NA to approve Vietnam’s WTO accession on Nov. 28
NA to approve Vietnam’s WTO accession on Nov. 28
11:32' 17/10/2006 (GMT+7)
VietNamNet Bridge – At the preparatory conference for the National Assembly session, which opens today in Hanoi, deputies agreed to discuss and ratify the Resolution on Vietnam’s WTO accession. Thus, Vietnam will become the 151st member of this organization by years end.
In the preparatory conference, NA Chairman Nguyen Phu Trong proposed to add this content to the NA agenda.
According to schedule, President Nguyen Minh Triet will submit the statement asking the NA to approve Vietnam’s WTO accession on November 27. At the same time, Trade Minister Truong Dinh Tuyen will report the results of negotiation for Vietnam’s WTO membership.
On November 28, the NA will discuss and consider ratification of the Resolution on Vietnam’s accession to WTO.
Thirty days after the day the WTO Secretariat received the Vietnamese NA’s Resolution on Vietnam’s accession to WTO, Vietnam will become the 151st member of WTO. Thus, the country will have to officially implement commitments and obey the rules of the WTO as of December 28.
On November 7, the WTO General Assembly will convene an extraordinary session to admit Vietnam as a WTO member.
Vietnam has basically completed multilateral negotiation for WTO accession. According to Trade Minister Truong Dinh Tuyen, negotiators are urgently checking and preparing reports to timely submit to the NA before November 12
Meanwhile, the NA will temporarily be out of work from November 11-19 because of the APEC Summit.
Do Minh
Vietcombank signs deal with Microsof
Vietcombank signs deal with Microsoft
11:52' 17/10/2006 (GMT+7)
VietNamNet Bridge – Microsoft yesterday signed an agreement with Vietcombank to supply 4,000 licensing rights to Microsoft's Office 2003 software.
Updates of new Microsoft Office versions will also be included in the agreement that is slated to run for three years.
The deal, signed by FPT Information System (FIS), Microsoft's authorised dealer in Vietnam, is similar to an earlier agreement reached between the Ministry of Finance and Microsoft during Bill Gate's visit to Vietnam in April of this year.
"IT application is critical for all businesses that provides banking services, especially for their preparations in relation to the upcoming WTO membership," said Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam (Vietcombank)'s CEO Vu Viet Ngoan.
Ngoan said the agreement also contributes to the government's ongoing efforts to build a healthy investment environment by fighting back at software piracy.
"I applaud Vietcombank's efforts in taking the lead in the business community in Vietnam to sign the agreement" which will ensure the use of genuine and licensed software," said President of Microsoft Southeast Asia Christ Atkinson.
Local authorities earlier this month had found the Hanoi-based Daewoo-Hanel company were using unlicensed softwares valued at VND1bil (US$62,500).
According to the Ministry of Culture and Information, inspectors had checked all computers at the South Korean invested electronic parts maker and found that most of them were illegally installed with pirated softwares.
Pirated softwares found at the plant included Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Office, Microsoft Visual Studio, Autodesk AutoCAD, Corel Draw, ACD See, Lac Viet Dictionary, Symatec Antivirus, Vietkey, WinZip, WinRar and Adobe.
More raids are expected as authorities aim to increase the government's role in protecting intellectual property rights as the country moves toward integration into the global economy.
(Source: Viet Nam News)
Foreign banks serve more and more Vietnamese clients
More and more Vietnamese clients have chosen foreign owned banks to deal with, instead of the domestic owned banks, despite the latter’s advantages in the network and close cultural links with the clients.
There are wholesale and retail foreign owned banks in Vietnam. The former’s main clients are big companies and projects, while the latter serves individuals. However, some of the existing banks provide both retail and wholesale banking services.
At the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC), for example, individuals can open VND accounts and make deposits in VND. HSBC also provides the services on overseas remittance. In the past, 9 out of the bank’s 10 clients were foreigners, but the situation has changed: Vietnamese people account for 50-60% of the bank’s individual clients.
There are some important points Vietnamese clients should know when dealing with foreign owned banks.
First, foreign owned banks always offer the VND deposit interest rates lower than that offered by domestic banks.
Second, the lending interest rates are very competitive.
The main reason for the two characteristics is that foreign banks can raise funds at a cost lower than domestic banks can.
Third, the banking service fees are always high. A client said that he has to pay the annual card fee of VND400,000 ($25).
One year ago, foreign owned banks decided to target individual clients, the employees in foreign invested enterprises, in an effort to expand the number of individual clients. Later, the banks came directly to private enterprises to introduce their services.
According to Kieu Huu Dung, Director of the Banks and Non-bank credit institutions under the State Bank of Vietnam, foreign banks can now only provide a limited range of services. For example, they cannot accept deposits in US$ from individuals. Mr Dung said that the limitation will only be removed after 2010 as Vietnam needs more time to protect its fledgling banking sector.
However, he has warned that once the limitations are lifted when Vietnam has to open the banking market, foreign banks will become stronger in Vietnam. By that time, more Vietnamese people, who think that foreign services are always better than domestic services, will deal with foreign banks.
Source: Sài Gòn Tiếp thị
Viet Nam does business in EU
Vietnamese businesspeople abroad are establishing companies and open investment projects in the European Union, signalling new hope for the growth of Vietnamese businesses in foreign countries.
By the end of 2003, a number of Vietnamese businesses abroad had shifted from small trading to investing in industrial production. Several have successfully built companies specialising in construction, importing and exporting.
Nguyen Quoc Hiep, director general of Constrexim Holdings in the Czech Republic’s Karlovy Vary Province, said that the first construction contracts between the EU and Viet Nam were signed during the President of the Czech Republic’s recent working visit to Viet Nam.
Hiep said this was the first step in promoting large-scale investment projects, trade opportunities and labour export contracts in the EU’s large potential market.
By the end of this year, the Association of Vietnamese Businesspeople abroad will make its official debut. The group aims to establish major teamwork to meet the demand of developing and diversifying businesses at home and abroad.
Chairman of the Viet Nam Chamber of Commerce and Industry Vu Tien Loc said that Vietnamese businesses abroad need to help each other improve product quality and lower prices to be competitive on the global market.
Chu Son Hop, owner of a four Vietnamese restaurants in Brussels, Belgium, said that most Vietnamese companies in Brussels are small scale, focusing on offering food and beverage services for Asian customers.
Hop, also Chairman of the Association of Vietnamese residents in Brussels, said his company co-operates with other Vietnamese partners in supplying foods materials for restaurants.
He said that Vietnamese suppliers need to offer commodities with high quality, competitive prices to compete with Chinese companies who are more experienced in business and marketing strategies.
Technocom Group, a high quality Vietnamese food supplier in Ukraine, has expanded co-operation with its Vietnamese partners abroad to develop into one of Ukraine’s top fast-food producing companies.
Technocom has grown strongly in the last decade, winning Ukraine’s confidence in Vietnamese business.
Source: Vietnam News
German second largest bank comes to Vietnam
German second largest bank comes to Vietnam
14:44' 18/10/2006 (GMT+7)
VietNamNet Bridge - The second largest commercial bank in Germany, Commerzbank AG, will open its representative office in Vietnam on October 20.
This is one of the leading banks in Europe, with total value up to Eur18.7 billion. Commerzbank’s turnover in the first half of 2006 was E$ur615.8 billion and pre-tax profit was more than Eur1.4 billion.
Established in 1870, the bank currently has over 1,000 branches and has established relations with over 6,000 credit institutions in the world. It has also opened branches and representative offices in over 40 countries and territories.
In Asia, Commerzbank has had branches in Singapore, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Shanghai and representative offices in Bangkok, Beijing, Jakarta, Mumbai, Seoul and HCM City this month.
Some other German banks have also come to Vietnam such as Deustche Bank, Landesbank Baden, Hypo Vereins Bank, HSH Nord Bank AG, Dresdner Bank, and Berline Hamburger Frankfurt.
(Source: VNE)
PetroVietnam, Lilama ink $305mil power plant
PetroVietnam, Lilama ink $305mil power plant
13:22' 17/10/2006 (GMT+7)
VietNamNet Bridge - The Vietnam Oil and Gas Corporation (PetroVietnam) on Oct.16 signed a $305 million contract to build the 450MW Nhon Trach 1 Power Plant with the Vietnam Construction and Machinery Installation Corporation (Lilama).
Located in Nhon Trach district, southern Dong Nai province, the plant, which includes two gas turbines, two heat retrieving steam generators and one steam turbine, will use gas materials from the Nam Con Son oil field.
The project will be conducted by a bidder group including Lilama and the Construction Corporation No.1.
Once operational in December 2008, the plant will generate nearly 4 billion Kwh annually, significantly contributing to stabilising the national power supply.
Alstom and Marubeni will supply the main equipment for the plant.
The same day, the PetroVietNam Technical Services Company also signed a contract for the new floating storage offshore No.5 (FSO-5) worth $110 million with the Vietnam Shipbuilding Industry Corporation (VInashin).
The FSO-5, the first floating storage built by Vinashin, is scheduled for completion in 17 months.
(Source: VNA)
Nissan may restart auto project in Vietnam
Nissan may restart auto project in Vietnam
11:05' 17/10/2006 (GMT+7)
VietNamNet Bridge – Nissan Motors Co., Ltd. may restart its automobile project in Vietnam, which has never been got off the ground since its license in 1996, following a trip to Vietnam last week by the automaker's top executive.
President and chief executive officer of the Japanese automaker Carlos Ghosn arrived here on Friday to look into the investment environment here, said an industry source.
Ghosn paid a brief visit to Nidec Tosok Vietnam Co. in Tan Thuan Export Processing Zone in HCMC's District 7 to look into the country's investment environment, labor, the auto market as well as new auto import tax policies.
Nidek Tosok Vietnam is a leading Japanese-invested concern, specializing in electrical wires, computer fan motors and parts for auto gearboxes.
Nidec Tosok Vietnam is also a supplier of automobile spare parts for Japanese's Jatco Co., one of the largest suppliers for Nissan Motor.
A source from Nidec Tosok Vietnam said Ghosn met with Kunihiko Nishihara, general director of Nidec Tosok Vietnam Co., and wanted to learn from his company's experiences in Vietnam.
Nissan Motors was issued an investment license in Vietnam ten years ago for a factory worth US$110mil to manufacture 3,600 cars per year. But the company has not yet built any facilities for its local production, and had its license revoked several years ago.
The visit to Vietnam by Ghosn is seen as a signal the Japanese automaker may be restarting its project in the country.
Up to now, there are 17 automakers licensed through joint ventures with local companies with the total capital of more than US$1bil. However, only more than US$700mil have been invested.
(Source: SGT)