Officers implement exit procedures for Vietnamese people at the Ma Lu Thang International Border Gate (Photo: VNA)

Vietnamese, Chinese border gates fully resume operations

Import-export activities and customs clearance of goods via the Ma Lu Thang International Border Gate in Phong Tho district of the northern province of Lai Chau and the Jinshuihe border gate of China's Yunnan province were fully resumed on February 20.After more than three years affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, the full restoration of activities at the pair of border gates helps facilitate the exchange of goods and the travel of people of the two countries.

Head of the management board of the Ma Lu Thang Border Gate Economic Zone Vu Huy Hoa said the authorities of Honghe and Jinping districts of Yunnan province have sent a document to Vietnam announcing the cancellation of all COVID-19 quarantine measures for goods, and the full resumption of entry-exit for citizens of the two countries via the border gates.

As such, the People's Committee of Lai Chau province decided to stop the application of “green zones” for import - export of goods via the Ma Lu Thang international border gate, cited VNA.

The full resumption of immigration and customs clearance of goods via the two border gates helps promote border economic and tourism cooperation, and cultural exchange, thus benefiting the people and businesses of the two countries, Hoa said.

The management board of the Ma Lu Thang Border Gate Economic Zone and relevant agencies at the Vietnamese border gate will coordinate with corresponding units of the Chinese side to speed up administrative reform, towards making it easier for import - export and entry - exit activities at the border gates.

EU Green Deal poses challenges to Vietnamese businesses

The EU Green Deal is a set of policies that includes new measures and efforts to transform the EU’s economy for a sustainable future.

The European Green Deal will likely affect several Vietnamese industries, depending on the nature of the industry and the specific measures introduced under the deal, a senior trade official has said.

The deal is a set of policies that includes new measures and efforts to transform the EU’s economy for a sustainable future.

These measures will not limit the bloc to increase its climate ambition for 2030 and 2050; supply clean, affordable and secure energy; mobilise industry for a clean and circular economy; and build and renovate in energy and resource-efficient way.

They will also accelerate the shift to sustainable and smart mobility; design a fair, healthy and environmentally-friendly food system; preserve and restore ecosystems and biodiversity; aim at zero pollution for a toxic-free environment; pursue green finance and investment and ensure a just transition.

According to Nguyen Hoang Thuy, Trade Counselor at Vietnam Trade Office in Sweden (Concurrently Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Latvia), the garment and footwear would be two industries that might be affected by this deal as the EU was the biggest market for Vietnamese garment and footwear products.

The deal would require apparel products manufactured through environmentally friendly processes and made with environmentally friendly materials. They would be required to meet sustainable and strict eco-labeling standards. Thus, Vietnamese businesses in this sector needed to adjust their production processes and invest in new technologies to stay competitive, Thuy said.

Footwear produced at Gia Dinh Group in HCM CIty. The EU is the biggest market for Vietnamese footwear products. Photo: Hong Dat

At the same time, the packaging needed to be made of environmentally friendly materials and could be fully recycled. She said that this would affect Vietnamese businesses in the field and those using packaging for export products.

The official also outlined agriculture and seafood as other sectors that the deal could influence, according to VNS.

She explained that the deal set out a more sustainable and environmentally friendly approach to agriculture, which would require Vietnamese businesses to meet new standards for sustainable food production and farming practices, invest in new technology and change manufacturing processes to reduce waste and the use of hazardous chemicals.

As the deal set a target to reduce the use of energy-intensive materials and switch to more sustainable materials, the iron and steel would be an affected sector.

Despite posing challenges for Vietnamese exporters, the deal would also provide them with new business opportunities. Businesses needed to be aware of the changes that the deal would bring and be ready to adapt to the challenges to remain competitive in the EU market, Thuy said.

She suggested the firms stay informed about the latest developments in the deal, assess its potential impact on their business operations and exports, and identify any areas that might need improvement to meet the new sustainability standards.

She said they should also consider reducing greenhouse gas emissions, increasing energy efficiency, and using recycled materials, advising them to anticipate new trends to create more sustainable and environmentally friendly products in the long run.

At the same time, the Vietnamese Government should develop policies and regulations that would facilitate the transition to a more sustainable and environmentally friendly economy, such as promoting renewable energy and adopting energy-efficient technologies.

She petitioned the State to urgently develop a policy to monitor and issue carbon certificates for Vietnamese producers and exporters.

Top priority should be also given to monitoring and assessing the impact of the deal on the Vietnamese economy, especially the most vulnerable sectors, and taking all necessary steps to address any challenges or opportunities that might arise.

Providing financial, technical and training support to businesses, especially small-and medium-sized, to help them adopt more sustainable practices and improve their competitiveness in the EU market should be also included.

The trade turnover between Vietnam and the EU reached US$76.3 billion last year, a year-on-year increase of 5.1 per cent, according to the European-American Market Department under the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT).

Of this, exports hit $56 billion, up 10.2 per cent compared with the 2021’s figure, it said.

Vietnam's trade surplus with the European market hit $35.5 billion last year.

The EU is currently Vietnam's leading trade partner and third largest export market with an annual export growth rate of 7.5 per cent, accounting for 13.6 per cent of the Southeast Asian country’s total export turnover in the 2015-21 period.

The market share of Vietnamese goods in the EU's total imports is 1.8 per cent, higher than that of other Southeast Asian countries such as Malaysia (1.2 per cent), Thailand (0.9 per cent), Indonesia (0.7 per cent) and Singapore (0.7 per cent), according to the European Statistics Agency (Eurostat).

Vietnam’s rescue team discovers 15 sites with quake victims in Turkey so far

The rescue team from the Vietnam People’s Army (VPA), in coordination with Turkish authorities, continued searching for earthquake victims in Hatay province on February 19.

The team operated at some locations in Cebrail commune of Antakya, the capital of Hatay.

At each location, they discussed search plans with the local rescue force and then utilised sniffer dogs and sapper equipment to search the places where there were possibly victims under the rubble.

Among those places, they detected a dead victim inside a collapsed building and then handed over the site to local rescuers to pull the body out, reported VNA.

The VPA team searches for earthquake victims in Antakya on February 19. (Photo: VNA)

As of February 19 evening (Vietnam time), the VPA team had searched 31 locations in Antakya, helping discover 15 sites with victims trapped under the rubble, including two places with signs of survivors. They handed over the sites to the local rescue force to bring 28 dead bodies out.

During that process, they coordinated with the Bahraini team to find out one site with eight corpses and with the Mexican team to find out two other places with victims.

Besides, the Vietnamese team has also assisted three families to move household goods out of the rubble.

As of late February 19, the 7.8-magnitude earthquake in Turkey and the neighbouring Syria had killed more than 46,000 people, including nearly 40,700 in Turkey.

Korean musician brings Vietnamese beauty to the world

Joseph Kwon, a singer-musician from the Republic of Korea (RoK), has helped promote the beauty of landscapes, culture and people of Vietnam to the world through his music, Nhan dan (People) newspaper reported.

First arriving in Vietnam in 2018, Kwon fell in love with the “S-shape” nation right at first sight, and started to nurture the idea of using his musical knowledge and skills that he acquired during his years of studying in the RoK and Italy to make musical works to show his love for Vietnam and introduce its beauty to the world.

To date, Kwon has presented nearly 10 works on Vietnam, including “Go Vietnam Go Go”, “Cha Ca or Peace”, and “Remember”.

Particularly, the song “Vietnam”, composed by Joseph Kwon in 2021, became a prominent topic on domestic media with more than 50 times broadcast on various Vietnam television channels.

Joseph Kwon (R) and singer Hyee Pham in MV “Butterfly flakes” (Photo: nhandan.vn)

In 2022, Kwon left strong impression on music lovers and the media of Vietnam and the RoK with two MVs “Waiting for you, 5,000 years” and “Butterfly flakes,” which were filmed from May 17 to July 12, 2022 at famous destinations of Vietnam such as Cuc Phuong National Park, Trang An, Tam Chuc, Ba Be Lake, Ha Long Bay, Ho Chi Minh City, Mui Ne, Sa Pa, Da Nang, Hoi An Ancient Town to mark the 30th anniversary of the Vietnam-RoK diplomatic relations.

With large numbers of followers of his Facebook page, Youtube channel and Tiktok account, the musician is working to build a musical bridge connecting Vietnam and people in his homeland and the whole world.

He said he hopes through his music, many of his friends will get to know Vietnam as a beautiful and attractive destination, and come to Vietnam to enjoy the cultural identity and hospitality of the country.

“I still want to live and stick with this place for as long as possible,” he stated.

Time for Vietnamese startups to think for the long term

In 2021, Vietnamese startups received over 1.4 billion USD in investment, a relatively large number in ASEAN. However, the number dropped by 40% to 855 million USD last year and is forecast to fall further this year.

Vietnamese entrepreneurs have to think for the long term as raising funds for startups has become more challenging in recent years.

In 2021, Vietnamese startups received over 1.4 billion USD in investment, a relatively large number in ASEAN. However, the number dropped by 40% to 855 million USD last year and is forecast to fall further this year.

Le Hoang Uyen Vy, CEO of Do Ventures, asserted that unfavourable macroeconomic conditions were to blame for the startup investment tanking over the past few years.

She said high policy and inflation rates, coupled with global uncertainties, had driven investors to cut back on spending.

As such, they had pumped their brakes on venture capital to avoid risks and shifted their focus to startups with sustainable growth potential.

"Startups that have a long-term vision are more likely to get funds from investors", said Vy.

Tran Bang Viet, CEO of Dong A Solutions, asserted that the global economic recession would cause a further dip in startup investing in 2023. That means investor appetite was expected to shift away from risky startups to those with stable performance.

"Investment in seed-stage startups would plunge this year", said Viet.

CEO Vy believed that it was time for Vietnamese startups to think for the long term. She said they should switch from a scale-centred to a product-centred strategy to consolidate their position during the down periods.

"Many startups spend most of their capital on advertising rather than R&D, and they have to pay the price for hasty scaling", said Vy.

Le Huynh Kim Ngan, director of ThinkZone Ventures, remarked that investors had become more selective about startups. They now cared more about startups' sustainability than their short-term financial situation, which, they believed, was for show only.

Vietnamese entrepreneurs have to think for the long term as raising funds for startups has become more challenging in recent years.

"Simplicity and efficiency will be used as a yardstick against which to measure a startup's performance," said Ngan.

The director forecast that two sectors attractive to startup investors this year would be finance and education. The other two sectors that would witness stable capital inflows were cybersecurity and the Internet of Things.

As venture funding is falling year by year, startups have to rely on bank loans to supplement their capital and prevent valuation drops. For instance, Be Group took out a loan of 60 million USD from Deutsche Bank in 2022, cited VNA.

Nguyen Ba Diep, deputy chairman and co-founder of MoMo, said that startups needed to present their spending and revenue in great detail to capture investors' attention and nudge them towards their profile in the first place.

He also asserted that financial mismanagement had been the cause of most short-lived startups. As such, a well-developed financial strategy would hold the key to startup's viability and success.

Amid the capital scarcity, S&P Global recommended that unicorns choose between aggressively expanding to reach economy of scale or focusing on reigniting their business.

"The startups cannot continue spending if operational turnarounds are delayed and cash balances are narrowing while fundraising remains difficult," said S&P Global.

Last year, startup deals of over 50 million USD fell by 55% in number. Those between 500,000 USD to 3 million USD followed suit with a fall of 20%. The situation was not better even for those of less than $5000 in the seed stage, witnessing a fall of 19%.

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