Category: Business

HCM City: Italian firms are scheduled to partake in events in Ho Chi Minh City promoting Italian food and beverage products to local consumers, said the Italian Trade Agency (ITA).

Ongoing is an Italian space run as part of the 12th International Food and Drink, Hotel, Restaurant, Bakery and Food Service Equipment, Supplies (Food and Hotel Vietnam 2024) held in the southern metropolis from March 19 to 21. Within the space, about 20 enterprises in the food industry are showcasing their pasta, cheese, dairy specialties, cakes, wine, and edible oils, among other products.

According to Fabio De Cillis, the Director of ITA in Vietnam, participating in Food and Hotel Vietnam 2024 is one of the first promotional activities of the agency this year, aimed at boosting trade relations between Vietnam and Italy. Many Italian companies are eager to introduce high-quality products at reasonable prices to Vietnamese distributors, retailers, and consumers.

Following the expo, ITA will sponsor local importers and dis
tributors to join Vinitaly – a wine exhibition held in Verona, Italy, from April 14-17.

In June, the agency plans the organisation of a wine-fest called “Borsa Vini Vietnam” in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, which will bring together around 25 Italian producers, distributors, and suppliers in the field.

With a population of over 100 million people, coupled with growing income and consumer demand, Vietnam is considered an attractive market for Italian food and beverage exporters. The Southeast Asian nation is currently the largest trading partner of Italy within ASEAN, while the latter is the fourth largest trading partner of the former within the EU./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Hanoi: The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) must join hands with competent agencies to fully and effectively implement timely measures to stabilise the gold market under a recent dispatch by Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh.

The Government has repeatedly requested the central bank to keep a close watch on the global and domestic gold prices so as to control the market as its recent complicated developments have had a negative impact on the monetary market and market sentiment.

Relevant sides are ordered to carry out comprehensive evaluation and meticulous analysis and take effective and timely measures which are in line with current regulations and market principles to handle the substantial gap between domestic and global gold bar prices. The move aims at preventing the “goldernisation” in the domestic economy as well as negative influence on the foreign exchange market and national financial and monetary safety and security.

The bank must work to complete legal framework, mechanisms, and policies related to gol
d market management and business activities, while recommending competent authorities to consider amendment and supplement to existing regulations to improve the efficiency of the state management tools. It is also asked to report the progress to the Prime Minister before March 22.

Furthermore, it is ordered to conduct inspections at gold trading institutions, timely detect loopholes, and have suitable settlement.

Communications work must be given due attention so as to provide the public with official information as well as policies related to the management of the financial, monetary, foreign exchange and gold markets, helping stabilise the public sentiment.

The Ministry of Public Security is ordered to work closely with the SBV and competent agencies to mete out strict punishment to any violations, especially gold smuggling, speculation and manipulation that cause instability to the market./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Ca Mau: The VietShrimp Aquaculture International Fair 2024, themed ‘In company with shrimp farmers’ opened in the southernmost province of Ca Mau on March 20.

The event, co-hosted by the Vietnam Directorate of Fisheries, the Vietnam Fisheries Society (VINAFIS), the Vietnam Fisheries magazine, and Ca Mau province’s Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, features about 200 booths of 150 domestic and international exhibitors.

The two-day fair also includes four seminars about technology transfer to promote circular economy in the Vietnamese shrimp value chain, low-emission and sustainable shrimp industry through circular economy, quality improvement and value enhancement for Vietnam’s shrimp industry, and discussion on how shrimp farming to achieve the highest efficiency.

VINAFIS Chairman Nguyen Viet Thang said that for many years, shrimp has been a key product of Vietnam, bringing home nearly 4 billion USD from export each year, accounting for about 45 – 50% of the total aquatic export value.

Curr
ently, Vietnam is one of the largest shrimp-producing countries in the world and is in the top four in the world in terms of exports together with Ecuador, India and Indonesia.

However, because of difficulties both inside and outside the country, Vietnam’s shrimp export turnover in 2023 declined to only 3.45 billion USD, down 19.8% compared to 2022.

The industry is forecast to continue to face many challenges this year including abnormal weather conditions, high input material prices, high risk of diseases, high inflation in many countries and high logistics costs.

The organiser of VietShrimp 2024 hopes the fair will provide a venue for the State, scientists, businesses and farmers to sit down together to seek effective solutions to bring the shrimp industry back to the growth trajectory and realise the goal of sustainable development, he said.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Phung Duc Tien said that Vietnamese seafood products have entered nearly 170
countries and territories, and Vietnamese shrimp products are now sold in more than 100 markets.

He said that Vietshrimp 2024 – the fifth of its kind held annually in Vietnam – is designed to promote and introduce the potential, strengths, image and brand of Vietnamese shrimp. It also creates an opportunity for authorities, experts, scientists, businesses, cooperatives and shrimp farmers to keep updated on the situation and new scientific and technical advances and discuss measures to overcome limitations and shortcomings of the shrimp industry.

Le Van Su, Vice Chairman of the Ca Mau provincial People’s Committee said shrimp has played a key role in Ca Mau’s agricultural industry.

In 2023, the province had about 278,000 ha of shrimp farming area, producing 231,000 tonnes, and earning over 1 billion USD from shrimp export, accounting for 40% of the total shrimp farming area in Vietnam, 22% of the country’s output and nearly 30% of the country’s shrimp export value.

Su acknowledged the difficulties and limi
tations that the province’s shrimp industry is facing, noting that the Vietshrimp 2024 will bring opportunities for local authorities and farmers to learn and improve shrimp production, processing and exports in the coming time./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Hanoi: VinFast Auto has signed a cooperation agreement with Guam AutoSpot on the distribution of its electric vehicles (EV) in Micronesia, announced the Vietnamese automaker in its recent press release.

As per the pact, Guam AutoSpot will be VinFast’s first official distributor in the region, with the former expected to begin its import of the latter’s EVs and components in May.

As previously announced, VinFast will expand its operations to at least 50 countries around the world in 2024.

Founded in 2008, Guam AutoSpot boasts a well-established dealer network across Micronesia. For over 15 years, they have built a reputation for delivering high-quality products and services.

Micronesia is emerging as a potential EV market, fueled by the participation of international brands and the development of charging station infrastructure./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Hanoi: The Japanese Embassy in Vietnam in collaboration with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) held a workshop in Hanoi on March 19, highlighting Vietnam’s and Japan’s efforts to promote labour mobility between the two nations.

At the event, the Japanese side introduced Japan’s policy on migrant worker recruitment and a technical project being implemented by JICA and competent agencies of Vietnam to improve the transparency of the programme to dispatching labourers overseas.

According to First Secretary of the Japanese Embassy Ishii Chikahisa, Japan has great demand for workers in the fields of food and beverage production, construction, manufacturing, electronic information, automobile maintenance, and shipbuilding industry, among others.

He said Vietnamese workers have an important role to play in the Japanese economy, adding some 500,000 Vietnamese are working in Japan, increasing eight folds in ten years.

Although Vietnamese labourers are known for their industriousness, they need to j
oin technical intern training to improve their language competence and vocational skills, he added.

Nagata Yuki from Japan’s department of immigration and residency management said that the Japanese government has submitted a new policy to receive foreign workers, including those from Vietnam, to the diet for approval.

When the policy takes effect, it will prioritise ensuring foreign workers’ rights and creating promotion opportunities for them, so that they will feel secure when living in the country, he said.

Meanwhile, JICA Vietnam Deputy Chief Kubo Yoshitomo said the new policy is significant to Japan, which is getting greyer, as it will help the country ease the labour shortage pressure for national development./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Hanoi: The Australian government has just announced the approval of the agriculture visa subclass 403 which allows workers in a range of agriculture sectors and skill levels from certain Southeast Asia countries including Vietnam to work in Australia.

According to Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) which is in charge of the visa subclass 403, workers from the first four countries – Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines – can apply for the visa and get an opportunity to stay in Australia to work for up to four years.

The visa holders can be employed to work in agriculture, forestry and fishery including horticulture, animal husbandry, harvesting, processing, and other support services. They can earn over 4,000 AUD monthly (2,600 USD) not including incomes from extra shifts.

According to the Australian Department of Agriculture, Fishery and Forestry, Australia lacks about 30,000 workers each year in horticulture alone. Its livestock, meat processing, dairy, and agricultural
packaging industries are also facing labour shortages. Therefore, the visa subclass 403 will be an opportunity for Australian farms and local businesses to have more workers, solving the human resource problem.

Meanwhile, early this month, Vietnam’s Deputy Minister of Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA) Nguyen Ba Hoan and Australian Ambassador to Vietnam Andrew Goledzinowski signed a plan to implement the Memorandum of Understanding between the two Governments to support Vietnamese citizens to work in the agricultural industry in Australia.

Under the MoU, the two sides will support 1,000 Vietnamese workers to work in the agricultural industry in Australia under the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (PALM) scheme in 2024.

Hoan said that Australia has a developed economy and modern agriculture, and the Vietnam-Australia labour cooperation will help Vietnamese workers get good incomes, guaranteed working conditions, and opportunities to learn advanced knowledge, skills, and science and technology
. At the same time, labour cooperation in this field will meet the needs of human resources, bringing benefits to both countries.

Several agencies and units will be allowed to recruit workers to work in Australia’s agricultural production sector. Australia will coordinate with Vietnam to identify, approve and announce the list of eligible units and enterprises to participate in the PALM scheme./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency