Day: July 20, 2021

Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong has urged the National Assembly to further uphold its role and position in creating a legal framework for the country’s activities.

In his keynote speech at the opening of the 15th NA’s first session in Hanoi on July 20, Trong asked the legislature to speed up the issuance and improve the quality of legal documents, soon build a legal system to meet demand in reality, and build and supplement laws in key areas that make breakthroughs in socio-economic development.

The NA needs to continue renewing and further improving operation quality and efficiency to meet the country’s requirements and political tasks in the new period, he said, adding that to such end, it is necessary to fully understand the role, position and responsibility of the legislature in the nation’s political system led by the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV), as well as promptly institutionalise the Party’s policies and guidelines to meet demand in reality and public expectations.

The legislature also needs to step up external activities, active and proactive global integration, contributing to performing the Party and State’s foreign policy of multilateralisation and diversification of relations.

The Party chief stressed that achievements made by the NA over the past 75 years are the result of the sound leadership of the CPV – a decisive factor for the legislature to fulfill tasks entrusted by the people.

In the immediate future, he called for institutionalising and concretising important policies affirmed at the 13th National Party Congress, ensuring the quality of the 15th NA’s activities to meet the requirements and tasks of the revolution and the people’s expectations in the new period.

He expressed his belief that under the CPV’s leadership and with efforts and determination of NA deputies, close collaboration among units in the political system, support and supervision of the public, and cooperation and assistance of international friends, the Vietnamese legislature will reap important outcomes, thus deserving the highest representative organ of the people and the highest organ of State power of the country.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Vietnam Railways (VNR) on July 20 added a new rail freight link from Vietnam to Belgium, with the first train departing from Yen Vien station, Hanoi, and expected to arrive at Liege City in Belgium.

Then, containers will be delivered to Rotterdam city (Netherlands) by lorries.

VNR said the train carried 23 containers with such goods as textile, leather and footwear. During its journey, the train will stop at Zhenzhou city of China’s Henan province and connect to the Asia-Europe train to reach its destination.

According to the corporation, this is the first container freight train operated by Rail Transport and Trade Joint Stock Company (Ratraco) in conjunction with transport firms from other countries providing logistics services to customers from Vietnam to the target destination.

Currently, VNR is providing freight train services between Vietnam and China and transiting to Russia, Europe, ASEAN and Central Asian countries. The firm provides full logistics services to customers.

Nguyen Hoang Thanh, deputy director-general of Ratraco, said that the successful organisation of the train from Vietnam to Belgium will open up rail transport routes going deeper into Europe, in addition to the existing ones to Germany and Poland.

“Currently, Ratraco and its European partner plan to organise eight trips per month departing from Vietnam,” Thanh said, adding that the total estimated time for the entire journey is 25 to 27 days.

It is expected that the second train will depart from Yen Vien station on July 27 carrying electronic products and the third one on August 3, he said.

In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, international maritime transport is facing difficulties, rail service is being sought by many customers to transport goods from Vietnam to China and from there on to Europe.

With the advantage of an efficient international rail connection system and trains arriving at destination stations on time with reasonable costs, intermodal rail transport is thriving

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The success of the first session of the 15th National Assembly will create an important premise and momentum for legislative activities in the tenure, Chairman of the 14th NA Vuong Dinh Hue said in his opening remarks.

The session, which began on July 20 morning, is taking place amidst the complex and unpredictable developments of the regional and international situation, he said, pointing out difficulties and challenges facing the country in the fourth wave of COVID-19 outbreaks.

Given this, Hue urged deputies of the 15th NA to uphold their sense of responsibility and raise initiatives to help the legislature improve its operational quality and efficiency. According to the top legislator, during the first session, the NA will mull over a report reviewing the elections of deputies to the 15th legislature and all-level People’s Councils for 2021-2026, to be presented by the National Election Council.

It will also consider and decide the personnel structure, and elect and approve high-ranking positions in the State apparatus.

The deputies will scrutinise reports assessing the implementation of the socio-economic development plan and State budget in the first half of this year, as well as solutions to realising the socio-economic development plan and State budget in remaining months. They are scheduled to consider and decide the national target programmes on new-style rural area building and sustainable poverty reduction for 2021-2025, and adopt resolutions on the law and ordinance building programme for 2022.

Regarding the recent elections, Hue said the their successes have reflected people’s high sense of responsibility and profound trust in the Party and the State./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

About 335 million USD was spent on importing 15,316 completely built-up (CBU) vehicles in June, down 10.2 percent and 1.8 percent, respectively, against the previous month, according to the General Department of Customs.

Most of the imported vehicles were shipped from Thailand, Indonesia and China.

CBU vehicles of nine seats or less accounted for 67.6 percent of the total imports, or 10,347 units, worth 189 million USD. There were 3,768 imported trucks, worth 88 million USD.

In the first half of this year, Vietnam imported 81,107 CBU units, doubling the same period last year’s figure. It included 54,041 cars of nine seats or smaller, up 77 percent; and 19,127 trucks, up 148 percent.

Members of the Vietnam Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (VAMA) also saw a drop in car sales last month, with 23,587 vehicles delivered to customers, down 8 percent month-on-month.

The numbers of domestically-assembled vehicles and imported completely-built-up units sold in the month stood at 13,365 and 10,222, respectively, down 3 percent and 13 percent.

Toyota topped the list of best-selling brands with 5,127 vehicles, followed by Kia (3,290), Mazda (1,862), Honda (1,550) and Ford (1,284).

VAMA members’ sales totalled 150,481 units in the first half of this year, up 40 percent year on year, with passenger cars up 37 percent year-on-year, commercial vehicles up 48 percent, and special-purpose vehicles up 68 percent.

Apart from VAMA members, other brands were also present in Vietnam’s auto market, such as Audi, Jaguar Land Rover, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan Subaru, Volkswagen and Volvo, but they have not posted their business results.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The 15th National Assembly (NA) convened its first session in Hanoi on July 20 morning.

The session is being broadcast live on channels of the Voice of Vietnam (VOV1), Vietnam Television (VTV), and NA television.

Prior to the meeting, leaders of the Party, State and Vietnam Fatherland Front and NA deputies paid floral tribute to President Ho Chi Minh at his mausoleum. The lawmakers also laid wreaths at the Heroic Martyrs’ Monument in Hanoi.

Following the opening remarks by Chairman of the 14th NA Vuong Dinh Hue, Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong delivered a speech at the session.

Tran Thanh Man, Vice Chairman of the 14th NA and deputy head of the National Election Council, then presented a report reviewing the elections of deputies to the 15th legislature and all-level People’s Councils for 2021-2026.

Another report on the verification of eligibility of deputies to the 15th NA was also tabled for discussion.

During the session, the legislative body will elect and approve leadership positions of State agencies, and mull over reports on socio-economic development and other major issues. Notably, the legislature will consider and decide the numbers of NA Vice Chairpersons and members of the NA Standing Committee, and elect NA Chairperson and Vice Chairpersons, members of the NA Standing Committee, NA Secretary General, Chairperson of the NA Council for Ethnic Affairs, heads of NA committees, and State Auditor General.

It will elect State President, Prime Minister, Vice State Presidents, Chief Justice of the Supreme People’s Court, and Prosecutor General of the Supreme People’s Procuracy.

The NA will also decide the structure and number of Cabinet members, and ratify the appointment of Deputy PMs, Ministers and other Cabinet members, along with the list of Vice Chairperson and members of the Council of National Defence and Security (if any), and the appointment of judges of the Supreme People’s Court.

After the elections, the NA Chairperson, State President, Prime Minister, Chief Justice of the Supreme People’s Court will take the oath of office.

The Vietnam Fatherland Front Central Committee is scheduled to present a report gathering opinions of voters sent to the first session.

The legislature will also consider and adopt resolutions on the programme on law and ordinance building in 2022, the 2022 supervision programme, and the establishment of a group in charge of thematic supervision.

In his opening remarks, Hue highlighted the elections of deputies to the 15th NA and all-level People’s Councils for 2021-2026, saying the voter turnout of 99.6 percent has reflected the public’s high sense of responsibility and trust in the Party and State.

The success of the elections has also demonstrated the strength of the great national unity bloc, he stressed.

Pointing out difficulties and challenges facing the country amidst the fourth wave of COVID-19 outbreaks, he urged deputies of the 15th NA to uphold their sense of responsibility and raise initiatives to help the legislature improve its operational quality and efficiency.

The success of the first session will create important premise and momentum for legislative activities in the 15th tenure, he said.

The meeting is scheduled to last until July 31.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Vietnam’s animal feed exports hit nearly 523.88 million USD in the first six months of 2021, up 52.7 percent year-on-year, according to the General Department of Customs.

China remains the biggest importer of Vietnam’s animal feed, with turnover reaching 188.3 million USD in the reviewed period.

In June alone, China spent 36.62 million USD on importing animal feed from Vietnam, up 47.3 percent from the same period last year.

Vietnamese exports of animal feed to Cambodia in January-June rose 41.7 percent to 74.81 million USD, maintaining Vietnam’s second largest importer.

Meanwhile, the US surpassed India to become Vietnam’s third biggest importer of livestock feed with turnover hitting 56.42 million USD, up 20.1 percent year-on-year.

Notably, exports of to Thailand reached 15.55 million USD, increasing 100 percent compared to the same period last year.

Last year, Vietnamese exports of animal feed to China topped 211.23 million USD, a yearly increase of 16 percent. Meanwhile, the figures to Cambodia and the US hit 122.3 million USD and 114.5 million USD, year-on-year increases of 23 percent and 125 percent increases, respectively

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Vietnam stands ready to share information and boost comprehensive, effective and intensive cooperation with the UK in security and home affairs, Ambassador Nguyen Hoang Long told UK Home Secretary Priti Patel in London on July 19.

Long spoke highly of collaboration between the two countries over the past time, with cooperation in security and home affairs the main pillar as stated in the “Joint Statement on the Vietnam-UK Strategic Partnership: Development Orientation in the Next 10 Years” in 2020.

Patel thanked Vietnam for its cooperation in handling specific issues to facilitate people-to-people exchanges and raise mutual understanding, for the sake of the two peoples.

She stressed the need to officialise cooperation activities between the two countries, and improve capacity and skills of relevant agencies in the implementation of joint cooperation programmes.

Long suggested the minister create optimal conditions for the Vietnamese community and students to live, work and study in the UK, and make more contributions to the bilateral friendship and collaboration.

Patel pledged support to Vietnam, the Vietnamese Embassy and the ambassador in realising concrete measures to step up the strategic partnership

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The Vietnam Public Joint Stock Commercial Bank (PVcomBank), in which the State-owned Vietnam Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam) holds a 52-percent stake, has been honoured as the Best Trade Finance Bank, the Best Card Service Provider, and the Best Bank for Customer Services in Vietnam for 2021 among the Finance Derivative Awards.

To obtain those titles, PVcomBank has worked to apply advanced technology and improve product and service quality, thus meeting strict criteria related to finance and improvement of customer experience set by Finance Derivative and international financial experts.

In 2020, despite numerous fluctuations and challenges in the market, with an effective business strategy, it gained a number of recognisable achievements in various aspects.

In terms of trade financing, the bank has stepped up cooperation with domestic and foreign partners to diversify funding sources for export and import payments by enterprises.

It has also taken proactive and timely actions to assist the businesses affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, with total value of outstanding loans entitled to reduced interest rates and restructured payment amounting to 4.1 trillion VND (nearly 178.2 million USD) in.

Regarding card services, PVcomBank last year launched three types of credit cards, namely Cashback, Shopping, and Travel, tailored to the spending demand of all groups of clients. The cards enable users to earn points, exchange for gifts, and receive refunds and also feature many other special benefits for users.

The numbers of ATM and credit cards issued in 2020 respectively surged by 136 percent and 158 percent from the previous year. Many solutions have also been taken by the bank to improve customer experience and service quality such as providing a service that helps customers earn points to exchange for gifts on the PV Mobile Banking app, giving online financial advice, and debuting the Smart OTP transaction authentication method to enhance security.

Besides, PVcomBank has carried out many major projects to better customer experience when coming to its offices to make transactions such as improving office space, minimising procedures, and frequently conducting surveys of customer satisfaction to perfect service quality.

In the face of the COVID-19 pandemic’s complex developments, the bank has also paid special attention to providing customer service via telephone and email. In particular, it has launched a special service phone number for priority customers, promoted the quality of settling customer requests via telephone and email, and surveyed customer satisfaction over its employees.

Last year, the numbers of phone calls and emails to PVcomBank went up 50.1 percent and 265.1 percent from 2019, respectively.

Finance Derivative is a global financial and business analysis magazine published by FM.Publishing.

Finance Derivative Awards honour the organisations and institutions with excellent performance in the financial and business sectors in the world. They are presented basing on comprehensive analysis of nominees’ most outstanding achievements in these fields during their integration into the global economy.

The State-owned Vietnam Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam) holds a 52-percent stake of PVcomBank.

PetroVietnam was listed in the third place among the largest firms in Vietnam last year, after Samsung Vietnam in the first position and the State-run Vietnam Electricity (EVN) group in the second, according to the VNR500 ranking co-released by Vietnam Report and e-newspaper VietNamNet.

A number of subsidiaries of PetroVietnam were also named in the top 40 of the list, including Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical JSC (BSR) in the 11th position; PetroVietnam Oil Corporation (PVOIL), 15th; PetroVietnam Gas Corporation JSC (PV Gas, 16th; Vietnam-Russia joint venture Vietsovpetro, 28th; PetroVietnam Exploration Production Corporation (PVEP), 39th; and PetroVietnam Power Corporation (PV Power), 40th.

Other member companies on the list include PetroVietnam Technical Services Corporation (PTSC), PVcomBank, PVI Holdings, PVI Insurance, PetroVietnam Technical Services Corporation Mechanical & Construction (PTSC M&C), PetroVietnam Transportation Corporation (PVTrans), PetroVietnam Low Pressure Gas Distribution JSC (PV Gas D), PetroVietnam Fertiliser and Chemicals Corporation (PVFCCo), PetroVietnam Power Nhon Trach 2 Corporation, PetroVietnam Ca Mau Fertiliser JSC (PVCFC), PetroVietnam Gas South JSC (PGS), PetroVietnam Drilling & Well Service Corporation (PV Drilling), and PetroVietnam Chemical and Services Corporation (PVChem).

Source: Vietnam News Agency