Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) - Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc attended and delivered remarks at an open debate of the UN Security Council (UNSC) on addressing climate-related risks to international peace and security, which was held in the form of video conferencing on February 23. Following is the full text of the Prime Minister’s remarks. Mr. President, I applaud the initiative of the UK Government and yourself, Mr. President, to host this important UNSC open debate on “Addressing climate-related risks to international peace and security”. I would like to thank UN Secretary General António Guterres and Chair of the UN Youth Advisory Group Nisreen Elsaim for your insightful and substantive information and recommendations. Mr. President, Earth – our blue planet, and our shared home – is suffering from grievous impacts of climate change. 2020 was one of the three hottest years in modern history, and was faced with the constant and severe aftermaths of floods, droughts, bushfires, rising sea level, and the unprecedented COVID-19 outbreak. Such calamities have placed great burdens on the political and socio-economic life of many countries. They have caused unemployment and poverty, affected the livelihood of hundreds of millions of people, and risked creating instabilities or exacerbating present conflicts in many countries and regions, thus threatening international peace and security. In addition, conflicts and instabilities would further erode countries’ resilience, and rob them of valuable resources that could have been utilised to overcome the challenges of climate change. Therefore, I propose that the UNSC, with its foremost mission being the maintenance of international peace and security, needs to galvanize collective and persevering efforts of the international community via the following measures: First, a comprehensive and balanced approach is necessary in handling the connections between traditional …
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System error clogs ATC phase, VN-Index falls
System error clogs ATC phase, VN-Index falls The Saigon Times An employee of HCMC Securities Corporation monitors stock prices on a computer screen. The VN-Index of the Hochiminh Stock Exchange lost 1.33% today, February 24 – PHOTO: THANH HOA HCMC - The VN-Index of the Hochiminh Stock Exchange lost 1.33%, or 15.63 points, on Wednesday to end at 1,162.01 points in a session that a system error clogged the at-the-close phase. The market barely fluctuated in the morning. Early in the afternoon, the VN-Index suddenly lost over 23 points to below 1,155 points. The strong cash flow then helped the benchmark index recover. However, a technical error occurred, clogging trade after 2 p.m. The southern market saw losing stocks far outnumber winners by 357 to 93. There were 603 million shares worth over VND15 trillion changing hands, falling slightly in volume and 2.6% in value against the session earlier. Among bluechips, only steelmaker HPG, lenders VIB and CTG, petroleum stock PLX and aviation stock HVN gained ground. CTG was the biggest gainer, rising 1.21% to VND37,500. The others increased less than 1%, with HPG edging up 0.69% to VND43,600, PLX up 0.88% to VND57,300, VIB up 0.54% to VND37,400 and HVN up 0.7% to VND28,800. In contrast, property stock VIC lost 1.64% to end at VND108,200 and lender VCB fell 1.9% to VND98,000. Bluechips losing over 2% included housing developer VHM and lender BID, which went down 2.37% to VND102,800 and 2.16% to VND43,050, respectively. HPG took the lead by liquidity with 27.3 million shares changing hands, followed by lenders STB, MBB and ACB, with 24.7 million, 19.9 million and 18.7 million shares traded, respectively. In the group of small and medium stocks, there were only a few stocks increasing, including industrial zone developer ITA, up 0.2% to VND6,390, real estate stock DLG, up 0.6% to VND1,820 and shipping firm VOS, up 2% to VND3,510. However, the southern bourse saw some stocks shoot up to the …
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Prolonged pandemic issues cloud recovery
Dinh Quang Hinh, analyst at VNDIRECT Securities JSC, noted that the local economy’s recovery “will slow down”, especially in the next two months. According to Hinh, the tourism industry may still be the most affected by the new COVID-19 wave. Reports from travel and airline businesses showed that many travellers cancelled flights and hotel reservations, and postponed their plans. In addition, the blockade in some localities such as Hai Duong province and the closure of a number of non-essential services in other cities and provinces may reduce the growth rate of several service sub-sectors, especially accommodation, catering, tourism, and entertainment. At a cocentrated quarantine area. Photo: VNA Unfeasible policies Facing the serious impact of COVID-19 on the economy, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Pham The Anh, chief economist of the Institute for Economic and Policy Research (VEPR), said that the country could not pursue macro policies in the same way other countries would do, for example through large-scale monetary easing, due to limited financial resources after years of deficits, coupled with constraints to inflation and exchange rate targets. Vietnam was one of the few countries in the world with positive economic growth in 2020. But this year, according to Anh’s observation, “the policy space is no longer wide” to support economic growth and social security. Last year, the State Bank of Vietnam lowered interest rates three times and supported commercial banks with a VND250-trillion package ($10.87 billion), which is still being deployed. In addition, pandemic prevention and social backup subsidies to ease the impacts of the crisis are also putting great pressure on the budget balance. In 2021, monetary policy, particularly interest rate tools, will see a significantly reduced effectiveness, according to the VEPR’s chief economist. Anh also warned about an asset bubble that is forming in the stock and real estate markets. Last year, property …
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