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Vietnam-France speed up cooperation
France will support Vietnam in its WTO bid and act as a
truthful bridge for cooperation between Vietnam and the EU,
French Prime Minister Jean Pierre Raffarin told President
Tran Duc Luong during his four-day visit to France last
week.
During the visit, Luong was given a red carpet welcome by
top French leaders, including President Jacques Chirac,
Parliament Speaker Jean Louis Debr‚ and other high rank
officials. Luong said Vietnam placed high priority to
relations with the EU, a crucial partner in its efforts
for development and global economic integration.
"Vietnam has chosen the EU as the first partner to
discuss its efforts to join the WTO and hoped that EU
countries, especially France, would support its bid,"
Luong said. He also reiterated Vietnam's determination to
pursue an open and diverse foreign policy and to be a
trustworthy friend and partner of all countries. French
leaders said they considered Vietnam as a gateway for
France to enhance its relations with other Southeast Asian
countries and pledged to help Vietnam boost relations with
the EU.
Several agreements were signed that involved support for
media training for Vietnam and its global economic
integration, credits for water supply and sanitation in
five Vietnamese cities and towns, establishment of a
French university in HCM City, cooperation in social
sciences, restoration of the Long Bien Bridge and
construction of an industrial maintenance center in Hanoi
University of Technology. In particular, Vietnam Airlines
signed a deal to buy five Airbus A321s valued at US$245.7
million. The aircraft will be delivered over 2003-2005. At
present, Vietnam Airlines is operating 12 leased Airbus
aircraft, including 10 A320s and two A321s.
Export in the first 10
months of 2002
Month Export value Year-on-year
(US$ mil.) growth (%)
January 1,079 -1.08
January-February 1,942 -16
January-March 3,185 -12.2
January-April 4,485 -9
January-May 5,829 -8
January-June 7,249 -5.9
January-July 8,649 -3.2
January-August 10,149 -0.5
January-September 11,900 -2.8
January-October 13,400 +5.95
(Ministry of Trade)
Fresh quotas for motorbike makers
The Government has allowed foreign-invested motorbike
companies to import an additional 185,000 component kits
for motorbike assembly this year to help them maintain
normal operations.
According to a decision issued last week, Honda Vietnam is
allocated 110,000 units, Suzuki Vietnam 5,000 units,
Yamaha Vietnam 17,000 units, VMEP 48,000 units and Lifan
5,000 units.
In September this year, the Ministry of Trade announced it
reduced the motorbike import quota for this year to 1.5
million from 2.5 million in a move to minimize traffic
accidents caused by motorbikes. The new quota includes
900,000 for local assemblers and 600,000 for
foreign-invested companies. Foreign-invested motorbike
assemblers said the quota was far below their demand and
warned of shop closure due to lack of components. Honda
Vietnam and later Yamaha Vietnam halted operations.
At a regular meeting last week, the cabinet rejected the
Ministry of Communications and Transport's proposal to
suspend new motorbike registration from November 20, 2002.
Instead, it asked the National Committee for Traffic
Safety to cooperate with relevant authorities to devise a
road map to gradually minimize motorbike use this year,
including a specific date to suspend new motorbike
registration and defining inner-city areas and streets off
limit to motorbikes. The Government is expected to issue a
resolution on measures to reduce traffic accidents and
congestion caused by motorbikes this month.
Vietnam is now the world's third largest motorbike market
after China and India.
Vietnam and Cuba signed several
agreements during Prime Minister Phan Van Khai's
visit to Cuba last week. The agreements covered rice
supply and avoidance of double taxation. Vietnam
will supply Cuba with 150,000 tons of rice in 2003
under preferential payment terms. Khai also attended
the 8th ASEAN Summit and the Greater Mekong
Sub-region meeting in Phnom Penh (Nov. 3-5). The
Summit issued a joint declaration on fighting
terrorism and approved agreements on regional
tourism development and ASEAN-China free trade area.
The National Assembly will begin
its second sitting this year on November 12.
Discussion will focus on the socio-economic
performance in 2002, directions for 2003, budget
issues, law enforcement, the Son La Hydro-power and
Ca Mau Gas-Power-Fertilizer projects. The NA is
expected to approve the amended Law on Issuing Legal
Documents, the amended Law on the State Budget, the
legal agenda for 2003. It will give opinions on the
laws on Accounting, Statistics, National Border and
Denunciation and Complaint.
Southern Steel Company has
signed a credit agreement for the Phu My Steel Plant
(Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province) with three State-owned
commercial banks. Bank for Development and
Investment of Vietnam, Industrial and Commercial
Bank of Vietnam and Vietnam Bank for Agriculture
will lend VND507 billion (US$33 mil.) for the first
phase and VND400 billion for the second phase. The
US$135-million project will include a pier with an
annual throughput of one million tons, a steel bar
and a rolled steel workshop. Work will start late
this year and be completed in 2004.
Vietnam Airlines and Korean Air
have signed a joint service agreement to increase
the number of flights on the Hanoi-Seoul and HCM
City-Seoul routes and expand cooperation in
passenger and cargo transport. Under the Winter
Schedule 2002, effective as from October 27, the two
airlines will up the number of weekly flights on the
Hanoi-Seoul to 7 from 5 and HCM City-Seoul to 8 from
6. They will also increase the number of cargo
flights on the HCM City-Seoul to 3 from 2. |
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