Day: December 29, 2022

Snowfall appearing on the top of Mount Fansipan, a rare phenomenon in a tropical country like Vietnam, attracted a large number of both domestic and international tourists to the northern mountainous province of Lao Cai on December 29.

The snow started falling at about 3am, and stronger flurries were recorded at about 9am when many tourists were on Mount Fansipan.

According to the hydro-meteorological station in Lao Cai province, due to the influence of a severe cold snap on December 29, the province is forecast to experience heavy downpours and thunderstorms.

Located 350km northwest of Hanoi, Sa Pa is 1,600m above sea level, with an average temperature of 15-18 degree Celsius. The town is among the few locations in Vietnam where snow and ice sometimes appear in winter. The Travel, a well-known travel site in Canada, recently listed Sa Pa among the 10 most attractive snow-covered destinations in Asia./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The Thai Cabinet has approved a set of new tax measures that include special corporate tax exemption for eligible firms, individual income tax deductions, and those to promote climate actions.

Lavaron Sangsnit, Director General of the Revenue Department, said these measures include a new tax-exempt offer for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) facing a liquidity crisis, and businesses with restructured non-performing loans through the Office of SMEs Promotion. These measures are expected to cost 2.187 billion THB from the government’s revenue stream.

For individual taxpayers, donations made to educational institutions can be counted for personal income tax deductions twice the actual amount. These donations must be made via the Revenue Department’s e-donation platform from January 1, 2022 until December 30, 2024, and exclude those made to non-formal educational institutions and private higher education institutions.

The new measures will also offer tax benefits to engagements made by corporate and individual taxpayers on climate change, including tax exemption for companies’ net profit on domestic carbon credit sales, as well as a special personal income tax deduction from donations to the Royal Forest Department. These donations must be made via the Revenue Department’s e-donation platform from January 1, 2023 until December 31, 2027./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

China’s moves to resume international tourism from January 8 next year are believed to be a positive sign for aviation activities between Vietnam and China.

Nguyen Thanh Son, Vice President of Vietjet, said: “After China lifts pandemic prevention restrictions and the tourist visa policy between the two countries is resumed, Vietjet will prioritise reopening air routes to China, firstly the flights from major economic and tourism hubs of Vietnam to populous cities of China, in 2023. Our goal is to completely restore the network of flights to China to pre-pandemic levels in the first six months of 2023, thereby retaining the position of the leading operator of commercial flights between the two countries and continuing to raise the flight number by 20-30% from the pre-pandemic period to nearly 100 flights per day by the end of 2023.”

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Vietjet was the leading airline in terms of the number of routes between Vietnam and China, accounting for about 50% of the total between the two countries. As of the start of 2020, it had connected six cities of Vietnam (Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang, Nha Trang, Da Lat, and Phu Quoc) with over 50 provinces/cities of China such as Shanghai, Hangzhou, Chengdu, Chongqing, Tianjin, Wuhan, Kunming, and Xi’an, with nearly 80 flights per day at its peak.

Vietjet has been quickly resuming air routes linking Vietnam with Chinese destinations since October 2022, with those from Ho Chi Minh City to Hangzhou and Chengdu being the first. At present, it is operating five air routes from HCM City to Hangzhou, Chengdu, Shenzhen, Shanghai, and Wuhan.

China has just reopened its door after many years while the tourist visa between the two countries has yet to be resumed, so the number of visitors remains limited. Vietnam and China have just granted visas for diplomatic, labour, commercial, and studying purposes.

To meet the demand for safe and quality international travel after the pandemic, Vietjet recently put into use wide-body aircraft A330, aside from the existing modern A321 and A320 fleet, along with the SkyBoss Business ticket class that features many exclusive privileges and priorities, including private cabins and a diverse menu with hot and fresh meals and a wide range of beverages. Travel and healthcare products, services, and conveniences on Vietjet aircraft are also being introduced widely to passengers on the carrier’s flights to India, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Kazakhstan, Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan (China), etc./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Public and corporate satisfaction should be used to measure the efficiency of administrative reforms, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh said at a year-end conference held by the Ministry of Home Affairs in Hanoi on December 29.

Reforming administrative procedures is among the key tasks for 2023 with people and businesses at the centre, the leader said.

He asked the sector to continue contributing to building a streamlined, efficient and effective administrative apparatus, in tandem with personnel restructuring and training.

To fulfill these tasks, the sector needs to build and perfect relevant institutions and policies and improve the quality of their work, while revamping its personnel management.

Chinh also highlighted the significance of improving the domestic business environment, raising national competitiveness, and enhancing digital transformation towards a digital government, digital economy and digital society.

He urged the sector to raise the efficiency of state management over religions and beliefs, encouraging religious dignitaries and followers to participate in socio-economic development, national defence and security, and promote religious values.

According to a report presented at the conference, in 2022, the sector coordinated to submit tens of important documents and projects to competent agencies for issuance, including two draft laws and six resolutions of the National Assembly Standing Committee, along with 10 decrees and decisions of the Government and the PM.

It proposed adjusting the monthly base wage for civil servants from 1.49 million VND (63.08 USD) to 1.8 million VND. Later the same day, PM Chinh attended the launch of a national database on civil servants./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency