Vietnam has approved foreign investment projects worth nearly US$2 billion in the first 10 months of the year, up 19 percent over the same period last year, state media reported yesterday.
Construction of two thermal power plants in the southern coastal province of Vung Tau account for 812 million dollars of the total capital, according to the Vietnam News.
Industrial and construction projects make up 92 percent of the 368 projects approved this year, the report said. So far, US$1.7 billion in capital has been disbursed, a 6 percent year-on-year increase.
In the face of the global economic downturn and plummeting prices in key exports such as coffee, Vietnam has been struggling to attract investment to meet a 7.1 percent GDP growth rate target.
The World Bank earlier in the week advised Hanoi to continue with its economic reforms process -- especially the streamlining of state-owned enterprises -- to stimulate more growth.
"At a time when growth is hard to get, you need all hands on board," said World Bank representative Andrew Steer.
He said Vietnam is wise in its plans to capitalize on its recently being named the safest of 13 countries in the Asia-Pacific region -- out-ranking such countries as Singapore and Australia in the new environment after terrorist attacks on the US on Sept. 11.
"Vietnam needs to demonstrate that it is not only a safe country to invest in, but a productive country to invest in," Steer said.
In past years, Vietnam has worked to streamline business licensing, creating "one-stop shops" and recently ordered police not to visit businesses without special reason to fight the appearance of seeking bribes. However, reforms in the banking sector and privatizing state-owned companies has gone more slowly.
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)
EYE ON STRAIT: The US spending bill ‘doubles security cooperation funding for Taiwan,’ while also seeking to counter the influence of China US President Joe Biden on Saturday signed into law a US$1.2 trillion spending package that includes US$300 million in foreign military financing to Taiwan, as well as funding for Taipei-Washington cooperative projects. The US Congress early on Saturday overwhelmingly passed the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act 2024 to avoid a partial shutdown and fund the government through September for a fiscal year that began six months ago. Under the package, the Defense Appropriations Act would provide a US$27 billion increase from the previous fiscal year to fund “critical national defense efforts, including countering the PRC [People’s Republic of China],” according to a summary