Vietnamese firms and their Chinese peers inked 21 agreements and economic contracts in agro-forestry-fishery import and export, trade, logistics, and high-tech agriculture at a November 30 business networking forum held in the northern coastal province of Quang Ninh.

The forum took place as part of the ongoing 15th Vietnam-China tourism and trade fair in Mong Cai city. It was held to enable managers, policy planners, and businesses from both countries to exchange information, identify difficulties and challenges, and propose measures to promote their trade of agro- forestry-fishery products.

Opening the forum, Le Thanh Hoa, Deputy Director of the Department of Quality, Processing, and Market Development under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, stated that China is the largest export market for Vietnam’s agro- forestry-fishery goods, especially farm produce, fruit, and seafood.

However, these products have yet to deeply penetrate the domestic Chinese market and connect with large corporatio
ns, modern distribution channels, online sales networks, and large supermarkets in China.

Fu Zhenghua, deputy head of the municipal Party Committee office of China’s Fangchenggang port city, said both sides need to actively implement standardised management of imported and exported goods and promote their linkage of standards related to quality, packaging, labeling, food safety, and source traceability. Efforts should be made to add more products such as frozen seafood, jellyfish, pharmaceuticals, and traditional medicines to their trading list./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Belgian parliamentarian André Flahaut on November 30 handed over to the Vietnamese Embassy in Brussels four wheelchairs and four walkers as gifts to Agent Orange/dioxin (AO) victims in the central province of Quang Tri.

Ambassador Nguyen Van Thao thanked Flahaut for the warm sentiments that he and the group of Belgian parliamentarians sponsoring a resolution on support for Vietnamese AO victims approved by the Belgian parliament in October, have shown towards Vietnamese AO victims.

The diplomat highly appreciated the efforts and contributions that Flahaut has made, together with other parliamentarians, organisations and individuals in Belgium as well as international friends, to assist AO victims in Vietnam.

For his part, Flahaut affirmed that he will exert every effort to bring good things to AO victims in Vietnam with the hope that they will have a better life.

The Belgian lawmaker showed his delight at the growing ties between Belgium and Vietnam over the years with many high-ranking visits, most rece
ntly the Belgium visit by Vietnamese National Assembly Vice Chairman Tran Thanh Man.

Flahaut used to be President of the Belgian Chamber of Representatives. In December 2021, he submitted to the Belgian parliament a resolution on supporting AO victims in Vietnam, which was approved by the Belgian Chamber of Representatives on October 5 with 100% approval votes. The Belgian parliament is the first parliament in the world to adopt a resolution supporting AO victims./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The Vietnam Finance Forum 2023 themed ‘Financial Policies to Overcome Challenges towards Sustainable Development’ was held in Quy Nhon city, the central province of Binh Dinh, on November 30.

The forum, jointly held by the Vietnamese Ministry of Finance (MoF), the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ), the European Union, and the German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, discussed and proposed initiatives and solutions to implement major orientations on finance and budget in the coming time, following those approved in the Finance Strategy by 2030.

MoF Deputy Minister Cao Anh Tuan said that financial and budget policies and solutions in recent times have contributed to stabilising the macro-economy, controlling inflation, and basically ensuring major balances. The GDP growth reached 5.33% in the third quarter of 2023, and 4.24% in the first nine months of this year. The 10-month average consumer price index increased by 3.2%. Production and business activities have been restored
and are increasingly developing.

Budget spending has prioritised green growth, state budget spending for environmental protection become increasingly specific and clear, and public investment for green growth been mainstreamed in investment priorities for industries, sectors, localities and environmental works, said Tuan.

Arne Främk, GIZ representative, Team Leader of the ‘Strengthening Public Financial Management in Vietnam’ project, highly valued the Vietnamese Government’s efforts to carry out green growth solutions and facilitate continuous economic growth while maintaining a healthy balance and managing environmental impacts.

Towards sustainable green growth, she stressed that the energy transition process requires huge financial resources which cannot be met from the Government alone. Therefore, GIZ recommends a fair transition solution. Budget, public debt and tax management could be a foundation for broader reforms, as well as stimulating investment from the private sector.

To help Vietnam grow su
stainably, Ngo Thi Kim Thu, representative of the European Union Delegation to Vietnam, said that the EU Delegation to Vietnam also has programmes and policies to support Vietnam in energy transition.

Currently, the delegation and other international partners have committed to mobilising more than 15 billion USD to support Vietnam in its just and sustainable energy transition to achieve its net emissions target by 2050./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The People’s Committee of central Quang Binh province has recently received a non-refundable aid of more than 79,000 USD from the World Vision International in Vietnam (WVI-V) for a project on fighting human trafficking targeting trafficked persons and vulnerable migrants in the province.

The funding will be used for the project’s component on helping human trafficking victims and vulnerable migrants, to be implemented in Dong Hoi city and Bo Trach district from now until the end of March 2025.

It includes activities such as conducting surveys to understand the needs and aspirations of human trafficking victims and migrants in vulnerable situations, and organising workshops to guide business planning for target persons, aiming to support at least 30 – 35 cases.

Human trafficking is currently an urgent problem in many countries, including Vietnam.

Quang Binh has not detected any human trafficking crime, but there are still many cases of people being lured to work in sensitive facilities abroad, illegally
get married with foreigners or illegally work in such countries as China, the Republic of Korea and Australia. This situation tends to increase and become complicated, drawing special attention from the province./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

An upcoming forum on realising the goals of LNG (liquefied natural gas) electricity development as outlined in the national power development plan for 2021 – 2030 is slated for December 7 in the capital city.

Currently, there are 13 LNG power projects approved by the Prime Minister as part of the priority investment list. By 2030, it is anticipated that 22,400 MW of LNG electricity will be generated.

The development of LNG electricity aims to enhance efficiency in power generation, reduce dependence on coal-fired power, cut emissions, protect the environment, and contribute to the country’s sustainable development goals. However, investment in LNG power projects in Vietnam is facing challenges related to the market, funding, supply fluctuations, purchase contracts, as well as mechanisms and policies.

As per the plan, the government aims to achieve a total capacity of 150,000 – 160,000 MW by 2030, doubling the current installed capacity. In the 2020-2030 period, the share of coal-fired electricity in the p
ower structure is expected to decrease from nearly 29% to 20.5%, and that of natural gas-fueled electricity to increase from 10.2% to 21.8%.

Leveraging the advantages of LNG such as high readiness, large capacity, wide adjustability range, quick response time, and lower CO2 greenhouse gas emissions compared to coal and oil power plants, accelerating the implementation of LNG projects aligns with Vietnam’s commitments at the UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow (COP26) regarding the trend towards low-emission fuel use./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Vietnam’s Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) dropped to a five-month low of 47.3 in November from 49.6 in October, according to international independent credit rating data source and index provider Standard and Poor’s Global (S and P Global).

S and P Global reported that manufacturers faced a renewed reduction in new orders during November, thereby ending a three-month sequence of growth. The pace of decline was the highest since May 2023.

It said that weaker customer demand was reportedly behind the fall in new orders. Waning demand extended to international customers as new export orders decreased for the first time in four months. With new orders falling and economic conditions challenging, firms scaled back production again. Output has now decreased in each of the past three months. Moreover, the rate of contraction accelerated sharply and was the most pronounced since May, according to the report.

It said that cost pressures picked up again midway through the final quarter of the year.
In turn, firms raised their own selling prices for the fourth successive month.

Falling new orders, reduced production requirements and a further drop in backlogs of work meant that manufacturers looked to scale back their purchasing activity and employment in November.

Staffing levels decreased modestly following a fractional improvement in October, with workforce numbers having now been reduced in eight of the past nine months. Meanwhile, a slight fall in purchasing activity ended a three-month period during which input buying had been growing solidly.

Firms also expressed a reluctance to hold inventories amid demand weakness.

Although firms expect output to rise over the coming year amid hopes for an improvement in new orders, business confidence dipped for the second consecutive month and was below the series average. Firms expressed worries about the fragility of economic conditions and international demand weakness, according to S and P Global.

Andrew Harker, Economics Director at S and P Global Ma
rket Intelligence, held that demand weakness, both domestically and in international markets, led to retrenchment across the Vietnamese manufacturing sector in November. With new orders down, firms scaled back their production, employment and purchasing activity, plus limited inventory holdings.

The renewed fall in new orders was in part attributed to some resistance among customers to price rises. With firms’ own input costs increasing to the largest extent since February, it may prove challenging for manufacturers to price competitively in the months ahead, he said, adding that the sector therefore looks set to head into 2024 in pretty subdued fashion, hoping for a pick-up in demand conditions to occur soon./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency