By Joyce Roque
HANOI, Nov. 6 – The first thing you will remember on your drive out of Hanoi’s Noi Bai International Airport might also be the last thing you see as you leave the city – the motorcycles. The undulating wave of motorcycles that zip and turn to no apparent whim but its own. It is a scary experience at first but after a few hesitant tries and close calls of being inches away from a whizzing motorcycle, you will learn that the best way to work around it is to allow the motorcycles to react to you and not the other way around.
Despite Hanoi’s surrounding chaos, the city is thick with bohemian charm and atmosphere with its sprawling French-colonial architecture and vibrant art scene. The buildings are masked with whitewashed facades tinged with age and wooden shutters that let you imagine the days when colonialism was still considered romantic. Read the rest of this entry »
Jul. 27 – Vietnam has confirmed that it will invest a total of US$200 million for Cambodia’s airline and banking industry.
The national carrier, Cambodia Angkor Air, will be a joint venture between Vietnam and Cambodia. Vietnam has agreed to provide US$100 million that will be invested within 30 years.
“Vietnamese side has invested US$100 million capital in Cambodia Angkor air,” Sok An, deputy prime minister and minister in charge of the Council of Ministers, was quoted by Xinhua during the agreement’s signing ceremony overseen by Prime Minister Hun Senand visiting Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Truong Vinh Trong.
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Jul. 24 – South Korea’s top retailer, Lotte, has confirmed that it will be expanding to the Vietnamese market when it opens its first branch in 2013.
The Lotte trade center will be located in Hanoi in partnership with the Coralis SA Company and spanning 65 floors. The building itself will cost an estimated US$280 million.
The Vietnamese branch will be its fourth one overseas after expanding in Russia and China. Lotte representative, Park Geum-soo, was quoted as saying by the Vietnam News Agency that the company will expedite penetration into emerging markets like Vietnam, Russia and India.
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Jul. 22 – Vietnam’s Ministry of Transport has banned the Japanese firms, Taisei and Kajima, from construction projects in the country for a year because of the collapsed Can Tho Bridge that killed and injured many.
The head of the quality control department at the Ministry of Transport, Tran Quoc Viet, told Thanh Nien News by telephone that: “This is punishment to the Japanese companies for their involvement in the construction of the Can Tho Bridge that collapsed.”
The bridge was located 131 kilometers of Ho Chi Minh City and build over a river between Can Tho City and Vinh Long province. It collapsed in September 2007 and left more than 117 people seriously injured.
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Jun. 18 – Vietnam is set to build a 128.5 kilometer railway linking Ho Chi Minh City to the border with Cambodia at a cost of US$438 million.
Construction will begin next year. The railway will form part of the Trans-Asia Railway linking Singapore and Kunming, China, the Ministry of Transport said in a statement.
The railway will be in part funded by development assistance from China and other international donors. A Chinese consulting consortium is working at a feasibility study on the project that should be submitted to the Vietnam Railway Department by the end of this month.
Jun. 11 – Direct overland shipments between Vietnam and Thailand are now possible through a regional customs transit system that eliminates the need for re-loading in Lao PDR.
The direct route along the East-West Economic Corridor begins from Danang, Vietnam, passing through Savannakhet, Lao PDR then on to Thailand. This is the first time that commercial trucks from Thailand and Vietnam can enter each others’ territory directly to deliver and pick up trade goods.
The regional customs transit system allows for single-window and single-stop border inspections that will cut overland transport time and increase trade and tourism.
“Ten years after Laos, Thailand and Vietnam first agreed to ease cross-border traffic rules, the promise of that agreement is truly being realized,” said Arjun Thapan, Director General of Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) Southeast Asia Department in a statement.
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Jun. 10 – The Vietnam Air Navigation Services Corporation (VANSCORP) was awarded the International Air Transport Association’s (IATA) Eagle Award for the Most Improved Air Navigation Service Providers (ANSP) during the 65th IATA Annual General Meeting held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia last Monday.
“VANSCORP has improved greatly in its 15-year history characterized by a strong culture of reliability, efficiency and customer orientation. In addition to maintaining strong relationships with its airline customers, VANSCORP also takes an active role in regional initiatives,” IATA’s Director General Giovanni Bisignani said in a press release.
The firm also upgraded to modern technology in compliance with the ICAO Roadmap for Air Traffic Communication, Navigation and Surveillance.
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Jun. 5 – In signs that commercial sport is increasing in value in Vietnam, Haiphong Cement FC, who play in the country’s 14 club senior V-League, have just signed former World Cup winning Brazilian superstar Denilson, once the world’s most expensive player.
Denilson, who broke the world record transfer fee when Real Betis paid Sao Paulo US$32 million for his services, was a World Cup winner with Brazil in 2002. The 31-year-old’s contract with Haiphong is said to be between US$600,000 to US$750,000 over the year. Read the rest of this entry »
Apr. 28 – At the recommendation of health experts, Vietnam has established precautionary measures to protect itself from the spreading H1N1 strain of swine flu virus currently affecting people in Mexico and the Unites States.
The country’s disease-control agencies are on high alert and travelers entering the country are required to declare the current status of their health, according to the Deputy Minister of Health Trinh Quang Huan.
Head of Vietnam’s Preventative Health Bureau, Nguyen Huy Nga, has said that the swine flu virus has the potential to spread rapidly and appears to be an amalgamation of the bird flu virus, human influenza, and a virus typically found in North America, Europe, and Asia.
Vietnam’s Preventative Health Bureau met with pandemic health experts on Sunday to discuss emergency measures in an effort to prevent and prepare for a possible spread of the virus; which there is not yet a vaccination for.
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Apr. 24 – A senior Finance Ministry official said that Vietnam will have to dip into national emergency funds to help pay for the country’s recent US$8 billion stimulus package.
Speaking at the Asia Society’s Asian Corporate Conference event in Ho Chi Minh City yesterday, Vietnam’s Vice Minister of Finance Do Hoang Anh Tuan said that these measures should not jeopardize Vietnam’s forecasted economic growth.
Mr. Tuan listed more assertive collection of backlogged corporate taxes by the government and the fact that the country currently has a small budget deficit as reasons to feel confident in the country’s macroeconomic stability.
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By Joyce Roque
