Day: February 26, 2022

Lieut. Gen. Nguyen Duy Ngoc, member of the Party Central Committee and Deputy Minister of Public Security paid a courtesy call to Singapore’s Minister of State for Home Affairs Desmond Tan on February 25.

Ngoc held that the Vietnam-Singapore strategic partnership is growing with stronger political trust and fruitful cooperation across all fields, noting that both sides have maintained high-level consultations and supported each other at regional and international forums.

Both sides have shared a common view on the significance of maintaining peace, stability, maritime and aviation security, safety and freedom in the East Sea as well as the settlement of disputes through peaceful measures in line with international law, including the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) 1982, Ngoc said.

For his part, Tan expressed delight at the increasingly close and effective collaboration between the two countries in general and between the Ministry of Home Affairs of Singapore and Vietnam’s Ministry of Public Security in particular. He said he believes that the Vietnamese delegation’s visit will help strengthen and diversify the friendship and partnership between the two countries.

The same day, Deputy Minister Ngoc had a working session with Commander of Singapore Police Force Hoong Wee Teck, during which Ngoc expressed his pleasure at the fruitful cooperation between the two countries in criminal combat and social order and safety protection.

Vietnamese police force has actively and efficiently implemented cooperation contents with the Singapore Police Force in law enforcement and criminal combat through the diplomatic channels and Interpol, which is evidence of the sound strategic partnership between the two countries and two ministries, and reflects common commitments in working together in preventing and fighting trans-national criminals.

As part of their Singapore tour as the entourage of President Nguyen Xuan Phuc, the deputy minister also visited and worked with a number of State agencies of Singapore, including the Smart Nation and Digital Government Office (SNDGO) and Singapore Immigration and Checkpoints Authority.

Ngoc shared Vietnam’s experience in the building of e-government and efforts towards digital government, digital economy and digital society.

In the process of studying digital identity models in countries around the world, the Ministry of Public Security of Vietnam found that the development direction of Singapore’s identity model is similar to the model of electronic identification and authentication of Vietnam, he said.

Deputy Minister Ngoc also informed the host that Vietnam is implementing many contents related to the application of science and technology in the management of immigration, population, and foreigners living in Vietnam. Vietnam. The Immigration Department under the Ministry of Public Security of Vietnam is taking steps to modernise itself and apply advanced technologies to integrate population data into the issuance of passports for citizens, he said, expressing hope to learn from Singapore’s experience in the work.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), which so far has almost 200,000 member businesses, has accompanied the business community and become an important factor in the country’s economic development.

Although the number of VCCI members remains modest compared to the total 800,000 enterprises operating across the country, the VCCI’s support for the business community has contributed to create the synergy of the nation and enhance the country’s international prestige.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has asked the VCCI to become a common home for more businesses, thus making the chamber’s proposals to the institutional reform more practical.

As an organisation gathering and representing the business community, the VCCI has shown strong performance in connecting and assisting enterprises, contributing to increasing their stature in the international arena.

Along with helping the business community integrate deeper into the world and representing them to give opinions for the building of a smoother international business environment, the VCCI has helped increase domestic firms’ opportunities to do business with their foreign peers through the International Chamber of Commerce – the world’s largest business organisation gathering more than 45 million companies from more than 100 countries.

VCCI President Pham Tan Cong said that amid COVID-19, the VCCI has keep updated on the situation of businesses through the formation of a Business Cooperation Council in Response to COVID-19, the launch of a virtual workplace platform named VCCI-Workplace and the organisation of various conferences and dialogues with the Prime Minister and the National Assembly Chairman as well as trade associations. The VCCI has conducted various surveys to gather businesses’ requests and has sent more than 600 request to the PM as well as ministries, sectors and localities.

The VCCI has actively engaged in the building of directives and resolutions of the Government and the PM on supporting businesses, while monitoring the implementation of the policies to give feedback to authorised agencies, he said.

The VCCI leader said that the chamber also made it a priority to connect businesses through the settlement of difficulties facing them and submission of proposals to relevant agencies on solutions to support them.

At the same time, the VCCI has set up a central council of business associations to connect and support the improvement of capacity for more than 400 business associations and clubs inside and outside the country.

It has guided the formation and operation of 53 out of 63 business associations in cities and provinces nationwide, he said.

So far, the VCCI has established a network of organisations representing enterprises and conducting trade and investment promotion across the country as well as in other countries, including the US, the EU, Russia and Japan.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

TH Group has signed with HAO Mart, the leading retail supermarket system of Singapore, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on strategic cooperation on consuming and promoting the former’s fresh milk products, safe foodstuffs and organic agricultural products in the Singaporean market.

The signing ceremony on February 25 was witnessed by President Nguyen Xuan Phuc on the sidelines of his state visit to Singapore during February 24-26, 2022.

HAO Mart is managed by HAO Corp operating in the two key sectors namely electronics and retails. Established in 2016, HAO Mart has so far expanded its retail chain to a large network of nearly 50 stores in Singapore. Currently, the group is ranked in the list of top retailers in this island city-state, distributing more than 70,000 types of fast-moving consumer goods imported from 43 markets. Its annual revenue hit more than 90 million USD.

TH Group believes Singapore is a big potential market in Southeast Asia. Over the past years, TH Group has conducted a series of trade promotion activities in Singapore, and has reaped important outcomes.

Last year, TH Group cooperated with distributor L’earth Group (L’Earth (Singapore) Pte Ltd and L’earth Vietnam) in a plan to expand its markets to Singapore and Malaysia. This hallmark cooperation has laid firm groundwork for the inking of MoUs with commercial partners in Singapore – firstly with HAO Mart on February 25, 2022.

In December 2021, TH Group and L’earth jointly implemented a project on launching the Singapore-Vietnam foodstuff exchange which will be valid until December 2022 and is applicable to many e-commerce platforms, retail stores, and supermarkets in both countries.

TH Group has officially marketed more than 30 product lines in Singapore, including UHT Fresh Milk, Organic Fresh Milk, A2 Fresh Milk, Nut Milk, UHT Drinking Yogurt, Juice Milk Drink and Rice Drink.

They have been on sale at many supermarket systems such as HAO Mart and NTUC – Fairprice, and at e-commerce platforms like Shopee, Lazada, Redmart, Amazon, Grabfood, and NTUC. Consumers in Singapore can find these products in all places in this city-state.

“TH Group believes that all world-class e-commerce brands have set foot in Singapore, so our official presence in this nation, which will then be expanded to Malaysia, will demonstrate the strength of TH Group’s brand in Asia”, said Hoang Thi Thanh Thuy, Director of International Marketing at TH Group. “TH Group will continue amplifying its product portfolio in Singapore and strengthening cooperation with L’earth Group, so that its products can attain the Healthier Choice Symbol (HCS) in Singapore”.

“We have a vision that in 2022-2023, our products will be sold at more than 1,000 retail stores and supermarkets in Singapore,” Thuy said.

Bearing in its mind the motto of “For the health of the community, Wholly from the nature, Freshness-Deliciousness-Nutritiousness, and Environmental-friendly”, TH Group has since 2014 seen its almost all products obtain the Halal certificate – a document that guarantees that products and services aimed at the Muslim population meet the requirements of Islamic law. In fact, the certificate’s strict requirements are completely in line with TH Group’s core values and development strategy.

In addition to the Halal certificate, TH Group also boasts many other high-profile certificates such as ISO, FSSC, and BRC. The group also has strong points in cooperation with many big partners in the world, especially with Islamic markets including Singapore.

TH Group possesses the high-profile TH true MILK brand, which is the most important product for the group’s international markets. The product is largely produced at the group’s 1.2 billion USD project in the central province of Nghe An of Vietnam, featuring a state-of-the-art dairy cow farm and fresh milk production plant, which currently has capacity of 500,000 tonnes of fresh milk a year. This project has been recognised as “The world’s largest high-tech centralized dairy farming and processing complex” by the World Records Union, and has received the “Enterprise with High-tech Application” certificate from Vietnam’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Since 2016, TH has also been developing a gigantic concentrated large-scale high-tech dairy cow production project in Russia, with total investment capital of 2.7 billion USD.

In addition to fresh milk products, TH Group has also successfully marketed many healthy drinking products such as TH true WATER, TH true NUT, TH true RICE, and TH true JUICE.

In October 2019, TH Group was the first Vietnamese business to be granted a code for exporting fresh milk products to China. Earlier in April 2019, TH Group inked an MoU on strategic cooperation with Wuxi Jinqiao International Food City Co., Ltd – which is China’s largest goods distributor – on market development and consumption of safe and organic foodstuff, agricultural, and milk products in China.

Under its long-term business strategy, TH Group will continue expanding its presence in many other Asian markets such as Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippine, and Hong Kong.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Vietnamese and Singaporean businesses signed cooperation deals worth nearly 11 billion USD at the Vietnam-Singapore business dialogue on February 25, which was attended by President Nguyen Xuan Phuc.

Speaking at the event, which drew more than 100 business of the two countries in different sectors, President Phuc said he hopes the deals will be realised early, and urged both Vietnamese and Singaporean enterprises to take practical actions to contribute to the growth of bilateral relations, especially when the two sides are to celebrate their 50th diplomatic ties and 10 years of strategic partnership in 2023.

Underlining the role of businesses in implementing the two countries’ cooperation strategies, President Phuc pledged that Vietnam will always create optimal conditions for enterprises of both sides to develop their partnership by improving its business environment, increasing transparency and dealing with problems in logistics, land and human resources.

The State leader said that Vietnam is rolling out measures to speed up economic recovery with the targets of 7 percent of economic growth in 2022 and inflation rate of under 5 percent. From now to 2025, the country aims for an average GDP growth of 6.5-7 percent per year, with digital economy accounting for 20 percent of the GDP, he said, stating that this is a good chance for Singaporean firms to increase investment in Vietnam.

Vietnam prioritises FDI projects that use high technology, help Vietnamese firms to engage deeper into the value chains and contribute to promoting digital economy as well as sustainable growth of Vietnam, he said. Phuc advised Vietnamese and Singaporean firms to focus on collaborating in prioritised areas such as high technology, digital transformation and innovation, while fostering economic connectivity within the ASEAN and in the region, and making the best use of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and rhe Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).

The President said that Vietnam and Singapore encourage the connection of the two economies through digital platforms, which has been reflected in the signing of cooperation deals between ministries and sectors of both sides during his ongoing Singaporean visit.

He added that he hopes more Vietnam-Singapore Industrial Parks (VISIP) will be built across Vietnam.

Singapore’s Minister for Manpower Tan See Leng said that Singaporean firms are growing strongly in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City and expanding their business in other localities such as Vinh Phuc, Quang Ninh and Binh Duong.

He said that he and Vietnamese Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien have agreed on cooperation orientations in various fields, including digital economy, energy, digital certification in food production, and agriculture.

At the event, SOVICO Group and Keppel Group, and their subsidiaries of Keppel Land, Keppel Urban Solutions exchanged documents on their cooperation agreement worth 1.5 billion USD in developing sustainable energy and urbanisation solutions. SOVICO and Keppel Energy Ventures also exchanged documents for a 1.5 billion USD deal on developing comprehensively sustainable energy solutions for transition to a green economy and reduction of carbon emissions.

Besides, SOVICO, Vietjet Air and Changi Group reached a 1.5 billion USD deal on providing aviation services in Vietnamese airports. Vietjet Air and ST Engineering of Singapore also inked a contract on the supply of technical services and airplane equipment worth 150 million USD.

The Ho Chi Minh City Development Joint Stock Commercial Bank (HD Bank) and Thought Machine exchanged a deal on the integration of advanced technologies into digital banking services in Vietnam.

Meanwhile, TandT Group signed an MoU with YCH Group of Singapore on studying a logistics project in Can Giuoc district of Long An province.

At the same time, TH Group and HAO Mart, the leading supermarket chain in Singapore, also inked an MoU on strategic cooperation in selling and promoting clean milk and farm produce of TH in Singapore.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Budget airlines Vietjet Air and ST Engineering have signed a comprehensive component Maintenance-By-the-Hour (MBH™) contract under which the Singaporean firm will support the airline’s entire fleet.

The signing ceremony took place on February 25 during the State visit of Vietnamese President Nguyen Xuan Phuc to Singapore.

Under the contract, ST Engineering will provide Vietjet with a full suite of component support solutions covering component pooling, repair, overhaul, modification, main base kits, component health monitoring and logistics services for the airline’s entire fleet.

Vice President of Vietjet, Ho Ngoc Yen Phuong, said that Vietjet highly values the fact that ST Engineering can provide on-site MRO services as well as leverage their global component support network to support our international flight operations 24/7. “We are assured that they will be a reliable partner to support the flexibility in our technical operations and maintenance as we focus on expanding our flight network internationally,” she added.

Jeffrey Lam, President of Commercial Aerospace at ST Engineering said that the component MRO facilities, together with life-cycle support capabilities in his firm’s global network, will be able to provide excellent support to Vietjet’s fleet.

“When combined with our comprehensive component solutions, we are confident in helping Vietjet achieve significant cost-savings and enjoy operational reliability at the same time,” Lam stated.

Recognised worldwide for its hallmark component MBH™ programmes, ST Engineering supports more than 900 aircraft and provides integrated component solutions for over 23,500 unique aircraft parts. ST Engineering is also the authorised service centre to over 20 leading OEMs. Its Commercial Aerospace business provides round-the-clock support and delivers more than 80,000 components annually from its component MRO facilities located in Singapore, Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam, as well as Stockholm, Sweden.

Meanwhile, Vietjet is Vietnam’s largest private carrier. It is a fully-fledged member of International Air Transport Association (IATA) with the IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) certificate. The airline was awarded the highest ranking for safety with 7 stars in 2018 and 2019 by the world’s only safety and product rating website airlineratings.com and listed as one of the world’s 50 best airlines for healthy financing and operations by Airfinance Journal in 2018 and 2019. The airline has also been named as Best Low-Cost Carrier by renowned organizations such as Skytrax, CAPA, Airline Ratings, and many others.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV) has sent an official document to Vietnam Airlines, Vietjet Air, Bamboo Airways, and Pacific Airlines, on the restriction and closure of airspace and airports in Russia and Ukraine in connection with the Russia-Ukraine tension.

The document stated that the CAAV received a letter dated February 24, 2022 from the European and North Atlantic (EUR/NAT) Office of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) regarding the closure of the airspace over Moldova, Ukraine and part of the flight information region (FIR) of Russia.

Ukrainian authorities announced the closure of the airspace within the FIRs Dnipro (UKDV) Simferopol (UKFV), Lviv (UKLV), Odesa (UKOV) and Kyiv (UKBV). Meanwhile, Russian authorities also announced the closure of a part of the airspace within the Rostov (URRV) FIR. Moldova’s airspace is also closed.

The ICAO said it will continue to coordinate with relevant authorities and other countries in the region to keep a close watch on next developments, especially those that may affect flight safety.

Director of CAAV Dinh Viet Thang said that Russia and Ukraine had released telegrams announcing the closure of airports, the restriction and closure of some airspace and air routes, especially in the area adjacent to the northeast of Ukraine, citing a report from the Vietnam Air Traffic Management Corporation (VATM).

To ensure absolute safety for flight operations to, from and over the territory of Russia, Ukraine and Moldova, the CAAV has requested the airlines to examine carefully the ICAO’s letter, keep updated on aviation notices on the restriction/closure of airspace, the closure of airports and air routes of Russia, Ukraine and other related countries.

The airlines also need to review flight routes, and choose alternative routes (if necessary) based on their operation plans; and ensure that their flights avoid closed and restricted areas and airways.

They should not choose alternate airports being those which have been announced to be closed, and those located near the affected airspace, Thang noted.

According to the CAAV, Vietnam Airlines, Vietjet Air and Bamboo Airways operate regular international flights from Vietnam to/ from 15 countries and territories, namely Cambodia, Hong Kong (China), Japan, the Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan (China), Thailand, Laos, France, Germany, UK, Australia, Russia and the US. In which, the national flag carrier Vietnam Airlines is running 24 passenger and cargo flights per week to/from Europe (Russia, France, Germany, and the UK).

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Vietnamese Ambassador to Hungary and Croatia Nguyen Thi Bich Thao presented her letter of credentials to Croatian President Zoran Milanovic at a ceremony in Zagreb capital of Croatia on February 24, during which she promised to do utmost to help further promote the traditional friendship between the two countries.

At the event on February 24, Croatian President Zoran Milanovic highly valued the traditional friendship between Croatia and Vietnam, saying that although geographical distance, the two countries share many similarities and thus there is great potential for them to expand their cooperation in the coming time.

President Zoran said he wishes the two countries will arrange many regular working programmes, and pledged to create favourable conditions for the Ambassador to successfully fulfil her duty during the tenure in the country.

For her part, the Vietnamese diplomat agreed with President Zoran’s opinion that the there is much room for the two countries to promote cooperation, and pledged to fulfill her tasks, thus contributing to strengthening the Vietnam – Croatia traditional friendship.

On the same day, the Vietnamese diplomat had a working session with Neven Pelicaric, Advisor to the President of Croatia for Foreign and European Policy; and Ivana Živkovic, Assistant Minister for Foreign and European Affairs of Croatia.

The two sides agreed to work for the early resumption of delegation exchange at all levels, as well as to strengthen connection between Vietnamese and Croatian businesses in order to further step up the bilateral cooperation after the COVID-19 pandemic, especially in the fields of economy, commerce, processing industry, information and communication technology, logistics, and tourism.

Neven said his country attaches great importance to strengthening the traditional friendship with Vietnam. He informed the ambassador that Croatia is expected to join the Schengen free movement area at the end of 2022, thus creating favourable conditions for businesses and people of the two countries to travel, exchange, and cooperate.

Ambassador Thao took the occasion to thank the Croatian leaders, government and people for activities to support the Vietnamese government and people in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Vietjet, SOVICO Group and Changi Airports International (CAI), the international arm of Changi Airport Group, have signed a strategic partnership agreement worth 1.5 billion USD to develop the provision of aviation services at airports in Vietnam and in the region.

The signing ceremony was witnessed by Vietnamese President Nguyen Xuan Phuc and high-ranking dignitaries of Vietnam and Singapore, business representatives of the two countries and representatives of SOVICO Group, Vietjet and CAI.

The signing marks the first time that a private corporation and an airline in Vietnam collaborate with an international airport group to develop aviation services and facilities. The parties will cooperate in the research and development of projects at airports in Vietnam, which include green, sustainable and smart infrastructure development projects.

Eugene Gan, CEO of Changi Airports International, said “We believe that our expertise and geographical experience in managing airports around the world will add value to Vietjet and related partners in raising development and management standards to optimize airport-related operations; hence promoting economic development, boosting connectivity in Vietnam and in the region. Our approaches always prioritise sustainability with close attention to the global ecosystem and surrounding catchment.”

For his part, Nguyen Thanh Hung, Vice Chairman of Vietjet’s Board of Directors, said: “Through the partnership with an industry expert such as Changi Airports International, we seek to contribute to the development and improvement of aviation services standards in Vietnam and in the region. The partnership further expresses our commitment to economic development goals, especially in aviation and sustainable development. The signing is significantly crucial in the context that the two countries are gradually opening up in a post-pandemic environment, creating more motivation for Vietjet to further expand its flight network in Vietnam and international markets. ”

With years of airport management and development knowledge, CAI is implementing a broad range of collaborations to play a part in elevating standards of airports globally.

Accompanying Vietjet, Sovico Group has always been a pioneer in aviation development in Vietnam and in the region by forging international collaborations that develop aviation facilities, bringing benefits to the industry in Vietnam as well as residents and tourists domestically and internationally.

Vietjet operates a comprehensive network in Vietnam and Asia Pacific. The airline currently has resumed its entire domestic flight network and operated a series of international flights from and to Vietnam while looking to further expand operations across continents in the near future.

As Vietnam’s largest private carrier, Vietjet is a fully-fledged member of International Air Transport Association (IATA) with the IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) certificate. The airline has been awarded the highest ranking for safety with 7 stars by the world’s only safety and product rating website airlineratings.com and listed as one of the world’s 50 best airlines for healthy financing and operations by Airfinance Journal in 2018 and 2019. The airline has also been named as Best Low-Cost Carrier by renowned organizations such as Skytrax, CAPA, Airline Ratings, and many others.

Source: Vietnam News Agency