VietNam Business

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Japanese federation cooperates with Hung Yen

The Japan-Vietnam Friendship Parliamentarian Federation (JVFPF) wants to promote economic and investment ties with the northern province of Hung Yen.

JVFPF President Tsutomu Takebe delivered the message while leading a delegation to Hung Yen province on Wednesday.

He said the visit also aimed to strengthen the friendship between the JVFPF and Vietnam in general and Hung Yen province in particular, helping boost Japan ’s economic cooperation and investment activities in the locality.

The JVFPF has actively canvassed the Japanese government for granting ODA to Vietnam, he said, adding that he was pleased with the effective use of the funds in the country.

Secretary of the provincial Party Committee and Chairman of the provincial People’s Council Nguyen Van Cuong stressed that Hung Yen Province places its confidence in Japanese friends in economic relations.

He said the province is ready to welcome Japanese universities’ investment in the Pho Hien University area.

During their stay in Hung Yen, the JVFPF delegation visited the Bunka shutter and door factory, one of Japan’s facilities in the Thang Long II Industrial Zone, and paid tribute to the late President of the Vietnam-Japan Friendship Parliamentarian Federation, Tran Dinh Hoan.

City lays special emphasis on furniture fair

Tran Vinh Nhung (standing), deputy director of the HCMC Department of Industry and Trade, fields questions from the press regarding HCMC Expo 2010 - Photo by Thai Hang

HCMC – Senior trade officials on Tuesday touted HCMC’s upcoming International Furniture and Handicraft Fair and Exhibition, or Expo 2010, as the special trade event of the country, expecting it to be a convergence point for local suppliers and overseas buyers.

Tran Vinh Nhung, deputy director of the city’s Department of Industry and Trade as the organizer, told a press conference on Tuesday that the city expected a greater outcome of Expo 2010 given far-reaching preparations for the show.

The expo, scheduled for October 6 to 10 at the Tan Binh International Exhibition and Convention Center in Tan Binh District, will feature 300 wood and handicraft exhibitors.

Alongside trade activities at the fairground, an Online Expo will also be featured, introducing local business profiles to international customers. Nhung of the department said 800 wood and handicraft makers have put their names down for “manning their online selling booths” on the website www.hcmcexpo.com.vn, an increase of 21% compared to same event last year.

As the global demand for furniture and handicraft products this year is on the path to recovery, Nhung expected the number of international visitors to the fair would rise sharply, resulting in better business prospects for the country’s woodworking industry. The expo outcome is to be further underpinned by aggressive marketing activities, Nhung said, adding “invitation letters have been sent to European and Asian countries and the U.S.”

Bui Thi Thanh An, representative of the Vietnam Trade Promotion Agency under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, told the press conference that a trade support program this year would assist exhibitors with the cost of inviting promising customers to the fair.

An said her agency had brought Expo 2010 on promotion trips to international fairs in China’s Guangzhou and Las Vegas of the U.S. where invitations have been sent to importers and retailers there. Furthermore, Expo 2010 has also been featured on furniture magazines such as Cens Furniture of China, South East Asia Furniture Manufacturers and Exporters Directory 2010, and Furniture Singapore, she said, explaining that the annual furniture expo of HCMC has now been recognized as an event of national significance.

“HCMC Expo has been part of the nation’s promotion programs since 2003 and it has contributed to the growth of wood and handicraft exports, which were only US$1.5 billion in 2005, US$2.6 billion in the time of recession, but expected to hit US$4.5 billion this year,” An said.

ADB provides US$170 million aid for Vietnam

HCMC - The Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Tuesday signed two loan agreements totaling US$160 million and an US$11 million grant agreement to help Vietnam raise the quality of healthcare services, improve human resource capacity and upgrade irrigation infrastructure, said the ADB office in Vietnam.

A US$60 million Asian Development Fund loan from the ADB and an US$11 million grant from the Government of Australia will finance the Health Human Resources Sector Development Program.

The program will support health system reforms that address key constraints that underpin health service delivery, especially the management of human and financial resources.

In detail, it will establish systems for the licensing and registration of all health personnel as well as health institutions, upgrading of training facilities, training of ethnic minority health workers, and facilitate the adoption of standard treatment and costing packages for health services provided to locals.

The Ministry of Health is the executing agency for the program, which is expected to be completed by end-December 2015.

“Vietnam needs to accelerate, and step up socially inclusive policy reforms to address inequalities and improve delivery of social services such as healthcare, as improvements in health status especially of the poor and ethnic minorities are critical to achieving the country’s development goals of inclusive development,” said the bank’s Country Director for Vietnam, Ayumi Konishi, in a statement.

Another US$100 million loan was for the Strengthening Water Management and Irrigation Systems Rehabilitation Project. The project will rehabilitate the 50-year old Bac Hung Hai irrigation and drainage system, and construct a new campus for the Water Resources University.

The French aid agency AFD is co-financing the project with a loan of 20 million euros, while Vietnam will provide counterpart financing of US$51 million for the project. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development is the executing agency for the project, which is expected to be completed by June 2016.

“The two key characteristics of these projects are the emphasis to develop human capacity to effectively utilize the improved infrastructure and the systems, and the collaboration with our development partners. As Vietnam will host the ADB’s 44th Annual Meeting next year in 2011, we focus more on capacity building and look forward to continue working closely with concerned agencies and various development partners,” said Konishi.

Finland wants to develop clean technologies in Vietnam

Do Duy Phi (L), president and CEO of Vietnam National Chemical Group, with Tomas Forsgard, vice president of Kemira Company from Finland, at the signing of a memorandum of understanding for developing new chemicals to treat industrial wastewater in Vietnam - Photo: Van Nam

HCMC – A delegation representing 15 Finnish enterprises said here on Tuesday they wanted to look for local partners to develop renewable energy, wastewater treatment, industrial waste management and other environmental technologies.

Some of the Finnish companies introduced their clean technologies at a seminar held here on Tuesday were Neste Oil Corporation, Cargotec, GD Power, Kemira, Fincumet, YIT and Outotec.

“We identify Vietnam as a key market in Southeast Asia and want to have direct partners in developing our innovative clean technologies to address Vietnam’s energy and environmental challenges,” said Santtu Hulkkonen, executive director of Cleantech Finland who represented the Finnish delegation.

He told the seminar that the clean-tech sector in Finland included some 2,000 enterprises operating in energy efficiency, clean industrial processes, renewable energy, and waste management and treatment.

Janne Mielck, vice president of the New Ventures of the Neste Oil Corporation, told the Daily on the sidelines of the seminar that his corporation was seeking suppliers from Vietnam for producing environmentally friendly diesel.

Neste Oil is a refining and marketing corporation specializing in low-emission technologies, especially high-quality oil products for vehicles.

“By the end of this year, we will open a plant producing renewable diesels in Singapore with an annual capacity of 800,000 tons, so we are here to seek partners for supplying raw materials such as vegetable oil and non-edible oil for our plant in Singapore,” said Janne Mielck. He added his company expected to buy some 100,000 tons per year from Vietnam.

Huynh Kim Tuoc, director of the HCMC Energy Conservation Center, told the seminar that “Vietnam targets renewable energy to account for 7% of the total energy supply by 2020 and up to 11% by 2050 compared to less than 3% now.”

“While the hydropower source as an important renewable energy of the country has been fully tapped, Vietnam should urgently exploit other renewable sources such as wind power, solar power, and other bio-fuels,” he said.

Tuoc added that Finnish enterprises with good technologies could definitely find a lot of opportunities to develop projects of solar energy around the country.

Besides, Tuoc also encouraged Finnish enterprises to invest in wind power projects, including the manufacturing of equipment for wind power plants.

According to the city’s energy conservation center, it has become very urgent for Vietnam to develop renewable energy as power shortage is a big worry for all economic sectors.

RMM chooses Vietnam as gateway to Asian copper market

Achim Doering (2nd, L), chairman and CEO of RMM, and Vietnam chief representative Claus Roemer (L) together with Dao Ha Trung (R) at the opening ceremony - Photo: Kinh Luan

HCMC – Germany’s trading company RMM Metallhandel GmbH has decided to choose Vietnam as the gateway to enter the Asian copper market, and officially opened RMM-Asia’s representative office in HCMC on Tuesday.

“We have more than 30 years’ experience of international trade in the sector of non-ferrous metals, especially playing the linking role between copper consumers and copper producers,” said Achim Doering, RMM’s chairman and general director.

RMM provides customers with copper and copper alloys, but at the same time purchase copper scrap to bring it back to the recycling systems, he said at the opening ceremony organized at the Park Hyatt Hotel in downtown HCMC.

Established in 1997 with the headquarters in a town 70 kilometers from Cologne, RMM has cooperated with well-known copper producers to provide refined copper, copper rod and copper cathode.

At the ceremony, Doering also recalled his first visit to Vietnam in 2009, when he met Dao Ha Trung, chief representative of the German media group WAZ and also chairman of Thien Minh Group, who gave his support to help RMM enter the Vietnamese market. Trung is also Austrian honorary consul in the city.

Vinamilk enters Forbes Asia’s ‘Best Under a Billion’

Vinamilk enters Forbes Asia’s ‘Best Under a Billion’ Vietnam has made its debut in Forbes Asia’s “Best Under A Billion” list this year as its leading dairy company, Vinamilk, was ranked among top-performing small-to-midsize enterprises in the Asia-Pacific region.

Vinamilk, which holds a one-third share of Vietnam’s US$1.5-billion dairy market, enjoyed a net profit jump of 67 percent to $90 million. Its revenues climbed by half to $389 million through the first half of 2010, Forbes reported. The company is expected to grow 25 percent this year.

“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,” according to the September issue of Forbes Asia. In August, Vinamilk began construction on a $120 million dairy plant near Ho Chi Minh City that is expected to be the biggest in Southeast Asia.

The annual “Best Under A Billion” list highlights 200 top-performing firms with revenues under $1 billion from nearly 13,000 publicly listed Asia-Pacific companies, based on earnings growth, sales growth, and shareholders’ return on equity.

China and Hong Kong have outdone the rest of the region for the third consecutive year with 71 one firms on the list, followed by India with 39 entries.

Forbes said 151 new firms appeared on this year’s list.

Vinamilk enters Forbes Asia’s ‘Best Under a Billion’

China and Hong Kong have outdone the rest of the region for the third consecutive year with 71 one firms on the list, followed by India with 39 entries.

Forbes said 151 new firms appeared on this year’s list.

VietNam Business

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Japanese federation cooperates with Hung Yen

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