RoK helps build fire station at Mt. Geumgang

Seoul (VNA) – A fire station funded by the government of the Republic of Korea (RoK) is going to open early next week at Mount Geumgang tourist resort in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK).

The RoK government injects around 1.7 billion won (1.6 million USD) from a government-funded fund to this project, a spokesman for the Unification Ministry said.

Hyundai Asan, a Hyundai affiliate that operates the resort on the DPRK’s eastern coast, will lease the facility until the two Koreas organise a joint management office.

The assistance for the construction of the fire station is one of the RoK’s efforts to accelerate inter-Korean cooperation programmes, according to the RoK government.

Despite tensions in the inter-Korean relations, civilian cooperation programmes have been going smoothly, according to the ministry. The number of RoK tourists heading to Mountain Geumgang rose by about 60 percent to 194,000 in the first six months of this year from 115,000 a year earlier.-

Laos plans to produce over 2 million tonnes of rice

Vientiane (VNA) – Laos’ Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry plans to yield over 2.4 million tonnes of rice on 635,000 ha nationwide this year, local media reported on July 5.

The plan aims to ensure Laos’ domestic rice consumption and reducing its imports of the food, the Lao news agency (KPL) cited the ministry as saying.

With a population of 6 million people, Laos needs at least 2.5 million tonnes of paddy rice per year, the news agency added.

If the country wants to export rice, it should produce more than 3 million tonnes per year, KPL cited President of Agricultural Product Processing and Production Group, Sisouphanh Sengsavanh, as saying. –

ASEAN chief launches ASEC brown bag series

Jakarta (VNA) – Secretary-General of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Surin Pitsuwan, on July 4 launched the inaugural ASEC Brown Bag Series at the ASEN Secretariat in Jakarta.

The ASEC Brown Bag Series is a forum provided by the ASEAN Secretariat to raise awareness of ASEAN’s initiatives among its staff, government officials and the public at large, the secretariat said in a statement.

It also serves as a venue to share ideas and insights on key issues facing the region and generate public interest in the activities of the ASEAN Secretariat in an informal setting, the statement added.

The first in the series on “Climate Change and Deforestation: What Role for the New ASEAN?” was organised in collaboration with the ASEAN-German Regional Forest Programme (ReFOP).

More ASEC Brown Bag Series will be organised in the coming months as the ASEAN Secretariat intensifies its public outreach efforts, the statement said. –

US hospital ship helps local patients

The USNS Mercy ship has left Vietnam’s central coastal Khanh Hoa province on June 29 after finishing its humanitarian mission in the locality.

During the 10-day stay, volunteer doctors from the hospital ship co-operated with Vietnamese colleagues to provide free check-ups and medicine for more than 10,000 patients and free surgery for 230 others.

In addition to treatment performed onboard, volunteer doctors participated in repairing and improving five medial facilities in Nha Trang city, Dien Khanh and Ninh Hoa districts of the province. The work was estimated to cost them around 62,000 USD.-

Vietnamese agronomists do magic in Africa

In just a year Vietnamese farmers managed to help Sierra Leone double annual rice crops to two and quadruple per-ha rice yield to four tonnes, an unbelievable success that international experts had for long dreamt at.

The success has been made by a group of experienced farmers led by Prof. Dr. Vo Tong Xuan, who went to Sierra Leone from the second half of 2007 to provide farmers there with rice farming expertise under a project on “Exporting Mekong Delta farmers to Sierra Leone ”.

The biggest achievement gained in the project is to help local farmers overcome the shortage of machinery and a poor irrigation system as well as to reserve 3 tonnes of rice seeds for a large scaled farming in the upcoming crop. It is a dream that has never come true to international experts despite their huge investments.

The accomplishment in Sierra Leone has brought the Britain-based T4M Company to sign a contract with Vietnam to send experienced farmers to other countries in Africa .

Under the contract, Prof. Dr. Vo Tong Xuan once more led a group of farmers to Nigeria and Ghana from June 22 to conduct a survey on the transfer of rice farming techniques.

Xuan said the project with the T4M company showed a number of favourable conditions as soil in the two Western African countries is similar to those in Vietnam ’s Mekong Delta and the T4M company’s financial capacity is powerful enough to meet essential demands by the project. The British Government has also agreed to introduce T4M to banks for 36 million USD loans to execute the project.

The survey in Nigeria and Ghana would provide a foundation for rice experts to work out a consultative plan on “A massive exportation of Mekong Delta farmers to the other side of the planet” for the Vietnamese Government and Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to consider, Xuan confided.

He said with industrious tradition and rich experience in rice farming, farmers in the Mekong Delta unquestionably can become rice-growing experts for the colleagues in Africa . They will help cash in on the continent’s rich soil, thus reducing its rice import volume and alleviate the famine in the region.

The project will not only aim to boost rice production but also vegetables growing and supplies for major metropolis, creating a great demand for Vietnamese farmers-turned-experts as one of them will work on ten hectares of cultivated land.

In addition to relative good incomes for farmers in comparison with average earnings at home, the project has also opened an opportunity for farming machine exports to the “black” continent.–

Scientists breed rare Mekong River fish

Scientists from the National Centre for Freshwater Fish Breeding of Southern Vietnam have successfully bred several rare species of fish indigenous to the Mekong River , saving them from the threat of extinction.

Dr Pham Van Khanh, director of the centre, which is based in the delta province of Tien Giang , said the centre had successfully bred more than 20 species that either had high commercial value or faced extinction.

They included ho (Catlocarpio siamensis) and ca coc (cyclocheilichthys enoplos).

Khanh, who was in charge of a project to breed and raise ca coc said the centre had succeeded in artificially propagating the fish after six years of study.

He said the centre’s scientists had to go to the Tien and Hau rivers, two Mekong distributaries, to buy rare the species from fishers.

Huynh Huu Ngai, who was in charge of the project breed ho fish, said when the project began in 2003 he and his colleagues had to go to An Giang, Vinh Long and Dong Thap provinces to find ho, also known as “giant barb”.

In June 2005, Ngai and his team successfully hatched the first ho by artificial means, with a success rate of 13 percent.

The rate now tops 40 percent, he said.

Ho live mainly in the lower Mekong basin in Vietnam and Cambodia , but population has declined sharply due to overfishing.

Ngai said since April 2002 he had not heard ho anyone catching a ho weighing more than 150kg in the delta. The fish grow to 300-400kg when fully mature.

The centre now has 84 breeding pairs of ho, with the largest weighing 25kg.

The centre has supplied more than 10,000 ho fry to farmers in An Giang and Dong Thap provinces and to an aquaculture company in Ho Chi Minh City .

It annually supplies around 20 million breeding fish to farmers, including rare species like ca et moi (Morulius chrysophekadion) and ca chai (Leptobarbus hoevenii).

The centre is also one of the leaders in artificial propagation of catfish like tra and basa, which are now bred in the delta in large quantities for export.
Khanh said the centre was also studying artificial propagation of other rare fish species, including ca lang (Hemibagrus clongatus) and ca ket (Kryptopterus bleekeri).-

Property giants eye irresistible Da Nang

Domestic and foreign companies are flocking to Da Nang to invest in large property projects worth millions of dollars, investment officials said.

In the first half of the year, the central city has issued incorporation licences to 1,177 Vietnamese investors with total capital of 5.5 trillion VND (330 million USD), an 85 percent year-on-year growth.

Also licensed were nine foreign direct investment (FDI) projects worth 743 million USD.

Several giant property projects are underway in Da Nang . Among them is the Golden Square , a complex of three 38-storey towers being built at a cost of 62.5 million USD by Dong A joint stock real estate company.

Others include the Da Nang Centre, a shopping complex, office block and hotel, the 225 million USD Han Riverside project by the Vu Chau Long Real Estate company, and the 180 million USD, 48-storey Vien Dong Meridian tower complex.

Major players like Vinacapital and Indochina Capital have entered the fray, developing projects like the 27 million USD Indochina Riverside Towers and 50 million USD Hyatt Regency Da Nang, an international tourist area.

Korean investors too find Da Nang attractive, pumping money into some large property projects. Deawon Corporation is building the Da Phuoc new urban area project at a cost of 250 million USD and a 30 million USD apartment block south of Tuyen Son bridge.

Rombus Inc. and Union Network Co. have agreed to jointly invest 600 million USD to build a residential-commercial complex in urban area No.4.
But investors are nevertheless pressing the local government to simplify construction and help them complete the projects on schedule given the high inflation rate.-

Over 11,000 foreigners join local exchange

As of July 1, around 11,431 foreign investors had joined the stock exchange, including 742 institutes and 10,689 individuals, according to the Vietnam Securities Depository Centre.

In June alone, the exchange attracted 372 foreign investors, including 30 institutes and 342 individuals.-

Mergers and acquisition market on track: seminar

The mergers and acquisitions market (M&A) is developing rapidly in both quantity and size, a seminar discussing M&A held in Ho Chi Minh City heard on July 3.

According to the Ministry of Planning and Investment’s Foreign Investment Agency’s statistics, by the end of last December, there had been nearly 1,100 M&A transactions with a total value of 16.8 billion USD.

In the first half of last year alone, there were 46 transactions of 626 million USD, compared to the 32 worth 245 million USD in 2006 and 18 worth 61 million USD in 2005.

M&A were seen in almost all areas, according to the general director of An Binh Securities Nguyen Hong Quan.

Indochina Capital Vietnam Holding has acquired a 20 percent stake of local fashion firm NinoMaxx; while in production, Kinh Do Corp has bought the right to use ice cream manufacturer Wall’s trademark, and Anco has purchased a Nestle milk factory.

In the financial and banking sectors, Japan ’s Daiichi Group acquired joint venture insurer Bao Minh-CMG; Morgan Stanley became a strategic shareholder of PetroVietnam Finance Joint Stock Corporation (PVFC); and HSBC invested in Techcombank.

Eximbank has also sold 25 percent of its equity to four foreign entities including Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp, VOF Investment Ltd, Mirae Asset Exim Investment Ltd and Mirae Asset Maps Opportunity Vietnam Equity Balanced Fund 1.

The trend was driven by competition in the market, the emergence of new business opportunities and the demand for expanding business or changing investment targets, said director of the Foreign Investment Agency, Phan Huu Thang.

In securities particularly, State Securities Commission chairman Vu Bang said the rapid decline of the market in recent months has caused a number of securities firms to suffer large losses, and some were considering M&A so as to avoid bankruptcy.

Au Lac Securities has sold 49 percent of its equity to its foreign partner, Technology CX, while Vietnam Securities also sold a 49 percent interest to Malaysia ’s RHB Investment Bank for about 67 billion VND (4.2 million USD).

Likewise, Golden Bridge Investment and Securities Ltd has bought a 49 percent equity in Click&Call Securities, and Singapore s Morgan Stanley has spent 145 billion VND (9 million USD) to acquire a 48.3 percent stake in Huong Viet Securities.

“In the coming years, these activities will only continue to develop and have profound impacts on business modes, significantly contributing to the restructuring of the economy,” said Thang.

Thang expected that as many as 35-50 percent of domestic companies will have M&A activities with partners within the next six to ten years. The country now has about 300,000 companies and is expected to have 500,000 by 2010.

M&A, however, hasn’t been detailed in legal documents, and firms are still reserved in providing information about their companies. This is hindering the development of M&A, An Binh Securities said in a press release on July 3.
Thang said the Ministry of Planning and Investment planned to issue a decree on M&A activities related to foreign partners.-

Buddhists help Chinese, Myanmar disaster victims

HCM City (VNA) – Buddhist monks, nuns and followers in Ho Chi Minh City have collected money and rice to help Sichuan earthquake victims in China and Nargis typhoon victims in Myanmar overcome the natural disasters’ aftermaths.

The municipal Buddhist Sangha’s Executive Council on July 5 handed over 300 million VND raised after a requiem for the Chinese victims to the city’s Red Cross to be sent to China .
Earlier, the Vinh Nghiem pagoda in the city also handed over 100 tonnes of rice contributed by Buddhist followers for charity for Myanmar people.

According to the city’s Red Cross, international organisations and local people in HCM City have so far raised more than 3 billion VND to help disaster victims in China and Myanmar.-