Thanh Nien assists typhoon-hit families, gifts ‘heroes’

Over the past two days, Thanh Nien has offered two new houses to the typhoon-hit families in central city of Da Nang, and gave two motorbikes to two youths who saved a train several days ago.


Representatives from Thanh Nien, Vietnam National Youth Federation, and youth officers of Danang city’s Ngu Hanh Son district organized Wednesday a ceremony of transferring two new houses, each worth VND15 million (US$934) to Nguyen Van Nhat’s and Huynh Thi Kim Tien’s families.

The two families, among the hardest-hit after the storm, saw their houses fully collapsed after Typhoon Xangsane last October.

So far, there have been five of the total 14 new charity houses funded by Thanh Nien readers handed over to the needy families.

Thanh Nien will hand over nine more in several days to help the poor enjoy the Tet Lunar New Year.

Heroes

Thanh Nien gave two motorbikes Thursday to two heroic youths that used flashlights to signal an oncoming train carrying thousands to stop after finding a wrecked truck on the rails in Thanh Hoa province’s Hau Loc district Jan. 20.

The motorbikes, each worth over VND10 million (US$621), were donated by the Vietnam Motors Corporation.

On the occasion, Thanh Nien’s Deputy Chief, Nguyen Quang Thong gave high praise for the two - Nguyen Van Dan and Le Van Tinh, for their great job and timely assistance to the community.

Source: Thanh Nien – Translated by Luu Thi Hong

Vietnam funds upgrade to Cambodian border motorway

Vietnam funds upgrade to Cambodian border motorway


A US$25.8 million upgrade of Highway 78 in Cambodia that crosses the border into Vietnam kicked off in ceremony Sunday, with funds for the venture sourced from the latter’s soft credit loans.
The 70km-long and 9m-wide Highway 78, which runs from Rattanakiri province’s Ban Lung town through Bokeo and Oyada towns in Cambodia to the Vietnamese port of entry at Le Thanh, will be completed in 30 months, with funds from the Vietnamese government's preferential credits.

Speaking at the groundbreaking ceremony held in Rattanakiri, Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Truong Vinh Trong said the two countries' cooperation in the upgrade not only affirms the efforts and determination to strengthen bilateral ties by both the Vietnamese and Cambodian governments and people but also reflects traditionally friendly cooperation between the two countries.

As soon as it is completed, the highway will benefit the Cambodian people and the Laos-Vietnam-Cambodia development triangle as it will create an additional East-West corridor connecting Cambodia's Rattanakiri province with the Central Highlands and central seaports in Vietnam, said Trong.

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen expressed his thanks to the Vietnamese Government and people for their whole-hearted support for Cambodia in the project.

The upgrade is necessary for Cambodia's northeastern provinces, facilitating the exchange of farm products and other commodities in the region, elaborated Hun Sen.

This is an initial step for Rattanakiri province as well as Cambodia to integrate into the development triangle area, he affirmed.

The Cambodian PM also thanked the Vietnamese government for its help in building a boarding school in Ban Lung town and a market in the center of Oyada town in Rattanakiri province.

In the context of many difficulties, the sharing and assistance of the Vietnamese government and people to the Cambodian government and people re-affirmed the solidarity, friendship and cooperation between the two nations and people, which have been fostered through many historical periods, noted Hun Sen.

Source: VNA

Three-nation joint venture to build $235 mln commercial complex

Japan-based ORIX financial services group, Singapore’s United Overseas Land Limited and a Vietnamese ceramics biggie entered a joint venture to build a US$235 million trade complex in Hanoi.
The Japanese and Singaporean investors clinched an agreement late last week with Vietnam Glass and Ceramics Corp, or Viglacera, a leading sanitary maker to set up a joint venture to build the office-building and hotel complex at the western gateway to Hanoi.

The complex is tailored to comprise of a 30 story office building, a five-star 24 story hotel and three 30-storey high-end apartment blocks.

It also includes a four-story shopping mall covering 25,000 sq.m, and an international standard retailing center.

Work is set to start on the project in the second half of the year, to be completed by the end of 2009.

ORIX is an integrated financial services group based in Tokyo, providing innovative value-added products and services to both corporate and retail customers.

With operations in 23 countries and regions worldwide, ORIX's activities include leasing, corporate finance, real estate-related finance and development, life insurance, and investment and retail banking.

Singapore-based UOL is as a large property conglomerate based in Asia with over 40 subsidiaries and associates in Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, Vietnam and China.

The company is listed on the stock exchange in the city of Singapore, and is part of the Straits Times Index there.

The group develops retail areas, serviced apartments, corporate properties Singapore Spa and hotels, including the Hotel Plaza Group of hotels in south Asia and Australia.

It has diversified into furniture retailing and health/fitness equipment.

Source: Thoi bao Kinh te Vietnam – Compiled by Dong Ha

Experts say euro will gain better share in Vietnam

Banking and trade experts have expressed their confidence that the euro will substantially increase its share as a reserve, trading and reference currency in Vietnam in the foreseeable future.
The European Union was now the largest trading partner and investor in Vietnam, said Alain Cany, chairman of the European Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam (EuroCham), at the “Raising Awareness about the Euro” seminar in HCMC last Friday.
“This is a good reason for the euro to be used in Vietnam,” Cany said at the coffee break at the EuroCham seminar. The president and CEO of HSBC Vietnam pointed out another reason that Vietnamese people were getting out of the U.S. dollar as the main currency and the dong was becoming more and more popular.
“I see the interest of Vietnamese in the dollar is going down significantly and the dong has been seen as a stable currency. This is good for the local economy,” Cany said.
Cany and other bankers at the event agreed Vietnamese businesses had a wider choice of using the U.S. dollar or the European currency for their international transactions.
“So, I’m quite optimistic that this is the reason we do more promotions for the euro for people to understand about it,” Cany said. He added although the share of total transactions in euro was still small, more and more people were resorting to the currency.
Pham Quang Thang of Techcombank agreed with Cany, saying that the number and size of transactions using the euro were small in Vietnam, though the currency had appeared in the country since 2002.
The director of Techcombank’s treasure center showed transactions with the EU market made up 13-15% of total value and payments in euro at the bank accounted for a mere 2.62%.
Thang explained the dollar remained the most common foreign currency in Vietnam’s economy and was widely used as an international payment and savings mean.
Cany said there were no statistics about the share of transactions in euro in Vietnam but put the share at probably 10%. But, the percentage could double in 2010, he said and explained that euro was a strong and stable currency.
Thang said the expansion of the EU increased the diversification and size of the market and helped popularize the use of euro in payments. Financial and investment institutions opting for euro also facilitate investment activities and payments in euro.
Cany said that euro was a good alternative for savings because it was becoming stronger than the dollar. He stressed the stronger euro was the better it was for Vietnamese companies to export their products to Europe.
“Now is the best time for Vietnamese companies to promote their exports to Europe. A lot of European companies try to buy goods from Vietnam because of good quality and attractive prices.”
Antonio Berenguer, trade counselor at the Delegation of the European Commission to Vietnam, said in support of Cany that Europe was a large and attractive export market.
The EU-Vietnam trade ties have grown an average of 15-20% per year over the past decade and were put at 7.4 billion euro in 2005, according to EuroCham.
Source: Saigon Times Daily

Vietcombank plans IPO in 3rd quarter: official

Vietcombank plans IPO in 3rd quarter: official

State-owned Vietcombank, Vietnam's second-largest bank by assets, plans to offer shares to the public in the third quarter of this year, bank General Director Vu Viet Ngoan said Monday.
"Vietcombank is in its final steps to prepare for an initial public offering, which is expected to be in July or August this year," Ngoan said.
The bank would have two IPOs, the first in the country and the second in an overseas market next year, Ngoan told Dow Jones Newswire.
He said Vietcombank, or Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam, would give details about its share-selling plans in the coming weeks.
Vietcombank's Chairman Nguyen Hoa Binh told the media last week the bank was expected to sign a contract this month with a foreign consultancy company to help it prepare for its IPO later this year.
By the end of 2006, Vietcombank had assets of VND169.46 trillion ($10.06 billion), up 23.9 percent on year.
It made a net profit of VND2.47 trillion during the year, up 91.5 percent year on year, the bank's figures showed.
Vietcombank is one of the four state-run banks ordered by the government to offer shares to the public this year.
The other three are Vietindebank, Vietnam's third-largest ban,k Incombank and the Mekong Delta Housing Development Bank. Agribank, the country's largest bank, would follow in 2008.
Currently, Vietnamese law allows foreigners to have a 30 percent maximum stake in its domestic banks.
Source: Dow Jones Newswire

Construction starts on nation’s second largest iron mine

Infrastructure construction on Vietnam’s second largest iron mine has begun in the northern mountainous Lao Cai Province.
The Quy Sa Mine project is developed by the Vietnam-China Minerals and Metallurgy Company – a joint venture between Kunming Iron & Steel Group Ltd (KISG) - the largest steel enterprises in southwestern China's Yunnan Province and a Vietnamese consortium of Vietnam Steel Corporation (VSC) and Lao Cai Minerals Company.

The joint venture’s total investment is valued at US$175 million, in which holdings of KISG and VSC were 45 percent respectively, with the balance held by the Lao Cai Minerals Company.

It will operate mainly out of the Quy Sa iron mine, including exploitation, processing, smelting and sales.

In its first phase, the Quy Sa iron mine is set to operate in the first quarter of 2008, churning out at between 1.5 million tons a year.

The mine is scheduled to be in full-run in 2010 with its capacity scaling up to 2.5-3 million tons per year.

It expected to extract some 120 million tons of iron from the Quy Sa mine worth some $175 million, crucial to the country’ steel industry still heavily depended on imports

The venture also plans to build a steel mill in Tang Loong Industrial Zone in the Bao Thang District next year.

Vietnam's largest iron ore deposit is located in Thach Khe District, central Nghe An province with reserve of 550 million tons.

Top plan

Vietnam has intensified exploitation of iron ore deposits by 2020 to meet its increasing demand for steel and increase exports.

A plan approved recently by the government estimated the country's annual output to increase to 9 million tons of ores in 2010, 14-15 million tons by 2015, and 15-16 million tons by 2020.

Vietnam would exploit 26 iron mines in the eight northern provinces of Lao Cai, Yen Bai, Ha Giang, Tuyen Quang, Cao Bang, Bac Can, Thai Nguyen, and Thanh Hoa, and the central province of Ha Tinh from now through 2020.

By 2010, annual output would rise to 3.5-4 million tons from the Quy Sa and some other mines in Lao Cai, and 5 million tons in the Thach Khe mine in Ha Tinh.

Iron ore mined in Lao Cai would feed cast iron manufacture in the province and Thai Nguyen, and be exported for coke and other raw materials, while iron ore from Ha Tinh would be supplied mainly to steel plants in the province.

Exploration of 14 mines in Cao Bang, Tuyen Quang and Ha Giang would be done by 2020.

The cost of survey and mining during the 15-year period was estimated at nearly VND7 trillion ($437.7 million).

Provinces with iron ore deposits such as Tuyen Quang, Yen Bai, Ha Giang and Thanh Hoa would be allowed to set up steel plants.

Vietnam's iron ore demand was estimated at 1.5 million tons in 2006, rising to 16 million tons in 2020.

Source: VnExpress – Compiled by Dong Ha