Fund sees bargains arise in growing Vietnam, Romania

Templeton Asset Management's Mark Mobius said on Sep.3 he sees big
bargain-hunting opportunities in Vietnam and Romania due to good growth
prospects, with a large potential in their equity markets.

Mobius, a prominent emerging markets fund manager who oversees about 40
billion USD in assets, said he does not see an asset bubble appearing
in Asian shares, but investors should watch out for volatility and
instability in emerging economies.

The fund manager
oversees the Romanian government's compensation fund – Fondul
Proprietatea – with a size of 4 billion euro (5.13 billion USD) in
assets, or about 20 percent of the market capitalisation of Romania
's stock market.

"We'll be investing probably most heavily
in raw materials, oil, gas as well as electric power, because of big
demand for electric power in the country," Mobius, executive chairman of
Templeton Emerging Markets Group, told a news conference.

The Romanian fund is diversified, with the largest holdings in oil
companies. The fund also invests in gas and gas transmission companies
and property firms, he said.

Templeton is also looking to invest steadily in Vietnam , Mobius said.

" Vietnam 's stock market is now down from the peak in '07 and there
is a good opportunity now because of low prices," he said.

Mobius said Vietnam 's population is increasing by 1 percent a year
and the country's stock market is growing at a good pace.

Vietnam has a weighting of 7 percent in the Templeton Frontier
Markets Fund, with total assets under management of 442.45 million USD
as of July 31.

The fund sharply outperformed the benchmark
over the past year, producing a return of 21.8 percent against the
benchmark of 4.8 percent.

"We've been investing in a
pretty wide variety of companies (in Vietnam ). Liquidity is very
difficult and small, so it takes patience," Mobius said.

He said he has been looking at property and harbour firms.

The fund manger was in Vietnam last week to also look at furniture companies.

Templeton does not see an asset bubble occurring in Asian shares, but sees it as hard to avoid volatility in emerging markets.

Investors must be ready for volatility and must be patient, Mobius said.

"We try to encourage people to buy when things look bad when markets
are down, because as you can see the recoveries in these bear markets
can be very rapid," he said./.

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Vietnam ranks third in tourism rebound in region

Vietnam ranks third in the Asia-Pacific region in terms of tourism
rebound, according to the UN World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO).

The
August Interim Update of the UNWTO Tourism Barometer said that the
first six months of 2010 saw international tourist arrivals by 7
percent.

Growth was positive in all world regions, led by a
robust performance of emerging economies at 8 percent compared to 6
percent in advanced economies. Asia and the Pacific (14 percent) and the
Middle East (20 percent), where results were already positive in the
second half of 2009, continue to lead growth in the first half of 2010
with the majority of destinations in both regions posting double digit
growth rates.

“Asia in particular is experiencing a
very dynamic rebound, with strong results from Sri Lanka (49 percent),
Japan (36 percent), Vietnam (35 percent), Myanmar (35 percent), Hong
Kong (China) (23 percent), Macao (China) (23 percent), Singapore (23
percent), Fiji (22 percent) and the Maldives (21 percent). Thailand
(14 percent) posted encouraging results in spite of the political unrest
early this year,” the organisation said.

However, the organisation said despite a clear recovery in international tourism, it is necessary to remain cautious.

According
to the organisation, international tourist arrivals totalled 421
million during the first six months of 2010, up 7 percent on 2009.

UNWTO maintains its initial forecast of international tourist arrivals growing by 3-4 percent for 2010./.

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Thu Thiem tunnel gets link-up

The East-West Highway Project Management Board (EWHPMB) and Japanese
contractor Obayashi on September 4 poured final concrete to link up the
Thu Thiem tunnel, the first immersed tunnel in Southeast Asia.

According to EWHPMB Director Luong Minh Phuc, to date, 80 percent of
workload on the tunnel, which is built across Saigon River in Ho
Chi Minh City , has been completed.

In order to
ensure the inauguration of the tunnel on schedule, the management board
and the contractor are arranging three shifts a day with 300 engineers
and workers each, Phuc said.

He added that the
third package of the project, the mechanics-electricity package, will
begin after concrete blocks get stabilized. The package includes
installing water supply, lighting, firefighting, ventilation, air
pollution measurement and vehicle counting systems with international
standards. The package is estimated to take six months.

The Thu Thiem tunnel, which is about 1,490m in length, 33m in width
and 9m in height, with six lanes, is scheduled for technical test runs
in March next year.

The whole East-West Highway , including the Thu Thiem tunnel, is expected to open to traffic in June 2011.

Once operational, the tunnel can accommodate around 45,000 automobiles and 15,000 motorbikes each day./.

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IMF's Lipsky says moderate world recovery underway

John Lipsky, the International Monetary Fund's first deputy managing director, answers a reporter's question after the meeting of G20 finance and central bank deputies in Gwangju, south of Seoul, September 5, 2010.

Photo: Reuters

The world economy is recovering moderately but still faces challenges such as the need for medium-term fiscal consolidation, the IMF's First Managing Director, John Lipsky, said on Sunday.

"They are mainly confident that there is a moderate recovery underway globally," he told reporters, referring to delegates at the G20 meeting of deputy finance and central bank chiefs in South Korea.

"Obviously there are risks and challenges, but things seem to be moving more or less in line with our forecast," he said, listing well-designed exit strategies and medium-term fiscal consolidation as challenges.

He said some good progress has been made in discussing changes to the IMFs executive board, but did not elaborate. G20 members have pledged to reach an agreement on the issue by the time leaders meet in Seoul in November.

The United States, frustrated at Europe's refusal to share more IMF power with emerging economies, took unprecedented action last month to block plans that would have kept Europe's long-running dominance over the 24-member board.

Emerging economies have called for a bigger say in international institutions such as the IMF in line with their increasing contribution to the global economy and the resultant importance in global economic policy coordination.

A senior Indonesian official told Reuters separately that emerging economies want more voting powers as well as a readjustment in the way the global economic policy is made.

"For emerging markets, the important thing is not only the size of the increase of the quota, but the general idea of the relationship between the quota and governance of the IMF -- and that needs to come in one package," Hartadi Sarwono, deputy governor of the Indonesian central bank, said in an interview.

One senior official from a member country, who attended the whole of the meetings, told Reuters there was no discussion about specific currencies or currency issues, although issues related to reducing the global imbalances were a key topic.

"Delegates did not talk about any specific currencies or about a specific level of a currency, but of course they discussed global rebalancing," said the official, who did not want to be identified.

Japan is grappling with the yen's soaring to 15-year highs against the dollar and policymakers have repeatedly said they could take decisive action on the yen -- normally a code phrase for currency intervention.

South Korea will host the November 11-12 summit of G20 leaders in Seoul, with key issues also including reforming the global financial regulatory framework and drawing up plans to put the world economy on a balanced and sustainable growth path.

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IMF's Lipsky says moderate world recovery underway

John Lipsky, the International Monetary Fund's first deputy managing director, answers a reporter's question after the meeting of G20 finance and central bank deputies in Gwangju, south of Seoul, September 5, 2010.

Photo: Reuters

The world economy is recovering moderately but still faces challenges such as the need for medium-term fiscal consolidation, the IMF's First Managing Director, John Lipsky, said on Sunday.

"They are mainly confident that there is a moderate recovery underway globally," he told reporters, referring to delegates at the G20 meeting of deputy finance and central bank chiefs in South Korea.

"Obviously there are risks and challenges, but things seem to be moving more or less in line with our forecast," he said, listing well-designed exit strategies and medium-term fiscal consolidation as challenges.

He said some good progress has been made in discussing changes to the IMFs executive board, but did not elaborate. G20 members have pledged to reach an agreement on the issue by the time leaders meet in Seoul in November.

The United States, frustrated at Europe's refusal to share more IMF power with emerging economies, took unprecedented action last month to block plans that would have kept Europe's long-running dominance over the 24-member board.

Emerging economies have called for a bigger say in international institutions such as the IMF in line with their increasing contribution to the global economy and the resultant importance in global economic policy coordination.

A senior Indonesian official told Reuters separately that emerging economies want more voting powers as well as a readjustment in the way the global economic policy is made.

"For emerging markets, the important thing is not only the size of the increase of the quota, but the general idea of the relationship between the quota and governance of the IMF -- and that needs to come in one package," Hartadi Sarwono, deputy governor of the Indonesian central bank, said in an interview.

One senior official from a member country, who attended the whole of the meetings, told Reuters there was no discussion about specific currencies or currency issues, although issues related to reducing the global imbalances were a key topic.

"Delegates did not talk about any specific currencies or about a specific level of a currency, but of course they discussed global rebalancing," said the official, who did not want to be identified.

Japan is grappling with the yen's soaring to 15-year highs against the dollar and policymakers have repeatedly said they could take decisive action on the yen -- normally a code phrase for currency intervention.

South Korea will host the November 11-12 summit of G20 leaders in Seoul, with key issues also including reforming the global financial regulatory framework and drawing up plans to put the world economy on a balanced and sustainable growth path.

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Vietnam looks for more Belgian tourists

The Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) and Vietnamese Embassy in Belgium Saturday co-organized a program to promote the country’s image as an attractive and safe tourism destination.

As part of activities in the “Vietnamese Days in Belgium”, the program, titled “ Vietnam , your destination”, also aimed to offer Belgian and Vietnamese businesses operating in tourism industry an opportunity to exchange and seek out partners.

At the meeting, VNAT’s deputy head Nguyen Manh Cuong introduced tourism potentials of Vietnam, a country with 54 ethnic groups that boast a diverse cultural asset, and a thousand-year history.

Especially, the country is home to ten world natural and cultural heritages recodnised by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), he said.

The Vietnamese tourism industry has also organised a wide range of special activities on the celebration of the 1,000th anniversary of the capital city of Thang Long-Hanoi, Cuong added.

On the occasion, he called on Belgian tourist businesses to increase their investment in Vietnam.

 

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Vietnam looks for more Belgian tourists

The Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) and Vietnamese Embassy in Belgium Saturday co-organized a program to promote the country’s image as an attractive and safe tourism destination.

As part of activities in the “Vietnamese Days in Belgium”, the program, titled “ Vietnam , your destination”, also aimed to offer Belgian and Vietnamese businesses operating in tourism industry an opportunity to exchange and seek out partners.

At the meeting, VNAT’s deputy head Nguyen Manh Cuong introduced tourism potentials of Vietnam, a country with 54 ethnic groups that boast a diverse cultural asset, and a thousand-year history.

Especially, the country is home to ten world natural and cultural heritages recodnised by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), he said.

The Vietnamese tourism industry has also organised a wide range of special activities on the celebration of the 1,000th anniversary of the capital city of Thang Long-Hanoi, Cuong added.

On the occasion, he called on Belgian tourist businesses to increase their investment in Vietnam.

 

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