Appointment of managing director

Climate change is an urgent problem for humanity in the 21 st century, and its importance was reinforced by the presence of 197 heads of state at the Climate Change Conference in Glasgow in 2021 (COP26). Vietnam has made strong commitments and issued its National Strategy on Climate Change for the period to 2050. Time for business action According to the World Bank, Vietnam is one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change. In 2020 alone, Vietnam has suffered a loss of $10 billion, equivalent to 3.2 per cent of GDP. Without a green transformation strategy, it is estimated that the nation could be losing 12-14 per cent of GDP every year by 2050. Green transformation describes the process of applying advanced processes and technologies to reshape business operations, ensuring economic growth, environmental sustainability, and social development. From an enterprise perspective, a common management solution is through a set of environmental, social and governance … [Read more...] about Net-Zero: Challenges and opportunities for Vietnamese businesses

Workers weigh and package dried shrimp, a Ca Mau Province's OCOP. —VNA/VNS Photo Huynh Anh The Government has introduced a new set of criteria for rating products enrolling in the One Commune One Product (OCOP) Programme. Dao Duc Huan, head of the OCOP Management Department, Central Coordination Office for New-style Rural Development (CCO), said the new set was laid down to replace the old set issued in 2019, which has begun to show cracks after four years being in place. As the old set had overlooked a wide range of products specified in Decision No.490, the new one has fixed the cracks by expanding its scope to cover the missing pieces. It has also altered old scoring rules by assigning a maximum score of 40 points to the "community strength" category, 25 points to "marketing capabilities", and 35 points to "product quality". Huan said the new set had encouraged the involvement of women and ethnic minorities in the production of OCOPs by giving extra points to affirmative … [Read more...] about New criteria for OCOPs

Reports delivered at the working session revealed that in realizing General Phan Van Giang’s conclusion at the inspection session in April 2022, the school’s Board of Directors has paid special attention to raising the quality of learning and teaching and scientific research. Speaking at the event, General Phan Van Giang praised the academy’s efforts and achievements over the past time, especially its determination in actualizing the Defense Minister’s direction during the inspection a year ago. Regarding missions in the coming time, the defense minister asked the Army Academy’s Party committee and Board of Directors to continue to embrace higher levels’ directives, resolutions, and orders and concretize them in accordance with its actual situation; address shortcomings; effectively carry out and make strong changes in education and training following the “Training quality is combat readiness capability” motto; review and adjust educational and training contents and programs … [Read more...] about Defense Minister works with Army Academy

Nguyen Quoc Toan, Director of the ministry’s Centre for Digital Transformation and Agricultural Statistics, said at a recent forum in Hanoi to promote digitization to support traceability of agricultural and food products that traceability is one of the eight key issues in digital transformation of the agricultural sector. According to him, Vietnam currently has around 19,000 cooperatives, 14,200 enterprises, and 7,500 processing facilities in the agricultural sector, along with about 9,400 supermarkets and markets, which constitutes the Big Data part of the sector. Therefore, traceability of agricultural products must be holistic and specific, he stressed. State management in this issue aims to meet requirements of international integration, improve transparency and accountability for the sector, and increase farmers’ interests, he added. Huynh Tan Dat, Deputy Director of the Plant Protection Department, said that the department has built a national database on planting area … [Read more...] about Digitization in agricultural product traceability needs joint efforts

After seeing orders from Europe plunge by 70% in recent weeks, shoemaker Chang Shuen in the southern province of Binh Duong quickly turned to the U.S., a market it has not paid attention to for nearly a decade. According to Doan Sy Loi, its CEO, the prices of products made for the U.S. market are always at least 15% lower than for the European market. When exporting to Europe, Chang Shuen only needs to make 5,000 pairs of shoes a day to turn a profit, but needs 6,000-6,500 pairs in the case of the U.S., he said. "During difficult times I have to do more to make a profit." However, one advantage is that orders from the U.S. are five to 10 times larger than from Europe, he said. The larger volumes attune workers, making production smooth and speedy, he added. Garment company Dony in Ho Chi Minh City recently sent executives to the Middle East to meet and negotiate with wholesalers for big brands, its director, Pham Quang Anh, said. If the price is good, importers are willing to … [Read more...] about Factories find ways to deal with decreasing exports

ADC Pharma in Can Tho Province. As the domestic pharmaceutical market holds a lot of potential, local producers are urged to improve their competitiveness for expansion. — VNA/VNS Photo Thanh Liem It is critical for pharmaceutical companies to improve competitiveness with a focus on research and development (R&D), production technology and digitalisation. According to experts, this will help them expand their shares in the domestic market which remains being dominated by imported drugs and extend their international reach. Viet Nam’s pharmaceutical market has significant potential. The Ministry of Health estimated the market at US$6.9 billion in 2021 while BMI Research forecast the market to reach $16.1 billion in 2026 with a compound growth rate of up to 11 per cent. According to Nguyen Dieu Ha, general secretary and office chief of the Vietnam Pharmaceutical Companies Association (VNPCA), there are 55 foreign-invested pharmaceutical companies in Viet Nam as of the end of … [Read more...] about Pharmaceutical companies urged to invest in R&D, improve competitiveness