German Enterprises Seeking Investment Opportunities in HCM City

At a meeting between the leaders of Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) and the German Business Association (GBA), Mr Jens Ruebbert – Chairman of GBA said that Vietnam is an attractive destination for investment and business activities of foreign investors, including German businesses.

Go along with Mr. Jens Ruebbert attending this meeting, there are more than 70 German enterprises operating in various fields, wishing to expand investment and trading activities in a number of potential areas such as automobile, production, communication, finance, insurance…

With advanced professional qualifications and also experiences, German enterprises are expected to seek investment and trading opportunities, bringing practical benefits for both sides of the business community, as well as both countries.

Germany is one of the major and efficient partners of Vietnam in the field of education and training, science and technology… It is possible to mention some of their projects that have been implementing in Vietnam as Vietnamese-German University; Construction of Phu Lac 1 wind power plant worth 35 million Euros; No. 2 metro line in HCMC worth 240 million Euros or the project to improve energy efficiency in rural areas worth 120 million Euros…

According to the leader of HCMC, the relation between Vietnam and Germany are increasingly strengthened and is developing in various fields such as political, economic, commerce and education…

Germany is one of the important partners of Vietnam in the European Union. Therefore, Vietnam in general and HCMC in particular, wish to promote cooperation in the field of urban transport, health, education…

Until 2020, the two-way exchange trade turnover target between Vietnam and Germany will reach 15 billion to 20 billion USD.

Therefore, in order to create favorable conditions to help German businesses reaching and searching for investment and trading opportunities with Vietnam partners, the Department of Planning and Investment of HCMC has published information on economic and social development orientation of the city from 2016 to 2017.

Besides, the city also introduced several measures to boost production and trading, in order to remove difficulties for enterprises, improve the investment environment to attract human resources at home and abroad such as enhancing trade promotion, expanding the market by concentrating in investment sectors that are encouraged by the city.

ANT Consulting is here to assist you from the outset; providing corporate intelligence, risk advisory, management consulting services that assist market entrance, and ensure efficient business start-up operation. 

We strive to save your cost by guiding you towards economical solutions that comply with local legislation and procedures. We support you through early logistic solutions and carry you through as your business grows.  We aim to bridge the gap between international best practices and local cultures and assist foreign companies and organizations entering Vietnam market to overcome commercial and regulatory issues.

We could be reached at email: ant@antconsult.vn or tel: +848 3520 2779 .  To learn more about us, please visit www.antconsult.vn

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Forbes: Vietnam is Becoming Economic Tiger of Asia

The website of Forbes has recently published the article of author Ed Fuller with the title “Vietnam is ready to become the next economic tiger of Asia.”

Like South Korea, Taiwan and China, Vietnam is having many base advantages.

According to the economic report till August of 2016, foreign direct investment (FDI) into Vietnam has reached a record level in 2015 and this year could be higher. Only the first half of 2016, FDI into Vietnam reached 11.3 billion USD, increased by 105% over the same period last year although in the context of the global economy is moving very slowly.

Since 1990, the average economic growth of Vietnam reached 7% per year, just behind China. This growth has brought Vietnam from a poor country into the country with average income level of the world. If Vietnam continues to keep the growth rate of 7% per years in the next 10 years, the Vietnam economy will grow just like China and many other economic tigers in Asia.

Vietnam now has more than 92 million people, mostly young (average age is 30.7 years old) and skilled. Moreover, the spending from the national budget for education is around 6.3% of GDP, higher than the average of most low and middle income countries. In the global rankings, 15-year-old children of Vietnam have regularly defeated children in the United States and Britain in math and science competitions. This is an advantage for the factory in Vietnam that requiring workers to have the ability to operate complicated machinery.

Another positive point is the advantage of geographical location, while Vietnam has the border with China, becoming a competitive advantage compared to other countries when Vietnam is closer to the production centers in Southern China with the transportation system connected by road and sea. Furthermore, the rising price of labor wages in China makes Vietnam becoming alternative destination for businesses to move their factory to locations where costs are lower.

Simultaneously, Vietnam is a member of various trade agreements. According to The Economist, Vietnam will be the greatest beneficiary of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP – an agreement of 12 countries including the US and Japan). Moreover, Vietnam also signed other trade agreements with the EU and South Korea.

Besides, nowadays, tourism is playing an increasingly important role in the development of Vietnam. According to the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), in 2015, tourism has contributed more than 16 billion USD to the Vietnam’s economy, equivalent to about 9.3% of GDP.

With the goal of attracting 55 million tourists (both domestic and foreign) each year until 2030, Vietnam has announced the visa exemption policy for visitors from 22 countries in Europe and Asia, including the UK, France, Germany, Russia and 9 ASEAN member countries.

Also, a lot of infrastructure and major transport projects have been planned to implement in the next 15 years, including 7 new tourism development areas, the Hai Phong, Quang Ninh waterways and the railway connecting to China’s Yunnan province. Simultaneously, the upgrading of infrastructure in the area is expected to go further, thanks to a series of bilateral agreements that have been signed with Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar to realize joint tourism initiatives.

Analysts have predicted that the supply of hotel rooms will increase in the next 3 years. The CBRE real estate consulting firm has forecasted that the number of hotel rooms in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi will grow by 8% per year until 2018. The World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) also forecasted that the growth rate of the industry will be 6.2% annually over the next decade, creating more jobs and increasing tourism directly of about 2% per year until 2025 .

ANT Consulting is here to assist you from the outset; providing corporate intelligence, risk advisory, management consulting services that assist market entrance, and ensure efficient business start-up operation. 

We strive to save your cost by guiding you towards economical solutions that comply with local legislation and procedures. We support you through early logistic solutions and carry you through as your business grows.  We aim to bridge the gap between international best practices and local cultures and assist foreign companies and organizations entering Vietnam market to overcome commercial and regulatory issues.

We could be reached at email: ant@antconsult.vn or tel: +848 3520 2779 .  To learn more about us, please visit www.antconsult.vn

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French Businesses Build Earth Observation Station in Vietnam

French companies will exploit highway and building earth observation station in Vietnam. Moreover, many important cooperation agreements in the economic field have been signed this morning with the witness of heads of two countries.

On the sidelines of the talk between President Tran Dai Quang and President of France – Francois Hollande on September 6^th 2016, representatives of FPT Joint Stock Company and Telespazio France (France’s leading company in the field of satellite system management and exploiting) have signed cooperation agreements with many important commitments.

Accordingly, the two sides will jointly collect and handle the data related to sea and land environmental monitoring, which are obtained from satellites and other facilities in order to create products and services on the platform of cloud computing. FPT and Telespazio France will also look towards the establishment of an EarthLab center in Vietnam, which is an Earth observation center from satellite. If established, this will be the 4^th EarthLab center of Telespazio France in the world after France, the Republic of Gabon and Luxembourg.

A memorandum on the concession of exploitation right of the two projects Cau Gie – Ninh Binh and Long Thanh – Dau Giay is also signed between Vietnam Expressway Corporation (VEC) and Vinci Concessions Corporation (France). In addition to the concession of exploitation right of the two above highways, the two partners will also exchange experiences, consider opportunities for technology transfer, management, operation and exploiting of the highway. At the same time, both parties will jointly research, develop and propose plan to invest in new highway projects in Vietnam in the future.

Also on September 6^th, 3 airlines of Vietnam that are Jetstar Pacific, Vietnam Airlines and Vietjet Air have also signed with Airbus – French aviation corporation the deals worth 6.5 billion USD for the purchase of aircraft.

Earlier, in Quang Ninh Province, Linagora Company (France) and Hanel DTT Company have signed cooperation memorandum on e-government development, training human resources on software at the localities. On the basis of technology platform and experience of Linagora, this company will cooperate with DTT Hanel to support Quang Ninh province evaluate e-government model, consulting on solutions to improve operational efficiency of this system; as well as help Quang Ninh to build e-mail system with more than 20,000 users and the international tourism and foreign affair portals.

Do not just stop at the building of e-government, the two parties also towards building an information-based urban based on open source platform of Vietnam and France.

The above activities took place within the framework of the visit of President Francois Hollande. He was the 3^rd President of Franceto visit Vietnam after the visit of President François Mitterrand in 1993 and President Jacques Chirac in 1997 and 2004.

ANT Consulting is here to assist you from the outset; providing corporate intelligence, risk advisory, management consulting services that assist market entrance, and ensure efficient business start-up operation. 

We strive to save your cost by guiding you towards economical solutions that comply with local legislation and procedures. We support you through early logistic solutions and carry you through as your business grows.  We aim to bridge the gap between international best practices and local cultures and assist foreign companies and organizations entering Vietnam market to overcome commercial and regulatory issues.

We could be reached at email: ant@antconsult.vn or tel: +848 3520 2779 .  To learn more about us, please visit www.antconsult.vn

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French President Visits Vietnam

On September 5^th 2016, Mr François Hollande – President of the Republic ofFrance start visiting Vietnam at the invitation of the President of Vietnam – Mr Tran Dai Quang.

During the visit, the two parties will check, review and concretize the connotations towards promoting cooperation and further strengthen political relations, exchanging high-level visits on both bilateral and multilateral levels. Moreover, both parties will review and further improve the efficiency of cooperation mechanisms between the two countries.

The visit is also an opportunity for both sides to promote the economic cooperation in the fields of infrastructure, climate change combating, science – technology, health, agriculture… This is also an opportunity for France and Vietnam together to discuss international issues. The visit of President François Hollande will last for 3 days.

ANT Consulting is here to assist you from the outset; providing corporate intelligence, risk advisory, management consulting services that assist market entrance, and ensure efficient business start-up operation. 

We strive to save your cost by guiding you towards economical solutions that comply with local legislation and procedures. We support you through early logistic solutions and carry you through as your business grows.  We aim to bridge the gap between international best practices and local cultures and assist foreign companies and organizations entering Vietnam market to overcome commercial and regulatory issues.

We could be reached at email: ant@antconsult.vn or tel: +848 3520 2779 .  To learn more about us, please visit www.antconsult.vn

eck, review and concretize the connotations towards promoting cooperation and further strengthen political relations, exchanging high-level visits on both bilateral and multilateral levels. Moreover, both parties will review and further improve the efficiency of cooperation mechanisms between the two countries.

The visit is also an opportunity for both sides to promote the economic cooperation in the fields of infrastructure, climate change combating, science – technology, health, agriculture… This is also an opportunity for France and Vietnam together to discuss international issues. The visit of President François Hollande will last for 3 days.

ANT Consulting is here to assist you from the outset; providing corporate intelligence, risk advisory, management consulting services that assist market entrance, and ensure efficient business start-up operation. 

We strive to save your cost by guiding you towards economical solutions that comply with local legislation and procedures. We support you through early logistic solutions and carry you through as your business grows.  We aim to bridge the gap between international best practices and local cultures and assist foreign companies and organizations entering Vietnam market to overcome commercial and regulatory issues.

We could be reached at email: ant@antconsult.vn or tel: +848 3520 2779 .  To learn more about us, please visit www.antconsult.vn

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Ba Ria – Vung Tau Attracts Investment to Build Logistics Center

In order to promote the development of seaports, Ba Ria – Vung Tau is calling for investors in the field of logistics to come and build logistics centers.

Being the only deep-water port in Vietnam, in the near future, Cai Mep – Thi Vai port will be planned to become the national southern gateway port.

This will be a large center of regional ports. However, the operation of logistics enterprises in Ba Ria – Vung Tau is quite discrete, not yet being organized into a unified network.

The operation of the logistics service centers will bring more sources of goods to the port. This reciprocal relationship is not only creating incentives for the South East region to develop, but also generating revenues from the export activities.

ANT Consulting is here to assist you from the outset; providing corporate intelligence, risk advisory, management consulting services that assist market entrance, and ensure efficient business start-up operation. 

We strive to save your cost by guiding you towards economical solutions that comply with local legislation and procedures. We support you through early logistic solutions and carry you through as your business grows.  We aim to bridge the gap between international best practices and local cultures and assist foreign companies and organizations entering Vietnam market to overcome commercial and regulatory issues.

We could be reached at email: ant@antconsult.vn or tel: +848 3520 2779 .  To learn more about us, please visit www.antconsult.vn

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Good Risk Management for Enterprise – The Key to Success

Risk is an inevitable factor in business operation activities, higher return is always accompanied by higher risks. Coping and managing risk is an integral part of any business if you want to make profit and create value to shareholders. However, in fact, there are a lot of businesses does not manage risk effectively and furthermore not fully understand about the risks that they are facing.

Risk can be defined broadly as any factors or events could drive business and production activities of the enterprise below forecasted. Specifically, the measures that are commonly used as capital risk, profit risk or cash flow risk, depending on the emphasis that are accounting balance sheet and statement of cash flows.

According to the Vietnam Ministry of Industry and Trade, in recent times, there are many corporate scams between Vietnam and foreign enterprises. In particular, the main behaviors are foreign companies purchase/sell goods or provide services for partners in Vietnam and the Vietnam partner fail to make payment.

Typically, a director has scammed 3 billion VND of foreign companies and he was arrested. Although his company does not have pepper but he still receives nearly 350,000 USD of the Egyptian company, then appropriated half. According to the investigation, a few years ago, Vinamex Co., Ltd signed contract with a Libya company in Egypt to sell 4 black pepper containers with price of 669,600 USD even though the Vinamex Company do not have condition to implement the contract and also do not have goods.

To obtain the money of partners, the Director of Vinamex forging multinational bills of lading, certificate of plant quarantine and then send to Lybia Company. The Lybia Company then transfer to Vinamex a deposit amount of 348,300 USD. After that, Vinamex’s director withdraws all money to pay for his company’s debt.

After months have been urging, the Vinamex Company buy a container of black pepper worth 174,150 USD and then send to Lybia Company. The remaining amount equivalent to 3 billion VND was appropriated by the Vinamex’s director. The Lybia Company has adopted Vietnam embassy in Egypt to submit the denunciation.

In fact, many business leaders often put heavy emphasis on the business activity, profit, and revenues instead of concentrating more on risk management. Improving risk management process will create a tight and effective control of the Board of Directors, on the other hand will help integrate the risk management process into every daily decision-making process.

Businesses do not improve the risk management process will be faced with a lot of different types of risks: financial losses serious, adverse effects on cash flows and the value of shares, as declining prestige with customers, employees and investors.

Businesses that do not improve the risk management process will have to face with a lot of different types of risks: serious financial losses, adversely affecting cash flows and the value of shares, decreasing prestige with customers, employees and investors.

In the period of global crisis had been predicted that almost bottomed out and started to show signs of recovery, although the recovery process can occur with different speed and characteristics depending on sector and location of the business, the fully preparation of business in all aspects including process and risk management strategy could helps business not falling into the passive and also have more possibilities to take advantage of growth opportunities after the recession.

ANT Consulting is here to assist you from the outset; providing corporate intelligence, risk advisory, management consulting services that assist market entrance, and ensure efficient business start-up operation.  

We strive to save your cost by guiding you towards economical solutions that comply with local legislation and procedures. We support you through early logistic solutions and carry you through as your business grows.  We aim to bridge the gap between international best practices and local cultures and assist foreign companies and organizations entering Vietnam market to overcome commercial and regulatory issues.

We could be reached at email: ant@antconsult.vn or tel: +848 3520 2779 .  To learn more about us, please visit www.antconsult.vn

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Foreign Specialists Interested in Vietnam

Vietnam is attracting foreign specialists to visit, live and work as expatriates due to stable political, improved environment for doing business.

As such, Vietnam has becoming an attractive destination for setting up businessand factory in comparison with other countries in the region due to the capability to attract managements and talents.

Vietnam topped the list as the country bringing high income for foreign professionals with 67% said that their income has increased and 68% of them have capable of increasing accumulation. The study was published by HSBC in the foreign expert research which was newly implemented.

Accordingly, foreign professionals living in Asia Pacific was the highest paid people in the world with an average annual income of 126,537 USD.

The report also shows that Asia Pacific is the workplace of 18% foreign experts with salary exceeding 200,000 USD a year, the highest rate in the region, followed by the Middle East with 16%.

Living in Vietnam: Earning more money and good accumulation

In Asia in general, Vietnam, China, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore bring the highest accumulation to foreign experts, thus making their disposable incomes rise.

In particular, Vietnam topped the list with 67% of professionals working here saw their incomes rise and 68% have increasing accumulation. In particular, 16% of experts said that they potentially own more real estate by the rotation.

However, according to HSBC then Vietnam topped the area in terms of potential savings of foreign experts.

For younger professionals, a few Asian markets provide opportunities for better accommodation. More than half of professionals under 35 years old in Indonesia (55%) and India (52%) spend less on accommodation than when they stay in their own country.

The report also shows that Asia Pacific has the ability to create easiest financial base for professionals with high incomes, with 73% (of all income levels) said that they can establish easiest finance in New Zealand, followed by Singapore (63%) and Australia (56%).

Justin Bull from HSBC in Hong Kong said that Asia given the best opportunities for financing, allowing foreign experts to improve living standards and achieve desired lifestyle. The majority of the experts here are British and American. According to the survey, an important part of Asian experts changing local for income increasing like Australian experts working in China and Vietnam; Indian professionals working in Malaysia and Indonesia; Filipino professionals working in Malaysia and the Malaysian and Indonesian professionals working in Singapore.

There will be high-quality workforce shifting

When ASEAN is closer to the establishment of an economic community, the demand for skilled manpower will be increased to be able to enhance the competitiveness of the sector.

With the fact that ASEAN will increase 57 million new households belonging to the middle class to the global markets as of 2025, HSBC said that experts will continue to contribute in the field of telecommunication, technology, banking, education, hospitality, health, marketing and construction…

In addition, the new agreements on trade and investment, connecting economies with each other will unfreeze international vacancies between Asia and developingmarkets. This will be a potential world for skilled professionals and skilled labor.

The ability to save more, the higher disposable income or the ability to buy realestate is important factors for experts to consider switching to a new country.

Feel “Breathe easy” when living in Vietnam
Vietnam ranked 21^st in the economic ranking, but ranked 5^th when talking about the saving ability of foreign experts.

According to the survey from HSBC. Most of foreign experts believe that Vietnam had a more comfortable life with less spending on housing costs (62%), travel (73%), clothing (68%), goods and necessities (62%), essential services like electricity, water, telephone (70%) and bills (77%).

Thus, experts are likely to save more (68%) while living in Vietnam.

More than half of the foreign experts (62%) said that in Vietnam they can afford to hire a maid and nanny, something that they cannot afford while living at home country, and can enjoy the luxury vacation (52%), compared with only 28% and 36% of global experts.

The survey from HSBC also showed that Vietnam ranked 22^nd in the ranking on experience, but 2^nd in the ability to make friends. More than half of the foreign experts (56%) find that they integrate quickly into life and culture of Vietnam, and the majority of foreign experts find it easy to make new friends in Vietnam (68%).

Stabilize the life in Vietnam is relatively easy, with 36% of the experts feel like home once or within six months after moving to Vietnam. Most of foreign experts also enjoy integrated into in Vietnam (61%), enjoy and cook Vietnamese foods (78%).

Vietnam ranked 31^st in the ranking about family. Almost half of the foreign experts (43%) said that the cost of child care in Vietnam is less expensive than at home country, and most of foreign experts (74%) send their children to the international school.

Vietnam is developing very fast and owns a dynamic business environment. This is an attractive destination for entrepreneurs seeking start-up opportunity and new business projects.

As an emerging market, Vietnam brings foreign experts many challenges and chances to develop career. With significant attractions in terms of tourism, culture and people, Vietnam also brings foreign experts wonderful experiences along with ease of integration and stabilizes the life in Vietnam.

ANT Consulting is here to assist you from the outset; providing corporate intelligence, risk advisory, management consulting services that assist market entrance, and ensure efficient business start-up operation. 

We strive to save your cost by guiding you towards economical solutions that comply with local legislation and procedures. We support you through early logistic solutions and carry you through as your business grows.  We aim to bridge the gap between international best practices and local cultures and assist foreign companies and organizations entering Vietnam market to overcome commercial and regulatory issues.

We could be reached at email: ant@antconsult.vn or tel: +848 3520 2779 .  To learn more about us, please visit www.antconsult.vn

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