Day: July 9, 2021

The Vietnam Office for Seeking Missing Persons (VNOSMP) on July 9 handed over to the US a set of remains of a US serviceman who died during the war in Vietnam.

The handover ceremony was held at Hanoi’s Gia Lam airport with the participation of US Chargé d’Affaires of the US Embassy in Hanoi Christopher Klein, and representatives from the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency and the US MIA Office in Hanoi.

The set of remains was found by joint search teams during the 143th Joint Field Activities from April to July 2021.

The remains had been jointly examined by Vietnamese and US forensic specialists in Hanoi. The specialists concluded that they might be associated with US servicemen missing during the war in Vietnam and recommended to bring them to Hawaii, the US, for further verification.

Speaking at the ceremony, Director of VNOSMP Le Chi Dung spoke highly of assistance from the US in overcoming war consequences, along with the provision of medical supplies and vaccine for the fight against COVID-19 in Vietnam.

He also reaffirmed commitment of the Vietnamese Government to joining hands with its US counterpart in this humanitarian cooperation. For his part, Klein highly valued the long-term commitment of the Vietnamese Government and people to the search for missing US servicemen, as well as cooperation between the two sides to ensure that MIA activities in Vietnam are not disrupted by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

The MIA search has laid a foundation for further cooperation in addressing humanitarian issues between the two countries, including the US’s support in searching for Vietnamese soldiers who laid down their lives during wartime, he said.

The search for remains of US servicemen missing during the war in Vietnam is a humanitarian activity between the Vietnamese and US Governments. This is the 155th hand-over of remains of US missing servicemen since 1973./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) has decided to impose an anti-dumping tax ranging between 39.63-68.5 percent on sorbitol imports from China, India and Indonesia.

The MoIT started the anti-dumping investigation in December 2020 based on the assessment results of dossiers submitted by the domestic industry in September 2020, requesting for the imposition of anti-dumping measures against these products.

During the seven months of preliminary investigation, the MoIT has coordinated with relevant agencies to carefully evaluate the allegations, including dumping acts by exporters of China, India and Indonesia and damage to the Sorbitol production industry of Vietnam.

The investigation results indicated that the volume of dumped sorbitol imports increased in the period from April 1, 2017 to March 31, 2020, causing pressure on the operation of the domestic manufacturing industry. It was reflected in such criteria as output, capacity utilisation, inventory, market share, domestic sales and revenue, profit and ability to raise capital.

During the investigation period, these indexes showed a downward trend compared to the previous time.

In the coming time, in order to come to a final conclusion on the case, the ministry will continue to work with relevant parties to collect information to assess the comprehensive impact of the case on related parties, including end consumers. The investigation is expected to be finished in the third quarter of 2021.

Sorbitol, also known as glucitol, is generated from refined glucose under high temperature and pressure, hydrogenated with nickel, which is often used in medicine production, food and cosmetic industry./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The 2021 Vietnam-Japan Supporting Industry Exhibition (SIE) and the Vietnam Manufacturing Expo (VME) will be held from September 15-17 with both onsite at the Viet Xo (Vietnam-Russia) Friendship Cultural Palace and online via the VME website.

Reed Tradex, ASEAN leading exhibition organiser, together with the Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO) in Hanoi and the Vietnam Trade Promotion Agency (VIETRADE) under the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MoIT), have recently signed a cooperation agreement to organise the two events.

The agreement aims to promote trade relations between Vietnam and Japan in manufacturing, industrial and supporting industries, and improve the competitive strengths for domestic manufacturing businesses to reach out to the global markets.

The year 2021 is a milestone for domestic and international trading businesses to strongly transform with digital technology and bounce back after the COVID-19 pandemic via strategies for optimising resources and expanding business connections.

Besides the challenges from the instability of the world economy, the effectiveness of new trade agreements such as the European Union – Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) and the United Kingdom – Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (UKVFTA), and policies to support and encourage foreign direct investment (FDI) from the Vietnamese government are expected to create potential investment opportunities and partnerships for those who are ready to catch up with market trends.

More than 200 booths of exhibitors from 20 countries and territories, including Japan, the United States, the Republic of Korea, China, Taiwan (China), Singapore, Thailand, Germany and Russia, are expected to take part in the two events, according to the organisers.

Products displayed at the exhibitions will comprise spare parts for automobiles, motorbikes, machinery and equipment for production.

VIETRADE Director Vu Ba Phu said supporting industries play an important role, laying the foundation for the development of a highly competitive and sustainable industry.

The MoT has been implementing many synchronous solutions to support investment development, technology application, and development of manufacturing and supporting industries, he said.

“The organisation of Vietnam – Japan Supporting Industry Exhibition by VIETRADE in collaboration with the JETRO Hanoi is a great contribution to support Vietnamese enterprises to enhance production capacity and connect with Japanese partners,” Phu said, believing that the two exhibitions will become remarkable events, actively promote investment and trade cooperation between Vietnam and Japan in supporting industries.

Takeo Nakajima, Chief Representative of the Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO) in Hanoi, said Japan is the second biggest foreign investor in Vietnam in terms of both number of projects and investment capital.

A JETRO survey in 2020 showed that about 50 percent of Japanese enterprises which have been investing in Vietnam answered that they wanted to “expand business activities” in the next one to two years that make Vietnam top among ASEAN countries for investment. However, the difficulties still remain, in which one of the biggest challenges is the low rate of localisation in raw materials, supplies and components of Japanese enterprises in Vietnam (37 percent) and Japanese enterprises want to further enhance localisation activities.

He emphasised that SIE 2021 is organised with the purpose to improve the localisation rate of Japanese enterprises and increase the supply of components and industrial parts, adding that during the two previous editions held 2017 and 2019 in Hanoi, 136 Japanese and Vietnamese enterprises participated and achieved more than 8,500 trading agreements with the total value of contracts reaching 3.8 million USD.

Vu Trong Tai, General Manager of Reed Tradex Vietnam, said despite the pandemic, Vietnam continue to be recognised by major financial institutions with positive vibes, stable evaluation as an attractive destination for in the China 1 strategy of global enterprises. For foreign investors, Vietnam is still a potential market with many opportunities in manufacturing and supporting industries, he added.

The two exhibitions will “double” the power of business matching to support industrial businesses with access to new technologies and expanding trading networks between domestic and foreign enterprises, especially between Japanese and Vietnamese firms,

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Cement, tile and construction glass are seeing excess supply over demand, according to the Ministry of Construction.

Thanks to high investment in the three industries, the combined total output has already nearly reached their output target for 2025.

In 2020 cement manufacturers in Vietnam produced over 104 million tonnes of cement, but only 62 million tonnes were sold in the domestic market, and 38 million tonnes were exported.

According to the Vietnam Cement Association, domestic demand is slowing down, leading to fierce competition between suppliers in the country.

Exports of cement and clinker in the first five months of the year rose by 50 percent year-on-year. This is because the country had expanded its cement exports in developing countries, said Luong Duc Ð?c Long, vice president cum general secretary of the association.

However, he said that export of cement to these markets was unsustainable because these countries were also focusing on developing their domestic cement industries.

The construction glass industry is also seeing higher supply than demand, with an excess output of 80 million square metres in 2020. Several manufacturers have had to close down some of their production lines.

Meanwhile, tile manufacturers in Vietnam produced 560 million square metres worth of tiles in 2020, but only 465 million square metres of them were sold.

Domestic tiles also have to compete with imported tiles that are not certified or closely monitored for quality and pricing, according to the Vietnam Building Ceramic Association.

Chinese tile products, which account for up to 25 percent of Vietnam’s market, are sold very cheaply.

According to construction material manufacturer CMC Joint Stock Company, which recorded a 14 percent drop in revenue in 2020, excess supply over demand contributed to harsh competition last year, with businesses making large price cuts just to get rid of their stock.

Nguyen Van Sinh, deputy minister of construction, said that proposed investment projects in these three industries should be reconsidered, and localities should seek opinions from state authorities to avoid excessive investment and waste of manpower.

He said that investment in cement production in large cities and areas in need of environmental protection should be limited./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Educa Corporation, a Vietnamese educational technology (Edtech) startup, has raised 2 million USD in a Series A funding round from Singapore-based ReDefine Capital Fund.

Founded in 2018, Educa Corporation uses technology to tackle challenges in learning English for Vietnamese students. Its flagship offering is Edupia, an English learning app targeted primary school students.

Three years after the debut, Educa now has half a million paid users. With the new funding, the corporation plans to heavily invest in infrastructure development and R&D with an aim of achieving two million paid users, out of 20 million Vietnamese students, by 2025.

It also wants to reach out to new markets in Southeast Asia.

The company has been developing a number of new products targeting new customer segments, including Educa Tutor and Babilala – an English self-learning app for kids aged 3 – 8.

ReDefine Capital Fund is backed by Alibaba and Ant Financial with hundreds of millions of USD. Last year, it invested 50 million USD in Seedcom, which operates coffee chain The Coffee House and women’s accessories chain Juno./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

A search and rescue officer from Vietnam has been selected to receive the 2021 IMO Award for Exceptional Bravery at Sea, after saving the lives of four people from a sunken cargo ship in extreme weather and heavy seas.

Tran Van Khoi, 47, works at the Regional Maritime Search and Rescue Coordination Center No.II based in Da Nang.

While on duty on October 9, he and colleagues braved extreme weather and heavy seas to rescue four sailors in the sunken cargo vessel Vietship 01. They also received phone calls from President Nguyen Xuan Phuc to commend them on the bravery act.

In 2021 there are a total of 37 nominations for the above award, submitted from 23 member countries and four NGOs.

During an online meeting of the 125th session from June 28 to July 2, the IMO jury agreed to award the 2021 “IMO Award for Exceptional Bravery at Sea” award to Vietnam’s Tran Van Khoi. The award ceremony will be held according to the plan proposed by the IMO secretary general./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Vietnam are in Group I of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) U23 Asian Cup qualification, together with Myanmar, Hong Kong (China) and Taiwan (China), according to a draw held in Malaysia on July 9.

The qualification is scheduled to take place from October 23 to 31 this year.

A total of 42 teams will compete at the competition, including 19 East Zone squads from East and Southeast Asia.

Due to COVID-19, in each group, teams play each other in a round-robin format at a concentrated venue. The 11 group winners and the four best runners-up qualify for the final tournament, slated for next June in Uzbekistan.

Vietnam were runners-up at the 2018 AFC U23 Asian Cup hosted by China.

As players born in 1999 and later are eligible to compete in the tournament, Doan Van Hau, Nguyen Van Toan and Bui Hoang Viet Anh are hoped to be prominent members of the team this time./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency