Vietnam, Laos review combatant alliance

Vientiane (VNA) – An international symposium on the Vietnam-Laos alliance in the Plain of Jars-Xiangkhouang battle was held in Xiangkhouang province on October 10-11.

Addressing the event, Lao Defence Minister Senior Lieutenant General Douangchay Phichith stressed the political significance of the symposium, considering it as an important contribution to recognising the history of the struggle for national liberation in the Plain of Jars in Xiangkhouang province.

The symposium also reaffirmed great sacrifices of Vietnam ’s voluntary soldiers and experts in Xiangkhouang province during the war.

Some 30 scientific reports presented at the event reflected the fighting spirit of the Lao and Vietnamese soldiers as well as victories of the five campaigns in the Plain of Jars-Xiangkhouang historical battle.

The reports also reaffirmed the proletarian international spirit of the Vietnamese Party and people towards the Lao country and people, and the special friendship and comprehensive cooperation between Laos and Vietnam.-

Construction of Vietnam-invested village begins

Work on construction of a “modern” village started on October 12 in Saythany district, 16km from Vientiane downtown with investment from Vietnam.

The 25 million USD project is mostly contributed by Vietnam’s Vinh city (70 percent). The capital city of Vientiane contributed 20 percent of the capital and Sommai company, 10 percent.

The 14ha “modern” village project is designed to have 100 villas, a nine-floor hotel and a five-storey plaza.

The project is expected to be complete in 2010 to serve the 25th SEA Games and welcome the 450 th founding anniversary of Vientiane capital city.-

Red river delta wetlands recognised as world bio-sphere reserve

Nam Dinh (VNA) – The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) awarded a World Bio-Sphere Reserve certificate to a coastal wetland zone in the Red river delta on October 13, making it the sixth of its kind in Vietnam .

The zone runs across Nam Dinh, Thai Binh and Ninh Binh provinces, and covers the Ramsar-Xuan Thuy National Park in Nam Dinh province, the Tien Hai wetland Natural Reserve in Thai Binh province, and the Kim Son alluvial deposits in Ninh Binh province.

The Xuan Thuy-Ramsar National Park , which serves as the backbone of the reserve, boasts a diverse bio-system and provides a sanctuary to some 200 bird species, including over 50 migrant bird species. Many of the species are classified as endangered, such as the spoon-billed sandpiper (Eurynorhynchus pygmeus).

With thousands of hectares of mangrove forest, wetlands and coastal and river mouth alluvial deposits, the zone acts as a nursery for approximately 500 species of sea-life, including a range of seafood and seaweed such as varieties of shrimp, crab and oysters.

In addition, the mangrove forests are helpful in coping with the effects of climate change and rough seas and serve to protect dyke systems in the event of natural disasters, such as tsunamis.-

First national conference on marine geology

Quang Ninh (VNA) – The findings of a number of marine geology research projects and surveys over the past several decades were announced at a symposium held in the northeastern coastal province of Quang Ninh on Oct. 9-10.

The first national symposium to focus on Vietnam ’s marine geology and its role in sustainable development also discussed future strategies that would serve the development of a marine economy.

Approximately 80 projects conducted by domestic scientists plus seven scientific reports written by researchers from France , Russia , Germany and the Republic of Korea were presented at the conference.

These projects cover all aspects of marine geology, from mineral resources and marine power, geomorphology, fields of geophysics, natural environments and disasters to geology and sustainable development. The projects are considered extremely useful and will contribute to scientific research and the mapping out of marine economic development plans.

Dr. Nguyen The Tiep, Director of the Institute of Marine Geophysics and Geology, pointed out that Vietnam ’s sea is rich in mineral and biological resources and potential energy. The sea plays a very important role in the socio-economic development of coastal countries, including Vietnam , he added.

Vietnam has set a target of raising the marine economic growth rate to 1.3 times the national economic growth by 2020, and of increasing the revenue from sea-borne industries to one third of the national GDP.

Exploitation of mineral resources, including oil and gas, has been identified as one of five key industries to be developed to create an impetus for national economic development in the future.-

Information security ‘should be better’

HCM City (VNA) – Most local businesses do not pay enough attention to the interest security of their information, according to Ngo Vi Dong, vice chairman of the Vietnam Information Security Association.

”Businesses only pay attention to their information system when they encounter problems,” Dong said. “They only try to overcome those problems after the fact, instead of building a safe information system form the start.”

According to a report from the Internet Security Centre of Hanoi University of Technologies (BKIS), 342 websites in the country were hacked last year. Of those, Vietnamese hackers were behind 118 cases.

Moreover, 140 websites were found having serious errors, according to the report.

BKIS’ statistics show that 20 local websites were hacked last month, of which 13 were hacked by Vietnamese and seven by foreigners.

Many of those websites belonged to established companies. Eight of them were extremely vulnerable to the hackers’ tactics.

Though data losses can prove to be disastrous, many companies are forced to put up with hackers because they do not have the money to better protect themselves.

The director of one commercial website had to pay a partner tens of thousands of dollars in compensation when hackers broke into his website.

Next month, the National Assembly is expected to pass an amended code of criminal law that gives courts the option of punishing online crimes with jail time, not just financial fines as was the case previously.

According to IT experts, three factors are essential to a safe information system. First, the server must be placed on a network system designed to be protected at various levels and be controlled by specialised network security devices like firewalls and intrusion prevention systems (IPS). Also, distant accesses to the server must go through a safe connection channel Virtual Private Network (VPN).

Second, operating systems and application software like web servers and mail servers must be configured with the most up to date versions to ensure security.-

SSC submits draft rules for securities companies

Hanoi (VNA) – The State Securities Commission (SSC) is planning new regulations and decrees on criteria and terms for setting up securities companies, according to SSC Chairman Vu Bang.

Bang said that mergers, acquisitions and bankruptcy were considered, under the development of a market economy, tools to help securities firms run effectively.

The Vietnam Association of Securities Businesses (VASB) General Security, Nguyen Thanh Ky, said that the SSC should stop issuing licences for new securities firms as there was only space for only 40-50 such firms in the market.

The SSC submitted an outline of the draft regulations to the Ministry of Finance for approval.

Changes include the provision that new securities companies have at least two organisations as their legal shareholders, of which one has to be the founder of the firm, and the company must operate under the laws of credit organisations, securities and insurance.

The founding shareholder must have a minimum charter capital of 300 billion VND (18.2 million USD), and must operate their firm for at least five years, with two consecutive years of profit, before establishing a securities firm.

The organisational shareholders must own at least a 65 percent stake in the company, among them financial group shareholders must provide a minimum 30 percent charter capital.

The draft rules also state regulations concerning individual investors, who must make bank deposits for three consecutive months to be eligible to purchase a stake in a securities company. If the contribution is in the form of securities, they must be listed at securities trading centres and the investor must prove his financial capacity of at least twice the capital invested.

Foreign experts, however, think that the SSC should allow newly-established securities firms develop naturally, instead of limiting investors, as healthy competition is essential to a free market.

According to HCM City Securities Corp General Director, Johan Nyvene, although a large capital allows securities firms to operate better, experience and depth of management were more important.-

Vietnamese shoemakers face growing threat of bankruptcy

HCM City (VNA) – Some 40,000 workers have lost their jobs since anti-dumping duties were imposed on Vietnamese leather-capped shoes by the European Commission (EC) in 2006, according to the Vietnam Leather and Footwear Association (Lefaso).

According to the latest Lefaso report, bankruptcy has threatened 100 of the 400 leather and leather shoe manufacturers in Vietnam since the EC imposed the anti-dumping duty from July 2006 to October 2008.

The EC levied the 10 percent tax on Vietnamese shoes after it charged the Vietnamese leather shoe industry devalued prices of its products in the EU market.

Many companies have reduced output because of lost contracts with European partners that now send their orders to other nations.

Leather shoe exports to the EU market reached over 120 million of pairs in 2005, but the number fell to 107 million pairs in 2006 and 91 million pairs in 2007, according to Nguyen Duc Thuan, Lefaso deputy chairman.

Thuan said the Ministry of Industry and Trade confirmed once again that Vietnamese leather shoe manufacturers did not devalue the price of leather shoes. He maintained that the export of Vietnamese goods has not hurt or threatened the interests of the footwear industry in Europe .

The additional taxes on Vietnamese footwear was not fair, and did not reflect the benefits of cheap labour and modern technology in the industry, he said.

According to Thuan, the duties have seriously hurt the local footwear industry and workers’ lives, and even had wide-ranging effects on the country’s socio-economic development.

The duties mean higher prices for made-in-Vietnam shoes and lower interest from European customers.
Thus, companies with ties to Vietnamese manufacturers, importers and retailers in the EU have been against the tax.

“With the EU facing inflation and an economic slowdown, anti-dumping taxes on Vietnamese leather shoes will create difficulties for people with low incomes in the EU. Most of them use goods imported from Asia ,” said a representative for an European importer.

In addition, the EC’s decision to impose anti-dumping duties on children’s leather shoes is unreasonable as it would likely raise retail prices, and cause inconvenience to consumers as well as their children in the EU.-

Call to lift industrial growth

HCM City (VNA) – The Ministry of Industry and Trade has urged industrial companies to step up production of essential goods to ensure that prices remain stable for the last three months of the year.

Minister Vu Huy Hoang said the target was to achieve a growth rate of 16-16.8 percent this year in industrial production.

To do so, the ministry is encouraging more exports of key industrial goods, electronic goods and agricultural, forestry and aquatic products.

The ministry also aims to reach 64 billion USD in export revenue for 2008, a year-on-year increase of 33 percent.

It aims to cut the trade deficit by reducing imports of non-essential commodities such as deluxe cars, mobile phones and steel now in large stock.

Total import value dropped from 6.3 billion USD in August to 5.8 billion USD in September, contributing to the target of a 19 billion USD trade deficit.

The ministry also called for industrial enterprises to increase productivity and quality of products to achieve a 33 percent increase in the domestic market.

Meanwhile Hoang said September saw a high growth of 39 percent in exports compared with August as a result of the Government’s policy to increase exports.

Trade officials, however, expressed concern about unstable export levels of main commodities such as crude oil, garments, footwear, electronics and wooden products.

To fulfill the 2008 export plan, mainly industrial enterprises, including garments and seafood processing plants, have been urged to finish export contracts on schedule.

Current interest rates on bank loans remain high and most small-and medium-sized enterprises have been unable to access loans.

The ministry has called on the banking and financial sector to cut loan interest rates, and plans to increase import taxes levied on certain commodities, including meat, to boost domestic production.

The ministry also urged relevant agencies to closely coordinate and map out effective measures to boost industrial production and regulate market prices to maintain the country’s GDP growth rate of 6.7-7 percent this year.-

State-owned coal group to double output

Coal exploitation at a mine in Quang Ninh Province. The coal industry has set a target to double output to 80 million tonnes by 2025, to meet soaring domestic demand. — VNA/VNS Photo Ngo Lich

HA NOI — The coal industry has set a target of doubling output to 80 million tonnes by 2025, to meet soaring domestic demand, said General Director of the Viet Nam Coal and Mineral Industries Group (Vinacomin) Tran Xuan Hoa.

Hoa said coal was the primary fuel used by many rapidly expanding industries such as power, cement, steel and construction, and demand was forecast to rise in the future.

Demand for coal from the power industry alone would be very high, Hoa said, estimating that the country would have to import roughly 8,000 tonnes of coal by 2012, despite an annual domestic production of roughly 48 million tonnes.

Coal imports were anticipated to reach nearly 32 million tonnes by 2015 and up to 215 million tonnes by 2025, while domestic production was expected to reach 60 and 80 million tonnes per year, respectively, said Hoa.

Therefore, Hoa said, increasing output was the main challenge facing Vinacomin, the country’s largest coal producer.

He said coal producers faced difficulties exploiting domestic coal reserves, as open-cast mines were being rapidly stripped bare and producers would have to either find new reserves, or dig deeper, a costly practice.

Vinacomin would have to speed up investment in exploring new mines and improve the exploitation of existing mines, Hoa explained.

Hoa said the most urgent task for Vinacomin to implement was the exploration of new mines for exploitation by 2025.

Vinacomin has so far invested VND400 to 500 billion (US$24.2 to 30.3 million) to exploit coal basins in the northern Quang Ninh Province and the Song Hong (Red River) Delta, where experts think there are reserves of 10 billion and 100 billion tonnes, respectively.The group expects to complete exploration of the coal basin in Quang Ninh Province by 2010.

Exploration of the basin in the Hong River Delta is due to be completed by 2020, according to Hoa.

To increase production at existing mines Vinacomin is in the process of moder-nising. The group plans to raise annual output at each existing mines in Quang Ninh Province to 1.5 – 2 million tonnes from the current 800,000 to 1 million tonnes in the next few years.

Offshore mines in Mao Khe-Trang Bach, Bao Dai, and Dong Trieu-Pha Lai have also received investment and the group plans to raise capacity to over 20 million tonnes per year.

To meet rising domestic demand, the group plans to purchase rights to exploit mines in Australia and Indonesia, and co-operate with Lao and Cambodian partners to explore, exploit and process coal in those countries.

The group is also planning to invest in coal gas research with the aim of producing coal gas by 2015. —

SSC submits draft rules for securities companies

HA NOI — The State Securities Commission (SSC) is planning new regulations and decrees on criteria and terms for setting up securities companies, according to SSC Chairman Vu Bang.

Bang said that mergers, acquisitions and bankruptcy were considered, under the development of a market economy, tools to help securities firms run effectively.

The Viet Nam Association of Securities Businesses (VASB) General Secretary, Nguyen Thanh Ky, said that the SSC should stop issuing licences for new securities firms as there was only space for only 40-50 such firms in the market.

The SSC submitted an outline of the draft regulations to the Ministry of Finance for approval.

Changes include the provision that new securities companies have at least two organisations as their legal shareholders, of which one has to be the founder of the firm, and the company must operate under the laws of credit organisations, securities and insurance.

The founding shareholder must have a minimum charter capital of VND300 billion (US$18.2 million), and must operate their firm for at least five years, with two consecutive years of profit, before establishing a securities firm.

The organisational shareholders must own at least a 65 per cent stake in the company, among them financial group shareholders must provide a minimum 30 per cent of charter capital.

The draft rules also state regulations concerning individual investors, who must make bank deposits for three consecutive months to be eligible to purchase a stake in a securities company. If the contribution is in the form of securities, they must be listed at securities trading centres and the investor must prove his financial capacity of at least twice the capital invested.

Foreign experts, however, think that the SSC should allow newly-established securities firms develop naturally, instead of limiting investors, as healthy competition is essential to a free market.

According to HCM City Securities Corp General Director, Johan Nyvene, although a large capital allows securities firms to operate better, experience and depth of management were more important. —