Day: April 21, 2022

The Canadian province of British Columbia opened a Forestry Innovation Investment (FII) office in Vietnam’s southern province of Binh Duong on April 20.

The FII office in Binh Duong, a major industrial hub, is the third of its kind set up overseas by British Columbia with a view to ensuring a supply of sustainable softwood products with origin certified in Vietnam.

Vietnam is currently the world’s second largest exporter of wooden furniture. The volume of softwood British Columbia exported to the country grew 59 percent during 2017 – 2021.

Addressing the launch via videoconference, British Columbia’s Minister of State for Trade George Chow said the office opening is also a chance for his province to promote its trade and investment reputation.

Vietnam’s Consul General in Vancouver Nguyen Quang Trung applauded the opening, noting that together with many other substantive activities between Vietnamese provinces and British Columbia, it is among the practical moves towards the fifth anniversary of the countries’ comprehensive partnership in 2022 and the 50th anniversary of their diplomatic ties next year.

He also pledged that the Consulate General of Vietnam in Vancouver will serve as a bridge for economic activities between British Columbia and Vietnamese localities.

Despite the pandemic’s impacts, trade between Vietnam and British Columbia still reached 2.5 billion CAD (about 2 billion USD) in 2021, Trung noted, citing statistics as showing that the Canadian province exports about 20 million CAD worth of wood to Vietnam each year./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Malaysia is working to further boost economic cooperation with Thailand to realise the target of 30 billion USD in bilateral trade by 2025, according to Bernama news agency.

The news agency said the statement was made by Malaysia’s ambassador to Thailand, Datuk Jojie Samuel who is on a working visit to four southern provinces in Thailand — Songkhla, Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat, starting April 19.

The ambassador also invited Thai companies and organisations to participate in the Malaysia International Halal Showcase (MIHAS 2022) to be held in September.

He urged industry players to strengthen cooperation through more collaboration to enhance the Malaysia-Thailand border trade.

According to Bernama, Thailand remains Malaysia’s sixth biggest trading partner in the world and the second largest in ASEAN. Malaysia is Thailand’s fourth largest trading partner in the world.

Two-way trade between Malaysia and Thailand increased by 23 percent to 97.97 billion RM last year, from 79.63 billion RM in 2020./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Indonesia has cornered a 15-percent share of tuna, skipjack, and mackerel tuna production globally to emerge as the world’s largest producer of the commodities, Antara News reported, citing the Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries (KKP).

The news agency quoted director of marketing at the Directorate General of Marine and Fishery Products Competitiveness, Erwin Dwiyana, as saying on April 19 that Indonesia saw an increase in production of 3.66 percent on average, higher than the world average increase of 3.42 percent.

The Philippines is the second-largest producer with a production share of 7.3 percent, followed by Vietnam at 6.6 percent, and Ecuador 6.1 percent. The largest tuna production in Indonesia is of skipjack tuna and yellowfin tuna.

However, Dwiyana said, even though it is the largest tuna producer, Indonesia has not been able to become the world’s largest tuna exporter.

According to statistics of ITC Trademap, Indonesia ranks only sixth in tuna export with a 5.33 percent share of the world market in 2020.

Thailand is the top exporter with a 17.73 percent share, followed by China with 8.45 percent, Spain with 8.2 percent, Ecuador 7.98 percent and Taiwan (China) 5.57 percent./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The Party Central Committee’s Inspection Commission meted out disciplinary measures against many officials during its 14th meeting on April 19-20.

In an announcement issued on April 21, the committee said it gave a warning to the Standing Board of the Party Committee of the Ho Chi Minh City Union of Trading Cooperatives (Saigon Co.op) of the 2015-2020 tenure for its lack of responsibility, violation of the principle of democratic centralism, and lax leadership, inspection and supervision, which created conditions for the executive council, inspection board and many officials and Party members to violate regulations of the Party and laws of the State in signing investment contracts, mobilising capital, raising charter capital and organising the annual congress.

The commission proposed the Secretariat of the Party Central Committee consider disciplinary measures against Diep Dung, former Secretary of the Party Committee and former Chairman of Saigon Co.op, for his violation of regulations and laws, causing huge property losses to Saigon Co-op and affecting the prestige of the Party organisation as well as Saigon Co.op.

Besides, the commission issued warnings against Nguyen Thanh Nhan, former Vice Secretary of the Party Committee, former member of the Board of Directors and former General Director, along with disciplinary measures on a number of other officials of Saigon Co.op.

Also at the meeting, the commission agreed to expel from the Party Le Nguyen Thanh Danh, former Vice Secretary and former Deputy Director of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment, and Ngo Hieu Toan, Deputy Director of the Finance Department of Binh Thuan province.

Disciplinary warnings have also been issued against Le Tuan Phong, Vice Secretary of the provincial Party Committee and Chairman of the People’s Committee of Binh Thuan, and Nguyen Tran Nam, former Deputy Minister of Construction.

Reprimands have been given to Deputy Inspector General Dang Cong Huan and Deputy State Auditor General Vu Van Hoa for their violations in directing inspection, the settlement of denunciations, and the auditing work in Binh Thuan.

The commission proposed the Politburo and the Secretariat consider disciplinary measures against the Standing Board of the Binh Thuan provincial Party Committee in the 2010-2015 and 2015-2020 tenures, the Party delegation at the Binh Thuan provincial People’s Committee in the 2011-2016 and 2016-2021 tenures, and a number of officials including two former secretaries of the provincial Party Committee Huynh Van Ti and Nguyen Manh Hung; two former Vice Secretaries of the provincial Party Committee and former Chairmen of the provincial People’s Committee Le Tien Phuong and Nguyen Ngoc Hai; and former Standing Vice Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee Luong Van Hai.

It has also suggested the Secretariat issue disciplinary measures against several former officials of the south-central province of Khanh Hoa for their violations of the Party’s and the State’s regulations while providing consultations for the provincial People’s Committee in the issuance of decisions regarding the Cuu Long Son Tu spiritual eco-tourism site and the Vinh Trung villa project.

Reprimand was given to Lieutenant General Ho Thanh Dinh for his lack of responsibility and supervision related to the proposal on reducing the time of serving imprisonment for Phan Sao Nam which violated regulations of the Party, laws of the State, regulations of the Ministry of Public Security, while a warning was meted out to Major General Tong Manh Chinh, former Director of Hospital 30-4 under the Ministry of Public Security for his violation of regulations on the bidding and procurement of medical equipment, and health insurance payment.

A number of former leaders of the northern province of Ninh Binh were reprimanded for their violations of regulations on construction and investment management.

The commission also looked into violations and wrongdoings at Van Xuan General Export-Import Corporation during the building and implementation of working regulations, the leadership, inspection and supervision over the management of corporate capital, and the fulfillment of assigned tasks./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency