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Foreign investment in the Vietnamese property market is expected to reach 9 billion USD in 2010, according to real estate and marketing research company VietRees.
The company’s research shows that foreign investment increased significantly over the last two years. Leading investors come from the Republic of Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
Ho Chi Minh City topped the list for investors, followed by Ha Noi, central Da Nang and northern Ha Tay province.
VietRees predicted that the number of foreign invesotment projects will continue at a bustling rate in the next three years.
The Vietnam Association of Seafood Processors and Exporters (VASEP) and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) are to get together to award Vietnamese seafood products with the Marine Stewardship Council’s certification.
A Memorandum of Understanding underscoring their cooperation on the environmentally sustainable designation was inked on July 13.
Under the MoU, the VASEP and WWF will collect data and report the development status of Vietnamese fisheries to the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) for certification consideration.
The project is scheduled to run through September of this year and will be conducted in the central and the southern regions.
Northern Hai Phong port city on July 13 gave the green light to the Vietnam Shipbuilding Industry Group (Vinashin) for the construction of a 1.3 trillion VND (81 million USD) shipyard in Thuy Nguyen district.
Work on the 70-ha Vinashin An Duong is scheduled to commence by the end of this year with completion of the yard expected by 2009.
The complex will house a 40-ha factory and 20-ha wharf.
The State Securities Commission on July 12 issued a guidance on the proportion of foreign ownership in companies and investment funds that issue additional shares.
Consistent with the Prime Minister’s Decision No 238/2005/QD-TTg of September 29, 2005, foreign investors are not allowed to hold more than 49 percent of the total outstanding shares in listed companies.
The new guidance makes it clear that additional share issues are not allowed to circumvent this limit.
However, the guidance permits enterprises to list up to 49 percent of outstanding shares on off-shore exchanges.
The Municipal People’s Committee has announced a list of “hot spots” for commercial centre and hotel projects.
Locations targeted for construction of five-star hotels include 164 Dong Khoi Street in District 1, Phong Lan Restaurant at the Phu Tho Racing Centre in District 11 and the Tran Hung Dao – Pham Ngu Lao – Nguyen Thai Hoc triangle in District 1.
The Department of Planning and Investment is reviewing the use and management of Sai Gon Beer Factory at 2, 4 and 6 Hai Ba Trung street, 60 Vo Van Tan street and 27b Nguyen Dinh Chieu street.
If those sites are not operating at a profitable rate, the department may call for new development.
The department also will explore investment prospects for the parking lot of front of the Park Hyatt Hotel and report to the city People’s Committee for final decision.
The Vung Tau Seafood Processing and Import-Export Joint Stock Co (Basefood) has co-ordinated with travel companies to market seafood products to tourism groups since early this year, according to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP).
In Ba Ria-Vung Tau province, visitors can buy Basefood products in supermarkets or the company’s staff will go to hotels or beaches to introduce the products to travellers.
In the first half of this year, Basefood exported 12 million USD of frozen fish and octopus and dried squid to Japan, the Republic of Korea and Russia.
Basefood hopes to achieve export turnover of more than 22 million USD this year.
The so-called Bat Trang tourism port, a docking facility for Red River cruises, will be built in Ha Noi’s Gia Lam district by the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism.
The port will be built in 2008-09 at a cost of 15.7 billion VND (980,000 USD).
When completed, it would have a capacity to handle 200,000 travellers per year, meeting foreign and domestic tourist demand for transportation to the Bat Trang pottery-making.
Hong Kong-based Sam Woo Holdings Ltd, a marine transportation company, has signed a memorandum of understanding with Vietnam’s Nha Trang Vinalines Marine to build a shipyard in Vietnam.
Work on the 60-hectare complex is scheduled to begin by the end of the year at a cost of at least 60 million USD.
Sam Woo Chairman, Lau Chun-ming said the project that is scheduled for completion in 2010, would include two docks and six wharves. Once completed, the shipyard will be capable of building two special purpose vessels, refitting three to four semi-submersible heavy cargo vessels and conducting regular maintenance on between 10 to 12 vessels a year.
Lau Chun-ming said Vietnam was chosen due to its abundance of oil fields and iron ore that are key ingredients for the development of the shipyard industry.
Vietnam has paved the way for greater energy ties with Laos by ploughing more than half of its total investment in the land-lock country into a hydroelectric power plant.
The 250MW Sekaman 3 plant in Sekong province, that borders the central province of Thua Thien-Hue, Quang Nam and the Central Highlands province of Kon Tum is being built at a cost of 273 million USD by the Vietnam-Laos Electricity Development and Investment Company.
Once the plant is completed, it will create jobs for locals while transportation and trade between the bordering localities of the two countries will increase, said Lao Economic and Trade Charge d'Affaires to Vietnam Som Vang Nithavong.
The Electricity of Vietnam Group has already announced plans to buy 90 percent of all power generated by the plant, which will have an annual capacity of 1 billion kWh a year after its scheduled completion in 2010.
Som Vang Nithavong went on to predict that after Sekaman 3 begins full operations, two way-trade between Laos and Vietnam would increase to 1 billion USD from the 260 million USD recorded in 2006.
Dependant on the success of Sekaman 3, and planned studies have been completed by the Vietnam-Laos Electricity Development and Investment Company (VLEDIC), a further eight other hydro-electric power plants could possibly be built in Vietnam's eastern neighbour.
VLEDIC Director General Nguyen Thang Long said that more than 1.1 billion USD would be invested in the new plants that could begin construction as early as 2008 or 2009
VND 1,300 billion for shipyard in northern port city
Haiphong authorities on July 13 approved a detailed planning of the An Duong Vinashin Shipyard which a total investment of VND 1,300 billion.
The shipyard is built on a total area of 70 hectares in Hoang Dong commune, Thuy Nguyen district. This include over 40 hectares for the shipyard and nearly 20 hectares for a wharf. The Vietnam Shipbuilding Industry Corporation (Vinashin)’s Waterworks Shipbuilding Technical Joint Stock Company acts as the investor of the project.
The project is scheduled to be completed by 2009.
Phan Thiet fish sauce trademark protected
Phan Thiet fish sauce trademark has been recognised as a national property and has been protected throughout Vietnam.
On July 12, the Department of Intellectual Property under the Ministry of Science and Technology presented to representatives of central Binh Thuan province a decision on “Registering product’s origin” to Phan Thiet fish sauce in the province.
Accordingly, Binh Thuan provincial People’s Committee is responsible for managing the trademark. Any organisation or individual that would like to use the trademark Phan Thiet Fish Sauce for their products must get permission from the committee.
Phan Thiet Fish Sauce is a traditional product of Binh Thuan province and is well-known for its high quality and authentic taste.
Earlier, dragon fruits grown in Binh Thuan were also protected nationwide.
PVI applies to list in northern bourse
PetroVietnam Insurance Joint Stock Company (PVI) had applied to list all of its 50 million shares in Hanoi Securities Trading Centre, the northern bourse said on July 12.
However, in order to receive a listing licence, HaSTC asked PVI to provide additional information to its listing application.
In late last month, PVI auctioned 10 million shares and raised VND 754.9 billion (around US $47 million), on average VND 75,499 (US $4.70) a share.
Currently, the State holds 76% of PVI, outside investors owns 23.46% and employees hold 0.54%.
PVI has been expanding from its core insurance business to areas such as stock trading, real estate and banking.
(Source: Nhan Dan, VNA) | 
