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On behalf of the real estate enterprises, Mr. Le Hoang Chau, Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City Real Estate Association (HOREA), said that compared to the previous year, there was an additional petition of Gamuda Land Joint Stock Company. The petition states that while waiting for the Prime Minister to decide on a VND514-billion deduction following the recommendations of the Government Inspectorate, over the past time, construction investment and business activities of the company have been stagnant, affecting the reputation and brand of this company in 10 years of operation in Vietnam. As for the matter of social housing, Mr. Le Huu Nghia, CEO of real estate developer Le Thanh, said that they were considering whether to develop social housing again. Because of too many difficult procedures, many people advised him to play safe by switching to develop commercial real estate. At the Le Thanh Tan Kien social housing project in Binh Chanh District, although the HCMC People's Committee had directly instructed to remove obstacles, after three years of implementing the project, now it backs to square one. Although the regulation for the processing time of the application by authorities is 215 days, in fact, the processing of the application can take a lot longer than that because the application must be transferred between departments and districts. Even a document from the urban management office to the district People's Committee takes several months. Moreover, although the social housing projects are invested by enterprises from start to finish, they are audited as projects using capital from the State budget. Meanwhile, the auditors are too strict. They slap them with high fines on petty mistakes, discouraging investors, Mr. Le Huu Nghia explained. Le Thanh Company is one of 20 enterprises that have petitioned the city through the summary of HOREA. This list shows that many petitions had been raised by investors at meetings with the city leaders in the past years, …

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Prof. Dr. Andreas Stoffers - Country director, Vietnam The Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom The United Kingdom is an important trading partner of Vietnam. In 2020, trade turnover between the two countries amounted to $6.6 billion. With $5.8 billion in exports, Vietnam’s trade balance was clearly positive, which also underlines the country’s strong interest in reaching an amicable agreement with the UK. In recent years, despite the uncertainties associated with Brexit, the growth of trade relations has been unbroken, averaging 12.1 per cent per annum in 2011-2019. The trade relations between the EU and Vietnam are naturally greater given the fact that the EU is the world’s largest market. In 2019, the EU was the second-most important overseas market for Vietnamese products with a total trade volume of $56.45 billion, of which Vietnam’s exports accounted for two-thirds ($41.55 billion). This is 16 per cent of the country’s total export volume. In 2020, exports to the EU increased to $34.8 billion, and imports to $14.5 billion. Vietnam benefits significantly more from bilateral economic relations than the EU. The continuous surplus Vietnam enjoys in its bilateral trade relations with the EU has been instrumental in offsetting Vietnam’s huge trade deficits with China and South Korea. Vietnam exports mainly electronics, footwear, clothing and textiles, coffee, seafood, and furniture. The most important goods of EU exports to Vietnam are high-tech products including boilers, machinery and mechanical products, electrical machinery and equipment, pharmaceuticals, and a very limited number of motor vehicles. The EVFTA opens many opportunities for producers and traders on both sides, including small- and medium-sized enterprises. The EVFTA is of course one of the most modern and far-reaching agreements of its kind. It plays an important role in promoting trade liberalisation between Vietnam and the EU. Combined with the new Law on Investment which …

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Located at 4 Phan Boi Chau Street, adjacent to Ben Thanh Market, the food stall was well known as the stomping ground of many foreign visitors, overseas Vietnamese and artists prior to the pandemic. Unlike other versions of crab noodle soup, or bun rieu , the dish here consists of a big chunk of fried tofu, congealed duck blood, a slice of tomato and its huge, signature crab meatball instead of the typically lumpy crab meat with small bite-size pieces on top. It would seem the cook aims to preserve all original flavors pertaining to this dish, allowing guests to enjoy the rich and soft tofu, chewy blood jelly and firm, tasty crab meatball and thin rice vermicelli. The dish is served with a plate of special fish sauce, chili, shrimp paste and tamarind dipping and a plate of fresh split morning glory, mung bean sprouts, thin strips of banana blossom, cilantro and basil leaves. A bowl of noodle soup at "Bun Rieu Ganh" in Saigon. Photo by VnExpress/Huynh Nhi. Mai Thi Lien, 60-year-old owner of "Bun Rieu Ganh", has always been loyal to the traditional soup taste for over 40 years with her mother’s recipe. "The noodle soup is well seasoned. To add sourness, we do not use lime or kumquat juice but tamarind instead," Lien said. Even though the price per serving is VND55,000 ($2.4), considered higher than at other stalls in the city, Lien claims she is not thrifty when spending money on ingredients since when it came to good food, it was quality that counted. Besides, inner-city rent further explains the higher price. "In the past, it used to be a street vending business, my customers had to borrow seats from nearby stalls. So seven years ago, I started to rent a fully equipped place with seats and air conditioners and needless to say, the fee is exorbitant," she said. Special crab meatballs in a bun rieu pot at the shop. Photo by VnExpress/Huynh Nhi. Nguyen Nhat Huy from District 4 first visited the food stall thanks to word …

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