Vietnam Morning News For August 29

Vietnam’s North-South high-speed railway to cost over US$58 billion
For a total length of 1,545 kilometers (km), the line which links Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City would stop at 20 cities and provinces.
— The Hanoi Times

Fishing militia to spearhead Vietnam’s response to China in South China Sea (video)
China has long been infamous for incorporating maritime militias into its fishing industry to assert its sovereignty claims. With the world’s largest fishing fleet, comprising 370,000 non-powered and 762,000 motor-powered vessels, China has the capacity and resources to push more of its fishermen to the front line of maritime disputes.
— AEC News Today (video)

E-commerce key for farm exporters
Vietnamese enterprises should take advantage of e-commerce development to boost exports of farm produce to China, experts said at a meeting on Sunday in HCM City.
— Bizhub

HCM City issues plan to boost PCI and Doing Business indices
The HCM City People’s Committee has released a plan to boost its Provincial Competitiveness Index (PCI) as well as improve the city’s business and investment climate in 2018 and the following years.
— Bizhub

Government approves double taxation avoidance pact with Macau
The Government has approved an agreement between Vietnam and China’s Macau Special Administrative Region on the avoidance of double taxation and prevention of income tax evasion.
— VietnamPlus

Vietnamese market allures foreign fashion giants
World renowned fashion brands have continuously entered the Vietnamese market, fueled by its high annual average market growth rate of between 15 to 20 percent.
— The Hanoi Times

Petrol shares positive in 2018 despite volatility
Despite a volatile market that caused stocks to drop in recent months, the prospects for shares in the three largest Vietnamese petrol retailers remains positive for 2018, according to Viet Capital Securities Corp (VCSC).
— VietNamNet Bridge

Technological application will help Vietnam cut administrative costs
A report was recently released on the costs of administrative procedure compliance in Vietnam, known as APCI, helping to quantify the costs that businesses have to bear in order to meet existing regulations.
— VietNamNet Bridge

TechnipFMC to Build Pioneering Vietnam Project
Long Son Petrochemicals Co. has awarded TechnipFMC a contract for the licensing, engineering, procurement, construction, commissioning and start-up of Vietnam’s first olefins plant, TechnipFMC reported Tuesday.
— RigZone

Vietnam’s 1.2m metric-ton shrimp target ‘realistic’, but should it even target growth?
Vietnam has plenty of potential to boost its farmed shrimp output as it chases a $10 billion export value by 2025, though Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) has questioned the wisdom of pursuing rapid growth.
— Under Current News

Vietnam’s Controversial New Cybersecurity Law Raises Questions
Despite wide concern from inside and outside the country, and even after a request for postponement from 13 Vietnamese technology associations…
— Lexology

Young businesses create 3 million jobs in three years
Nearly 10,000 members of the Vietnam Young Entrepreneurs Association (VYEA) created three million jobs in 2015-18, the group said at their sixth national congress in Ha Noi on August 27.
— Bizhub

Experts forecast lending rates to remain stable
Many commercial banks have recently increased deposit interest rates, but experts forecast that the rise will last only a short time and won’t have a domino effect on lending rates.
— Bizhub

Deputy PM commends businesses’ role in national economy
Businesses, especially startups, play a very important role in creating new momentum for the national economy, said Deputy Prime Minister Truong Hoa Binh.
— VietnamPlus

Vietnam’s First Agency Day Taking Place in Ho Chi Minh City
Thousands of communications and marketing professionals from around the world will gather for Agency Day August 30th in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
— AEC News Today/ PR Newswire (media release)

Vietnamese ao dai fashion show wraps up Vietnam exhibition in Bangkok
Model Nguyen Tran Huyen My, first runner-up at Miss Vietnam 2014, took the starring role at the ao dai (traditional long robe) fashion show on Sunday in Bangkok.
— The Nation

Vietnam’s Agribank plans IPO in 2020: Chairman
By the end of 2018, state-run Vietnam Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development, known as Agribank, will complete the corporate valuation process, said the bank`s chair.
— The Hanoi Times

FDI disbursement up 9.2 percent in eight months
The disbursement of foreign direct investment (FDI) projects was estimated at 11.25 billion USD as of August 20, a year-on-year rise of 9.2 percent, according to the Foreign Investment Agency under the Ministry of Planning and Investment.
— VietnamPlus

How Vietnam has reacted to the death of John McCain
Among the tributes for the late U.S. senator John McCain, a number came from the country that, for better or worse, formed an integral part of his life story: Vietnam.
— Washington Post

India, Vietnam to boost trade, maritime, defence cooperation
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj today held wide-ranging talks with her Vietnamese counterpart Pham Binh Minh and discussed steps to boost bilateral trade, investment, maritime and defence cooperation.
— Money Control

WEF ASEAN: Vietnam needs to seek new competitive edge in Industry 4.0
Vietnam and other countries at the same level of development should no longer see cheap labour as a strategy to maintain competitive edges in the market, said Justin Wood, Head of Regional Agenda – Asia Pacific and member of the Executive Committee of the World Economic Forum.
— VietnamPlus

Vietnam sentences SA man to death for drugs
A court in Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City on Tuesday sentenced a South African man to death after finding him guilty of trafficking nearly 1.5kg of cocaine.
— News24

Vietnam 50 Years Later: a Combat Photographer Remembers
As a season opener, the Hungarian Museum of Photography in Kecskemét is staging an exhibition of images taken by Hungarian- American combat photographer László Kondor during the Vietnam War. The exhibition runs September 1-29.
— BBJ

Asian Games: Vietnam lauds South Korean coach as soccer ‘wizard’
Vietnamese football fans have dubbed national coach Park Hang-seo a “wizard” following a rare string of successes by the Southeast Asian country’s “Golden Star” team.
— ABS-CBN

Hekotek to supply pellet plant to customer in Vietnam
Hekotek, an Estonia-based mechanical engineering company that designs and manufactures machinery for wood processing industries, recently announced it is supplying its first pellet plant to a customer in Southeast Asia.
— Biomass Magazine

The best-known transfer pricing cases in Vietnam
Nearly 38 percent of foreign invested enterprises (FIEs) reported losses in 2017, a significant decrease from the 50 percent seen in previous years. However, transfer pricing by FIEs remains a headache for management agencies.
— VietNamNet Bridge

Feature photo Travis Hawk

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Vietnam morning news by AEC News Today is your one stop source for Vietnam news on matters of governance and policies affecting Asean business communities. It is published M-F by AEC News Today: Governance, not government; policies, not politics.