Finance & Business News 13 September

finance & business news 13 September

FINANCE...... 2 Vietnamese businesses bet on huge investment projects 24 Reference exchange rate up by 4 VND 2 Digital economy vital for MSME growth 24 Domestic gold prices fall sharply 2 Foreign capital strongly flows in pharmaceutical industry 25 PM urges lower interest rates, taxes stable 2 Solar panel industry sees growth 27 Interest rates, if applicable, will fall by 0.5pct per annum Italy offers grant to help study Vietnam's railway only: expert 3 infrastructure upgrade 28 HSBC: Vietnam is likely to reach credit growth target of 21pct 4 Ben Tre to up industrial investment 28 HSBC: Credit misallocation dampens GDP growth 5 Tra Vinh will support private economic development 29 Foreign capital welcomed to join weak bank's restructuring 6 BIZ NEWS ...... 30 Banking sector to maintain positive trend in Q2/2017: VCBS 7 Business Briefs 13September, 2017 30 Why is Dang Thanh Binh being charged with 'lack of Bank stocks lift the market back up 30 responsibility'? 8 VN Index breaks 7-day winning streak 31 Outlook on Techcombank revised to stable 9 Mekong Enterprise II lowers stake in MWG 32 Vietinbank becomes Diners Club card issuer 10 Vietnam at high risk of APT attack 32 Joint Statement on promoting startups in Apec issued 10 North-South toll fees too high 32 Apec forum looks towards dynamic, networked start-ups AgriTech accelerator for Mekong Sub-region launched 33 community 11 ACV to invest nearly $2 billion to upgrade key airports 34 More efforts needed to enforce EU-Vietnam FTA 12 Coal-fired power projects should accompany renewable State budget collection up 13 per cent 12 energy production 34 Restructure the State Budget to make it more efficient 12 Waste treatment problem hinders coal power plant development 35 VN to complete statistical indicators set for sustainable SOEs name new staff to top management posts 36 development 14 Tokyo introduces tourism products in HCM City 37 Vietnam's government steps in to suspend sweeping new HCM City suspends much-touted bus rapid transit project 37 tax hikes 14 Bac Ninh to invest VND570 billion in smart city project 38 Minister: Law on special economic zones will offer strong Hanoi to have more waste-to-energy plant 38 boon for investors 15 Work begins on second quay of Long An Port 39 Special Economic Zones may have single leader 15 Mondelez Kinh Do accelerates its presence rapidly after Tuna exports to emerging markets on the rise 16 M&A deal 39 Exports to Algeria up 26pct 16 BMW Group Asia chooses Thaco as new dealer of BMW, Australia extends VN's wind towers investigation 17 MINI in Vietnam 40 Australia-Vietnam launch new Agriculture Strategy 17 Doosan Vina Ships Three Giant RMQC Cargo Container Coconut farming languishing 18 Cranes to India 41 Winter crops to span 410,000 ha in northern region 19 Japanese company gets customs priority status 41 Automobile sales dips 6pct in eight months 20 Samsung continues to look for Vietnam suppliers 42 Airport service fees to increase from October 20 Vietnamobile rolls out 3G nationwide 42 Quang Ninh's efforts pay off in improving competitiveness 21 Synnex buys 47pct stake in FPT Trading 43 Foreigners hail business opportunities in Vietnam 22 FPT opens office in Denver, its 5th in the US 43 French firms learn about investment chances in Da Nang's Seminar to bring together sellers, buyers of ICT services 44 hi-tech park 22 Vietnamese products introduced at World Food Moscow 2017 45 Vietnamese retailers stay outside competition of single-price Vietnam-AV Show 2017 to be launched on Friday 45 chains 23 FINANCE FINANCE Reference exchange 13/SEP/2017 INTELLASIA| VNA rate up by 4 VND The State Bank of Vietnam set its reference VND/USD exchange rate at 22,438 VND/USD on September 14, up by 4 VND from September 13. With the current +/- 3 percent VND/USD trading band, the ceiling exchange rate is 23,110 VND per USD and the floor rate is 21,766 VND per USD. Major commercial banks continued keeping their rates stable. Vietcombank offered 22,690 VND (buying) and 22,760 VND (selling), per USD, unchanged from the end of last week.

Intellasia Tel: +844 2213 2244 No. 21, lane 173/63/17, Ngoc Ha Ward, Ba Dinh Dist, Hanoi Fax: +844 3759 2034 © All Rights Reserved Email: [email protected] Websites: www.Intellasia.Net www.TriTueAChau.com Vietnam finance & business 13 September BIDV also kept its rates unchanged, offering 22,690 VND (buying) and 22,760 VND (selling), per USD. Techcombank retained its buying rate at 22,680 VND and its selling rate at 22,770 VND, per USD, unchanged for days. http://en.vietnamplus.vn/reference-exchange-rate-up-by-4-vnd/117792.vnp

Domestic gold prices 13/SEP/2017 INTELLASIA| VNS fall sharply Gold prices slumped in the Vietnamese market on Tuesday morning. On the Hanoi market, selling price of one tael, or 1.205 ounces, of State-owned SJC's gold declined by VND190,000 (US$8.3) to VND36.75 million. On the buying side, the price of each tael also fell VND160,000, trading at VND36.53 million. In the southern cities of HCM and Can Tho and central Da Nang City, one tael of SJC's gold declined VND250,000 during selling, trading at VND36.73 million. Meanwhile, one tael was being bought at VND36.53 million. Bao Tin Minh Chau Gold Jewellery Company and Doji Gold and Jewellery Corpora- tion (DOJI) listed their selling prices at VND36.68 million and VND36.70 million, respectively. Buying rates of their gold were listed at VND36.62 million and VND36.60 million, respectively. On the Asian market, gold is trading at some $1,325 per ounce, equivalent to VND36.36 million per tael. FINANCE On global gold trading website Kitco.com, the price of gold slipped 1.2 per cent per ounce to end at $1,330.24 per ounce, the largest drop since July 3. Last Friday, global gold price hit a yearly peak of $1,357.54 per ounce. Thus, the price of one tael of gold in Vietnam is some VND410,000 higher than that on the world market. Global gold prices declined due to an upward trend in the dollar rate following an up- tick in risk appetite fuelled by relief that North Korea did not test-fire missiles or conduct nuclear tests over the weekend as some had feared, Reuters reported. Assets traded primarily in dollars, such as gold, are very sensitive to currency fluctu- ations. An increase in the dollar rate will lead to gold becoming more expensive compared with other currencies and the demand for gold also decreases, the website said. Meanwhile, the worst-case scenario due to Hurricane Irma's impact, the most power- ful hurricane ever recorded in the Atlantic, looked to have been avoided, easing con- cerns of investors about the negative impact of the storm on the US economy. http://bizhub.vn/markets/domestic-gold-prices-fall-sharply_288828.html

PM urges lower 13/SEP/2017 INTELLASIA| VNS interest rates, taxes The government has instructed corresponding administrative authorities to aim for a stable 0.5 per cent decrease in lending interest rates from now until the end of 2017, while keeping taxes, fees and other charges unchanged, in order to propel the current disbursement rate in public spending and boost businesses' productivity. Under Resolution 84/NQ-CP issued last week, prime minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc signed the request for the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) to take the initiative in monitoring the money supply and general monetary policy to suit the actuality of the country's macroeconomic flows based on inflation rates and the money market. At present, the PM has asked the SBV to strive for both a 0.5 per cent interest rate reduction and a 21 to 22 per cent annual credit growth rate for 2017. Simultaneously, the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI), Ministry of Finance (MoF), and other central and local departments or agencies will shift their focus to accelerating the disbursement rates for public investment, as stated in Resolution 70/NQ- CP. If these changes can be implemented, the country should be looking at a much better fourth quarter result for 2017, including the annual goal of 6.7 per cent GDP growth. Additionally, all taxes, fees and charges should remain unchanged in 2017 to encourage exports and production, in the hope of achieving economic growth consistent with the domestic market. In the last four months of 2017, increases in the disbursement of public spending on projects, including from official development assistance and the State budget, should play a significant role in helping economic sectors reach their year-on-year growth goals of 3.05 per cent for the agriculture sector, 7.91 for industrial production, and 7.19 per cent for tourism and services.

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In the first eight months of 2017, the MoF has reported a total of VND137 trillion (US$6.1 billion) in State budget disbursement for public projects, amounting to 38.4 per cent of the yearly plan for public investment as approved by the National Assem- bly, in comparison with 2016's 39 per cent over the same period. On the other hand, the money and credit market has been stable, with credit rates marking a year-on-year increase of 10.06 per cent as of the end of August. As the SBV is in charge of keeping lending rates low to encourage borrowing from businesses and other economic sectors, the MoF must take the lead in implementing support policies to monitor the State budget, guarding against misspending, promoting saving across all sectors and strictly following the government's regulations on financial and budget management. The MoF has in turn asked local authorities to help reduce business related costs, and analyse the impact of an increase in value added tax on the general economy. The government also requested the MPI and the MoF to work with the Ministry of Transport on mobilising investment towards strategic public traffic infrastructure FINANCE projects, helping speed up disbursement on the North to South Vietnam highway project, as well as the national railway construction project and the Long Thanh airport project in HCM City. Phuc also required the SBV to increase monitoring, inspection and dealing with any breaches in the credit sector, especially when it comes to the financial branch's system security. http://bizhub.vn/news/pm-urges-lower-interest-rates-taxes-stable_288844.html

Interest rates, if 13/SEP/2017 INTELLASIA| DTCK applicable, will fall by The policy to raise outstanding loans in 2017 to 20-22 percent by the prime minister is 0.5pct per annum only: a good condition for banks to boost lending in the last months of the year. expert But to achieve this target, interest rates will have to be more competitive, which experts say that it is difficult to be implemented at the present time, especially when the government also requires the banking sector to further reduce lending rates by 0.5%. The reality shows that the credit growth target in 2017 at 20-22 percent following the request of the prime minister, instead of the 18 percent as planned before is a "hot" issue now. While bankers are thrilled, especially banks that have run out of credit room since the middle of this year as they have more room to boost lending in the coming peak business season, experts say there should not push up the outstanding credit because it will negatively affect inflation, rather than economic growth. "High credit does not necessarily put pressure on interest rate reduction. On the other hand, if we are not careful, it will lead to revenue unbalance. Bank liquidity needs to be paid attention to, especially in the remaining months of this year", one expert acknowledged. HSBC Vietnam CEO Pham Hong Hai said once the credit room is loosened, banks will have additional room to lend, so lending rates will have to be more competitive. In other words, short-term interest rates need to be adjusted down. Only then can banks win the credit market share. However, also as per Hai, it is likely that lending rates from now till the end of the year will be stable and are difficult to decrease compared with the current moment, especially for short-term loans because deposit rates of banks are still on the upward trend. Hai said medium and long-term interest rates can decrease in the near future when the ratio of short-term capital for medium and long-term loan is reduced from 50 percent to 40 percent at the beginning of 2019, instead of early 2018. "Even so, medium and long-term interest rates are unlikely to fall sharply, only about 0.5 percent per annum" Hai said. Huynh Buu Son, a finance and banking expert, also said that in the current context, when the input interest rates of banks have to compete with other investment channels (real estate, securities, etc.), lending rates are difficult to fall deeply. "As the input cost of banks is difficult to decrease, maintaining the current lending

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rates has already been a great effort of banks as well as management agencies", said Son. To raise the credit room of the banking sector by 2-4 percent in this year, as per Son, is not necessarily worrisome but there needs to take into account the economy's capital absorption and the tolerance of businesses about interest rates. "At present, although lending rates have decreased over the last period, they still remain the barrier for businesses having demand for loans. Besides businesses that are successful in expanding their operations, many businesses have had to narrow their production and business scope because of high interest expenses. Moreover, not all businesses can access to bank capital, especially small and medium businesses", Son said. On the business side, Nguyen Thi Mai Thanh, Chair cum CEO of the Refrigeration Electrical Engineering JSC (REE) said that lending rates should further decrease compared to the current level so that businesses can boldly borrow to invest and expand production because as per Thanh, to be able to get a loan with reasonable interest rates, FINANCE profits will improve, businesses will grow more efficiently and then banks will no longer worry about rising bad debts. "Therefore, credit target increases but interest rates are difficult to reduce, then the ability of capital absorption of businesses is also difficult to grow strongly", said Thanh. As per the assessment made by Ngo Dang Khoa, Country manager of Foreign Ex- change Services and Capital Market at HSBC Vietnam, when credit grows 22%, about 600 trillion dong will be injected into the economy. However, the problem is which sector will this capital source flow into to ensure the limitation of bad debt risk. "The average lending rate of Vietnamese businesses in the past three years is about six percent per year, much higher than the average rate of regional countries, such as Chi- na at just 3.1 percent per annum. High input costs are one of the main reasons to reduce the competitiveness of domestic goods", Khoa said.

HSBC: Vietnam is 13/SEP/2017 INTELLASIA| NDH likely to reach credit At the regular press conference of the government in August 2017, the minister-Head growth target of 21pct of the government Office Mai Tien Dung said that, as of August, the credit grew by more than 10%. The prime minister urged to carry out solutions to obtain credit growth of 21 percent in 2017. In the report on Vietnam's economic outlook in September 2017, HSBC assessed that Vietnam can easily complete the credit growth target set by the prime minister. "The sudden cut in interest rates of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) in July clearly showed that the government of Vietnam plans to achieve GDP growth target of 6.7 percent in 2017 through credit channel. The spending of the government has been carefully mon- itored as public debts are rising and almost reaching the limit set by the government (65 percent of GDP). In addition, SBV's survey right after the interest rate cut showed that the credit growth in 2017 was estimated to reach only 16.3%, lower than SBV's initial plan of 18%", stated HSBC's report. According to HSBC, this does not mean that the credit growth has slowed down. In fact, the credit growth of Vietnam has constantly risen in the last few years. In the first half of 2017, credit recorded the highest growth in the past six years. HSBC forecasted that the growth of credit will continue to rise in the fourth quarter of 2017 and easily surpass the 18.3 percent recorded in 2016. Assuming that the credit growth in the remaining time of the year is still similar to the growth in 2016, by the year end, the credit growth will reach 19.3%. Meanwhile, the interest rate cut of SBV in July 2017 will also help promote the credit growth and help the government easily achieve the new credit growth goal of 21%. However, HSBC noted that the fast credit growth may create new risks to the banking sector, especially if the new loans are located to the inefficient industries. In addition, recent reports of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (WB) all stated that state-owned enterprises are currently absorbing unequal credit in the econ-

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omy of Vietnam compared to small and medium enterprises. However, HSBC said that the credit growth in Vietnam is showing positive signs. From the beginning of the year, trade, transport and telecommunications sectors have been major contributors to credit growth, being a factor boosting the competitiveness of higher productivity industries. Moreover, the government in the recent time has issued new measures to help VAMC make easier purchases of secured assets in case enterprises fall into insolvency, increasing VAMC's power to seize the assets lost from bad debts.

HSBC: Credit 13/SEP/2017 INTELLASIA| THE SAIGON TIMES misallocation While the government is seeking to boost credit growth, HSBC Bank has voiced con- dampens GDP growth cerns over likely adverse impacts on economic growth due to the misallocation of credit among economic sectors. Both the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (WB) have noted in

FINANCE recent studies that State-owned enterprises (SOEs) are absorbing a disproportionate amount of credit in the economy at the expense of small and medium enterprises. In Hanoi, for instance, a majority of loans still go to the State corporate sector. An em- pirical study from the IMF also shows that SOEs borrow at lower interest rates than private firms, enabling weak SOEs to access bank funding to avoid shrinking their bal- ance sheets. Meanwhile, a WB survey of Vietnamese businesses showed that only 29 percent of small enterprises, which have one to 20 employees each, have an active credit line, with SOEs and large domestic companies taking the lion's share of credit in the market. The data thus suggests that high credit growth alone is not enough to lift Vietnam's economic growth. The misallocation of credit and crowding out of private investments may weigh on gross domestic product (GDP) growth and increase the risk of future non-performing loans (NPLs), if left unchecked, HSBC said in a macro economic report released on September 11. In addition, the decline of the NPL ratio in recent years somewhat belies the true level of problematic loans in the economy. Part of the reduction in NPLs is due to transfers to the Vietnam Asset Management Company (VAMC), where the underlying credit risks of such loans have not been fully eliminated. Ongoing SOE equalisation and reforms also remain crucial to leveling the playing field for credit access, as it could help divert credit away from supporting weak SOEs and to helping boost private sector investments. This is an area where there has been growing momentum as non-state investments have recently caught up to State investments in percentage of total investments in the economy, HSBC said in the report. HSBC predicted this year's credit growth rate at 19.3%, assuming credit growth for the remainder of the year remains exactly in line with last year's pace. Top government officials are calling for an increase in the credit growth target from 18 percent to 21 percent in hopes of reaching the government's 6.7 percent GDP target for all of 2017. The economy grew just 5.7 percent in the first half, and in light of already high public debt, Vietnamese officials are signaling that they aim to achieve higher growth via the credit expansion. For now, there has been no official announcement that the credit growth target has been increased. It is worth noting, however, that rapid credit growth may create new risks for the banking sector, especially if new credit is placed in less productive industries. For instance, real estate related sectors still appear to be contributing the most to total credit growth, despite their declining contribution in recent months, HSBC said. The country's real estate sector, which sank after a bubble period in 2006-2008, was one of the primary reasons for a rise in NPLs and the banking sector crisis in 2011. http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/56081/HSBC-Credit-misallocation-dampens-GDP- growth.html

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Foreign capital 13/SEP/2017 INTELLASIA| NDH welcomed to join In early 2017, the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) identified that the settlement of weak weak bank's credit institutions (CIs) including the three zero-dong banks, Dong A Commercial restructuring Joint Stock Bank (DongA Bank), Saigon Thuong Tin Commercial Joint Stock Bank (Sa- combank) would be focused in 2017. So far, the plan to restructure four out of these five banks has not yet been approved (except for Sacombank). However, an official of SBV said that an Asian bank is con- ducting Due diligence into OceanBank; while GPBank and Construction Bank (CB) are also being eyed by some foreign investors. Meanwhile, the new policies are showing special encouragements of the government for foreign capital to participate in the restructuring of weak banks. Although there are various difficulties, weak banks have recorded certain recovery after being acquired by SBV or put under special control. OceanBank continued to be profitable in 2015, 2016 and the first half of 2017. DongA Bank recorded mobilisation

FINANCE growth of over 700 billion dong in the first six months of 2017, in which the outstanding loans to individual customers rose by nearly 400 billion dong and the recovered bad debts were 1.260 trillion dong. The attractiveness of weak banks, firstly, is due to the potential of Vietnam's banking sector with a good growing economy, large population and the low level of banking service usage. The barriers to enter the sector remain fairly huge and the establishment of a bank in Vietnam currently still faces numerous difficulties, even 100 percent foreign-owned capital. Meanwhile, the foreign ownership rate of the banking sector is still kept at 30%. However, the prime minister may decide to loosen the ownership room of foreign investors to 100 percent for weak banks. The trade-off between the costs to settle weak banks and the license to operate in the banking sector is a worthy point for foreign investors to consider. In addition, weak banks also have other inter- esting values. In terms of network, the acquisition of a bank will help investor to reduce the time and resources in building and expanding the network of branches and transaction offices. In fact, the expansion of banking network is currently very difficult due to Circular 21/ 2013/TT-NHNN. This can be proved through a small comparison. If a foreign investor acquires DongA Bank, they will immediately have a wide-spread network across 55 provinces and central cities with 223 branches and transaction offices. However, if that investor establishes a wholly-owned foreign bank in Vietnam, it takes at least 12 years to obtain the above number of branches (assuming that the bank is immediately and continuously profitable and its charter capital meets the prescribed requirement). In terms of existing customers, by acquiring a bank, foreign investor will immediately have a certain number of existing customers instead of starting from zero. For example, by the end of December 2016, DongA Bank had over seven million individual customers, equivalent to nearly one tenth of Vietnam's population. With this number of customers, if the cross-selling of products is performed well, the profits will be very huge and the costs will be much lower compared to developing new group of customers. Weak banks' asset quality is said to be greater than audited because the value of equity of weak banks announced by independent auditors is surely based on prudent princi- ples. Under the Vietnamese accounting standards, many fixed assets (mostly office buildings) are not priced according to market prices. The debts are also currently pro- visioned at the highest level, while in fact, the provision costs will be much lower if the projects or completion of secured asset documents are injected with a small amount of capital. In addition, the brand value, human resources and operational processes are also the valuable assets that must be accumulated in a long time. The solution to allow foreign capital to join the restructuring of weak banks has been encouraged for a long time but it has not been implemented, due to two major barriers in bad debt settlement and negotiation of price. Since the reasons that caused banks to fall into weak situation are all related to asset quality, the core of weak bank's settlement is just about dealing with bad debts. For the negotiation of the price to sell and

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buy weak banks, it is difficult to reach an agreement with the buyers as bankers always expect high selling price. The failure of the deal between GPBank and UOB is an example. However, these above barriers have been removed. After acquiring weak banks, the right to set the price now belongs to SBV. When se- lecting a partner to acquire a weak bank, SBV would probably place greater attention on the ability to successfully restructure these banks rather than concern about the selling price. Moreover, the selection performed by SBV will help avoid the case when the acquired bank continues to be used for backyards operations such as the case of CB. The bad debt settlement is expected to be speeded up after the issuance of Resolution 42/2017/QH14. This resolution approves legal support for the handling of a huge volume of assets secured for the bad debts; removes difficulties and obstacles in debt trading of the Vietnam Asset Management Company (VAMC); and at the same time allows banks to flexibly allocated accrued interests and the difference when trading bad debts, helping ensure that bank's annual business results are not negative. FINANCE In addition, the draft law amending and supplementing some articles of the Law on Credit Institutions 2010 also provides many supportive measures in the case when weak banks transfer all shares and contributed capital. Accordingly, SBV allows these banks to provision for risks based on the difference in revenues and expenses in the annual business results; to sell bad debts that have no secured assets or secured assets are being seized and bad debts that have no valid documents to VAMC and the Debt and Asset Trading Company (DATC). In addition, these banks are allowed to allocate the losses due to the sale of bad debts, receivables and investments within in 10 years; and are exempt from taxes and charges on property transfer in the process of merger, consolidation and transfer of all shares and contributed capital. With these attractive preferences of the government, the opportunities for foreign investors to wholly own a Vietnamese bank by joining the restructuring of weak banks has never been as wide as it is today. For such a deal, if it is successful, it will surely bring tremendous benefits to the banking sector, to the economy and to foreign investors.

Banking sector to 13/SEP/2017 INTELLASIA| NDH maintain positive Good credit growth, strongly recovering banks' business results and support policies trend in Q2/2017: for bad debt settlement and restructuring will be the driving force to maintain the pos- VCBS itive trend of the banking industry. *Credit growth target of 21-22 percent can be feasible As of August 21, 2017, credit growth reached 10.06%, 9.01 percent higher than the same period of 2016. Meanwhile, credit growth in 2016 was 18.71 percent and credit at the end of the year was usually better than the beginning of the year, so the target of 21-22 percent in this year can be feasible. At the end of Q2/2017, some banks used 70 percent of the State Bank's target limit and may apply for an increase in limit. In case the State Bank approves the proposed limit of these banks, the credit growth of the entire year is highly likely to be further strengthened, especially in the context of favourable macro economy and the government's preferential interest rate policy for businesses. Contrarily, these banks have additional motivation to structure loans, select good customers and improve asset quality. *The pressure on deposit rate increase may come back but the State Bank has plenty of room to regulate The pressure to raise deposit rates has slightly decreased in Q2/2017. However, if the State Bank does not have the expected supportive move, along with the fact that credit growth has been further accelerated in the second half of the year, the pressure to raise deposit rates will quickly return. This poses potential risk for banks as lending rates are difficult to rise, especially after SBV's operating rate cut, which negatively affects banks' NIM or liquidity in the inter- bank market may reverse, adversely affecting long-term bond investments that took

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place vibrantly in the first half of the year. VCBS assessed that the State Bank still has room to support low interest rates, which may consider such options as loosening Circular 06's regulations as having been mentioned in the draft, or boosting foreign currency purchase, etc. State-owned commercial banks may boost their capital mobilisation to improve CAR in the second half of the year. With the low CAR that is close to the State Bank's minimum requirement, state-owned commercial banks are increasingly limiting the credit growth room. Accordingly, VCBS expects these banks to be more aggressive in raising capital in the second half of 2017 and early 2018. Accordingly, banks may limit cash dividends, Tier 2 capital mobilisation by issuing bonds or promoting separate issuance. The government has issued Decision No.1058/QD-Ttg on approval of "The restructuring of credit institutions associated with the settlement of non-performing loans (NPLs) for 2016-2020 period", requiring the State Bank, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Planning and Investment to allocate resources to increase the chartered FINANCE capital for state-owned banks holding more than 50 percent of chartered capital by 2020 to meet capital adequacy standards under Basel II. This will provide more support to banks, allowing them to retain dividends to increase capital, support them in their decision to approve separate issuance deals. However, in the short-term, banks are more likely to use bond issuance method to meet urgent capital demand. And so, the pressure on capital cost for state-owned commercial banks still continue in the near future. In spite of not suffering from high capital increase pressure like the group of sate- owned commercial banks, the group of joint stock commercial banks still has prepara- tion moves, as reflected in the capital increase plans submitted to the general meeting of shareholders. *The bad debt settlement process is expected to improve after new policies are issued VCBS expects the bad debt settlement process to be strengthened in the second half of 2017 when support policies are approved by the National Assembly. New policies may have positive impact by improving the debt recovery by collateral, boosting VAMC's involvement, supporting new cash flow and liquidity of the debt trading market thanks to the involvement of new investors. Accordingly, if the aforementioned policies are effectively implemented, the bad debt trading market is expected to be put into operation soon, accelerating the bad debt settlement and stimulating the capital flow to the economy. Of course, this should go hand in hand with the active coordination and support from both policy and related management authorities.

Why is Dang Thanh 13/SEP/2017 INTELLASIA| VIETNAMNET Binh being charged Before becoming the first chair of VAMC, Dang Thanh Binh was deputy Governor of with 'lack of the State Bank, responsible for taking care of bad debt and credit institution restructur- responsibility'? ing. Binh spent 25 years working in the finance & banking sector. In 1994, he was the director of the Finance Institutions Department. In 1997, he took office as director of the Le- gal Department. In 2002, he was appointed to the post of director of the Department of Personnel and Organisation, and three years later, he took office as deputy governor of the State Bank. He assumed the position of head of the preparatory committee for the establishment of the Vietnam Asset Management Company (VAMC). The company was officially set up in 2013 after the central bank's decision, and Binh became the first chair of the company in July 2013. Nguyen Quoc Hung, deputy CEO of Agribank, was appointed to the post of deputy chair of VAMC. The post of general director of VAMC was assigned to Nguyen Huu Thuy, deputy director of the Foreign Credit Agency Inspection Department, an arm of the Inspection Agency under SBV.

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However, the post of VAMC's chair was transferred to Hung after one year after Binh retired. At that time, the leadership at the State Bank included Governor Nguyen Van Binh and six deputy Governors Nguyen Dong Tien, Nguyen Toan Thang, Le Minh Hung, Dao Minh Tu, Nguyen Phuoc Thanh and Nguyen Thi Hong. A report shows that by the end of June 2014, the company had purchased VND51 trillion worth of debt from credit institutions. The figure had increased twofold by the end of the year to VND123 trillion in principal, of which VND4 trillion had been settled. By the end of March 2017, after three years of operation, VAMC had purchased 25,631 bad debt items from 42 credit institutions in Vietnam with the total original outstanding loans of VND282.124 trillion at the price of VND245.672 trillion and with payments in special bonds. As the two banks have finished settling bad debts sold to VAMC, the number of credit institutions holding special bonds is 40. Most of the debts VAMC bought from banks are ones mortgaged by properties or as- FINANCE sets created from loans. Of these, real estate assets are worth VND268.872 trillion, accounting for 62 percent, while assets in land are valued at VND31.308 trillion, or 7.2 percent; valuable papers VND12.902 trillion, 3 percent; and machinery & equipment VND22.097 trillion, or 5.1 percent. Binh has been prosecuted on the charge of lacking responsibility, causing serious con- sequences in a case related to Pham Cong Danh, former chair of the Construction Bank. http://english.vietnamnet.vn/fms/business/186127/why-is-dang-thanh-binh-being- charged-with--lack-of-responsibility--.html

Outlook on 13/SEP/2017 INTELLASIA| VNS Techcombank revised Standard & Poor's (S&P) has revised its rating outlook on Vietnam Technological and to stable Commercial Joint Stock Bank (Techcombank) to stable from negative. It also affirmed the bank's 'BB-' long-term and 'B' short-term issuer credit ratings. "We revised the rating outlook on Techcombank to stable because we believe the bank can sustain its above-average profitability over the next 12 months despite competition," S&P said. According to S&P, Techcombank has adopted a balanced approach toward profit en- hancement and risk-taking. The bank is pursuing a retail-focused strategy, particularly among the mass affluent, while downsizing its chunky corporate exposures to enhance yields. It is also considering downsizing its real estate and construction exposure to de- risk its loan book. Techcombank's asset quality has been improving since 2013, reflecting the bank's efforts to clean up its legacy weak loans through increased provisions and rehabilitation and recovery of bad loans. Techcombank's gross non-performing loan ratio declined to 1.6 per cent in 2016, from a peak of 3.7 per cent in 2013. Its restructured loans also fell to 0.5 per cent from 9.7 per cent over the same period. "We expect Techcombank to maintain its capitalisation and liquidity over the next 12 months," S&P said, adding that the bank has a history of retaining profits with zero dividend payout to preserve capital to support growth. Techcombank's stable deposit base is backed by a sizable contribution from the retail segment, which underpins its funding profile. The stable outlook on Techcombank reflects S&P's view that the bank will maintain its status as a leading privately owned bank in Vietnam over the next 12 months with an entrenched retail franchise and above-average profitability. However, S&P noted, it may lower the rating if Techcombank's business position suf- fers due to strategic missteps or if its pre-diversification risk-adjusted capital ratio falls below 3 per cent. http://bizhub.vn/banking/outlook-on-techcombank-revised-to-stable_288840.html

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Vietinbank becomes 13/SEP/2017 INTELLASIA| VNS Diners Club card Vietnam Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Industry and Trade (VietinBank) on Mon- issuer day signed a partnership agreement to become the only issuer of Diners Club (DC) cards in Vietnam. The agreement helps to expand Vietinbank's existing acquisition relationship with Diners Club International Ltd, a business unit and wholly-owned subsidiary of Dis- cover Financial Services and a part of the Discover Global Network. "Our partnership with Diners Club International will help us accelerate our product mix in the market and provide more choice to our customers in Vietnam. Diners Club will allow us to boost our credit card line-up and enhance our services to our clients by providing global access and solutions that make business and international travel more efficient," said Phung Duy Khuong, director of retail banking at Vietinbank. The DC cards have the same issuance process and method of use as international credit and debit cards. In addition to the functions of international credit cards, such as inter-

FINANCE net payments, point of sale payments, withdrawals and accessing transaction history, cardholders also enjoy many discounts across more than 30 countries at restaurants, hotels and shopping centres. Diners Club also offers VietinBank and its cardholders, particularly international and business travellers from Vietnam, a comprehensive new suite of products and features such as access to more than 800 airport lounges and worldwide acceptance. "Vietnam is a fast-growing market that is critically important for Diners Club Interna- tional to further expand our presence in Asia," said Joe Hurley, senior vice president and head of global business development for Discover. "We are excited to open up the vast Discover Global Network to Vietnamese travellers when they are using their VietinBank Diners Club card while abroad," Joe added. Currently, Diners Club International has over 26 million merchant acceptance locations and 1.9 million ATM and cash access locations across 185 countries and territories. Established in 1988, Vietinbank now provides a nationwide network of 155 branches scattered across 63 provinces and cities in Vietnam, as well as two branches in the Fed- eral Republic of Germany and one subsidiary bank in the Lao People's Democratic Re- public. http://bizhub.vn/banking/vietinbank-becomes-diners-club-card-issuer_288838.html

Joint Statement on 13/SEP/2017 INTELLASIA| VNA promoting startups in Member economies from the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) issued a Joint Apec issued Statement on promoting start-ups and micro, small and medium-sized enterprises at the Apec 2017 Start-ups Forum held in HCM City on September 12. President of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) Vu Tien Loc said the forum focused on discussing, sharing and proposing measures to develop economy in the region. This was also the first forum to talk about the startup ecosystem which is an important prerequisite to promote entrepreneurship and effectiveness of startup businesses, he said. The fact shows that small-and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) plays a "backbone" role in all global economic sectors, he said, adding that the establishment and engage- ment in the global value chains of millions of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) have been a driving force for the world's economic development. The Joint Statement issued at the forum provides recommendations for the most important elements of the startup ecosystem, including government support policies, innovations, and entrepreneurship education. It also mentions the development of startup support services, especially financial and consultative matters, as well as the building of a green supply chain and the performance of corporate social responsibility. The VCCI President noted that from 2017, the Apec Start-ups Forum will become an annual event to create opportunities for member economies to share experience and

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announce startup indicators in the region, in addition to proposing solutions and recommendations to promote startup activities and build an Apec startup network. The content of the Joint Statement will be brought for discussions at the upcoming Apec Small and Medium Enterprises ministerial Meeting (SMEMM) in HCM City on September 15, he added. MSMEs account for over 97 percent of all enterprises and employ over half of the workforce across Apec economies. MSMEs contribute significantly to economic growth, accounting for between 20 percent and 50 percent of GDP in most Apec economies. However, they account for only 35 percent or less of direct exports. Established in 1989, Apec comprises 21 economies, including Australia, Brunei, Cana- da, Chile, China, Hong Kong (China), Indonesia, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Malay- sia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Chinese Taipei, Thailand, the US, and Vietnam. http://en.vietnamplus.vn/joint-statement-on-promoting-startups-in-apec-issued/ 117777.vnp FINANCE

Apec forum looks 13/SEP/2017 INTELLASIA| VNA towards dynamic, The Apec 2017 Start-ups Forum was held in HCM City on September 12 to support mi- networked start-ups cro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) to innovate, integrate and access to community the global value chain right at their nascent business stage. Vo Tan Thanh, vice President of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), said Vietnam is evaluated as one of the most entrepreneurial countries in the world. The Vietnamese government aims to have at least one million effective bussinesses by 2020, he noted. The selection of HCM City as the venue of the Apec 2017 Start-ups Forum is reasonable since the southern economic hub is striving to build itself into a start-up urban centre with the establishment of 500,000 enterprises through 2020. Deputy minister of Science and Technology Tran Van Tung said the increasing number of new bussinesses which hit a record of more than 110,000 in 2016 is expected to create more job opportunities and social services. Besides quantity, equal attention should be paid to the quality and health of bussinesses so that more innovative start-up firms will be set up in the future, he said. He called on major groups such as Viettel, FPT and Truong Hai Auto Corporation to provide pragmatic support for start-ups in Vietnam. During the forum, participants discussed a wide range of topics such as innovative start-ups in the digital era, education and training on entrepreneurship, business services for start-ups, and acceleration of sustainable socio-economic growth. Through sharing experiences, ideas and tools to support start-ups, Apec member economies look to form a dynamic and networked Apec Start-ups Community. Initiatives raised at the event will be discussed to propose a Joint Statement on promoting start-ups and MSMEs to the upcoming Apec Small and Medium Enterprises ministerial Meeting (SMEMM) in the city on September 15. MSMEs account for over 97 percent of all enterprises and employ over half of the workforce across Apec economies. MSMEs contribute significantly to economic growth, accounting for between 20 percent and 50 percent of GDP in most Apec economies. However, they account for only 35 percent or less of direct exports. Established in 1989, Apec comprises 21 economies, including Australia, Brunei, Cana- da, Chile, China, Hong Kong (China), Indonesia, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Malay- sia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Chinese Taiwan, Thailand, the US, and Vietnam. http://en.vietnamplus.vn/apec-forum-loks-towards-dynamic-networked-startups- community/117749.vnp

More efforts needed to 13/SEP/2017 INTELLASIA| VNA enforce EU-Vietnam The European Union wants to ratify the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement in 2018 FTA and put it into force as soon as possible. This is the main theme of a seminar held in

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Brussels, Belgium recently. Vietnamese Ambassador to Belgium Vuong Thua Phong said amid changes in the world, all parties need to make greater efforts to realise the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement and to soon enforce the deal. According to EU chief negotiator Mauro Petriccione the ratification of trade agree- ments between the EU and partners is very crucial. Enterprises affirmed the importance of the agreement to win-win economic and trade cooperation. They agreed that the trade pact will aid not only Vietnamese firms but also companies and people of Europe. Along with technological transfer, Vietnam is expected to make a greater progress and participate in high value-added areas in order to ensure substantial growth. http://en.vietnamplus.vn/more-efforts-needed-to-enforce-euvietnam-fta/117788.vnp

State budget 13/SEP/2017 INTELLASIA| VNS

FINANCE collection up 13 per Total State budget collection in the first eight months of this year was estimated at cent VND762.8 trillion (US$33.4 billion), an increase of 12.8 per cent over the same period last year. The amount is equivalent to 63 per cent of the whole year's estimates, according to the Ministry of Finance. In the reviewed period, domestic collection reached VND603.6 trillion, up 10.7 per cent year-on-year, accounting for 61 per cent of the year's estimates. The ministry said budget revenues from crude oil exports, estimated at roughly VND29.97 trillion, met 78.3 per cent of estimates, up 11.3 per cent over the same period in 2016. Import-export activities contributed VND190.8 trillion to the State budget, an increase of 9.5 year-on-year and equaling 66.9 per cent of projected revenues. According to the ministry, total budget spending was VND793.5 trillion, up 7.8 per cent year-on-year, completing 57.1 per cent of the yearly target. Of the estimate, budget investment for development was VND137 trillion. Regular expenditures in eight months were estimated at VND585 trillion, equaling 65 per cent of the year's estimate, up 7.4 per cent over the same period last year. Debt payment and interest expenses during the period totalled VND68 trillion, meeting 68.9 per cent of annual target and increasing by 14.6 per cent year-on-year. http://bizhub.vn/news/state-budget-collection-up-13-per-cent_288826.html

Restructure the State 13/SEP/2017 INTELLASIA| VNS Budget to make it Truong Ba Tuan, deputy director general of the Institute for Strategic and Financial more efficient Policies under the Ministry of Finance (MoF), speaks to Vietnam News Agency on the MoF's proposal to restructure the national budget. What should be the focus of the Ministry of Finance in restructuring the State budget? Like many other countries, Vietnam has been facing fiscal risks, particularly mid-term and long-term risks due to overspending of State funds and skyrocketing public debt. From the experiences of many countries, a delay in consolidating the fiscal year and restructuring the State budget may cause much harm on the national economy. To restructure their state budgets, many foreign countries adopted comprehensive and synchronous measures to improve efficiency in using state funds while restructuring tax policies. They paid special attention to enhancing the role of potential taxes, including current tax liabilities and assets. Many foreign countries also adopted proactive measures to tighten their control on public debts and to monitor fiscal risk management. Can you elaborate on proposed tax changes in the budget restructuring? Vietnam aims to have a comprehensive plan in restructuring the State budget towards safe and sustainable public finances. The Politburo and National Assembly have adopted a number of solutions to restructuring the State budget, including State budget collection and public debt management. The GDP growth rate is falling short of the target, coupled with a cut in tariff barriers as Vietnam has signed many free trade deals. As a result, State budget collection in the

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future will be smaller than what has been projected during the development of the country's five year financial plan (2016-2020) and the mid-term investment plan (2016- 2020). That's why it has become urgent for us to adjust our State budget collection policies right now. Meanwhile, the pressure on financial resources for national development investment and the implementation of national targets on social security, wage reform and re- sponses to climate change and natural calamities has become a heavy pressure on State funds. However, in my opinion, the proposed revision of the five tax laws proposed by the MoF will have big impacts on restructuring State budge collection. Amendments to the five tax laws will make the structure of the State budget more solid while making the business investment environment more lucrative. More importantly, these changes conform to current international tax reforms. It has been reported that there have been many problems in implementing the Law on Value Added Tax. How should the law be changed? FINANCE As I mentioned above, to restructure our State budget, we need a national strategic plan, including measures to restructure State budget collection. Adding to that is our country's deep international integration and many international and regional countries have been slashing taxes, particularly personal income tax and enterprises' tax in order to attract investment capital, technology and labour. In tandem with these policies, many governments have adjusted their tax policies or been considering increasing their value added tax (VAT). In Europe, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development and in Asia, VAT was already adjusted in 2008 following the global economic crisis. Such a change was an effective tool to reduce the pressure on public debt. However, in our case, enterprise's income tax is low compared with those in the region. Meanwhile, personal income tax in Vietnam, in the last decade, has been adjusted downwards. So in my opinion, I support the government's proposal to increase VAT. This is a good way to make State budget collection more sustainable and it will help us harmonise all relevant objectives. Many people have complained that the proposal to increase VAT will harm consumption. How do you respond to that? All kinds of taxes, in one way or another, will have impacts on the economy. However, the impact levels will be different depending on the characteristics and the designs of each policy. Compared with income tax, VAT will be more effective and have less negative impacts on society's consumption. To reduce the burden for tax payers, particularly those who have low income, our current Law has exempted VAT on 25 groups of commodities and services and levied 5 per cent VAT on some essential commodities, including drugs/medicine and services for agriculture production. http://english.vietnamnet.vn/fms/business/186241/restructure-the-state-budget-to- make-it-more-efficient.html

VN to complete 13/SEP/2017 INTELLASIA| VNS statistical indicators The General Statistical Office (GSO) is in the process of finalising a set of statistical in- set for sustainable dicators for Vietnam's sustainable development goals (SDGs), the office said. development The set of SDGs indicators is expected to be issued within this month. According to the GSO, the set of SDGs indicator will include indicators for the monitoring and evaluation of the National Action Plan for implementation of the 2030 Agenda on SDGs, indicators of the global monitoring framework, issued by the United Nations' Department of Economic and Social Affairs, which Vietnam will compile for the purpose of evaluating the implementation of the SDGs. In order to assess the feasibility of the indicators of the global monitoring framework, the GSO and international experts have worked with relevant ministries and agencies

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to review the feasibility of indicators directly managed by competent ministries and branches. Among the 232 statistical indicators of the global monitoring framework, 129 indicators are feasible, of which 93 indicators have database while 36 indicators do not. Eight indicators are not applicable in Vietnam while 95 indicators have not been yet applicable in Vietnam, including 38 indicators that have not been defined methodolog- ically and others need to be further studied and adjusted. GSO said the feasible indicators are found mostly in the fields of education, health, labour, war invalids and social insurance. The unfeasible indicators are seen in the fields of natural resources and environment, agriculture and rural areas. The office also studies Vietnam's statistical indicators for sustainable development (SDGs), such as the national statistical indicators system, the provincial-level, district- level and commune-level statistical indicators system. To monitor and evaluate the implementation of the SDGs, and to provide evidence of the authenticity of this process, GSO recommended that ministries and agencies im- FINANCE prove their capabilities and perfect their organisation, and at the same time, boost the collection of data for monitoring and evaluating the implementation of SDGs. http://bizhub.vn/news/vn-to-complete-statistical-indicators-set-for-sustainable- development_288825.html

Vietnam's government 13/SEP/2017 INTELLASIA| VNEXPRESS steps in to suspend The proposed increases would make it harder for the country to hit its ambitious eco- sweeping new tax nomic growth target this year. hikes The Vietnamese government has instructed the Ministry of Finance to put on hold a series of proposed tax hikes to make life easier for local businesses and the growth target more achievable. The ministry is planning to increase a number of different taxes and fees, including raising value-added tax (VAT) from 10 percent to 12 percent. It insists that raising indirect taxes such as VAT is essential and an international norm, according to the ministry. The higher taxes were designed to make up for an inevitable shortfall that would occur when Vietnam fulfils its commitments to free trade agree- ments and removes import tariffs, and will also help tackle rising public debt, the ministry said. However, the government has said that in order for the country to reach its economic growth target of 6.7 percent this year, a goal that some experts say is unrealistic, taxes should remain unchanged for now. Vietnam has been working hard to realise its growth target. The central bank in July reduced its lending interest rate by 0.25 percent to 6.25 percent for the first time in three years to boost economic growth, as many Vietnamese companies still rely heavily on bank loans. In early June, the government put forward fresh plans to tap more oil and gas, despite warnings from lawmakers of becoming over-reliant on the mining industry to fuel growth. The Ministry of Industry and Trade will increase the amount of crude oil exploited this year by 8 percent to 13.28 million tonnes, and gas by 10.4 percent to 10.6 billion cubic meters. This will help add around 0.25 percent to economic growth. But outsiders view Vietnam's economic prospects a bit differently. In July, HSBC revised down its previous forecast of 6.4 percent, saying the country's economy is likely to grow by only 6 percent this year. Earlier, the Asian Development Bank raised its forecast for Vietnam's economic growth this year from 6.3 percent to 6.5 percent, while the World Bank reversed its pre- diction from 6.5 percent to 6.3 percent, and the International Monetary Fund also low- ered its forecast to 6.3 percent. https://e.vnexpress.net/news/business/vietnam-s-government-steps-in-to-suspend- sweeping-new-tax-hikes-3640356.html

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Minister: Law on 13/SEP/2017 INTELLASIA| THE SAIGON TIMES special economic Investors in Vietnam's special economic zones would enjoy far greater incentives than zones will offer strong those offered by similar zones in many other countries if the draft law on special ad- boon for investors ministrative and economic zones is approved, said minister of Planning and Invest- ment Nguyen Chi Dung. Speaking at the 14th meeting of the National Assembly Standing Committee in Hanoi on September 11, Dung said that as of 2016, there were about 4,500 special economic zones in 140 countries around the world. Therefore, Vietnam's special economic zones must provide a much stronger boon to grab the attention of foreign investors. Dung said factors that make special economic zones more appealing to investors include simple administrative procedures, fee and tax incentives, and favourable business environment and strategic locations. According to the draft law, domestic special economic zones will receive support from the government to develop basic infrastructure and high-quality human resources,

FINANCE while State management will be streamlined. The draft law abolishes a number of conditional business sectors and simplifies business registration procedures. Enterprises investing in priority sectors like business support, research and development, education and healthcare will be able to hold land use rights for up to 99 years. Apartments in housing or resort projects can be transferred to, donated to, acquired by or inherited by foreign organisations and individuals. The draft law also proposes raising duty-free limits at duty-free shops in such zones, offering visa exemptions for foreigners staying in Vietnam within 60 days, issuing e- visas for foreigners and offering lower special consumption tax to casinos. Minister Dung said Vietnam's economic growth has slowed down in recent years, with the weak competitiveness and unattractive business environment. Therefore, the government will have to take drastic measures and offer greater incentives to attract more investment into special economic zones. http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/56083/Minister-Law-on-special-economic-zones- will-offer-strong-boon-for-investors.html

Special Economic 13/SEP/2017 INTELLASIA| VNS Zones may have single The National Assembly Standing Committee opened their 14th session on Monday, leader with discussion centred on the draft Law on Special Administrative-Economic Units, which will be submitted to the National Assembly (NA) in October. NA vice Chair Uong Chu Lu stressed that the law will cover all three of the country's special administrative-economic zones Van Do (Quang Ninh Province), Bac Van Phong (Khanh Hoa Province) and Phu Quoc (Kien Giang Province). The minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung said the goal of the draft is to create a legal framework for the establishment, development and management of the zones. The governments of these three zones, according to the draft, will be established differently than other local governments, consisting of people's committees and people's councils. The head of the economic zone will have the authority to govern all economic and administrative activities within their jurisdiction. The heads will be appointed by the prime minister, and still will carry out duties tasked by the government, ministries, and ministry-level agencies. The move comes as the government wants to showcases the "difference and unique- ness" of special economic zones. However, a second proposal suggested that the chief of the special zone should be a "representative of the provincial government in the special economic-administrative zone." NA vice Chair Luu suggested that both of these two approaches (out of three options) should be debated by the NA in the near future. Luu also asked for further research to craft separate policies for each special economic

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zone to suit their conditions. On the application of foreign laws in contracts with foreign parties, most NA Standing Committee members approved of an article in the draft which allows investors to decide with the organisation or individual headquartered or residing in the special zone on whether another country's law would be followed. The committee called for more clarity on the roles of other State agencies including ar- my, police, tax, customs, and insurance agencies with the draft law not their sole reference point, as other existing national laws will also be followed. "It is important to assess the impact on the local population as they are at risk of losing their land and at risk of being caught up with social evils when we choose to legalise casinos," Nguyen Thuy Anh, Chair of the NA Social Affairs Committee, said. Vo Trong Viet, Chair of the NA National Defence and Security Committee, opined that the organisation of administrative agencies in the special zones must be "tight in terms of national defence and security, but open in terms of trade." The NA Standing Committee urged the necessity of the Law on Special Economic-Ad- FINANCE ministrative Zone to institutionalise the Party's plans for the country's development. http://bizhub.vn/news/special-economic-zones-may-have-single-leader_288824.html

Tuna exports to 13/SEP/2017 INTELLASIA| VOV emerging markets on Tuna exports rose by 22 percent to $328 million in the first seven months against the the rise same period last year, according to latest statistics from the general Department of Vi- etnam Customs. Exports of most tuna products enjoy growth, particularly canned tuna saw the highest growth rate of 32.3%, trailed by fresh, frozen and dried tuna products (up 14%). Tuna products have been exported to more than 70 countries in the world. The US, EU, Israel, Asean, Japan, Mexico, Canada and China were major importers of Vietnam tuna products in seven months, accounting for 88 percent of its total export value. Most export markets obtained growth in July. For instance, tuna exports to the US inched up 8 percent to $20 million while exports to the EU increased by 23 percent to $69 million against the same period last year. It's noteworthy that exports to Italy rose sharply in July after seeing constant decline since early this year. Exports to the market in the period skyrocketed 166 percent to $1.2 million. Israel surpassed Asean and Japan to become the third largest consumer of Vietnam tuna in the first 7 months with $28 million, up 155%. In recent times, as tuna consumption demands in traditional markets like the US, EU and Japan seem to come to a grinding halt, Vietnam tuna exporters shift to emerging markets in the Middle East, especially Israel. The Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers forecast that tuna exports to the US and EU will increase slowly late this year while exports to new markets will witness strong rise. http://english.vov.vn/trade/tuna-exports-to-emerging-markets-on-the-rise- 358296.vov

Exports to Algeria up 13/SEP/2017 INTELLASIA| VNA 26pct Exports to Algeria earned Vietnam 227,86 million USD this year to early September, up 26 percent on a yearly basis, according to the Vietnamese trade mission in the Afri- can country. Main export items include coffee beans with 38,667 tonnes and 84,32 million USD, down 17 percent in volume but up 8 percent in value; phones and phone parts with 58.77 million USD, down 3 percent; and rice with 29,311 tonnes and 11.53 million USD, both up four fold. Other items posting increases in revenues are pepper, steel products, seafood, computer, electronic goods and parts, machinery, equipment and tools. Algeria is the fourth largest market in Africa of Vietnamese goods, behind South Afri- ca, Ghana and Egypt. As Vietnam and Algeria mark the 55th year of their diplomatic relationship this year,

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the Vietnamese trade mission has organised a range of trade promotion activities including business seminars and fair attendance. The Ministry of Industry and Trade has also sent delegations to Algeria to discuss measures to increase bilateral ties. http://en.vietnamplus.vn/exports-to-algeria-up-26-percent/117758.vnp

Australia extends 13/SEP/2017 INTELLASIA| VNS VN's wind towers The Anti-Dumping Commission of Australia (ADC) has issued an announcement to investigation extend the deadline of publishing the Statement of Essential Facts (SEF) and the final report in the dumping investigation of wind towers imported from Vietnam. To further examine the role of various parties involved in the production and export of the goods to Australia as well as to verify the information that has been provided by interested parties, ADC has decided to extend the deadline to publish the SEF to No- vember 5, 2017.

FINANCE Interested parties are invited to make submissions in response to the SEF within 20 days of the SEF being placed on public record. A final report on the ADC's recommendations will be submitted to the parliamentary secretary no later than December 20, 2017. The secretary will make a decision within 30 days of receiving the report. Prior to this, ADC initiated an investigation into the alleged dumping of certain wind towers exported to Australia from Vietnam on June 8, 2017. The investigation follows an application lodged by Australian wind tower manufacturers Keppel Prince Engineering Pty Ltd and Ottoway Fabrication Pty Ltd The investigation examines transactions that took place from January 1, 2015 to De- cember 31, 2016, with ADC estimating a dumping margin of 15.7 per cent on Vietnam's wind towers. ADC plans to publish the SEF by September 26, 2017 and the final report by November 10, 2017. On August 7, 2017, ADC temporarily decided not to apply anti-dumping duties on wind towers imported from Vietnam. http://bizhub.vn/news/australia-extends-vns-wind-towers-investigation_288842.html

Australia-Vietnam 13/SEP/2017 INTELLASIA| VOV launch new The honourable senator Anne Ruston launched late last month a new Australia-Viet- Agriculture Strategy nam Agriculture Strategy during a visit to the city of Can Tho, the largest metropolitan area in the Mekong Delta region. The strategy outlined by Ms Ruston, the Australian Assistant minister for Agriculture and Water Resources, identifies economic, innovation and security priorities for both countries that offer the greatest returns and maximises common interests. Agriculture is a cornerstone of the bilateral partnership between Vietnam and Austral- ia, covering trade, research, education, development cooperation, innovation and investment, said Ms Ruston in her speech introducing the new strategy. "We have built the foundations of our agriculture relationship through over 40 years of collaboration in the agriculture, fisheries, forestry and water sectors." "It is a foundation that provides us with great opportunities to expand and grow into the future. The Australia in Vietnam Agriculture Strategy recognises the value of growing our bilateral trade in agriculture and building on the investments both nations are already making." Australian Ambassador to Vietnam, H.E. Craig Chittick, supported the development of the strategy. "As Ambassador, I am constantly impressed with the breadth and depth of our work in agriculture, from projects that help smallholder farmers establish a business supply- ing safe vegetables to supermarkets in Hanoi, to large Vietnamese companies using Australian technology to pioneer sustainable shrimp farming in Vietnam", said Am- bassador Chittick. "The Australia in Vietnam Agriculture Strategy sets out the strategic framework for

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our agricultural relationship across the two missions in Hanoi and HCM City, and covers all Australian government agencies in Vietnam" Food safety in the pork value chain Ambassador Chittick underscored that supporting the development of the pork value chain in Vietnam is one key aspect of the new strategy that refocuses the bilateral partnership between the two countries. Food safety is a high priority for citizens and the government. Foodborne diseases are not only a major public health problem but also present a barrier to smallholder Viet- namese farmers who wish to sell in high value domestic and export markets such as those in Australia. Pork is the most widely consumed meat in Vietnam, but along the pork value chain hazards are pervasive, costs of compliance are high, and enforcement of food safety laws and regulations capacity is weak. The new Australia-Vietnam PigRISK project envisions the improvement of the livelihoods of smallholder pig farmers in Vietnam concomitantly with the development of FINANCE food safety as a top priority in the pork value chain. The project will be managed by the International Livestock Research Institute in collaboration with Vietnamese partners and funded by the Australian Centre for Interna- tional Agricultural Research. The project builds on strong national and international partnerships to address questions including: Is pork in Vietnam safe? What is the extent of the risk? How significant are the risks? How best can these risks be managed? Using market-based approaches, PigRISK will conduct extensive risk assessment and capacity building in food safety and identify and generate evidence on food safety risks and impacts. PigRISK affirms the high impact of pork borne diseaseconsidering that 10-15 out of 100 consumers are affected annually by food borne diseases. The project will identify crit- ical points for risk management interventions. The research findings will influence policy at the national level through the National Food Safety Working Group and the Food Safety Risk Assessment Taskforce and is in- tended to become one of the foremost groups working on food safety in Vietnam with high international recognition. Safe pork research will continue to receive financial support from Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research over the next five years, as well as policy support to improve food safety and market integration for other key agriculture commodities in addition to pork. http://english.vov.vn/economy/australiavietnam-launch-new-agriculture-strategy- 358300.vov

Coconut farming 13/SEP/2017 INTELLASIA| VNS languishing Exports of coconut-based products are sluggish due to challenges and difficulties facing the coconut processing industry and coconut cultivation, according to the Ben Tre Province Agricultural Promotion Centre. A study by the centre found that coconut farmers earn on average VND60-70 million per hectare annually, but this could increase to VND100-110 million if coconut is inter- cropped with cocoa, pomelo or shrimp farming. The central province of Binh Dinh is the third largest coconut growing area in the country behind the Mekong provinces of Ben Tre and Tra Vinh. Here, coconut farmers have benefitted from a steady rise in prices since 2015. Now dried coconuts sell for VND9,000 VND10,000 each while fresh coconut milk is sold for VND13,000 VND14,000 at groves. Nguyen An Diem, a former chair and CEO of the Binh Dinh-headquartered firm Pisi- co, said in Asian countries with developed coconut processing industries such as Sri Lanka and the Philippines, the trees offer high economic value because all segments of the industry, from farming to processing, have been modernised. Diem said coconut meat is exported from Vietnam to European countries where it is

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processed into ice cream, milk and chocolate, the fibre is sold to Japan for making automobile seat cushions, and shell dippers can be used to make activated carbon, which fetches millions of dong per kilogramme. The timber is used for making handicraft products, he said. Though coconut yields are high, the processing industry has not developed much, and thus Vietnam exports raw materials, which do not fetch high prices. Nguyen Dang Phu, deputy head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade-run Research Institute for Oil and Oil Plants, said one hectare in Vietnam produces 9,863 coconuts or 1.9 tonnes of copra per year, the highest in Asia. But its coconut export turnover is only worth a third to a fifth of other countries', he said. A coconut fetches VND8,000, but products made from it are valued at up to VND40,000, he said. No investment has been made in building coconut processing plants to manufacture high-value products, he added. FINANCE More investment needed To enhance the value of coconut-based products, authorities should have policies to mobilise investments in plants, Diem said. He said many enterprises want to invest in such plants, but hesitate because of the re- alisation they would face raw material shortages since coconut groves are small in size and scattered around the country. r oil to provide enough raw materials for processors. They said more investment is required for research into coconut strains and processing and agricultural promotion activities. The government should provide financial support to farmers for acquiring new strains and technologies, they said. Coconut cooperatives must be strengthened and alliances must be established in the farming and processing sectors, they said. Brand names must be developed for Vietnamese coconut and promoted, they added. http://bizhub.vn/news/coconut-farming-languishing_288820.html

Winter crops to span 13/SEP/2017 INTELLASIA| VNA 410,000 ha in northern Northern provinces aim to cultivate the upcoming winter crop on 410,000 hectares, up region 10,000 hectares from the same period last year. The cultivation is hoped to yield an average of 65-70 million VND (2,860 3,080 USD) per hectare, with total production value hitting up to 28 trillion VND (1.23 billion USD). Weather forecasts for the crop are favourable, with abundant water from reservoirs making up for limited rainfall. At a working session on the 2017 winter crop held by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development on September 11, Nguyen Hong Son, head of the Cultivation De- partment, urged northern localities to use all necessary measures to attain the production area targeted. Son said apart from maize as the major plant for kernels and byproducts, attention should also be paid to fruit and vegetables with high commercial value. The northern winter crop plays an important role in the agriculture sector in Vietnam. According to a report by the Cultivation Department, cultivation area of the crop last year shrunk compared from 2015, but returned higher revenue of 25 trillion VND (1.1 billion USD), an annual increase of 2.7 trillion VND (118.8 million USD). http://en.vietnamplus.vn/winter-crops-to-span-410000-ha-in-northern-region/ 117736.vnp

Automobile sales dips 13/SEP/2017 INTELLASIA| VNA 6pct in eight months Members of the Vietnam Automobile Manufacturers' Association (VAMA) sold more than 177,000 cars in the first eight months of the year, down 6 percent from the same time last year. Sales of tourist, commercial and specialised cars experienced respective year-on-year

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declines of 4 percent, 7 percent and 12 percent. Vietnamese car buyers preferred imported cars to locally assembled vehicles as the do- mestically built units in the reviewed time faced a drop of 11 percent to 126,984 whilst those purchased from foreign countries surged 10 percent to 50,053 cars. In August alone, automobile sales reached 22,099 cars. Local carmarker Truong Hai Automobile JSC (Thaco) led the market with 6,228 units, occupying 30 percent of the market share. Toyota Motor Vietnam was in the second with 5,794 cars, owning 27.9 percent of the market share, followed by Ford Vietnam, which sold 2,292 units. Automakers continued their big promotion to trigger car sales in August. Honda Viet- nam cut the prices of its Civic, Accord and CR-V models by nearly 200 million VND (8,800 USD). Thaco reduced tens of millions of VND for its Mazda, even for best sellers Kia Morning and Cerato. Meanwhile, Huyndai Thanh Cong offered discounts of 40-70 million VND (1,760- 3,080 USD), depending on versions. http://en.vietnamplus.vn/automobile-sales-dips-6-percent-in-eight-months/ 117768.vnp FINANCE

Airport service fees to 13/SEP/2017 INTELLASIA| VNS increase from October Airline passengers will have to pay more for tickets starting October 1 when the Min- istry of Transport starts applying increased airport service charges to cover investment costs of the airport system and raise service quality. However, the extent of the increase is not expected to be significant and airlines will still offer reduced price tickets. A representative of the low-budget airline Jetstar said the firm will adjust its ticket price in early October. Vietjet Air has also told its agents about the upcoming adjust- ment of passenger service charges and security fees. The airport charges and security screening fees are usually incorporated into the airfare. According to the transport ministry regulation issued in August, the take-off and land- ing charges will increase by 5 per cent from October 1, 2017. The airport service cost will be increased in four phases. In the first stage (from October 1 to December 31), charges applied at Group A and Group B airports will rise 7 per centto VND75,000 per head (about $2.75) and VND70,000 per passenger, respectively. Group C airports will maintain the current cost of VND60,000 per passenger. Group A includes airports which operate 24/7, such as Noi Bai, Da Nang, Tan Son Nhat, Cam Ranh, Cat Bi, Vinh, Can Tho, Phu Quoc, Lien Khuong, Phu Bai and Buon Ma Thuot. Group C contains airports serving poorer areas, including Con Dao, Dien Bien, Ca Mau and Rach Gia. The remainder are in Group B. In the second phase (from January 1, 2018 to March 31, 2018), the charges of Group A and B airports will rise to VND80,000 and VND75,000 per passenger, respectively. In the third phase (from April 1, 2018 to June 6, 2018), passengers in Group A and B airports will have to pay VND85,000 and VND75,000. In the final phase, Group A airports will be charged VND100,000 per head and Group BVND80,000. The regulation also increases charges for aviation security services to $2 per passenger from $1.5 for international flights as of October 1. The increase in security service will be applied in three stages. From October 1, 2017 to December 31, 2017, the new charge will be VND11,818 per person compared with the current price of VND9,090. The next period (from January 1, 2018 to March 31, 2018) will apply VND13,636 per passenger. The last from April on- wards, will charge VND18,181 for each flyer.

Quang Ninh's efforts 13/SEP/2017 INTELLASIA| VNA pay off in improving Unceasing efforts have helped Quang Ninh continue to rise in the ranking of provin- competitiveness cial competitiveness index (PCI), from the fifth place in 2014 to the third position in 2015 and the second place in 2016. The northern coastal province particularly recorded remarkable improvements in the sub-indices of entry costs for business startup, informal charge, transparent business

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environment, proactive and creative provincial leadership, and business support services. Chair of the provincial People's Committee Nguyen Duc Long affirmed that the province has made uninterrupted efforts over the past four years to improve its PCI ranking. Quang Ninh's position among the top five localities reflected the active involvement of the entire political system in the province. According to the chair, Quang Ninh has developed its own Department and District Competition Index (DDCI), which contributed to enhancing the competition capacity of local agencies and authorities and was applauded by the business community. Chair of Texhong group Hong Tianzhu said the group chose Quang Ninh for its investment as it received attention and timely support of the local authority, as seen through the rapid land clearance and technical infrastructure building. The group was also satisfied with the short duration of dealing with administrative procedures. In 2017, Quang Ninh attracted a series of tourism projects from major economic groups such as Sun Group, Vingroup and FLC, with total investment capital amounting to 100 FINANCE trillion VND. The province is accelerating the pace of several transport plans to create stronger momentum for economic activities, such as a highway connecting to the Hanoi-Hai Phong highway, the Van Don international airport and the Van Don special administrative-economic zone. Quang Ninh has emerged as a cradle of daring ideas and reform models, said Vu Tien Loc, Chair of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI). He cited as ex- amples the building of a public administrative centre to improve public services and the establishment of an independent investment promotion agency. The province has also been able to get the community and businesses involved in reform efforts by giv- ing them the power to assess the performance of management agencies and authorities through the DDCI. As early as 2015, Quang Ninh deployed the model "Business cafe" which sought to connect State management agencies and enterprises and provide a venue for interac- tion and open talks between authorities and business community. The model proved to be a success in bringing authorities and businesses closer and promote dialogue between the sides. The provincial authorities have also been holding quarterly discussions with the business community, while assigning People's Committees at lower levels to hold regular meetings with local enterprises in order to timely address their problems. Chair of the Quang Ninh Business Association Pham Van The said the meetings at local level give more firms the opportunities to come face-to-face with relevant agencies and have their difficulties heard. In order to maintain its high ranking in the national PCI, Quang Ninh is aware that there is more it has to do. The province can be considered a model of success thanks to its strong shift in the way of thinking, from managing to serving the business community and considering businesses as long-term cooperative partners in local economic development. Quang Ninh drew in more than 47 million USD in foreign direct investment (FDI) in the first six months of 2017. The sum came from two new and six existing projects, raising the number of valid FDI projects in the province to 58, with total registered capital worth over 2.3 billion USD. The gross regional domestic product (GRDP) of the province expanded by 9.6 percent in the first half of this year as compared with 9.2 percent in the same period last year. In the first quarter, the province's GRDP grew 8.3 percent while the figure recorded in the second quarter was 10.7 percent, the fastest pace since 2012. With the performance, Quang Ninh has been listed as one of the leading cities and provinces in the northern key economic region and nationwide as well. In order to reach the target of a 10 percent growth rate, the province will focus on dras- tically instructing the implementation of socio-economic development tasks and solutions set for 2017.

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Foreigners hail 13/SEP/2017 INTELLASIA| VNA business Many international delegates at the freshly-ended Apec Start-ups Forum held in HCM opportunities in City have said that there are a lot of business, trade and investment opportunities in Vietnam Vietnam. Professor, Dr Lou E. Pelton, North Texas University, the US, told Vietnam News Agen- cy's reporters on the sidelines of the forum that Vietnam offers an exceptional source of people with strong mind and strong will. The economic opportunities in Vietnam are so great that many foreign companies want to explore the market, he added. He said some of the most attractive industries in Vietnam have yet to be fully utilised, naming several fields that have fantastic opportunities to leverage such as medical tourism, technology-based innovation in data analytics, and craftsmanship. Director of Trade & Investment Facilitation of the Mekong Institution Madhurjya Ku- mar Dutta, who has almost eight years working in Vietnam, said what attracts foreign

FINANCE investors in the Southeast Asian country is infrastructure. "Vietnam has already developed the basic infrastructure for small-and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). And that is one of the questions for investors to come and put up bussinesses here", he said. He noted that the agro-based industry has a promising future in Vietnam since the country is well blessed with climate conditions, agriculture and support system. The Vietnamese government also supports the agro-based industry apart from other industries, he added. Director of the Asia-Pacific Foundation of Canada Vilupti Lok Barrineau suggested Vi- etnamese startups develop agri-tech projects since "Vietnam is a leader in agriculture in the region and food security is extremely important not only in this country but around the world." "Vietnam could play a leading role in driving agri-tech," she said, adding that she recognised a lot of opportunities for Canada to collaborate with Vietnam in this field. "Vietnam is very strong on the tech side and you have many brilliant students that are coming out of your fantastic universities and I think that on the engineering side any- thing to do with technology, Vietnam can really play a leading role," she said.

French firms learn 13/SEP/2017 INTELLASIA| VNA about investment Representatives from about 30 French enterprises participated in a seminar introduc- chances in Da Nang's ing investment opportunities in the hi-tech park in the central city of Da Nang held by hi-tech park the French Business Federation (MEDEF) in Paris on September 11. The event was part of the Da Nang Hi-Tech Park (DHTP) Management Board's investment promotion activities in Europe. At the seminar, director general of the board Phung Tan Viet informed the participants of the park's construction process and development plans. Participating businesses were also briefed on Da Nang's preferential policies and projects which need investment in the DHTP. With a total area of more than 1,100ha, the DHTP is one of Vietnam's three hi-tech parks, connecting industrial and economic zones in the key economic region in central Vietnam. The park welcomes enterprises to visit and invest in its projects, Viet added. Michel Jonqueres, President of the MEDEF's International Commission, said that Da Nang and the DHTP's clear administrative procedures are an advantage that encour- ages investment. He also expressed optimism about the two sides' cooperation opportunities, especially with Da Nang hosting the Apec Leaders' Week 2017 in November and drawing leaders of 21 Apec economies and thousands of official delegates and heads of the world's leading enterprises. At present, the DHTP has more than 300ha of land available for investment projects. In the first half of 2017, it attracted seven projects worth 158 million USD.

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Vietnamese retailers 13/SEP/2017 INTELLASIA| VIETNAMNET stay outside Hypermarkets, supermarkets and convenience stores are competing with single-price competition of single- chains which have been cementing their positions in Vietnam. price chains Daiso is one of the single-price Japanese chains in Vietnam. In South Korea, it sells small things for household use at the single price of 1,000 won, or VND20,000. At Daiso Vietnam, each product sells for VND40,000. Though only 30-40 percent of goods at Daiso Vietnam are from Japan, the chain still can attract a high number of Vietnamese customers. At Daiso, goods are imported from China and Taiwan, and Vietnam-made products are available as well. However, Vietnamese still go to Daiso when they need essential goods. When asked why she often goes to Daiso, though Vietnamese tend to turn their back to Chinese goods, Hoai Thuong, a housewife in Dong Da district, said the goods available there are diverse.

FINANCE "There are many items which cannot be found elsewhere in the market," she explained, adding that the price of VND40,000 per product is 'reasonable'. At Miniso, another single-price chain, nearly 100 percent of goods are reported as 'designed by Japanese and made in China'. Miniso is the brand founded by a Japanese de- signer and a Chinese manager. Thanks to the Japanese-Chinese cross-bred brand, the items are believed to have higher quality than Chinese products. Central Group, a conglomerate from Thailand, operates Komonoya, the single-price chain which competes directly with Daiso. The goods at the chain, located in Big C su- permarket chain, are all VND40,000. Of the thousands of items available there, many are from China. Many Vietnamese-owned single-price shops opened nearly 10 years ago offering VND5,000-10,000 per products. However, they were unsuccessful. The low price levels set by the shops could not attract customers, who did not think that they would be able to get good products with such modest money. The goods on display were mostly school supplies and souvenirs targeted by students aged 7-17. However, foreign owned single-price chains have thrived in Vietnam. With profes- sional branding, diverse products and original style, the chains have replaced Viet- namese owned shops. A representative of Daiso said 10 percent of products at the chain have value equal or higher than the selling prices, while 90 percent have cost prices lower than the quoted prices. This means that it takes a loss on 10 percent of products so as to make profit on the remaining 90 percent. http://english.vietnamnet.vn/fms/business/186056/vietnamese-retailers-stay-outside- competition-of-single-price-chains.html

Vietnamese 13/SEP/2017 INTELLASIA| VIETNAMNET businesses bet on Pham Nhat Vuong has kicked off an automobile manufacturing project Vinfast. Nguyen huge investment Duy Hung has successfully protected Bibica brand. Dang Van Thanh has poured more projects money into real estate. And Nguyen Quoc Cuong has acquired a series of housing projects. The strong rise of blue chips created a bullish stock market last week. The demand was high for shares of leading companies, while foreign investors made big purchases. Thy continued to buy more than sell by VND100 billion in the last trading session of the week after doing so in the 10 trading sessions before. VIC shares of Vingroup owned by Pham Nhat Vuong topped the list of shares investors hunted. In August, foreign investors' net purchases reached VND2.5 trillion, while the figure was VND14 trillion by the end of August. The strong demand from foreign investors helped the VN Index increase in the first seven months of year, while striving for a 800 point peak. Foreign investors have poured money into blue chips such as VIC, HPG of Tran Dinh Long's Hoa Phat Group, VNM of Mai Kieu Lien's Vinamilk, HSG of Le Phuoc Vu's Hoa Sen Group and CTD of Nguyen Ba Duong's Coteccons. The common characteristic of the businesses is that they are all moving ahead with ambitious plans.

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Vuong, president of a real estate group, who has succeeded with investments in retail, education and healthcare sectors, has set up Vinfast, an automobile manufacturing complex in Dinh Vu Cat Hai IZ in Hai Phong City. With Vinfast, which will use advanced technology and run with huge capital of $3.7 billion, the hope of having a 'Vi- etnamese automobile industry' has arisen again. Hoa Phat Group of Tran Dinh Long has attracted foreign investors with high and stable growth rates over dozens of years. Long is well known in the business community as a person who takes cautious steps. The 4 million tonne per annum Dung Quat steel complex helped Hoa Phat become the world's leading steel manufacturer. Foreign investors are also seeking opportunities to pour money into shares in food & beverage and FMCG (fast-moving consumer goods) such as Vinamilk, Sabeco and Habeco (brewer), Masan Consumer and Vinasoy. The fields are very promising in a market with high population. Nguyen Duy Hung, chair of SSI, has won the game of chess which lasted many years and has successfully protected Bibica brand. Hung's Pan Food has increased its own- FINANCE ership ratio in Bibica to over 50 percent, higher than the 44 percent held by South Ko- rean rival Lotte. US$1=VND22,000 http://english.vietnamnet.vn/fms/business/186051/vietnamese-businesses-bet-on- huge-investment-projects.html

Digital economy vital 13/SEP/2017 INTELLASIA| VNS for MSME growth The digital economy and e-commerce are opening up opportunities for micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) to connect to global value chains, allowing access to regional and global markets, experts said at a workshop held on Tuesday in HCM City. The challenge for MSMEs is to improve their capabilities and incorporate new strategies, skills and technologies to fully take advantage of the opportunities, participants at the workshop, organised by the US State Department, said. Jillian DeLuna, foreign affairs officer in the State Department's Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, said: "MSMEs face difficulties in advancing their operations through the digital economy such as difficulty in accessing the internet and broad- band, security and privacy, among others." The digital economy action plan endorsed by the MSMEs ministers in 2015 and a workshop in 2016 on developing best practices and recommendations to improve access to the digital economy are critically important efforts to the MSME working group, according to the official. "We hope today's workshop will increase Apec's MSME's policymaking knowledge and understanding on two issues: utilising the pool of information and fostering MS- ME's access to digital literacy," she said. Mark Walter, deputy chief of party for the US-Apec Technical Assistance to Advance Regional Integration, said: "We are working closely with the US government to provide technical assistance to the Apec Secretariat, upcoming host economies and a developing number of Apec economies. "Today's workshop welcomed three non-Apec and Asean members: Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar. We seek to brainstorm ways for economies to advance policies that contribute to improving accessibility to the digital economy," he said. The workshop discussed digital literacy in Apec, as well as case studies of successful initiatives that promote the development of locally relevant content, applications and services to ensure social and economic value of the digital economy to consumers and businesses across the region. It also discussed policies and strategies that enable the free flow of information across borders, and open and competitive market places, as well as key challenges and con- straints for MSMEs in implementing access to the digital economy. Speaking on the sidelines of the workshop, Brian Scarpelli, senior policy counsel for ACT The App Association, said: "Some of the challenges that MSMEs face are regula-

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tions which are not responsive to proven harms; in other words, attempts to regulate areas of the economies that are not yet developed. Regulations enacted by Apec members should be aligned with proven harms to consumers." "Localisation is another barrier, which prevents MSMEs from other areas of the Apec region from entering, and more importantly, stifles local growth of MSMEs," he told Vietnam News. Potential The digital economy and e-commerce are opening up great opportunities to MSMEs, as the internet has spawned many new businesses, creating wealth for a myriad of en- trepreneurs and technology experts and amateurs. But it has also caused digital disruptions of long-established business models, according to the Apec Policy Support Unit. Surveys show that MSMEs that use the internet grow at a faster rate than those that do not, according to the Support Unit. "It is estimated that B2B e-commerce sales will reach $6.7 trillion globally by 2020," according to a report from the GlobalWebIndex, a technology company that provides au- FINANCE dience profiling data to publishers, media agencies and marketers around the world. Likewise, "three in four internet users are now online using mobile, and, globally, there are 1 billion monthly online shoppers across GlobalWebIndex's 32 markets", the company said. According to figures released in 2015 from GlobalWebIndex, at least 27 per cent of internet users are making purchases via PCs as well as mobiles or tablets. "This is a huge potential market for MSMEs. We must remark that MSMEs account for over 90 per cent of all enterprises in every Apec economy and employ more than half of the workforce," the report said. The internet helps expands the market for MSME products, provides market intelli- gence, and improves efficiency, it said. The workshop, which was aimed at MSMEs, startups and policymakers, was held to foster e-commerce as a strategy to increase participation in regional and global markets, thus creating new jobs, economic growth and better quality of life. http://bizhub.vn/news/digital-economy-vital-for-msme-growth_288843.html

Foreign capital 13/SEP/2017 INTELLASIA| NGUOI LAO DONG strongly flows in The phenomenon that foreign investors invest heavily in the pharmaceutical industry pharmaceutical in several recent years is being noticed by observers. industry The survey conducted by Grant Thornton earlier this year showed that healthcare and pharmaceuticals continue to be among the top three industries that attract the largest foreign investment into Vietnam after food, beverages and retail. Foreign investors are increasing their presence in Vietnam through the acquisition of shares in leading pharmaceutical companies in the country. Some cult deals have recently completed such as the Abbott Group (the U.S) has held dominating right with the ownership rate of 51.69 percent stake in Domesco Medical Import Export Joint Stock Company. With the above mentioned capital, Abbott currently has three out of seven members of the Board of directors and three out of five members of the control board at Domesco. It is expected that foreign factor will continue to be expanded in this business when the State Capital Investment Corporation (SCIC) has had plan to withdraw the entire 34.71 percent stake at Domesco in 2017. It is expected that Abbott will not miss this opportunity to move to full control. Taisho, the pharmaceutical group that ranks in the group of top four in Japan, has become the major shareholder of Hau Giang Pharmaceutical with a 24.4 percent ownership rate. The suspicion about the possibility of foreign investors acquiring Hau Giang Pharma- cy was also set when in July, this company suddenly submitted to shareholders to approve the foreign ownership room loosening to 100%. At Traphaco Joint Stock Company, two foreign shareholders, Mekong Capital and Vi- etnam Holding, are coming to the final stages of the divestment when the moment to close fund is coming close.

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The change in investment plan of Mekong Capital and Vietnam Holding is considered as an opportunity for other foreign investors because Traphaco always has full room for foreign investors. The evidence is that a large pharmaceutical corporation of Korea agreed with a 35 percent higher price than Traphaco's share price on the stock market to own shares of the two aforementioned investors. Phan Huu Thang, former director of the Foreign Investment Agency under the Minis- try of Planning and Investment, director of the centre for Foreign Investment Studies, said that through the capital contribution channel, foreign investors access to the Viet- namese market faster because they do not have to apply for investment registration certificates, and do not have to carry out cumbersome procedures. Therefore, even when investing in this form at the time of high share prices and higher costs, it is still not wasteful because it is time savings and has profits to compensate soon. For the pharmaceutical industry, this is a wise move because under Vietnam's integra- FINANCE tion commitments, foreign pharmaceutical firms are not allowed to directly distribute drugs in the domestic market. Therefore, the dominating share ownership of pharmaceutical companies will be a dual strategy to both transfer production technology and distribute drugs to the Viet- namese market. As per pharmaceutical experts, when buying local factory or pharmaceutical company, multinational companies do not plan to own facilities but want to target at the market that the purchased company is holding. The trend of foreign capital flowing strongly into the pharmaceutical industry is seen as an opportunity for Vietnamese pharmaceutical businesses to enhance competitiveness and create motivation for the development of the national pharmaceutical industry. But, along with that opportunity, there is always the potential risk of losing the pharmaceutical market to foreign businesses, like the story that has occurred in the retail industry. Nguyen Huy Van, deputy general director of Traphaco, said this company has the strategy of focusing on traditional medicines and developing clean medicines in the country. Therefore, it has supplied 72 percent of materials for its own production needs. The remaining pharmaceuticals are purchased locally (20%) and imported (eight percent). Traphaco's material area of 36,000 hectares meeting GACP-WHO standard for 10 different kinds of herbs serving main product groups of businesses. This is a great advantage of Traphaco in the context that Vietnam has more than 4,000 species of plants and more than 1,000 species that can be used as medicine but 80 percent of domestic pharmaceutical demand must be imported now. Investment in local medicinal plantations will surely have to suffer from losses in the first place. That is not to mention, in many regions of medicinal plants, growers are ethnic minorities, so businesses that have to take much effort to guide them change practices in growing and taking care of medicinal plants. When businesses have foreign capital, if investors do not share the company's sustainable development strategy to go long distances but only want to focus on products that bring about immediate profits, then it is difficult to invest strongly in "made in Viet- nam" pharmaceuticals. Besides, in order to have Vietnamese medicines, there really needs to have the efforts of businesses to bring quality products to the market. Along with that is the policy so that medicines of clean origin in the country can be widely used in hospitals.

Solar panel industry 13/SEP/2017 INTELLASIA| VIETNAMNET sees growth First Solar has returned and other investors are coming to Vietnam with large-scale production plans in anticipation of domestic demand and export opportunities for solar panels thanks to preferential tariffs.

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A First Solar workshop in Dong Nam IZ in Cu Chi district in HCM City is busy again after six years of being idle. Dong Nam IZ's developer and HEPZA have confirmed that First Solar has re-started its project on manufacturing solar panels, with investment capital of $1.2 billion and designed capacity of 250 MW per annum. According to HEPZA, the representative of First Solar said the demand for solar panels worldwide has increased again. The products of the factory in Cu Chi district are to be exported and once it runs at full capacity, export value may reach $2 billion a year. First Solar is the largest solar cell manufacturing company in the US. It is the world's leader in making thin film solar cells, which currently accounts for about six percent of the global market. This is considered a major 'weapon' for First Solar to compete with Chinese rivals, which rely on old technology of polycrystalline silicon. The investors from China and Taiwan are the biggest investors in Vietnam in this field. Unlike First Solar, which chose to set up its factory in HCM City, Chinese and Taiwan- ese investors set up factories in the north. JA Solar Group, for example, is developing a project on making solar cells in Quang FINANCE Chau IZ in Bac Giang province with investment capital of $1 billion. The majority of the products to be churned out by the factory will be exported to the US. Also, in Bac Giang province, the solar panel factory of Trina Solar Vietnam Science & Technology, belonging to Chinese Trinasolar was set up in Van Trung IZ. This is the biggest solar panel factory in Vietnam with investment capital of $100 million and designed capacity of 1GW a year. Vina Solar recently signed a contract with Chinese GCL-SI and Trina Solar to develop solar panel manufacturing projects in Vietnam. GCL-SI said it would invest $32 million in the joint venture. According to Chung-Han Wu, R&D director of BOVIET of Chinese Boway Group, seven Chinese and two Taiwanese solar panel manufacturers have factories in Bac Giang province. A chain of manufacturing and assembling solar cells with eight licensed projects is taking shape in Bac Giang, making it the province with the largest solar panel manufacturing production scale, 5,200 MW per annum. http://www.vir.com.vn/solar-panel-industry-sees-growth.html

Italy offers grant to 13/SEP/2017 INTELLASIA| THE SAIGON TIMES help study Vietnam's The Italian government will offer gratis aid of 295,000 euros for Vietnam to study the railway infrastructure possibility of carrying out two railway infrastructure upgrade projects. upgrade Italian ambassador to Vietnam Cecilia Piccioni announced the grant at a meeting on railway cooperation promotion with deputy minister of Transport Nguyen Ngoc Dong in Hanoi on September 11. The diplomat said the amount is aimed to realise a memorandum of understanding on infrastructure and transport cooperation between the two countries signed in November last year. In specifics, Italy will grant 198,000 euros to conduct a study for upgrading the railway, and another 97,000 euros for a study on the railway system development and modern- isation project. The two projects will be implemented by the Italian Railway Corporation and Net En- gineering Co Ltd A representative of the Italian Railway Corporation said the study would pave the way for promoting full cooperation with Vietnam's railway sector in capital construction, operation and maintenance. Meanwhile, Net Engineering affirmed that it will propose technical and financial solutions suitable to the current conditions of Viet- nam's railways. Deputy minister Nguyen Ngoc Dong at the meeting briefed the Italian guests on Viet- nam's 2017 Railway Law which will take effect from July next year, under which the State will be responsible for railway infrastructure development while enterprises are encouraged to provide railway transport services. Italian contractors should learn about the new railway law to carry out the projects successfully, Dong added.

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Dong also said his ministry is responsible for finalising a pre-feasibility study for the North-South express railway project to send to the government and the National As- sembly in 2018. Vietnam's railway sector is also supported by financial institutions such as the World Bank (WB), the Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica) and the Korea Interna- tional Cooperation Agency (KOICA) to enhance its capacity and build new railroads. In related news, Vietnam and Brazil on September 11 inked a maritime transport agreement on the occasion of the Vietnam visit by Brazilian minister of Foreign Rela- tions Aloysio Nunes Ferreira from September 9 to 12. The agreement is aimed at supporting cargo transport, thus promoting trade cooperation between the two countries. http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/56084/Italy-offers-grant-to-help-study-Viet- nam%E2%80%99s-railway-infrastructure-upgrade.html

13/SEP/2017 INTELLASIA| VNS

FINANCE Ben Tre to up industrial investment The southern province of Ben Tre will promote investment to provide value addition to key industrial products and increase the capacity of industrial production. This is being done according to the provincial development plan of the industrial sector in the period between 2016 and 2020, and upto 2030. Phan Thi Han, deputy director of Ben Tre Province's Department of Industry and Trade, said that after one year of implementing the plan, the province had attracted VND580 billion to 33 investment projects in the key and priority industrial products. Thanks to those projects, the production value of the key industrial products increased significantly and accounted for higher percentage in the total provincial production value. In addition to this, the projects have developed new industrial products and clean energy, while many projects on producing wind power and solar power were scheduled to be developed in the future. To gain high efficiency in the plan, Ben Tre has focussed on investment in the infrastructure development of industrial parks and complex, the creation of favourable conditions for inviting investment and the increase of industrial production capacity. The province will also invite investment in key and prioritised industrial products, and products that have high added value and use modern technology to reduce envi- ronmental pollution. Ben Tre has identified two key industries, including the seafood processing industry and the coconut processing industry. Other seven prioritised industrial products include the support industry for the garment industry; production of livestock feed; chemical industry; mechanical industry; electronics, telecommunications, information technology and software industry; livestock processing industry; and the industry producing new energy. Truong Duy Hai, vice chair of the People's Committee of Ben Tre, said that to promote industrial development and contribute to economic growth and restructure, the province will adjust preferential policies for investment to infrastructure in industrial zones and complexes. It will also amend support policies for start-up businesses to mobilise economic sectors to participate in industrial development. The province will lure investment in agricultural and fishery processing projects, especially shrimp processing, livestock processing, support industry and clean energy, he said. The province will continue to improve the investment environment, enhance dialogue and meet business to remove difficulties in production and business, he said. It will reform further administrative procedures and update regulations relating to production and business. At the same time, Ben Tre will improve quality and efficiency in the activities of trade promotion, market forecast, support for enterprises in using e-commerce and market expansion. Ben Tre has currently had two industrial parks, Giao Long and An Hiep, with 47

Intellasia 13 September 2017 28 / 45 BUSINESS development private economic Tra Vinh willsupport finance& business Vietnam 13September, 2017 Business Briefs BUSINESS Intellasia BIZ NEWS development_288841.html * VietnamElectricityConstruction Corporat of thein2017. thethird or per quarter tcconduct issuance plans fourth annum. MSN willa maximumtenor comewithbonds of trillion worth of bondstoincrease itscapita Corpor Masan Group issued by * SecuritiesTechcombank Company has deci 13/SEP/2017 INTELLASIA| http://bizhub.vn/news/tra-vinh- 499 enterprises due toineffective operation. establishe period, theprovince In the2012-16 andmediumenterprises. are small businesshousehol individual 60,000 more than trillion to its State budget the 2011-15period, the provincial private Son ThiAnhHong, deputy secretary ofthe Pa courage individual households to line public services, especially onlinedeclarationtax andpayment.action This willen- have implementedthe electronicDepartments one-stop-shop andprovided on- model Chien andCauQuan Dinh AnEconomicZoneandtheCo of infrastructurein thehas investedThe province efficiency increase the human re and develop production technology The province will have solutionsin place competition. fair prises' ability to enter the marketand the able investment andbusiness environments Tra Vinh has built many solutions toachiev period. 2011-15 contribution inthe its to theprovincialSt million) Under the plan, economic the private sector period. the 2011-20 private economicsectorforfor theplan 2025, accordingtotheprovincialdevelopment The province strives tohave 4,000 privat said. have officials 2030, This southern provincewill support the de 13/SEP/2017 INTELLASIA|VNS http://bizhub.vn/news/ben-tre-to-u parks. industrial Long called forinvestment intheir infrastructure.Phuoc Thanh Tanand TheyareGiao Hoa, plan the completed has It total. projects in to increase itsregisteredto capital toVND299 * Tien Thanh Service andTrading Company lion shares. 73.8 mil- over to volume outstanding total its raising market, City HCM onthe shares * Vietnam-Italy Steel Company jor shareholders holdingacombined percent stake. 34.38 tween twoenterprises, theadditi the After shares toswap with Company (SBT) Tay Ninh Cong * Thanh erating electricity in the of2018. third quarter oftheprojectisexpectedimplementation to billion incredits. VND810 cluding over tions foraVND1.2trillion investment in industrial parks. ofStatemanagement. . TraVinhcurrentlyhasmore 1,900enterprisesand than of Bien Hoa Sugar Company (BHS) for the merging be- forthe merging (BHS) Company Sugar Hoa of Bien ate budget during the 2016-20 pe the2016-20 during ate budget ation (MSN). Earlier, ilpasseda toissue (MSN). plan ation VND3 (VIS) has got approval totradeanextra 24.6 million will-support-pri convert to private enterprises. toprivate convert p-industrial-investment_288847.html LocatedinBinhThuan Province, the e and private firms by2020 firms by 7,500 Thuan NhienPhong windpower project,in- economic sector contributed over VND3.625 s to develop three other industrialparksand promotion of the private economic sector'sprivate promotion ofthe to helptheprivate economicsector renew 24 monthsandafixed coupon of10percent onal share issue, the company has two ma- velopment of 15,000 private enterprises by enterprises private of15,000 velopment l, fundprojects and restructure debts, The billion. 01theamount, TTH wants tosell e targets, including the creation of favour- last 12 months and the plant will start gen- willstart last 12monthsandtheplant willcontribute for enterprises, the improvement ofenter- ion (VNE) will seek seek will ion (VNE) d 1,192 newbusinesses d 1,192 ded tobuyVND1 trillion worthof bonds (TTH) plans toissue16.9 million shares plans (TTH) rty Committee of Tra Vinh, said thatin said ofTra Vinh, rty Committee sources, improve labour capacity and sources, improvelabourcapacity ds. However, some 98 per cent of them them of cent per 98 some However, ds. has issuedan addi vate-economic- riod, 3.3 times higher than VND12 trillion(US$533 VND12 13 September 2017 29 / 45 29/ 2017 13 September shareholder sugges- tional303.8 million but alsodissolved but 13 September BUSINESS Vietnam finance& business Vietnam day winning streak day winning VN Indexbreaks 7- market back up Bank stocksliftthe Intellasia http://bizhub.vn/markets markets. thetwo in traded being million) (US$196 trillion VND4.45 combined a worth Liquidity improved slightly compared to M points. 103.72 On the Hanoi StockExchange, the HNX-Index future.market inthe the business have optimistic still stocks, estate the previous rallies,Vinamilk, VinG suchas investor atSaigon Securities Nguyen TheMinh,headof Also accordingto an newsbusiness outlook fromthepositive re partly market would money intheand the vi its maintained Co Securities BIDV stocks, Though sayingthemarket rally was mainly Construction (ROS), DHG Pharmaceutical (DHG) and brewer Sabeco (SAB). However, somebig firmsth into still sank (MSN). Holdings (BVH), FPT Corp(FPT), Mobile World Group (MWG) and Masan Group the market, among them Hoa PhatGroup Blue chips inother sectors, (EIB),rose0.95per Eximbank (VPB) and and 1.49cent, respectively. percent Smalle (CTG)andVietcombank (VCB),Vietinbank BI ket volume, with6.4million shares changedhands. growth. Thebank's gainer witha2.45percent thebiggest was (MBB) Bank Military value. gained all and assets) value by market Banks werethemainsupportonTuesday. Th slumped. onthesouthern exch liquidity ue and led themarketas 18 upturnLarge-cap stocks ending flat. The overall marketcondition wasoptimistic, over801 pointsFriday. lastpeak of 0.47 index pe dropped benchmark points. The On the Exchange,the Stock Indexwasup0.31per HCM VN cent toclose at 799.94 experts' pred recovered following stocks Shares rebounded on the twostockexchanges on Tuesday after many heavyweight 13/SEP/2017 INTELLASIA|VNS pany willalsopay a sue 3.9 million shares topay a share divide 13 million shares toexisting shareholders clined strongly after th upto80 the country,drove themain index According tothestockmarket news website 797.47. dragging rallies, recent after active came The stockmarket broke its seven-day winni 13/SEP/2017 INTELLASIA| THE SAIGON TIMES UPCoM, on September6and September respectively. market the shareon a VND38,000 and VND33,100 shares ofDongAnh Chain & Freewheel (DFC) Company The stockclosed at VN raised around government * HanoiCity's Son CementCompany or(SCn, a16.4 percent stake,fromnow toOctober 12. * StateCapitanvestmentorporanonThe aregi Securities Capital Company. dividend ofVND1,000 per share fo e lunchbreak given the highsellingpressure. /bank-stocks-lift-the-ma such as steel, retail, insuranc steel, retail, such as Co, major stocks whichhaveproppedup the market in ange (VN30) advanced,only nineange (VN30) while ictions ofapositive market outlook. cent and 1.24 per cent, respectively. the VN Indexdown3.73 the VN at aI-for-1ratio e red, such as Vinamilk (VNM), FLCFaros as Vinamilk red, such e outlooks and thiswillcontinue supporting (HPG), HoaSen (HSG),Group BaoViet r banks, such as Vietr banks, such 5 points in the morning. However, it it de- inthe 5 points morning. However, ew that any correction would be short term ew thatanycorrection wouldbeshort nd at a 100-for-30 ratio for 2016. for2016. The com- ratio nd at a 100-for-30 d in the attractive discounted price range. price discounted the attractive d in onday, with a total of onday, atotal with ng streak on Septembeng streakon driven by a small number of large-cap large-cap of number small by a driven roup, Masan Group,aswellmanyreal roup, Masan at vietstock.vn, SAB, aleadingbreweryin SAB, at vietstock.vn, turn to fundamental stocks supported by fundamental stockssupported turn to of thetop30largest shares bymarket val- analysis and consultancy for individual consultancy analysis and shares also sharessecond came interms ofmar- e BigFour(includingfourlargestbanks with 158 with 158 stocks rising, fallingand87 98 DV (BID)alsorose0.93per cent, 0.54per D129 billion from the sale of3.6 million the saleof3.6 from D129 billion r cent on Monday after hitting a 10-year tere to e over 3.2 millionshares of Sai also increased 0.81 per cent to end at rket-back-up_288846.html foi unlisted public enterprises, or r 2016 on OctoberZfi,saidViet 2016 r e and finance alsosupported VNblO,OOOeach and is- nam Prosperity Bank nam Prosperity 13 September 2017 30 / 45 30/ 2017 13 September 195.4 million shares million 195.4 points, or 0.47%, at at points, or0.47%, r 11assellersbe- 13 September BUSINESS Vietnam finance& business Vietnam lowers stakeinMWG Mekong Enterprise II Intellasia strong enoughtoprop up the entire mark Stocks backedby positive informationwo as the VN Index ha days the following Bao Viet Securities Company, gested thatthe numberofsellerswas smal af ways today. the retreated Though market Saigon-Hanoi Bank Se per sharevolume with of2.1 millionshares. ashare.Meanwhile 1.28 percent atVND7,700 Among thebank stocks, SHBtooktheleadby caps lostground. large 0.99%, vers points, or HNX-Index slid1.03 The per VND7,330 share. traded stock with17.7milli Smallsharply. stocksalsoplunged Property firmactively FLCagain was themost Citybourse. HCM foreig total inthe resulting deals, through Foreigners boughtoverthree millionMSNsh sion withmatching volume http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/56076/VN further. a number oflarge-cap stocks. Securities Companynoted BIDV expected to correct in the nextfewdays, thebrokerage commented. MWG.html http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/56085/ is active in the Vietnamese market, focusing on unlisted private companies. of capital $18. total Launched in2002 with Global Frontier Fund LLC. soldThe Genesis byMWG Emerging Mark Limited FocusBalancedKB Vietnam and Fund Early thismonth, Aquila SPC Ltd, Wareha bill VND328.5 raised have II Ltd each. MekongCapital, VND109,500 at th lastFriday,whenthe ing 0.9percentversus the Septem market, MWGclosed the local On Fund, said thenotice. and 275,000 shares of FPTCorporation (FPT Norges Bank Industriesand Amersham Limited have also transferred around 74,000 percent stake. Fund. Ithasreduced itsholdingfrom11milli HoldingLimited and100, shares toVietnam Ltd, one millionsharestoWareham Group has shares sold MWG to agroup of investor AccordingVietnam Securinotice ofthe toa erator to other investors, cuttingitsstake tolessthan 3%. (MWG) aftertransferringGroup three million Mekonghas reducedit Enterprise IILtd 13/SEP/2017 INTELLASIA| THE SAIGON TIMES the at close, a stoodatVND53,500 but up MSN, a consumer goods producer, shot upto a 0. with ended still giant the but dairy cost carrier VJCclosedinthered. VNM bo fi construction including large caps share, Aside fromSAB and BHN, another brewery curities Company predicted the VN Index would move side- move would Index VN the predicted Company curities ion fromthetransaction. on shares changing hands,lo of1.86millionshares. Given market volatility, the Given market volatility, meanwhile, saidselling pressurewould keep rising in market turnover was dismal as cash just flowed into d advanced for three weeksthree inarow. for d advanced 47 percent loss at VND148,200 per share. 47 percent lossat VND148,200 Mekong-Enterprise-II s ownership atMobileWorldInvestment et. Meanwhile, medium et. Meanwhile,medium n net purchasesof17.2millionshares onthe slight 0.56 percent slight 0.56percent agai rm ROS, electronicsretailer MWGandlow- uld theyare continue inchingupbut not m Group Ltd, IDRIS Ltd, Vietnam HoldingLtd, Vietnam Group Ltd, IDRIS m 5 million shares, Mek l and investor sentiment remained stable. unced back slightly fromthe intraday low shares hadbeensoldto MekongEnterprise Index-breaks-7-day ets Investment Company and Frontaura and Investment Company ets ties Depository, Mekong Enterprise II Ltd Ltd EnterpriseII Mekong Depository, ties Ltd, 356,700 shares to IDRIS Ltd, 640,000 640,000 Ltd, Ltd, shares toIDRIS 356,700 s, including 903,300 sh s, including903,300 000 sharestoKBVi 000 ter a long rising streak, lowturnover sug- ) toLloydGeorgeIndianOcean Master that hit a hit limit theof upper that VND91,900 , ACB declined 2.1 percent at VND27,500 percentat VND27,500 , ACBdeclined2.1 ber 11 session at VND111,500 a share, ris- ber sessionatVND111,500 11 pershare price ofVND56,900 ceiling the on shares toeightmillionshares, or a2.6 ares valued at VND161.7 billion via put- billionvia atVND161.7 ares valued liquidity with 5.6 million traded but fell fell tradedbut with5.6million liquidity shares attheelectronicsretail chainop- us last Friday at 102.89 points as most us pointsasmost last Fridayat 102.89 e operatorof the fund, is expected to acquired a total of 936,000 shares of shares of936,000 total a acquired sing nearly 3.2percent at index isprojected todrop -lowers-stake-in- etnam FocusBalanced -winning-streak.html ong Enterprise IILtd 13 September 2017 31 / 45 31/ 2017 13 September nst the previous ses- and small stocksare ares to Aquila SPC Aquila ares to 13 September BUSINESS of APT attack Vietnam athighrisk finance& business Vietnam region launched for MekongSub- AgriTech accelerator too high North-South toll fees Intellasia hancing thecompetitiveness, inclusiveness, important initiative, asentrepreneurshipis an andtechnology"MATCh key toen- are nam. businesswith new,scalable models nesses Itis aimed at innovative early stage agrite dustry players, showcase their solutions, andaccess markets andfunding. startups inagricult support Agriculture Technol The Mekong The MATCh: all". nutritious foodfor the Mekongregion's agricultur A new agritechaccelerator willharnessen ince ofLang Son to theMekongDelta provin If drivers oftrucks of 18t 13/SEP/2017 INTELLASIA| THE SAIGON TIMES http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/56074/Vi software. suspected to download users computer vised Hackers maysendemailsattached withmalicio was also anAPTattack. year last inJuly Airlines Vietnam air carrier flag the national hitting The cyber attack especially MicrosoftOffice ware, alsorequiredagenciesandenterpri VNCERT If computers arefoundtobe infected, they names and websiteaddresses suspectedofAPTinfection. servers suspectedofspreadingTh thevirus. and enterprisesagencies to VNCERT asked Vietnam. serversoutside via systems mation from detection andmake illegal breaks into computers tostealdata destroy and infor- The malwareisdangerous asitmaycause seve tack on important information systemsin VNCERT vicechair Nguyen KhacLinhsaidth large. looming is that (APT) threat persistent advanced apossible measures tocopewith thecountrytotake and enterprisesacross The Vietnam Computer Emergency Response 13/SEP/2017 INTELLASIA| THE SAIGON TIMES culture startups in The Mekong Agriculture TechnologyChalleng 13/SEP/2017 INTELLASIA| VNECONOMIC TIMES http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/560 pass if they VND940,000 In addition, driversonNational Highwa million, depending ontypes ofvehicle. toVND4.5 VND865,000 from feeranging toll havetopayatotal theywill 1A, Highway tothe if tr According drivers directorate, thes or quarterly.Assuch, annually lected st fees. Worse toll high tively making lifemore difficult fo A slew ofbuild-operat Highway14 intheCentral Highlands. cross-countrthe 29 tollgatesare locatedon The data ofthedirectorate for Roads of new data revealed onSeptember11. each, (US$211) million ofVND4.8 and atotal 1A pay Highway tollgates on National Mekong Sub-region. e-transfer (BOT) road tollgates (BOT) road tollgates e-transfer through five tollgates in total alongthisstretch. tollgates intotal through five onnes or 40-foot semi-trailers travel from the northernprov- travel from or 40-footsemi-trailers onnes ure to develop theirproducts, network and learnfromin- r trucking companies,as they are obliged topay prohibi- ill, they havetoroad pay al industry into a leading global supplier of "safe and supplier of leadingglobal into a al industry , and fill cybersecurity gaps. 82/North-South-toll Vietnam under the transportministry shows y 14 will have to pay a maximum y 14willhavetopay of a maximum avel fromLang Son to trepreneurship and technologytotransform Vietnamthroughmalware distribution. etnam-at-high-risk-of-APT-attack.html ch and startups agriculture busi- traditional e transport costs have spikedprices. goodstransport costs e inCambodia, Laos, Myanmar, andViet- y highway, plus five tollgates on National must beisolated must inatimelymanner. disconnect networks and devices from thedevicesdisconnect networksand and sustainability oftheMekong region's e centre alsoprovided a listofdomain ses to update operating systems and soft- and systems operating toupdate ses ce of Bac Lieu, they Lieu, ce ofBac Team (VNCERT) has files in safe mode and update antivirus antivirus update and mode safe in files e centrehas detected signsofa cyber at- ogy ChallengeStartupAccelerator will re datadestruction. Itcanprotectitself e Startup Accelerator, to support agri- us files. Therefore,us files. security experts ad- maintenancefees, whicharecol- have emergedhaveyears, inrecent -fees-too-high.html BacLieuonNational 13 September 2017 32 / 45 32/ 2017 13 September will go through 29 29 will go through called on agencies 13 September BUSINESS Vietnam finance& business Vietnam key airports $2 billiontoupgrade ACV toinvestnearly Intellasia Notably, approximately ACV planstospend of more than capital investment (ACV)to decided tomobiliseVietnam capital Aiming tomeettheincreasingdemand for 13/SEP/2017 INTELLASIA|VIR sub-region-launched http://vneconomictimes.com/article/vietna ticular focus on business advocacy, the business-enabling environment inthese and Vi Laos, Myanmar,cusing onCambodia, de sector in Itcatalyses MBI private 2015. The Asian DevelopmentBank and theAustra CEO Capital. of ID Decider, Isabelle said region," en innovations tobringmore sustainability ing with MBI in MATCh because we share "Future Food Asia, the open innovation platfo and HeadofMBI. Bank Asian Development the gies thatalsoimprovefarmer livelihoods," can promoteefficacy enhancing and envir "By supportingtheinnovativebusinessmodels Bank. velopment MATCh withfundingandsupportfromthe (Mekong Innovative Startup To accelerators by the Mekong Business Initia ters' Meeting (AMM)inSiem Reap, Cambodia. It MATCh waslaunched attheSecond Grea in Singapore. Competition Award Asia Food inthe Future participate and Hanoi in Summit Leaders' Leadership. Awardwinnerswillbe showca awards given forBest Startup, MostInnov willprovideawardsandprizes MATCh to forge withpotential relationships pa shipand assistance with their expansion Mekong companies toexpandintothe ritech An additional MATChMarket A try ofAgriculture, Forestry,Fisheries. and Un Vanty, San said industry," agricultural sum of VND6.28 trillion ($276.3 million). sum ofVND6.28 in Chu La and terminal infrastructure other passenge offive million ity mi ($98.98 trillion VND2.25 the build will ACV tofive milli minal million) tobuildasecondrunway and extend Phu QuocInternationalAirport may receiv 200,000 tonnes. mi to capacity 10-12 to extendtheannual trillion($161.4 planstoinvestVND3.67 ACV passengersby2020. Baito50 million capacity of Noi the total Besides, ACV will establish the building plan capa tomeet the annual frastructure th upgrade to million) ($534.5 AC Airport, International Bai Noi Regarding Mi the for wait to have will ACV er, Airport, capaci tomeettheannual aiming ing anewterminal,runways,andotherinfr on passengers by 2018. rs for Cam Ranh Airport and bu rs forCamRanhAirport e existingterminals,runway urism) accelerator earlier this year. MBIlaunchedurism) accelerator this earlier VND45trillion($1.98 billion). ccess Accelerator willhelp ccess alternative finance, andinnovation. nistry ofTransport's(MoT)approval. city of25million domestic passengers. rtners and investors inthe region. llion passengers and thecargoterminal to plans, including product adaptation, and adaptation, plans, includingproduct velopment in emerging Asean markets, velopment inemergingAseanmarkets, fo- ty of45millionpassengersby Howev- 2019. ter MekongSub-regi onmentally-friendly agricultural technolo- m-today/agritech-acc ative, Biggest Social Impact, andWomen's der Secretary of State at Cambodia's Minis- Cambodia's at Secretary ofState der tive (MBI), tive (MBI), which alsopioneered theMIST air transportation, Airports Corporation of winners of the two accelerators, with the twoaccelerators, of winners sed at the 2018 MekongSub-region sed atthe2018 Greater a common visionoffostering startup-driv- said Dominic Mellor said e anadditionalVND4 astructure for SonNhat Tan International i Airport with atotal investment capital in thefoodsystem in the Asia-Pacific Australian government and the Asian De- andtheAsian government Australian four emerging Asean markets, with par- with markets, Asean emerging four region. Participants will receivementor- region.Participants VND8.2 trillion VND8.2 ($360. million) in Danang Danang million) in V needstomobilise VND12.15 trillion etnam. The programme aims to improveetnam. Theprogramme aims upgrade key existing airports with total total with airports existing key upgrade for the T3terminalinorderto increase lian government jointly launched the launched the governmentjointly lian the annual capacity of the ter- of existing capacity theannual rm developed by ID Capital, is partner- llion) T3terminalcapac- annualwith an that thisprogramm isthelatest inaseries ofinnovation s, andother supporting in- ild a five million passenger passenger afive million ild mature international ag- international mature on Agriculture minis- elerator-for-mekong- 13 September 2017 33 / 45 33/ 2017 13 September , Senior Economist at , Senior International Airport International Airport .35 trillion ($191.4 7 million) on build- e willcreate, we 13 September BUSINESS Vietnam finance& business Vietnam development power plant problem hinderscoal Waste treatment energy production accompany renewable projects should Coal-fired power Intellasia cents, biogasenergy 7.18 ce 7. at sold is being power Wind investors. He alsoproposed increasing power pricesasthe current prices are toolowtoattract projects. encourage theVietnamElectricityGroup(EVN projects and forimportedequi energy development projects such as tax ex Vietnam should issue preferenti alongside coalto generate electricity, whic thermal coal-fired that Daily the Kien told and MW. MW 8,000 respective ofwindpowercomparedtothe MW ofhydropower only2,400MW try canproduce ha ofwaste-to-energy MW 2.4 powerand lar However, renewable energygeneration has re Kien saidVietnam holds hi terprises DevelopmentSupportcentre 2(S green tec on Vietnam-Taiwan At aseminar said Le Anh Kien, deputy director of equipped withadvanced technologies togene Coal-fired thermal power projects with a 13/SEP/2017 INTELLASIA| THE SAIGON TIMES pre-tax a with revenue in million) ($328.2 al year ofthis In the six first months alarge toaccumulate period volu 2017-2021 ACV wouldprefer to pay dividendvia stocks million) fromcommercialbanksand stock issuance. to willhave ACV way, This ratio. 40/60 The thirdtoand stockforcash wayisboth combine payments ACV for dividend ina to carryout projects. topay divi is The second was tril additional VND9.61 capital quickly,todeveloptheaboveprojects stocks fromissuing acquired money and loans The firstispayingdividendviacashandus ture. a capital tr volume ofVND45.14 submitte plan five-year inACV's Previously, Long ThanhInternational Airport whichit Furthermore, the corporation is focusing slag is defined asunharmful solid waste, ash)coal ash(fly andbottom andboiler Burning coal forpowerresults inthe production ofavariety ofsolid waste, including plants.by those country facesanew environmentathe mands, As Vietnamdevelopsitsthermal power plan 13/SEP/2017 INTELLASIA|VNS http://www.vir.com.vn/acv-to-invest-nearl passengers, domestic increasing 14an expectstowelcome27milli This year,ACV trillion tax profit ofVND3.67 ($161. million), ($585.2 trillion ofVND13.3 revenue June on the annual shareholders'meeting At revenue its cent of achieving 51.9per lion ($422.7 million). lion ($422.7 nts, waste-to-energy 10.05 cent 10.05 waste-to-energy nts, gh potentialtodevelop wind, solarand biomass power. dend viastocks for the next pment. Besides, the government al policies toencourage investors to join inrenewable illion ($1.98 billion) toinvest billion) ($1.98 illion 5 million), up 7 per cent on-year.million), up7per 5 one, thecorporation earnedVND7.46trillion the InstituteforTropical Environment. and 70per cent ofitsprofittargets. d 12per over2016. cent, respectively, collect an additional VND3.73 trillion ($164.09 ($164.09 VND3.73 trillion collect anadditional 8 US cents per kWh, biomass energy at 5.8 kWh, biomassenergyat per cents US 8 on conductingthepre-feasibility study for capacity of 1,000 MW should alsobe should of1,000 MW capacity but fly ash is listed as"possiblyharmful power plantscanstill profit ofVND2.36tril h hasbeen appliedin many othercountries. hnology held by the Small and MediumEn- emption for enterprises implementing such MEDEC 2) in HCM City on September 11, September Cityon 2) inHCM MEDEC y-2 billion-to-upgrade-key-airports.html on international passengersand64million e partofitsequity,along withcommercial will to forapproval. then submit MoT slag. Under Vietnam's regulations, boiler boiler regulations, Vietnam's Under slag. me ofcash to develop theseprojects. d to MoT includes threeplanstoarrange includes d toMoT 28, ACV 28, ACV announced that its2017target . This way, ACVwill haveto mobilise an ve beengenerated.coun- In addition,the t system to meet increasing energy de- increasing energy meet to t system 25 per cent higher than 25 per and in cent higherthan pre- 2016, rate at least30MWofrenewablerate energy, or suspend payments altogether inthe mained insignificant. Only 4 MW of so- l risk arising from the waste generated potential capacities of 7,000 MW, 2,000 2,000 MW, of7,000 capacities potential in projects havingtheabilitytorecover ) to purchase all power from renewable , 187 MW ofbiomass MW energy and159 , 187 five years anduse equity the s and solar power 9.35 s andsolarpower9.35 cents. in developing infrastruc- in developing shouldhave policies to burn biomass material biomassmaterial burn lion ($103.8 million), lion ($103.8 13 September 2017 34 / 45 34/ 2017 13 September 13 September BUSINESS Vietnam finance& business Vietnam Intellasia "Unlike in the north, cement and brick produc brick and cement north, the in "Unlike what hiscompany doing,especial was there were However, he admitted obstacles toxicsubstances. insteadof materials, tial ChairTranVanNam said Company coal ashan Obstacles kilogramme,said Quang the importance was thesellingpriceof Although waste is non-fire bricks foralong time," Quangsaid. crease profits. Infact, peoplehavemade "Using coalashandboilerslagasmaterial never overloaded, saidNguyen Thuong Quang, the company's director. Accordingthe Industrial Sa to Luong from for the involved. tothis issue and companies incentives ment relating tax power plants,inaddition thermal rounding Nam suggested that the Stateshouldplan faces difficulties due tohigh As aresult,the plants. thermal power from a with capa ground dumping its why is This bricks. residuesproductiona majority sell ofits coas in the Phong ThermalPowerCompany Hai acouple In fact, of havealre plants theenvi to produce materials, building ide suitable for producing building materials. Technical SocietyVietnam,coal According toAssociate Professor Truong Du materials. ing is problem out ofthe a way Luong saidthat generate about22.6million tonnes ofco additiona Vietnam willhave12 to theenvironment. burnin ofcoal theby-products that admitted Tran VanLuong, head of the IndustrialSa duce cement, but the amountwas too smallforthat purpose. The companyhadcontractswithtwoenterprises the Thanh Nien Tuan told Dinh Quang Ninh Province, is already overflowin Meanwhile, the dumping ground of Cam Pha Thermal Power Plant, also located in slag are huge". the likelihood of it being filled upmay ha hectares. Nguyen Trung Hoang, vice chair of Duyen HaiPower Centre,comprisingfour Thermal power plants inthesouthern provin Building material use to EVN GENCO 3, the plantinvestor, the storage capacity will run out ineightmonths. age of1.25 million capacity leasesmillion 1 metres cubic The 1,080MW-capacity plant consumes about running is the endof2015but operation at plant innorth thermal power Duong 1 Mong space tostorethem. systematic wastetreatmen treated. Withouta 15.8 million tonnes ofcoal ash and boiler Official figures show the 21thermal power waste". cu.m, of which up to 1.8 million have been used. Accordingbeenused. have to 1.8 million cu.m, ofwhichup of coal ash andboiler of coalash slag. transportation transportation cost," hesaid. l thermal power plants by2 plants power l thermal ash and boiler are slag comprisedofmetal mainly ox- (Young people)newspaper. ady done so and attainedgoodresult. ady doneso ly southernarea. in country's the ronmental problem is solved," he said. al ashand boiler slag each year. to companies producing cement and non-fireproducing cementand to companies slag, of whichonly abou used ofthiswaste to produce cement and not high, only about VND10,000-20,000 per VND10,000-20,000 only about not high, ppen soon as "the amount of ash and boiler of ash "the amount ppen soonas cementand brick producingplants sur- s help produce good qualitycement and in- fety Techniques and Environment Agency, andEnvironment fety Techniques fety Techniques and Environment Agency,fety Techniques andEnvironment power plants,hasdumping grounds of100 the risk of closure duetothisproblem. making use of the waste to producebuild- to use ofthewaste making plants across the country generate about acrossthecountry generate plants about to policies to support technology develop- hindering otherpower plantsfromdoing consumption of coal ash and boiler slag ash and consumption ofcoal g, the plant's deputy directorNguyen city tohold9milli g to generate electricity pose a challenge poseachallenge electricity g togenerate the provincial People's Committee, said theprovincialPeople'sCommittee, y Nghia, chair ofThermo Scientificand eastern Quang Ninh Province went into Province eastern QuangNinh ing plants inthesout plants ing "When coal ash and boiler slag areused and boiler ash coal "When t plan, manyplants ce of Tra Vinh are facing the same ce ofTraVinharefacingthesame fate. it solvedtheproblem ofwasteoverload. 3 million tonnes of coal a year and re- coal ayearand of tonnes 3 million d boiler slagshould be seen aspoten- tal city of Hai Phong hasbeenableto tal cityofHai to sellboiler slagasmaterials topro- to Its dumpinggroundhas a stor- 020, which are predicted to to predicted whichare 020, on tonnesis waste of 13 September 2017 35 / 45 35/ 2017 13 September t 5million tonnes are will soonrunoutof h areoften far away 13 September BUSINESS Vietnam finance& business Vietnam HCM City tourism products in Tokyo introduces posts to topmanagement SOEs name new staff Intellasia coal-power-plant-development.html http://english.vietnamnet.vn/fms/busine early next year, in hopes of overcoming the obstacle. Construction saidtheministryiscompilingsu thermalpo developing At arecent seminaron coal andboilerslag ash agement-posts.html http://english.vietnamnet.vn/fms/busine hesaid. direction," in theright "I believewe are going these personnel. is that it necessar Thinhsaid issue, On this have committed wrongdoings analystsSome havewarned that the movecould helpsome 'big bosses' in SOEs who by are supervised omy, arenotexpected to affect theenterp econ-in the play importantroles personnel attheSOEs,which The changesinthekey SOEs'. He believesthat the moveshowthe gove these arepeoplewhodon't want to accelerate the equitisation process." enterprises toget benefits for their groups "The people exploit thepositionsof SOEs, which candetermine the enterprises' production and business performance. uals andgroupsofinterest, exploitingloop Thinh wenton to say that manySOEshad over the SOEs under equitisation and contro Dinh TrongThinh from theFinance Academy terprises aregearingupforthe equitisation process. Analysts noted thatthemanage ation Corporation. sues between Hanoi-Nghe AnBrewery JSC on the divestment of state inHabeco capital and releasedaresolutiononLinh's suspension According toTienPhong, Habeco's mana on August 21. brewer. Ngo Que Lam, who was deputy CEO, was authorised toactas the new CEO Most recently,Habeco unexpectedly susp because ofmanagementproblems. that vice the toclarify ministry information Phuc sent Xuan 2017, PM Nguyen In March time aries during the when Thang was inoffice. manage business production & takes inthe Dan Triquoteditssourcesas reporting that mittee held ameetingtodiscuss vice The decisionswere made aftertheMinistry byThang. left deputy Hong Minh,whowas his post.Bui from Tran VietThang, CEOofvicem, thelarges expected to affecttheenterprises' in so personnel in key A number ofchanges 13/SEP/2017 INTELLASIA|VIETNAMNET th other including there problems, still are and services in entertainment, shoppingan Representatives ofTokyo, 13/SEP/2017 INTELLASIA| THE SAIGON TIMES governing bodies. use forbuildingmaterials. Japan onSeptember11introduced new tourism products make a'softlanding'. rs of some SOEs have to leave their posts as their en- production and business, expertssay. m's production&bu ss/186234/waste-treatment-problem-hinders- ss/186202/soes-name-new-staff-to-top-man- rises' productionandbusinessbecauseSOEs rnment's strong determination to 'purify gement board hadaclosed-door meeting ended Nguyen Hong Linhas CEO ofthe of interest," Thinhcommented."Therefore, t cement manufacturer, has beendismissed and the resources and and givento resources preferences the e lackofnational te y to boththe assess merits andthe of sins loosened theirmanagement. Some individ- Thang had been dismissed because ofmis- because had been dismissed Thang d hotels, andsupportingservices to travel me state-ownedenterprises (SOEs)arenot holes in policy, putth holes in ofConstruction'sPartyCivilAffairsCom- ment made by vicemandvicem'ssubsidi- m was incurring a loss of trillions of dong ofdong of aloss trillions incurring m was a documentrequestingthe construction , debt collection and settlement of the is- the of settlement and collection debt , and the Vietnam-LaosEconomicCooper- l ofquestionableexecutives isa must. ch a document andexpectstoissueitby ch a wer, a representative commented thatthestrictsupervision of his executive duties as CEOto focus CEO of vicem, has taken the 'hot seat' the 'hot hastakenof vicem, CEO siness situation. chnicalon regulations 13 September 2017 36 / 45 36/ 2017 13 September eir relatives in posts eir relativesin of the Ministry of of the 13 September BUSINESS Vietnam finance& business Vietnam rapid transit project rapid transit much-touted bus HCM City suspends Intellasia http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/56073/To in2016. the number doubling reach 500,000, expected to and the year, last arrivals 740,000 more than tion. Vietnamexpects towelcomeone milli signed amemora ministration ofTourism Ag Tourism Japan the endofMarch, At cent year-on-year. months seven of thisyear, welcomed Japan City.html 233 hit namese to Japan tourists Tourism Or National tothe According Japan kyo, Osaka andNagoya. Japan isamongthemost-visit hotel rooms. Information signs are also set upoutside toserve visitors. transit-project.html http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/56086/HC million, and isscheduled tobe up and running in late 2019. The project is forecasttocost nearly$14 Inte Laiending atCat Lac Roundabout in Binh ChanhDistrict thro the firs tothe plan, city's According initial could and efficient be more would route bus Department ofTransport's proposalthe tosuspend BRTproject, and saidahigh-quality Therefore, the HCM City Department of Tr of Department City HCM the Therefore, routes, but aBRT line requires a huge The number of potentialcustomersis BRT's lo much day, a 17,700 shouldbesome pletion The studyshows that the numberofpassenge profitableit ifthro goes inla government City HCM submitted tothe According tothe department's studyon BRT li develop ahigh-quality bus route instead. rapid transit (BRT) line which runs along ofDepartment Transporthas The HCMCity 13/SEP/2017 INTELLASIA| THE SAIGON TIMES city can the to visitors so that centers tion Tokyo authoritieshavealso many hotel as by 2020 surge Thenumberwill year. roomsthis guest 5,000 additional an with hotels new built l to itdifficult found tourists In the past, City. companies inHCM ies and analysed theefficiency ies and Wrapping upthemeeting,HCM current conditions. that andAsia, andfound this America, Europe Construction InvestmentManag present to held a meeting At line. BRT costly larg with a a high-qualitybusroutetogether ance (ODA).the Withamount same of capital, migh project route bus ahigh-quality Besides, buse stops, hi-tech bus modern transp not needanintelligent because itdoes high-quality bus According tothedepartment,a more is which suitab routeinstead, bus ity rsection inDistrict 2. s areunder construction. ugh crowded residential areas. the feasibility study of the BRT line, the Urban-Civil Works Works the Urban-Civil line, theBRT of study the feasibility established multilingual call centers and tourism informa- tourism centersand call multilingual established of the BRT in Hanoi City aswe City of theBRTinHanoi ed destinations forVietname s and other complex facilities. andother s ement Authority (UCCI) said Authority (UCCI) ement City vice chair Tran Vinh ,000 in 2016, four times higher four in2016, ,000 VND3 trillion (nearly $144 million). $144 (nearly trillion VND3 4 million, withtheWorldBank 4 lending $123 million, ook forhotelroomsin Tokyo, sothecityhas easily look fornecessar easily Vo Van Kiet and Mai ChiThoavenues Vo VanKietandMai and ndum of understanding on tourism promo- on tourism ndum ofunderstanding t BRTline stretches23kilometers fromAn kyo-introduces-touri e-scale operation management centrethana e-scale operation le to the city's current infrastructure. current city's the le to M City-suspends-much-touted-bus-rapid- ort system (ITS), bus (ITS), ort system ency, JNTO andthe Vi be upgraded to a BRT line after 5-10years. BRT line be upgradedtoa ansport proposed deve ansport proposed on Japanese visitors by 2018 compared to compared 2018 by visitors on Japanese 181,900 Vietnamese arrivals, up 28.6 per- arrivals,up28.6 Vietnamese 181,900 nothigher thanthatofordinary bus number ofVietnamese t be funded by official development assist- by officialdevelopment be funded t it would be more co more be itwould ugh districtsBinhTan, announced to suspend the city'sfirstbus announced tosuspend ganisation (JNTO), the numberofViet- ganisation (JNTO), te August 2017, the BRT line willonlybe theBRT 2017, te August wer than the previous forecast of 24,700. 24,700. forecast of the previous wer than transport modeisnotsu rsusing BRTinthefirst after year com- route requires less capital than a BRT line than aBRTline capital less requires route ne's feasibility and efficiency that was that was and efficiency ne's feasibility Tuyen approved the HCM City City HCM the approved Tuyen se tourists, To- especially ll as other cities inSouth ll as it hadconductedfourstud- than in 2012. In the first the In 2012. in than sm-products-in-HCM sm-products-in-HCM ticketing equipment, ticketing y information or book y informationor 13 September 2017 37 / 45 37/ 2017 13 September st-effective to develop st-effective to etnam National Ad- loping ahigh-qual- loping visitors to Japan is 6, 5 and 1 before before and 1 5 6, itable tothecity's 13 September BUSINESS smart city project VND570 billionin Bac Ninhtoinvest finance& business Vietnam An Port second quay of Long Work begins on waste-to-energy plant Hanoi tohave more Intellasia city-project.html http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/56088/Ba users. to chooseanappropriate investment form to effe its theprojectfor consider to carefully have askedtheDepart Bac Ninhauthorities servicesenterprises.smartfor localpeopleand provide necessary information to support ince People's Committee. proved under Decision No. 362/QD-UBNDdate centre andUrbanCan Areaof is An International Port Long capacity of have atotal will a (TEU) units twenty-foot-equivalent 700,000 Phase one of the project is capable ofhand wharfs capable of dwt ships. receiving 2,000 length of2.6kilometers to handle vessel The portisdevelopedonanareaof he 147 mill (some $400 trillion VND9 of over ital Province's CanGiuoc District. Theprojectha Long An International Port islocated on th mal feed, iron and steel toserv andservices facilities infrastructure contai tothe and In addition complete quay a length 2to420 meters. the total of 1 and quays willbe The quay meterslongand 210 capa scheduled for completioninthethirdquarter of2018. quay ofLongAnIntern Work onthesecond 13/SEP/2017 INTELLASIA| THE SAIGON TIMES http://en.vietnamplus.vn/hanoi-to-have produc expected to it is Once completed, The construction ofthefacili Bank and theRoK's Ministry of Environment. ov cost earlythisyear,has of Committee total URENCO generaldirectorLeAnhTuan said rea Engineering Consultant Corps and the Samyoung Plant. prises from the Republic ofKorea(RoK), theT&T Environment Company(URENCO), An agreementthis effectwassigned to SocSondistrict. suburban complexinHanoi's waste treatment ofgenerati capable A waste treatmentplant 13/SEP/2017 INTELLASIA|VNA data asmart city so thatintegrated develop The project isaimedat building information systems. software and network centre, adata develop The investor will cations. Strategyunderth tion andCommunications ownerwhich willbeimplem oftheproject, The provincial Department ofInformati inasmartcitydatacentre,thepr lion) The northern provinceofBacNinhisplanni 13/SEP/2017 INTELLASIA| THE SAIGON TIMES and other commodities. and other 15 million tonnes of goods million tonnes of 15 ty will take 15 months. 15 take will ty partofthe Long An Southeast Asia Port and Trading Giuoc District with a total ar with atotal District Giuoc ovincial government saidon its website. in HanoionSeptember11bythe HanoiUrban -more-wastetoenergy-plant/117746.vnp on andCommunicationswillserve as the s of 30,000 -70,000 dwt,andfive domestic -70,000 s of30,000 cloud computing, cyber security solutions, cloud computing,cybersecurity namely Sudokwon Landfill company, theKo- namely SudokwonLandfill e 5MW ofelectricity for e 5MW years. annually 15 ion) andwillbe fu ctares with seven quays having acombined ctares having quays with seven c-Ninh-to-invest-VND5 ctive operation. The department will have willhave The department operation. ctive the authoritiesinmanagementand offer ling 4.8 milliontonnesofloose goods and ble ofhandling 50,0 e import and export ofrice, fertiliser, ani- ment ofInformationandCommunications ment ented bytheNationalInstituteofInforma- e bankofthe Soai Rap RiverinLong An can beshared. Thece ng electricity will be built in Nam Son inNamSon bebuilt will ng electricity ng to invest VND570 billionng toinvest VND570 (US$25.3mil- technology infrastructure asaplatformto ational Port commenced last week and is e Ministryand Communi- ofInformation s seven phases with total investment cap- investment total s sevenphaseswith er 13.1 million USD,funded by the World ner yard,theport'sinvestoris improving avoid wastefulnessan the project, approvedbytheHanoi Party year. entireportafterThe completion Joint Stock Company, and three Company, Stock enter- and Joint d February02, 2007ofLongAnProv- and 3.5million TEUs ayear. ea of 1,935 ea of1,935 hectares ap- as lly in place2023. 00 dwt vessels, raising raising vessels, 00 dwt 13 September 2017 38 / 45 38/ 2017 13 September ntre is expected to to expected is ntre 70 billion-in-smart- d facilitate centred facilitate 13 September BUSINESS M&A deal presence rapidlyafter accelerates its Mondelez KinhDo finance& business Vietnam Intellasia snacking company in Vietnam. That means That snacking company inVietnam. pand ourportfolio oflocaland internationa "To keep the momentum, we willcontinue to etnam JSC'sManaging director. share inshare Vietnaminbiscuits andcakes," sa post "In ourfirsttwoyears,we and retailers withstrongprogrammes. to accelerate thebusinessandreach more outlet in300,000 blerone chocolateavailable mooncakes andbiscuits, Cosy,Solite, AFC, Having adiverseportfolioofbothlocalan also exportedtomarkets such as andthe China USA. experience ofKi know-how and with the combinat theperfect with more consumers, This year, the new Oreo mooncake islaunched offer local consumers thelargestpo Acquiring theleadingmooncake brand inVi high demandforTetgifting. LUcookie segmentwith panded intoluxury sumers canenjoywhile having coffee, travelli is targetingthe The company daily consumpt Asean markets,the robust growth of Mondel and With Vietnam's demography population momentum the strong Keeping up national brands, as well ashave ca Employees cangrow and contribute to the su sationwith combined thespeedand agility ofalocalbusiness. ees "The Power ofBig and Small": theresour in people aim ofhaving thebest the With workshop inHungYen was certifie while thenew and quality, safety class forworld anISOcertification have received a the As result, two factories of workers. thesafety as aswell factories, two its upgrade to cantly line with MondelzInternational's standard reputation, its ofgrowing priority the Setting best portfolio in the industry. of Mondelez.This allows the firm to grow both: the distributionadvant quality products and strongdistribution, KinhDo's Realising Kinh Do. ofModelez theM&A after tosuccess thekey is Strategy the twobusinesses. since combining cakes gain firm has pectation. The growth, market's sturdy Thanks tosnack to boosting theircapacities exportto Kinh Do'sdiverseproductrang For theconfectionery business, the deal deal successafter milestonesnacking Kinh storyofMondelezThe Do business. snack with KinhDo nam's confectionery industrywhenMondel with intrigued was the years ago, Two public 13/SEP/2017 INTELLASIA|VIETNAMNET Port.html http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/56087/ Tam Groupand Dong joint venture between 50:50 a requireswholeis billion and project The atotalof$1 VinaCapital Group. ed a nearly two-percentage-point share in biscuits and have passedvariousinternal age of Kinh Do with the sales and marketing know-howsales andmarketingof KinhDowiththe age ed again of nearly two perc e is now available acrossVi e isnow available reer opportunities outside Vietnam. rtfolio with the highest quality. the highest with rtfolio d as aHalal"A"production line. other Asean countries, China, andJapan. Work-begins-on-sec was indeed agame-changer, as Mondelez nh Do. Mondelez Kinh Do'sKinh mooncakes arenh Do.Mondelez the industry, thecompany offers its employ- Mondelez Kinh DoisexpandingMondelez beyondex- customers by supporting thedistributors Mondelez Kinh Do combined Mondelez KinhDocombined the bestof id StephaneGripon, d global leading brands such as KinhDo brands such leading d global both in modern and general trade with the trade with general modernand both in ion ofMondelz Internationalbiggestbrand s, Mondelez KinhDo has invested signifi- growing our business,growing growingourpeople Oreo, Slide, Ritz, l brands. Our aim is tobecome l brands.Our aim the best etnam, Mondelezcontinues innovating to z International annou z International s acrosscompany Vietnam,the still aims s, apremium gifting option to servelocal ces and the discipline of a global organi- discipline ofaglobal the ces and , and the country's connectionwith other ccess of both leading domestic and inter- and domestic bothleading of ccess and ensuringquality ez Kinh Do in the future is predictable. make our business stronger and toex- the biggest deal inthe history ofViet- ion of nutritional snacks that busy con- busy that ion ofnutritionalsnacks ng, or attheir has workplace.It also ex- beside its traditional range to attract range tobeside itstraditional audits withgood rating and entage points in our market inour market points entage etnam, withitsfactories ond-quay-of LU, Cadbury andTo- Mondelez KinhDoVi- 13 September 2017 39 / 45 39/ 2017 13 September nced its M&A deal nced itsM&A and food safety in 13 September -Long-An- BUSINESS Vietnam finance& business Vietnam Cranes to India Cargo Container Three GiantRMQC Doosan Vina Ships in Vietnam dealer of BMW, MINI choosesThaco as new BMW GroupAsia Intellasia Managing director oftheB many in China. Thailand, and gapore, Rolls-Royce and MINI sell to rights isthe dist world's largest Sime Darby third 31. December on since 2006 which backseuroAuto(EAC)theofficially German automakerwillwindupitsfo The 1, 2018. choose Thacoas a new dealer ofitsBMWan to intention its delivering (Thaco), JSC Automobile Hai Truong namese automaker on 12 that said September Asia Group The BMW 13/SEP/2017 INTELLASIA|VNA presence-rapidly-after-m-a-deal.html http://english.vietnamnet.vn/fms/busine Tax DepartmentandHung The company wasrecently honored to receive paid. taxes billion 167,3 province, with the to significantly ber of Mondelez Kinh Do) is in thetop3fore In addition, according to Hung Yen Depart for lifestyle tive Joy SchoolsinVietnam focuses on enhancing the foundationsofalong-term Aiming tocreate positive im and growingourreputation and impact," he said. Port areaof thePort of Nehru,Mumbai, In on Septemberna's dedicatedport 10 thand weighed 1,400tonnes,were 84m These three RMQCcranes,thataredesigned Bharat Mumbai Container Terminals Private Limited (BMCTPL) of India. ond batch ofthree RMQCcranes is part of second shipmentofthree Rail Mounted Quay the companycompleted dedicated port,the Vina's Doosan at 2017 10th, On September Son District, Quang Ngai, Vietnam: mune, Binh Vietnam, Du Doosan HeavyIndustries 13/SEP/2017 INTELLASIA|DOOSAN mini-in-vietnam/117771.vnp http://en.vietnamplus.vn/bmw-group-asi share during2015-2017. inViet sales car leading currently Thaco is distributing ag plants and one Research and Development centre. Thacohas97showrooms and 59 as automobile six with province Nam Quang coversproduction anareabase Its of4 geot (theEU). (The Kia tribution ofcommercialcarsfor fo in1997, Thaco,established Meanwhile, motorbikes. Its profit before euro 80.4 billion earned group the In 2014, 14 countries and its distributing distributing its and countries 14 has30 It Roll-Royce. and MINI brands: BMW, is arenowned The BMW andmotorbike automobile withthree maker fascinating for current customers of BMW, MINI and BMW Motorrad in Vietnam. services top-notch quality toprovide continue will and EAC toppriority the group's ents nationwide. primary students. MW Group Asia Paul de Courto Paul de MW GroupAsia Yen People's Committee. tax 8.71billioneuros. tax was pact for the local communities, thecompany is setting up for the localcommunities,thecompanyis pact business throughCSR initiatives. For instance, itsfirst high, 144m long and 26mwi system covers140 00 hectaresinChu Lai Zone,Open Economic ng QuatEconomic Zone, Binh Thuan Com- ss/186223/mondelez-kinh-do-accelerates-its- a-chooses-thaco-as-new-dealer-of-bmw- Republic of Korea), Mazda (Japan) andPeu- Mazda ofKorea), Republic nam, occupying 40-42percent occupying of the nam, market cuses onthe production, assembly and dis- s from selling 2,118 million cars and 123,000 million carsand123,000 2,118 s fromselling authorised distributor ofBMWinVietnam dia. dia. two The transit is expectedtotake the contract to supply 12 RMQC cranes to to cranes RMQC 12 supply to contract the ributor of BMW. The giant also holds the alsoholds The BMW. giant ributor of ur-year contractwith ment of Taxation, NorthKinhDo (a mem- neighbouringcountrieslike Malaysia, Sin- ign enterprises that have been contributed that have ign enterprises will move to BMCTPL in theJawaharlal d MINI models in Vietnam fromJanuaryd MINImodelsin to handle 65 tonnecargocontainers,to handle each sembling facilities, 12 support industry industry support 12 facilities, sembling productionandassemblingfacilities in nutritional habits and promoting anac- nutritional habits side Cranes (RMQC) toIndia.Thissec- the certificate of merit from Hung Yen Hung the certificateofmeritfrom it signed aletter of intent withViet- markets worldwide. is said that customers are de. They left Doosan Vi- 13 September 2017 40 / 45 40/ 2017 13 September Sime DarbyMotors 13 September BUSINESS Vietnam finance& business Vietnam suppliers look for Vietnam Samsung continuesto status gets customs priority Japanese company Intellasia http://en.vietnamplus.vn/japanese-company- etnam arepresently making tothe unit According post-clearance audit Eight enterprises currently enjoy priori 2,200. the company 2016 was ofAugust as tronic copiers, laser scanners, andrelated components. The number ofemployees at specialisesinThe company themanufacture an foreign direct investment companies in the city. withacapitalof36 in 2012 district Nguyen VS in established Fuji XeroxHaiPhongwas extended.term canbe the three but the years. Ifthis termexpires According to the GDC,priorityenterprise st ered forthisstatusiftheyearn good manufacture that companies Meanwhile, USD. million an revenueof The conditionalannualexport port and import turnoverperyear to goods byenterprises, businessesto havemorethan100million need USDworthof ex- toms procedures, customsinspection andth Circular72/2015/TT-BTC, Under imports. and exports multiple later, havegoods cleared quickly and establ fewerprocedures, getta toconduct the firm statusThisgives thecompany access tospec enterprise. turer FujiXerox HaiPhongCoLtdinthenort The general Department ofCustoms (GDC) 13/SEP/2017 INTELLASIA|VNA and shipped 71 giant cargocontainercr Since Doosan Vina's grandopening in Ma annum. per million TEUs 4.8 railroads and highways of anetwork by India and docks that are 2,000 metersinlength. Located atIndia's largest container port,BMCT India. home in shipment they willsoonbeabletobeginloading andunloadingnewto cargoattheir customerand becausethe theses "MadeinVi weeks. Oncedockedandunloadedtheywi The HCMCityDepartmentofIn 13/SEP/2017 INTELLASIA| THE SAIGON TIMES cessories that fall intothree that cessories Particularly, Samsung is looking for domestic fordomestic looking Samsungis Particularly, month toseeksuppliers. ticipate in an exhibiti at www.congthuonghcm.vn todownlo at www.congthuonghcm.vn th of visit theofficialwebsite can terprises [email protected], or [email protected], on Quang My Th further information,contact For be Industries Development(CSID) Supporting Interested enterprises should submit a regi rect inspections to select the most appropriate partners. come itssuppliers.The company willexperts send to factories ofpotential firms fordi- activity This isSamsung'sannual to seek on by Samsung Electronics on groups, motor,tuner groups, including use of this policy. dustry and Tradeiscallingon and dustry 40 million USDin revenue per year. regulating the application of apriority policy for cus- 0888.109.339 or email: csid.show- or email: 0888.109.339 be considered aprioritybe enterprise. ad the list of th of ad thelist ty status for customs in HaiPhong. for ty status inh on 0938.006.608 or thinh- email: inh on0938.006.608 company still meets the required conditions, conditions, therequired meets still company anes to customers aroundanes to theworld. e HCM City Department of Industry and Trade Trade and ofIndustry Department e HCM City Vietnamese firms with the potential tobe- withthe potential firms Vietnamese y of 2009 the company has manufactured has company y of2009the BMCT is well-connected to key markets in BMCT iswell-connectedtokey lltested, be commissioned anddelivered to under the GDC, some 63 companies inVi- some 63companies GDC, the under x refundsfirstwhile checkingisperformed stration form Citycentre to theHCM of suppliers for 59 kinds of suppliers for59 million USD, making it million USD, ish a single goods declaration system for declaration system goods ish asingle has recognised Japanese printer manufac- IP HaiPhongIndustri atus applied for Fuji Xeroxwould lastforapplied forFuji atus e supervision of exported and imported e supervisionofexported etnam" cranes werefullyassembled prior ial customs incentives, which will enable enable will which incentives, customs ial agricultural and fisheries company and agricultural is 30 fisheries company gets-customs-priority-status/117744.vnp hern portcityofHaiPhongasapriority , which is , whichis to takeplacein City next HCM and the projected capacity theprojected capacity the of and port is fore 4:00 p.m. on September 15, 2017. 2017. 15, fore onSeptember p.m. 4:00 s for export in Vietnam can be consid- has berths withadepth of 16.5 meters d exportoflaser printers, digital elec- ose components. and automaton equipment.En- domestic domestic enterprises topar- 13 September 2017 41 / 45 41/ 2017 13 September al inThuy Zone componentsandac- one ofthelargest 13 September BUSINESS 3G nationwide Vietnamobileout rolls finance& business Vietnam stake in FPTstake Trading 47pct Synnex buys Intellasia sale ofamaximum of5per cent inFP FPT Corporation's Board ofdirectors hasal forward." going strategy development have amoreeffective FPT Corporation. "Webelievethatwiththis distribution has an advanced that and kets "Synnex is a leading global a leadingglobal "Synnex is performance." and businessoperations,wecanfurther ad our partners' product rience inenriching We are excited tobecome its di effective and operatinganing, managing, inbuild- record astrong track has and inthecountry company distribution thebest is and ICcomponent market inVietnam," said Evan Tu, CEO ofSynnex. "FPTTrading "This is the best wayfor Synnex to enter FPT Trading's retained earnings. VND932 billionmillion) ($41 from the deal, includingpaidan amount by Synnex and at Trading'svalue FPT puts transaction The world, under whichSynnex willpurchase tribution group for IT, telecom and IC compone CorporatioSynnex TechnologyInternational The FPTCorporation has signed an investme million. $80 over at FPTTrading'svalue puts Purchase 13/SEP/2017 INTELLASIA| VNECONOMIC TIMES http://bizhub.vn/tech/vietnamobile England. Sweden and Denm aswell and Austria, countries andterritories around the world Hutchison Asiacomes withexperience in Group. Stock Company and the HongKong-based Joint Telecom Hanoi venture between ajoint is Vietnamobile 2009, inApril Launched appis self-care mobile MyVietnamobile thatcanhelpsubscrib application mobile To further enhance users' experience with the brand, Vietnamobile alsointroduced a maximum usageof upto30GBper month. ed whileVeasyoffers1GBofda to 5GB, 1GB forVND15,000 at starts package The Vflex first inVietnam, time and Veasy,a The new packagesareVflex, said. Elisabete online," be toalways need but have a high budget "have alower This weekend, Vietnamobile will launch namobile's subscribers easily access hi 63citiesan high-speed 3Gnetworkacrossall across only inmajorcitiesbut youths, not developing servic Vietnamobile hasfocusedon in HanoionMonday. The statementwasmadebyVietnamobile's speed. networks fora year and is now able toserve 90 per centofthe population with 3G ha Company Stock Telecom Joint Vietnamobile 13/SEP/2017 INTELLASIA|VNS pliers.html http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/56090/Sa [email protected]. distribution company thathas a pay-as-you-go worry-free data plan, introduced for the strategic shareholder. With Synnex's expertise and expe-strategicexpertiseWith Synnex's shareholder. and ark, HongKong,Ireland and -rolls-out-3g-nationwide_288829.html simple data plan for high daily use. T Trading'scharter capital toemployees. gh-speed Internet wherever theyare. ta per day for VND50,000 per month, with per with ta per forVND50,000 month, day management, channel development, logistics logistics development, channel management, now available for both iOS and Android. and bothiOS for now available the lucrative consumer technology, telecom technology, the lucrativeconsumer two new data packages for the youthwho ers monitor and managetheir account. The the nation. The completion of the operator's completion ofthe the nation.The msung-continues-to-l the telecommunications business inmany a47per centholding inFPTTrading. investmentFPT Tradingwill fromSynnex, HutchisonAsiaTelecommunications including Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Australia SriLanka, Australia Indonesia, including vance FPT Trading's business quality and network," said Truong Gia Binh, Gia network," saidTruong Chairof so approved a resolution thatallows the over $80 million, with FPT receiving receiving FPT with million, over$80 CEO Elisabete Fongataconference held stribution network over stribution network d provincesinthecountrywillhelpViet- n (Synnex), thelargest value-added dis- nt agreement with strategic partner the partner strategic with agreement nt (66 US cents), and data can beupgrad- can cents),anddata (66US es catering to the needs of Vietnamese to theneeds es catering s been investing in infrastructure and and ininfrastructure beeninvesting s nts in Asia and the third-largest inthe thethird-largest and Asia in nts Italy, in addition to Macau, inaddition Italy, Macau, to been aleaderinmany mar- ook-for-Vietnam-sup- 13 September 2017 42 / 45 42/ 2017 13 September the last 20 years. 20 last the 13 September BUSINESS Vietnam finance& business Vietnam US Denver, its5th in the FPT opensoffice in Intellasia 358276.vov http://english.vov.vn/economy/fpt-opens- ing tothe unit's employees. Trad- FPT of 5percent upto sell to plans FPT statement, the to according addition, In tion group ininformation technology, telecoms andcomponents. tion is atleast$80 million,to an undisclosed that to plans it FPT saidinthestatement tegic investor this year. later Monday, September 11, that it is seeking to sell 47 percent of its trading unit to a stra- Meanwhile thecompany said in afiling with the Ho Chi Minh StockExchange on the n on explains Binh's emphasis with totheindustry in relation small tively rela- still million, $270 ofroughly sales worldwide reported company year, Last the services. other lower-value outsourcing and mainte and installation to design, advising, high-value IT services mark The company's overarching objective,said Binh, in the other businesseswithin In the US, businesses are classified as SMEs in theUS. FPT isstrivingtoprovideaw trillion. of salesthrough to$2.64 2020 expected to grow at a compound annualgrow According toaforecast byInternationalDa market lastyear, and not just perform outs calendar year 2016, which puts them in the theminthe whichputs year calendar 2016, remainmo sales acknowledged that he However, company. and greatly thecompany benefits the US in FPT Chair Truong Gia Binh recently told re pr Vietnam by avisit during having signedamemorandum the provisionofIT FPT alsonowanticipates system design, satellite television andbanking segments. viding services tomore than 20 clients in decade a about fistestablished was USA FPT fornia. Renton, Washington;LosAnge Texas; ardson, andcomesonth support foraviationcompanies, The new officeinthe largestcityinthestate seas expansionplans,saycompany executives. the leading information technologygroup in Vi With theopening of an officeinDenver, Colo 13/SEP/2017 INTELLASIA|VOV http://vneconomictimes.com/article/busine cent 60 per nels reaching tries and andhas territories more than200 in1975, isa Synnex Established global dist consumers. distributeswide. It productsfrom nearly 2, a network of country, with inthe utor distrib- ICTtelecoms largest the currently is It solutions. and ICT products providing in wa when Vietnam'sICTmarket FPT Tradinghas more 20years ofexpe than of the global population. global ofthe et, which wasestimated atsl ime Nguyenminister XuanPhuc to theUS last May. hole package for ofITservices dustryoperate. inwhichthey of understanding to explore that possibilityfurther understanding toexplore of s in its earliest stages, FPT Trading hasbeen aleader eed to focus on higher added value. addedhigher eed tofocuson 771 agents in all cities and provinces nation- and provinces cities agents inall 771 sell 47 percent sell 47percent of FPT whosevalua- Trading, 40 globally-renowned brands to Vietnamese the aircraft manufactur the aircraft office-in-denver-i ribution group with a footprint in 38 coun-with afootprintin38 ribution group nance, rather than simply concentratingon rather thansimply nance, classification of asmal classification earnings ofjustnine cents pershare,which ourcing work as is currently its mainstay. is currently as work ourcing ss/synnex-buys-47-st enhances the global competitiveness of thethe globalcompetitiveness enhances offices worldwide, with distribution chan- ta Corporation, worldwideITspendingis porters that doing business with partners based on their relativesizeinrelation to rience in distribution. Since the1990s, of Colorado, with a staff of 40, will target strategic investor that is a global distribu- is a strategic investorthat solutions forgloballogistics leader UPS, agoandnowhasato rado lastmonth its 5thintheUS FPT, les, California; and Silicon Valley, Cali- Valley, Silicon and California; les, th th rate of more than3percentinterms etnam, is pressing ahead with itsover- is to expand it footprint into the US e heels ofopenings dest at best million dest atbest just$44 forallof ightly more $1trillion than ts-5th-in-the-us- its clients, saidBinh,from ake-in-fpt-trading 13 September 2017 43 / 45 43/ 2017 13 September ing, elevator control l business enterprise enterprise l business tal of 150 staffpro- of150 tal of offices in Rich- 13 September BUSINESS buyers of ICT services buyers together sellers, Seminar to bring finance& business Vietnam Friday 2017 tobelaunchedon Vietnam-AV Show Food Moscow 2017 introduced atWorld Vietnamese products Intellasia dio andvisual experience to participants. Besides, there are10 boothsdisplaying audio The three-day eventfeatures 23audiovisual roomswhicharedesigned todeliver au- ment, home theater systems,and audiovis The exhibition is expected to attractmore th fromFriday toSunday thisat week The exhibition will last until September 14. an products toRussia ping European Western that context the tomers in Besides, Vietnamesefirmsfavourable have use of the agreement to export spices,includingpepper. playground forth an important as the event of viceChairwoman th MaiOanh, Nguyen fect. and the EurasianEconomicUnion(EAEU)to The exhibition takesplace one yearafter consumers. the tasteoflocal Thanh Nam, theparticipatingVietnamesebu According toVietnamese deputyminister on September11. Russia,pocentre inMoscow, fruits anddairy products at theWorld Food ar Eight Vietnamese businesses 13/SEP/2017 INTELLASIA|VNA an and infrastructure, mindset business their read workers needtobe Businesses and opportunities Industry 4.0 wouldoffer the HCM of generalsecretary Tuan, Anh Vu er topics. opportunitiesIndustry 4.0, challenges and ininvestmentagriculture inIT, 4.0 andoth- disc will September 20 on City in HCM held Communicati Vietnam Informationand The 13/SEP/2017 INTELLASIA|VNS Vietnam-AV Show 2017, an 2017, ex Vietnam-AV Show 13/SEP/2017 INTELLASIA| THE SAIGON TIMES nesses andboost the ITse The seminar would be agoodopportunityto will alsofeaturean exhibition on IT Under theme Businesses and Industry 4.0: Opportunities andChallenge, the seminar the future, he said. tors related toartificialintelligencean services_288839.html http://bizhub.vn/tech/seminar-to-bri executives. business foreign experts ICT and and provinces, local ing information andcommunicationsofficial The seminar, to be heldatGem Centre, isex City. their competitivenessto help to honourand encourage ICTcompanies to enhance theiroperations and improve awards TopICTVietnam will be The 2017 gi smart cities. culties in developing a smart city and solutions and share experiences in creating Dr Doan Xuan Huy Minhof the institute sa Technology. Computational Scienceand Sept held on be Degreesto 360 City Smart Another highlight of the Viet rvices applicationmarket. d Eastern Europe, she said. turn their industry into a key one in Vietnam and HCM HCM and Vietnam onein key a into industry their turn nam ICTOutlook this year wo hibition on audiovis e showcasing their products such asspices,their products e showcasing tea,coffee, solutions forbusi the 272Conferencecentre inHCMCity. ng-together-sellers-buyers-of-ict- d innovation anddevelop human resources for but alsochallengesforbusinesses. y toadoptnew technologies and transform the free trade agreement between Vietnam of Agriculture and Rural Development Tran ember 19by the HCA andthe Institute for ual and electronics ual and e Vietnam Pepper Association, described an 25 distributors an 25distributors of pected to attract 1,500 participants, includ- participants, 1,500 toattract pected id the conference would discuss the diffi- conference woulddiscuss id the conditions toseek e Vietnamesebest enterprisestomakethe Moscow 2017, theEx- 2017, which kickedoffat Moscow ven awayataceremony on September 19 uss IT use by businesses in the context of on Technology Outlookseminartobe d enterprisesalsoneed countriesarefacingbarrierswhen ship- s fromHCMCityand other cities and City Computer Associ sinesses aim toseek partners and study connect IT services providers with busi- providers with services connect IT which Russia is also a signatorytookef- is also which Russia ual equipment, is equipment, ual set totake place nesses, he said. uld be aconference titleduld household appliances. Eastern European cus- Eastern European high-end audio equip- 13 September 2017 44 / 45 44/ 2017 13 September to learn about fac- tolearnabout ation (HCA), said 13 September BUSINESS Vietnam finance& business Vietnam Intellasia End Friday.html http://english.thesaigonti 3D Ascendo Audiosystems. Immersive A speakerdistributor, SaigonAudiovisual Pr effects. fresh with Japan's F-2000 seriesspeakers F-2000 Japan's brand, wi Paramax, anotherdomesticaudio amplifiers. Denon PMA-2500NE speakers of Opera, anItalian firm specialising in walnut loudspeakers, together with Anh DuyAudio,adistri theaters home the ration at to set upsoundbar event. Mobile Luxury Nguyen The retailerchainMai Co ing Ltd and visual products and accessories, acco butor of audio equipment, will introduce the latest Callas Diva Callas the latest introduce will equipment, audio of butor mes.vn/56075/Vietnam-AV-S whichgiveparticipantsan rding tothe organiser, Nam Binh Advertis- ll establish standard ivate Enterprise, will offer AIA Cinema's Cinema's AIA offer will Enterprise, ivate will team up with Japan's Sony Corpo- Sony Japan's with up team will how-2017-to-be-launched-on- opportunity to sing songs karaokeroomsusing 13 September 2017 45 / 45 45/ 2017 13 September 13 September