Vietnamese firms urged to study EU regulations

This would help them cope with impending free trade deals and expand their exporter base.

 

According to Nguyen Tu Cuong from the Vietnam Fisheries Society, the compliance to SPS was a pre-requisite for exporters of fishery products, vegetables and fruits to penetrate the EU markets smoothly, amid the impending Viet Nam – EU free trade agreement (FTA), which promised to be beneficial to Vietnamese firms due to the elimination of a number of tariff lines.

 

Cuong also said that all opportunities from the trade deal would become meaningless if Vietnam failed to meet sanitary and phytosanitary standards set by the import markets.

 

He said that local management agencies as well as exporters did not fully understand the EU's regulations while Vietnam's regulations remained inconsistent with that of the EU's.

 

That is why Vietnam needed a roadmap to harmonise SPS regulations to the EU's standards to sustainably get access to their markets.

 

Le Thanh Hoa, deputy director of the SPS office in Vietnam, said that sanitation was of great concern today as Vietnamese firms regularly received warnings from the EU about contents of banned antibiotics, heavy metals, and excess pesticides.

 

For example, during the past five years, tra fish products from Vietnam have received warnings with regard to hygiene from Spain for 24 batches, and Germany for 14 batches.

 

Hoa said export firms must closely supervise the process from production to harvest and processing to minimise violations of chemical content. A production chain should be developed based on the connection with farmers to develop areas for raw materials to ensure supply of high-quality products, he added.

 

Regular and timely updates about sanitary regulations for each products were indispensable.

 

Statistics from the Department of Animal Health revealed that in the first 10 months of 2015, more than 8,000 tonnes of fisheries products were returned due to violations of sanitary regulations. 

 

 

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The remaining wood structure of Wat Ton Kwen./Achara Deboonme 

 

 

 which include: 10th place in the Open for Business section, 8th place for Heritage, 6th place for Best Countries to Invest in, and 4th place for both Adventure and Movers (this category focuses on rising economies).

 

Dr. Yuthasak Supasorn, Governor of Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) said, “This is great news for the Thai tourism industry as it affirms a positive perception of Thailand among the international community. This report and the favourable rankings will certainly help add the appeal of Thailand as a top destination to visit among travellers from the US as well as across the globe.”

 

The 2016 Best Countries report and rankings are based on how global perceptions define countries in terms of a number of qualitative characteristics, impressions that have the potential to drive trade, travel and investment, and directly affect national economies. Sixty nations were measured in the inaugural report.

 

The “Best Countries” study sampled the perceptions of more than 16,000 people in four global regions, asking them to rank 60 pre-selected countries on a range of criteria. Attributes were grouped into nine sub-rankings that rolled into the Best Countries ranking: Adventure, Citizenship, Cultural Influence, Entrepreneurship, Heritage, Movers, Open for Business, Power and Quality of Life. Six ASEAN countries are featured in the study.

 

Thailand is one of the world’s most visited countries. In 2015, Thailand attracted 29.88 million tourist arrivals to the kingdom.

 

 

EHRAN, Jan 24 (Reuters) - Iran is interested in buying over100 aircraft from Boeing, deputy transport ministerAsghar Fakhrieh Kashan told Reuters at Tehran's first majorpost-sanctions gathering of global businesspeople.

 

Tehran has long said it will need to revamp an aging fleet,hit by a shortage of parts because of trade bans imposed byWashington and other Western countries. World powers last weeklifted sanctions against the Islamic Republic in return forTehran complying with a deal to curb its nuclear ambitions.

 

(Reporting by Tim Hepher, Editing by William Maclean)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Suspected bomb found in Poso

Ruslan Sangadji

The Jakarta Post

The Poso Police’s bomb squad detonated a bomb found in a black backpack that had been placed in front of a house in Poso, Central Sulawesi, on Monday. The incident came amid the intensification of the hunt for Indonesia's terror fugitive Santoso, suspected to be hiding out in the area.

 

Local people told thejakartapost.com that a silver Toyota Avanza car stopped in front of the house of M. Rundubelo in Kawua subdistrict, Poso, at around 10:30 a.m., on Sunday. At the same time, another car, an L-300, also stopped near the location.

 

"Suddenly, a passenger got out of the L-300 and put a bag on the side of the road. He then moved into the Avanza and left," Kawua resident Nova Riatimogi told thejakartapost.com on Sunday.

 

Another resident named Sugeng Rundubelo said that he saw two people get out of the L-300 car, one of them wearing a white cap and the other one wearing a white undershirt.

 

A few hours later, Poso Police's bomb squad arrived to handle the possible bomb.

 

The police have yet to deliver a statement on the incident.

 

The National Police and the Indonesian Military (TNI) are hunting Santoso, alias Abu Wardah, the country's most wanted terrorist, in the forested areas around Poso. Santoso and his 45 followers of the East Indonesia Mujahidin terrorist group are believed to be hiding in the forests where they hold military training camps and arrange attacks against the police.

 

 

 

 

ThaiBev joins battle for foreign beer brands

Thai Beverage is one of four companies vying for three beer brands put on sale by Anheuser-Busch InBev, according to Financial Times.

The newspaper reported last week that along with ThaiBev, the other three companies qualified for the next round of bidding are Japan's biggest brewer Asahi, Bain Capital and PAI Partners. The brands are reportedly worth 2.5 billion pound. 

The Belgian brewer which is the world's largest beer company by sale volume is selling Peroni, Grolsch and Meantime beer brands to facilitate its takeover bid for SABMiller, the world's second largest. AB InBev's US$108 billion takeover bid raises concerns for regulators in a number of countries like the United States and European Union.

 

 

This brought great opportunities for countries which are under threat from climate change, such as Viet Nam, to access greater international financial assistance to thoroughly resolve climate change-related issues, including changing the development model toward a low-carbon economy and promoting the application of clean technologies, Tan said.