Australian retailer seeks Vietnamese partners; Texan businesses interested in Vietnamese market; Seminar helps create level playing field for business
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The group’s Business Development Manager Brian Newton said that the plan will be carried out through the Vietnamese trade mission in Australia .
Vietnamese trade councillor in Australia Nguyen Bao said that Woolworths’ proposal is a good opportunity for promoting exports and creating a firm position for Vietnamese goods in the Australian market, especially in major distribution systems.
In March this year, Woolworths’ senior business manager Mark Jones visited Vietnam and met with producers and businesses in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City to discuss direct purchase.
Woolworths’ stores receive about 13 million customers each week. Its total turnover climbed to 42 billion AUD (32 billion USD) last year.
Texan businesses interested in Vietnamese market
Almost 100 industrial executives based in the State of Texas in the USA , attended a workshop on investment opportunities in Vietnam on September 22.
Vietnam’s Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Truong Van Doan opened the workshop by giving a positive picture of the potential the Vietnamese market offers and pointed out that many US businesses are enjoying success there.
“The US now ranks seventh among the 88 foreign investors in Vietnam with 474 valid projects capitalised at 8.68 billion USD,” said Doan, who is leading the Vietnamese delegation to promote trade and look for investment from Texas.
Tony Stewart, President of the Asian Taskforce from the Council of International Commerce under the Dallas Chamber of Commerce, described Vietnam as a worthwhile place to invest in, based on the country’s relationship with the US as well as its improving investment climate.
He said that the Council of International Commerce would like to act as a conduit to connect US investors with Vietnamese partners.
The Executive Director of the company VQ Partners, Angelos Angelou, called on US businesses to invest in the Southeast Asian country after explaining the investment climate and the administrative system for foreign investors in Vietnam . He also discussed the procedures foreign investors need to follow and how to apply for investment licences.
Texas is home to the third largest Vietnamese community in the US and many leading companies, including Exxon Mobil and Chevron who are based in the state, have opened representative offices in Vietnam.
Seminar helps create level playing field for business
“Revising competition law: EU experiences and lessons for Vietnam ” was the subject of a seminar organised in Hanoi on September 22.
The seminar was the last in a series of seminars held in Vietnam ’s five major cities by the Multilateral Trade Assistance Project III (EU-Vietnam MUTRAP III) and the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) from September 14-22.
Speaking at the event, MoIT Deputy Minister Le Danh Vinh said that with six charters and 123 articles, the Competition Law is a voluminous legal document that plays a vital role in shaping Vietnam ’s market economy.
Consequently, the effective implementation of the law in all aspects is essential, helping to create a sound competitive environment for all economic institutions and facilitate the country’s development, he added.
He noted, however, that Vietnam ’s competitive environment should be further improved and the role of the Competition Law needs to be promoted in future.
At the seminar, economic and legal experts from Vietnam and Europe discussed the experiences of large economies in enforcing the Competition Law and preventing undue restrictions on competition.
They also analysed the negative impacts of restricting competition on economic development and the best interests of consumers.
Questions relating to competition policies were answered by the experts in the hope of creating a truly level playing field for business and ensuring the rights of and benefits for consumers.
Vietnam, Cambodia target 100,000 ha of rubber
Vietnam and Cambodia will strengthen cooperation in order to achieve 100,000 ha of rubber trees in Cambodia by 2012.
The two countries reached the agreement during a recent visit to Cambodia by Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Cao Duc Phat which concluded on September 22.
During his three-day stay in Cambodia , Minister Phat had a working session with Cambodian Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Chan Sarun, who pledged that Cambodia will create the most favourable conditions for Vietnamese businesses to speed up their rubber planting.
After the talks, the two ministers signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on the two ministries’ cooperation in rubber planting in Cambodia . Under the MoU, Cambodia , together with Vietnam , will create a favourable environment for rubber growing and processing in the country, especially in technology transfer, transport of materials and provision of equipment.
Minister Phat met with Prime Minister Hun Sen to discuss measures to strengthen cooperation on developing agriculture, forestry and aquaculture.
He also visited and examined the implementation of rubber planting projects in Kompong Thom province.
VN launches banking information management system
A project to develop a financial sector modernisation and information management system with funding from the World Bank and Japan was officially launched at a seminar held in Hanoi on Sept. 22-23.
The project, scheduled to last from now to 2014, has a total investment of over 71.8 million USD, including 60 million USD in loans from the WB, 830,000 USD from the Japanese government, and the remainder from the Vietnamese State as counter-capital.
The project is designed to assist the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV), the Credit Information Centre (CIC) and Deposit Insurance of Vietnam (DIV) to improve operations to meet international regulations by increasing their institutional capacity and building a centralised information management system.
The project comprises three components with the first and the most important aiming to modernise the SBV and the two others focusing on the CIC and DIV.
Addressing the seminar, SBV Governor Nguyen Van Giau stressed that the project shows the WB’s timely and valuable support for Vietnam in general and the SBV in particular, especially in the context of the global economic slowdown.
He expressed thanks to the donors for their assistance to banking sector reform and pledged to effectively use the capital.
Banking and financial experts from the WB, Vietnam , Thailand and Sri Lanka discussed the risks of implementing the project, financial management mechanisms, policies and procedures for procurement bidding on the project, and heard about experiences from Thailand and Sri Lanka .
According to the SBV, the central bank and WB signed ten projects and preferential loans worth nearly 1.5 billion USD for the 2009 fiscal year.
At a signing ceremony for an urban upgrade project early this month, the WB Vietnam Director, Victoria Kwakwa, said that with the two sides’ efforts, WB’s loans provided to Vietnam in the 2010 fiscal year would reach 2 billion USD.
Viettel becomes largest telecom service provider in Cambodia
Vietnam’s Military Telecom Corporation (Viettel) has become the largest telecommunication service provider in Cambodia after launching the Metfone mobile service network in the Kingdom six months ago.
Metfone currently accounts for 60 percent of the ADSL service and 50 percent of fixed phone markets. It has two million mobile subscribers, ranking second among nine mobile service providers in Cambodia .
To facilitate the Cambodian people’s access to fundamental telecommunication services, Metfone has reduced its mobile service charge from 11 cent per minute to 9 cent per minute and expects to adjust it down in the near future.
Additionally, Metfone is the sole provider of all telecommunication services in Cambodia with its product distribution network covering even remote and isolated communes. It is also the sole provider of wireless fixed phone service with nearly 20,000 subscribers in the country.
Along with business development in Cambodia, Viettel has invested 5 million USD to carry out a three-year programme to introduce internet in schools, subsidized 50 percent of wireless fixed and mobile phone charges for poor people and sponsored an online television system, connecting the government management to localities.
Metfone is expected to earn a revenue of 50 million USD this year and provide 3G services in Cambodia early next year.
Metfone is also expected to have 2.55 million mobile subscribers, 3,000 transceiver stations covering all 24 provinces and cities of Cambodia , and provide affordable, high-quality services for customers by 2010.
Canadian businesses discuss trade, investment with Vietnam
Representatives of almost 40 Canadian businesses joined overseas Vietnamese entrepreneurs in the country at a seminar on Vietnamese-Canadian trade and economic cooperation in Quebec province in Canada on September 21.
The Vietnamese Ambassador to Canada Nguyen Duc Hung gave a briefing on projects looking for investment and the policies Vietnam has in place to attract foreign investment as well as the potential for cooperation between the business communities of both countries.
The economic and trade relationship between Vietnam and Canada has prospered in recent years, said the Vietnamese diplomat, adding that both nations have signed a number of agreements on economic development, trade and double taxation avoidance and are negotiating a foreign investment promotion and protection agreement (FIPPA).
The presence of a number of big Canadian conglomerates like Manulife and Talisman in Vietnam has made it clear that Vietnam is an attractive destination for other Canadian investors, said Hung.
Ambassador Hung went on to confirm that Canada was one of Vietnam’s most important and biggest trade and economic partners. With its open investment policies, the country is an extremely attractive destination for Canadian investors, he noted.
President of the Laval City Chamber of Commerce and Industry Diane Fellice said that a great number of businesses in Quebec and Canada in general are showing a keen interest in Vietnam.
She said the seminar would provide Canadian businesses with useful information on Vietnam’s market and enable them to seek out partners.
Meanwhile, President of the Overseas Vietnamese Entrepreneurs Association in Canada, Pham Van Thanh said that since its establishment in January 2006, his association has helped many Vietnamese businesses to promote their exports in Canada as well as facilitating Canadian businesses to find partners in Vietnam.
The association will send a provincial business delegation from Quebec to explore the investment environment in Vietnam this November, he said.
VietNamNet/VNA
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