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AT A GLANCE

SEMICONDUCTOR INDUSTRY 50,000 MORE ENGINEERS TO BE TRAINED
According to an interview with Deputy Director of the National country. Training at universities has been
Innovation Center (NIC) Vo Xuan Hoai, published on the Lao designed, focusing on ensuring quality, he
Dong online newspaper (laodong.vn) on December 13, the NIC is told the newspaper, stressing that Vietnam
establishing a project on developing human resources for the is facing a shortage of chief engineers for
semiconductor industry as part of Vietnam’s efforts to have 50,000 the semiconductor sector. Mr. Hoai also revealed that the NIC is
engineers trained for the industry. The NIC is working with global linking with reputable universities around the world, including
semiconductor chip giants to explore their needs, thus providing a Arizona University and Purdue University in the US, to learn from
forecast on human resources requirements in the future, especially their experience and send Vietnamese students to their facilities
for those who are operating in Vietnam or keen on investing in the for training.

AMPLE SPACE FOR COLD STORAGE MARKET LOGISTICS INDUSTRY

According to analysts, the domestic cold a compound annual growth rate of 6.3 per cent. The country’s e-
storage market - a niche segment in logistics commerce market witnessed remarkable annual growth of 21.5
- has ample space to boom in the time to per cent from 2017 to 2022, fueling the expansion of all kinds of
come as demand for fresh food and e-com- complimentary services. Demand continues to outstrip supply,
merce is increasing robustly. According to Savills Vietnam, the however, with the rise of e-commerce platforms placing immense
country’s cold storage landscape is localized and highly fragmented, pressure on capacity. Overall market occupancy stood at around
with over 40 projects providing a total of 460,000 sq m of cold 88 per cent as at the end of 2022, with major markets such as Ho
chain warehouse space in 2022. Meanwhile, domestic fresh food Chi Minh City, Binh Duong, Long An, and Bac Ninh provinces
sales surged from $40.4 billion in 2020 to $45.7 billion in 2022, for hovering at around 90 per cent.

TOURISM RECOVERY ANNUAL TARGET FOR INTERNATIONAL TOURISTS ACHIEVED

A report from the Vietnam National Authority of Tourism (VNAT) target by 5.8 per cent. Total revenue from
presented at a workshop in Hanoi on December 21 revealed that tourism is estimated at VND672 trillion
the total number of international tourists in 2023 is estimated at ($28 billion), exceeding the annual plan
12.5 million, meeting the targeted 12.5-13 million. After two years by 3.38 per cent. VNAT was awarded the
of being affected by Covid-19, Vietnam’s tourism sector has title “Asia’s Leading Tourism Authority 2023” for the fourth time
recovered and is seeing an upwards trend. The initial target of at the 2023 World Travel Awards, and Vietnam was honored in 45
international arrivals set for the year was 8 million, but then later separate categories, including as Asia’s Leading Destination for
revised to 12.5-13 million. Meanwhile, the number of domestic the fifth time and Asia’s Leading Nature Destination for the
tourists is forecast to reach 108 million, exceeding the annual second year in a row.

NEARLY 14,000 ATTACKS IN 2023 CYBER SECURITY
According to a report from the National computers and servers, up 8.4 per cent from 2022. The attacks
Cyber Security Center (NCSC) released on mainly targeted governmental agencies, the banking system, financial
December 12, some 13,900 cyber attacks institutions, industrial systems, and other important systems around
occurred in Vietnam in 2023, a year-on- the country. In particular, the number of attacks increased towards
year increase of 9.5 per cent. More than 550 websites of State the end of the year, when agencies, organizations, and businesses
agencies with the domain name “.gov.vn” and some educational must complete a wide range of projects. The NCSC recommended
organizations with the domain name “edu.vn” were attacked and that to prevent cyber attacks, agencies and organizations should
infiltrated and had advertising for gambling and betting inserted review their cyber security, evaluate the safety of their network
by hackers. Meanwhile, ransomware attacks targeted over 83,000 devices, and deploy a 24/7 security monitoring system.

ANTI-CORRUPTION EFFORTS OFFICIALS FOUND TO HAVE VIOLATED REGULATIONS
The Party Central Committee’s Inspection Commission scrutinized Vuong, Chairman of the Members’ Council
the outcomes of inspections of certain Party organizations and at the Vietnam Oil and Gas Group (Petro-
officials at a meeting from December 18-20. According to its con- Vietnam) and former Deputy Minister of
clusion, violations committed by certain Party organizations and Industry and Trade, among others. Also
officials at the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) in advisory responsible were Trinh Dinh Dung, former member of the Party
work and the issuance of mechanisms for solar and wind power Central Committee and former Deputy Prime Minister; and Mai
development as well as for the trading and management of oil Tien Dung, former member of the Party Central Committee and
and petroleum supplies, among others, were identified. These former Minister-Chairman of the Office of the Government,
violations and errors were attributable to some Party organizations among others. In another development relating to Deputy Minister
and officials at the MoIT, including Tran Tuan Anh, Politburo Do Thang Hai, according to an announcement on December 21
Member, Head of the Party Central Committee’s Economic Com- from Lieutenant General To An Xo, the spokesperson for the
mission, and former Minister of Industry and Trade; Do Thang Ministry of Public Security, Hai has been arrested on charges of
Hai, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade; and Hoang Quoc “receiving bribes” related to an oil trading company scandal.

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