Vietnam has jumped 18 places to rank 71st out of 125 economies considered by the World Economic Forum (WEF) in terms of business environment, the WEF’s trade index revealed on May 19.

According to the WEF, the improvement in Vietnam’s trading environment reflects the fact that the country has kept the commitments it made when joining the World Trade Organisation to open up its markets to goods and services. Under the regulations, tariffs in Vietnam are lower and domestic exporters have more opportunities to deal with other WTO members.

However, the WEF said that despite the good progress, Vietnam still needs to improve its customs procedures and the country’s infrastructure.

Vietnam’s efforts to improve its tax performance in recent years also helped the country to climb 10 places in terms of how effective its customs service is, added the WEF, however, the country is still ranked fairly low.

On top of that, the country’s low ranking in the transparency of its border management needs to be improved quickly, said the WEF.

According to the WEF, the 2010 trade index underlines the concerns shown by foreign investors about the poorness of Vietnam ’s infrastructure and the need to upgrade its transport network to boost trade with other countries worldwide.

This year, Singapore and Hong Kong lead the trade index, followed by Denmark, Sweden and Switzerland.

Ship cable factory inaugurated in Danang

The opening ceremony of Vietnam’s first ship cable factory. (Photo: Vietnam Plus)

The Middle Area Construction & Shipbuilding Industry Co., Ltd. (Macshinco) under the Vietnam Shipbuilding Industry Group (Vinashin) inaugurated a ship cable factory in the central city of Danang on May 23.

Covering an area of 45,000 sq.m at the Hoa Khanh Industrial Park in Lien Chieu district, the US$20 million factory is designed to have a capacity of 8,000 tons of products per year.

Equipped with modern machines from Europe, the factory, the first of its kind in Vietnam , will produce electric wires and cables serving the shipbuilding industry together with industrial and civil cables.

According to Macshinco Director Tran Quang Tuan, the factory expects to earn over VND500 billion in revenues each year.

Japanese company to build plywood plant in Long An

A Japanese company plans to manufacture plywood in the Phu An Thanh Industrial Park of Ben Luc District, the southern province of Long An.

Vina Eco Board Co., Ltd, an affiliate of Japan’s Sumitomo Forestry Group, has signed a contract with Long An-based MTV Phu An Thanh Co., Ltd. to lease 20 hectares of land in the IP to build the plant at a cost of US$100 million.

Construction is due to begin this June and finish in November of 2011. Upon completion, the plant would operate with a design capacity of 250,000 square meters per year and employ over 400 workers.

The Japanese investor opted for Long An for this project due the abundance of cajuput in the province. Cajuput is a main material source required to produce plywood.

On the other hand, the Phu An Thanh Industrial Park is close to the Ho Chi Minh City – Trung Luong expressway, which will facilitate the transport to and from the future plant.

One of Japan’s five largest groups, Sumitomo has 121 affiliates in 67 countries around the world. In Vietnam, the group has opened three offices in Hanoi, Da Nang City, and HCMC, which engage in varied fields, from the import and export of oil, gas and chemicals to the manufacturing of iron and steel.

Malaysia continues to welcome Vietnamese workers

Malaysia will continue to welcome Vietnamese workers into the country in the future and will do its best to ensure their safety.

Dr. S. Subramanian, the Malaysian Minister of Human Resources, confirmed this during an interview with the Vietnam News Agency on the sidelines of the 21 st ASEAN Labour Ministers’ Meeting (ALMM), which took place in Hanoi on May 24.

“We are quite happy with the number of Vietnamese workers currently in Malaysia . They are hard-working and are contributing to our economy,” said Subramanian.

Regarding the working conditions of Vietnamese workers, the minister said that Malaysia has rules and regulations to ensure that Vietnamese workers’ rights are protected and they can work in a pleasant environment.

To develop human resources for economic recovery after the global financial crisis, Subramanian said that ASEAN countries should raise the level of their workforces’ skills and the proportion of fully trained workers and that this will increase ASEAN productivity.

Speaking about the initiative to set up a common ASEAN labour market where a worker from one country can easily secure jobs in another, the Malaysian minister said that the issue would be discussed in detail at this meeting, to ensure that every ASEAN member country benefits.

The setting up of a common ASEAN labour market will be in line with the building of the ASEAN social, economic and cultural community by 2015 when there will be greater cooperation and a greater movement of workers within the ASEAN community, said Subramanian.

According to the Department for Overseas Labour Management under the Ministry of Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs, Vietnam started to send workers to Malaysia in early 1992 and at present, there are about 100,000 Vietnamese working in the country, mostly in industrial production.

Vietnam’s seafood export to US increases

Vietnam earned 215 million USD from seafood exports to the United States in the first four months of this year, a year-on-year increase of 26.3 percent.

According to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Processors and Exporters, the US imports tra fish and catfish from 12 countries across the world, and Vietnam is the largest exporter of tra and basa fish to the market.

The US demand for imported seafood is forecast to increase in the near future due to the oil spill in the Mexican gulf, which is seriously affecting the US environment and its seafood output.

Vietnam ’s seafood exports in the reviewed period increased by 17.4 percent to 1.2 billion USD, with exports of tra and basa fish and shrimp rising by 15.6 percent and 11.7 percent, respectively.

The EU market continues to import the most Vietnamese seafood, closely followed by Japan and the US.

Source: VNA, Saigon giai phong