Business briefs

* Vietnam National Coal-Mineral Industries Group, known as Vinacomin, hired Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd., Credit Agricole CIB and Citigroup Inc. to help advise it on a possible dollar bond sale, according to two people familiar with the matter. Vinacomin has been seeking approval from the government to sell US$500 million of bonds overseas this year.

* Overseas remittances to Ho Chi Minh City from January to September reached $3.04 billion, up 17.94 percent from the same period last year and nearing $3.15 billion for the whole of 2009, Nguyen Hoang Minh, deputy director of the central bank branch in the city, was quoted by Dau Tu (Investment) newspaper as saying. The value for the whole of 2010 is forecast to rise 20 percent, he said.

* Power prices in Vietnam will be adjusted four times a year in accordance with changes in input prices and the exchange rate starting from March 1 next year, the Vietnam Economic Times reported, citing an Industry and Trade Ministry document on implementing a market-oriented mechanism for power prices.

* Vietnam increased its rice export forecast for this year to 6.1 million tons, higher than a previous estimate of 5.9 million tons, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. Shipments from the world’s second-biggest producer may be more than 1 million tons in the fourth quarter, according to the document, which was posted on the ministry’s website.

* Vietnam National Petroleum Corp., known as Petrolimex, will buy 140,000 cubic meters of gasoline and diesel from Dung Quat Oil Refinery this month, said Nguyen Hoai Giang, general director of Binh Son Refinery & PetroChemical Co., which runs the refinery. Previously a Dung Quat official said domestic petrol distributors may not be able to use up the refinery’s inventory by the end of this year and it may face an inventory of more than 720,000 tons of products.

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State urges petrol dealers: ‘buy local'

The Ministry of Industry and Trade has asked PetroVietnam and the Dung
Quat Oil Refinery to work directly with domestic petrol dealers,
particularly Petrol-imex, to reduce reliance on imports.

The Vietnam National Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam) and the refinery
must report preliminary plans for production, consumption and stock of
Dung Quat's products by Friday, the ministry said.

PetroVietnam and the refinery should also work out a detailed plan for
production in 2011, the ministry said. It also called on the firms to
boost consumption of the refinery's products, including petrol for
airplanes, on the domestic market as early as possible.

So
far, nine out of 11 petrol importers in Vietnam buy the refinery's
products. In the first nine months of this year, the refinery's petrol
and oil sold on the domestic market accounted for 35 percent of the
total volume sold.

The Vietnam National Petroleum
Corporation (Petrolimex), which has a 50 percent share of the domestic
petrol and oil market, consumed 28 percent of the refinery's total
output of petrol and oil.

However, domestic petrol
consumption is 10 percent lower than predictions for this year, while
production at the refinery was now exceeding the year's plan by 25
percent, Pham Dinh Thuc, PetroVietnam's general director, said.

In the fourth quarter of this year, the refinery is expected to produce
about 1.9 million tonnes of petrol, while domestic petrol distributors
such as PVOil, Petec and Petrolimex have registered to buy just 430,000
tonnes from the refinery.

As a result, stockpiles have reached 75,000 tonnes and are predicted to reach 727,000 tonnes by the end of the year.

Domestic importers should revise their signed contracts to import fuel and buy up the difference from Dung Quat, Thuc said./.

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Authorities fail to control resort boom: official

Beaches in Vietnam have been destroyed by the construction of too many resorts and villas, according to an industry official who called the growth a failure of management.

Many beaches along the country have been “torn apart” and the problem is a headache for tourism authorities, said Nguyen Van Tuan, head of Vietnam's National Administration of Toursim.

Poor plannning of the projects has lead to an inappropriate use of public properties, Tuan said in an interview with Tuoi Tre newspaper on Friday.

As local governments are given the autonomy to license new resorts built on less than two hectares of land, many investors have tried to adjust the size of their projects so that they can be approved easily without seeking consent from the state government, he said.

Beautiful beaches have become overcrowded with resorts and there is not enough space for both the locals and tourists.

“Another consequence is that there can be hundreds of resorts on a long beach, but all of them are small and fail to meet international standards for luxury resorts,” he said. “It’s a huge waste of natural resources.”

The Vietnam National Administration of Tourism will review the construction of seaside projects, Tuan said. “Our viewpoint is that we have to address the weaknesses (in planning) to solve the problem.”

Than Thanh Vu, General Secretary of Vietnam's Tourism Property Association, said his association offered to act as an advisory body in the matter.

The development of resorts has, in fact, benefited the economy of several coastal provinces, including Binh Thuan, Quang Nam and Ba Ria-Vung Tau, Vu said.

However, he argued, the most important thing is to protect the interests of both investors and the community.

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Authorities fail to control resort boom: official

Beaches in Vietnam have been destroyed by the construction of too many resorts and villas, according to an industry official who called the growth a failure of management.

Many beaches along the country have been “torn apart” and the problem is a headache for tourism authorities, said Nguyen Van Tuan, head of Vietnam's National Administration of Toursim.

Poor plannning of the projects has lead to an inappropriate use of public properties, Tuan said in an interview with Tuoi Tre newspaper on Friday.

As local governments are given the autonomy to license new resorts built on less than two hectares of land, many investors have tried to adjust the size of their projects so that they can be approved easily without seeking consent from the state government, he said.

Beautiful beaches have become overcrowded with resorts and there is not enough space for both the locals and tourists.

“Another consequence is that there can be hundreds of resorts on a long beach, but all of them are small and fail to meet international standards for luxury resorts,” he said. “It’s a huge waste of natural resources.”

The Vietnam National Administration of Tourism will review the construction of seaside projects, Tuan said. “Our viewpoint is that we have to address the weaknesses (in planning) to solve the problem.”

Than Thanh Vu, General Secretary of Vietnam's Tourism Property Association, said his association offered to act as an advisory body in the matter.

The development of resorts has, in fact, benefited the economy of several coastal provinces, including Binh Thuan, Quang Nam and Ba Ria-Vung Tau, Vu said.

However, he argued, the most important thing is to protect the interests of both investors and the community.

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Vietnam, Kuwait target energy, food partnership

Minister of Industry and Trade Vu Huy Hoang and Kuwaiti Minister of Oil and Information Sheikh Ahmad Al-Abdulla Al-Sabah have discussed measures to boost bilateral ties, especially in trade, investment, energy and infrastructure construction.

During their talks in Hanoi Wednesday, the two sides agreed to strengthen bilateral cooperation in other sectors besides oil and gas, including electricity, mechanical engineering, shipbuilding and food processing.

According to Minister Hoang, the economic-trade relations between Vietnam and Kuwait have seen positive developments since the two countries established diplomatic ties in 1976 with two-way trade exceeding 100 million USD per year.

He expressed his belief that with their existing potentials, the two countries will have a close and long-term cooperation on the principle that Kuwait helps Vietnam ensure energy security and Vietnam helps Kuwait ensure food security.

Regarding financial and investment cooperation, through the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development, Vietnam has inked seven agreements borrowing US$110 million from Kuwait for infrastructure construction.

Vietnam exported dairy products, seafood, tea, garment, coffee and ceramics to Kuwait while importing petrol, chemicals and fertiliser from the Middle East country.

In the oil and gas sector, the Vietnam National Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam) has signed an agreement with the Kuwait Oil and Gas Corporation and a Japanese partner to take part in the Nghi Son Petrochemical Refinery Complex project.

In addition, PetroVietnam has also sent delegations to seek investment opportunities in oil and gas exploration and exploitation in Kuwait .

Meanwhile, the Vietnam National Petroleum Corporation (Petrolimex) has signed a long-term contract with its Kuwaiti partner on diesel provision. In 2010, the two-way trade volume is expected to reach 500,000 MT worth nearly $320 million.

On the same day, the Kuwaiti delegation had a working session with PetroVietnam on bilateral cooperation in the oil and gas sector, focusing on speeding up the Nghi Son project.

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