French region helps restore traditional homes in Hue

08:49' 04/07/2007 (GMT+7)

VietNamNet Bridge - France's Nord-Pas de Calais region has provided VND558.6 million in funding for the restoration of four historical homes in the central Thua Thien-Hue province's Hue City. The funding is part of a larger project initiated by the French region that aims to preserve a number of historic and culturally significant homes in the province that are in disrepair and are now facing the threat of being demolished to make way for land sales. Hue is home to 900 old houses, with 237 of them already being designated as being in urgent need of preservation. Close to 150 of them have been selected for the restoration project that is expected to run from 2006 to 2010 at a cost of VND2.6 billion. Thua Thien-Hue had earlier offered incentives to homeowners that included preferential loans that amounted to 70% of total restoration costs in a bid to encourage the preservation of the houses. To date almost 40 of the sites are damaged beyond repair, have been demolished or sold. (Source: Viet Nam Net)

16 Korean illegal tour guides expelled

08:37' 04/07/2007 (GMT+7)

VietNamNet Bridge - Sixteen Korean tour guides who had been working illegally in Vietnam were fined and expelled in May 2007, said Pham Huynh Cong, chief inspector of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT). Foreign tour guides flock to Hanoi Illegal travel operations boom In the past six months, more than 250,000 Korean visitors have come to Vietnam, the second largest number after China. However, Vietnam has only 50 tour guides who speak the Korean language. The imbalance between supply and demand has created good conditions for Korean people to work illegally in Vietnam. The chief inspector said that some Korean people come to Vietnam to do business but they work as tour guides. Some Korean students who are studying Vietnamese in Vietnam also organise tours. These acts have caused losses of tax revenues for Vietnam. Moreover, the image of Vietnam can be distorted if a foreign tour guide lies about Vietnam. They also bring foreign visitors to high-price shops owned by Korean people. In the first half of 2007, the tourism inspectorate fined 40 companies and individuals who violated the tourism rules, totaling more than VND300 million (US$18,750). The agency not only discovered Korean people but also Lao and Thai people illegally working as tour guides in Vietnam. Training Korean people as tour guides in Vietnam To meet the need for tour guides who can speak Korean, local travel companies are encouraged to recruit Korean-speaking people to serve Korean travelers, said Pham Tu, Deputy Head of VNAT. VNAT will also open training classes for Korean people who are living in Vietnam and allow travel companies to recruit them as tour guides. Mr Tu also said that the Tourism Law of Vietnam will be amended because many countries in the world allowed foreign tour guides to work in their countries and this regulation could help the tourism sector to deal with the shortage of tour guides for some kinds of languages. “We have received many letters from visitors who comment that Vietnamese tour guides have poor knowledge of Vietnamese culture while many foreigners have deep understanding of Vietnamese culture. So we should allow foreign tour guides to work in Vietnam in the coming time,” Mr Tu said. In the past six months, 2.1 million foreign visitors have come to Vietnam, up by 14% compared to the same period last year. (Source: Viet Nam Net)

Dongkuk Steel proposes US$1-bil steel mill

15:08' 04/07/2007 (GMT+7)

VietNamNet Bridge – Dongkuk Steel Group, South Korea's third largest steel maker, plans to build a US$1-bil steel mill in Dung Quat Economic Zone in the central province of Quang Ngai. The group's planned 300-hectare mill will manufacture steel bars, sheets and other products for domestic sale. According to Dung Quat Economic Zone Authority's investment Promotion Center, Dongkuk Steel made the proposal after studying the province's investment environment late last month. If the project is approved by Vietnamese authorities, it will rival another US$1-bil steel complex in the same zone, to be built by Taiwan's Tycoons Steel International Co., Ltd. The first mill in this 455-hectare plant is slated to open late next year. After the first phase, the mill will turn out two million tons of steel billets a year, worth US$539mil. The company plans to increase output by three million more tons on an annual basis in the second phase, achieving the mill's full capacity by 2013; output will be for both local use and export. Many foreign steel groups are awaiting permission to invest in other steel projects because the country is viewed as a gateway to the Southeast Asian market - the world's largest steel importer. Other provinces attracting investors for steel projects include Ba Ria-Vung Tau, Ha Tinh and Khanh Hoa. Authorities have estimated Vietnam will need 10mil tons of steel by 2010, 15mil tons by 2015 and 20mil tons by 2020. As well, many high-tech steel products cannot be made by Vietnamese producers and will still need to be imported. To date, Dung Quat has licensed more than 100 projects worth more than US$5bil and has about 35 additional projects pending. Its economic zone has 46 projects in operation or under development. Big investments in the zone include that of Tycoons Group, a US$260-mil heavy industry complex by Korea's Doosan Group, an oil refinery by PetroVietnam, and a US$750-mil shipyard by the Vietnam Shipbuilding Industry Group. (Source: Viet Nam Net)

Danger hovering over Vietnamese rice, seafood

08:31' 04/07/2007 (GMT+7)

VietNamNet Bridge – Rice and seafood exporters may lose the Japanese market as Japanese authorities have threatened to stop importing Vietnam-made products if they find prohibited substances in imports once again. Seafood exports – a headache Officials and enterprises these days talk much about the information that Vietnam seafood exports have been found as containing prohibited antibiotics. Japanese authorities have threatened to stop importing seafood from Vietnam if Vietnam cannot settle the problem immediately. Tran Thien Hai, Chairman of the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP), said that instead of examining at random, Japanese authorities have decided to examine 100% of seafood consignments sourced from Vietnam. VASEP has recently received a warning from the Japanese Ambassador that Japan was considering not importing Vietnam’s products any more if the current situation could not be improved. According to VASEP, there are many reasons behind the unsafe seafood exports, but the most important factor is that farmers do not find it necessary to ensure hygiene during the farming and processing process. Many farmers and processing workshops use Chloramphenil instead of ice water to freeze food, since the substance allows the food to keep for a longer time than ice water. A seafood processor complains that enterprises cannot prohibit or punish farmers for using Chloramphenil; therefore, the intervention of the state is necessary to help settle the problem. VASEP’s representative said that its members had several meetings with Deputy Minister of Fisheries to discuss the issue, but no effective solutions had been found. The risk of losing the Japanese market has become greater, and if it came to pass, would be a heavy blow to Vietnamese farmers and processors since Japan is a big export market for Vietnam’s seafood, consuming 18.2% of total exports in the first months of 2007. Rice also in danger According to the Ministry of Trade, the ministry has received a notice from the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare that Japanese customs agencies had found evidence of violations of Japanese laws on food hygiene in Vietnamese rice. Two consignments of 300,000 kg of rice have been discovered as containing high contents of acetarmiprid (0.03 ppm), three-fold higher than the allowed level. The two consignments were carried by Stella Cosmo ships, docking at Japanese ports on May 1, 2007 after leaving Vietnam’s ports on April 22, 2007. The two consignments are being held at a Japanese port for examination as requested by Japanese authorities. The consignments were shipped to Japan to fulfill the contract on providing 30,000 tonnes of rice to the Japanese Government. Meanwhile, it remains unclear about the source of the two consignments. Nguyen Thi Nguyet, Secretary General of the Vietnam Food Association (Vietfood), said that Vietfood had received payment for the consignments and the clients had not made any complaints about the products. According to Mrs Nguyet, Vietnamese rice exporters understand that Japan is a difficult-to- please market, and thus they examine exports very carefully before shipping. She said that the rice samples were not only examined in Vietnam, but sent to Thailand and Japan for examination as well. Mrs Nguyet said that Japanese authorities had asked for Vietnam’s cooperation to track down the origin of the rice. The discovery of acetarmiprid in a high concentration in Vietnamese rice will badly affect the export of rice, a main export item. Solution: examining carefully before shipping The Ministry of Trade has called on suppliers and exporters to take drastic measures to prevent exports of products containing prohibited substances. Examining 100% of rice consignments before granting customs clearance may be the strictest measure Japan will apply. If so, Vietnamese companies will incur big losses as it will take time and expenses for the examination. The 100% examination scheme is being applied for seafood exports, and the seafood lesson must not be repeated with rice exports. Japan is one of the biggest export markets for Vietnam. Most of the rice exported to Japan is under the contracts Vietnam wins at the bids for rice provisions held by the Government of Japan every year. Vietnam has won the right to export 45,000 tonnes so far this year. Vietnam exported 120,000 tonnes in 2006 and 80,000 tonnes in 2005 to Japan. (Source: Viet Nam Net)

Portrait of a painting village

17:11' 03/07/2007 (GMT+7)

Co Do painters with their easels VietNamNet Bridge – Perhaps no place in Vietnam is as special as Co Do village in the northern province of Ha Tay. Here, farmers whose nails are blackened with dirt can always be seen painting. The village is situated on the bank of the Red River, not far from Trung Ha wharf where the Da and Red rivers intersect. Despite many historical upheavals, Co Do village still retains the simple beauty of a Red River Delta village: tile-roofed houses, bamboo rustling in the wind, immense green fields where a stork can fly, as Vietnamese farmers often say, and wharfs bustling with ships. “Painting is in our blood,” villagers here said with pride. In hamlets, on the streets, near bamboo rows, in longan groves, small kids are often seen drawing. They paint on paper, walls or the ground. Easels are a common sight at Co Do. Easels are put right next to ploughs in the fields since farmers here have the habit of painting whenever they have a break or some sudden inspiration strikes them. They paint what they see in their own village or travel faraway to look for subjects. Some villages “give birth” to several paintings daily. Others have so many that they can fill an ox-cart. There are nearly 800 households with 3,000 residents here. And they all consider painting a daily hobby. So in 2000, when 2 professional painting sessions were opened free to villages, they attracted many people. In some families, all 3 generations are enrolled in these classes. Equipped with basic knowledge of the art, many of these students are now able to earn a living by painting. There are also less official classes delivered to young kids by older generations of painters who were born and grew up professionally in the village. In painter Hoang Tuan Viet’s green orchard, for instance, 15 students from 10 to 15 years of age who dream of becoming painters daily sit drawing at their easels. From these rustic “home-made” classes, many kids have grown up to become art teachers, and many more are studying at art colleges and universities throughout the country. The most famous painter from Co Do is Nguyen Sy Tot, who is widely considered the forefather of painting at Co Do. He graduated from the former Indonchina Fine Arts College (Vietnam University of Fine Arts today), the alma mater of generations of talented artists in the country. Every time he went home, especially in his later life, Sy Tot taught painting to village kids, who drew pictures of chickens, pigs, and bamboo and banana trees with pieces of brick. In remembrance of what he did, last year, the Ha Tay Province People’s Committee inaugurated the Art Museum of Sy Tot and Family, which is now attracting visitors coming every day to see great works like the Monochord’s Notes draft (the final version is being exhibited at the Vietnam Art Museum). Besides Sy Tot, there are younger generations of painters from Co Do who are well known in the professional circle, not to mention amateur painters of all ages. The village also has a painter’s club with 30 members of diverse ages, professions and backgrounds. Every year without fail, the club organises exhibitions showcasing works by these “peasant painters”. And whenever an exhibition takes place, it turns the headquarters of the commune’s People’s Committee into a festive site. Villagers come and say things like, “Oh, this is Mr. Hao’s betel-nut groves” or “These chubby cheeks must be Mrs. Thuy’s boy’s.” “Co Do people have taken the brush for the past 40 years. At present, 16 people from the village are members of the Vietnamese Arts Association and 6 are in the Ha Tay Association of Literature and the Arts. This is a firm foundation to develop a painting village,” said painter/teacher Hoang Tuan Viet. “We’re trying to establish a village painting workshop that will serve training, practice and production purposes and help turn Co Do into a painting brand name,” he added. (Source: Viet Nam Net)

Vietnam to be among top ten destinations worldwide

17:01' 03/07/2007 (GMT+7)

VietNamNet Bridge - In a report released recently by RNCOS, a market research consulting service company, titled “Opportunities of Vietnam’s tourism industry 2007-2009”, RNCOS forecasts that Vietnam will enter the top ten tourism destinations in the world in 2016. According to RNCOS, in the next five years, the growth rate of the tourism sector of Vietnam will stay over 14%. The report says: “Vietnam is one of the economies showing the most impressive growth in Asia. “This country welcomed around 3.6 million international visitors in 2006, compared to 2.1 million in 2000. Revenues from tourism reached US$2.4 billion (accounting for 3.9% of gross domestic product) compared to $1.2 billion in 2000.” RNCOS economic experts affirm that thanks to the boom of the tourism industry, many more jobs will be created while incomes and purchasing power will be improved. The tourism sector will also play an important role in the growth of the Vietnamese economy. Transport, health and related industries will also benefit from the boom of tourism. The report emphasised that tourism was among the industries with the highest growth in almost all countries in the world. In Asia, Vietnam is among tourism markets with the highest growth rates. Recently, the country has welcomed tourists from many countries and many regions in the world. (Source: Viet Nam Net)

Bank share prices will recover: experts

17:27' 03/07/2007 (GMT+7)

VietNamNet Bridge – The sharp decreases of bank share prices have been giving investors insomnia. However, experts have said that bank share prices will recover, and that the fall is just in the short term. The sharp decreases of bank share prices have not surprised experienced investors, but worried many investors who hold bank shares. The stock market is now in its periodic downturn; therefore, it is understandable why bank share prices are also decreasing. Meanwhile, the massive share issuance has also led to the oversupply of bank shares on the market. A lot of banks have been and are planning to issue shares in order to raise their chartered capital in 2007. It is estimated that some VND100,000bil ($6.25bil) worth of shares will be issued this year to raise more funds from the public and from existing shareholders. A series of big banks plan to make IPO (initial public offering) in the second half of the year, which means that a big volume of commodities will be available on the market. However, experts said that it would be wise if investors still put high hopes on investments in bank shares. This is because of several reasons. First, in the long term, bank shares prove to be the most secure and lucrative kind of securities. According to Bien Viet Securities Company, the CBV index for the banking sector remains at a high level, the second highest level, just after the CBV index for the real estate sector. The CBV-banking index has increased by 43.84 points so far this year. Second, the operation of commercial banks proves to be very satisfactory. The growth rate of Vietnam’s banks is 50% on average. The figure proves to be very impressive if compared to the growth rates obtained by other regional banks. Third, if someone is worried about the stability of bank shares, he should feel assured about this. The Government and the State Bank of Vietnam always play a very important role in supervising and maintaining the normal operation of the banking system, especially since Vietnam has joined the WTO. Experts, including foreign ones, all are optimistic about the performance of the banking sector. The presence of foreign banks in Vietnam under WTO commitments will act as the impetus for the development of local banks. Fourth, the prediction about the oversupply of commodity on the market proves to be not worrying. It would be good if the market was full of commodities; this would make the market more bustling. As such, the freezing of bank shares should be seen as only a short-term problem. In the long term, bank shares will prove to be a good choice for investors. (Source: Viet Nam Net)

New moves hoped to bring new face to auto market

17:19' 03/07/2007 (GMT+7)

VietNamNet Bridge – The news that BMW will return to Vietnam, but in a way other than setting up a workshop there, is heating up the domestic market. Though Vietnam remains a small automobile market in the eyes of giant automobile manufacturers like BMW, Ford or Honda, they still try to penetrate Vietnam’s market, in one way or another. In fact, BMW was present in Vietnam in 1994 through one of the then existing automobile assemblers, the Hoa Binh Automobile Joint Venture (VMC). Though penetrating the market sooner than many other big manufacturers like Toyota, Ford, or Mercedes Benz, BMW’s business was not as successful as hoped. Every year, only 100-150 units with BMW trademark were sold through VMC. This proved to be a very disappointing figure compared to the trademark value and the quality of the products. In fact, BMW has been more successful than many other rivals also coming from Europe in other markets in the world. At that time, the name “BMW” was not much mentioned on mass media, as VMC was not a big enough name to promote such a big trademark like BMW. Moreover, VMC did not have any special relationship with BMW AG, the owner of BMW trademark. In addition to selling BMW, VMC also assembled Mazda and Kia, models that are well inferior to BMW. After saying farewell to BMW in 2005, VMC tried to sell its remaining BMWs and had no more chances to introduce new models of the manufacturer. However, BMW cars will return to Vietnam, and this time, through the official importer Euro Auto. The return is expected to bring a new face to the automobile market in Vietnam. Clients who are using BMWs sold by VMC before will also be able to enjoy the post sales services at Euro Auto’s agents as a part of the global policy set by BMW, though Euro Auto operates independently from VMC. Currently, the first showroom of Euro Auto is being built in Phu My Hung new urban area in HCM City. The showroom is scheduled to be opened in July, which will introduce five-seat cars of series 3, series 5, series 7 and sports vehicle X5. Huynh Du An, Director General of Euro Auto said that Euro Auto was seeking suitable places for the two agents in Hanoi. One of the two will be located in the central area of Hanoi, covering an area of 200-500 sq m, and the other will cover an area of 2,000 sq m. Experts forecast that the opportunity is very big for BMW though the manufacturer has been absent for a long time, as Vietnamese people are not indifferent to the big name. In other news, another big automobile manufacturer, Ford Motor, has appointed a new Director General for Ford Vietnam. The appearance of a new manager for the automobile manufacturer occurs at a time that has seen sales sliding continuously since reaching their peak in 2004. Michael Pease, the newly appointed Director General of Ford Vietnam, once held important positions in sales, marketing and business development in ASEAN region, and also was the Director of Ford Malaysia. Several days ago, Ford Vietnam launched onto the market a new model, Ford Transit 9, and new versions of Ford Everest and Ford Ranger, hoping to obtain new gains in sales. Honda Vietnam is also expected to bring more choices to the market. After the success of Honda Civic, which was launched onto the market at the end of last year, Vietnamese people now welcome Honda’s products. The well-informed circle has said that the next production of Honda Vietnam will be Honda CRV, the SUV which has been favoured by Vietnamese people. The model has been imported into Vietnam under the form of complete built unit (CBU). (Source: Viet Nam Net)