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Orchestra to play Mahler masterpieces
Hanoi (VNA) – The Vietnam National Symphony and Orchestra will premiere Austrian composer Gustav Mahler's works with guest baritone Katsunori Kono from Japan.
The concert, commemorating the 100th anniversary of the death of Mahler, will be held at the Hanoi Opera House on March 3-4. Two Mahler masterpieces, Songs of a Wayfarer and Symphony No.1, will be performed under the baton of Tetsuji Honna.
Both works are the earliest compositions of Mahler in this genre and among his most famous works. Both are the legacy of music materials from each other and previous works.
Songs of a Wayfarer includes four poems inspired by Mahler's romantic love. This work will be performed by Kono.
Kono studied at Hochschule fur Musik in Munich on a German Academic Exchange Service scholarship and became a member of the Vienna State Opera Theatre.
He took second prize in the vocal music division of the 43rd International Competition of Music in Geneva (no first prize was awarded in this division) and first prize in the 37th International Competition of Vocal Music in Hertogenbosch, and an encouragement award from the City of Salzburg in Austria.
He has given recitals at the Rhine Music Festival, the Salzburg Music Festival, the Amsterdam Concertgebau and numerous other cities in Europe, and he has appeared in a great number of operas, orchestra concerts and religious music concerts.
Kono sang the Mahler's Songs of a Wayfarer for a regular subscription concert of Japan's NHK Symphony Orchestra.
The orchestra will, in co-operation with the Austrian Embassy, set up a picture exhibition on Mahler's life and works at the two concerts.
The concerts will kick off at 8pm at Hanoi Opera House./.
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ASEAN, India to boost trade ties
New Delhi (VNA) – The first ASEAN-India Business Forum and Trade Fair opened in India ’s capital city of New Delhi on March 2 with the participation of 470 businesses, including 270 from ASEAN nations.
The forum was initiated by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to realise his commitment to strengthening economic ties with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), especially on the basis of India ’s “Look East” policy.
Speaking at the opening ceremony, Indian Minister of Trade and Industry Arnand Sharma said that the Indian government’s new policy will focus on attracting investment and technology from ASEAN by further fostering the current partnership between the two sides.
In the next five years, India will need up to 1 trillion USD to modernise and upgrade its infrastructure, including seaports, roads, railways and waterways, and ASEAN countries are expected to pour a huge sum into these fields, said Arnand Sharma.
According to the minister, India and ASEAN are approaching the signing of a comprehensive economic partnership agreement (CEPA). India has signed similar agreements with several ASEAN nations, including Singapore , and plans to ink such deals with the bloc’s other members.
India and ASEAN “are committed to achieving a trade target of 70 billion USD by 2012”, up 40 percent from 50 billion USD in 2010, he said.
In his speech, Malaysian Minister of Foreign Trade and Industry Dato Sri Mustapa Mohamed stressed that ASEAN and India should speed up the signing of the CEPA in order to expand the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) in goods to the fields of investment and service.
Minister Mustapa Mohamed said that the ASEAN-India Business Forum would be an ideal place for the private economic sector to promote its vanguard role in developing the cooperation between the two sides’ businesses.
Meanwhile, ASEAN Deputy Secretary-General for Economic Community Sundram Pushpanathan stated that the full implementation of the ASEAN-India FTA after the two sides reach an agreement on the CEPA will pave the way for the formation of one of the world’s largest free trade areas with a 1.8 billion-strong market and a total GDP of 2.8 trillion USD.
Under the ASEAN-India FTA, over 90 percent of the two sides’ products, including crude oil, refined palm oil, coffee, black tea and pepper, are exempted from import tariffs.
The agreement will pave the way for import tax exemptions for more than 4,000 products from ASEAN member countries and India, Sundram Pushpanathan said, adding that agreements on services and investment will create more favourable conditions for Indian companies, service providers and investors to access the ASEAN market and vice versa.
According to President of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) Harsh C. Mariwata, since the ASEAN-India FTA took effect, two-way trade between the two sides has increased by 22 percent.
The target of reaching 70 billion USD in two-way trade in 2012 will open up great opportunities for trading with India and for Indian groups to strengthen business relations with ASEAN partners, he added./.
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Foreigners to show films in Vietnam
Hanoi (VNA) – The sixth Chilean film week was launched in Hanoi on March. 2.
The event, jointly held by the Chilean Embassy in Vietnam and the Hanoi Cinema club, will last till March 5.
During the Film week, four prize-awarded films including “La Nara” (Charwoman) , “El regalo” (the Gift), “Teresa” and “A Un Metro de Ti” (A stop away from you) will be on show. They all reflect the social situation in Chile and are expected to help Vietnamese viewers better understand about the country’s culture and people.
Another event, the Francophone Film Festival, will take place in Hanoi , Hue and Ho Chi Minh City from March 18 to April 18, according to the Cinema Department under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.
The event, co-organised by the Cinema Department and the International Francophone Organisation, is part of activities to welcome Int’l Day of Francophone on March 20.
The festival will introduce movies from French-speaking countries, including France, Greece, Switzerland, Belgium, Tunisia and Vietnam, which will focus on emerging issues of the modern life, including information and technological hack./.
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HCM City fights to lower child obesity
HCM City (VNA)— Swift intervention measures will be taken to reduce the increasing rate of chronic diseases and obesity among children in HCM City , according to a healthcare official.
Do Thi Ngoc Diep, director of the HCM City Nutrition Centre, said 11.5 percent of children under five in the city were obese or overweight, compared to 8.8 percent in 2009.
In addition, heart disease, hypertension, diabetes and some cancers have also increased rapidly, she said.
Speaking at a meeting on March 2 on city nutrition programmes, Diep said that inappropriate dietary intake, lack of physical activities and lifestyle habits were to blame for the increasing rates of diseases and obesity.
However, she said the malnutrition rate among children under five in the city had dropped to the country's lowest, 6.8 percent.
This year, city authorities will earmark 8.5 billion VND (405,000 USD) for nutrition intervention programmes that will focus on malnutrition, obesity prevention and prevention of iodine and vitamin A deficiencies.
The aim this year is to cut the rate of obesity and overweight cases to below 11 percent, and to have a malnutrition rate of no more than 6.8 percent.
More than 70 percent of households in the city have been targeted to use iodised salt, and more than 90 percent of children between six and 36-months-old will be advised to take vitamin A.
Priorities will be given to children, pregnant women and women with under-five children in outlying areas as well as to workers in industrial parks and export processing zones./.
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Women's role in food safety crucial
Hanoi (VNA) -- Women held key roles in agricultural production, from manufacturing and processing to trading, but many still lacked information on food quality and safety, experts said on March 2.
A representative of the Vietnam Women's Union, Nguyen Thi Tuyet Mai, said a recent survey in the northern province of Hung Yen showed of those involved in spraying pesticides, 60.4 percent were women but only 24 percentwere men.
Of those involved in harvesting and selling farm products, almost 80 percent were women while only about 6 percent were men. The rest were children or the elderly.
In 2008, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) hosted a five-year programme titled Role of Women in Producing and Trading Safe Agricultural Products to promote women's awareness.
Deputy Minister of MARD Vu Van Tam said that as overseas trade was a crucial part of Vietnamese agriculture and exports now faced many strict regulations, the project had come at the right time to help improve Vietnamese products.
In the first three years, the programme provided training for a total of 614 farmers and producers of farm products. It also organised many campaigns to promote food safety and hygiene in the community.
Some women, however, do not believe in the power of mass media campaigns for food safety and hygiene.
Nguyen Thi Minh Ly from the Ministry of Science and Technology said: "We (women) don't have much time to watch TV. When there are community meetings in the commune, it's often our husbands who go there. So if we have to change how we carry out our campaigns, we shouldn't do it on TV or at meetings that only men attend."
Ly said that in the past there had been many programmes sponsored by foreign organisations to provide certificates of hygiene to farmers and producers.
But after the programmes ended, many who had attended refused to use the qualify process.
"It's the Government's responsibility to make everyone aware that food hygiene and safety is a must. We haven't been able to do that, but farmers and producers still request an unreal high price for safe products that should be hygienic anyway," Ly said./.
BUSINESS
Dong devaluation could leave plastic makers hurting
HCM City (VNA) — The recent devaluation of the dong combined with higher power costs could rob plastic enterprises of all or most of their profits, Le Quang Doanh, chairman of Vietnam Plastics Association, said.
Doanh said most of plastic enterprises were heavily dependent on imported raw materials, especially in PP and PE production.
Enterprises can't rely on locally recycled plastics to cut import costs as the local plastics recycling industry is underdeveloped. For instance, Vietnam doesn't have a plastic waste collection system, he said.
In recent years, the plastics sector had growth rates of 20-25 percent per year, but the recent increase in input costs would impact heavily on the operation and development of the plastic sector, the association chairman said.
According to association, Vietnamese plastic product export value accounted for a tiny 0.02 percent of the global figure.
The export value is low because the limited number of products can't keep pace with the changing demands of foreign importers. Plastic makers here are mainly subcontracted, the association said.
Most plastic makers are small enterprises that have to contend with foreign enterprises, which have strength of capital, technology and more experience.
In addition, management staffs, technicians and skilled workers are hard to find because no schools or centres offer skilled human resources training for the sector.
Experts suggested the association to encourage enterprises to improve product quality and invest in supporting industries. Large plastic projects should be exempted from tax, they said./.
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HCMC to host furniture, accessories fair
HCM City (VNA) — About 150 local and foreign enterprises will take part in the Vietnam International Furniture and Home Accessories Fair 2011 (VIFA 2011) in HCM City from March 11 to 14.
Held at the Sai Gon Exhibition and Conventional Centre in District 7, VIFA 2011 will feature 650 stalls displaying a wide range of furniture, handicrafts, equipment and tools for wood processing.
Wood processors and handicraft makers from HCM City and Hanoi, and the provinces of Binh Duong, Binh Dinh, Dong Nai, Long An, Gia Lai and An Giang and firms from the US, China, the Czech Republic and Singapore will exhibit at the event organised by the Handicraft and Wood Industry Association of HCM City (Hawa) and Hawa Corporation.
"VIFA has officially become part of the series of International Furniture and Home Decor Fairs that are organised by the seven-member ASEAN Furniture Industry Council (AFIC)," said Hawa chairman Nguyen Chien Thang.
"Joining the AFIC it benefits the wood industries of all members, and promotes VIFA to importers in Japan, the US and other European countries," Thang said.
Organisers have received 1,000 registrations from furniture import companies in 76 countries and territories, including Australia, the US, the UK, Canada, Germany, Japan, New Zealand, India and Hong Kong.
Most of these will seek new partners and suppliers at the fair. The fair also includes business meets, workshops and seminars such as seminar wood material resources for the wood industry in Vietnam and the Government's development strategy for the next 10 years.
One highlight of the event is a workshop on "Wood products legality for exporters" on March 12, organised by Hawa and the Forest Legality Alliance and the UK Timber Trade Federation.
The workshop would help local exporters better understand the new US and European regulations involved in legal sourcing of wood products, public sector and industry procurement policies./.
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100,000 tonnes of stockfeed to be sent back to India
Hanoi (VNA) — Importers of animal feed face big losses if nearly 100,000 tonnes of maize and soybean imported from India early in January have to be sent back because of traces of termites.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development's Plant Protection Department has asked enterprises to return the goods instead of allowing it to be fumigated as usual. The feed was specially prepared for the breeding industries.
The department said Vietnam was free of the invasive pest. It added that it had told Indian suppliers to fumigate the feed before it was sent because it was such a large quantity that would have been too difficult to fumigate.
The feed is currently being stored at the ports of Hai Phong and Sai Gon.
Chairman of the Vietnam Feed Association Le Ba Lich said stock feed was often imported and the department had previously allowed fumigation if termites were detected.
"But the goods have been refused entry this time. About 20 enterprises will suffer total losses of 35-40 million USD if the goods have to be returned," Lich said.
He added that enterprises would receive no compensation from partners or relevant authorities.
Tran Thanh Quang, an association representative, said the return of the feed could create a serious shortage in the animal breeding world – and force prices sky high.
According to him, the cost of maize, one of the main components of the feed, has increased from 6,500 to 7,500 VND per kilo.
Lich said the association had asked the ministry to release half of the imported feed that had shown no signs of termite contagion. He said the ministry should require the Indian suppliers to fumigate the goods before export to Vietnam, adding that the US and Argentina supplied clean product, but at 35-40 USD a tonne more. Shipping also took longer.
Hoang Trung, deputy director of the Plant Protection Department, said the termites (trogoderma granarium) were listed among the most 100 invasive insects in the world and could seriously affect Vietnam's agricultural exports of rice and other farm products.
"The termites might have moved around since we first checked, so re-export is necessary," he said.
The issue has been forwarded to the Government for a final decision.
Previously, about 5,745 tonnes of stock feed from India was fumigated successfully after being found to contain traces of termites.
The ministry sent warnings to Indian suppliers about the need for fumigation before they exported it to Vietnam./.
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Brokerage's struggles hit stocks
Hanoi — Shares fell steeply on March 2, with over 81 percent of codes on both national stock exchanges losing value, although market volume improved as bottom-catching buys increased.
On the HCM City Stock Exchange, the VN-Index closed down 1.78 percent from the previous session to 457.83 points. The value of trades reached 974.6 billion VND (46.4 million USD), an increase of 67 percent over the previous day's session, while the volume nearly doubled to 46.6 million shares.
On the Hanoi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index lost a whopping 4.19 percent of its value to close at just 91.17 points. Value was over twice March 1's level, reaching 765.5 billion VND (36.5 million USD) on a volume of nearly 54 million shares.
Decliners outnumbered advancers by 289-25.
With words circulating around the market yesterday morning that Kim Long Securities Co (KLS) would change its business model and abandon brokerage services, nearly 6.6 million KLS shares were unloaded, making it the most-active share nationwide.
KLS declined by 6.2 percent to close at 12,200 VND.
The slump of KLS also negatively affected other shares in the securities sector. VNDirect Securities Co (VND) and Click&Phone Securities (GBS) both dropped to the floor, while Vietinbank Securities (CTS) fell by more than 4 percent and Sai Gon-Hanoi Securities (SHS) fell by 3.7 percent.
The company chairman Ha Hoai Nam affirmed the news on March 2, but he had no idea how the move would impact the market.
Kim Long Securities JSC will change its name and business operations after a shareholder meeting that will be held on March 19.
Under the new name it would focus on real estate, information technology, trading and other services.
Nam said the company had 1.8 trillion VND (86 million USD), mainly in cash, and would be on the lookout for suitable industries.
Nguyen Ba Thanh, head of the SME Securities Co's investment department, said current market declines were largely attributable to the tightening credit picture for securities investors announced last week by the State Bank of Vietnam.
"However, I think investor reactions were a bit extreme," Thanh said. "Investors are worried about reduced cash flows into the stock market, but this really hasn't been the case."
Although commercial banks would reduce lending for non-production sectors such as securities investment to 16 percent of total outstanding loans this year, the amount of loans for securities investment would not necessarily be reduced, as credit growth would still expand by some 20 percent over last year, he said.
"Vietnam's stock market is still a developing market and reflection on information is ineffective. Investors need more time to process information and understand policies accurately."
Financial analyst Nguyen Tri Hieu also said monetary tightening could negatively affect the securities market in the short term, but the priority of allocating capital to production would, in the long term, help stabilise the economy, "creating a solid foudation for the development of the securities market"./.
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Timber industry pushes exports
Hanoi (VNA) — If the timber industry's plan to earn a total of 7 billion USD from exports by 2020 is to succeed, it must focus strongly on the development of domestic forests.
Domestic timber product exporters now mainly depend on imported timber as domestic supplies meet only 20 percent of demand. This dependence has created a major problem as world timber prices keep rising sharply. Chairman of the Handicraft and Wood Industry Association (HAWA) Nguyen Chien Thang said last year, for example, the price of imported timber surged 25-30 percent over the previous year.
General director of Minh Phat 2 Company Dien Quang Hiep said that wood from rubber trees, a main source of materials for his company, last year increased by 50-60 percent.
Deputy director of the Department of Processing and Trade for Agro-Forestry-Fisheries Products and Salt Dam Ngoc Nam said Vietnam had more than 13 million hectares of forest, 8.6 million of which were for commercial purposes.
The Forest Science Institute of Vietnam has drafted a development project for domestic timber to meet 50 percent of demand by 2015 and 80 percent by 2020.
Vo Truong Thanh, general director of the Truong Thanh Wood Joint Stock Company, said his company would grow 100,000ha of forest during the next 10 years.
This would enable it to provide 500,000 to 1 million cubic metres of timber yearly from 2016, which would meet roughly 20-30 percent of demand./.
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Vietnam offers good opportunities for US investors
Hanoi (VNA) – There are a lot of good opportunities for US investors in Vietnam , especially in the fields of infrastructure and energy, said a US executive.
This remark was made by Lawrence Spinelli, Director of Public Affairs for the US Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), at a meeting with the press in Ho Chi Minh City on March 2.
Spinelli said OPIC will host its seventh international investment conference in the Indonesian capital city of Jakarta from May 3-5 with the participation of over 250 US investors worldwide.
The event, the first of its kind in Southeast Asia, will target emerging markets in the region such as Indonesia , Vietnam , Malaysia , the Philippines , Thailand and Laos , he said.
The conference is expected to serve as a forum for US investors and their partners to discuss areas they are interested in, including trade finance, infrastructure, tourism and renewable energy./.
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Nation’s key shipping route opens to traffic
Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnam ’s most important sea route from the Cai Mep-Thi Vai port complex in the southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau to buoy zero opened to traffic on Mar. 2.
The route with a length of 49km, a width of 250m-480m and a depth of 12m-14m is now available for ships of up to 80,000 DWT.
The route, with funding sourced from the Japanese Government official development assistance, is expected to make great contributions to the development of the key economic region in southern Vietnam .
At present, the Cai Mep-Thi Vai port complex accommodates three ports, where many ships can go directly to America and Europe rather than an intermediate destination, helping reduce time and the transport cost./.
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VN-Austria sub-committee on trade cooperation set up
Hanoi (VNA) – The Vietnam sub-committee under the Vietnam-Austria Joint Committee on Economic and Trade Cooperation will be set up following a recent Government decision will be set up following a recent Government decision.
Under the decision, a Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment will be the Chair of the sub-committee and officials of the ministry’s departments for international relations and the Government’s Office will be its secretaries.
The sub-committee’s members will be representatives from the Ministries of Planning and Investment, Foreign Affairs, Finance and Industry and Trade and the Government Office.
The head of the sub-committee will consider inviting representatives from relevant agencies to join its activities, depending on specific contents of every session of the joint committee./.
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ADB helps improve urban environment
Hanoi (VNA) – The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is ready to cooperate with Ho Chi Minh City in urbanisation projects which aim to address urban issues such as transport, water supply and environment.
At a working session with the municipal leaders on March 2, ADB President Haruhiko Koroda said that HCM City is facing a lot of challenges during its rapid development and one of these challenges is climate change and sea level rise .
Over the past time, ADB has helped HCM City in infrastructure development and climate change adaptability, including a project to build Metro Route No. 2, he said.
Recently, the bank approved a 1 billion USD loan for water supply and drainage projects in Vietnam , including Ho Chi Minh City , he added.
The municipal People’s Committee’s Chairman Le Hoang Quan said over recent years, ADB has provided a great deal of assistance to Vietnam and Ho Chi Minh City commits to using its capital in the most effective manner.
In an other development, on the same day, Vice Chairman of the Hanoi People’s Committee Vu Hong Khanh heard relevant units to report on the implementation of a project to improve a road section on the right bank of To Lich River.
Funded by the Japanese government’s ODA loans, the project will help improve the environment and scenery along the two sides of To Lich River, strengthen the water drainage capacity for Hanoi and reduce traffic jams once completed in March 2011./.
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Contract to buy power signed
Hanoi (VNA) — Contracts to buy power from Xekaman 1 Power Company of Laos were signed at a ceremony in Hanoi on March 2 by Song Da Group and Electricity of Vietnam.
The Ministry of Planning and Investment also handed an investment licence to the Song Da group to build Sekong 3 hydro-power plant in Laos .
Le Van Que, chairman of the group, said the signing prepared the way for the start of the project.
The group will begin work on Xekaman hydro-power plant next week. Eighty percent of the power generated will be exported to Vietnam and the rest will be supplied to Laos .
From 2014, the plant, which will cost 441 million USD, will be able to generate an annual output of more than 1.2 billion kWh per year. It will be located on the Xekaman River in Xanxay District, Attapeu Province , 75km from Kon Tum Province in Vietnam .
Sekong 3 hydro-power plant will cost 275 million USD and be able to produce more than 800 million kWh a year.
It is expected that the plant will start operations at the end of this year and be completed by 2015.
In recent years, Song Da Group has shown interest in investing in seven hydro-power projects to generate 5.4 billion Kwh in Laos each year./.
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