FMI’s shares can be changed hands on the market once the YSX starts its first day on March 25, according to the YSX statement.

FMI is among a few companies shortlisted for the listing. Others are First Private Bank, Myanmar Citizen Bank, Myanmar Thilawa SEZ Holdings Plc, Great Hor Kham Plc and Myanmar Agribusiness Plc.

The country’s flag carrier is forging ahead with this plan despite growth constraints at Manila’s Ninoy Aquino International Airport, PAL president Jaime Bautista said in a briefing on Tuesday marking the company’s 75th anniversary.

PAL is currently rated “three-star” based on the latest audit by Skytrax. PAL shares this score with several budget airlines and major US carriers.

Bautista said this would change as PAL rolls out more international destinations, improves its services and continues its refleeting program that most recently included an order of six next-generation Airbus A350-900s.

Bautista said PAL would also spend US$80 million to reconfigure eight of its all-economy Airbus A330s, which would cut seats from 414 to just more than 300 seats. He said this would increase legroom in economy while allowing the airline to add higher-margin business-class and premium economy seats.

PAL’s management led by chair and controlling shareholder Lucio Tan decided on this strategy in November 2015, Bautista said, amid queries over its market positioning.

“We have to be differentiated from other airlines,” Bautista said at the sidelines of the press conference. “We revisited our mission-vision. That will drive our strategy.”

Bautista said the plans were in step also with growing its profitability and volume. He said PAL would end 2016 more profitable than last year, partly as its operating costs benefited from lower fuel prices. PAL also plans to carry 14 million passengers in 2016, up from 12 million last year.

He said the target was to achieve a passenger load of 75 per cent this year, up from 71 per cent in the previous two years.

The refleeting and subsequent route expansion were key components of PAL’s goal to become a five-star airline, he said.

The carrier, which has 75 planes, is taking delivery of five Airbus A321s and two Boeing 777-300s in 2016. It will also take delivery of two more A321s next year. Its long-haul fleet is mainly comprised of B777s, Airbus A340s and A330s.

PAL is studying more routes in Europe, which it serves through flights from Manila to London. In two years, PAL might launch flights to Paris, Amsterdam, Hamburg and Rome, pending the results of an ongoing study, Bautista said.

He said the airline was also keen on increasing revenue by tapping fifth freedom rights the Philippines has with counterparts in Asia, Australia and the Middle East. For example, PAL will start on June 25 this year daily services between Taipei and Kansai (Osaka, Japan). It opened last January flights between Dubai and Kuwait and Dubai and Jeddah.

“PAL has not been very active using 5th freedom rights, we will do what other airlines have been doing,” Bautista said.

Under the offer, a one-way domestic airfare costs VND199,000 (US$9) to VND799,000, while return airfares for international flights range from VND209,000 to nearly VND9.2 million.

The promotional airfares do not include taxes, fees and surcharges.

The tickets, applicable for flights from April 1 to October 31, will be sold over 10 days from March 18 to 27. Passengers can get more information on the carrier’s website http://www.vietnamairlines.com, as well as from its agencies across the country.

According to Acting General Director of Vinalines Nguyen Canh Tinh, the corporation earned a syndicated profit of more than VND40 billion (US$179,131) in 2015.

He said the profit was meaningful considering the fact that the sea transport market had become worse with lack of orders and decreased freight in comparison to 2014, which used to have the lowest freight level since the Baltic Dry Index (BDI), an economic indicator issued daily by the London-based Baltic Exchange.

Although faced with difficulties in finance and vessels which had been used over the years, Vinalines businesses paid much attention to the quality of technical management work, safety of the fleet and tightened management on fuel in order to obtain better results in business and production.

With the restructuring plan, which focuses on three key areas including sea transport, sea port exploitation and maritime services, Vinalines has regularly resolved its difficulties, creating development stability.

Enterprise Management Department Director Vu Anh Minh said the ministry would launch an initial public offering of Vinalines, the parent company, in the first quarter of this year. At the same time, it would also complete the conversion of the parent company’s business into an equitisation company model.

Minh said it expected to reduce the company’s outstanding loan to VND3.2 trillion before equitisation and to VND1.8 trillion by the end of 2016.

Chairman of Vinalines Le Anh Son said the parent company’s current outstanding loan was nearly VND6.2 trillion, a 46 per cent drop over that in December 31, 2013.

Son said Vinalines had taken measures to reduce its outstanding loan through measures such as implementing purchases of debts through the Debt and Asset Trading Corporation, and converting loans into shares, or contribution of capital in the parent company and a number of its member companies.

The restructuring to reduce the loan was not only part of the corporate restructuring target, but also meant for its survival in the future, Son said.

As the government required, Vinalines’ outstanding loan should be at an acceptable level at round VND3 trillion.

Deputy Minister of Transport Nguyen Van Cong said that with the support from the ministries and sectors and effort from Vinalines, the corporation had conducted its various businesses and overcome its difficulties.

However, he said that the sea transport situation would continue to be difficult this year, before its predicted recovery in 2017, and the corporation needed to seek every way to reach its set business targets.

As for Vinalines equitisation results in 2015, Tinh said the corporation had completed equitisation of its five businesses which included the ports of Nghe Tinh, Can Tho, Nam Can, and Cam Ranh, in addition to Sai Gon, bringing total equitised businesses to 12, completing its set target in the restructuring plan.

Of the ports, Nha Trang, Hai Phong and Cam Ranh have registered transactions and are listed on the stock market.

In 2015, Vinalines also completed its divestment of 17 businesses, bringing the number of divested businesses to 37 by the end of 2015. The corporation has planned this year to divest from 15 more businesses.

The corporation has set a target of transporting 22.5 million tonnes of goods this year, unloading about 64.5 million tonnes at ports, and hoping to earn VND19 trillion in revenue and VND126 billion in profits.

After buying a 20 per cent stake in Security Bank for 36.9 billion peso, BTMU is keeping its wholly owned branch in the country and scouting for ways to help fund PPP projects, whether by itself or through a newly-formed alliance with Security Bank, top officials said in a press briefing on Tuesday. Apart from funding projects, the bank also wants to offer advisory services to proponents of PPPprojects.

Go Watanabe, chief executive officer for Asia & Oceania, said that before buying into Security Bank, the Philippines was among the “missing” pieces in the group’s expansion plan in Asia. Elsewhere in Southeast Asia, BTMU has established alliances in Myanmar (Co-operative Bank) and Cambodia (Canadia Bank) as well as investments in Vietnam (Vietin Bank), Malaysia (CIMB), Indonesia (Bank Nusantara Parahyangan) and Thailand (Bank of Ayudhya).

In the future, Watanabe said BTMU would also scout for opportunities to enter the banking markets of Indonesia and India. These are two of the most populous countries in Asia.

Watanabe said infrastructure-building was an imperative for the Philippines, adding that PPP projects were attracting a lot of interest. The BTMU branch in Manila, together with peso liquidity from Security Bank, could create the “best team to support PPP,” he said.

“Basically we can come in as financier, so we’ll see what we can do. We can also be the financial adviser,” said Tadahiro Miyamoto, BTMU general manager for the Philippines.

Miyamoto said the Clark Green City project, for instance, was supported by the Japanese government. “It’s a very good project and creates a lot of possibility,” he said.

Clark Green City is a 35,000-hectare project of the state-owned Bases Conversion Development Authority (BCDA) which is envisioned to be the country’s first smart, green and disaster-resilient metropolis.

Miyamoto also added that BTMU would also be interested to look at projects that help boost connectivity, such as the North-South Luzon railway, referring to the P170.7 billion project led by the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) and the Philippine National Railway (PNR).

Asked whether the recent buy-in deal with Security Bank carried the right of first refusal if the controlling shareholders – the family of Frederick Dy – would want to sell shares in the future, Watanabe said he could not disclose details of the agreement.

Right now, he said BTMU was comfortable with a 20 per cent investment. He said he was hoping that the collaboration would be successful. If the owner would want to reduce stake in the future, he said “i think BTMU will be the best party to talk fast (to).”

BTMU’s entry into Security Bank was touted as a “game-changing” partnership seen to catapult the local bank to be the country’s fourth largest in the next few years.

said there were a lot of opportunities in the Philippines and that many Japanese companies were interested in this market.

Asked what sectors they are most interested in, he pointed out to the country’s automotive car programme or the “CARS programme” approved last year, which offers fiscal and non-fiscal incentives to jumpstart the revitalization of the country’s automotive industry, improve its competitiveness and transform the country into an auto manufacturing hub. Two large Japanese car makers— Toyota and Mitsubishi – have expressed interest to participate in this programme.

The company’s investment of US$5 million increased US$20 million on 14 hectares of land with a 75 year concession, according to an authority responsible for the project.

The investment will develop the project as a domestic transport centre to link with Asean, the region and international destinations.

The project has completed the first phase after it began operations in October last year and is now engaged in the construction of phase II.

The additional funds will develop the transport service system in Laos to meet international standards, and will have a modern inspection system and guarantees for domestic and foreign service especially passengers, goods, parking and warehouse.

This is one of the model projects in the zone which is effective, standard and modern, and will benefit the investors and the government, the zone authorities reported.

On behalf of the government, which is managing the zone, we always advise companies to operate their business in the right way under Lao investment regulations and laws.

After the company operated the project for over a year, the government, especially provincial authorities, confirmed that the company had followed the regulations and the authorities believe the project will greatly benefit society and the government.

Th e project is currently complete in line with the company’s target and the second phase is underway. The company will ensure that the project is completed to plan.

The government approved a total of 114 hectares to the company for other investments and development of industrial products.

IGN Wiratmaja Puja, the ministry’s oil and gas director general, said on Tuesday that the work was still underway, and new refinery development had yet to be completed.

“The crude price has dropped more significantly compared to the declining price of petroleum products. Therefore, processing crude oil overseas and bringing the products to Indonesia will be cheaper than directly purchasing and importing fuel products into the country,” Wiratmaja said.

Indonesia has seen soaring demand for fuel of late. Meanwhile, domestic crude oil production is declining and aging refineries can no longer run at full capacity. The import of crude oil and petroleum products has undermined the country’s trade balance.

Wiratmaja said the government expected that the processing of crude at overseas refineries would be temporary.

“When the capacity of our refineries expands, we will process it domestically so that we will have value-added activities,” he said.

Earlier, Pertamina said that it had considered selecting overseas refineries to process its crude oil that could not be processed in the country’s facilities. Crude oil from Iraq is among the commodities that do not match with the specifications required by Indonesian refineries.

Pertamina is interested in West Qurna 1 block in Iraq. The block reportedly contained the potential for 33,500 barrels of oil per day (bopd) in production last year. The company estimates higher production from the block this year and will deliver the product to cater to domestic demand.

Pertamina president director Dwi Soetjipto said his company expected to seal a deal with a refining company from India to process about 1 million barrels of crude oil from Iraq every month.

“There is crude oil from overseas that cannot be processed in our refineries. Therefore, we want to refine the crude in other refineries abroad,” Dwi said.

Currently, Pertamina operates six big refineries that together have more than 1 million barrels per day in capacity. However, the facilities are no longer efficient due to age and outdated technology and they can only produce approximately 800,000 barrels per day.

Total demand in the country is estimated to be equal to 1.6 million barrels per day. However, Indonesia’s fields, which are mostly depleted due to past exploitation, can provide less than 800,000 barrels per day.

In the past, the country planned to build new refineries. However, the plans fell through primarily because of financial issues.

Currently, Pertamina is working to select a partner to develop a refinery in Tuban, East Java. The company is also working to upgrade its Cilacap refinery in Central Java.

Apart from Pertamina’s Tuban project, the government is planning to open investment opportunities for foreign firms to establish new refineries in Bontang in East Kalimantan and Arun in Aceh.

After receiving French Ambassador Corinne Breuze, who accompanied 22 French businessmen, Rizal told journalists on Monday that some of the guests, who did various business in Indonesia, were well informed about the maritime programme of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s administration.

“Investment from (French businesses) is important for the realisation of Indonesia’s ambition to become a global maritime axis, and it will strengthen the country’s integration and economy,” Rizal said after the closed-door meeting.

Breuze said some of the 22 businessmen who met with Rizal had been in Indonesia for up to 20 years, while others would be newcomers in the maritime sector.

The group will spend US$3.8 billion on the project.

The group’s leaders said at a meeting with the provincial People’s Committee last week that the gas processing plant would be built on 1,000ha in Tam Quang Commune in Nui Thanh District, 90km south of Da Nang City.

As per the plan, the plant will receive 10 billion cubic metres of natural gas from the Ca Voi Xanh (Blue Whale) offshore natural gas field, 100km off Quang Nam Province, annually.

The construction of the plant is scheduled to begin in 2017 and it will become operational in 2023.

ExxonMobil in Viet Nam has been working with PetroVietnam and Vietnamese government agencies and businesses to evaluate the feasibility of developing the natural gas field.

It’s expected that the central province and PetroVN will sign a comprehensive co-operation agreement on the development of a natural gas processing plant and thermal power plants next year.

The new branches bring the total number to 96 across the country, including 17 in HCM City.

Nghiem Xuan Thanh, chairman of VCB, said the total credit balance of VCB in HCM City reached VND96 trillion (US$4.30 billion), accounting for one-fourth of the system’s total credit balance.

VCB has the largest credit market share in the city.

Le Van Khoa, vice chairman of HCM City’s People’s Committee, said the city would create the most favourable conditions for all the commercial banks to develop their network in the city.

The city has developed several programmes to connect banks with enterprises to help sustain sustainable growth of the city.

VCB targets becoming the number one bank in Viet Nam and one of the top world’s 300 largest credit institutions conforming to intentional norms and laws by 2020.

The bank has developed bank-agency relations with more than 1,800 banks in more than 176 nations and territories in the world.

VCB also plans this year to open five more branches in Hai Phong, Da Nang, Phu Quoc, Hung Yen and Binh Phuoc.