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5
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September 9-15, 2007 |
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Vietnam Now Open for Business
By
Jacqueline L. Ong
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Four decades
after it was a site of a power tug-of-war
between the Communists North and the
US-backed South, Vietnam is now a
booming economy with a promising
business climate to boot. The First
Philippine-Vietnam Business Mission
recently went to Ho Chin Minh City last
August 29 to September 1. Co-organized
by the ZMG Signium Ward Howell, Inc. and
the University of Asia and the Pacific (UA&P),
in collaboration with the two countries’
Chambers of Commerce and Industry,
Department of Trade and Industry and the
Vietnam Trade Office in the Philippines,
the Mission comprised 50 executives from
the aquaculture, agribusiness, mining,
energy, real estate, construction, light
manufacturing, food processing, banking
and insurance industries. Part of the
itinerary was meeting with top
government officials for a briefing on
institutional policies and visiting
Filipino executives there for a clue-in
on business experiences and best
practices.
The Mission was a result of a
series of high-level meetings between
Vietnam and the Asean during the
recently-concluded 40th Asean
Ministerial Meeting
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held
in Manila and
the recent state visit of Prime Minister
Nguyen Tan Dung last August 9. Since
1986, Vietnam has adopted the doi moi,
an economic reform that opened up the
country to free-market enterprises.
Vietnam has been averaging an eight
percent growth in real GDP for the past
eight years. Its total foreign direct
investments in 2006 reached USD 10
billion and the country is poised to
received USD25 billion in 2007. Vietnam
is also expecting to attract more than
five million foreign tourists this year.
“In Vietnam, the mass market is growing
very fast,” says UA&P dean of the School
of Management Rolly Dy. ZMG Signium Ward
Howell’s Willy Arcilla, on the other
hand, commends the country’s capability
to simultaneously grow its economic
capability with its income
redistribution to the peoples.
Reports
say that Vietnam is posed to overtake
Thailand as the world’s largest exporter
of rice. Thailand would be holding up to
the higher-value basmati rice while
Vietnam would supply a generally
mass-market |
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Thai
Airways Appoints
New Assistant District Sales Manager |
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Thai Airways’ Malu Oclarence Duenas
was recently appointed as the new
assistant district sales manager.
General manager Nivat Chantarachoti announced that the appointment
is in line with the airlines’
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She
later became passenger sales
representative and in 2000, was promoted
to passenger sales supervisor. However,
her history with Thai Airways goes
back to her childhood when, as a child
of an expatriate stationed at the
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restructuring
plan in the Philippines, saying
“we need someone who is dynamic
to be able to cope in the travel
industry.” He expressed full
confidence in her, adding that
she will be working closely with
the district sales manager and
the sales team in formulating
new sales strategies for Thai
Airways here.
Duenas has been with the airline
since 1997 when she first worked
as a reservations agent. |
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Thai
Airways’ Malu Oclarence
Duenas |
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United Nations
office in Dhaka, Bangladesh, she
would take the only airline that
would bring her back to the
Philippines for her regular home
leaves. When she continued her
high school in Washington, she
still took Thai Airways back
when the airline still serviced
the Bangkok-Seattle route.
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variety Rice
is the major import the Philippines
receives from Vietnam and fertilizer is
the major export sent there. As of the
present, Vietnam has a positive balance
of trade in Vietnam’s favor.
San Miguel Corporation (SMC), United
Laboratories and Liwayway Marketing
Corporation have already put up plants
in Vietnam. SMC’s assistant
vice-president for Special Projects
International Benjamin Aton, Jr. says
their company has been operating in
Vietnam since 1994. They have positioned
themselves in the premium market to
compete strategically with the other
mass-market local beer brands in
Vietnam. When asked how it is like
operating in Vietnam |
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Aton
says that there are no country-specific
challenges apart from the government’s
delay to approve their expansion before.
This time around however, things are
looking up with the country’s efforts to
attract more investors.
Vietnamese Ambassador Vu Xuan Truong
says that with their unified investment
law, the incentives given to local
players will be given to foreign
companies. He adds that “those who
invest in special areas, like remote
areas where we put up the economic
zones, would be extra incentives.” He
adds, “come to Vietnam and do some
business there. It’s good for Vietnam,
for the Philippines and good for the
Asean.”
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Cebu Corners
Nearly Half
of Exports in Vis-Min
By
Richard A. Ramos
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CEBU’S
PROWESS IN the
export industry can
never be as evident as
the fact that Cebu
produces 46 percent of
all exports in the
Visayas-Mindanao region,
a staggering figure that
surprised even the
Cebuanos themselves.
This startling bit of information was bared by National Economic
Development Authority (NEDA)
Regional Director
Marilyn Rodriguez during
the Sun.Star Economic
Forum held recently at
the Marco Polo Plaza
Hotel in Cebu.
In her presentation entitled “Unpacking Macroeconomic Figures
to Show Cebu’s
Contributions to the
National Economy,”
Rodriguez said that such
figures are reflective
of Cebu’s vital
importance to the
country’s overall export
situation and the spirit
of entrepreneurship
among the locals. “Cebu
serves as an ideal site
for such investments.
Over 72 percent of the
place comprises the
services factor, while
28 percent goes to
industry. Cebu is easily
the country’s export
powerhouse outside of
Luzon, fuelling the
growth of the country’s
fifth largest region,”
she went on, referring
to Central Visayas.
Electronics/semiconductors grabbed the largest share with over 60.2
percent share in 2003 to
an all-time high of |
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73.6
percent in 2006.
Furniture also figured
prominently in the list.
The IT Field
Rodriguez also related that Cebu houses 19 Philippine Export
Zone
Authority-registered
Information Technology
parks. Such investments
have grown from PhP79
million in 2003 to
PhP3.3 billion last
year. Established
players are expanding
and new players have
joined the field as 20
call centers are now
operating in Cebu.
Sykes, Rodriguez mentioned, has quickly expanded from 15 seats to 1,700
this year due to the
recent inauguration of
their eight-storey plant
located in Mabolo, Cebu.
Other advantages in Cebu
are its strategic
location, accessibility
of an international
airport, international
containerized port, a
network of roads of
bridges and the Cebu
North Coastal Road.
Rodriguez also cited Cebu’s promising industries who actually
prefer the quiet
environment. These are
furniture, shore
manufacturing,
shipbuilding, seaweed
processing, medical
tourism, knowledge
process outsourcing and
film and entertainment.
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Foreign Undersecretary Meets Indonesian
VP. Foreign Affairs Undersecretary
for Special Concerns Rafael Seguis
(rightmost) briefs Indonesian Vice
President Yusuf Kalla (left) on the
situation in Basilan and Sulu. During
that meeting in Jakarta last August 24,
Vice President Kalla reiterated
Indonesia’s support for Philippine peace
efforts in Mindanao and its fight
against terrorism. Also in photo are
Indonesian MFA Director General for
Multilateral Affairs Amb. Rizlan Djeni
and Philippine Ambassador-designate
Vidal Querol |
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Conference on International Humanitarian
Law. Senator Miriam Defensor
Santiago (left), Philippine nominee to
the International Court of Justice,
stresses a point as she delivers her
keynote speech at the opening ceremonies
of the 2007 Conference on International
Humanitarian Law. The conference was
attended by Foreign Affairs
Undersecretary Franklin M. Ebdalin,
Assitant Secretary Evan P. Garcia of the
Office of United Nations and
International Organization, members of
the Diplomatic Corps, as well as other
government agencies involved in
international humanitarian law such as
the Commission on Human Rights, the
Philippine National Red Cross, The
Departments of National Defense,
Interior and Local Government, and
Justice, Armed Forces of the Philippines
and the Philippine National Police |
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