India helps translate ancient inscriptions in My Son SanctuaryThe Sanskrit inscriptions on steles at the UNESCO world heritage My Son Sanctuary in central Quang Nam province will be translated into Vietnamese and English as part of a joint project between Vietnam and India. UNESCO world heritage My Son Sanctuary in central Quang Nam province. Under the project, which started on April 3, specialists from India will study the steles and help Vietnam translate the epitaphs from Sanskrit, the ancient liturgical language of Hinduism, to Vietnamese and English. The complex has Sanskrit epitaphs engraved on 31 steles made of brick and stone, the main materials used in building My Son Sanctuary, said Nguyen Cong Khiet, deputy head of the sanctuary’s management committee. The first construction of My Son dated back to the 4th century under the reign of Bhadravarman for the worship of God Shiva-Bhadresvara.

Vietnamese food an attractive tourism productThe culinary festival “Essence of Vietnamese food” will take place in Ho Chi Minh City from April 6-8, introducing special dishes from across the nation, as part of activities to develop food tourism. According to Vice President of the Vietnam Tourism Association (VTA) Vu The Binh, the tourism sector is developing numerous unique products to lure visitors, with food a product featuring Vietnam’s cultural identity. Many Vietnamese dishes have become popular worldwide, showing that Vietnamese food can become a distinguished tourism product, Binh said. The VICA will develop standards and norms for Vietnamese dishes, and criteria for ranking Vietnamese chefs, according to Tinh. The second Global Report on Food Tourism showed that 87 percent of surveyed organisations identify food tourism among their key factors for tourism development, while 82 percent said food tourism is a significant motivation for tourism development and local economic development.

Vietnam to cut corporate tax to 15-17% in bid to boost business climateVietnam is planning to slash corporate income tax rates from the current 20-22% to 15-17% in an effort to make the country one of the most competitive economies in ASEAN, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has revealed. The Government leader announced the plans in a speech at the GMS Business Summit held in Hanoi last week. He reiterated Vietnam’s commitment to an action-oriented government working in the interest of the people and businesses, for which tax reform is one of the crucial undertakings in its efforts to enhance the country’s competitiveness. He also affirmed Vietnam’s commitment to protect intellectual property rights and innovative ideas during the start-up process. Prime Minister Phuc stated that these improvements have boosted the confidence of investors and businesses in the Government’s reform efforts and inspired the Government to continue its reform programme.

Foreigners keen on investing in VietnamA total of 1,285 deals were made by foreign investors to contribute capital to and buy shares of Vietnamese businesses with total capital of 1.89 billion USD in the first quarter of this year, up 121.6 percent against the same period last year. In total, Vietnam attracted 5.8 billion USD in foreign investment during January-March, down 25 percent year-on-year. The retail and wholesale sectors received the second largest chunk of FDI with 531 million USD or 9.2 percent, followed by the real estate sector with 486 million USD or 8.4 percent. Businesses from Hong Kong registered to pour 689 million into Vietnam, making up 11.9 percent of the country’s total FDI, while those from Singapore injected 649 million USD, 11.2 percent of total FDI. To fully capitalise on the FDI capital, the MoPI is drafting a FDI strategy for 2018-2023.

Foreign firms upbeat about business prospects in VietnamBusiness confidence has increased among foreign direct investment (FDI) companies in Vietnam, according to a survey conducted by the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI). In addition, initial investment certificates were issued to FDI companies within 37 working days in 2017, as compared to 47 working days in the previous year. Procedures for tax code registration and adjustment of investment registration certificates have been simplified as well, according to the survey. However, Malesky said that Vietnam should make more efforts to streamline administrative procedures for foreign investors. Improvement in labour productivity and human resources will be among key factors for Vietnam to escape middle-income trap and capitalize on foreign investments, he added.-VNA

E-commerce platforms line up to fill Facebook’s bootsOnline businesses may turn to other platforms to do business after Facebook blocked API, affecting many Vietnamese retailers using it as a trading platform. Facebook's blocking of API has forced online businesses to consider alternativesFacebook remains a large business channel for many Vietnamese young people. However, Facebook’s blocking the API to limit the data collected from users caused difficulties for a large number of online businesses in recent days. Along with Facebook, many businesses also use other social networks and e-commerce applications for trading, such as Zalo and Lazada. Khanh also opened an online shoe shop to reach new customers, besides using Facebook to keep the old ones.

HCM City highways set for upgradesVietNamNet Bridge – HCM City in recent years has built a number of multi-million dollar roads, including the Hanoi, Nguyen Van Linh and Pham Van Dong highways, but footbridges and public restroom facilities were not included as part of the projects. A newly built footbridge on Pham Van Dong Highway which connects districts Thu Duc, Binh Thanh and Go Vap in HCM City. With no public conveniences along the 15km-long Ha Noi Highway, many students from the National University in HCM City have complained about the bad odour at bus stops along the highway. “I hope the city authorities will build toilets on this road and other highways,” Nhu told Tuoi Tre Newspaper. As a result, many passersby have to venture to cross the 12- to 16-lane, 113 – 123 metre-wide Ha Noi Highway because there are few footbridges.

Space junk demo mission launchesA UK-led experiment to tackle space junk has been sent into orbit. Space junk is an ever-growing problem with more than 7,500 tonnes of redundant hardware now thought to be circling the Earth. At the end of its mission, RemoveDebris will deploy a large membrane. He said the jury was still out on the best way to capture and remove space junk. These include Airbus, which supplied the harpoon technology, and Surrey Satellite Technology Limited, which assembled the spacecraft.

Forest rangers investigate seized treesThe Forest Protection Department is investigating the origin of three giant trees which have just been seized while being transported for sale. The giant trees were seized in Thua Thien - Hue Province on March 30Head of the Forest Protection Department, Do Quang Tung, told Dtinews on April 1 that they were working with forest rangers in the central highlands province of Dak Lak to track the origin of the trees and would give appropriate punishment if they were taken from local forests. The giant trees were seized on March 30 by transport police in the central province of Thua Thien - Hue who gave a fine of nearly VND82 million (USD3,613) to the Hai Son Transport Company for violating freight size regulations. "After the trees were seized, we had worked with the pagoda's representative and transferred the trees to them." Earlier several newspapers reported about the three giant trees being transported on the National Road 1 from Dak Lak Province without being stopped by authorities for violating traffic rules.

Honey harvesting season in Hung YenHouseholds in the northern province of Hung Yen are busy harvesting honey. After 10 years in Hung Yen, his bees generated around 800 kilogrammes of honey. When the longan flower season ends, people in Hung Yen take their bees to other localities for honey. Households in the northern province of Hung Yen are busy harvesting honeyThe longan flower season in Hung YenRaising bees depends much on the weather. The bee smoker to sedate the beesLongan flower honey is good quality A stung handAt present, each litre of honey is sold at between VND80-100,000 Taking honey from the honeycombDtinews

Forgiving tax debts must be done transparentlyA recent proposal by the Ministry of Finance to clear over VNĐ26.5 trillion (US$1.16 billion) of tax arrears, accounting for more than a third of all tax arrears and irrecoverable fines, has raised public concern about the fairness and transparency of handling tax debts. Over VNĐ35.5 trillion, or half of total tax debts owed to both customs and the finance ministry, was deemed irrecoverable. In many cases, the State owes so much money to enterprises that they lack enough cash to pay tax debts, leading to fines for late tax payment. Another proposal is to remove tax debts and fines originating before 2018 for taxpayers who were struck by natural disasters, fires, unexpected accidents or other force majeure circumstances. Clearing tax debts is a rational policy but it should be done in an objective and practical manner to ensure transparency and equality and avoid abuse, tax evasion and excessive power of interest groups.

Mekong transboundary cooperation: Making a problem biggerVietNamNet Bridge would like to introduce an article by Jake Brunner, head of IUCN’s Hanoi-based Indo-Burma Group and Brian Eyler, director of Stimson Center’s Washington DC-based Southeast Asia Program about the need to foster cooperation among Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia in protecting the Mekong River. While they are neighbors, Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam vary greatly in size, population, natural resource abundance, and level of economic development. This has resulted in a boom in dam building over the past 15 years including three dams on the Mekong mainstream. However, it is also the case that Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam can each offer its neighbors something that they cannot achieve by themselves. And as the country with the most advanced economy and is most vulnerable to the impacts of upstream hydropower, Vietnam has the capacity and self-interest to lead the negotiation process.

The festival will be held at Park 23/9 from April 12-15 by the municipal Department of Tourism. Visitors will be able to peruse promotional programs from travel agents, restaurants, hotels, and airlines, take part in art and tourism exchanges, and play games for valuable prizes. Hue FestivalThemed “Cultural Heritage with Integration and Development; Hue – one destination, five World Heritages”, the 10th Hue Festival will be held from April 27 to May 5 in Thua Thien-Hue. It will feature an international food festival, a street festival, Trinh Cong Son music night, and an Ao dai festival. Da Nang International Fireworks FestivalThis is a major tourism event for the central region in summer.

Many markets are a fire riskVietNamNet Bridge – Almost 90 per cent of local markets in Hanoi don’t meet fire safety standards. — VNA/VNS Photo Vu SinhStatistics released by the Fire-fighting Prevention and Control Police Department revealed only 35 of the 313 local markets were up to scratch. In the markets failing to meet the standards, many of them were found to be lacking fire-fighting equipment. Hoang Quoc Dinh, head of the department said the markets’ management board should conduct more inspections to force the kiosks’ owners to seriously obey the regulations on fire-fighting prevention and control. Dao Ngoc Nghiem, vice chairman of the Ha Noi Association for Urban Planning and Development, said recently that fires not only occurred in local markets but also in apartment buildings.

Stone-throwing gang re-appears on National Highway 27VietNamNet Bridge – Police in this Central Highland province are urgently seeking a group of vandals suspected of throwing rocks into a car on National Highway 27. Police in the Central Highland province of Dak Lak are urgently seeking a group of vandals suspected of throwing rocks into a car on National Highway 27. – VNA/VNS PhotoCol Ha Cong Thuong, head of police in Lak District, made the announcement regarding the incident, which occurred at 10pm on Sunday. A group of six young people, riding on three motorbikes, had crossed in front of the victim’s car before throwing rocks into the vehicle. The incident is one of a series of attacks on passengers of vehicles plying this highway in recent time.