Press digest – July 07

VN, Laos enhance inspection cooperation

The Lao Party, State and people have placed special importance on boosting their cooperation with Viet Nam in all fields and expect to learn from Viet Nam's socio-economic development experience.

Chief Government Inspector of Laos Bunthong Chitmani made that statement at his meeting with PM Nguyen Tan Dung.

PM Dung highly valued the talks between the Vietnamese and Lao inspectors, affirming that the Vietnamese Government always supports their cooperative activities.

Mr. Bunthong Chitmani told his host that his visit aims to tighten the cooperative ties.

16 deaths in military helicopter crash in HN

The Russian-made Mi-171 plane on a parachute training mission lost contact and came down in Hoa Lac village, Binh Yen commune, about 3 km from Hoa Lac Airport where it took off in Ha Noi’s western district of Thach That, killing at least 16 servicemen and injured five others .

APEC officials meet in HN to prepare for HRD meeting

About 100 officials from the 21 APEC member economies and international organizations gathered in Ha Noi, examining preparations for the 6th Human Resources Development (HRD) Ministerial Meeting to be held in Da Nang this September.

They looked through technical reports and draft documents, and recommendations to be submitted to the APEC Senior Officials Meeting for consideration.

Newly-established businesses up 19.3%

As many as 37,315 businesses were established in the first half of 2014 with a total registered capital of VND230,924 billion, up 19.3% from the same period in 2013.

The figure included 18,356 with a combined registered capital of VND97,983 billion in the first quarter and 18,959 with a total register capital of VND132,942 billion in the second quarter.

Some 33,454 businesses were dissolved or suspended operations in the first half, up 16.5%. The number of enterprises resuming operation reached 8,322.

VN exports 4.7 million tons of rice in first half

Viet Nam delivered 3.003 million tons of rice to its customers abroad in the first half, worth US$1.367 billion.

As of June this year, Vietnamese rice enterprises signed contracts to export 4.7 million tons of rice.

China was the largest importer, accounting for 40.46% of the total.

Shrimp exports expected to soar this year

Shrimp exports, having gained a high value in the first half of this year, are expected to continue increasing in the second half of the year and raise the sector’s export value to US$3.8 billion.

The seafood industry posted US$3.45 billion in export value, rising 24.2% over the same periodlast year, with US$1.8 billion generated by shrimp exports.

By the end of June, shrimp output rose 38.7%over last year in Tra Vinh province, 25.5% inKien Giang province, 3.9% in Ca Mau province, and 7.5% in Bac Lieu province.

US$446 million allocated for IT industry

Viet Nam invested US$446 million in its information technology (IT) industry in 2013, up 9.9% from a year earlier.

About 41% of the investment was allocated for developing hardware services, which are facing difficulties due to low demand from other sectors like banking, insurance, production, and retail.

VN-Singapore two-way trade rises 22.4%

Two-way trade between Viet Nam and Singapore surged 22.4% to more than US$6.5 billion in the four months leading up to May.

In the five month period, Singapore imports from Viet Nam were valued at US$1.223 billion, up 23.7% over last year’s same period.

Singapore’s key imports were telephones and components, boilers, machinery  and spare parts, coffee, tea, glass products, construction glass, and oil and gas.

VN imports 25,000 cars in H1

Viet Nam spent nearly US$500 million in the first half of 2014 to import 25,000 completely built units (CBU) cars, an increase of 44.4% in volume and 53.9% in value year-on-year.

The volume of imported cars was highest in May, a total of 5,000 units worth US$106 million.

CBU car imports were up 75% in the first five months, while locally assembled automobiles saw only a 23% year-on-year increase.

By Thuy Dung