AEC Feed

The Indonesian government will create a national brand to lift the country’s image in the global arena in order to boost its economic earnings, an official from the presidential office has said.
“Indonesia’s image is still low compared to other countries,” Sumartono Darmanto, deputy senior advisor for analysis and |oversight of strategic issues on |economic affairs at the |Presidential Office, during a focus group discussion on Thursday in Jakarta.
Sumartono said Indonesia was ranked 77th out of 163 countries on the Good Country Index in 2016, which assesses science and |technology, culture, international peace and security, world order, planet and climate, prosperity and equality as well as health and wellbeing.
The highest-ranked countries were Sweden, Denmark, the |Netherlands, the United Kingdom as well as Switzerland.
He said the office had coordinated with eight ministers to make the mission possible, adding that the programme had yet to have a fixed budget and timeline.
“We have not talked about the budget yet because the government is in budget-cutting mode now |but so far we have spent Rp |16.8 billion only on research,” Sumartono asserted. – The Jakarta Post

Vietnamese govt slow in responding to foreign investors
Foreign investors are eager to buy stakes in government-owned enterprises in Vietnam but have encountered a lack of |transparency in the firms’ |information disclosure, as well as red tape.
Foreign investors have the best opportunity of buying stakes in state-owned enterprises (SOEs) that the government wants to divest, as not many local |buyers can afford to buy them |from the state. Most Vietnamese private companies would be |unable to compete against foreign |investors in purchasing assets |worth 149 trillion dong (more than $6.62 billion), CEO of HCM Securities Corporation Johan Nyvene stated.
Large-cap companies such as Vinamilk are valued at billions of dollars and most domestic buyers seem to lack financial capabilities to purchase stakes in those companies, he said.
The Vietnamese government plans to sell its stake in 12 large SOEs, including Vietnam Dairy Products JSC (Vinamilk), information technology FPT Corporation (FPT), Bao Minh Insurance Corporation, Tien Phong Plastic |JSC, Binh Minh Plastic JSC, and |the two largest brewers Sai |Gon Beer Alcohol Beverage JSC (Sabeco) and Hanoi Beer Alcohol Beverage JSC (Habeco). – Viet Nam News

More needed to be done to boost medical tourism in Malaysia
More efforts will be put into spurring the Malaysia’s medical tourism industry to achieve its target of RM4.2 billion in revenue by the year 2020.
Deputy Finance Minister Datuk Lee Chee Leong said the nation was strategically located in the Asean region to tap the growing number of travellers seeking quality healthcare treatment.
“We are targeting one million health travellers this year which is expected to generate some RM1 billion in revenue.
“The goal is to see healthcare travellers generating RM4.2 billion by 2020,” he told reporters after launching Your Physio headquarters in Cheras yesterday.
He added that the number of healthcare travellers seeking medical treatment here has increased steadily over the last three years, with some 881,000 coming here in 2013, generating RM726mil in revenue.
This increased to 882,000 in 2014 generating RM777 million in revenue.
Last year, 859,000 healthcare tourists brought in RM914 million. – The Star