JAKARTA -- Indonesia will suspend some palm oil export permits to secure domestic supply amid rising cooking oil prices ahead of upcoming Islamic festivals, senior cabinet minister Luhut Pandjaitan said on his official Instagram account on Monday. Palm oil exporters had accumulated large shipment quotas last year and they now had little incentive to supply the domestic market, he said. Indonesia issues export permits for palm oil companies that have already sold a proportion of their products to the domestic market, under a policy known as "Domestic Market Obligation" (DMO). The DMO currently allows export volumes that are six times what companies have sold at home. "Exporters can use those export rights after the situation has calmed," said Luhut, Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment. Firman Hidayat, an official at the same ministry, said about a third of existing export quotas could be used now, while the rest could be used after May 1. He added … [Read more...] about Indonesia to suspend some palm oil export permits: officials
Work permit vietnam
Vietnam’s Internet speed to remain sluggish until March
The sluggish Internet speed in Vietnam will not improve until March when one of the four submarine cable systems with ongoing problems is expected to be fixed. Repair work on the Asia Pacific Gateway (APG) is expected to be finished in March, a representative of an Internet service provider (ISP) told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper on Sunday. It is still unclear when the problems on the Asia America Gateway (AAG), Asia Africa Europe (AAE-1), and Intra Asia (IA) cables will be fixed. Four out of the five submarine Internet cable systems connecting Vietnam to the world are facing problems. The APG and IA encountered issues in late January, while glitches were recorded on the AAG and AAE-1 in late 2022. ISPs said they have deployed routing solutions to overland cable lines, as well as implementing other contingency plans, to minimize the impacts on domestic users. However, many people said that they were unable to use online television and entertainment services, conduct … [Read more...] about Vietnam’s Internet speed to remain sluggish until March
Vietnam dragon fruit exports to Japan impeded by new regulations
Many Vietnamese farmers and enterprises exporting red-flesh dragon fruits to Japan are worried about a new regulation that requires dragon fruit exports to have planting area codes. The difficulty lies in the fact that Japan allows only the LD1 dragon fruit variety, one that belongs to a private company in Long An Province, southern Vietnam. As the regulation has just been issued, many local exporting enterprises will fail to meet it and have to sell their dragon fruit at wholesale markets, suffering huge losses. In mid-January, five shipping containers of some 70 metric tons of red-fresh dragon fruits worth US$190,000 from Yasaka Fruit Processing Co. Ltd., which specializes in exporting fruits to Japan, failed to be shipped to Japan. A phytosanitary center under Vietnam's Plant Protection Department announced that both white- and red-flesh dragon fruit exports to Japan must have planting area codes. Nguyen Trong Trung Dung, deputy director of Yasaka Fruit Processing Co. … [Read more...] about Vietnam dragon fruit exports to Japan impeded by new regulations
The lost notebook: How a Vietnam War memento’s owner was found
"I felt as if something was spurring me to find the notebook's owner," he said. At 10:50 a.m. on January 30, Tan received a phone call from a reporter about what Ha Tinh authorities would do, following a number of news articles translated from the original interview by the North Jersey with Mathews. The 77-year-old veteran has spent decades trying to find the owner of the notebook, someone supposedly named Cao Xuan Tuat from Ky Anh District, Ha Tinh Province. Tan contacted with leaders of both the Ky Anh District and the Ky Anh Commune, as well as other authorities in the central province of Ha Tinh, to see if there’s any deceased or former soldier who goes by the name Cao Xuan Tuat. After a population data check that went all the way back to 1921, Ha Tinh police said there was no one with the name Cao Xuan Tuat. The Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs meanwhile said there were 36 deceased soldiers from Ky Anh whose family name was Cao. Nine of them were named … [Read more...] about The lost notebook: How a Vietnam War memento’s owner was found
Prime Minister’s visit reflects special ties between Vietnam, Singapore: ambassador
Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, his spouse, and a high-ranking delegation of Vietnam are paying an official visit to Singapore from February 8 to 10. Dung said the trip follows the mutual visits by the heads of the two states in 2022, reflecting the special mutual political trust and relations between the countries. Looking back upon achievements in bilateral relations, he said over the last 50 years, especially since the establishment of the strategic partnership 10 years ago, the two countries have enjoyed strong cooperation across the board, from politics, diplomacy, defense, and security to people-to-people exchange. Singapore currently ranks first among Southeast Asian investors and second among global ones in Vietnam. Among the large number of its projects in Vietnam, 11 Vietnam - Singapore industry parks (VSIPs) with total investment of over USD 11 billion nationwide are providing jobs for more than 300,000 people. During the coming trip, he noted, the two Prime … [Read more...] about Prime Minister’s visit reflects special ties between Vietnam, Singapore: ambassador
Shipments to US, China could rescue slumping pangasius fish exports
Vietnam’s seafood export turnover stood at less than $600 million last month, down 31% year-on-year, according to data from the Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP). Pangasius values dropped a whopping 50%. In the last quarter of 2022, pangasius fish export turnovers stood at $475 million, a year-on-year decrease of 12%. However, according to VASEP, pangasius fish exports may be the seafood export industry’s best prospect for 2023, thanks to demand from Vietnam’s two largest markets: China and the U.S. Last year, China and the U.S. accounted for 30% and 23% of Vietnam’s pangasius exports, respectively. And experts say those numbers could increase significantly this year. China’s reopening early last month will help restore consumer confidence, promoting trade between the East Asian economy and Southeast Asia, according to David Liao, co-CEO of HSBC Asia-Pacific. The reopening will help facilitate the export of many Vietnamese products, including pangasius … [Read more...] about Shipments to US, China could rescue slumping pangasius fish exports
Artificial intelligence programs can’t replace human: Experts
With limited data resources and reliance on the will of programmers, AI-powered applications such as ChatGPT can give incorrect answers to user queries. Vietnamese technology experts said the possibility of AI-based applications such as ChatGPT being able to replace humans in performing professional tasks is not on the horizon in the near future. The AI-powered app ChatGPT launched by US-based tech developer OpenAI has received some 100 million users. Photo: AFP/VNA Launched in late November 2022 by the US-based tech firm OpenAI, the popular artificial intelligence chatbot has reached more than 100 million users in the last two months (as of January-end). The AI-powered program has answered millions of questions, and the texts it generated have almost surprised everyone. The chatbot has been asked to write poems and media articles, do the math, resolve logical topics, and even mentor people in dealing with their life problems. For … [Read more...] about Artificial intelligence programs can’t replace human: Experts
EV startup Vinfast to cut US jobs amid restructuring
The Vietnamese company, a subsidiary of conglomerate Vingroup JSC (VIC.HM), has been moving to expand in the United States, where it hopes to compete with existing automakers. A VinFast spokesperson said headcount would not shrink in Vietnam where most of the company's staff, including its factory and engineering operations, are located. It was not immediately clear how many jobs would be affected by the U.S. restructuring. VinFast said it had hired about 150 people in the United States, many in sales, support and distribution roles as part of a model that bypasses traditional dealerships. The company, which started operations in 2019, said last week that it would delay its first batch of deliveries to the United States to the second half of February. In late January, VinFast said it was merging its U.S. and Canadian operations into a single business unit. It did not announce any job cuts at the time. VinFast said in a statement to Reuters it was looking to "streamline" … [Read more...] about EV startup Vinfast to cut US jobs amid restructuring
Bustling M&A deals in banking industry at year beginning
Last week, the Board of Directors of the Vietnam National Petroleum Group (Petrolimex) approved a plan to divest capital from PG Bank, which means the bank will have a chance to seek a new strategic shareholder to increase its capital after 12 years. Earlier in January, the Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC) was likely to complete capital divestment from Eximbank. Meanwhile, VPBank is working to sell 15% of its stake to a foreign partner. Once the deal finishes, it will be one of the banks with largest equity in the system. In a directive issued earlier this year, the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) no longer banned banks from paying cash dividends. Accordingly, this year, many banks are preparing to pay cash dividends such as VPBank, TPBank, VIB and ACB. In its Directive 01/CT-NHNN, the SBV also encouraged banks to pay cash dividends in shares to increase charter capital, improve financial capacity and credit supply to the economy, and stabilise market interest rates. … [Read more...] about Bustling M&A deals in banking industry at year beginning
Politburo meets former Party, State leaders
Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong speaks at the event (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) - The Politburo on February 6 held a meeting with former senior leaders of the Party, State and Vietnam Fatherland Front on the occasion of the 93rd anniversary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) and the Lunar New Year. Participating former leaders all expressed their belief in and pride of positive outcomes that the country has achieved in the past time. In the hope of boosting the quality and effectiveness of the Party and State leadership in 2023 and the following years, they made recommendations and proposals mostly regarding the building of the Party and political system, external affairs, socio-economic development and anti-corruption work, among other issues. Taking into account their comments, Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong noted that last year’s outstanding achievements, particularly in pandemic prevention and control, economic recovery and development, … [Read more...] about Politburo meets former Party, State leaders