Vietnam Morning News For December 18

Vietnamese businesses sell products overseas via online retailers
Businesses can now see great opportunities to sell products internationally via online retailers such as Amazon.com or Alibaba.com.
— Vietnam Insider

Automated customs system connects around 280 firms
Nearly 280 businesses dealing in ports, warehouses and yards nationwide have been connected to the Việt Nam Automated System for Seaport Customs Management (VASSCM) a year since it was launched.
— Viet Nam News

Vietnam needs more drastic reforms to bolster enterprise development
The Vietnamese government has been making significant efforts to improve the business environment, aiming to bring Vietnam into the group of ASEAN’s four most competitive economies.
— Nhan Dan online

High-tech tra fish farm launched in An Giang
Việt Úc Group last week opened a high-tech tra fish (pangasius) farm in Vĩnh Hòa commune, Tân Châu town of the Mekong Delta province of An Giang.
— Viet Nam News

HCM City Christian bible school starts first training programme
The management board of the Vietnam Seventh-day Adventist Church held a ceremony to start its first academic year for a batch of students of its Christian Bible College in Ho Chi Minh City on December 17.
— VNA NET

Vietnam tops regional property awards
The awards are instituted by the Dot Property Group, a digital media company that owns and operates 10 property portal websites and complimentary offline media throughout Southeast Asia.
— VN Express

Vietnam calls for inclusive Mekong – Lancang cooperation
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh on December 17 joined FMs of Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and China at the fourth Mekong – Lancang Cooperation (MLC) Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Vientiane, Laos.
— VNA NET

Vietnam police seize over 100 tons of contraband from China
Authorities in Vietnam said Monday they had seized more than 100 metric tons of goods illegally brought to the country from China and taken into custody several people implicated in the smuggling.
— Vietnam Insider

Vietnamese NA working for sustainable development: Chairwoman
A conference highlighting parliaments’ role in realising the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) was opened in Da Nang city on December 17 by the Vietnamese National Assembly (NA), the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and the UN Development Programme (UNDP).
— VNA NET

Cargo volume at Quy Nhơn Port hits record high
The volume of cargo handled at Quy Nhơn Port in the central province of Bình Định has reached a record eight million tonnes so far this year.
— Viet Nam News

Little Saigon livid over Trump plan to deport Vietnamese
‘Shameless, immoral, inhuman’: Vietnamese Americans are protesting President Trump’s push to deport thousands of Vietnamese immigrants.
— VN Express

Sustainable development is an indispensable path: NA Chairwoman
Sustainable development is an essential path and requirement for the national development of Vietnam and is also the cause of the Party, State and the entire society, said Chairwoman of the National Assembly, Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan, at a conference entitled “The National Assembly and the Sustainable Development Goals”.
— Nhan Dan online

November car sales accelerate
Car sales rose by 23 per cent y-o-y in Novenmber to 30,540 units, according to a report by the Vietnam Automobile Manufacturers’ Association.
— Viet Nam News

Mekong Delta needs ecosystem-based solutions to climate change
Ecosystem-based solutions are vitally important for the Mekong Delta to adapt to climate change in the decades to come, speakers said at a seminar held in Can Tho over the weekend.
— Viet Nam Net

Bamboo Airways receives first aircraft, to take off earlier than planned
Vietnam’s newest airline, Bamboo Airways, has advanced its maiden flight by two days to December 27, its CEO said Sunday.
— VN Express

Flower farmers prepare for Tet holiday market
– Flower growers are busy preparing for the upcoming Tet (Lunar New Year) which will begin on February 5.
— Viet Nam Net

Vietnam’s Hoi An emerges as hot travel destination, again
U.S. travel magazine Travel+Leisure lists the ancient town of Hoi An among the 50 best places to touch down next year.
— VN Express

Vietnamese contestant in Miss Universe 2018 top five
H’Hen Nie, the Vietnamese representative at Miss Universe 2018, finished in the top five of the beauty pageant whose final round took place in Thailand on December 17.
— VNA NET

Local firms prepare for CPTPP’s strict regulations
The Comprehensive Progressive Trans Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) promises great benefits for Vietnamese firms, but many regulations on technical barriers and social responsibility will have to be met in order to take full advantage of the trade deal, experts said at a conference in HCM City on December 15.
— Vietnam+

Binh Thuan welcomes 5.7 million tourist arrivals in 2018
The south central province of Binh Thuan expects to receive 5.7 million visitors for all of 2018, a jump of 12 percent from last year.
— VNA NET

800,000 Vietnamese suffer from obstructive sleep apnea syndrome
– An estimated 800,000 people in Vietnam suffer from obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS), which requires expensive polysomnography and respiratory polygraphy screening tests.
— Viet Nam Net

Quy Nhon Port handles record volume of cargo
Quy Nhon Port in the central province of Binh Dinh handled its 8 millionth tonne of goods this year on December 16, a yearly record for the port.
— VNA NET

Vietnam has huge biomass potential, but policy tweak needed
Vietnam has the potential to add hundreds of megawatts of power from biomass if it makes changes to its energy policies.
— VN Express

Technical assistance project for Vietnam’s sustainable development launched
The Institute of Strategy and Policy on Natural Resources and Environment and the Asian Development Bank recently held a workshop to launch a technical assistance project for countries in Asia-Pacific, including Vietnam, to achieve sustainable development goals in the environmental sector.
— VNA NET

Businesses struggle to recruit as Vietnamese employees cling to year-end bonus
Companies need to increase production to meet deadlines, but hiring becomes difficult as employees wait for year-end bonuses instead of switching job.
— VN Express

Delta needs ecosystem-based solutions for climate-change adaptation
Ecosystem-based solutions are vitally important for the Mekong Delta to adapt to climate change in the decades to come, speakers said at a seminar held in Cần Thơ over the weekend.
— Viet Nam News

Vietnam gives priority to sustainable development options
Vietnam has gained comprehensive development achievements acknowledged by the international community such as fulfilling many of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) ahead of time.
— Hanoi Times

Kon Tum woos Korean firms
Kon Tum is calling for capable investors and firms to run long-term business in the Central Highlands province and accompany local authorities in developing the green economy, protecting the environment and combating climate change, a local official said.
— Viet Nam News

Vietnam’s medicinal plants: the ‘green gold’ mine in danger
The rich medicinal plant treasure of Vietnam is in danger. From the northern mountainous provinces to the Central Highlands, the plants are being overexploited for export to China.
— Viet Nam Net

Tech training vital to adapt in Industry 4.0
As one of the most-developing areas in Việt Nam, HCM City is faced with both opportunities and challenges to make the best use of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
— Viet Nam News

VN, Cambodian trade fair in Dak Nong
More than 100 businesses from 13 cities and provinces nationwide, and some others from Cambodia’s Mundulkiri province are displaying their products at the Việt Nam-Cambodia international trade fair.
— Viet Nam News

Trump fighting to deport some Vietnamese refugees
The US Department of State says it is planning to re-negotiate a deal that, until now, has prevented the repatriation of Vietnamese citizens who arrived in the US prior to 1995 and subsequently were convicted of crimes.
— Al Jazeera

Foreign partners to swallow Vietnam’s breweries
Vietnam’s beer production output would be roughly 4.1 billion liters by 2020. The number will rise to 4.6 billion liters by 2025 and 5.5 billion liters by 2035.
— Hanoi Times

HCM City deals with low fertility rate
HCM City’s birth rate has remained low at 1.5 per woman in 2018.
— Viet Nam Net

Feature photo Vietnam Manpower

This week’s Vietnam morning news feature photo acknowledges International Migrants Day, December 18.

Find our previous morning news feature photos in the AEC News Today Morning News Feature Photos gallery where you will find a pictorial display of daily life throughout the Asean Economic Community (AEC).

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.