The trend of sustainability will continue to be a driver of Vietnam’s real estate industry, heard a workshop on April 7.

Paul Fisher, country head of real estate services firm JLL Vietnam, said it is encouraging that the wide vaccination coverage and the complete border reopening after two years have opened up new opportunities for economic development in 2022. Vietnam is now highly attractive to investors who are seeking transactions here, he said, noting that the trend of sustainability will remain a driver for the local real estate industry.

Nguyen Cong Thinh, Deputy Director of the Science - Technology and Environment Department at the Ministry of Construction, said the country committed to cut down greenhouse gas emissions by 9 percent with domestic efforts, and the reduction rate could reach 27 percent with the support of international organisations through nationally determined contributions.

He added those commitments are being realised through the implementation of many policies, including the national green growth strategy and the national energy efficiency programme for 2019 - 2030. Besides, the development of energy efficient and green buildings is also being encouraged as seen in the law amending and supplementing some articles of the 2020 Construction Law and the Government’s Decree No. 15/2021/ND-CP on managing construction investment projects.

Thinh said to facilitate efficient energy use and green buildings, the Construction Ministry has also been engaging in many cooperation activities with international agencies and organisations like the Danish Government, UNDP, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) of the World Bank Group, the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ), and the British Embassy.

Vietnam to tighten product origin and packaging rules

Vietnam is to tighten inspection of local agricultural products and packaging in a response to recent incidents in which products from the Southeast Asian country were reported to show signs of deliberate tampering with registered trademarks and origins, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD).

The ministry said foreign markets, especially high-end markets, demand exporters to strictly follow rules on product packaging as a way to ensure high-quality and safe-to-consume products.

Since the establishment of agricultural product zones and modern packaging facilities in Vietnam, the country has been able to build a number of relatively well-known brands, which helps boost demand for its products. Exporters and producers have also been working closely together to support farmers in improving the quality of products and tailoring them to the needs of specific consumers.

Tampering with product origin or subpar packaging standards can get Vietnamese products banned from certain markets and hurt the country's image in international markets.

It's high time Vietnam started paying more attention to product origin and packaging. The ministry said the country should aim to expand its list of registered products to include additional entries as well as to set up measures to oversee the packaging process to make sure required standards are observed and enforced.

The ministry said it has received numerous notices and complaints regarding tampered product origins and subpar packaging. Several markets have gone as far as issuing official warnings, meaning further violations may result in a complete ban of Vietnamese products.

Credit institutions expect improved business performance in Q2

Nearly 60 percent of credit institutions forecast their business performance results to improve in Q2 after estimating those in Q1 to be not as good as expected, the latest survey by the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) showed.

According to the SBV survey on business trends of credit institutions in the second quarter of 2022 released late last week, many credit institutions said that though their business performances in Q1 grew, they did not meet expectations due to the impact of the Tet (Lunar New Year) Holiday. They expect performance to be better in Q2.

After estimating a 2.6 percent rise in capital mobilisation in Q1, credit institutions expect the banking industry to gain an average deposit growth of 3.6 percent in Q2 and 11.4 percent for the whole year. Compared to the previous survey period, this year's expected deposit growth decreased by 0.7 percentage points.

Credit institutions estimated the credit of the banking system rose by 5.3 percent in Q1, much higher than the growth rate of 2.95 percent in the same period in 2021.

They expect the indicator to increase by 4.8 percent in Q2 and reach 14.1 percent for the whole year, unchanged from the previous survey.

HCM City Load Dispatch Centre puts second control centre into operation

The Ho Chi Minh City Load Dispatch Centre has put its Control Centre No. 2 into use to help ensure absolute safety for the southern metropolis’s large power grid.

The Control Centre No. 2, costing 73 billion VND (nearly 3.2 million USD) in total, is tasked with joining the first centre in managing and operating the power network and the supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA)/distribution management system (DMS) of the entire city, the Vietnam Electricity (EVN) group’s HCM City Power Corporation (EVN HCMC) said on April 7.

The facilities use two different SCADA software and constantly exchange data while power stations have to send signals to and work with both centres at the same time. Thanks to that, if any of the two encounters hardware or software problems or completely breaks down, the other will take charge of monitoring and operating the entire power grid in HCM City, according to EVN HCMC.

Industrial property market heats up

Vietnam’s industrial real estate market is becoming hotter, driven by an increase in foreign direct investment (FDI) flows.

Germany’s Framas Group recently leased a ready-built warehouse with an area of 20,000sq.m at KTG Industrial Nhon Trach 2 in the southern province of Dong Nai.

Fabian Urban, director in charge of footwear technology at Framas Vietnam, said that the reason for choosing Vietnam to open the factory is that the facilities here are superior to those in other locations.

Pham Truong Son, head of the Management Board of Da Nang Hi-Tech Park and Industrial Zones, said that to shorten the project implementation time, many investors choose to hire ready-built factories. In this local high-tech park, large-scale and modern factory projects are being built for lease. For example,the Long Hau Joint Stock Company’s 30ha factory project with a total investment of more than 1 trillion VND (43.7 million USD) has been completed and handed over to two Japanese enterprises.

Doan Duy Hung, director general of IIP VIETNAM - the largest industrial real estate portal in Vietnam, stated that new-generation industrial zones and clusters which have features related to logistics, warehouses, factories, especially service urban areas, are attractive to investors. Many industrial park investors have paid much attention to service issues.

Savills Hanoi Director Matthew Powell commented that compared to regional countries, Vietnam has more favourable conditions with more affordable real estate prices and many new projects that will increase supply in the future.

He listed reasons making the industrial real estate in Vietnam attractive, including prices, large number of prestigious developers, labour resources, convenient transport network, easy access to international sea ports and airports, and incentives from the State.

Phu Quoc sees spikes in tourist arrivals in Q1

Data from Kien Giang's Department of Tourism showed that the Mekong Delta province received nearly 1.6 million visitors in the first quarter of 2022, up 31.1 percent from the same period last year. Of the figure, over 1.1 million, including more than 26,000 foreigners, travelled to Phu Quoc, a year-on-year increase of 33.9 percent.

As many as 1,282 foreign vacationers from the Republic of Korea, Laos, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Thailand have arrived in Phu Quoc using “vaccine passports” since the scheme started its pilot in Vietnam last November.

Now with the full reopening, the island expects to see even more visitors. On March 19, it welcomed the first inbound flight, carrying 235 tourists from Kazakhstan who stayed for a week, after all travel restrictions were lifted.

Nonetheless, the tourism rebound is clouded by a lack of manpower as a large number of tourism workers have been forced to leave their jobs and return home due to months-long COVID-19 shutdown.

Ninh Thuan, Lam Dong seal tourism cooperation deal

The south-central province of Ninh Thuan and the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong on April 7 signed a tourism cooperation development programme for 2022-2025.

Accordingly, the two provinces’ departments of Culture, Sports, and Tourism will team up in exchanging information; supporting tourism promotion; and organising tourism survey programmes, conferences, seminars, cultural and sports exchange events. Tourism human resources training to requirements for international economic integration is also a content of the collaboration.

Vietnam needs national action plan to promote responsible business practices

A consultation workshop took place in Hanoi on April 7, presenting recommendations to the development a national action plan (NAP) on improving laws and policies to advance responsible business practices (RBP) in Vietnam.

Deputy Minister of Justice Phan Chi Hieu stated the key to balancing Vietnam's economic growth with sustainable development is promoting RBP. The official said that his ministry has so far identified three orientations for the project’s contents, which are completing laws and policies on RBP; boosting effectiveness and quality of related law and policy enforcement; and raising awareness and capacity on the matter for state agencies, businesses, and the society.

Caitlin Wiesen, UN Resident Coordinator a.i. and UNDP Resident Representative in Vietnam, highlighted Vietnam’s candidacy to the UN Human Rights Council for the 2023-25 term, and said the development of a national action plan to promote respect for human rights in the context of business operation strengthens Vietnam’s voluntary pledges as a future member of the council.

Quang Ninh targets 12.54 percent in GRDP growth in Q2

The northern province of Quang Ninh is aiming to expand its Gross Regional Domestic Product (GRDP) growth rate by 12.54 percent in QII, thus realising its economic growth target of 10.25 percent in HI.

The locality sets for its industry – construction, service, and agro-forestry-aquaculture to grow by 10.88 percent, 11.41 percent and 3.79 percent, respectively, in HI.

To that end, the provincial People’s Committee has directed relevant departments, sectors and localities to concertedly deploy solutions to help businesses, especially processing and manufacturing firms, address difficulties, thus stabilising their production and business.

Hanoi develops plans to attract foreign tourists in new normal

Hanoi has built a plan to welcome foreign tourists in the new normal, which aims to ensure safety and contribute to the city’s tourism recovery and development, the municipal Department of Tourism announced on April 7.

Tourists who travel through tourism programmes must be informed on necessary procedures by travel companies when they learn about tourism programmes. Travel firms need to advise tourists to keep an eye on their health conditions and consider cancelling or delaying their travel if they develop symptoms of COVID-19 or have direct contact with the infected.

Besides, the city will bolster tourism promotion activities in key markets with high level of safety in COVID-19 prevention and control, namely European and ASEAN countries, India, the Republic of Korea, Japan, China, Australia, the US and Canada.

In particular, it will join hands with diplomatic corps and Vietnamese trade offices abroad and international organisations to arrange investment, trade and tourism promotions. The sector at the same time will roll out activities connecting with tourism localities in the northern and central regions, Ho Chi Minh City and southern provinces to build programmes serving foreign holidaymakers.

Communications will be promoted to popularise tourist destinations and new tourism products of Hanoi via traditional methods, TV channels at home and abroad, websites and social media sites like Youtube and Facebook, under the themes ‘Hanoi – Travel to Love’ and a safe and attractive tourist destination.

The city will collaborate with embassies and representative offices abroad and the Airport Corporation of Vietnam and carriers to hold tourism promotions at major markets, as well as welcome delegations of foreign reporters and travel agents in Hanoi.

The city is going step by step to completely resume tourism activities in 2022 with the aim of welcoming 9 – 10 million tourists, including around 2 million foreigners, according to the municipal People’s Committee. Hanoi has also set a target of earning 27.84 – 35.84 trillion VND (1.22 – 1.57 billion USD) from tourism.

US financial officials arrive for market assessment report

Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) Nguyen Thi Hong on April 6 had a working session with a delegation of the US Department of the Treasury led by Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Treasury Robert Kaproth.

The two sides affirmed that they would continue regular contact in order to share views on arising issues, and at the same time maintain close co-operation moving forward.

The US Department of the Treasury labeled Vietnam as a currency manipulator in December 2020, accusing the country of improperly intervening in the foreign exchange market in order to gain an advantage for its own exports.

The SBV shortly affirmed that Vietnam did not manipulate its currency and did not advocate currency devaluation, both in official statements and in its actual operations.

Both sides reached an agreement in July 2021 to address US concerns, and the US side later dropped plans to impose tariffs on Vietnamese goods imported into its market.

As part of its semiannual Report to Congress on Macroeconomic and Foreign Exchange Policies of Major Trading Partners of the US, the Department reviewed and assessed the policies of major US trading partners that comprise more than 80% of its foreign trade in goods and services during the four quarters leading up to June 2021.

It concluded that no major US trading partner manipulated the rate of exchange between its local currency and US$ for purposes of preventing effective balance of payments adjustments or gaining an unfair competitive advantage in international trade. 

It noted that both Vietnam and Taiwan (China) continued to meet all three criteria under the terms of the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015 (the 2015 Act) during the period under review.

Traders leave HCM City markets

Many traders have left markets in HCM City after being unable to maintain their businesses due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

An Dong Market in District 5 together with many others have reopened after the pandemic was brought under control in the city, but a lot of footwear and clothes stores remain closed. There are plenty of to rent and for sale signs.

Pham Tuyet Dung, owner of a cosmetic store at An Dong Market said that she had never seen such a quiet atmosphere at the market over the past 20 years. According to Dung, besides the rent, they are having to pay VND7 million (USD304) each month for water and electricity. Meanwhile, they are facing slow sales.

Another trader, Nguyen Thi Ha has two clothes stores at the An Dong Plaza. She has been paying rent of VND 60 million and VND 100 million each month for the two stores with a five-year contract. Due to incurring big losses over the past two years, she has offered one store to rent out at just VND 28 million a month, but has yet to find a customer.
The same situation has been seen in many other markets including Ba Chieu, Tan Binh, Go Vap, Phuoc Long, and Rach Ong where many stores remained closed or are being offered for lease.

Head of the An Dong Plaza Management Board, Tran Thi Thanh Thuy said that the number of customers has decreased by more than half compared to the pre-pandemic period.

A representative of the management board at Phuoc Long Market in District 7 shared that only 200 out of 600 stores here have resumed operation while over 15 percent of traders have left.

Vice director of the HCM City Department of Industry and Trade, Nguyen Thi Kim Ngoc, said that during the social distancing period in the city, many traders at local markets turned to selling their goods online and not returned to their stores with not many customers.

VND3.7 trillion highway project approved

Deputy Prime Minister Le Van Thanh has greenlit the VND3.7 trillion (USD159.48 million) Tuyen Quang-Phu Tho Expressway.

The road which was approved by the prime minister in 2020 is 40.2 kilometres long with 11.63 kilometres running through Tuyen Quang. The project will be connected to the Noi Bai-Lao Cai Expressway project and help to ease traffic jams on National Highway 2.

Under the prime minister’s approval, the project will be divided into two phases with VND3.25 trillion to be used for the first phase.

The project scheduled to be implemented in the 2021-2025 will help shorten travel time from Tuyen Quan to Phu Tho as well as spur tourism development in northern mountainous areas.

HCM City industrial production robust in first quarter despite global challenges

HCM City’s industrial production saw positive growth in the first quarter of the year despite the continuing difficulties caused by COVID-19 and recent challenges such as rising petrol prices and the Russia – Ukraine conflict.

The city’s production and business have not been affected much this year by the volatile prices caused by the rising petrol and gold prices.

Its index of industrial production for March rose by 5.5 per cent.

In the first quarter three of the city’s key industries in the index saw high growth: pharmaceutical chemistry (18.9 per cent); mechanical engineering (4 per cent); and food, foodstuffs and beverages (3.2 per cent).

Fruits sell like hot cakes in hot weather, prices up

With large volumes of sugarcane, orange and lemon juices being consumed in hotter weather, fruit prices have been rising for a month or so in HCM City.

Le Dinh Quyet, deputy head of the Southern Hydro-Meteorological Station, said summer temperatures this year are likely to surpass the average level of many previous years, and the season is likely to end in May, earlier than normal.

These days, HCM City has been experiencing mostly sunny days with some rain and thunderstorms in the evenings. Daytime temperatures can go up to 36-37 degrees Celsius.

From now until late April, the city will have many days with a UV index of up to 9-10, which will negatively impact people’s health, Quyet said.

In this hot atmosphere, prices of fruits like oranges, lemons, grapefruits and coconuts have increased sharply, with that of the seedless lemon rising the highest to VND25,000 to VND30,000 per kg, twice as high as last month.

According to shop owners and salespersons in wet markets, high demand is the main reason for the increase in prices.

Supermarket chains in HCM City have also recorded a sharp increase in the consumption of vegetables and fruits in last month.

SeABank sets high profit target for 2022

The Southeast Asia Commercial JS Bank (SeABank) has announced its pre-tax profit target of VND4,867 billion (US$213 million) for 2022.

The bank aims to raise its deposits by VND22 trillion, an increase of 16 per cent year-on-year, and its credits by VND24 trillion, a rise of 17 per cent. It will continue to keep non-performing loan (NPL) ratios below 3 per cent as well.

Its charter capital is expected to rise from VND16,598 billion to VND22,690 billion through equity financing, share issuance via private placement and an employee stock ownership programme (ESOP).

Notably, the bank plans to issue 321,100,000 new shares with a price of VND10,000 apiece, of which 211,400,000 shares are paid out as dividends and the rest are for equity financing. It also plans to issue an additional 59,400,000 shares for ESOP and sell 228,700,000 shares to foreign investors via private placement.

Reality show for property broker set to begin on VTV

The first TV reality show meant exclusively for property brokers begins on Friday on VTV3.

To be broadcast at 8.30pm, ‘San nha trieu do’ (Hunting for million-dollar houses), created by VTV 3 and TVHub, actually seeks to help viewers understand the property market and transaction methods and how to embark on a broker’s career in Viet Nam.

Participants will be called on to exhibit their selling talent and knowledge and ability to address challenges.

The winner will get VND1 billion (US$43,000) while second and third place winners will receive VND500 million and VND200 million ($21 million). Many other prizes are also on offer to the three winners.

Entries open for the 8th PropertyGuru Vietnam Awards

Submissions are now being accepted for the eighth PropertyGuru Vietnam Property Awards, the biggest and most prestigious industry accolades recognising Viet Nam’s real estate.

Eligible companies and the public can send their entries and nominations until August 12 at asiapropertyawards.com/en/nominations.

The awards will be judged by an independent panel of leading experts in real estate consultancy, architecture and design, green building, and sustainable development. The selection process is supervised by the team of HLB, the global network of independent advisory and accounting firms.

The winning developers and projects will be honoured on October 21 at a black-tie gala dinner and awards presentation ceremony in HCM City.

Organised by Asia’s leading property technology company, PropertyGuru Group, and supported by leading brands like Kohler, Hafele and Saint-Gobain Vietnam, the awards programme allows outstanding developers and design practices to compete in a plethora of new categories.

2.7 million vehicles in Viet Nam use automatic toll payment tag

About 2.7 million out of nearly 5 million vehicles in Viet Nam have been equipped with automatic toll payment tags (etag), making them eligible to use the electronic toll collection (ETC) system.

According to traffic experts, to attract people to register etag, service providers should have promotional policies. For example, vehicle owners who use the service with a large amount of money in a month will receive discounts or additional services.

Most road projects in Viet Nam are invested in the form of BOT. Project investors and funding banks are usually not interested in investing in ETC system as it could affect the projects' financial plan and revenue.

Recently, the Prime Minister requested authorities to direct the stamping of identification cards for all vehicles and cars under the management of agencies and units to use the ETC toll service and stop using manual toll collection from June 1, 2022.

Previously, at a meeting with the Ministry of Transport, Deputy Prime Minister Le Van Thanh also requested that by June 2022, 90 per cent of vehicles would have ETC tags.

Up to now, except for the projects of the Vietnam Expressway Development and Investment Corporation (VEC), there are 112 toll stations nationwide that have installed a non-stop toll collection system. Of the stations, the Ministry of Transport manages 69 stations on 351 lanes, while the remaining 69 lanes do not have any.

Local governments manage 43 stations, and 189 roads have ETC systems installed while the other 62 lanes have not.

HCMC People’s Council approves VND24 trillion for Ring Road No. 3 project

The HCMC People’s Council has passed a resolution to develop the Ring Road No. 3 project as proposed by the municipal government with an estimated cost of over VND75 trillion, including VND24 trillion to be sourced from HCMC’s budget.

The Ring Road No. 3 project is a national key project so it must be approved by the National Assembly.

The road was designed to pass through HCMC and Dong Nai, Binh Duong and Long An provinces with a total length of over 76 kilometers. The road will have four lanes, while parallel roads will have two-three lanes each.

The project was divided into eight subprojects—four site clearance subprojects and four construction subprojects—in line with the precincts of localities where Ring Road No. 3 will pass through.

Hundreds of travel firms in HCMC offer promotional packages

Hundreds of firms active in the tourism sector in HCMC are offering special promotional packages as HCMC has launched the “Welcome to HCMC” program to stimulate tourism demand after two years of disrupted travel induced by the Covid pandemic.

Many tour operators have put up for sale tens of city tours at discounted prices from VND699,000 to VND1.08 million each, according to the HCMC Department of Tourism.

Several tourist sites, including the Ao Dai Museum and the Saigon Skydeck at Bitexco Tower, are lowering entrance fees to attract visitors.

In addition, many hotels in the city are offering discounts of 20%-73%. Similarly, a series of restaurants, bakeries and shops are also reducing the prices of their products by up to nearly 50%.

The “Welcome to HCMC” program, which is set to wrap up in September, will feature a host of tourism promotion events and festivals such as the HCMC Tourism Day, the HCMC Food Festival, the Saigon Bread Festival, the Flower Festival and the Southern Fruit Festival.

Deadline set for Dong Nai to hand over land to Long Thanh airport

Deputy Prime Minister Le Van Thanh has asked the Dong Nai government to finish the handover of cleared land to the Long Thanh International Airport project in June.

At a meeting of the steering committee for the mammoth project on April 6, Deputy Minister of Transport Le Anh Tuan said Dong Nai had proactively handed over the site to the project developer. However, land in some areas has yet to be completely cleared.

Nearly 1,600 hectares out of the 1,800 hectares of land has been handed over for the first phase of the project and 466 of the 722 hectares of land for backup. However, the houses of residents remain on over 640 hectares of land. Therefore, the Ministry of Transport has asked the Dong Nai government to relocate these houses before April 30 and complete the site clearance work prior to June 30.

NSH Petro exec fined VND100 million over unannounced share sale

The State Securities Commission of Vietnam (SSC) on April 5 imposed an administrative fine of VND100 million (US$4,378) on Do Thuy Tien, in charge of the management of Nam Song Hau Trading Investing Petroleum JSC (NSH Petro/PSH), for her unannounced sale of PSH shares.

She sold 49,300 PSH shares on August 3, 2021 and 696,500 PSH shares on the following day, but did not announce her plan to sell the shares in advance, reported Dau tu Chung khoan newspaper.

Having risen to its all-time highs over the past nine months, at over VND29,000 per share in March this year, the PSH rise has eased gradually. It closed up 0.41% at VND24,700 today, April 7.

Vietnamese start-ups likely to draw US$2 bln worth of investments in 2022

According to a report in 2022, investment funds that continue to pour capital into Vietnamese start-ups can reach US$2 billion.

According to the annual report of ESP Capital and Cento Ventures, with the attraction of investment capital in Vietnamese start-ups reaching more than $1.3 billion in 2021, Vietnam has risen to the third position in the ASEAN start-up ecosystem just behind Indonesia and Singapore.

Previously, in 2020, due to the impact of the Covid-19 epidemic, start-up investment decreased by half compared to 2019 with $874 million; nevertheless, the rapid recovery reached a peak in 2021, so it is forecasted that Vietnamese start-ups are highly likely to draw US$2 bln worth of investments in 2022.

By the end of 2021, Vietnam has about 208 venture capital funds operating and investing in start-ups in Vietnam including nearly 40 domestic investment funds.

Nearly 5% of Vietnam's population has securities accounts

Vietnam has achieved the milestone three years earlier than the Government’s target for 2025.

The number of new securities accounts opened in March was 271,619, lifting the total to nearly 5 million to date, according to the Vietnam Securities Depository (VSD).

With the country’s population estimated at 98.7 million as of April 4, the number of securities accounts per head has officially reached the 5%-mark, three years earlier than the target set by the Government for 2025.

Upon breaking down, domestic retail investors made up 99.7% of the total new accounts, or 270,949. The number of securities accounts totaled 4.93 million by late March. Meanwhile, investment organizations opened 229 new accounts, or a total of 13,511.

Foreign arrivals up 41%

Despite the tourism index having increased fast, the number of international visitors to Vietnam has not met the expectation.

The number of international tourists to Vietnam in March reached 42,000, marking an increase of 41.4% over the previous month year on year thanks to the easing of travel restrictions, according to the data of the General Statistics Office. 

A statistical report shows that the number of international arrivals in March reached nearly 42,000, increasing by 41.4% over the previous month. Visitors from Northeast Asia accounted for 70%.

In the first quarter of this year, roughly 91,000 foreign tourists visited the country a year-on-year rise of 89.1%. Among them, visitors arriving by air accounted for nearly 90.5%, an increase of 165.2%. Revenue from accommodation and food services in the January-March period increased by 1.2 % year on year, while tourism revenue rose by 1.9 % year on year.

Hanoi to host Vietnam Card Day 2022 this month

The 2nd Vietnam Card Day 2022 will be held on April 16 and 17 in Hanoi, with the aim of promoting the development of cashless payments in Vietnam, contributing to the restoration of business activities in the new normal.

The event is part of the process of digital transformation in the banking industry, which is intended to achieve the goals set in the National Digital Transformation Program by 2025 issued by the Government, update digital applications in credit-payment services, popularize the benefits of cashless payment, thereby encouraging young customers to use modern payment methods.

The event, whose highlight is the Song (Wave) festival, will draw the attendance of more than 20 financial and banking organizations and 100 enterprises in the fields of technology, education, fashion and food. 

Vietnam-Canada Investment Forum explores co-operation opportunities

Canadian businesses place great confidence in the Vietnamese investment environment and its potential, said the director of the Canada-Vietnam Trade Council at the Vietnam-Canada Investment Forum which was held virtually on April 7, featuring the participation of roughly 200 delegates.

The Vietnam-Canada Investment Forum was held as part of a wide range of events organised by the Vietnamese Embassy in Canada over recent years in a bid to promote greater economic diplomacy and serve the country's overall development.

Currently, both the Vietnamese and Canadian economies are showing positive signs of recovery, with the Southeast Asian nation’s economic growth rate estimated to have increased by 5.03% during the first quarter of the year.

Southeast Asians say shopping online is part of daily life: survey

A large number of shoppers in Southeast Asia including Viet Nam now consider shopping online integral to daily life, a consumer study has found.

The study, done by Lazada and Milieu Insight, said two years ago, the figure was nearly 60 per cent. It now jumped to 73 per cent.

In the Vietnamese market, the study found that digital commerce had taken hold as an everyday convenience. 

In fact, Viet Nam had the highest percentage of respondents in the region considering online shopping as indispensable (81 per cent) as well as those who shop online at least once a week.

Some 85 per cent said they were spending more on online purchases since the COVID-19 outbreak.

Jetstar Airways resumes flights to Vietnam

Australia’s Jetstar Airways has resumed regular flights to Vietnam from April 8 after two years of suspension due to COVID-19 impacts.

The airline will operate five direct flights each week, with three on the Melbourne-Ho Chi Minh City route from April 8 and two on the Sydney-Ho Chi Minh route from April 9.

Jetstar Group CEO Gareth Evans said that Vietnam is one of the favourite destinations for Australian people only after Bali of Indonesia.

Before COVID-19 broke out, Vietnam was said to be one of the fastest growing tourist destinations in Southeast Asia, and the airline has seen strong bookings since Vietnam reopened its border, he said.

Ho Chi Minh City has become the sixth international destination that Jetstar Airways has restarted flights to since it resumed international operations earlier this year.

Source: VNA/SGT/VNS/VOV/Dtinews/SGGP/VGP/Hanoitimes