Day: February 8, 2023

Both Vietnam and Singapore have great potential to expand cooperation further, an Indian expert said as Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh is paying an official visit to Singapore from February 8-10.

In an article analysing the Vietnamese leader’s visit on the Eurasia-Review, Dr. Rajaram Panda, Senior Fellow at Nehru Memorial Museum and Library under the Indian Ministry of Culture, said Vietnam and Singapore share a good bilateral relationship, which has been strengthened by a strategic partnership agreement signed in September 2013 during the official visit to Vietnam by Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.

The two countries’ economic ties are robust, with bilateral trade growing steadily over the last decade, he said.

Despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, two-way trade between Vietnam and Singapore still grew positively, reaching 8.3 billion USD in 2021, up over 23% year-on-year. Singapore is Vietnam’s largest investor in ASEAN with 2,866 valid projects worth 67.5 billion USD. Singaporean investors have invested in developing infrastructure of 13 industrial parks (IP) in Vietnam with a total area of over 7.500 ha.

Economic cooperation is the foundation of the bilateral relationship between Vietnam and Singapore, Panda said, adding that Singapore companies consider Vietnam an attractive investment destination.

The expert also mentioned cooperation between Vietnam and Singapore across many fields, including innovation, green energy, digital economy and diversification of global supply chains. Their cooperation also covers the areas of defence, security, culture, tourism, and people-to-people exchange. They are seeking new development motivations to boost the relations, especially in areas where Singapore has strengths and Vietnam has potential.

Regarding foreign policy, the two countries have regularly exchanged regional and global issues of common concern. Both stress that ASEAN should stick to its position on the East Sea and resolve disputes by peaceful means on the basis of international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS 1982) and the importance of ensuring security, safety, freedom of navigation and over-flight in the East Sea, Panda wrote in the article.

“There is good opportunity for both Vietnam and Singapore to promote intra-regional solidarity aimed to solve security challenges in the East Sea, Myanmar issue, economy (especially on supply chain and restructuring), sustainable development and digital transformation to further contribute to the peace and stability in the region for the benefit of each country and the ASEAN bloc.” he said.

He added that in the larger regional context, trilateral cooperation between India, Vietnam and Singapore can be a new mechanism supplementing the existing ones on issues such as maritime security and providing logistical support to securing the maritime domain could possibly explored./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The Vietnamese aviation market is forecast to fully recover by the end of this year, according to a global outlook for the aviation industry released by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) recently.

According to the association, Vietnam saw a full recovery and recorded strong growth in the domestic aviation market last year, while its international market is expected to reach the level recorded in 2019 by the end of 2023.

This year, the aviation sector is forecast to transport about 80 million passengers and 1.44 million tonnes of cargo, representing a respective year-on-year rise of 45.4% and 15%. Compared to 2019, the increase will be 1% and 14.8%, respectively.

However, experts held that there remain great challenges for the sector, including those in aviation infrastructure, fuel prices, human resources shortage, and Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Data from the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam, domestic airports served 9.8 million passengers in January, up 13.8% from the previous month, including 2.3 million international arrivals, a rise of 10%. Of the total, 4.85 million passengers were transported by Vietnamese airlines.

In the month, the airports also handled 112,000 tonnes of cargo, a month-on-month increase of 11.6%.

Experts held that with positive recovery signs right from the beginning of the year, the IATA prediction is reasonable, noting that last year, the market bustled strongly, especially in summer and New Year holidays.

They attributed the growth to efforts of the Government, the Ministry of Transport and the CAAV in removing obstacles and difficulties for the sector, ensuring its stable and sustainable growth, security and safety and a fair business environment.

In its report, the IATA predicted a recovery of 80% and 95% in the number of international passengers and domestic passengers, respectively compared to 2019 before COVID-19 broke out.

The association also gave prediction on the recovery speed of different regions, with the Asia-Pacific region showing the slowest recovery. Revenue from passenger transport activities is projected to rise, and the industry will be profitable again./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The south-central coastal province of Binh Thuan has undertaken a wide range of measures to fight illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing in the locality as a part of the national efforts to remove the European Commission (EC)’s ‘yellow card’ warning against Vietnam’s seafood exports.

Under the plans, communication programmes continue to be enhanced to raise public awareness to IUU fishing. The communications call on local residents to observe the guidelines and policies of the Party and State, especially regulations on anti-IUU fishing and infringements of foreign waters.

Authorised units play an important role in persuading fishermen to install vessel monitoring systems (VMS) on their boats, monitoring, inspecting and controlling fishing vessel activities through VMS. They also grant certificates of production and traceability of aquatic products, and enforce fishing regulations and strictly handling violations.

Units update information on the national fisheries database VNfishbase and grant fishing and food safety licences to vessels in line with origin tracing regulations under the guidance of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Local authorities require relevant units to closely manage the activity of local fishing vessels at sea and control ships entering and leaving ports. It has also intensified the monitoring of fishing catches and their origin, and strictly handled all violations of anti-IUU regulations.

In 2022, authorities disciplined 400 fishing vessels for violations, including electrofishing, unlicensed fishing and absence of signal of VMS, among other infringements./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Indonesia’s Ministry of Transportation temporarily closed the Paro Sub-district Airfield in Nduga district, Papua province, after the Susi Air PK-BVY aircraft attack incident on February 7 morning.

An armed group torched the Susi Air plane, coded SI 9368, at the airfield, capturing a New Zealand pilot and five passengers.

Ministry spokesperson Adita Irawati said that the airfield is still temporarily closed due to the position of the damaged plane in the middle of the airfield, (thereby) making it impossible to operate flights to or from Paro.

She said that the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, through the Head of Merauke Region X Airport Authority Office, continues to coordinate and monitor developments of the attack on the Susi Air aircraft.

Until now, the exact whereabouts of the pilot and five passengers remain unknown, she said.

According to Irawati, in responding to this incident, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation took steps to further improve security.

Airport administrators were asked to coordinate with local security forces and be more vigilant by checking entry permits for people before entering the restricted security area of the airport.

Air transport operators must intensify passenger checks including boarding passes, identities, and luggage for flight safety.

Meanwhile, all airfields located in Nduga district, managed by the regional government, were urged to coordinate with security forces in granting flight permits./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency