Social enterprise funding grants

A street in Hanoi is flooded after heavy rains. (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – Alongside urbanisation , flooding in cities of Vietnam, a country highly vulnerable to climate change, is getting complicated and needs concerted solutions, according to experts. There are more than 800 cities nationwide, including the two special municipalities of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. Big and populous cities such as Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang, and Vinh of Nghe An province have frequently suffered from heavy losses caused by downpours and flooding. Nguyen Van Tien, Deputy Director of the Vietnam Disaster Management Authority under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, said Vietnamese cities, especially major ones, are centres of economic, social, and cultural activities and also concentrations of infrastructure facilities and residential areas. They are exposed to many disaster risks, including flooding, which requires proactive preventive and timely response measures. … [Read more...] about Urban flooding needs concerted solutions

Co-organized by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, the Ministry of National Defense and Hanoi municipal authorities, the tree-planting festival started a series of activities nationwide for the program “For a green Vietnam” with an aim to plant 22.5 million trees this year. Speaking at the event, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh recalled that 64 years ago, President Ho Chi Minh called on the entire people to respond to the tree-planting month which has become a tradition every lunar new year since then. According to him, Vietnam’s forest coverage expanded from 28% in 1990 to over 42% in 2022, absorbing over 70 million tons of carbon dioxide. The PM highlighted Vietnam's commitment to achieve net zero by 2050 and expressed his belief that the tree-planting campaign 2023 will produce positive achievements, helping the country deliver its commitment and contributing to national development. At the launch ceremony, he joined delegates in planting 3,000 trees at the … [Read more...] about Prime Minister launches New Year tree-planting festival

Between VND150-200 trillion ($6.4-8.5 billion) in bonds are set to mature this year, and if the bond market is left to self-regulate, systemic risks could spread to the banking sector and the entire financial market, Cuong told VnExpress in an interview. Although Vietnam concluded 2022 with a strong post-pandemic recovery, several financial problems plagued the economy last year, among them bond market issues . As there were many high-profile arrests due to alleged misconduct in bond issuance, companies prematurely redeemed VND210.57 trillion worth of their own bonds last year, up 46% from 2021. Although the market could be left to fix its own problems, Cuong said that it is recommended that the government intervenes with policies to ensure post-pandemic recovery, as one problem in the market could shake the market in a major way this year. He added that in the 2008 financial crisis, the U.S. government initially let the market corrects itself, but after Lehman Brothers … [Read more...] about Vietnam government should intervene in bond market: ADB economist

Illustrative image (Photo: vietnamnet) Hanoi (VNA) – The bustling game market in Vietnam is offering numerous opportunities for developers, according to experts. Le Quang Tu Do, Director of the Authority of Broadcasting , Television and Electronic Information under the Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC), cited data from App Annie 2020 showing that Vietnam ranked seventh in the world and second in Southeast Asia in the number of game downloads. Meanwhile, the country also ranked third in the top 10 game application manufacturers in the region. For every 25 games downloaded, there is one produced in Vietnamese studios. According to the statistics of Sensor Tower and the Vietnam Game Studio Club, there are currently about 5,000 games produced by Vietnamese people, mostly for children, entertainment, and education. Do said that the wage of each game developer in Vietnam is about 187 million VND (7,975 USD) per year, while that of each artist is abour 389 million … [Read more...] about Local game developers eye great opportunities at home

The sector should continue to follow policies and guidelines adopted by the Party and the State, while closely coordinating with ministries, agencies and localities to fulfill socio-economic tasks, he said. Priorities should be given to maintaining the macro-economic stability, controlling inflation, spurring growth and ensuring major economic balances, the leader continued. Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh asked the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) to improve its analyzing and forecasting capacity, provide timely consultancy and flexibly respond to developments of the domestic and international situation. The central bank was also urged to intensify inspection and supervision, ensure transparency, promote digital transformation, raise service quality, and support innovations and small- and medium-sized enterprises. It needs to further consolidate monetary institutions, mechanisms and policies to create a concerted legal corridor, thus giving a push to the monetary and credit markets, … [Read more...] about Prime Minister urges banking sector to make more innovations