The issue of public debts in Vietnam increasing at the fastest rate in history and difficulties in production and trading stood atop the agenda of the working session at the law-making National Assembly (NA) in Hanoi on Monday. Vietnam saw an average increase of public debts of 20 percent a year from 2010 to 2014, said Nguyen Duc Kien, vice chairman of the NA’s economic committee. This is the highest increase rate in the history of Vietnam, even though the nation scored a low growth rate of 5.8 – 6 percent, Kien said. In the previous period from 2006 to 2010, the growth rate of Vietnam was 7.5 – 8 percent. In 2014, Vietnam achieved a growth rate of nearly six percent but enterprises that disbanded or paused work rose to about 50 percent, Kien said. Half of a total of 500,000 enterprises in the nation had no business activities to levy taxes on. At the session, Vice State President Nguyen Thi Doan also warned about the quality of the Vietnamese workforce, as Vietnam is set to integrate into the EU-style ASEAN economic community by the end of this year. ASEAN is short for Association of Southeast Asian Nations, including Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Myanmar, Singapore, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Brunei and Vietnam. “As far as I know, many resorts and tourist areas in Vietnam began recruiting Filipino staff instead of locals thanks to their better English skills and working attitude and cheaper salary,” Vice State President Doan said. Deputy Vo Thi Dung of the Ho Chi Minh City delegation noted that documents from different NA sessions have mentioned different numbers, but the same issues and the same problems have been around for many years. She presented an edition of Sai Gon Giai Phong (Liberated Saigon) newspaper published in 2000 with a column written by former Party General Secretary Le Kha Phieu, who wrote that farming production had reached a stalemate and farmers could not sell their products. Whenever farmers had a good harvest season, they suffered a decrease in prices on the market, the story said. The troubles are exactly the same now, 15 years later. Watermelon grown in Vietnam has had problems being sold to Chinese traders at Vietnamese border gates due to a lack of coordination by local state agencies. This has resulted in internal competition between Vietnamese sellers because they have had no contract with Chinese partners for fair transactions. Besides watermelon, other farming products of Vietnam have faced a similar situation in transactions with Chinese partners at border gates. Minister of Industry and Trade Vu Huy Hoang said the Southeast Asian country will consider building a transit zone near border gates with China for Vietnamese farming products.
More
Date of Russian President Putin’s visit to Vietnam to be determined after his inauguration
Russian Ambassador to Vietnam Gennady Stepanovich Bezdetko reaffirmed that the Russian president accepted the invitation to visit Vietnam from General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Nguyen Phu Trong during a phone talk in March
Read more
Highlights
Dien Bien Phu Victory military parade rehearsal held in northwestern Vietnam
The rehearsal featured a national flag-hoisting ceremony, a drum performance, art performances, and a military parade as the highlight of the event
Photos
Artist paints murals on house to raise awareness of COVID-19 prevention in Hanoi
He drew the virus, vaccine, and earth on the exterior walls of a house
Latest news
Dien Bien Phu Victory military parade rehearsal held in northwestern Vietnam
The rehearsal featured a national flag-hoisting ceremony, a drum performance, art performances, and a military parade as the highlight of the event
World’s biggest jeweler Pandora to break ground on $150mn factory in Vietnam
The construction of the new factory is based on a memorandum of understanding signed between Pandora and Vietnam-Singapore Industrial Park J.V. Co. Ltd. (VSIP) in May 2022
Ho Chi Minh City seeks to replant more trees than those leveled for infrastructure projects
The city will prioritize the relocation of trees that are able to be replanted
Ex-chief of Vietnam Government Office arrested for alleged power abuse
Mai Tien Dung, a 64-year-old native of Ha Nam Province, retired in April 2021 after serving as Minister and Chairman of the Vietnam Government Office in the 2016-21 term
Madonna wows Rio with 'Celebration Tour' finale
The show marked the final stop on her 'Celebration Tour' noting her 40 years atop pop charts, in a free event that was estimated to draw upward of 1.5 million fans from across Brazil
Rescuers brave Indonesia volcano eruptions to save pets
More than a dozen animals had been rescued since Friday
Balancing lake in Vietnam’s Binh Dinh hit by mass fish die-off
The number of dead fish which were found floating in the lake kept rising significantly from Friday night to Saturday morning
Honoring Italian founder of SOS Children's Villages Vietnam
He spent decades serving as a wonderful father to the children living in SOS Children's Villages Vietnam
Australian police shoot boy dead after stabbing with 'hallmarks' of terrorism
There were signs the 16-year-old, armed with a kitchen knife, had been radicalised online
Death toll from rains in southern Brazil climbs to 56
74 people were still missing and more than 69,000 had been displaced