VASEP: Tra fish export to EU tends to recoverTra fish exports to the EU have recovered following incorrect news published by overseas media, according to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Processors. In 2008, tra fish became popular in France, Spain and Italy thanks to its low price compared to other indigenous white-flesh fishes. Statistics from the General Department of Customs showed tra fish exports to the EU surpassed 139 million USD in the first seven months of this year, up 16.5 percent annually. Several markets posted strong growth such as the Netherlands (up 43 percent) and Italy (up 83 percent). The EU is now the third largest importer of Vietnamese tra fish, accounting for an 11.6 percent market share, behind China and the US.

Viettel slashes roaming fees for ASIAD 2018Military-run telecom provider Viettel has announced a roaming fee reduction of up to 45 percent for calls, texts and data applicable to all subscribers in Indonesia from August 15 to September 14. Viettel subscribers can enjoy a roaming fee reduction of up to 45 percent for calls, texts and data during ASIAD 18 in Indonesia. The company’s move aims to welcome the Asian Games 2018 (ASIAD 2018), helping athletes, fans and people travelling to Indonesia save on roaming fees. The one-month promotion programme applies for all Viettel subscribers successfully registering for roaming services on Indonesian networks such as Excelcom, Telkomsel and Indosat. Customers can register for roaming services by sending CVQT to 138 or downloading the Viettel Roaming app on the Google Play Store or App Store.

ASIAD 2018: Minister visits Vietnamese delegation in athletes’ villageVietnamese athletes need to demonstrate good sportsmanship and follow rules of competitions, thus promoting the country’s images to international friends, Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyen Ngoc Thien has said. Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyen Ngoc Thien meets with Vietnamese athletes in the athletes' village of ASIAD 18 (Source: news.zing.vn)The official made the statement on August 18 while visiting members of the Vietnamese delegation in the athletes’ village of the 2018 Asian Games (ASIAD 2018). To date, more than 300 members of the delegation have arrived in Indonesia and 200 of them live in the village. Thien also inquired about living and travel conditions of Vietnamese athletes, as well as medical treatment for them. The Vietnamese delegation to ASIAD 2018 consists of 532 members, including 352 athletes.

Martial arts still a gold mine for Vietnam at ASIAD 2018Vietnam’s martial arts are fighting for gold in this year’s Asian Games 2018 (ASIAD 2018), which will take place in Indonesia from August 18 to September 2. Nguyen Thi Ngoan (right) is one of the best hopes for Vietnam in martial arts (Photo: zing.vn)In the past two years, Vietnam has won two gold medals, both in the ring. In total, Vietnam has won 11 gold medals, seven of those in this discipline. It aims to snatch a minimum of three gold medals, with at least one in an Olympic sports category. At the previous Games, Vietnam pocketed one gold, 10 silver, and 25 bronze medals, ranking 21st in the medal standings.

Over $320 mln collected from PetroVietnam subsidiaries’ IPOsAs much as 7.45 trillion VND (320.5 million USD) were collected for the State budget from the initial public offerings (IPOs) of three member companies of the Vietnam Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam) in the first six months of 2018. Chairman of PetroVietnam Tran Sy Thanh speaks at the conferenceThe information was revealed by Dinh Van Son, member of PetroVietnam’s Member Council at a conference to review the equitisation of PetroVietnam Oil Corporation (PVOil), PetroVietnam Power Corporation (PV Power) and the Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical One Member Co Ltd (BSR) in Hanoi on August 17. Accordingly, BSR successfully auctioned 241,427,969 shares or 7.79 percent of its charter capital, for over 5.4 trillion VND (232.4 million USD), bringing in a surplus of 3.15 trillion VND (nearly 135.49 million USD). Meanwhile, PV Power and PVOil also held the auctions of 467,802,523 shares and 200,445,036 shares, earning 2.3 trillion VND (over 98.9 million USD) and 2 trillion VND (over 86 million USD) in surplus, respectively. PetroVietnam continues its operation in the key fields of oil and gas exploration, exploitation and production, while working to maintain the stability of its financial structure and gradually streamline its organisational apparatus.-VNA

ASIAD 2018: Vietnam ready to face JapanVietnam are ready to face Japan in the third match of Group D of the Asian Games (ASIAD) 2018 in Indonesia on August 19, according to midfielder Nguyen Quang Hai. Vietnam and Japan both have six points and goal difference of five after two matches but the Vietnamese side top the group because of fairplay rule. Japanese media praise Vietnam’s football squadJapanese football magazine Qoly praises Vietnam’s football squad. Vietnam, together with Japan, will enter the next round after beating Nepal 2-0 at the 2018 Asian Games (ASIAD) in Indonesia on August 16. Having a landslide victory over Nepal to earn a ticket to the next round, the Vietnam Olympic football team becomes the first team fulfilling target at the ASIAD 2018.

Mother Goddess rituals festival takes place in HueA Mother Goddess ritual worshipping festival started on August 18 at the Hon Chen Temple, a monument built by the Nguyen Dynasty (1802-1945) kings hundreds of years ago in the central province of Thua Thien-Hue. The procession of Mother Goddess during the annual Hon Chen rituals festivalThe three-day festival will include a grand boat procession from a temple in Hue city to Hon Chen sitting on a mountain up the Huong (Perfume) River. The procession aims to welcome the Thien Y Ana Mother Goddess to the mountain temple for three days of rituals. Mother Goddess worship is considered a belief in Vietnam, and has millions of followers. Later, King Dong Khanh (1885-1889) expanded the temple, named it Hue Nam, and facilitated the practice of Mother Goddess worshipping as he believed the Mother Goddess had helped him gain the throne.

Vietnam’s steel manufacturing in a whirlwind of lawsuitsVietNamNet Bridge - At least half of the current trade remedy, anti-countervailing and anti-dumping investigations are on products in the steel manufacturing sector. Vietnam's steel manufacturing is on the whirlwind of lawsuitsChu Thang Trung, deputy head of the Trade Remedies Department, said at a recent workshop that of 78 anti-dumping lawsuits in the last two years against Vietnam’s products, 37 had relations with the steel sector. There has been no official explanation why steel manufacturing accounts for 50 percent of total lawsuits. Of 78 anti-dumping lawsuits in the last two years against Vietnam’s products, 37 had relations with the steel sector. On May 21, the US Department of Commerce released its final decision after an anti-subsidy probe against Vietnam’s galvanized steel and cold rolled steel sourced from Chinese HRC (hot rolled coil).

Safety key for VN food exporters: conferenceGood agricultural practices and food safety certification are the first requirements for agricultural producers who want to export or sell to international retail chains, experts have said. They were speaking at a conference titled “Overcome the technical barriers for food and agricultural products to export to EU” in HCM City on Friday. Viet Nam is still among the countries whose exports are rejected by European markets mainly because of food safety issues. Food safety certificationNguyen Huy, food manager in Viet Nam for global quality certification agency Bureau Veritas, said before 2015 fishery products accounted for most food safety alerts from the RASFF about Vietnamese consignments. He said one of the most popular certifications in Europe is the BRC Global Standard for Food Safety developed by food industry experts.

Hard teaching lives in northern mountainous areasTeacher Luc Thi Ly has to walk every day along a rough and dangerous track to her school in the northern mountainous province of Cao Bang. Luc Thi Ly, 31, was recently assigned to teach at a branch of Na Kieng Nursery School in Lung Kim Village, Quang Uyen District. Na Kieng Nursery School in Lung Kim Village is in very poor condition with timber temporary classrooms. This is the same situation as many other schools in mountainous areas in Vietnam. The track to classrooms of Na Kieng Nursery School in Lung Kim Village A temporary bridgeA rundown house for teachers in Lung KimThe classroomsDtinews

VN Central Bank to inspect banks that pour money into real estateVietNamNet Bridge - The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV), in an effort to strictly control credit growth in the second half of the year, will take unscheduled inspection tours to banks that are pouring money into the real estate sector. Real estate credit comprises different types of loans, including loans to fund house purchases and upgrading, real estate trading and real estate development. In addition, Hieu said it is necessary to set limits for real estate credit. If limits are not set, it will be unclear which banks ‘pour much money into real estate’. He noted that the scale of real estate credit may be higher than reported, because many loan items are listed as ‘consumer credit’.

Vietnam’s two largest cities, Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi, are set to become sustainable cities of the future. Billion-dollar mega projects are currently underway as part of the government’s target of making Ho Chi Minh City the first smart city in Vietnam, by 2020, and Hanoi by 2030. Solidiance’s latest white paper, “Transforming Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi into Sustainable Cities of Vietnam”, delves deeply into key topics that will push forward the development of sustainable cities in Vietnam: public transport, green spaces, green buildings, and smart city initiatives. Billion-dollar projects to build smart citiesPartnerships between the government and the private sector are making progress in integrating smart city technologies in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi. Ho Chi Minh City: South Korea’s Lotte Group and the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee signed a contract valued at $1.9 billion in 2017 to build an Eco-Smart City in the Thu Thiem New Urban Area.

Quang Binh seeks governmental agreement for dumping waste into the oceanVietNamNet Bridge – The Quang Trach thermoelectricity plant, a project of Electricity of Viet Nam (EVN) in the central province of Quang Binh, is seeking final agreement from governmental agencies to dump 2.5 million cubic metres of waste mud into the local sea area. Map view of the dumping targeted site. — Photo zing.vnAccording to Viet Nam Environmental Administration, the dumping has gotten an initial go-ahead from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment in response to a request from the Quang Binh People’s Committee. He added that the targeted site was neither in any nautical routes nor a marine reserve. The plant project has a total investment of US$1.7 million and its construction started in 2011.

Earning VND1 trillion a month, Vietnamese billionaires become richer than everVietNamNet Bridge - Many large listed corporations have reported huge profits of trillions of dong. From left: Tran Dinh Long, Pham Nhat Vuong, Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao, Tran Ba DuongVuong, the owner of Vingroup (VIC), Vinhomes (VHM) and Vincom Retail (VRE), continues to be the richest stock billionaire, leaving other billionaires, including Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao (Vietjet Air VJC) and Tran Dinh Long (HPG) far behind. Vingroup (VIC), the holding company of Vinhomes, got VND6.3 trillion, while three others are commercial banks – VietinBank, Techcombank and BIDV.Commercial banks were the first businesses which reported the profit boom. Vietcombank’s profit increased by 53 percent, TP Bank’s profit was double, while the majority of banks had profit increasing by 50-150 percent.Non-banking businesses also made impressive profits of tens or hundreds of percent. US$1=VND22,000RELATED NEWSVietnamese USD billionaires buy aircraft, take over American companiesBillionaire: a 'national brand'Luong Bang

Renewables lag behind the potentialThe low feed-in tariff for wind power is causing a collective delay in wind power projects all across the country, as investors are waiting for prices to increase so their plants can become profitable. Some are now turning to developing solar power projects instead, but it remains unclear whether the country will be able to fulfil its potential. According to the MoIT, with the existing wind power FiT, these plants have difficulties recovering their investment capital. Vietnam’s wind market has yet to take off after the government first released incentives for wind power projects in 2011. Unlike wind power, solar power has become hotter than ever in Vietnam.