Briefs

The Myanmar Industry Ministry is inviting private companies to team up with it for a joint venture regarding two heavy industries that it owns. 
The joint venture will be created for No 23 Heavy Industry (Nyaingchedauk), a PVC (polyvinyl chloride) wire plant, and No 26 Heavy Industry (Thargaya), a turbine and generator plant.
The ministry said the applicant must show company registration and documents demonstrating how long it has been operating according to the rules and regulations.
Applicants must also submit an expression of interest before December 21. –Myanmar Eleven

Vietnam is Canada’s 
top trade partner
Vietnam remained Canada’s top Asean trade partner in the first three quarters of 2016, according to official reports from the Canadian government.
Based on findings by Canada’s national statistics agency, trade turnover between the two countries reached US$3.062 billion in the first nine months of 2016, the highest among the 10 Asean countries. There was a clear advantage over second-place Thailand with $2.229 billion.
Hoang Anh Dung, trade representative for Vietnam in Canada, said that in the first nine months, Vietnam was the fifth-largest Asian trade partner with Canada in terms of export volume, after China, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, up from sixth-largest in 2015.
The value of exports from Vietnam to Canada in the period was $2.757 billion, an increase of 14.8 per cent. Imports from Canada were valued at $350 million, down by 26.8 per cent compared with the same period last year.
Dung also said the increase in Vietnam’s exports to Canada gave cause for measured optimism, especially when export turnover from the other Asean countries had been negative and the total export volume of all Asean markets into Canada had decreased by 19.1 per cent compared with the same period in 2015. – Viet Nam News

China strengthens 
grip on Indonesia
China has further cemented its role as one of Indonesia’s strategic partners with the Asian powerhouse’s commitment to continue with the rising trend of investment flowing into the archipelago.
Speaking at a forum attended by Indonesian and Chinese business players, Chinese Ambassador to Indonesia Xie Feng said his country saw great potential for bilateral cooperation between the two nations.
China’s foreign direct investment in Indonesia grew by a staggering 291 per cent to US$1.5 billion in the January-to-September period compared with the nine months last year, according to data from Indonesia’s Investment Coordinating Board.
“China will continue to encourage more enterprises to invest in Indonesia and help speed up Indonesia’s economic growth,” Xie said on Wednesday.
President Joko Widodo has held five meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping in the past two years, a sign of stronger ties between the two countries that look to expand economic cooperation from electricity and mining to new sectors such as e-commerce and tourism.
The two countries have recorded investment cooperation in more than 3,000 projects over the last five years, to the point that about one-fourth of Indonesia’s electricity is generated by power plants built by China, the world’s second-largest economy.
Meanwhile, tourism is deemed as promising, with Widodo targeting half of his target of 20 million foreign tourist by 2019 to come from China. As of September this year, 1 million Chinese tourists had visited Indonesia.
This year, most investment from China has been seen in the steel and mineral-processing sectors, which includes smelters in Sulawesi. Chinese investors are also going large in the cement and automotive industries, signalling a commitment to Indonesia’s infrastructure push, with ventures in cement plants in Kalimantan and Papua, for instance.
The strength of cooperation between the two Asian countries is also evident with the investment commitment from China Development Bank of $14.4 billion for 57 projects since it entered Indonesia in 2006, although only $9.7 billion of the commitment has been realised. – The Jakarta Post