Vietnam Morning News For October 9

Vietnamese exports aim for US$239 billion by year-end
The Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) forecasts that Vietnam could earn a total export revenue of US$237 – US$239 billion in 2018, an increase of 10-12% over the previous year and enjoy a trade surplus of approximately US$2 billion, due to high export growth in the first nine months of this year.
— Nhan Dan Online

Foreign investors snap up prime office space in downtown Saigon
Foreign investors currently own majority stakes in about 50 percent of high-end office buildings in downtown Saigon.
— Vietnam Insider

Vietnam’s latest fuel price hike spikes inflation concerns
Last weekend’s increase in fuel prices has stoked fears that Vietnam might not meet its 2018 inflation target.
— VnExpress

SE Asia largest market of Vietnam’s fertilizer
Southeast Asia has become the largest market of Vietnam’s fertilizer, according to statistics of the General Department of Vietnam Customs.
— VietnamPlus

Short on cash, Vietnam punts on gambling
In journalist Norman Lewis’ A Dragon Apparent, a late 1940’s travelogue across Indochina, the writer notes Vietnamese merchants kept bowls of dice at their stalls with which they engaged in gambles with their customers.
— Asia Times

Vietnam, Japan target 60 billion USD in two-way trade by 2020
Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc is leading a high-level delegation of Vietnam to attend the 10th Mekong-Japan Summit in Tokyo and visit Japan from October 8-10. The trip is hoped to help lift bilateral trade to 60 billion USD in 2020.
— VietnamPlus

National Assembly likely to approve CPTPP
Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said Vietnam would likely approve the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) at the National Assembly meeting this month.
— VietnamNet Bridge

US pork seeks way to get on Vietnamese’s plate
A delegation of the US National Pork Board (NPB) has visited Vietnam recently to seek ways to increase pork export to Vietnam, a large market which consumed around 1.8 million tonnes of pork in 2017, or 57 percent of the total meat market.
— VietnamNet Bridge

Airports to receive more than 100 million passengers this year
Viet Nam is expected to receive about 105 million passengers passing through airports in the country in 2018, according to the Civil Aviation Administration of Viet Nam.
— Bizhub

New foreign investment wave forecast to flow into Vietnam
Vietnam expects to receive a large foreign investments flowing into its markets in the near future after many big institutional investors have recently come to the country to explore investment opportunities.
— VietnamNet Bridge

Vietnam’s first car-hailing app FastGo heads overseas
FastGo, a Vietnamese ride-hailing app, plans to launch its service in Indonesia and Myanmar in December as it hopes to become one of the top companies in the field in Southeast Asia.
— Nikkei Asian Review (paywall)

Steady prices key to cashew demand
Price stability is needed to ensure sustained growth of the cashew market and benefits for stakeholders in the cashew value chain, participants said at the 10th International Conference on Cashew in Ha Long City over the weekend.
— Bizhub

Vietnam Grand Prix to join Formula 1 calendar in 2020
Formula 1 is set to announce the addition of a Vietnam Grand Prix to its calendar for 2020 in the next month, with sources indicating a deal has been reached.
— AutoSport

U.S. General Considered Nuclear Response in Vietnam War, Cables Show
In one of the darkest moments of the Vietnam War, the top American military commander in Saigon activated a plan in 1968 to move nuclear weapons to South Vietnam until he was overruled by President Lyndon B. Johnson, according to recently declassified documents cited in a new history of wartime presidential decisions.
— New York Times

Japan, Vietnam agree on cooperation to secure peace in South China Sea
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his Vietnamese counterpart, Nguyen Xuan Phuc, agreed Monday to work together to maintain peace and security in the South China Sea, where Hanoi is engaged in a territorial dispute with Beijing.
— The Japan Times

Vietnam, other vets receive hero’s welcome at local airport
For many of the 103 military veterans who received a hero’s welcome at Asheville Regional Airport Saturday night, the show of gratitude was 50 years overdue.
— BlueRidge Now

Vietnamese brand names’ pride
Several weeks before introducing two models at the Paris Motor Show, VinFast was one of the hottest keywords on the internet.
— Nhan Dan Online

National forum seeks to promote girls’ rights, end child marriage
Girls’ safety in public areas and child marriage problems were the main topics at a dialogue on October 7 between girl representatives and leaders of a number of National Assembly (NA) committees, ministries, sectors and central organisations.
— Vietnam Insider

FDI into real estate through the roof in Ho Chi Minh City
Ho Chi Minh City stays in the lead in foreign direct investment (FDI) attraction into real estate with the total of $5.7 billion in the first nine months of the year for newly registered and expanded projects, an increase of 50 per cent compared to the same period last year.
— VietnamNet Bridge

Lalamove officially enters Hanoi
After more than one year of operations in Ho Chi Minh City, Hong Kong delivery firm Lalamove officially expanded its business to Hanoi, challenging Grab and Go-Viet.
— Vietnam Insider

Developing new value for 30 years
Leaders from Vietnam-based foreign corporations reminisce about their companies’ rise to eminence in the country, walking hand-in-hand with Vietnam on its journey of 30 years of foreign investment.
— VietnamNet Bridge

Feature photo USAID Vietnam

This week’s Vietnam morning news feature photo acknowledges International Day for Disaster Reduction, October 13.

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.