Vietnam Morning News For May 30

Thailand’s SCG buys rest of Vietnam’s Long Son Petrochemicals for $90.2m
Thai industrial conglomerate Siam Cement Group (SCG) has signed an agreement to acquire the 29 per cent stake it does not currently own in Vietnam’s Long Son Petrochemicals (LSP) for over VND2.05 trillion ($90.2 million), according to a stock exchange filing by the Thai firm.
— DealStreetAsia

Vietnam should remove all discount limits: industry insiders
Businesses want the government to raise discount limits from the current 50 percent cap to 100 percent.
— VnExpress

Footwear giants eye factories in VN
Global footwear brands like Adidas, Nike and Puma are increasingly turning to Viet Nam for their manufacturing needs due to its affordable labour costs and free trade agreements.
— Bizhub

Steel firms urged to ensure material transparency
Local steel makers should follow laws and requirements on origin when exporting their products to the US.
— Bizhub

Vietnam, US to step up maritime security cooperation
Vietnam and the U.S. are looking for ways to boost bilateral co-operation on maritime security amidst growing tensions in the South China Sea, known as the East Sea in Vietnam.
— VnExpress

Petrolimex to spend 94% profit on dividends
The Việt Nam National Petroleum Group (Petrolimex) will close the list of shareholders on June 15 to pay dividends for 2017 at the rate of 20 per cent.
— Viet Nam News

Vietnam’s export turnovers up 15.8 pct in first 5 months
Vietnam gained export turnovers of roughly 93.1 billion U.S. dollars in the first five months, posting a year-on-year surge of 15.8 percent, the General Statistics Office announced on Tuesday.
— Xinhua

Banned goods found in containers at major ports
Evidence of smuggling has been uncovered at two major ports in Ho Chi Minh City, with prohibited goods found in several containers left unclaimed during the past month.
— VietnamPlus

Cyber security law restrictions worry Vietnamese lawmakers
A senior lawmaker says the law could curb personal rights, but is necessary for a bigger cause.
— VnExpress

Chinese tourists to Vietnam surge in January-May
Vietnam received nearly 2.2 million Chinese visitors between January and May, or 32.1 percent of the total international arrivals, recording a year-on-year increase of 37 percent, the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism said on Tuesday.
— Xinhua

National strategy on fourth industrial revolution under construction
The government is building up the national strategy on the fourth industrial resolution as it is the best measure to enhance the country’s labor productivity, Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung said.
— The Hanoi Times

Canada initiates dumping inquiry into steel imports from China, Vietnam and South Korea
CITT, which operates in Canada’s trade remedy system and reports to parliament, said it will determine the results of the investigation on July 24 and will provide the reasons for the same on August 8.
— Tuoi Tre

India-Vietnam defense ties in spotlight with joint naval exercise
On May 21, within the framework of perpetual deployment of the Indian Navy’s Eastern Fleet to Southeast Asia and the Northwest Pacific region, three Indian naval ships en route to Guam and Hawaii for the multilateral Malabar and RIMPAC naval exercises made a port call at Tien Sa Port in Danang for India’s first joint naval exercise with Vietnam.
— Asia times

HCM City to reduce salt farmland, expand aquaculture production
The HCM City Department of Agriculture and Rural Development has proposed reducing the land for salt farming in Cần Giờ District by one-third by 2030 and increasing the land for aquaculture farming.
— Viet Nam News

Overloaded Vietnam shipping terminals take a break from plastic waste
Choked by plastic waste, shipping terminals in Vietnam will temporarily stop this commodity from June 25 to October 15, the business journal Resource Recycling Inc. reports.
— VnExpress

Vietnam’s traffic accidents drop in January-May period
Between January and May, 7,490 traffic accidents occurred in Vietnam, killing 3,476 people, severely injuring 1,988 people and lightly hurting 3,774 others, the country’s Traffic Police Department said Tuesday.
— Xinhua

New firms up by 3.5% in 5 months
Việt Nam saw an increase in the number of new enterprises and their registered capital in the first five months of 2018 due to improving business conditions.
— Viet Nam News

Vietnam makes initial results in organic agricultural development
Since 2004, the Vietnam Farmer’s Union has coordinated with the Danish NGO Agricultural Development Denmark Asia to support several farmers’ groups in Lao Cai, Tuyen Quang, and Hoa Binh provinces to approach and practice organic agriculture.
— Nhan Dan Online

Banks gain higher profits from securities trading
Revenues from securities trading, capital contribution and share purchase made up significant amounts to banks’ profits in the first quarter of this year thanks to rising stock markets and low bond yields, post-audited financial statements in Q1/2018 of banks showed.
— The Hanoi Times

McDermott Awarded Transportation and Installation Subcontract in Vietnam
McDermott International, Inc. (NYSE: MDR) announced today it has been awarded a sizeable* transportation and installation subcontract by PetroVietnam Technical Services Corporation (PTSC) Offshore Service Joint Stock Company for the Idemitsu Kosan Co., Ltd. (IKC) Sao Vang and Dai Nguyet gas and condensate field developments in the Nam Con Son Basin, located offshore Vietnam.
— AEC News Today/ PR Newswire (media release)

Ministries slash 740 business conditions in Q1 2018
The Hanoitimes – A total of 738 business conditions have been removed or simplified by the end of the first quarter of this year, according to the latest report from the Central Institute for Economic Management (CIEM).
— The Hanoi Times

Deputy PM: CPI growth could be kept below 4 percent in 2018
Deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue has urged the Government’s Steering Committee for Price Management to seek measures in order to minimize external impacts on domestic prices, thus keeping CPI growth below 4 percent in 2018.
— VietnamPlus

Land price surge raises concerns in Vietnam’s coastal province
Investors with deep pockets have flocked to a coastal area in the south-central province of Phu Yen, offering to buy seaside land at unreasonably high prices, sparking concerns of a possible land fever that may well lead to a real estate bubble.
— Tuoi Tre

Partners-backed ISP in talks to buy Canadian International School Vietnam
International Schools Partnership Ltd. is in talks to invest in Canadian International School Vietnam, people with knowledge of the matter said, as foreign firms flock to Southeast Asian education deals.
— DealStreetAsia

Vietnam’s first Goldman Prize winner pushes for energy conservation
Khanh Nguy Thi is an environmental pioneer in Vietnam. She has led her NGO, the Hanoi-based Green Innovation and Development Centre, or GreenID, to the forefront of policy discussions surrounding clean energy development in the country.
— Mongabay

Vietnam launches mediation centre for trade-related issues
The Vietnam International Arbitration Centre (VIAC) held a ceremony on May 29 to launch the Vietnam Mediation Centre (VMC) and announce the mediation code, under the support of the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank (WB) Group.
— Nhan Dan Online

VinaCapital-backed CenLand to list 50 million shares on HoSE
VinaCapital and Dragon Capital-backed real estate brokerage firm CenLand plans to list 50 million shares, equivalent to VND500 billion ($22 million) of charter capital, on Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange (HoSE), according to the latest announcement on the stock exchange.
— DealStreetAsia

Feature photo Nam-ho Park

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.