ASEAN increases intra- and extra-bloc investment, trade

The ASEAN Business and Investment Summit (ASEAN-BIS) will take place in
Hanoi from October 26-28 on the them of “Toward ASEAN Community: From
Vision to Action”.

The event is expected to draw between 800 and
1000 delegates, including government officials, policy makers,
economists, business leaders, from ASEAN countries and others around the
world.

ASEAN-BIS is an activity on the sidelines of the ASEAN
Summit and will be organised by the ASEAN Business Advisory Council
(ASEAN-BAC), ASEAN-BAC Chairman Doan Duy Khuong said at a press briefing
in Hanoi on September 27.

The event aims to build ASEAN
into an open, dynamic and prosperous community and is a dialogue forum
for the public and private sectors to propose measures on facilitating
and promoting ASEAN economic initiatives, he added.

Within the
ASEAN-BIS framework, a series of dialogues with the region’s strategic
partners, such as Australia , New Zealand , China , India , Japan ,
the Republic of Korea and Russia , will be held for the first time
under Vietnam ’s initiative.

The dialogues mark an important
period in the process of maintaining and promoting long-term,
sustainable cooperation between ASEAN and the strategic partners, Khuong
said.

In addition, the summit will hold the 2010 ASEAN Business
Award to honour businesses making contributions to the region’s economic
development.

Launching in Bali , Indonesia , in 2003, the
annual ASEAN-BIS has become one of the most prestigious and effective
forum in the region and a venue for sharing useful information for
regional and international enterprises./.

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Vietnam sees Egypt potential market for agro-forestry, fisheries

Vietnamese businesses can open their representative offices and ask for
licences for aquaculture and agro-forestry and fisheries product
processing in Egypt to benefit from the country’s export preferential
policies to other Middle East markets, said an Egyptian official.

Addressing a seminar on enhancing Vietnam-Egypt
agro-fisheries cooperation held in Cairo, Egypt, on Sept. 26, Head of
the Federation of Egyptian Chambers of Commerce’s External Relations
Section Hosam Baharia said two-way trade will increase fast as Egypt has
a big demand for coffee, tea and other farm products and Vietnam’s
high-quality and diversified products will meet Egyptian consumers’
different tastes.

For his part, Deputy Minister
of Agriculture and Rural Development Diep Kinh Tan said that two-way
trade between the two countries recorded a year-on-year rise of 24
percent to more than 200 million USD last year with Vietnam ’s
seafood exports making a large proportion.

In
the context of the global economic crisis and unfavourable information
on Vietnam ’s seafood quality in Egypt in the past, the increase is a
positive sign of the two countries’ cooperation potential, reflecting
Vietnam ’s seafood quality and prestige to Egyptian consumers, Tan
said.

The result was attributable to the
exchange of information and working delegations and other trade
promotion activities, he said.

He went on to say
that Egypt highly valued Vietnam ’s environmental-friendly
agro-forestry and fisheries production process that meets quality and
hygienic safety requirements.

Apart from
fisheries, Vietnamese businesses expect that their cashew nuts, pepper
and coffee will penetrate Egypt with a population of around 85 million
people and other Middle East markets.

Vietnam ’s agro-forestry and fisheries export revenues has increased
over recent years to almost 16.5 billion USD by the end of 2009.
Vietnam ’s seafood has been exported to more than 150 countries and
territories. However, Vietnam ’s agro-forestry and fisheries
market-share at Northern Africa, especially Egypt , remained modest
and failed to meet the two countries’ potential and demand.

While in Cairo from Sept. 25-28, a number of Vietnamese
businesses participated in the Agriculture and Food International
Exhibition in Cairo./.

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France willing to protect Vietnamese consumers’ interests

Vietnam is one of the countries that pay due attention to protecting
consumers’ interests and France is ready to cooperate and share
experiences with Vietnam in this field.

The statement
was made by French Ambassador to Vietnam Jean Francois Girault at a
seminar entitled “Protecting Consumers from Asian and European Angles”
which opened in Hanoi on September 27.

The two-day
seminar is co-organised by the Vietnam-France Law House and the Ministry
of Industry and Trade (MoIT) with the support from the French Ministry
of Foreign Affairs and the International Francophone Organisation (OIF).

Speaking at the event, MoIT Deputy Minister Tran Tuan
Anh said that the rapid socio-economic development has not only brought
in many opportunities for consumers but also yielded violations of
their interests.

Meanwhile, there are many
shortcomings in the existing law’s regulations that raise difficulties
for the detection and settlement of violations, he added.

“Therefore, building a law on consumer protection is a necessary
requirement and an useful tool to protect the legitimate interests of
consumers,” Anh said, adding that the draft Law on Consumer Protection
is expected to be approved at the National Assembly’s upcoming session
scheduled for October this year.

According to Dr.
Nguyen Nhu Phat, Director of the Institute of State and Law under the
Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences, Vietnam’s law has acknowledged basic
rules on protecting consumers’ rights, including the rights to be
informed, to safety, to select and to complain as well as regulations on
responsibilities of agencies, units and individuals in protecting
consumers.

However, the protection of consumers in
Vietnam is still limited as few people know regulations on consumer
protection, he noted.

Experts from France, Thailand,
Cambodia and Laos emphasised the importance of protecting consumers’
interests in the market-oriented economy and integration process./.

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Dollar demand stable, though pressures remain

HANOI - Vietnamese banks have enough dollars to keep the dong from succumbing to immediate pressure from higher-than-expected inflation and a persistent trade deficit reflected in this month's data, traders said.

But economists warn that could worsen later in the year, putting the currency under renewed downward pressure.

On Monday the Ministry of Planning and Investment estimated the trade deficit hit an estimated $1.05 billion in September, sending the deficit for the first nine months of the year to $8.58 billion.

The government expects the full-year shortfall to reach about $14 billion.

Annual inflation this month accelerated for the first time since March, hitting 8.92 percent. September's consumer price index rose 1.31 percent from last month, the highest monthly rise since February, the government said last week.

Nevertheless, the dollar/dong exchange rate has been steady since the State Bank of Vietnam devalued the currency by 2 percent on Aug. 18.

"Banks now have ample dollar funds so they can deal with client borrowing and trading," said a foreign exchange manager at a Hanoi-based lender.

Official and unofficial exchange rates have been close to the VND19,500 trading band limit since the devaluation. On Monday there was a VND40, or 0.2 percent, difference between dollar/dong bid prices on interbank and unofficial markets.

The gap is sometimes seen as an indicator of pressure on the currency to depreciate.

Overnight dollar interest rates for loans on the interbank market have ranged between 0.41 percent and 0.46 percent, Reuters data showed.

Banks have benefited from dollar inflows at businesses that tend to receive payments from overseas during the later months of the year, traders said.

Still, Nguyen Minh Phong, an economist at the Hanoi Research Institute for Socioeconomic Development, said the widening trade deficit and modest foreign direct investment inflows would keep the dong under pressure.

"Vietnam's FDI disbursement has only started to pick up and cannot significantly support the exchange rate", Phong said.

Vietnam's total balance of payments deficit may reach $4 billion this year, it said.

Higher demand for dollars for import later in the year, combined with Vietnam's thin foreign exchange reserves, would contribute to the pressures, economists said.

Foreign investors disbursed an estimated $8 billion in Vietnam in the first nine months of this year, a rise of 4.8 percent from the same period last year. Meanwhile, Vietnam's economy expanded by an estimated 6.52 percent in the first nine months of 2010 from the same period a year earlier.

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Vietnam's Sept trade deficit hits $1.05 bln

Photo: AFP

HANOI - A growing trade gap with China and rising raw material prices helped push Vietnam's trade deficit this month to an estimated US$1.05 billion, with imports of $7.15 billion and exports at $6.1 billion, a government report said on Monday.

A persistent trade deficit has prompted Vietnam to devalue its dong currency three times since November 2009, most recently in August.

January to September exports rose an estimated 20.5 percent from the same period last year to $51.5 billion, while imports jumped 22.7 percent to $60.08 billion, bringing the nine-month trade deficit at $8.58 billion, a Planning and Investment Ministry report said.

"The trade deficit from China is still growing strongly and it accounts for nearly 80 percent of the total trade deficit. Vietnam has been suffering from a trade deficit with Asia while it still enjoys a surplus with all other continents," it said.

Imports from China leapt 23.5 percent in the nine-month period, while imports from other Southeast Asian countries were up some 20 percent and from South Korea they were up 11 percent.

The report said commodity price increases over the past year also contributed "considerably" to the increase of total imports, and noted that prices for metals, oil products, plastics and yarn had risen sharply.

"The increases in prices of these goods alone pushed the total value of imports up by about $4.2 billion," it said.

The Southeast Asian country posted a trade deficit of $6.22 billion in the first nine months of 2009, based on the ministry's report, which did not give any comparative figures for last September.

Despite September's deficit, Monday's report said exports showed "positive signals", with the increase of 20.5 percent far exceeding an initial target for the year of 6 percent.

Imports grew strongly, too, and a state-run newspaper quoted the government statistics office on Monday as saying the trade deficit could come under pressure to rise in the coming months because of a cyclical year-end increase in imports and the weakening US dollar.

"It is necessary to maintain measures to check imports," the newspaper Dau Tu reported.

September's deficit was in line with numbers from the previous eight months, which ranged between $1.3 billion and $0.8 billion.

Earlier this month, the ministry said it expected the trade deficit for the whole of 2010 to be nearly $14 billion, with exports rising 18.2 percent and imports up 16.5 percent, after a gap of $12.25 billion in 2009.

It forecast Vietnam's trade deficit to edge up to $14.55 billion in 2011 as growth of exports and imports was projected to slow to around 10 percent.

The planning ministry also said Vietnam's gross domestic product grew 6.52 percent in the January to September period. It did not give a figure for the third quarter. A state run newspaper quoted the ministry's GDP figure last week.

"The economy is still moving in a positive direction," Monday's report said.

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Hanoi breaks ground for urban railroad route

Photo: VNA

Ground has been broken in Hanoi’s Tu Liem District for the section of Nhon-Hanoi railway station, the capital’s 3rd suburban route.

The 12.5-kilometer route, which will pass through densely populated areas of the capital like the districts of Hoan Kiem, Dong Da, Ba Dinh, and Cau Giay, will meet the burgeoning transport needs of suburban dwellers, encouraging them to use public instead of private transport.

It will take 20 minutes to cover the distance including the time taken for ticketing procedures.

The route will also be linked with other rail and bus routes.

It will have a capacity of 900-1,200 and travel at a maximum speed of 80 kilometers per hour.

There will be four stations in the four-kilometer underground section.

The main depot will be built on a 15.5-hectare area on the road leading to the Hanoi University of Industry.

The VND18 trillion (US$925.5 million) project, funded partly by foreign loans and, will use European underground construction technology, while the tunnels will be built using prefabricated concrete blocks that will not harm houses in the vicinity, Nguy Nhu Nguyen, the head of the project, said.

It is expected to be operational by 2015.

The first train route in Hanoi will run between Ngoc Hoi in the northeast and Nhu Quynh the south, passing through Yen Vien and other downtown areas.

The second, from Noi Bai to Thuong Dinh through the downtown area, will be the most vital route.

The fourth will run between Dong Anh and Me Linh, connecting other urban railway development projects.

The fifth will run between the southern part of West Lake to Lang-Hoa Lac to connect downtown with areas located along the Lang-Hoa Lac corridor.

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Export turnover increases 23.2%

Packing rice for export at Tien Giang Food Company. The country's export turnover reached an estimated US$51.5 billion during the first nine months of the year, an increase of 23.2 per cent compared with the same period last year, reported the General Statistics Office. — VNA/VNS Photo Dinh Hue

HA NOI—The country's export turnover reached an estimated US$51.5 billion during the first nine months of the year, an increase of 23.2 per cent compared to the same period last year, reported the General Statistics Office.

The domestic sector earned $24.1 billion, a 19.7 per cent increase, while the foreign-investment sector fetched $27.35 billion (including crude oil), a 26.5 per cent increase.

Export commodities earned more than $1 billion in revenue.

Coffee, cassava and cassava products, and crude oil declined in export turnover in comparison to the same period last year.

The country imported $60.1 billion in commodities during the first nine months, an increase of 22.7 per cent compared to the same period last year.

Imported commodities that earned the highest import turnovers included textiles, up 26 per cent ($3.84 billion); electronics, computer and computer accessories, 30.6 per cent ($3.509 billion); metals, 72.8 per cent ($1.832 billion); and plastics, 36 per cent ($2.726 billion).

According to the GSO, the trade deficit was restrained to $8.6 billion during the first nine months of the year, which accounted for only 16.7 per cent of the total export and import turnover.

The GSO's Commerce Department director Le Minh Thuy said the current trade balance lacked equilibrium as export turnover rose due to inflated prices of several export commodities, including crude oil, cassava, coal, pepper and cashew nuts.

Gold and gold products accounted for a major proportion of export revenues. If the GSO did not include gold exports, the trade deficit during the first nine months of the year would have been $11.4 billion instead of $8.6 billion.

Thuy said tough policies concerning import controls needed to be implemented to ensure the efficient development of the export sector. —VNS

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