Security posts

At the event, participants were briefed on the cooperation of the three border guard units over the past time, particularly in border patrols and mass mobilization. Their border posts accelerated joint efforts in safeguarding national sovereignty, and maintaining border security and social safety in the stationed areas. At the meeting, delegates discussed relevant matters and agreed on several measures to enhance their cooperation in the time to come, especially in external defense affairs, border management, information sharing, and mass mobilization. On the occasion, representatives of the three border guard units signed the cooperation program for 2021, contributing to firmly protecting the national border in the current context. Translated by Trung Thanh …

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The factors that make the city an attractive transit point in drug trafficking were repeated at a Tuesday meeting by Major General Nguyen Van Vien, head of the Ministry of Public Security's Drug Crime Investigation Department (C04). He said the distance to transport drugs from the border to the city was short and it was convenient to send it to other places, both in Vietnam and abroad. The result has been that drug crime has developed most complicatedly in southern Vietnam, particularly HCMC and the area along the Vietnam-Cambodia border. Drugs typically enter Vietnam via three main routes: from the "Golden Triangle" through the Vietnam-Cambodia border into southern localities, including HCMC; from the triangle into Laos and north-central localities; and from Cambodia into the Central Highlands. The area where Thailand, Laos and Myanmar meet at the confluence of the Ruak and Mekong Rivers is called the "Golden Triangle." But the term is more commonly used to refer to an area of approximately 950,000 square kilometers (367,000 square miles) of mountains straddling the three countries. For almost a century the "Golden Triangle" was the biggest source of heroin in the world until its position was recently usurped by Afghanistan’s "Golden Crescent." "Once gathered in HCMC, the drugs are transferred via air routes, sea routes or simply through the post office to other nations," Vien said, adding that Eastern Europe has emerged among the most popular destinations via flights. Drug lords never get directly involved in the trafficking but recruit and guide traffickers from afar via different social media platforms, using code language and other signals to communicate, he added. Investigations have confirmed that cartels are connected across nations and well armed. They also deploy tricks that are "extremely sophisticated and cunning," including hiding drugs in food, granite blocks and car engines. Most recently, police detected narcotics being transported …

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The Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT) has proposed removing a tentative regulation in a draft decree that says foreign investors can hold up to 35 percent of shares of petroleum trading companies. MOIT has submitted a statement to the Government about amending some articles of the decree 83/2014 on petroleum trading management. The document was submitted on March 29, just days before the new Government tenure began. Foreign-ownership ratio According to MOIT, when the Government Office collected opinions from Government members on the draft that amends and supplements Decree 83 on petroleum trading, 24 out of 25 members agreed with the draft regulations. Only one member, who asked for an adjustment, disagreed with the plan to allow businesses trading petroleum products to transfer up to 35 percent of shares to foreign investors. Three members agreed with the draft document, but also offered suggestions on several issues. In the document, MOIT gave further explanations about the tentative plan to allow Vietnamese petroleum trading companies that have production activities to transfer shares to foreign investors. This remains a controversial issue. The ministries of Public Security, Planning and Investment, and Finance say this raises concerns about energy security, legality, and the benefits of opening the market to foreign investors. MOIT said the regulation was recently legalized, but, in fact, it has already been implemented. Petrolimex, for example, has sold 20 percent of its shares to a foreign investor, PVOil 35 percent, and BSR 49 percent through equitization. The sales were approved by the Prime Minister before they were implemented. These enterprises have been operating as usual. MOIT explained that adding the regulation to the draft decree aims to implement the Government decision in March 2016 on issuing shares to Petrolimex’s strategic shareholders to increase its capital. The ministry said the presence of foreign investors …

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