Vietnam News Today (May 5): Vietnam Records US$6.4 bln Trade Deficit with RoK in Q1

Ambassador Dang Hoang Giang, Permanent Representative of Vietnam to the United Nations. (Photo: VNA)

Vietnam upholds importance of trust-building in sustaining peace

In a world riddled with uncertainties and strategic complexities, trust plays a critical role in conflict prevention and solution, and is the bedrock for a multilateral system that can achieve and sustain peace, Ambassador Dang Hoang Giang, Permanent Representative of Vietnam to the United Nations, told the UN Security Council’s open debate on “Futureproofing trust for sustaining peace” on May 3.

Stressing that trust cannot be coerced or manufactured but rests on the principles of fairness and equality, Giang called on all actors in international relations, especially the major powers, to act in good faith and uphold their responsibility, while fully considering the legitimate interests of all parties and stakeholders.

Multilateralism and respect for international law, including the UN Charter, should be the core elements of trust-building, he emphasised.

Regarding post-conflict peace-building, the Vietnamese representative emphasised the importance of enhancing mutual understanding and trust, especially between UN Peacekeeping Missions and authorities, people as well as political and armed forces of the receiving countries. He also called on the international community and the UN Security Council to promote solutions to build confidence in dealing with the root causes of conflicts such as poverty and inequality, on the basis of improving transparency and inclusive in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, while identifying trust-building as one of the key components of the UN Secretary-General's New Agenda for Peace.

Vietnam always places great importance on weaving trust and trust-building into its domestic and foreign policies. This helps maintain national unity and enhance international integration. It is clearly reflected in the country’s consistent foreign policy of diversification and a commitment to being a trusted international partner. It is also shown in the country’s contribution to the UN work, UN peacekeeping operations and other multilateral forums, he added.

At the debate, delegates expressed concern about the erosion of trust in international relations and in multilateral mechanisms that results in an increase in the risk of conflicts and challenges for the international community in building and maintaining peace, cited VNA.

Relevant countries and organisations also emphasised the need to restore and strengthen trust at both the global and regional levels as well as at the national scale for the sake of sustainable and long-term peace.

Vietnam records US$6.4 bln trade deficit with RoK in Q1

Vietnam slipped into a trade deficit of US$6.4 billion with the Republic of Korea (RoK) during the first quarter of the year, representing a fall of 39.3% year on year, according to the Vietnamese Trade Office in the RoK.

The country’s three-month import-export turnover with the RoK also declined by 20.8% year on year to US$18.1 billion.

Of the total value, Vietnamese exports fell by 4.8% to US$5.9 billion, while its imports also endured a decline of 26.7% to US$12.3 billion.

Photo: VOV

As of March the RoK remained Vietnam’s largest foreign investor with 9,619 projects capitalised at US$81.5 billion, making up nearly 18.4% of total foreign investment in the Vietnamese market, according to VOV.

A representative of the Vietnamese Trade Office in the RoK attributed this decline in trade turnover to the rising trend of trade protection in several countries, high inflation, and the United States’ move to adjust interest rates, a factor leading to the depreciation of the Vietnamese currency (VND) against the US dollar.

Furthermore, regional and global geopolitical tensions coupled with the RoK’s stringent sanitary and phytosanitary measures (SPS) continue to be a hindrance impacting the export of agricultural, aquatic products, and processed foods.

Industry insiders pointed out that there remains a positive outlook for trade turnover between Vietnam and the RoK as both countries are benefitting from the signing of several bilateral and multilateral free trade agreement (FTAs).

Moreover, the import-export structure of the two countries is complementary to each other with little direct competition.

Local firms are therefore advised to continue improving product quality in a bid to meet the RoK’s stringent regulations on food safety, analyse the consumer segment, and join trade fairs to further penetrate the market.

Vietnam posts trade surplus of 6.35 billion USD in four months

Vietnam’s export-import value in the first four months of this year was estimated at 210.79 billion USD, down 13.6% year-on-year, with a trade surplus of 6.35 billion USD, the General Statistics Office (GSO) reported.

In April alone, the import-export turnover stood at 53.57 billion USD, representing decreases of 7.7% from the previous month, and 18.8% from the same period last year.

During the four-month period, Vietnam exported about 108.57 billion USD worth of goods, a year-on-year drop of 11.8%, of which the domestic economic sector contributed 25.58 billion USD, down 11%.

As many as 20 items joined the more than one-billion-USD club, making up 83.8% of the total export turnover.

Illustrative image (Source: VNA)

Among groups of exports, fuels and minerals generated about 1.33 billion USD; processing industry commodities, 96.1 billion USD; agro-forestry products, 8.56 billion USD; and aquatic products, 2.58 billion USD.

Meanwhile, the country imported around 102.22 billion USD worth of goods from January to April, down 15.4% year-on-year, of which 36.62 billion USD came from the domestic economic sector, a decrease of 11.4%.

For import, the more than one-billion-USD club gathered 19 items that accounted for 75.8% of the combined value, VNA reported.

Vietnam spent 95.64 billion USD on production materials; and 6.58 billion USD on consumer goods in the four months.

The US was Vietnam’s biggest buyer with 28.4 billion USD, while China was the country’s largest exporter with 33.3 billion USD.

Given uncertainties in trading activities, the Ministry of Industry and Trade has maintained a close watch on market developments, supported enterprises to optimise free trade agreements and remove obstacles to their business and production, and worked to diversify markets and exports, and promote e-commerce.

Local tourism industry rakes in cash from bumper national holiday

The recent five-day national break from April 29 to May 3 saw tourist destination and entertainment centres across the country attract hordes of holidaymakers, and it was no surprise that the local tourism industry coned it.

According to data provided by various tourism departments, Ho Chi Minh City, the central province of Thanh Hoa, Hanoi, and the central province of Nghe An were the top tourism earners, raking in trillions of VND in revenue during the five day break marking National Reunification Day (April 30) and International Workers’ Day (May 1).

The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Tourism reported that the southern city welcomed roughly 950,000 visitors, including 48,000 foreigners, and pocketed about VND3.13 trillion from tourism services. Its hotel room occupancy rate stood at 70%, marking an increase of 7% year on year. The southern metropolis also earned the highest tourism revenue throughout the country during the holiday.

Tourist attractions in the central province of Thanh Hoa also attracted a record high of arrivals. Despite facing unfavourable weather on the initial days of the holiday, the province welcomed nearly 1.2 million visitors, an annual increase of 33%. Sam Son city saw the highest number of visitors with about 850,000, whilst total tourism revenue reached about VND2.8 trillion, up 48% compared to last year.

Foreign tourists visit heritage sites in the central province of Thua Thien-Hue

The Tourism Department of Hanoi shared that during the five-day break the capital served more than 720,000 tourists, including 69,500 foreigners, and earned around VND2.4 trillion, equal to US$102.2 million, from services. Among the capital’s popular destinations, Hanoi Zoo attracted the largest number of visitors, with more than 130,000, whilst hotel room occupancy reached more than 58%, up 16% over the same period from 2022.

Meanwhile, around 120,000 visitors flocked to the resort city of Da Lat in the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong. Of the total, 4,500 were foreigners, representing a year on year surge of 221.4%, cited VOV.

The reviewed period saw around 185,000 visitors flock to Sa Pa, a tourist destination located in the northern mountainous province of Lao Cai, with hotel room occupancy on the first three days of the holiday reaching 95%.

Some localities which also saw large numbers of holiday-makers include Nghe An that welcomed 780,000 visitors and earned VND1.5 trillion, Quang Ninh (620,000 visitors and VND900 billion), Khanh Hoa (800,000 visitors and over VND850 billion), and Ba Ria-Vung Tau (411,000 visitors and VND633 billion).

However, the tourist hotspot of Phu Quoc saw a decline in the number of travelers with only over 112,000, a drop of 11.5% over the same period from last year, and its total revenue from tourism services also fell 24% to VND132.5 billion. One of the main reasons for this decline was due to high airfares, and as a result its room occupancy rate dropped to below 50%.

Vietnam makes efforts to crack down on IUU fishing

After three inspections, the European Commission (EC) said Vietnam has made improvements in the process of removing illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing.

The Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trade said an EC delegation will visit Vietnam on May 25 to inspect the work carried out against IUU fishing.

The EC has not yet removed the yellow card for Vietnam because some localities lack efforts in implementing the recommendations, according to VNS.

The Vietnamese Government upheld the viewpoint that preventing and eliminating IUU fishing is the responsibility of each coastal country to protect sustainable aquatic resources and marine ecosystems, as well as stabilise public sustainable livelihoods, ensure national defence and security in the seas and implement international commitments and treaties to which Vietnam is a signatory.

By May 2023, localities must review all fishing boats to complete registration, marking of fishing vessels, issue fishing licences, install Vessel Monitoring Systems (VMS) and update 100 per cent of fishing vessel data into the National Fisheries Database (VNFishbase).

A boat owner and a border soldier inspect the vessel's journey monitoring system in the south-central province of Phu Yen. Photo: VNS

Local authorities must compile a list of fishing vessels that do not catch fish and those which stand high risks of IUU fishing violations and send the list to the authorities for surveillance.

Authorities have been asked to follow the vessels offshore journeys all the time through VMS from when boats leave port until their return.

According to Directorate of Fisheries under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, by the end of April, 97.5 per cent of fishing vessels across the country have been equipped with VMS.

Ten out of 28 coastal localities have established the marine control forces.

About 28.5 per cent of the total fish catch has been monitored through the ports.

The number of fishing vessels caught by foreign forces for violations was 84 in 2022. Since early this year, 16 boats have been seized.

In mid-April, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh asked the provinces of Binh Dinh, Khanh Hoa, Binh Thuan and Kien Giang, whose fishing boats have infringed foreign waters, to identify responsibility of leaders.

The yellow card warning has been imposed on Vietnam by EC since October 23, 2017

EU is in the top five largest seafood export markets of Vietnam, after the US, China, Japan and South Korea.

The EU market contributed US$1.3 billion to Vietnam's total seafood export turnover of $11 billion last year.

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