Investigations into the sinking of the Din Ky pleasure boat, which capsized on the Saigon River in the southern province of Binh Duong on May 20, leaving 16 dead, including four Chinese tourists, have revealed serious mismanagement in the boat’s operation.

According to inspection agencies, Le Van Duc, 28, who was piloting the Din Ky boat on May 20, was a novice and had not been licensed to operate a boat.

On the day of accident, ship manager Lao Van Quang assigned Duc to pilot the vessel, as the boat’s official captain had ended his working shift. Despite an approaching storm, the river cruise began.

Chau Hoan Tam, the owner of Din Ky Restaurant Private Enterprise, himself admitted that his firm had operated unofficial boat trips, and Din Ky boat operation license had expired on January 28, 2011. “I had authorised the chief manager of the vessel to re-register the vessel, but he forgot to do it,” Tam said.

The double-deck boat’s hull was too shallow to cope with the number of people on board and rescue teams had detected a 10cm by seven-metre hole running along the length of the ship’s hull after the boat had capsized.

Rescuers said the hole had been caused by a collision, however, crew who regularly used the ship said the hole would often appear during heavy rain. It is believed that the crack in the hull meant that water quickly entered the vessel, resulting in its rapid sinking.

Vietnam stocks tumble, lead decline in Asia on inflation concern

Vietnam’s stocks tumbled, dragging the benchmark index down by the most in Asia, after government data showed inflation accelerated to a 29-month high in May.

The Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange’s VN Index on Wednesday sank 4.1 percent to 385.91 as of 10:09 a.m. local time, heading for a 10th consecutive day of declines and the lowest close since May 14, 2009. Asia’s worst-performing benchmark index this year has tumbled 26 percent from its 2011 high on Feb. 9, exceeding the 20 percent drop that marks a bear market for some investors.

The State Bank of Vietnam on May 17 boosted the repurchase rate for the sixth time this year to curb inflation. Prices rose 19.78 percent in May from a year earlier, compared with 17.51 percent in April, according to data released by the General Statistics Office in Hanoi yesterday. That’s the quickest pace since December 2008.

“Inflation figures were higher than expected and people are afraid that the consumer price index gains may accelerate to more than 20 percent this year,” said Nguyen Duy Phong, a Ho Chi Minh City-based analyst from ACB Securities Inc. “There are also rumors that the central bank may raise the reserve ratio, and that will hurt money inflows into the market.”

Foreign investors have sold a net VND107.9 billion ($5.2 million) of Vietnamese shares since May 20, according to data from the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange’s website Tuesday.

Jollibee to invest $25 million in Vietnam, Hong Kong venture

Jollibee Foods Corp., through a unit, signed an agreement with Viet Thai International Joint Stock Company to set up a venture that will own and operate restaurants in Vietnam, Hong Kong, Macau and Southern China, it said in a statement to the Philippine Stock Exchange.

Jollibee Worldwide Pte. Ltd., a unit of the Philippines’ largest restaurant operator, plans to invest $25 million for 49 percent of the venture in Vietnam and 60 percent of the venture in Hong Kong. Part of the investment will fund the venture’s purchase of an additional restaurant chain, Jollibee said.

Viet Thai, owner and operator of the Highlands Coffee, Hard Rock Cafe and other food outlets in Vietnam, will own the remaining stakes of the joint venture’s companies in Vietnam and Hong Kong, Jollibee said.

Viet Thai and its related parties will receive a $35 million loan to be repaid in 2016 at an interest of 5 percent a year, Jollibee said. Viet Thai’s combined restaurant businesses had $1.7 million in Ebitda last year on $30.2 million of sales, it said.

Vietnam plans to cut corporate tax to spur investment

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has approved a new tax reform strategy for 2011-2020 which aims to encourage investment by gradually reducing corporate income tax.

According to the strategy, tax polices will be created with a view to boosting investment for supporting industries and the production of high value-added products. Tax procedures will continue to be simplified.

Vietnam sees increase in garment exports

Total apparel export turnover was estimated to increase by 35.6 percent year-on-year, reaching US$5.1 billion in the first five months of the year, according to the Vietnam Textile and Garment Association.

In the first four months, Vietnam’s apparel exports reached $3.8 billion, rising over 30 percent against the same period last year, with an increase of 17-18 percent in volume and 12-13 percent in price.

Half of Vietnam metro residents have eaten bushmeat: survey

More than half of Ho Chi Minh City residents said they have eaten bushmeat, of which 48 percent have consumed more than three times per year, according to the latest findings by Wildlife At Risk (WAR).

The Ho Chi Minh City-based NGO carried out the survey about the consumption of wild animal products in HCMC on 4,000 city dwellers and 3,600 secondary school students between August 2010 and April 2011.

Bushmeat is wild animal product that can include endangered species.

The survey released Monday reveals men consume more wild animal products than women, and restaurants in HCMC are the most common place for people to eat the meat.

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The National Assembly, dominated by lawmakers from the ruling Communist Party, has long been considered a rubber stamp and has never called for an investigation of the government, but has recently become increasingly vocal about the government’s performance.

In a bold move earlier this month, Nguyen Minh Thuyet, vice chairman of the National Assembly’s Culture and Education Committee, demanded that a panel be formed to investigate the shipbuilding scandal.

Thuyet, a Communist Party member, wanted an investigation into whether any Cabinet members were responsible for the losses of Vietnam Shipbuilding Industry Group, or Vinashin, and then a vote of no confidence in the prime minister and any ministers deemed linked to the scandal, state media have reported.

Lawmakers demand probe into Vinashin scandal

Nguyen Minh Thuyet, a Lang Son Province representative, got the heated debate under way by saying straightforward answers are required about who is accountable for its huge debt.

“Vinashin’s financial wrongdoings are out in the open, but one question remains to be answered: who else are responsible besides Vinashin executives?

“Government leaders must seriously criticize themselves and propose disciplinary actions to the NA. They cannot simply announce they have taken internal disciplinary measures.”

The Vinashin scandal had placed a debt of no less than VND100 trillion on the people, he pointed out.

When the scandal first broke, the government put the debt at VND86 trillion only to revise it to VND90 trillion a few days later.

“Pursuant to the Constitution and the Law of Organization of the National Assembly, I request the NA Standing Committee … to establish a provisional committee to investigate the responsibility of the Government for the wrongdoings at Vinashin.”

Vietnam lawmakers concern over public debt

Public debt became the most concern and worry of the National Assembly deputies. Nguyen Minh Thuyet, representative of northern Lang Son Province said the Government reported public debt would make 56.7 percent of GDP but experts estimated the figure which included the debt of banks and state-run enterprises would count up 70 percent of GDP.

Deputy Do Manh Hung, from the northern Thai Nguyen Province, voiced question over how’s much overspending of the state budget if the figure included the government bonds. The International Money Fund in Vietnam said the state budget overspending estimated at 9 percent.

Hung suggested to review whether the calculation of Vietnam was appropriate or not. He also warned the high risk of inflation this year. According to Hung, the Government’s target of less 7 percent this year was impossible. He attributed the high risk of inflation to the Government’s price administration.

Overall inspection finishes at troubled shipbuilding group

The Chief Government Inspector Tran Van Truyen said on November 10 that the comprehensive inspection of the Vietnam Shipbuilding Industry Group (Vinashin) has been completed. Inspectors will report the results to the Prime Minister to conclude the case.

“The inspection is scheduled to be finalized on November 15 but inspectors completed the task on November 9. Government inspectors have made Vinashin’s violations clearer than the inspection of the Central Inspection Committee. For example, the committee said that Vinashin incurred great debts… We made clear how much the debt is,” Truyen said.

According to Truyen, the Government Inspectorate proposed to inspect Vinashin three times but the inspections were canceled for different reasons.

Vinashin’s failure is one of the biggest concerns of deputies at the ongoing National Assembly session. Reporting to the National Assembly on October 20, the government remarked that Vinashin is a serious case, which was caused by Vinashin officials’ poor management, irresponsibility, intentional wrongdoings and untruthful reports to the government.

No committee to probe into Vinashin: NA

Representative of the National Assembly’s Standing Committee said Thursday it’s not necessary to set up a provisional committee to implement inspection at the State-run shipbuilding group Vinashin’s financial wrongdoings.

Huynh Ngoc Son, deputy chairman of the National Assembly’s Standing Committee, made announcement in a document in reply to Nguyen Minh Thuyet, a Lang Son Province representative, who called for setting up a committee to probe into Vinashin’s wrongdoings.

At a discussion session of the National Assembly last week, Thuyet was one of many NA deputies pitched into the loss-making shipbuilder Vinashin and demanded probe into the group.

Son said in the document to the deputy Thuyet that the petition made by Deputy Nguyen Minh Thuyet were lawful. However the authorized agencies under the Party and the State were taking measures to deal with Vinashin case. And inspections were being done at the shipbuilder.

East Sea is international issue: seminar

East Sea has become an international issue and played an important role in US-China relation, a Thursday seminar heard in Ho Chi Minh City.

The two-day international seminar, themed, “East Sea: Cooperation for Regional Security and Development” wrapped up Friday.

At the first working session, scholars presented their assessments on recent situations in the East Sea.

On May 7, 2009 China submitted a note, with a map attached, to the United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf outlining its claim to part of the East Sea. The map included the so-called “nine-dotted line” boundary that China says marks its territory.

Legislators demand legal space for anonymous accusations

Many deputies at the National Assembly session on Wednesday stressed the importance of annonymous crime tips.

A draft Law of Accusation submitted at the session stated that “accusers must state their full name and address; report truthfully the content of their accusation; and provide all information and materials they have concerning the accusation.”

Many deputies claimed that anonymous accusations have proven popular and effective though they are not recognized under the proposed legal framework.

They said the act of accusation is sensitive and can cause harm to the accusers, given Vietnam’s poor whistleblower protections.

The objecting deputies said that many crimes will continue unreported if anonymous accusations remain legally inadmissable.

The United Nations Convention Against Corruption encourages member nations, including Vietnam, to implement laws that will allow residents to report happenings that could lead to the comission of a crime by any suitable means. This includes anonymous tips and accusations.

Vietnam rises in UN life-quality ranking

More children have been able to attend school in Vietnam over the last decades
Vietnam has moved up three spots in an annual human development index compiled by the United Nations.
According to a global report released Thursday by the UN Development Program, Vietnam ranks 113 out of 135 nations in terms of development.

The country holds the eighth position in the list of top ten movers in terms of per capita GDP during the 1970-2010 period

Firms urged to exceed new minimum wage

Non-State companies and organisations should pay higher salaries than the new minimum wage set by the Government so that workers can meet their daily expenses, a HCM City official said.

Nguyen Thi Dan, head of the Department of Labour, Invalids, Social Affairs’ Labour and Salary Office, said the cost of food and accommodation has been increasing relentlessly while the increase in minimum wage has not kept up.

The minimum salary for trained workers should be higher than the base levels by at least 7 per cent, and 12 per cent if they work in hazardous places.

Under the new dispensation, foreign-owned businesses have to increase minimum salary from VND1 million-1.34 million to VND1.1 million–1.55 million per month, depending on the zone.

At domestic businesses and organisations, the wages have risen from VND730,000 – VND980,000 to VND830,000-VND1.35 million.

City needs over $1 billion to hold back rains, tides

Emergency workers attempt to pump out floodwater in Thu Duc District, HCMC after a broken dyke inundated the neighborhood

Flooding caused by rising tides and heavy rains has gotten worse in Ho Chi Minh City; officials say they need more than US$1 billion to fix the problem.

Figures from the Southern Hydrometeorology Station showed the high water mark in the city has continued to rise since 2004. It reached 1.47 meters in 2006, then 1.49 meters in 2007, but 1.55 meters in 2008 and 1.56 in 2009.

On Saturday and Sunday high tide topped 1.55 m

Gangster slashed to death in Hanoi gang fight

Blood stains from a gang rumble in Hanoi Thursday night

One person was killed and at least three others injured after a fighting involving handguns and knives in Hanoi, Thursday night.

The dead man has been identified as Chu Van Hoa, an infamous gangster in Hanoi. Police rushed him to the hospital where he reportedly succumbed to his injuries.

Police have detained several other men and confiscated guns that were involved in the fight.

An eyewitness said that Hoa and his group had gotten into a scuffle with a rival gang early Thursday. So they determined to meet at 8 p.m. that night for a sort of rumble. The other gang brought 20 members armed with knives.

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Intel’s new billion-dollar factory, which opened Friday and has a clean room the size of five-plus football fields, rises up from former rice paddies like a Walmart on steroids.

“On behalf of Intel’s 85,000 employees, I would like to say, ‘Hello Vietnam,’ ” company CEO Paul Otellini told an auditorium packed with enthusiastic government officials, employees and other dignitaries during a ceremony that featured a dragon dance and women in ao dais, traditional Vietnamese gowns. The Santa Clara chip giant’s arrival in the Southeast Asian country put it “on the map for high-tech investment and helped the country attract significant investments from several leading global technology firms, including Foxconn and Compal,” he added.

Although China’s role as the assembly line for iPhones and PCs remains unchallenged, countries like Vietnam hope to peel away a significant amount of tech business to become global subsidiaries of the world’s factory floor. Intel’s decision to build the plant in 2006 in a country without a single world-class university and instead of in countries like India and China jolted the global tech world.

“This is exactly what China doesn’t want to lose,” said Gene Tyndall, a global supply chain expert at consultant Tompkins Associates. “They don’t care much about low-end stuff. But there is a big push by the central government to keep what they have and get more in high tech.”

At full capacity, Vietnam’s first semiconductor factory, which produces chipsets for mobile devices and laptops, will double Intel’s assembly and testing capabilities. The complex has the ability to produce microprocessors in the future.

“Companies in China have been looking for an alternative,” said Lam Nguyen, IDC’s Vietnam analyst. “Labor costs are rising in China. The cost of doing business in China is rising. Vietnam is the right alternative.”

Clinton to raise human rights issues with Vietnam

US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton was to raise human rights and religious freedom concerns with Vietnam following a recent crackdown on journalists, bloggers, and activists, the US State Department said Saturday.

Clinton arrived in Vietnam on Friday to attend the East Asia Summit and host a meeting with her counterparts in the Lower Mekong Initiative.

‘The Secretary again will raise the arrests and convictions of peaceful dissenters; restrictions on the internet, including blocks on Facebook; and attacks on religious groups,’ the State Department said in a press release.

‘Advancing our relations with Vietnam allows the United States to promote its core values and discuss our differences on human rights and religious freedom more candidly and openly.’

In a speech Thursday in Hawaii, Clinton hailed improved US-Vietnamese relations ‘that would have been unimaginable just 10 years ago.’

It is to be Clinton’s second visit to Vietnam in just over three months. In July, she attended the ASEAN Regional Forum in Hanoi where she raised also human right concerns with Vietnam.

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Vietnam, Japan in nuclear deal

HANOI has decided to give Japan contracts to build two nuclear reactors, a Japanese report said, while Russia is expected to sign a deal already announced for Vietnam’s first nuclear energy plant.

The communist country wants to build eight nuclear plants in the next two decades. Initial government plans call for four reactors, with a total capacity of 4,000 megawatts and at least one of them operational from 2020.

Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung is expected to convey the Communist Party leadership’s decision when he meets Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan on Sunday for bilateral talks in Hanoi, Japan’s Kyodo news agency said on Friday.

At their meeting the leaders of Japan and Vietnam were expected to discuss early signing of a nuclear energy pact, on which the two governments have already reached basic agreement, a Japanese official said last week.

Hydroplants face worst water shortages in 50 years

Hydropower plants in the south and in the Central Highlands are facing some of the worst water shortages in 50 years – and the rainy season is expected to end this month.

Rainfall for the season, which runs from May to October, is about 40 per cent less than last year in the Central Highlands region.

The Pleikrong power plant in Kon Tum Province has been running for only one or two hours a day to reserve its meagre supplies.

The water level at the plant’s reservoir is 10m lower than the average – and just a little higher than the critical level.

The water level at the Yaly hydropower plant in Gia Lai Province is just 4m higher than the critical level. The plant’s two reservoirs are usually full of water at this time of the year, said Yaly Hydropower Company’s director, Ta Van Luan.

This year, the Yaly plant is expected to generate 800 million kWh, about 72 per cent of the amount planned.

Director of Tri An hydropower plant in southern Dong Nai province, Nguyen Kim Phuc, said water flowing into the plant’s reservoir was only about 20 per cent of last year’s amount.

“Even if there is rain in the next few months, shortages are unavoidable for the next dry season,” he said.

Runaway prompts police probe into gold mine slavery

A 15-year-old boy who fled a brutal existence as a gold miner has prompted a police investigation into concerns that 20 others from his village have suffered a similar fate.

Dinh Van Diet allegedly lost his way while escaping virtual slavery at a gold mine in the central Quang Nam Province’s Phuoc Son District – one of the areas with the richest gold reserves in Vietnam. Fearing capture, he spent nearly a month hiding in a cave before being rescued by an animal trapper.

Local resident Ho Van Thanh discovered Diet in a stone cave and had him transferred to a local medical center. Thanh said he was checking a wildlife trap in the cave when he came across the boy.

“I thought he was a wild animal,” he said. “I intended to shoot him with an arrow but suddenly I saw he was wearing a worn short. His long hair covered much of his pale face.”

On Monday, local doctors said Diet was recovering from ulcers and severe infections he contracted during his ordeal. Diet is still frightened, they say.

Diet told doctors and authorities that a man named Trung in May offered him a job in a gold mine for a lot of money.

After two months of backbreaking labor, Diet told his boss he’d had enough.

He asked to either be transferred to an easier job or paid the wages he was owed and released from the mine.

The man refused, Diet said, and beat him for making the request. Diet said he managed to flee in late August but got lost in the forest. He spent his days hiding out in a cave and his nights foraging for wild fruits.

More time needed for decision on bauxite projects, says official

The government will continue to gather opinions before deciding whether to halt bauxite exploration projects in the Central Highlands, a senior government official said Saturday.

“It’s necessary to listen to concerns of the public and intellectuals, but we need time to analyze them before reaching a final decision,” Nguyen Xuan Phuc, chairman of the Government Office, told the press.

“Whether to halt the projects or not is a matter of significance,” he said. The bauxite projects had been approved by the Party’s Central Committee, the government and the National Assembly and a decision on whether or not to stop them will have to be considered carefully, he said.

A group of scientists and intellectuals have signed a petition asking the government to halt the projects to conduct further research and gather public opinion on the matter.

Former Vice President Nguyen Thi Binh and former Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Dang Hung Vo are among the petitioners.

Concerns have been raised about Vietnam’s two bauxite mining and processing complexes in the Central Highlands especially after the recent red sludge spill in Hungary. The sludge is a byproduct of refining bauxite into alumina.

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Dairy industry held captive by import reliance

Tuyen said it was difficult for Vietnamese producers to find suppliers of raw materials in the country after investing in increased capacity to meet growing demand.

The development of dairy farming in the country has been slow and lags behind consumption growth, he said.

Raf Somers, chief technical advisor of the Vietnam Belgium Dairy Project, said the retail price of liquid milk in Vietnam was the top of the world with the highest at US$1.4 per liter last year. The 2.8-million euro project, financed by the Belgian government, aimed to improve dairy farming in Vietnam. It ended in February.

About 115,000 cows were raised in Vietnam last year, yielding 280,000 tons of milk in a country with a population of 86 million people. Tuyen compared this with the Netherlands, which has a population of more than 16 million people, raising five million cows.

Vietnam’s per capita milk consumption is estimated at 15 kilograms compared to the Asian average of 35 kilograms, according to the ministry. The United Nation’s Food Agriculture Organization says that globally, the annual consumption of milk is around 102.6 kilograms per person.

Philippine official lands in hot water for tweet critiquing Vietnamese wine

BE CAREFUL what you post on your Facebook or Twitter account, especially if you are the speech writer of President Benigno Aquino III, a critic says.

One of the unwritten rules is to avoid posting anything, positive or negative, about your job. It is also considered bad manners to criticize your hosts—especially if you are accompanying the President on a state visit.

Assistant Secretary Maria Carmen Mislang, a lawyer, got away with a slap on the wrist for tweets like “the wine sucks” and “the only cute guy I found here was French” on her Twitter account (www.twitter.com/maimislang). She wrote those while accompanying Mr. on his first state visit to Vietnam, and where he also attended the 17th Leaders Summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

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Vietnamese authorities said Thursday that they had found 14 bodies inside a bus that was swept away by floods this week, bringing the death toll from October’s storms to 134.

Six passengers were still missing, and it was presumed they had drowned and their bodies floated out of the bus, the National Steering Committee on Storm and Flood Control said.

The bus was swept away by the Lam River Monday and was found late Wednesday, it said.
From 500 to 1,200 millimetres of rain fell on central Vietnam October 14 through Tuesday with some parts of Ha Tinh and Nghe An provinces reporting up to 2 metres of rainfall, officials said.

Rescuers find bus lost in central flood

Divers located the vehicle on the bottom of the La River about one kilometer from where it plunged into the river. Early this month, the central region suffered the worst floods in 30 years. 54 people were killed, two were declared missing and 44 injured -not including those on the bus.

One of the survivors, 57-year-old Nguyen Thanh Thang, told the Tuoi Tre newspaper that the bus broke down near the Rong Bridge at around 4 a.m. in Ha Tinh Province’s Nghi Xuan District. The bus was en route from Dak Nong to Nam Dinh Province.

Thang said the passengers thought that the rushing water was simply passing under the bus before realizing they were in danger.

As the river swelled, flood waters swept down and threw the bus into the river.

Eighteen people smashed windows and swam to safety. Those who couldn’t swim remained inside or clung to the bus, not knowing what to do. Thang, the survivor, guessed that the vehicle was completely submerged after about 20 minutes.

Passenger Tran Dang Luc, 47, recalled the horrifying sound of his son crying for help.

“He cried out ‘dad, I can’t swim’,” he told Vietnam News Agency. Luc tried to push his son and his niece out of the sinking bus but the terrified kids kept darting back into the vehicle, he said.

Forty-six-year-old Tran Thi Mung, another passenger, was rescued while struggling to swim ashore. Her 19-year-old son Tuyen remains missing.

“We clung to the bus for 15 to 20 minutes. My son told me, ‘Mom, I’m very cold,’” Mung told the Associated Press (AP). “We were together, and he was holding my hand.”

Tuyen can’t swim and Mung has never been in deep water. As they clung to the bus, she tried to prepare Tuyen for their ordeal, first telling him to remove his clothes and then to lie back and float. But he was too scared and there was no time. He decided to help others instead.

“He kept calling into the bus, urging the others to take the children outside and give them to the strong young men,” Mung was quoted by AP as saying. “He managed to take out one child that was saved.”

Minutes later, the bus began to sink and Mung lost her hold on Tuyen. She tried to keep her own head above water, she watched her son drown.

“I saw him slowly disappear in the water and he yelled, ‘Mom, where are you?’” she told AP, gasping as she wiped her swollen eyes.” The current was so strong, I could not reach him. I still remember that image vividly of him slowly sinking with his hand waving, trying to ask for help.”

CASUALTIES IN FLOOD

* 54 people were killed. This doesn’t include the 66 that died in the flood from September 29-October 5.
* Another 20 people were missing and 44 other injured.
* 319 communes in Nghe An, Ha Tinh and Quang Binh provinces are still flooded. 35 communes in Nghe An are considered isolated.
* 266,659 homes were flooded
(Source: Central Committee for Flood and Storm Control, statistics as reported by 9 pm on October 20)

HCMC set to bear brunt of climate change impacts

Ho Chi Minh City and other Asia’s coastal megacities will suffer more frequent and severe flooding affecting millions of people, if current climate change trends continue, a new report says.

Major flooding could cost billions of dollars in infrastructure damage, hurting the economy. The hardest hit are likely to be urban poor populations, says the report titled Climate Risks and Adaptation in Asian Coastal Megacities.

The report was released Friday at the Asia Pacific Climate Change Adaptation Forum in Bangkok after two years of study commissioned by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the World Bank.

Scientists, former officials sign petition on bauxite mines

A group of scientists and intellectuals have signed a proposal asking the government to halt bauxite exploration projects in the Central Highlands to conduct further research and gather public opinion on the matter.

Former Vice President Nguyen Thi Binh and former Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Dang Hung Vo signed the petition.

Binh told Thanh Nien she maintained her stand that the bauxite exploration requires careful research and consideration.

Inward remittances surge, but head to black market

Overseas remittances to Vietnam soared in the first nine months of the year, but Vietnamese receivers preferred selling dollars to the black market instead of local lenders.

Inward overseas remittance via Sacombank hit $935million in the first nine months of the year, up 40 percent on year, said the lender, adding that it targets an overseas remittance of US$1.2 billion to the country.

As of September 30, overseas remittance via DongA Bank’s Overseas Remittance Co was $900 million and is expected to hit $1.2billion in 2010, beating the year-target of $1.1 billion, said Trinh Hoai Nam, the company’s deputy director.

Pham Thuy Nga, manager of Vietcombank’s retail banking department said the lender achieved $935 million inward overseas remittance in the first nine months and estimated $1.3 billion this year.

But bankers revealed that only a few of dollars transferred from overseas were sold to local lenders.

During the last two weeks, dollar prices have been volatile in the free market and about VND700 higher than those listed at local banks, discouraging the public to sell dollars back to lenders, Tran Cong Binh, director of ACB’s Western Union, said.

Land procedures flummox populace

Bureaucratic procedures related to land title have been highlighted as the most frustrating, a recent survey found.

In order to increase public satisfaction with administrative efficiency, the report’s authors claimed that the country needs to initiate a mass reform of its civil servants.

They have further called for greater transparency in the administrative procedures, according to an online survey jointly-conducted by VietNamNet news website and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).

“Based on our findings, this dissatisfaction is felt across the country. It is not only one particular province. Everybody feels the same about their experience with land,” said Jairo Acuña-Alfaro, UNDP policy advisor on public administration reform and anti-corruption.

One step closer to complete Pan-Asia railway

A major step was taken towards the completion of a Pan-Asian rail project after the first segment of an international railroad opened in Cambodia on Friday.

According to the Asian Development Bank, the 650-kilometer segment stretches from Cambodia’s border with Thailand, through the capital city of Phnom Penh, and southward to Sihanoukville.

The new railway will benefit Cambodia, whose underdeveloped transportation network has driven up the price of imported and locally made goods, ADB said in a statement. The Manila-based bank is providing US$84 million to the $141-million project.

Cambodia’s new railroad, which is slated for completion in 2013, will be linked to Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City to complete the Pan-Asian railway.

Cambodia and Vietnam have already signed an agreement to link their railways, ADB said.

“We are on the cusp of a contiguous Iron Silk Road stretching from Singapore to Scotland,” said Kunio Senga, Director General of ADB’s Southeast Asia Department. “This possibility has been talked about for decades, but today the dream has finally taken a big step toward becoming reality.”

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At least 52 people have been killed and 21 others are still missing in flooding after one week of torrential rain in central provinces.

Hardest-hit Quang Binh province recorded 36 fatalities and 44 injured victims, with 17 people still missing.

The 16 other deaths came in Ha Tinh, Nghe An and Quang Tri provinces, the National Committee for Floods Prevention and Control said.

More than 3,149 people in Quang Binh’s Tan Hoa commune have left their homes as flood waters submerged the roofs, and moved to a limestone cave in a mountain for shelter.

“Our residents are coming back to the stone age,” Dinh Hong Ho, deputy chairman of the Minh Hoa District People’s Committee, said in tears.

“There is nothing left for them here. It will take at least five days before the residents can get out of the cave,” he said.

Local authorities have sent canoes to the cave to provide instant noodles and bottled water to the people.

Cao Ngoc Son, one of the residents, told Tuoi Tre: “We had nothing to eat after two days since we fled our villages to take shelter here.”

“While waiting for relief food, we ate a dead cow for survival.”

Hanoi cancels firework displays on millennial anniversary

Hanoi’s committee of the Party Friday cancelled firework displays planned at 28 of the 29 spots for the city’s millennial anniversary this weekend, VnExpress reported. Now the display will be held at My Dinh Stadium only, the news source said.

According to the committee, all funds set aside for the Sunday display, which was expected to be the biggest ever in Vietnam will be sent in aids to central provinces hit by floods last week.

Also Friday the capital began raising donations for the flood victims, the news website said, adding that so far, Hanoi has donated VND1 billion (US$51,289) to each of them.

The latest reports from the Central Committees of Storm and Flood Control showed that at least 52 people have died in floods, while property losses were estimated at thousands of billions of dong.

The city’s Party committee made the announcement four days after two containers carrying fireworks exploded at My Dinh Stadium, killing four and injuring another four.

The incident, according to Nguyen Duc Nhanh, director of Hanoi Police Department, was caused by “mistakes” during transportation.

A Boisterous Birthday for Vietnam’s Capital

Red flags with their single gold stars filled the streets, and banners celebrating the city’s 1,000 years of history were trumped by others that declared, “The Vietnamese Communist Party will live forever!”

A target of U.S. bombing in the 1960s and 1970s, then a moribund postwar cityscape of poverty and rationing, Hanoi is now experiencing some of the ills of urbanization — overcrowding, traffic jams, pollution — more quickly than its benefits.

Its population is more than six million, with some of the most expensive and most densely populated real estate in the world.

For some people here, weary of propaganda and cynical about the country’s leaders, the gaudy and expensive celebrations were an occasion for discontent.

“I keep asking myself, a thousand years of what?” said the writer Vo Thi Hao in a widely quoted essay. “The whole country is flooded with flags, but people remain poor, and corruption is widespread along with many other social evils.”

Nguyen Qui Duc, who owns a bar and art gallery, reflected on what it means to be a Hanoian.

“Tacky things, bad taste, expensive decorations,” he said. “But what is it we are celebrating? Taoism, Confucianism, communism, capitalism — Hanoi has everything, but it adds up to nothing.”

Vietnam set to face serious power shortage in 2013

Vietnam will face critical power shortages in 2013 and 2014 as demand for electricity in the country is growing at a fast pace, a government official said Saturday.

Drastic measures need to be taken soon to speed up the construction of new power plants, Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, head of the government office, said in a meeting of the National Assembly’s Standing Committee.

“Power prices should also be reviewed to attract investment for power plant projects from all sectors,” he said.

The government said power demand will increase by 15 percent next year. If local production and power purchases from China and Laos go ahead as planned, the demand can be met. However, if one new power project is delayed or weather conditions are not favorable, there will be shortages.

According to a report by the NA Economic Committee, most power projects scheduled for completion in 2010-2011 have faced delays. The committee said out of 51 projects it had inspected, only five were on schedule.

Oil products pile up, no storage space

Vietnam’s first oil refinery is facing the problem of having huge stockpiles of products that it has no place to store.

The Dung Quat oil refinery has 750,000 tons of oil and gasoline products in stock and not enough space to store them, said Vu Quang Nam, deputy chief executive of state-owned oil and gas group

PetroVietnam. He told a Monday conference in Hanoi that the plant has been running at full capacity, or 30 percent higher than the plan for this year.

According to Petrolimex, a subsidiary of PetroVietnam that has more than a 50 percent share of the domestic fuel market, the refinery was not able to project its output accurately at the beginning of this year.

Petrolimex therefore had to sign contracts to import 70 percent of the fuel it needed and only planned to buy the remaining 30 percent from Dung Quat. These import contracts could not be canceled, the company said.

Vietnam demands unconditional release of fishermen held by China

Chinese authorities who illegally seized nine Vietnamese fishermen from Vietnamese waters last month are demanding a ransom for their return despite Vietnam’s demands for their unconditional release, the Vietnamese foreign ministry said.

According to a statement posted Wednesday (October) 6 on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs website, the men were detained on September 11 while they were fishing off the Hoang Sa (Paracel) Archipelago.

The ministry has demanded several times that China release the fishermen and theirs boat unconditionally. The demands were made through diplomatic channels at different levels in Hanoi and Beijing, the statement said.

On September 21, the MoFA Consular Agency sent a diplomatic note to the Chinese Embassy in Vietnam, demanding the release of the fishermen and their boat.

The agency stressed that the detention of the Vietnamese fishermen while they were fishing in Vietnamese waters seriously violated Vietnam’s sovereignty and jurisdiction.

In response, the Chinese Embassy in Vietnam on Tuesday said the fishermen had explosives with them meant for catching fish, and that concerned agencies had fined the captain and informed his family in Vietnam.

Baby adoption market

Sex work in Da Nang has facilitated the trade of unwanted infants, usually under the guise of social welfare

“If I’d had money, I wouldn’t have sold my child. It’s only because I was born unlucky,” said a sex worker identified only as T.N.

N. recalled that the woman who bought her child several years back allowed her to live in her house for a month and keep the baby for one week before deciding to sell it.

She offered the following advice to mothers facing a similar situation: “If your life is not too difficult, don’t sell your baby. And if you choose to sell, don’t let yourself see it. You will be haunted for the rest of your life.”

A one-month investigation conducted by Thanh Nien revealed that no legitimate charities are offering such money for the unwanted children of sex workers.

Instead, there is a thriving trade in babies.

A sex worker in the area said many of her friends had sold babies for VND20 to 26 million. Some sold numerous children. One such mother was HIV-positive and another was a drug addict but they still managed to sell off their infants, she said.

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Thousands of people flocked to Hoan Kiem Lake last night to find it transformed into a bustling party of artistic activities, complete with a fireworks display, decorative lights, a magnificent ao dai performance, music and a truly festive atmosphere.

Five stages representing five gates of the ancient Thang Long citadel greeted guests that flocked to the festival to enjoy two hours of traditional and modern performances.

Different themes were featured covering the citadel in feudal times, French occupation, revolutionary wars and modern day Ha Noi. Thousands of artists from troupes across the country joined in the performances.

A light show lasting 60 minutes kicked off celebrations with laser effects combined with fire crackers and 3D images projected on big screens.

Hanoi residents snub 1,000-year birthday party

Hanoi is all dressed up and ready for a 10-day party to mark its 1,000th birthday, beginning Friday, but many residents of the Vietnamese capital are snubbing the event they dismiss as wasteful propaganda.

Freshly-hung coloured lights flash along the capital’s major roads, artists have created a ceramic mosaic stretching for kilometres (miles) on a dyke wall, and state media said the city allocated funds to beautify offices and houses.

As well as projects carried out before the anniversary event, hundreds of cultural performances and exhibitions have been scheduled during the festival itself.

“I am not really interested in any activities for the 1,000th anniversary,” said Vu Thuy Duong, 31, an office worker. “I don’t feel I can be proud of anything in Hanoi.”

Communist authorities two years ago tripled the size of the city to include surrounding rural areas. It is now home to more than six million people and challenged by traffic congestion, flooding and other problems, residents say.

“Our capital is dirty and chaotic. Not many tourists return after the first trip”, said Nguyen Thi Lan, 44, a doctor.

An official at the city’s local government, the People’s Committee, said 63 million dollars was allocated for the millennium event.

Tran Van Lam, 65, a retiree, said the money would have been better spent on improving infrastructure.

“I don’t like any of the activities or projects for the 1,000th anniversary,” he said, describing many of them as “weird”.

Among the more unusual events for Hanoi’s birthday are exhibitions of 1,000 rare turtles and 1,000 farm tools, local media reported.

On Facebook and blogs, Vietnamese have aired many complaints about the celebration but the administrator of one local social networking site shut down discussion of the topic, saying it was “inappropriate”.

NGO raids turtle show dedicated to Thang Long anniversary

Conservationists raided a turtle exhibition at an “eco-farm” in Hanoi only to discover wildlife parts steeping in rice wine on Sunday, September 26.

“[We determined that] most of the turtles we saw were collected from the wild based on their age and the presence of wear on their shells typical of wild turtles,” said Douglas Hendrie, an international turtle expert and advisor to Education for Nature – Vietnam (ENV), the country’s first nongovernmental organization (NGO) to focus on conserving nature and the environment.

The show, titled “Exhibition of 1,000 rare turtles on the occasion of 1,000th anniversary of Thang Long (currently Hanoi),” was organized by the KAT Group at the Dam Bong Eco-Farm. The turtles being displayed included critically endangered species of questionable origin, according to Hendrie.

ENV sent experts to the Dam Bong Eco Farm on the opening day of the exhibition to evaluate the animals on display. The organization said this was their first chance to approach one of the group’s breeding facilities.

In a press release issued on Thursday, the conservation NGO said the farm was exhibiting 16 local turtle species despite the fact that it only has official permission to keep three species: the red-eared slider (Trachemys scripta), the elongated tortoise (Indotestudo elongate) and the giant Asian pond turtle (Heosemys grandis). All the exhibited turtle species are protected under Vietnamese law, the organization said.

The ENV inspection team also observed approximately 300 jars of wildlife wine. A small portion of these contained protected species including monitor lizards, cobras, turtles, and pangolins.

Property investors dominate rich-list

Doan Nguyen Duc, chairman of Hoang Anh Gia Lai, has topped the list of richest people by stockholdings in Vietnam. Most of the ten richest people on the Vietnamese stock market are real estate moguls.

Doan Nguyen Duc, chairman of Hoang Anh Gia Lai, reclaimed his top position on the list after falling to number two last year. As of Monday, his stockholdings were valued at more than VND10.5 trillion (US$541 million), according to data compiled by Thanh Nien.

Duc was followed by Pham Nhat Vuong, board member of both Vinpearl JSC and Vincom JSC, and Dang Thanh Tam, chairman of Kinh Bac Urban Development and chairman of Hoa Phat Group Tran Dinh Long, ranked fourth on the list.

Three new investors who made their debut in this year’s top ten are also leaders of large real estate firms: chairman of Ocean Group Ha Van Tham, chairman of Phat Dat Real Estate Development Nguyen Van Dat, and chairwoman of Quoc Cuong Gia Lai JSC Nguyen Thi Nhu Loan.

Together, the ten richest investors by stockholdings owned more than VND45 trillion ($2.3 billion) worth of stock, up 10 percent from last year. This is equivalent to 6.5 percent of the total capitalization of Vietnam’s stock market.

Economist Le Dang Doanh said it was normal to rank people based on their wealth in other countries, but it is a new trend in Vietnam, and hence some people were still uneasy about the practice.

“But I think it’s necessary to promote transparency,” he said. “Rich people should be acknowledged by society.”

Vietnam’s real estate market stagnates

The real estate market, especially the high-end apartment segment, has hit a rough spot recently as prices remain high in the face of abundant supply.

The actual demand for luxury property is very low, at the moment. Many developers have had to cut their prices and begin offering lots of perks to attract buyers. Despite these efforts, sales have sagged, according to Nguyen Manh Ha, director of the Construction Ministry’s Housing and Real Estate Market Management Department.

“This month only two people bought apartments,” said Nguyen Thu Ha, a salesperson from a real estate exchange center in Khuat Duy Tien Street in Hanoi. “Most people come here to check prices only.”

Many real estate exchange centers in the area are seeing the same situation, she said. Despite the slow trade, property prices remain beyond the financial grasp of many customers she explained.

In Ho Chi Minh City, only 14 percent of the luxury apartment supply was sold in the first eight months of this year. Meanwhile agents sold off 17 percent of midrange and 20 percent of low-end apartments, according to a recent survey conducted by the market research firm Cushman & Wakefield Vietnam.

The primary apartment market in Hanoi was generally not very vibrant in the second quarter. Only 670 units were sold, accounting for 48 percent of the primary supply, said Savills Vietnam, a UK-based research firm.

Hugo Slade, deputy director of Cushman & Wakefield Vietnam, attributed the stagnation to high real estate prices and high interest rates. Complicated borrowing procedures remain a major obstacle for those who cannot afford the inflated prices.

The price of luxury apartments stands at US$2,350-2,870 per square meter, while mid-range and low-end flats sell for $1,460- 1,860; and $780-810, respectively, according to the survey.

State-owned sector fails as economic spearhead

The government should rethink its strategy of having state-owned enterprises (SOEs) lead the economy since they are not making contributions proportionate to resources invested in them, economists say.

Economist Pham Chi Lan said it has been wrong for the government to give SOEs the leading role in implementing its social and economic goals.

Lan said the government has indulged the sector with incentive policies in land, capital and monopolistic control in important industries like electricity and national resource exploration, but it has shown to be ineffective.

She said surveys had shown that the sector has created less jobs and benefits for the state budget than the non-state sector, and instead inflicted major losses through corruption and state asset appropriation by SOE leaders. The sector has also failed to make competitive products for the country.

The number of SOEs has reduced from 12,000 to 1,500 units over the last 20 years, and the main state-run enterprises are now key corporations like PetroVietnam, Vietnam Airlines, Vinashin, Electricity of Vietnam, Vietnam National Coal and Mineral Industries Group, and Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group.

Nguyen Dinh Cung, head of Central Institute for Economic Management, said SOEs have been assigned to use almost all the national resources but contributed less than 20 percent to the country’s annual exports, 20 percent to the state budget and accounted for just one third of the national gross domestic product.

Cung said the sector has suffered major losses for years and Vinashin, the shipbuilder that piled up VND86 trillion (US$4.4 billion) in debts compared to its total assets of over VND104 trillion, was an example.

Vietnam: toxic waste dump to the world, officials warn

Vietnam will become the dumping ground to the world if authorities fail to stop the illegal importation of toxic waste, officials have told Thanh Nien.

A raft of garbage schemes were busted up recently, mostly in major port cities of Hai Phong, Quang Ninh and Ho Chi Minh City.

Among the 592 unclaimed containers languishing in several of Hai Phong’s ports, authorities recently discovered that at least 120 contain scrap metal, plastic, paper, used battery and electronic chips, all toxic to the environment.

In September 2008, ten containers holding nearly 216,800 tons of metal cinder were imported into the Tien Sa Port in Da Nang.

No firm has come forward to claim ownership of the shipment.

Hoang Minh Dao, head of the Pollution Management Department under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, said that current laws only allow for the importation of scrap metal that directly serves production purposes.

But many firms have imported garbage of all sorts, which Dao says has allowed rich countries to dump garbage inside the borders of developing countries.

He said the importers don’t have to pay for the garbage but are paid by the exporters. Gold, silver, lead and mercury inside old electronic items are also a good sell, the official said.

One trick is to import garbage under the auspices of importing “scrap metal” from some fake foreign company. These front companies ususally file for bankrupt the minute the garbage leaves their country to avoid responsibility, Dao said.

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About a third of Vietnam’s economy, however, is controlled by state-owned companies—part of a policy to ensure that key industries such as oil, mining and shipbuilding stay under Vietnamese control.

Now the dangers of that strategy are becoming clearer amid a deepening financial scandal at Vietnam Shipbuilding Industry Group, or Vinashin, that is raising questions among investors about how much longer the country can afford to pump up its state enterprises.

In recent weeks, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has removed two successive bosses at Vinashin after its debts ballooned to over $4.7 billion, pushing the company, one of Vietnam’s largest, to the edge of bankruptcy. Former chairman Pham Thanh Binh was arrested in August for allegedly falsifying the shipbuilder’s financial statements and breaking other laws; his replacement, Tran Quang Vu, was arrested later that month, pending an investigation into his activities running the company’s shipyards.

Vinashin’s fundamental problem, according to internal government documents viewed by The Wall Street Journal, is that it expanded too aggressively in its bid to become a major global shipbuilder. Lax oversight and a pervading disregard for financial regulations added to the crisis, the documents said. Some independent analysts say the company’s strong political connections also prevented the scale of the problems at Vinashin from emerging until the company was on the brink of disaster.

The chairman, Mr. Binh, invested heavily in businesses outside the company’s expertise, such as hotels, brewing and insurance, while buying up obsolete vessels for Vinashin’s sea cargo business, the government’s analysis of the situation says. One of the ships Mr. Binh bought was made in Poland in 1973 but couldn’t be put into service because of cracks in its steel hull.

Many of Vinashin’s businesses were “out of control,” concluded one government report, dated Aug. 4 and shared with creditors. Governance over “state-owned enterprises and economic groups in general and Vinashin in particular [is] inefficient and inadequate,” the report added…

State-owned companies are also contributing to a worsening budget deficit, which has helped trigger three currency devaluations in the past nine months that cut the value of Vietnam’s currency, the dong, by 10% against the U.S. dollar at a time when many other Asian governments are scrambling to tame the rise of their currencies.

Jonathan Pincus, dean of Harvard University’s Fulbright Economic Program in Ho Chi Minh City, says this is because Vietnam’s mammoth state-owned enterprises use so much capital—around half the country’s total investment—and produce so little in comparison to the private sector that it forces Vietnam to import more capital than it would have to otherwise.

Vietnam must address concern dong may slide: IMF

Vietnam must work to address expectations its currency will depreciate further, according to the International Monetary Fund’s representative in the country.

The Southeast Asian nation faces an “embedded expectation of a declining trend in the dong,” Benedict Bingham, the IMF’s senior resident representative in Hanoi, said in prepared comments for a presentation. It was delivered at a seminar in Ho Chi Minh City on Sept. 21 organized by a National Assembly committee, and posted on the IMF’s website this week.

Vietnam’s central bank devalued the dong last month for the third time in the past year, citing the need to curb the trade deficit. Further pressure on the currency “would be negative” for financial stability, Fitch Ratings said in July when it lowered the nation’s debt rating.

The state of the country’s foreign-exchange market has “undermined confidence in the dong” in part because it has “increased transaction costs and uncertainty for Vietnamese businesses,” Bingham said. The currency market has also “impaired Vietnam’s standing among international investors,” he said.

Concerns about an overheating economy, the balance of payments and a high inflation rate will probably “keep the currency under stress,” Capital Economics Ltd. analysts said in a research note sent yesterday, predicting an exchange rate of 20,400 per dollar by the end of 2011.

The Vietnamese have shifted from dong to US dollar assets or into gold because of expectations of dong devaluations, the IMF said in a report this month.

Gold prices rise sharply

The domestic price of gold on September 25 rose by VND40,000/tael compared to transactions on the previous day.

In Hanoi, at 9.30am, SJC gold was listed at VND30.42-30.48 million/tael while in Ho Chi Minh City, Nha Trang and Can Tho, it stood at VND30.42-30.46 million/tael.

In Asian markets on September 25, it hovered around US$1,297-1,298 per ounce. Gold prices in New York reached US$1,300 per ounce for the first time the same day.

List of Vietnam’s Top Company Tax Payers Announced

The first profile ever compiled for publication of Viet Nam’s top corporate income tax contributors was published.

Rankings were based on the total corporate income tax paid over three consecutive financial years between 2007 and 2009.

Top 10 corporate income tax contributors were:

* Vietnam Mobile Telecom Services Company (Mobifone)
* Military-run Viettel Corporation (Viettel)
* PetroVietnam Gas Corporation (PVG)
* Joint Stock Commercial Bank For Foreign Trade Of Vietnam (Vietcombank)
* Petrovietnam Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam)
* Viet nam National Coal – Mineral Industries Group (Vinacomin)
* Vietnam Bank For Agriculture And Rural Development (Agribank)
* Vietnam Joint Stock Commercial Bank For Industry And Trade (Vietinbank)
* Prudential Vietnam
* Phu My Hung Corporation

Vietnam’s mooncakes ‘grease wheels of commerce’

Vietnam’s appetite for mooncakes is rising as adults use the annual treats, traditionally enjoyed by children, to grease the wheels of commerce.

But in Vietnam’s rapidly developing economy they have taken on increased importance for grown-ups who use gifts of mooncakes to build business relationships.

Most of the cakes sell for about one dollar but others, sometimes elaborately packaged and made with expensive ingredients like birds nest or crayfish, can retail for almost VND2 million (US$101).

That is almost three times the official minimum monthly wage for civil servants.

“Those are for the rich, and for bosses,” Nguyen Thi Hoai, 42, who makes her living collecting used paper products, said outside one of the many temporary mooncake shops which have opened around Hanoi.

High-priced mooncakes “are for someone who wants to show off,” a housewife who gave her name only as Huong said as she passed a shop where cakes sold for between VND200,000 and 700,000.

One boxed gift contained eight small mooncakes, their traditional accompaniment of tea, and the modern twist of a bottle of wine – all for VND1.5 million.

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Vietnam was named the top emerging market for global investors, according to new research published by UK Trade & Investment.

The report is based on a survey of more than 520 global executives from every sector. All respondents are already doing business in emerging markets or plan to do so in the next two years.

“The balance of global power is shifting and this is recognized in UK Trade & Investment’s research. Markets such as Vietnam, Indonesia, Mexico, Argentina, etc is tipped to be one of the global growth engines in the coming decades. UK firms are using their expertise to help promote that growth,” the UK Business Secretary Vince Cable said, while launching the new research in London.

Key findings include:
· Emerging markets are viewed as sources of new consumer demand. 76% of investors see emerging markets as a source of new business growth.
· Vietnam was selected as the number one investment destination, beyond the BRICs, for the third consecutive year. Indonesia was selected as number two investment destination.
· The top three markets for investors in the next two years are China (20%), Vietnam (19%), India (18%).

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Report

Firms revise profit totals after audits

Auditing of the first-half financial statements of a number of listed companies has resulted in many issuing revised profit figures, raising investor doubts about the reliability of corporate financial disclosures.

This year has been the first in which publicly-traded companies have been required to disclose audited, semi-annual financial statements.

Net profits of Sacombank (STB) were adjusted downward by 35.5 per cent, from VND1.17 trillion (US$60 million) to VND755 billion ($38.7 million), following an audit of its financial statements, while profits of Vietinbank (CTG) also declined by VND552 billion ($28.3 million) and those of Eximbank (EIB) by VND110 billion ($5.6 million) after audits.

Profits of commercial bakery company Northern Kinh Do (NKD) also declined by 38 per cent from earlier reported figures, those of steel producer Asia Huu Lien (HLA) were reduced by 31.5 per cent, and those of Sacombank Securities Co (SBS) declined by 18.5 per cent.

The companies offered a number of reasons for the reduced profits, including foreign exchange losses or the need to set up provisionary risk management funds for financial investments.

Meanwhile, a number of companies have also reported significantly higher profits in the first half of the year, following audits of the financial statements.

Tan Tao Investment Industry Corp (ITA) on Monday announced that its first-half profit rose from VND155 billion ($7.9 million) to VND460 billion ($23.6 million), attributing the difference to a dividend in shares worth VND305 billion ($15.6 million) that it holds in two subsidiaries.

ITA said that the adjustment would not change the overall result of the companies’ combined financial statements, but ITA shares nevertheless responded positively to the higher profit figures, rising to their ceiling price on Tuesday on a volume of nearly 2.2 million shares.

Sai Gon Beverage Co (TRI) also posted higher profits on its revised financials for the first half. TRI now reports a profit of VND43 billion ($2.2 million) in the second quarter, reversing a previously announced loss during the period of VND20 billion ($1 million). Overall six-month profit therefore rose to VND14 billion ($718,000).

Vietnam import rules may breach WTO, says business group

Vietnam’s new rules on gaining an import licence for certain products may breach the country’s commitments to the WTO, the European Chamber of Commerce said in a statement obtained Wednesday.

Hanoi imposed new guidelines for importers in July as the government tries to rein in a huge trade deficit, which is weighing heavily on the Southeast Asian economy.

However, the chamber said the changes added to the uncertainty and administrative burdens for companies looking to import a range of new products from iron and steel items to vehicles, meat and fish, and liquor.

EuroCham said “key articles of Circular 24 appear to be in breach of Vietnam’s obligations under the relevant WTO commitments dealing with import licensing”.

Hoan Kiem’s endangered turtle deity

For more than 2,000 years, the giant soft-shell turtle has played a crucial role in Vietnamese lore. Despite its great cultural importance and dwindling chances of survival, the creature’s future remains uncertain as lawmakers have failed to create legal protections for it.

There are only four confirmed members of the species (Rafetus swinhoei) left in the world – two living wild in Vietnamese lakes and a captive pair in China that have, so far, failed to produce fertile eggs.

The most famous giant soft-shell, arguably, lives in the Hoan Kiem Lake in Hanoi where some fear its livelihood is threatened by pollution and fish hooks. As the city prepares for its 1,000 year anniversary, a debate between local officials and conservation experts has emerged over how to protect this aging legend.

Last month, images of the aging turtle addled with fishhooks and old scars were published in local media, sparking some debate about how to best protect the creature.

Dr. Ha Dinh Duc, an assistant professor at Hanoi-based Vietnam National University, called for an immediate rescue of the animal.

Duc has estimated that the Hoan Kiem Lake turtle is around 700 years old and is the last survivor of a species called Rafetus Leloii.

Several other scientists have estimated that the creature is a 120-year-old Rafetus swinhoei specimen and should be left alone. They fear that the stress of capture could do more harm to the turtle than good.

All agree, however, that the animal should be afforded the highest possible conservation status. Neither Rafetus swinhoei nor Rafetus Leloii appear on Vietnam’s list of protected species.

Vietnamese Brides Go Overseas, Despite Broken Dreams

As concerns mount about dashed hopes and violent clashes, South Korea is taking steps to reform the matchmaking process and experts have called on Vietnam to do the same.

Some 38,000 Vietnamese women flocked to South Korea from 2004 to 2009, according to the National Statistical Office in Korea, which recorded 7,249 such marriages last year alone.

Official figures from the Korean Justice Ministry show that around another 2,300 Vietnamese wives have migrated to South Korea during the first half of this year.

Starting this November, Koreans hoping to wed foreigners will have to take educational courses about international marriages, and those who fail to attend will have visas denied to their brides, the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family said in late July.

The move came in response to the brutal murder of a 20-year-old Vietnamese bride by her schizophrenic husband – eight days after her arrival in the country. The murder sparked public outrage and growing uneasiness about the export of Vietnamese brides.

“We promise to set up measures to prevent such an incident from occurring again,” the Korean Ministry of Gender Equality and Family said in a press release issued at the time.

However, experts argue that these classes will not suffice in tackling the problem, given the continued demand for Vietnamese wives among Korean men.

Beer imports rise on luxury tax cut

Beer imports have increased sharply this year even though industry insiders say local production surpassed demand for the popular beverage.

Customs officials at the port said tax cuts have driven a surge in imports this year. The luxury tax rate on beer products was cut to 45 percent from 75 percent last year. It is set to be lowered further to 30 percent in 2012.

According to the Vietnam Beer, Alcohol and Beverage Association, local beer consumption is around 28 liters per person per year. There are around 350 beer production factories around the country, with more than 35 major plants that have a capacity of more than 15 million liters a year.

A major beer producer who wished to be unnamed said Vietnam’s beer output has already outpaced local demand and many production lines are not running at full capacity.

Industry insiders have also questioned a recent decision by Ministry of Industry and Trade to allow a large volume of Heineken beer imports.

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Top Stocks to Invest in Vietnam

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A recent spell of walkouts over pay and conditions in China’s southern export zone seems likely to spur low-cost producers to expand operations in countries where wages remain significantly lower than in China.

China’s wage inflation is being closely watched in Vietnam, which has expanded aggressively since the 1990s into labor-intensive industries like clothing, footwear, and furniture. The US, its former adversary, is now Vietnam’s biggest export market and last year became the largest investor here. Exports of textiles and garments, an industry that employs around 1.7 million Vietnamese, rose by 17 percent in the first seven months of the year.

But economists say that Vietnam won’t necessarily reap the immediate benefits of rising labor costs in its giant neighbor.

While labor costs are low – around two-thirds less than in China – export industries are held back by rickety infrastructure, an inefficient bureaucracy, and a lack of skilled workers. Companies are also concerned by signs that the government may impose price controls on private businesses to tamp down inflation, currently around 8 percent.

Keeping labor costs down is only one factor in attracting more investment to Vietnam, says Adam Sitkoff, executive director of the American Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam. Employers also need to see an upgrading of facilities like ports, roads, and utilities, amid a sharp rise in demand for electricity that the state-owned utility struggles to meet.

“How can you attract investors to a place where you can’t keep the lights on?” asks Mr. Sitkoff.

Moreover, as in China, factory workers in Vietnam are also ready to stop work. While independent unions are illegal, wildcat strikes have erupted in industrial zones where foreign-owned manufacturers are clustered. Strikes have risen since 2006 and average 400 a year, of which the majority are in textile factories, according to the Ministry of Labor.

In May, a textile workers’ union and a national industry association agreed to raise starting salaries to $82 a month, up from less than $50. But only 70, mostly state-run, companies have signed the pact, says Nguyen Tung Van, the head of the union. Many foreign-owned companies are reluctant to sign, he says.

“We tell the bosses, if you keep paying low salaries, you won’t keep your workers. They don’t want to listen, but they must listen,” he says.

The collective textile-industry pact marks a departure from Vietnam’s practice of setting a general minimum wage for factory labor. Analysts say it may reflect fears that the official Communist Party-affiliated union is losing its relevancy as workers begin to assert their rights, particularly in the booming private sector.

Ministries surprised to receive bad grades

The news that ministries received low grades for their ability in law-building and implementation from the business community has not surprised the public. However, some ministries admit they were surprised and saddened the news.

All the ministries received low grades. Among the 14 ministries, about which the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) asked for opinions from the business community, the Ministry of Industry and Trade led with 6.13/10 marks, while the Ministry of Health held the bottom position with 4.66 marks. Two other ministries fell below five, the “average” mark.

River polluter VEDAN signs pacts to pay $6.1 mln in compensation

Taiwanese river polluter Vedan Vietnam company Friday signed an agreement to pay nearly VND120 billion (US$6.1 million) in compensation to affected farmers in the southern province of Dong Nai.

Under the agreement, the monosodium glutamate maker will pay 50 percent of the compensation within seven days after the signing, and pay another 50 percent by January 14, 2011.

In return, all the 5,034 affected farmers have agreed to drop lawsuits against the company, according to Dong Nai Farmers’ Association.

However, Vien Dong Ltd. Co., which runs a 28-hectare aquaculture farm in Long Phuoc Commune, has not accepted the compensation and will file a lawsuit against Vedan, said Nguyen Van Ngau, chairman of Long Thanh District Farmers’ Association.

Forbes names Vinamilk the first Vietnamese company to its list of Asia’s 200 Best Under A Billion

Foreign investors used to chuckle that one blue chip on the Vietnam stock exchange had a cow-chip connection. But Vietnam Dairy Products, known as Vinamilk, is no laughing matter. It is the sector leader in a young and rapidly growing market of 86 million people. With revenues doubled and net profit up fourfold in the last four years, it is the most successful of the country’s privatized state-owned enterprises.

Vietnam’s dairy products market, estimated at $1.5 billion in 2009, is expected to grow 25% this year. Holding a one-third market share, Vinamilk had net profit jump 67% to $90 million and revenue climb by half to $389 million through the first half of 2010. “Vinamilk has been successful in the competition with foreign brands. It has created a very strong Vietnamese brand, a solid footing in the local market, and it has been able to tap into the rising demand for nutrition products,” said Trinh Hoai Giang, chief operating official of HSC Securities, one of Vietnam’s three biggest brokerage houses.

Vinamilk is Vietnam’s first entry on the Best Under A Billion list and not surprisingly outside the usual mold. It is still 48% government-held, and the state’s share is represented by its chairwoman, 57-year-old Mai Kieu Lien. But Lien, in guiding the Ho Chi Minh City company since 1993, has established her own credentials…

Vietnam’s thirst for beer hard to quench

Vietnam’s thirst for beer is hard to quench, and a new production line with a capacity for 50,000 bottles an hour is the latest industry attempt to target one of the region’s key markets.

“Vietnam… is one of the largest beer markets in Asia Pacific and of the highest growth potential,” Christopher Kidd, regional director of Singapore-listed Asia Pacific Breweries Ltd (APB), said in remarks prepared for the opening ceremony.

APB and Vietnamese state-owned SATRA Group comprise the VBL joint venture.

VBL said the expansion, “to meet robust and surging beer demand”, will double bottling capacity and is the latest upgrade since it bought the brewery from Australia’s Foster’s three years ago.

At the ceremony, Singapore’s Minister for Trade and Industry, Lim Hng Kiang, said Larue is now available in most of Vietnam’s provinces and showed healthy volume growth of 25 percent last year and 50 percent this year.

Along with the Da Nang brewery, VBL manages and operates three others in central and southern Vietnam. A wholly-owned unit supplies Tiger beer, Heineken and other brands in the country’s north.

“Over the next 18 months, APB through its joint ventures and subsidiary, plans to invest close to 100 million dollars in capacity expansion in our various breweries in Vietnam,” Kidd said.

Sex work as an escape from poverty

Prostitution is illegal and deemed a “social evil” in Vietnam, but this has not been an inhibiting factor in its exponential growth over the last few decades.

Official pronouncements as well as assessments by other agencies of this growing “problem” stick to the conventional rationale of women forced into the profession by poverty or by criminals running the flesh trade.

However, Kimberly Kay Hoang, a PhD sociology candidate at the University of California, says such assumptions do not stand up to close scrutiny. In fact, she says, the illegal sex industry in Vietnam offers little evidence of trafficking or coercion.

“Vietnam has been marked as a Tier 2 country by the United States State Department and people from all around the world have been concerned with ‘saving’ Vietnamese women from being trafficked,” she told Thanh Nien Weekly via email.

Tier 2 refers to the degree of compliance with minimum standards set by the Trafficking Victims Protection Act enacted by the US government in 2000.

In June, Vietnamese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Nguyen Phuong Nga rejected the US Department of State’s findings that the human trafficking situation had worsened in Vietnam, saying they “do not rightly reflect the real situation.”

Hoang said she agrees with the spokeswoman.

“I think that the media has over-sensationalized this idea of ‘forced’ sex workers. In 2006-2007 NGOs, journalists, and academics alike came to Vietnam looking to ‘save’ women, myself included. However, when most of us got deep into the thick of our research we were shocked to find that in Vietnam (not across borders) very few women were forced,” she said.

In analyzing why many Vietnamese women choose to be a sex worker despite its illegality in the country, Hoang said, “I think that people need to pay more attention to corporations and factories who are not paying their workers livable wages. Many of the women in my project started out as factory workers making VND700,000 (US$36) to VND1 million ($51) and according to them, the ‘smart ones’ are the ones who got out of the factories and are actually working in places where they can ‘turn their lives around’,” she said.

In a paper titled “Economies of Emotion, Familiarity Fantasy and Desire: Emotional Labor in Ho Chi Minh City’s Sex Industry” published in the Sexualities Journal this April, Kimberly found that sex work was an “emotional labor” and that the industry has experienced a shift in major clientele following the recent economic crisis.

The paper finds that the Vietnamese sex industry is highly stratified and economic difficulties are not the only reason why people enter sex work.

“I think that we should recognize that sex work involves more than sex. It is an intimate relationship with porous boundaries where women sometimes marry, migrate, and fall in and out of love,” Kimberly said.

“Women in the lower end sector certainly entered the sex industry for economic reasons. However, women in the highest paying sector actually came from wealthy families by local standards…

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President Barack Obama’s plan to meet Southeast Asian leaders this month reaffirms U.S. trust in a group that’s leading efforts to meet global economic and financial challenges, a regional official said.

“Re-engagement by the U.S. with Southeast Asia opens up new diplomatic possibilities, creates new trade and investment opportunities,” Surin Pitsuwan, Jakarta-based secretary general of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, said today in an e-mailed response to questions by Bloomberg News. “Growth in this region is more robust and sustained than any other regions, North America and Europe included. Asean can play a modulating role in regional strategic and security relations.”

Obama has scheduled a Sept. 24 summit in New York with leaders of Asean, the fourth-biggest market for U.S. goods and a region his administration has targeted for increased trade.

The U.S. faced criticism last month for skipping a meeting of Asean trade ministers in Vietnam, as regional leaders awaited a schedule for the summit. Obama is seeking closer ties to Asean members to counter China’s growing clout in the region.

Obama last met with Asean leaders in Singapore in November 2009, the first U.S. president to do so.

More Officials of Indebted Shipbuilder Arrested

Police have arrested four additional former senior executives of Vietnam’s debt-laden, state-owned shipbuilding company as part of widening investigations into mismanagement, state media reported Saturday.

The former executives for the Vietnam Shipbuilding Industry Group, or Vinashin, have been accused of intentionally violating regulations causing serious losses to the state.

The four were taken into custody Monday, but the arrests weren’t reported for several days in communist Vietnam’s tightly controlled media. The company’s chairman, Pham Thanh Binh, was arrested on similar charges about a month ago.

The widening case has attracted extensive media attention, and some members of the National Assembly have demanded hearings on the ongoing investigations. It is unclear if the business scandal will have political consequences, but the ruling Communist Party has made fighting corruption and economic crimes a priority.

Those arrested on Monday include Tran Quang Vu, Vinashin’s former managing general director, and Tran Van Liem, the company’s former controller, according to Tuoi Tre newspaper. In addition, Nguyen Van Tuyen and Nguyen Tuan Duong, former managers of two of Vinashin’s subsidiaries, were arrested.

Vinashin was established in 1996 and was touted as an example of the ruling Communist Party’s success in liberalizing the economy and opening up to foreign investment. It aimed to become one of the world’s top shipbuilders while also running businesses from animal-feed production to tourist resorts.

But as the company expanded, it amassed large debts that the government has estimated at $4.5 billion, including $750 million in international bonds guaranteed by the government.

Vietnam’s children face rising inequalities: UN

Vietnam’s growth has been relatively equitable but the country’s children are facing rising inequalities, the United Nations said Tuesday.

Ethnic minority and rural youngsters are generally the most disadvantaged, said Geetanjali Narayan, chief of planning and social policy for the UN Children’s agency UNICEF.

She spoke at the launch of a report on the social and economic conditions of the roughly 30 million children in Vietnam.

“We are seeing now a trend of increasing inequalities,” she said, despite Vietnam’s “truly outstanding” record on socio-economic growth that was achieved in a “relatively equitable” manner.

In 1986 the war-shattered, poverty-stricken country began to turn away from a planned economy to embrace the free market, a policy called “Doi Moi”, which led to growth rates that ranked among the fastest in Asia.

The UNICEF report said Vietnam is an Asia-Pacific leader in achieving almost all of the Millennium Development Goals, a set of targets on education, poverty, health and other areas to be achieved by 2015.

“Yet segments of the child and adolescent population in Vietnam continue to live in conditions of deprivation and exclusion,” said the report, which relied mainly on government data and was the most detailed study of its kind for about a decade.

“For example, quality health care, secondary education and clean water are not equally accessible to all children,” it said.

“Child poverty in Vietnam today is almost certainly more prevalent and severe than is commonly believed.”

Vietnam recently developed a new gauge of poverty based on essential needs including education, health and nutrition, rather than only relying on a monetarily-based poverty line, the report said.

“Using this approach, almost one-third of all children under the age of 16 are poor,” it said, citing data that showed 62 percent of ethnic minority children are poor compared with 22 percent of the majority Kinh and ethnic Chinese.

The data showed 34 percent of rural children are poor, against 13 percent in cities.

MORE:
* UNICEF Executive Summary of ‘Analysis of the situation of children in Viet Nam’

Steel producers blamed for power shortage

National power utility Electricity of Vietnam, regularly criticized for frequent power shortages and blackouts nationwide, this week pointed the finger at steel producers.

According to the utility, also known as EVN, part of the responsibility for power shortages in the country lay with steel producers, many of whom use outdated technology that consumes a large amount of power.

There are 65 steel projects in the country and even though they only operate at 50 percent of their capacity on average, they already consume about 3.5 billion kilowatt-hours per year, EVN said in a report submitted to Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung.

In order to meet their demand, the power sector has spent an estimated VND35.5 trillion on power generation and transmission facilities. As a result, power supply to other industries as well as for domestic purposes has been affected.

EVN requested the government to tighten control over the production technology used at steel plants. In fact, large steel producers should be compelled to build their own power plants, it said.

EVN said steel plants in Vietnam buy electricity at around 4.78 US cents per kilowatt-hour, compared to 8.12 cents in Thailand and 14.1 cents in Singapore.

Many foreign steel producers invest in Vietnam only because they want to take advantage of the low power prices and then export their products, the power utility said.

Pham Chi Cuong, chairman of the Vietnam Steel Association, admitted that most steel producers in the country use outdated and energy inefficient technology.

Japanese want clear, fair retail rules

Japanese investors eager to break into the Vietnamese market have called for a reform of the country’s procedures for licensing foreign retail outlets.

Any firm wishing to open more than two retail outlets in Vietnam must apply for a license and meet a WTO criterion known as the Economic Needs Test (ENT). The ENT is a criterion that each member state may establish to prevent market overkill in the retail sectors.

But it is not clear which agency administers the test and what calculations it uses to grant permission.

Last week, members of the Japanese Business Association of Ho Chi Minh City asked local officials to issue ENT guidelines so they would know what conditions they had to meet to develop their businesses here.

The Japanese businesses also claimed that some foreign retailers, like Korean Lotte Mart, Malaysian Parkson and German Metro Cash & Carry were allowed to open more than two outlets in the country without passing the ENT test.

Throw book at wildlife trader: conservationists

Environmentalists have called on Da Lat authorities to make an example of Tu Loan, a prominent wildlife meat trader that was implicated in last week’s restaurant raids.

“We urge the Lam Dong courts, Procuracy [prosecutor’s office] and police to carry out detailed investigations, prosecute and punish Tu Loan and her associates to the full extent of the law,” said Dr. Scott Roberton, Wildlife Conservation Society’s Country Representative for Vietnam.

On August 26, seized hundreds of kilograms of wildlife meat during a raid on 12 restaurants in Da Lat. About two-thirds of the meat, weighing more than 200 kilograms, was found at the restaurant run by Tu Loan, who also owns the eponymous zoo in town.

“We would specifically recommend that her zoo [be] closed down and the animals placed in legally operating and conservation-focused facilities; for Tu Loan and her associates to lose their license to operate restaurants in Lam Dong,” he said.

Roberton called for a coordinated national campaign to expose and prosecute the international wildlife trafficking ring that Loan is believed to be a part of. Failure to do so would have even more harmful consequences, he said.

“Lam Dong Province has just lost what was probably Vietnam’s last rhino to the illegal wildlife trade. If strict and effective deterrents are not given to a known rhino horn trader in the province, what hope does any wildlife have in the country?” he asked.

Following the bust on August 26, the Lam Dong Forest Protection Agency instructed its Da Lat branch to continue their investigations before taking further measures. An unnamed source said police could press criminal charges in the Tu Loan Restaurant case.

Roberton said that Loan represents a very well-known wildlife trading family that has links to wildlife trafficking rings stretching to Africa, Myanmar and America.

“Studies also suggest [...] her family operates wholesale wildlife trading activities directly from her house including rhino horn trade, illegal wild-meat restaurants, and a zoo that launders protected species,” he said.

Hailing the recent wildlife bust in Lam Dong, he also called for stronger commitment by provincial authorities in tackling illegal wildlife trade.

“Our experiences have highlighted that it is not really an issue of low staff capacity, inadequate equipment or finances, weak legislation or any of the other excuses we regularly hear. It comes down to a lack of commitment by many agencies and provincial governments throughout the country to take wildlife violations seriously and focus their attention and resources to addressing them…”

MORE from the New York Times:
Vietnam Raids Restaurants Selling Exotic Meats

Ex-cons band together to fight prisoner disenfranchisement

Lien Khui Thin says that every convict longs for his release date. But as the day nears, anxiety mounts about what awaits him on the other side of the prison walls.

“Every day inmates complete their sentence and walk out of jail,” said the former director of District 3 Export Import and Tourism Company. “They often tell me that they don’t know what to do or where to go.”

For the first time in Vietnam’s history, a new charity is being established to help these men return to normal life. Thin, an ex-con and the fund’s new director, told Thanh Nien Weekly that his own harrowing brush with the law inspired him to help Vietnam’s most marginalized social class.

The entrepreneur said his twelve-and-a-half years in jail gave him plenty of time to understand the dread of Vietnamese convicts on their way out of jail.

“Some said they hoped the jail would recruit them as paid administrators or lease them a piece of land on the prison grounds to build a house and a farm,” he said. “They just wanted a normal life and they feared that being freed without a home and without any job prospects would force them to return to crime.”

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