US, Australia support pilot Internet project in Quang Ngai

09:14' 28/06/2007 (GMT+7)

VietNamNet Bridge - The U.S. Agency for International Development has signed an agreement with its Australian counterpart AusAID to co-sponsor a pilot project that will bring low-cost telephone and Internet broadband services via WiFi technology to the rural central province of Quang Ngai. The Memorandum of Understanding also includes commitments from several US private partners, including World Resources Institute, SRA, Solitech and Intel, as well as Electricity of Vietnam. All parties have agreed to jointly develop a WiFi mesh-based community broadband network built off of EVN's fiber network in three communes, and to provide 300 VoIP phones and services applications for a wide range of public and private uses within local communities. The project will kick off this July and continue operations through December 2007. “We are honored to join hands with AusAID and other U.S. and Vietnamese private partners in this initiative, which aims to improve the economic and social well-being of Vietnamese citizens,” said Dennis Zvinakis, USAID Vietnam country representative. “Our public-private partnership shares a joint vision with the Government of Vietnam that every person, family and community in Vietnam – no matter where they are located, or how far away they are from urban centers – can connect with the international 'knowledge economy' in ways that uplift their lives and prospects for the future.” The project builds on USAID's Last Mile Initiative in Lao Cai province with Intel, Vietnam Post and Telecom Corporation, and Vietnam Data Communications, which channels the resources of USAID expertise, high-tech US firms and Viet Nam's government ministries and communications enterprises to extend the benefits of advanced wireless broadband connectivity to remote areas of Vietnam. (Source: Viet Nam Net)

Vietnam keen to boost trade with Tunisia

09:33' 28/06/2007 (GMT+7)

VietNamNet Bridge – Vietnam is eager to develop ties with Tunisia, particularly in the areas of trade and investment, President Nguyen Minh Triet said on June 27. During his meeting with Tunisian Foreign Minister Abdelwaheb Abdallah, who is on an official visit to Vietnam, President Triet said that talks went well between high-ranking officials of the two Ministries of Foreign Affairs. He also praised agreements recently signed by the two governments. The State leader also thanked the Government of Tunisia for its support for Vietnam’s bid for a non-permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council for the 2008-2009 term. Minister Abdallah said Tunisia has highlighted trade, investment, agriculture and tourism as areas that his country would like to explore more closely with Vietnam. Later in the day, National Assembly Chairman Nguyen Phu Trong received the Tunisian statesman and relayed a firm desire by his legislatures to ramp up exchanges of visits by the two countries legislature delegations to help promote Vietnam-Tunisia ties. Minister Abdallah said he believed that closer cooperation between the two legislative bodies would also boost economic, cultural and technological cooperation. (Source: Viet Nam Net)

LIFESTYLE IN BRIEF 28/6

09:26' 28/06/2007 (GMT+7)

Idol contestants in the waiting room Vietnam Idol semifinals start As of today, June 27, 30 contestants of the popular musical contest Vietnam Idol will compete in the semifinal round to last for 3 weeks. Also as of this round, Vietnam Idol will be broadcast on TV twice a week, starting from today at 8.30 pm on HTV9. Viewers will be able to vote for their candidates by sending messages to 4365 or calling 19001764. As the contest is winding up, contestants’ performances have been improving. According to insiders, Idol contests worldwide have been quite similar to each other: General selection rounds witness good voices and terrible ones, serious performances and humorous scenes, ultimately yielding to the seriousness of the semifinals and finals where talents with true potential show off their skills. After the 3 weeks of the semifinals, 9 finalists will be selected for the final, or Gala, round. The remaining 21, however, will still have a chance to compete for a single ticket to the final on June 18. The final round will be held at the end of September with 10 contestants. (Source: Tuoi Tre, Lao Dong) Exhibition on old cities opens On the afternoon of June 25, an exhibition titled Hanoi-Hoi An-Hue opened at Ancient House, 46 Nguyen Thai Hoc road in the ancient town of Hoi An. The exhibition showcases 30 lacquer works by painter Hoang Hung, who is famous for large paintings and a picture hanging in the UNESCO hall in Paris. He is also the Chairman of the Hanoi Taekwondo Association. Another exhibition titled Season of Sunshine by 17 members of the Hoi An Art Club opened earlier at 155B Tran Phu road to kick off the 3rd Quang Nam – Journey of Heritages Festival. (Source: Tuoi Tre) Nguyen Thi Hong (far right), one of the 4 Vietnamese Agent Orange victims in the lawsuit, is being welcomed at San Francisco airport Artists join chorus for justice The online chorus programme launched on June 17 to support Vietnamese Agent Orange/dioxin victims in their lawsuit filed in the US has been attracting artists who want to be included in the programme’s feature song: Why did you die? According to FPT Telecom’s website nhacso.net, one of the two organisers of the programme, so many singers asked to join the chorus that a second recording of Why did you die has been taking place since June 24. More than 30 artists including popular singers like Lam Truong and Tuan Hung are taking part in the new recording. In the first recording on June 16-17, there wasn’t enough time to record the song in English and Chinese. One June 24, however, singers Doan Trang and Trieu Hoang read the English version of the song and pop star Lam Truong, who is half-Chinese, read the Chinese version. Up until now, 1,390,548 people have joined the chorus at www.dongcavicongly.com (Source: Viet Nam Net)

Vietnam’s sea being ‘cut into small bits’

09:42' 28/06/2007 (GMT+7)

Nha Trang beach VietNamNet Bridge – Vietnam’s sea is now being cut into small bits, commented Pham Tu, Vice Head of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT), at a recent workshop titled “Nature – tourism resources” held on June 15 in the coastal city of Nha Trang, Khanh Hoa province. The number of foreign visitors coming to Vietnam increased from 1.5 million to 3.6 million from 2002 to 2006. During this time, sea tourism accounted for 70% of the total revenues of the tourism sector. As the number of tourists rises, the number of coastal tourism projects is also on the rise. More tourists, more pollution With nearly 1 million sq.km of sea, Vietnam’s sea tourism potential is huge. However, Vietnam’s sea is being polluted. Ha Long Bay, Lang Co Lagoon and Nha Trang Beach are the most typical examples. Recently, the development of diving in Nha Trang has brought about the devastation of corals and seriously affected the lives of aquatic animals. Every day, more than 40 tourism boats carry around 600 visitors to Nha Trang Bay for diving to see corals. According to surveys made by local and foreign scientists, 80% of the assets of Vietnam’s sea like corals, sea grass are at risk and 50% of them are at high risk and will be difficult to recover. Annually, from lunar June to mid lunar July, in some provinces like Khanh Hoa, Ninh Thuan and Binh Thuan, coasts become white due to a phenomenon called “tapioca”, which is caused by alluvium, dead creatures and waste. Sea water becomes thick and smells bad. It takes 5-10 years to deal with the situation, according to Dr. Nguyen Chien Thang, Vice Chairman of the Khanh Hoa People’s Committee. Mistaken conception Professor Ernst Sagemueller, a lecturer at the Europe-Indochina Institute of Tourism, said: “Defining Vietnam’s tourism as an industry is the first and basic mistake, which makes Vietnam’s natural resources suffer. Tourism is never a kind of good. It is an interaction between human and human, human and nature.” Considering tourism as an industry has allowed managers to let Vietnam’s tourism become popular tourism. Under the pressure of tourism development, the area of salt marsh forest is reducing rapidly. Vietnam now has around 155,300ha of salt marsh forest, a decrease of 100,000ha compared to the period before 1990. The disappearance of thousands of hectares of salt-marsh forest not only means that Vietnam is losing its unique salt-marsh ecology, but this also directly influences the sea’s ecological system. According to experts of the Centre for Marinelife Conservation and Community Development (MCD), Vietnam’s tourism, particularly sea tourism, can’t be seen as a market. The moving of native fisherman communities and transferring their land to investors to develop tourism, which is being performed by some coastal provinces in Vietnam, is irrational. It is a fact that sea tourism develops based on the exploitation of sea resources. That’s the reason to restrict the number of tourists in sea tourism areas. According to Professor Ernst Sagemueller, Vietnam needs to differentiate between ‘visitors’ and ‘quality visitors’. ‘Quality visitors’ are people who love nature and respect cultural and natural values. These are people who are ready to pay to enjoy the wonderfulness of nature. From now to 2010, the number of foreign visitors coming to Vietnam is forecast to increase to 7-7.5 million and Vietnam’s sea will have to suffer from tourism projects and overuse if the tourism sector doesn’t have a plan to preserve and develop sea resources in a sustainable manner. (Source: Viet Nam Net)

Vietnam’s stock market attractive to US investors

09:05' 28/06/2007 (GMT+7)

Chairman of the State Securities Council Vu Bang VietNamNet Bridge – Finance and investment were among focal points of the recent visit to the US by President Nguyen Minh Triet. Many contracts were signed, including a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the HCM City Stock Exchange (HOSE) and the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). Vu Bang, Chairman of the State Securities Council (SSC), talks about the visit. Could you reveal some information about the cooperation direction of HOSE and NYSE and the meaning of the MoU signed during the visit to the stock market of Vietnam? The visit by President Nguyen Minh Triet to the US was very successful, in economic cooperation in general and in the field of securities in particular. The NYSE Vice Chairman highly praised Vietnam’s efforts in developing the stock market and expressed his great interest in the Vietnamese stock market. Through the signing of the MoU between HOSE and NYSE, the US side wants to participate in opportunities of reforming and developing HOSE in the coming time and the listing between the two markets. The MoU is a significant foundation for future cooperation in three areas: supporting and sharing experience on developing the stock market, training assistance, information sharing, market connection to better control the market and better supervise inter-national transactions, etc. Before signing this MoU, NYSE representatives came to Vietnam to meet with representatives of HOSE and SSC and they expressed their desire to develop a strategic partnership with us. They also emphasised that currently they had only one strategic partner in Asia, the Japan Stock Exchange. It shows how great their interest is in the Vietnamese stock market. We welcomed their goodwill and the two sides will discuss detailed cooperation plans. NYSE said that they would send representatives to Vietnam to further negotiate. The Hanoi Securities Trading Centre (HASTC) planned to sign an MoU with NASDAQ but the plan changed at the last minute. Why? The cooperation plan between HASTC and NASDAQ was promoted later than the one between HOSE and NYSE. The cooperation between HOSE and NYSE was based on the visit to Vietnam by President Bush last November. After that leaders instructed the two sides to discuss details. Actually, the content of the cooperation between HASTC and NASDAQ is much more detailed than the one between HOSE and NYSE so they need more time for preparation. NASDAQ said that it would send representatives to Vietnam to promote the cooperation plan. You attended Vietnamese investment forums in the US. What do you see regarding US businesses’ interests in business opportunities in Vietnam and in the stock market in particular? US investors are paying a lot of attention to business opportunities in Vietnam, which is seen through the large numbers of investors attending investment forums. Among them were senior officials of big groups, international investment organisations, investment banks, and securities trading companies. They welcomed Vietnam’s message of stronger economic cooperation between Vietnam and the US. There ought to have been a separate meeting between the SSC with American investment banks and securities trading companies following the proposal of large US groups. However, this meeting couldn’t be organised due to technical problems such as security and organisation. I regret that because it would have been an opportunity to access large groups of the world. In general, through investment forums, I saw the great attention of US businesses towards opportunities in Vietnam, and the potentials for cooperation in the stock market are very promising. We have lost a good chance to advertise the Vietnamese stock market. Will the SSC organise similar forums? We have not made any detailed plan to organise such a separate meeting abroad because of various reasons. However, the SSC is talking with Vietnamese embassies abroad to organise forums on portfolio investment to draw capital flows of international investment funds. So far we have attached importance to holding conferences to call for direct investment. The flow of portfolio investment running into Vietnam in recent years has been strong, around $5 billion, including over $1 billion so far this year. (Source: Viet Nam Net)

eBay comes to Vietnam

16:21' 27/06/2007 (GMT+7)

VietNamNet Bridge – The world leading online business group eBay has officially arrived in Vietnam with the launching of its website in Vietnamese in Hanoi this morning, June 27. The website will connect Vietnamese consumers to the global online market (http://www.ebay.com), enabling them to buy goods from all over the world. With this website, eBay hopes to create export opportunities for Vietnamese businesses and individuals through the global eBay online market. According to Sam McDonagh, Director of eBay Southeast Asia, the first Vietnamese registered to use eBay in 1998. eBay is now in 38 countries, with 233 million people having registered to purchase goods via eBay. The most popular products traded on eBay are automobiles, electronics, clothes, computers, books, sportswear, toys and houses. The most expensive product bought via eBay so far is a personal jet, which went for US$4.9 million. In the first quarter of 2007, the total value of goods exchanged via eBay was $14.3 billion. Around $1,839 of goods is moved on eBay every second. (Source: Viet Nam Net)

A day in paradise for disadvantaged kids

16:35' 27/06/2007 (GMT+7)

Lucky House kids on their way to the cinema VietNamNet – On June 25, disadvantaged children from HCM City-based Lucky House went to the cinema for the first time, thanks to Diamond Theatre’s programme to screen movies free for disadvantaged kids. That morning, Lucky House for Orphans and Disabled Children was more busy and noisy than usual. Kids woke up early to stand in line and wait for the bus to pick them up. “The appointed time was 8.30 am but as early as 7 am they were all ready with their cleanest uniforms,” said teacher Vo Thanh Tung, who is in charge of education at Lucky House and had to ask where Diamond Theatre is, since he himself hadn’t ever been there. After a traffic jam that made some of the kids “bus-sick”, the 77 children arrived on the 13th floor of Diamond Plaza at the centre of Saigon at last. A former homeless boy told his friends with pride that he had known “this green tall building” in his street days before living in Lucky House. A girl said she had once stood in an elevator like the one they had taken to get to the theatre. But none said they had watched a movie in a theatre before. When the light was turned off before the screening, one wondered how her eyes could see in such a dark room. Another 8-year-old girl named Diem shyly sat in the first row and whispered to her friends, “The other day I saw on TV a cinema theatre with seats as big as these. It feels wonderful to be sitting on such a seat now to watch a movie.” And when the first images appeared, small fingers pointed towards the screen, mouths exclaimed and laughed, and eyes watched attentively. “People look bigger than on TV, like real,” some said. 7-year-old Hoa muttered, “I’ll tell my brothers and sisters who aren’t here today.” And so they all found the 120 minutes of the screening of hilarious Mr. Bean’s Holiday fly by very fast. Diamond Theatre’s CEO Kim Dong Wook sat through the screening with them. He was deeply touched. “A boy asked me, ‘Uncle, will the movie appear on that white cloth screen over there?’ I don’t know how to express what I felt then.” As for President Kim Tae Hyung, who first thought of the idea of screening movies free for those kids, he said, “At first, we thought we would give such a screening once a month. But we’ve decided to screen movies once every 2 weeks for the kids. "Everybody, not just those with money, should be able to enjoy such entertainment. “The kids deserve all this. I hope not only Diamond but other theatres will also share with them the opportunity to watch movies.” After Lucky House, children from other centres will be invited to free screenings. CEO Kim Dong Wook said such free screenings (plus beverages, candy and cakes) would more or less draw some of the theatre’s revenue, but he said he was willing, for the sake of unlucky children. (Source: Tuoi Tre, VietNamNet)

Corporate income tax expected to decrease

23:13' 27/06/2007 (GMT+7)

Mr Truong Chi Trung VietNamNet Bridge - Deputy Minister of Finance Truong Chi Trung said that the Finance Ministry was considering reducing the corporate income tax to further attract foreign investment. The reduction may be performed this year and could drop to the level of some countries in the region, from 28% to 25%. At a meeting on the draft Law on Personal Income Tax on June 26, Deputy Minister Truong Chi Trung said that many investors had complained that Vietnam’s corporate income tax was quite high compared to the common level in the world and ASEAN countries (around 20-25%). If Vietnam maintains the current tax rate the country will have difficulty encouraging production and business as well as drawing foreign investment into the country. “That’s why we are considering adjusting the tax rate to be suitable to the development situation of Vietnam,” Mr Trung said. (Source: Viet Nam Net)

Hearts with same roots beat to same rhythm

16:33' 27/06/2007 (GMT+7)

VietNamNet Bridge – “I feel the President has created a common rhythm for hearts that were previously not on the same front but have the same roots of Vietnam,” said Minister of Post and Telematics Do Trung Ta. Minister Do Trung Ta and President Nguyen Minh Triet in the US. VietNamNet Bridge had a quick interview with Minister of Telematics Do Trung Ta, who accompanied President Nguyen Minh Triet to the US, about his feeling about the trip at the airport in Los Angeles, the US. You have been in many top-ranking Vietnamese missions to many countries. What were the special aspects of this trip? This is the fifth time I have come to the US. The first time was in 1989 when the two countries hadn’t established diplomatic relations yet. For me, this trip is a historical event because this is the first time a Vietnamese chief of state has paid an official visit to the US, opening a new period of cooperation in all fields. You were present at the meeting between President Nguyen Minh Triet and Vietnamese Americans in Orange County, California. How did you feel about the meeting? President Nguyen Minh Triet had a very convincible speech. I feel the President has created a common rhythm for hearts that were previously not on the same front but have the same roots of Vietnam. The President delivered a sincere speech to welcome the return of overseas Vietnamese. At this moment, what do you think about the future of Vietnam? First of all, I’m very proud because in the political arena, Vietnam and the US are equal in cooperation relations, though Vietnam still faces many difficulties. Secondly, when I listened to speakers, especially speakers at the meeting with Harvard University, praising the development of the Internet in Vietnam, from the lowest level in the region in 2000 to the highest position at present, I was very proud. But that pride is not for the telecom sector only, but for Vietnam after years of war. American scholars commented that Vietnam’s telecom sector had developed very fast. As Minister of Telematics, could you reveal the development strategy of the post and telecom sector in the coming time? We have quickly developed telecom because telecom is the infrastructure for the development of other fields. Americans said that all industries must be based on the development of information technology and communications. Different from other meetings with foreign entrepreneurs, I heard no complaint about Vietnam’s telecom, including prices. The upcoming mission of the telecom sector is continuing to build modern information infrastructure to meet the development requirement of the country. What about cooperation with the US and what we have to learn from the US to build a modern telecom industry? In the past we only mentioned cooperation to exploit telecom services with AT&T, MCI, US Sprint but now we have good relations with many big US groups such as Intel, Microsoft, IBM, Sun, Motorola, Cisco, HP, Oracle, Soma to boost application and development of information technology. The Internet, education and the young population of Vietnam will become special tools to develop the country at a higher speed and greater quality. I met with the US Under Secretary of Commerce and the ambassador of information and communication technology of the US Department of State and we agreed to organise dialogues between Vietnamese and strong US IT firms. The first dialogue will take place in September 2007 in Vietnam. Other dialogues will be held in the US, with the participation of the Ministry of Post and Telematics of Vietnam and the Department of Commerce and Department of State of the US. My suggestion about cooperation was accepted by US partners. Accordingly, when American firms come to Vietnam to attend the first dialogue, they and their Vietnamese partners will have to identify fields of cooperation and report on the results of cooperation at the second dialogue, and so on. When cooperating with a country that has a hi-tech industry and many inventions like the US, we are approaching source technologies so we have to grasp this opportunity. With the young power and the dynamics of Vietnam’s information and communication sector, I believe that this cooperation will develop rapidly like cooperation between the two countries to exploit telecom services so far. Viet Nam Net