Day: June 15, 2021

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and US non-profit organisation STEAM for Vietnam Foundation on June 15 announced a new long-term partnership to provide children in Vietnam with equitable learning opportunities on STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math) related areas, both online and offline, which meet globally recognised standards.

This shared value partnership aims to close the digital gap and promote digital literacy opportunities for millions of children and adolescents in Vietnam, aligning with the government’s strategy for the next five years.

Rana Flowers, UNICEF Representative in Vietnam, said that STEAM for Vietnam has mobilised some of the best minds to create a specific set of relevant, entertaining, open source, learning materials on areas where girls in particular have traditionally been left behind.

These relate to science, technology, engineering, arts and math and the learning approach used drives creativity, critical thinking and problem-solving skills and much more. Improving science, technology, arts and math outcomes for girls and boys is a core focus of UNICEF’s Reimagine Education approach in Vietnam, and thus the partnership will seek to extend the reach of these stimulating resources to every child everywhere, especially girls, she said.

In joining hands to drive digital literacy and skills for children at every age, STEAM for Vietnam and UNICEF will partner on the broader Reimagine Education goals that include connectivity and a digital device for every child to learn and thrive, Flowers said.

Meanwhile, Dr. Tran Viet Hung, CEO of STEAM for Vietnam Foundation, said: “We believe that a strong foundation of STEAM education will play a critical role in the success of the next generation of Vietnam in the global marketplace. STEAM for Vietnam would like to bring state-of-the-art STEAM education to children in Vietnam aged 6 to 18 through advanced technologies, innovative education models, and teacher expertise. We are honored and excited to begin our journey with UNICEF with the aim of providing every child with equal opportunities in accessing world-class STEAM education for free”.

This joint partnership programme will contribute to nationally recognized online learning solutions and digital transformation of the education system in Vietnam.

STEAM for Vietnam Foundation was founded in May 2020, with a mission to bring world-class STEAM education to millions of young Vietnamese for free. In only twelve months, the foundation has been successfully developing the technology ecosystem, creating innovative educational content, and implementing novel education models to provide 20 thousand students across Vietnam with courses in computational thinking, computer science, and robotics and receiving great feedback from schools, families, and students.

The partnership aims to provide every child in Vietnam with an equal opportunity to access world-class STEAM education for free including a variety of programmes from fundamental courses to advanced courses. This summer, students can register for two courses – Introduction to Computational Thinking and Programming with Scratch and Introduction to Computer Science with Python for children from 8 to 16 years old. The classes will be on Sunday mornings from June 27 to August 15, 2021, and taught by software engineers who work in tech giants. Students interested in the courses can register at www.steamforvietnam.org./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Foreign capital continued flowing to industrial real estate via mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in five months of this year, particularly in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

Singapore’s Boustead Projects, whose affiliate BP-Vietnam Development recently signed an option agreement with Khai Toan Group (KTG) to buy a 49 percent stake in KTG & Boustead JSC, hailed Vietnam as one of the fastest-growing economies in the world with ideal business environment for production and logistics development.

Via its affiliates and joint ventures, Boustead Projects established partnership with KTG to buy Boustead & KTG Industrial Management Company Ltd (BKIM) and proposed acquiring a 49 percent stake in KTG Industrial Bac Ninh Development JSC.

The KTG and Boustead Industrial Logistics JSC (KBIL) is expected to become a leading fund in Vietnam for logistics and industrial property development. It will hold 13 real estate seed assets based in industrial parks (IPs) in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City and plan for further expansion via M&A.

Earlier, Hong Kong’s ESR Cayman Limited and BW Industrial Development JSC announced the establishment of a joint venture to develop and own My Phuoc 4 IP in the north of Ho Chi Minh City. Once completed, it will sit on a site of around 240,000 sq.m in service of logistics and light industrial facilities.

Jeffrey Shen and Stuart Gibson, co-founders and CEOs of ESR Cayman Limited, said industrial and logistics property in Vietnam is at premature age, making the country one of the most promising markets in Southeast Asia which benefits from favourable macro-economic factors, including high and stable economic growth, increasing income, emergence of the middle-income class, rapid urbanisation and upgraded infrastructure.

As of the late May, a joint venture between Vietnam’s SEA Logistic Partners (SLP) and GLP China Holdings Ltd purchased five industrial land projects covering nearly 700,000 sq.m in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

Kent Yang, founding partner of the SLP, also told of a plan to invest some 1 billion USD in logistics real estate across Vietnam in the next 3-4 years.

Amid the fourth wave of COVID-19 pandemic, foreign investment in Vietnam still flourished, reaching around 14 billion USD in five months of this year, up 0.8 percent annually.

Real estate was the third largest source of FDI attraction with 1.05 billion USD, or 7.5 percent of the total registered capital. Foreign investors’ capital contribution and stake purchase in the field surpassed 248.4 million USD, up 13.5 percent year-on-year.

John Campbell, head of the Savills Vietnam’s industrial property unit, said the supply of industrial properties in Vietnam is abundant in the short and medium term.

In the first quarter, tens of industrial property development projects in 13 cities and provinces were approved.

According to the Ministry of Planning and Investment, there were 370 IPs nationwide as of the first quarter with a total area of nearly 115,200ha. Of which, 328 are outside economic zones (EZs), 34 in coastal EZs, and eight in border gate EZs./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Minister of National Defence Sen. Lieut. Gen. Phan Van Giang highlighted the importance of the ASEAN – China cooperation to peace and stability in the region while addressing the ASEAN – China Defence Ministers’ Informal Meeting held virtually on June 15.

He spoke highly of China’s role and the ASEAN-China defence-security engagements in the past time, particularly within the frameworks of the ASEAN Defence Ministers Meeting Plus (ADMM-Plus) and the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF).

Giang said he supports China’s proposals on organising exchanges between young officers and defence research institutes of the sides for increased mutual understanding and trust. The official also backed the establishment of a hotline between defence ministers of ASEAN member states and China based on the ASEAN Direct Communications Infrastructure.

On the East Sea issue, Giang recommended the sides create favourable conditions for the negotiation on a Code of Conduct in the East Sea (COC) via trust building measures, refraining from actions that can further complicate the situation, and resolving disputes in a peaceful manner in line with international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

Chaired by Second Defence Minister of Brunei Maj. Gen. Pehin Datu Lailaraja Dato Paduka Seri Haji Awang Halbi bin Haji Md Yussof and Chinese Minister of National Defence, Sen. Lt. Gen. Wei Fenghe, the meeting took place on the occasion of the bloc and China marking the 30th anniversary of their dialogue partnership.

Participants took the occasion to propose ideas for bilateral defence cooperation and exchanged views on regional and international situations./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The 57th meeting of the National Assembly (NA) Standing Committee wrapped up on June 15 after one and a half days of sitting.

Closing the meeting, NA Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue said that the committee completed all the set agenda by debating six issues and adopting one resolution on personnel work.

He asked relevant agencies and oranisations as well as individuals to, right after the meeting, promptly acquire ideas given at the meeting and conclusions of the NA Standing Committee on particular issue to complete a report to be submitted to the 15th NA at its first plenary session.

As scheduled, the 15th legislature will convene a preparatory meeting before opening the first plenary session on July 20, he noted, stressing that successful organising the session is the most important task.

After the 57th meeting, the NA Standing Committee will sit for another meeting to finalise the remaining contents to be debated at the first plenary session of the 15th NA, including issues related to five-year plans such as those on socio-economic development, budget-finance, and middle-term public investment.

The Government has also proposed adding two national targets programmes on new-style rural area building and sustainable poverty reduction and social welfare to the agenda of the upcoming session./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The State Bank of Vietnam set the daily reference exchange rate at 23,103 VND per USD on June 15, up 4 VND from the previous day.

With the current trading band of +/- 3 percent, the ceiling rate applied to commercial bank during the day is 23,796 VND/USD and the floor rate 22,409 VND/USD.

The rates listed at major commercial banks saw slight increases.

At 8:20 am, Vietcombank listed the rates at 22,820 VND/USD (buying) and 23,050 VND/USD (selling), unchanged from June 14.

Meanwhile, BIDV added 3 VND to both rates, listing them at 22,850 (buying) and 23,050 VND/USD (selling).

Vietinbank also raised both rates by 8 VND, listing at 22,828 (buying) and 23,048 VND/USD (selling)./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The Mekong Delta province of Ben Tre is expected to plant 10 million trees from now to the end of 2025 under a programme recently issued by its People’s Committee.

The tree planting programme for 2021 – 2025 aims to raise all-level authorities and local people’s awareness of and sense of responsibility towards afforestation, environmental protection, and mitigation of climate change impacts.

Of the 10 million trees to be grown, more than 8.2 million trees will scatter in urban and rural areas while nearly 1.8 million others covering more than 369ha will concentrate in protection and commercial forests. They include woody, perennial, and multi-purpose trees and others of the mangrove forest, with priority given to indigenous species.

The programme is set to be carried out at a total cost of nearly 167 billion VND (7.3 million USD), financed by private sources, the local budget, and through some public investment programmes and projects planned for the five-year period.

Between 2016 and 2020, Ben Tre planted 4.2 million scattered trees and over 163ha of concentrated forest, data of the provincial People’s Committee showed.

The local forestry land area under forest now stands at almost 4,368ha, including 1,884ha of special-use forest, 2,128ha of protection forest, and 355ha of commercial forest.

Vietnam is working on a project to grow 1 billion trees nationwide between 2021 and 2025. They will include 690 million trees in urban and rural areas, and 310 million others in protection, special-use, and production forests.

This project aims to protect the ecosystem, improve the scenery, respond to climate change, boost socio-economic development, improve the quality of people’s life, and foster the country’s sustainable development./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency