Vietnam News Today (November 12): Vietnam Backs UN Peacekeeping and UNPOL Operations

A health worker prepares a Covid-19 vaccine shot in HCMC's District 1, October 27, 2021. Photo: VnExpress

Vietnam coronavirus tally tops 1 million

Vietnam on Thursday recorded 8,145 new local Covid-19 cases, pushing the infection tally since early last year past 1 million.

The three localities with the highest numbers of new infections were Ho Chi Minh City with 1,185 cases, Dong Nai with 930 cases and Tay Ninh with 656 cases.

84 deaths were added to the national database on Thursday, with 38 cases in HCMC, six each in Binh Duong, Dong Nai and Long An, five in An Giang, three each in Tien Giang, Tay Ninh, Kien Giang and Bac Lieu, two each in Binh Thuan and Can Tho, and one each in Nghe An, Binh Dinh, Dak Lak, Dong Thap, Vinh Long, Soc Trang and Ben Tre.

The number of coronavirus deaths so far is 22,849, or around 2.4 percent of all infections, cited VnExpress.

1,894 Covid-19 patients were announced recovered on Thursday, bringing the number of recovered cases so far to 845,948.

The number of infections in the fourth wave since late April has reached 994,990.

Vietnam has vaccinated 63.5 million people with at least one Covid-19 vaccine shot, and 32 million people have received two shots.

Vietnam backs UN peacekeeping and UNPOL operations

Ambassador Dang Dinh Quy, Vietnam's Permanent Representative to the United Nations, has affirmed peacekeeping continues to be an important tool to maintain international peace and security, and the UN police (UNPOL) have well done their assigned tasks and closely coordinated with military and civil units of the mission amidst escalating challenges.

Addressing the UN Security Council’s annual meeting on UNPOL on Wednesday, Quy commended the increasing number of women police officers, and specifically, the six women currently serving as heads or deputy heads of the United Nations police components in peacekeeping and special political missions.

He underlined the importance of prioritizing, through resources and attention, the promotion of women in peacekeeping operations, including policing activities, according to NDO.

Further, the international community should enhance training and capacity building support to developing countries, including for women police officers, he said, noting that the percentage of Vietnamese female peacekeepers in the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA) and the United Nations Mission in the Republic of South Sudan (UNMISS) has increased to 20.6%, from 16.5% in 2020, exceeding the Secretary‑General’s target of 15% for uniform gender parity before 2028.

Jean-Pierre Lacroix, UN Under‑Secretary‑General for Peace Operations, briefed participants on the implementation of the Action for Peacekeeping (A4P) initiative and the Action for Peacekeeping Plus (A4P ) as well as the UNPOL’s contributions to boosting the implementation of priorities of these initiatives.

Ambassador Dang Dinh Quy, Vietnam's Permanent Representative to the United Nations, addresses the UNSC annual meeting on November 10. Photo: VNA

Violet Lusala, Police Commissioner of the United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA), outlined obstacles to the Mission’s efforts to maintain public order and protect civilians, including the presence of armed elements, intercommunal clashes and cattle rustling.

She said services for survivors of sexual and gender-based violence remain non-existent. Highlighting the need for increased United Nations police capacity, she urged the Council to press Sudan and South Sudan to immediately establish the Abyei Police Service.

Patricia Boughani, Police Commissioner of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA), called for a shift in mindset to promote a gender perspective, given that few women are deployed in Mali’s security forces in the centre and the north. UNPOL is developing strategies to build women’s dormitories in some regions and providing training, as well as working to financially empower women through quick impact projects.

Vietnam lose 0-1 to Japan in World Cup qualifiers

Japan scored a single goal against hosts Vietnam Thursday, marking the latter's fifth defeat in the final World Cup qualification round.

With several key defenders absent due to injuries, Vietnam once again failed to earn their first point in the final qualification round.

Despite the home advantage, they were playing against a much stronger opponent and struggling to create real chances.

Photo: VnExpress

The only goal of the game was scored in the 17th minute by Junya Ito, who tapped in from a pass by Takumi Minamino.

In the 40th minute, Ito sprinted down the left flank and finished in the top corner to send the ball into the goal once again. But after five minutes of reviewing the situation on VAR, referee Hassan Mohammed noticed that the ball touched another Japanese player who was offside and did not recognize the goal, VnExpress reported.

Vietnam boosted their offense with several substitutions in the second half, but failed to change the game.

Keeper Bui Tan Truong and the entire defense line yet managed to block several strong attacks, keeping the score at 1-0 until the final whistle.

Vietnam will play Saudi Arabia in Hanoi next Tuesday. They lost 1-3 in the away game in September.

Annual target of US$600 billion foreign trade within reach

Vietnam’s total import-export value over the opening 10 months of this year has grossed US$534 billion, and the country’s economic recovery on track the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) says the year-end figure is likely to exceed the US$600 billion mark.

A 10-month socio-economic update by the General Statistics Office (GSO) indicates that Vietnam raked in US$267.93 billion from exports, an annual rise of 16.6%, while it spent US$269.38 billion on imports, marking an increase of 28.2%.

Most notably, the country enjoyed a trade surplus of US$1.1 billion throughout October following months of slipping into a trade deficit, indicating that the economy is showing signs of recovery.

According the MoIT, exports are in picking up as several businesses are now resuming operations throughout southern localities which are home to many industrial zones and export processing zones.

Exports are gathering steam, helping Vietnam tackle trade deficit in the previous months. Photo: VOV

Businesses are gradually filling employment vacancies following the return of workers after the lifting of Covid-19 restrictions and are accelerating production to meet the orders of partners, cited VOV.

Ho Quoc Luc, managing director of Sao Ta Food Company, predicts that Vietnamese shrimp exports will reach US$3.8 billion this year, a figure that is equivalent to or even higher than last year’s export value.

At present, several major economies are recovering globally, duly helping fuel their demand for seafood, including shrimp. Without unexpected factors ahead, Vietnamese shrimp exports for 2022 are likely to beat this year’s target, Luc believes.

Meanwhile, Diep Thanh Kiet, vice chairman of the Vietnam Leather, Footwear and Handbag Association (Lefaso), notes that Lefaso businesses have received an increasing number of orders after the country eased Covid-19 restrictions and reopened the local economy.

With plenty of domestic firms now relaunching operations following a long suspension, the sector’s export value for the year is anticipated to hover around US$19 billion, or fall slightly short, says Kiet.

He also predicts that the sector is likely to achieve a 12% export growth rate next year, providing that the ongoing Covid-19 outbreak is brought completely under control.

Given these positive signs, the MoIT believes that Vietnamese trade value will surpass the US$600 billion mark this year, or 10% higher compared to last year’s figure.

In order to meet this target, the MoIT will strive to accelerate trade promotions abroad ahead in the two remaining months of the year. It will primarily focus on expanding overseas markets and making the most of benefits from free trade agreements that it has signed with partners.

The MoIT will also work closely alongside relevant Chinese agencies in a bid to facilitate customs clearance for local products to enter the northern neighbor, the country’s largest trading partner, through northern border gates, a MoIT representative says.

In addition, the Ministry has requested that localities regularly work alongside businesses in order to iron out snags that may occur in production and goods circulation.

Import and export revenue of goods expected to set new record in 2021

After the record milestone of US$500 billion in 2019, the import and export revenue of goods is anticipated to reach US$640 – US$645 billion in 2021, setting a new record. This is a remarkable achievement amid the current difficulties caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Vietnamese ST25 rice, one of the rice varieties favored by the world market in recent years, posted an export volume of more than 3,100 tonnes, valued at US$3 million, in the first nine months of this year, a 10-fold increase compared to the same period last year.

The US is currently a large consumption market of ST25 rice, accounting for 91% of Vietnam’s total export volume of ST25 (about 2,800 tonnes), up 843% over the same period last year.

Notably, ST25 rice was only exported to the US and Macau (China) in 2020, but so far this year it has been shipped to 11 markets around the world with prices ranging from US$870 to US$1,378 per tonne.

Relatively positive rice exports in the first months of the year have helped rice maintain its position as one of the commodities with a stable export turnover in the context of the complicated developments of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Textile enterprises carry out flexible production in the context of the pandemic. Photo: NDO

According to statistics from the Ministry of Industry and Trade, commodity exports showed signs of recovery in October with export turnover estimated at US$27.3 billion, up 1% compared to the previous month (September export turnover decreased by 0.8% compared to August). In the 10-month period, total export turnover was estimated at US$267.93 billion, up 16.6% over the same period last year.

Another notable positive signal in the export of goods is that new-generation free trade agreements (FTAs) such as the CPTPP and EVFTA have been utilized effectively by enterprises. Deputy Director of the Import-Export Department (Ministry of Industry and Trade) Tran Thanh Hai said that after three years of implementing the CPTPP and more than a year implementing the EVFTA, the influence of these agreements is obvious, including growing export turnover, particularly in markets Vietnam has never signed an FTA with, NDO reported.

According to Tran Thanh Hai, it is possible to forecast that the total import and export turnover of goods could reach from US$640 - 645 billion in the whole 2021 and the country could enjoy a trade surplus. This is a huge achievement as businesses have been heavily affected by the Covid-19 pandemic due to the Delta variant in 2021. In particular, the pandemic has repeatedly hit the main hubs of commodity production in the north and south.

“Overcoming difficulties, our businesses have still maintained production and recovered very quickly after the pandemic. In particular, strong industries such as textiles and garments and leather and footwear are expected to reach their export targets earlier than expected and from now until the end of the year, businesses in these industries can regain their growth rate as before the pandemic. Traditional industries such as telephones, electronics, machinery and components are also forecast to grow by an impressive rate of 15-25% in this year,” Tran Thanh Hai added.

Enterprises have gradually developed production methods to respond flexibly and promptly to the pandemic situation.

Experts affirmed that high shopping demand at the end of the year will be an opportunity to boost the export of a number of products including textiles, footwear, electronics, and others. Therefore, domestic enterprises need to take advantage of opportunities in the last few months of the year to make up for the losses in exports during the pandemic and fully utilize export opportunities to major markets including the US, EU, China, the Republic of Korea, and Japan. In addition, it is important to foster negotiation activities and trade promotion to other markets with room for development.

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