Vegetable and fruit exports enjoy impressive growth

 As of April 20, as many as 734 newly-registered projects were granted with investment certificates with a total registered capital of US$4.88 billion, equal to 96% of the same period last year.

 A subsidiary of the State-owned oil and gas group PetroVietnam and its foreign partners have secured a license to invest in a natural gas pipeline in the south of Vietnam, making it the largest foreign investment project approved this year.

 Billionaire Trinh Van Quyet, has joined a growing number of foreign and local investors drawn in by the Vietnam government’s decision to allow residents to participate in legalized casino gambling.

 To ensure sufficient electricity for the coming decades, the Vietnamese government is implementing the National Green Growth Strategy with a stress laid on developing various types of energy, including coal-fired and renewable sources.

 Developers of build-operate-transfer power projects are in search of “clean coal technology” for their upcoming plants, in order to improve coal’s environmental performance and Vietnam’s future energy mix on the whole.

 Following Shinhan Vietnam’s successful acquisition of ANZ Vietnam’s retail business, fellow Korean banks have also expanded their sizes and market share in Vietnam, seizing the lead in the foreign bank race on the Vietnamese market.

 Many companies in Viet Nam, such as FPT Group, BIDV, Bao Viet Life Insurance or Hoc mai online education portal, are using Facebook Workplace.

 Vietnamese enterprises can meet some international standards of transparency, however, large companies still disclose little information about anti-corruption programmes.

The Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP) is showcasing Vietnamese seafood products at the Seafood Expo Global, which is being held in Brussels, Belgium, from Tuesday to Thursday.

 The export value of agro-forestry-aquatic products reached $10.8 billion in the first four months of 2017, a year-on-year surge of 9.1 percent, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

 Foreign investors have poured $10.95 billion into new and operational FDI projects and to buy stakes in local companies in the first four months of 2017, up 40.5 percent from the same period last year.

 Co-working spaces remain in the initial stages of development in Vietnam and are concentrated primarily in major cities like Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. 

 Vietnamese consumers are the most socially-conscious in Asia-Pacific according to the Corporate Sustainability Report from Nielsen released on April 26.

Vietnam has become China’s largest trade partner in ASEAN in 2016, and two-way trade would likely reach US$100 billion this year.

 There are more people using mobile phones to shop online than those using desktops or tablets, reported Bizweb at a recent mobile e-commerce event.

 Smartphone adoption in Vietnam is now at 72 percent and the same as in the US, but a far higher proportion of Vietnamese travelers use smartphones to research hotels and travel than people in the US do.

 The Petrolimex Joint Stock Insurance Company (PJICO) has begun selling shares to foreign strategic investors, the annual general meeting (AGM) of the Vietnam National Petroleum Group (Petrolimex) on April 25 heard.

 Australia’s Gloria Jean’s Coffee Vietnam has closed its last coffee shop in Ho Chi Minh City, in the Phu My Hung urban area of District 7, after ten years in Vietnam.

 Export turnover for vegetables has reached $857 million this year up to April 15, an increase of 30 per cent year-on-year and bringing in $8.2 million to Vietnam each day.