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Vietnam exported 16.7 billion USD worth of goods in April, raising the total export turnover in four months to 61.3 billion USD, a year-on-year increase of 15.4 percent, according to the General Statistics Office.

The outcome surpassed the yearly target of 6-7 percent set for the industry-trade sector. And, all baskets of export products recorded growth of 12-43.6 percent.

Since the beginning of this year, the export turnover of the domestic economic sector – the main driving force for the nation’s economy – has continuously surged, nearly equal to the growth level of the foreign invested economic sector (16.1 percent).

In January-April, the domestic economic sector recorded 17.3 billion USD in export turnover, up 13.7 percent, an encouraging outcome compared to a slight increase of 3.4 percent in the same period of 2016.

Also in the four-month period, trade deficit from China declined, and the Republic of Korea (RoK) took the lead with 7.3 billion USD.

Vietnam has integrated extensively and intensively into the global economy and signed a number of free trade agreements with countries and territories.

Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Do Thang Hai suggested promoting production and increasing competitiveness of businesses and goods to earn higher export value.

He recommended boosting domestic production and creating high-quality and highly-competitive products in an effort to limit the imports of unnecessary products.

At the same time, the campaign “Vietnamese prioritize to using Vietnamese goods” should be expanded and products and export markets be diversified, he stressed.

Apart from assistance from competent agencies, businesses need to develop such staples as farm produce, forestry and aquatic products, garment-textile, and footwear via developing their quality and building brand names.

Experts also noted that the trade deficit currently stands at 4.5 percent, higher than the 3.5 percent target set by the National Assembly.

They suggested taking into account the exchange rate policies and import structure to create the best conditions for domestic businesses to develop since foreign enterprises are still making up over 70 percent of the total export revenue.

Source: VietnamNet

HCM City (VNA) – A conference took place in HCM City on May 10, centering around the fourth industrial revolution and the application of Internet of Things (IoT) in smart manufacturing.

The event was organised by the Ministry of Science and Technology, National Council for Science and Technology Policy and Advantech Group to provide a general overview of trends and impacts of the industrial revolution 4.0 on Vietnam’s industrial sector, particularly in smart manufacturing.

Addressing the conference, Deputy Minister of Science and Technology Tran Van Tung said the wave of new technologies is disrupting existing industry structure and the increased use of automatic technologies allows global manufacturers to relocate factories to their home countries, taking back jobs from low-cost labour nations.

During the event, experts voiced concerns over the fact that the fourth industrial revolution, with the development of virtual reality, robotics and artificial intelligence, is producing sweeping changes to labour market and the ways products are made and consumed.

Technological innovation has made negative impacts on countries like Vietnam who will become less beneficial from low-cost workers.

The 2016 World Economic Forum forecast that Vietnam will lose about 5 million jobs in 2020 as a consequence of low labour quality, only scoring 3.79 out of 10.

Participants to the conference debated solutions for the country to make use of the wave of new technologies in improving local technology and production capacity along with competitiveness. They shared ideas on how to create more opportunities for firms to innovate and invest in digital technology.

Deputy Minister Tung underlined the necessity to implement the national science and technology renovation programme and other projects on technological innovation and hi-tech and national product development.- VNA

Source: Vietnam+

Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang said Wednesday that he was looking forward to the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in Beijing.

“This is an occasion for leaders of countries and international organizations to discuss measures to enhance cooperation and deepen international integration for peace, stability, security, prosperity and sustainable development,” Quang said in an interview with Xinhua.

“I am very pleased to accept the invitation of Chinese President Xi Jinping to attend this important forum,” he said.

Amid the rapidly changing global economy and the traditional and non-traditional security challenges, it is urgent for nations to strengthen cooperation, said the Vietnamese leader.

“Vietnam supports initiatives and efforts to foster economic links and regional connectivity for shared benefits of nations. We hope the forum will open up economic links and cooperation opportunities for nations and regions.”

The forum and its opportunities will help develop inter-continental transport infrastructure, create favorable conditions for trade and investment, forge links among enterprises, and broaden and deepen people-to-people bonds, all contributing to the realization of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, he noted.

Quang also hailed the positive effects of linking China’s Belt and Road Initiative with Vietnam’s “Two Corridors and One Economic Circle” plan to boost his nation’s industrialization and modernization.

Vietnam-China cooperation in the aforementioned framework has yielded many important results, especially in connecting transport infrastructure and facilitating trade among China’s southwestern provinces with Vietnam’s northern cities and provinces via the two corridors of Hai Phong-Hanoi-Lao Cai-Kunming and Hai Phong-Hanoi-Lang Son-Nanning, and the Beibu Gulf economic belt, Quang said.

Currently, Vietnam and China are jointly working to create more favorable conditions to bolster bilateral trade and investment ties, boost infrastructure development and expand markets.

Quang said small and medium-sized enterprises will have more opportunities to participate deeply in regional and global value chains, intensify the application of scientific and technological findings, and develop products with high added value.

“That process will make contributions to … knowledge-based economy, and sustainable and inclusive development in Vietnam and China,” Quang noted.

To achieve rapid and sustainable growth, Vietnam will continue to reform the economy, accelerate industrialization and international integration, update the growth with high added value, the Vietnamese leader said.

“During this process, we welcome Chinese enterprises to strengthen their investment and business in Vietnam, and transfer the advanced technologies via big projects, which are typical examples for China’s development level,” Quang said.

Vietnam highly appreciates Chinese investment and business, which are China’s strong points and which Vietnam has high demand for, in such sectors as infrastructure construction, manufacturing industry, high-quality human resources development and clean energy, he noted.

In addition, Vietnam will, as always, create favorable conditions for Chinese firms to exchange goods with the ASEAN and the world markets, he said.

“Reinforcing Vietnam-China comprehensive strategic partnership of cooperation is in line with long-term and principal benefits of the two countries and two peoples, and beneficial to maintaining peace and stability in the region and the world,” he said.

Political trust between the two countries has been enhanced and cooperation and exchanges have also been fostered, gaining encouraging results, said Quang.

Source: XinHuaNet

The upcoming World Economic Forum on ASEAN (WEF-ASEAN) is expected to be a chance for Vietnam to affirm its role in and responsibility towards the ASEAN and the region and to promote the country’s growing cooperation with the WEF.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc will lead a Vietnamese delegation to the WEF-ASEAN in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on May 11-12 at the invitation of the Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen and WEF Executive Chairman Klaus Schwab.

The WEF is a prestigious and efficient global forum attracting leaders of almost all major countries, international organisations, and businesses from around the world. It holds a number of forums at international and regional levels each year to discuss economic-development issues and other global affairs.

Besides the most important WEF event which is the annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, other regional WEF events include the WEF on East Asia, the WEF on Latin America, and the WEF on the Middle East, are also held every year to assess and analyse development issues of the respective regions.

Vietnam and the WEF began their cooperative relationship in 1989. Senior leaders of Vietnam have regularly attended the WEF Annual Meeting in Davos and the WEF on East Asia. WEF Managing Director Philipp Roesler visited the country in November 2014, July 2015 and April 2016.

After nearly three decades, the WEF has become an important dialogue forum between Vietnamese Government leaders and the world’s leading enterprises.

Aside from the attendance in WEF meetings, Vietnam and the WEF have expanded their cooperation to other spheres such as national competitiveness improvement, agriculture and industry.

The country also initiated the organisation of the WEF on the Mekong Region so as to popularise the Greater Mekong Sub-region to major businesses around the globe. The event in October 2016 drew nearly 200 delegates, including leaders and economic ministers of the Greater Mekong Sub-region nations and over 100 representatives of WEF member businesses and regional enterprises.

There are 11 Vietnamese businesses which are members of the WEF, including military-run telecommunications group Viettel, FPT Corporation, VinGroup, VinaCapital, the Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group (VNPT), the Join Stock Commercial Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam (Vietcombank), and Saigon Invest Group.

The WEF-ASEAN 2017, themed “Youth, Technology and Growth: Securing ASEAN’s Digital and Demographic Dividends”, takes place amid the 50th founding anniversary of ASEAN. It is set to attract more than 600 delegates, including the Prime Ministers of Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam, and the President of the Philippines.

The event will focus on assessing ASEAN’s development and integration and problems the bloc will face in the time ahead. Other issues on the agenda are ASEAN’s position in the new global geopolitical and economic context, the prospect of the ASEAN Economic Community, and impacts of the Fourth Industrial Revolution on ASEAN countries.

At the event, Cambodia will hand over the hosting of the WEF-ASEAN 2018 to Vietnam.

Source: Vietnam.net

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