The Vietnam’s national pavilion has attracted much attention from visitors to the ongoing Gulfood, the world's largest annual food and beverage expo, which opened on February 17 in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates. A booth displaying foods of Vietnam at the expo - Photo: CPV The pavilion, organized by the Agricultural Trade Promotion Centre under the Vietnam’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, showcases Vietnam’s key agricultural products by 20 Vietnamese leading enterprises operating in the food and beverage industry. Some of the products have received great interest from the customers, such as pepper, fresh vegetables, rice, cashew nuts, and spices. This year’s expo displays 120 national pavilions by more than 5,000 exhibitors around the world. The five-day event is expected to attract over 90,000 visitors from more 170 countries and territories worldwide. The event offers a good opportunity for Vietnamese enterprises to reach customers … [Read more...] about Vietnam’s pavilion attracts visitors at world’s largest food and beverage expo in UAE
Strong quake shakes eastern Indonesia
A house collapsed during a quake in West Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia in August 2018 (Illustrative photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – A 5.9 magnitude earthquake was recorded at North Maluku province in the eastern region of Indonesia in the morning of February 20. According to Indonesia’s Agency for Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics, the quake’s epicentre, at a depth of 30km, was about 130km to the southwest of Ternate city. There has been no report about damages caused by the quake so far. Indonesia is one of the most disaster-prone countries in the world, as the archipelago nation straddles the Pacific “Ring of Fire”, where tectonic plates collide and a large portion of the world’s volcanic eruptions and earthquakes occur. It suffered its deadliest year in more than a decade in 2018 as a series of earthquakes and tsunamis killed more than 3,000 people. In 2004, a big … [Read more...] about Strong quake shakes eastern Indonesia
US company expands presence in ASEAN market, targeting Vietnam
Cognex representatives receives a lucky card at the launch ceremony of its new office (Photo: VNA) Singapore (VNS/VNA) – Vietnam is an impressive emerging market with a rapid increase of foreign direct investment (FDI) as well as the appearance of mega-factories in recent years, stimulating technology corporations to expand their presence here. The statement was made by Eric Moon, Vice President and head of Asia sales at Cognex Corporation at the launch of its new office on in Singapore on February 18. Cognex Corporation is one of the world’s leading suppliers of industrial barcode readers and machine vision. The expansion in Singapore comes on the back of the company launching its first local office in Vietnam in 2017, and will provide a strong base for Cognex to consolidate and coordinate the company’s efforts as it looks to tap into the huge potential of the burgeoning manufacturing industry in ASEAN, specifically Vietnam, Indonesia and Thailand. … [Read more...] about US company expands presence in ASEAN market, targeting Vietnam
Vietnam announces African swine fever outbreaks
African swine fever (ASF) outbreaks were found at farms in Hung Yen province and some farms in Thai Binh province. Head of the Department of Animal Health Pham Van Dong said that the Ministry had asked related agencies and local administration to destroy all pigs infected with the dangerous virus and continuously disinfect the farms and premises. Moreover, health authorities must set up stations to monitor transportation, slaughter and sales of pork and pork products in the affected areas. Plus, local health animal departments must test all pigs in the jurisdiction. Mr. Dong said though the virus has entered the country but they are small outbreaks; accordingly, people should keep calm to join hands with the health sector in curb of the disease by adopting proactive measures especially biological measures. More importantly, people should not bring sick pigs out of the affected region. Health authority said consumers should not boycott pork products but buy pork meat with clear … [Read more...] about Vietnam announces African swine fever outbreaks
HCMC transport agency proposes 36 solutions to limit private motor vehicles
The project aims to increase the city’s public passenger transport to account for 15-20 percent of resident demand by 2020, 20.5-26.6 percent by 2025 and 29.3-36.8 percent by 2030. The agency said that buses will play the key role until the public passenger transport system will be formed after 2030 according to plan. When the ratio of public passenger transport increases, the number of people using private vehicles will reduce appropriately. If the project is approved, HCMC will limit motorbikes and head towards stopping their operation in center areas including Districts 1, 3, 5 and 10 by 2025-2030 when the public transport system can meet travel demand of people in these areas. When measures to reduce motorbikes in the roadmap until 2030 are applied, partial congestion will occur in some parking lots outside the motorbike limited areas, at bus stops and stations because of public transport commuter increase. The project might face difficulties in reaching consensus from part … [Read more...] about HCMC transport agency proposes 36 solutions to limit private motor vehicles
Penalties on food safety violations to be harsher in 2019
Based on the decree No. 115 on fines for food safety, food inspectors will strengthen, monitoring to deter evildoers from committing the violation as well as administrative reform to issue license to food business. In 2019, 12 inspection teams will be set up to supervise wholesale and retail markets citywide. In addition, the inspection teams will work with their peers from local agencies to carry out visit to business of food. Ms. Phong Lan stressed that it is scheduled that 8,187 producers, transport businesses, importers and exporters will be checked this year. According to Ms. Phong Lan, 764 of 3,967 companies the board visted in 2018 were found violate the regulation accounting for 19.25 percent. Inspectors imposed fines of VND7.4 billion ($318,896) on 694 facilities while continuing to handle others. Additionally, seven companies were suspended from operation and two others were forced to remove advertising. 36,961 kilograms of unsafe food and 233,533 substandard food in the … [Read more...] about Penalties on food safety violations to be harsher in 2019
US remains Dong Nai Province’s largest export market
The province’s export turnover to the US market hit US$451.7 million in January, up 7.4 percent compared to December last year and 7.2 percent over the same period last year. Of which, footwear contributed $127.8 million, wood and wooden products brought in $86 million, garments and textiles made up $77.4 million and steel products partook $30 million. According to statistics, the provincial total export turnover in February is estimated to reach $1.19 billion, down $601 million compared to the previous month as several firms closed for Tet holidays. In March, the export turnover is expected to rebound heavily because all firms will resume operation. Several firms said that they have received orders until the end of this year. Especially, the effective Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership along with other free trade agreements which help to reduce tariffs will encourage firms to expand business and export.By Tien Minh – Translated by Thuy … [Read more...] about US remains Dong Nai Province’s largest export market
Ministry warns of increasing trade fraud via “made-in-VN” labelling
Hanoi (VNA) – The Ministry of Industry and Trade’s Import – Export Department has recently warned of the increase in trade fraud through labeling products as “Made-in-Vietnam”. "Made in Vietnam" labels. Detailed regulations for labeling “Made in Vietnam” for products needed to be raised prevent origin frauds (Photo: toquoc.vn) The labeling of products as “Made-in-Vietnam” aimed to benefit from free trade agreements to which the country is a member and to avoid trade defence mechanisms by importing countries. The department said that origin fraud would not only negatively affect the products and the local industry but also undermine the competitiveness of made-in-Vietnam products. It added that a number of traders remained unaware of the impact of origin fraud on the country’s production. Vietnam does not have regulations on labeling products as "Made-in-Vietnam", thus, consumers did not know whether the products were … [Read more...] about Ministry warns of increasing trade fraud via “made-in-VN” labelling
Thai baht becomes fastest-growing currency in Asia
Illustrative image (Source: Reuters) Bangkok (VNA) – Thai baht surpassed others in Asia to rise by 4 percent against US dollar as of late February, and is predicted to be one of the best-performing currencies in the region. The Thai economic growth figure, announced on the media on February 18, is believed to be behind the baht value hike. The currency is likely to maintain its top spot at least in the first quarter this year. An expert at Tokyo’s Mizuho bank said strong baht performance is a result of basic economic indexes, including surplus in deposits. It shows that the currency is less vulnerable to impacts of the US – China trade war compared to those in the Republic of Korea and Taiwan (China). According to monetary analysts, Thailand is less hurt by recession in the technological field than the RoK and Taiwan, making its baht more attractive. Additionally, the recovery of tourism, which contributes 20 percent to the gross domestic product, … [Read more...] about Thai baht becomes fastest-growing currency in Asia
Reference exchange rate down 2 VND on February 20
The daily reference exchange rate was set at 22,905 VND per USD on February 20 (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – The State Bank of Vietnam set the daily reference exchange rate at 22,905 VND per USD on February 20, down 2 VND from the previous day (February 19). With the current trading band of +/- 3 percent, the ceiling rate applied to commercial banks during the day is 23,592 VND/USD and the floor rate 22,200 VND/USD. Meanwhile, the opening hour rates at commercial banks stayed stable. Vietcombank kept both rates unchanged from February 19, listing the buying rate at 23,150 VND/USD and the selling rate at 23,250 VND/USD. At BIDV, both rates also stayed at 23,150 VND/USD (buying) and 23,250 VND/USD (selling), the same as on the previous day. Techcombank maintained both rates at the same levels as on February 19, at 23,130 VND/USD (buying) and 23,250 VND/USD (selling).-VNA … [Read more...] about Reference exchange rate down 2 VND on February 20