TransViet joins global travel management firm

Taiwan eyes Vietnam tourists

The Taiwan Tourism Bureau stages a traditional dance show of Taiwan at a press conference held in HCMC on Monday to introduce the Charming Taiwan in Vietnam - Photo: Mong Binh

HCMC - TransViet Travel, a member of TransViet Group, has partnered with GlobalStar Travel Management, a worldwide network consisting of more than 75 market leading enterprises around the world and representing over US$13 billion in sales.

Doan Van Truong, sales manager of TransViet Travel, said his company had become the only entity in Vietnam to join the worldwide travel management company, and that this would enable the local firm to handle more inbound guests and those corporate customers of the network in Vietnam.

TransViet Travel now is able to use the GlobalStar brand to attract clients and win more guests via introductions and proposals by the global company, which can create solutions to fit individual needs and delivers quality services in a multinational environment, Truong told the Daily on the phone on Monday.

Truong said the name of TransViet had been widely recognized at home and overseas through United Airlines and other some 10 foreign airlines that have chosen the local business as their general sales agent in Vietnam.

TransViet Travel has emerged as a leader in business travel in Vietnam after over 15 years of existence on the domestic market.

TransViet Travel said in a statement that joining GlobalStar Travel Management would bring the company more opportunities to expand its corporate client base and strengthen the position of a Vietnamese company in the global front.

Mark van Iersel, director of marketing and partner recruitment at GlobalStar, said in the statement that the company had seen an increase in demand for a local travel management corporation in Vietnam. “We feel that with the addition of TransViet Travel we can now meet our client demands by adding the best national choice in Vietnam.”

* The Taiwan Tourism Bureau will organize a two-day festival in HCMC from on Tuesday to highlight tourist attractions among Vietnamese travelers who are looking for new destinations for their leisure and business trips.

Suzy Yeo, who is a representative of the bureau, told reporters in HCMC on Monday that Taiwanese and Vietnamese travel companies would participate in the event entitled “Charming Taiwan” at the Now Zone shopping center in the city.

The participating companies will introduce their tours featuring cityscape, white-sand beaches, resorts and spas, a wide selection of foods, and shopping malls in Taiwan. Visitors can watch video clips about Taiwan as well as enjoy its foods, tea, games and traditional dances.

Yeo said the bureau expected at least 1,000 Vietnamese people would come to the event on the two days to explore what Taiwan could offer to local travelers.

Tank Lin from the bureau told the Daily after the press conference that this agency promoted Taiwan’s tourist attractions in Vietnam as the number of Vietnamese leisure and business travelers was increasing.

Lin put the number of Vietnamese visitors to Taiwan at 20,000 a year. He said Taiwan was small but presented charming offers, from scenery to foods and culture.

Ben Young, chairman of the travel firm Simba, said week-long package tours to Taiwan cost around US$750. But, Yeo said the price would change depending on hotel accommodations and services included in the tours.

The bureau put on the two-day festival in order to gauge the market demand and map out plans to promote Taiwanese attractions in Vietnam.

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Taiwan, Vietnam move to increase trade ties

Photo: Tuoi Tre

A trade exchange to promote trade for Taiwanese businesses in Vietnam market and other ASEAN markets opened in Ho Chi Minh City Monday.

The event was held by the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) and the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Ho Chi Minh City (VCCI-HCMC).

Attending the event were 63 leading Taiwanese businses in cosmetics, household appliances, trade, electricity, energy and environment along with 100 Vietnamese businesses. They said it is a good opportunity for the two sides to share experiences and seek out partners.

At the event, Wayne Wu, deputy chairman of the TAITRA and Vo Tan Thanh, director of the VCCI-HCMC, spoke highly of bilateral trade ties between Taiwan and Vietnam over the past time and expressed their belief that the relationship will continue to develop in the near future.

Wayne Wu said that Vietnam is Taiwan’s important trade partner and largest importer, followed by mainland China and Hong Kong. So far, the Taiwanese total investment in Vietnam has reached US$21,700 million and in the first eight months of the year, two-way trade reached $5,633 million.

VCCI-HCMC’s director Vo Tan Thanh said that at present, Taiwan (China) is the largest investor in Vietnam, both in registered capital and the number of projects.

 

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Taiwanese firms seek opportunities

HCM CITY — A 63-member Taiwanese business delegation seeking partners and investment opportunities met several Vietnamese enterprises in HCM City yesterday.

Wayne W Wu, deputy chairman of the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) said Taiwanese businesses specialising in consumer goods, green energy, electronics, cars and other sectors attended the meeting.

The Taiwanese delegation is in Viet Nam as part of a mission to Southeast Asian nations.

TAITRA plans to develop the high quality consumer goods market in developing countries, of which Viet Nam is an important part, Wu said.

Last year, Viet Nam was Taiwan's 13th largest trading partner. In the first eight months of this year, bilateral trade between the two sides reached US$5.6 billion. Taiwan's investment in Viet Nam has been $21.7 million so far.

Jerry S K Yang, director general of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in HCM City, said Viet Nam now faces serious electricity shortages, and this has had huge impacts on production and daily use.

Energy saving and renewable energy source development have therefore attracted much attention from the Government and local businesses, he said.

Taiwanese businesses can offer environmentally friendly products and technology to help Vietnamese firms increase their energy savings, he added.

He stressed that for Taiwan, Viet Nam was a strategic partner and one of its largest export markets after China and Hong Kong.

Vo Tan Thanh, director of HCM City Branch of the Viet Nam Chamber of Commerce and Industry said with a high GDP growth rate of 7-7.5 per cent, Viet Nam was an ideal market for foreign investors, including Taiwanese businesses.

The nation's GDP growth rate reached 5.8 per cent and 6.4 per cent in the first and second quarters of this year. It is expected to reach 6.5-7.5 per cent by the end of this year. — VNS

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Taiwan, Vietnam move to increase trade ties

A trade exchange to promote trade for Taiwanese businesses in Vietnam
market and other ASEAN markets opened in Ho Chi Minh City on September
27.

The event was held by the Taiwan External Trade Development Council
(TAITRA) and the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Ho Chi Minh
City (VCCI-HCMC).

Attending the event were 63
leading Taiwanese businses in cosmetics, household appliances, trade,
electricity, energy and environment along with 100 Vietnamese
businesses. They said it is a good opportunity for the two sides to
share experiences and seek out partners.

At the
event, Wayne Wu, deputy chairman of the TAITRA and Vo Tan Thanh,
director of the VCCI-HCMC, spoke highly of bilateral trade ties between
Taiwan and Vietnam over the past time and expressed their belief that
the relationship will continue to develop in the near future.

Wayne Wu said that Vietnam is Taiwan’s important trade partner and
largest importer, followed by mainland China and Hong Kong. So far, the
Taiwanese total investment in Vietnam has reached 21,700 million USD and
in the first eight months of the year, two-way trade reached 5,633
million USD.

VCCI-HCMC’s director Vo Tan Thanh said
that at present, Taiwan (China) is the largest investor in Vietnam, both
in registered capital and the number of projects./.

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New sale looms for AIG Taiwan unit as bid collapses

Photo: Reuters

TAIPEI - AIG is sure of at least one bidder for its Taiwan Nan Shan Life unit should it put it back on the market, with Chinatrust Financial reaffirming its interest on Tuesday after the original buyers pulled out.

China Strategic and Hong Kong fund Primus Financial, the original buyer group, formally ended their US$2.2 billion bid on Monday after Taiwan's regulators had blocked it at the end of August.

AIG is widely expected to put Nan Shan, Taiwan's No.3 insurer by market share with T$1.5 trillion ($47 billion) in assets, back on sale as it seeks to repay US government funds following its bailout during the global financial crisis.

"We want to, and need to know what AIG's next move will be," Chinatrust President Daniel Wu told Reuters. "We would bid for Nan Shan by ourselves ... via either selling shares or bonds."

AIG's Taipei-based media relations company said on Tuesday that the insurer was "evaluating its options with respect to its ownership of Nan Shan".

China Strategic's chief executive, Raymond Or, told Reuters that it was too early to say whether it would consider bidding again, but said he would have to assess whether a fresh bid would have any chance of success.

"If there is no chance, then there is no point in spending time and money," Or said. "Currently I would think it is better for China Strategic to move on."

Primus Financial declined to comment.

Shares of China Strategic dropped over 8 percent in morning trading and trimmed their losses to end 4.8 percent down at HK$0.295 while the Hang Seng Index was nearly flat.

Last month Taiwan regulators blocked the bid from China Strategic, a battery maker, and Primus, saying the two did not have experience in the insurance industry and lacked the ability to raise capital for future operations.

The buyers did not take the option of appealing the ruling, which lawyers said would have been unlikely to succeed.

Failed sale

The sale was the second failed attempt in Asia by AIG to sell assets to repay billions of US taxpayer dollars used to bail out the company. In May, the $35.5 billion sale of its American International Assurance (AIA) unit to Britain's Prudential Plc fell through.

The US insurer now plans to list AIA in Hong Kong on Oct. 29 in a $15 billion float, the biggest ever in Hong Kong and also the biggest ever insurance float.

It was not likely to take that option for Nan Shan, analysts said.

"It would be in AIG's best interest to launch another bid," said an analyst at an European-based securities house. "An IPO of Nan Shan would simply take too much time and get too complicated."

In addition to Chinatrust, Fubon Financial Holding has expressed interest in buying Nan Shan.

Cathay Financial may also be interested, analysts have said.

A source with direct knowledge of the sale process told Reuters earlier this month that regulators were unlikely to take issue with bids from Fubon or Cathay, either alone or with partners such as private equity companies.

But they would be wary of a Chinatrust bid, because the firm, Taiwan's biggest credit card issuer, is heavily leveraged.

All three were losing bidders in the original sale of Nan Shan last October.

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Sweeping Taiwan, China trade pact takes effect

TAIPEI - A historic trade pact between Taiwan and China came into effect Sunday, tying the two sides closer together than at any point since their split more than six decades ago.

The landmark Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA), signed in June, is the most sweeping pact ever penned by the two sides, officially still not at peace after the end of a civil war in 1949.

"With ECFA becoming effective, the cross-Strait ties marched into a new era... Taiwan should better utilize the trend," Taiwan's President Ma Ying-jeou told reporters while on a trip to the southern Tainan county.

China's commerce ministry also hailed the hard-won pact.

"We're pleased to see the agreement taking effect... We believe the implementation of the pact will further promote exchanges and cooperation in cross-strait trade and help the economies develop together," spokesman Yao Jian said in a statement on the ministry's website.

For the Beijing-friendly President Ma, who came to power in 2008 on a promise to improve the economy through a rapprochement with the mainland, the signing of the ECFA was a triumph.

Ma's administration has said the pact will create 260,000 jobs in the island's export-dependent economy and boost growth by up to 1.7 percentage points.

Fundamentally, however, the pact will only solidify a move towards closer economic interaction that has taken place despite frequent political tension between the two sides.

China is Taiwan's largest trading partner, its largest investment destination, and now also home to a growing number of Taiwanese.

It is estimated that about one million people from the island live on the mainland, many of them in the Shanghai area.

They, and thousands of short-term travelers, now have access to 370 direct flights a week, a sharp contrast with the situation a few years ago when all travel routes passed through Hong Kong.

Chiang Pin-kung, Taiwan's top China negotiator who signed the ECFA for the island, is expected to travel to Shanghai and meet with his Chinese counterpart Chen Yunlin this week, Chiang's spokesman said.

In what was painted as a boost for Ma's pro-Beijing agenda, the ECFA was passed last month by island lawmakers without a single dissenting vote.

But the formal recording of unanimous approval masked a refusal by members of the anti-China opposition, centered around the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), to take part in the vote.

The DPP wants formal independence from China and has a significant following on the island.

China, however, says Taiwan has been part of its territory since ancient times and insists on eventual reunification, even if it means war.

"ECFA will contribute to a further widening of the wealth gap," DPP spokesman Tsai Chi-chang told AFP, adding that the people of Taiwan rather than the government should have had the chance to accept or reject the agreement.

Taiwanese media said recently that closer economic ties with China had contributed to a record income gap between rich and poor on the island.

The most prosperous 20 percent in Taiwan reported average disposable incomes of 1.79 million Taiwan dollars (US$56,000) last year, or 6.34 times more than the income of the poorest 20 percent, according to government figures.

Some economists say that the deal with China makes it possible for Taiwanese businesses to move their production to the mainland, cutting costs and increasing profits.

However, by doing so they also reduce job opportunities in Taiwan, hitting the incomes of the island's blue-collar population, economists have warned.

Despite the concerns, the trade pact looks set to push interaction between the two sides to a new level.

The deal will confer preferential tariffs, and in some cases zero tariffs, on 539 Taiwanese products from petrochemicals and auto parts to machinery -- representing 16 percent of the island's total export value to China.

At the same time, only about 267 Chinese items, or 10.5 percent of China's export value to Taiwan, will be placed on the "early harvest" list to enjoy zero or falling tariffs.

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Chinese buyers spend record $7 billion in Taiwan

Photo: Tuoi Tre

TAIPEI – A Chinese delegation wrapped up a week-long shopping spree to Taiwan Sunday after securing a record US$7 billion worth of deals for local products, according to media reports.

Contracts were agreed for Taiwanese products ranging from electronics and textiles to food and fruits, Huang Huahua, governor of Guangdong province and the head of the delegation, was quoted as saying by the state-funded Central News Agency.

It was the largest amount spent in one vist by Chinese buyers.

On his arrival at Taoyuan airport, Huang was greeted by a small group of protesters from the Falungong spiritual movement -- which is banned on the mainland -- who unveiled banners. No clashes were reported.

China still regards Taiwan part of its territory awaiting to be reunified by force if necessary, even though the island has ruled itself since 1949.

Yet ties between Taipei and Beijing have improved markedly since 2008 after Ma Ying-jeou of the Beijing-friendly Kuomintang came to power, pledging to beef up trade and allowing in more Chinese tourists.

In recent months, China has sent a number of purchasing missions to Taiwan as a high-profile way of helping the island's economy by boosting exports.

China had said its trade delegations to Taiwan last year spent 14 billion dollars, shielding the island from the full impact of the financial crisis.

 

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