Ambassador Pham Vinh Quang presents the credentials to Governor General of Canada Mary Jeannie May Simon on October 13.

Vietnam desires to strengthen comprehensive partnership with Canada

Vietnam wishes to deepen the comprehensive partnership in various fields it has established with Canada, Ambassador Pham Vinh Quang told Governor General of Canada Mary Jeannie May Simon at a reception on October 13.

Quang conveyed the best wishes from President Vo Van Thuong and other Vietnamese leaders to the Canadian Governor General, as well as their desires to further promote the comprehensive partnership between the two countries established in 2017.

He noted Canada is one of Vietnam’s most important partners, and the second largest trading partner, after the US, in the Americas, while Vietnam serves as the gateway for Canada to Southeast Asia and the Asia-Pacific region.

Currently, Vietnam is Canada’s leading trading partner in ASEAN and its sixth largest trading partner among the group of 40 Indo-Pacific countries, cited VOV.

The diplomat recalled the increasingly profound and effective development of the Vietnam - Canada Comprehensive Partnership in recent times, especially in 2023 when the two countries are organizing a range of activities to celebrate 50 years of their diplomatic relations.

Since the beginning of the year, Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau have met twice on the sidelines of summits in Japan in May and in Indonesia in September. During these meetings, the two leaders expressed his impression of the good progress in the Vietnam - Canada Comprehensive Partnership, in which trade cooperation is a bright spot with two-way trade turnover reaching over US$7 billion last year. The two sides also agreed to strive to raise bilateral the figure to US$10 billion soon.

The Ambassador stressed the need for the two countries to further promote the comprehensive partnership in the fields of politics - diplomacy and defense - security through maintaining regular high-level visits and holding existing cooperation mechanisms.

Vietnam supports Canada’s implementation of the Indo-Pacific strategy and strategic partnership with ASEAN, especially in the fields of economics, trade, investment and development cooperation, he said.

Quang went on to say Vietnam is ready to welcome a Canadian ministerial delegation to visit Vietnam in 2024 to explore and promote cooperation opportunities, especially in the areas of Canadian strengths, such as energy transition, digital transformation, green transformation, innovation, as well as in sharing experiences in technology and governance, improving institutions and especially training high-quality human resources.

He also expressed his wish that the Canadian government create favorable conditions for Vietnamese businesses and further open its market for Vietnamese goods, especially agricultural and aquatic products.

The Ambassador also expressed his desire to promote cultural, sports, tourism, people-to-people exchanges, and local cooperation between the two countries.

Governor General of Canada Mary Jeannie May Simon congratulated Ambassador Pham Vinh Quang on his new working term in Canada, and expected that the diplomat would make contributions to the increasingly effective and substantive development of the Vietnam-Canada Comprehensive Partnership in the coming years.

She noted with satisfaction the positive development of Canada-Vietnam relations, believing that both countries would continue to strengthen cooperation and coordination in addressing regional and global issues such as climate change.

Canada, a multi-ethnic country like Vietnam, wants to strengthen cultural cooperation and people-to-people exchanges with Vietnam, she said.

Vietnam eyes emerging stock market status by 2025

Vietnam is working hard to have its stock market upgraded from frontier status to an emerging market by 2025.

Vu Thi Chan Phuong, Chairwoman of the State Securities Commission of Vietnam(SSC), said that upgrading the status of the stock market is one of the major targets of the Government. The country hopes to obtain the emerging market status before 2025.

In terms of the legal framework, the 2019 Securities Law, the 2020 Investment Law, the 2020 Law on Enterprises, and the documents guiding their enforcement have created optimal conditions for investment flows, facilitated access to information in English as well as registration and opening accounts of investors, and enhanced market transparency, thus gradually meeting the criteria for market upgrade, according to VNA.

Illustrative image (Photo: baodautu.vn)

Aside from growing in terms of size and liquidity, Vietnam's stock market has also become increasingly transparent and healthy thanks to the stringent settlement of violations. A number of businesses have also proactively released information in English. Among them, all of those in the VN30 Index group, which measures the 30 largest stocks by market capitalization, has disclosed information in English.

Transparent regulations improve market viability as seen in the Government’s Decree No. 155/2020/ND-CP and the Finance Ministry’s Circular No. 96/2020/TT-BTC.

In the coming time, the SSC will revise legal documents to improve the transparency and sustainability of the stock market, Phuong noted.

Lyndon Chao, a representative of the Asia Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (ASIFMA), said Vietnam is one of the fastest-growing economies in Asia, posting the world’s fastest growth. It is also a beneficiary of global supply chain diversification and a rising middle class.

He said global investors are increasing investment in Asia, and Vietnam will be an outstanding destination in the future as authorities reform the market to provide easier access to global fund managers.

Financial experts point out that MSCI and FTSE Russell, the two most important international organizations in stock market classification, still list Vietnam as a frontier market. Meanwhile, neighboring countries like Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines have for years been designated as emerging markets.

Many foreign investors see the value in Vietnam’s stock market and want to invest in the future. What the country needs to do now is to keep promoting the market’s transparency and provide more favorable conditions for foreign investors, experts said.

If MSCI and FTSE Russell upgrade the stock market of Vietnam to an emerging one, billions of USD is expected to pour into Vietnamese stocks each year.

According to major international rating agencies and financial institutions, the country has made improvements and satisfied many important criteria. However, two issues still need major improvements in support of foreign investors. The improvements include the pre-funding requirement and the foreign ownership limit, both of which require practical coordination among stakeholders like the State Bank of Vietnam and the Ministry of Planning and Investment.

Experts also highlighted the importance of securities companies and banks, saying the upgrade will help expand the market size considerably, so operating systems and risk management processes must be top-notch to meet transaction-related requirements.

In addition, the SSC should press on with perfecting the new IT system for the stock market, diversifying and bettering the quality of products in the market to attract foreign investors, and developing products related to green growth and sustainable development.

Flood alert raised in central Vietnam as heavy rain continues hitting region

Meteorologists have raised the flood alert level in central Vietnam to four in the country’s five-level natural disaster risk system amid torrential rain continuing to batter localities in the region, especially Da Nang and Thua Thien-Hue.

Heavy rain turned major streets in Da Nang into rivers on October 12 - 13, with many places being left under water of between one and two meters deep. Relevant forces, including young volunteers and soldiers, were dispatched to evacuate 5,000 local people from flooded areas.

On the evening of October 13, Le Trung Chinh, head of the Da Nang municipal administration, made a field trip to the flooded areas in Lien Chieu and Thanh Khe districts.

Displaced people were duly arranged to temporarily stay at the headquarters of local administrations and schools, whilst they were also provided with daily necessities in order to survive the severe flooding, said Chinh.

Though rain let up on the morning of October 14, floodwaters submerged many residential quarters in Da Nang, throwing life there into chaos.

Most notably, relevant agencies safely rescued all 14 crewmembers on board a vessel in distress in the waters off the central coast of Da Nang. They also rescued 12 people trapped in flooded houses on Me Suot Street during the height of the rain.

Furthermore, heavy rain flooded large parts of Thua Thien-Hue, a central province that has been badly impacted by floods and storms.

Several places were left 700mm under water, forcing local authorities to order students to remain at home for safety reasons on October 13, said Nguyen Dinh Bach, head of the administration of Phong Dien District, VOV reported.

Thousands of people in Da Nang have been evacuated from flooded areas to safe places.

Initial reports show that a local resident was washed away by violent floodwaters during the height of the rain.

On the morning of October 14, rain decreased in intensity, and water levels on the Huong River also decreased compared to October 13.

Floodwaters receded in Hue, as well as the districts of Nam Dong, A Luoi, Huong Tra, and Huong Thuy, enabling students to go to school. Meanwhile school closures remained in effect in the low-lying districts of Phong Dien, Quang Dien, and Phu Loc.

Elsewhere, Quang Nam, Quang Tri, Ha Tinh, Phu Yen, and Thanh Hoa provinces also experienced a long spell of rain.

In Ha Tinh province, rescue forces on the morning of October 14 retrieved the body of a 13-year-old student who was washed away by violent floodwaters several hours earlier.

In the face of the possible severe flooding, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh issued an urgent telegram on October 12, in which he asked relevant ministries and localities to remain vigilant and pool their resources to cope with the long spell of rain and severe flooding hitting the central region.

He requested that designated agencies and localities move to evacuate local residents from flood and landslide-prone areas to higher ground, as well as provide displaced people with makeshift shelters and food.

The National Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting warned that rain would continue to hit the central region in a ‘complex manner’ in a couple of days.

Overseas Vietnamese in Czech Republic promote solidarity

The Vietnamese People Association in the Czech Republic on October 12 held a meeting to review its performance in the past time and identify orientations for the next year.

At the meeting, Nguyen Duy Nhien, Chairman of the association, summarised and evaluated the the association’s activities, highlighting solidarity and mutual support to overcome the difficulties of the Vietnamese community in the Czech Republic.

Hoang Dinh Thang, Chairman of the Union of Vietnamese People Associations in Europe, spoke highly of the development of the association since its establishment nearly 25 years, cited VNA.

People attend the meeting held by the Vietnamese People Association Association in Czech. (Photo: VNA)

Towards the 25th anniversary of the association's founding, and the association’s 7th congress for the 2024-2029 term, the association has defined work directions for next year with a focus on activities to help its members stabilise their lives and better integrate into the host's society, promote the beautiful images of Vietnamese people, coordinate with Vietnamese representative agencies to provides updates on policies and procedures related to Vietnamese people abroad and new policies and laws of the host country.

‘Make in Vietnam’ needs better preparation, and resources to become a success

Building and implementing the national program on heightening the independence and self-reliance of Vietnam’s production by 2045 is an important policy for making the nation develop sustainably in the era of international integration.

Resolution 29-NQ/TW clearly stipulates that Vietnam needs to pay high attention to heightening the self-control capability in input materials, technology, production, and markets; improve creativity and design; develop industries utilizing high technologies that bring high added value, and industries with low carbon emissions; and encourage enterprises to make investments to renovate, absorb and master newest technologies, especially core and source technologies.

Though Vietnam’s innovation index has improved in recent years, the fundamental factors are still at a low level.

In the GII 2022 (Global Innovation Index) report, Vietnam ranked 48th out of 132 surveyed countries (it ranked 44th in 2021), but a number of component indicators have not improved. Vietnam ranked 90th in higher education, and 113th in the ecological sustainability index, falling by 18 grades compared with 2021.

In terms of the knowledgeable worker index, Vietnam ranked 68th, or two graders lower than 2021. The ratios of ICT imports and exports to total trade transaction value have not improved, while it continued declining in the 2022 report (120th and 130th, respectively).

Photo: VNN

Meanwhile, the total expenditures on research and development of the state-owned and private sectors were low, just 0.53 percent of the 2019 GDP. The index was much lower than the world’s average level of 1.7 percent, and the levels of other regional countries, including Thailand (0.8 percent), Malaysia, 1.4 percent and China, 2.1 percent, cited VNN.

Vietnam is also weak in creative capacity. The number of Vietnam patents granted by prestigious world agencies is only 1/3 of Thailand, 1/11 of Malaysia, 1/3170 of China, while the number of patents per 1 million people is 0.21, ranking 91st among 141 countries. In 20 years (2011-2020), the number of patents granted to Vietnamese people accounted for only 4.62 percent of the total.

Vietnamese digital technology firms have a low level of investment in science and technology development for innovation compared to international enterprises. The enterprises’ funds for science and technology development only accounts for 2 percent of their total profits, not enough to create a breakthrough in technology and innovation. Meanwhile, there exist big problems in the use of this fund which is not suited to research activities and venture investment in technology.

Experts believe that Vietnam now needs to pay more attention to resources to develop fundamental industries in order to build a strong and modern national industry. This will allow Vietnam to join deeper into the global industrial value chain and ensure self-reliance capability in means of production.

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