Day: October 2, 2021

Competent authorities have handled violations relating to illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing (IUU) with fines amounting to hundreds of billions of Vietnamese dong.

The Government issued Decree No.42/2019/ND-CP on May 16, 2019, stipulating fines on administrative violations in fisheries.

Since the document came into force, the Directorate of Fisheries and the fisheries surveillance force of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) detected and handled 627 cases with a total fine of over 2 billion VND (about 87,600 USD).

Up to 2,198 violations were brought to light by the Ministry of National Defence, with fines worth more than 54 billion VND. The ministry also handed over 15 fishing boats that had violated foreign waters to provincial People’s Committees.

Localities also discovered 8,810 cases and imposed a penalty of over 83 billion VND.

The ministry said progress has been made in State management of ministries, agencies and localities. However, there still difficulties in the settlement of administrative violations due to the incoordination of fishermen.

Given this, the ministry has suggested the Ministry of Justice supplement certain regulations to a new decree to replace Decree No. 42, and supplement and adjust the content regarding the authority of border guard and coast guard in the IUU fishing fight.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Lak lake in Lien Son township of Lak district can be reached by travelling along National Road 27 for about 55 km from downtown Buon Ma Thuot, which is the capital of Dak Lak province in the Central Highlands.

It is the largest freshwater lake in the Central Highlands, and the second one in Vietnam following Ba Be lake in northern Bac Kan province. With a total area of about 6.2 sq.m, the lake is 500 m above sea level.

Lak lake is surrounded by mountains and hills, of note by the Chu Yang Sin in its upper region whose peak is 2,442 m above sea level. The mountain is home to pristine forests with a diversity of flora and fauna. Therefore, Lak lake is hardly ever dry up, even in dry season in the Central Highlands.

Taking a look from above, the water surface is vast and calm, and shows reflections of mountains and forests, creating a spectacular and picturesque landscape.

The lake is surrounded by expanding rice paddies mingled with villages of the M’nong ethnic group that have been there for generations, which uphold the original charm of the Central Highlands.

M’nong people conserve numerous traditional traits and take care of 17 elephants, dubbed a symbol of the region.

Located on a dreamy hill next to the lake is a private mansion of King Bao Dai, the final King of the Nguyen dynasty which is also the last feudal dynasty of Vietnam. The King often stopped by the mansion with his family when he travelled to Buon Ma Thuot for hunting or leisure.

It is a three-story mansion which was built under modern architectural style, as all rooms have wide windows looking out for all sides.

Lak lake can be seen from the mansion, as well as ancient villages of M’nong people laying between forests and rice paddies, adorning the beauty of the lake.

The lake has become a well-known tourist destination in Dak Lak in particular and the Central Highlands at large. A large number of domestic and foreign tourists travel to the lake each year to enjoy its charm and explore cultural characteristics of M’nong people.

This year, few visitors came to the site due to the impacts of COVID-19, but the landscape and people’s lives remain peaceful and simple, coupled with a tinge of mystery.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) on October 1 wrapped up the #KeepingGirlsinthePicture – “For a future picture with girls” campaign, which drew over 50 inspiring stories.

UNESCO launched the communication campaign on social networks in early August by collecting and spreading stories from the community about the importance of education in life.

The stories include those penned by people from ethnic minority groups of Vietnam like Tay, Thai, Ede and H’Mong, who are in different lines of work.

They featured girls who have surmounted difficulties and prejudice to not give up and realise their own dreams.

The campaign earned nearly 300,000 ‘reaches’ in Facebook, which is among the leading social media platforms in Vietnam. According to UNESCO, the COVID-19 pandemic has closed schools and caused the largest disruption of education in history. More than 1.5 billion students are affected by the pandemic worldwide, of which more than 767 million are girls.

The organisation estimated that more than 11 million female students – from preschool to university – might not return to school last year.

The global campaign #KeepingGirlsinthePicture – “For a future picture with girls” aimed to ensure that girls’ learning is not disrupted during school closures, promoting a safe environment for them when educational institutions reopen and calls for efforts to protect the progress made in their education.

In Vietnam, the campaign was implemented within the framework of the project “We are able (Achieving a better living and education)”, which was implemented by UNESCO in collaboration with the Ministry of Education and Training and the National Assembly’s Committee for Ethnic Minorities Affairs, with the support of CJ Group of the Republic of Korea. It aimed to improve access to education of ethnic minority girls in Ha Giang, Ninh Thuan, and Soc Trang provinces.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Three leading telecom services providers of Viettel, VNPT and MobiFone from September 12 to 30 completed setting up Internet connection in eight provinces and cities nationwide to facilitate online teaching and learning.

The installation was carried out in 283 locations across the eight localities of Hanoi capital; Da Nang, Khanh Hoa and Phu Yen in the central region; and Binh Phuoc, Dong Thap, Can Tho, and Hau Giang in the southIn implementing the Prime Minister’s Decree on promoting safe teaching programme and ensuring education quality amid the COVID-19 pandemic, together with a programme to provide Internet connection and computers for needy students, the Ministry of Information and Communications has asked the telecom services providers to review locations with underqualified Internet connection for students’ online learning and promptly improve the situation.

The work will be continued within this year to ensure connection quality serving online learning as well as infrastructure for the country’s digital economy development.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The Government is resolved to step up measures to create new momentum, and speed up the disbursement of public investments to spur economic growth in the last quarter of this year, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh said while chairing a regular Cabinet meeting on October 2.

With the efforts, the Government expects to create a premise for the first months of 2022, thus bringing the country to the new normal, the leader said.

To that end, Chinh asked ministries, agencies and localities to focus on building a strategy on economic recovery and development in the new normal as from October 1, and another strategy on pandemic containment.

He urged ministries and agencies to flexibly combine the fiscal policy with the monetary policy, better control inflation, ensure major economic balances, accelerate the disbursement of public investment and ODA loans, ensure the circulation of goods and traveling of people, work harder to remove the “illegal, unreported and unregulated” (IUU) fishing “yellow card”, and optimise opportunities presented by free trade agreements (FTAs).

The PM ordered removing roadblocks to projects, increasing IT applications and digitalisation, ensuring social welfare and improving the efficiency of the communication work to create social consensus.

Although the pandemic has been basically brought under control, with decreases in infections and fatalities in Ho Chi Minh City and its adjacent localities, vigilance should be maintained while recovering socio-economic activities according to the set roadmap, Chinh said.

He stressed the need to fight negative phenomena, corruption and group interests in the pandemic combat, saying the procurement of medical equipment must be transparent, avoiding losses.

The leader took note of economic achievements in September and the first nine months of this year, with GDP growing 1.42 percent year-on-year, and FDI increasing 4.4 percent to reach some 22.15 percent between January and September.

He also pointed to limitations and difficulties such as GDP in the third quarter decreasing sharply (6.17 percent), dropping domestic collection, and low disbursement rate (47.38 percent).

Also at the meeting, the PM had an online working session with authorities in 63 central-run cities and provinces across the country as well as 705 districts, towns and cities on the prevention and control of COVID-19.

Participants discussed building temporary instructions to safely and flexibly adapt to and control COVID-19.

Regarding crowds of migrants leaving HCM City and the southern province of Binh Duong for their hometowns, the PM called on them not to move freely to prevent pandemic spread.

Relevant localities should encourage labourers to stay in the cities where they are working to get vaccinated and continue joining socio-economic activities in the host cities, he said.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Vietnam’s seaports are set to handle about 1.14-1.42 billion tonnes of cargo, including 38-47 million TEUs of container goods, and welcomed 10.1 – 10.3 million passengers annually by 2030, according to a freshly approved master plan.

Under the master plan on developing domestic seaport network over the next 10 years, with a vision towards 2050, Vietnam aims to develop a uniform system of modern seaports that provide high-quality services, meet needs for socio-economic development, and ensure national security and defence, maritime safety and environmental protection, and improving the economy’s competitiveness. It is expected to help the country fulfill its goal of becoming an upper-middle-income developing country with modern industry by 2030.

The plan gives priority to developing infrastructure at major international gateway ports such as Lach Huyen (Hai Phong) and Cai Mep (Ba Ria-Vung Tau). The country will also adopt suitable policies for the construction of an international transshipment port in Van Phong (Khanh Hoa) and look into the possibility of a port in Tran De (Soc Trang). The plan classifies Vietnamese seaports into five groups based on their geographical locations. The first group includes five northern ports in Hai Phong, Quang Ninh, Thai Binh, Nam Dinh and Ninh Binh. They are set to handle 305-357 million tonnes of cargo and 162,000-164,000 passengers by 2030, with an annual growth of 5-5.3 percent and 1.5-1.6 percent, respectively, by 2050.

The second group consists of six ports in the north central region namely Thanh Hoa, Nghe An, Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Quang Tri and Thua Thien-Hue; while the third one features eight ports in the south central provinces of Da Nang, Quang Nam, Quang Ngai, Binh Dinh, Phu Yen, Khanh Hoa, Ninh Thuan and Binh Thuan.

The fourth group comprising five ports in Ho Chi Minh City and the southern provinces of Dong Nai, Ba Ria-Vung Tau, Binh Duong and Long An are set to handle the largest share of cargo volume – from 461-540 million tonnes – by 2030 and the goods volume going through the ports is forecast to grow 3.5-3.8 percent by 2050.

The last one consists of 12 ports in the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho and provinces of Dong Thap, Tien Giang, Vinh Long, Benh Tre, An Giang, Hau Giang, Soc Trang, Tra Vinh, Ca Mau, Bac Lieu and Kien Giang. They will focus on serving passenger transport with 6.1 – 6.2 million annually by 2030, the largest among the five groups.

Vietnam also plans to develop its network of railways and expressways to enhance connectivity between the Hai Phong and Ba Ria-Vung Tau Ports, categorised as special class, and other ports nationwide.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Businesses in Ho Chi Minh City have called for support policies to help them revive operations after disruption due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

They made the proposal at a meeting with President Nguyen Xuan Phuc and a delegation of the city’s National Assembly deputies on October 2.

Ly Kim Chi, Chairwoman of the Food and Foodstuff Association of HCM City, said the Government and the National Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control should quickly issue temporary guidance on flexible adaptation to COVID-19.

Enterprises should be allowed to draw up their own production plans in line with COVID-19 prevention and control regulations, and take responsibility for the implementation.

Competent agencies would supervise pandemic prevention and control at the firms and strictly handle violations, she said, adding that businesses can be forced to close when necessary.

Chi also proposed the Government prioritise vaccinations to employees engaging in supply chains in southern localities that are closely associated with HCM City’s economy, especially in food and other necessities. Other voters raised opinions regarding the shortage of workforce in the southern economic centre, accommodations for workers and financial policies in support of businesses.

Speaking at the meeting, President Phuc asked NA deputies to urge competent agencies to clear up enterprises’ concern in different spheres like finance, banking, workforce, and trade and investment promotion.

The Party and State will soon issue specific financial and monetary policies to aid businesses in the tough period, the leader pledged, expressing his belief that HCM City’s economy will recover soon.

Unofficial statistics show that as of August 2021, up to 24,000 enterprises in the city had dissolved, up 6.6 percent against the same period last year.

Nearly 30 percent of labourers have been rendered jobless, mostly in leather-footwear (62 percent), garment-textile (42.6 percent), lodging services (37 percent) and catering services (38 percent).

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The adoption of digital banking in Asia-Pacific (APAC) emerging markets, especially Vietnam, has caught up with that in developed markets.

This information was released in the McKinsey report on the digital banking behaviours of 20,000 urban banking consumers across 15 APAC markets, including Vietnam.

This change in behaviour has brought the financial services industry to a new level of maturity, opening up new opportunities for banks and nonbanks alike. The window for seizing opportunities will narrow quickly as consumers give serious consideration to innovative propositions from digital banks.

The report identified the gap between customers’ interest in digital banking vs their actual actions, how banks can better capture opportunities from this gap, and the core technologies that can support banks in doing so.

It revealed that the increase in active digital bank users is arguably higher in Vietnam compared with APAC’s emerging markets and some APAC developed markets.

Between 2017 and 2021, 88 percent of APAC consumers in emerging markets actively use digital banks, a 33 percentage points increase. In Vietnam, the numbers rose by 41 percentage points to 82 percent in 2021.

At the same time, fintech and e-wallet penetration reached 56 percent in 2021 for Vietnam, a hike of 40 percentage points from 2017. This penetration level is even higher than the average of APAC emerging markets (at 54 percent) and developed markets (43 percent).

Large majority (73 percent) of Vietnamese consumers are multi-channel banking users. This means they use a combination of digital banks and physical branches.

Despite the change in consumer behaviours, banks are not doing enough to capture digital sales, due to limited digital offerings and a lack of meaningful engagements with digital users, the report says.

Accordingly, three strategic moves banks can consider in closing this gap include rethinking the role of branches. Banks need to strengthen branches’ omnichannel delivery – measuring both financial goals and customer’s satisfaction – ensuring that branch-based human interactions go beyond functional convenience to outperform empathy and understanding.

They should transform their business model to digital-first, or integrated omnichannel engagement centred on agile deployment on artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning capabilities. Banks need to deliver value propositions that are intelligent (automating key decisions and recommending actions), personalised (based on an understanding of customers behaviours), and omnichannel (embed digital banking capabilities within partner ecosystems).

Bank should play a role of digital attacker (digital-only banks using a cloud-native, low-cost platform) or an omnichannel incumbent to stay competitive. In doing so, banks must differentiate their digital value proposition from existing offerings, focus on gaining access to large customer ecosystem to scale fast, and capture transactions and balances as primary bank.

Banks in emerging markets are already leading digital innovation but the market is getting crowded and competitive. To stay relevant, banks should think about building (or acquire) AI and machine learning capabilities in three areas sales and service, operations and IT and develop the right structure as well as hire or reskill the right talent.

Source: Vietnam News Agency