Day: November 24, 2021

Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen on November 24 expressed his hope for expanded trade ties between Cambodia and Vietnam.

At a reception for newly-appointed Vietnamese Ambassador to Cambodia Nguyen Huy Tang, PM Hun Sen said Cambodia and Vietnam should enhance their trade links, towards a bilateral agreement on agriculture, especially agricultural production in border areas.

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, trade ties between Cambodia and Vietnam have still been maintained and recorded significant growth, he said, suggesting the two countries resume direct air routes.

For his part, Tang congratulated Cambodia on its development achievements, notably its successes in the COVID-19 vaccine rollout, and thanked the country for presenting medical supplies and vaccines to Vietnam.

The ambassador pledged to try his best to strengthen cooperation between the two countries, particularly in politics, diplomacy, national defence, trade, economy, agriculture and COVID-19 combat, among others.

He also conveyed compliments from Vietnamese leaders to PM Hun Sen.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Traditional values of Vietnamese people should be promoted to build a prosperous nation, for people’s happiness, Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam said while concluding the National Cultural Conference implementing the 13th National Party Congress’s Resolution on November 24.

The Deputy PM expressed his belief that Vietnamese culture will brighten up and blend in with the flow of human civilisation.

Mentioning some tasks during the implementation of the cultural development strategy by 2030 in the time ahead, he stressed the need to further improve public awareness of culture and deal with weaknesses and limitations in human resources.

The implementation work should contribute to arousing the entire nation’s development aspirations, preventing backwardness, creating new momentum and bringing into full play creativity and strength of the nation to develop more quickly and sustainably.

At the same time, it is necessary to make the best of good cultural values of the world and adjust the cultural aspects that are no longer appropriate, he said.

According to Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyen Van Hung, the conference took place within guidelines of the Politburo and Secretariat of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) Central Committee, and received the warm response from all-level agencies and localities.

He emphasised the need to be fully aware of building and developing Vietnamese culture under the Party’s leadership and the State’s management, and on the basis of the great national unity bloc.

People must be put at the centre, with artists, writers, intellectuals and relevant forces playing the key role, the official noted.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh had a dialogue with Japanese investors on November 24, during which the Vietnamese government leader affirmed that the Vietnam-Japan relationship has never been as good as it is now, and will even grow better in the future.

According to the PM, Japan is currently the largest ODA donor to Vietnam, with nearly 27 billion USD, accounting for approximately 30 percent of the ODA that the Japanese government providing for countries worldwide.

He highlighted that Japan is among the largest foreign investors in Vietnam, with about 4,800 projects totaling over 65 billion USD. Japan is also the third biggest tourism market of Vietnam, with about 1 million tourists visiting the Southeast Asian nation. Two-way trade between Vietnam and Japan has so far hit over 40 billion USD.

The Government leader said Vietnam prioritises development in harmony with nature, climate change adaptation and digital transformation in the coming time, therefore, it urgently needs capital, technology and management methods, which are the strengths of Japanese investors, who have good understanding of and have a lot of success in the Vietnamese market.

Early the same day, PM Chinh received representatives from leading economic corporations and universities of Japan that intend to invest in Vietnam.

The general director of Shionogi Inc said that the group will continue to help Vietnam pilot the production of vaccines and drugs for COVID-19 treatment, adding that the firm wants to invest in a facility for vaccine and medicine research and production in Vietnam, the first of this kind of the group in Southeast Asia. Meanwhile, President of Hitachi Ltd., Higashihara Toshiaki proposed the Vietnamese Government allow the firm to expand its investment in projects on environment, health care, disaster risk reduction and railway in Vientam, thus contributing to the country’s development.

Meeting with representatives from Sumitomo Corporation – a partner of BRG Vietnam, PM Chinh applauded the firm’s investment plan to develop urban areas in Vietnam. However, he suggested that the group should study to combine urban development with production and business, and development of cultural, sports and medical institutions.

During meetings with representatives from Ryukyu University Okinawa, Jutendo University, Hokkaido University, Waseda University, Hiroshima University, and Kobuta, Paramount and Horiba and Azuma corporations, PM Chinh welcomed investment ideas of the establishments, saying that these are all areas that Vietnam is in need of investment.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

A certificate recognising the system of relics commemorating President Ho Chi Minh as a special national relic site was granted to authorities of central Thua Thien-Hue province at a ceremony on November 23.

The special national relic site comprises four sites that were previously classified as special national relics namely President Ho Chi Minh memorial house at Mai Thuc Loan street, Quoc Hoc School, President Ho Chi Minh memorial house in Duong No and Duong No village Communal House in Hue city.

Addressing the ceremony, Secretary of the Thua Thien – Hue provincial Party Committee Le Truong Luu emphasised that there are many precious relics relating to Uncle Ho and his family during their stay in in Thua Thien – Hue in 10 years.

The province will focus on directing relevant agencies to set up a master plan for the four special national relics as well as implementing the project “Promoting the value of President Ho Chi Minh’s relic in Thua Thien – Hue for tourism development”, he said.

Luu said relics and intangible cultural heritage of President Ho Chi Minh in the province will be collected and digitised.

The province will strengthen dissemination on raising people’s awareness to jointly protect and promote the values of the relic, he said, adding that the recognition of special national relic site will be a legal foundation for authorities and agencies to improve the efficiency of management, educate patriotism and national pride and serve as a driving force for the development of the province.

An exhibition displays more than 150 images, documents and exhibits relating to President Ho Chi Minh’s childhood in Hue was also organised on the occasion.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Coast guards and border guards in the northern port city of Hai Phong on November 23 held a communication event to popularise regulations on the prevention and combat of illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing among fishermen in Bach Long Vi island.

Currently, more than 300 fishing boats, mostly from central localities, are docking in Hai Phong to avoid bad weather.

The coast guard and border guard forces directly talked about IUU fishing fight rules to 950 crew members on 168 vessels, while delivering 200 leaflets and presenting 120 national flags, 25 life vests and 20 gifts to fishermen.

The activity aims to help fishermen understand the law, thus strictly abiding by the law while operating at sea and joining hands with authorities to work towards the removal of the “yellow card” imposed by the European Commission on Vietnamese fishery products.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Providing in-person training for people who want to work abroad will help meet the demand for quality workers in labour import markets, experts have said.

After labour markets like Japan, the Republic of Korea and Taiwan (China) announced their plans on relaxing restrictions on the entry of foreign migrant workers from November, businesses involved in labour export resumed training activities and procedures for visa applications to quickly send workers abroad.

Tran Anh Quang Thanh, Director of PITSCO Training and Manpower Development Limited Company’s Ho Chi Minh City Branch, told Nguoi Lao Dong (Labourer) newspaper that his branch will apply for visa re-issuance for 90 of 150 candidates who could not go to Japan due to the impact of the pandemic.

“We will give priority to these candidates going to Japan this year to help them settle down soon because they have waited so long,” he said.

The current difficulty is training workers. Despite positive results in providing online training, in-person training is still better, he said.

“The transfer of knowledge, language, culture and professional skills is more effective if trainees directly interact with teachers,” he said.

The in-person training will strictly comply with pandemic prevention and control measures, including vaccination, social distancing and 5K message.

Most trainees in his company have received two COVID-19 vaccine doses.

More focus on training workers is needed as many labour import markets want to recruit a large number of trained and skilled employees.

“Qualified workers can get more opportunities to work abroad with a good salary,” Thanh said.

The resumption of in-person training is necessary, said Trinh Vu, Director of Tokyo VNJ Human Resource Development Co., Ltd, in Tan Binh district.

“Vaccinations are the top priority for reopening in-person training and meeting the entry and exit policies of many countries,” he said.

Labour exporters expect all of their candidates to be fully vaccinated soon, he said.

With an abundant supply of vaccines, the city has created favourable conditions for all migrant workers who have returned from other localities to receive vaccines, he said.

In the last two years, many labour export enterprises had to shut down.

Since the city gradually reopened its economy at the beginning of October, his company has made every effort to adapt to the new situation.

“It is convenient for us because the labour demand in labour import makerts is still very high,” Vu said.

However, the government needs to pay more attention to meeting workers’ demand for finding suitable jobs abroad, and take advantage of good diplomatic relations with other countries and territories to expand labour-export markets, he added.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Vietnam has great potential for developing maritime industry, Secretary-General of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) Kitack Lim said during a meeting with Vietnamese Ambassador to the UK Nguyen Hoang Long at the IMO’s headquarters in London on November 22.

The IMO official appreciated the dynamic development of Vietnam’s maritime industry over the past two decades, saying that with a large population and a quality workforce, Vietnam has great advantages in the field of shipbuilding and supply of ship navigation equipment.

With its geographical position in the Indo-Pacific region, Vietnam also has favourable conditions to cooperate with countries that have strengths in maritime industry such as Japan, India, the Republic of Korea, and China, he said.

For his part, Ambassador Long affirmed that the coastal and marine economy plays an important role in economic development of Vietnam, as the country has a long coastline and deep-water seaports in all three regions of the country, and is connected to the East-West economic corridor.

He suggested Secretary-General Lim assist Vietnam in improving its maritime capacity, thus turning maritime development potential into national advantages, practically contributing to the nation’s economic development and position.

According to the IMO official, one of the issues of great concern of the shipping industry is climate change. He noted that IMO will have to raise its carbon emissions reduction target to catch up with international trends.

He stressed that this is the time for coastal countries to comprehensively promote maritime activities.

The official also affirmed IMO’s readiness to support Vietnam in building maritime capacity as well as raising Vietnam’s role in IMO.

IMO is a United Nations agency with 174 member countries. It works to ensure the legal framework and the safety and security of shipping and prevent marine and atmospheric pollution by ships.

Vietnam became the 126th member of IMO in June 1984. So far, Vietnam has joined 24 important Conventions and Protocols of the organization.

Vietnam’s maritime and search and rescue activities have been highly valued by IMO. In 2020 and 2021, two search and rescue crew members of the Vietnam Maritime search and Rescue Coordination Center (Vietnam MRCC) were honoured by the organization for their prominent performance in their duties.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Vietnam’s Government is planning a master programme to gear up for a post-pandemic recovery, which this time requires sophisticated organisation and effective implementation to ensure long-term efficiency.

With more and more scientists predicting that COVID-19 may never disappear, global policymakers are trying to avoid further lockdowns and have shifted their focus to recovery. Thus, policies that drive the economy in the long term will be the centrepiece of the post-pandemic programme.

“A master programme on economic recovery and development at this time is very necessary and needs to be promulgated and implemented soon,” Phan Duc Hieu, a National Assembly deputy from Thai Binh province and Deputy Director of the Central Institute for Economic Management (CIEM), told Vietnam News.

The world has experienced unprecedented challenges from the COVID-19 crisis in the last two years and many governments, including Vietnam, have introduced extraordinary stimulus packages to revive their economies.

In Vietnam, the total amount of tax and State budget revenue that has been extended, exempted and reduced in 2020 reached 129 trillion VND (5.6 billion USD). In 2021, besides some policies issued in 2020, more support policies on taxes and fees have been introduced with an estimated scale of about 140 trillion VND.

The prolonged pandemic has significantly reduced the health of people and the financial capacity of businesses. The number of firms shutting down, dissolving, and leaving the market reached the highest level in many years. Several surveys also showed that businesses are facing both financial and market difficulties.

In the first session of the 15th National Assembly in July 2021, the Government was tasked to study and develop a programme on economic recovery and development.

“It should be noted that this is not simply a stimulus package and has yet to say how big it is. However, this economic recovery and development programme must be big enough and long enough to spearhead the economy in the long term,” Hieu said.

Support measures were mostly aimed at tackling urgent situations. The pandemic has posed unprecedented difficulties for policymakers to issue both timely and effective solutions, thus many policies in the latter stages have been issued based on experience from previous solutions.

The socio-economic recovery and development programme this time will be fundamentally different from the previous policies in terms of the overall goal and long-term vision.

Hieu said the plan must include both economic and social solutions, comprise different measures ranging from fiscal, monetary, and technical support and cover different subjects, industries, and fields to not only help restore production and business activities but also create room for sustainable development in the long run.

“In principle, this programme must ensure the basic requirements: support measures must be appropriate, meet the right needs and the right targets; in the long term create changes in the business model towards a strong digital transformation and sustainable development – with the goal of not following the old path but must develop strongly on the new road,” Hiếu said.

“Thus, there must be an effective, timely and comprehensive implementation mechanism.”

Policy space

The Government has only a few choices on its plate right now given shrinking space for fiscal and monetary policy.

According to Nguyen Minh Tan, Deputy Director of the State Budget Department under the Ministry of Finance, the efforts to keep the State budget deficit at 4 percent of GDP in 2021 (equivalent to about 5.1 percent of unadjusted GDP) according to the estimate approved by the National Assembly last November and expected 4 percent of GDP in 2022 is pressuring the State budget balance in the coming years.

Amid the pandemic challenge, the pressure is great to ensure the average budget deficit within 3.7 percent of GDP in the five-year period pursuant to the national financial plan, public borrowing, and debt payment plan for the 2021-25 period adopted in July this year.

Besides, the budget collection is also a challenge in the future given the fact that the businesses and economy need a longer time to recover. In its October report, the International Monetary Fund projected the world economy to grow 4.9 percent in 2022, lower than 5.9 percent in 2021.

Additionally, the continued implementation of tax exemption and reduction to support enterprises and enormous expenditure on disease prevention and control will also create pressure on the state budget balance, especially the central budget.

Some experts however believe there is still some room in the design of support measures.

According to Can Van Luc, Chief Economist of the Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV), the budget deficit and public debt have been controlled in the previous period and are lower than other countries in the region which will provide the opportunity to increase domestic debt (through the issuance of government bonds) to collect more resources to finance pandemic control and economic recovery.

Luc said the current scale of fiscal support is still quite modest so the public debt and budget deficit should be increased to supplement support packages, focusing on cash support, fee/cost reduction, credit guarantees and preferential loans (interest support) rather than tax deferrals and debt repayment obligations.

However, Hieu cautioned to calculate potential domestic and international macro risks and the efficiency of fiscal and monetary policies.

“An important point in minimising macro risks is to pay special attention to the effectiveness of this programme – the more effectiveness increases, the more risk decreases and vice versa,” he said.

The Government has assigned the Ministry of Planning and Investment to coordinate with the Ministry of Finance and the State Bank of Vietnam and relevant agencies to complete the socio-economic recovery and development programme and report to the Government before submitting it to the National Assembly at its special session in December 2021.

The master plan aims at not only solving short-term problems but more importantly to bring Vietnam’s economy back to a new growth cycle, re-establishing the growth momentum in the medium and long term.

Source: Vietnam News Agency