Day: August 9, 2022

Politburo member and permanent member of the Secretariat of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV)’s Central Committee Vo Van Thuong received Hun Manet, member of the Standing Committee of the Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) Central Committee and Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces, in Hanoi on August 9.

Hun Manet, who is also Commander of the Royal Cambodian Army, expressed his delight that the two countries are celebrating the 55th anniversary of their diplomatic ties with various events, including a ceremony held in commemoration of the 45th anniversary of the historical journey made by Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen to overthrow Pol Pot’s genocidal regime (June 20, 1977 – 2022).

Cambodia will forever maintain and nurture its friendship with Vietnam and strengthen the bilateral partnership to develop amidst the complex global situation, the Cambodian official said.

He informed Thuong on the outcomes of his visit to enhance cooperation between the two Parties and States, particularly between their young army officers and youths. He also thanked Vietnam for supporting Cambodia’s tenure as ASEAN Chair this year and at international and regional forums.

For his part, Thuong emphasised that the CPV and CPP share common roots from the Indochinese Communist Party, and expressed his pleasure at the thriving relations between the two countries, with defence cooperation as a pillar. He expected the two Parties to remain united and keep supporting each other for future progress.

Vietnam is willing to support Cambodia in promoting external affairs, he said, noting that he is confident that under the leadership of King Sihamoni and the CPP, Cambodia will continue building a prosperous and developed country./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Vietnam wishes to maintain and further expand cooperation with Israel in multiple areas, including trade and economy, science and technology, and innovative start-ups, said Vietnamese Ambassador to Israel Ly Duc Trung on August 9.

The newly-appointed ambassador made the statement after presenting his credentials to Israeli President Isaac Herzog in Tel Aviv.

In a reception hosted by President Herzog, Trung expressed his honour at taking the position, saying he will make active contributions to strengthening friendly relations and cooperation between the two countries.

Vietnam and Israel will celebrate the 30th anniversary of their diplomatic ties next year (1993 – 2023), he noted, adding that he expects the two sides will increase all-level delegation exchanges and organise celebrations on this occasion to take their bilateral ties to a new height.

The finalisation of bilateral free trade and labour cooperation agreements, and the launch of direct flights will help accelerate people-to-people exchanges between Vietnam and Israel and open new opportunities for cooperation for their business communities, he said.

President Herzog showed his interest in reinforcing bilateral relations, particularly on the occasion of the 30th anniversary.

He expected to step up people-to-people exchanges with Vietnam through tourist and business visits, and that the two sides can enhance academic exchanges to look at complex strategic competition among global powers and current insecurity.

Vietnam has a very important position in Israel’s foreign policy, he emphasised.

He said that he will host more meetings with the new Vietnamese ambassador to discuss ways to bolster ties between the two countries./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Enterprises in the fisheries sector are facing an export slowdown after strong shipments in the first months of 2022, which may subsequently affect their growth in the time ahead.

After surges of 39 – 62% in the first four months, fishery exports have shown signs of growth slowdown, according to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP).

Shipments increased 34% in May and 18% in June compared to the same period last year. In July, fishery exports stood at 970 million USD, up 14% from a year earlier but down 4% from the previous month.

Le Hang, Deputy Director of VASEP’s Training and Trade Promotion Centre, blamed the slowdown since May on unfavourable weather as the rainy season came early and impacted fishery output.

Businesses in the industry said the inventory in export markets, especially the US – a major importer of Vietnamese products, is high as they already imported much between January and May.

Export growth is forecast to continue decelerating in the third quarter.

The SSI Securities Corporation said prices of Vietnam’s white-legged shrimp in the US are currently higher than those of Indian and Ecuadorian products, so it is hard for exporters to keep the prices as high as in the first half of 2022.

This may affect the gross profit margin of the shrimp processors who focus on the US market since material prices are predicted to become more expensive in the latter half of this year as a result of disease-caused short supplies, SSI noted.

Meanwhile, the Viet Dragon Securities Corporation (VDSC) also forecast tra fish exports will slow down in Q3 before bouncing back in Q4.

However, shipments to China may recover as this country has lifted the temporary suspension of frozen food imports, previously imposed over COVID-19 concerns. China now has great demand for tra fish after two years of reducing imports.

The VDSC expected an increase in exports to this large market can help partly make up for the shrinking shipments to the US.

Analysts held that demand for fishery products in foreign markets will accelerate in September to prepare for the holiday season between November and December, but it is unlikely to return to the peak recorded in the first months of the year./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Residents and tourists to the central city of Da Nang are expected to have “sleepless nights” at the “Da Nang Electronic Carnival – Take Me To The Sun” festival scheduled for August 13-14.

The festival will bring together more than 40 domestic and international artists, and see the participation of some 10,000 visitors, the organiser said at a press conference on the festival on August 9.

The two-day outdoor event will feature many EDM genres spun by Dutch DJs – duo group Firebeatz, Dyro and LNY TNZ – and female Taiwanese DJ RayRay.

Electronic music fans in Vietnam will have the opportunity to listen to bass-heavy kicks from local DJ HuyDX and performances from local hip hop artists WEAN, VSOUL and SOL7.

Event information and ticket prices can be found on the event’s Facebook page. Tickets can be purchased online for 499,000 VND (21.35 USD) or 699,000 VND (29.90 USD) at the door.

The first “Da Nang Electronic Carnival” was a success in 2016./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The number of tourists coming to Laos increased again after it lifted travel restrictions in January 2022, said the Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism’s Tourism Development Department.

The Laotian Times cited figures from the department that more than 42,000 foreign nationals entered the country on tourist visas in the first half of this year, with the highest numbers arriving in May and June.

The average stay for these arrivals was 7.9 days, with spending averaging around 83 USD per person. As a result, tourism revenue generated from the group reached approximately 4.55 million USD in the period.

Most of the international arrivals came from Thailand, Vietnam, and a spattering of other ASEAN nations.

Domestic tourism also increased, with more than 600,000 Lao people travelling within the country and spending an average of 45 USD per person over 2.5 days./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The third ASEAN – Korea Youth Summit is taking place in Seoul from August 9 to 12.

The event, held by the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family and the National Council of Youth Organisations of the Republic of Korea (RoK), is themed “Carbon Neutrality and ASEAN-Korea Youth”.

It gathers more than 100 young representatives of the RoK and 10 member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) who attend both via videoconference and in person.

An ASEAN – Korea youth statement is expected to be issued on the last day of the forum, August 12.

The RoK’s Vice Minister of Gender Equality and Family Affairs Lee Ki-soon expected that the event will pave the way for stronger cooperation between the youths of the RoK and ASEAN./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The Vietnam Fatherland Front (VFF) Committee of Hanoi held a ceremony on August 9 to receive donations worth 600 million VND (25,650 USD) from local Buddhist monks and nuns to build 12 houses for poor families.

Addressing the ceremony, Chairwoman of the Hanoi VFF Committee Nguyen Lan Huong asked the Executive Committee of the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha in Hanoi to spread the compassionate spirit of Buddhism among the community and accompany the VFF chapters at all levels in performing social welfare work towards fulfilling the goal of sustainable poverty reduction of the city in 2022 and following years.

According to the Hanoi VFF Committee’s report, giving help to the poor is one of main tasks of VFF chapters at all levels in the city, in which raising funds to improve housing conditions for disadvantaged households is an important activity.

As of the end of 2021, there were still 3,612 poor families living in substandard housing in Hanoi. VFF chapters and local administrations in the city have been calling for donations from organisations, agencies, enterprises and individuals to upgrade or build new houses for those families.

Source: Vietnam News Agency