It is expected LOTUSat-1, which is smaller than other satellites with comparable capabilities and comes in at about a fifth of the price, will be launched as soon as 2023.
LOTUSat-1 satellite will help predict severe weather and survey the resulting damage. (Photo: vietnamnet.vn)
According to VNA, NEC will design, manufacture and train Vietnamese staff at a satellite making establishment in Japan, then transfer the technology to Vietnam.
The satellite order is estimated at more than 20 billion Japanese Yen (184 million USD). Most of the funding will be provided by the Japan International Cooperation Agency.
The LOTUSat-1 satellite, which weighs roughly 570kg, contains control systems and other core components that can be mass-produced. The satellite will be able to detect objects with widths of a metre wide on earth. It will gather information expected to help minimize the impacts of natural disasters such as storms that hit Vietnam every year.
South Africa is Vietnam’s biggest trade partner in Africa
South Africa is the biggest trade partner of Vietnam in Africa. Bilateral trade turnover continuously increased over the past years and reached over 1.1 billion USD in 2018, including over 724 million USD of Vietnam’s export to South Africa and about 386 million USD of imports from the market.
The Ministry of Industry and Trade’s Vietnam Trade Promotion Agency, in association with South Africa’s Ministry of Industry and Trade, organized a conference to boost trade exchange between the countries in Ho Chi Minh City, on October 21st.
Ms. Bui Thi Thanh An, Deputy Head of the Vietnam Trade Promotion Agency, said that Vietnam’s major products exported to South Africa are telephones, farm produce, coffee and spices, while the country mainly ships wooden products and iron-steel to Vietnam. In the first 9 months of 2019, two-way trade turnover totaled 951 million USD.
Vietnam’s major products exported to South Africa are telephones, farm produce, coffee and spices (Photo for illustration/ Source: vneconomy.vn)
She stressed that the Ministries of Industry and Trade of Vietnam and South Africa are organizing a series of exchange activities to create closer connection between the two economies, helping to expand markets for export products and taking advantages to add to the development needs of both sides.
Binh Duong: More Japanese capital flows into industrial projects
Japanese investors are pouring more capital into the southern province of Binh Duong to tap into local potential in electronic component manufacturing, automobile assembly and production, and supporting industries.
Japan now tops the 64 countries and territories investing in Binh Duong province with 304 projects worth 5.65 billion USD (Photo: VNA)
According to VNA, Hideyuki Okada, head of the Japanese Business Association in Ho Chi Minh city, said Japanese investment into Vietnam has been soaring for the past many years. More and more Japanese firms are making new investments and expanding existing projects in the country amid the relocation of their production facilities from China to Southeast Asia.
He took Binh Duong as an example, noting that Japan now tops the 64 countries and territories investing here with 304 projects worth 5.65 billion USD, accounting for 16.2 percent of the total FDI capital in the province.
Most of Japanese investors here operate in electronic component manufacturing, automobile assembly and production, and supporting industries. Many of them have also invested in infrastructure, urban development, and trade in services./.