Vietnamese images to be advertised twice a day on CNN

11:41' 25/06/2007 (GMT+7)

Foreign visitors will know about Vietnam through CNN. VietNamNet Bridge – Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Sinh Hung has approved the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) to advertise Vietnamese tourism on CNN twice a day. After considering the VNAT’s proposal for advertising Vietnamese tourism on the famous TV channel CNN and consulting the opinions of the ministries of Culture and Information, Finance, and Planning and Investment, the Deputy Prime Minister assigned the VNAT and the Ministry of Culture and Information to design the detailed scheme on Vietnamese tourism advertisement on CNN. Accordingly, the advertisement of Vietnamese tourism on this channel will last for 13 weeks, twice a day at peak hours, totalling 182 times. The funds for the advertisement will come from the sources for trade, investment and tourism promotion. Previously, Pham Huu Minh, Head of the Tourism Promotion Agency under VNAT, said that Vietnam would have to pay US$400,000 for the advertising programme on CNN for three months. CNN agrees to give the funding for making the advertising clip for Vietnam, worth around $40,000-50,000. The advertising clip of Vietnamese tourism will be broadcast on CNN in the third quarter of 2007. By the end of May 2007, 1.8 million foreign visitors came to Vietnam, an increase of 12.4% year on year. The Republic of Korea took the lead with 223,000 visitors, up 22.6%, followed by China with 222,000, the US with 180,000 and Japan with 179,000. Viet Nam Net

Bred bear shot for attacking humans

13:07' 25/06/2007 (GMT+7)

Hunting the bear (photo: Tuoi Tre) VietNamNet Bridge – Competent forces on June 22 shot and killed a bear that escaped from its cage and hurt two people in Hiep An commune, Thu Dau Mot town in the southern province of Binh Duong on June 20. The bear was bred in a cage by a man in Binh Duong Province. On June 20, the bear escaped from its cage and went to a 200ha bamboo forest inside a tourist zone named Dai Nam. The owner and a veterinary doctor came to the forest to catch the bear. When seeing the bear inside a bamboo hedges, they used sticks to drive the bear. Suddenly the bear rushed into the owner and the veterinary doctor to attack. The veterinary doctor was lightly hurt while the owner was hit on his head and fell to the ground. On June 21, the local government instructed the local police, military and forest rangers to catch the bear. Six policemen with special guns came to the bamboo forest to hunt the bear but they couldn’t find it. Till the morning of June 22, after three hours of searching, the forces defined the place where the bear was hiding. Since they couldn’t anaesthetise the bear and were afraid that the bear could attack humans, the hunters decided to shoot the bear. The bear is more than 100kg and had an electronic chip on its body, according to the rules of bear ownership. (Source: Viet Nam Net)

Court refuses petition against 17 toxic sauce producers

13:12' 25/06/2007 (GMT+7)

VietNamNet Bridge – The HCM City People’s Court on June 22 refused the petition against 17 producers of toxic soya sauce. The plaintiff, Ha Huu Tuong, said that he would collect more signatures from consumers and evidence to continue suing toxic sauce producers. He said that two law officers and a cancer hospital in Hanoi had agreed to cooperate with him in preparing evidence for the case. Mr Tuong plans to meet with two cancer patients in HCM City and two others in Hanoi to prepare for the case. “I will submit the petition again very soon as the representative for several specific consumers who are also patients,” he said. This is the first civil case related to toxic soya sauce so far. The plaintiff is asking for compensation of VND30 billion (US$1.875 million) and asking the state to collect arrears of illegal income made from toxic sauce by those producers and punish violators. The seventeen soya sauce producers sued by Mr Tuong are Truong Thanh, Song Ma, Dong Phuong, Huong Nam Phuong, Lam Thuan, Thai Chan Thanh, Loi Ky, Nam Duong, Nosafood, Thai Dai Loi, Hau Sanh, Mekong, Miwon, Vinh Phuoc, Tam Ky, Khuong Phat and Bach Thao. (Source: Viet Nam Net)

Which way for automobile industry?

Which way for automobile industry? 13:40' 25/06/2007 (GMT+7) VietNamNet Bridge – Vindaco’s decision to shut down shows that the policy on protecting local automobile production which Vietnam has been pursuing is not the right solution to develop Vietnam’s automobile industry. Experts said that many other automobile assembling companies might follow Vindaco’s move to leave Vietnam once the country completed cutting taxes under its WTO commitments. One laughs and another cries On the morning of June 16, the ceremony to commemorate the 10th anniversary of establishment of Truong Hai Automobile Company took place jubilantly at Thong Nhat Palace in HCM City. Meanwhile, at Vindaco, the colleague and rival of Truong Hai, a somber atmosphere pervaded its offices and workshop. Several staffs of Vindaco were seen doing the last things they had to do, including sending letters to clients, informing them about the dissolution and the agents the clients should contact for maintenance after the joint venture stopped operating. Kimikazy Mitsuhashi, Director General of Vindaco, told the press that the joint venture dissolved because of a too small market with too many rivals. In 1994, Daihatsu and foreign partners, though they knew well the scale of the automobile market, still decided to inject $32mil in setting up a factory to assemble cars and small vans, hoping that the market would boom in the future, and Vindaco would dominate the market for less-than-10-tonne vans. However, they miscalculated both the market’s development and the taste of Vietnamese people. Daihatsu, the biggest partner in Vindaco, could not imagine that its rival in the van segment would not be the world-famous group, but local enterprises. In 2006, the sales of locally assembled vehicles bounced back after two years of falling down, with 41,000 sold units. However, the purchasing power of mini cars and vans of less than 1 tonne did not recover, but even decreased sharply, from 8,000 units in 2005, to 3,000 units in 2006. In the first five months of the year, Vindaco sold 173 units of different types, while Truong Hai, its main rival, sold 3,505 units, and Vinaxuki, another van manufacturer, 2,014 units. That was the main reason that led to Vindaco’s decision to dissolve. With the current market growth rate, sales may reach 60,000 units by the end of this year, well exceeding the record sale level of 42,557 in 2003. However, Vietnam’s automobile market has not seen the previously expected growth rate. In 1994-1995, foreign groups predicted that Vietnam would see 105,000 units sold in 2005. Wrong way has been chosen Unsuitable policies have been pointed out as the factor that has been hindering automobile industry development. At first, Vietnam decided to follow a policy on protecting local production – Malaysia’s model. While Vietnam tries to protect assembly joint ventures, Vietnamese consumers have to buy cars at prices which are two or three fold higher than the world’s levels. With the wrong policies, policy makers have stifled the domestic market. In fact, the policies Vietnam has been following prove to be not synchronous. On one hand, Vietnam considers the automobile industry a very important and high-priority industry. On the other hand, the Government wants to narrow the domestic market for fear that the current road system would be overloaded with too many cars. That explains why it has been trying to impose high tax rates (luxury tax and import tax) on automobile products. The biggest mistake the policy makers have made was in deciding the way to follow. Vietnam wanted to produce all car parts itself, and its tax policies all aimed to encourage localisation. The way Vietnam followed was the way Malaysia once went, and the plan to localise car production has failed completely. With such a small market like Vietnam, where not many units can be sold every year, no investor dares to spend much money just to sell several thousand sets of car parts every year. A representative from Daewoo Motor once suggested the idea of making national cars: i.e. all companies make the same model. However, the idea was brought to an early grave. Meanwhile, a neighbouring country, Thailand, has chosen another way for its automobile industry. Instead of trying to produce all car parts, the country encourages its enterprises to get involved in the global value chain, under which, Thai automobile companies act as both providers and consumers of car parts for and from other foreign companies. The way proves to be suitable for a small market, possibly including Vietnam. Last year, the car output in Thailand was more than 1mil units. In fact, Toyota Vietnam and some other companies asked the Government to apply the Thai model. The manufacturers tried to persuade it that the policy would help develop the supporting industries. However, the proposals were not accepted. Even nowadays, the viewpoint on local automobile industry development has not changed. In the master plan on automobile industry development by 2010, the localisation ratio is still listed among the priority goals. The Ministry of Industry has forecast that by 2010, the consumption level will reach 138,000 units a year, and the localisation ratio will be 60%. However, experts have pointed out that the goals will be hard to reach if the policies aiming to limit demand still exist. (Source: TBKTSG)

13:40' 25/06/2007 (GMT+7)

VietNamNet Bridge – Vindaco’s decision to shut down shows that the policy on protecting local automobile production which Vietnam has been pursuing is not the right solution to develop Vietnam’s automobile industry. Experts said that many other automobile assembling companies might follow Vindaco’s move to leave Vietnam once the country completed cutting taxes under its WTO commitments. One laughs and another cries On the morning of June 16, the ceremony to commemorate the 10th anniversary of establishment of Truong Hai Automobile Company took place jubilantly at Thong Nhat Palace in HCM City. Meanwhile, at Vindaco, the colleague and rival of Truong Hai, a somber atmosphere pervaded its offices and workshop. Several staffs of Vindaco were seen doing the last things they had to do, including sending letters to clients, informing them about the dissolution and the agents the clients should contact for maintenance after the joint venture stopped operating. Kimikazy Mitsuhashi, Director General of Vindaco, told the press that the joint venture dissolved because of a too small market with too many rivals. In 1994, Daihatsu and foreign partners, though they knew well the scale of the automobile market, still decided to inject $32mil in setting up a factory to assemble cars and small vans, hoping that the market would boom in the future, and Vindaco would dominate the market for less-than-10-tonne vans. However, they miscalculated both the market’s development and the taste of Vietnamese people. Daihatsu, the biggest partner in Vindaco, could not imagine that its rival in the van segment would not be the world-famous group, but local enterprises. In 2006, the sales of locally assembled vehicles bounced back after two years of falling down, with 41,000 sold units. However, the purchasing power of mini cars and vans of less than 1 tonne did not recover, but even decreased sharply, from 8,000 units in 2005, to 3,000 units in 2006. In the first five months of the year, Vindaco sold 173 units of different types, while Truong Hai, its main rival, sold 3,505 units, and Vinaxuki, another van manufacturer, 2,014 units. That was the main reason that led to Vindaco’s decision to dissolve. With the current market growth rate, sales may reach 60,000 units by the end of this year, well exceeding the record sale level of 42,557 in 2003. However, Vietnam’s automobile market has not seen the previously expected growth rate. In 1994-1995, foreign groups predicted that Vietnam would see 105,000 units sold in 2005. Wrong way has been chosen Unsuitable policies have been pointed out as the factor that has been hindering automobile industry development. At first, Vietnam decided to follow a policy on protecting local production – Malaysia’s model. While Vietnam tries to protect assembly joint ventures, Vietnamese consumers have to buy cars at prices which are two or three fold higher than the world’s levels. With the wrong policies, policy makers have stifled the domestic market. In fact, the policies Vietnam has been following prove to be not synchronous. On one hand, Vietnam considers the automobile industry a very important and high-priority industry. On the other hand, the Government wants to narrow the domestic market for fear that the current road system would be overloaded with too many cars. That explains why it has been trying to impose high tax rates (luxury tax and import tax) on automobile products. The biggest mistake the policy makers have made was in deciding the way to follow. Vietnam wanted to produce all car parts itself, and its tax policies all aimed to encourage localisation. The way Vietnam followed was the way Malaysia once went, and the plan to localise car production has failed completely. With such a small market like Vietnam, where not many units can be sold every year, no investor dares to spend much money just to sell several thousand sets of car parts every year. A representative from Daewoo Motor once suggested the idea of making national cars: i.e. all companies make the same model. However, the idea was brought to an early grave. Meanwhile, a neighbouring country, Thailand, has chosen another way for its automobile industry. Instead of trying to produce all car parts, the country encourages its enterprises to get involved in the global value chain, under which, Thai automobile companies act as both providers and consumers of car parts for and from other foreign companies. The way proves to be suitable for a small market, possibly including Vietnam. Last year, the car output in Thailand was more than 1mil units. In fact, Toyota Vietnam and some other companies asked the Government to apply the Thai model. The manufacturers tried to persuade it that the policy would help develop the supporting industries. However, the proposals were not accepted. Even nowadays, the viewpoint on local automobile industry development has not changed. In the master plan on automobile industry development by 2010, the localisation ratio is still listed among the priority goals. The Ministry of Industry has forecast that by 2010, the consumption level will reach 138,000 units a year, and the localisation ratio will be 60%. However, experts have pointed out that the goals will be hard to reach if the policies aiming to limit demand still exist. (Source: TBKTSG)

Oliver Stone to return to Vietnam

08:37' 25/06/2007 (GMT+7)

VietNamNet Bridge - Hollywood heavyweight director Oliver Stone is set to return to Vietnam to make another film about the American war. The new film, Pinkville, will see the Oscar-winning director team up with actor Sean Penn for the first time since the two collaborated on U-Turn in 1997. Pinkville is about the infamous My Lai massacre in 1968, in which US soldiers killed hundreds of unarmed Vietnamese civilians – at least 367, but possibly as many as 500 – including women, children and the elderly. The news broke in the US in November of 1969, which led to widespread condemnation of the war in the US. Stone used a massacre for a pivotal scene in Platoon, but apparently feels there’s still more to say, specifically, about the event. Pinkville will be Stone’s fourth film to directly deal with the Vietnam War (if you don’t count his student film, Last Year in Vietnam), following the loose trilogy of Platoon, Born on the Fourth of July and Heaven and Earth. It should be a welcome return for the filmmaker, who is closely associated with Vietnam and the ‘60s in a way that directors Woody Allen and Scorsese would be associated with New York. The subject matter can now be seen with a different relevance while both Penn, who starred in the Vietnam film Casualties of War, and Stone may also be interested in searching for parallels between the American war and the current US-led war in Iraq. (Viet Nam Net)

Paradise island

08:40' 25/06/2007 (GMT+7)

VietNamNet Bridge - As we dropped in through the clouds, all we could make out of Con Dao was white beaches and white water pounding the neighbouring cliffs. Green covered everything else and I thought, is this Vietnam or Hawaii? Then as our van, taking us from the airport to the resort, skimmed the edge of those same cliffs and dodged oncoming motorbikes I thought, definitely Vietnam. But this was not like any part of Vietnam I had ever seen before. This was an island that was as quaint, quiet and comfortable as Hoi An, but with sands as soft as silk, and beaches as pristine and unsullied as Mui Ne and Vung Tau should be. There’s no sand erosion on Con Dao, no beggars walking the beaches, no endless line of resorts and their weekend-warrior guests, no kite-surfers trimming your hair as you swim; just perfect sand, perfect waves, and perfect peace. Peace is the word du jour on Con Dao. From the moment the propellers stop, to the moment they start up again a few days later, Con Dao provides you with a silence and solace that, were it not so natural, would just be down right, well, unnatural. The loudest it gets on the island is in the middle of a hike through the jungle, when the birds and other wildlife make for a veritable crowd in the forest. Though if the wildlife in the jungle is considered impressive, then the wildlife underwater is just incredible. Considered by many to be the best scuba diving spot in Vietnam, and by almost all to be at least amongst the top three sites for it, Con Dao provides an extensive menu of fish and coral, including lots of sea fans and blue-spotted rays. But what really gets the dive guides’ eyes twinkling are the occasional sea turtles (Con Dao is one of Vietnam’s few animal reserves for both the turtles and the even more rare manatee) and the slightly more present nurse shark. Vietnam’s most respected dive operators, Rainbow Divers, currently have staff on the island running classes and dives. They promise a full-on dive shop by the end of this summer, but warn they’ll only be open during peak season, March through October (two dives will cost about $90). For the history buffs, Con Dao is also the final resting place of some of Vietnam’s most famous martyrs. During the wars against the French and the Americans, Con Dao was a notorious prison island where some of Vietnam’s most praised heroes were tortured and eventually executed. So for people with a strong desire to know where some of the West’s darkest secrets occurred, or for those of us just curious to find out where Saigon gets some of its street names, Con Dao can be quietly informative and (relatively) unpretentious about it. But perhaps the most fun to be had on Con Dao is on the open road. For a mere VND125,000 (just under $8) one can rent a motorbike for the day, and drive along the roads that circle the island, hugging the cliffs and diving through the mountains. The winding cliff heights would remind one of Cliff Road in Santa Cruz, California. For those of us that don’t know how to drive a motorbike, Con Dao’s open roads (heavy traffic in Con Dao means that other guy over there) are surprisingly well paved and provide a great spot to learn. This also affords you the opportunity to discover some of Con Dao’s many unpopulated beaches, where privacy and beauty come as a matter of course. One word to the wise, however, is to remind everyone that barnacles are very sharp, so before you go climbing all over seaside rocks, beware of on what you step or you’ll end up with Swiss cheese for feet. Don’t get me wrong, Con Dao is not perfect. There’s currently only one resort located on a beach (aptly named “Con Dao Resort”, however there is also a construction site on a primo beach spot just outside of town with a sign advertising an “Evason Hideaway” to be). The current resort is not exactly five-star, but it does its best and there’s very little to complain about (least of all the food, which is always fresh and always very good, just don’t expect a cheeseburger as Vietnamese is only known cuisine on the island). Also when the resort warns you about insects that “may” bite you when you go to the beach, they’re talking about Sea Lice, which are definitely on the island (although I personally was never bitten, some of my companions were). Perhaps most unfortunately for us alcoholic westerners, “bar” is still a piece of metal on this island. While these factors might keep some away from Con Dao for the time being, for those of us that enjoy finding beaches with no footprints, driving motorbikes along roads that hug the cliffs, and scuba diving in places where the main attraction is actually the fish, perhaps it’s not such a bad thing that we get Con Dao all to ourselves. At least for now. (Viet Nam Net)

MPI set to postpone deadline

08:44' 25/06/2007 (GMT+7)

VietNamNet Bridge - Foreign limited liability firms struggling to meet a looming deadline to convert into shareholding companies, or re-register themselves under the new Investment and Enterprise laws, can breathe a sigh of relief. A senior official from the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI) said the deadline, July 2008, or two years after the enforcement of the two laws, might be too strict and no longer suitable. “The deadline may be extended to 2010. It might even be removed all together. It would possibly be better if there is no time restriction so foreign investors can determine a suitable time-frame for their re-registration or conversion under the new laws,” Pham Manh Dung, head of the MPI’s legislative department told Vietnam Investment Review. The new unified Enterprise Law and common Investment Law are considered breakthroughs in Vietnam’s legislative reform process as they lay firm foundations to create a level playing field for both foreign and domestic companies. Dung said most existing foreign- invested firms wanted to convert into shareholding entities so they could mobilise capital and list on the bourse. Alain Cany, chairman of the European Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam, said the limited time frame was impossible for the huge number of existing firms to re-register or implement the conversion. “Many of the approximately 6,000 foreign-invested companies that have already been established in Vietnam will probably wish to re-register under the new Investment Law, while a number will wish to convert into shareholding companies. “Others will want to expand their production, business scope or even increase chartered capital to suit the new context,” he said. Under the existing process for re-registration and conversion into shareholding companies, foreign investors must submit a set of dossiers along with a document of refreshed corporate rules to the provincial planning and investment departments. However, Cany said: “In practice, while it should be straightforward to convert a 100 per cent foreign-owned company into a shareholding company, it is often extremely difficult to re-register a joint venture company as a limited liability company or to convert it into a shareholding company. “Investors are experiencing delays in re-registration and conversion partly as a result of difficulties with joint venture partners and partly as a result of delays with the licensing authorities which are coming under an increasing administrative burden as applications increase,” he said. Dung said that if there appeared to be any administrative problems relevant to process of re-registration or conversion, foreign investors might lodge their concerns with the MPI. “Difficulties in agreement between foreign and Vietnamese partners in joint ventures for re-registration or conversion is natural and should be settled,” he said, adding that commonly after conversion into shareholding companies, the party who holds the majority of stakes will have the decisive voice, so the inferior did not want for conversion. Regarding the EuroCham’s proposal on the implementation of an automatic conversion procedure within a certain time limit, Dung said: “It is impossible. Foreign investors have to comply with the existing law.” Dinh Van An, head of the MPI’s Central Institute of Economic Management, said that some specific guidelines would be released soon to facilitate enterprises. (Viet Nam Net)

Vietnamese President wraps up successful US visit

08:25' 25/06/2007 (GMT+7)

VietNamNet Bridge - President Nguyen Minh Triet wrapped up on June 24 his official visit to the US where he had had fruitful talks with President George Bush, a number of meetings with American politicians and businessspeople as well as the Vietnamese community. President Triet told VNA reporters that he had reached a consensus with President Bush on an array of issues and they all agreed to bolster the friendship and solidarity between the two countries and the two peoples. President Triet stressed that he and the US counterpart had shared the view that the two countries need to promote the exchange of visits and increase economic-trade cooperation. We also agreed to focus on the two countries' cooperation on science-technology, education, healthcare, HIV/AIDS, and humanitarian issues, including the assistance to Agent Orange/dioxin victims and the detoxification of dioxin-contaminated areas, he said. President Triet noted that he had frank and open discussions with President Bush and the leaders of the US House of Representatives and the Senate on the issues where differences remain and came to conclusion that more dialogues need to be held for further understanding. He also spoke about his stop-over at the Orange County ( California ), describing it as an affirmation of the Party and State leaders' desire to meet with the overseas Vietnamese in the US . "I wish the Vietnamese community in the US would always be successful. I hope that they would lend a helping hand for the homeland's national construction and act as a bridge between the two nations," President Triet said. Earlier on the morning of June 23 (local time), President Triet attended the Vietnam-US Business Forum in Los Angeles . The event was co-organised by the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Vietnam Businesspeople Association. Witnessing the signing of a score of cooperation and investment deals after the forum, President Triet informed the participants that during the visit, Vietnamese and American businesspeople inked economic contracts and agreements totalling 11 billion USD. Also on the day, President Triet had working sessions with the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the Senate of California and several city mayors. He also received representatives of 20 large businesses in the US West Coast on the day. (Source: Viet Nam Net)

Drifting with Lotus Flowers

13:57' 24/06/2007 (GMT+7)

VietNamNet Bridge - It is the name of an exhibition by painter Nguyen Thi Tam held at Ho Chi Minh City 's exhibition hall, which displayed 50 silk and oil paintings of lotus flowers. Via the paintings, viewers can see the diversified beauty and charm of lotus flowers which bloom in the early sunshine with glistening dew-drops, drift in the flooding season in Dong Thap or boast their fragrance with other kinds of countryside flowers in a quiet pond. Studying oil painting at the Gia Dinh Fine Arts College in Saigon, Nguyen Thi Tam has been attached to silk painting over the past half century. She likes to use the silk material, which is made in her native land to express landscapes as well as the beauty of the country. She also creates oil paintings with pliable strokes that look as beautiful as the silk pieces. The truthfulness and simplicity is the overwhelming feature in her paintings. "I reject all prolixity and unnecessary colours. I only use the typical shapes and colours to create the simple beauty," she said. Being evaluated as one of a few successful female painters in Ho Chi Minh City, Nguyen Thi Tam has continually made great advancements and contributed to the field. At present, she works as the chairwoman of the women’s fine arts club named Son Tam in Ho Chi Minh City. Viet Nam Net

New travel information centre launched

13:37' 24/06/2007 (GMT+7)

The website: chaovietnam.vn VietNamNet Bridge - ChaoVietnam, a bridge between travelers and tourism services, has been launched to take brand Vietnam to the global stage. The website www.chaovietnam.vn is a guidebook with daily updated information about travel and living in Vietnam. Chaovietnam – Travel Info Centre, which is located in the heart of the city at the front gate of the Reunification Palace in Ho Chi Minh Cit's District 1, provides free answers to all questions from tourists and consultations on traveling in Vietnam. The centre is also a place for service providers to promote their business. Viet Nam Net

Disclosure rules to dissuade stock plots

13:42' 24/06/2007 (GMT+7)

VietNamNet Bridge - The State Securities Commission ordered the nation's stock exchanges on June 21 to provide more detailed information related to unusual transactions, in a move targeted at avoiding market manipulation. In the wake of the recent price volatility of several shares, the commission ordered the HCM City and Ha Noi Securities Trading Centres and the Securities Depository Centre to provide greater transaction data to the commission. The commission noted that shares of the Binh Dinh Mining Co (coded BMC) had surged recently and unusual trading activity was under investigation. BMC shares remained unchanged on June 22 at 569,000 VND. The commission also ordered the securities trading centres to provide investors with timely information on ceiling increases or floor decreases over the five consecutive sessions to avoid market manipulation. Public disclosure would be required to include preliminary data analysis to help investors identify unusual transactions and avoid high-risk shares Viet Nam Net

Vietnam-Cambodia relations record moves

13:16' 24/06/2007 (GMT+7)

NA Chairman Nguyen Phu Trong VietNamNet Bridge - National Assembly Chairman Nguyen Phu Trong affirmed that the past half-century relations between Vietnam and Cambodia have been continuously fortified in all fields. The Vietnamese top legislator was speaking at a rally held in Ha Noi on June 23 to mark the 40th anniversary of diplomatic ties between Vietnam and Cambodia (June 24). Chairman Trong said the governments and people of the two countries have continuously exchanged experience and mutual assistance in national development. Exchanges of visits by high-level officials, ministries, agencies and localities, particularly border areas between Vietnam and Cambodia, have helped to promote the solidarity and friendship between the two countries. He stressed that the trade and economic ties between Vietnam and Cambodia continue to flourish, matching the two countries’ political relations and potentials. The two-way trade turnover annually grows by between 25-35 percent, reaching 940 million USD in 2006, and is expected to increase to 2 billion USD by 2010. Vietnam currently ranks third among trading partners from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) of Cambodia and ranks sixth among countries establishing economic ties with Cambodia. Chairman Trong asked people of Vietnam and Cambodia, particularly the young generation, to uphold and further consolidate the traditional friendship between the two countries in an attempt to lifting it to a new height. Addressing the rally, Cambodian Ambassador to Vietnam Vann Phal spoke highly of the comprehensive cooperation between Cambodia and Vietnam which he hoped will be further strengthened in the future. On the same day, a meeting was held in the Mekong Delta province of An Giang to mark the occasion with participation of provincial authorities and representatives from neighbouring Kandal and Takeo provinces of Cambodia. A three-day exchange programme between youths of An Giang and their Cambodian peers was initiated to mark the event. Viet Nam Net

Vietnamese President meets with California’s CEOs

12:03' 24/06/2007 (GMT+7)

VietNamNet Bridge - President Nguyen Minh Triet and the Vietnamese mission left California at 2.30pm, June 23 (local time), closing the five-day visit to the US. President Nguyen Minh Triet and Fabian Núñez, the Speaker of the California State Assembly (Photo: Tuan Nguyen). Previously, Mr. Triet met with congressmen of California, attended the Enterprise Forum held in Los Angeles, met with 20 top CEOs of California and visited a Vietnamese American family in California. The Enterprise Forum attracted the attendance of many US businesses in California, including many overseas Vietnamese entrepreneurs. At the forum, President Triet announced that the total value of contracts and agreements signed between Vietnamese and US companies during the visit was up to US$11 billion, exceeding the expectation. The President once again raised the message “Let’s come to Vietnam”. He, on behalf of the Vietnamese State, committed to do the best to improve the investment and business environment in Vietnam and create favourable conditions for foreign investors, including American investors. In the meeting with 20 top CEOs of California, the Vietnamese President said: “I’m very happy to meet you this morning. This is the last day of mine in the US. I met President Bush to discuss the issues of common interests and I want to inform you that the talks was fruitful, constructive and effective. I also met with US investors and this is the last meeting of mine with US businessmen”. The President mentioned the total value of contracts signed between Vietnamese and US businesses and emphasized that the figure would be higher and the two countries share the expectation to further strengthen cooperation, especially in economics, trade and investment. A representative of a financial investment fund, which has brought many US companies to Vietnam, said: “I’ve been to Vietnam 15 times and this country has left good impression on me. I’ve seen Vietnam as a dynamically developing country with a young population. Vietnam has many important seaports in Southeast Asia. I want to tell American businesses to go to invest and do business in Vietnam”. In response to the worry of a CEO who has not been in Vietnam yet about the infrastructure and Vietnam’s advantages to develop infrastructure, particularly highways and airports, Mr. Triet said that Vietnam plans to expand its north-south highways and railways and develop the transport systems between Hanoi and northern provinces and HCM City and southern provinces. He also said that Vietnam has a long coast with many seaports, which can welcome big ships. Vietnam is also expanding its system of airports. The President affirmed: “Vietnam is ready to open the door for foreign investment in infrastructure. The Ministry of Planning and Investment is the agency in charge of welcoming foreign investment in Vietnam”. World media highlights Vietnam-US talks Talks between visiting Vietnamese President Nguyen Minh Triet and US President George W. Bush in Washington on June 22 have drawn the attention of global media outlets. Right after the talks, “BBC World” ran coverage on President Triet’s speech and estimated that there would be massive business opportunities for US enterprises wishing to do business in the Southeast Asian country. The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), the Guardian and the Scotsman newspapers joined the chorus saying that the Vietnamese President Triet’s US visit beginning June 18 marked a new milestone in increasingly friendly relations between the two countries. Meanwhile, Spain’s “Nation” website said the significance of the talks between President Triet and President Bush has been manifested not only in a common goal to further boost bilateral trade relations but also in the first visit to the US by a Vietnamese Head of State since the war ended in 1975. The paper said that the determination to strengthen bilateral trade relations has shown through the signing of the Vietnam-US Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA). Viet Nam Net