Vietnam Morning News For July 2

Vietnam and Japan firms ink gas deal as Hanoi looks beyond coal
Japan’s JXTG Nippon Oil & Energy will tie up with a Vietnamese state-owned oil company on liquefied natural gas, the companies said Monday, with the duo expected to build facilities and collaborate on procurement in the Southeast Asian country.
— Nikkei Asian Review

JBIC provides 200 mln USD credit for Vietnam’s energy projects
The Commercial Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam (Vietcombank) and the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) exchanged a credit contract worth 200 million USD to fund renewable energy projects in Vietnam.
— VietnamPlus

Vietnam’s Bamboo Airlines plans to launch direct US flights – with an A380
Vietnamese start-up carrier Bamboo Airlines plans to launch direct flights to the United States using a leased Airbus A380 superjumbo, the Financial Times reports.
— Business Traveller

Retail revenues surge 11.5 per cent in H1
The nation’s total revenue from retail sales and services saw a significant growth of 11.5 per cent to more than VNĐ23.9 quadrillion (US$101.74 billion) in the first half of this year.
— Viet Nam News

Vietnam, Japan agree on employing specific skilled workers
Vietnam’s Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA) and four Japanese agencies on July 1 signed a memorandum of cooperation (MoC) on sending specific skilled workers of Vietnam to work in Japan.
— VietnamPlus

Foreign investors expand in Vietnam’s logistics market
According to the Vietnam Logistics Business Association, Vietnam’s logistics market has grown by about 12-14 percent annually in recent years.
— The Hanoitimes

GDP climbs 6.76 per cent in six months
Việt Nam’s gross domestic product (GDP) grew 6.76 per cent in the first half of this year, the second highest rate since 2011.
— Viet Nam News

Forest in north-central Vietnam still burning, three days after wildfire broke out
Wildfires have been raging across a pine tree forest in the north-central Vietnamese province of Ha Tinh for the past three days, with local authorities doing their utmost to control the flames and evacuate local residents from dangerous areas.
— Vietnam Insider

Vietnam seeks greater private sector investments: PM
Vietnam is positioning itself effectively in the changing landscape of regional and global value chains, said President of ADB.
— The Hanoitimes

Automotive industry expected to get stronger
A stronger automotive industry with higher participation of foreign firms will boost the domestic auxiliary industry, businesses said on Friday.
— Viet Nam News

Meet Vietnamese girl who persuades small vendors to ditch plastic bags
Nguyen Huu Quynh Huong is on a mission to change the way local vendors package their goods.
— Vietnam Insider

Vietnam boosts confidence to attract EU’s high-quality investment
The signing of the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) and the EU-Vietnam Investment Protection Agreement (EVIPA) marks a new step of developing the comprehensive partnership and cooperation between the two sides initiated in 2012.
— NDO

Việt Nam hopes to draw more high-quality investment from Japan
Việt Nam welcomes high-quality investment projects from Japan, especially in infrastructure, Prime Minister Nguyan Xuân Phúc said in a round-table talk with some of Japan’s leading corporations in Tokyo on July 1.
— Viet Nam News

Agriculture exporters suffer as China rules tighten
Unsold stock and falling prices have hit Vietnamese seafood and agriculture producers hard as Chinese regulations restrict their entry.
— VnExpress

Vietnam’s PMI rises in June
Vietnam’s purchasing managers’ index (PMI), which measures economic health of the country’s manufacturing sector, rose to 52.5 in June from 52.0 in May, the latest survey from Nikkei revealed on Monday.
— Xinhua

Number of foreign visitors to Việt Nam declines in June
Nearly 1.9 million foreigners visited Việt Nam in June, data of the Việt Nam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) showed, the lowest number in any month since the beginning of the year. The number of visitors was down 10.6 per cent from May but still represented a year-on-year rise of 0.2 per cent.
— Viet Nam News

Vietnamese manufacturers complete solid second quarter
June completed a solid second quarter for the Vietnamese manufacturing sector, with business conditions improving amid the ongoing growth of new orders.
— Viet Nam News

New firms up almost 4% in H1
About 67,000 new enterprises were registered in the first half of this year, the highest number of the first six months in the last five years, according to the Ministry of Planning and Investment.
— Viet Nam News

Japan and Vietnam to bolster monitoring of labor conditions
Japan and Vietnam have agreed to tighten up the monitoring of labor conditions for Vietnamese as Tokyo opens the door to more foreign workers.
— Japan Times

Commentary: Vietnam’s air exports to the U.S. increase as China-U.S. trade war simmers
The Asian supply chain is best described as a spider web with China the central focal point. It was like that well before President Trump’s tariffs were implemented.
— Freightwaves

Big pork shortage looms over Việt Nam
Việt Nam could have a shortfall of 500,000 tonnes of pork, or nearly 20 per cent of demand, in the period until the Lunar New Year in early 2020 due to the effect of African swine flu, according to global research firm Ipsos Business Consulting.
— Viet Nam News

Market to rebound in the third quarter
The Vietnamese stock market is forecast to recover with improved liquidity in the third quarter thanks to the stable macro-economy and positive development of the world socio-economic situation.
— Viet Nam News

Are US veterans of Iraq, Afghanistan and Vietnam treated equally?
The Iraq war was seen as a disaster – both by Americans and by people around the world. Yet those who fought in the war are nevertheless honoured, a striking departure from the way that service members were treated when they came home from Vietnam.
— BBC

Lazada appoints current Thailand CEO to head Vietnam operations
Southeast Asian ecommerce platform Lazada has appointed James Dong to serve as CEO of its Vietnam unit, in addition to his current role as chief executive of Lazada Thailand.
— Tech In Asia

Vietnam Airlines celebrates 25th anniversary of first Việt Nam-Japan flight
Vietnam Airlines held an event in Tokyo on Monday to celebrate the 25th anniversary of its first commercial air route connecting Việt Nam and Japan.
— Viet Nam News

To win in tech and beyond, Vietnam should complement, not compete with ASEAN
Last week, global and regional leaders gathered in Bangkok for the Bloomberg Asean Business Summit. On the agenda: accelerating regional growth, assessing opportunities for economic transformation, debating the region’s technological potential, and much more.
— Business Times

Promote trade cooperation and investment between Việt Nam – Poland
Việt Nam’s free trade agreement with the EU would go a long way towards tapping the trade potential that exists with Poland, experts have said.
— Viet Nam News

Feature: China’s cultural tourism highlighted, adored in Vietnam
“If these beautiful products are for sale, I will buy them immediately,” a Vietnamese young man told Xinhua on Monday, pointing his hand to a USB drive in the form of a Guangxi bronze drum and then a smartphone cover with images of a dragon and a phoenix.
— Xinhua

HCM City moves closer to setting up Information Security Centre
The HCM City Information Security Centre will be set up at the High-tech Park in District 9, according to People’s Committee vice chairman Trần Vĩnh Tuyến.
— Viet Nam News

Board membership stirs GTNFoods’ annual shareholder meeting
GTNFoods JSC on Saturday dismissed two members from the board of directors, causing disturbance among shareholders at the firm’s annual meeting.
— Viet Nam News

Vietnam’s remarkable economic turnaround
Since the “Doi Moi” reforms in the mid 1980s, the Southeast Asian country has undergone a phenomenal transformation from one of the poorest countries in the world to a booming emerging economy.
— DW

Vietnam, US boost customs cooperation
A delegation from the General Department of Vietnam Customs has discussed with US Customs and Border Protection on measures to boost customs cooperation between both sides while on the side-lines of an annual meeting of the World Customs Organisation (WCO) Council in Brussels.
— NDO

Vietnamese manufacturers complete solid second quarter
June completed a solid second quarter for the Vietnamese manufacturing sector, with business conditions improving amid the ongoing growth of new orders.
— Viet Nam News

Armenian PM to visit Vietnam
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan will make an official visit to Vietnam on July 4-7, according to the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Monday.
— Xinhua

Vietnam competition watchdog appeals Grab-Uber antitrust ruling
Vietnam’s competition watchdog has appealed a ruling that Grab did not violate antitrust laws in its acquisition of Uber’s operations in the country.
— VnExpress

Boat tours in HCM City lack passengers
Boat tours along HCM City’s canals, which were expected to boost water tourism, have failed to attract tourists because of a lack of facilities and waste discharge in waterways.
— Viet Nam News

VN stocks climb with hopes for trade deal, corporate earnings
Vietnamese shares started the third quarter on a positive note as expected as investors were upbeat on ratified trade deals and expectations for quarterly earnings reports.
— Viet Nam News

Vietnam reports fewer food poisoning sufferers in H1
In the first half of this year, 866 people in Vietnam suffered from food poisoning, of whom five died, the country’s Preventive Health Department said on Monday.
— Xinhua

Feature photo Urbanist Hanoi

This week’s Vietnam morning news feature photo focuses on plastic waste throughout Asean.

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.