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VN Buss News (Mar. 17-1997)
Mar 17: Vietnam to set up overseas travel offices to boost sagging growth
Mar 17: Saigon Floating Hotel set to be towed out of Vietnam
Mar 17: Land clearance and finance problems hold up Vietnam's highway project
Mar 17: IMF Praises Vietnam's Economic Reforms
Mar 15: Import, Export of Subcontracted Products Increase in Vietnam
Monday, Mar 17, 1997
Vietnam to set up overseas travel offices to boost sagging growth
HANOI (AFP) - Vietnam plans to open its first
overseas tourism offices to boost sagging growth in the
market, an official said Monday.
A senior official at Vietnam's National Administration of
Tourism (NAT) said it plans to open representative offices
in Singapore, Japan and France to promote tourism and
attract investment in tourism.
The plan, which was mapped out as part of a tourism
strategy announced in a conference on tourism sponsored by
the European Union earlier this month, must first be
approved by Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet.
Vietnam tourism growth slowed down in 1996 after booming in
previous years. The year-on-year tourism growth rate was
just 18 percent compared to 33 percent in 1995.
The roughly 1.6 million arrivals last year was 10 percent
short of the government target.
Vietnam plans to increase the number of foreign tourists by
2000 to between 3.5 millin and 4.0 million, requiring an
annual growth of at least 25 percent.
Monday, Mar 17, 1997
Saigon Floating Hotel set to be towed out of Vietnam
HANOI (AFP) - Vietnam's luxury Saigon Floating
Hotel is set to break free from its moorings, six months
after the expiry of its business licence last year, a
report said Monday.
The 186-room hotel, which has languished on the Saigon
river in Ho Chi Minh City, will be towed to Singapore in
April for a refitting and eventually relocated to be used
as a casino off the tiny tropical island of Palau in
Micronesia, the Vietnam Investment reported.
The delay in the removal of the luxury hotel owned by
Japanese firm EIE International and managed by an
Australian chain Southern Pacific Hotels was attributed to
customs clearance problems, the VIR said.
"The Floater," as it was known by locals, was the first
floating hotel in Vietnam when it opened in 1989. It was
closed last year after the Vietnamese refused to renew its
operating licence.
Critics have charged that the barge-like hotel that was
originally moored off the Great Barrier Reef in Australia
was an eye-sore that had outlived its usefulness since
other luxury hotels for visiting executives had opened.
Monday, Mar 17, 1997
Land clearance and finance problems hold up Vietnam's highway project
HANOI (AFP) - Construction on a section of
Vietnam's National Highway Number One has been severely
delayed by bureaucratic tangles and infighting among
contractors over financing and land clearance, a report
said Monday.
After 15 months of a projected three-year construction
period, work on many vital sections of the highway was only
20 percent completed, the Vietnam Investment Review (VIR)
reported.
The slow pace of the 141 million dollar rehabilation
project on a section linking Ho Chi Minh City with Nha
Trang, which started in early 1996 was attributed to
infighting among local and foreign partners caused by
contract terms.
In one case a foreign contractor was fined 1.7 million
dollars for breach of contract, the business newspaper
said.
The delay in land clearance was also blamed for the slow
implementation of the 444-kilometer (275-mile) long
national section linking Ho Chi Minh City and Nha Trang.
Last week the Asian Development Bank (ADB), which is the
largest financer of the project, criticised Vietnam for
slow implementation of projects.
Vietnam has asked the ADB to finance a third portion of
Highway One, but the ADB has decided to withhold any
further support until more progress is made on the first
two sections under construction, an ADB spokesman said last
week.
Monday, Mar 17, 1997
IMF Praises Vietnam's Economic Reforms
Hanoi (DJ) -- Business and financial reforms have gained Vietnam rapid economic
growth and a favorable monetary environment, an International Monetary Fund
representative said Monday.
Vietnam's economy continued to develop while inflation remained under
control through 1996, said Michael Bell, IMF's resident representative in
Hanoi.</p>
Vietnam's external current account deficit, though still high, has been
mainly financed by foreign investment and international financial aid.
International reserves also increased significantly, he said.</p>
Bell's comments came as an IMF delegation concluded a visit to Vietnam to
assess the need for further market-oriented economic reforms. The IMF is
considering its financial aid commitments to Vietnam.</p>
Bell said the delegation was encouraged by Vietnam's commitment to tight
financial policies and cautious external debt management.</p>
The government is committed toward reforming its economy into a
market-oriented mechanism. Domestic saving and economic sustainability are
getting more attention, Bell said.</p>
The delegation also noted that reforms will be further supported by the new
laws, including tax and banking laws, to be considered by the National
Assembly in early April.</p>
The IMF and Vietnam signed an agreement in 1994 under which the IMF will
provide Vietnam with three annual loans worth $540 million in all.
Saturday, Mar 15, 1997
Import, Export of Subcontracted Products Increase in Vietnam
HANOI (Xinhua News) - The import and export value of
subcontracted products in Vietnam totaled more than 2.57 billion U.S.
dollars last year, the local press reported today.
The export value of products made under subcontracts with foreign
companies increased by 28 percent over the previous year to over 1.2
billion U.S. dollars, of which 817 million came from garments and
embroideries while 500 million from footwear.
Enterprises and companies involved in the manufacturing of
subcontracted products have provided jobs for some 500,000 to 600,000
local workers.