A record high of 1.35 billion USD was poured into Vietnamese startups last year (Illustrative photo: VNA)
Fields drawing the highest amount of capital include fintech, game, education, health care and e-commerce, according to the National Agency for Technology Entrepreneurship and Commercialisation Development under the Ministry of Science and Technology.
To date, Vietnam has been home to about 3,800 startups, with two unicorns - tech giant VNG Corporation and VNLife Corporation, along with 11 others each valued at more than 100 million USD such as Momo e-wallet and Tiki online marketplace.
Of note, Tiki received 258 million USD in funding, VNLife 250 million USD, Sky Mavis 152 million USD and Momo 100 million USD.
Vietnam has nearly 70 million Internet users and mobile phone subscribers hit 70 percent of the population (Photo: baodautu.vn)
Some startups like Loship, Citics and Sky Mavis successfully called for investment twice in the year, motivating others amid the pandemic.
The Vietnamese market is favoured by 208 venture capital firms, of them nearly 40 are domestic ones.
Major firms are VSV Capital - Vietnam Silicon Valley, Mekong Capital, 500 Start-up Vietnam, Vietnam Investment Group, IDG Ventures Vietnam, Nextrans, Do Ventures and Genesia Ventures.
Int'l rail freight transport service posts double-digit growth
Goods carriages in Vietnam (Illustrative photo: VNA)
International railway freight transport service posted positive growth last year and in January, reported Vietnam News Agency.
According to the Vietnam Railway Corporation (VNR), despite the complexities of COVID-19, nearly 1.16 million tonnes of goods were transported by trains in 2021, surging 34 percent compared to the same period last year.
Of note, the Dong Dang railway station of the northern border province of Lang Son witnessed surges of 82 percent in the volume of goods and 117 percent in carriage frequency in the fourth quarter of last year.
The exported items were primarily ore, sulphur, chemicals, electronics and garment-textile, among others.
The railway sector is stepping up freight transportation in an attempt to offset the current decline seen in passenger transport, with a priority given to the Vietnam-China route that will ship products to a third nation in Europe and Central Asia.
In the long term, the VNR will work to improve railway infrastructure and build new international railway stations in the central and southern regions to reduce congestion at border ones.
Vietnam represent largest Canadian trading partner in ASEAN
Despite the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, trade and investment ties between Vietnam and Canada continued to prosper in 2021 representing important driving forces for the development of bilateral relations, reported VOV News.
Canadian Ambassador to Vietnam Deborah Paul
Canadian Ambassador to Vietnam Deborah Paul told Vietnam News Agency in n recent interview that Vietnam remains the most significant trading partner of Canada in ASEAN, noting their two-way trade hit approximately CAD9.5 billion (US$7.46 billion) over the January – November period last year.
Both countries maintained regular exchanges, including a meeting between Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his Vietnamese counterpart Pham Minh Chinh at COP26 last November in the UK.
Late July saw Vietnamese Deputy Defence Minister Sen. Lieut. Gen Hoang Xuan Chien and his Canadian counterpart Jody Thomas co-chair the first Vietnam – Canada online dialogue on defence policy, during which both sides reached an agreement on a three-year plan on defence co-operation
Ambassador Paul said she is proud of the strong ties between the two countries which are highlighted through bilateral educational co-operation and exchanges.
Since December 2020, almost 19,000 Vietnamese citizens have been granted permits to study in the North American country.
Canada strives to promote cultural diplomacy in Vietnam through the screening of Canadian films, along with organising exchange events with Canadian artists.
The Ambassador highly appreciated Vietnam’s COVID-19 control efforts, saying, saying the government swiftly took decisive steps to limit both the health and economic fallout. She also singled out Vietnam for contributing funds to COVAX to roll out vaccines globally.
According to the diplomat, Canada recently contributed CAD3 million (USD2.35 million) to support the project “Leveraging Vietnam’s social impact business ecosystem in response to COVID-19”, also known as ISEE-COVID.
Remittances to HCM City total 6.6 billion USD in 2021
Photo for illustration. (Source: VOV)
Remittances to Ho Chi Minh City reached around 6.6 billion USD in 2021, up 9% from the previous year, VOV quoted sayings of Nguyen Hoang Minh, head of the Vietnam Banks Association’s Office in HCM City.
The money flow has not only supported the city’s economic development but also contributed to stabilising the supply of foreign currency in the city and Vietnam in general.
Data from the State Bank of Vietnam shows that remittances to Vietnam surged about 10% last year to total 12.5 billion USD, 70% of which was sent via credit institutions, 28% through remittance services providers and 2% through postal services./.