Freedoms guaranteed by the bill of rights

Baker McKenzie’s managing partner Frederick Burke and special counsel Nguyen Thanh Hai The contents of the decision circulated on January 21 is in draft form, while final contents are subject to further reviews by the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT), and consultations with other relevant ministries before the prime minister’s final signature. This draft decision would apply the selection mechanism on a long-term basis. Bidding rounds will be conducted based on a so-called Renewable Energy Development Plan formulated by the MoIT for each 5-year period. A more specific plan will be circulated on a biannual basis. The main investor selection mechanism is a so-called “competitive selection of investors based on project location”, which means that: (i) project location will be chosen/determined by the governmental authorities; and (ii) investors must submit bids to compete for securing the project development right at that pre-selected project location. Under this draft … [Read more...] about Shake-up for solar power investment

Vietnam has a number of large private corporations of international stature over the last 30 years of development. But the number of these enterprises is very modest. Reports all show that though Vietnam’s private enterprises have been growing rapidly in the last 30 years and Vietnam has dollar billionaires, the private sector has not yet become a powerful force as expected to serve as the important driving force of the national economy. According to the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), large enterprises just account for 2 percent of total operational private enterprises, and medium enterprises 2 percent. The remaining enterprises, accounting for 96 percent, are small and micro sized. The non-state economic sector makes up 43 percent of GDP, but private enterprises just contribute 10 percent, while the remaining is from individual and household businesses. Pham Chi Lan, a respected economist, commented that the private sector has been undergoing a difficult … [Read more...] about Vietnam lacks large private corporations

On behalf of the real estate enterprises, Mr. Le Hoang Chau, Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City Real Estate Association (HOREA), said that compared to the previous year, there was an additional petition of Gamuda Land Joint Stock Company. The petition states that while waiting for the Prime Minister to decide on a VND514-billion deduction following the recommendations of the Government Inspectorate, over the past time, construction investment and business activities of the company have been stagnant, affecting the reputation and brand of this company in 10 years of operation in Vietnam. As for the matter of social housing, Mr. Le Huu Nghia, CEO of real estate developer Le Thanh, said that they were considering whether to develop social housing again. Because of too many difficult procedures, many people advised him to play safe by switching to develop commercial real estate. At the Le Thanh Tan Kien social housing project in Binh Chanh District, although the HCMC People's Committee had … [Read more...] about HCMC resolves difficulties for real estate to boost economic development

Prof. Dr. Andreas Stoffers - Country director, Vietnam The Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom The United Kingdom is an important trading partner of Vietnam. In 2020, trade turnover between the two countries amounted to $6.6 billion. With $5.8 billion in exports, Vietnam’s trade balance was clearly positive, which also underlines the country’s strong interest in reaching an amicable agreement with the UK. In recent years, despite the uncertainties associated with Brexit, the growth of trade relations has been unbroken, averaging 12.1 per cent per annum in 2011-2019. The trade relations between the EU and Vietnam are naturally greater given the fact that the EU is the world’s largest market. In 2019, the EU was the second-most important overseas market for Vietnamese products with a total trade volume of $56.45 billion, of which Vietnam’s exports accounted for two-thirds ($41.55 billion). This is 16 per cent of the country’s total export volume. In 2020, exports to the EU … [Read more...] about Added trade potential for Vietnam with UK-EU deals

It had taken just 30 minutes for Cong, deputy head of the laboratory and diagnostic imaging department at the Binh Thanh District medical center, to finish preparing swabbing kits, protective clothing and necessary documents. It was still dark as the 36-year-old Cong, along with four colleagues, began conducting random Covid-19 tests in areas around the Mien Dong (Eastern Region) Bus Station in Saigon for the 12th day. From 5 a.m. to 7 a.m., they worked with local medics to take 100 samples of people from Hanoi and the provinces of Gia Lai, Kon Tum and Dak Lak in the Central Highlands. Then the group quickly returned to their office to start other work. Medics take random swab samples at the Mien Dong Bus Station every morning, February 2021. Photo by VnExpress/Thu Anh. One of them took the samples to the Thu Duc Hospital for carrying out RT-PCR tests. Some received people coming from Covid-19 hotspots to check their medical declarations and take their swab … [Read more...] about Saigon medics break their back to track Covid-19