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Head of the Commission for External Relations Le Hoai Trung (R) and Secretary General of the National Council of CNDD-FDD Révérien Ndikuriyo (Photo: VNA)

Vietnam, Burundi vow to expand partnership

Vietnam and its traditional friends in Africa, including Burundi, share similarities in their struggles for national liberation and development, providing a foundation conducive to further deepening substantive friendship and cooperation, said Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) Central Committee and head of its Commission for External Relations Le Hoai Trung.

During a reception in Hanoi on July 29 for Révérien Ndikuriyo, Secretary General of the National Council for the Defence of Democracy-Forces for the Defence of Democracy (CNDD-FDD) - the ruling party in Burundi, Trung thanked the CNDD-FDD, Government and people of Burundi for their heartfelt condolences over the passing of Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, cited VNA.

He highlighted the importance of party-to-party ties in boosting overall bilateral cooperation, particularly in politics, economy, trade, and people-to-people exchange. He also suggested the Burundian Government facilitate the stable operation of Viettel Group in Burundi, aiming to make it a role model for other Vietnamese firms looking to expand into Burundi and the broader African market.

Ndikuriyo briefed Trung on the CNDD-FDD’s current situation and Burundi's recent socio-economic progress, expressing a strong desire to build robust friendship and cooperation with the CPV. This, he said, would lay a solid foundation to foster bilateral relations.

Both sides agreed to step up relations between the two parties and countries through increasing the exchange of high-level delegations and experience in Party building and national development, continuing mutual support at multilateral forums, facilitating trade activities and market research, and holding cultural, sport and tourism exchanges to celebrate the 50th anniversary of bilateral diplomatic ties next year.

Vietnam’s e-commerce market size to hit US$30 billion this year

E-commerce sales in Vietnam are likely to surpass the US$30 billion mark by the end of 2024 thanks to local growing consumer trends that help drive up online sales via e-platforms, said delegates at a meeting in Ho Chi Minh City on July 29.

Metrics that analyzes e-commerce data and consumer trends reported that on average Vietnamese consumers spend approximately VND800 billion (more than US$32 million) on five e-commerce platforms of Shopee, Lazada, Tiki, Sendo and Tiktok Shop every day.

Total sales of the five e-commerce platforms in the first half of the year reached VND143.9 trillion (US$5.7 billion), representing an increase of 54.91% over the same period in 2023. Notably, the rate is 7 times higher than the growth rate of the retail industry in the past six months, according to data from the General Statistics Office.

Many new forms of online shopping, including live streaming sales and multi-channel sales, have been strongly developed, bringing huge revenue to professional sellers.

Le Hoang Tai, deputy director of the Vietnam Trade Promotion Agency under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, said that Ho Chi Minh City is considered the country’s digital economic locomotive that has made marked progress in applying information technology and digital transformation in all fields, especially in economics.

Effective application of digital transformation solutions such as social networks, websites, livestreams and email marketing not only helps businesses reach more customers but also optimizes business management and operation, bringing many practical benefits for businesses and the economy, said the official.

On the other hand, he added it helps businesses save time, costs and human resources, and better understand customer needs so as to come up with more effective trade promotion strategies, according to VOV.

E-commerce sales are booming in Vietnam, with revenue likely to hit US$30 billion this year.

Tai revealed that the Trade Promotion Agency would strengthen coordination with e-platform developers, reputable sellers and relevant agencies to improve their business capacity on digital platforms, develop brands and build images for local businesses and cooperatives.

It would help to promote regional connectivity and apply science and technology to improve production and business capacity towards a green and sustainable economy.

A recently released report 2024 E-commerce in Southeast Asia by Momentum Works shows Vietnam and Thailand are the two fastest growing e-commerce markets in Southeast Asia, with the total merchandise value (GMV) increasing 52.9% and 34.1% respectively.

Vietnam serves nearly 10 million international travellers in 7 months

The number of international tourists visiting Vietnam in July topped 1.15 million, lifting the total in the first seven months to nearly 10 million, expanding by 10.9% and 51% year-on-year, respectively.

The figure reported in the January – July period increased by 1.9% compared to that in the same period of 2019 when COVID-19 had yet to disrupt global travel.

With over 7.8 million arrivals, Asia was a key source of tourists for Vietnam in the period. It was followed by Europe, the Americas, Oceania, and Africa with over 1.1 million, 610,200, 309,000, and 29,000, respectively, VNA reported.

Foreign tourists in Vietnam (Photo: VNA)

The Republic of Korea (RoK) and China contributed nearly half of the total number of foreign arrivals to Vietnam, with respective numbers of nearly 2.6 million and 2.1 million.

Meanwhile, the European markets also continued to grow well with a surge of about 47%, including key markets such as the UK, France, Germany, Russia, Italy, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland.

The results were attributed to favorable visa policies and efforts by localities nationwide to intensify tourism promotion programs in 2024.

Famous destinations in Vietnam, including Hanoi, Da Nang, Phu Quoc, Ha Long, and Nha Trang, continue to be the most attractive destinations for international holiday-makers.

The tourism industry has set a target of welcoming 17-18 million foreign visitors in 2024, approaching the pre-pandemic record in 2019.

Timor Leste President’s Vietnam visit to promote bilateral strategic interests

The coming State visit to Vietnam by President José Ramos-Horta from July 31 to August 3 will bring many strategic interests for both countries, contributing to strengthening bilateral cooperation in the coming time, said Vietnamese Ambassador to Indonesia cum Timor Leste Ta Van Thong.

Cooperative relations between the two states have developed positively since the two sides established diplomatic ties on July 28, 2002. They have supported each other at international forums, especially during the past struggle for national liberation.

The President’s visit, the fourth high-level visit to Vietnam by a Timor Leste leader, offers the two sides the chance to discuss measures to enhance cooperation and deepen bilateral relations, Thong told Jakarta-based VOV correspondents ahead of the President's visit.

The two sides have recently strengthened cooperation and coordinated stances at regional and international forums. Vietnam, other ASEAN countries and the ASEAN Secretariat always support Timor Leste in its preparation to become a full-fledged member of ASEAN.

Two-way trade between Vietnam and Timor Leste remains modest, reaching US$15.861 million last year. Of the total, US$15.49 million was worth of Vietnamese exports, mainly rice and garments, The first five months of 2024 saw Vietnam rake in US$6.09 million from its exports to Timor Leste, an increase of 29.4% year on year, VOV reported.

Vietnamese Ambassador to Indonesia cum Timor Leste Ta Van Thong talks about cooperation prospects between Vietnam and Timor Leste ahead of President José Ramos-Horta's state visit to Vietnam from July 31 to August 3.

According to the diplomat, there is much room for Vietnamese export products such as rice, processed foods, milk and milk products, shoes, beverages, household products, and electrical machinery and equipment to enter the Timor Leste market.

Meanwhile, Timor Leste’s potential products such as fuel, unprocessed wood, unprocessed seafood, minerals, and metals are important inputs for goods production in Vietnam. Closer economic cooperation will help both Timor Leste and Vietnam to engage more deeply in regional and global value chains.

Vietnam’s military-run telecom giant Viettel is successfully running its Telemor project in Timor Leste. From an initial investment capital of US$500,000 in 2012, Telemor now has a total investment capital of US$15 million.

The two sides are about to sign a Memorandum of Understanding on education cooperation, creating a basis for strengthening cooperative activities in the field. There are currently about 40 Timor Leste students studying in Vietnam, and the figure is expected to further increase in the near future.

Thong expected that Timor Leste would facilitate research activities and seek investment opportunities in fields such as oil and gas exploration and exploitation, exploitation and processing of forest resources, mineral resources, mining metal ores, and non-ferrous metals, as well as increasing investment cooperation to produce goods for export to countries with preferential mechanisms for Timor Leste. He proposed that Timor Leste soon complete procedures for ratifying the trade agreement signed between the two sides.

Currently, the ambassador said Timor Leste is in the process of joining ASEAN, further expanding opportunities for economic, political and cultural cooperation with all members of the bloc. To join ASEAN, Timor Leste needs support from member countries, in which Vietnam plays an important role.

Vietnam has always given strong support to Timor Leste in joining ASEAN, affirmed the diplomat, adding that it pays special attention to training and building staff capacity for Timor Leste.

FDI inflows reach US$18 billion in first seven months

Foreign direct investment inflows to Vietnam reached US$18 billion in the first seven months of 2024, representing a year-on-year increase of 10.9 percent, according to the Ministry of Planning and Investment’s Foreign Trade Agency.

In the January-July period, the amount of disbursed investment valued US$12.55 billion, up 8.4 percent against the same period last year.

Foreign investors injected US$10.76 billion in 1,816 new projects, up 35.6 percent and 11.6 percent, respectively.

Meanwhile, 734 projects had their capital increased with a total amount of more than US$10.76 billion, down 0.3 percent in the project number, and up 19.4 percent in capital year-on-year.

Capital contributions and share purchases fell 45.2 percent to US$2.27 billion, cited VGP.

Photo: VGP

Foreign investors poured investment capital in 18 out of 21 economic sectors, with the processing and manufacturing industry attracting the largest share of over US$12.65 billion, or 70.3 percent of the total.

The realty sector came second with more than US$2.87 billion, followed by wholesale and retail sale industry with nearly US$740.5 million, and professional activities and science-technology with over US$490.6 million.

Singapore was the biggest investor among 91 countries and territories investing in the nation in the reviewed period, followed by Hong Kong, Japan, China and South Korea.

Bac Ninh was the top recipient destination with nearly US$3.2 billion, followed by Quang Ninh and Ho Chi Minh City, with US$1.56 billion and US$1.55 billion, respectively.

As of July 20, Vietnam housed 40,777 valid foreign projects with a total registered capital of US$487 billion.

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