Day: January 14, 2022

Six tonnes of smuggled ivory tusks and pangolin scales have been discovered in a container at Tien Sa Port in the central city of Da Nang.

Customs officials in collaboration with relevant forces on January 11 decided to inspect what had been declared as cashew nut imported from Nigeria based on suspicious signs about the goods, resulting in the finding.

The smuggled goods, including 456 kg of ivory and 6.2 tonnes of pangolin scales, were on the list of goods banned from trading under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).

The case is under further investigation.

In July last year, more than 3.2 tonnes of rhino horns and bones of rare animals were found in containers at Da Nang Port.

In March 2019, customs officials in Da Nang also seized 9.1 tonnes of smuggled ivory tusks./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

An alliance of retailers who pledged to reduce the use of disposable plastic bags made its debut at a ceremony held by the Institute of Strategy and Policy on Natural Resources and Environment (ISPONRE) under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment and Hanoi’s Department of Industry and Trade on January 14.

Vice director of the institute Nguyen Trung Thang said the two agencies have called on businesses to sign a commitment to join the alliance in a bid to reduce the consumption of single-use plastic products.

Retailers’ alliance launched to help reduce use of disposable plastic bags hinh anh 2

Illustrative image (Photo: vietnamnet.vn)

This is part of activities within the framework of the “Rethinking Plastics – Circular Economy Solutions to Marine Litter in Vietnam” project funded by the European Union (EU) and the German Government.

The 16-member alliance is the first initiative to bring together retailers, helping them find a common voice in reducing the use of single-use plastic bags, towards protecting the environment and promoting sustainable development in Vietnam, Thang said.

According to Thang, the Prime Minister has issued a decision approving the scheme for strengthening management of plastic waste in Vietnam, which set to use 100 percent of environmentally friendly plastic bags and packaging at shopping centres and supermarkets for domestic purposes as replacement for non-biodegradable plastic bags; and collect, reuse, recycle and dispose 85 percent of generated plastic waste.

Thang said the ISPONRE will continue to coordinate with partners – the Vietnam Packaging Recycling Alliance, the World Wide Fund for Nature in Vietnam, the Embassy of the Netherlands in Vietnam, the Sustainable Trade Initiative, the Vietnam National Plastic Action Partnership programme, the Vietnam Business for Environment (VB4E) Alliance, and the Asia Foundation to promote communication activities to change public behaviour – in this field.

Acting Director of Hanoi’s Department of Industry and Trade Tran Thi Phuong Lan said the alliance will contribute to achieving the goal of reducing the use of disposable plastic bags in retail stores, thus realising the goal of sustainable production and consumption./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Leaders of the northern province of Ha Nam on January 13 held a meeting with foreign investors to listen to their feedback, aiming to seek measures to remove obstacles and difficulties in their production and business activities.

Ha Nam is currently home to 341 foreign direct investment (FDI) projects worth nearly 4.87 billion USD in total. Of which, 285 are operating.

In 2021, industrial production value of the FDI firms accounted for 70.7 percent of the province’s total. They contributed 36.4 percent to the locality’s State budget collection and 80.8 percent to export revenue.

Last year, they donated nearly 23 billion VND (1 million USD) to COVID-19 prevention and control activities.

The majority of the FDI businesses acknowledged Ha Nam’s efforts to create optimal conditions for them during their operations, especially by promptly injecting COVID-19 vaccines to workers, enabling them to maintain normal production.

They suggested Ha Nam to further shorten time for processing administrative procedures and give them more support in recruitment, power supply, security and order protection in industrial parks (IP), and IP infrastructure upgrading.

Secretary of the provincial Party Committee Le Thi Thuy spoke highly of the FDI firms’ contributions to Ha Nam’s socio-economic development.

Thuy said she hoped they will overcome difficulties to recover production, while implementing their commitments, especially in investment and environmental protection, improving their technologies, fostering connections with local firms, and ensuring safety against COVID-19.

She pledged that local authorities will always accompany them, create the best conditions for them to expand their business, and stay ready to listen to their opinions and petitions./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The updated climate change scenarios and the national climate assessment report were released at a workshop on January 14 by the Vietnam Institute of Meteorology, Hydrology and Climate Change under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MoNRE).

MoNRE Deputy Minister Le Cong Thanh said the new climate change scenarios were built on the basis of statistics updated as of 2020 and the latest data from the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

They provide detailed climate change and sea level rise scenarios as well as flooding risks, even for district-level administrative units, islands, and archipelagos of Vietnam, he noted.

The workshop also launched the national climate assessment report, which is the first to be compiled with the aim of helping managers and people understand more about the features, situation, and levels of climate change.

The report analyses climate change impacts on Vietnam at present and in the future, showing that the country is one of the countries most vulnerable to this global phenomenon. It also assesses Vietnam’s efforts, achievements, and shortcomings in climate change response.

This report will be updated regularly as stipulated in the Law on Hydrology and Meteorology.

The updated climate change scenarios and the national climate assessment report are useful documents for state agencies, research institutes, and scientists to refer to so as to take into account climate change response while making and updating their agencies and localities’ strategies and plans on socio-economic development.

Earlier, the MoNRE launched the climate change and sea level rise scenarios in 2009, 2012, and 2016./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The Vietnam Report JSC and online newspaper VietNamNet on January 14 revealed the 500 largest enterprises in Vietnam (VNR500) and top 10 prestigious companies in the pharmaceutical industry – logistics – animal feed – packaging this year.

They are all large-scale businesses with effective and stable business records and strong financial potential. These enterprises have established a foothold in the market, significantly contributing to the country’s economy recovery amid the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

On the VNR500 list are Samsung Electronics Thai Nguyen Co. Ltd., Vietnam Electricity (EVN), Vietnam Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam), Viettel Military Industry and Telecoms Group (Viettel), and Vietnam National Petroleum Group (Petrolimex) and Vingroup, among others.

Vu Dang Vinh, General Director of the Vietnam Report JSC said 2021 was a special year, marking the beginning of the 5-year socio-economic development period of the country. At the same time, it was also the year that Vietnam faced unprecedented difficulties, he said, adding that this is also an opportunity for Vietnamese businesses to shine with their management capacity, creativity and adaptability.

He said that in its 15 years, the VNR 500 honours “locomotives” of the Vietnamese economy that demonstrate their mettle and steadfastness amid challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. It also promotes the brand of Vietnamese firms to investors at home and abroad and forges links with leading entrepreneurs and scholars across the globe, he added.

A bilingual report Vietnam Economic White Paper 2022 entitled “Economic growth scenarios and adaptation strategies in the next normal state” was also introduced by Vietnam Report within the framework of the event.

The report reviews the achievements in 2021 and collects the opinions of experts and business representatives on economic policy and experiences to “live safely” with the pandemic, as well as forecast scenarios for Vietnam’s economic growth in the near future./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The three-digit growth rate of Vietnam’s tuna exports to Mexico and Israel is considered a catalyst for a strong increase of over 16 percent of the country’s total tuna export value in 2021.

According to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP), Vietnamese tuna is now available in 140 countries around the world. Export of the product earned the country 757 million USD last year, up 16.6 percent year-on-year.

Notably, tuna sales to Mexico and Israel soared by 143 percent and 201 percent against the previous year, respectively.

The growth is attributed to producers and exporters’ flexible and effective adaptation to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Shipments of most tuna products have increased, except for canned tuna, with tuna loin posting a 41 percent rise and other processed tuna 14 percent.

To further develop the tuna industry, VASEP stresses the need to expand its market share to raise competitiveness edge.

It took the Australian market as an example. Vietnam is currently the third largest supplier of tuna for this market, accounting for 1.6 percent of Australia’s total tuna import value. Meanwhile, Thailand and Indonesia keep the first and second positions with 73 percent and 23 percent, respectively. While Australia’s tuna imports from Vietnam increased by 209 percent, imports from Thailand decreased by 15 percent and Indonesia rose by 28 percent, according to the International Trade Centre.

Most recently, the central province of Binh Dinh has implemented a project on building tuna fishing, preservation, purchase and export chains, with the support of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). Thanks to this project, tuna products are quickly frozen and exported by sea, so the quality is guaranteed and profit is higher./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Thirteen French famous films are set to be screened free of charge via DANET, an online movie platform, during an event called “CINE-TET 2022 avec MyFFF!” from January 14 to February 14.

The French film month will be held by the French Institute in Vietnam (L’Espace) in coordination with BHD Company.

This is the third consecutive year the event of this kind has been organised to introduce French movies to Vietnamese audiences. The two first events attracted over 1 million views.

The movies on offer include L’amant (Lover), which was filmed in Vietnam in 1986, Lucky Luke, Tous Les Soleils, Ex De Ma Vie (L’), Gaston Lagaffe, and Cigare Au Miel. These movies are selected from MyFFF (My French Film Festival) – an annual film festival in France.

Eight other movies copyrighted by DANET will also be introduced to the audiences from January 22./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Industrial parks (IPs) in the northern province of Hung Yen are now home to 209 foreign-invested enterprises with 271 valid projects worth over 5 billion USD, according to the management board of provincial IPs.

Of the projects, 270 are secondary investment projects worth nearly 4.9 billion USD, and one is industrial park infrastructure investment.

Among 19 countries and territories investing in local IPs, Japan took the lead with 143 projects with total registered capital of around 3.3 billion USD, or 52.77 percent of the total number of projects and 65.59 percent in value. The Republic of Korea came second with 49 projects worth 36.6 million USD, equivalent to 18.08 percent in volume and 10.72 percent in value. It was followed by China with 28 projects that had registered capital of 360.8 million USD.

The projects focus on electronics, computers and optical products; rubber, plastic and non-metallic products; automobiles and other motorised vehicles, hiring about 57,000 workers.

This year, the Hung Yen IP management board will continue with synchronous and effective measures to draw investment in IPs, with priority given to large-scale, high-tech, support industry and digital technology projects./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency