Vietnam Morning News For July 5

Vietnam’s Competition Law and its Impact on Foreign Companies
Vietnam’s Law on Competition came into effect on July 1, 2019, replacing the 2004 version of the law. In June 2018, Vietnam passed the new regulation, which focuses on competition restraining agreements, market dominance, economic concentration, and unfair practices.
— Vietnam Briefing

Việt Nam’s inflation to moderate to 2.7% in 2019: HSBC
After marking the slowest pace in more than three year in the first half of this year, Việt Nam’s inflation is forecast to moderate to only 2.7 per cent in 2019 from 3.5 per cent last year.
— Viet Nam News

Vietnam’s April trade deficit widens, showing country’s commerce actually deteriorated amid US-China trade war
Vietnam’s imports from China are growing at a much faster rate than exports to the US, as manufacturers in the Southeast Asian country rely heavily on final-stage assembly or re-exports, tapping opportunities in the trade war between the world’s two largest economies, a study by Bank of America Merrill Lynch showed on Wednesday.
— South China Morning post

Vietnam budget airline VietJet to launch e-commerce business
The firm is currently forging alliances with industry partners to enable it to offer a range of goods and services online as it seeks to build on and profit from its existing customer data. The new platform, which will be based on blockchain technology to facilitate transactions among partners, is expected to launch within the next two years.
— Insider Retail

Vietnam’s Bamboo Airways to add maiden A330, eyes A380 to US
Bamboo Airways (QH, Hanoi) is in the process of adding its maiden widebody aircraft, an ex-Vietnam Airlines A330-200. Going forward, the carrier is also eyeing leasing an A380-800 for its touted flights to the United States.
— Ch-aviation

Vietnam’s cloth import rises 7.6 pct in H1
Vietnam spent over 6.7 billion U.S. dollars importing cloth in the first half of this year, posting a year-on-year increase of 7.6 percent.
— Xinhua

Easing external demand to weigh on Vietnamese manufacturing sector’s growth
Slowing global demand will have adverse impacts on Việt Nam’s manufacturing growth in the remaining months of the year, experts forecast.
— Viet Nam News

Incentives and prospects for Vietnam’s hospitality sector
During the last several years, Vietnam’s hospitality sector has had positive incentives and prospects for further vigorous developments.
— NDO

Vietnam’s paper import drops in H1
Vietnam imported 922,000 tons of paper worth 862 million U.S. dollars in the first half of this year, posting respective year-on-year decreases of 5.8 percent and 5.3 percent, the Vietnam Pulp and Paper Association said on Thursday.
— Xinhua

Vietnam prepares workforce to accommodate influx of companies amid US-Sino trade war
Vietnam rushes to prepare manpower in a goal of training 2 million people at vocational schools.
— The Hanoitimes

Vietnam’s economic outlook remains bullish despite external woes
Despite external headwinds, international forecasts on Vietnam’s economic growth this year remain optimistic, following the economy’s positive growth in the first half of the year.
— NDO

World Bank selects Vietnam’s Movitel as partner
Movitel, which is a Viettel brand in Mozambique, has just been selected by the World Bank as a partner for a project on improving quality of life of poor rural people in Mozambique.
— Sggp News

Dentsu Aegis Network acquires Ambient Digital Vietnam
Marketing agency Dentsu Aegis Network has acquired Ambient Digital Vietnam, an independent digital media agency, according to an announcement.
— DealStreetAsia

Vietnam fulfills role of ASEAN Committee’s Chair in Spain
Madrid (VNA) – ASEAN nations’ representatives in Spain have highly appreciated the diversity and quality of activities organised by the Embassy of Vietnam in the position of Chair of ASEAN Committee in Madrid (ACM).
— VietnamPlus

Invest in Vietnam – Asia’s other communist dynamo
Vietnam has reinvented itself. And now, this overlooked market is ripe for investment. Alex Rankine picks the best way to buy in.
— Monet Week

Two killed in bridge collapse as storm Mun slams into Vietnam
Tropical storm Mun claimed its first victims on Thursday, a woman and her husband who died when a landslide collapsed a bridge.
— VnExpress

HCM City targets 80-pct resident satisfaction with procedures
Ho Chi Minh City aims to have at least 80 percent of residents satisfied with administrative procedures and staff by 2020, according to Nguyen Thien Nhan, secretary of the HCM City Party’s Committee.
— VietnamPlus

State investment agency to auction stake in prawn cracker maker
The State Capital Investment Corporation will auction its entire 49.89 percent stake in prawn cracker maker Sa Giang Import-Export JSC.
— VnExpress

Firms protest BigC for suspension of buying Vietnamese garment products
Many Vietnamese garment and textile firms yesterday afternoon arrived at the headquarters of Vietnam Central Group, the owner of BigC Vietnam supermarket chain, in Ho Chi Minh City’s Binh Thanh district to oppose BigC’s unilateral halt of order of their products.
— Sggp News

Occupancy rate at industrial parks averages 74 percent
Industrial parks in the country have reported an average occupancy rate of nearly 74 percent, according to the Ministry of Planning and Investment’s Economic Zone Management Department.
— VietnamPlus

Sad fact: Many students have below average marks after 7 years of learning English
Vietnamese students learn English for at least seven years at school. However, many of them cannot obtain basic knowledge, which has been blamed on the teaching method.
— Vietnam Insider

Việt Nam paper industry needs to diversify product portfolio
The paper industry has potential for growth, but businesses need to avoid investment in products that have excess supply, according to the Việt Nam Paper and Pulp Association.
— Viet Nam News

Bosch Vietnam celebrated the fifth anniversary of its automotive R&D center in Vietnam
Since its inception in 2008, Bosch has been investing in research and development (R&D) as well as human resources development in Vietnam. Continuously strengthening its local footprint and operation has been of strategic importance for Bosch and a vital part in the company’s success.
— Vietnam Insider

S. Korean companies seek investment opportunities in Hanoi
In the 2016 – 2018 period, Hanoi attracted US$14.05 billion in FDI, and US$5.03 billion in the first six months of 2019, ranking as the top investment destination in Vietnam.
— The Hanoitimes

Vietnam’s apparel industry braces for cost surge as tech giants move in: Nikkei
Major apparel makers are halting or slowing their expansion in Vietnam amid worries that the trade war will indirectly push up labor costs as tech giants like Apple seek to shift production out of China. Reported by CHENG TING-FANG and LAULY LI, Nikkei staff writers.
— Vietnam Insider

Vietnam Airlines starts operations in Russia’s Sheremetyevo airport
Sheremetyevo is Russia’s largest airport in terms of passenger and freight traffic, take-off and landing operations and the capacity of the cargo facilities.
— Viet Nam News

Investment promotion conference slated for Kiên Giang in July
The province wants investment in 117 projects between now and 2020.
— Viet Nam News

UNDP’s SDG Challenge helps empower persons with disabilities in Vietnam
SDG Challenge is expected to facilitate Vietnam`s 6.2 million persons with disabilities and those beyond the country.
— The Hanoitimes

Việt Nam-Taiwan business relations remain short of potential: experts
There remains massive untapped potential for co-operation between Vietnamese and Taiwanese firms in setting up manufacturing supply chains, experts have said.
— Viet Nam News

Central city’s economy sputters
The central city of Đà Nẵng’s gross regional domestic product growth slowed in the first half of the year to 6.21 per cent, compared to the 7.24 per cent in the same period of last year.
— Viet Nam News

Việt Nam, UK share experience in financial industry
The UK is the second biggest European investor in Việt Nam, after the Netherlands, with 267 foreign direct investment projects worth $3.75 billion.
— Viet Nam News

Quảng Trị plans to build airport
The Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV) has submitted a proposal to the Ministry of Transport to build an airport in Quang Tri Province.
— Viet Nam News

Deputy PM requests control of CPI
Deputy Prime Minister Vương Đình Huệ has asked ministries, sectors and localities to maintain the consumer price index (CPI) at between 3.17-3.41 per cent in 2019.
— Viet Nam News

Việt Nam needs financial leasing firms so SMEs can develop
According to Việt Nam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), up to 70 per cent of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) have had difficulties in getting loans due to not meeting the requirements of lenders.
— Viet Nam News

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.