VIET NAM TRADE

Australia and Viet Nam launch 45th anniversary year

In Jan 17, Australia and Viet Nam marked the beginning of the 45th anniversary year of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

“Viet Nam is one of Australia’s most important partners in the Indo-Pacific.  Over the past 45 years our two countries have built a strong partnership which now encompasses political exchange, economic development, security cooperation and innovation collaboration,” said Australian Ambassador Mr Craig Chittick.

In November 2017, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull agreed to enhance the bilateral relationship to the level of Strategic Partnership.  The Partnership will represent a new chapter in the relationship and enable the two countries to work more closely together on a range of issues, including defence, trade, investment, development, education, labor, tourism, law, finance, information and communication.

"Based on a strong foundation and building on concrete activities (particularly those in this anniversary year), Viet Nam-Australia’s Enhanced Comprehensive Partnership will be further advanced in the coming time, both bilaterally and at the regional and international level, towards a Strategic Partnership; meeting the desire and the interests of our peoples and, for peace, cooperation and prosperity in Asia-Pacific and the world," said Vietnamese Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Dang Dinh Quy.

The beginning of the 45th anniversary year was marked today by the launch of a 45th anniversary commemorative logo and presentation of nine introductory panels to the Temple of Literature of Viet Nam.

The 45th anniversary commemorative logo features Australia’s iconic Sydney Opera House and the star of the Vietnamese flag.  The logo’s 24 year-old amateur designer, Mr Nguyen Viet Hung, said that creation of the logo was inspired by his first memories of Australia and the participation of the Vietnamese sporting team at the Sydney Olympic Games 2000.

The winning logo was selected from a competition organised by the Australian Embassy and Hanoi University of Industrial Fine Arts, in collaboration with the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs in November 2017.  The competition received over 150 entries from designers across Viet Nam. 

Reflecting the friendship between the two countries, the Australian Ambassador officially presented nine introductory panels to the Temple of Literature.  The panels will support tourism at one of the most important historical sites of Hanoi, providing information about the rich history to visitors in three languages.  This project built on the success of a similar project in 2016 in which Australia presented 14 bilingual introductory panels to the Thang Long Citadel, another historical site of Viet Nam.

“We are really grateful of the Australian Government’s meaningful gift which enables us to better preserve and promote the Temple of Literature. Each introductory panel is a concise brief on a section of the Temple and all together, they tell the whole story about our invaluable historical site,” said the Director of the Center for Cultural and Scientific Activities Van Mieu – Quoc Tu Giam,  Dr Le Xuan Kieu. “Through these introductory panels, visitors can come to understand the history and significance of the Temple of Literature,” said the Director.

Australia will celebrate the 45th anniversary throughout 2018 with a program ranging from cultural to trade and economic events. The highlights include the opening of the Cao Lanh Bridge and the Australian Government’s third Taste of Australia event.

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Australia’s Trade with Viet Nam in eleven months of 2017

Two-way goods trading between Australia and Viet Nam in eleven months of 2017 reached AUD 8.83 billions in which, Viet Nam exported to Australia AUD 4.60 billions and imported from Australia AUD 4.23 billions.

Details of Australia’s Trade with Viet Nam in eleven months of 2017.

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Bình Thuận to expand dragonfruit VietGAP areas


The central province of Bình Thuận, which has more than 9,500 ha of dragon fruit cultivated under VietGAP (Viet Nam Good Agricultural Practices) standards, plans to expand the area to 9,800ha this year, according to the province’s Agriculture and Rural Development Department.

With more than 27,600ha of dragonfruit and 262ha for GlobalGAP, Bình Thuận Province has the largest area allocated to the fruit in the country, with annual output topping more than 550,000 tonnes, Mai Kiều, director of the department, said in a local conference on January 15.

Đào Thị Kim Dung, director of Bình Thuận’s Dragon Fruit Research and Development Centre, said that farmers were not interested in dragonfruit grown under VietGap standards because they do not receive higher prices compared to normal dragonfruit and buyers do not care about the VietGap-grown fruit.  

The province’s People’s Committee has asked departments and agencies to link farmers and buyers and support new technology for farmers, said Phạm Văn Nam, vice chairman of the committee.

The province’s dragonfruit is exported to the US, the EU, Australia, the Republic of Korea and Japan, according to the Bình Thuận Dragon Fruit Association.

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Viet Nam to Implement Multiple FTA Tariff Cuts in 2018

Viet Nam’s Ministry of Finance has announced 10 draft decrees on preferential tariff rates for 2018-2020 related to its 10 Free Trade Agreements (FTAs). Most of the goods will enjoy a zero percent import tariff in effect from January 1, 2018, in line with the country’s commitments within the FTAs framework, while others will go through a gradual reduction until 2022. With reduced tariffs leading to a reduction in import tax revenues, the government aims to offset it by an increase in domestic tax collection. 

Trade agreements

The trade deals include the ASEAN FTA (ATIGA), FTAs between ASEAN and Japan, India, Australia – New Zealand, the Republic of Korea, and China. Also included are FTAs between Viet Nam and Korea, Japan, Chile and the Eurasian Economic Union.

ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement (ATIGA)

Under ATIFA, Viet Nam has already cut 6,900 tariff lines, or 72 percent of all tariff lines, to zero percent in 2014. It reduced more than 1,700 other lines to zero percent in 2015. By 2018, Viet Nam is committed to removing all import tariffs.

Items to be subjected to zero percent import tariff include automobile, motorbike, vehicle components, vegetable oil, tropical fruits, home electronic appliances, milk, and dairy products.

Certain agricultural products such as poultry, chicken, citrus fruits, brown rice, processed meat, and sugar will continue to have a tariff rate of five percent.

ASEAN China FTA

Items to attract zero percent import tariffs from 2018 include chicken, coffee, raw tea, processed food, apparel fabrics, clothes, electronic equipment, and electrics.

Viet Nam-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement (VJEPA)

Under the VJEPA, zero percent rate will be applied to 456 tariff lines for items such as construction stones, steel, aluminum, sugar, machinery, equipment, and vehicle parts.

Viet Nam-Korea FTA

From 2018, import tariffs for 704 tariff lines will be reduced to zero percent for items such as seafood, wheat, confectionery, diesel fuel, machinery and electronic equipment.  

Viet Nam – Eurasian Economic Union FTA

Under this Viet Nam – EAEU FTA, 5,535 tariff lines have been reduced to zero percent in 2018 for items such as milk, dairy products, automobile and spare parts, iron and steel, and steel products.

Other FTAs such as the ASEAN – Korea, ASEAN – Japan (AJCEP), ASEAN – India (AIFTA), ASEAN – Australia – New Zealand, and Viet Nam – Chile will progressively reduce tariffs to zero percent by 2022. For example, under the AJCEP, the existing five percent import tax rate for various commodities will reduce to zero percent by 2019. Similarly, under AIFTA, items having current import tax rates between 1 to 3 percent will be subjected to zero percent import tariffs by 2019. Under the AIFTA and VKFTA, current import tax rates ranging from 10 to 20 percent for certain commodities will see a gradual reduction to zero percent by 2022.

Impact of FTAs

Exporters will continue to benefit from the reduced tariffs, leading to a deeper economic integration. This will further lead to an increase in foreign investments, competition, production, and business efficiency. In addition, this will also reduce the input cost for domestic firms. 

As for the State budget, tariff commitments in the last decade have affected the annual growth rate of State Budget revenues of the customs. The average rate of collection increased annually by 10 percent from 2007-2014, while in 2015 and 2016, the growth rate was only 3.6 percent and 3.8 percent respectively.

However, the increase in imports/exports and subsequent reduction in import tax revenues will be offset by an increase in domestic tax collection such as corporate and personal income tax.

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Viet Nam is world’s second largest shoes exporter

Viet Nam exported over one billion pairs out of 23 billion pairs of shoes sold worldwide in 2017, continuing to maintain the second position (after China) in shoes export.



According to the latest statistics of the World Footwear Magazine in 2017, Viet Nam continued to rank second among the top 10 largest footwear exporters, with 1.02 billion pairs of shoes, equivalent to 7.4 percent  of the global footwear supply, said Diep Thanh Kiet, Vice Chairman of the Viet Nam Leather, Footwear and Handbag Association (LEFASO).



China still maintained the top position in exporting shoes, with 9.31 billion pairs, representing 67.3 percent of the total 23 billion pairs of shoes the world consumed in 2017.





Asia continued to be recognised as the world’s leading region in the production and consumption of footwear throughout the world.



Meanwhile, the United States was the largest footwear importer; the country imported 2.34 billion pairs of shoes last year, accounting for 19.6 percent of global footwear consumption.


Export of Viet Nam’s backpacks and handbags continued to rise, to make it to the top five countries exporting these products in the world today.

In 2017, the export turnover of backpacks and handbags in Viet Nam was estimated at USD3.3 billion, accounting for 5.5 percent of global production, but only about one-seventh as compared to China’s supply.

Kiet said the biggest challenge for the domestic footwear-handbags industry was the low level of technology application in management and production, as compared to regional and foreign direct investment (FDI) enterprises.

The labour productivity of domestic enterprises was only equal to 60-70 percent of FDI enterprises. Most domestic firms have not joined the global supply chain; meanwhile, international brands usually tend to deeply control the global supply chain. In addition, labour costs in Viet Nam were rising significantly, Kiet added.

Not only interfering in the price of the goods, importers were now gradually intervening in the traceability of raw materials and factories supplying machinery for production.

On the other hand, the time taken for supplying goods, product confidentiality, the level of technology used, and advantages of raw material supply are given priority to help consumers select where to place an order and process production, Kiet said. 

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Viet Nam Allows Foreign Investors to Establish Logistics Firms

Following Decree No.163/ND-CP, foreign investors will now be allowed to set up logistics services companies from February 20, 2018, in Viet Nam. The establishment of new companies will be subjected to conditions on ownership and services. The services under the decree have been divided into 16 types such as cargo handling services, container warehousing services, and cargo agency services. 

Establishing conditions

Types of services

The Decree allows investments in the following types of services:

• Cargo handling services (except for services provided at airports);
• Container warehousing services (shipping support services);
• Warehousing services (all modes of transport);
• Delivery services;
• Cargo agency services;
• Customs clearance services;
• Services which include the following activities: inspection of bill of lading, cargo brokerage services, goods inspection, sampling and weighing services; Goods Receipt and Acceptance Services; transportation document preparation services;
• Wholesale and retail support services (including the management of warehousing, collection, assembly, sorting and delivery);
• Cargo transportation services (sea transport);
• Inland waterway transport services;
• Rail transport services;
• Road transport services;
• Air transport services;
• Multimodal transportation services;
• Technical analysis and inspection services;
• Other services provided by traders involved in logistical services and customer service agreements in accordance with the basic principles of the Commercial Law; and
• Other supporting services.

Ownership and services conditions

Sea cargo transport services (except for inland transportation)

Foreign firms have to operate their fleet under the Vietnamese flag. The total number of the Vietnamese crew members working on vessels should be two-thirds of the total including the captain and first deputy.

As for purchasing shares or capital contributions, the contribution ratio cannot exceed 49 percent. 

Container handling services (sea transport services)

The percentage of foreign investor’s capital contribution ratio under this service, cannot exceed 50 percent. Foreign investors can also establish a commercial presence in Viet Nam in the form of business cooperation contracts or establish their own firms.

Container handling services (supporting all modes of transport, except for services provided at airports)

Foreign investor’s contribution ratio cannot exceed 50 percent in the case of container handling service providers. They can also establish their own firms.

Customs clearance service (under the maritime transport service)

Foreign investors can establish their own firms or partner with an existing firm by contributing capital to or purchasing shares from the contributed capital portion of the enterprise which would include the capital contribution of domestic investors. They can also establish a commercial presence in the form of business cooperation contracts.

Other services allowed include checking of the bill of lading, cargo brokerage services, goods inspection, sampling and weighing services, goods receipt and acceptance services, and the preparation of transport documents.

Goods transportation services (for inland waterway transport or rail transport services)

Foreign firms can set up enterprises or contribute capital or purchase shares in an enterprise, limited to 49 percent.

Goods transportation services (for road transport services)

Firms can set up a 100 percent foreign-owned enterprise or contribute capital/ purchase shares in a joint venture. The share of the foreign investor in the latter case should not exceed 51 percent. Foreign investors are also allowed to establish a commercial presence in the form of business cooperation contracts.

In addition, all the drivers of the enterprise must be Vietnamese citizens.

Air transport services

Law of Aviation will apply in case of air transportation services.

Limitation of liability

The limit of liability for traders providing logistic services has to be agreed upon by the two parties, the service provider, and customer. In case there is no agreement in place, the following liability is applied:

• In case the customer has no prior information on the value of the goods, the maximum liability limit is set at 500 million VND for each claim.
• In case the customer has given an advance notice of the value of goods and certified by traders providing logistic services, the liability limit shall not exceed the value of such goods.

Logistics industry

The logistics industry is one of the fastest growing sectors in the country. In 2016, the top 100 logistics firms’ total turnover stood at US$8.74 billion, growing by 15.6 percent year-on-year. It currently contributes around 2-3 percent to the country’s GDP and is predicted to continue its growth at over 15 percent in the next four to five years.

In spite of the rapid growth in the domestic logistics sector, foreign firms hold a larger market share than local firms. According to the Viet Nam Logistics Association, Viet Nam has 3,000 local firms, with 1,300 of them being small and medium enterprises. The local firms only account for 25 percent of the market share, while the remaining 75 percent is made up of 25 foreign firms.

Total shipping volume of Vietnamese vessels in 2017 totaled 130.9 million tonnes of cargo, six percent higher than in 2016. Total shipping volume through all the seaports totaled 536.4 million tonnes of cargo, up 17 percent from 2016. 

Despite the growth in turnover and shipping volume, Viet Nam continues to suffer from underdeveloped infrastructure and high logistical costs, which is around 20 percent of the GDP. According to the World Bank’s 2016 Logistics Performance Index, Viet Nam’s rank dropped from 48th in 2014 to 64th in 2016 amongst 160 countries. It was fourth among the ASEAN countries, behind Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand. 

By 2025, the government aims to increase the contribution of logistic services to GDP to around 8 to 10 percent, at a growth rate of 15-20 percent. Industry experts believe that the growth rate is achievable, but the GDP contribution would only be around 5 percent.

Industry challenges

The major challenge in the industry is high cost, which in 2016 was US$41.26 billion, equivalent to 20.8 percent of the GDP, much higher than the global average of 11.7 percent.

The costs have been mainly attributed to the following factors:

• Underdeveloped infrastructure – lack of connectivity between seaports, airports, traffic routes, and production areas;
• Lengthy administrative procedures – delays in customs clearances has increased operational costs;
• Unqualified human resources;
• Inadequate use of information technology.

Need to do more

Viet Nam has to continue with its institutional and policy reforms to reduce costs for domestic firms, further improving its competitiveness.

According to the World Bank, Viet Nam should focus on four key areas:

• Increasing trade facilitation by simplifying customs;
• Enhancing efficiency of trade-related infrastructure and the quality of connectivity;
• Building a competitive logistics service sector; and
• Strengthening coordination and partnership with the private sector.

In addition, it also has to develop the inland ports or Inland Container Depots (IDC), and increase its connectivity to the rail, domestic waterways, and road networks to reduce the overall costs.

Due to its high dependency on global trade, the logistics industry will continue to be a crucial sector for Viet Nam for it to maintain its competitiveness. 

Why invest in Viet Nam

In spite of all the challenges, foreign firms will continue to find Viet Nam an attractive market, due to its growing trade, economy, and numerous Free Trade Agreements (FTAs). Infrastructure, although underdeveloped, has started to see an increase in public investments, especially in road networks and ports. In addition, the government continues to implement numerous customs and other administrative reforms, to reduce complexities.

FDI, economy, and trade

Viet Nam’s 2017 FDI pledges reached a 10-year high of US$35.6 billion, up 44.2 percent from 2016, while realized capital stood at US$17 billion. Going forward, FDI will continue to increase as more and more foreign firms shift their manufacturing bases from China to Viet Nam due to high costs. In addition, the rise in disposable income and growing economy will continue to drive investments in the domestic sectors.

FDI will continue to influence the overall trade, which reached an all-time high of US$400 billion in 2017. Exports grew by 20 percent, while imports grew by 21 percent, further making Viet Nam an ideal destination for foreign logistic firms.

Free trade agreements

With several free trade agreements already signed and few others to be in effect such as the EU-Viet Nam Free Trade Agreement, Viet Nam is expected to see an increase in import/export activities. In addition, most of the FTAs are going to implement reduced tariffs from 2018, further boosting trade.

Under the ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement (ATIGA), Viet Nam is going to join the ASEAN Single Window (ASW) in 2018, further reducing the border clearance times. ASW is a regional initiative that aims to connect the National Single Window (NSW) of ASEAN member states to reduce cargo clearance procedures through electronic exchange of border documents among the member states to further increase economic integration in the region.

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Viet Nam’s Central Highlands Region: Strategic Investment Opportunities

The Central Highlands have long been a strategic economic, political location in the history of Viet Nam. Sharing borders with Laos and Cambodia, this region is one of the most important location for the economic development of Viet Nam in the next few years.

A region full of potential

The Central Highlands, or the Western Highlands, is located in the West and South West of Viet Nam. The region contains five provinces: Lâm Đồng, Daklak, Dak Nông, Gia lai and Kon Tum. These provinces are expected to show high potential for development in renewable energy, agricultural and tourism in the coming years.

According to the Minister of Public Security’s speech in the fourth conference on investment promotion in Central Highlands total investment capital has reached VND 266 trillion in 2015 with an annual growth rate of 11.3 percent between 2011 and 2015. To date, there have been 140 FDI projects worth US$772.5 million in the Central Highlands. This number is expected to grow significantly in the next few years, especially as the government is trying to improve the region’s infrastructure and paying more attention to renewable projects in its long-term plan of development.

Tourism and agriculture are two important sectors that appeared very promising to foreign investors, especially investors from Korean, Japan, and China. However, Central Highlands are not being fully explored, thus, bringing more opportunities for future investors to enter the race.

Opportunities for renewable energy projects

The Central Highlands is a prominent location for solar potential maps in Viet Nam. According to Vietnamese authorities, the total hours of sun in Central Highlands varies from 2000 to 2600 hours per year. Korean Solar power investors in this area are upbeat on the prospects for the region and have published findings indicating a direct solar radiation generation of 5 kWh per square meter. With this in mind, Viet Nam’s Central Highlands is an ideal place to develop a solar power plant.

In addition, the region’s wind power capacity could reach 2000MW, which is even more than the second largest hydro power plant of Viet Nam in Hoa Binh. Realizing the favorable conditions for developing renewable energy of this region, Central Highland provinces have issued a number of preferential mechanisms and policies as well as simplified administrative procedures, to attract investors. Daklak is topping the list with 4 projects worth US$3.3 billion from AES Corporation, Viet Nam’s Xuan Thien Limited Company, South Korea’s Solar Park Limited and Viet Nam’s Long Thanh Infrastructure Development and Investment Company.

Promising land for coffee, tea, and pepper

In addition to its advantages in solar and wind power, the region is also getting more and more popular as a promising land for FDI projects in agriculture.

Central Highlands cover an area of 5.46 million ha, in which 2 million ha are used for developing agricultural. Besides, the region contains 74.25 percent of the red basalt soil of Viet Nam, making it an ideal place for large-scale production specialized in coffee, pepper, tea, cashew, cassava, rubber.

Realizing the growth potential of this sector, investors from Korea and Japan have launched several projects with advanced agricultural techniques to maximize production in the region. New policies and tax incentives are also available to encourage and attract investments. Although climate changes may appear to be a threat, agriculture will continue to grow and strengthen its position as an important sector of Central Highland’s provinces.

Top destinations for tourism

Dalat, Kon-Tum and Gia Lai are famous destinations for eco-friendly and historical tourism. Cool weather, beautiful natural sight-seeing, historical museums and also the variety of food specialties are the reasons why more and more tourist chose these destinations for a get-away on the weekend. In 2016, Dalat city of Lam Dong province welcomed 5.4 million visitors, an increase of 6 percent compared to 2015. On top of this, the number of international visitors reached 270,000 people with most travelers coming from South Korea, China, Thailand and the United States.

The city also has been ranked by The New York Times as one of top 52 tourist destination in the world. Although the region’s tourism industry used to suffer from the past because of poor infrastructure and facilities, the situation is getting better recently thanks to investments from government also foreign investors. New tourist products with better services are now provided, making the region even more attractive to tourist. Besides, many investments in hotels, amusement park, restaurants are about to kick off in the near future, helping these provinces to fully exploit tourism potential of this region.

Conclusion

The Central Highlands contributes 9 percent of Viet Nam’s GDP. Ignoring all the advantages it has developed in its economy, the region still remains poor compared to others. Foreign investment is limited in both quantity and quality. However, with new incentives and support from the government, the investment’s environment of Central Highlands becomes more and more attractive.

Beside many investment incentives such as corporate income tax exemption, land use rental reduction, import tax exemption, etc., FDI projects can benefit from province-specific investment support. For example, investment project in high-tech applied agricultural business can receive support from Kon Tum province for the development of greenhouses and net houses with a support level of VND 50,000 per square.

Each province in the region have different types of support and incentives to attract foreign direct investment, thus to maintain the sustainable growth of the region. In the future, Central Highlands will continue to consolidate its position as an important region in the economic development of the whole country.

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Australia, Japan pledge to sign CPTPP by March

The prime ministers of Australia and Japan committed to having the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) signed by March.





The commitment was made during talks between Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe in Tokyo on January 18.



The trade pact replaces the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement after President Donald Trump withdrew the US from the TPP in January 2017.



In his speech following the talks, Turnbull said: "Our strong preference is for all 11 countries to join the first wave but our focus is on bringing a new TPP agreement into force as soon as possible with those who are ready to move."



"We are consciously setting it up to enable and encourage the United States to dock in should it choose to do so in the future," he added.



Eleven countries met at the APEC Economic Leaders’ Week in Da Nang city of Viet Nam in November 2017 to keep alive the deal after the US withdrew. 

Negotiators will meet in Tokyo next week in the hope of smoothing out obstacles to the CPTPP.

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Viet Nam: New Laws to be in Effect in 2018

In 2017, the Vietnamese government passed numerous laws which are going to come into effect in 2018. The laws primarily focus on sectors such as banking, agriculture, trade, and tourism. Most of the laws aim at improving the investment climate and reducing complexities in doing business in the country. 

Laws in effect from January 1, 2018

Law on Small and Medium-Sized Enterprise Support

This law has entered into force on January 1, 2018. It establishes support measures for small and medium-sized enterprises and creates a legal framework to increase support for SMEs from the private sector and government agencies. SMEs have been defined as micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises having no more than 200 employees per year on average and covered by social insurance. In addition, such an enterprise should have a total capital amount not exceeding VND 100 billion or a total revenue of the preceding year not exceeding VND 300 billion. 

Support measures include incentives in preferential tax, loan provision, credit guarantees, land rental preferences, technology transfers, training, and human resource development.

Tourism Law

Through this law, the government aims to encourage tourism development, increase service quality, increase professionalism, reduce administrative procedures, protect legitimate rights of tourists, and create a favorable environment for such businesses.

Law on Foreign Trade Management

This law regulates external trade management measures and deals with trade disputes. The law stipulates issues such as foreign trade measures, quarantine measures, tariff quotas, and anti-dumping/safeguard measures. It aims to increase transparency and domestic production, in line with the WTO.

The Law on Management and Use of Public Assets

In effect from January 1, 2018, this law creates a legal framework to ensure effective management of all public assets and prevent waste, corruption, and other violations coupled with mobilizing social resources for socio-economic development.

Law on Amending and Supplementing a Number of Articles of the Law on Credit Institutions

This law will be in effect from January 15, 2018. The amended law includes a provision allowing insolvent banks to file for bankruptcy. However, banks which are already under scrutiny and taking measures to resolve their issues, or which were bought at zero Viet Nam dong by the State Bank of Viet Nam (SBV), will be able to continue with their already-approved plans.

Laws to be in effect from July 1, 2018

Law on Technology Transfer

The Law on Technology Transfer will be in effect from July 1, 2018. It creates a legal framework for providing financial support, loans, and preferential interest rates for investments focusing on technical infrastructure and establishing R&D units. The law aims to increase research activities, especially in the agriculture sector, which is need of high-tech expertise.

Irrigation Law

The Irrigation Law focuses on regulating the fees and prices of irrigation products and services, aiming to increase the participation of units and individuals in the irrigation sector.

Railway Law

The new Railway Law focuses on infrastructure planning, investment procedures, construction, protection, management, maintenance, preferential tax treatment, concessional loans, and high-speed railway development. It applies to domestic and foreign organizations and individuals involved in railway activities in the country.

The Law on State Compensation Liability

This law stipulates the State’s liability for compensating organizations and individuals who have suffered damages caused by official-duty performers in administrative management, procedure, and judgment execution. It also defines the rights of complainants and liable agencies, settlement procedures, and legal aid provisions for eligible people.

Law on Public Debt Management

This law provides for the management of public debts, which covers the borrowing, use of loans and debt payment, and public debt management operations. Public debt includes central Government debt, Government-guaranteed loans, and local government debt. It applies to organizations and individuals involved in the borrowing, use of loans, debt payment, and public debt management. Other laws such as Forestry law, Fisheries law, and the Planning law will be in effect from January 1, 2019.

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