Day: October 4, 2022

The Tourism and Sports Ministry of Thailand is looking to new markets in Central Asia, particularly Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, as post-COVID trends show strong demand for international tourism.

 

Minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakan said Central Asia has potential as a new market for inbound tourism because of short flight times of no more than seven and a half hours.

 

The ministry’s market analysis showed that travellers from this region have high demand to travel internationally after the pandemic. In particular, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan have higher potential for economic growth than other nations in the region.

 

To people from this region, visa applications and flights were found to be the main factors in determining holiday destinations.

 

According to Thailand’s new regulations, tourists from Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan are eligible to apply for visas on arrival from October this year to March next year for 30 days, up from 15 days previously.

 

Meanwhile, Air Astana is operating direct flights from Almaty in Kazakhstan to Phuket three times per week. For the upcoming high season, direct services to Phuket will be increase, totalling 1,162 seats on direct flights, starting from October 30. A new route to Bangkok is scheduled to start on the same date.

 

SCAT Airlines based in Shymkent, Kazakhstan, also announced chartered services from Almaty, Astana, Kostanay, Shymkent and Uralsk to both Phuket and U-tapao airports of Thailand.

 

Minister Phiphat said Kazakhstan ranked first among the Commonwealth of Independent States countries in terms of foreign visitors to Thailand, with 56,529 travellers in 2019, followed by Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, which had 19,891 and 4,608 travellers, respectively./.

 

Source: Vietnam News Agency

 

Vietnam will impose temporary anti-dumping duties on some table and chair products originating from China, the Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trade has said.

 

In newly-issued Decision No. 1991/QD-BCT, the ministry said the anti-dumping tariffs imposed on the Chinese products will range from 21.4% and 35.2%.

 

The investigated table and chair imports from China have increased significantly as compared with both domestic consumption and production, causing damage to domestic production, according to the ministry.

 

The decision also mentioned table and chair products from Malaysia, which are exempted from temporary anti-dumping duties as the volume of investigated imports is not big enough (below 3%)./.

 

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Social media platforms may soon have to comply with a code of practice to tackle harmful online content accessible in Singapore, as stipulated in a bill introduced to the Parliament on October 3.

 

If enacted, the bill will empower the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) to designate online communication services that have significant reach or impact, and require them to mitigate the risks of being exposed to harmful content.

 

It will also empower IMDA to issue directions to deal with egregious content, according to a media factsheet from the Ministry of Communications and Information (MCI).

 

Egregious content includes content advocating suicide or self-harm, physical or sexual violence and terrorism, content depicting child sexual exploitation, content posing a public health risk in Singapore, and content likely to cause racial and religious disharmony in Singapore.

 

In March, Minister for Communications and Information Josephine Teo announced that the Government was looking at introducing measures to ensure a safer online environment, including for children. MCI launched a public consultation on its proposals in July./.

 

Source: Vietnam News Agency

 

 

Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha pledged to create more trade opportunities, promote multilateral cooperation and combat human trafficking between Thailand and Australia while receiving new Australian Ambassador Angela Jane Macdonald on October 3.

 

According to government spokesman Anucha Buraphachaisri, PM Prayut said that Thailand and Australia enjoyed close relations and strong bilateral and multilateral cooperation. There was potential to broaden the partnership further, the PM added.

 

For her part, Macdonald expressed her satisfaction with the two nations’ close ties and cooperation that covers trade, investment, security and education, among others.

 

The ambassador vowed to deepen such relationship and reaffirmed Australia’s support for Thailand’s preparations to host the 2022 APEC high-level meeting next month.

 

Both countries aim to meet the goals set under their 2022-2025 draft strategic partnership plan, especially regarding security, human trafficking, cyber security, public health, education and people-to-people relations, said the government spokesman./.

 

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Vietnam plans to focus on improving the science and technology market with the establishment of three trading platforms in order to reduce reliance on imports, Minister of Science and Technology Huynh Thanh Dat has said.

 

Dat pointed out that there was a huge demand for technology among Vietnamese enterprises and improving the science and technology market was crucial to improve the competitiveness of enterprises.

 

Accordingly, a key solution would be the establishment and operation of three technology trading platforms in the country’s three regions which would be connected with local and regional platforms, he said.

 

Vietnam currently remained heavily reliant on the import of technologies and equipment.

 

The Ministry of Science and Technology pointed out that the science and technology market in Vietnam was still in its infancy with limited domestic supply.

 

The supply for the science and technology market mainly came from research and development at institutes, universities, technology incubation centres, enterprises as well as through technology import and transfer from abroad.

 

A survey showed that only 16% of enterprises regarded institutes and universities of Vietnam as suppliers of science and technology products.

 

According to statistics of the General Statistics Office and the General Department of Customs, Vietnam spent around 40 billion USD in buying technologies, equipment and machinery in 2020, 1.5 times higher than 2016.

 

The ministry cited statistics that about 75% of technologies and equipment of Vietnamese firms were imported.

 

While the import from the US, the Republic of Korea and the European Union saw slight increases in recent years, Vietnam was dependent of the import from developing countries with low and medium technology levels.

 

The domestic supply remained limited while many research results of domestic institutes and universities had not been transferred or were not yet ready to be applied in production and business, the ministry said.

 

The demand for technology and equipment of enterprises in Vietnam increased rapidly in recent years but it remained difficult for them to access supply of high-quality technologies coupled with limited supply in technology absorption and capacity.

 

There was a lack of attention to increasing the capacity of intermediary organisations which provided consultancies, brokerage services, promotion and technology transfer.

 

The ministry said that national trading platforms would be established and act as intermediaries to connect supply and demand in the science and technology market, commercialise research and development results and provide support to promoting science and technology products.

 

Investment would be poured into developing a database and a portal about the science and technology markets.

 

There were about 800 intermediary organisations operating in the science and technology market, including technology transfer promotion centres, evaluation centres and incubators.

 

Besides, it was necessary to establish channels to import advanced technologies in the world with priority placed on technologies from developed countries.

 

The national science and technology market development programme by 2030 stressed the importance of investing and developing the national technology trading platforms in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang./.

 

Source: Vietnam News Agency

 

Conductor Leon Bosch from the Netherlands will lead a concert featuring masterpieces by European composers at the Ho Chi Minh City Opera House on October 8.

The concert titled “A Night of European Dances” will highlight the premiere of Spanish composer Oscar Navarro’s second Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra in Vietnam.

The concerto, which was commissioned by the Valencia Music Institute in 2012, has one long movement divided into three sections.

Navarro has numerous national and international composition awards, and his music is performed in large concert halls around the world. He also has written music for feature films, short films and documentaries. He is currently working in Spain and the US.

The concerto will be performed by Vietnamese clarinetist Hoang Ngoc Anh Quan, along with the HCM City Ballet, Symphony Orchestra and Opera (HBSO) orchestra.

The orchestra will also present Selections from Carmen Suites by French composer Georges Bizet.

The second half of the programme will feature Symphony No 8 in G major by Czech composer Dvorak.

Dvorak wrote it in two and a half months in 1889 to mark his elevation to membership of the Bohemian Academy of Science, Literature and Arts. The four-movement symphony has a cheerful and optimistic melody. Dvorak conducted its premier in Prague in 1890.

Conductor Leon Bosch is one of the Netherlands’ leading clarinetists.

He is also a senior teacher at the Zuyd University of Applied Sciences in Maastricht, the Netherlands.

He has given masterclasses, both in the Netherlands and abroad, and frequently advises and coaches various orchestras including the Dutch National Youth Orchestra.

In 2021, he was invited to conduct the HBSO orchestra in HCM City./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The import and export value of goods and services transferred via Lao Cai province’s international border gates neared 1.7 billion USD in the first nine months, down 39.4% year-on-year.

 

According to reports from the People’s Committee of the northwestern province, nine-month exports reeled in 708 million USD, a year-on-year drop of 31.28%. Key export products included peeled wood, dried cassava and fruit.

 

Meanwhile, the import value was down 18.58% to 460.05 million USD in the reviewed period. Key imports were mostly coke, fertiliser, chemicals and consumer goods.

 

Due to COVID-19, fruit exports to China via the Kim Thanh II international border gate fell by more than 90%.

 

Hoang Chi Hien, director of the provincial Department of Industry and Trade, said the volume of customs clearance activities remains limited at local sub-border gates.

 

Trade at the international railway border gate is continuing as normal, he added./.

 

Source: Vietnam News Agency

 

 

The national COVID-19 caseload rose to 11,482,334 with 1,020 new cases recorded on October 4, according to the Ministry of Health.

 

With 805 patients given the all clear during the day, the number of recoveries rose to 10,593,986. Meanwhile, there are 57 patients needing breathing support.

 

Two deaths from COVID-19 were recorded in the past 24 hours. The total fatalities rose to 43,151.

 

On October 3, an additional 18,113 doses of vaccines were administered, raising the total number of doses of COVID-19 vaccines injected to 260,228,227./.

 

Source: Vietnam News Agency