AEC Briefs

 Thailand remains the biggest exporter of electrical appliances and accessories to Vietnam, according to Vietnam’s Customs Department.
The first two months of the year saw US$238.5 million worth of electrical appliances and accessories imported into Vietnam, a year-on-year increase of 5.15 per cent.
Imports from Thailand accounted for $120 million, a 3.1 per cent rise year on year.
Imports from China to Vietnam dipped by 2.49 per cent to $42.5 million. Malaysia was Vietnam’s third biggest supplier, with shipments worth $32.9 million, a year-on-year decline of 8.62 per cent.
Imports from Italy surged by 167.7 per cent, from a small base, to $1.9 million. – Viet Nam News

Nam Ngum 1 dam expansion on track
The expansion of the Nam Ngum 1 dam in Laos will increase capacity by 80MW. 
The Nam Ngum 1 Hydropower Plant in Vientiane province will increase its generation capacity by more than 80MW after the seventh and eighth generators of an expansion project are completed later this year.
The project is now more than 80 per cent complete, a representative of the company behind the plant, Phonekeo Sengsoulichanh, said during a field visit to the plant at the weekend.
The expansion project began in 2014 with plans to finish later this year after it received a US$200 million loan from the Chinese government, he said.
The project aims to increase generation capacity to meet peak power demand in the capital by adding an extra power generation unit.
The government also received a soft loan of more than US$70 million from the Japanese government to install a sixth generator but this part is still undergoing a feasibility study, said Phonekeo.
This generator will increase the plant's capacity by about 40MW with a 36-month construction period, according to the project presentation.
In the initial plans, work on this project should have begun last year with completion in 2019 but it is now delayed, Phonekeo said. – Vientiane Times

Vietnam PM welcomes CapitaLand chief
Vietnam will create favourable conditions for investors, including Singapore’s CapitaLand Group, to operate successfully in the country, Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc told the president and CEO of CapitaLand, Lim Ming Yan, during a reception in Hanoi on Monday.
The Vietnamese leader voiced his appreciation for CapitaLand’s investment in building new urban developments in Vietnam, and he hopes the firm will consider developing new urban projects.
 He suggested CapitaLand implement green, clean and beautiful urban projects in Vietnam like those carried out by the firm in many areas in Asia, helping the country realise sustainable development goals and stabilise its real estate market.
The prime minister hoped the group will reap more successes in Vietnam, thus contributing to the country’s socio-economic development.
For his part, Lim Ming Yan said that his firm has invested in many great projects in Vietnam over the last 22 years and plans to build new urban development models in Hanoi and Ho Chin Minh City. – Viet Nam News

IVS to expand to Japan via merger
Vietnam Investment Securities Company (IVS) will merge with Japan Securities Incorporated (JSI) to boost the number of customers and expand its operations to Japan.
After the merger, the capital of IVS will increase to 372 billion dong (Bt568.6 million), IVS said in its statement at the annual shareholder meeting on Saturday.
The merger will make JSI a department at IVS, and it will focus on the Japanese market only. Current shareholders of JSI will commit not to withdraw from it in the next three years after the merger is approved by Vietnam’s State Securities Commission.
However, the company did not clarify in its statement when the merger would take place.
The merger was also approved by the shareholders of JSI at the firm’s annual shareholder meeting on March 14.
Vietnamese shareholders hold 48.87 per cent of JSI’s capital now, including Viglacera Investment and Import-Export JSC (10 per cent). – Viet Nam News