Hidden Ha Tinh billionaire

Vietnam's low profile richest man,Pham Nhat Vuong was born in the central province of Ha Tinh in 1968. Vuong studied geological economic engineering at Moscow Geology University in Russia.

After school in 1993, he moved to Kharkov, Ukraine, where he created LLC Technocom, a producer of more than 100 dehydrated food products, including instant noodles and mashed potatoes.

The business was later sold to Nestle SA at an undisclosed price. In 2001,he returned to Vietnam to set up Vincom and Vinpearl. Today at the age of 44,he's the President and chairman of Vingroup Joint-Stock Company(stock quote:VIC.vn)as well as Vinpearl Joint Stock Company(stock quote:VPL.vn)with total asset value in the domestic stock market over VND21.044trillion(over USD1 billion). In September, 2009, the main headquarters of Technocom Group were moved to Hanoi and the name changed into Vingroup.

 Vuong’s wife, Pham Thu Huong, has become the fourth richest investor, with VND3.227 trillion (USD154.4 million). She was ranked as 6th in the list of top-ten richest investors, with VND2.262 trillion (USD108.2 million), as of December 29, 2010.

Wedged between Quang Binh province to the south and Nghe An province to the north, Ha Tinh's best known feature is a road leading out of the province -- to Laos.

It's through this province that snaking Route 8 leads to the Nam Phao / Cau Treo border crossing between Vietnam and Laos.

On the Lao side, the road links up with Lak Xao, continuing on eventually to the Mekong River, while on the Vietnamese side, Route 8 strikes west till it intersects with Highway 1 near Hong Linh and not all that far from Vinh -- the capital of Nghe An province to the north.

Ha Tinh is off the beaten path, but here you can see the “real Vietnam”, whatever that is.

The main town is Hong Linh with sub-Districts: Huong Son, Duc Tho, Nghi Xuan, Can Loc, Huong Khe, Thach Ha, Cam Xuyen, Ky Anh, Vu Quang, Loc Ha.

 Ethnic groups here includes Viet (Kinh), Thai, Muong, Chut.

 Locating at the east of Truong Son Mountain Range, Ha Tinh's terrain is both narrow and sloping, tilting towards the east. To the west is a high mountain range (with average height of 1,500m), following with a range of hills, small and narrow elongated plain and coastal sandy banks.

Mountainous terrain accounts for 80% of the province's natural area that is sharply differentiated and divided, forming deferent ecological areas.

There are 14 rivers such as Ngan Pho, Ngan Sau, Cay. The coastline is 137km. Ha Tinh belongs to the tropical monsoon area. The annual average temperature is 23.7ºC.

There are two clear seasons:Raining season lasts from August to November. Annually average rainfall is from 2500mm to 2650mm, account to 54% of whole year.Dry season is from December to July next year. The weather is dry, hot and highly vaporizing West- Southern wind (blowing from Laos).

 The province has many special internal tourism places ecologically, historically, culturally, namely
National Park of Vu Quang, Ke Go reservoir, Hong Linh Mountain. Dong Loc Road Junction - a monument sticking with glorious victory of Vietnam against the US.

Then, tourists are able to relax in Xuan Thanh, Thien Cam, Thach Hai or Deo Con beaches, or in medical treatment area of Son Kim Hot Spring. Ha Tinh preserves many temples, pagodas such as Cua Dieu Tower, Huong Tich, Bich Chau, Yen Lac pagodas, Tam Lang, Chieu Trung temples. Coming there, visitor do not forget make tour to some of handicrafts villages such as Van Cham, Minh Long iron, Duc Lam cooper, Cam Trang pottery, Thai Yen wood, Ha silt, Ho cloth.

Ha Tinh City is 341km from Hanoi.


ACCOMODATIONS:

1) Thai Hotel a three star hotel located in the center of Hong Linh Town, near the Song Lam River. Add: Block 10, Bac Hong Precinct, Hong Linh Town, Ha Tinh province, Vietnam Tel: (84-39) 570788 ; Fax: (84-39) 836716

2) Song La Hotel at Thien Cam beach. Add: Thien Cam Beach, Ha Tinh province, Vietnam Tel: (84-39) 862666 ; Fax: (84-39) 862581

3) Binh Minh Hotel Add: 1 Tran Phu road, Ha Tinh town, Ha Tinh province, Vietnam Tel: (84-39) 856825 ; Fax: (84-39) 857875

4) Huong Sen Hotel Add: 2 Nguyen Tat Thanh road, Ha Tinh town, Ha Tinh province, Vietnam Tel: (84-39) 855589 ; Fax: (84-39) 857875

5) Lam Kieu Hotel Gia Lach- Nghi Xuan, Ha Tinh town, Ha Tinh province, Vietnam Tel: (84-39) 821461 ; Fax: (84-39) 821225

6) Cong Doan Guesthouse Thien Cam Townlet, Cam Xuyen Dist., Ha Tinh, Vietnam Tel: (84-39) 862 226

7) Hoanh Son Guesthouse Pho Chau Townlet, Huong Son Dist., Ha Tinh Tel: (84-39) 875 253

8) Hoanh Son Hotel Ky Nam Commune, Ky Anh Dist., Ha Tinh, Vietnam Tel: (84-39) 869 009 ; Fax: (84-39) 857 875

9) Huong Thuy Hotel Ha Huy Tap St., Ha Tinh Town, Ha Tinh, Vietnam Tel: (84-39) 885 412

10) Kieu Hoa Hotel Add: Tran Phu St., Ha Tinh Town, Ha Tinh, Vietnam Tel: (84-39) 857 025

11) Lam Hong Hotel Bac Hong Ward, Hong Linh Town, Ha Tinh, Vietnam Tel: (84-39) 835 357

12) Tan Giang Hotel 33 Nguyen Cong Tru St., Ha Tinh Town, Ha Tinh, Vietnam Tel: (84-39) 855 583

13) Thanh Sen Hotel 1 Nguyen Cong Tru St., Ha Tinh Town, Ha Tinh Tel: (84-39) 856 002 ; Fax:(84-39) 855 484

14) Thien Y Hotel Thien Cam Townlet, Cam Xuyen Dist., Ha Tinh, Vietnam Tel: (84-39) 862 345 ; Fax:(84-39) 862 397

15)Cao Phu Guesthouse Tran Phu St., Ha Tinh Town, Ha Tinh, Vietnam Tel: (84-39) 856 712

16) Sinh Thai Hotel No 2 - Xuan An - Nghi Xuan - Ha Tinh Tel: (84-39) 3822208 Fax: (84-39) 3822373 MAP:Thành phố Hà Tĩnh

Tons of carbon emitted as palm oil demand grows

Tons of carbon emitted as palm oil demand grows

Indonesia ranks right behind the United States and China in the lineup of the world’s top 10 greenhouse gas emitters.

 It’s not because of smokestacks or freeways, but massive deforestation starting in the 1990s — driven In large part by the expansion of plantations for palm oil, an edible vegetable oil used in cookies, crackers, soap and European diesel fuel.

  One of the most striking trends, in terms of emissions, was a shift toward the development of carbon-dense peatlands for palm oil production, the researchers found. Peatland soils store significant amounts of methane, a potent greenhouse.

Indonesia is the leading producer of palm and palm kernel oil, which together account for more than 30 percent of the world's vegetable oil use, and which can be used for biodiesel.

Most of Indonesia's oil palm plantation expansion is occurring on the island of Borneo, also known as Kalimantan, which occupies a land area nearly the size California and Florida combined. Plantation leases, covering 32 percent of Kalimantan's lowlands outside of protected areas, represent a major land bank that is slated for development over the next decade, according to the study.

Home to the world's third-largest tropical forest area, Indonesia is also one of the world's largest emitters of greenhouse gasses, due to rapid loss of carbon-rich forests and peatlands. Since 1990, development of oil palm plantations has cleared about 16,000 square kilometers of Kalimantan's primary and logged forested lands – an area about the size of Hawaii.

About palm oil fruit:

Oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) was first introduced to Malaysia as an ornamental plant in 1870. MALAYSIA is the world’s second largest crude palm oil (CPO) producer after Indonesia.

The palm fruit is about the size of a small plum and is borne in large bunches weighing between 10 kg - 50 kg. A bunch can have up to 2000 fruits, each consisting of a hard kernel (seed) within a shell (endocarp) which in turn is surrounded by a fleshy mesocarp.

The mesocarp is made up of about 49% oil and about 50% kernel. The two oils (palm oil and palm kernel oil) have very different compositions.

Palm oil (from the mesocarp) contains mainly palmitic acid (C16:0) and oleic acid (C18:1); the two most common fatty acids in natural oils and fats, and is about 50% saturated. Palm kernel oil is more than 80% saturated and contains mainly lauric acid (C12:0).

The Malaysian Crude Palm Oil Futures(CPO) traded both on the spot and futures market has been the global pricing benchmark for the commodity trading worldwide for more than two decades. The price of crude palm oil moves in tandem with US soya bean futures.

If the current soya bean price crash further,the crude palm oil price will even dive further thus wiping out all the good gains all these while. Market traders like Godrej Industries’Ltd director, Dorab Mistry,the industry gurus has predicted that the price will fall further to around USD749.

Hlaing Tha Yar Industrial Zone

Myanmar,a country with a thriving population of more than 55million has the potential for investment and future economic growth.

Myanmar is a country rich in natural resources such as precious gems,priceless jades,natural gas,petroleum,copper,nickel,tin,gold,silver,zince and a host of natural raw materials.

 An important East West Economic Corridor,Yangon has the largest metropolitan population with good basic infrastructure very well planned since British Colonial time.

The main ports and harbours are all just within vicinity. The British ruled Burma between 1824 till 1948 annexing it as province of  British India colony.Colonisation started when friction between the Burmese army crossing into British held Chittagong(capital Bangladesh) resulting in the First Anglo-Burmese War.

 The Yangon region has close to 23 industrial zones and the most established one is the Hlaing Tha Yar Industrial Zone.According to the Hlaing Tharyar industrial zone’s management committee, there are 45 garment factories at the zone, less than half the 95 located within the zone in the heyday of 2003 before the West imposed economic sanctions.

Most of the factories have an export credit of 780 Myanmar Kyat and if the US Dollar falls below that mark,factories will be struggling for survival.Hence the dollar exchange rate plays an important part in the profitablity of the companies.

 Mandalay,the ancient capital up north is the second largest city having mostly small and medium size industrial enterprises but specializes more towards the agro-base industry. Mawlamyaine (Moulmein)located midway between the southern coastal cities is within close proximity to the Greater Mekong Subregion will be the entry and exit point of the western end of the East-West Economic Corridor.

 The Friendship Bridge between Myawaddy(Burma) and Mae Sot (Thailand)has long been the trading route to The Greater Mekong subregion. Transport Company Guide: Shwe Sin SetKya Services Company

Burmese people.

It was August 8, 1988, or “8-8-88” as it’s widely known, when hundreds of thousands of Burmese from all walks of life joined a popular protest in the former capital Rangoon to topple the dictator Ne Win’s single party rule that had oppressed them for 26 years.

 It was an important milestone in modern Burmese history—a day that marked the emergence of a full-fledged democracy movement that managed to topple Ne Win’s regime, only to see a new junta seize power and spend the ensuing decades relentlessly suppressing its leaders, including Burma’s newfound democracy icon, Aung San Suu Kyi.

Repression intensified, with the number of political prisoners reaching into the thousands. Today, the Myanmar military is more firmly entrenched in power similar to dictators in Cambodia and Malaysia. These dictators will use any tool necessary, from detention, torture and violence against his opponents, to lies, deceit, delay and false promises to the international community, or the manipulation of astrology and religion to convince their own people. Promised of democratic transition only fits with those kingly designs only to find henchmen as modern-day "tyrants".

Myanmar’s newfound place in the sun is the product of a series of reforms instigated by the country’s new president, Thein Sein, since he came to power at the head of a nominally civilian government in March 2011.

Though most of these reforms have been political rather than economic, they have helped change international sentiment on a country otherwise seen as a human rights pariah, and with an economy long viewed as a wasteland of missed opportunities.

Governments in Europe, the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand have gradually lifted most of the sanctions they had imposed on Myanmar to reward the reforms, bolster the reformers and open up previously restricted business opportunities for their own nationals.

 Despite this positive glow, Myanmar’s reforms are fragile and contingent upon a few key individuals, not the least of whom are the president, his key lieutenants, and also opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. The reforms are also far from complete.

The scars of five decades of misrule: degraded infrastructure, rampant corruption and cronyism, severe capacity constraints in government and policy making bodies, residual human rights abuses and ethnic conflict, a dysfunctional financial sector, and a myriad of other obstacles to a smooth transition.

These impediments are common to reform scenarios in many places, but they suggest that the bullish assessments of Myanmar’s economy should be viewed with caution.

 

Meanwhile, the remaining economic sanctions imposed on Myanmar continue to constrain investment flows that would otherwise be expected.

The most crucial of these is the import ban imposed by the United States. This was first mandated in 2003 under the Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act, and was authorized again almost two months ago for three more years.

It is something the US president can suspend if certain conditions are met. This sanction has the effect of making Myanmar an unlikely destination for foreign investment in labor-intensive manufactures such as clothing and textiles.

Domestic legislation with respect to foreign investment is a key and often decisive component of a country’s relative attractiveness.

 This is especially important for a transitioning country such as Myanmar, where policy has historically been unwelcoming and restrictive toward foreign investment.

Meanwhile, the remaining economic sanctions imposed on Myanmar continue to constrain investment flows that would otherwise be expected.

The most crucial of these is the import ban imposed by the United States. This was first mandated in 2003 under the Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act, and was authorized again almost two months ago for three more years.

 It is something the US president can suspend if certain conditions are met. This sanction has the effect of making Myanmar an unlikely destination for foreign investment in labor-intensive manufactures such as clothing and textiles.

Currently awaiting the signature of the president is the new Foreign Investment Law designed to make the country more attractive to foreign investors.

This law will grant them the right to hold long leases on land (until now leases have been greatly restricted and the state was the exclusive owner of most productive land).

 Overseas investors will also be able to enjoy a five-year profit tax “holiday,” other tax concessions, and are guaranteed against the nationalization of their businesses (a necessary step given Myanmar’s long history of state expropriation).

Myanmar’s new Foreign Investment Law is also reflective of the country’s continuing divisions.

The law has been heavily influenced by the interests of Myanmar’s “crony” conglomerates, which in recent years have come to dominate key areas of the economy.

With interests that extend to almost every sector, such cronies (as people in Myanmar routinely refer to them) are likely to feel the threat of foreign competition first and foremos

Myanmar is undergoing a sure transition to a more open political system which may bring democracy, or could legitimize the long-ruling military regime thus bringing it out of isolation.

 Myanmar's military regime, in power since the early 1960s, though politically backed by Beijing, remains in the steely grip of mainland Chinese military and commercial deals.

Yangon University, once one of Asia's finest and a poignant symbol of an education system crippled by Myanmar's half a century of military rule.

Only graduate students are still allowed to study here. Fearful of student-led uprisings, the regime has periodically shut down this and other campuses and dispersed students to remote areas with few facilities.

 Now, as the nation also known as Burma opens its doors to the outside world, it is paying a heavy price unless drastic educational reforms is on the card. The crackdown on universities has spawned a lost generation.

The pace of development will be slowed and Burmese exploited, educators say, as the poorly schooled populace deals with an expected influx of foreign investors and aid donors, along with profiteers looking for a quick dollar.

Thanaka  is a yellowish-white cosmetic paste made from ground bark.

It is a distinctive feature of Myanmar seen commonly applied to the face and sometimes the arms of women and girls and to a lesser extent men and boys.

The use of thanaka has also spread to neighboring countries including Thailand. The two most popular wood trees to produce the cream are Shwebo thanaka from Sagaing Division and Shinmadaung thanaka from Magwe Division.

Thanaka in its natural state is sold as small logs individually or in bundles, but nowadays also available as a paste or in powder form. Thanaka cream has been used by Burmese women for over 2000 years.

It has a fragrant scent somewhat similar to sandalwood. The creamy paste is applied to the face in attractive designs, the most common form being a circular patch on each cheek which  gives a cooling sensation and provides protection from sunburn. It is believed to help remove acne and promote smooth skin.

Handloom textiles and cottage industry crafts have always played an important role in the life of rural communities, providing a major source of income that goes directly into the hands of artisans.

There are nearly 5,000 registered  cottage industries across Myanmar and many successful businesses are headed by ladies who make rich contributions to the improving economy.

The outcome of this struggle between liberal reformers and the beneficiaries of Myanmar’s past regime will ultimately shape the new Foreign Investment Law.


This struggle will also determine if Myanmar is finally on the path to genuine transformational growth. A tiger in waiting perhaps, but not one yet. Myanmar was Ranked No. 180 of 183 nations in Transparency International’s 2011 corruption index.

Despite the liberal elements of the new Foreign Investment Law, other key clauses limit the role of foreign investors in a host of sectors, including retail trade, agricultural processing, fisheries and many light industries and services.