VN/News-VNA+VET ...082899

[bich dao <daotb@yahoo.com>]

PREPAREDNESS FOR FLOODS AND STORMS STRENGTHENED

Ha Noi, Aug.  28 (VNA) -- Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Cong Tan has met
with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) and
relevant ministries to discuss plans to cope with floods and storms. 

Deputy PM Tan has instructed MARD to strengthen dykes and embankments,
react promptly to flood threats quickly, be ready to evacuate people
from landslide areas in the northern province of Vinh Phuc and the
central coastal province of Quang Nam, as well as nurture protective
forests in the catchment areas of the Lo and Da rivers. 

The Deputy PM has asked ministries to continue their assistance to the
flood-stricken provinces of Binh Thuan, Lam Dong and Dong Nai. 

Deputy PM Tan has also toured the Dau Tieng reservoir upgrading project
in the southern province of Tay Ninh. 

He said that the scheme was necessary to ensure safety in the rainy
season and help nearby provinces and cities to develop agricultural and
industrial production, as well as protecting lives and the environment. 

The Dau Tieng reservoir upgrade approved on Aug.  21, 1999 by the MARD,
will be implemented over three years at an estimated cost of VND 70.174
billion (more than USD 5 million). 

The Viet Nam Fishing Humanitarian Fund (VNFHF) under the Ministry of
Fisheries has sold 800 lifebuoys at half price to poor fishermen in Ca
Mau town, the southernmost tip of the country. 

These fishermen are the first beneficiaries of the VNFHF's programme to
equip poor fishermen with 10,000 lifebuoys to help protect them in the
rainy season.--VNA
------------
WAYS INTO EU AND US MARKETS OPEN FOR VIETNAMESE BUSINESSES

Ha Noi, Aug.  28 (VNA) -- * Obstacles to Viet Nam's Footwear to Enter to
EU Market Removed

Viet Nam's footwear products that meet the European Union's regulations
on origin will be imported without limit, a Memorandum of Understanding
(MoU) signed recently between Viet Nam and the EU stipulates. 

The Trade Ministry held a conference on Aug.  27 on the MoU which aims
to prevent smuggling and fraud in footwear trading. 

Under the MoU, which includes eight articles and appendices, both sides
agree to accept export certificates granted by competent agencies within
five days to footwear products that meet the requirement.  The
Vietnamese side is responsible to send information about goodS through
the EU's Intergration System of Licence Control
(SIGL) website. The two sides will refer to the MoU or
discuss solutions when there are differences between the website and the
export certificates. 

Viet Nam's Trade Ministry is authorized to grant cetificates on origin
and cetificates for exporting footwear to the EU market from next year. 

* Vietnamese Businesses Get Information about US Market

About 150 Vietnamese businesses were introduced to websites as well as
chances to access to the US market at a seminar about business
opportunities for Viet Nam and US held by the Viet Nam Chamber of
Commerce and Industry (VCCI) and the Commerial Office of the US embassy
in Ha Noi on Aug.  27. 

The Vietnamese businesses learned how to contact US partners through CD
Rom American Export Registers and websites on the Internet.  They were
also informed of fairs and exhibitions in the US next year. 

The seminar organizers presented a catalogue of 45,000 US businesses, CD
Rom and commercial magazines to those at the meeting.--VNA

--------VET/ News ----------
Saturday, Aug 28, 1999 One more Deputy State Bank governor appointed

(VET)- The Prime Minster has signed decision to appoint
Mrs.  Nguyen Thi Kim Phung as a new deputy governor of the State Bank of
Vietnam.  Mrs.  Phung, born 1952, a graduate from the University of
Banking, has taken various positions in the banking system- former
director of the Phu Khanh^Ò s Industrial and Commercial Bank, director of
the State Bank of Vietnam based in Phu Yen province in central Vietnam;
a department director position at the central State Bank of Vietnam and
chief representative of the central Bank of Vietnam based in the
southern provinces. 

With her appointment as a new deputy governor the State Bank of Vietnam
now has 6 governor deputies, in which Le Duc Thuy serves as the
permanent deputy governor, and other deputies include Tran Minh Tuan, Do
Que Luong, Nguyen Ngoc Giau, Mrs.  Duong Thu Huong and Nguyen Thi Kim
Phung. 

Deputy PM Nguyen Tan Dzung, a political bureau member, now serves as the
governor of the State Bank of Vietnam concurrently. 



A Singapore soccer club wants to sign up with three Vietnamese soccer
stars

(VET)- Nguoi Lao Dong (Laborers Newspaper) in HCMC
reported that an unnamed top Singapore soccer club wanted to sign up
with three Vietnamese soccer stars including Le Huynh Duc, striker of
the HCMC Police Club and of the National squad; Pham Nhu Thuan, defender
of the national squad and of the Vietnam Army Club, who showed great
performance during the recent Sea Games 20 in Brunei and Vu Dzung, the
goal keeper of the Army Club. 

However the proposed transfers do not seem to go well, as Vietnam for
the time being does not have the professionalism of football in a real
sense, therefore there is no regulation to govern such a transfer,
moreover all of the three stars are now serving in the police and the
armed forces. 

Earlier BET Terosatsan Thai side was reported to have expressed their
interests in Nguyen Hong Son, a well-known midfielder of both the Army
Club. 



Domestic cigarettes to be stamped from April 1 in 2000

(VET)- The Prime Minister issued Decision No
175/19975/QD-TTg dated August 25, under which the cigarettes made in
Vietnam will be stamped from April 1 of the year 2000.  The PM has also
assigned the Ministry of Finance to issue the cigarette stamps and
exercise its control of the process. 



Five imported categories listed for VAT exemption

(VET)- According to a circular issued on August 21 by
the Ministry of Finance, five categories of imported commodities will be
exempted from VAT. 

Category No 1: Includes machinery, equipment, and transport vehicles
that have not been made in Vietnam and imported for leasing

Category No.2: Includes gifts and donations

Category No.3: Includes re-imported items for repair or for
re-processing

Category No.4: Includes machinery, transport vehicles imported for the
export processing enterprises or EPZ and for re-export

Category No 5: Includes duty free items for duty free shops. 



Kien Giang province: the biggest ever corruption cases to be put to
trial soon

(VET)- It is reported that the Kien Giang Province^Òs
People Court will put the biggest ever corruption case in the province
to trial on September 4, 1999.  According to the verdict during the two
years of the operation the director board of Kien Giang Import and
export Company and their subordinates caused a great losses and
appropriated the state property worth up to VND 120 billion (VND 13,850
= one American dollar).  Tang Binh, former director of the company was
reportedly accused of facilitating Ly Kiet, director of Van Loc company
limited in HCMC to appropriate nearly VND 100 billion, in which Tang
Binh was given US$ 120,000 and over VND 300 million. 



The gap between the rich and the poor in Vietnam: 11.3 times

(VET)- On August 27 the Vietnam General Statistics
Office announced the result of its survey on the life of the households
in Vietnam in 1997-98 period, showing that the averaged annual income of
a Vietnamese person was VND 3.465 million, or as many as 2.45 times over
the result surveyed in 1993; in which the annual salary of the people in
the urban areas was VND 9.57 million, or as many as 3.7 times over the
result of 1993 and the annual income in the rural area was VN D 2.544
million or doubled that of 1993.  The gap between the rich and the poor
is as many as 11.3 times. 



Vietnam expects to export 4 million of rice this year

(VET)- According to the Trade Ministry some 500,000 tons
of rice are expected to be shipped later this month, raising the total
export volume to over 3.3 million tons nationwide since the beginning of
the year.  However Mr.  Luong Van Tu deputy minister of Trade said the
rice price this year was US$15 to US$ 25 lower a ton than that last
year.  However the Ministry sets a target of reaching US$ one billion
worth of rice export this year, great efforts should be made to reach
such as a target, therefore the Ministry expected to raise a higher
volume of rice export in 1999 than last year. 

In response to a question from Mrs.  Duong Thi Ngoc Trieu, General
Director of the Southern Vietnam Food Corporation on the volume of rice
export this year based on the good harvest of summer -Autumn crop, Prime
Minister Phan Van Khai said the rice export this year may be up to 4
million tons, because the government policy is to buy off the entire
rice paddy from the farmers. 



US-Exim Bank eyes credit market in VN

(VET)- A reliable source was quoted as saying that the
U.S.  Export Import Bank expected to start to lend out its loans to
Vietnam-related deals in another sign of economic normalization between
the two countries. 

The source says that US officials hoped that an agreement could be
signed with the State Bank of Vietnam during the coming visit by US
Secretary of State Madeleine Albright to Vietnam from September 5-7 that
would facilitate the US Exim Bank^Òs lending to Vietnam.  He added that
on the part of the US side it was ready, but on the Vietnamese side the
agreement needs to be approved by Vietnam's Justice Ministry and
Standing Committee of the National Assembly. 

Exim Bank was already discussing a US$30 million loan to the HCMC
Association of Plastics Producers, a separate financial source said. 



Some comments on the proposed 40 hours work weeks

(VET)- The proposal by Ministry of Labor, War Invalids
and Social Welfare's plan to cut down the number of working hours per
week from 48 to 40 has been positively supported by many employers
despite some concerns among others. 


FULL TEXT



VILC expected to issue additional bonds later this year

(VET)- Tran Trung Thanh, First Deputy General Director
of The Vietnam International Leasing Co Ltd.  (VILC) was cited by SGT as
saying that VILC expected to issue an additional VND10 billion of bonds
in an appropriate time between now and the end of the year.  Thanh said
that his company planned to issue bonds annually to raise its capital to
match finance leasing demand; adding that in the future, the issuance of
bonds might be one of the major channels to pool capital for the joint
venture's operations in addition to money borrowed from local and
overseas banks. 

VILC officially began operations in February 1997 with a chartered
capital of US$5 million.  VILC now has over 100 clients including over
70 Vietnamese companies. 



A go ahead given to BOT water project in HCMC

(VET)- MPI has given license to the contract between
HCMC and Paragol Holdings Company to build a water supply project in the
building
- transfer and operation BOT form
with the total capital of US$ 149.325 million.  The water project has a
capacity of 300.000 cubic meters/ day; and it is expected to be put into
operation after 30 months after the license was granted.  The project
has a life of operation for 25 years and after that it will be handed
over to the Vietnamese side. 



The proposed solution to the bad debts

(VET)- Bad debts of the equitized state-owned
enterprises (SOEs) should be excluded from their business value, but
they should be settled by other government^Ñs separate rules instead. 
That is part of the ideas in the draft prepared by the Ministry of
Finance to revise the government decree No 44 / 1998 /ND-CP on
equitisation. 

A senior official with the Finance Ministry argued that solution to
debts seem to be ambiguous in the Government ^Ñs Decree 44, that has
actually caused some problems for SOEs undergoing equitisation.  That is
the reason why Decree No 44 needs to be revised. 

He maintained that the equitisation has been slowly implemented due to
bad debts that some State firms have owed, which form part of their
business values; as a result they fail to attract investors. 



IP Authorities need to be put under provincial control

(SGT)- The Ministry of Finance and the Government
Personnel Bureau have proposed the Prime Minister put the 18 authorities
for provincial industrial parks (IP) under the control of the local
People's Committees, says a reliable source. 


FULL TEXT



One price policy not yet well observed

(SGT)- The Government has decided to do away with price
discrimination against foreign and overseas Vietnamese people, but
implementation has appeared to be a hard nut to crack. 


FULL TEXT



Queens land University offers post-graduate scholarships

(VNS)- Australia's University of Queens land and the
Vietnamese National University - HCM City (VNUHCMC) has signed an
agreement on a new postgraduate scholarship programme for Vietnamese
students. 


FULL TEXT



Young officials to study world economic integration

(VNS)- Young Vietnamese officials will start a study of
international economic integration in Britain next month. 


FULL TEXT



Most workers at HCMC EPZS living in over-priced squalid accommodation

(VNS)- The majority of workers at HCM City's export
processing zones (EPZS) are living in sub-standard private-sector rented
accommodation because of a shortage of housing, says Sai Gon Giai Phong
(Liberated Sai Gon). 


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