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BUSINESS IN BRIEF 19/4
Bac Giang boosts litchi exports to potential markets
The
Nearly 100 ha of litchi in Luc Ngan district has been
cultivated in line with GlobalGAP standards, expected to generate 500-600
tonnes for export to traditional markets such as China, Laos and Cambodia.
Meanwhile, VietGAP-standardised litchi cultivation will be enlarged to 9,500
ha producing 47,000-57,000 tonnes per year.
The province has mapped out a specific plan to develop litchi
in Luc Ngan district to ensure adequate supply for export to new markets,
developing 150 ha under GlobalGAP in 2016 and 250 ha in 2020.
The provincial Department of Science and Technology together
with scientists from research institutes and universities held a workshop to
introduce
Luc Ngan litchi brand name has received protection
certification in
The Department is working to register brand name protection in
the
It is also currently preparing for a number of conferences to
promote consumption and working with Vietnam Airlines to discuss ways to
bring litchi into the carrier’s in-flight food options.
Meanwhile, the Luc Ngan District People’s Committee is asking
relevant agencies to instruct and inspect litchi cultivation processes
applying new technology in accordance with VietGAP and GlobalGAP standards.
It also requests litchi growers to follow preservation
regulations before exporting to foreign markets.
Tran Van Loc, Director of the provincial Department of
Industry and Trade, said that Dong Giao Export Food Company is working with
the province to discuss measures for Luc Ngan litchi exports as it has signed
a contract to sell 5,000 tonnes of frozen litchi to the
In addition, Thanh Binh Jeune company, a French-based
importing business, wants to buy fresh litchi for sale in
Vietnam’s auto imports rocket in Q1
In March alone, 8,000 completely built up units, valued at 217
million USD, were imported.
The country imported 72,000 completely built up units worth
1.57 billion USD in 2014, when 157,810 automobiles were sold, representing
the highest number of annual auto sales over the last five years in Vietnam,
according to the Vietnam Automobile Manufacturers’ Association.
While the sales of locally-assembled automobiles were 32
percent higher than 2013, the industry saw a dramatic 83 percent surge in
sales of imported vehicles.-
Rice stockpiling scheme in
Just less than 997,000 tonnes of winter-spring rice in the
Mekong Delta were purchased and stockpiled as of April 14, accounting for
99.7 percent of
Combined with the additional rice bought on April 15, the last
purchasing day, the nation’s rice scheme has basically been fulfilled,
according to Vo Thanh Do, Deputy Director of the Ministry of Agriculture and
Rural Development’s Department of Processing and Trade for
Agro-Forestry-Fisheries Products and Salt Production.
The purchase has helped stabilise rice prices in the Mekong
Delta - Vietnam’s biggest rice production hub, he said, elaborating that
prices of the popular variety IR50404 increased by 200-250 VND per kg, while
those of fragrant rice rose by 300-500 VND per kg.
Although rice prices have dropped from time to time, they are
still 100-150 VND per kg higher than they were in the period prior to the
purchase scheme, he noted.
The purchase for stockpile, approved by the Prime Minister,
was made via rice trading enterprises under the Vietnam Food Association
(VFA) from March 1 to April 15 with the VFA and provincial People’s
Committees responsible for assigning a specific quota to each trader. The
enterprises also received interest subsidies for up to 4 months for bank
loans taken to purchase the rice.
Official statistics show that as of March 18, the Mekong Delta
region cultivated rice crops on 1.557 out of 1.565 million hectares of
allotted plantation land. The region expects to harvest 940,000 hectares with
a yield of 6.34 million tonnes of rice.
The Mekong Delta comprises of 12 provinces and one
centrally-run city with a total area of 40,000 square kilometres and a
combined population of 18 million.
Low-carbon rice farming offers various benefits
Low-carbon rice farming has resulted in strategic economic
benefits and contributed to poverty alleviation, according to a meeting
concluding the Vietnam Low-Carbon Rice Project (VLCRP).
The project is financed by the Australian Government and the
Environmental Defence Fund and carried out by the Mekong Development Research
Institute, the Can Tho University and An Giang and Kien Giang’s Department of
Agriculture and Rural Development.
The project was piloted across 540 hectares over 11 crop
seasons from 2012-2014 in Phu Thuong commune, Phu Tan district in An Giang
and Kenh 7B commune, Tan Hiep district in Kien Giang.
The project helped build capacity among personnel in the
departments, local agriculture promotion centres and over 500 households.
Farmers involved in the project have increased their income by
5-10 percent thanks to an increase in crop productivity and a reduction in
production cost.
Food safety is another benefit from the project, thanks to
high-quality rice produced with clean and environmentally friendly methods.
The two provinces plan to increase the production area to
1,000 hectares per season in their large-scale field programme.
Local firms should invest in innovation
Intellectual property law not only protects enterprises but
also pushes them to innovate, Deputy Head of the National Office of
Intellectual Property (NOIP) Le Ngoc Lam said.
Lam was speaking at a seminar organised in
Lam said it was vital for Vietnamese businesses to increase
their budget for research and innovation or technology transfer, facilitating
the development of technology nationwide.
The NOIP received more than 38,700 applications for trademark
registration last year. More than 29,000 patents were granted, nearly 1,270
of which were for inventions, 86 for utility solutions and more than 1,630
for industrial designs.
The number of industrial property registration applications
has grown by 10 per cent annually, reflecting increasing public awareness of
the significance of intellectual property rights.
However, applications from Vietnamese businesses remain low,
accounting for only 10 per cent, of which only three per cent received
patents, Director of the Centre for Research and Training at the NOIP Nguyen
Van Bay said.
He said the lack of business acknowledgement of the issue,
coupled with poor application quality, were the main contributing factors for
the low number of applications.
The number of applications also varied geographically, with
The northern Lai Chau Province had the lowest number of
applications of just two, followed by the northern Bac Kan and Dien Bien
provinces with five and nine, respectively.
The participants of the seminar agreed that intellectual
property violations were still rampant.
Forum discusses enhancing export value
Businesses and authorities from the Ministry of Trade and
Industry gathered at forum on April 16 in Hanoi to seek ways to boost
Vietnamese product exports and maximise opportunities from the integration
process in 2015.
The event is part of activities of the on-going 25th Vietnam
Expo 2015 in
Participants highlighted the impact of bilateral and
multi-lateral free trade agreements on Vietnamese exports such as those with
the European Union, the Russian Customs Union,
They discussed effective logistical approaches to enhance
export competitiveness and shared practical experience.
Deputy Director of the Ministry’s Import-Export Department
Tran Thanh Hai stressed the need to reduce crude mineral exports while
increasing that of processed oil products.
He called for enhancing the application of and expertise in
technology in the processing industry such as mechanics, furniture, plastics
and electronics while developing the support industry to reduce reliance on
imports.
The agricultural sector should improve on the quality and
productivity of agricultural, forest and aquatic products by applying science
and technology in the process, Hai said.
He also suggested the development of alternative products to
raise export value, such as mobile phones and cement.
Meanwhile, Marketing Director of UPS Vietnam Group Tran Nhu
Hoa highlighted the role of the logistics sector in addressing possible
challenges to supporting the development of domestic businesses.
Construction
starts on major port in Binh Thuan
Work started on the construction of the 2.3 trillion VND (107
million USD) Vinh Tan port complex in the central
The port, invested by the Pacific Corporation, is designed to
accommodate ships of up to 30,000 DWT (deadweight tonnage).
When put into use at the end of 2016, the port will serve
import-export activities and cargo transport in Binh Thuan and neighbouring
provinces, helping spur regional economic development.
Addressing the ceremony, Minister of Construction Trinh Dinh
Dung said the port construction, invested by the private sector, is a
breakthrough in infrastructure development. He urged Binh Thuan authorities
to work closely with the Pacific Corporation to carry out the project on
schedule.
Binh Thuan, with a 192km long coastline, currently has only
one port – the
Enterprises from the
Proks, accompanied by Czech firms, is in
The
According to Proks, the European nation has a strong
manufacturing industry, focusing on electrics, energy and materials for
machines, metallurgy, automobiles, food and beverages and traditional glass
and crystal products.
Its main buyers include European Union (EU) member states,
notably
The country has primarily shipped machines and electrical
products to
Proks made clear the potential for bilateral cooperation in
electrics, electronics, information technology and public services in the
future and expressed his willingness to act as a bridge for Vietnamese
businesses to enter EU common markets.
The EIA is a Czech-based free union of entrepreneurs and
employers and associates major domestic producers and suppliers of the
electrical and electronic industries as well as of information technology. It
serves as an industrial and business lobby group striving to support business
and help skilled manufacturers succeed. It also aims to improve the
competitiveness of Czech firms.
Vietnam attends Seoul Seafood Show
High-quality fishery products and the latest seafood
processing technologies are being exhibited at the 11th Seoul Seafood Show in
the
This year’s event is organised by the Korea Fisheries
Association at the COEX Convention and Exhibition Centre in
Items on display include seafood, seasoning and food
additives; food processing machinery and related equipment; packaging;
physical distribution equipment; refrigerators, freezers and thawing
machines; and feed for aquaculture.
Workshops exchanging the latest technologies in seafood
sanitation control and processing will also be held on the sidelines of the
3-day show.
The event offers an opportunity for Vietnamese enterprises to
promote their products and look for foreign buyers, particularly from the
RoK, and advanced technologies, in order to make inroad into both local and
international markets.
According to the Vietnam Commercial Office in the RoK,
The RoK is currently
Chinese firms seek to access
Over 40 Chinese businesses operating in finance, labour, real
estate and construction made a fact-finding tour of
According to Irence Va Kuan Lau, Director of the Trade and
Investment Promotion Agency in
The event helped the two countries’ business communities to share
updated information on the market and seek partners, thus establishing
cooperation in the future, she said.
She added that through their visit, Chinese firms were also
provided with insights into the investment climate in
At present,
According to Vietnamese Customs, Vietnam-China import-export
value was 58 billion USD in 2014, up 17 percent from 2013. Trade from
January-March grew 17.5 percent annually to 14.6 billion USD.
Seminar underscores poor logistic services
Nguyen Tran Nhu Hoa, UPS Marketing Director in
She said one of the leading UPS customers in
The company chose only one factory owned by Vietnamese, while
the remaining were Chinese and Taiwanese owned.
The reason for this was simply logistics, Hoa said, adding
that five criteria to become factory members of the group include two
important ones – logistics and customer service, not cheap labour costs.
The logistics services of businesses, especially small-and
medium-sized enterprises are too weak. These businesses just pay attention to
production numbers, rather than logistics.
A current surge to move factories out of
Bui Huy Son, head of the Trade Promotion Agency under the
Ministry of Industry and Trade, echoed Hoa’s view, saying that businesses
should pour more dollars into logistics to get more benefits.
Up to 2,900 Vietnamese will be sent to
The MoU was recently inked by the Vietnamese Ministry of
Labor, War Invalids, and Social Affairs (MOLISA) and the Korean Ministry of
Employment and Labor (MOEL), the Vietnam News Agency reported on Tuesday.
This is the second special memo that has been signed for
Vietnam to continue sending its citizens to South Korea as guest workers
under the Employment Permit System (EPS) program, which was signed between
the two countries in 2008 but was halted by South Korea in August 2012
following reports on a large number of Vietnamese workers overstaying their
visas to work illegally in the country.
The first MoU to resume the EPS program was signed between the
two countries in September 2013 and expired on December 31, 2014.
Under the second MoU, the MOEL allows the Vietnamese side to
make online registration of 5,400 files of those Vietnamese people who want
to work in
The MOEL will then select 2,900 at most from these candidates
as guest workers in the fields of manufacture, construction, and agriculture
in 2015.
Under the MOU, the selection will focus on two groups of
Vietnamese candidates.
The first includes those who passed one of the Korean language
exams held in December 2011, May 2012, August 2012, and March 2014 but have
yet to be chosen by Korean employers.
The second comprises those who returned to
Files of the candidates in these two groups are required to be
sent to
These files will be valid for consideration for one year, the
MoU said.
Candidates can contact their local Department of Labor, War
Invalids, and Social Affairs or the
The signing of the new MoU reflects
Under a regulation of the Vietnamese government that took
effect on August 21, 2013, qualified candidates sent to
The collection of amount is meant to keep EPS workers more
accountable for what they do in the foreign land.
Viet Nam, Macao discuss investment, trade ties
Business executives from 60 companies in
Nguyen The Hung, deputy general director of the Viet Nam
Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) in
Irene Va Kuan Lau, executive director of the Macao Trade and
Investment Promotion Institute, said bilateral trade had been worth more than
$34 million last year.
Many
Dang Xuan Quang, deputy director of the Foreign Investment
Agency, spoke about the investment environment in
From July, with the amended Investment Law and Corporate Law
taking effect, the investment environment would improve further, he promised.
Hung of the VCCI said there was more room for
The event was organised by the VCCI and the Macao ASEAN
International Chamber of Commerce.
Firms urged to promote exports
Exports play an important role in the country's economy, but
have manifested unsustainable development, the Deputy Head of the Industry
and Trade Ministry's Import and Export Department, Tran Thanh Hai, said.
Speaking at the Export Promotion Forum held at the scale of
the 25th Viet Nam Expo 2015 yesterday, Hai said exports had continued to
achieve 10 to 15 per cent growth during recent years, of which the group of
industrial products had occupied two-thirds of export turnover, but its
earning value had been very small.
The main reason was that the country's support industry had
developed sluggishly, said Hai.
Hai took the Nike shoe brand as an example. A pair of Nike
shoes made in Viet Nam was sold in the world market for between US$70 and
100. However, the producer earned only $5 to 10 or not more than 10 per cent
of the value.
He explained that almost all materials, equipment and
technology had been imported. Meanwhile, Vietnamese businesses contributed
workers with lower costs and small investment in workshops – so that they
offered a very low and unsustainable value.
Agricultural, forest and seafood products, which were also
mostly produced by Vietnamese businesses, played a crucial part in the
country's exports, but their total value was not higher than that of
telephones, which had been contributed by foreign direct investment
businesses.
In 2014, the export value of agricultural, forest and seafood
products reached about $20 billion; $3.6 billion lower than telephones.
Expressing an opinion about the development of small and
medium enterprises (SMEs) in Viet Nam, the Marketing Director of UPS Viet
Nam, Nguyen Tran Nhu Hoa, emphasized the importance of logistics development
in businesses.
She said Vietnamese businesses' logistics services were very
weak, especially SMEs, who were unable to invest in this area, or businesses
who only focused on production but had forgotten customer service.
The director of the ministry's Trade Promotion Department, Bui
Huy Son, said businesses should invest in logistics. Its production cost
would be higher and it could also earn bigger profits.
Son added that was necessary to concretise the impact on the
market before Viet Nam could officially become a member of the ASEAN Economic
Community, which would be established by the end of this year, as well as
during free trade agreements in the future.
The country's export turnover was reported to have increased
in the recent years. In 2014, the turnover touched nearly $150 billion,
reflecting an increase of 13.6 per cent, compared with 2013. It was estimated
to reach $171 billion this year, of which $73.37 billion would come from
domestic wholly-invested businesses and $96.8 billion from foreign direct
investment businesses.
The Deputy Director of the Central Institute for Economic
Management, Vo Tri Thanh, said in the context that Viet Nam was going to take
part in many free trade agreements this year, the country's exports would
have a big opportunity of turning its export potential into reality.
Thanh said domestic businesses needed to improve competitive
capacity and their products' added value in order to penetrate deep into the
global added value chain.
At the forum, the experts also provided the most updated
information for Vietnamese businesses to work out export promotion and
development orientation and measures.
They discussed issues related to new export opportunities from
bilateral and multilateral trade agreements, improving logistics-driven
export competitiveness and export promotion measures to maximise market
opportunities.
Korean bank opens branch in Hai Phong
Korea's Shinhan Bank Viet Nam on Wednesday opened a branch in
the northern economic hub of Hai Phong, where many Korean investors have set
up business.
It is the second of four branches the bank plans to open this
year after one earlier in HCM City. The other two will be in Thai Nguyen and
Ha Noi.
The Hai Phong Branch will seek to offer international-standard
products to Korean and other foreign businesses, like usance payable at sight
(UPAS) letter of credit, and loans to importers.
Can Tho industrial zone development to attract investors
Southern Can Tho province will receive more than $10 million
in investment capital in a bid to expand unoccupied industrial park area.
Provincial authorities hope the move will draw in more investors in the
coming time.
Vo Thanh Hung, head of the Can Tho Industrial Parks Management
Authority said that the province will pour VND225 billion ($10.4 million)
into expanding the area of Tra Noc 2 Industrial Park (IP), Hung Phu 1 IP,
Hung Phu 2A IP, Hung Phu 2B IP, Thot Not IP and industrial cluster in Vinh
Thanh district by an additional 10 hectares.
Hung added that the constructions are expected to be completed
by this April 30, the expansion area is to make room for roads in IPs, to
build two resettlement areas and housing for workers. Additionally, there
will also be coverage for a waste water treatment factory in Tra Noc IP.
From 2016-2020, the province will develop two more IPs, namely
O Mon (600 hectares) and North O Mon IP (400 hectares). Furthermore, the
province will continue to expand the area of Hung Phu 1 IP, Hung Phu 2 IP and
Thot Not IP to 974 hectares from 382 hectares. At the completion of
constructions, the total area of IPs in the province will reach around 2,300
hectares.
According to Hung, at the moment, these IPs in the province
are home (accommodate?) to 214 projects, out of which 23 are foreign
investments (FDI) with a total registered capital of $1.91 billion. Currently
192 projects have been implemented and have started operations, while 22are
in the phase of infrastructure constructions.
This year, total industrial production and trade will reach an
estimated $1.5 billion, with a planned export turnover of $620 million. IPs
will contribute by employing 3,500 local labourers and pay VND2 trillion ($93
million) into the local budget.
At present, among eight IPs in Can Tho, two IPs Tra Noc 1 and
Tra Noc 2 full 100 per cent area (263.4 hectares) thanks to attracting 183
projects, in which, 18 FDI projects with total investment capital of $998.6
million. This is most successful two IPs in the Mekong Delta. (I am not even
sure what this paragraph is supposed to mean…)
As part of the initiative to lure in foreign and domestic
investors, the province now has reduced land rent to $0.6 per square metres a
year from the previous $4. Also, via bureaucratic restructuring, the time to
grant investment certificates has been brought down to 2-7 from 60-90 days.
Are the new regulations able to reduce mounting bad debts?
Vietnam Asset Management Company (VAMC) has been powered up
with enough muscle to handle bad debts under the new regulations, yet
according to some experts, the company might still not be sturdy enough to
handle the country’s current gigantic level of bad debts.
The government’s Decree 34, effective from April 5, has
enabled VAMC to raise its chartered capital from VND500 billion ($23.36
million) to VND2 trillion ($93.46 million) and enhance its financial position
in trading bad debts with credit organisations.
In addition, VAMC now has authorisation to issue special bonds
to purchase bad debts at market price. Previously the company had the option
to acquire only a maximum of 70 per cent of the debt market value, which now
has been raised up to 100 per cent.
“I think now that VAMC is revamped with absolute power in
managing bad debts under the new regulation, the company can positively speed
up the process of their handling in the coming time,” said economist Le Xuan
Nghia.
According to VAMC, in 2014 the company bought over VND120
trillion ($5.61 billion) worth of bad debts, yet their operations were at a
standstill as they met mounting difficulties in the handling and disposing of
assets and real estates and in dispute settlement and legal proceedings.
Meanwhile, financial expert Nguyen Tri Hieu noted that the new
regulation has varying effects. On one hand, it has strengthened VAMC’s role
in handling bad debts by injecting additional capital resource into the
company and issuing special bonds, while on the other hand, failing to
address the company’s rights with regard to asset sales or to create a
favourable environment for bad debts trading.
Hieu thus stressed that the new regulations might not be
sturdy enough to reinforce VAMC in the cleaning-up of the current mountain of
bad debts.
He explained that the prospect of bad debts surging even
higher could be very realistic in light of the SBV’s Circular 02 coming into
force on April 1, which regulates the classification of debts, the
establishment and classification of risk reserves. Banks, as a result of the
new regulation, must carry out debt classification procedures in accordance
with the contents of the circular, the likely impact of which will be an
increasing bad debts ratio necessitating further provisions.
Hieu thus suggested that a common debt trading ground could
perhaps be built in which buyers and sellers could exchange information and
negotiate bad debts deals. In addition, VAMC could, in fact, act as an
intermediary who buys debts from credit institutions and sells to investors.
Another option would be for it to simply operate as a broker between banks
and investors to trade debts.
“The debt market should not only be adapted to trade bad debts
but also good debts, too,” Hieu said.
Likewise, VAMC Chairman Nguyen Quoc Hung also shared that one
of the solutions for the company to accelerate its bad debts handling
procedure was to sell them to foreign investors. He said that there is
substantial foreign demand to take over Vietnam’s bad debts, yet the lack of
an appropriate legal mechanism, particularly on bad debts ownership, has kept
them from entering the market.
Merging PG Bank with VietinBank will create Vietnam’s 2nd
largest lender by assets
The Vietnam Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Industry and
Trade, better known as VietinBank, on Tuesday got the approval from its
shareholders for a merger with Petrolimex Group Bank (PG Bank) in accordance
with the overall plan of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) unveiled early this
year.
The approval was given after the bank’s board of directors
consulted its shareholders on the issue at its annual shareholders’ meeting
in Hanoi.
After the merger, the new financial institution will continue
to be named VietinBank, becoming the largest and 2nd largest bank by
registered capital and assets in Vietnam with VND40 trillion (US$1.85
billion) and VND686.9 trillion ($31.6 billion), respectively.
VietinBank shareholders also agreed on the swap ratio of
1:0.9, or one PG Bank share will be exchanged for 0.9 Vietinbank share, at
the meeting, and the Hanoi-based bank will issue more shares for conversion
with PG Bank shares.
Talking to Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper, Bui Ngoc Bao, PG Bank
chairman, said that the bank's shareholders unanimously approved the merger
with VietinBank at their separate meeting yesterday.
During the first three months of this year, the leaders of the
two banks worked to complete the merger contract, he said.
It is expected that the SBV will approve the merger between
the two banks in June this year, Bao added.
The merger with PG Bank, of which about 40 percent stakes
owned by national oil trading conglomerate Petrolimex, was one of the most
important content for which VietinBank leaders sought the approval from their
shareholders at the meeting.
The VietinBank leaders said that after the merger, long-term
strategic cooperation between the new bank and large corporations in the
energy sector will be boosted significantly in addition to an expansion of
capital, networks, and customer base.
This is the basis for the bank to increase the size of credit
and deposit balances, said the bank’s leaders.
At a VietinBank conference in late January, SBV Governor
Nguyen Van Binh said he wanted to see the lender become one of two Vietnamese
banks rising to the regional level in scale and capacity.
VietinBank is 64.5 percent owned by the state while Japan's
Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ has a 19.73-percent holding, Reuters reported.
PG Bank, formerly known as Dong Thap Muoi Joint Stock
Commercial Bank, had a chartered capital of VND3 trillion ($138 million) and
total assets of about VND25.78 trillion ($1.19 billion) as of the end of last
year.
In late March, the SBV gave the green light to a merger
between two unlisted joint-stock commercial banks, Maritime Bank and Mekong
Development Bank, according to a joint statement released by the two.
The go-ahead for the merger came after the SBV announced on
January 17 that it would accelerate consolidation in an effort to reduce the
number of banks and increase the efficiency of the banking system.
SBV Governor Binh stated boldly at a conference in Hanoi that
the first half of 2015 will be the peak time for a restructuring scheme,
resulting in more mergers and acquisitions in the banking sector.
The SBV has already set a target to firmly deal with weak
banks with dim prospects of recovery and development, even forcing them to
dissolve or go bankrupt.
Vietnam's central bank has said that it expects six to eight
mergers this year as it seeks to strengthen an overcrowded sector of more
than 40 lenders, many of which are considered by analysts to be
under-capitalized and laden with bad debts, according to Reuters.
Obstacles impeding proper enforcement of law on IP rights
Officials and experts are calling for proper enforcement of
the Law on I ntellectual Property (IP) Rights, saying it is needed to serve
Vietnam’s economic development and international integration.
In his interview with the Vietnam News Agency’s Affairs,
Deputy Minister of Science and Technology Tran Viet Thanh said that IP rights
have become a pillar of international economic integration activities and
Vietnam has no choice but to effectively ensure them.
IP rights have been at the centre of Vietnam’s current
negotiations to join international establishments, from the World Trade
Organisation to the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
In Vietnam, IP rights have played an increasingly important
role in boosting economic development and local enterprises have already
begun using IP rights to their advantage, contributing to the country’s
socio-economic development, Thanh said.
It is, however, still well below potential and many Vietnamese
enterprises do not have high value or competitiveness at domestic and
international levels.
A major contributing factor to these issues is a lack of
investment in research and development among small- and medium-sized
enterprises, according to Thanh.
Regarding the enforcement of the law on IP rights, Thanh said
there has been significant progress producing positive results against
increasingly complicated IP rights infringements.
According to statistics from the Market Surveillance Agency
under the Ministry of Trade and Industry, the agency discovered 17,400 cases
of producing and trading fake goods and committing IP rights infringements,
fining a total of 36 billion VND (1.67 million USD).
According to an incomplete report from the Ministry of Science
and Technology (MoST), there were 1,106 industrial IP infringements alone in
2014, mostly involving brands, and levied a combined 15.5 billion VND
(720,000 USD) in fines.
The agencies emphasised that these violations are just the tip
of the iceberg and it is extremely difficult for authorities to control all
fake goods outlets.
According to the Vietnam Association for Anti-counterfeiting
and Trademark Protection ( VATAP ), fake goods in Vietnam are not limited to
a specific sector but rather occur in 31 types of goods, most commonly
cosmetics, electronics, kitchenware, beer and wine.
Tran Minh Dung, Chief Inspector of the MoST, said in 2014 his
agency received 64 complaints on industrial IP rights infringements, up from
46 a year prior.
According to lawyer Le Xuan Thao, a member of the Vietnam
Lawyers Association and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the IP Company
Invenco, said the sanctions against IP rights infringements need to be
tougher to counter the increasingly complicated breaches.
The maximum fine of 500 million VND (23,200 USD) for each
offence is too lenient and the Government ought to use additional forms of
punishments such as mandating offenders to compensate the affected companies
or confiscate counterfeit goods.
According to Thao, overlapping enforcement mechanisms and
loose cooperation between governmental agencies is also contributing to the
inefficiency of the law.
There are as many as seven agencies taking part in the
enforcement of the law: Market Surveillance, Customs, Border Guards, Maritime
Police, Police, Tax Agency and inter-sector inspectorates.
Le The Bao, Chairman of the VATAP, cited 35 decrees regarding
fake goods and food safety regulations as another example of overlap and
confusion.
Beyond efforts by governmental agencies, Bao suggested
enterprises should take appropriate actions to protect themselves.
According to Bao, the community is unaware of IP rights due to
a lack of attention from enterprises and lack of cooperation with government
agencies.
As such, it is essential to have an adequate legal framework
to protect local enterprises and weed out weaker market enterprises who do
not abide by the law.
Nghe An focuses efforts on keys industries
The central province of Nghe An plans to concentrate on the
development of key industries up to 2020, including the production and supply
of cement, building materials, sugars, electricity and garments.
For the next five years, the province will ensure that it
completes the cement projects of Song Lam, Tan Thang, and Hoang Mai 2 in
order to reach a production capacity of 10.2 million tonnes by 2020.
The total capacity of cement production in the province
reached 1.64 million tonnes last year.
It will also construct an unburned brick factory with an
annual capacity of 400 million units in Hoang Mai Industrial Zone and a
factory for casting concrete production with a capacity of 4,000 cubic metres
per year.
In terms of power facilities, Nghe An will speed up the
progress of investment projects for hydroelectricity plants to enhance their
capacity to 2,300 MW by 2020.
Currently, the province has implemented 22 hydropower projects
with a capacity of 971 MW and nine other projects with a capacity of 749 MW.
The sugar industry is expected to consume about 15,500 tonnes
of sugar cane per day and the total output of sugar is to reach 180-190,000
tonnes per year.
More investment will also be poured into completing an
industrial complex for fibres, textile and garment production in Nam Dan
district and Dong Nam Industrial Zone, with the objective of producing 35
million units in the year 2020.-
Source :
VEF/VNA/VNS/VOV/SGT/SGGP/Dantri/VIR
|
Chủ Nhật, 19 tháng 4, 2015
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