15th National Assembly expected to have 500 seats There will be a total of 500 seats in the 15th National Assembly at both central and local levels, according to a new resolution adopted by the National Assembly Standing Committee. Minister promises greatest efforts to ensure safety in COVID-19 vaccinations The Ministry of Health will mobilise all resources to carry out COVID-19 vaccinations, the largest-ever vaccination programme, so as to ensure absolute safety for people, Minister Nguyen Thanh Long has said. Long chaired a teleconference which was organised on March 6 and connected with 700 places across Vietnam to launch the vaccination plan and provide related training for medical workers nationwide in the use and storage of the vaccine, as well as the treatment of post-injection complications. He informed the teleconference that the vaccination programme will start on March 8, although the first batch of vaccine arrived in Vietnam on February 24. “As the vaccine is new, we need to carry out thoroughly,” Long said, adding that Vietnam has to obtain an accreditation certificate from the producer and reassess the safety index of the batch of vaccine. Because of the limited number of vaccine, the ministry cannot allocate for all 63 provinces and cities, but for 13 pandemic-hit localities, with priority given to Hai Duong province – Vietnam’s largest outbreak at present, he added. The minister asked localities which have yet to receive the vaccine to prepare and make training programmes as the ministry will allocate vaccines to them when more are transported to Vietnam in March. COVAC and AstraZeneca have agreed to provide 30 million doses each for Vietnam this year, the minister said, adding the ministry asked the producers to hand over the vaccines to Vietnam before September and is negotiating with Pfizer to buy an additional 30 million doses from this producer. The ministry has assigned three deputy ministers to be …
Project appraisal and finance
VIETNAM BUSINESS NEWS MARCH 7
Vietnam striving to promote sustainable marine aquaculture development Vietnam striving to promote sustainable marine aquaculture development hinh anh 1 A shrimp farming area in Phu Yen province Vietnam is to have 280,000 ha of marine aquaculture area and 10.5 million cubic metres of farming cages by 2025, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD). Annual marine aquaculture output and export turnover are expected to reach 850,000 tonnes and between 800 million and 1 billion USD, the ministry said. The MARD has taken a series of measures to promote sustainable marine aquaculture in coastal areas nationwide, towards turning the sector into a key part of the country’s maritime economy by 2045. Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Phung Duc Tien said agencies have coordinated with coastal localities to review and build a plan for aquaculture development in Vietnam to 2030 with a vision to 2045. The plan will focus on improving the output, quality, and economic efficiency of marine aquaculture, protecting the environment and adapting to climate change, restructuring production activities, and building value chains for each group of products, with industrial marine aquaculture to play a key role. Incentive policies will be available to offshore industrial aquaculture enterprises, to encourage them to invest. Attention will be paid to creating business communities in offshore aquaculture in major coastal cities and provinces, including Quang Ninh, Hai Phong, Binh Dinh, Phu Yen, Khanh Hoa, Ninh Thuan, Binh Thuan, Ba Ria - Vung Tau, Ca Mau, and Kien Giang, as well as others with substantial potential. Marine aquaculture and aquatic processing centres, logistics services, and fisheries infrastructure will be developed in north-central and central coastal localities from Thanh Hoa to Binh Thuan. Priority will be given to developing models of multi-species farming and in supporting establishments …
Consistency in legal documents needed to develop science and technology: expert
Việt Nam needs to ensure consistency in legal documents on science and technology development to tap its potentials. — VNA/VNS Photo Anh Tuấn With great potential amid the ever-growing importance of science and technology, Việt Nam has promoted investment in this field by offering tax incentives and resources. Former Minister of Science and Technology Nguyễn Quân talks to Khoa học và Phát triển (Science and Development) online newspaper about the limitations in legal documents that regulate science-technology investment in Việt Nam and recommendations for the country to unlock its potential in this field. Early this year, the Finance Ministry issued Circular 03/2021/TT-BTC on Corporate Income Tax (CIT) exemption and reduction policies for science-technology enterprises. What is new in this circular? Similar tax incentives on science-technology companies were stipulated in two decrees in 2007 and 2010 respectively and another circular. This new document is expected to make tax procedures easier for science-technology businesses. However, there are some limitations in Circular 03. For example, previous legal documents regulated that science-technology businesses are entitled to the same tax incentives applied for high technology (hi-tech) companies or those investing in hi-tech parks. This means that they enjoy tax rate of 10 per cent for 15 years or during the life span of the project. However, Circular 03 doesn’t specify CIT rates to which science-technology companies are entitled, so there is a chance that they may be entitled to CIT exemption and reduction for a total of just 13 years. This will make investing in science and technology less attractive and put science-technology companies at a disadvantage compared to hi-tech companies, companies investing in hi-tech zones or companies that have hi-tech projects. What is more, Circular 03 is about preferential tax policies while previous documents regulated other issues like human resources, …
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