WTO AND VIETNAM - PM Dung meets UN, WTO leaders in Geneva
GENEVA — In meetings with UN officials in Geneva yesterday, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung affirmed Viet Nam’s great appreciation for the co-operation and support it received from the United Nations, International Labour Organisation and International Organisation for Migration.
ILO director-general Juan Somavia, International Organisation for Migration director general William Lacy Swing, and UN under-secretary general Sergei Ordzhonikidze all took note of Viet Nam’s socio-economic achievements in recent years, especially its successful recovery from the global economic crisis, and affirmed that they were ready to co-operate with and support Viet Nam in the future.
They also expressed admiration for Viet Nam’s contribution to the "One United Nations" reform initiative.
Dung told Somavia that the nation always put a focus on creating jobs, especially via its National Target Programme through 2010 which helped ensure jobs for nearly 50 million workers and increase the level of training programmes by 40 per cent. Viet Nam also continued to revise its laws and policies to promote jobs, training skills and social security.
Dung urged the ILO to continue co-operating with Viet Nam on the framework of national-level co-operation on Sustainable Job Promotion for 2006-10.
Somavia said that the ILO would keep providing technical and financial support to projects on the labour market, revising and amending the laws on labour and labour relations, sustainable job creation for the disabled, and UN programmes on gender equality.
Somavia also said he hoped that Viet Nam would take a seat on ILO’s executive board for the 2011-14 term and, in the presidency of ASEAN this year, boost co-operation between ASEAN and the ILO.
In his meeting with Swing, Dung affirmed that the Vietnamese Government consistently supported legal migration while combating human trafficking. He vowed continued co-operation with other countries and international organisations on this issue. Dung also said Viet Nam expected further financial and technical assistance from Swing’s organisation.
Swing said he was ready to help Viet Nam in developing policies for sustainable migration management; fighting human trafficking; broadening labour markets; and meeting the requirements of the international labour market, as well as protecting the legitimate rights and interests of Vietnamese guest workers who lost their jobs as a result of the global economic crisis.
He also affirmed his organisation’s co-ordination with and help to Viet Nam in dealing with illegal immigration into the country.
In his meeting with Ordzhonikidze, Dung stressed that Viet Nam attached great importance to the central role of the UN in solving international issues, especially in coping with the current global challenges.
"Viet Nam has been and will be taking an ative part in UN activities in a proactive, constructive, responsible and co-operative spirit," he said.
Dung thanked the UN and its secretariat for helping Viet Nam successfully accomplish its 2008-09 term as a non-permanent member of the Security Council.
Ordzhonikidze affirmed he would continue pushing UN organisations for effective support in terms of financial resources, knowledge and experience for Viet Nam in the latest stage of its renewal process and international economic integration, as well as in realising the Millennium Development Goals and the "One United Nations" initiative in Viet Nam.
The World Trade Organisation (WTO) is willing to lend Viet Nam a helping hand in designing a roadmap for each specific phase of its integration into the world economy, the WTO chief has said.
The statement was made when WTO Director General Pascal Lamy met Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung in Geneva, Switzerland, on January 25.
The WTO chief urged Viet Nam to continue to perfect its legal system to meet WTO standards.
Three years since its WTO admission, Viet Nam had seen a raft of economic achievements, especially GDP growth, and those in trade, FDI attraction and tourism, Lamy said.
He also highlighted Viet Nam for posting a positive GDP growth rate in 2009 when the financial crisis and the impact of the global economic recession lingered.
Regarding the Doha talks, the WTO official emphasised that once the round of negotiations succeeded, it would work to both stimulate the world economy and speed up global financial reform.
Accordingly, he said he hoped Viet Nam and other ASEAN members would act as the medium to push the Doha negotiations to end as scheduled.
For his part, Prime Minister Dung said as the ASEAN Chair in 2010, Viet Nam and other members of the grouping hoped that the Doha talks would conclude in 2010 with equitable results, which take the needs of developing and underdeveloped countries into consideration.
The early end of the Doha round would open up opportunities for trade facilitation, helping improve market entry capacity and cut subsidies, Dung told the WTO official.
The leader said Viet Nam’s serious adhesion to its WTO commitments over the past three years had provided proof of its wide and deep integration into the international trade system and positive contributions to the world’s largest trade organisation.
Dung said he expected the WTO to continue backing the idea of offering dispensation the WTO’s new members from undertaking obligations to implementing new commitments of the Doha talks. — VNS
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Vietnam's international bond issue - Vietnam smoothly comes back international bond market, HK press
"Asia Times" of Hong Kong on January 27 reported that after three years of absence, Vietnam marked its comeback to the international bond market by successfully issuing 10-year US dollar loans. Vietnam's international bond issue is assessed to be smoother compared with that of Indonesia and Philippines in this month early.
Accordingly, on January 26 early morning (Hong Kong Time), Vietnam offered $1 billion of 10-year bonds (subject to the country's second tranche bond offering from October 2005). Initially, the yield rate was defined at 6.95-7 percent pa. Finally, the bonds were traded at the nominal coupon rate of 6.75 percent and the issue yield rate of 6.95 percent pa.
As announced, the bond offering attracted the high bidding volume of the underwriter group including Barclays Capital, Citi and Deutsche Bank. The list of investors registering to join Vietnam's international bond offering reached 200 accounts with total bidding value of $2.4 billion, higher 2.4 times than the offering volume.
Vietnamese government made big efforts to reinforce its credit rating prestige before offering bonds in the current inflation context. As a result, Vietnamese bonds attracted the attention of high quality capital flow, 56 percent of transaction belonged to US investors, 16 percent to European investors and 28 percent to Asian investors.
This week early, 10-year bonds of Indonesia were traded at $101/bond but then the price decreased 1-1.5 points while Philippines' bonds fell one point. Meanwhile, thanks to the one-day delay in transaction schedule, Vietnamese bonds surged one point on January 26.
On the closing time of Asian market January 26, Indonesia's 10-year bond changed hands at $100.25 and Philippines' at $100.625/bond. Vietnamese bonds ended the first trading day at $99.5/bond, higher than the issue price of $98.576/bond.VNA
INSURANCE - Dai-ichi Life Vietnam reports steady growth
Dai-ichi life Vietnam has announced positive business results for 2009 and a breakthrough strategy for this year.
The insurer obtained 744 billion dong from insurance premiums last year with new policies increasing by 39 percent. This is also the second straight year the Japanese-invested company has posted profits from the local market after three years of operation.
The company expanded its market share from 4.8 percent in the first year to around 7 percent in 2009. Dai-ichi life Vietnam plans to obtain 8 percent of the market share this year and increase the figure to 10 percent two years later.
To reach the targets, it plans to improve human resources in its agent system and launch more products to meet various demands this year. "We hope that our agents will be pioneers in Vietnam in using net books with new software to provide consultancy for customers;' Dai-ichi life Vietnam general director Takashi Fujii told the Daily.
The company is the first insurer in Vietnam to apply insurance request forms with five questions instead of 31. It has also had Japanese experts design documents following the style of Japanese comic books to help customers learn about complicated financial concepts.
In Vietnam, Dai-ichi Life ranks third with 50 offices, 400 staff and 13,000 agents. The firm.11&0 plans to expand this year.
Dai-ichi Mutual Life Insurance Co. acquired Vietnam's Bao Minh-CMG joint venture in 2007 to establish Dai-ichi Life Vietnam and increased its chartered capital to $25 million. The enterprise was approved by the finance ministry to raise its capital to $72 million in 2008 and became the second largest foreign insurer in Vietnam in terms of invested capital.
"This proves the commitment of Dai-ichi life's long-term business in Vietnam;' Fujii said.
Established in 1902, Dai-ichi Mutual life Insurance Co is the oldest mutual insurer in Japan and the second largest life insurer there with over 8.5 million customers.VNA
TELECOM - VNPT conducts a 74.5b dong project
Vietnam Post and Telecommunication Group or VNPT and finance ministry yesterday signed a principle contract to carry out the bidding package of upgrading and expanding the data transmission for telecom infrastructure of the finance sector.
The bid is worth of nearly 74.5 billion dong. Accordingly, VNPT will supply services relating to the finance ministry's demand for hiring transmission channel, expanding and installing data transmission channels for the telecom infrastructure of finance sector from now till the end of 2011.
Earlier, in August 2009, VNPT and finance ministry had inked a cooperation deal on applying digital signature for electronic state administration services.vns
CHEMICALS - PET prepares for distributing polypropylene products
Petrolimex Services Joint Stock Corp (coded PET) announced that the company would officially start distributing the plastic particles produced by Dung Quat Polypropylene Plastic Plant in February 2010.
At present, the corporation is completing the final preparation works of connecting the power network and other technical facilities between Dung Quat Oil Refinery and the polypropylene plastic plant in order to serve for trial running period and operation process.
The polypropylene plastic plant was the first petrochemical projects in Dung Quat Oil Refinery Complex. The plant was built on a site of 16 hectares near Dung Quat Oil Refinery with total investment capital of $232 million, or nearly 4 trillion dong. The plant has designed capacity of 150,000 tonnes of product per year. After two years of construction, the contractors have already finished 96 percent of the total construction works.
It is expected that PET's annual revenue will be increased to over 3 trillion dong from its sole distribution activities of plastic products for Dung Quat Oil Refinery.DTCHK
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