|
Politics
- A training course was held on August 24 in the southern province of Tay Ninh to provide knowledge of border demarcation and landmark plantation for 10 southern localities bordering Cambodia.
- Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung received Lao Minister of Public Health, Ponmek Daraloy in Hanoi on August 24.
- More than 200 delegates from 21 member economies of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum are expected to flock to the central province of Da Nang in coming September to attend a Standards and Conformance conference and other related meetings.
- The high-ranking delegation of Malaysian Army, led by Commander, General Tan Sri Dato Sri Abdul Aziz, and the Vietnamese side, headed by Lieutenant General Pham Hong Loi, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Vietnam People's Army, met on August 24.
- Vietnam and Laos on August 24 signed a Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation in the fight against human bird flu pandemics and emerging transmitted diseases till 2010.
Business
- At the 20th AFTA Council Meeting held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on August 21, ASEAN countries reviewed their accomplishments in implementing the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA). Under CEPT/AFTA, Vietnam has cut tax rates on many categories of products. More than 53% of categories of products are now have the import tax rate of 0%.
- By August 24, the total registered foreign direct investment capital had reached $100mil, and 18 projects have been licensed. The figures represent a sharp decrease in comparison with June, when the Foreign Investment Law was still valid ($245mil and 58 projects). Analysts believe that the lack of workable legal documentation have slowed investment registration.
- The Vietnam Food Association has reported the total exports of 4.5mil tonnes of rice so far this year. The total rice exports are expected to decrease in this year due to the forecast lower output caused by the bad weather and plagues of insects.
- ASEAN Brands Expo Vietnam 2006, will take place in HCM City on September 1-5. Some 100 Vietnamese leading companies and more than 50 enterprises from Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines will attend the trade fair.
- The annual shareholder meeting of the Vietnam Technological and Commercial Bank (Techcombank) on August 19 approved the plan to raise the chartered capital to VND1,500bil ($93.75mil) or VND1,687bil in 2006, nearly double the current chartered capital at VND830bil ($51.87mil).
- Honda Motor Vietnam on August 24 officially launched its first car made in Vietnam, the ubiquitous Civic. There are three models of Civic, which will have the manufacturers’ suggested retail prices of VND495mil ($30,937), VND515mil ($32,187) and VND605mil ($37,812).
- The HCM City Securities Trading Centre (HSTC) has announced that the Bim Son Cement Joint Stock Company will auction its shares on September 20. The initial price of shares will be VND12,500 for a share with the face value of VND10,000. The auction will take place at both HSTC and Hanoi Securities Trading Centre.
- Some 200 enterprises will join the sales promotion month in HCM City in September. This is the third sales promotion month organized by the city’s trade department since 2005.
- The US Ambassador Michael Marine and Deputy Director General of the Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam Dinh Xuan Huong yesterday signed an agreement on the $351.372 technical assistance package to help Vietnam’s aviation to develop domestic and international markets.
- The VN Index slightly increased yesterday by 0.64% to 479.03 points thanks to the share price increase of several share items issued by Binh Minh Plastics Company and Hoa An Stone Company. Meanwhile, the prices of other shares did not change.
- The Ministry of Finance will issue a new decision to replace an existing decision to increase the tax exemption level for cross-border goods. Under the new decision, the tax exemption level applied for one person when carrying goods across the border will rise to VND2 million per day, replacing the old level of VND500,000.
- The Vietnam Paper Corporation is currently carrying out a master plan to expand its resource areas between now and 2010. Under the plan, a 135,000ha area in the central northern region will be devoted to harvesting trees in order to ensure a sufficient supply of materials for the Bai Bang Paper Company. Also a 20,000ha resource area and another 50,000ha plantation in the northern mountainous provinces of Son La and Yen Bai, respectively, are currently being grown. VPC also plans a plantation of 10,000 ha in the Central Highlands province of Kon Tum by 2010.
- The State Auditing Agency plans to set up between 12 and 15 regional auditing bodies and double the current number of auditors so there will be between 1,350 and 1,500 auditors by 2010, said General State Auditor Vuong Dinh Hue.
- The price of petrol in the domestic market might be reduced if the price of petrol in the world market stabilises at a low level, said Nguyen Tien Thoa, vice director of the Price Department under the Finance Ministry. Thoa said that if the price of crude oil goes below $70 per barrel for a long time, the price of petrol can be reduced by VND500 a litre.
- ANZ bank has been given the green light by the State Bank of Vietnam to install automatic teller machines (ATMs) outside its branches in Vietnam. The bank has installed an additional five ATMs in Hanoi and HCM City, as well as plans to launch ANZ Visa Debit cards next month, in order to help customers get better access to its services. ANZ is the first international ATM service provider in Vietnam.
- Electricity of Vietnam (EVN) said that it has asked the government for approval to set up a finance company in preparation for the company's planned reorganisation in the near future. The Electricity Finance Company will play the role as a consultant for the Vietnam Electricity Group, which is expected to make its debut in October by mobilising and managing capital sources.
- Vietnam has attracted $3.97 billion of foreign direct investment over the past eight months, according to the Ministry of Planning and Investment. The country licensed 426 foreign direct investment projects with a total registered capital of $2.96 billion in the first eight months of this year, a 3.1 percent increase in capital compared to the same period last year.
Social
- Flash flood warning stations will be set up in five northern mountainous provinces which are prone to disasters: Son La, Dien Bien, Lai Chau, Lao Cai and Yen Bai. The plan is under a project to build a flash flood risks map and a flash flood warning system. The project has been being carried out for two months by the Hydro-Meteorology Institute.
- The UK University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) and the southern province of Dong Nai have signed an education and training agreement as part of the province's human resource training programme till 2010. Under the agreement, a high-quality foreign language centre will be built at the Sonadezi College of Technology and Management, in which the UCLan will be in charge of the syllabus, teaching, testing, and certificate granting.
- The Japanese Government will provide nearly $171,000 to help build two primary schools in Ba Xuyen and Ha Chau communes in the northern mountainous province of Thai Nguyen.
- Nearly 100 Vietnamese and foreign students of a number of universities in Hanoi attended a training course on the Asian-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum held in the city on August 24.
- The Singaporean Business Community in HCM City announced that it will grant 150 scholarships to students at State-run high schools and universities in South Vietnam this year.
- The US Federal Aviation Administration announced that it will provide US$1.4 million for a project to help Vietnam improve its current air safety regulation system and bring it in line with the International Civil Aviation Organization’s rules of air travel safety.
Lifestyle, Travel & Sports
- Yesterday Miss Vietnam 2006 hopefuls joined a programme to preview the show for the final night of the pageant, which will be broadcast live on TV tomorrow. The show will also see the participation of many well-known pop stars, artists, dancers.
- The 5th Festival Piano for young pianists was held in Hanoi yesterday. Six candidates of different ages were awarded prizes. The festival was co-organised by Hanoi Cultural Place and Sao Viet Company at Hanoi Opera House.
- Photographer Vuong Quoc Kim, has sent four of his photos to compete in the 61st International Festival of Photography. Vuong Quoc Kim has won eight international awards to date.
- Six Vietnamese artists including, Dao Minh Tri, Ho Huu Thu, Duong Sen, Truong Han Minh, Truong Lo and Ly Khac Nhu departed for Taiwan to participate in a painting exhibition organised by the Taiwan University of Fine Art and the Painter Association of Taiwan. The exhibition will be closed on September 3.
- Minh Thanh Company directly under HCM City’s Military Headquarters recently published 100 titles to serve people interested in classic stage masterpieces. The well-systematized 100 titles include classics of the world stage from China, UK, among other nations such as Thunderstorm (by Cao Yu), A Mid Summer Night’s Dream (by William Shakespeare) and Hernani (by Victor Hugo). The company also published 100 foreign literature masterpieces and nearly 300 vocational texts used in schools.
- The Belgian magazine on tourism La libre Essentielle has published an article to introduce Vietnam’s tourism to its readers. Besides introducing Vietnam’s landscapes and the cultural diversity the article is also about the development of the country’s economic development in recent years.
- The first tour to explore the Hai Van Pass’s tunnel will be launched on September 2 to celebrate Vietnam’s National Day by Hai Van Pass Management and Development Company.
- Vietnam and Korea tourism agencies have targeted the exchange of one million tourists between the two countries. At the tourism promotion programme organised in Hanoi yesterday, representatives from both sides promised to work on problems which have hindered the implementation of the plan.
- A VND282 billion renovations-restoration project will restore the My Son Sanctuary, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Central Vietnam. Of the project fund, VND172 billion has been contributed by the government of Vietnam and the rest is supported by the governments of India and Italy, and other international social organizations.
- The 11th Vietnam Open Golf Championship will take place on August 25-27 at the Ocean Dunes Golf Club in Phan Thiet City, which has been selected as one of the ‘Best 500 Holes in the World’ by the USA’s Golf Magazine.
Sci-tech, Health & Environment
- Intel Vietnam will help the Party Central Committee's Commission for Science and Education to establish an open source laboratory using Intel-developed technology. The lab will serve as a centre for the implementation of the commission's sub-projects on open source development.
- About 200 delegates from information technology management agencies and associations in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia will attend the 2nd Indochina IT Leaders' Meeting to be organised in Hanoi on August 29.
- The US-based Stanford Technology Network Co., yesterday introduced a new product capable of preventing foot-and-mouth disease in HCM City. The product has been effectively used in the US and the UK, and has so far proved experimentally successful in Vietnam during June tests on 246 infected pigs.
VietNamNet Bridge | 
