Day: December 22, 2021

A seminar took place in Hanoi on December 22 to announce the annual report on digital transformation of enterprises in 2021, which was built based on a survey of 1,300 firms and in-depth interviews with experts.

The report has been done within the framework of a programme on supporting enterprise digital transformation for 2021 – 2025, which is jointly implemented by the Ministry of Planning and Investment and the USAID Linkages for Small and Medium Enterprises (LinkSME) project.

According to the report, 60.1 percent of surveyed enterprises said that the barrier they face when applying digital technology is the high cost of investment and technology application. Meanwhile, 52.3 percent considered it is the difficulty in changing business habits.

For those just starting their transformation, they said they look for online marketing solutions (57 percent of the respondents), solutions for internal working (53.7 percent), electronic transaction solutions (43 percent), and network infrastructure and data (39.6 percent).

Firms, who need digital transformation to accelerate growth, said they biggest demands include solutions for data analysis, intelligent reporting (63.5 percent) and for customer relationship management and omni channel sales (60.7 percent).

Speaking at the event, Le Manh Hung, head of the ministry’s Enterprise Development Agency, said given COVID-19 developments, the need for digital transformation becomes urgent for businesses to innovate their models; gradually shift their activities to digital platforms; seek more markets, cut costs and improve operational efficiency, and competitiveness, in adaptation to new context.

Vietnam has some 870,000 enterprises, of which 97 percent are of small- and medium-sized.

Daniel Fitzpatrick, Project Director of the USAID LinkSME, said the project has worked closely with the ministry since 2020 to help firms accelerate their transition.

The report focuses on the needs of businesses reflected through their own voices, he noted.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

President Nguyen Xuan Phuc met with Great Supreme Patriarch Samdech Tep Vong and Supreme Patriarch of the Dhammayuttika Nikaya order Samdech Preah Sanghareach Bour Kry of Cambodia on December 22, during his State visit to the country.

Meeting with Great Supreme Patriarch Tep Vong at Unalom pagoda and Supreme Patriarch Bour Kry at Svay Pope pagoda in Phnom Penh, the Vietnamese leader sent the best wishes to all Buddhists in Cambodia.

He underlined that his visit to Cambodia this time aims to deepen the ‘good neighbourliness, traditional friendship, comprehensive, sustainable and long-term cooperation’ between the two countries.

Noting the outcomes of his talks with King Norodom Sihamoni, Cambodian PM Samdech Techo Hun Sen and other leaders, he said the two sides shared the resolve to maintain and strengthen the countries’ solidarity nurtured by late King Norodom Sihanouk together with generations of leaders and people of Vietnam and Cambodia.

The two nations will give top priority to and spare no efforts in developing the bilateral relations, and join hands to arrange various activities commemorating the 55th founding anniversary of the diplomatic ties next year.

The Vietnamese President took the occasion to express sincere thanks to all Cambodian Buddhists for their good sentiments towards and wholehearted support for Vietnam during the struggle for national independence in the past and development efforts at present.

He voiced his belief that the two countries’ relations will further flourish in the future.

Great Supreme Patriarch Tep Vong and Supreme Patriarch Bour Kry lauded Vietnam’s enormous and all-round development successes.

They highlighted the special relations and traditional friendship between the two states and peoples, and emphasised that the State visit by President Phuc is a milestone helping to strengthen the Cambodia-Vietnam solidarity and friendship, contributing to the bilateral ties and benefiting people of the countries.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

As many as 263,182 businesses registered to use e-invoices after one month of piloting e-invoices in six provinces and cities, accounting to 71 percent of the total enterprises and organisations in the localities, according to the General Department of Taxation (GDT).

The Tax Department of Quang Ninh province reported the highest proportion of taxpayers registered to use e-invoice, reaching 98 percent of the total number of enterprises and economic organizations in the locality.

Meanwhile, 90 percent of businesses and economic organizations in Hanoi registered to use e-invoices.

To prepare for the implementation of the second phase in the remaining 57 localities from April 2022, the GDT said it is accelerating the completion of institutions, policies, and professional processes related to e-invoice, focusing on reviewing problems arising in the application process of e-invoices in six provinces and cities in the first phase, and proposing suitable adjustments.

The GDT sets the goal of having 100 percent of businesses in Vietnam use e-invoices until June 30, 2022.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism plans to welcome back international tourists via sea route and roads in the time ahead, after piloting the “vaccine passport” programme on the air route.

According to the ministry, three out of the five localities included in the programme, namely Kien Giang, Quang Nam and Khanh Hoa, have reopened to foreign visitors.

Meanwhile, Da Nang city and Quang Ninh province are scheduled to begin the resumption next month.

The ministry reported that the first phase of the programme was rolled out in line with the COVID-19 prevention and control measures, with the quality of services ensured.

Foreign holidaymakers have shown their positive response to Vietnam tours, as well as their confidence in pandemic prevention and control measures taken by the country.

Ho Chi Minh City and the southern province of Binh Dinh are expected to join the second phase that will kick off next month. Other localities should propose the resumption once they satisfy necessary requirements, the ministry said.

The ministry has also proposed the Prime Minister consider restoring visa exemption for tourists from a number of countries, who stay in Vietnam for less than 15 days.

Vietnamese studying and living abroad with Vietnamese passports, Vietnamese holding US green cards or permanent residence cards in certain countries should be allowed to join the pilot programme, it said.

Vietnam’s tourism market will fully open to international tourists in the last phase, the starting time of which will be based on the pandemic situation on the evaluation of the two previous phases.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Over 150 IT experts from ministries, central agencies and local governments gathered in a symposium and cyberattack response exercise held on the e-meeting platform on December 22.

The events were co-organised by the Authority of Information Security under the Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC), the Cyberspace Operations Command under the Ministry of National Defence, and cybersecurity corporation BKAV to build capacity for the national cybersecurity emergency response force.

Nguyen Thanh Phuc, Director of the Authority of Information Security, said to get prepared for potential cyberattacks, the MIC added members to the national cybersecurity emergency response force this year.

These events would provide a chance for the force to explore how to closely coordinate with each other in dealing with emergencies, he said.

Vietnam recorded 2,915 cyberattacks in the first six months of 2021, an increase of 898 compared with the same period last year.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The Ministry of Industry and Trade’s Department of European – American Markets held a trade cooperation forum with Eurasian partners both online and offline on December 22.

Speaking at the event, Director of the department Ta Hoang Linh described Eurasia as a huge market with 28 countries which are home to a population of over 410 million people and a gross domestic product of over 3.3 trillion USD.

Despite COVID-19 pandemic, two-way trade between Vietnam and Eurasia still hit 12.7 billion USD in 11 months of this year, up 13.1 percent annually. Of the figure, 8.6 billion USD was Vietnam’s export which remained modest compared to their import demand of more than 1.34 trillion USD, or only 0.66 percent of the market share, showing that room for Vietnam’s exports remains huge.

As of the late November, 18 out of 28 regional countries invested in 319 projects worth nearly 1.78 billion USD in Vietnam, or 0.44 percent of the total foreign direct investment in the country.

Meanwhile, Vietnam poured around 2.82 billion USD in 37 projects in nine regional nations as of the late September. Russia was the biggest recipient of Vietnamese investment with 15 projects valued at 2.8 billion USD.

Several speakers pointed out the benefit of goods transportation via Asia-Europe railway route and seaports in Eastern Europe such as Slovenia, Bulgaria and Romania and shared information about e-commerce sites in these markets to help Vietnamese firms seek export opportunities.

Questions regarding foreign countries’ import and investment attraction policies were answered at the event. Market demands and opportunities from free trade agreements were also updated.

Linh affirmed that the ministry will continue partnering with business community to boost trade and investment activities between Vietnam and Europe-America and Asia-Europe in particular.

Source: Vietnam News Agency