Day: October 6, 2021

Vietnam holds great potential in medical tourism development as it boasts a lot of mineral hot springs and mud, and has many areas with temperate climate, heard a webinar seeking ways to develop medical tourism in the country on October 6.

Deputy head of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism Nguyen Thi Thanh Huong said that the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, environmental pollution, and a rise in diseases are all leading to increasing demand for health care and medical tourism.

Many experts forecast tourists will take long trips not only for sightseeing but also to access medical care to improve their health.

Therefore, Huong said developing this type of tourism will help diversify Vietnam’s tourism products and lengthen tourists’ stay and increase their spending.

Experts said that in Vietnam, the exploitation of resources to develop healthcare tourism has achieved certain successes. However, these successes have not yet met the potential, as most of the medical tourism service establishments are still small in scale, with limited human resources.

Vietnam has not well exploited its rich system of medicinal plants and well-known traditional medicine to develop healthcare tourism.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

A delegation of officials of the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho visited and presented gifts to religious dignitaries in local Khmer worship establishments on October 6 on the occasion of the Khmer ethnic group’s traditional Sene Dolta Festival.

They extended greetings to the Patriotic United Buddhist Association of Can Tho city at Munirangsay pagoda, Most Venerable Tran Sone at Pitukhosarangsay pagoda and Most Venerable Ly Hung in An Cu ward, Ninh Kieu district.

A day earlier, the official also visited Venerable Dao Nhu at Pothisomron pagoda in O Mon district and the Khmer Theravada Buddhist Academy.

During the visits, Chairman of the city’s Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee Nguyen Trung Nhan conveyed his best wishes to Most Venerables, Venerables, monks and nuns, prestigious persons in the community and local Khmer people on the occasion.

He wished that they would continue cooperating with the city to perform the Party and State’s policies and guidelines, as well as urge Buddhist followers to actively join in socio-economic development in the “new normal”.

Nhan added that the committee is ready to receive public feedback to build Can Tho into a better city.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Countries around the world are moving from living in zero COVID-19 to living safely with it and Vietnam is no exception, said Patrick Haverman, Deputy Resident Representative of the UN Development Programme (UNDP) in Vietnam.

In a recent interview granted to the Vietnam News Agency, he said that the first priority of Vietnam is the health of the people. And with the vaccination rates increasing, the country is slowly opening up its economy.

Mentioning the response to the pandemic, he emphasised the need for a more flexible approach, including shorter lockdowns, shorter quarantine periods, and acceleration of vaccinations.

He commented the Government of Vietnam for its vaccination diplomacy, saying it is amazing how fast people in the country get vaccinated against the coronavirus disease.

“We have seen priorities and how the older and more vulnerable should have a priority for getting vaccination. And with that response, there could be slightly opening up of the economy very carefully,” he noted.

According to Patrick Haverman the UNDP recently launched two reports on the socio-economic impact of COVID-19 on vulnerable households in Vietnam and the implementation of the second support package of the Government for people affected by COVID-19.

Vietnam can support growth, employment and incomes with a larger cash assistance programme for vulnerable households without fear of inflation or a negative impact on the balance of payments.

To achieve the twin objectives of supporting vulnerable households and stimulating economic growth, the cash assistance programme should be launched as quickly as possible. The quickest way to deliver this support is to provide an immediate benefit to children under 6 years old; pregnant women; elderly people from 60 years of age, including elderly people from 80 years of age that are beneficiaries of regular cash assistance programmes without pensions; and people with disabilities.

Administrative requirements should be kept to a minimum, and an electronic register of individuals should be compiled listing households and individuals who have received support.

Regarding Vietnam’s reopening in the coming time, the UNDP representative said the Government of Vietnam is doing good and vaccination is really important.

To reopen, vaccination should be the first priority, he said, adding that Vietnam should impose a bit more flexible lockdowns, meaning not locking down the whole city.

These are important conditions for Vietnam to slowly open and promote its economy with the assistance of social protection programmes, he stated.

“So we think the country is on the right track. We have seen it is slowly opening up. And with that, the Vietnamese economy can come like a growing again. So we hope for a good recovery of the economy,” he concluded.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The Ministry of Transport has received the proposal to approve a project on expanding Ho Chi Minh City – Long Thanh – Dau Giay Expressway which will be partly funded with loans from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

The project is set to work on about 23.76km of the expressway, which will have eight lanes and design speed of 100 – 120km per hour after expansion. In particular, Song Tac and Long Thanh bridges, part of the expressway, will respectively have 10 and nine lanes.

The section proposed to be expanded starts at the site after the An Phu intersection in Thu Duc city of HCM City and ends at the planned intersection with Bien Hoa – Vung Tau Expressway in Long Thanh district of Dong Nai province.

The expansion project will need investment of almost 12.97 trillion VND (566.8 million USD), consisting of nearly 10.22 trillion VND in official development assistance (ODA) loan from JICA and 2.75 trillion VND from the Vietnamese Government, according to the proposal submitted by the My Thuan project management board.

It is scheduled to be implemented in five years, from 2021 to 2025, after the borrowing agreement takes effect.

The Transport Ministry said HCM City – Long Thanh – Dau Giay Expressway, opened to traffic in 2015, has become overloaded, especially in big holidays. The road’s existing capacity is unable to meet the transport demand at present and in the future. Given this, it needs to be expanded early so as to meet the transport demand, particularly when Long Thanh International Airport in Dong Nai province becomes operational, in the southern key economic region.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Business and production have been severely stricken by prolonged lockdowns and social distancing orders triggered by the worst-ever COVID-19 resurgence in the third quarter of 2021, according to the General Statistics Office (GSO).

Data from the GSO shows that the number of newly-established firms and their registered capital in September hit the lowest for the same month since 2016. There were 3,899 companies founded last month, representing a significant fall of 62.2 percent compared to a year earlier. These companies registered some 62.4 trillion VND (over 2.73 billion USD) in charter capital, a 69.3-percent plunge year on year.

The number of new enterprises were low in Ho Chi Minh City, which only added 594 firms and 14.5 trillion VND worth of register capital last month, down 80.9 percent and 88 percent, respectively, year on year. A similar trend was observed in the southern provinces of Binh Duong and Dong Nai with only 63 and 39 enterprises newly established during the month, down 89.8 percent and 88.1 percent, respectively.

The aggregate number of newly-founded enterprises in the first nine months of the year dropped 13.6 percent to 85,500 and their registered capital exceeded 1.19 quadrillion VND, a year-on-year decrease of 16.3 percent.

During the nine-month period, the number of companies temporarily suspending operation rose by 16.7 percent while that of those completely dissolving was up 5.9 percent.

According to GSO Director General Nguyen Thi Huong, domestic enterprises have become more proactive in responding to the COVID-19 after going through four coronavirus waves since early 2020, but their financial capacity and resilience are weakening given the fact that 98 percent of Vietnamese companies are micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs).

The figures may suggest that Vietnamese firms are not optimistic in short term and the pandemic has been putting tremendous impacts on them, Huong said.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

While the demand for traditional coffee is saturated, that for specialty and organic coffee in North European region is still increasing, which is considered a good chance for Vietnamese enterprises to expand coffee export to this market.

Last year, the region accounted for 6.5 percent of Europe’s total coffee import volume, with over 16 billion USD.

According to the provisions of the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA), the tax on coffee beans – Vietnam’s key product exported to the Nordic market – is zero percent, thus helping Vietnamese coffee to have a competitive price.

In addition, Buon Ma Thuot coffee is among 39 Vietnamese products granted with geographical indication protection by the EU.

According to the Vietnam Trade Office in Sweden, although Vietnam is the world’s second biggest coffee exporter, Vietnamese coffee is not available in the Nordic market.

Over the past time, Robusta coffee has accounted for about 95 percent of Vietnam’s coffee exports. Meanwhile, the Nordic market prefers Arabica coffee.

In addition, North European countries are paying attention to sustainable production, while coffee grown in a sustainable manner accounts for only 9 percent of Vietnam’s coffee export volume.

The office advised Vietnamese enterprises to consider developing specialty coffee trademark, better marketing strategies, and improve the coffee quality.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Vietnamese firms operating in supporting industries have been developing in recent years, as products have partly met demand in the domestic market and for export.

Some businesses have applied advanced management tools in production and met international standards, thus becoming suppliers of multinational companies.

Statistics of the Industry Agency under the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) show that, Vietnam now has 2,000 firms producing components and spare parts. Of them, only 300 can join in the supply network of transnational corporations.

Supporting industries firms account for nearly 4.5 percent of all manufacturing and processing businesses and have created more than 600,000 jobs, or 8 percent of the workforce in the manufacturing and processing sector.

Some Vietnamese firms with good capacity have met domestic demand and are able to ship their products abroad.

However, the overall problem of the sector is the small scale and modest production capacity of most companies. Most of them lack resources and technologies to improve their productivity, along with a shortage of skilled labourers.

Most products of domestic enterprises are simple components and parts, with medium or low technological content and low product value.

A report in the industry and trade sector compiled by the Government pointed out limits in self-sufficiency in the supply of supporting industries products, and the low localistion rate, particularly in garment – textiles, footwear, electronics, informatics and telecommunication.

As Vietnam heavily relies on material imports, when COVID-19 emerges in supply countries, the industries face numerous hardships in ensuring input and have to wait until the pandemic subsides in such markets.

As Vietnam posted a trade deficit in input materials in recent years, added value of domestic industrial products stays low.

The reasons include limited resources for and slow rate of policy implementation. Some preferential policies for supporting industries projects have yet to create a momentum for domestic firms which enjoy fewer incentives than foreign invested ones.

The Government issued a resolution last year on measures to further propel supporting industries, setting out development goals for the next decade.

Accordingly, Vietnamese enterprises are to be able to produce highly-competitive support products, meeting 45 percent of essential needs for domestic production and consumption and accounting for about 11 percent of industrial production value by 2025.

The country should have about 1,000 enterprises capable of directly supplying for assembly enterprises and multinational corporations operating in Vietnam, with domestic enterprises to account for about 30 percent by 2025.

By 2030, locally-made support products should meet 70 percent of domestic demand and account for about 14 percent of industrial production value. Some 2,000 companies are to be capable of supplying directly to assemblers and multinational corporations by 2030.

To implement the resolution, the MoIT has identified that the development of supporting industries will follow the direction of selecting fields that require investment suitable to different periods. It also chose a number of key industries such as auto, electronics, garment and textile, and leather and footwear.

The ministry has approved a programme for supporting industries development in 2021 with a budget of nearly 240 billion VND (10.6 million USD).

In a report submitted to the National Assembly Standing Committee and legislators early this year, the Government cited statistics showing that companies in supporting industries’ net revenue now tops 900 trillion VND, or about 11 percent of the sector’s total.

Some Vietnamese enterprises boast relatively good capacity in producing moulds, bicycle and motorbike components, electrical cables, plastic and rubber components, and tyres, meeting domestic demand and the requirements of foreign importers.

The report noted that supporting industries play a decisive role in restructuring the economy, improving workplace productivity and skills, and promoting the competitiveness and quality of Vietnamese goods and the economy.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The primary prices of apartments are likely to increase about 5 – 7 percent annually over the next three years due to higher product positioning and expectations for more launches of high-end apartments in prime and central locations, according to CBRE Vietnam.

Apartment supply in Hanoi picked up in the first three quarters of 2021 with some 11,430 units launched, up 7 percent compared to a year earlier, a survey by CBRE shows.

Over 3,480 units were launched in the third quarter of this year, a year-on-year drop of 1 percent. About 93 percent of the units are located in the west and the east of Hanoi, and 65 percent of them are of the high-end segment, said the survey.

The launches were the most active in July and at the end of September, when Hanoi lifted its two-month social distancing order.

The capital city saw apartment sales declining 33 percent to nearly 3,000 units in Q3. However, in the context of prolonged social distancing, this was still a positive signal for the market, said Nguyen Hoai An, CBRE Hanoi Branch Director.

The primary market saw apartment prices in the previous quarter surged 16 percent year on year to 1,542 USD per sq.m because of a greater share of high-end units. The secondary market, meanwhile, was stagnant with prices edging down 1 percent quarter-on-quarter and up 2 percent year-on-year as a result of COVID-19 restrictions.

From January – September, close to 11,000 units found buyers, down 1 percent year-on-year.

The cooperation between domestic and foreign developers and foreign management firms is providing Hanoi with more choices in the apartment segment, An said, adding that thanks to that, the market will be likely to experience stiffer competition with a wider range of products in the coming time.

The total of units rolled out in 2021 is expected to reach between 17,000 – 18,000, and sales will recover in the fourth quarter of this year, according to CBRE.

It also forecast that with the COVID-19 vaccine rollout going smoothly in 2022, facilitating economic recovery and border reopening, apartment supply and sales will rebound to 25,000 – 27,000 units.

Source: Vietnam News Agency