VN-Index down, HaSTC-Index bounces backThe Ho Chi Minh City bourse continued its downward trend while its Ha Noi-based counterpart recorded a slight increase at the end of the February 27 trading session.The VN-Index at the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange (HoSE) dipped 6.42 points, or 0.93 percent, to close at 686.49 points with more than 11 million shares, worth 808 billion VND, changing hands.Blue chips including Saigon Securities Inc. (SSI), Kinh Do Corp. (KDC), North Kinhdo (NKD), Saigon Thuong Tin Commercial Joint Stock Bank (STB), Cable and Telecom Materials (SAM) and Refrigeration Electrical Engineering (REE) saw continued losses.Meanwhile, the HaSTC-Index at the Ha Noi Securities Trading Centre enjoyed a slight increase of 2.77 points, or 2.21 percent, to end at 232.33 points.Around 4.2 million shares, worth 266 billion VND, were traded during the session.
Int’l industry & infrastructure construction expo opensAn international industry and infrastructure construction expo opened in Ho Chi Minh City on February 27.The exhibition has drawn the participation of more than 100 domestic and foreign businesses, including those from Singapore , the Republic of Korea , India , Taiwan , Japan , Hong Kong , China , Spain , Italy and the US . They are showcasing their products in such fields as liquid and gas industry, industrial equipment, electronics, real estate and infrastructure at 250 booths. The three-day event is a good venue for domestic and foreign producers and distributors to share experiences and seek business cooperation.
Construction of car carrier begins in Hai PhongConstruction of a vessel capable to carry 6,900 cars began in the northern port city of Hai Phong on February 26 by the Nam Trieu Shipbuilding Company under the Viet Nam Industrial Shipbuilding Corporation (Vinashin).The ship, which is 199.90m long, 32m wide, was designed by Finland ’s Delta Marine and built under the supervision of Norway ’s DNV Registry Agency.The ship is being built under a contract with the Norway ’s Hoegh Autolines.Earlier, the Vinashin has built a 700 TEU container ship for Germany, a series of 56,000 tonne ships for Japan, and a 10,900 tonne Lash ship and a 150,000 oil tanker for the National Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam).
Singapore invests in Viet Nam’s central airportSingapore’s Changi Airports International (CAI) will take part in the development and running of Phu Bai international airport in central Thua Thien-Hue province, said the Middle Airport Authorities.CAI signed a memorandum of understanding to this effect with the Middle Airport Authorities (MAA) in Ha Noi on February 26 in the witness of visiting Singaporean President S.R. Nathan.This is the first foreign business to invest in airport development project in Viet Nam. CAI Director General Chow Kok Fong said he wanted to share experiences with the Vietnamese side on the management and development of Changi airport and other airports invested by CAI around the world.
Forum on Viet Nam’s economic development
More than 30 economists from France and Viet Nam are sitting at a forum in central Da Nang city to assess the impacts that the World Trade Organisation (WTO) membership has exerted on Viet Nam ’s economy.At the 7th Viet Nam-France Economic and Financial Forum, beginning on February 26, the participants will give out their forecasts of Viet Nam ’s socio-economic development through different lens. Vietnamese Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Bich Dat, French Ambassador to Viet Nam Herve Bolot, and Da Nang city’s authorities joined the forum.The forum was initiated in 2000 by the French Embassy in Viet Nam and the Association for the Development of Economic and Financial Technology under a governmental agreement.
Viet Nam, Cambodia discuss expressway projectAn expressway linking the southern Can Tho city of Viet Nam to Phnom Penh capital city of Cambodia will be built to facilitate the economic development in the two cities. To this end, Vietnamese and Cambodian authorities met in Phnom Penh on February 26. The future 230km highway is estimated to cost 20 million USD per km in the form of BOT (Build-Operate-Transform). It will have 110km running on the Vietnamese land from Can Tho city via An Giang province to Phnom Penh . The road is designed to be 35 m wide and have 6 lanes, with two more lanes likely to be added in the second phase.The section on the Viet Nam territory has been approved by the government for construction.The Can Tho-Phnom Penh Expressway, once completed, will link the Mekong delta rice bowl of Viet Nam with Cambodia and go over to Bangkok of Thailand, promoting the socio-economic development for the Mekong delta region in the countries.Cambodian Secretary of State Tram Iv Tek said the project is big and important to his country’s socio-economic development so it will be proposed soon to the Prime Minister for instruction.
10,000 workers to go to Middle East in 2008This year, about 10,000 workers are expected to go to Middle East, a potential market for Viet Nam ’s labour export in 2008. The figure will include 5,000 workers sent to Quatar, 2,200 to the United Arab Emirates and 2,000 to Saudi Arabia , said the Overseas Worker Management Department of the Ministry of Labour, War Invalid and Social Affairs. According to the Air Service and Commercial Company (Airseco), a leading business in labour export to Middle East , Saudi Arabia has the largest demand for workers, about 900,000 people a year for different jobs. About 15,000 Vietnamese are working in the country. After signing a labour agreement on with Viet Nam , Quatar agreed to receive 25,000 Vietnamese workers this year. The department said that to expand Viet Nam ’s labour market and well manage overseas workers, the Government has allowed to establish Vietnamese worker management offices in Dubai and Qatar . Last year, the Middle East received more than 9,000 workers from Viet Nam . Vietnamese workers in this region have been appreciated for their cleverness and industriousness. However, they sill face difficulties in language and find not easy to get used with the region’s hard weather conditions. Besides the Middle East, the labour export sector has paid attention to the newly-restored traditional labour markets in Eastern Europe , with the target of sending 85,000 workers to these markets this year.
IFC, Sacombank strengthen cooperation in housing financeThe International Finance Corporation (IFC), a World Bank Group member, on February 26 signed a 800 billion VND (50 million USD) housing finance deal with the Saigon Thuong Tin Commercial Joint Stock Bank (Sacombank) in order to help develop Viet Nam’s financial sector.The loan will be funded through the first 10-year, cross-currency swap transaction in the country, as part of a long-term partnership between the two organizations.In a press release issued on Feb. 26, Sin Foong Wong, IFC Country Manager for Cambodia, Laos, and Viet Nam, said, “IFC is optimistic about the development of Viet Nam’s financial sector, and we are stepping up our investments and advisory activities in line with the country’s ambitious social economic development plan.” Since it started operations in Viet Nam in 1994, IFC has invested more than $500 million in the country in a variety of sectors, including over $150 million in the financial sector. In 2008, IFC plans to invest about $100 million in debt, equity, and risk-sharing instruments in the country’s financial sector. Sacombank is one of IFC’s first financial sector clients in Viet Nam . Their relationship began in early 2000.
Spain to provide 65 million Euros for Viet Nam in 2008-2010The Government of Spain will provide Viet Nam with a preferential loan of 65 million Euros in the 2008-2010 fiscal year. To this effect, a financial cooperation programme was signed between Minister of Planning and Investment Vo Hong Phuc and Spain ’s Secretary of State for Tourism and Trade Pedro Mejia Gomez in Ha Noi on February 26.The loan will be disbursed for the country’s socio-economic development, especially in transport infrastructure, energy, post and telecommunication and water management.The European country will provide an additional 200 million Euros in case it gets involved in the building of Ho Chi Minh City ’s metro system.Furthermore, the Spanish government will donate 3 million Euros in non-refundable aid to Viet Nam in the 2008-2010 period to help Spanish companies build feasibility studies for their projects in the country.According to the Ministry of Planning and Investment, Spain provided 170 million USD in preferential loans and 130 million USD in commercial loans for Viet Nam between 1994 and 2002.
Two-month FDI attraction hits 2.65 billion USDViet Nam drew 2.65 billion USD of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the first two months this year, a 39 percent increase over the same period last year. Of the figure, 2.5 billion USD were registered by 72 new projects while the remaining were added to 17 underway projects, according to the Foreign Investment Department under the Ministry of Planning and Investment. Most of the projects focused on the fields of industry, services and agro-fisheries.According to the Foreign Investment Department, the country entered the new year with several large-scale projects. Prominent are projects to build a 1.29 billion USD hotel-entertainment complex in southern Ba Ria-Vung Tau province by the US-based Good Choice Corporation and a 610 million USD centre for software production and information technology human resource training by Japanese companies. With the 1.29 billion USD project that represented a half of the total registered FDI, southern Ba Ria-Vung Tau province led the country in FDI attraction over the past two months. Among 82 countries investing in Viet Nam , the US topped with 5 projects valued at over 1.3 billion USD, or 51.6 percent.The mentioned period also witnessed the strong development of FDI businesses in Viet Nam , that earned revenues of 4.9 billion USD in the past two months, up 25 percent year-on-year.
Industrial production value increases 16.3 percentThe national industrial production value in February was estimated at 46.4 billion VND, a 16.1 percent year-on-year increase, but 12.2 percent lower than the previous month. The figure brought the production value in the first two months of this year to almost 99.29 billion VND, a 16.3 percent rise over the same period last year. The State-own sector saw a 7.1 percent year-on-year increase, while the foreign investment sector recorded an increase of 16.7 percent and the non-State sector, 21.9 percent. Many localities, boasted of high industrial production value including Ho Chi Minh City, Ha Noi, Vinh Phuc, Ha Tay and Hai Duong, also obtained the growth rates ranging from 16.2-40 percent compared to the same period last year. Production of almost all major industrial products in service of production, consumers and exports markedly rose in the past two months, such as electricity up 17.9, rolled steel up 49.3 percent, tool machine up 23.2 percent and air conditioner up 31.7 percent over the same period last year.
Especially, production of consumer goods used for the traditional lunar new year festival (Tet), like beer and milk, rose sharply over last year.
Wood processors to focus on improving competitive capacityVietnamese wood processors will focus their efforts on improving their products quality in the coming time, announced a workshop entitled “Opportunities and challenges for the wood processing industry after joining the WTO” held in Ha Noi on February 26.According to a report by the Viet Nam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), thanks to country’s WTO membership, Vietnamese wood processing enterprises have got opportunities to expand their markets. However, they are not capable of receiving large orders due to low technology and high production cost.According to Nguyen Ton Quyen, General Secretary of the Viet Nam Wood and Forestry Products Association, to improve the industry’s competitive capacity and sustainable development, enterprises must actively invest in building and expanding wood processing areas, which are capable to supply enough and stable materials, and speed up the implementation of forestation plan and diversify the products for export.He also put stress on the need to upgrade processing technology, develop training centres and accelerate trade promotion activities.Viet Nam has been one of the two largest exporters of woodworks in Southeast Asia . Vietnamese wood products have been exported to 120 countries and territories.Since 2000, the export value of Vietnamese woodworks has seen tenfold increase, from 219 million USD to 2.34 billion USD in 2007. The figure is expected to hit 3 billion USD this year.
Conference discusses measures to develop rubber in Central HighlandsViet Nam ’s Central Highlands has set a target to put 240,000 ha of land under rubber trees in 2015, with 100,000 ha being in Gia Lai province. However, only 10,000 ha of rubber trees have been planted over the past two years.The Central Highlands, which has been defined as one of the country’s two key rubber growing areas together with the southeastern region, now houses around 113,000 ha out of the nation’s total 500,000 ha of rubber.“Drastic measures on land should be taken,” said Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Cao Duc Phat at a conference to speed up the rubber programme held in Gia Lai province last weekend. He urged for the acceleration of land allocation for the programmes and the development of larger projects to be submitted to the National Assembly at its August session.He also suggested Central Highlands provinces to closely coordinate with local businesses to encourage farmers to grow rubber trees.The price of Viet Nam ’s export rubber is forecast to continue soaring due to the world’s increasing demand for the staple, which is now sold at 41 million VND per tonne, the highest level so far.The country’s rubber export turnover is expected to reach 1.5 billion USD this year. In January alone, the figure was 149 million USD, representing a year-on-year increase of 39 percent.Rubber is one of Viet Nam ’s 10 key export staples that annually fetch 1 billion USD or more. The country’s rubber products have found good niche in some 40 countries and territories worldwide.
Marine reserve project to receive 6 billion VNDThe Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development said it will finance a project to help improve capacity in marine reserve management and increase public awareness of marine resources preservation.The project, which will have an estimated cost of 6 billion VND, will target managers working at both centrally-run and locally-run marine reserves in addition to inhabitants living an the reserves and their surroundings.The project will be carried out by the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA), the World Conservation Union (IUCN) and the global conservation organisation WWF in conjunction with some Vietnamese research institutes and universities.The Ministry said local people are affected by the establishment of marine reserves. Therefore, it is necessary to improve their livelihoods and better their understanding about the benefit of the preservation work.Australian firm to build resort in Phu ThoThe Advance Australia Travel group pledged to pour 350 million USD in the first phase of a project to build Ao Gioi-Suoi Tien (God’s pond-Fairy’s spring) resort in the northern midland province of Phu Tho .The investment will be spent on construction of a golf course, villas, entertainment facilities, an Asian cultural village and an area to introduce Vietnamese craft villages.Besides priority policies from the Government, the investor will receive local initiatives in land rental, infrastructure, investment and trade promotion activities.
February CPI exceeds 3 percentThe consumer price index (CPI) made an unexpected record monthly increase of over 3 percent in February, the Ministry of Planning and Investment reported at a meeting on February 26. Price hike in raw materials for the production of steel, iron, cement and petroleum is attributable to CPI’s surge. Consecutive diseases and floods and a prolonged cold snap were among factors that pushed up the prices of food and foodstuff. Furthermore, domestic petrol price has been added by 1,500 VND per litre due to increases on the world’s oil market, which has direct impacts on production, transportation, tourism and aquaculture. Despite an estimated export value of 8.7 billion USD in the first two months, representing a fair growth rate of 29.2 percent, the country posted a high import value of 13 billion USD, a yearly surge of 63.7 percent, the ministry reported.
Hai Phong builds 400 billion VND liquid gas storageMinh Quang Investment Limited Company broke the ground for construction of a 400 billion VND liquid gas storage in Dinh Vu industrial zone, the northern port city of Hai Phong , on February 25. The storage, covering 2.28 ha, includes six basins to be equipped with modern devices, which are capable of containing 10,000 tonnes of liquid gas. The facility is expected to put into operation in 2011.
Int’l industry & infrastructure construction expo opensAn international industry and infrastructure construction expo opened in Ho Chi Minh City on February 27.The exhibition has drawn the participation of more than 100 domestic and foreign businesses, including those from Singapore , the Republic of Korea , India , Taiwan , Japan , Hong Kong , China , Spain , Italy and the US . They are showcasing their products in such fields as liquid and gas industry, industrial equipment, electronics, real estate and infrastructure at 250 booths. The three-day event is a good venue for domestic and foreign producers and distributors to share experiences and seek business cooperation.
Construction of car carrier begins in Hai PhongConstruction of a vessel capable to carry 6,900 cars began in the northern port city of Hai Phong on February 26 by the Nam Trieu Shipbuilding Company under the Viet Nam Industrial Shipbuilding Corporation (Vinashin).The ship, which is 199.90m long, 32m wide, was designed by Finland ’s Delta Marine and built under the supervision of Norway ’s DNV Registry Agency.The ship is being built under a contract with the Norway ’s Hoegh Autolines.Earlier, the Vinashin has built a 700 TEU container ship for Germany, a series of 56,000 tonne ships for Japan, and a 10,900 tonne Lash ship and a 150,000 oil tanker for the National Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam).
Singapore invests in Viet Nam’s central airportSingapore’s Changi Airports International (CAI) will take part in the development and running of Phu Bai international airport in central Thua Thien-Hue province, said the Middle Airport Authorities.CAI signed a memorandum of understanding to this effect with the Middle Airport Authorities (MAA) in Ha Noi on February 26 in the witness of visiting Singaporean President S.R. Nathan.This is the first foreign business to invest in airport development project in Viet Nam. CAI Director General Chow Kok Fong said he wanted to share experiences with the Vietnamese side on the management and development of Changi airport and other airports invested by CAI around the world.
Forum on Viet Nam’s economic development
More than 30 economists from France and Viet Nam are sitting at a forum in central Da Nang city to assess the impacts that the World Trade Organisation (WTO) membership has exerted on Viet Nam ’s economy.At the 7th Viet Nam-France Economic and Financial Forum, beginning on February 26, the participants will give out their forecasts of Viet Nam ’s socio-economic development through different lens. Vietnamese Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Bich Dat, French Ambassador to Viet Nam Herve Bolot, and Da Nang city’s authorities joined the forum.The forum was initiated in 2000 by the French Embassy in Viet Nam and the Association for the Development of Economic and Financial Technology under a governmental agreement.
Viet Nam, Cambodia discuss expressway projectAn expressway linking the southern Can Tho city of Viet Nam to Phnom Penh capital city of Cambodia will be built to facilitate the economic development in the two cities. To this end, Vietnamese and Cambodian authorities met in Phnom Penh on February 26. The future 230km highway is estimated to cost 20 million USD per km in the form of BOT (Build-Operate-Transform). It will have 110km running on the Vietnamese land from Can Tho city via An Giang province to Phnom Penh . The road is designed to be 35 m wide and have 6 lanes, with two more lanes likely to be added in the second phase.The section on the Viet Nam territory has been approved by the government for construction.The Can Tho-Phnom Penh Expressway, once completed, will link the Mekong delta rice bowl of Viet Nam with Cambodia and go over to Bangkok of Thailand, promoting the socio-economic development for the Mekong delta region in the countries.Cambodian Secretary of State Tram Iv Tek said the project is big and important to his country’s socio-economic development so it will be proposed soon to the Prime Minister for instruction.
10,000 workers to go to Middle East in 2008This year, about 10,000 workers are expected to go to Middle East, a potential market for Viet Nam ’s labour export in 2008. The figure will include 5,000 workers sent to Quatar, 2,200 to the United Arab Emirates and 2,000 to Saudi Arabia , said the Overseas Worker Management Department of the Ministry of Labour, War Invalid and Social Affairs. According to the Air Service and Commercial Company (Airseco), a leading business in labour export to Middle East , Saudi Arabia has the largest demand for workers, about 900,000 people a year for different jobs. About 15,000 Vietnamese are working in the country. After signing a labour agreement on with Viet Nam , Quatar agreed to receive 25,000 Vietnamese workers this year. The department said that to expand Viet Nam ’s labour market and well manage overseas workers, the Government has allowed to establish Vietnamese worker management offices in Dubai and Qatar . Last year, the Middle East received more than 9,000 workers from Viet Nam . Vietnamese workers in this region have been appreciated for their cleverness and industriousness. However, they sill face difficulties in language and find not easy to get used with the region’s hard weather conditions. Besides the Middle East, the labour export sector has paid attention to the newly-restored traditional labour markets in Eastern Europe , with the target of sending 85,000 workers to these markets this year.
IFC, Sacombank strengthen cooperation in housing financeThe International Finance Corporation (IFC), a World Bank Group member, on February 26 signed a 800 billion VND (50 million USD) housing finance deal with the Saigon Thuong Tin Commercial Joint Stock Bank (Sacombank) in order to help develop Viet Nam’s financial sector.The loan will be funded through the first 10-year, cross-currency swap transaction in the country, as part of a long-term partnership between the two organizations.In a press release issued on Feb. 26, Sin Foong Wong, IFC Country Manager for Cambodia, Laos, and Viet Nam, said, “IFC is optimistic about the development of Viet Nam’s financial sector, and we are stepping up our investments and advisory activities in line with the country’s ambitious social economic development plan.” Since it started operations in Viet Nam in 1994, IFC has invested more than $500 million in the country in a variety of sectors, including over $150 million in the financial sector. In 2008, IFC plans to invest about $100 million in debt, equity, and risk-sharing instruments in the country’s financial sector. Sacombank is one of IFC’s first financial sector clients in Viet Nam . Their relationship began in early 2000.
Spain to provide 65 million Euros for Viet Nam in 2008-2010The Government of Spain will provide Viet Nam with a preferential loan of 65 million Euros in the 2008-2010 fiscal year. To this effect, a financial cooperation programme was signed between Minister of Planning and Investment Vo Hong Phuc and Spain ’s Secretary of State for Tourism and Trade Pedro Mejia Gomez in Ha Noi on February 26.The loan will be disbursed for the country’s socio-economic development, especially in transport infrastructure, energy, post and telecommunication and water management.The European country will provide an additional 200 million Euros in case it gets involved in the building of Ho Chi Minh City ’s metro system.Furthermore, the Spanish government will donate 3 million Euros in non-refundable aid to Viet Nam in the 2008-2010 period to help Spanish companies build feasibility studies for their projects in the country.According to the Ministry of Planning and Investment, Spain provided 170 million USD in preferential loans and 130 million USD in commercial loans for Viet Nam between 1994 and 2002.
Two-month FDI attraction hits 2.65 billion USDViet Nam drew 2.65 billion USD of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the first two months this year, a 39 percent increase over the same period last year. Of the figure, 2.5 billion USD were registered by 72 new projects while the remaining were added to 17 underway projects, according to the Foreign Investment Department under the Ministry of Planning and Investment. Most of the projects focused on the fields of industry, services and agro-fisheries.According to the Foreign Investment Department, the country entered the new year with several large-scale projects. Prominent are projects to build a 1.29 billion USD hotel-entertainment complex in southern Ba Ria-Vung Tau province by the US-based Good Choice Corporation and a 610 million USD centre for software production and information technology human resource training by Japanese companies. With the 1.29 billion USD project that represented a half of the total registered FDI, southern Ba Ria-Vung Tau province led the country in FDI attraction over the past two months. Among 82 countries investing in Viet Nam , the US topped with 5 projects valued at over 1.3 billion USD, or 51.6 percent.The mentioned period also witnessed the strong development of FDI businesses in Viet Nam , that earned revenues of 4.9 billion USD in the past two months, up 25 percent year-on-year.
Industrial production value increases 16.3 percentThe national industrial production value in February was estimated at 46.4 billion VND, a 16.1 percent year-on-year increase, but 12.2 percent lower than the previous month. The figure brought the production value in the first two months of this year to almost 99.29 billion VND, a 16.3 percent rise over the same period last year. The State-own sector saw a 7.1 percent year-on-year increase, while the foreign investment sector recorded an increase of 16.7 percent and the non-State sector, 21.9 percent. Many localities, boasted of high industrial production value including Ho Chi Minh City, Ha Noi, Vinh Phuc, Ha Tay and Hai Duong, also obtained the growth rates ranging from 16.2-40 percent compared to the same period last year. Production of almost all major industrial products in service of production, consumers and exports markedly rose in the past two months, such as electricity up 17.9, rolled steel up 49.3 percent, tool machine up 23.2 percent and air conditioner up 31.7 percent over the same period last year.
Especially, production of consumer goods used for the traditional lunar new year festival (Tet), like beer and milk, rose sharply over last year.
Wood processors to focus on improving competitive capacityVietnamese wood processors will focus their efforts on improving their products quality in the coming time, announced a workshop entitled “Opportunities and challenges for the wood processing industry after joining the WTO” held in Ha Noi on February 26.According to a report by the Viet Nam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), thanks to country’s WTO membership, Vietnamese wood processing enterprises have got opportunities to expand their markets. However, they are not capable of receiving large orders due to low technology and high production cost.According to Nguyen Ton Quyen, General Secretary of the Viet Nam Wood and Forestry Products Association, to improve the industry’s competitive capacity and sustainable development, enterprises must actively invest in building and expanding wood processing areas, which are capable to supply enough and stable materials, and speed up the implementation of forestation plan and diversify the products for export.He also put stress on the need to upgrade processing technology, develop training centres and accelerate trade promotion activities.Viet Nam has been one of the two largest exporters of woodworks in Southeast Asia . Vietnamese wood products have been exported to 120 countries and territories.Since 2000, the export value of Vietnamese woodworks has seen tenfold increase, from 219 million USD to 2.34 billion USD in 2007. The figure is expected to hit 3 billion USD this year.
Conference discusses measures to develop rubber in Central HighlandsViet Nam ’s Central Highlands has set a target to put 240,000 ha of land under rubber trees in 2015, with 100,000 ha being in Gia Lai province. However, only 10,000 ha of rubber trees have been planted over the past two years.The Central Highlands, which has been defined as one of the country’s two key rubber growing areas together with the southeastern region, now houses around 113,000 ha out of the nation’s total 500,000 ha of rubber.“Drastic measures on land should be taken,” said Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Cao Duc Phat at a conference to speed up the rubber programme held in Gia Lai province last weekend. He urged for the acceleration of land allocation for the programmes and the development of larger projects to be submitted to the National Assembly at its August session.He also suggested Central Highlands provinces to closely coordinate with local businesses to encourage farmers to grow rubber trees.The price of Viet Nam ’s export rubber is forecast to continue soaring due to the world’s increasing demand for the staple, which is now sold at 41 million VND per tonne, the highest level so far.The country’s rubber export turnover is expected to reach 1.5 billion USD this year. In January alone, the figure was 149 million USD, representing a year-on-year increase of 39 percent.Rubber is one of Viet Nam ’s 10 key export staples that annually fetch 1 billion USD or more. The country’s rubber products have found good niche in some 40 countries and territories worldwide.
Marine reserve project to receive 6 billion VNDThe Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development said it will finance a project to help improve capacity in marine reserve management and increase public awareness of marine resources preservation.The project, which will have an estimated cost of 6 billion VND, will target managers working at both centrally-run and locally-run marine reserves in addition to inhabitants living an the reserves and their surroundings.The project will be carried out by the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA), the World Conservation Union (IUCN) and the global conservation organisation WWF in conjunction with some Vietnamese research institutes and universities.The Ministry said local people are affected by the establishment of marine reserves. Therefore, it is necessary to improve their livelihoods and better their understanding about the benefit of the preservation work.Australian firm to build resort in Phu ThoThe Advance Australia Travel group pledged to pour 350 million USD in the first phase of a project to build Ao Gioi-Suoi Tien (God’s pond-Fairy’s spring) resort in the northern midland province of Phu Tho .The investment will be spent on construction of a golf course, villas, entertainment facilities, an Asian cultural village and an area to introduce Vietnamese craft villages.Besides priority policies from the Government, the investor will receive local initiatives in land rental, infrastructure, investment and trade promotion activities.
February CPI exceeds 3 percentThe consumer price index (CPI) made an unexpected record monthly increase of over 3 percent in February, the Ministry of Planning and Investment reported at a meeting on February 26. Price hike in raw materials for the production of steel, iron, cement and petroleum is attributable to CPI’s surge. Consecutive diseases and floods and a prolonged cold snap were among factors that pushed up the prices of food and foodstuff. Furthermore, domestic petrol price has been added by 1,500 VND per litre due to increases on the world’s oil market, which has direct impacts on production, transportation, tourism and aquaculture. Despite an estimated export value of 8.7 billion USD in the first two months, representing a fair growth rate of 29.2 percent, the country posted a high import value of 13 billion USD, a yearly surge of 63.7 percent, the ministry reported.
Hai Phong builds 400 billion VND liquid gas storageMinh Quang Investment Limited Company broke the ground for construction of a 400 billion VND liquid gas storage in Dinh Vu industrial zone, the northern port city of Hai Phong , on February 25. The storage, covering 2.28 ha, includes six basins to be equipped with modern devices, which are capable of containing 10,000 tonnes of liquid gas. The facility is expected to put into operation in 2011.
(Source: VNA)
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