HANOI (AFP) – Vietnam reported economic growth for 2021 of just 2.58 per cent yesterday, beating a 30-year low set last year as the pandemic continues to take a toll.
The communist state has long been a success story among Asian economies, posting growth of seven per cent in 2019.
But shutdowns caused by coronavirus have battered the export-reliant economy, sending gross domestic product (GDP) growth plunging to 2.91 per cent in 2020 – the lowest reported in three decades.
The General Statistics Office (GSO) in Hanoi said fourth quarter growth was at 5.22-per-cent, but the annual figure was dragged down by a contraction of 6.02 per cent in the third quarter.
“The complicated situation of the Covid-19 pandemic since the end of April seriously impacted commercial and service activities… pulling down the growth of the service sector and the whole economy,” GSO said in a statement.
For at least three months, almost the entire country was in complete lockdown, with a huge impact on production, supply chains and businesses.
GSO Head Nguyen Thi Huong gave an upbeat gloss, saying that achieving even the modest growth under such difficult circumstances was a “huge success” in remarks reported by state media.
Vietnam is now trying to re-open by shifting away from its strict “zero-covid” policy. Around 88 per cent of adults in Vietnam have been fully vaccinated, the country’s Health Ministry said.
Employees working at a factory belonging to Maxport Vietnam in Hanoi. PHOTO: AFP
The Bangladeshi High Commission in Brunei Darussalam recently organised a webinar titled ‘Issues Related to Migrant Workers in Brunei’ to help Bangladesh nationals working in the Sultanate.
Brunei is a popular destination for migrant workers from Bangladesh, Indonesia, the Philippines and other Asian nations.
The webinar hosted by Bangladeshi High Commissioner to Brunei Darussalam Nahida Rahman Shumona and moderated by Counsellor (Labour) and Head of Chancery Jelal Hossain saw participation by experts and analysts from Bangladesh and Brunei sharing their experience, expertise and policy recommendations.
Bangladesh National Parliament’s Secretary General of Parliamentarians’ Caucus on Migration & Development Mahjabeen Khaled was the guest of honour. She was accompanied by economic affairs analyst Md Mazadul Hoque and migration activist Aminul Haque from Bangladesh.
Legal expert on migration affairs Yusuf Halim, Abdul Haziq Rudiman, Yong Hong Jun and Nurul Amalina Shakinah binti Haji Jainal represented Brunei.
Bangladeshi High Commissioner to Brunei Darussalam Nahida Rahman Shumona attends the webinar.
PHOTO: BANGLADESH HIGH COMMISSION
Mahjabeen Khaled highlighted the conditions and incentives driving migrant workers to seek employment in Brunei Darussalam. She also touched on the formation of Parliamentarians’ Caucus on Migration & Development, budget shortage, policy loopholes and the problems of going through middlemen.
Social Media and Outreach Programme Assistant of Bangladesh High Commission Nurul Amalina Shakinah delivered a presentation on ‘Relevant Labour Laws of Brunei’.
Acknowledging migrant workers’ trials and tribulations, Yusuf Halim shared his views on legal issues faced by them. He identified the lack of language and communication skills and the over-reliance on authorities as two major problems suffered by Bangladeshi workers.
Md Mazadul Hoque gave an account of Brunei’s labour market as well as the history and present status of Bangladeshi migrant workers in the Sultanate. He also put forward some policy recommendations.
Aminul Haque focussed on the welfare of migrant workers in Brunei and stressed the need for their proper re-integration into the society once they return to Bangladesh.
The high commissioner underscored the necessity and importance of addressing migrant worker issues. She conveyed that all Bangladeshi workers were vaccinated and informed about her initiative of developing a database of all migrant workers in Brunei. The diplomat also expressed her support and commitment towards improving the conditions of the Bangladeshi workers in the Sultanate.
SOUTHAMPTON, ENGLAND (AP) — Harry Kane scored for the third straight Premier League game and was denied a second goal by the narrowest of offside calls in Tottenham’s 1-1 draw at 10-man Southampton on Tuesday.
Kane converted a penalty in the 41st minute after Son Heung-min was tripped by Mohammed Salisu, which earned the Southampton defender a second yellow card.
Southampton had looked good to that point, opening the scoring through James Ward-Prowse’s fierce shot from just inside the area in the 25th, but was pinned back in its own half in the second half.
Tottenham looked to have taken the lead in the 53rd when Kane ran onto Harry Winks’ ball over Southampton’s high line and dispatched a finish past Fraser Forster, only for the goal to be ruled out for offside after a video review.
The visitors were even more aggrieved in the 67th when another goal was disallowed, this time after Forster came out to catch the ball under pressure from Matt Doherty and dropped it onto his own heel.
The ball ricocheted back into the net but the referee blew for a foul by Doherty, even though contact appeared minimal.
Tottenham Hotspur’s Harry Kane scores against Southampton. PHOTO: AP
CAPE TOWN (AFP) – The body of South Africa’s revered anti-apartheid fighter Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who died at the weekend aged 90, will lie in state for two days ahead of his funeral on New Year’s Day, his foundations said on Tuesday.
The lying in state was initially scheduled to last just one day – Friday – but has been extended to Thursday “to accommodate more mourners”, the Archbishop Tutu IP Trust and Desmond and Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation said.
The statement expressed deep thanks for the outpouring of support expressed around the world after Tutu passed away.
“This deluge of love serves to compensate, to some extent, for COVID regulations restricting the size of gatherings and the nature of the send-off our beloved Arch so richly deserves,” the foundations said, referring to Tutu’s nickname.
Tutu’s body will lie in St George’s Cathedral, in his former Cape Town parish. His body will be cremated after the funeral and his ashes then placed in the cathedral.
Attendance at his farewell on Saturday has to be capped at 100 because of anti-coronavirus restrictions, the archbishop of Cape Town, Thabo Makgoba, has said.
Tributes from world leaders poured in after Tutu’s death was announced last Sunday.
Within South Africa, many deeply mourn the passing of the last great hero of the anti-apartheid struggle.
For years, Tutu was the visible emblem of the fight against white-minority rule while Nelson Mandela and other leaders were behind bars.
His hallmarks were religious faith, unfailing humour and an unstinting will to speak out against injustice – both before and after apartheid.
A boy carries flowers to be laid beneath the picture of the late South African anti-apartheid icon Archbishop Desmond Tutu outside St Georges Cathedral in Cape Town. PHOTO: AFP
On New Year’s Day, in the backdrop of the 2022 celebrations, the largest trading agreement in the region will enter into force.
Spanning 15 countries, (11 of which had ratified the agreement) with ambitions of integrating 30 per cent of the world’s GDP into a comprehensive trading bloc, the ‘Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership’ (RCEP) is not a simple document.
“The RCEP agreement spans over 14,000 pages,” said Senior Director of the ASEAN and Southeast Asia and Oceania divisions at Singapore’s Ministry of Trade and Industry Sulaimah Mahmood during a webinar to raise awareness on the agreement.
“Why? Because it has 20 chapters and includes the commitments which are provided by the 15 parties and covering a wide array of topics.
“It is therefore important for businesses to familiarise themselves with the RCEP agreement in order to take advantage of the benefits of this agreement.”
The webinar was its fifth iteration, and focussed discussions on competition, government procurement, small and medium enterprises (SMEs), and the economic and technical cooperation chapters.
Shops beneath a residential building in Hanoi. PHOTO: AFP
A press statement from the ASEAN Secretariat shared that participating countries have intensified their preparatory work for the agreement at the regional and domestic levels.
Participating countries, it said, are “finalising the necessary measures and institutional arrangements to ensure effective and efficient implementation” and “laws and regulations at the domestic level” are being put into place.
Speakers and panelists at the webinar highlighted of the need for tailor-made regulations to help small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to be better integrated into the regional and global value chains, with governments expected to play a major role in preparing SMEs to reap the benefits the RCEP”.
The webinar underscored the need for capacity building in that area.
Ensuring that SMEs as well as micro enterprises benefit from the agreement was expressly written into the agreement as one of its 20 chapters, said Mahmood.
“Throughout the negotiation process, all RCEP member countries have been very firm that the agreement should benefit their micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), which make up the majority of their companies,” she said.
“We recognise that the MSMEs contribute greatly to economic growth, employment and innovation, thus this chapter seeks to promote information sharing, cooperation and increase MSMEs’ ability to utilise and benefit from the opportunities created by this agreement.”
Another part of the agreement that businesses should be familiar with is the competition chapter.
““This chapter is highly relevant to businesses,” she said. “The RCEP countries are committed to maintaining competition law regimes based on international best practices and agreed principles.
“So businesses can look forward to RCEP countries cooperating on cross border enforcement and relevant issues, including safeguards and on the protection of confidential information.
“This protects businesses from anti-competitive activities when operating in the RCEP markets.”
Mahmood said that under the chapter for government procurement, “RCEP countries are committed under RCEP to increasing transparency by publishing laws, regulations and procedures regarding government procurement.
“The RCEP countries have also committed to review this chapter after entering force with a view to improve this chapter in the future.”
The director was clear on how much rides on the success of the agreement. It has been touted as a tool for economic recovery for the post COVID-19 pandemic era.
“It has been more than a year since COVID-19 ravaged the world,” she said.
“The signing of RCEP in 2020 is a strong testament of the region’s determination and commitment to deepening economic integration amidst difficult times.
“This achievement is another milestone and a clear commitment by the RCEP countries to push ahead and implement the RCEP agreement to support the post-COVID recovery efforts through providing more business opportunities, jobs and overall economic growth in the region.”
The webinar was hosted by the ASEAN Secretariat, in partnership with the East Asia Business Council, on December 16.
Countries that have ratified the agreement thus far are Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Singapore, Thailand Vietnam, China, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea.
AP/AFP – Manchester United manager Ralf Rangnick might be tempted to make some changes against Burnley in the Premier League after a poor performance by his team in the 1-1 draw at Newcastle on Monday, when he complained about a lack of energy and physicality from his players.
Some of that might be down to rustiness after United had back-to-back matches – against Brentford and Brighton – called off because of a coronavirus outbreak in the squad. That’s something Burnley might be wary of because its period of inactivity has been even longer, with three straight games postponed following virus outbreaks in opponents’ squads. Its last match was a 0-0 draw against West Ham on December 12.
Edinson Cavani (AP; pic below)in particular, is pushing for a recall for United after scoring off the bench against Newcastle. United-Burnley is the only match being played after Everton-Newcastle was postponed because Newcastle had too many players out with either injuries or COVID-19.
Meanwhile, Manchanter United Centre-back Harry Maguire said a 16-day coronavirus break had done the team no favours after they salvaged a 1-1 draw at Premier League strugglers Newcastle, leaving them seven points off the top four.
Ralf Rangnick’s men needed a 71st-minute equaliser from half-time substitute Edinson Cavani after Allan Saint-Maximin scored a superb early opener, and were indebted to David de Gea for a series of fine saves.
It was United’s first match since December 11 after a Covid-19 outbreak forced them to close their training complex. Victor Lindelof was absent from St James’ Park after testing positive.
“No 16-day break in the middle of a football season is going to help you,” Maguire told Manchester United’s official website.
“The training ground has been shut and half the lads playing today are recovering from the virus, so of course it’s not going to help us.
“We’ve had people with symptoms, people without symptoms – it’s been a real mixed bag for everyone at the football club and it’s been a tough time”
But the England international defender zaid United could not make excuses for their
sloppy performance.
“We’ve got to stay on the ball, we’ve got to stay active and we’ve got to play the ball in their half and we didn’t manage to do that.
“You can look at that and ask whether the last 16 days had a big impact on that because it looked like we ran out of steam out there.
“A point in the end is a fair result, but it’s a result that we’re disappointed with.”
The draw means United are seven points behind fourth-placed Arsenal with two games in hand ahead of the clash with Burnley at Old Trafford, but Maguire said they would be better after their tough evening at Newcastle.
“I’m sure 90 minutes will have benefitted every single player out there,” he said.
“The Burnley game and the Wolves game are coming up thick and fast and we’ve got to play better than we have done tonight.”
BEIRUT (AFP) – An Israeli air strike hit Syria’s Latakia port before dawn on Tuesday, sparking a fire that lit up the Mediterranean seafront in the second such attack on the key cargo hub this month, Syrian state media reported.
Since the outbreak of Syria’s civil war in 2011, Israel has routinely carried out air strikes on its strife-torn neighbour, mostly targetting Syrian government troops as well as allied Iran-backed forces and Hezbollah fighters.
But it is only the second time it has hit the port of Latakia, in the heartland of President Bashar al-Assad’s minority Alawite community.
“At 3.21am, the Israeli enemy carried out an aerial aggression with several missiles from the direction of the Mediterranean… targetting the container yard in Latakia port,” Syrian state news agency SANA cited a military source as saying.
The strike caused “significant material damage”, it added.
Asked about the strike, an Israeli army spokesman said: “We don’t comment on reports in foreign media”. Pictures released by SANA showed firefighters training hoses on stacks of blazing containers that lit up the night sky. The news agency said the containers were carrying “engine oil and spare parts for cars and other vehicles”.
But Britain-based war monitor, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said the cargo was “arms and munitions”, which had detonated in “powerful explosions that were felt across the city of Latakia and its suburbs”.
Firefighters work at the scene of missiles attack at the seaport of the coastal city of Latakia. PHOTO: AP
SINGAPORE (CNA) – Demand for new SGD2 banknotes during festive periods has gone down by about 20 per cent each year since a “good-as-new” initiative was launched in 2013, said the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) yesterday.
MAS issues about 100 million new notes annually to meet Chinese New Year and other festive periods, with the SGD2 bills accounting for the bulk of the demand, said MAS in response to queries from CNA.
“Other than the SGD2 denomination, there is no accumulation of excess notes as the new notes of other denominations issued are recycled to meet normal circulation demand,” it said.
Its “good-as-new” SGD2 note initiative – which encourages the public to choose used notes that are clean and crisp instead of newly printed ones – has helped to reduce the demand for new SGD2 bills during festive periods by about 20 per cent each year, said the authority.
In a media release on Tuesday, the central bank had said that a large proportion of new notes issued for festive gifting, particularly the SGD2 bills, are returned after Chinese New Year and subsequently destroyed as it “far exceeds normal circulation demand”.
“The carbon emissions from the production, transportation, and destruction of such new notes each year is highly wasteful, unnecessary, and impacts the environment negatively,” it said.
Reusing notes for the Chinese New Year “will support the environment and reduce queues at bank branches” added MAS.
MAS issues about 100 million new notes annually to meet Chinese New Year and other festive periods, the SGD2 bills accounting for the bulk of the demand. PHOTO: CNA
It was a fun-filled day for Haji Mohammad Isa bin Haji Marsidi’s family as they finally got to go on a Brunei River cruise after their original plans were postponed due to the second wave of COVID-19 outbreak.
Haji Mohammad Isa said their initial plans was for a river cruise on August 8 but the trip was delayed due to the outbreak that began a day earlier and the cruise operator had to postpone all excursions.
During the highly anticipated tour, Haji Mohammad Isa’s family of 78 was divided into two groups because the ship can accommodate only 45 passengers per trip due to the 75 per cent capacity limit.
Haji Mohammad Isa said, “One group boarded the morning cruise and another in the afternoon.
“Seeing them all filled with joy during the cruise was beautiful. The trip gave them a holiday retreat and stress relief during the current travel restrictions because of the pandemic.”
Haji Mohammad Isa bin Haji Marsidi’s family in a group photo during the afternoon cruise. PHOTO: LYNA MOHAMAD
LONDON (AP) – Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta (AP; pic below) tested positive for the coronavirus again and will be absent for the Premier League match against Manchester City on New Year’s Day, the club said yesterday.
Arteta’s positive test in March 2020 was a key factor in the suspension of the league in the first week of the pandemic.
Arteta is the third Premier League manager currently isolating after contracting COVID-19, after Crystal Palace’s Patrick Vieira and Aston Villa’s Steven Gerrard.
“Mikel is isolating in line with government guidelines and we wish him well,” Arsenal said. Arteta was previously the assistant coach at City.
Meanwhile, In Spain, Barcelona announced three players – Ousmane Dembélé, Samuel Umtiti and Gavi – have tested positive for COVID-19 ahead of its league match at Mallorca on Sunday.
“The players are in good health and are in isolation at their homes,” Barcelona said on its Twitter account.
