Vietnam Morning News For January 22

Digital content revenue estimated at $895 million in 2018
Digital content revenue was estimated at US$895 million last year, according to the Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC).
— Vietnam News

Rubber stocks rise on global prices
The global rubber price has increased sharply in recent weeks, benefiting the share prices of Vietnamese producers on the stock market.
— Bizhub

Vietnam becomes more attractive to Japanese enterprises
With a young population, great potential and increasing trade growth, Vietnam is offering big opportunities for Japanese firms to expand their market, according to the Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO).
— VNA NET

Diplomatic sector to strive harder to reinforce established ties: Deputy PM
The most important task for external work in 2019 is to intensify established relations and enhance the mutual interests between Vietnam and its key partners, especially neighbouring, regional, and major countries, along with strategic and comprehensive partners.
— VNA NET

VPBank posts $396.4 million pre-tax profit
Việt Nam Prosperity Joint Stock Bank (VPBank) posted a pre-tax integrated profit of VNĐ9.2 trillion (US$396.4 million) in 2018, representing a 13 per cent year-on-year increase.
— Vietnam News

Pangasius firms fishing for markets
The Vietnam Pangasius Association (VPA) will this year focus on improving quality and expanding export markets, its chairman has said.
— VietnamPlus

EVFTA opens new era in Vietnam-EU trade ties: Italian experts
The EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) is hoped to usher ina new period in promoting cooperationand mutual economic development between the two sides as it comes into effect in mid-2019, according to Italian experts.
— VNA NET

Payments Landscape in Vietnam: Opportunities and Risks to 2022
GlobalData’s “Payments Landscape in Vietnam: Opportunities and Risks to 2022”, report provides detailed analysis of market trends in the Vietnamese cards and payments industry.
— Vietnam Insider

Occupancy rate of industrial parks reaches 73 percent
The occupancy rate of operational industrial parks (IPs) across the nation hit 73 percent in 2018, the Ministry of Planning and Investment’s Department of Economic Zone Management has said.
— VNA NET

Businesses have long wait to cash in on cashless Vietnam
Vietnam’s far away from becoming a cashless society, given low financial literacy and the lack of an ecosystem, experts say.
— VnExpress

Compensation for expropriated land “detached” from market value
The Government’s mechanism to calculate the compensation rate for residents whose land it takes for public purposes is “detached” from the market value instead of relying on it, leading to prolonged opposition and grievances from those affected.
— VNA NET

Vietnam pitches itself as an investor safe haven
A red-hot economy, business-friendly policies and a Communist party led by free-traders: that’s the elevator pitch Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc is delivering to global investors amid the United States (US)-China trade war.
— The Asean Post

Keeping alive the spirit of the mountains: Tai people’s lives in Hanoi
“Do you have to go to school on a horse?” This is the question I get most often asked by people in Hanoi when I tell them that I am an ethnic Tai Dam from a small village in Son La province in northwest Vietnam, more than 300 km from Vietnam’s capital city.
— Mekong Commons

Vietnam seeks UN recognition of Xoe Thai dance
AUTHORITIES in Vietnam’s northern mountainous province of Dien Bien will implement a plan to promote the recognition of Xoe Thai dance as a Unesco intangible cultural heritage of humanity.
— The Nation (very annoying popup)

Vietnamese Party, State leader welcomes Chinese ambassador
Party General Secretary and President Nguyen Phu Trong received Chinese Ambassador to Vietnam Xiong Bo in Hanoi on January 21.
— VNA NET

Votive paper manufacturer triples profits as people burn cash
An Yen Bai company that makes votive paper tripled its net profit to VND34.3 billion ($1.48 million) last year.
— VnExpress

Vietnamese, Australian top legislators hold talks
Chairwoman of the National Assembly (NA) Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan held talks with President of the Australian Senate Scott Ryan after an official welcome ceremony in Hanoi on January 21.
— VNA NET

GreedFeed aims for safe pork
The GreenFeed Việt Nam Corporation will help the southern province of Bình Thuận build a chain of safe pork production facilities from now until 2022.
— Vietnam News

PM’s presence at WEF Davos 2019 facilitates national development
Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc’s presence at the annual conference of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland from January 22-25, will be a chance to propagate the country’s socio-economic development and international integration achievements in 2018.
— VNA NET

Ninh Thuan’s first solar power plant connected to national grid
BP Solar 1 solar power plant in the south central province of Ninh Thuan was inaugurated on January 20, becoming the first Vietnamese constructed project to get connected to the national grid so far.
— Nhan Dan Online

KOTRA opens third office in Vietnam
The Korean Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) stated that it has opened its third office in the central city of Da Nang, following the first two in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.
— Nhan Dan Online

Hong Kong’s Watsons dives into Vietnam’s crowded beauty market
One of Asia’s biggest health and beauty retailers has entered Vietnam’s fast-growing but crowded cosmetics market, where a young and growing middle class is fueling demand for imported products.
— Nikkei Asian Review (paywall)

Singapore-based ride-hailing app Tada launches in Vietnam
Tada, the blockchain-based ride-hailing app based in Singapore, launched in Vietnam on Monday – less than a week after opening in Cambodia.
— The Straits Times

Sustainable development of hi-tech agriculture
The development of agriculture 4.0 based on science and technology is a trend of many countries in the world, which will help the agricultural industry to be less dependent on the weather, reduce manual labour, shift small-scale production to large-scale farming, control food safety and hygiene and improve productivity.
— Nhan Dan Online

Vietnam leading the way for ASEAN in historic fashion
For a long time, Thailand has been the leading light in Southeast Asian football but their place at the throne is facing serious threats from Vietnam.
— Goal

Vietnam office space remains lucrative as demand spurts, supply dawdles
Hanoi and HCMC will continue to be among the best performing office space markets globally in 2019, top property consultants have predicted.
— VnExpress

Cu Mong tunnel opened to traffic
Cu Mong tunnel, which connects the central provinces of Binh Dinh and Phu Yen, opened to traffic on January 21.
— VNA NET

Honda Vietnam joins police in traffic safety efforts
The Traffic Police Department under the Ministry of Public Security and Honda Vietnam will join hands in implementing traffic safety activities for the 2019-2021 period under a cooperation programme signed on January 21.
— VNA NET

Bến Tre copra price falls due to oversupply
The prices of copra in the Cửu Long (Mekong) Delta Province of Bến Tre have dropped sharply in the last few days, worrying growers as Tết (Lunar New Year) draws near.
— Vietnam News

Feature photo Asian Development Bank

This week’s Vietnam morning news feature photo acknowledges International Day of Education, January 24.

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.