Flowers for Tet badly hit by autumn floods

Hanoi (VNA) — Ha Noi residents are already preparing for Tet (Lunar New Year), which begins on January 26, but a big worry is that the season will be short of fresh flowers due to historically heavy rains in November last year.

Flowers could end up costing 50 per cent more than last year, said Mai Lan, a major wholesaler at one of Ha Noi’s biggest flower markets.

“The demand for flowers is so great that supplies from surrounding provinces such as Hung Yen and Dong Nai may not be enough,” Lan told Viet Nam News , adding that she has signed contracts with flower suppliers as far away as Thailand and China to import blooms into Viet Nam.

Imported flowers from China were not as beautiful or as durable as those from Da Lat and Thailand but their prices were lower, she said, noting that, on her recent trip to Nanning and Kunming in China , she “saw flowers suited to the taste of people in Ha Noi, like chrysanthemums, lilies and apricot blossoms”.

She predicted that traditional flowers such as kumquat and peach blossoms which had been ruined locally due to the recent rains would be replaced this year by orchids or apricots.

“But the prices of these imported flowers could be much higher than last year.”

Tran Van Tien, a grower of apricot and peach blossoms in Ha Noi’s famous Nhat Tan Village , told Viet Nam News that many were worried about a shortage of flowers this year and that hundreds of his trees had already been ordered.

“Worrying that Ha Noi won’t have enough flowers for Tet, many people came up to my house and ordered my trees right after the flooding in the city in November,” Tien said, adding that his 400 white apricot trees were already reserved for customers at prices of 1.2 million VND to 2.5 million VND.

“Some connoisseurs were ready to pay 10-15 million VND for an 20-30-year-old apricot tree,” Tien said.

Nguyen Van Thuy, an apricot connoisseur in Ha Noi, said the white apricot blooms twice and the second blossom was much more beautiful than the first and makes a special gift for parents or friends during Tet.

Others less knowledgeable than Thuy are unsure whether they will be able to have a kumquat or apricot tree at their house to welcome the New Year as prices are expected to be up to 60 per cent higher than the last Tet.

“This year we may choose just one of these trees instead of buying two as usual because we need to save money to cope with the economic slowdown,” says elderly Toai in Ha Noi’s Hai Ba Trung District.
But Toai’s friend Duong said he’ll buy both as usual because Tet comes only once a year.

“Even if prices are high, I will try to buy both because I believe they will bring luck to us all year,” said Duong.

Tien’s neighbour Tuan Viet, who owns an orchard of hundreds of peach trees, said a small, mature peach tree would likely be priced at 2.5-4 million VND, with larger ones up to 40 million VND.

“Even at these prices, I won’t have enough peach trees to meet demand, as buyers, including overseas Vietnamese returning home for Tet, have ordered my trees over the internet,” Viet said.

“I’m praying to God that the weather isn’t too hot or too cold and that the flowers blossom on time.”-

2008 – a remarkable year for US-Vietnamese relations

Washington (VNA) – Aimee Kligman, an American foreign policy researcher, has praised the development of relations between the United States and Vietnam , especially in 2008.

In her article entitled “2008 – a remarkable year for US-Vietnamese relations” published on the Examiner.com, Kligman wrote: “Having been to Vietnam twice since 2004, I can vouch for the amazing push forward for better relations with the US and the success of the Vietnamese ‘Doi Moi’ policy, which means more or less “open door”.

Kligman stressed that in the past, most Americans associated Vietnam with war, with a swampy land drowned in humid heat, and “it couldn’t be the truth. One needs to only see the city of Saigon and Hanoi to understand.”

She thought it was also remarkable that for the first time, last year, Vietnam ’s Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung came to the US . Bilateral cooperation has been established in trade, (with Vietnam exporting clothing, furnishings – home decor items made of bamboo is a big specialty) science, education, technology and security.

Kilgman affirmed: “It is undeniable that in the region of Southeast Asia, Vietnam is the safest country to visit in terms of terrorism: there isn’t any.”

According to the US researcher, because of the recent economic downturn, it is not expected that trade volume will increase but vigorous cooperation is expected on all fronts. She held that the “1.5 million Viet Kieu (the term for Vietnamese nationals living abroad) residing in the US is an important source of income to the country and contribute to its technological advancement.”-

Ground breaking for new bridge

CA MAU — The Ministry of Transport broke ground yesterday on the Dam Cung Bridge project on Ho Chi Minh Highway in the southernmost province of Ca Mau.

Construction of the 671-metre-long bridge will last two years with a total investment of VND351 billion (US$20 million), according to the ministry.

The stretch of the Ho Chi Minh Highway in Ca Mau Province is 58.7 km long, running from National Highway No 1A to the southern tip, crossing Nam Can and Ngoc Hien districts.

Total investment of the project’s Ca Mau section amounts to VND3.9 trillion (US$245.75 million). Capital for the section comes from State bonds.

Construction of the section will be completed by the end of 2011. —

Stockbrokers offer to pay customers’ taxes

HA NOI — An Binh Securities Co has announced that it will pay any income tax due on securities investment for its clients during the first quarter of this year.

The brokerage is making the offer to counteract the perceived psychological impact on investors caused by the new Law on Personal Income Tax which, for the first time, subjects dividend income and capital gains from securities trading to taxation.

The new tax law took effect on January 1.

Counting on the tax to have limited real impact on investors, An Binh hoped its offer would help stimulate trading during the current market doldrums.

Nguyen Thanh Hai, head of brokerage and business development department for the firm, said the company would consider whether to continue the offer once the first quarter ended.

“Continuation depends on the market developments, the final decision of the National Assembly on the tax levy and investor reaction,” Hai said.

Orient Securities Co recently made a similar but more limited offer. For clients with trading value of up to VND5 billion (US$294,117) a month, the brokerage would pay 80 per cent of the 0.1 per cent transaction fee for each trade, a tax option set forth in the new law in lieu of a net capital gains tax.

John Nolan, a HCM City-based analyst, said such offers demonstrated the increased competitiveness among securities firms in the context of market turmoil. “If you want to increase your market share, you have to create prominent products for your customers. That’s a fact,” said Nolan.

“When we decided to offer this service, we focused on our pledge to customers to come together with them during hard times,” Hai said. —