Legal Advise
Fund management board set up
The State Securities Committee (SSC) has decided to establish a fund management board and prepare for the debut of a supervision board.
Accordingly, the Fund Management Board will be responsible for coordinating with other SSC units in building legal documents relating to the operation of fund management companies and their representative offices. 
It will also be in charge of assessing applications for establishment as well as supervising and controlling these intermediary organisations’ operations.
Meanwhile, the Supervision Board will be responsible for building legal documents relating to the supervision of the implementation of regulations and laws on securities and stock market, and overseeing the market’s daily happenings to timely discover unusual transactions.
According to the SSC, the establishment of the two boards aims to meet the stock market’s increasing demand when the number of members of both the Ho Chi Minh City and Ha Noi bourses tripled the figure of late 2006 to 267 with nearly 100 intermediary organisations and around 300,000 investors.
OceanBank to raise charter capital
Ocean Joint Stock Commercial Bank (OceanBank) plans this year to raise its charter capital to 3 trillion VND (187 million USD), up from 1 trillion VND in 2007.
The bank has also get targets to acquire 10 trillion VND in loans and to make 350 billion VND in pre-tax profits this year.
Last year, the bank acquired 4.75 trillion VND in loans and made 135 billion VND in pre-tax profits
Nexans to reap 80 million USD this year
Nexans Group in Viet Nam plans to earn 80 million USD in revenue this year, up 10 percent from last year.
The group has set up three joint ventures in the country, including Nexans Vietnam , Nexans Lioa and Nexan Telecom.
Nexans Global, which supplies cables and cable systems, committed to making Viet Nam a key investment destination in the region, said Michel Lemaire, deputy chairman of Nexans in the AsiaPacific region.
Nation seeks foreign advice on cutting motorbike fumes
Viet Nam is looking abroad for lessons on how to cut air pollution caused by motorbike exhaust fumes, a specialist from the Viet Nam Register (VNR) under the Ministry of Transport, Le Anh Tu said on January 21.
Tu was speaking at the workshop “Controlling exhaust fumes from motorbikes in big cities’ co-organised by the VNR and the Viet Nam-Switzerland Clean Air programme in the capital.
According to a VNR report, 70 percent of air pollution is caused by petrol-fuelled vehicles releasing high levels of carbon dioxide and other toxins into the environment.
Motorbikes are suspected to be the main offenders, especially old models and bikes that aren’t regularly maintained, VNR consultant Le Minh Dat said.
Regular maintenance should be coupled with education, Anh Tu said.
”People need to understand the importance of protecting the environment by cutting down on motorbike exhaust fumes,” he said.
It would help the Vietnamese people to look to Taiwan ’s example, representative from the Novel Vehicle Technology Company Chen Yung Hsun said.
”We have been telling people in Taiwan to regularly check their engines for a long time. We’ve also been encouraging the use of environmentally-friendly vehicles,” Hsun said.
The motorbike is by far the most popular form of transport in Viet Nam and the country not only has the highest number per capita in Asia but also the highest rate of vehicle exhaust pollution.
Between 2002 and 2007, the number of motorbikes rose dramatically, in Ha Noi from 1.1 million to 1.7 million and 2.5 million and 2.5 million to 3.8 million in Ho Chi Minh City.
University offers Vietnamese culture programmes for Koreans
Koreans, who want to study Vietnamese culture will have an opportunity to improve their Vietnamese through a programme to be held on February 25.
The 15-day programme, Vietnamese Cultural Knowledge Improvement for Koreans, will be held by the University of Social Sciences and Humanities’ Centre for Foreign Language&International Education Exchange Promotion, along with the National Administration of Tourism.
The programme will offer Koreans living and working in Viet Nam a certificate that allows them to work legally in registered jobs such as tour operators and sellers, interpreters for Vietnamese tour guides, as well as to create opportunities for Koreans to apply or renew their visa in the country.
For further information please contact (04) 5589437/5586694 or email.ussh.edu@fpt.vn/ttnn.xhnv@fpt.vn.
SME Securities strengthens cooperation with RoK partner
The Small- and Medium-sized Enterprises (SME) Securities Company on January 22 said it has reached a 200 million USD investment agreement with Tong Yang Group of the Republic of Korea (RoK).
Under the agreement, SME Securities and the RoK partner will boost investment cooperation in areas such as listed securities, over-the-counter (OTC) market, real estate and mineral exploitation in Viet Nam and Indochina as well as invest in enterprises which are preparing for initial public offerings (IPO).
The two sides also signed a deal on development assistance, in which Tong Yang Group will give a comprehensive assistance to SME Securities in an effort to turn it into a modern financial group.
The group will send experts to help SME Securities implement its projects and increase training.
Tong Yang is transferring a modern securities transaction technology to SME Securities, including back-office and online systems.
Construction of concrete plant to kick off in Binh Phuoc
The southern Binh Phuoc province has given the go ahead to a project to build a concrete plant in Chon Thanh district.
The 2.5 million USD plant, owned by the Dong Nam – Republic of Korea (RoK) Construction Ltd. Co., will be located in the Minh Hung – RoK Industrial zone.
Once fully operational, the plant will be capable of churning out 40,000 cubic metres of concrete or 100,000 tonnes of commercial concrete per year.
Spring fair to open soon
Businesses from Ha Noi and other provinces will showcase their products at over 500 pavilions of the Spring Fair 2008 to be held in the capital city from January 26 to February 5.
Goods on display will include confectionary, food and foodstuff, beverage, garments, precious stone-laid pictures, cosmetics, footwear and household utensils.
Visitors will have a chance to taste specialities from many regions of the country such as Hoa Binh wine, Nam Roi and Dien pomelos, Bo Ha oranges, Dong Xoai bamboo shoots, Bac Giang noodles, Thai Nguyen tea, Bien Hoa coffee, Hai Hau rice, Uoc Le pork pies and Ben Tre coconut candies.
Ceramic products from famous Phu Lang and Bat Trang villages, flowers, bonsai and ornament, furniture and farming tools will also be showcased at the fair.
Belgium helps Viet Nam develop textile technique testing
Belgium will provide 1 million euros for a project to strengthen the capacity of the Textile Research Institute (TRI) in researching, training and developing textile technique testing.
An agreement to this effect was signed by Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Bui Xuan Khu and Belgian Ambassador to Viet Nam Hubert Cooreman in Ha Noi on January 22.
The project will help the Textile Research Institute to provide high-quality services to the textile and garment industry through R&D activities, transfer of technology, testing and training, said Khu.
It will also help the TRI gain self-control in finance and become a leading textile research institute in Viet Nam , he added.
The project, which is part of a recently-approved overall programme to upgrade equipment and labs for the TRI, will be carried out within 30 months with the support from the Belgian Technical Cooperation (BTC).
Tien Giang’s star apples find way to Russia
The 2007-08 harvest saw Russia have so far imported one tonne of star apples of the Lo Ren trademark grown in Vinh Kim village, Chau Thanh district in the Mekong Delta province of Tien Giang .
Deputy Head of the Lo Ren Star Apple Cooperative Le Van Son said he has received orders for the fruit from many other countries. Singapore , for example, has ordered a container of 14 tonnes.
“But my cooperative is unable to meet the demand,” he said.
Son’s business will ship another batch weighing 92 kg of star apple to Russia on January 26.
The star apple of the Lo Ren trademark is growing on some 2,230 ha of land in 13 villages of Chau thanh district. The fruit yields between 13 and 15 tonnes per ha, thus producing some 22,000 tonnes a year.
Vinh Long attracts 12 foreign-invested projects
The southern province of Vinh Long to date has attracted 12 foreign direct investments (FDI) projects inside the industrial zone and seven FDI projects on the outside.
In 2007, Vinh Long province granted two new licences to Taiwan ’s Bo Hsing Ltd Co and Republic of Korea’s Co Vina Agri. Ltd Co with a total capital of 9.1 million.
Currently, eight FDI firms are operational and the remainders are being built and fitting equipment.
(Source: VNA)
