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Holding strong the solemn dedication to best serve our clients, Golden Emperor is delighted to announce that we won 2 awards at the “GoHome Awards 2017” ceremony. The“Best Overseas Property Agency (Thailand) Award” and “Best Overseas Property Agency (Vietnam) Award” have granted us the acknowledged recognition from the market, in a way that made us successfully win the awards three times in a row. We wholeheartedly extend our gratitude to clients who voted for us, to distinguish us from fellow agencies to showcase our auspicious stand and let our expertise take the lead in the competitive market.

Mr. Terence Chan, Managing Director of Golden Emperor, said when accepting the awards, “Thank you for GoHome Awards and the public, for all your great support; in the future, we will keep bearing the mission to be the best overseas property agency to deliver only outstanding properties through our professional service.”

The ceremony took place at the Four Seasons Hotel (Hong Kong), presented a total of 22 awards, covering 3 major categories in the property market: “Best Property Projects,” “Best Property Services,” and “Best Lifestyle Brands.” Golden Emperor won 2 awards in the “Best Property Services” category while our business partners, Sansiri, leading land developer in Thailand, and CapitaLand Vietnam, one of the biggest land developers in Asia, respectively won the “Best Overseas Property Developer (Thailand)” and “Best Overseas Property Developer (Vietnam) Award.” We are very excited to learn the news and being able to collaborate with such renowned business partners, it once again, has courageously proven our prestigious status in the market.

Above: Ms. Rachel Teo, Strategic Planning Manager, CapitaLand Vietnam.

Above: Mr. Cobby Leathers, Head of International Business, Sansiri PLC.

Chiang Mai is counting down to the ASEAN Tourism Forum 2018(ATF) from 22 to 26 January, 2018, as the city makes final arrangements for one of the most significant annual travel events in Asia.

ATF rotates between ASEAN member nations and comprises numerous high-level public and private sector meetings. These include the ASEAN Tourism Ministers Meeting, a gathering of ASEAN National Tourism Organisation chiefs plus airline meetings, press briefings, tourism conferences and the must attend Travel Exchange (TRAVEX) trade fair.

Widely viewed as the region’s best buying and selling platforms for Asia’s burgeoning tourism industry, ATF returns to Thailand for the sixth time with the focus on its iconic northern travel destination of Chiang Mai, also known as the ‘Rose of the North’.

Mr. Yuthasak Supasorn, Governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand said, “Chiang Mai is Thailand’s second largest city and the economic engine of Northern Thailand and remains one of the Kingdom’s must-visit destinations.

“However, Chiang Mai maintains its charming traditions and is still known for its lovely Lanna temples and family friendly attractions. Chiang Mai’s travel trade continues to expand its product offering, diversifying recently into adrenaline-based adventure tourism and gastronomy tourism to name just a few activities.”

Chiang Mai was recently named third best city in the world by the Travel + Leisure World’s Best Awards: The World’s Top 15 Cities for 2017 in a recent reader’s poll.

The Travel + Leisure magazine poll places Chiang Mai tops among Asian cities for the second consecutive year, while Bangkok appears number eight.  The score is based on a survey of over 300,000 international Travel + Leisure readers who were asked to rate the ‘best of the best’ in international travel experiences.

The award-winning city also ranked 12^th in the TripAdvisor Travellers’ Choice Awards’ Top 25 Destinations in Asia.

Mr. Yuthasak added, “Chiang Mai received the accolades because it remains the perfect place to enjoy unique Thai local experiences; such as, traditional ‘fire massages’ at Ban Rai Kong Khing Community Centre or a sit-down Northern-style Khantoke dinner.

“Blessed with a wonderful climate, rich local cultural, natural heritage and numerous Royal Projects, Chiang Mai continues to benefit from convenient air access with a multitude of flights arriving from around Southeast Asia, North Asia and Europe in addition to numerous domestic flights. Chiang Mai boasts a complete range of accommodation including many top-class resorts and hotels.”

source: TAT NEWS

Thailand is staging the “Digital Thailand Big Bang 2017” exhibition under the concept of Digital Transformation Thailand. The government says now marks the beginning of the implementation part of its efforts to reform economy and society into Thailand 4.0. The exhibition feature the latest technological innovations, and brings together more than 120 companies engaged in digital technology that are sharing their insights. The event continues until September 24 at Challenger Hall 1-2 at Impact in Muang Thong Thani.

Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha said: “Digital Thailand Big Bang 2017 is the milestone event which propels the whole nation into the digital era.

“It is organised by the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society (MDES), Digital Economy Promotion Agency (DEPA) and co-organised by the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC).

The event will display the processes to transform the country to Thailand 4.0, a new engine of growth that will drive the economy forward through high-tech industries and innovations.

In 2017, the government has maximised the use of digital technology in three aspects;

1. To create new opportunities for economic growth and improve the delivery of government services for its people: the Pracha Rat Internet, to bridge a digital gap by providing high speed Internet accessibility to 74,700 communities in Thailand within a year.

The government is aiming to create innovations through the application of technology, such as e-commerce to enhance the capabilities so that the people can run their businesses online; e-health to enable swift exchange of information between experts and individual units located across the nation; e-education to offer numerous possibilities for distance learning to people, including children, senior citizens and underprivileged; e-agriculture to change the country’s traditional farming to smart farming and to help Thai farmers to become entrepreneurs and e-service to serve as a central information center to facilitate people in obtaining public services.

2. Ranges of digital innovations: Digital Park Thailand spanning over 600 rai will be built in Sri Racha, Chon Buri as the centre of the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC); support for the Internet of Things (IoT) to local tech start-ups; and smart city initiatives. Digital Park and the development of smart cities will help improve quality of life and the local environment while enabling the country to use resources more efficiently.

3. Global Connectivity: This is to facilitate international collaboration through digital platforms. The government is in the process of setting up a one-stop service for permits relating to setting up a business. To improve the ease of doing business, cooperation with global partners will be made to support Thai startups to form their businesses and create a cybersecurity.

Source：The Nation

Experiencing large-scale urbanization and with a positive economic outlook, the demand for infrastructure in Vietnam has intensified.

Urban growth in the country has increased from 27 per cent in 2005 to 34 per cent in 2015, while the figure in Thailand was 50 per cent.

Vietnam currently leads Southeast Asia in infrastructure spending, at 5.7 per cent of GDP, according to the latest report from CBRE. The report also identified a challenge to increasing infrastructure in ASEAN as being a lack of private participation.

As noted by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), more than 90 per cent of Asia’s infrastructure investment comes from the public sector.

The urban railway lines in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi are the largest infrastructure projects fostering the development of satellite economic areas.

There are other significant ongoing projects, such as the Hanoi-Hai Phong Expressway, Bach Dang Bridge, Van Don International Airport, and National Road 4B, and projects in the early stages of planning, such as the Eastern Economic Corridor and the tollway connecting Ho Chi Minh City and Phnom Penh, Cambodia, which should benefit modern industries such as automobiles, electronics, tourism, agriculture, construction, and transport.

Putting Vietnam in a regional context helps evaluate the potential effects of changes in the dynamics of the regional economy.

“The logistics sector should be the main beneficiary of ASEAN’s high levels of infrastructure investment in the short to mid-term, given increased connectivity within each country and between neighboring countries,” the CBRE report stated.

In the longer term, decentralization within metropolitan areas and sub-national regions will provide plenty of opportunities for developers, owners, and occupiers.

The report also highlighted various key projects in and between countries and discussed ways in which connecting the region would transform industries and the real estate landscape.

The ASEAN Economic Community has a vision of liberalizing markets and improving the mobility by skilled people between countries. Individually, countries have been building up their own infrastructure prowess.

Source：VN Business

Vietnam is the sixth largest economy in the 10-member ASEAN bloc, trailing the Philippines yet followed by Myanmar. Its service, industry and agriculture sectors account for, respectively, 44%, 39% and 17% of GDP. Major industry and service sectors of the country include manufacturing, mining, construction, real estate and finance.

In the first six months of 2017, Vietnam’s economy rose 5.7% year-on-year (YOY) thanks in part to the expansion in the industry sector, with manufacturing and processing recording a 10.2% growth. In the same period, the service sector also showed a solid 6.9% increase, supported largely by the 7.1% growth in wholesale and retail. In August 2017, Vietnam’s average consumer price inflation rate registered a YOY rise of 3.8%, driven mainly by higher prices for healthcare and medicine services.

The Vietnamese government has increased the minimum wage between 2010 and 2015 by an annual average of 18%. The National Wage Council announced in 2016 to raise the minimum wage by 7.3% from January 2017, lower than 12.4% for 2016. Nevertheless, Vietnam’s new monthly wage in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) now stands at US$166. The Minimum Wage Adjustment Road Map to 2020 released by the Ministry of Labour expects the minimum wage in Region One (covering Hanoi and HCMC) to go up to VND4.8 million (US$213) in 2020.

Under the Master Plan on Economic Restructuring in 2013-2020, restructuring of public investment, banks, and state-owned enterprises (SOEs) is high on government priorities. The Vietnamese authorities aim to divest 406 SOEs by 2020, with 135 scheduled for 2017 alone. SOEs targeted for divestment include the Vietnam Engine and Agricultural Machinery Corporation (VEAM) and the Airports Corporation of Vietnam (ACV).

To accelerate restructuring of the banking system, the Vietnamese government allowed foreign investors to own a bigger share in local banks, in which the equity limit for strategic foreign investors was lifted from 15% to 20% from 2014. In 2015, Vietnam further loosened its restriction on foreign ownership in public companies by allowing equity share of 100% in most public companies, with the exception of a few sensitive industries such as banking and defense.

Vietnam’s merchandised exports surged 18.9% YOY to US$97.8 billion in 1H 2017, while imports rose 24.1% YOY to US$100.5 billion, resulting in a trade deficit of US$2.7 billion. The export surge was caused by the rise in demand of electronics, computers and components as well as machines and equipment.

Exports of electronic items accounted for 30% of total merchandise exports in 2016. In particular, exports of phones and components rose 14% YOY to US$34.5 billion, driven by the foreign-invested manufacturing sector. Vietnam’s top export markets in 2016 were the US, China and Japan.

Major imported items in 2016 consisted of machinery, equipment and parts, and electronics, computers and accessories. A large part of Vietnam’s imported capital goods is related to export assembly. China is the largest source of Vietnam’s imports, followed by Korea and Japan.

Vietnam’s impressive export growth is largely driven by FDI. According to the Ministry of Planning and Investment, the FDI sector accounted for 72% of Vietnam’s total exports and nearly all of its telephones, electronics and computers and components exported in 2016.

As at 20 July 2017, Vietnam attracted a total FDI inflow of US$12.9 billion. Japan was Vietnam’s largest FDI source (US$4.8 billion), followed by Singapore and Korea. Hong Kong was Vietnam’s fifth largest source of inward FDI in the same period, valued at about US$0.6 billion. Major investment fields include manufacturing, automotive and real estate.

In May 2017, Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang indicated that his country attaches great importance to broadening and deepening economic, trade and investment relations with China, which is pushing forward the Belt and Road Initiative, Two Corridors and One Circle Plan with Vietnam, as well as the construction of cross-border economic zone in Vietnam.

Source：HKTDC