The Electricity of Vietnam Corporation (EVN) plans to issue bonds worth VND 350 billion (US $22 million) from March 20-24 to get investment for hydro-power projects.

Each EVN bond will have a face value of VND 100,000 and a 5-year term. The bond’s interest rate for the first year is 9.6%, and will be 1.2% higher than the average interest of 12-month deposits offered by four state commercial banks in the years afterwards.

About 200 Vietnamese and foreign businesses will take part in the International fair of food and farm produce processing, packaging and preserving in Hanoi from May 9-12.

At the fair, businesses will show state-of-the-art machines, production systems and equipment, and share ideas in processing, packaging and preserving farm produce and food.

A seminar on improving the quality of Vietnam's food and farm produce for international integration, and another on the trend of farm produce processing development in the world will be held on this occasion.

According to the Department for Farm Produce Processing and Salt Production, the country now has 600,000 farm produce processing establishments equipped with 220,000 small processing machines. It means that every 50 households have a processing machine, a low rate compared to other countries in the region. These establishments mainly use backward technology and cannot turn out high-quality products.

Head of the department Bach Quoc Khang said even though Vietnam is a major exporter of farm produce, the export revenues remain modest because over 80% of the country's exports are unprocessed agricultural products.

For example, about 6.5 million tonnes of vegetable and fruit were exported in 2005, but processors nationwide have a total capacity of processing only 290,000 tonnes a year. Moreover, backward fresh fruit protection technology has resulted in poor supply of fresh fruit as materials for processing factories. The factories now run at about 20-30% of their capacity. As a result, only 12% of fresh fruit produced by the country can be used for export.

Representatives of more than 30 leading Belgian enterprises recently gathered in a conference on "Boosting Vietnam-Belgium Co-operation and Investment Opportunities in Vietnam" in Brussels.

During the vibrant two-hour discussion with Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Cao Viet Sinh, Belgian business leaders focused on Vietnam’s incentive policies for foreign investors and relevant issues pertaining to investment forms.

After outlining Vietnam’s socio-economic development progress in recent years, Deputy Minister Sinh gave details on the Vietnamese State’s incentive policies aimed at luring foreign investment.

"The conference is helpful for enterprises who want to learn more about training strategies and legal instruments of the Vietnamese Government," said Mr. Chang from Atlantis company.

Executive board member Thierry Du Pre Werson of the Saigon Software Development company voiced his positive opinions on Vietnam’s investment policies and the decade-long support of Ho Chi Minh City’s authorities of foreign investors.

With 25 profit-making projects mainly in industry and service sectors, capitalised at 75 million EUR, Belgium now ranks 29 among 74 leading investors in Vietnam, said Sinh, adding that economic cooperation is still humble compared to the two countries’ potentials.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has instructed relevant agencies to complete plans to merge the Vietnam Northern Food Corporation (Vinafood 1) with its southern counterpart Vinafood 2.

The State-owned corporations are Vietnam’s largest rice exporters, representing a combined 65% to 70% of the country’s annual rice export turnover.

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