Logistics sector to step up digital transformation Logistics, considered a backbone of Vietnam’s economy, is among eight sectors prioritised by the national programme for digital transformation until 2025. According to the Vietnam Logistics Business Association (VLA), the sector has grown 14-16 percent annually over recent years. It now gathers together some 3,000 domestic firms and 30 others offering transnational services. Of those, 89 percent are domestic businesses and 10 percent are joint ventures while the number of foreign-funded companies represents just 1 percent of the total. The VLA said the cost of logistics in Vietnam as a proportion of GDP is 18 percent, compared to 9-14 percent in developed countries. The high cost is attributable to limited sea port infrastructure and weak cost reduction efforts. Together with fierce competition, the digital economic boom, and pressure from the COVID-19 pandemic, these have made digitisation in the sector a must. Vietnamese logistics companies offer between 2 and 17 services, mostly in transport, warehousing, and fast delivery. About half apply technology in their operations. Nguyen Tuong, VLA Deputy General Secretary, said investment shortages from the very beginning, difficulties in choosing suitable technological applications, a sense of distrust in technology, and a fear of change are hindering the sector from pressing ahead with digital transformation. Tran Thanh Hai, Deputy Director of the Agency of Foreign Trade at the Ministry of Industry and Trade, said transformation in this core sector would trigger a similar process in other parts of the supply chain. Experts have said that smart logistics involve master plans and strategies with the involvement of cloud computing technology, adding that it will be conducive to improving customer services, information flows, and automation. To reduce logistics costs, Nguyen Hoang Long, Deputy General Director of the Viettel Post Joint Stock …
Minority start up business loans
VIETNAM NEWS FEBRUARY 10
Vietnam to raise rate of trained workers to 40 percent by 2030 Workers at a garment factory Overall, the programme aims to provide a strong premise for comprehensively developing the labour market; effectively mobilising, distributing, and utilising resources to boost socio-economic growth; shift to a modernised labour structure; and promote links between the domestic labour market and those of the region and the world. Its objectives are to increase the number of workers with labour market-relevant skills and raise the number of trained workers to 30 percent by 2025 and 30-45 percent by 2030. Under the programme, Vietnam expects to be among the top 60 countries in the Knowledge Workers sub-pillar of the Global Innovation Index (GII) by 2025 and among the top 55 by 2030. The country also sets having 80 percent of its workforce possess IT skills by 2025 and 90 percent by 2030, while reducing the rate of young adults unemployed or untrained to below 8 percent. To this end, the country plans to improve the relevant legal framework to bolster the development of the labour market; support the development of labour supply and demand, a labour market database, social welfare and insurance, and a specialised labour market; and promote links between the domestic and foreign labour markets. It will also develop a set of indicators measuring the development of the labour market compared with the regional and global markets, and evaluate the labour gap between regions./. PM meets medical workers ahead of Tet festival Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has described doctors and health workers as soldiers who stand at the frontline in the fight against COVID-19. At a meeting with medical workers on the occasion of the Tet (Lunar New Year) holiday on February 9, the PM stressed that the health sector has made direct and very important contribution to the country’s socio-economic achievements in 2020, as part of concerted efforts by the entire political …
VIETNAM NEWS HEADLINES FEB. 24
Deceased Japanese expert infected with new virus variant: Health Minister A Japanese expert who died in Hanoi on February 13 has been infected with a new variant strain of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, said Health Minister Nguyen Thanh Long. Long announced the results of the expert’s genome sequencing at a meeting of permanent Cabinet members in Hanoi on February 24. He did not reveal specifically but said this was the first time the new strain has been detected in Vietnam. The strain, he said, has circulated mainly in the Republic of Korea, Sri Lanka, Taiwan (China), and India. According to the minister, Japan, the deceased expert’s home country, has yet to record this strain. To scientists, the strain it not highly transmissible, but the extent of its aggravation is not clear, said Long. Epidemiologists stated that the new strain is not linked to the fresh coronavirus hotspot in Hai Duong province where a variant strain originating from the United States was recorded. The Japanese expert entered Vietnam on January 17 through Tan Son Nhat International Airport. He was placed in quarantine in Ho Chi Minh City’s Tan Binh District from January 17-31 upon his arrival. He left the quarantine facility and flew to Hanoi on February 1 after testing negative twice, on January 17 and 31. The man stayed at Somerset West Point Hanoi hotel in Quang An ward, Tay Ho district, and travelled back and forth between the hotel and his company Mitsui Vietnam. He was found dead in his hotel room on February 13. Subsequent tests showed he had carried the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Sailors infected with COVID-19 aboard Indonesian vessel off southern coast Five sailors aboard Ocean Amazing, an Indonesian-flagged cargo vessel off the southern coast of Ba Ria – Vung Tau province, have tested positive for the SARS-CoV-2 virus, according to a report released by the provincial Centre for Disease Control (CDC). Healthcare workers have already collected nasal swabs from the sailors …
