Vietnam is a friendly and safe place to travel. With a sprinkling of common sense, your trip should be smooth and trouble free. Tourists usually complain about over-aggressive street vendors, tour operators with a bad attitude and dangerous driving. However, with a cool head and sensible planning, one can avoid these problems.
DO’S
* Greetings are no different to western countries, there are no cultural formalities that as a foreginer you would be expected to know or practise.
* Vietnamese dress conservatively. Despite the heat, it’s best not to show off too much skin. If you do, especially girls, you’ll only draw stares from the locals.
* Dress well when visiting pagodas. No shorts or tatty beer t-shirts. Shoes are fine, and rarely will you have to remove them. If unsure, just follow what the locals do.
* Drink plenty of bottled water, especially when walking around sightseeing. No need to carry huge bottles around with you, a vendor is never far away and no doubt they will find you before you find them.
* Keep your cash, credit cards, airline tickets and other valuables in a safe place.
* Travel with recommend tour agencies. Even if you plan to buy tickets when in country, research your journey a little first on the Internet. A good resource is Lonely Planet’s Thorn Tree Forum, where fellow tourists discuss travel in Vietnam. This way you avoid unreliable tour agencies and badly run hotels.
DON’TS
* Wear a lot of jewellery or take a bag with you. Violent crime is highly unusual in Vietnam, but petty crime is more apparant. If you have a bag, or tout a digital camera around your neck, you are a potential target.
* When taking a ride by motorbike taxi (xe om) make sure your bag, if any, is not on display or easy to grab. Bag snatches, although still rare, are probably the most likely crime a tourist would encounter, and it raises the probability immensely if you are tailing a camera or a laptop in the wind.
* Don’t wear singlets, shorts, skirts or dresses, or revealing clothes to temples or pagodas.
* Physical displays of affection between lovers in public are frowned upon. That’s why you may come across couples holding hands but not hugging or kissing.
* Losing your temper in Vietnam means a loss of face. Keep a cool head and remain polite, you’ll have a greater chance of getting what you want.
* Remember, this is Vietnam, a devloping country, and things don’t quite work as you are maybe used to. Don’t be paranoid about your safety, just be aware of your surroundings.
By Jon Hoff, ConnectionsVietnam.com
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Vietnam Travel Tips - Do's and Don'ts in Vietnam
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Some Vietnamese Laws
Here are some laws of Vietnam
Law on construction : download
Law on investment: download
You can read those files with Mobipocket Reader
Currency
Vietnamese dong (VND) is the official currency in Vietnam.
- Paper notes include: VND 500,000; 200,000; 100,000; 50,000; 20,000; 10,000; 5,000; 2,000; 1,000; 500; 200 and 100. Coins include VND 5,000; 2,000; 1,000; 500 and 200.
Cheques with value as Vietnamese dong include: VND 1,000,000 and 500,000.
- Foreign currencies and tourist cheques can be exchanged into Vietnamese dong at banks or foreign exchange agencies.
- Credit cards are popularly used, especially in cities and big tourist centers.
Vietnamese dong can be changed into foreign currencies at the airport.
(Source: Vietnam National Administration of Tourism)
Customs
Customs procedures in Vietnam are quick and simple. To enter and exit Vietnam, visitors are required to fulfill the arrival - departure declaration.
Customs Information
1.- Passengers are given duty free allowance for not more than 1.5 liters of liquor with above 22 degrees of concentration of alcohol and 2 liters of liquor below 22 degrees of concentration of alcohol; 400 cigarettes; 100 cigars; 500 gram of raw tobacco.
- Other items which are allowed in accompanying baggage are duty free with value not over VND 5,000,000.
- Passengers bringing goods exceeding the amount as above stated are required to fill in the declaration form No.HQ/2002-PMD and pay duty(ies) according to Vietnamese laws.
2. Passengers whose goods are not subject to customs declaration on page 4, 5 (For customs declaration) do not have to declare.
Visa Procedure
Most visitors to Vietnam need a visa to enter the country. Visas are exempted for the citizens of the countries, which have signed a bilateral or unilateral visa exemption agreement with Vietnam, tourist visa may be valid for 15 to 30 days.
ourist visa can only be obtained in Vietnamese embassies, consulates abroad. Otherwise, you can get a visa at the border gates if you are invitees of some Vietnamese competent organs or you are travelling on a package tour organized by Vietnamese travel companies. To apply for a visa, the requirements are as follows:
* Entry permit form (which can vary from one Vietnamese embassies or consulate abroad to another) - There are two categories of this form: for foreigners and for Vietnamese overseas.
* Two photos (4cmx6cm or 3cmx4cm)
* Original passport
* Visa fee.
You should send your application and photos to a Vietnamese embassy or consulate abroad, which is most convenient to you. On your requirement, the reply will be returned by post (you must provide stamped envelopes with your name and address).
It is easier to get your visa from a Vietnamese travel agency. The nehossary information to the travel agency include:
* Full name
* Birthday and place of birth
* Nationality
* Job
* Number of your passport
* Entry and exit dates
* Country you plan to receive your entry visa from the Vietnamese embassies or consulates
Vietnamese overseas are required to provide more information:
* Year and reason to leave Vietnam
* Leave Vietnam by means
* Full names and addresses of relations in Vietnam
Visa exemption:
- Not more than 30 days: for citizens of Thailand, Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and Laos.
- Not more than 15 days: for citizens of Japan and South Korea, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland.
(Vietnamese diplomatic and official passport holders are exempted from visa requirements to enter Japan).
- French citizens holding valid diplomatic passports are exempted from visa requirements when visiting Vietnam and are allowed to stay for up 3 months at one time or on several visits within six months since their first immigration dates. Vietnamese citizens holding valid diplomatic passports also enjoy similar privileges.
- Citizens of Chile and Vietnam holding valid diplomatic or official passports from one of the two countries are exempted from needing entry, exit and transit visas in the other's territory and are allowed to stay for up 60 days on each visit.
Vietnam’s Five-year Socio-economic Development Plan, 2006-2010
The following article gives overall objectives, main targets, major tasks and resolutions set out in Vietnam’s five-year socio-economic development plan for 2006-2010 adopted by the National Assembly of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam in Resolution No. 56/2006/QH11 dated June 29, 2006: I. Overall objectives and main targets 1. Overall objectives · Economic growth shall accelerate, with increased efficiency and sustainability of development, so as to soon take the country out of the current under-development state; · The people's material, cultural and spiritual life will be remarkably improved; · To speed up industrialization and modernization and develop a knowledge-based economy, forming the basis for making Vietnam a fundamentally industrialized country in the direction of modernization by 2020. · To maintain political stability, social order and safety. · To firmly defend national independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity and security. · To continue strengthening and broadening foreign relations, enhancing Vietnam's position in regional and international arenas. 2. Main yearly targets for the next five years by 2010 a. Economic targets - GDP at comparative prices shall increase by more than 2.1 folds in 2010 over 2000. The GDP growth rate is projected at 7.5 - 8% a year, with a goal to achieve over 8% a year. The average per-capita GDP at current prices shall be US$ 1,050-1,100. - Of the GDP, the agricultural sector is seen to control 15-16%; the industrial and construction sector to account for 43-44%; and the service sector to represent 40-41%. - Export turnover shall increase by 16% a year. - The share of GDP contribution to the state budget shall reach 21-22%. - The whole society's investment capital shall make up around 40% of GDP a year. b. Social targets - Population growth rate shall be around 1.14%. - Agricultural labor shall account for less than 50% of the workforce. - 8 million jobs shall be generated; urban unemployment rate shall be less than 5%. - The rate of poor households shall drop to 10-11%. - To complete the general secondary education; trained laborers are expected to account for 40% of the workforce. - The rate of malnourished under-five children shall reduce to below 20%. c. Environment targets - The rate of forest coverage is to be 42-43%. - The rate of population having access to fresh water in urban and rural areas shall be 95% and 75%, respectively. - 100% of newly-built production establishments shall apply clean technologies or be equipped with pollution-reducing and waste treatment facilities; the rate of production and business establishments meeting environmental standards is to be over 50%; wastewater treatment systems will be built in 100% of cities of third- grade or more, in 50% of fourth-grade cities and all industrial parks and export processing zones; 80-90% of the solid wastes and 100% of medical wastes shall be gathered and treated to environmental standards. II. Major tasks & solutions in the five-year socio-economic development plan, 2006-2010 1. To bring into full play all potentials and resources to accelerate the economic growth rate, creating a breakthrough in construction of infrastructure, restructuring the economy in a comprehensive manner and raising competitiveness of the economy. To perfect the mechanism and policies on administration of development investment, to eliminate the ask-and-give mechanism, to remedy widespread investment situation, to combat loss, squander and outstanding debts, and to step up control over quality of investment projects on capital construction. To intensify in-depth investment, making qualitative changes in agricultural production and comprehensive development of the rural economy. To restructure agriculture and the rural economy along the direction of industrialization and modernization. To raise the level of research and application of scientific and technological advances to production, preservation and processing. To develop hi-tech agricultural production regions on a large sale. To maintain high growth rates while raising the quality of products and efficiency in industrial production; to improve the competitiveness of the industrial sector in order to maintain and expand domestic and overseas markets. To concentrate on the selective development of some potential industries and high-tech products. To step up development of the energy industry and industries of producing major capital goods, with importance being attached to the development of labor-intensive industries; to boost development of economic infrastructure for industrialization and modernization. To create a leap in the development of the service sector. To raise the quality of traditional services. To develop new services. To develop and raise the competitiveness of potential services. To radically renew the administrative mechanism and modes of public service provision-a breakthrough to take the process of socialization of cultural and social domains to a new stage of development. 2. To take initiative in integrating into the regional and world economies more intensively and extensively. To efficiently realize Vietnam’s commitments regarding trade, investment, services and so on with foreign countries and international organizations. To prepare itself to carry out commitments upon Vietnam’s entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO). To make the best of favorable conditions, bringing into full play the advantages and limiting the negative impacts resulted from the integration process, with a view to further attracting capital, state-of-art technologies and managerial experience. 3. To create a favorable environment for development of enterprises, with the focus being made on raising the quality and efficiency of their production and business operations; to rapidly increase exports, attract capital and technology, especially high technology, in order to reduce production costs and improve competitiveness of enterprises. To accomplish the restructuring, renewal and equitization of state enterprises under the provisions of the Enterprise Law. To strongly develop without any restriction on the scale of enterprises of various economic sectors, bringing the number of enterprises operating in Vietnam to around 500,000 by 2010. 4. To further renew and perfect institutions and regard the objective requirements of the market economy in economic activities. To concentrate on perfecting the institutions on development of markets for goods, services, real estate, labor, finance and science and technology. To renew planning on socio-economic development along the direction of bringing the positive impacts of markets to the fullest. 5. To enhance the nation's financial potential. To bring into full play and efficiently use financial resources of the state and society, at home and abroad, for development investment. To renew the mechanisms of administration of state finances and management of the state budget, ensuring the leading role of the central budget, stepping up decentralization and increasing powers and heightening the responsibility of different budget levels and budget-using units. To raise efficiency, publicity and transparency in the use and management of state budget funds, creating a marked improvement in the control of budget funds and intensifying the work of state audit in order to prevent waste, loss and corruption of state money and property. To formulate and administer monetary policies in a flexible manner, ensuring macro-economic stability, reining in inflation and ensuring the safety of the banking system, raising the quality of credit. To mobilize capital sources, while renewing and enhancing the capability to supply capital for development investment. To adopt a flexible exchange rate policy; to renew the mode of payment in the direction of increasing non-cash payment means and increasing the convertibility of Vietnamese currency. To improve the quality and efficiency of analysis and forecasts; to promote measures to manage and control the situation of market and price fluctuations, actively dealing with negative impacts of upheavals in world prices as well as prices of capital goods and essential consumer goods, meeting the requirements of integration while controlling inflation, and creating a stable environment for the development of production and the improvement of people's lives. To continue wage reform. To study and uniformly apply the minimum wage level to domestic enterprises and foreign-invested enterprises. To address irrationalities in wages and incomes of cadres and civil servants in the apparatus of state bodies, political institutions and socio-political organizations and the incomes of pensioners and state policy beneficiaries. 6. Socio-economic development in regions and territories must be along the direction of bringing into full play their respective advantages and competitiveness concerning natural resources, geographical position, and human resources, linking together branches and regions. To introduce open policies to develop key economic regions into the driving force of the national economy. Focus shall be made on the development of mountainous and border regions, ethnic minority areas and other difficulty-hit regions through various mechanisms and the state’s direct support, with a view to narrowing down gaps and differences in development levels, incomes and living standards among regions and among ethnic groups. 7. To arrange cost and time effective execution of projects and major national works, for which the National Assembly has adopted investment undertakings, and approved projects and national target programs. The execution of major projects, works and programs must aim to achieve the socio-economic development targets set forth in the 2006-2010 five-year plan; to concentrate on the objectives of economic growth and restructuring, poverty reduction, job generation, education, training and vocational development; to intensify control over diseases and caring for people's health. 8. To carry on innovation for education and training in a comprehensive manner. To develop appropriate scales and promote socialization, standardization and modernization in a bid to improve the quality of education and training. To ensure the quality of innovation in general education curricula at all levels; to renew university education; priority shall be given to the development of education and vocational training and ensure a rational human resource structure, meeting the requirements of the country’s industrialization and modernization as well as labor export. To concentrate investment on priority objectives, national programs for education and job-training development; and to provide support for social policy beneficiaries, ethnic minority people, handicapped children, and people in regions with exceptional socio-economic difficulties and in mountainous, island and border regions. Focus shall be made on fostering gifted pupils and scientific talents. To continue building the Vietnamese culture into an advanced one imbued with national identity- the objective and spiritual foundation of society. To conserve and promote the values of the nation's traditional culture. To encourage, mobilize and create conditions for the entire society to get involved in physical education and sports activities and develop the cause of physical training and sports. To ensure conditions for stepping up physical education in schools and the armed forces; to develop various forms of mass sports, attaching importance to improving the health of the elderly, disabled and children. To continue realizing and expanding the process of professionalization of high-achievement sports. 9. To raise the capacity and renew the mechanisms of management and organization of scientific and technological research. To speed up technological renewal in various economic sectors, develop high technologies and modernize traditional technologies. To incrementally develop information technology and biotechnology into economic branches with high growth rates, meeting domestic and export demands. To harmonize socio-economic development with a rational and efficient use of natural resources, environmental protection and improvement; to concentrate on redressing environmental pollution in industrial parks, residential areas, craft villages, and large cities; to raise the effectiveness of state administration of environmental protection. The sustainable development strategy in Vietnam is to be carried out. To organize the implementation of Agenda 21 on sustainable development at all levels and in all branches. 10. To take measures to control population growth. To improve the quality of population and rationally distribute population among regions. To elaborate appropriate planning and policies for the purpose of meeting the trend of restructuring population in rural and urban areas. To prioritize state capital and mobilize social capital for job creation. To raise the quality and efficiency of the use of labor resources. To continue restructuring labor along the direction of reducing the proportion of workers in agriculture- forestry-aquaculture while raising the percentage of industrial and construction labor, particularly labor in the services sector, in the total labor force. Focus shall be made on vocational training and job creation for peasants. To efficiently implement the program on labor export, increasing the percentage of skilled labor. To correctly and adequately collect compulsory social insurance, to well prepare and realize voluntary social insurance as well as unemployment insurance. To diversify resources and modes, to well implement the national program on hunger elimination, poverty reduction, and job creation; to encourage people to enrich themselves lawfully. To concentrate on investment in construction of economic and social infrastructure and support for poor people to improve their own lives. To promote introduction of special policy on investment support for production development, particularly supports for land for production, and for residential use, clean water, job training and job creation for ethnic minority people, people in remote and difficulty-hit regions; to prevent a relapse into poverty; and to promote socialization of hunger elimination and poverty reduction. To upgrade and develop the network of grassroots medical establishments, preventive medicine, general hospitals of provincial and district levels, regional medical centers, intensive-care medical establishments by promoting socialization of medical activities. To raise the capability to oversee, detect and control epidemics, particularly HIV/AIDS and newly arising epidemics. To implement the policy of free-of-charge medical examination and treatment for under-six children, free health insurance for the poor, elderly and policy beneficiaries. To reduce through medical insurance the hospital fees for above-six children of poor families. To develop and raise the quality of medical insurance, to well implement voluntary medical insurance, and incrementally proceed toward universal medical insurance for the entire population. To well implement the policies of preferential treatment towards people with merit, families of war invalids and martyrs and policies towards the elderly, the disabled, and social policy beneficiaries. To develop the social welfare network. To prevent and proceed to repel social evils of drug addiction, prostitution, and trafficking of children and women. 11. To raise the standard, material and spiritual life of women. To provide training and fostering to women in a bid to get them involved more in social activities and in governance and administrative agencies at all levels; to create conditions for women advancement in all the domains of political, economic, cultural and social life. To prevent and fight against domestic violence. To respect and guarantee for children the exercise of their rights towards their families and society in accordance with the international Convention on Children’s Rights and the Vietnam’s Law on Protection, Care and Education of Children. To effectively carry out the Law on Youth and the national strategy on youth development, facilitating youth to play their role as the shock force, voluntarily accomplishing their tasks. To implement policies and legislation on assurance of the rights to freedom of belief and religion. To create conditions for religious organizations to take part in social activities, making a contribution to national construction and development. 12. To enhance defense and security potentials and take the initiative in coping with all contingencies, firmly defending national independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity and security, helping firmly maintain political stability, social order and safety. To promote development of the defense industry, linking defense requirements with public welfare demands. To combine strength in external relations activities for the purpose of practically serving the objectives of firmly maintaining political stability and security, developing the national economy, raising competitive capacity at home and abroad, and promptly and efficiently addressing emerging international issues. 13. To expeditiously perfect and ensure the consistency of the legal system in order to meet the requirements of building the socialist state ruled by law. To continually renew and raise the quality of legislative work, ensuring that legal provisions be specific, clear and transparent in order to gradually reduce the promulgation of regulations detailing and guiding the implementation thereof. To organize regular and efficient examination, inspection and supervision of the promulgation of regulations detailing and guiding the implementation of laws, decrees, and resolutions, as well as the observance of law in all aspects of social life. 14. To accelerate administrative reform and promote democracy in all aspects. To review and timely eliminate administrative procedures causing troublesome for organizations and individuals and hindering national development. To consolidate the apparatus of state agencies towards streamlining and more effective and efficient operation in line with new requirements; to clearly define the functions, duties and responsibilities of each agency and unit. To firmly maintain order, discipline and conduct of official duties. To raise ethical quality, capacity, responsibility and the sense of service of the contingent of civil servants and officials, especially heads of agencies and units. To detect in a timely manner and strictly handle officials and civil servants who break the law, or are degenerate, bureaucratic, or authoritarian. To further carry out the strategy on judicial reform, consolidating the organization and operation of investigating authorities, procuracies, courts, judgment-executing bodies, and legal support organizations and agencies, to efficiently struggle against crime of all kinds, particularly organized crime, creating a healthy environment for socio-economic development. To rationally promote the empowerment of district-level courts combined with the organization of regional courts under the judicial reform strategy. 15. To efficiently implement the Anti-Corruption Law and the Law on Practicing Thrift and Combating Waste. To ensure publicity and transparency in decisions on finance and the state budget. To resolutely handle persons who commit acts of corruption regardless of their positions, to apply measures to resolutely recover property belonging to the state, and to limit damage in corruption cases. To promptly commend, reward and apply measures to protect denouncers and people with merit in the struggle to prevent and combat corruption. To raise the responsibility of the heads of agencies, organizations and units in preventing and handling persons who commit acts of corruption, cover up, obstruct the fight against corruption or abuse the denunciation of corruption to slander and harm others, and, cause internal disunity and difficulties for managerial officials.
Vietnam's mechanical engeneering industry development strategy until 2010 & vision to 2020
1. Development viewpoints
· Mechanical engineering is one of the base industries, playing an important role in the economic development and consolidation of security and national defense.
· To focus on the efficient and sustainable development of the mechanical engineering industry by making best use of all domestic resources combined with external resources. To encourage all economic sectors to get involved in the development of the mechanical engineering industry in an organized manner with sound assignment and coordination, and meanwhile to continuously renew, restructure, fortify and develop state mechanical engineering enterprises into the mainstay of the mechanical engineering industry.
· To concentrate on developing a number of key mechanical specialties and products to cash in on natural and human resources in order to meet basic requirements of the country’s development cause.
· To enhance the capacity for self-research and manufacturing, promoting absorption and application of state-of-art sciences and technologies, so as to attain Asia’s medium-advanced technological level, and launching a wide range of highly competitive mechanical products.
· To step up specialization and cooperation, enhance capacity of the mechanical engineering industry, thereby creating a prerequisite for developing other industries.
2. Objectives
a) Overall objectives:
Priority shall be given to the development of the following key mechanical specialties and products to meet basic requirements of the national economy:
- Complete equipment;
- Prime movers;
- Mechanical engineering for serving agriculture, forestry, fishery and processing industry;
- Machine tools;
- Construction engineering;
- Shipbuilding engineering;
- Electrical and electronic technical equipment;
- Automobile, communication and transport engineering.
b) Specific objectives:
By 2010, the mechanical engineering industry is expected to meet 45% - 50% of the country’s demand for mechanical products, of which exportable products are seen to account for 30% of its total production value.
3. Strategic Orientation for Development of a Number of Key Mechanical Specialties and Products
a) Complete equipment
· To enhance the capacity to manufacture complete equipment by means of advanced technologies. To manufacture sophisticated equipment as a substitute for imported products and step by step to proceed to export them. To raise the capacity for designing complete equipment, efficiently combined with technologies intended for specific industries.
· To invest equipment and technologies in fundamental processes, such as molding, forging and casting, in order to synchronize equipment with technologies, serving the manufacture of large and sophisticated details and assemblies.
· To utilize the availability of equipment of mechanical engineering enterprises across the country, and accelerate coordination in the assignment and cooperation in manufacturing complete equipment.
· To meet 40% of domestic demand for complete equipment by 2010. In the foreseen future, to concentrate on the fields, including manufacture of paper and pulp, cement, construction materials, oil and gas, electricity generation, supply of clean water, and processing industry, etc.
b) Prime movers
· To develop the manufacture of prime movers into an efficient industrial branch of Vietnam through in-depth investment programs and projects, modernize equipment and technologies, enhance the manufacturing capacity, and improve products’ competitiveness.
· By 2010, to meet 60 to 70 % of domestic demand for medium and small-sized prime movers, and manufacture hydraulic engines of 400 HP or more, with the rate of using local spare parts ranging between 35% and 40%.
c) Tractors and agricultural machines
· Tractors:
- To invest in the manufacture of two-wheeled tractors with a capacity of 6, 8 or 12 HP to cover domestic demand.
- To manufacture four-wheeled tractors of a capacity of 18, 20 or 25 HP, and gradually to proceed with the manufacture of four-wheeled tractors of up to 30 HP.
- By 2010, to manufacture medium-sized four-wheeled tractors with a capacity of 50 to 80 HP.
· Agricultural machines
- To concentrate investment on developing the efficient manufacture of agricultural machines, including farming and processing machines and equipment for preserving farm produce, with a view to meeting domestic demand and gradually proceeding to export them.
- To encourage local medium and small-sized mechanical manufacturers to take part in the manufacture of equipment and machinery for the purpose of serving agriculture and the processing industry in an organized manner, soundly assign and collaborate with mechanical engineering enterprises in and outside the province or city.
· Machine tools
- Priority shall be given to the development of the machine tool manufacturing industry in a bid to meet the demands of industries.
- To conduct research, design and manufacture of modern machine prototypes (application of PLC and CNC technologies) and special processing devices.
- To speed up modernization of the existing machine systems at industrial establishments via Computerized Numerical Control (CNC) Programs.
e) Construction engineering
- To make in-depth and investments in the manufacturers of construction machines with state-of-art equipment and technologies in order to serve the of production of construction materials, building of large works, urban and rural construction.
- To bring into play advantages of the manufacture of metal structures for construction and industrial projects, and concentrate on the manufacture of advanced highly- sophisticated construction equipment and machines, which are in great demand at home and abroad.
f) Ship engineering
· To develop Vietnam’s shipbuilding industry into an integrated economic and technical branch from training, research, designing, manufacture to sales of products, meeting the requirements of restructuring fleets operating at home and abroad. By 2010, Vietnam is expected to have a medium-advanced shipbuilding industry in the region, meeting the requirements of the country’s socio-economic development, helping consolidate security and national defense, and step-by-step proceeding to export ships.
· By 2010, the shipbuilding industry shall be fully capable of building almost all inland waterway transport means, project ships, fishing ships and vessels of under 15,000 DWT, satisfying 70% -75% of the demand for building multi-purpose ships of 15,000 – 50,000 DWT and oil tankers of 100,000 DWT. To repair all national ships of up to 400,000 DWT.
· To soon develop auxiliary industries, such as manufacture of steel sheets for shipbuilding, assembling of hydraulic engines of up to 6,000 HP and manufacture, and manufacture and assembling of inboard equipment, electrical and electronic appliances, and marine facilities, with a view to raising the rate of local parts used for building new ships to 60% by 2010 and to 70% by 2020.
g) Electrical equipment
· To make the electrical equipment manufacturing industry attain the advanced level in the region in terms of electrical equipment and materials by 2020.
· To make new investment and intensive investment in the manufacture of electrical equipment with advanced technologies in a bid to quickly enhance the capacity for manufacturing electrical equipment and improve products’ competitiveness for the purpose of meeting most of domestic demand, replacing imported equipment and boosting exports of electrical equipment to regional and word markets.
· In the short-term, to make in-depth investment and expand operations of the existing manufacturers to help launch large-sized transformers of up to 125 MVA and voltage of 220 kV, distribution and transmission facilities for the electricity industry, pressure equipment and other electrical devices for industrial and civil use.
h) Automobile engineering and communication and transport engineering
· On automobile engineering
- To develop Vietnam’s automobile industry on the basis of absorbing and applying the world’s advanced technologies, combined with the exploitation and gradual upgrading of current technologies and equipment, in order to meet most of domestic automobile demand, aiming at exports of Vietnam’s automobiles and spare parts.
- Common vehicles: To meet 40% - 50% of the domestic demand in terms of quantity by 2005 and above 80% by 2010, with the rate of domestically-produced vehicles being up to 40% and 60%. The rates of using local engines and gearboxes alone are projected at 50% and 90%, respectively.
- Specific purpose vehicles: To satisfy 30% of the domestic demand in volume with the localization rate of 40% by 2005, and proceed to meet 60% of domestic demand in quantity and to attain the localization rate of 60% by 2010.
- High-class tourist cars: The rate of local parts used for manufacturing high-class tourist cars at join-ventures is projected at 20%-25% in 2005 and 40% - 45% in 2010. To meet 80% of domestic demand for high-class trucks and buses, with the localization rate being 20% by 2005 and 35% - 40% by 2010.
· On transport engineering
- To make in-depth and additional investment in technologies and assembly facilities for manufacturing project vehicles and machines, such as thermal bituminous concrete mixers, bituminous concrete spreaders, road rollers of all types, stone-grinding and screening stations with a capacity of 100-300 tons an hour.
- To make intensive investment and update technologies used for manufacturing high-class train cars, with the localization rate being up to over 70% by 2005 and to 90% by 2010.
4. Policies and Measures to Support the Development of the Mechanical Engineering Industry
a) Market policy:
· The State will provide technical standards of key mechanical products as the basis for inspecting quality of domestic and imported products.
· The State will offer conditional protection on a term basis for a number of homemade mechanical products and introduce policies to promote sales of homemade mechanical products.
b) Policy to raise capital for the mechanical engineering industry
· The State will adopt a mechanism to support the borrowing of working capital by manufacturers of mechanical equipment and projects on the manufacture of complete equipment, which require a substantial capital for a long-term production cycle.
· Projects on the manufacture of key mechanical products shall be entitled to borrow credit loans with an interest rate of 3% a year, a loan period of 12 years and a two-year grace period according to Resolution No. 11/NQ-CP dated July 31, 2000 by the Government. Also, the borrowers shall begin repaying loans only from the fifth year of operation or be able to get a refund for the difference in interest rates in case of commercial loans.
· To speed up equitization of mechanical engineering enterprises, including sales of stakes to foreigners, in order to raise new investment capital and to diversify funding sources.
· The State will issue policies to encourage all economic sectors to invest in the manufacture of spare parts and components in a bid to enhance the capacity for specialization and cooperation within the mechanical engineering industry.
c) Tax policies
· To exempt or reduce tariffs on imported raw materials, components, and parts of key mechanical products in service of domestic production.
· To exempt or reduce taxes on mechanical products, which are manufactured in Vietnam for the first time, on a term basis .
d) Research and Development Investment Policy
· For key mechanical products, the State will consider granting financing support for technical services, such as hiring of experts, procurement of designs and technologies, and technology transfer, which are beyond the enterprise’s capability.
· Mechanical engineering enterprises will be eligible to set aside a maximum of 2% of their sale turnovers for research and development activities.
e) Personnel Training Policy
The State shall give priority to the investment in upgrading mechanics training institutions and partly finance programs and projects on overseas training and practice for excellent staffs and workers .
Wednesday, July 13, 2005
The Ministry of Transport of Vietnam