Ninh Thuan to hold festival in August

11:57' 23/07/2007 (GMT+7)

VietNamNet Bridge – On July 27, HCM City’s Department of Culture and Information and Ninh Thuan Province’s People’s Committee held a press conference on the 2007 Ninh Thuan Festival. The festival will take place from August 15 to 21 with the theme “Ninh Thuan with hidden colors.” This is aimed to be a rendezvous for provinces in the southeastern and coastal central regions and Central Highlands as well as HCM City. The festival’s culture and art programme will be carried out by 250 artisans and actors. Other activities will include motorbike racing on sand; the third round of the national volleyball contests for men and women; dragon boat racing; a 250-kiosk fair; a tourism exhibition; a sheep contest; culinary activities; and the Ninh Thuan Champaign Festival Night. The province will also organize many travel tours as well as prepare thousands of well-equipped hotel rooms and tents for tourists for the occasion. (Source: SGGP, VIet Nam Net)

A small gift for one’s homeland

17:16' 23/07/2007 (GMT+7)

VietNamNet Bridge – At the invitation of the Vietnam Photographers’ Association, Vietnamese American camera artist Nguyen Trong Hien has recently delivered four training sessions nationwide. He considers them a present for Vietnam after 30 years of absence. Nguyen Trong Hien’s classes attracted many veteran domestic photographers and reporters who came to study with him despite living far away. “Enrollees in these sessions were very hard working and keen to learn new techniques. “I was moved when during sessions in the Mekong Delta region, some even carried their computer and equipment essential for digital photography classes in heavy rain,” Nguyen Trong Hien recalled after the end of his training sessions. In his classes, Mr. Hien shared with “students” what he knew about the latest photographical technologies as well as a new way of looking at digital photography, which he said, in Vietnam, many still thought a “half-bred thing”. Photographer Minh Quoc said most of those who attended teacher Hien’s classes had years of experience in the profession. “But we have learned chiefly from experiences and other colleagues, so there are many things we don’t understand in a comprehensive way,” said he. So Nguyen Trong Hien, who passionately wants to teach all he has learned from foreigners to his young disciples, has opened a new door for them, though as teacher Hien said, Vietnamese photographers had been getting along pretty well without those like himself. Indeed, according to Mr. Hien, with many top prizes in international contests, Vietnam can be considered one of the powers in terms of photography. “I have seen photos taken by Vietnamese artists in exhibitions held in the US, and our works aren’t at all inferior to those of other countries,” said Mr. Hien. But given what he has, Nguyen Trong Hien said he would continue to return and contribute to his homeland. (Source: TP, Viet Nam Net)

FIEs not allowed to distribute imports

11:30' 24/07/2007 (GMT+7)

VietNamNet Bridge – Foreign invested enterprises (FIEs) have the right to import goods directly, but they are not allowed to set up bases to distribute the imports, the Ministry of Trade (MoT) said. FIEs have the right to import, but they cannot set up bases to distribute the imports The ministry has promulgated the Circular No 09 guiding the implementation of the Decree No 23 stipulating the goods trading and other activities by FIEs in Vietnam. Under the circular, FIEs have the right to import, but they cannot set up bases to distribute the imports. The FIEs, that are licensed to implement the right for import, will be allowed to import the goods not listed as prohibited items. FIEs will be able to make customs declaration at border gates’ customs agencies in according to the Vietnamese laws. However, FIEs can sell the imports of every group to one businessman who has the right to distribute the group of products. FIEs can select their partners themselves, who will distribute the imports, provided that they make registration at the management authorities. As for the FIEs, which have been licensed to implement the right for distribution, they will be allowed to wholesale, retail, make franchise, act as the agents, selling Vietnam-made and imported products. However, the FIEs will not be able to retail in other places rather than the licensed places. They must ask for permission if they want to set up other retail points. State management authorities will license new distribution points after considering supply and demand, the number of retail points in the localities, the population, and they have the right to refuse licensing if they find out that no more distribution points are needed in the localities, or the projects on setting up more distribution points do not come in line with the local development strategy. According to the Ministry of Trade, the circular is a very important step in the implementation of WTO commitments. The Decree 23 was promulgated by the Government in February, while the guiding document has just been enacted. The tardiness in promulgating guiding documents has made the FIE community anxious, they had urged the MoT many times to promulgate the document soon, so that they could move ahead with their business plans. In a recent interview, Minister of Trade Truong Dinh Tuyen acknowledged that it took time to compile the document guiding the implementation of the right for import by FIEs. He said that the right to distribute in the domestic market is always a tough problem, even at negotiations, and not only the problem of Vietnam. Phuoc Ha, Viet Nam Net

Vietnam fulfils rice export target for 2007

08:45' 24/07/2007 (GMT+7)

VietNamNet Bridge – At the end of 2006, the Government ordered companies to stop signing new contracts on exporting rice in order to ensure food security. The scenario has repeated itself again this year, but a little sooner. Vinafood: no more exports By the end of last week, Vietnamese enterprises had signed contracts to export 4.5mil tonnes of rice for 2007, the ceiling export level set by the Government. Nguyen Thi Nguyet, Secretary General of the Vietnam Food Association (Vinafood), said on July 16 that the association had stopped confirming rice export contracts. This means that enterprises have to stop signing export contracts (under current regulations, enterprises can export rice only after Vinafood confirms the contracts to verify that the export deals are straight and the export prices are suitable). “The Government has not ordered us to stop exporting rice, but we have to halt confirming export contracts, as exports have reached 4.5mil tonnes, to wait for further instructions from the Government and the Ministry of Trade,” Mrs Nguyet said. She also said that in September, the Government would give the final answer on whether it would allow companies to continue signing export contracts after the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development submits its report on crops and production. In Mekong River Delta provinces, rice prices keep rising though farmers are harvesting the summer-autumn crop, now selling at VND2,950/kg, as exporters are trying to collect rice to make deliveries to partners. Vietnam-sourced 5% broken rice is now being offered at $305-307/tonne FOB HCM City port, while 25% broken rice at $290/tonne, an increase of $30-40/tonne on average over that of two months ago. Late last week, in Ha Long city in Vietnam, five countries that control 45% of rice exports in the world, Vietnam, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar, had a conference to discuss issues relating to food security, including cooperation between Thailand and Vietnam in exporting rice. Vietnam exported 4.75mil tonnes of rice last year, reaping $1.3bil, down by 10% in quantity and turnover compared to 2005 due to the insects. Higher export prices, but exporters not happy The continued price increases have given rice exporters a great deal of anxiety. Right at the beginning of the year, when farmers harvested the winter-spring crop, exporters faced big difficulties in chartering ships for carrying exports. Meanwhile, the transportation fee has increased since May 2007. For example, the transport fee for shipments to Asian countries has risen to $26-30/tonne from $18-19/tonne, while the fee to Africa has risen to $120-130/tonne from $80-90/tonne. Nguyen Trung Kien, Director of Gentraco, a big rice exporter in the Mekong River Delta, said that on average, the transport fee had increased by $20-30/tonne over last year’s level. “Though the transport fee has increased, it is still difficult to charter ships, especially ships to carry exports to ASEAN countries, while the ASEAN market consumes 50% of Vietnam’s rice exports,” said Mr Kien. Meanwhile, explaining the increased transport fee, Vinafood said that it was because of higher fuel prices, and because ships going to ASEAN countries did not carry goods on return. Meanwhile, according to exporters, the transport fee accounts for 30-35% of the export FOB price. The difficulties in chartering ships have kept the stocks high. By June 30, 2007, the rice volume in stocks, which should have been delivered to clients before, had reached 750,000 tonnes. Recently, after the Government of Indonesia agreed to buy more rice from Vietnam, Vinafood asked the Government to allow the Southern Food Corporation to directly contact Bulog, the state agency in charge of importing rice into Indonesia. The Vietnamese side has set a condition which has never been set before: the buyer has to arrange half of the ships needed to carry rice. (Source: TBKTSG, Viet Nam Net)