Day: August 5, 2022

The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Tourism planned to offer language courses in Korean, Japanese, and Spanish – all free of charge – to tour guides.

Previously, the municipal department coordinated with the Consulate General of the Republic of Korea in the southern metropolis to open a free Korean language training course for more than 100 tour guides, civil servants, and students majoring in tourism, reported the Sai Gon Giai phong newspaper.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, millions of Korean tourists arrived in Vietnam including Ho Chi Minh City. It is forecast that more Korean and Japanese visitors will flock to the southern largest city in the coming time.

However, Vietnamese tour guides who can speak Korean, Japanese, and Spanish have not yet met the growing demand. Therefore, the department’s plan to offer free foreign language training courses aims to increase the number of tour guides./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Japan’s Onaga Company has recently received an investment certificate for an aeronautical and automotive component manufacturing plant located in the Hanoi Southern Support Industrial Park (HANSSIP). The plant is expected to be put into operation next year.

Its partner, International Digital Services Vietnam Co. Ltd (IDS), also received a business registration licence in the industrial park.

Onaga, IDS, and a group of Vietnamese supporting enterprises signed an agreement on consultancy and technology transfer cooperation.

Onaga is a long-standing enterprise in Kobe city of Japan’s Hyogo prefecture manufacturing mechanical components for aviation, automobile and train production, and robotics sectors. The company’s investment in the industrial park is expected to pave the way for capital inflows from other Japanese enterprises.

Matsumoto Izumi, First Secretary of the Japanese Embassy in Vietnam, said that the Vietnamese Government’s preferential policies to attract investment will create more favourable conditions for Japanese small and medium enterprises to invest in HANSSIP, thus developing Vietnam-Japan cooperation in the supporting industry./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Professional and amateur photographers across Vietnam are encouraged to compete in a photo contest highlighting the beauty of Vietnamese Hoang Sa and Truong Sa islands.

The contest themed “Hoang Sa – Truong Sa – Nha gian DK trong trai tim toi” (Paracel and Spratly Archipelagos and DK Platforms in My Heart) is co-organised by the Vu A Dinh Scholarship Fund, the HCM City Photography Association, and the “For Hoang Sa – Truong Sa” Club.

According to the organisers, photos should feature the daily activities of people and soldiers in the Hoang Sa and Truong Sa archipelagos and the DK platforms who are protecting the country’s sovereignty in the sea and islands.

The photos should also reflect the people’s love and gratitude for soldiers and people in the archipelagos and platforms.

Each contestant can submit up to two collections or 10 single photos in colour or black-and-while at hoangsatruongsanhagian.com by August 15.

Entries must be sent in a digital file in JPG format, with a maximum file size of 3 Megabytes and a resolution of 300dpi.

Contestants will be judged by Vietnamese photographers such as Nguyen Hong Nga, vice chairwoman of the city Photography Association, Nguyen Thanh Tam and Nguyen A.

The organisers will present a total of one first prize, two second prizes, three third prizes and five consolation prizes.

The winners will be announced on August 20.

The organisers will also select the 50 best photos for an exhibition at the Youth Cultural House in District 1 on August 25.

The Vuy A Dinh Scholarship Fund and the “For Hoang Sa – Truong Sa” Club also launched a writing contest on the potential and beauty of the sea and islands, the sacrifice of soldiers in protecting the country, and daily activities of fishermen.

Contestants can send their entries, short stories and poems, to the organisers via email biendaotrongtraitimtoi2022@gmail.com by August 15./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Thailand’s Kasikornbank (KBank) is pressing ahead with plans to become a regional digital bank, with an expansion drive in Vietnam.

Aiming to invest more than 2.7 billion baht (about 75 million USD) to fortify its service network within AEC+3 (ASEAN plus Japan, China, and the Republic of Korea), KBank has announced its commitment to broaden its presence in the Vietnamese market in order to serve customers across all segments with digital services.

For the Vietnam market, the bank aims to lend 20 billion baht (560 million USD) and have a retail customer base of 1.2 million by 2023.

Kattiya Indaravijaya, KBank Chief Executive, said that bright prospects lie ahead for the ASEAN economy post-pandemic. Aside from a recovering economy, ASEAN is known for its large marketplace with a growing share of young people – the main driver of its economic expansion.

Moreover, the bloc’s economy is set to see exponential growth as more and more consumers lead a digital life, Kattiya added.

KBank President Pipit Aneaknithi said that the Vietnamese economy is poised to record the fastest growth in ASEAN, thanks to its huge potential in attracting investment from around the world.

Vietnam has emerged relatively unscathed from the COVID-19 crisis, and its public debt is below 60% of GDP. Vietnam also has a promising outlook and is set to become a newly industrialised country, with high upper middle-income status, by 2030, and a developed country by 2045, he added.

The Vietnamese government’s policy is to promote the country as a new technology hub for Asia. The country has a population of more than 100 million people, and they are relatively young, with a working-age majority. Its middle-class population has grown significantly in recent years.

Domestic consumption is projected to grow by 7% annually over the next three years. Additionally, spending via digital channels is common in Vietnam, as evidenced by the fact that more than 50% of its consumers shop online.

Pipit said that KBank aims to be the first foreign bank in Vietnam to offer fully-fledged ‘digital product solutions’ to all customer segments.

He added that the bank plans to continuously expand into new products and services.

KBank currently has an overseas service network covering the AEC 3 countries and beyond, for a total of 16 nations. The newest overseas branch is in Ho Chi Minh City, which will officially open on August 5./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Leaders of the central province of Quang Nam and Laos’ Savannakhet province on August 5 agreed to strengthen bilateral relations.

Welcoming a delegation from the Lao province led by its provincial Party Committee Secretary and Governor Santiphap Phomvihane, Secretary of Quang Nam’s Party Committee Phan Viet Cuong expressed his honour to receive a high-ranking delegation of Savannakhet for the first time.

He said that 2022 marks a special milestone in the two countries’ relations as they are celebrating the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations and the 45th anniversary of the signing of the Vietnam – Laos Treaty of Amity and Cooperation.

Santiphap Phomvihane told the host that Savannakhet is Laos’ second largest province and considered the country’s economic centre. It has strengths of developing agriculture, forestry and mining.

He said that the province has a French ancient town and is planning to restore and preserve it for tourism development, but does not have much experience in this field.

Therefore, within the framework of this visit, Savannakhet wishes to exchange experience in the restoration, preservation and promotion of the values of the ancient towns.

During their stay from August 5-6, the delegation is scheduled to visit Hoi An ancient city – a UNESCO-recognised Cultural Heritage Site in Quang Nam./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

A programme introducing Da Nang city’s tourism was held in New Delhi, India on August 4.

The event was jointly held by the People’s Committee of Vietnam’s central city and Vietjet Air, aiming to popularise destinations and introducing the carrier’s direct air routes linking Da Nang and Indian cities.

Vietnamese Ambassador to India Pham Sanh Chau said that the average number of visas for Indians to enter Vietnam has surged after COVID-19, from 250 visas per day before the pandemic to 6000 at present.

Nguyen Duc Quynh, Vice Chairman of the Da Nang Tourism Association, said that India will be an important market for many tourist destinations during the post-pandemic recovery period.

According to him, India’s positive open-door policy and the great travel demand of its people can help Vietnam make up for the number of visitors from the traditional Northeast Asian markets, which have not yet reopened fully after the pandemic. Within the framework of this programme, cooperation agreements were signed between the Da Nang Tourism Promotion Centre (DTPC) and India’s Global Aviation Services Plt Ltd to promote the destination of Da Nang in India; and between the Da Nang Tourism Association and the Network of Indian MICE Agents (NIMA).

A representative of Vietjet Air also introduced to Indian partners its direct flight network from major Indian cities to Vietnam, including Da Nang.

Accordingly, the first two direct flights from Mumbai and New Delhi to Da Nang will be launched on October 17 and 18. The airline will also operate three new routes to Da Nang from Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad on November 28, November 29 and December 1, respectively./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The 29th ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) opened in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on August 5 with the participation of foreign ministers from countries in the Indo-Pacific region.

The foreign ministers from 27 countries, including the US, Japan, China and Russia, are scheduled to focus their discussions on regional security, including the conflict in Ukraine and the missile and nuclear weapon programme of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK).

Established in 1994, the ARF has become an important platform for security dialogue in the Indo-Pacific. It provides a setting in which members can discuss current security issues and develop cooperative measures to enhance peace and security in the region./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Construction on the Long Thanh International Airport’s passenger terminal in the southern province of Dong Nai will begin in October, the Airports Corporation of Vietnam (ACV) has told an inspection delegation of the National Assembly’s Economic Committee.

The ACV said that the piling work for the passenger terminal, the most important work of the Long Thanh Airport project, is completed one month ahead of the schedule, and more than 14 million cu.m of soil has been dug, filled and leveled.

Covering more than 5,580 hectares, Long Thanh International Airport will spread across six communes in Long Thanh district. Its construction has been divided into three phases.

In the first phase, a runway and one passenger terminal, along with other supporting facilities, will be built to serve 25 million passengers and 1.2 million tonnes of cargo each year. This phase is scheduled to be completed in 2025.

The project started in 2021. Once fully completed in 2050, the airport will be able to handle 100 million passengers and five million tonnes of cargo annually.

Located 40km to the east of Ho Chi Minh City, the airport is expected to relieve overloading at the southern metropolis’s Tan Son Nhat International Airport, which is currently the largest in Vietnam./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency