms on the basis of equality, mutual benefit, and mutual development.

Leaders of the two countries showed determination to implement the initiatives that will facilitate long-term cooperation of businesspeople in the fields of mineral exploration, energy, agriculture, fishing and aquaculture, forestry and tourism.

Chilean President Michelle Bachelet Jeria reaffirmed her country's support for Vietnam 's bid for a non-permanent seat in the United Nations Security Council for the 2008-09 term.

In turn, she asked Vietnam to support her country's candidacy for the position for the 2014-2015 term. Her request received positive approval from the Vietnamese side, the joint statement said.

Chile and Vietnam agreed to establish an inter-governmental committee to help with the expansion of the two countries' cooperation in new domains, including science and technology and education and training. The two countries signed a document to this effect.

Five Casinos For Foreigners Smashed In Southern Region

Vietnamese police early Sunday raided five casinos meant for foreign customers in Ho Chi Minh City and Vung Tau town, arresting hundreds of people and seizing hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The surprise raids were carried out at four HCMC-based hotels and another in Vung Tau coastal city, 120 km northeast of HCMC.

At District 1’s Food Center of Saigon restaurant-hotel complex, the police arrested 45 people, including 13 Vietnamese, gambling on slot machines.

They confiscated six containers of exhibits meant for the gambling activities besides a whopping sum of cash that ran into the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Meanwhile, another special task force swooped down on the Duxton Saigon hotel, also in district 1, catching 68 gamblers in the act. They seized at the scene seven CPUs, a banknote counter, and undisclosed amount of cash, and dozens of kg of relevant documents.

At the Legend hotel in district 1, six Vietnamese gamblers were also apprehended. Around US$20,000 was reportedly confiscated.

HCMC police made their last raid on the Equatorial hotel in district 3, seizing over $60,000, four safes, besides other significant exhibits.

Thanh Nien also found that staff at the hotels were taken into the police custody following the raids.

In Vung Tau town, the police also detained dozens of people as they busted the DIC Star hotel.

Initial investigations revealed that a total of 217 people including nine foreigners were apprehended.

The casino chain had been allegedly run by Luong Cam Huy, henchman of executed mafia boss Nam Cam.

Ironic twist

Following the massive bust, readers have written to Thanh Nien to express mixed feelings about its legitimacy.

They said the hotels had been licensed to provide foreigner customers with gaming services. Thus, the arrest of foreigners was feared as having violated the law.

Besides, the police had also detained staff at the hotels, which was deemed unnecessary.

Only Vietnamese customers attending the aforesaid casinos were illegible, readers said.

But no official concerned could be reached Sunday for further information.

Nguyen Ngoc My, who was licensed to run the cyber game service in the Equatorial hotel, pointed out the irony in that Vietnam authorities licensed the service but arrest legal participants or innocent bystanders simultaneously.

He said such a practice is likely to demoralize investors. Thanh Nien

Vietnam Businesspeople Get Card For Visa-Free Travel

Vietnam has issued APEC Business Travel Cards to 352 businesspeople, according to its Immigration Department, enabling them to travel in the Asia-Pacific region without visas.

Besides traveling without visas or entry permits, cardholders can also enjoy express immigration clearance through special APEC lanes on arrival and departure, and multiple entries for a stay of up to two or three months each time.

The travel card contains personal identity details and is valid for up to three years for multiple, short-term business visits by citizens of APEC members.

The Vietnamese Immigration Department began to issue the cards last November and has so far received 855 applications.

Eligible candidates include entrepreneurs from state-owned companies, including chairpersons, general directors, and deputy general directors, and directors and deputy directors of other companies, banks, industrial parks, and export processing zones.

To qualify for the usage of the ABTC, applicants must be actively involved in business for which their frequent presence in the countries is accounted for.

Information given by applicants will be distributed to all member countries for pre-clearance status.

The ABTC system has been in operation since 1997 and comprises 17 members - Australia, Brunei, Chile, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Republic of Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam.

HCMC To Host Southern Fruits Festival This Week

Ho Chi Minh City is set to launch the Southern Fruits Festival on June 1, aiming to honor high-quality products and trademarks from around the country.

As scheduled, more than 50 kiosks will be displayed to introduce and sell fresh fruits and specialties at promotional prices such as Nam Roi pomelo, Long An green dragon fruit, Ben Tre durian, Hoa Moc sweet mango, Cai Thieu mangosteen, among others.

The festival will feature fruits from neighboring countries as well.

Together with a bevy of activities such as a fruit march, plastic tree and fruit arts, fruit carnivals and fairs, and cultural cuisine week, the event will be incorporated with traditional culture and art programs including folk games and musical shows.

Held annually by the municipal Tourism Department in Ho Chi Minh City-based Suoi Tien Cultural Park, the festival this year will attract hundreds of famous fruit processing companies, farmers, dealers and thousands of visitors.

It is an opportunity to exchange ideas about new seedlings, learning about new kinds of fruits and fruit sculptures created by skilful artisans

The festival will run until June 19, while, the fruit market also held in the park will last until Sept. 29, with some 1,200 tons of fruits to be consumed.

Thanh Nien

Ho Chi Minh City Court Upholds Death For Five Drug Traffickers

A court in Ho Chi Minh City Monday rejected appeals against death sentences of five drug traffickers found guilty early this year of dealing in over 120 kg of heroin in total.

Ringleader Nguyen Thi Hoa and her four henchmen Trinh Tien Hoat, Hoang Minh Chau, Le Thi My Dung, and Hoang Minh Sang, were sentenced to death in January for having trafficked 54 kg, 33 kg, 5.7 kg, 28 kg, and 3.3 kg of heroin respectively since 2003.

The court also upheld a life sentence for another member of the 31-strong gang which was busted in 2005. It also accepted the prosecutors’ request and handed down a life sentence to another member who initially received 20 years.

Another ring member, 32-year-old Tran Thi Huong, charged with 9 kg of heroin, escaped the firing squad at the original trial as she had got pregnant – mysteriously enough after she was jailed separately from male prisoners and had given birth to a child last June.

Under Vietnamese law, a pregnant woman or one having a child aged below three will have their death sentence commuted to life. Subsequent investigation shows that prison guards were slack, allowing a male prisoner to ‘visit’ her cell.

Trading 600 grams of heroin is punishable by death in Vietnam.

Source: VietnamNet

Vietnam Government Offices To Work Saturdays

Many of its offices will work Saturdays, the Vietnamese government has decided.

A Government Office source said Wednesday the office was tasked with drafting a decision that will see offices involved in notarizing, certifying, and issuing investment certificates, business licenses, and construction permits open on Saturdays.

Offices issuing and renewing passports and visas, granting land use and house ownership certificates, collecting house, land, and vehicle registration fees, and dealing with import-export formalities will also work Saturdays.

The source added that based on demand from the public and businesses ministries and local agencies would consider opening other offices on Saturdays, and possibly even Sundays.

Employees working weekends will get compensatory time on designated days.

The draft is being sent to some ministries and localities for their opinion.

Vietnam, Kuwait Sign Trade, Cooperation Deals

Vietnam and Kuwait signed three agreements on economic and trade cooperation Wednesday during Kuwaiti Prime Minister Sheik Nasser Al Mohammed Al Sabah’s visit to Hanoi.

The deal includes an agreement on investment encouragement and protection, a protocol on the establishment of a joint committee on economic and scientific cooperation, and an agreement on cooperation between the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Kuwait Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Al Sabah and his Vietnamese counterpart Nguyen Tan Dung witnessed the signing ceremony.

Before the ceremony, they held talks on bilateral ties, especially in trade.

"Your visit is a good opportunity for the two countries to promote cooperation in various fields," Dung said.

Al Sabah's trip to Vietnam from Wednesday to Friday is the first by a high-ranking Kuwaiti official since the two countries established diplomatic ties in 1976.

Two-way trade between Vietnam and Kuwait reached US$380 million last year — three times the 2002 figure.

Vietnam mainly exports garments, textiles, seafood, woodworks, electronics, and ceramics to Kuwait, and imports petroleum, fertilizers and fabric from the Persian Gulf country, according to the Vietnamese Trade Ministry.

Source: TTXVN

Kuwait Premier Begins Vietnam Visit

Prime Minister of Kuwait, Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammad Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, will make an official visit to Vietnam from May 23 to 25 at the invitation of his Vietnamese counterpart Nguyen Tan Dung.

It will be the first by a senior official from the oil-rich state and is aimed at boosting bilateral cooperation in economics, investment, trade, and labor.

Vietnam and Kuwait established diplomatic relations in 1976 and in October 2003 the former opened an embassy in the Arab country.

Kuwait has provided development aid to Vietnam, lending over US$100 million for infrastructure projects through the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development.

The two countries are working towards agreements on investment promotion and protection and mechanisms to avoid double taxation.

Two-way trade topped $380 million last year, a three-fold increase over 2002. Vietnam mainly exported garment and textile products, seafood, wooden furniture, computers, electronic equipment, pepper, footwear, ceramics and pottery to Kuwait, while importing oil, urea fertilizer, and fabric.

The Persian Gulf country also plans to invest around $500 million in the Nghi Son oil refinery in the central Thanh Hoa province.

Source: VNA

Vietnam To Auction $43.5 Mln Gov’t Bond On May 28

Vietnam will auction five-year government bonds next Monday to raise VND700 billion (UD$43.5 million), the Hanoi stock market said.

The bond, with a face value of VND100,000, would be issued on May 30 and mature on May 30, 2012, it said in a statement.

The debt will be listed for trading on the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange .

Last week the Hanoi market sold VND400 billion worth of a five-year government bond at an annual yield of 7.1 percent, down from 7.15 percent at last month's auction.

The debt sold last week completed a three-tranche sale of the bond issued by the government to raise VND1 trillion ($62 million) for development projects this year.

Other government five-year debt sold at the Hanoi market so far this year carry annual coupons of between 6.5 percent and 7.9 percent.

Monday's auction will be the ninth so far this year.

The Finance Ministry aims to sell VND22 trillion ($1.37 billion) worth of government bonds between March and the end of this year to invest in transport and irrigation projects.

At the last auction of government bonds on April 23, two investors bought VND600 billion worth of the April 2012 bond at an annual coupon of 7 percent.

In March Moody's upgraded the outlook for both Vietnam's foreign currency bonds and local currency bonds to positive from stable. It assigned a Ba3 rating for the country's dong debts.

Source: Reuters

Russian firm Breaks Ground $2 Bln Township In Central Vietnam

A US$2.3 billion urban mega complex by Russia-based Gami Group’s financial wing got off the ground Tuesday in central Danang city.

The Thuy Tu Tourism City project initiated by the Financial and Business Solution Corp. (FBS), to be built on 409 ha site in Lien Chieu district, will develop in phases until 2020.

The complex, 10 km from downtown Danang has been designed by French firm H&H Architecture Urbanisme to function as a center for trade, industrial, residential, and entertainment and sport functions.

The first phase of the project, between now and 2010, will see FBS invest $307 million in developing infrastructure for 30 – 45 story commercial – office blocks, and 10 – 17 story tenements and high-end villas for sale and rent.

For the next five-year stage to 2015, the company will develop schools, parks and more infrastructure works, homes and offices.

The final phase of 2015-20 will see FBS completing infrastructure construction, building Lien Chieu Port and forming an industrial zone.

The complex is expected to act as bridge between world heritage site in Hoi An and Thua Thien Hue province.

Gami Group, set up in 1992 by Vietnamese businessmen in Russia, specializes in import-export and finance in Eastern European countries.

It began operations in Vietnam in 1995 in real estate, financial and banking services, and industrial commodities.

Interest in coastal city

In the first four months, the Danang city government has licensed seven foreign direct investment (FDI) projects with a total registered capital of $95 million, totaling its total FDI projects to 102 worth $1 trillion.

The city’s investment promotion center said investors were moving ahead with 14 other projects at estimated capital of $1.3 billion mainly urban, resort and golf course projects.

Both foreign and domestic companies have submitted proposals to purchase land for mammoth urban-tourism-commercial complex projects.

Of these, a seven-investor consortium of PetroVietnam Finance, or G-Bank plans to build a 550 ha ecotourism-urban area in Non Nuoc.

The city government has given the nod in principle to the scale of the project, and has directed relevant offices to work with the investors.

Nguoi Lao Dong

Hanoi Endures 80,000 Tonnes Of Dust, Smoke/Year

Along with three other cities in Vietnam, HCM City, Hai Phong and Da Nang, Hanoi is yearly afflicted by 80,000 tonnes of smoke and dust, 9,000 tonnes of SO2, 19,000 tonnes of No2, and 46,000 tonnes of CO2.

It is forecast that by 2010 the concentration of the above kinds of gas will exceed the permitted standards from 7-9 times at some big crossroads of Hanoi like Nga Tu So, Lo Duc, Vong Thi.

Those are the results of observations conducted by the Hanoi Department of Science and Technology and the Chemistry Institute.

Many people complain that though they use gauze masks when they go on streets they still catch allergic rhinitis.

According to scientists, the major reason for air pollution in Hanoi is the crowded density of industrial factories and vehicles.

The city currently has over 400 industrial factories, including over 200 which can cause air pollution, and over 1.6 million motorbikes and over 100,000 cars of various kinds.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), around 2.8 million people die from environmental pollution in the world every year. In Vietnam, no official statistics of this kind are kept.

Dr. Nguyen Duy Bao, Deputy Director of the Institute for Labour Health and Environmental Hygiene, warned that environment pollution would harm Hanoian people’s health. He said that it was difficult to evaluate the impact of the environment on human health in Vietnam because of the lack of data on community health.

The solution that experts have raised to diminish air pollution in Hanoi is ‘driving motorbikes with ecological methodology’ and reducing the number of industrial plants.

According to Dao Thai Hung from the Vietnam-Switzerland Clean Air Programme, driving motorbikes with ecological methodology is starting up a motorbike to make the engine hot before use, not running fast and braking suddenly, etc.
Dan Tri

Cyclo Race To Add Color To Sea Festival

A cyclo race is being organized as part of the Sea Tourism Festival 2007 in Nha Trang from June 9 to 15. The 1,200 meter long race will take place June 11 on Tran Phu Street, from April 2 Square to Biet Thu Street.

Ten teams from well-known tourism services and units in Nha Trang, such as five-star Sunrise Beach Resort, Ana Mandara Resort, Rainbow Scuba Diving Center, Red Lantern Restaurant, Hon Tam Travel Service and Thanh Travel Service, will participate in the race.

The 30 cyclo riders will compete with each other in the morning and in the afternoon will entertain the audience with a demonstration of their talents controlling the cyclo by performing several styles of riding the cyclo, including riding on two wheels, riding on a zigzag outline and speed riding.

The cyclo was a popular means of transportation in the 50s and 60s of the 20th century. Nowadays, though there are other means of transport that are faster and more convenient, some foreign tourists still choose the cyclo because it is a unique feature of Vietnamese culture, and meandering around the streets of the coastal city of Nha Trang in a cyclo is such an inspiring pleasure for them.

Therefore, the service of cyclo riding for tourists has been launched in the city with pleasant, well-dressed, English speaking drivers.

The flower-decorated cyclo parade has become an essential part of the city's festivals and cultural activities, such as the Sea Tourism Festival in 2003 and 2005, and from now on cyclo racing will also be a fixed sport in future festivals in Nha Trang. VNN

Kuwaiti PM Heads To Vietnam On Official Visit

His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammad Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah left the country on Tuesday, heading to Vietnam for an official within the framework of his tour in the region.

His Highness the Prime Minister was seen off at Kuwait International Airport by the First Deputy Premier and Minister of Interior and Minister of Defense Sheikh Jaber Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah, Deputy Speaker and MP Dr. Mohammad Al-Busairi, Deputy Premier and Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs Faisal Mohammad Al-Hajji, in addition to a number of Sheikhs, ministers, governors, and other top state and Prime Minister Diwan officials.

Vietnamese Student Honored In The US

Vietnamese student La Thi Hai Yen has been named the top economics master’s graduate for 2006-07 by Wright State University in the US’s Ohio state, Professor Tran Huu Dung, her guide, told Thanh Nien Monday.

Yen, 24, graduated from Hanoi’s Foreign Trade University in 2006 and went to Wright State on a scholarship.

The university has now offered her an MBA scholarship.

HCMC ‘Hung’ Project Causes Local Residents Heartache

Thousands of people in a Ho Chi Minh City district are indignant they have not been allowed to renovate their houses or sell them for the past five years due to government tardiness in implementing a project.

Over 3,000 households in Thu Duc district’s Hiep Binh Chanh ward, many of whom live in dilapidated houses, are in limbo since a 60 ha area has been earmarked by the local government for building a railway station.

Under Vietnamese regulations, any house or land on a plot zoned for public projects cannot be sold, transferred, upgraded, pawned, or partitioned.

A resident, Nguyen Van Quang, said residents had to brave the elements in crumbling houses for the last five years and many newly married couples who hoped to divide their houses for privacy could not.

“If the government zones a certain place for a project it has to implement it, or else cancel the hung project so that people can live in peace”, he added indignantly.

Recently, a resident of Binh Thanh district said publicly he had been living in dread for the past 14 years, waiting for the ax to fall.

The government’s tardiness in executing projects has even given rise to a new term in Vietnam – hung projects.

A recent survey found that the country has 1,650 hung projects covering 345,000ha.

The government has instructed that by next month all such suspended projects must either be executed immediately or scrapped.

Norway Provides $4 mln To Train Vietnam Shipbuilders

Norway has agreed to provide the Vietnamese shipbuilding industry assistance worth US$3.9 million to develop human resources over the next three years.

An agreement for the purpose, signed Monday during a visit by Norwegian State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Anne Stenhammer, envisages $1.8 million aid from the government and the rest from three leading shipyards – Det Norske Veritas, Hoegh Autoliner, and Jotun Paint.

It targets to equip state-owned shipbuilding giant Vinashin with management and quality control skills.

It is also expected to help Vietnam’s shipbuilding industry attain international standards.

A Vinashin affiliate is now building eight vessels for Hoegh Autoliner at a cost of $563 million. The first will be delivered by December 2009 and the remaining in the next six months.

Vinashin and its 20 subsidiaries hope to turn Vietnam into the world’s 11th largest shipbuilding nation in the near future, up four spots in the list.

Under a Vietnam government strategy, Vinashin will build a national shipping fleet to meet domestic transport and 30 percent of transport demand for crude oil export.

It has also set its sights on exports of US$1 billion by 2010.

Thanh Nien

Top Vietnam Leader To Visit Latin America

Vietnam's Communist Party (VCP) general secretary Nong Duc Manh will tour Chile, Brazil, Venezuela and Cuba, the first trip of this kind by a top leader of this country, it was reported here Monday.

Without specifying the exact date, which will be sometime this week, the VCP Foreign Relations Commission stated in a brief note that Manh will fulfill invitations by Presidents Michelle Bachelet, Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva, Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro.

Top-level leaders have visited Cuba in the past but not other Latin American countries, so this week's visit has a great importance to analyze the current international policy of Vietnam.

Foreign Affairs Ministry's America Department assistant director Tran Thanh Huan told Prensa Latina that friendship and cooperation relations between Vietnam and Latin American countries have lately had success.

Apart from Fidel and Raul Castro, the other Latin American statesmen who have visited Vietnam are those of Nicaragua (1982), Argentina (1997), Peru (1998) and Chile (2003 and 2006).

Vietnam To Promote Tourism Via CNN

Vietnam plans to air tourism spots on CNN television in the 3rd quarter of this year if the government approves the project, a tourism official said Sunday.

Head of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT)’s Tourism Promotion Department, Pham Huu Minh said under the project, Vietnam would pay US$400,000 for three consecutive months of 30-second peak hour airings daily.

Minh said CNN had agreed to sponsor costs to create the video clip, worth $40,000-50,000.

Over the first four months of this year, the country has received more than 1.4 million turns of international tourists, a 12.5 percent increase compared to the same time last year.

Source: Tuoi Tre

Vietnam’s Mobile Phone Market To Be Re-Divided?

The participation of PetroSetco, a member of the Vietnam Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam), in the mobile phone distribution market has proved that this fertile land is no longer in the hands of big IT and telecom firms.

Seeking partners as counterbalance

The cooperation between the PetroVietnam Tourism and Services Joint Stock Company (PetroSetco) and Nokia is established based on Nokia’s target to confirm its No.1 position and expand its market share after ten years in Vietnam.

According to Tran Manh Phuong, Nokia Vietnam’s Business Manager, Nokia had tried to seek a partner for over one year.

“In the next 3-5 years, the mobile phone market is forecast to see many changes so we need a professional distribution system through potential partners. PetroSetco is the top candidate with potentials in finance, human resources, business network and importantly the support from its parent group – PetroVietnam,” Mr Phuong said.

Tran Cong Tao, Chairman of PetroSetco’s Management Board, said that as a multi-area group, it should not be surprising that PetroSetco has developed a telecom product distribution company (PV Telecom).

Mr Tao said that PV Telecom has opened eight branches nationwide in an effort to develop a distribution network that covers rural and urban areas.

“Joining hands with Nokia is a good starting point for PV Telecom. Nokia brand is an advantage for PV Telecom in entering the telecom product distribution market,” Mr Tao added.

PV Telecom is a ‘layman’ in the playground that has long been for IT distributors but according to Huynh Van Thi, senior advisor for PV Telecom, Nokia’s solution is seeking a partner with financial potential, sustainability and who is ready to invest, so experience at distribution is an auxiliary aspect because the two sides will organise the network to serve their needs together.

The commitment made by PetroSetco is not cooperating with other mobile phone producers, except for Nokia.

“The market needs real distributors, not normal traders, so we will have to try our best to make the difference to seek the market share of the newcomer,” Mr Thi said.

PetroSetco becoming Nokia’s partner is due to Nokia wanting a distributor who can be a counterbalance to the Corporation for Financing and Promoting Technology (FPT), which is holding up to 80% of the market share of Nokia in Vietnam. Therefore, PetroSetco has immediately gathered a team including members who were consulters for Nokia in Vietnam and other countries.

Meanwhile, FPT, the largest distributor of mobile phones of most leading names like Nokia, Motorola, Samsung, Verty seems to be worried about this competition. Revenue from mobile phone accounted for around one-half of FPT’s total distribution revenue in 2006, up to US$539 million (higher than the revenue of the whole group in 2005 - $517 million). This level is considered its peak because the growth was up to 50% in 2006.

“PetroSetco is directly supported by Nokia and it is strong at financial ability because it is a subsidiary of PetroVietnam. The risk of losing market share and profit is a very real possibility,” said a representative of FPT.



Busy mobile phone market

It is still unknown whether PV Telecom will be successful in this new field or not but before they jump in this market, competition is already fierce.

The sale of the Vietnamese mobile phone market in 2006 was approximately US$900 million, over 40% more than 2005. This area is considered the hottest with around 30 million subscribers forecast for the end of 2007. The market, thus, is big enough to attract big companies.

In that context, producers surely don’t want to ‘put all eggs into a basket” when seeing Nokia’s example, which lost its market share after its distributor, Dong Nam Associates, collapsed in 2002.

The mobile phone distribution market is being divided into different directions. If FPT combines with famous brands in Vietnam, smaller companies have also ruled a certain part of the market, for example P&T with Sony Ericsson, An Binh with Dopod and BenQ-Siemens, Pacific Dragon with O2, Thanh Cong Mobile with Panasonic, Innostream and Pantech.

CDMA-based mobile information network operators like S-Fone, HT Mobile, and EVN Telecom have their distribution systems. Viettel also has its retail system. In addition, there are many dynamic and modern chains of mobile shops of the Mobile World, A Telecom, Thanh Cong Mobile and Nettra.

The mobile phone market, as a result, is not a special playground for any distributor when mobile network operators also become distributors. While big firms aim to build professional distribution models, retail companies also want to create their own distribution models.

Experts have said that there will be many more companies taking part in this market before foreign firms are allowed to be directly involved in the distribution network in 2009.

According to Huynh Van Thi, PetroSetco’s participation in the distribution market not only aims to attack the mobile phone field but to become a distribution channel in the IT market for any eligible producer.

In the new condition of competition, not only Nokia, but any producer will target a ‘counterbalance’ when they are strong enough to create a tripodal position in business and ruling the market. VNN

Vietnam Airlines Delays Direct Flights To US Again

The national flag carrier Vietnam Airlines, for the second time, announced it will delay opening direct flights to the US until late 2008

The airlines earlier projected direct flights to the US in early 2008, but then postponed them until mid 2008

Pham Ngoc Minh, deputy general director of Vietnam Airlines said the carrier is not yet ready to land the US market because of strong competition here

Minh added Americans tended to choose US carriers over foreign airlines

US customer loyalty to domestic airlines means Vietnam is likely to sign deals with US airlines offering passengers flying on Vietnam Airlines the same benefits they get on US airlines

Strict requirements in the US on security management systems and air marshals posed challenges for Vietnam airlines, Minh said

US authorities also asked the Vietnamese carrier to provide a list of passengers and their personal information four hours before take-off

"Vietnam Airlines could incur losses of $20-30 million in the first year of Vietnam-US operation, but could recover the losses in 3-4 years," Minh said Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung had asked Vietnam Airlines to open the Vietnam-US direct route soon, which would have "great social and political significance." Meanwhile, United Airlines, the only US airline operating direct passenger and cargo service between Vietnam and the US, earlier this month announced it would start a daily Ho Chi Minh City - Los Angeles route October 29, as the world's highest density of overseas Vietnamese reside in southern California

Vietnam To Make Its First Public Rice Exporter

Vinh Long Import-Export Company will be the first rice exporter to make an initial public offering (IPO) on the local stock market, according to newspaper Vietnam News Monday.

The company, which to issue nearly 1.7 million shares, equaling to some 37 percent of its equity, will make the IPO in the securities trading center of southern Ho Chi Minh City on May 30. Of the shares to be issued, there are 1.35 million ones for foreign investors, the newspaper said.

After the IPO, Vietnam will continue to hold 51 percent stake in the company, while employees would hold 11.92 percent.

The company, which annually exports about 100,000 tons of rice, mainly to the Philippines, Indonesia, Africa and the Middle East, is one of the largest enterprises in the southern Vinh Long province.

Used to mainly export agricultural products and seafood, it is now to diversify into other fields. The company posted revenues of 283 billion VND (about 17.7 million U.S. dollars) in 2006 and is expected to gain revenues of 356.4 billion VND (22.3 million dollars) this year.

Vietnam exported 4.7 million tons of rice totaling 1.3 billion dollars last year, according to the country's General Statistics Office.

Source: Xinhua

Earthquake Damage Fears Allayed But Vietnam Wary

Vietnam’s Central Committee for Flood Control and Prevention instructed concerned agencies Thursday to beef up reservoirs in mountainous regions to prevent damage from earthquakes.

In a note sent to the Ministries of Agriculture and Rural Development and Construction and local governments in the provinces of Dien Bien, Son La, and Lai Chau, it called for thorough checks of vulnerable irrigation and hydropower dams.

In related news, the Ministry of Construction assured Thursday that there had been no damage to tall buildings in Hanoi from the earthquake Wednesday which measured 6.1 on the Richter scale.

But it told official agencies to keep an eye on the buildings following any future storm or earthquake to make timely maintenance and repairs.

The Vietnam Geophysics Institute said it would soon make a detailed earthquake zoning map for Ho Chi Minh City.

Such maps have been made for Hanoi and other quake-prone provinces like Dien Bien, Son La, and Lai Chau.

Vietnam Grabs Nine Golds At Australia Games

Vietnam won nine gold medals, two silvers, and four bronzes to finish seventh in the medals tally at the regional Arafura Games that wrapped up Saturday in Australia.

Hoang Thanh Viet won the men’s 100m to add to two judo golds and six from swimming.

The judo golds were won by Nguyen Thi Anh Ngoc and Nguyen Doan Sang, while Le Phuong Hai Trieu swept the pool with four golds along with Lam Hai Thien who won two.

The seven-day tournament saw competition in 24 sports with 49 countries participating.

The host won 248 gold medals followed by Malaysia with 36 and Singapore 24. Thailand finished above Vietnam with ten golds.

The Arafura Games brings together countries from the Asia Pacific and is held every two years in Darwin, the capital of Australia’s Northern Territory.

German President Begins Vietnam Visit

Horst Koehler, the President of Germany, begins a three-day visit to Vietnam today at the invitation of his Vietnamese counterpart Nguyen Minh Triet.

The visiting President and his wife are accompanied by Government officials and representatives of Germany’s leading economic groups to explore and seek investment and business opportunities.

Relations between Vietnam and Germany have developed strongly in recent times through the exchange of high-level visits, including visits to Germany in 2003 and 2004 by Prime Minister Phan Van Khai and Party General Secretary Nong Duc Manh and visits to Vietnam in 2003 and 2004 by German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder.

Berlin's major interest in Vietnam is in encouraging reforms and obtaining a reduction in barriers to investment so that German business can share in opportunities created by rapid economic growth.

To date, Germany has invested US$380 million in 85 projects in Vietnam, ranking fifth among Western European investors in the country. It is also Vietnam’s biggest trade partner in the European Union. Last year’s two-way trade turnover reached more than $2 billion, including $1.3 billion from Vietnamese exports.

Vietnam is Germany’s third biggest development aid recipient in Asia. Since 1990, Germany has granted nearly EUR640 million (US$864.8 million) in aid to Vietnam.

In the 2006-2007 fiscal year, Germany has pledged to grant EUR91.5 million ($123.7 million) to the Southeast Asian country, mainly in the form of non-refundable aid; the remaining amount is at low interest rates under conditions set by the Organization for Economic, Cooperation and Development (OECD).

The overseas Vietnamese community in Germany now numbers 85,000, most of whom legally reside and lead stable lives.

In related news, President of the Republic of South Africa, Thabo Mbeki, and his wife will make an official visit to Vietnam from May 23-25. VNA

Communists Keep Tight Grip On Vietnam

Father Nguyen Van Ly
Father Nguyen Van Ly was jailed for eight years in March

Vietnam elected a new National Assembly on Sunday, although since only the Communist Party is allowed to field candidates the outcome is not in much doubt.

The election follows a crackdown on activists who had been calling for free elections.

The sight of a secret policeman forcing his hand over the mouth of a Catholic priest, Nguyen Van Ly, to prevent him shouting out an anti-communist poem during his trial seemed to sum up Vietnam's attitude towards political dissent.

But at the same time as the country's security forces are engaged in what Human Rights Watch has called "one of the worst crackdowns on peaceful dissent in 20 years", the Communist Party is experimenting with a degree of openness.

So what are the prospects for democracy in Vietnam?

At first sight Vietnam's National Assembly looks like little more than a rubber-stamping body.

Ninety per cent of the members in the last session were members of the Communist Party and the 10% that were not all had to be approved by the party in order to stand for election.

Officials grilled

The party maintains close control over what the assembly discusses and decides.

For example, although in theory the assembly elects the president and prime minister there is only ever one candidate on the ballot - the candidate previously chosen by the party.


Madame Ton Nu Thi Ninh
I resist the idea that voters are always right
Madame Ton Nu Thi Ninh
National Assembly member

Reform call by ex-PM

But that is not the whole story, because the assembly is beginning to show some signs of independent thinking in the way it scrutinise laws and holds ministers to account.

In the past few sessions the grilling of officials seen to have failed in their jobs, live on television, has gripped the country.

Poor performances by the scandal-hit former minister of transport and the seemingly complacent head of the Supreme Court caused them to later lose their jobs.

However, some members believe that the current situation is not enough. Those such as Do Trong Ngoan want more.

"The vision and the knowledge of the National Assembly have to be developed," he says, "or the assembly will be left behind and if that happens we won't be able to take the right decisions and that would lead to long-lasting backwardness of the country."

Communist approval

But while some parts of the communist system want greater openness - others do not.

The trials of dissidents in the past few months, including the priest Father Ly in March, was vivid proof.

Their crimes were to call for multi-party elections.

Road in Vietnam - 2005 photo
Despite strong economic growth recently, Vietnam is still poor

The Communist Party believes its role is to lead the country - and not necessarily to follow the wishes of the people.

This position is expertly articulated by the woman who is the assembly's leading diplomat - often leading delegations to Washington and other countries - Madame Ton Nu Thi Ninh.

"I resist the idea that voters are always right," she says.

"I know that there are in any country enclaves of conservatism, look at what happened in South Africa with apartheid. What is right does not always coincide with majority rule."

Although any citizen can, in theory, stand for election to the National Assembly, they first have to be approved by the Communist Party.

There are two selection processes, both organised by the party's umbrella organisation called the Vietnam Fatherland Front.

In the first hearing the prospective candidate must convince their work colleagues of their good character and in the second they must do the same with the people living in their neighbourhood.

This micro-control means that anyone with views outside what the party views as acceptable will not even get the chance to stand.

'Differing views'

However, some parts of the party are keen to get more independents elected to widen the pool of talent in the assembly.

These would not be dissidents but something like a "loyal opposition". But even this, like other areas of political reform, is opposed by others.

Huynh Nguyen Dao is led into Ho Chi Minh City People's Court - 10/05/07
Five activists were jailed earlier in May
No Vietnamese political analysts will comment on divisions within the party directly, but Martin Gainsborough, of Bristol University in the UK, keeps a close eye on the evolution of Vietnamese politics.

"Within Vietnam - both official Vietnam and unofficially - there's a wide range of differing views about the speed of political change," he says.

"Some people within the system think the National Assembly should go further in asserting its role in the country. Others think that change is fast enough already and want to proceed more carefully. Part of the challenge, part of the ongoing debate in Vietnam is about working out those issues."

Political reform in Vietnam is slow but it is happening and so long as it does not challenge the supremacy of the Communist Party it is likely to continue.

Vietnam's communist rulers are happy to experiment with openness to make the current system more efficient but any transition to a new system, a truly open and democratic system, is still a long way off.

Vietnam Elects New Assembly

Vietnamese citizens cast their votes on Sunday in legislative elections that the country’s communist rulers are seeking to portray as an example of growing public participation in the nation’s political life.

The poll – which saw about 876 candidates, nearly all of whom are Communist party members, vying for 500 seats – came against the backdrop of an intensifying debate within the party over how to manage the political and social implications of Vietnam’s ac­celerating economic reforms and integration into the global economy.

“Within the party, they are engaged in a very thorough and fundamental de­bate about the future of Vietnam,” said Jonathan Pincus, chief economist in Hanoi for the United Nations Development Programme.

“There are critical and important dis­cussions going on about the rule of law, the role of the state in the economy and so­ciety, and the relationship be­tween the citizens and the state.”

But the election of delegates for the national assembly reflects the tight control Vietnam’s communist rulers still exert over political life, and the strictures on what passes for public political participation. The Communist party selected most of the candidates for the assembly from among its ranks.

Only 30 of more than 130 “self-nominated” candidates received the required clearance to stand from their colleagues, neighbours and the Vietnamese Fatherland Front, the country’s umbrella social group.

Vo Van Kiet, former prime minister, called the screening process “too restrictive”. A teacher acclaimed for exposing cheating schemes for national placement exams failed to win the support of his colleagues, keeping him off the ballot.

The candidates offered no platforms. The results are to be announced in the coming days.

Despite the restrictive electoral process, the assembly – which has a five-year term – has evolved from being a mere rubber stamp for government policies into a forum for often feisty debate. Ministers can be summoned for questioning by the assembly, with the sessions broadcast live on television.

“Some ministers have really had trouble, with hard questions,” said a Hanoi-based western diplomat.

But in recent weeks, Hanoi has demonstrated limited tolerance for public discussion, imprisoning six social activists who backed a petition calling for multi-party democracy. In March, a dissident priest was sentenced to eight years in prison for trying to establish a political party and for encouraging a boycott of the national assembly elections.

“There are limits to which the party will accept dissent and those limits are around the question of the role of the party in the Vietnamese polity,” said Mr Pincus. “People and organisations who question the role of the party have been, and will continue to be, dealt with quite harshly.”

Increasingly, citizens are directing their complaints about government policy to their NLA representatives though their ability to respond is hampered by the fact 75 per cent of members have other full-time jobs.

“The national assembly is important. It is not by any stretch of the imagination just for show,” said Mr Pincus. “The problem is, they do not have the staff or capacity to deal with all of this public expectations of what the national assembly can and will do.

Too Many Automobile Manufacturers In Vietnam: VAMA

Udo Loersch, Chairman of VAMA, said in a recent interview given to Thoi bao Kinh te Vietnam that there were too many operational automobile manufacturers in Vietnam.

It is said that automobile joint ventures are facing a lot of difficulties in Vietnam, especially as there is a tendency of importing cars for domestic sale. What do you say about this?

I’m not afraid of competition. Healthy competition will help all parties and it is good for the national economy. However, it is regrettable that sometimes the competition is not healthy.

What are the biggest difficulties automobile manufacturers are facing?

We cannot get timely information from the Government about a clear strategy on automobile industry for the next five or ten years (In fact, the Ministry of Industry has issued a strategy on automobile industry and supporting industries by 2010 – reporter). Therefore, we have a lot of difficulties while making investment decisions.

However, we still want to make commitments on long-term investment in Vietnam’s automobile industry. The Government should give more support to us, investors, by exchanging information and discussing arising problems.

Vietnamese people think that imports are always better than locally made cars. It is not true. Let’s take Mercedes Benz as an example. We regularly inspect the quality of cars made in Vietnam, carried out by our experts coming from our parent company in Germany. And the experts said that the factory in Vietnam is one of the best in the region.

In the world, automobile manufacturers tend to merge into each other in order to professionalise production, while Vietnamese enterprises rush to import car parts for domestic assembling (there are 35 assembling enterprises which are not VAMA members). It seems that Vietnamese enterprises run contrary to the tendency?

I think that there are too many assembling enterprises for Vietnam’s automobile industry. If the Government wants to have powerful manufacturers, it should focus on several companies only.

Which way do you think Vietnam’s automobile industry should go and how can it settle difficulties?

I think relevant ministries including the Ministries of Industry, Transport, Planning and Investment and local authorities should work out on a comprehensive and long-term plan for automobile industry development.

As for supporting industries, I hope the Ministry of Planning and Investment will have suitable policies to encourage investment in producing car parts and accessories. Vietnam will not have a powerful automobile industry if it does not have developed supporting industries.

Moreover, tax policies should be amended so that car products become affordable for buyers, while ensuring benefit to manufacturers and car parts producers. Now Vietnam imposes a luxury tax of 50%, an overly high tax rate, and then VAT. I think the Government should lower the luxury tax.

I also want to say that the infrastructure should be upgraded, especially in Hanoi and HCM City. Many projects on bridges and roads have not been implemented, while others are very slow in execution.

Samsung Eyes Vietnam

Samsung Electronics, the world's third-largest handset maker, said yesterday it was looking to build a new mob-ile phone plant in Vietnam.

The news has added to concerns that South Korea, a manufacturing-based economy, is losing out to overseas markets as manufacturers look to keep costs down. Samsung follows in the footsteps of conglomerates such as Hyundai and LG Group that are increasing their overseas production bases.


"We are considering building a new handset plant in Vietnam to strengthen our future competitiveness and to tackle emerging markets better, but nothing has been decided yet," Samsung said. The company later clarified that Vietnam was one of the countries it was looking at.

The project would be a boost for the high-tech aspirations of Vietnam, which is attracting attention from electronics and appliance manufacturers. Intel recently unveiled plans to build a $1bn semiconductor assembly and testing plant there.

Samsung insisted it was not transferring its main production base out of Korea, but analysts said the proposed plant in Vietnam was aimed at expanding global outsourcing to compete with lower-cost rivals such as Nokia and Motorola.

Vietnam Develops Pesticides From Indian Tree Seeds

The Vietnam Pesticide Company (VIPESCO) has successfully developed pesticides from the seeds of the Neem tree. The tree is originally indigenous to India.

The pesticides, 1500 EC and 5000 EC, can kill various kinds of worms, fungi and pests which harm rice and other crops. They are believed not to be harmful to the environment.

The VIPESCO said that the two pesticides are especially suitable for integrated pest management.

To ensure sufficient materials for production, the company plans to import Neem seeds from several regional countries. VNA

Vietnamese Cultural Festival To Roll Into Rome

Vietnamese images, fashion and cuisine will be showcased at a festival in Rome, Italy, from May 26 to July 15.

The second Vietnamese cultural festival, entitled "Dragon and Butterfly 2", aims to give Romans and tourists alike a snapshot of Viet Nam's land and people through a workshop on Viet Nam’s lessons.

Sponsored by the Rome municipal government, the festival will also feature a seminar on investment and cooperation opportunities between Viet Nam and Italy and Viet Nam and the European Union in the context of the country's recent admission to the World Trade Organisation.

The festival is set to open with a music gala night with the performances of Italian singer Paola Turci as well as a Vietnamese martial arts performance.

The highlight of the festival will be a fashion show by well-known Vietnamese designer Minh Hanh who will present an exclusive collection of Vietnamese designs using handmade materials crafted in Viet Nam. VNA

Exam Fever In HCMC: Hotels Turned Into Cramming Centres

An exam hotel

For the past month, influxes of students have been descending on big cities like Hanoi and HCM City to cram for Vietnamese students’ most important exam: the upcoming university entrance exam.

Flexibility

In HCM City, for instance, at the Mien Tay and Mien Dong coach stations, at dusk, there are hundreds of students wandering around asking where to find exam preparation centres and lodging houses.

To meet such a demand, many hotels have been turned into exam practicing centres. There are many hotel-exam practicing centres at the Hang Xanh crossroads, or on Dinh Bo Linh Road in Binh Thanh District, An Duong Vuong Road in District 5 and in other areas.

A receptionist in a hotel in Ward 21, Binh Thanh District advertised with a smile: “Though in a hotel, classrooms are separated from other rooms. And there are no more than 60 students in each classroom.”

She added that the tuition fee for 3 subjects was VND1.2 million (US$75) for 2 months. The hotel has 3 class sessions: morning classes for good students, afternoon ones for fair students and evening classes for weak students.

This exam hotel’s “unique feature” is 4 sets of multiple choice tests designed by experienced teachers. And these sets are available immediately upon money payment.

In another hotel near the crossroads of Dien Bien Phu and Dinh Tien Hoang, there are now two sections: one for customers who want to rent a hotel room, and the other for students who want to pass the university entrance exam.

Each classroom is 30 sq.m big with a restroom, a night-lamp, an air-conditioner, and a curtain. A receptionist said: “Classrooms may be a little small but instructors are all from Teacher Training University.”

Quality

Employees of exam practicing centres inside hotels all say the same thing: “Teachers here are the leading ones from HCM City Teacher Training University.”

Doan Huu Hai, Director of the Exam Preparation Centre at HCM City Teacher Training University, affirmed that the school didn’t run any exam classes in hotels, and the university didn’t have a right to interfere when exam centres invited its teachers to teach.

But “this is a snatchy way of doing business and it may negatively affect the prestige of the university,” said Mr. Hai.

According to Le Thi Hong Lien, Vice Director of the HCM City Department of Education and Training, no one has registered with the department to deliver classes in hotels.

These classes may be run by individuals who rent space in hotel to open exam centres. The ad that instructors come from good universities may be false.

Talking about a class in a hotel, Do Ngoc Vinh from Dac Lak province said: “I paid VND1.5 million for 2 months but wanted to quit after only 2 days. 100 students were crammed into a room of less than 30 sq.m.”

Duong An Phong from Binh Phuoc, who took a similar hotel class, said: “The ad says that the programme is of high quality, and enrollees will be prioritised when applying for certain universities in the city, and that classrooms have air conditioners and restrooms."

“We believed and paid VND1.7 million for a 3-month session. But I found the teachers very difficult to understand. The hotel is small but there are many students registering for classes.”

Tien Phong

Two Banking Officials Prosecuted For Loss Of VND500bil

Two officials of the Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development of Vietnam (Agribank) were prosecuted on May 15 for the loss of around VND500 billion (US$31.25 million).

They are former Deputy Director and former Head of the Business Department of Agribank’s Capital and Foreign Currency Management and Trading Bureau.

According to investigators, in the last three months of 2004 the Capital and Foreign Currency Management and Trading Bureau of Agribank incurred losses of nearly VND500 billion, accounting for 98.9% of the total losses of the whole of 2004.

The bureau’s former Deputy Director Nguyen Anh Tuan didn’t obey the bank’s rules and didn’t report the losses to Agribank’s leaders.

The two banking officials are being prosecuted for intentionally breaking State rules on economic management causing serious consequences under Article 165 of the Penal Code.

Two Headed Vietnamese Twins Might Not Survive Until Operation: Doctor

The world’s first pair of twins born with a single set of body parts might pass away even before surgery is done to remove one of the two heads, a doctor said in Hanoi Thursday.

Doctor Nguyen Van Loc, vice director of the city’s National Pediatrics Hospital, said the babies – born May 9 – were in bad shape since the kidneys and single heart had worked overtime to support the two lives.

They were not likely to live until the operation in six months’ time, he added.

Born in the northern province of Hai Duong, the twins share a body, spine, and limbs.

Source: Thanh Nien

Vietnam Court Jails Hotel Employee-Pimp

A 37-year-old woman who procured sex workers for guests at an upmarket Ho Chi Minh City hotel was sentenced to five years in jail Thursday.

A city court found Vo Thi Hong Hanh, a karaoke and bar manager at the four-star Amara Hotel, guilty of “brokering prostitution”.

Police said the prostitutes working under Hanh’s supervision had paid her in the form of jewels since she refused to take cash. She believed that would save her from arrest if the police busted the gang.

In March last year, some 50 undercover police officers raided the hotel and caught three prostitutes ‘in the act’ with Japanese men.

Hanh was arrested shortly afterwards along with 38 young women, 35 of whom confessed to entertaining mostly Japanese and Korean men three or four times a week for US$100 a night or VND1 million ($63) for an hour.

The police said all the women were young and pretty, owned expensive motorbikes, and joined Hanh’s racket for one or two years.

Prostitution in any form is illegal in Vietnam.

Earthquake Shakes Thailand, Vietnam

Thai employees sit outside their office building in Bangkok following the earthquake
BANGKOK:

A strong earthquake with a magnitude of 6.1 struck western Laos near the border with Thailand yesterday, sending people screaming for cover as far away as Bangkok and Hanoi.
The quake hit at 0857 GMT, the US Geological Survey said, in the heart of the Golden Triangle where Thailand, Myanmar and Laos meet in what was once a notorious opium smuggling route.
Officials in those countries as well as neighbouring China said there were no immediate reports of damage or casualties.
People in the Thai capital Bangkok, roughly 880km from the epicentre, poured onto the street as high-rise buildings rocked.
In the Vietnamese capital Hanoi, hundreds of people fled office towers and hotels when the city’s tall buildings started to sway.
“I thought I was suffering a stroke or a heart attack — then I realised it was an earthquake,” said Fred Burke, a managing partner of the law firm Baker McKenzie, who was on the 13th floor of a Hanoi office building.
“The building shook for about a minute. The staff were screaming, and we told them to get away from the windows and take cover under the tables,” said Burke, who comes from San Francisco.
The US Geological Survey estimated the tremor at a depth of 38km.
China’s Seismological Monitoring Network, using a different scale, reported the quake at a strength of 6.6 while Thailand’s meteorological department said a 4.7 magnitude aftershock hit at about 1005 GMT.
Officials in the four Thai provinces near the Laos border — Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Nan and Lampang — all said that they were still investigating the effects of the quake, but no serious damage or injuries had been reported.
In the province of Chiang Rai, the top of an ancient pagoda which was under restoration crumbled to the ground, a local official said.
In Chiang Mai, a city popular with tourists, people evacuated from shaking buildings and flooded on to the streets.
“My building shook twice, once very heavily, and the second time was like having a headache — the floors were sliding,” said Viparwan Chaiprakorb, who works on the third floor of an office building in the centre of Chiang Mai.
“People were scared,” she said by phone.
Shocked workers also huddled on the streets of Bangkok, which rarely feels the effects of earthquakes.
“I have not seen a strong earthquake like this before, my head felt like it was spinning,” Nattaya Limngern, a 40-year-old office worker, said.
“My first feeling was to get out of the building as soon as possible.”
“I think people in Bangkok need some kinds of warning for national disaster in the future,” another office worker, Kanitta Thaisong, said.
There was little information out of Laos as authorities tried to guage the impact of the quake in the sparsely populated, mountainous region.
A spokesman for the foreign ministry said tremors were felt in the town of Oudon Xay for 10 seconds. “People were afraid and they all left buildings.”
Authorities in the Chinese city of Jinghong, just over the border from the epicentre, said the quake was felt there but there were no reports of injuries or damage.–AFP

President Nguyen Minh Triet Arrives In Beijing

President Triet visits a family in Yunnan city.

State President Nguyen Minh Triet and his delegation arrived in Beijing, on May 16 on the second leg of his official tour of China.

President Triet was welcomed at Beijing International Airport by Chinese Deputy Foreign Minister Wu Dawei as well as Vietnamese diplomats, students and expatriates living in China.

Upon his arrival, President Triet met staff of the Vietnamese Embassy, representatives of the overseas Vietnamese community and students in Beijing and praised their contributions in promoting the friendship and co-operation enjoyed by Vietnam and China.

Earlier, President Triet attended a business forum for Vietnamese and Yunnan-based companies in the China’s southern province where he urged Vietnamese businesses to cash in on incentives given to products of Vietnamese origin that are imported through border gates in China’s Yunnan province.

President Triet also called for stronger co-operation in the areas of electricity, mining, tourism and education as well as the deployment of the “Two corridors, one economic belt” programme which is set to include Singapore and countries from the Greater Mekong Sub-region.

“Businesses from Vietnam and Yunnan province need to boost trade with a special focus given to value added products while continuing our cross-border trade under stricter management in order to curb smuggling,” President Triet said.

Yunnan Chairman Qin Guang Rong who also spoke at the conference said that initiatives such as the establishment of an economic corridor that links Yunnan’s capital Kunming with Vietnam’s Lao Cai province, Hanoi capital and the northern port city of Haiphong needed to be accelerated.

The scheme would help to facilitate traffic flows, promote trade, balance electricity supply and demand, and smooth border gate customs procedures, said the Yunnan chief.

He concluded by saying that the project would give a shot in the arm to the roadmap of a free trade area between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

Two-way trade between Vietnam and Yunnan hit the US $500 million mark in 2006.

President Triet then met with overseas Vietnamese and paid a visit to a pilot economic restructuring project in the Kunming capital before leaving for Beijing. (VNA)

Police Indict 25 Officials, Business People In Tobacco Trafficking

Nguyen Ngoc Kim, vice chairman of Lao Cai province, was arrested Jan. 12


Vietnam police have filed charges against 25 officials and businesspeople in a northern province including a deputy mayor and a customs head for bribery, trafficking tobacco and evading taxes of US$406,250.

Among them is Nguyen Ngoc Kim, vice head of the Lao Cai province’s People’s Committee [local government] who recently admitted to police he received VND85 million ($5,310) in bribes from five local private companies for permitting them to ‘import’ tobacco leaves through unofficial entry points.

The five firms thus had trafficked over 22,000 tons of tobacco worth VND440 billion.

Kim had signed 14 official documents labeled “Confidential” for the purpose between 2004 and 2006.

The Government Border Committee, the General Department of Customs and the Ministry of Trade earlier have confirmed that importing goods through such entry points [not manned by customs officials] is illegal and amounts to trafficking.

Lao Cai customs department also protested officially on 8 separate occasions, saying such import is against Vietnamese law.

The province’s Communist Party Committee on June 5th last year directly instructed Kim’s agency to stop permitting the import through such entry points.

But Kim paid no heed, and four days later, signed one “Confidential” document allowing Thanh Son company to import 234 tons without supervision of customs officers.

Though his agency apparently advised Kim against the practice, Dinh Ba An, director of the province’s customs department and his 15 subordinates had gladly accepted bribes from the tobacco-importing companies, and are among the indicted.

Police said officers at Bat Xat district customs section received over VND1.5 billion in bribes, in which its head Pham Xuan Thuong took over VND200 million and his predecessor Khuong Manh Hung over VND100 million.

An admitted that over the past two years, Thuong had given him a total of VND190 million (US$11,875).

Among the indicted - Nguyen Ngoc Lien, director of Thien Loi Hoa Company and Nguyen Huy Tan director of Thanh Son Company said they had “negotiated” with Thuong and agreed to a bribe of VND800,000 for every ton of tobacco trafficked.

Thien Loi Hoa had ‘imported’ over 5,000 tons during the two-year period.

Source: Sai Gon Giai Phong

The World Business magazine it its May issue selected Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung For Its List Of “Top 20 Asian Progressives.”

Magazine picks Vietnamese PM as Asia’s top 20 progressives
According to the magazine, the list honors “modernizers and reformers steering the region towards good business practice, transparency and management excellence.”

Dung, who stands fifth in the list, became Vietnam's youngest prime minister in June 2006. He is the first Vietnamese communist leader to be born after the August Revolution in 1945.

“He is a reformer and a modernizer; he was appointed to carry on the economic reforms that have seen the economy grow at about 7 percent a year and permitted the country's admission to the WTO in 2006,” the magazine says.

A technocrat that is economically literate, Dung nominated fighting corruption and developing the Vietnamese economy in a sustainable way as two of his priorities, it adds.

“He is firmly committed to carrying on the legacy of his recent predecessors - that of further openness and economic freedom,” World Business says.

China’s Communist Party General Secretary and President Hu Jintao tops the World Business list, which also names three other people from China, including two from Hong Kong.

Malaysia also has four people honored in the list. India and Thailand have two people each. The other people in the list are from Bangladesh, Indonesia, Nepal, the Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, and Japan/Korea.

Vietnam Plans To Tax Stock Trading Income

Vietnam's finance ministry plans to impose a personal income tax on earnings from share trading following the fast expansion of the stock market, a government official was quoted Wednesday as saying.

Deputy Finance Minister Truong Chi Trung said a draft law planned to collect 5 percent from dividend earnings, the Vietnam Economic Times newspaper reported.

Trung said the law would also require a tax on share transfer and earnings by non-resident foreign investors, but did not provide the proposed rates.

"When the personal income tax law was submitted to the government and the National Assembly, our stock market was not hot so many said it was not necessary," he told the newspaper in an interview.

"Now it is hot so it deems that this trend, this law on the tax on the stock market, is very suitable," Trung said.

He said the ministry would publish the draft law in June or early July for public review before submitting it to the National Assembly for approval late this year.

Vietnam's main stock market with 107 listings has risen 40 percent this year after surging 144.5 percent in 2006, one of the world's fastest-growing exchanges.

The capitalization of the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange, which was renamed by the government this month from the Ho Chi Minh City Securities Trading Center, stood at $14.7 billion.

The over-the-counter Hanoi Securities Trading Center has 86 listings and a market capitalization of $6 billion.

As of March, foreign investors have poured between $3 billion and $4 billion into Vietnam's stock market, the finance ministry estimated. The central bank has forecast that investments would rise to $5.5 billion by the end of this year.

Source: Reuters

Canal Boat Accident In HCMC Leaves 5 Dead, 3 Missing

Five bodies have been recovered as of Wednesday after a Vietnamese cargo boat was struck by a vessel from the Philippines Tuesday in canal waters off the Lotus Wharf in Ho Chi Minh City.

Three others are missing and presumed dead after the 3,000-ton capacity Hoang Dat 36 was hit as it was about to anchor at the wharf with a load of 2,000 tons of corrugated iron sheets from Indonesia.

Struck hard in the hull by the Shanghai Gas vessel, Hoang Dat was thrust into the wharf bank and sank 10 minutes later, 50 meters from the original crash site.

Hoang Dat now sits under 15-20 meters of water in the canal, and a 350-ton crane is to be mobilized Friday from Vung Tau Town to salvage the ship, which is owned by the Hoang Dat Ltd Company in the northern city of Hai Phong.

A total of eight crewmembers were saved in the incident.

The Gas Shanghai is being detained by Ho Chi Minh City authorities. Local police are looking into the accident.

Early Wednesday morning, the city environment department said oil began to leak from the hull of the Hoang Dat, as it was also carrying a load of some 2,000 liters of oil.

Hoang Van Loc, director of Dai Minh, a private salvage company, said most of the leaked oil has been absorbed by special sponges, and that the leak is under control.

Doan Thanh Cuong, another Dai Minh executive said the salvage will probably take over two weeks because the cargo is cumbersome and there are heavy currents in waters around the crash site.

Largest Steel Mill To Be Built In Southern Viet Nam

Work will begin on Viet Nam’s largest cold-rolled steel mill in the southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau in August.

The Viet Nam Steel Association said the 1.12 billion USD mill invested by Posco of the Republic of Korea, will also be the largest in Southeast Asia.

The mill, scheduled for completion in 2009, will have an annual capacity of 2 million tonnes in the first phase, which will increase to 3 million tonnes in the second phase. It is expected to generate 10,000 jobs.

The mill is the fifth flat rolled steel project and the third foreign-invested steel investment in Viet Nam.

Source: Vietnam Agency

Vietnam To Take Fight To Terrorists

A Vietnamese government representative renewed the country's support for the UN's role in promoting international co-operation to counter terrorism at the fifth ASEM anti-terrorism conference, in Tokyo on May 16.

Nguyen Ba Son, Head of the International Law Department of the Foreign Ministry, made the affirmation when he led the Vietnamese delegation to the conference.

He said that the Southeast Asian country would soon join the 1979 International Convention Against the Taking of Hostages and the 1997 International Convention against Terrorist Bombings, which will earn Vietnam membership in as many as 10 anti-terrorism international conventions.

The conference took place in Tokyo on May 15-16 and focused on how to maximise efforts by Asian and European nations in the war on terror. (VNA)

US Airline To Open Daily HCMC-Los Angeles Service In October

The US-based United Airlines will open a daily Ho Chi Minh City – Los Angeles route on October 29, announced the carrier Saturday.

The carrier’s head representative to Vietnam Joe Mannix said the flight would operate everyday from HCMC to Hong Kong with continuing non-stop service to Los Angeles.

The flight to Los Angeles would be convenient for many Vietnamese customers as the worlds highest density of overseas Vietnamese resides in southern California, said Joe.

He said e-tickets for the daily LA-HCMC flights would go on sale in June.

Previously, United has flown to Los Angeles on a less frequent schedule.

United is the only United States airline operating direct passenger and cargo service between Vietnam and the United States. It has operated daily flights from HCMC to Hong Kong with continuing non-stop service to San Francisco and connecting non-stop service to Chicago.

From these cities, United provides more flights to more cities in the United States than any other airline.

Source: Thanh Nien

Ancient Town Bans Discos, Karaoke Rooms

Chua Cau (Japanese Covered Bridge), an attraction of Hoi An (Photo: Pham Quoc Hung)

The People’s Committee of central Quang Nam province has banned dance floors and karaoke rooms from select areas of Hoi An ancient town, a UNESCO-recognized World Heritage site.

In a directive Saturday that effectively immediately, the provincial administration said it was acting to preserve the peaceful atmosphere of the town, and would no longer allow the operation of such entertainment sites within the areas where ancient houses are located.

Outside these areas, the authority has granted permission to build five discos in the province by 2010.

Hoi An is a central old town that functioned long ago a bustling international port, and was recognized by UNESCO as a World Heritage site in 1999.

Adjacent to the Holy Land of My Son and the former imperial capital of Hue, the ancient town is a treasure of humankind in the form of a cultural heritage.

Coca Cola Must Answer Curious Chlorine Questions

Vietnam Food Administration said Monday that Coca Cola Beverages Vietnam Ltd. will have to explain and live up to its withdrawal of chlorine-heavy Fanta soft drinks from the northern market.

Coca Cola Vietnam revoked several batches of 1.5-liter plastic bottles of Fanta soft drinks in Hanoi and adjacent provinces March 18-22.

A laboratory at the Vietnam Institute of Science and Technology proved that the product samples had 35 times more chlorine than the acceptable level.

Earlier, Lam Binh Vu, Coca Cola’s manager of techniques and quality in Indochina, said the company had sent samples for tests overseas but had yet to receive the results.

He did not convincingly explain why the products were withdrawn.

The administration will ask the Ministry of Health to investigate the case further.

Source: Tuoi Tre

Vietnam Carries Out Second Obesity Surgery

A 99-kg Vietnamese woman has become the second person to ever resort to weight-loss surgery in the country after undergoing an operation in Hanoi Monday.

Hailing from Ho Chi Minh City, the woman had her stomach knotted into two parts with an endoscope at the Viet Duc Hospital. The section above the knot is small and fills easily with food, tricking the brain into thinking that the whole stomach is full, prompting the patient to stop eating.

She is not suffering complications from the procedure and can now walk around.

Doctors said she is expected to lose 10-15 kg during the first month after surgery and be normal after one year. The cost of the operation is VND50 million (US$3,120).

Exactly one week ago, a 38-year-old woman weighing 95 kilograms, 1.65m tall, became the first in Vietnam to treat obesity with surgery. The same hospital cut four small incisions in her belly and tied a similar knot. Her small knot is only large enough to store 15ml, or about 3 spoonfuls, of food.

Previously, obesity in Vietnam was commonly treated with diets and exercise, not surgery.

Obesity is increasingly classified as a serious condition and can easily lead to heart problems, high blood pressure and diabetes.

In other health news, the health ministry Tuesday officially announced it will form a central institute for strategic research into diabetes and digestive disorders.

Vietnam has recorded among the highest rates of diabetes increases in the world. In 1990, only 0.9 to 2.5 percent of the population in urban areas suffered from the disease. The figure has risen to 4.4 percent now. Among high-risk groups, the rate is over 10 percent. Thanh Nien

Vietnam To Intensify Battle Against Drugs

Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung Monday announced the country will carry out another intensive campaign to snuff out the country’s drug trade beginning next week.

As part of the May 26-September 26 program, the PM assigned the ministries of public security, defense, finance and local People’s Committees [local governments] to keep a close watch on border areas and seas while cooperating with other agencies to raise people’s awareness on the dangers of drugs. The campaign will focus on the slogan: “Every commune, ward, town and residential area free from drugs and social ills”.

Just weeks ago, police in Ho Chi Minh City swept through the metropolis and arrested 35 drug suspects in a series of sorties and shakedowns that shook up drug traffickers and disrupted some of the city’s distribution rings.

Most prominently, police busted a big-time ecstasy dealer, a Vietnamese-Australian man, seizing over 2,760 ecstasy pills, 73 packets of crystal methamphetamine, or ice, and one bag of marijuana.

A group of heroin pushers, possibly the drug trade’s most dangerous element, have also been arrested.

Chairman of the city People’s Committee Le Hoang Quan Tuesday awarded certificates of merits and a cash award of VND20 million (US$1,250) to representatives from the city drug police force for their recent successes.

Meanwhile, Hanoi police have recently arrested eight and confiscated 186 ecstasy pills in a series of raids against the illicit trade. In the capital’s most high-profile case, the central police raided New Century, Vietnam’s wildest nightclub, and arrested several on suspicion of ecstasy distribution late last month.

Culture minister Le Doan Hop Tuesday awarded VND5 million to the special force from the public security ministry, who laid siege on the popular disco.

Vietnam has some of the toughest drug laws in the world. Possessing, trading or trafficking 600 grams (1.32 pounds) of heroin or 20 kilograms (44 pounds) of opium are punishable by death.

Vietnam-Laos Sex Ring Smashed, Girls Sent Home

Vietnamese and Laos police recently smashed a ring that cajoled Vietnamese girls into entering the sex trade in Laos, rescuing 2, sending 11 back from a brothel in Laos, and arresting two others.

Soldiers in central Quang Tri province Monday said late last month, they caught two suspicious young girls about to leave the province for Laos. From this, they questioned Tong Hoang Mai, who was waiting for the two nearby.

Mai admitted she worked for Chu Tuan Hoa, 30 a Vietnamese owner of a massage parlor in Pakse, Champassak province in Laos. She said she was initially a victim enticed by Hoa to visit Lao for fun but on arriving, Hoa took her passport and other documents and forced her to become a prostitute.

On information from the Vietnam Consulate General in Pakse, Laos police raided Hoa’s massage palace, and found 11 Vietnamese girls there in the sex trade. They were promptly returned home.

Hoa and his close aide Hoang Dinh Toan were arrested. Hoa said he paid Toan 500,000 kips (US$52) for each girl sent by him and would pay 10,000 kips to each girl after sex with customers.

They usually approached girls in Ho Chi Minh City and Long An province in the south; Thua Thien Hue and Quang Tri provinces in the central region.

Vietnamese Workers Home From Malaysia With Stories Of Abuse

Vietnamese families are demanding that their 21 female relatives currently working for a firm in Malaysia be sent home fearing abuse after their three colleagues who returned home Saturday said they were beaten.

The 13 families from southern Kien Giang Province, and the three women who were recently sacked and sent home, rallied Tuesday at the Ho Chi Minh City-based Sovilaco Labor Export Trading and Tourism Company, which sent the women to work in Malaysia at the Yikon Jewellry Industry Bhd in the state of Penang last May.

The three – Nguyen Thi Sua, Thai Thi Diem and Ho Duong Ngoc My – who recently took part in a strike at the Malaysian firm, said they were called to the office and there were beaten by a group of supervisors.

Earlier they had been forced to sign a document agreeing to be sent back home for inciting the strike.

They were rushed immediately to the airport, without even being allowed time to pack. Apart from the clothes they were wearing, they brought home nothing.

Phan Thi Hanh, Diem’s mother, said Sovilaco has not upheld its part of the agreement, which is to ensure income and not allow abuse.

Under a contract signed with Sovilaco, the women were to be paid 468 Malaysian ringgits (US$137.4) a month apart from off-hour reimbursements. But except for one month when they received a little over the promised amount, they received only 360 ringgits on average for the other 11 months while the company forced them to work extra shifts.

Vu Duc Hung, in charge of labor export to Malaysia at Sovilaco, promised to seek help from the Vietnamese embassy in Malaysia and ask its authorities to investigate. Hung promised to have a definite reply within the next 20 days.

He said the 21 women have returned to work from the strike and that Yikon has promised to increase their working shifts to help them earn more.

Source: Nguoi Lao Dong

Hanoi Real Estate Market Sizzling

The Hanoi real estate market is buzzing with economic expansion driving investment and demand, a property consultant said, forecasting the lack of supply would send rents through the roof.

CB Richard Ellis Vietnam (CBRE), an international real estate firm recently released its first-quarter review on the capital city’s rental and building markets, complete with forecasts for this year as well.

The total area of Grade A and B office space in the first quarter (such as the Opera Business Center, Pacific Place, VIT Tower and Viglacera Tower) reached about 250,000sq.m, with only 28 per cent vacant, according to CBRE.

Rental rates for these offices were also high, reaching nearly US$35 per sq.m per month for Grade A offices and about $22 for Grade B offices.

Demand for office space in the city has been increasing continuously, but the total supply was expected to hit only about 400,000 sq.m in the coming years, said Marc Townsend managing director of CBRE Vietnam.

Renting an office would require a plan one or two years in advance, Townsend suggested.

The serviced apartment market in the city was experiencing the same situation, with limited supply and high rents (about $19 to $50 per sq.m a month). Increasing demand and an expected influx of foreigners working in Hanoi were creating more pressure on the rental market.

The city's hotel and tourism market was also bustling, Townsend said, attributing this to a great number of international visitors to Vietnam and the boom in budget airlines like AsiaAir, Jetstar and Tiger Airlines.

The CBRE report noted that there have been no new hotels in past few years. At five-star hotels, room rates averaged $115 a day while monthly occupancy rates reached over 84 percent at the end of the first quarter.

Future view

The rate was forecast to go up $40 - $46/qu.m per month in the coming months or even a little higher, sending Hanoi’s rents among the highest in Asia.

A fast-growing economy, stable politics, and formal WTO membership has increased Vietnam’s attractiveness to international business groups, it said.

More office space will be pumped into the market until the year-end with the North Asia Tower available for lease in the final quarter this year.

According to CBRE, clients have already reserved offices before the offices are actually available for lease.

The shortfall in high-end office space is forecast to continue until 2008 when many large projects were set to be expanded and new projects completed, CBRE said.

Also according to CBRE, the year 2009 will be the final point for the office market of Vietnam when the relation between supply and demand will reach equilibrium with about 300,000 sq.m of office space, likely bringing property project start-ups to a halt.

The luxury shopping mall market too was busy on the back of the forthcoming influx of international retailers, and business expansion by both the existing ones and local players, the report said.

Places like Vincom City Tower and Trang Tien Plaza cost $20-80/sq.m. and the rate was set to increase slightly due to increasing demands from banks, electronics and fashion outlets.

According to experts in the business sector, there is growing interest among foreign investors in infrastructure, urban development, housing and resorts.

A number of real estate firms from the US to China have invested in the domestic market, calling it one of the most attractive in the region.

Thanh Nien

Vietnam's First Rice Firm Launches Public Offer

A small Vietnamese rice exporting company set on Monday a $2.8 million initial public offering, marking the first rice firm in the country to go public.

Vinh Long Import-Export Company, or Imexcuulong, planned to raise $1 million from selling 1,668,500 shares, or 37.08 percent of its total shares, at the May 30 auction, Acting Director Le Tuan said in a statement via the stock market.

The state will keep a 51 percent stake while the remaining 11.92 percent would be sold to employees, he said.

Imexcuulong, based in the Mekong delta province of Vinh Long, is valued at $2.8 million, based on the share's starting price set for bids at 10,100 dong (U.S. 62 cents) each.

Imexcuulong has not said when it planned a share listing.

Vietnam is the world's second-largest exporter of the grain after Thailand.


The company ships around 100,000 tonnes of rice annually to the Philippines, Indonesia, Africa and the Middle East. The volume is small when compared with 4.75 million tonnes Vietnam exported in 2006 and its target for 2007 of 5 million tonnes.

Acting director Tuan said Imexcuulong had a net profit of 2.3 billion dong ($143,000) in 2006 after facing losses in both 2004 and 2005.

The company has projected to nearly double its net profit to 4.32 billion dong ($268,000) this year, he said.

On Monday, the VN Index ended up 2.54 percent at 1,066.04 points, a steady rise from April 24 when it dropped to 905.53 points after reaching a lifetime high of 1,170.67 points on March 12. ($1=16,114 dong)

Vietnam Election

The Communist party will again dominate general elections in Vietnam, which will choose 498 candidates to serve as members of the national assembly for the next five years. One of the parliament's early tasks will be to elect the Asian country's president.

Vinh Long Taps World Fruit Market

Officials in Vinh Long, a huge fruit growing region in the south, have projected a total export turnover of 15-20 million USD for this year in their bid to exploit the area’s untapped production potential.

Most of this potential lies within the refreshing flavour of the district’s famous Nam Roi grapefruit, which Phan Nhut Ai, vice director of the province’s Agriculture and Rural Development Department, said he hoped to begin exporting to markets in America, Europe, Japan and Singapore.

The Mekong Delta province has about 42,000 ha of land devoted to fruits, producing 330,000 tonnes annually, with most of the output coming from Long Ho, Tam Binh, Binh Minh and Tra On districts.

District officials have earmarked thousands of hectares for its popular grapefruit, which has become a top priority within the province’s development strategy from now till 2010 because of its adaptability.

Nam Roi grapefruits currently occupies 4,000 ha of Vinh Long province, mostly in Thuan An, Dong Thanh, Dong Thanh, My Hoa and Dong Binh communes of Binh Minh District. Of these, My Hoa Commune has the largest area with more than 1,000 ha.

Households here have been making a small fortune off the grapefruit, earning anywhere from 100-200 million VND (6,200-12,400 USD) per year, according to Vo Thi Lan, a resident of the communes and owner of a 1.5-ha grapefruit farm.

During the Tet holiday, a pair of Nam Roi grapefruits can earn 50,000-60,000 VND (3-3.5 USD), daily prices range from only 5,000-7,000 VND per kg.

Annually, more than 60,000 tonnes of grapefruit from Vinh Long are either supplied to domestic markets or exported, a number which officials project will soon increase.

Despite Difficulties Nation’s GDP Grows

Viet Nam overcame numerous difficulties to obtain a GDP growth rate of 7.7 per cent in 2004, creating favourable conditions for the country to realise its target of 8.5 percent in 2005.

Viet Nam ranks second in Southeast Asia after Singapore in GDP growth rates.

The achievement was of great significance as the country coped with adverse weather, flash floods and prolonged drought, the outbreak of avian flu, and increased prices for production materials.

The brightest point in Viet Nam’s economic outlook in 2004 was its export revenue of US$26 billion, a seven-year high and an increase of almost 30 per cent compared to 2003.

Export volume represented $3.82 million or 65.5 per cent of the $5.82 billion export increase, while price increases only accounted for US$2 billion or 34.5 percent of the total.

Six export items, including two new products – electronics and wood products – entered the list of goods registering annual overseas sales values of more than US$1 billion.

The export outlet structure became increasingly stable in 2004 as local business people appeared more dynamic and proficient in investment, production and marketing activities. Many local entrepreneurs succeeded in landing business contracts and export orders at the beginning of the year.

The US market drew attention from local business circles last year. However, export earnings from this potential market rose only 19 per cent in 2004 due to limited textile and garment export quotas and adverse impacts resulting from the shrimp dumping lawsuit.

Local exporters also tried to expand their market share in the European Union, Japan, and China. As a result, export revenues from the EU market rose almost 20 per cent; the Japanese market, 19 per cent; and the Chinese market, 66 per cent.

Viet Nam’s import value also jumped in 2004. Consequently, the country registered a record trade deficit of approximately US$5.52 billion. The country mainly purchased material, fuel, equipment and machinery for capital construction and for-export production.

Another outstanding achievement of the 2004 economy was the successful efforts to mobilise almost VND259 trillion (roughly $16.4 billion) for social development projects and programmes, up 19 per cent year-on-year and accounting for 36.3 per cent of the country’s GDP.

Viet Nam drew $4.1 billion in foreign direct investment (FDI) in 2004, up 28.6 percent compared with last year’s corresponding figures and a seven-year high record.

At the 2004 conference of consultative groups, international donors committed US$3.44 billion to Viet Nam in 2005, the highest level so far.

The achievements were attributed to the Government’s careful management, provinces and cities’ effective campaigns to draw investment and the increase of exports.

Viet Nam’s economic growth has helped create jobs for 1.5 million people and has reduced the unemployment rate to 5.6 per cent in urban areas.

The poverty rate was reduced to 8.3 per cent. The Government invested in infrastructure in 2,374 villages, built more than 400 village centres and trained more than 5,000 village cadres.

Of the 64 cities and provinces, 36 have 10 per cent of households still living below the poverty line.

Bac Can, Dien Bien, Lai Chau and Soc Trang have 20 per cent of their households classified as poor.

The country plans to reduce the poverty rate to under 7 per cent this year.

Viet Nam has also intensified investment in socio-economic development in remote, mountainous, and border areas inhabited by ethnic minority people.

However, the economy still revealed weaknesses, including unstable economic structure and the slow change of labour structure in comparison with the economic structure. The speed of equitising State-owned enterprises and reforming the banking sector is slower than planned. Worse still, the wastefulness and losses in capital construction have not been effectively resolved.

This year, Viet Nam will continue to improve the investment and business environment, reduce production costs, raise the quality and competitiveness of Vietnamese products, and attract more FDI and official development assistance (ODA).

The country will also maintain stability in macro-economics and business environments, and speed up negotiations on joining the World Trade Organisation (WTO). VNN

Ho Chi Minh City Takes Two Titles At National Tennis Tournement

Ho Chi Minh City teams took both the men’s and the women’s titles at the National Team’s Tennis Championship in the beach resort city of Nha Trang.

In the final round on Friday, HCMC beat Soc Trang 2-0 after Ngo Quang Huy and Do Minh Quan romped Tran Hung Dung and Tran Thanh Hoang respectively.

The Army team ranked third in the category.

In women’s events, first and second place belonged to two teams from Ho Chi Minh City, while Khanh Hoa Province took third.

The annual tournament attracted teams from all of the country’s 64 provinces and cities.

HCMC Firm To Build New Highway To Mekong Delta

A Ho Chi Minh City company has received permission to build a highway from the city to neighboring Long An Province. The road would cut travel time to the province in half and support regional development.

The ITA-WAYS firm under the Tan Tao Industrial Park group will construct the motorway linking the Tan Son Nhat International Airport with the province center for some US$400 million.

When completed, the freeway will decrease the traveling time between the two localities to nearly 30 minutes. The road will allow vehicles to travel up to 120km/hr.

The investor is working with experts from the Vietnamese Ministry of Transportation and the US to design the highway.

Source: Tuoi Tre

Ho Chi Minh City Police Smash Viet-Aussie-Led Drug Ring

Ho Chi Minh City police recently smashed a ring led by a Vietnamese-Australian man trading in the illegal hallucinogen ecstasy, arrested 7 and seized over 2,760 pills of ‘e’ as the drug is known on the street.

They also confiscated 73 packets of crystal methamphetamine or ice, and one packet of marijuana.

The case trailed back to an incident last month where police caught Nguyen Chi Toan, 25, with 8 pills on his person.

From Toan, they nabbed Nguyen Hoang Hung, seized nearly 400 pills and Vu Quang Anh, 31, and confiscated over 2,000 pills, 65 packets of ice and one packet of marijuana in their houses.

Police followed the clues to ringleader 48-year-old Nguyen Tuan Khanh, an Australian national of Vietnamese descent, who was shortly arrested while using ecstasy. A total of 4.7 kg of ice was confiscated on the spot.

Khanh, who has been living in Vietnam since 1992, has two wives in the US. He was once sued at a court in Ho Chi Minh City for refusing to pay back a debt of 200 taels of gold. One tael costs VND13 million (US$820) at current prices.

Khanh confessed to selling Anh at least 2,400 pills at a price of VND80,000-VND90,000 (US$5.6) each. In 2002, Anh was sentenced to three years in jail for buying stolen articles, faking seals and state documents.

Nguyen Hoang Hung, one of the arrested, told police he sold the pills wholesale at VND200,000-VND220,000 each.

The investigation into the ring’s suppliers and customers is ongoing.

Several Vietnamese-Australians have been arrested for trafficking heroin from Vietnam to Australia in recent years, with at least four being sentenced to death.

Last Saturday, Vietnamese-Australian Nguyen Kant lost consciousness during a flight from Ho Chi Minh City to Sydney. It turned out he had swallowed an estimated 1 kg of heroin inside 51 separate balloons.

Possessing, trading or trafficking 600 grams of heroin is punishable by death in Vietnam.

Bank Customer Robbers Face Long Arm Of The Law

Nguyen Huy Hoang, the leader of the bank customer robbers

Police are seeking indictments against five thieves for stealing at least VND2.2 billion (US$137,500) from bank customers in 14 separate incidents since 2004 in Ho Chi Minh City.

The ring preyed on customers who had just withdrawn cash at Vietcombank branches in District 3 and Binh Thanh District, Southernbank in Phu Nhuan District, Incombank in District 3 and Eximbank in District 1.

Police said over four consecutive days last month they carried out four robberies, looting nearly VND500 million.

Ringleader Nguyen Huy Hoang, 35 and his four henchmen: Ngo Trong Bang, 28 Nguyen Van Hoang, 31, Le Duc Thuan, and Nguyen Minh Duc, 34 were arrested May 5th after grabbing a bag from a woman they had watched withdraw VND8 million ($500) from Incombank in District 10.

Hoang, said Thuan was responsible for surveying the situation and identifying targets.

That day, he went into the bank in formal clothes, pretending to be a businessman. He identified Huynh Thi Bich V. as a target after seeing her put the VND8 million into her handbag.

Thuan informed Hoang, who called four others. One is still at large and on the wanted list.

The six then followed V. on four motorbikes. Two pressed their motorbike against hers, causing her to fall down. They managed to take the bag but were shortly surrounded by 10 undercover policemen who had been following them.

The police had been investigating the ring for months before launching the strike.

The criminals had spent most of their loot on gambling and expensive motorbikes.

US senators Concerned With Checks On Vietnam Apparel Imports

US congressmen have expressed concern over the Department of Commerce (DOC)’s monitoring mechanism against apparel imports from Vietnam, saying it could place the US in violation of agreements under the WTO.

Six congressmen, both Republican and Democratic, sent the letter earlier this month, to Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez.

The congressmen of the US House of Representatives’ Ways and Means Committee argued that the program, a unilateral anti-dumping measure taken by the US does not benefit US businesses and consumers.

The congressmen - Earl Blumenauer, Jim Ramstad, Mike Thompson, Jim Dermott, Joseph Crowley, and Ron Kind - wrote the surveillance puts a strain on relations with Vietnam, which was granted Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) status by lawmaker earlier this year.

“We are deeply concerned that the disruption in trade caused by the import monitoring program is cutting away at many of the benefits of granting PNTR status to Vietnam. Even more troubling, these negative impacts come at no benefit to US apparel producers.”

They suggested that the monitoring only be applied to item groups that US producers have requested supervision of and there is evidence of “material injury”.

The letter concluded, “We stand ready to work with the DOC to ensure that the US economy receives the full range of benefits from granting PNTR status to Vietnam by limiting the application of the import surveillance and ensuring the greatest predictability for US importers, retailers, and consumers.”

Meanwhile, in a letter dated May 11 to Virginia B. Foote, President of US-Vietnam Trade Council, Stephen Lamar, Executive Vice President of American Apparel & Footwear Association (AAFA) said that the AAFA is strongly against the DOC's decision to establish a supervisory mechanism against apparel imports from Vietnam.

“The AAFA believes that the DOC needs to first identify the domestic apparel production that is being hurt or that has the potential to be hurt by dumped imports from Vietnam [should there be a finding that there is dumping from Vietnam],” read the letter.

“The AAFA believes there is little support or interest in this monitoring among domestic apparel producers because much of what is produced domestically does not compete against Vietnamese imports.”

US retailers’ reaction

At a public hearing in Washington last month US retail firms had criticized the DOC’s monitoring against apparel imports from Vietnam, saying it would adversely impact both Vietnamese and Americans.

Ronald Shulman, chairman of giant retailer JC Penney Company, said the surveillance would hit the Vietnam textile industry and also retailers and consumers in the US.

The surveillance is an inappropriate misuse of government resources to monitor imports of products to possibly self-initiate anti-dumping proceedings though there were no domestic producers of the items, according to the US Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA).

RILA urged the department to chew over the serious consequences caused by the decision.

Representatives of the International Textile Group, the National Retail Federation, the Association of US Importers of Textile and Apparel, and Hampshire Group all objected to the surveillance mechanism and told the DOC to reconsider the decision.

The DOC began monitoring import of textile and apparel products from Vietnam after the latter acceded to the WTO in January, and will gather data on Vietnamese garment exports to the US in the first six months before making a decision on the monitoring program. Thanh Nien

Two-Headed Girl Born In Vietnam

A girl with two heads was born in Vietnam May 9, doctors at the National Pediatrics Hospital said Friday.

Doctors expected twins, but after the Cesarean section they extracted a single child with two heads, two necks, two spines, but with two kidneys, one heart, liver and one pair of lungs.

This was the first delivery for the 28-year-old mother, who works as a teacher at a local kindergarten near Hanoi.

Doctors opted for surgery in the nearest future, as the health of the newborn has deteriorated.

Russia Refuses To Import Tra Fish From 4 Vietnamese Companies

Russia has refused to import seafood from two Chinese and four Vietnamese companies after Russian agencies examined imported tra fish samples, the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP) quoted Seafood as saying.

tra-fish.jpg
After several consignments of seafood were refused to be imported, Russian authorities asked Chinese authorities to launch an investigation of bacteria-infected exports.

However, Head of the National Fisheries Quality and Veterinary Directorate (Nafiqaved) Nguyen Tu Cuong, said that Nafiqaved, as the agency in charge of controlling the quality of export seafood products, had not received any inform from Russian authorities. Nafiqaved will check the information and make public the names of the Vietnamese enterprises that exported the bacteria-infected products.

Prior to that, Russian Federal Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance Services (VPSS) came to Vietnam to examine fishing ports, fish markets, aquaculture and seafood processing establishments, to find out if Vietnamese aquaculture and seafood processing establishments followed their requirements on food hygiene.

In mid January 2007, Deputy Minister of Fisheries Nguyen Thi Hong Minh signed a decision, requesting Vietnamese seafood exporters to have certificates of food hygiene for products to be exported to Russia. The decision was made at the request of the Russian side.

Under the decision, from January 15, in addition to the certificate under the form provided by VPSS, the exporters of seafood products to Russia must present documents showing that their processing establishments can meet the strict requirements on food hygiene.

As for the exporters that do not have processing workshops, their products will be allowed to be exported to Russia only if their products are processed in establishments that have certificates on food hygiene. Moreover, all seafood exporters must follow the requirements by Nafiqaved in labelling and coding export consignments.

In 2006, Vietnam exported 58,705 tonnes of seafood to Russia, worth $126.3mil, an increase of 347% in quantity and 275% in value compared to 2005.

American and Vietnamese Filmmakers Meet

American filmmakers and director Pham Hoang Nam (far right)

The American cinematic delegation visited film studios in HCM City on May 8 on their 7-day trip to Vietnam during American Film Week.

The first request from the American filmmakers on visiting HCM City was to meet Vietnamese director Pham Hoang Nam, whom they spent a whole morning to talk with.

They wanted to meet Pham Hoang Nam, since as William Horberg said: “Mr. Nam used to study cinematography in Hollywood, not to mention the fact that he is also the director of many blockbuster movies in Vietnam. We need to share experiences with people of the same profession to learn about the Vietnamese cinema market, especially the quite bustling HCM City market since we came here to search for investment opportunities.”

In the conversation with director Pham Hoang Nam, the American filmmakers asked about such topics as CD and video smuggling, production costs, ways to make joint-venture films, and especially “how Vietnamese people watch American films.”

Screenwriters Susannah Grant and Phil Robinson, for instance, paid particular attention to the ways Vietnamese scriptwriters look for topics, script reviewing, as well as whether Vietnamese scriptwriters can live on the profession for long.

Producers and directors Tom Pollock, Curtis Hanson and William Horberg, on the other hand, asked about production, distribution and prices, sex and violence movie censorship, and particularly whether procedures to apply for permits to make films in Vietnam had become simpler.

When director Pham Hoang Nam enumerated the difficulties in making films in Vietnam, director William Horberg and cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki suggested sending technical experts to Vietnam or inviting Vietnamese filmmakers to the US to study.

Asked by a representative from Liberation Film about how to make Vietnamese scripts attractive to American producers, William Horberg said that Asian scripts bought and re-made by the US were now very attractive in Hollywood. Action scripts may be difficult to sell, but a story with a good moving theme will catch attention.

“There are two ways for foreign filmmakers to invest in film projects in Vietnam. One is to make films about Vietnam in Vietnam. And the other is to shoot in Vietnam. These are the best means of partnership given the current difficult procedures in filming in Vietnam,” added Horberg.

The American delegation also visited Dofilm, the only 3D animation studio in Vietnam. Tom Pollock said that this 3D studio was wonderful given the present level of film technology in the country. All members were surprised when Dofilm’s president Do Quang Minh said that the cost of producing a cartoon episode at the studio was only US$15,000.

The American filmmakers will also meet the HCM City Cinema Association, BHD, Thien Ngan, Phuoc Sang, as well as Vietnamese filmmakers this afternoon, May 9.

Animal Feed Plant Opens In Can Tho

Thien Ma 2 Ltd Co has opened a US$10 million animal feed plant in Tra Noc Industrial Park in Can Tho, announced the city’s Industrial Parks and Export Processing Zones’ Management Board.

The board also announced a new $2 million project to build a biochemical plant, and said that two current investors in the park were seeking to raise their registered capital.

Source: Vietnam News

Securities Trading Floor Must Be 150 sq m At Least

The regulation on the organisation and operation of securities companies will become effective on May 10. Companies which cannot meet the requirements stipulated by the regulation will have their operation licences revoked.

Under the new regulation, securities companies must have the right to use their head office for one year at least, while the total surface area for the trading floor must be 150 sq m large at least.

They also must have facilities that ensure normal operations, including a trading floor, office equipment, a computer system with software serving securities trading transactions, and other equipment.

The founding shareholders of securities companies must hold at least 20% of the real initial capital of the companies. The initial capital contribution cannot be transferred within three years of the date of the establishment certificate. Their capital contribution can then only be transferred to other founding shareholders.

Securities companies will be forced to stop operating if they provide false information when applying to establish companies or changing the contents of their licences. In addition, companies will have to stop operating if they suffer the cumulative loss of 50% of chartered capital and cannot raise enough capital as required. Any companies which do not initiate operations within 12 months of the day their licences are granted will also have their licences revoked.

The new regulation stipulates that officers working for securities companies can only open personal transaction accounts at the securities companies which they work for.

(Source: Tuoi tre)

Drunkards Try To Open Exit Door With Plane In Motion On Runway

A HCM City-Hanoi Vietnam Airlines flight was delayed Sunday evening after two booze-hounds tried to crudely open the exit door as the plane was moving on the runway.

Flight VN 2366 was moving along the runway before taking off when the two winos – Mai Xuan Huy and Hoang Trong – rushed to the exit and shouted at the hostesses to open the door for them because they needed to go to the toilet.

Needless to say, there were lavatories clearly demarcated on board the aircraft, but perhaps the fog of alcohol had clouded the ruffians’ vision.

The two surly citizens yelled that they were reporters from the state’s big newspaper. They shouted at the crew and tried to force the hostess to open the doors, but the steadfast employees prevented the would-be swashbucklers from carrying out the ridiculous act.

However, the flight was delayed an hour as the hooligans were apprehended by the police.

City Boy Raises Wild Pigs, Dreams Of Billions

Most city dwellers thought Tran Duc Quoc was crazy when he sold his Danang home to move out to the country and raise pigs. Usually, it’s the other way around, country folk come to the city to strike it rich.

But the 28-year old happily and confidently ditched his stable job in the relative lap of luxury to spend his days in the dirt cleaning slop buckets and filling troughs for greasy pigs in the mountainous district of Hoa Vang.

Quoc said he decided to open his own pig farm when he read an article while surfing the internet: “Wild pigs successfully multiplied in southern Binh Phuoc province”.

He immediately sold his property in the city center to collect over VND300 million ($18,656) for the pigs project.

Last April, his 3.2ha pig ranch, the first-ever wild pig farm in Vietnam’s central region, opened with three laborers and six wild pigs he bought from Binh Phuoc.

Quoc said he earned over VND75 million ($4,664) by the end of last year. Today, he has 128 pigs: 21 female hogs, 10 boars, and 97 piglets.

With a prices like VND250,000 ($15.54) for a kilogram of wild pig, Quoc hopes to earn billion dong by the end of the year.

The success will not come easily, but with his courage and passion Quoc has begun living a more Vietnamese traditional experience.

Quoc has planted elephant grass to feed the pigs. The money he saves from selling the grass to neighborhood ostrich breeders helps him cover the wages of his three laborers.

In addition, every three days he drives his truck to Hoa Cuong wholesale market to collect the vegetables that vendors throw away.

One trip costs only VND100,000 ($6.21) but helps feed the pigs almost three days, he said.

Quoc has become an expert on pig rearing using the contemporary farmer’s most modern and advanced informational tool – the internet.

Source: Tuoi Tre

Vietnam Hospital Performs First Obesity Surgery

In a sign that Vietnam really is catching up with western nations, a hospital has performed the country's first obesity surgery, a hospital official said Wednesday. Surgeons at Hanoi's Viet Duc Hospital inserted an adjustable gastric band around the 38-year old patient's stomach. The procedure will limit the woman's intake of food to about 15 millilitres or three spoons of food.

The unidentified patient was 1.65 meters tall but weighed 95 kilograms, said Dr. Tran Binh Giang, deputy director of the hospital, who performed the surgery. He said he expected the woman would lose about 40 kilograms in six months following the surgery.

Obesity is a serious health problem in many parts of the world but it is one that has been virtually unknown in Vietnam.

Yet as affluent Asians adopt more sedentary lifestyles, along with western diets that contain more processed foods and sugar, obesity is a growing problem.

"The rate of people suffering from obesity is on the rise in Vietnam, especially among teenagers and young people," said Giang. "We have seen many teenagers weighing more than 100 kilograms. That's not normal and is a disease."

At an April meeting of the Asia Pacific Bariatric Surgical Society in Malaysia, organizers said that 1,300 weight-loss surgeries had been performed in the region in the past two years.

Hanoi Police And Officials Hit For Ignoring Drug-Infested Disco

Director of the Hanoi Police Major General Nguyen Duc Nhanh at the press conference

Eleven Hanoi city police officers and 17 municipal officials have been reprimanded for allowing serious crimes to take place, possibly for years, right under their noses at the capital city’s biggest disco.

Director of the Hanoi Police Major General Nguyen Duc Nhanh did not disclose the officers’ names at a press conference Tuesday.

A national police raid of the New Century night club on April 28 uncovered rampant and blatant narcotic use at the disco.

The officers are being held responsible for dereliction of duty as part of in “initial review” of the local police’s culpability in not uncovering and stopping the club’s shady operations earlier.

The Hanoi People’s Committee – the mayor’s office – also decided Monday to reprimand 13 officials, demote another and reduce the salaries of three more, also as “initial penalties” for their suspected ignorance with illegal operations at the club.

Of the police officers reprimanded, four were from the Hang Trong Ward unit, two from the Hoan Kiem District department, two from the city police’s administrative management department, and three from the city police’s drug-related crime department, Nhanh said.

Additionally, Hanoi police leaders “seriously warned” the heads of ward, district municipal polices’ drug departments.

“This is just the first phase of responsibility review,” Nhanh said.

“If the investigation finds out any police officers have backed the club’s shady operations, we would consider further punishments,” he said, referring to an ongoing probe by the Public Security Ministry.

The club has had a street reputation – amongst Vietnamese, foreign residents and travelers – for questionable behavior for years.

The raid was a secret national police operation that circumvented, for the most part, heavy municipal police involvement. The national police have no local ties and work directly under the centrally-run Ministry of Public Security.

Asked by the press if the Hanoi police were aware of the raid beforehand, Nhanh said city police did receive a request for cooperation after 1 am April 28 and did participate in the raid.

The national police surrounded the club at 1 am.

Tests showed up to 300 people, out of over 1,160 present in the club at the time of the raid, had used drugs that night.

Four people, including the club director, have been detained on drug-related charges in the probe.

Investigators said the inquiry was focusing on drug trafficking and usage, but could expand into other charges related to the club’s alleged tax evasion, illegal karaoke parlors, and trade of illegal goods.

Police also suspect that prostitutes may have been working in the club.

Ironically, New Century has been honored many times by the local government and police for its work in the fight against drugs.

These decorations had caused Hanoi police to be “underestimate” drug related activities in the club, said Nhanh.

Source: Thanh Nien

Toshiba To Open Software Centre In Vietnam

Japan’s Toshiba group has announced a plan to open a software development centre in Vietnam next month.

Toshiba announced that the centre, called Toshiba Software Development Vietnam, would be located in Hanoi and initially recruit around 20 employees. However, Toshiba will increase the number of staff to 300 within the next three years.

At this centre, Vietnamese staff will cooperate with programmers from Japan to develop software for Toshiba household electronic devices and mobile phones.

According to Toshiba, they chose Vietnam as the site of the software development centre because of the country’s skilled human resources and low labour costs.

Toshiba currently has close ties with Vietnam and provides scholarships to students of the National University and the Hanoi University of Technology.

The group has also set up software development centres in India and China.

Police Seek To Detain Four In Hanoi Disco Raid

Vietnam’s national police are seeking court approval of a four-month detainment for four people on drug-related charges after a police raid discovered rampant use at Hanoi’s largest discotheque.

They included Nguyen Dai Duong, director of the New Century nightclub in Hanoi, who was charged by the police with “organizing the use of narcotics,” Colonel Nguyen Anh Tuan, deputy head of the anti-drug department under the Public Security Ministry, told Thanh Nien.

Three others, including two women, were charged with “trading and trafficking narcotics,” he said.

Duong was arrested during the raid of the nightclub on April 28, which found 300 people had taken nine different synthetic drugs, two of them found for the first time in Vietnam.

Police Major General Vu Hung Vuong said last week that the inquiry was focusing on drug trafficking and usage, but would expand into other charges related to the club’s alleged tax evasion, illegal karaoke parlors, and trade of illegal goods.

Police also suspect that prostitutes may have been working in the club.

Hanoi police were not aware of the raid, which had been carried out secretly by national police.

Ironically, New Century has been honored many times by the local government for its work in the fight against drugs.

The city’s leaders are expected to hold a session on May 8 to review responsibilities of those concerned government agencies and officials.

Smuggler Swallowed Over 1 kg Of Heroin In 51 Balloons

A Vietnamese-Australian attempting to smuggle drugs inside his stomach was found to be carrying 51 balloons containing over 1 kg of heroin in his guts.

Thirty-six-year-old Nguyen Kant’s loose stools got the best of him when he defecated two of the packages on board a flight from HCM City to Sydney Saturday.

The Vietnam Airlines flight returned for an emergency landing at Tan Son Nhat Airport in Ho Chi Minh City an hour and a half into the flight after Kant vomited and lost consciousness.

He was then hospitalized, where he released 9 more lumps of heroin in bowel movements. An ultrasonic scan revealed that 40 similar balloons weighing an estimated 1 kg in total were still in his stomach.

Doctors said that one of the balloons ruptured inside his intestines, which leaked heroin into his body and put him in a state of “medical shock.”

Kant is now under treatment in police custody. Investigators are now probing Kant’s possible involvement in a transnational drug trafficking ring.

Possessing, trading or trafficking 600 grams (1.32 pounds) of heroin are punishable by death in Vietnam.

Several Australians of Vietnamese descent have been arrested for trafficking heroin to Australia from Vietnam in recent years and at least four were sentenced to death.

Source: Sai Gon Giai Phong

Vietnam Congratulates New French President

Nicolas Sarkozy, France's newly-elected president, waves to supporters as he leaves the Fouquet's restaurant on the Champs-Elysees in Paris

Vietnamese President Nguyen Minh Triet Monday sent a message of congratulations to the newly elected President of France Nicolas Sarkozy.

The spokesman of the Vietnamese Foreign Ministry, Le Dzung, also congratulated Nicolas Sarkozy, adding that he hoped bilateral relations would continue to be fostered in the future.

Nicolas Sarkozy was elected the next French President after winning the second and final round of election on May 6, beating his socialist rival Segolene Royal.

Source: VNA

Hotel Price Increases Threaten Vietnamese Hospitality

Hotel prices in Vietnam’s major cities have increased by 35-50 percent this year as demand far outweighs supply. Tour agents are finding it increasingly difficult to accommodate their customers.

In the first quarter of the year, the number of foreign travelers to the country increased nearly 14 percent over the same period last year, according to Pham Tu, deputy head of the Vietnam Tourism Administration.

Vietnam’s 42,000 hotel rooms have only been able to meet 70 to 80 percent of this demand, he said.

Many hotels have taken advantage of this fact and raised room costs considerably.

Le Hoang Yen, head of the Ben Thanh Tourist’s Center for Incentive, Tours and Events (CITE), said a delegation of 300 international travelers has canceled their visit to Vietnam as room costs have been raised so substantially.

Bui Viet Thuy Tien, head of the Asian Trails tourism company, said some hotels in Hanoi have increased their room costs at over 60 percent against the prices negotiated last year.

Patrick Gaveau, a leader of the Focus Asia Company, said many foreign tourists choose Vietnam partly because the country has rather low hotel prices.

If the prices keep rising, there is a high possibility that foreigners would cease to travel to Vietnam so frequently, he said.

Two years ago a four-star room in Vietnam cost US$40-100, but now it costs $65-100 on average. In Thailand and India, where the tourism industry is far more developed, a similar room now costs $70-100.

Solutions

Tu suggested that tourism agents and hotels negotiate price reductions for long-term business relationships.

Agents should also attract tourists to other localities adjacent to Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, he said.

The country has been trying to attract more investors to build new hotels in major tourist hubs like Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Hue, Danang, Phu Quoc, Quang Ninh.

Vietnam would earmark VND750 billion ($46.9 million) to develop tourism infrastructure this year and hopes to receive 4-4.4 million foreign tourists.

Last year, more than 20 million tourists traveled in Vietnam, a year-on-year rise of 6.6 percent. Foreign arrivals exceeded 3.5 million.

Source: Tuoi Tre

Saigon Eclipse Wins International Prize

After two days of screening, April 26-28, at the WorldFest Houston International Film Festival, Saigon Eclipse directed by overseas Vietnamese Othello Khanh has won the jury’s special prize.

Saigon Eclipse is based on Vietnam’s literature classic, Tale of Kieu by legendary writer Nguyen Du. The film is about a modern Kieu who goes through a life full of difficulties and self-sacrifices.

Co-produced by Film Studio 1 and Canadian producer John Board, Saigon Eclipse stars Vietnamese actress Truong Ngoc Anh, overseas Vietnamese actors Dustin Nguyen and Johnny Tri Nguyen, French-Vietnamese Marjolaine Bui, Singaporean actor Tran Chi Tai and Joseph Chang Tseng from Hong Kong.

Saigon Eclipse has also been selected to take part in the Asian Pacific Film Festival held in Los Angeles, California, the US from May 3-10. It will be screened in Vietnam as of May 18.

The Worldfest Houston International Film Festival, one of the first three international film festivals in North America, is an annual film festival for independent and short films held in Houston, Texas, USA.

The festival has given first honors to such famous Hollywood names as Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Ly An, Ridley Scott, and Brian De Palma.

Some 59 movies and 67 short films competed in this year’s festival. The highest prize, Remi for best movie, went to Chosyu Five by directors Noboru Maeda and Sho Igarashi. Different Drummers was awarded best screenplay. Death in Vegas won a Remi for best short film, and The Event was voted best experimental film/video. VNN

Many Airlines Increase Flights To Vietnam

Japan Airlines has said it will increase flights to Vietnam as of June 2007 to meet the increasing demand for travelling by businessmen and tourists.

According to the firm’s announcement, as of June 2, it will offer a Tokyo-HCM City flight on Saturdays. At present, Japan Airlines has five flights per week on this route: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday.

AirAsia, a low-cost carrier, is urgently preparing to open a HCM City-Kuala Lumpur route to serve Vietnamese travelers. Vice Chairman of AirAsia, Lim Siang Chai, said that the airline currently offered seven flights on this route.

Meanwhile, UNI Air of Taiwan has announced it will open a direct flight from Gaosyong to HCM City each day, as of May 2007. This airway currently offers three Gaosyong-Hanoi flights. UNI Air is a branch of EVA Airways, the leading airline of Taiwan. VNN

Vietnam Respects Religious Freedom

Vietnam will always respect the rights of the individual to enjoy freedom of religion, belief and worship, and is adamant that all favourable conditions must be created so all religions feel welcomed within the country.

That was the clear message delivered by State President Nguyen Minh Triet as he met with world renowned Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh and his French-based entourage, in Hanoi, on May 5.

”Religion and belief are spiritual needs and are part of our people, they will be with us for the entirety of our socialist construction process and beyond,” he said.

The State leader hailed the trip to Vietnam by Zen Master Hanh as an extremely positive contribution to domestic religious activities, and expressed his delight at the Zen Master’s affection towards his homeland.

The President said he hoped that Zen Master Hanh and his entourage would make more trips to Vietnam and contribute further to national solidarity and development.

Zen Master Hanh thanked the Government for its help in facilitating his visit and participation in a number of activities linked to the traditions of Vietnamese Buddhism.

Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh and 150 accompanying monks, nuns and followers have been in Vietnam since February 20 at the invitation of the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha’s International Buddhism Board. They are scheduled to leave the country on May 9. (VNA)

US Businesses Eager To Expand Investment In Vietnam

Representatives of 18 US heavyweights present at a two-day business forum in Hanoi have pointed to Vietnam as a country ripe for drawing foreign investment.

“I think the reason American investors are looking to Vietnam, not only for its great investment environment, various opportunities, but also because of the country’s stable growth,” said Franches A. Zwenig, Councilor of the US-ASEAN Business Council (USABC), at a press briefing on May 4.

During the first trip to Vietnam since the US’s normalisation of trade relations with the country, the delegation, mostly consisting of chiefs of US leading groups in information technology, telecommunications, energy, infrastructure and aircraft engineering namely Boeing, Chevron, Conoco Phillips, Exxon Mobile and Universal Telecom Services, paid a courtesy visit to Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and met with senior officials.

Virginia Foote, President of the US-Vietnam Trade Council, told a Vietnam News Agency reporter that all of the companies in the delegation are already in some way involved in Vietnam.

“All of them would like to build on their investments here, yet some of the discussions were how the environment here can be improved so that investment can grow,” asserted Foote, who is also President of the Vietnam Partners LLC, a US bank working exclusively in Vietnam. Areas that need attention include human resources development, infrastructure and laws, she added.

Foote said that a lot of US companies, including well-known Conoco Phillips and Exxon Mobile, are eyeing infrastructure projects for development of power, pipelines, roads, ports and airports in Vietnam, most of which are now funded by Official Development Assistance (ODA). “They can be privately funded and don’t require ODA. There is a great interest [among US companies] in becoming involved,” she said.

As President of the Vietnam Partners LLC, she said she is now travelling around the world looking for investment capital for Vietnam and continuing the work of “marketing” Vietnam to global investors, a job that she has been doing for over 20 years.

“It’s a wonderful, fascinating experience for me to work in Vietnam,” she explained, adding that one of the things that is so interesting about the country is that “you can see, measure and work on change and progress.”

Foote pointed to Vietnam’s indicators for development such as poverty reduction and improvement in education plus the annual growth rate steadying around 8%. 2005 saw Vietnam’s economy at the fastest pace in almost a decade at close to 8.4% and experts have predicted the country to maintain close to that for the next three years at least.

Colin Low, President of General Electric Corporation (GE), who is in charge of technology and global financial service in Singapore, the Philippines and Vietnam, asserted that “Vietnam is already on the road to development, we have already seen brighter opportunities for our business in the country.”

This attitude was also voiced by Ms. Zwenig, head of the US delegation, who said “We hope to be the number one investor in Vietnam in the near future.”

During the two-day visit, US businessmen also met with senior Vietnamese government officials on Vietnam’s development strategy and planning, trade policies, administrative reform and fighting corruption. They also heard Vietnamese legislators discuss law making and the fulfillment of WTO commitments.

Prominent among US giants present at the delegation include Boeing, Chevron, Cocono Phillips, Exxon Mobile, Ford, General Electric, and IBM. (VNA)

Japanese Investors Get Vietnam Fever

Tadayoshi Okimoto, an auto company executive from southern Japan, rubs shoulders with dozens of Vietnamese at a brokerage in Ho Chi Minh City, excited to get a piece of Vietnam's fledgling stock market.

Okimoto is on a tour to Vietnam's budding financial center organized by a Japanese travel agency that brings Japanese retail investors to Vietnam to open share trading accounts. The tour is so popular with Japanese wanting to take advantage of a burgeoning stock market that it runs almost every working day.

"In many countries, the stock market is mature and goes up and down a lot. But in Vietnam, the stock is very new so the chart is going up all the time. In two or three years' time, we will receive a lot of money from our investment," Okimoto, 41, said.

Driven by low interest rates at home, Japanese investors are eyeing Vietnam, a communist-ruled country experiencing fast economic growth after starting gradual economic reforms in 1986, as an alternative to China and India.

The crowd at BIDV Securities Company (BSC) is mixed: there are men and women, the well-dressed and the shabby. The place is so full people are sitting on the floor, all eyes on the three massive screens displaying stock information.

To help people like Okimoto, forms are printed in Japanese and clerks speak fluent Japanese, explaining the rules of the stock market. It even operates a Japanese Web site for investors from Japan, with a $180 annual fee.

Okimoto says he spent 60,000 yen ($500) for his trip, including airfare and accommodation for two nights. "It's very cheap compared to the returns that could be offered," he said.

In two months time, when officials in Hanoi have processed the application, he will receive security passcodes allowing him to start investing.

In addition to Sketch Travel, the group that organized Okimoto's tour, HIS Co. Ltd. and other travel agencies are now arranging similar tours. At the Ho Chi Minh branch of BSC, foreign investors held 618 accounts at the end of March, about 5 percent of the total.

MONEY TO BE MADE

For those who don't make the trip, Vietnam funds are available in Japan, and have been snapped up to the tune of 80 billion yen, more than for funds investing in Brazil.

"Vietnam's economic situation is similar to China, where a communist country opens up its financial markets and tries to beef up the capital markets by joining the WTO," said Kazuo Murakami, a spokesman for Japan's Aizawa Securities Co. Ltd., which sells a Vietnam fund. "It's natural for Japanese investors to apply sharp rises in Chinese stocks to Vietnamese shares."

Including direct investments through private accounts and money invested in Vietnam funds, Japanese investors are estimated to represent about 5 percent of the Vietnam's 2.5 trillion yen stock markets. Foreign investors account for 20 to 30 percent.

CAVEAT EMPTOR

The flood of foreign money has helped Vietnam's main share index jump nearly 145 percent last year and 23 percent this year so far.

Nearly 200 companies are listed on Vietnam's two exchanges, and the government is scheduled to fully or partially privatize 550 businesses this year.

Among those going private are Vietindebank (BIDV), the third-largest state-run bank in terms of assets, Vinaphone, the nation's largest mobile phone service provider, and Bao Viet, Vietnam's largest insurance firm.

But, not everything is rosy for investors.

The market is still small and the market infrastructure is in its infancy, especially the unregulated over-the-counter market, where investors may find the best bargains.

"The shares on the unregulated OTC are the ones we really want ... the problem is that there will be stocks whose accounting and financial information will not be transparent and will not meet Japanese standards," said Masaki Takahashi, senior strategist at the Asia information division of Tokyo-based Okasan Securities Co. Ltd., a unit of Okasan Holdings Inc.

Things may change, however, as the Vietnam government has tried to rein in the unregulated market, asking companies that have sold shares on the grey market to register with regulators.

"(OTC shares) will be accessible for foreigners" after these steps, said Paul Nguyen, a director of Ho Chi Minh City-based Vinchi Capital Management which is trying to set up a Vietnam fund there.

"There is no regulation in the OTC market at all ... most people change shares by going through the Internet or going through unofficial brokers."

Capital Partners Securities Co. Ltd., the first Japanese broker to sell a Vietnam fund, said its clients are looking for emerging-market companies for long-term investments for retirement.

"We are thinking of Kazakhstan next as we have received a lot of inquires," said Katsuyuki Ueoka, deputy vice president, Capital Partners' product division. Reuters

Police Dig Up More On Hanoi’s Nightclub

Following a huge raid Saturday at Hanoi’s New Century, one of Vietnam’s wildest nightclubs, police are detaining five on charges of drug trafficking, and are looking into 30 past cases at the facility.

The 5 detainees include the club director Nguyen Dai Duong, 42, who dismissed “organizing drug use” charges.

Sources said police are also looking into 30 past cases related to the club where fights took place, some seriously but were later ignored.

The disco was raided at 1am Saturday by nearly 500 central government’s policemen who detained around 1,160 people, mostly between the ages of 16 and 25, including foreigners.

Urinary tests revealed over 200 people had been using drugs.

Authorities seized more than 200 personal pouches containing heroin, ecstasy pills and other drugs at the scene. Police also seized over VND160 million in cash (US$10,000) from the cashiers.

Many condoms were found and seven couples were found having sex in closed rooms, prompting the police to suspect that there may have been prostitutes working in the club.

New Century has been fined twice in the past for staying open too late and violating noise regulations, but it has also been awarded with numerous certificates of merits for contributing to the fight against drugs.

In 2002, the Hanoi prosecutor’s office asked the city Department of Culture to withdraw the disco’s license on the grounds that many fights including deadly ones have taken place there besides prostitution, playing pirated music disks and opening past legal times.

But the culture department refused, saying such power rests with the city People’s Committee. The case has fallen into silence.

Though the club’s license has now ended and is awaiting renewal, it is still in operation.

Vietnamese Man Stabbed To Death In Malaysia

A Vietnamese man was found dead in his apartment in Bukit Kemuning district in Malaysia on Tuesday with stab wounds to the chest and head.

The victim, identified as 35-year-old factory worker Mai Ngoc Dung, is believed to have been killed following a quarrel with a housemate.

The deceased had been staying in the house with several of his countrymen.

Six men have been detained for questioning, including five housemates.

"At this time, we believe the suspect is still on the loose," Shah Alam city police chief Kamaruddin Ismail said.

Police recovered a steel pipe and a knife believed to have been used in the murder.

Source: New Straits Times

Vietnamese Man Named As Receiver Of Siemens Bribes

A Vietnamese man allegedly received €241,500 from Siemens AG, which has been investigated for bribing to win lucrative contracts in foreign markets.

According to the German Der Spiegel magazine, the Munich prosecutor’s office had found out in a report dated November 9 last year by KPMG, Siemens’s assigned auditor, a suspicious payment of over €241,515 on March 30, 2006, to a “Mr. Le Tan Cuong” on an account in Singapore.

Siemens received a large order in November 2005 from Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Corporation (VNPT), under which the German conglomerate would install wireless telephones to 400 remote villages in central Vietnam.

The name Le Tan Cuong was also found in another KPMG report over payments of Intercom, Siemens’ subsidiary in Switzerland. Intercom was probed last year by Swiss authorities who suspect it of being a cover to launder money for the parent firm.

Munich investigators were concerned whether this man and a Vietnamese ministry’s department manager of the same name were actually one person.

Vietnam’s Tuoi Tre newspaper reported Thursday that there is indeed a Mr. Le Tan Cuong who heads the Department for Managing Industrial and Exporting Processing Zones under the Ministry of Planning and Investment.

But Minister Vo Hong Phuc told Tuoi Tre it is only a coincidence and that the ministry’s Cuong has never been in charge of telecommunications and heavy industry projects.

“We have checked all information … and concluded that Cuong had no relations with any Siemens projects in Vietnam,” Phuc said.

Prior to his current post, Cuong was the ministry’s chief inspector from 2003 to late last year and thus was not in charge of selecting foreign contractors.

The Vietnam Post and Telecommunications Ministry, which owns VNPT, also said it has no senior officials by that name.

The German engineering conglomerate is being investigated by Munich authorities for allegedly setting up slush funds to bribe officials in foreign countries for lucrative contracts.

It is estimated that around €420 million, or about $570 million have been paid in "suspicious transactions" over the past seven years. German authorities have arrested several former and current Siemens managers in connection with the probe.

The scandal has seen Heinrich von Pierer, Chairman of Siemens Managing Board resign, and CEO Klaus Kleinfeld say he will leave the job after his labor contract ends this September.

Source: Tuoi Tre

Deputy US Pacific Commander Visits Vietnam

Lieutenant General Daniel Leaf, Deputy Commander of the US Pacific Command, visited Hanoi Thursday to discuss cooperation potentials with Vietnamese military officials.

During his meeting with Lieutenant General Nguyen Duc Soat, Deputy Chief of General Staff of Vietnam People's Army, the two sides exchanged experiences in mine clearance and seach and rescue activities in natural disasters.

They also discussed cooperation possibilities in military medicine, English language training, the detoxification of toxic chemicals left from the war, and information exchange on soldiers missing in action during the war.

During their stay in Vietnam , Lt. Gen. Daniel Leaf and his delegation paid courtesy visits to leaders of the Foreign Ministry and the People's Committee of central Khanh Hoa province.

The US guests also visited the Vietnam Military History Museum and the airforce academy.

Source: VNA

Four Vietnamese Children Drown

Four children who wanted to cool off after school drowned after jumping into a river, a local official in Vietnam's Central Highlands area said Friday. Warning signs were posted about the danger of swimming in the Ayun River but apparently the children, all aged 11, ignored them, said Luu Van Phuong, head of culture and information in Ayun Pa town in the province of Gia Lai.

Phuong blamed Thursday's drownings on the depth of the water and the fact that so few Vietnamese children ever have swimming lessons.

"The kids did not know how to swim," said the official. "If they had, it is clear they would not have died. It's a terrible shame. Not only kids but even adults are ignorant when it comes to knowing how to swim."

Nguyen Thi Ngoc Anh, the vice principal of the school the fifth graders attended, called it a regretful and avoidable accident.

"We don't have the facilities to teach them to swim," Anh of the Vo Thi Sau primary school said. "Not all families bring them to the river or a pool to teach them."

"We will find ways after this," Anh promised.

Leading US Corporations Take Part In Vietnam Business Forum

Senior officials of 18 leading US corporations who are visiting Vietnam will participate in a forum on the country’s business opportunities, in Hanoi May 3 and 4.
The 35-strong US delegation is the biggest since the US normalized trade relations with Vietnam and Vietnam’s admission to the World Trade Organization five months ago.

Its members include representatives of Boeing, Chevron, Exxon Mobil, IBM, Time Warner, Abbott, Ford, and General Electric, among others.

The forum, themed “Vietnam – a bright future for US businesses” is being held by the Vietnamese Foreign Ministry and the US-ASEAN Business Council.

Planning and Investment Minister Vo Hong Phuc, Industry Minister Hoang Trung Hai, Deputy Trade Minister Luong Van Tu and many senior government officials are to take part in the forum.

These officials also are to meet with the delegations to discuss investments opportunities.

In a recent interview with local VietnamNet newswire, Frances A. Zwenig, Counselor of the US-ASEAN Business Council, said she expected the participating US corporations would focus on how Vietnam would carry out its WTO commitments.

They would also pay special attention to intellectual property in the country.

Besides, “President Nguyen Minh Triet plans to visit the US this June. We want to know which contracts will be signed during his visit. As for US companies, we know at least six contracts are ready for signing,” Zwenig said.

She also said that the US groups would bring high-quality sources of investment in important fields in Vietnam like infrastructure, financial services, information technology, and education.

Vietnam Cuts Import Tariffs On Chinese Trucks

The Vietnamese Ministry of Finance has announced a cut in import taxes on select vehicles from China as of May 1, under the framework of the ASEAN-China Free Trade Agreement (ACAFTA).

Accordingly, the import tax on Chinese-sourced brand new vehicles of less than five tons including vans, pick-ups and light trucks has been lowered to 80 percent from the previous 90 percent.

Over six-ton trucks are taxed at 50 percent, down from the previous 55 percent.

Go-carts and golf carts will enjoy a 10 percent duty cut, from 50 percent to 40 percent.

Under ACAFTA, taxes on commodity imports from ASEAN and China will be cut further to 0-5 percent, in line with long-term commitments.

The tax cuts will be applied for all imports to Vietnam from Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and China.

The goods, to enjoy the preferential tariffs, must be directly transferred from the ACAFTA member countries to Vietnam and meet requirements on goods origin and be certified by official documents.
Tuoi Tre

Giants Race For Contracts To Build Metro In HCM City

Germany's Siemens, Russia's Jobrus and Japan's JARTS all are racing for the contracts to build the metro system in the southern commercial hub.

Le Hong Ha, Deputy Head of the HCM City Inner-city Railway Division, said: "We are racing against time. The HCM City People's Committee has given the order to shorten the investment process. Most recently, Deputy Mayor Nguyen Huu Tin officially asked for the initiation of the construction of the first item, Depot Long Binh, of metro project No 1, linking Ben Thanh market and Suoi Tien tourism complex, in the third quarter of 2007."

Under decision No 1453 dated April 6, 2007 by the HCM City People's Committee, approving the feasibility study of the metro project, the investor of metro route No 1 is the HCM City Urban Railway Management Department.

The Ben Thanh - Suoi Tien metro route will have the length of 19.7 km, going through district 1, Binh Thanh, district 2, Thu Duc and district 9 in HCM City, and Di An district in Binh Duong province. 2.6 km will be underground and 17.1 km, above the ground.

As designed, departing from the Ben Thanh market, the metro route will have the itinerary as follows: Le Loi - the side area of the city's Opera Theatre - Nguyen Sieu - Ba Son Enterprise area - Van Thanh canal - cross Saigon River - Hanoi Highway - Suoi Tien park - Depot Long Binh.

The total investment capital of the metro project is estimated at $1.091bil, including $88mil for site clearance. The project will be carried out with ODA capital funded by the Japan Bank of International Cooperation (JBIC) (more than $904mil, 83% of total investment capital), and reciprocal capital from HCM City's budget (over $186mil).

Investors and local authorities are trying to push up the site clearance work, aiming to put the metro route into operation in early 2015.

Race among giants

Right from 2003, Germany's Siemens asked the HCM City People's Committee to allow the group to complete the feasibility study for the city's two first metro routes, namely Ben Thanh - Tham Luong, and Ben Thanh - Western bus station.

Later, Siemens successfully asked the German Ministry of Economy and Labour to give $600,000 to build up the projects on the two metro routes, which will have the length of more than 20.5 km. Together with building up the feasibility study, Siemens tried to access donors in an effort to raise funds worth Euro800mil for the projects.

The German group also tried to court the support of German parliamentarians for the ODA loans. The group even lobbied for the ODA loans from the Government of Austria, where Siemens' factory is located, from the Asia Development Bank (ADB), and from German commercial banks' export credit sources.

Russia's Jobrus Ltd then jumped on the bandwagon by signing a memorandum of understanding with the HCM City Transport and Public Works Department on building up the pre-feasibility study on three metro routes in the inner city with the estimated cost of up to $1.4bil.

Due to the financial difficulty, Jobrus then gave up the game. Instantly, Shanghai Railway Group asked to replace the Russian colleague to build the second metro route (Ben Thanh - Go Vap) at the estimated cost of over $500mil for the first 11 km.

Being