The number of Russian visitors to Vietnam this month touched 42,909, a year-on-year increase of 23.7 per cent.

The sector also saw encouraging rise in the number of European nationalities, who are allowed to enter Vietnam without visas, the administration under the culture, sports and tourism ministry said.

The number of tourists from Italy increased by 71.4 per cent, as compared with the previous month and by 28.8 per cent year-on-year.

The number of visitors from the United Kingdom rose 20.6 per cent, from Germany by 16 per cent, from Spain by 14.3 per cent and from France by 9.9 per cent.

The arrivals from Laos and Cambodia fell, while those from Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore saw significant growths of 16 per cent, 31 per cent and 13.3 per cent, respectively.

VNAT is hoping to welcome 8.5 million foreign tourists this year and handle 60 million domestic visitors, earning VND370.000 billion (US$16.6 billion) in revenue.

The Vietnam News Agency quoted VNAT Director Nguyen Van Tuan as saying that the country’s tourism sector was expected to achieve positive two-digit growth in the first quarter of this year.

The whole travel industry would try to improve efficiency and professionalism in promotion efforts, particularly to implement the tourism marketing strategy of Vietnam, he said.

The ministry has developed and promoted the tourism plan for 2016 among localities and enterprises right from the beginning of the year and has mobilised resources and key tourism localities in several events.

For example, the Hanoi department of tourism will participate in international tourism fairs such as the Beijing International Tourism Expo (BITE) in Beijing in June, JATA tourism expo in Tokyo in September and the International French Travel Market Top Resa in Paris in September.

A part of the framework of the 2016 ASEAN Tourism Forum (ATF), which took place from January 18 to 25 in Manila, the Philippines, VNAT co-operated with localities and enterprises to participate in ATF TRAVEX, the longest-running annual ASEAN leisure travel trade event.

More and more partners showed keenness, via the event, in bringing European tourists to Vietnam.

Luxury travel and exploration of nature and culture are the most popular tourism products among Europeans.

The Government had been forced to revise its Budget 2016 three months after tabling it in Parliament due to the continuous decline in global crude oil prices.

The recalibrated Budget 2016 saw the Government lowering its average-price assumption for Brent, which is the international oil benchmark, to $30-$35 per barrel, compared with $48 per barrel under the original Budget 2016 when it was unveiled in October last year.

Under the recalibrated Budget 2016, the Government’s revenue is expected to decline by 3.5 per cent-4.2 per cent to 216.3-217.9 billion ringgit, compared with the originally estimated 225.7 billion, while its total spending (operating and development expenditure) will be cut by 3.0 per cent-3.6 per cent to 255.7-257.2 billion from the initially proposed 265.2 billion.

“Most of the forecasts by analysts and research institutes expect oil prices to average at $30-$40 per barrel this year. But we have taken a more conservative estimate of $30-$35 per barrel.

“If it goes below $30 per barrel, we can still sustain economic growth; it won’t affect the budget that much, given the various mechanisms we have at hand,” Irwan said.

Brent crude was traded at around $33.50 per barrel yesterday. Last week, prices of the commodity fell to a 13-year low of around $28 per barrel.

Irwan said the Government was expecting additional income from various sources to act as “buffer” if oil prices declined further.

He pointed out that the Government had yet to add this additional income into its revenue projection for the revised Budget 2016.

Among the new measures expected to generate extra income for the Government were the sale of telecommunications spectrums and greater reinforcement to reduce leakages in duty-free islands such as Labuan.

As for managing its expenses, Irwan said the Government would continue to optimise and slash unnecessary spending to manage its operating expenditure; and prioritise high-impact projects and programmes for the country’s growth and people’s well-being, while postponing non-critical projects to manage its development expenditure.

“In terms of reprioritising our development expenditure, what we are going to do is to go further into project-implementation planning.

“There are some projects that will be shifted to beyond 2016 but some important projects that will have an impact on people such as rural roads, schools and hospitals will continue to be implemented,” Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Abdul Wahid Omar said.

Wahid, together with Irwan and Bank Negara governor Tan Sri Zeti Akhtar Aziz, were the three panellists at the forum yesterday.

Essentially, Wahid said, the Government would continue to pursue its overall fiscal consolidation targets.

On that note, the fiscal-deficit to gross-domestic-product (GDP) target for 2016 remained unchanged at 3.1 per cent under the revised budget.

Malaysia’s GDP growth, however, had been revised to a narrower range of 4.0 per cent-4.5 per cent for this year, compared with 4.0 per cent-5.0 per cent under the original Budget 2016.

“We have detected moderation in domestic demand,” Zeti said. “The key to support domestic demand is to boost private consumption by putting money into the pockets of consumers through income transfers,” she added.

She pointed out that the newly introduced measure to allow employees’ EPF contribution to be reduced by 3 per cent between March 2016 and December 2017 was one of the ways to boost consumer spending.

However, she stressed: “These measures are only temporary because retirement savings are important.”

However, as of Tuesday, the full-text of EVFTA’ chapter about government procurement had not been published.

There existed differences between EVFTA’s commitments and the Law on Bidding 2014 which came into effect on July 1, 2014. Trang estimated that the non-compliant clauses accounted for two thirds of the commitments to the trade deal about government procurement.

Ngo Minh Hai, vice president of the Club of State-owned enterprises, said that there were gaps in the bidding regulations, which might cause loss, waste and corruption.

Hai said that amendments were needed to prevent conflicts of interests, ensure transparency and a fair playground for businesses.

Experts at the conference agreed that it was a priority now that Vietnam bidding regulations complied with commitments to the trade deal, from which the country would have to find ways to expand export markets for businesses through government procurements.

The group is composed of three furniture companies which are promoting their handcrafted wooden furniture and five small and medium enterprises (SMEs) marketing food and handicraft products including kek lapis and beaded necklaces.

“Sarawak’s participation in this event is one of the continuous efforts bt yhe STIDC and MID to assist and facilitate our timber (industry) players and SMEs to promote their products internationally. There is a need for them to go into the global market as (the) Sarawak domestic market is small,” Datuk Amar said in his opening speech.

He said Sarawak’s main exports to Brunei include machinery, transport equipment, timber and timber products. This indicates there’s a potentially big market for Sarawak products in Brunei.

STIDC also participated in the previous Asean Consumer Fair in June 2015. Nena Abang Bruce, senior assistant general manager for the trade and industry division at STIDC, said the furniture showcase was well received. Several customers even made reservations to purchase the models of furniture the company had on display.

“Quite a few customers have approached us to enquire about our products. Part of that is because we purposely brought in our most sellable pieces,” she said.The STIDC was established in 1973 to develop wood-based industries throughout Sarawak and promote growth in the Malaysian state.

In a statement, Dr Wee said he would ensure that the Secretariat for the Advancement of Malaysian Entrepreneurs (SAME), an agency under his ministerial purview, would continue to assist SMEs eligible for the funds.

“They need to obtain these essential funds for their expansion plans, research and development and also to launch them into the international market to take advantage of the regional economic blocs like the Asean Economic Community and the upcoming TPPA,” he said.

SAME chief executive Neil Foo said the allocation would act as a catalyst for startups and he believed more jobs would also be created.

“In the short and medium-term, we can see the increase in enterprises, as well as the creation of value for their future business models,” he said.

Foo pointed out that disbursing the funds via venture capital agencies would offer business with an alternative platform to raise capital, considering that banks were more reluctant to give loans due to the current economic uncertainties.

“At least they (the Government) are looking beyond the framework of commercial banking.

“Usually, investment arms such as the Malaysia Venture Capital Management Bhd and the Cradle Fund are bolder in investing in businesses. For a startup with a good business model, investors will buy the concept,” he said.

“The recalibrated Budget continues to show the importance of venture capital in Malaysia,” he added.

“We will produce the locomotives with foreign engineers until the project is finished in 2017. After that, we are aiming to produce locomotives by ourselves. We are planning to replace 20 locomotives annually in the future,” he said.

MR plans to buy the locomotives using state funds and overseas loans.

Valy said one of the most important points to remember was that the public and private sectors must work closely together to realise the goals set by the Party. The congress elected younger and capable Party leaders to direct the implementation of the socio-economic development plan over the next five years.

“The business sector is ready to translate the Party’s policies into our own detailed plans and projects and to serve as the nation’s economic army,” she said.

She called on government to do more to help business operators, saying that all promotion policies and laws should reflect the voice of the business community.

Valy said the business sector needed to fully understand the Party’s and government’s policies and implement them properly, while the public sector also needed to understand the problefaced by business operators.

“This means we have to sit down and talk more about how we can work together more closely. The various bodies working for the government need to work harder to grow the business sector,” she said.

“One of the most important things is that we have to build professional businesspeople so they can fully implement the Party’s policies. I agree that the energy and capacity of some of our business leaders must be enhanced to catch up with others in the region.”

Valy said there were some still barriers to the growth of the business sector, which should be addressed in the near future.

The 8th five-year national socio-economic development plan for 2016-20 shifts the country’s focus to sustainable economic growth, without overreliance on natural resources.

Laos will concentrate on boosting production and services, which will help the economy to become stronger and more sustainable, as well as more resilient to external impacts.

Over the past five years, despite a global economic recession, the Lao economy has continued to grow at an average of 7.9 percent annually.

The value of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has reached 102,320 billion kip (US$12.8 billion) with average GDP per capita climbing to 15.8 million kip (US$1,970).

It is projected that the economy will continue to grow at an average of 7.5 percent annually over the next five years with GDP per capita expected to reach US$3,190.