Day: November 1, 2021

There was a growing trend of streaming YouTube on TVs in the Asia Pacific region with Vietnam being the country with the fastest growth in connected TVs, a YouTube Brandcast Delivered 2021 event heard on October 28.

More than 25 million Vietnamese streamed YouTube on their connected TV screens in May, data from the streaming service showed.

The COVID-19 pandemic changed all activities like studying, working and entertainment amid the social distancing in the first three quarters of this year.

As more people stayed at home, they turned to YouTube for their communities, learning, entertainment, and other needs.

Some 45 percent of internet users in Vietnam own a smart TV or connected TV, and 28.2 per cent access the internet through a smart TV, and the number is expected to grow.

More than 90 percent watch with family and friends, and 90 percent of YouTube viewers say they pay more attention while watching with others.

In May 2021 the average view length on YouTube CTV was 90 percent longer than on mobile and desktop.

Tram Nguyen, Google country director for Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, said Youtube reached over 45 million people in Vietnam aged 18 and above.

More than 950 YouTube channels in the country have over 1 million subscribers, an increase of over 35 percent since last year.

The average person in Vietnam watches over 70 minutes of YouTube per day, which shows how important video content is in daily life, she said.

YouTube Brandcast is the largest annual event for advertisers, agencies and content partners on the platform.

It brings together senior executives, brand managers, media planners, creators, and content partners from leading companies to share the latest information on market trends and solutions.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has said Vietnam’s attendance at the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) once again affirms its commitment to cutting carbon emissions to zero by 2050, and calls for fairness and justice in climate change issues.

PM Chinh made the statement during meetings with leaders of global economic groups on the sidelines of COP26 in Glasgow, Scotland (the UK) on November 1 morning (local time).

He said as one of the countries hardest hit by climate change, Vietnam always does its best to boost green growth and cope with climate change sustainably and stably.

During its process of transition to green energy and growth, Vietnam wants developed nations to share its difficulties, offer assistance in developing human resources and improving national governance on sustainable development, and provide the country with preferential green finance and technology, the PM said.

At a dialogue with Standard Chartered Bank and his reception for its Chairman José Vinals, PM Chinh affirmed that the Vietnamese Government and agencies will continue creating favourable conditions for foreign investors to do business sustainably and successfully in the country, in the spirit of harmonising interests and sharing risks.

He also highlighted a message of ensuring fairness and justice in developing the green economy and in adaptation to climate change.

PM receives leaders of global economic groups on sidelines of COP26 hinh anh 2

PM Pham Minh Chinh (fifth from right) meets GWEC representatives. (Photo: VNA)

Meeting the PM, the GWEC representative and Mads Nipper, President and CEO of the wind farm group Orsted, confirmed that Vietnam has huge potential, opportunities, and competitive advantages for renewable energy development, especially wind power.

Vietnam also has an open mechanism and environment for investment; quality human resources; dynamic, creative and friendly people; and a developed logistics system, they added. Therefore, over the past time, these enterprises have invested billions of USD in building wind energy projects in Vietnam.

Representatives of the corporations also expressed their desire to continue making long-term investments in Vietnam and expand operations to a number of related fields such as developing power transmission and distribution networks.

They proposed the Government of Vietnam direct competent units to quickly settle the paperwork so that their projects can soon be implemented.

PM Chinh suggested that the groups continue to study and distribute investments evenly across areas in Vietnam in accordance with requirements, thus promoting investment efficiency.

The construction of the power transmission system must be efficient, while the electricity distribution ought to be appropriate and effective, meeting development requirements of each region and locality, he noted.

Receiving CEO of Lego Niels Christiansen, the Vietnamese Government leader welcomed continued expansion of investment in Vietnam and suggested that it coordinate with Vietnamese ministries, agencies and localities to choose suitable investment locations.

He said he wishes to see Lego products to be made in Vietnam soon.

At the above meetings, PM Chinh thanked the investors for choosing Vietnam and continuing to expand long-term investment in the country. He affirmed that the Vietnamese Government is ready for discussion to create the most favourable conditions possible for them.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The US Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has officially confirmed that Vietnam Airlines meets all security requirements to operate a regular commercial direct flights to the US from October 25, the national flag carrier announced on November 1.

With this event, Vietnam Airlines has become the first Vietnamese airline to be allowed to operate regular direct flights to the US – the country applies the most stringent legal procedures and aviation security regulations in the world.

This is one of the most complex and important conditions that foreign airlines need to meet in order to be licensed by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to operate directly flights to this country.

According to Vietnam Airlines, after completing the last step of gaining a licence from the FAA, the airline will conduct its first regular commercial direct flight to the US at the end of November this year.

After two decades of preparations, the national flag carrier will become the first airline of Vietnam to operate a direct service to the US.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The Government of Vietnam is building open mechanisms to mobilise private investment in power projects, especially in renewable energy (RE).

According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT), in implementing the policy of the Party and Government in encouraging and creating favourable conditions for all economic sectors in local energy development, MoIT and other ministries proposed legal frameworks to build incentive mechanisms and encourage the development of renewable energy projects.

Recently, the MoIT has submitted to the Prime Minister for approval a mechanism to sell electricity from renewable energy projects, such as wind, biomass, and waste-to-electricity and solar power, according to the Feed-in Tariff (FIT) for 20 years.

The capacity of power projects in the form of BOT and IPP, excluding wind power, solar power and small hydropower, that had been put into operation by 2020 was 7,355 MW out of a total 62,250 MW capacity of power sources, accounting for 11.8 percent. Thermal power projects in the form of BOT and IPP are being implemented totalling 27,250 MW.

For renewable energy sources, as of December 31, 2020, there was 16,420 MW of solar power including 8,673 MW of concentrated solar power and 7,755 MW of rooftop solar, 514 MW of wind power, 382.1 MW of biomass power, 9.43 MW of waste-to-power, meaning renewable energy accounts for 25.3 percent of the total installed capacity.

MoIT calculated electricity output from renewable energy reached 5.242 billion kWh and 10,994 billion kWh in 2019 and 2020 respectively, contributing to a significant reduction in high-priced diesel electricity.

Compared to the actual mobilised oil power data as per Vietnam Electricity’s forecast, diesel electricity has decreased by 2.17 billion kWh in 2019 and 4.2 billion kWh in 2020, saving about 10.85 trillion VND to 21 trillion VND (471 million – 913 million USD).

Hoang Tien Dung, director of MoIT’s Department of Electricity and Renewable Energy, said: “Renewal resources have actively supported the supply of electricity to the north of Vietnam when it lacked power as the load increased in May and June.

“Renewal resources are contributing to ensuring electricity supply for the whole of the 2021–2025 period. Thus, it can be seen that renewable energy sources have contributed significantly to ensure electricity supply for socio-economic development and people’s daily needs, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and other emissions in Vietnam,” Dung added.

In this case, Vietnam is developing a mechanism to attract investors, said the director, emphasising foreign investment in BOT power projects has increased significantly in recent years, reducing capital pressure for the Government in important infrastructure projects, especially those requiring large amounts of capital and complex technology.

This makes an important contribution to the supply of electricity to the national power system, especially as State-owned corporations face difficulties in investment capital for power projects.

MoIT said the total investment capital needed to implement the selected power development programme in the 2021-2030 period was about $99.32 billion. If developed under the high-load plan, the annual investment capital requirement will be about 1.58 billion USD, of which about 10.16 billion USD was for power source investment and about 1.42 billion USD was for grid investment and transmission.

However, he also said some shortcomings in mechanisms and policies are barriers for some investors.

In order to attract economic sectors with conditions to participate in the development of the energy sector more actively, the ministry was studying and amending the Electricity Law to have a basis for socialisation of electricity transmission activities, in order to remove bottlenecks in energy infrastructure.

At the same time, it is studying mechanisms and policies to encourage private investment in renewable energy sources, such as directing the electricity purchase and sale mechanism, and bidding mechanism for investors.

Dung said the implementation of this mechanism will take more time, but it will be fairer and more transparent for investors, ensuring harmony and balance between the development of renewable energy projects and the transmission grid.

At the same time, energy experts said to attract private investors for power projects, the main solution was still through price policy, adding once the electricity price policy was appropriate, investors in the electricity industry can ensure reasonable profits, and power projects will be attractive enough for domestic and foreign investment, as well as the public and private sectors.

Vietnam is developing a national electricity development plan for the 2021-2030 period, with a vision to 2045, with three major orientations.

It aims to promote the diversification of energy sources, focusing on developing clean and renewable energy sources. To achieve these goals, the country has issued many mechanisms to encourage the development of wind power, biomass power, electricity from solid waste and solar power.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Van Don International Airport in the north eastern province of Quang Ninh has obtained the Airport Health Accreditation – AHA by the Airports Council International (ACI).

The airport is the sixth out of 22 airports in Vietnam honoured with the recognition.

The certificate recognises the airport’s commitment to prioritising health and safety measures for passengers in COVID-19 prevention and control. It also serves as a foundation for agencies and governments across the globe to re-open air routes between accredited airports.

Director of Van Don Airport Pham Ngoc Sau affirmed that passengers’ health and safety are the top priority of the airport when commercial flights are resumed.

In the past nearly two years, the airport applied stringent procedures in welcoming repatriation flights and passengers nationwide so as to minimise the risks of COVID-19 infections spreading in the community, he said.

Bamboo Airways resumed its service between Van Don airport and Ho Chi Minh City on October 27 with three flights a week. Vietjet also resumed flights on the route on October 31 with one flight everyday. Vietnam Airlines is re-opening flights on the route on December 1 with three flights per week.

The VIP and CIP Lounge at Van Don airport was honoured as Asia’s Leading Airport Lounge 2021 at the recent 28th World Travel Awards.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Up to 97 percent of enterprises in the southern province of Dong Nai have to date resumed operations, with 86 percent of labourers returning to work, according to the Dong Nai Industrial Parks Management Board.

The province is home to 31 industrial parks (IPs), housing more than 1,700 businesses and 615,000 workers.

Meanwhile, firms that have yet to restart operations include small- and medium-sized enterprises and those specialise in mechanics and machinery industry.

Deputy head of the Dong Nai IPs Management Board Le Van Danh said that businesses in the province had to halt operations for months due to complicated developments of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the enterprises have undergone fast recovery while many others have registered to resume operations and raise capacity in the past month.

The Dong Nai IPs Management Board is keeping a close watch on the recovery of local businesses and exerting efforts in removing bottlenecks so as to help them stabilise their production and operations.

The province is working to fully vaccinate workers to ensure safe operations of factories.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The State Bank of Vietnam set the daily reference exchange rate at 23.140 VND/USD, up 9 VND from the last working day of previous week (October 29).

With the current trading band of +/-3 percent, the ceiling rate applicable to commercial banks during the day is 23,834 VND/USD and the ceiling rate 22,445 VND/USD.

The opening-hour rates at commercial banks stayed stable.

At 8:25 am, Vietcombank listed the buying rate at 22,620 VND/USD and the selling rate at 22,850 VND/USD, unchanged from October 29.

BIDV also kept both rates unchanged from October 29 at 22,650 VND/USD (buying) and 22,850 VND/USD (selling).

During the week from October 25-29, the daily reference exchange rate fluctuated variably and ended the week down 5 VND from that on Monday.

Source: Vietnam News Agency