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BUSINESS IN BRIEF 16/5
VN firm to distribute US trucks
The Hoang Huy Investment Financial Services Joint Stock
Company (HHF) has been appointed as the authorised distributor for the
US-based International Truck and Engine Corporation, Navistar Inc.
Navistar manufactures and markets medium and heavy trucks, as
well as mid-range diesel engines.
Hoang Huy, which is engaged in the import and distribution of
trucks, will provide a full range of products, spare parts, warranties and
repair services for the US tractor unit's products in Viet Nam. The company
will also supply after-sale services and consultation for the assembly of DPF
sensors used in diesel car exhaust systems.
Quang Tri studies budget planning
An 810,000-euro (US$921,600) project will be implemented in
central Quang Tri province to encourage local community's participation in
State budget management.
The project was launched at a conference in Quang Tri on
Tuesday by the provincial Women's
The project that is funded by the European Union is being
carried out from April 2015 to March 2018. It aims to enhance the awareness
of the issue among more than 6,000 women and disadvantaged people living in
six communes in Gio Linh and Hai Lang districts.
It also aims to strengthen the role, competency and
responsibility of People's Councils – which directly represents local
residents – at all levels in supervising public budget usage.
Search for new talent
A conference organised by VNPT Group, Viet Nam Television and
the Dan Tri online newspaper was held to announce the launch of the Nhan Tai
Dat Viet 2015 (Vietnamese Talent Awards 2015) in Ha Noi yesterday.
The annual awards, now in their eleventh year, search for new
talent and products in the fields of IT, applied sciences, medicine and the
environment.
The winners will take home VND100 million (US$4,760) for first
prize, VND50 million ($2,380) for second and VND30 million ($1,430) for
third. The deadline for applications is September 30.
The awards ceremony will be held in Ha Noi on November 20 and
will be broadcast live on VTV and the vnmedia.vn.
Lao Cai, Yunnan to build EZ
Authorities in the provinces of Lao Cai, in
This information was revealed at a meeting between leaders in
the Vietnamese locality on Tuesday. The construction will pave the way for
developing the Kimming-Lao Cai-Ha Noi-Hai Phong economic corridor.
Yunnan Governor Chen Hao lauded the Vietnamese northern
mountainous province for its support of his hometown in hosting the
China-South Asia and Kunming Trade fairs in June this year.
Both host and guest agreed to boost their bilateral engagement
in trade and tourism, launch transportation infrastructure projects
connecting their localities, and simplify entrance-and-exit procedures.
Transparency key to debt management
Tighter controls, improving capital usage and making public
debt transparent can ensure domestic and foreign borrowings for development
and socio-economic infrastructure, said a senior official of the finance
ministry.
Tran Hung Long, director of the Debt Management and External
Finance Department of the finance ministry said this yesterday during a press
briefing on enhancing public debt management organised by the Ministry of
Finance. He said the ministry needed to clarify on two groups of issues on
public debt in a clear and transparent manner.
The first group would include loans, control of the
government's public debt and national public debt safety. To control these
issues, the government, National Assembly, relevant ministries and agencies
have made every effort required to make domestic and foreign loans
transparent.
A series of laws on the state budget, tendering and investment
focussed on public debt control and all institutions and policies have been
working towards tightening public debt.
The Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI) has promptly
revised the Decree 38 on ODA management, while the Ministry of Finance has
nearly completed the projects to be submitted to the government to enhance
lending to local governments via finance institutions to minimise financial
pressures on the State.
In addition, the finance ministry has also urgently controlled
debts and reviewed risks of debts so as to restructure public debts.
The second group will consist of those who are loan users. The
loan users include ministries, local governments, project owners and every
economic sector. The problem is to understand how borrowings are used by the
borrowers, Long said.
The
He said that in the current context state-run enterprises were
allocated investment capital and they must take full responsibilities for
their loans. By doing so, the state-run businesses should not be included in
the public debt.
According to the finance ministry's report, in 2014 the
country's public debt for development and socio-economic infrastructure
reached VND627 trillion (US$29 billion) of which more than 98 per cent of
loans have been channelled directly to infrastructure projects. The
government has taken the initiative of paying the debt on time and ensuring
the safety of national finances.
The direct payment of the government reached 13.8 per cent
last year and it is expected to reach 16.1 per cent this year. Under the
regulation, it is not allowed to exceed 25 per cent.
The finance ministry reported that public debt still posed
some limitations such as a sharp increase, unstable structure and the use of
short-term loans for long-term investment, which imposed great pressure on
payments.
Furthermore, the limitations are also attributed to the
haphazard utilisation of loans and inadequate implementation of investment
projects with regard to the appraisal, approval and contractor selection and
land clearance as well.
To gradually overcome the shortcomings and limitations, the
Directive 02 of the Government on strengthening the management and improving
efficiency of public debt is mainly focussed on the specific tasks assigned
to ministries, branches and localities with a view to conducting
comprehensive solutions on management of public debt, especially new loans.
How to boost infrastructure development under discussion
Deputy Prime Minister Vu Van Ninh has asserted the Vietnamese
Government’s readiness to create a niche for financial institutions to
successfully cooperate and invest in infrastructure development projects in
Addressing the 38th annual meeting of the Association of
Development Financing Institutions in
Titled ‘DFIs & Sustainable Infrastructure: Policy
Framework, Operational Best Practices and Challenges’, the event was attended
by nearly 100 CEOs and high-ranking executives from ADFIAP members.
The conference is of great significance for emerging
economies, including
In his speech, ADFIAP President Pema Tshering highlighted the
event as a good opportunity for financial institutions to take measures aimed
at bringing about a sustainable future for each ADFIAP member.
Tshering stressed the imperative role of non-governmental
organisations (NGOs) in regulating and promoting cooperation among financial
institutions to deal with infrastructure difficulties and nuances. He
suggested each member country should focus on four key areas: financing
small-and medium-sized enterprises, ‘green” financing, expanding
micro-financing for the poor, and adhering to governance rules.
On behalf of the Vietnamese Government, Ninh praised the
ADFIAP activities and modern infrastructure development as one of three
breakthroughs in the socioeconomic development strategy.
Besides,
Under-1-billion-VND homes attract buyers
More than half of 400 people polled in Ho Chi Minh City
expressed intention to purchase homes valued below 1 billion VND (46,512
USD), revealed a recent online survey on local housing demand by
muabannhadat.vn.
Another 32 percent want to buy homes worth 1-2 billion VND
(46,512 – 93,023 USD), while only a fraction of the group (4 percent) desired
accommodations from 3 billion VND (139,034 USD).
The survey partly reflects the recent trend in the local real
estate market of increasing demand for small and medium-size apartments
costing less than 1 billion VND.
In the first quarter alone, 5,100 housing units were made
available in the southern economic hub, 40 percent of which were in the
affordable price range.
The low-end segment appeals particularly to young consumers,
like university graduates and newlyweds, said Nguyen Dinh Trung, Chairman of
Hung Thinh Corporation which sold 98 percent of its accommodations in the
segment.
According to Managing Director Nguyen Vinh Tran at Jen Capital
Advisors Ltd, the trend has been emerging in the city since 2010, leading to
apartments with smaller spaces and 8-10 percent lower prices compared to the
previous period.
Automaker to distribute Indian cars in
A leading local automobile company has become the official
distributor of cars manufactured by Tata Motors Ltd.,
The deal covers car distribution and supply and technology transfer
between Tata Motors and TMT Motor Corporation, according to theVietnam News
Agency.
TMT will supply commercial vehicles produced by Tata Motors in
The Vietnamese company will assemble Tata vehicles and receive
technology transfers from its Indian partner in the ensuing phases of the
pact.
The Indian firm is famous for its Tata Nano, known as the
world’s cheapest car.
Made and sold in
TMT did intend to import some Tata Nanos for sale in
The cooperation pact will help Tata Motors expand its network
to
The Mumbai-headquartered Tata Motors has auto manufacturing
and assembly plants in
In 2004 the Indian automaker acquired
Tata Motors notched up a turnover of $39 billion in the 2014
fiscal year.
TMT, meanwhile, is one of the top-ten Vietnamese automakers.
The company targets sales of 7,900 vehicles of all kinds this year and VND3.8
trillion ($175 million) in revenue, according to the Vietnam News Agency.
The Tata - TMT cooperation comes at a time when
ASEAN stands for Association of Southeast Asian Nations,
including
By that time, there will be a very small price gap between
imported cars and those assembled domestically, prompting some foreign
automakers to weigh whether to continue assembling cars in the Southeast
Asian country, with
The Japanese carmaker has proposed a series of tax breaks for
locally assembled cars so that it can increase the localization rate and open
new factories in
BRG Group brings Hilton to Hai Phong
On April 27, BRG Group held a ground-breaking ceremony to
commemorate the agreement to invest VND2.2 trillion ($102.3 million) into a
five star hotel-shopping centre and luxury apartment complex located on Tran
Quang Khai Street, Hai Phong City, according to newswire Hai Phong Online.
Covering an area of 8,300 square metres, this is going to be
the first five star Hilton hotel in
“Once completed, the project will help
BRG is one of the leading investors in finance-banking and
golf resorts in
BRG Group and Seabank are co-organisers with VIR and the
Ministry of Planning and Investment’s Foreign Investment Agency of the annual
charity golf tournament “Swing for the kids”.
The property market in
The latest housing bubble occurred in
The bubble then quickly burst, leaving the market frozen with
a huge number of unsold land plots, houses, and apartments.
As many as 5,150 apartments were put on sale in the first
quarter of this year, three times the figure last year, according to a survey
by realty consultant CBRE.
The number of new apartments in the first quarter rose 40
percent year on year, which consultancy Savills said is the strongest growth
since February 2011.
Most apartment purchasers in
Real estate trading floors in the city are receiving more
customers than this time last year, and more purchase contracts have also
been closed.
The owner of the Him Lam exchange in District 6 told Tuoi Tre
(Youth) newspaper that it manages to sell around 12 apartments a week for the
Him Lam Cho Lon project, located in the same district.
“Eighty apartments found buyers in April, while as many as 128
flats were sold a month earlier,” he added.
While deluxe condo projects, whose apartments cost between
VND4 billion (US$186,411) and VND6 billion ($279,616) each, are not so
attractive to buyers, those fetching half these prices are selling very well,
a realty expert told Tuoi Tre.
Homebuyers now have a wide range of bank loan options to
choose from, with banks willing to lend at reasonable interest rates ranging
from only seven to eight percent.
Vietcombank, for instance, has earmarked a VND10 trillion
($466.03 million) credit package with a seven percent lending interest rate
for loans with under-12-month terms.
Sacombank also offers lending for terms of up to 20 years
under a credit package worth VND2 trillion ($93.21 million).
Most of the new apartment projects are located to the east of
These two districts are now home to at least 30 new apartment
projects, supplying dozens of thousands of apartments.
Le Hoang Chau, chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City Real Estate
Association, has ruled out the possibility of a market bubble.
“The market is only getting warm in several areas such as
District 2 and District 9,” he said. “There are still many unsold apartments
that need buyers.”
The chairman pointed out that there are 689 condo projects
left unfinished in
Chau asserted that there will be no real estate bubble, at
least in the next two years.
The chairman said the market bubble only occurs when
businesses invest in segments that are not their strength while secondary
investors purchase a number of apartments in the hope of making big profits
when prices soar.
“Such phenomena are not happening now,” Chau said.
Deputy Minister of Construction Nguyen Tran
“Prices are stable and there are only real homebuyers and
investors, rather than speculators,” he told Tuoi Tre. “Everything is well
within control.”
However, a realty expert has warned that some property
companies are “employing gimmicks” to make a false impression that the market
has been revitalized.
“Realty developers and real estate exchanges always have a
close connection and they have many tricks to boost sales,” the expert said
on condition of anonymity.
“For instance, many firms say they have successfully sold 100
or 200 apartments, but the truth is any customer who has yet to sign a
contract but only makes a deposit will be counted as a buyer.”
Nguyen Hoang Minh, deputy director of the
GP Invest invests $139 million in Trang An Complex
Global Petrol Investment Joint Stock Company (GP Invest) has
revealed official information about its Trang An Complex project, an
apartment, office and trading complex in
Accordingly, the project located at No1,
At present, the construction of the complex’s foundations has
been completed. The company will put on sale the first 150 apartments on May
16 for the initial price of VND31 million ($1,439) per square metre.
The project includes two apartment complexes, a school with
the area of 3,000 square metres and a 14-floor building-complex. The area of
normal living apartments will be between 75 and 140 square metres and
Penthouse apartments between 220 and 240 square metres.
The project was started in January 2015 and is expected to be
completed in the first quarter of 2017.
GP Invest is the developer of two big property projects,
namely the 22-floor building on La Thanh Street with a total capital of
VND700 billion ($32.5 million) and the Nam Do project worth VND1.5 trillion
($69.6 million). GP Invest will expand its operation in the
CII to buy into Tan Hoa Water Supply
HCMC Infrastructure Investment Joint Stock Company (CII) will
buy the 65% State stake at and the water pipe network of Tan Hoa Water Supply
Joint Stock Company from Saigon Water Corporation (Sawaco).
The deal is the first transaction of the city’s pilot plan to
open the water distribution service to private investors.
Tan Hoa Water Supply Co. currently supplies clean water for
people in Tan Binh and Tan Phu districts. The company said on its website
that its chartered capital is VND50 billion with the State holding 65%.
According to the HCMC Department of Transport, the city
government will forward the transaction to the Prime Minister for
consideration and approval.
Truong Khac Hoanh, deputy general director of CII, told the
Daily that the 65% stake alone costs nearly VND40 billion. CII and Sawaco are
now working together to value the water pipe network and will later announce
the total value of the deal.
CII started negotiations with Sawaco in the middle of last
year for a project to supply water for residents in districts 12, Tan Binh,
Tan Phu, Go Vap and Hoc Mon under the build-own-operate-transfer (BOOT)
format.
As instructed by the city government, CII will be allowed to
buy the existing water pipe sub-network of Sawaco or Sawaco will contribute
this network as capital at CII.
Accordingly, CII will buy clean water from Sawaco at agreeable
prices for selling to customers at the prices set by the city and invest in
more pipelines to meet the demand in the five aforementioned districts. CII
will supply water in 15 years before transferring this business to Sawaco.
This investment model is quite new in HCMC, according to Bach
Vu Hai, deputy general director at Sawaco. CII has favorable conditions to
mobilize capital to invest in new water pipelines and reduce water losses.
The current water loss rate in HCMC nears 34%. Sawaco targets
to bring the rate down to 32% this year, 28% in 2020 and 25% in 2025.
Hai said the city needs more water pipelines but it is not
easy to call for investments in developing the water supply network due to
huge spending and slow capital recovery.
Some water plants have been invested by private enterprises
but the water supply network is mainly funded by the State budget.
SCB increases capital to VND14 trillion
Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) has revised up its chartered
capital to VND14.29 trillion (US$660.2 million) from VND12.29 trillion.
The move consolidates SCB as the fourth biggest local
commercial joint stock bank in
SCB said the chartered capital rise was part of its
development plan approved by the State Bank of
SCB reported profit of VND121.5 billion in 2014, up 103%
year-on-year and 1% higher than that year’s target. However, the bank decided
not to pay dividend and used profit to strengthen its financial position.
The central bank approved the establishment and operation of
SCB from the start of 2012 after the merger of three commercial banks –
Finance minister: 2014 surplus budget revenue used up
Last year’s State budget collections rose by VND80.82 trillion
and beat the target by 10.3% but all the extra sum has been used up,
according to Minister of Finance Dinh Tien Dung.
Dung told the National Assembly (NA) Standing Committee on
Monday that tax revenues from domestic sources and crude oil reached
VND583.63 trillion and VND100.08 trillion last year, or VND44.63 trillion
(8.3%) and VND14.88 trillion (17.5%) higher than the full-year targets
respectively.
In addition, export and import taxes and fees contributed
VND173.36 trillion to the State budget, growing 12.6%, and non-refundable aid
went up 43% to VND6.43 trillion.
In all, total budget collections amounted to VND863.5 trillion
last year, Dung said while delivering the report at the meeting of the
committee on behalf of the Government.
The minister said 59 provinces realized and beaten their
budget collection targets in 2014 but their excessive amounts have run out.
Last year’s budget spending totaled VND1,087 trillion,
VND80.82 trillion (8%) higher than the target. Of which, VND208 trillion was
spent on development investments, up 27.6%, and VND120 trillion on debt
payments and aid.
Socio-economic development, national defense, security and
administration absorbed VND732.5 trillion of the total, up 4% against the
estimate.
Last year, the NA approved targets for State budget revenue of
VND782.7 trillion and spending of more than VND1,000 trillion. This meant the
country run a budget deficit of VND224 trillion, equivalent to 5.3% of gross
domestic product (GDP).
According to the Government’s report at the NA at the eighth
session late last year, estimated budget revenues, spending and deficit were
VND846.4 trillion (up VND63.7 trillion), VND1,070 trillion (up VND63.7
trillion) and VND224 trillion.
Phung Quoc Hien, head of the NA Finance and Budget Committee,
said the plan to allocate the surplus budget revenue and reduce spending as
reported by the Government did not strictly follow the law on State budget.
The Government did not prepare resources last year to cut
budget deficit, increase development investments and the national financial
reserve fund and the budget reserves.
* The sale of houses and land lots managed by the State
following the Government’s Decree 09 has been moving slowly in the past eight
years due to the negligence of those agencies involved and the problems
related to land zoning and price evaluation, according to the Ministry of
Finance.
A recent report of the ministry showed ministries, agencies,
organizations, groups and corporations finished plans to handle 777 out of
1,542 properties (50.4%) and are settling 649 out of 1,542 facilities (42.1%)
as of the first quarter of this year.
Competent authorities have approved the sale plans for 121,677
out of 153,573 State-owned properties and collected VND28.34 trillion for the
State budget.
Ministry drafts new rules for duty-free goods buyers
The Ministry of Finance has drafted new regulations governing
purchases at duty-free shops at international border gates and in the
downtown areas of major cities.
The draft regulations would not permit tourists to shop at the
duty-free shops in the economic zones of Moc Bai Border Gate in the southern
According to the ministry, those finishing procedures to exit
the country or transiting at international border gates can purchase
duty-free goods at a separate border area.
People entering
The draft regulations require buyers of duty-free goods at
licensed downtown duty-free shops to show their passports and tickets with
the valid exit dates, and take delivery of their goods at border gates.
Overseas Vietnamese who are intellectuals, professionals and
skilled workers and return to
People subject to national privileges and tax exemptions in
Vietnam, and foreign experts involved in official development assistance
(ODA) projects in Vietnam would be treated the same.
The draft regulations allow foreign crewmembers of
international vessels to buy duty-free goods for daily use during the time of
their ships staying at local ports, and Vietnamese sailors of the vessels
running on international routes to purchase duty-free goods before their
ships leave for overseas markets.
There would be no purchase quota on people about to exit
Vietnam but they are advised to carefully read the relevant regulations
applied in the next destination.
For sailors, the ministry wants each of them to be allowed to
purchase no more than two liters of alcohol, three liters of alcoholic
beverages or beer, 400 cigarettes, 100 cigars, and 500 grams of tobacco at
duty-free stores.
The ministry suggested duty-free goods shops be permitted at
international border gates and on board aircraft on international routes, and
in inner-city areas.
Milk price ceilings imposed until end-2016
The Government approved an extension of a plan to levy price
ceilings on powdered milk products for children under six years old from June
1 this year to December 31 next year.
Dairy enterprises should register their prices with the
Ministry of Finance, according to the Government’s Resolution 33/NQ-CP issued
on April 30. If objective factors impact milk prices in the period, competent
agencies will review and adjust the price caps.
The upper prices are being imposed on milk products for
children under six years old until June 1, 2015 in line with the Ministry of
Finance’s Decision 1079/QD-BTC issued in 2014. Therefore, with the
Government’s resolution, the dairy products will still be subject to the
price caps until late next year.
However, whether the wholesale price ceilings for more than
600 powdered milk products for children under six years old will be kept
unchanged or not remains unknown.
Local finance departments are now waiting for the ministry’s
instruction for the price caps on the products from next month till the end
of next year. This is one of the reasons why some dairy companies said they
have not been requested to register new selling prices for their powdered
products for children.
Dairy companies expect they will not have to re-register their
prices and the price ceilings might be kept unchanged as they claim there is
no room for them to lower the prices.
The price ceilings have been applied to the powdered milk
products since June 1 last year after consumers complained about the
exorbitant prices of milk products and the lack of price control measures.
Since then, the authorities have set the wholesale price caps
on more than 600 products of powdered milk. The retail prices are not allowed
to be over 15% higher than the wholesale prices.
A number of dairy companies bemoan that their sales and profit
have dropped significantly due to the price ceilings.
Crude cashew imports surge
Domestic enterprises imported over 231,350 tons of unprocessed
cashew worth US$310 million in the first four months of the year, up nearly
223% in volume and 277% in value compared to the same period last year,
according to the Vietnam Cashew Association (Vinacas).
Local enterprises mainly bought the product from African
countries in previous years but have had to look for suppliers from ASEAN
nations this year due to shrinking supply from the continent.
The cashew supply fall caused by unfavorable weather in Africa
has pushed up prices of the farm produce, forcing local firms to increase
imports from Indonesia and Cambodia, according to Vinacas. Unprocessed cashew
imports from Cambodia exceeded 71,000 tons in the January-April period.
In addition to more imports from the neighboring nation,
Vinacas said, many companies bought more cashew to fulfill orders delayed at
the end of last year.
Last year, Vietnam imported 579,000 tons of unprocessed cashew
valued at US$656 million, down nearly 10% in volume but up 9% in value
against 2013.
The country earned US$635 million from selling abroad 85,000
tons of cashew nuts in the first four months of this year, up over 14% in
volume and 36% in value year-on-year.
The average export price of cashew nuts stood at US$7,161 a
ton in the first quarter of this year, rising 16% versus the same period last
year.
Electronic labels introduced to counter fake goods
A plan to use electronic labels, known as Vtrue, on consumer
products containing information about their origins has been launched in an effort
to combat smuggling and counterfeited goods.
The initiative is a collaborative effort of the Vietnamese
Government Portal (VGP), the Market Surveillance Agency, the National
Institute for Food Control and Vnet - the company that provides the
electronic labels.
VGP Deputy Director Vi Quang Dao said the system will enhance
the capacity and coordination between government agencies and enterprises in
the fight against trade fraud and fake goods by establishing a communication
channel between relevant parties.
Vnet Director Duong Anh Duc said consumers can obtain
information about products and their producers by looking up the 10-digit
codes on Vtrue labels in the government portal, sending them to a message
centre or dialling a call centre directly.
An authentication code is unique to a product, said Duc, adding
that a warning will be sent to consumers and system administrators if it is
forged.
G7 Mart no longer in partnership with Ministop chain
G7 Service and Trading Joint Stock Company (G7 Mart) under
Trung Nguyen Corporation is no longer in partnership with Japan’s Ministop
convenience store chain in Vietnam.
The halt to their cooperation was brought to light after the
owner of Ministop and Japan’s Sojitz Corporation announced their partnership
late last month to develop new Ministop convenience stores in Vietnam.
Ministop launched stores in Vietnam in late 2011 under a
franchise agreement with G7 Mart, according to the announcement. However,
Ministop had terminated the contract with G7 Mart and clinched a new
franchise contract with its operation arm in Vietnam. Ministop Vietnam was
recently established to further expand and develop business in the Vietnamese
market.
A source familiar with the convenience store chain confirmed
with the Daily that G7 Mart had stopped partnering with Ministop, a member of
AEON Group, to operate the store chain.
According to the source, the two businesses planned to end
their partnership long ago but the dissolution of their cooperation was not
concluded until last March.
However, the reason why both sides terminated their contract
has not been disclosed.
Under the cooperation agreement between Trung Nguyen and
Ministop signed in 2010, G7 Mart and Ministop would set up a 75-25% joint
venture with initial capital of over US$10 million to open 500 stores over
five years.
Nevertheless, since the opening of the first Ministop store
more than three years ago, only 17 stores had been opened. The figure was
small compared to that of other rivals like Circle K and Shop & Go in
this fast growing market.
The number of Ministop stores was even smaller than that of
the rival FamilyMart which resumed operations in Vietnam around one and a
half year ago as the latter has launched around 80 stores.
When Trung Nguyen announced cooperation with Ministop, retail
market watchers said it would help develop and sustain the G7 Mart store
chain.
With new partner Sojitz, Ministop aims to increase the number
of its outlets in Vietnam to 800 in the next ten years.
To achieve this goal, Ministop and Sojitz plan to expand the
store franchise and provide business support for employees through partial
investment of the parent company of Ministop Vietnam, according to the
announcement.
The expansion plan of Ministop and Sojitz is expected to
synergize with other business of AEON Group like AEON malls, City Mart and
Fivimart supermarkets.
Sources said as AEON and Sojitz are both big companies with
strong financial capacities, the target for 800 stores is feasible as
Vietnam’s modern retail market is still in the early stages of development as
it accounts for around 25% of the total retail market.
Besides, the project will strengthen the bond between AEON and
Sojitz, supporting their future business expansion.
In addition to investment, Sojitz will provide support for
Ministop Vietnam’s procurement, logistics, store development, service
operation and store infrastructure. It will also build a foodstuff value
chain from raw material to retail.
Set up in 1980, Ministop had had 4,720 stores as of last
March, with 2,149 of them in Japan and 2,571 in other countries.
With a liaison office set up in Vietnam in 1986, Sojitz has
had more than 20 subsidiaries in Vietnam active in different fields like
logistics, manufacturing and infrastructure of industrial parks.
Hospital networks net linked
Toan Cau Computer Trading Services Co. (Links Toan Cau) has
set an ambitious goal of connecting information networks of health care
institutions and hospitals nationwide, hoping to bring bigger benefits to
patients. The endeavor has gained initial success with technical support from
its Japanese partner.
Vu Manh Tien (L), director of Links Toan Cau, and Yoshioka
Hiroshi, CEO of Techno Project Japan Co. at the signing ceremony
In 1991, Dr. Vu Manh Tien who was then working at Pediatrics
Hospital 1 in HCMC fulfilled an unprecedented task when he made information
throughout the hospital connected with support of partners from the Europe.
Twenty years later, in 2011, as the director of Links Toan Cau
– the first medical computing company in Vietnam, Tien set in motion an
interface software project to connect information networks of hospitals via
partnership with Techno Project Japan Co. (TPJ).
At that time, Links Toan Cau had had 14 years of experience in
supplying software and applications specially designed for hospitals.
Meanwhile, TPJ was seeking collaboration in the medical computing sector in
Vietnam as part of a program masterminded by Japan’s Government to promote
Japanese companies’ advanced technology in Vietnam. “According to JICA [Japan
International Cooperation Agency], this is the first medical software project
in Vietnam to receive support of Japan’s Government,” Tien said. “The project
will help create an information exchange network from health care
institutions in communes to provincial hospitals. Moreover, information of
patients will be exchanged among State hospitals by international standards
in the future. This is a win-win project. The Japanese partner can promote
its technology while Vietnamese hospitals can receive advanced technology.”
In 2011, TPJ teamed up with Links Toan Cau. However, it took
the partners three years to launch their first joined attempts—pilot programs
in Nghe An, Daklak and Hung Yen provinces. The network of advanced software
and applications in the medical sector—including Cloud, Big Data, HL7,
Mame-NET and SS-MIX—has been used in hospitals in the three provinces.
Mame-NET (TPJ product) is a tool that helps health care institutions exchange
information while SS-MIX is to exchange medical records of patients. Big Data
helps doctors offer more effective treatment solutions.
“The entire process provides considerable benefit to patients
who can receive better health care as their medical records and treatment
progress from health care institutions in communes to provincial hospitals
are exchanged,” Tien said. According to him, the network may help reduce
considerable treatment via the exchange of Diagnostic Imaging Picture
Archiving and Communication System (DI/PACS) and results of medical tests.
Patients do not need to redo paraclinical tests at different hospitals. In
Tien’s words, if the project is developed on a national scale, it will offer
benefit for both patients and Vietnamese health care sector.
Over the past 18 years of operation, Links Toan Cau, which won
the Top Enterprise of the Year 2014 Awards from Quang Trung Software City
(QTSC), has supplied Medisoft – a medical management software program – for
more than 100 hospitals as well as other medical software programs for more
than 1,000 health care institutions nationwide. A great advantage of Links
Toan Cau is that among its staffs are doctors who know thoroughly the
operation process at hospitals and electronic medical records (EMRs).
Links Toan Cau always innovates advanced technology so that
software programs can support hospitals and patients in the most effective
way with support from foreign partners from Denmark, France and Japan. The company
is cooperating with the Ministry of Health in carrying out CyberMedisoft
2003, a medical management software program, via both traditional and cloud
applications. This software program has also been supplied for more than 100
hospitals.
Links Toan Cau has also applied the most advanced technology
in the world such as ICD 10-CM (the International Classification of Diseases,
10th Revision, Clinical Modification), ATC (Active Thermal Control) and CPT4
and ICD9-CM (Current Procedural Terminology) in addition to standards of
Vietnam’s Health Care Insurance.
“For a future plan, we have to produce new technology quickly
based on the reliable data we have built for over 18 years,” Tien said.
“Setting up standards for software programs winning international standards
is another duty.”
Links Toan Cau will also focus on developing CyberMedisoft
using cloud application for health care institutions as this is now one of
most popular technology in the world.
ASEAN coal forum kicks off in Quang Ninh
The ASEAN Forum on Coal 13 (AFOC 13) opened in Ha Long city in
the northeast province of Quang Ninh on May 14.
Addressing the event, Nguyen Ngoc Co, Deputy General Director
of the Vietnam Coal and Mineral Corporation (Vinacomin), said that Vietnam’s
demand for coal and natural minerals encouraged Vietnam and Vinacomin to seek
capital and technology from local and foreign organisations.
Vinacomin gives high priority to ASEAN countries in the
cooperation, Co said.
Participants at the forum also exchanged information on the respective
coal industries across ASEAN, ways to match supply and demand in the region,
clean coal technology and environmental concerns.
Ideas to improve coal quality, cooperation between the AFOC
with regional partners and cooperation orientations within the bloc were also
discussed.
The AFOC 13, an annual activity within the cooperation
framework among ASEAN countries on energy, includes the meeting of the
appraisal committee on ASEAN Coal awards and the plenary meeting of the AFOC
13.
E-issuance of certificates of origin piloted
The Ministry of Industry and Trade officially launched the
pilot electronic certificate of origin (C/O) issuance system on May 14, part
of efforts to enhance administrative reform and support exporters.
The system, available on the website www.ecosys.gov.vn, is a
turning point in improving the business climate and administrative reform as
the electronic process will promote transparency and minimise time and
expenses, said Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh.
It is also considered an important step in implementing the
ASEAN one-stop customs mechanism and Vietnam’s commitment to regional
integration as neighbouring countries accelerate the formation of an ASEAN
community.
The launch was prompted by Government Resolution 19/NQ-CP
dated March 12, 2015 on improving the business environment and national
competitiveness through 2016.
Data show that about 11,000 companies have registered to have
C/Os issued online so far. As many as 449,353 C/Os were granted online in
2014, increasing from 274,562 certificates the previous year.
Other import and export procedures are expected to be made
available online in the future.
Source : VEF/VNA/VNS/VOV/SGT/SGGP/Dantri/VIR
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Chủ Nhật, 17 tháng 5, 2015
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