Focused business

Head of the Vietnam representative office of Genesia Venture s Hoang Thi Kim Dung speaks at a workshop on attraction of venture investment capital for innovative startups (Photo: hoilhpn.org.vn) Hanoi (VNA) - Investor s are confident in the potential of Vietnam's innovative startup ecosystem, and believe the country will become a big investment market in the region and the world, according to head of the Vietnam representative office of Genesia Ventures, an investment fund of Japan, Hoang Thi Kim Dung. According to a report published by Do Ventures - a venture capital fund that focuses on making investments in tech startups in Vietnam and Southeast Asia -  in 2020, Vietnam's innovative startup ecosystem ranked third in Southeast Asia, after Singapore and Indonesia. Vietnam’s national innovation startup ecosystem is likely to earn a berth in the top 15 emerging ones in the Asia-Pacific region by 2030, the report said. The Prime Minister in 2016 approved a project to support the national innovative startup ecosystem through 2025 under Decision No. 844/ QD-TTg (Project 844), which was designed to promote and support the formation and development of startup projects or startup enterprises and urgently complete the legal system to support innovative startups. To further promote the development of Vietnam's innovative startup ecosystem in an intensive manner, recently the PM has approved the amending and supplementing of a number of articles in Decision No 844/QD-TTg. Accordingly, an additional target is to build a system of innovation centres to support research and development (R&D) and creative startups, in tandem with ensuring their successful operation with specific, outstanding and highly competitive mechanisms and policies to make sure that they will be on par with other regionally and internationally leveled ones. The green light will be given to developing national creative startup support centres in Vietnam’s three …

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Many effective models According to the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Bac Lieu Province, through the process of agricultural restructuring, many models of the linking value chains in the production, processing and consumption of agricultural products have been formed, bringing high economic efficiency. Currently, the province’s many companies and units of shrimp farming in the form of a closed value chain were recognised as agricultural enterprises applying high technology or certified by international standards of aquaculture such as GlobalGAP, BAP, ASC, and Organic. In addition, the province has steadily developed the rice industry following a large production model, joining the value chain, with rice output increased from 1.066 million tonnes in 2015 to 1.15 million tonnes by 2020. In Hai Duong, the agricultural sector has also been promoting the formation of value chains for agricultural products. Accordingly, the province has been focusing on building agricultural production zones for export processing, high-tech agricultural zones, and expanding production scale according to the GAP assessment process. Up to now, the whole province has 335 hectares of organic rice, 114 rice-growing models of "one zone, one variety, one time", with the minimum scale of 30 hectares per zone. Specialised vegetable growing areas with high efficiency continue to be maintained and expanded. Thanks to production in value chains in 2020, many agricultural products of the province will be exported through official channels to high quality markets, such as: lychee, longan exported to Japan and the US; carrots to the Republic of Korea (ROK), Japan, and Middle Eastern countries; cabbage to the ROK and Japan; pickled cucumbers to Russia and the ROK; and onion and garlic to Malaysia. Meanwhile, according to the Hung Yen Provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, the province has successfully implemented the project "Building and developing models …

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Oxalis, the only private company licensed to explore and conduct adventure tours in the central province, welcomed 6,000 Vietnamese nationals last year, increasing thrice against the previous years. The total number of cavers, however, was down 50 percent from the previous year to 7,000 as inbound tourism plunged due to travel restrictions. Of the 7,000 visitors, 1,000 were foreign cavers who had entered Vietnam prior to the government halting international flights in late March last year to curb the spread of the coronavirus. Nguyen Chau A, CEO of Oxalis, said the company, with about 500 employees, focuses exclusively on adventure tours to explore caves in Quang Binh, including Son Doong, the world's largest cave, and Tu Lan. With international flights and foreigner entry remaining suspended except for special cases , local businesses are focusing on boosting domestic tourism. Currently, around 185 slots remain available to tour Son Doong in 2021, and 287 Tu Lan tours are up for grabs, according to Oxalis. Son Doong opened to tourists in 2013. It comprises at least 150 individual caves, a dense subterranean jungle and several underground rivers. British magazine Conde Nast Traveler named Son Doong one of seven must-explore wonders of 2020. Tu Lan, a popular setting for film shoots, was discovered in 2010, with two entrances stretching 2.2 kilometers. Tourists usually explore Tu Lan along with other caves in the system, including Chuot, Hung Ton, Ken, and Kim. To ensure safety, the company does not receive visitors from pandemic-hit areas as recommended by the Ministry of Health. Cavers joining the tour are required to submit medical declarations. Vietnam has recorded 831 Covid-19 community transmission cases in 13 localities, including Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, since Jan. 28 when its latest outbreak began after a 55-day clean streak. …

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