Author: ltadmin

MANILA: A lawmaker on Wednesday said the recent liberalization laws passed by Congress are not enough to attract foreign investments.

In a press conference, Palawan Representative Jose Alvarez said foreign ownership restrictions in the Constitution have discouraged would-be foreign investors despite the passage of the amendments to the Public Service Act, Retail Trade Liberalization Act, and the Foreign Investment Act.

‘Yung mga napasang batas, opening-up the economy, hindi pa sapat (The laws that were enacted to open up the economy are not enough),’ he said.

Alvarez disclosed that the Korean ambassador to Manila has told him that out of 343 Korean investors, only three decided to locate in the Philippines, adding that 340 went to Vietnam.

Rep. Teodorico Haresco Jr. of Aklan, meanwhile, noted that Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia and Thailand have changed their Constitution so “many times” to attract foreign capital.

‘They changed their Constitution to reflect the global changing world. We base our assumptio
n that if we open up the discussion on the Constitution, we’d break up our society. That is completely untrue,’ Haresco said.

Haresco stressed the need to “open up” the Constitution for review to ensure that the country does not end up becoming a laggard in Asia.

The House, he said, is open to a “healthy discussion” with lawmakers from the upper chamber regarding amending the Constitution.

In a roundtable forum on the impact of regulatory barriers on foreign direct investments organized by the House of Representatives, former finance secretary Gary Teves said the Philippines has the most foreign equity ownership restrictions in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) region.

‘We are the most restrictive in ASEAN and Vietnam, which has made substantial liberalization, is the least restrictive. We are No. 3 globally,’ Teves told the forum.

Teves said there are several economic restrictions in the Constitution, including agriculture, mining, construction, transport, media, and telecommunications.

‘Remove those from the Constitution. We are the only country in ASEAN and perhaps in the entire world with those restrictions in the Constitution,’ he said.

Source: Philippines News Agency

Hanoi: The Vietnam National Authority of Tourism (VNAT) under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has sent a document to the Department of Tourism of Kien Giang, asking the Mekong Delta province to clarify information related to a group of tourists from Taiwan (China) in Phu Quoc.

The authority said that it has received a report that the nearly-300-member group of tourists, who toured Phu Quoc on February 9, was charged with a supplementary amount of 720 USD each to continue receiving services by a travel firm, or else it will halt all the services for the group.

In order to protect the interest of the tourists and avoid the spread of wrongful information on the case that may affect the tourism image of the destination, the VNAT requested the Kien Giang Department of Tourism to make inspection and verification on the case, thus providing official information to the media and submitting a report to the authority as soon as possible.

The department was also asked to strengthen management over travel
firms and local tourist attractions./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Tuyen Quang: State President Vo Van Thuong launched a New Year tree planting festival in Tuyen Quang city of the province of the same name on February 15, or the sixth day of the first lunar month.

The annual activity has been held on the Lunar New Year – the biggest festival in a year of Vietnamese people.

Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Quoc Tri said that his ministry and localities have been determined to bring the Prime Minister’s project of planting a billion trees in the 2021 – 2025 period to the finish line on time.

In the 2021 – 2023 period, the country planted nearly 770 million trees.

Speaking at the launching ceremony, President Thuong said that since 1960, Vietnam has been holding the tree planting festival every spring in response to late President Ho Chi Minh’s appeal.

Planting trees has contributed to protecting the ecological environment, improving landscapes, proactively dealing with natural disasters and climate change, promoting socio-economic development, a
nd bettering the quality of people’s life.

On the same day, the State leader attended a ceremony to inaugurate a road linking Tuyen Quang city to Yen Son district centre./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Hanoi: he Huong Pagoda Festival, the longest of its kind in Vietnam, began in Huong Son commune in Hanoi’s outlying district of My Duc on February 15 (the 6th day of the first lunar month), welcoming 30,000 visitors.

According to Nguyen Ba Hien, head of the management board of the Huong Son landscape complex, also known as Huong Pagoda and featuring a series of Buddhist pagodas, caves and temples, the annual event opened for festivalgoers on February 11. The number of people coming to worship and visit the site has so far amounted to 130,000.

This year’s festival sees the use of e-tickets instead of paper ones to curb congestion and overcrowding, with up to 4,500 boats and 110 electrical cars available to offer transport services.

Going to the Huong Pagoda is a spiritual journey to the Buddhist Land – where the Goddess of Mercy leads a religious life. Visitors have sightseeing trips to pagodas, temples and caves which are the main attractions at the Huong pagoda festival, and join ceremonies to ask for fav
ours from Lord Buddha.

Built in the late 17th century, the complex was listed among special national relic sites in December 2017./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Hai Duong: Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh embarked on a tour of agricultural production models in the northern province of Hai Duong on February 15, the sixth day of the Lunar New Year.

Last year, the total value of agro-forestry and aquatic production in Hai Duong surpassed 22.5 trillion VND (937 million USD), up 4.08% annually. The province is known for its strength in winter crops, with the production value of 223.5 million VND per ha, more than 2.2 times higher than that of northern provinces. Looking forward to 2024, the province aims to achieve a 2.5% growth rate in the agriculture sector.

Visiting an area for production of rice seedlings in trays and a mechanically sown rice field in Hung Long commune, Ninh Giang district, PM Chinh pesonally operated a rice planting machine there.

He wished that Hai Duong would continue stepping up mechanisation across all agricultural production stages, new rural development and national target programmes, toward transforming the province into a hub of ecological a
nd modern rural areas, with a cultured farming community.

Later in the afternoon, PM Chinh visited an export-oriented carrot farming area, a carrot processing and packaging facility and cut the ribbon to celebrate the first export shipment of carrots in the New Year in Duc Chinh commune, Cam Giang district.

He suggested the province develop key crops with high economic value that meet VietGAP standards while also reducing carbon emissions and improving export efficiency on the same land areas.

Alongside this, Hai Duong should also build brands, promote trade, proactively connect businesses together and assist them in forming production, processing and consumption linkages, he said./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Hanoi: Localities across Vietnam saw increases in the number of both domestic and foreign tourists during the week-long Lunar New Year (Tet) holiday from February 8-14 (the 29th day of the last lunar month to the fifth day of the first lunar month).

Specifically, the central province of Quang Nam welcomed over 305 arrivals, up 35% year-on-year. Of the total, 97,000 are foreigners, up 42%. The room occupation is estimated at 60-65%.

The rises were attributed to the province’s efforts to organise a wide range of activities to welcome the new year.

In the period, the Mekong Delta province of Ben Tre served more than 90,600 tourists, including 10,000 foreigners, up 39% and 20% year-on-year, respectively.

The province’s revenue from tourism is estimated to exceed 95 billion VND (3.8 million USD), up 23%, and the room occupation at 50-70%.

Meanwhile, over 335,000 people chose the southern province of Kien Giang as their holiday destination. The figure represented a year-on-year rise of 21.1%.

Its revenue from
tourism totaled at 1.12 trillion VND, a 7.2-fold increase compared to that of the same period last year.

The locality is striving to welcome 9.2 million visitors, and earn 20 trillion VND from tourism activities this year./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency