Day: January 21, 2022

Many Vietnamese people and businesses in the US have shown their support for the homeland’s restoration of international commercial flights, describing the move as a good start for the New Year.

Talking to the Vietnam News Agency, Sean Lam, Vice President of IMSG – a partner of the Vietnam Air Traffic Management Corporation, said after almost two years of international flight suspension, Vietnamese guest workers with expired labour contracts, students, or people on business trips but stranded abroad now has huge demand for reuniting with their families. To overseas Vietnamese (OVs) who haven’t come back to the homeland for a long time or those seeking investment opportunities, the flight resumption will make it easier for them to make travel plans.

He said he has always longed for a return to the homeland to visit his relatives and friends and meet partners to promote investment and business projects.

Vietnamese ministries and sectors’ consensus to reopen regular international air routes while the COVID-19 pandemic remains tense with the appearance of new variants demonstrates the strong resolve to bring the country back to normal. It also illustrates the great attention to the travel, studying, and working demand of Vietnamese people both at home and abroad, Lam went on.

He noted with appropriate anti-pandemic measures, the country is able to safely welcome OVs back while ensuring good control of the pandemic, thus raising people’s hope and trust to gradually recover and develop the economy.

The reopening of some international air routes, especially the direct one between Vietnam and the US, since January 1 is highly useful for strengthening Vietnamese enterprises’ cooperation with foreign partners, according to the IMSG executive.

Echoing the view, Nguyen Huu Quoc, owner of a travel company in the state of Maryland, said though Vietnam’s restoration of regular international flights is slower than other regional countries, it will be an encouraging start and a condition for businesses to resume operations and reactivate services for international tourists, helping restart the tourism sector.

Tran Kim Ngoc, an accountant at the US-based CPA company, said the resumption not only create conditions for many OVs to reunite with their families during the Lunar New Year festival but also meet people’s travel and studying demand.

The move is greatly expected by not only businesses but also the entire Vietnamese community in the US. It shows the Government’s attention to people’s demand and investment cooperation so as to shore up the economy in the time ahead, she added./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The Vietnam Science and Technology Joint Stock Company (BUSADCO) has gained positive results in using assembled concrete components in the protection of riverbanks, lakes and dykes in the southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau, contributing to preventing coastal erosion.

On January 20, the company held a ceremony to complete the project building the entire embankment to protect the downstream of Ray River in the province’s Xuyen Moc district.

Do Huu Hien, Deputy Director of the provincial Department of Science and Technology, said that the increase of rains, storms and tropical depressions, sea level rise due to climate change, along with human activities have changed the alluvial balance at the coast, negatively affected coastal works and caused severe consequences on the socio-economic life.

BUSADCO’s new technology has helped solve this problem, Hien affirmed, adding that the superiority of this solution is to take advantage of prefabricated sand materials at beaches, and be more resistant to landslides ad erosion, and more sustainable.

In the context that some coastal areas of the province are seriously eroded, in October 2017, the provincial People’s Committee issued a decision ordering BUSADCO to carry out a project piloting the use of this technology to protect riverbanks, lakes and sea dykes in Ba Ria – Vung Tau. Accordingly, BUSADCO piloted the construction of a section of river and sea embankment with a length of 100m at Dinh river, in Phuoc Trung ward, Ba Ria city, and another about 50m in Ho Coc coastal area in Xuyen Moc district. After the implementation period, by November 2020, river and sea embankments there hadbeen tested and put into use, and brought about initial positive results./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The Tourism Advisory Board (TAB), the Private Sector Development Committee (Committee IV) and the Vietnam Business Forum (VBF) Alliance have proposed that the Government remove all domestic and international travel restrictions and completely reopen the tourism market from May 1.

In a recent letter sent to the Prime Minister, the eighth that the TAB has sent to the Government leader since COVID-19 broke out in Vietnam, the three agencies explained that they choose the date to give enough time for travel firms, hotels and airlines to make necessary preparations and for localities to complete the vaccination of booster doses of COVID-19 vaccines to local residents.

They stressed the need for all central agencies to work closely together to design necessary mechanisms and procedures to implement the plan, suggesting the expansion of visa exemption for visitors from all targeted tourism markets and countries with strong investment in Vietnam.

In the letter, the three offices highlighted the Government’s success in making Vietnam one of the six countries with the highest COVID-19 vaccination coverage in the world, as well as efforts by ministries and sectors in reopening the country through pilot programmes to receive international tourists and resume a number of regular international air routes which is expected to help many travel firms survive.

They stressed that it’s time to define the time to return to the new normal situation.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism plans to hold a conference on January 24 with the participation of representatives of six ministries and 20 localities and well as major travel firms to discuss the complete open of the tourism market on the April 30-May 1 holidays in a safe manner.

After two months of implementing the pilot scheme to welcome foreign visitors, the tourism sector has served nearly 8,000 with high safety level./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Head coach Park Hang-seo on January 20 announced the 24-man squad for Vietnam’s upcoming away match against Australia in the final round of the 2022 FIFA World Cup Asian qualifiers, according to the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF).

The squad comprises three goalkeepers, 10 defenders, eight midfielders and three forwards. They are to fly to Melbourne on January 21 and are set to arrive in Australia on January 22 morning (local time).

Eight players of the team will remain in Hanoi to prepare for the later game against China at home, including defender Que Ngoc Hai and strikers Nguyen Tien Linh and Nguyen Van Toan.

The Australia-Vietnam game will kick off at 4.10 pm (Vietnam time) on January 27.

A meeting on the organisation of the Vietnam-China match took place in Hanoi on January 20, the VFF said.

Park Hang-seo names squad for Australia game in World Cup qualifiers hinh anh 2

Midfielder Nguyen Hoang Duc of Vietnam (in white) and a Chinese player vie for the ball (Photo: Xinhua/VNA)

The game is slated for February 1 at My Dinh National Stadium in Hanoi.

As the date is also the first day of the lunar year, which is an important traditional festival celebrated in both countries, relevant agencies are sparing no efforts to ensure safety during the event, Director of the municipal Department of Culture and Sports Do Dinh Hong underlined./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

A seminar was held in An Giang province on January 20 to promote trade and investment between the US and the Mekong Delta localities.

The event was hosted by the People’s Committee of An Giang, US Consulate General in HCM City’s Trade Office, and the Ministry of Planning and Investment’s Investment Promotion Centre for the south.

It aims to introduce business and investment opportunities in the Mekong Delta province of An Giang and some other regional localities to potential US partners and to effectively boost trade and investment between the two countries.

In his remarks, Vice Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee Tran Anh Thu said An Giang is part of the regional key economic zone which has seen strong growth in fishery exports and maintained a leading position nationwide in production of rice and tra fish as well as the maritime economy.

The zone is witnessing strong capital flows into infrastructure development, logistics services and others. However, foreign investment into these sectors still lags behind those in the nearby region, Thu said, noting that although agricultural and fishery products from the Mekong Delta have found their way into the US market, trade between the US and the Vietnamese region remains limited.

Given that the governments of Vietnam and the US have agreed to boost bilateral trade and investment, it is important for regional enterprises to have clear understanding of the US’s regulations.

During the event, the US Trade Office briefed the regional businesses on investment programme SelectUSA, and SelectUSA Investment Summit to be held in National Harbour, the state of Maryland in June 2022./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Vice President Vo Thi Anh Xuan hosted a reception in Hanoi on January 21 for First Officer of the Hungarian National Assembly Márta Mátrai.

Xuan thanked Hungary for assisting Vietnam in the fight against COVID-19, making it easier for the country to restore socio-economic development like today, while actively backing Vietnam at multilateral forums, especially the signing and ratification of the European Union – Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) and becoming the first EU nation to approve the EU-Vietnam Investment Protection Agreement (EVIPA).

Following the upgrade of bilateral ties to comprehensive partnership in September 2018 during Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong’s visit, Xuan wished that both sides would enhance cooperation in a more effective and practical manner, firstly the exchange of high-level delegations both online and offline via the National Assembly, Party, Government and people-to-people diplomacy channels, as well as offering mutual support at multilateral forums to maintain traditional friendship.

With two-way trade reaching nearly 1.3 billion USD in 2020 and around 1 billion USD in 2021, the Vietnamese Vice President hoped that more economic and investment promotion activities would be held to lift the figure to a greater height.

Apart from Hungary’s support for Vietnam in official development assistance (ODA) and education-training, the host wished that both sides would continue working closely together in other fields such as science-technology, innovation, health care and especially COVID-19 prevention and control. She also hoped for further attention to promoting gender equality to achieve better results.

On the occasion, she also thanked the Hungarian Government for providing support for the Vietnamese community living there, with over 5,000 people.

Mátrai, for her part, informed the host that during her meeting with National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue, both sides agreed to continue bolstering ties between the two legislatures, including organising the third thematic seminar to uphold the efficiency of their cooperation mechanism, strengthening friendship between friendly parliamentarians’ groups to contribute to the success of State diplomatic activities, and considering the possibility of holding meetings between NA economic committees to boost trade.

She also wished that joint work across science, economy and education would be further stepped up so that the two cultures would become closer./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Under the authorisation of National Assembly (NA) Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue, the delegation of NA deputies of the southern province of Tay Ninh delivered the NA Chairman’s Lunar New Year gifts to 10 border check points set up during the fight against COVID-19 pandemic in three districts of Tan Bien, Chau Thanh and Ben Cau.

The delegation also brought 50 gifts to Vietnamese Heroic Mothers, families of martyrs, wounded soldiers, people who rendered service to the revolution, Agent Orange/dioxin victims, and members of the Vietnam Association of Former Youth Volunteers who are living in difficult circumstances.

Pham Hung Thai, Vice Secretary of Tay Ninh’s Party Committee and head of the NA deputy delegation of the province, said that despite serious impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, Tay Ninh’s border guard force has fulfilled their tasks of safeguarding the border, effectively preventing crimes in border areas, as well as ensuring pandemic prevention and control.

Thai expressed his gratitude for the noble sacrifice of border guard officers and soldiers to ensure peace, friendship and solidarity along the borderline.

The delegation also presented their gifts to soldiers of Tan Binh border guard station who are on duty day and night guarding the border./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The State Bank of Vietnam set the daily reference exchange rate for the US dollar at 23,077 VND/USD on January 21, down 23 VND from the previous day.

With the current trading band of +/-3 percent, the ceiling rate applicable to commercial banks during the day is 23,769 VND/USD and the floor rate 22,384 VND/USD.

The opening-hour rates at commercial banks dropped.

At 8:30 am, BIDV listed the buying rate at 22,500 VND/USD and the selling rate at 22,780 VND/USD, both down 30 VND from January 20.

Meanwhile, Vietcombank kept both rates unchanged at 22,470 VND/USD (buying) and 22,780 VND/USD (selling).

During the week from January 17-21, the daily reference exchange rate followed an upward trend on the first three days then turned around to drop on the last two days. It ended the week 8 VND lower than the rate on Monday./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency