Day: January 13, 2022

The Party Central Committee’s Inspection Commission meted out disciplinary measures against many officials during its 11th session in Hanoi on January 12-13.

The commission found the Party Delegation of the Can Tho municipal People’s Committee had violated the Party principles, regulations and working rules, shown a lack of responsibility, loosened leadership that resulted in wrongdoings in the procurement of medical equipment, medicines, and the repair and upgrade of hospitals.

Such violations caused serious consequences and huge damage to the State budget, hurt the prestige of the municipal Party organisations and administration.

Therefore, the commission decided to give a warning to Vo Thanh Thong, Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment, former Vice Secretary of the Can Tho municipal Party Committee, former Secretary of the Party Delegation of the Can Tho municipal People’s Committee and former Chairman of the Can Tho municipal People’s Committee; and Le Van Tam, former Vice Secretary of the Party Delegation and former permanent Vice Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee. The Party Committee of the municipal Health Department in the 2015-2020 tenure was also given a warning.

The commission reprimanded the Party Delegation of the Can Tho municipal People’s Committee in the 2016-2021 tenure and several incumbent and former officials including Nguyen Van Hong, member of the municipal Party Committee and Vice Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee.

Also at the session, the inspection commission confirmed the violation of Party principles and working regulations and wrongdoings in the use and management of finances, assets and in the fight against smuggling committed by the standing board of the Party Committee of the border guard force in the southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau in the 2015-2020 and 2020-2025 tenures.

The commission gave a warning as a disciplinary measure to the standing board of the Party Committee of the Ba Ria-Vung Tau border guard force in the 2015-2020 and 2020-2025 tenures, as well as to commander Lt Colonel Nguyen Hung Son, Party Secretary and Political Commissar Colonel Dinh Quoc Tuan, and deputy commander Colonel Nguyen Van Tien of the force.

Several other high-ranking officers were also given warnings in connection with the case.

In addition, the commission requested the Party Central Committee’s Secretariat consider disciplinary measures on former Commander of Ba Ria-Vung Tau border guard force Colonel Pham Van Phong; along with Luong Thanh Hai, former member of the Nghe An provincial Party Committee and former head of the provincial Committee on Ethnic Affairs for violating Party regulations and State laws while implementing a project supporting the O Do ethnic group’s socio-economic development.

The commission required the Party Delegation at the Ministry of Construction in the 2016-2021 tenure to seriously review and draw lesson from mistakes in personnel work, policy building, equitisation of SOEs and State capital divestment.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Due to the adverse impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the total number of ships passing through seaports in Ba Ria-Vung Tau province in 2021 decreased, but that through its Cai Mep-Thi Vai port cluster alone still increased in both the number of vessels and the volume of goods compared to those in 2020, according to the Vung Tau Maritime Administration.

Specifically, the total number of ships passing through seaports in the province was more than 90,100, down 5 percent year-on-year, but that through Cai Mep-Thi Vai only reached about 11,300, up 2 percent.

The total volume of goods through local seaports was more than 113 million tonnes, up 0.37 percent, in which that through Cai Mep-Thi Vai hit nearly 105 million tonnes, up 2 percent year-on-year. In particular, the total volume of container cargo through this cluster reached about 8.35 million TEU, up 11 percent against the previous year.

Notably, in 2021, Cai Mep-Thi Vai port cluster received more than 1,320 large container ships, from over 80,000 DWT to 214,000 DWT, a year-on-year rise of 1 percent.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The photo “Afternoon on the Cat Ba Bay” by Vu Manh Cuong has won the International Federation of Photographic Art (FIAP) gold medal at the international photo contest RGB 2021.

The contest honours outstanding works of both professional and amateur photographers around the world in the four categories of Open Monochrome, Open Colour, Nature and Photo Travel.

Vietnamese photographers winning the ribbon award at this contest include Duong Duy Khang with “Ben thuyen Tam Coc” (Tam Coc Marina), Vu Manh Cuong with “Wayback 2”, Duong Vu with “Feeding 3” and “Tinh phu tu 2” (Father Love 2), and Vu Hai with “Mu Cang Chai tourist site”.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The northern province of Vinh Phuc will mobilise different economic sectors to boost support industries.

Under a programme on support industry development for 2021-2025 recently issued by the provincial People’s Committee, support industries will play a key role in industrial development in Vinh Phuc.

The locality will poured over 94.7 billion VND (4.17 million USD) into the programme, of which 66 billion VND comes from the State budget, and the remainder is sourced from organisations and individuals.

Agencies will carry out solutions to spur support industries such as stepping up the communication work, organising exhibitions, and developing markets at home and abroad.

The province will roll out support policies in personnel training and the research, development, application and transfer of production technologies, while developing a portal for support industries.

It has set the goal of having 70 enterprises eligible to become first-tier and second-tier suppliers for manufacturers of automobile, motorcycle, electronic products and partially supply for large enterprises or corporations or exports by 2030.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

A number of Vietnamese banks plan to sell more shares to foreign investors in 2022 as part of set strategies.

Leaders of the Orient Commercial Bank (OCB) said the bank was negotiating with foreign partners to sell 10 percent of its charter capital, baodautu.vn reported. If the deal is successful, the bank will lift its the foreign ownership limit (FOL) to a maximum of 30 percent as regulated by the current regulation.

OCB’s share price has had a positive growth for nearly a year since its listing on the HOSE on January 28, 2021.

According to the Viet Dragon Securities Corporation, OCB’s private placement plan of 70 million shares, which is expected to be completed in early 2022, will be a catalyst for the bank’s stock price to increase in the short term.

Last year, Japan’s Aozora Bank acquired a 15 percent stake in OCB in a deal worth 139 million. This was the first MandA deal for Aozora in a foreign market since 2001 and made Aozora OCB’s largest shareholder.

The market is also awaiting for the stake sale deal of VPBank to foreign shareholders this year after VPBank announced it wanted to adjust the FOL from 15 percent to 17.5 percent and preparing to issue shares to foreign strategic shareholders.

At VPBank’s 2022 annual general meeting, the bank’s leaders said VPBank could sell both existing treasury shares and newly-issued shares to foreign partners.

VPBank’s leaders are expected to complete the share sale plan in the first quarter of 2022. If the issuance is successful, the bank’s equity could reach a record of around 120 trillion VND.

In April, VPBank signed an agreement to sell a 49 percent stake in FE Credit to Japan’s Sumitomo Mitsui Finance Group (SMFG) in a transaction that values the non-bank lender at 2.8 billion USD.

Through this transaction, FE Credit is expected to receive support in capital resources, management capacity and experience in the consumer finance sector in Asia from SMBC Group, especially SMBCCF – a leading consumer finance company in the Japanese market.

The transaction will add a large amount of capital to VPBank, contributing to enhancing the bank’s financial potential to capture new investment opportunities in the market.

Sacombank also said it will sell 32.5 percent shares to foreign investors after completing its restructuring in 2022.

However, Sacombank Chairman Dương Công Minh said the sale of shares to foreign partners must be approved by the Government and the Việt Nam Asset Management Company (VAMC) as the VAMC is keeping the shares.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has asked the Ministry of Industry and Trade to work with relevant ministries, agencies and seven provinces bordering China to quickly set up a working group to address the congestion of goods at border gates.

PM Chinh made the request right after his phone talks with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on January 13 morning.

According to the PM, the working group, headed by a Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade, will coordinate with the Chinese side to deal with the congestion of goods at border gates between the two nations, improve the efficiency of customs clearance and goods circulation, and maintain smooth bilateral trade, especially during the Lunar New Year, while ensuring pandemic control in an effective, scientific and safe manner.

The PM’s Office conveyed the direction to related ministries and the People’s Committees of Dien Bien, Lai Chau, Lao Cai, Ha Giang, Cao Bang, Lang Son and Quang Ninh provinces.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Politburo member, Secretary of the Party Central Committee and Chairwoman of its Organisation Commission Truong Thi Mai has asked Party committees and organisations at all levels to continue paying heed to and jointly giving directions to make progress in the Party building work.

Mai made the request during a national online conference linking with 65 locations nationwide on January 13 to review the Party building work in 2021 and launch tasks for 2022.

She stressed that the Resolution adopted by the 13th National Party Congress highlighted a special need to treasure and further promote comprehensive Party building and rectification. It required the synchronous and effective performance of 10 groups of tasks, including strengthening Party building in terms of politics, ideology and moral virtue, resolutely and consistently fighting corruption and wastefulness, continuing to renewing Party leadership method in the new condition.

At its fourth plenum, the 13th Party Central Committee reviewed the five-year implementation of the Resolution adopted by the fourth plenum of the 12th Party Central Committee and issued Conclusion 21 on stepping up the building and rectification of the Party and political system; resolutely preventing, driving back and seriously punishing officials and Party members who show degradation in political ideology, moral virtue and lifestyle and manifestations of “self-evolution” and “self-transformation” with five groups of measures. The Politburo also issued Plan No. 03 to realise the Conclusion, Mai said.

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At the event (Photo: VNA)

This year, she asked Party committees and organisations at all levels to continue effectively performing tasks such as seriously conducting criticism and self-criticism in Party activities, improving the quality and efficiency of fighting corruption and negative behaviours, strengthening activities of all-level inspection committees and seriously punishing violated individuals and collectives, reviewing and fine-tuning laws, fully and promptly institutionalising Party guidelines to ensure that Party regulations and State laws are synchronous and consistent, as well as improving the effectiveness and efficacy of State agencies, the Vietnam Fatherland Front and socio-political organisations.

According to the official, the commission will submit two important draft projects to the fifth and sixth plenums of the Party Central Committee this year, including one on the building of grassroots Party organisations and members, and another on renewing the Party’s leadership method on activities of the political system.

She said the Politburo and the Party Central Committee’s Secretariat will continue consider and deciding on several important issues related to the Party building such as personnel rotation, internal political protection, decentralisation, appointment and nomination of personnel, and personnel training.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh talked over the phone with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on January 13, on the occasion of the 72nd founding anniversary of the two countries’ diplomatic ties (January 18, 1950 – 2022).

PM Chinh affirmed that the traditional friendship and comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership between Vietnam and China is the top priority in Vietnam’s foreign policy of independence, self-reliance, and multilateralism and diversification of foreign relations.

The two countries’ relationship is crucial to the stability and development of each side and also beneficial to the maintenance of peace, stability, cooperation, and development in the region and the world at large, he emphasised.

The Vietnamese PM noted after 35 years of Doi moi (Renewal), under the leadership of many generations of leaders, currently Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, Vietnam has been building, supplementing, and increasingly perfecting the theory on socialism and the path to socialism in the country.

Sharing his Vietnamese counterpart’s view, Premier Li congratulated Vietnam on its achievements in the COVID-19 combat and socio-economic recovery and development.

He stressed that China attaches great importance to the ties with Vietnam and wishes to enhance their time-tested friendship and unceasingly develop the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership in a substantive manner.

China highly values and consistently supports Vietnam in following the path to socialism that matches the latter’s situation, he affirmed.

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Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and Vietnamese officials at the phone talks on January 13 (Photo: VNA)

The two PMs applauded the countries’ high-level meetings last year, especially the phone talks between their Party General Secretaries.

Despite the pandemic’s adverse impacts, bilateral trade still hit a record of over 160 billion USD in 2021, the Cat Linh – Ha Dong metro line has been put into operation, and especially the two sides have worked closely with each other to deal with the farm produce congestion at border gates.

Regarding the goods congestion at border gates, PM Chinh underlined that both sides should coordinate closely and adopt effective and drastic solutions to this problem, thus ensuring smooth trading and maintaining supply and production chains between the two countries as well as in the region, particularly in the coming Lunar New Year holiday.

He asked China to continue increasing imports and accelerate the opening of its market to some agricultural products of Vietnam.

Premier Li highlighted his attention to Vietnam’s recommendations about economic, trade, and investment links, considering this as an important field in bilateral cooperation.

He ordered relevant ministries, sectors, and localities of China to settle the issue, and suggested both sides set up a joint working group to continue dealing with it, thereby facilitating Vietnamese farm products’ entry into China and maintain the trade flow.

In terms of border and territorial affairs, PM Chinh asked the two sides to keep effectively implementing the three documents on the Vietnam – China land border; further bring into play negotiation mechanisms to sustain peace and stability in the East Sea; respect each other’s legitimate and legal interests that are in line with international law, properly handle sea-related issues in accordance with the high-level common perceptions and the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea; and actively boost talks so as to soon finalise a substantive and effective Code of Conduct (COC) in the East Sea matching international law.

The Chinese leader expressed his hope that the negotiation mechanisms on sea-related issues between the two countries will be stepped up so that substantive progress is obtained, adding that his country is ready to join Vietnam and other ASEAN countries in striving to reach a COC early.

During the talks, the leaders agreed to maintain channels of discussion about land border and sea-related issues, promote consensus, iron out differences, and maintain common peace and stability.

Source: Vietnam News Agency