Business in brief 22/10
Kim Dong-soo, president of the Export-Import Bank of Korea met with PM Nguyen Tan Dung to discuss future economic cooperation between the two countries in Hanoi yesterday. Korean President Lee Myung-bak is now visiting Vietnam in hopes of expanding bilateral cooperation. Exim Bank President Kim earlier signed an agreement with Tran Anh Tuan, president of Bank for Investment and Development on a USD 50 million interbank export credit that would promote economic exchanges. The credit line will be used to provide necessary finances to import Korean products and services. As of October, the Korean Exim Bank is providing support worth USD 834 million to 30 businesses in Vietnam from its economic development cooperation fund. Its recent push is based on increasing trade with Vietnam.
Mobile TV technology developed in Korea is to be introduced in Vietnam. The Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute on Wednesday said its business unit DMBro and state-run Vietnam TV signed a memorandum of understanding to introduce the terrestrial DMB service there. ETRI said it has been test-running the DMB service for Vietnam TV News and Sports 2 Channel in Hanoi since May last year. Vietnam TV will start the commercial terrestrial DMB service next month. DMBro and Broadtech SC, an affiliate of Vietnam TV, agreed to collaborate with the big three Vietnamese telecom firms and expand the service across the country from next year, starting with Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. DMBro expects to attract 5 million subscribers within three years after starting the service.
Hyundai Motor Co., South Korea’s top automaker, said Thursday it has begun selling the Equus luxury sedan in Vietnam, as part of its efforts to push into the luxury segment of Southeast Asia. The launch of the Equus, which comes equipped with either a 3.8- or 4.6-liter gasoline engine, coincided with a visit by South Korean President Lee Myung-bak to Vietnam. "With the Equus, Hyundai Motor will actively cope with demand for Vietnam’s high society by competing with Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Lexus," said a company official. Hyundai did not reveal its sales target for the Equus in Vietnam. Hyundai entered the Vietnamese market in 2007. Last year, it sold 10,539 units there, accounting for 11.7 per cent of the market.
A series of workshops to introduce Vietnam export portal at www.vnex.com.vn (VNEX) will be held in Hanoi, Quang Ninh, Da Nang, Nha Trang and Ho Chi Minh City from October 21-30. According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT), the workshops will help businesses to exploit online information and do e-marketing. MoIT has called on businesses to provide information to make the website become a more effective means for Vietnam’s export market in general and its export businesses in particular. Economic experts said the portal will play an important role in providing enterprises with opportunities to find new markets through the exploitation of online information and e-marketing, which are still new to many Vietnam businesses. Foreign partners can find information on over 16,000 businesses and their products at VNEX. Besides, the portal will help Vietnamese enterprises to advertise their own companies on the website.
Vietnam’s central bank will maintain its loose monetary policy for now to support the country’s economic recovery, the governor said. The bank will also seek more foreign loans to shore up its declining foreign exchange reserves, State Bank of Vietnam Governor Nguyen Van Giau said in a statement seen on Thursday. "The loose monetary policy will continue to be implemented under a timeline with the focus to sustain economic growth," Giau said.
Vietnam’s government allowed companies to import an additional 10,000 tons of sugar this year because of increasing demand, according to a statement on the government’s website, citing the Ministry of Industry and Trade. The decision was made after demand for sugar during the mid-autumn festival last month boosted prices to as much as VND16,000 (90 US cents) per kilogram, the statement said, without giving further details.
The Japanese government and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) signed an agreement on Monday to provide Vietnam’s microfinance programs with USD1.5 million in grant aid. Under the two-year project, five programs providing financial services and products for low-income citizens will be supported and developed with the funds, said a statement on the ADB website. The money will fund staff training for the programs, according to the statement. The assistance, distributed via the State Bank of Vietnam, will also help strengthen the programs’ information systems, and help them introduce innovative pro-poor products as well as expand branch coverage, ADB said. Programs with diverse stakeholders and private ownership will be the project’s main beneficiaries.
