Day: May 23, 2022

The following is a list of selected news summaries last weekend by Vietnam News Agency.

– Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh had an online meeting with voters in nine districts of the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho on May 21, ahead of the third session of the 15th National Assembly.

Voters at the event expressed their approval of the Government’s drastic and effective measures in COVID-19 prevention and control, and the country’s socio-economic recovery and development. Read full story

– Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh attended a ceremony marking the Central Highlands province of Gia Lai’s 90th founding anniversary held in Pleiku City on May 21 evening. He said Gia Lai should make renewable energy a key economic sector and pay more attention to developing tourism and processing industries.

The leader also asked Gia Lai to go towards sustainable development planning, effectively mobilise social resources for infrastructure development, zone off hi-tech farming areas, and apply advanced technology to raise agricultural productivity and quality. Read full story

-Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam will attend the 78th session of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) which will be held in Bangkok, Thailand from May 23-27, at the invitation of Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana, UN Under Secretary General and Executive Secretary of ESCAP.

The Deputy PM’s participation at the session will deliver an important message from the Vietnamese Government that it highly values the effective cooperation with the UN in general and ESCAP in particular over the past 45 years, while demonstrating the country’s strong commitments to promoting its partnership with the UN and ESCAP in the coming time, according to Vietnamese Ambassador to Thailand Phan Chi Thanh, who is also the Permanent Representative of Vietnam to ESCAP. Read full story

-Deputy Prime Minister Le Minh Khai will attend the 52nd World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting from May 23-24 in Davos, Switzerland, at the invitation of WEF Founder and Executive Chairman Professor Klaus Schwab.

This will be one of the major multilateral foreign relations activities of Vietnam in 2022, especially in the context that the annual meeting of this major global economic forum has been postponed over the past two years due to COVID-19, according to Ambassador Le Thi Tuyet Mai, Permanent Representative of Vietnam to the United Nations, the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and other international organisations in Geneva. Read full story

-A delegation of Vietnam’s Supreme People’s Court led by Deputy Chief Justice Nguyen Van Du paid an official visit to Cuba from May 18-21 to promote cooperation between the two court sectors and attend the 10th International Meeting on Justice and Law.

At a working session with the Chief Justice of Supreme People’s Court of Cuba, Rubén Remigio Ferro, the Vietnamese deputy chief justice informed the host on the main reforms in the Vietnamese court system in the recent past, including enhancing the publicity of sentences, improving judicial service quality for the public and modernising material conditions. Read full story

– The Vietnamese economy picked up strongly in early 2022, thanks to a strong vaccination drive, robust global demand for its manufacturing products, momentum in domestic demand, and resilient foreign direct investment (FDI) flows.

This preliminary assessment was made by the ASEAN 3 Macroeconomic Research Office (AMRO) after its Annual Consultation Visit to Vietnam from May 3 – 18. Read full story

-Celebrating a vibrant summer and welcoming life back to Vietnam’s famous paradise beaches, budget carrier Vietjet has officially reopened flights connecting Seoul and Nha Trang, Phu Quoc and Hai Phong.

Vietjet plans to relaunch services from Seoul to Phu Quoc and Hai Phong and vice versa this May, raising the total routes linking Vietnam and the Republic of Korea to six, given that the two countries are expecting a new wave of tourists from both sides, after the RoK announced the resumption of short-term tourist visas for foreigners from June 1. Read full story

-The U-23 men’s football team of Vietnam beat its Thai archrival 1-0 in the final of the ongoing 31 Southeast Asian Games U23 (SEA Games 31) held on its home soil to keep back the crown in a tense match on May 22.

Before the match, Vietnam were the reigning champions of U-23 men’s football in Southeast Asia after the SEA Games 30 held in 2019 in the Philippines. Read full story

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The 31st Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games 31) wrapped up with a ceremony imbued with Vietnam’s cultural identity at the Hanoi Indoor Games Gymnasium on May 23 evening.

Participants in the event included Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister and Chairman of the 32nd SEA Games Organising Committee Samdech Pichey Sena Tea Banh, ministers, ambassadors, and the chefs de mission.

Special performances at the closing ceremony looked to leave unforgettable impression on international friends and demonstrate Vietnam as a country deeply imbued with its traditional identity and intensively integrating into the world.

At the closing ceremony, the host flag was handed over to Cambodian representatives. After that, artists from Cambodia had a performance of “Cambodia Welcoming and Blessing” to introduce their country, people and culture.

With 40 sports, SEA Games 31 took place in Hanoi and 11 nearby localities.

Vietnam ranked first in the medal standings with 205 gold, 125 silver, and 116 bronze medals. Thailand (92 golds, 103 silvers, 136 bronzes) is placed second and Indonesia (69 golds, 91 silvers, 81 bronzes) third.

They are followed by the Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, Brunei, and Timor Leste, respectively

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Though credit demand is recovering quickly, banks still have to face big challenges related to rising bad debts, provisions and deposit interest rates.

According to Le Xuan Nghia, former deputy chairman of the National Financial Supervisory Commission, the US Federal Reserve (Fed) will continually increase interest rates this year, which will force Vietnamese banks to raise deposit rates.

Despite the high increase in saving rates, domestic banks will not be able to raise lending rates accordingly to support the economy as directed by the Government. The small gap between deposit and lending rates will cause the banks’ net interest margin (NIM) and net profit to reduce, Nghia explained.

Besides, for a long time, many banks have gained good profits from real estate credit, and investment in and issuance of corporate bonds. However, the tightening of cash flows into the two channels in the near future may affect the banks’ income.

In fact, many banks recorded high credit growth in Q1/2022 thanks to the strong increase in corporate bond investment.

By the end of Q1/2022, the largest corporate bond balance numbers were recorded in Vietnam Technological and Commercial Joint Stock Bank (Techcombank), Military Commercial Joint Stock Bank (MB), Vietnam Prosperity Commercial Joint Stock Bank (VPBank), Tien Phong Commercial Joint Stock Bank (TPBank) and Saigon Hanoi Commercial Joint Stock Bank (SHB), baodautu.vn reported.

According to Nghia, banks are also under great pressure in terms of bad debts in the last months of this year as the Government’s regulations on debt rescheduling will expire from June this year.

Due to the adverse impacts of the pandemic, the Government has allowed COVID-19-affected customers to delay the loan repayment while allowing banks to maintain the debt classifications. Therefore, a significant amount of debts can become bad debts when the regulation is no longer effective.

Financial statements of banks in Q1 2022 also showed the bad debts at most banks worsened in the quarter.

In the past two years, though banks have sharply raised their provisions for risky loans, the provisions at many banks are under pressure to rise significantly when a large amount of debts are not allowed to be rescheduled.

Analysts of Saigon Securities Incorporation (SSI)’s Research said though the asset quality in Q1/2022 of banks is not a concern, the pressure of provisioning remained high, up by 18 per cent over the same period last year.

According to experts, the biggest prospect for banks in the last months of the year is the acceleration of digitalisation and the rise of current account savings account (CASA) ratio, which will help lower the negative effects of the increasing input costs.

Moreover, the recovery in credit demand is also expected to partly offset the NIM decrease.

In addition, the revenue from insurance and divestment activities are predicted to bring huge profits for banks.

In the recent season of annual general meetings (AGM) of shareholders, most banks set positive pre-tax profit growth targets at 31 per cent on average. Business performance results of banks in Q1/2022, except Orient Commercial Joint Stock Bank (OCB), surpassed the set targets.

However, according to SSI Research, the Q1/2022 business results of banks have not fully reflected the impacts of the recent moves to tighten real estate lending and corporate bond issuance.

The short-term risks for banks remain until the impacts of the corporate bond market become clearer, SSI Research said.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The State budget overspending in 2020 stood at over 216.4 trillion VND (9.3 billion USD), equivalent to 3.44 percent of GDP, statistics showed.

It was 18.39 trillion VND and 151.89 trillion VND lower than the initial estimate and the permissible level set by the National Assembly, respectively.

Minister of Finance Ho Duc Phoc revealed the figures while reporting on the 2020 State budget balance to the 15th National Assembly at the third session that opened on May 23.

It comprised nearly 213.09 trillion VND in the central budget overspending and 3.32 trillion VND in local budget overspending.

Phoc added more than 1.51 quadrillion VND was collected for the State budget in 2020, down 1.9 percent from the target. Meanwhile, over 1.7 quadrillion VND was spent, equivalent to 96.4 percent of the estimate.

During 2015 – 2020, the State budget revenue was almost 6.92 quadrillion VND, 0.8 percent higher than the target.

Nineteen localities recorded the collection at over 15 trillion VND in 2020, 30 localities over 10 trillion VND, and 17 others under 5 trillion VND, compared to the respective locality numbers of 13, 17, and 30 in 2016.

The budget allocation and use have witnessed many reforms while spending has been conducted within the collection capacity, according to the minister.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The 8th summer camp of Vietnamese youth in Europe “Vietheart Summer Camp 2022” will take place in Prague, the Czech Republic, on August 18-21, heard a press conference held by the Vietnam youth and student associations in the country on May 22.

The camp will be hosted by the standing board of the Union of Vietnamese Youth and Student in Europe and the Vietnam Youth and Student Association after a two-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

It is part of the activities to implement the resolution of the Congress to establish the Vietnamese Youth and Student Union in Europe in November 2021 in Paris.

The event aims to connect and create a playground for Vietnamese youth and students in Europe in sci-tech research, offering a venue for students from European countries to discuss and share experience as well as advantages and disadvantages in youth activities and student movements in countries.

The camp is hoped to be attended by excellent individuals from the Vietnamese youth and student associations in Austria, Poland, Belgium, Bulgaria, Germany, the Netherlands, Hungary, Romania, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Spain, and Vietnam.

Seminars, group discussions, photo exhibitions, team games, and sports competitions will be arranged during the event, contributing to strengthening the connection and bettering knowledge about the culture, history, geography of Vietnam and European countries, and Vietnamese language skills for Vietnamese young people and students living, studying and working in European countries

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The discussion of the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF) should aim at a framework that brings practical benefits to the people, stated Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh at the launch ceremony of the IPEF on May 23.

Participating virtually at the hybrid event held in Tokyo, Chinh said it should be an open, inclusive, and balanced process in line with international law and meeting the lawful and legitimate interests of parties involved.

The leader affirmed that Vietnam will work with other ASEAN member countries and relevant partners to continue discussing and clarifying the content of IPEF pillars, bringing about a positive, effective, and feasible economic agenda for the region and for each nation; as well as for peace, stability, cooperation, development and prosperity in the region ang the world at large.

Chinh highlighted the need to adjust the growth model and economic linkage to be more sustainable and more self-resilient to make the most of internal power and external resources.

It is also necessary to uphold multilateralism and strengthen international solidarity on the basis of sincerity, trust and responsibility, he added.

The launch of the framework will kickstart a serious discussion to exchange ideas towards jointly addressing critical regional and global issues, such as supply chains diversification and resilience, technological innovation, digital transformation, e-commerce, climate change response, emission reduction, green growth, taxation issues and anti-corruption, among many others, the Vietnamese Government leader said.

Vietnam is committed to pursuing and is making all efforts towards an independent, self-reliant economy in association with extensive and substantive international integration, Chinh continued.

Vietnam is also participating in various initiatives on international connectivity, and is making active and responsible contributions to the joint efforts to accelerate economic recovery and sustainable development in the region and the world, he stated.

The formal rollout of the IPEF saw in-person and remote participation of leaders of many countries, including US President Joe Biden, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, PM of the Republic of Korea Yoon Suk-yeol, Thai PM Prayut Chan-o-cha, Singaporean PM Lee Hsien Loong, and PM of New Zealand Jacinda Ardern.

Participating leaders agreed to initiate the IPEF discussion process and stand ready to invite countries in the region to join in a hope that this cooperation framework will help economies build resilience, particularly in post-pandemic recovery, enhance their competitiveness, adaptability, sustainability, and inclusivity in contribution to the regional cooperation, stability, prosperity, development and peace, for the sake of the people.

The US said this framework with an initial 13 countries represents 40 percent of global GDP. It will focus on four key pillars – Connected Economy (including rules on digital economy, standards on cross-border data flows and data localisation, online privacy, and use of artificial intelligence); Resilient Economy (first-of-their-kind supply chain commitments that better anticipate and prevent disruptions); Clean Economy (commitments on clean energy and decarbonisation, infrastructure that promote good-paying jobs); and Fair Economy (effective tax, anti-money laundering, anti-bribery regimes)

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Cambodia earned a total of nine gold, 13 silver and 41 bronze medals at SEA Games 31 hosted by Vietnam, ranking eighth in the medal tally, which is a giant leap compared to the 30th edition in the Philippines in 2019 when the country brought home only four gold medals, six silvers and 36 bronzes.

Vath Chamroeun, Secretary General of National Olympic Authority of Cambodia (NOCC) and the National Organising Committee of the 32nd Southeast Asian Games 2023 (CAMSOC), praised the hard work of all Cambodian athletes and coaches at this year’s Games in Vietnam

The achievement is building more confidence of Cambodian athletes to perform well at the 32nd SEA Games hosted by the country next year, he added.

At the closing ceremony of SEA Games 31 slated for May 23 evening, Cambodia is to stage a 10-minute art performance following the handover of the SEA Games Federation flag from Vietnam.

Official theme and song for the upcoming Games will be revealed during the event, which also features a performance of bokator – Cambodia’s traditional martial art, according to Chamroeun.

The 32nd SEA Games is scheduled to take place on May 5-16, 2023. It will be the first time that Cambodia has hosted the biennial regional sporting event.

The upcoming edition is projected to feature 40 sports, excluding two Olympic sports of archery and shooting.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

A Smart City Expo and Forum in Asia (Smart City Asia 2022) will be held at the Saigon Exhibition and Convention Centre in Ho Chi Minh City from May 26 to May 28.

The annual event, to be co-organised by Exporum and the Vietnam Digital Communication Association, introduces the world’s leading technologies in the field of digital technology, smart cities and smart homes (AI, IOT, Blockchain, VR/AR, and 3D), reported the Voice of Vietnam (VOV).

More than 120 domestic and foreign businesses are expected to display new products, technology services, as well as consulting services for the digital technology industry during the three-day expo and forum.

Organisers will arrange seminars to share international experiences in developing smart cities in Singapore and the Republic of Korea. Experts will also discuss and make suggestions for smart city infrastructure development suitable for Vietnam.

According to the Vietnam Digital Communication Association, the hosting of Smart City Asia 2022 in Vietnam will help promote trade, develop cooperation relationships, and boost the development of the digital industry in Southeast Asia and Asia in general.

Source: Vietnam News Agency