Foreign investment

In an interview recently granted to Vietnam News Agency correspondents in Rome, Di Stefano said in recent years, Vietnam has made a stride in history, which was the result of the Vietnamese leaders’ strategic vision. The country has overcome difficulties during the Cold War and chosen the road of modernisation and multilateral integration with basic steps such as entry to the UN, ASEAN, the World Trade Organisation, and establishment of ties with regional organisations like the European Union as well as strategic partnership with many nations worldwide, including Italy, he said. According to him, Vietnam’s opening of door to receive foreign investment, including those from Italy, has brought to Vietnam necessary resources in terms of investment, labour and technology for national construction. Italy pays attention to Vietnam’s important role in the region and on international arena, he said, adding that the two nations have supported principles of a world order based on the respect of rules and the peaceful settlement of disputes, as well as shared a common wish to effectively promote multilateralism and sustainable development for all stakeholders. He reiterated Italian President Sergio Mattarella’s congratulatory message sent to new State President Nguyen Xuan Phuc that Italy will grasp cooperation opportunities from the Vietnam – Italy strategic partnership established in 2013 and the Italy – ASEAN development partnership signed in 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic showed that common issues must be settled via solidarity and cooperation, which inspired Italy in its role as G20 Chair and promptly the country to fund 116 million USD for the Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator (ACT-A) to offer equal access to vaccines worldwide, including Vietnam. He also hailed Vietnam for effectively coping with the pandemic thanks to its experience in dealing with SARS in 2003. Commenting on the prospect of bilateral cooperation after the European Union – Vietnam Free …

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Vietnam, as the rotating President of the UNSC, held this event virtually and in person under the chair of Minister Son. Attending the discussion were UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, nine ministers and deputy ministers, ambassadors and heads of missions of the UNSC member states. The event’s speakers included Director of the Geneva International Center for Humanitarian Demining Stefano Toscano, UNDP Goodwill Ambassador actress Yeoh Choo-Kheng, Manager of Project RENEW All-Women Demining Team in Vietnam Nguyen Thi Dieu Linh, and UN Global Advocate for the Elimination of Mines and Explosive Hazards actor Daniel Craig. The event also saw the presence of officials from Vietnamese ministries, departments, and localities badly affected by war-left bombs, mines and explosives; representatives from the embassies of the UNSC member states, UN organizations, and domestic and international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) working on mine action. At the event, delegates highly valued Vietnam’s initiative on the organization of  such an important meeting. They voiced their support  for the humanitarian purpose of limiting the use of bombs and mines in the world. They emphasized the consequences of bombs and mines in conflict areas in the past and present. They also voiced their support for national and international efforts to settle consequences of bombs and mines and unexploded ordnance, assist victims, and stabilize the situation for reconstruction and socio-economic development. Delegates highly praised international cooperation in mine action and stressed the need to boost cohesion and coordination within the UN system, including the UNSC, in order to make more contributions to the UN and relevant countries’ mine action efforts. In his speech, Minister Son highlighted the importance of settling the consequences of wars and conflicts and said that this issue should be paid more attention to in the UNSC agenda. The Vietnamese official shared Vietnam’s …

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Thoughts return to stronger rail options. Source: freepik.com Although the Ever Given container ship was rescued one week after being stranded in the Suez Canal in Egypt, the trading world remains rocked as hundreds of billions of US dollars has evaporated in the wake of the global trade system significantly relying on this narrow canal. The incident has also posed questions on developing other transportation channels, in which trans-continental rail routes may be top of the list. “One of the most effective channels is to develop a rail route running through Asia and Europe. This would be very good for exporters in Vietnam,” said Tran Thanh Hai, deputy director of the Ministry of Industry and Trade’s Agency of Foreign Trade. It is now recommended that exporters should consider and take advantage of the current rail route connecting Vietnam through China to Kazakhstan, Russia, Belarus, Poland, and Germany. From Germany, the goods can be transported to other European markets. Currently if goods are transported via this rail route, it would take a month from Vietnam to Germany, with a cost of $8,000-9,000 per container, which is higher than the $6,000-8,000 for sea transportation which can take up to 50 days. However, the existing difficulty is the difference in railway widths and also standards of the trains themselves. The width of Vietnam’s railways is one metre, while that of other nations is around 1.4m. Moreover, trains in Vietnam cannot accommodate a huge volume of goods at the same time – each train can carry a maximum of 90 tonnes of goods for 15 compartments. If exporters want their goods transported by trains from Vietnam to overseas markets, they will have to change trains many times, meaning higher costs. These factors currently make it difficult for Vietnam to boost the transportation of goods by train to other international markets. Kazakhstani Ambassador to Vietnam Yerlan Baizhanov previously told VIR that Kazakhstan, China, and …

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