Overnight Headlines

• US Dollar Gains vs Euro, Pound on Safety Demand as Stocks Decline
• New Zealand Dollar Outperforms on Rising Payouts for Dairy Farmers
• UK House Prices Surge in February, Overall Trend Still Disappointing

Critical Levels

CCY	SUPPORT	RESISTANCE
EURUSD	1.3574	1.3745
GBPUSD	1.6165	1.6328

The Euro and the British Pound declined, falling as much as 0.3 and 0.2 percent respectively against the US Dollar as stocks sold off in overnight trade, boosting safety-seeking demand for the benchmark currency. We remain short EURUSD.

Asia Session: What Happened

CCY	GMT	EVENT	ACT	EXP	PREV
JPY	15:00	Cabinet Office Monthly Economic Report	-	-	-
NZD	21:30	Performance Services Index (JAN)	50.8	-	52.1 (R-)
GBP	0:01	Rightmove House Prices (MoM) (FEB)	3.1%	-	0.3%
GBP	0:01	Rightmove House Prices (YoY) (FEB)	0.3%	-	0.4%
NZD	2:00	Credit Card Spending (MoM) (JAN)	3.8%	-	-1.7% (R-)
NZD	2:00	Credit Card Spending (YoY) (JAN)	5.6%	-	2.1% (R+)
JPY	4:30	All Industry Activity Index (MoM) (DEC)	-0.2%	-	-0.2% (R-)

The New Zealand Dollar outperformed in overnight trade, overlooking mixed economic data and a selloff across Asian stock exchanges, amid speculation that Fonterra Cooperative Group Ltd – the world’s largest dairy exporter – may raise its payout to farmers after milk powder prices hit a 31-month high. Higher payouts promise to boost hiring and spending in New Zealand’s top export industry, adding fuel to the sluggish economic recovery. The currency rose 0.5 percent on average against its major counterparts.

The New ZealandPerformance of Services Index slid to 50.8 in January, showing the non-manufacturing sector expanded at the slowest pace in 15 months. Meanwhile, Credit Card Spending soared 5.6 percent from the preceding year, showing the fastest annual growth rate since May 2008. The MSCI Asia Pacific regional benchmark index fell as downward pressure from last week’s Chinese RRR increase was compounded by spreading tensions in the Middle East, with uprisings spreading to Libya, Bahrain and Iran.

UK House Prices surged in February, rising 3.1 percent from the previous month according to report from Righmove Plc, an online listing of for-sale properties. The increase is the largest in four months. Looking past month-to-month volatility however, the trend in house prices remains troubling. Indeed, the same report showed prices added just 0.3 percent from a year before, putting the annualized growth rate at the slowest in 16 months.

Euro Session: What to Expect

CCY	GMT	EVENT	EXP	PREV	IMPACT
CHF	8:00	Money Supply M3 (YoY) (JAN)	-	6.6%	Low
EUR	8:00	French PMI Manufacturing (FEB P)	55.3	54.9	Low
EUR	8:00	French PMI Services (FEB P)	58.0	57.8	Low
EUR	8:30	German PMI Manufacturing (FEB A)	60.3	60.5	Medium
EUR	8:30	German PMI Services (FEB A)	60.2	60.3	Medium
EUR	9:00	German IFO - Business Climate (FEB)	110.3	110.3	Medium
EUR	9:00	German IFO - Current Assessment (FEB)	113	112.8	Medium
EUR	9:00	German IFO – Expectations (FEB)	107.5	107.8	Medium
EUR	9:00	Euro-Zone PMI Composite (FEB A)	56.9	57.0	Medium
EUR	9:00	Euro-Zone PMI Manufacturing (FEB A)	57.2	57.3	Medium
EUR	9:00	Euro-Zone PMI Services (FEB A)	55.9	55.9	Medium

Risk sentiment is likely to remain a key catalyst for currency markets in European hours as investors continue to fret about mounting tensions sweeping the Middle East and North Africa. Stock index futures ticked lower and stocks sold off in Asia after Saif al-Islam Qaddafi, the son of Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi, spoke out on state-run television warning of an impending civil war as Tunisian- and Egyptian-style protests were met with a harsh response from security forces. Libya is the world’s 12th-largest oil exporter.

On the data front, Germany’s IFO Survey of business confidence is expected to show sentiment soured a bit, with the closely-watched “Expectations” index down to 107.5 in February having hit a record-high 107.8 in the previous month. Meanwhile, February’s preliminary Euro Zone Purchasing Manager Index figures are set to reveal region-wide economic activity decelerated for the first time since October, driven by a slowdown in manufacturing-sector growth.

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Vietnam will probably produce an average of about 400,000 barrels of oil a day until at least 2030, the US government said, suggesting Vietnam will halt a four-year decline in output.

The projections accompanied the 2009 International Energy Outlook that the US Energy Information Administration released in Washington Wednesday. A report on Vietnam last month by the International Monetary Fund cited an anticipated drop in oil production “in the longer run,” while the World Bank last year identified “production capacity constraints” as hampering the country’s industry. Vietnam is opening new areas to exploration as it attempts to reverse the production decline. “There are some doubts about Vietnam’s ability to maintain its peak production level,” said Victor Shum, a Singapore-based senior principal at oil industry consultants Purvin & Gertz Inc., in a telephone interview Thursday. “The EIA projection is an optimistic outlook.” Vietnamese oil production has declined each year since peaking in 2004 at about 427,000 barrels a day, according to BP Plc. Through the first five months of this year, Vietnam produced about 6.95 million tons, or about 345,000 barrels a day, according to preliminary estimates from the General Statistics Office in Hanoi. Other scenarios Vietnam could maintain production of 400,000 barrels a day through 2030 in a low oil price scenario, according to the Energy Information Administration. In a high oil price scenario, Vietnamese production would be expected to slip to about 300,000 barrels a day by 2025, said the organization. Vietnam’s major oil field, operated by a Russian -Vietnamese venture, has been declining in output after more than two decades of production. But last year, ConocoPhillips, Nippon Oil Corp., Soco International Plc and Talisman Energy Inc. all began production from new Vietnam oil fields in which they hold shares. Premier Oil Plc, Soco and Talisman are among companies planning new output. “There’s a fair amount of exploration going on in Vietnam and no one has really started with the deepwater areas yet,” said Tony Foster, Hanoi-based Vietnam managing partner for the law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, whose clients include oil companies. “A lot depends on the outcome of China’s power play in the area.” BP said in March that it would withdraw from a Vietnamese exploration area. The government in Hanoi said in 2007 that projects involving BP off its coast are in Vietnamese territory, after China cited concern over “actions” by its neighbor in the area. BP declined to comment in March on whether the territorial dispute influenced its decision. Source: Bloomberg

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The global economic recession has hindered expansion of the export market for local producers. Vietnam’s exports declined 0.1 percent to US$18.64 billion in the first four months of the year, according to the General Statistics Office. Many producers have since decided to shift their focus to the domestic market and expand their market share at home, but are finding it a hard task. “The game seemed to be easy at home but it even takes more effort to win local hearts,” said Lai Kim, chief executive officer of Nhat Tan Garment Company. Kim admits that the company, which started exporting garments in 1992, did not have a strong distribution system here, nor did it run any promotional campaign to build up its local image before its foray into the domestic market. The garment producer is now struggling to build strategies for production, distribution and promotion for local markets. “For exports, we were not much worried about selling the products; we could concentrate on manufacturing as requested,” the CEO said. Ly Ngoc Minh, general director of Minh Long I, said the most difficult problem that the ceramic maker has had to face was to convince local customers to choose its products, as their prices are very high. Minh said the company has invested a lot in design and production to supply international customers with high quality ceramic products, including tea cups and bowls. Foreign customers could easily accept the high prices but locals may not, Minh said. Joey Ngo, deputy general director of Trung Thanh Furniture Corporation, said the domestic market had potential for wood processors as Vietnam’s current furniture spending per capita was very low at $10, compared to $250 in Europe, the firm’s main export market. The corporation has focused on stabilizing and balancing its sales in foreign and domestic markets, Ngo said, but added that its furniture products were still expensive for most consumers in Vietnam. According to Ngo, only 20 percent people in big cities are able to afford its furniture products. Many other businesses say being patient, creative and understanding are important qualities for exporters trying to switch their focus to home. But economist Le Dang Doanh said the domestic market should not be considered the only focus for export-oriented businesses as they still need to boost exports to keep the national economy growing. However, he conceded that due to falling prices and demand on the global market, Vietnamese exporters will find it more difficult to achieve what they did last year. The government predicts export growth will slow to 13 percent this year from the scorching 29.5 percent in 2008 because of the economic downturn in important markets like the US, Europe and Japan. Exports earned Vietnam $62.9 billion last year. Vietnamese exporters should reduce production costs to make their products more competitive while maintaining high quality so that they can retain their overseas markets, Doanh said. High prices and a lack of marketing are making things more difficult for export-oriented firms Reported by Minh Quang

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Illegally felled trees confiscated by the local park rangers in the Central Highlands province of Gia Lai. Illegal loggers in the Central Highlands and nearby provinces are prepared use lethal force to retrieve confiscated logs, but few of the bloody scuffles are investigated by local police.

The loggers have deployed swords, teargas and guns to fight park rangers, putting the latter’s lives in serious danger. “There have been some internal problems among concerned authorities besides a lack of good coordination in protecting the forests,” said Y Rit Bya, chief park ranger of Dak Lak Province. “The problem here means a few officials are abetting illegal loggers for reasons of financial benefit or to avoid affecting some relations [with other officials who also are involved in illegal logging],” Tuoi Tre quoted Bya as saying. In a recent meeting with Dak Lak People’s Committee on enforcing forest protection, Bya requested concerned authorities to be more determined in punishing illegal loggers. The court offices and the police have been too lenient in handling the issue, he said, adding that these offices accept but do nothing with documents forwarded by park rangers requesting criminal investigation into the cases. This means all the efforts of the park rangers in protecting the forests have failed, he said. Tran The Lien, director of the Yok Don National Park in Dak Lak and Dak Nong provinces, said since last November, four cases of Forest Protection Law violations have been forwarded to the police of Buon Don District in Dak Lak Province. However, they have investigated only one of these cases, he said. “It was too little and failed to deter illegal loggers,” said Bui Van Khang, chief park ranger of Buon Don District. Khang also said the district park rangers have also sought police investigations into several cases every year, but none of the cases were solved. The situation is similar in neighboring Cu M’Gar District. “Some serious cases have happened in the district when illegal loggers fought with park rangers or used teargas to threaten forest owners to cut down trees and carry them out of the forest on about seven tractors,” said the district’s chief park ranger Bui Xuan Khu. “But I couldn’t understand the police standing still even after the cases were forwarded to them and reported widely by the media,” he said. District park rangers have recently reported nine serious cases that were not investigated by the police to the provincial office and requested that they are forwarded to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the central government. In Dak Nong Province, there were at least three cases of illegal loggers attacking park rangers in April. Nguyen Ngoc Tai, vice chief park ranger of the province, said many officials have been hospitalized after suffering injuries from the loggers’ attacks with poles and knives. Some individuals tasked with protecting the forests have also colluded with the illegal loggers, he said. In a recent case, local authorities dismissed Nguyen Van Hieu as director of the Dak Ha Forest Enterprise after they found he was involved in illegal logging. Increasing bloodshed Last Thursday a logger shot a ranger in the stomach with a homemade gun in a forest at Ja Wam Village in Dak Lak Province’s Cu M’Gar District. The victim, Nguyen Kim Muu, was brought to Dak Lak General Hospital with bleeding wounds and three bullets in his liver. Duong Van Son, vice director of Buon Ja Wam Investment and Development Company that owns the forest, said Le Van Thuat has been identified as the primary suspect. Earlier, Muu and six rangers had discovered about 10 people transporting wood in the forest on two tractors. The rangers asked them to stop for a check but the strangers resisted with three homemade guns and many knives, and Thuat shot Muu before fleeing with his accomplices, said Son. In another case, park ranger Le Tan Hoang of Ea So Natural Reserve in Dak Lak Province was seriously stabbed on April 25 by poachers after he and three others caught them in the act. The rangers had seized a head and two legs of a deer and arrested two poachers, while four others fled. However, the four returned with some 20 others and attacked the rangers with swords. Three park rangers escaped while Hoang collapsed after suffering five stab wounds, including one to his lung. Earlier, an inspection team of Buon Don District detected 64 illegal logs of more than 21 cubic meters at a garden at Krong Na Commune. Shortly after, hundreds of people crowded the site and challenged the officials with poles and knives. The logs were confiscated hours later, after the district administration mobilized around 100 officials from the police, military and park rangers to the site. On March 5, officials of the Gia Lai Province inspection team were lucky to escape after a truck carrying 14 cubic meters of illegal logs suddenly turned back in an attempt to run them over, even after the officials had managed to shoot the rear wheel of the truck. A week later, inspectors found a truck carrying illegal logs openly on the road, which only stopped after they fired warning shots. Last Saturday, four rangers at the Bu Gia Map National Park in Binh Phuoc Province were attacked while they were sleeping at a station in Phuoc Long District. Ranger Duong Quang Hung suffered a severe injury to his left arm, which was nearly cut off, while others suffered minor injuries. An official at the national park said six local residents are identified as the assailants. They wanted to avenge the park rangers for preventing them from logging and hunting in the protected forest. In Binh Dinh Province, park rangers Phan Van Thanh and Tran Ngoc Hung on April 13 suffered serious injuries after being attacked by 25 loggers. They even stopped the rangers from being hospitalized and continued to attack before a ranger fired warning shots. The rangers had earlier seized illegal logs being carried from Hoai An to Hoai Nhon District. Source: TT, TN

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A practice session of the Co Bo drumming team in Bac Ninh Province’s Thi Cau Ward Co Bo drumming, once used to serve the kings of the Nguyen Dynasty, is being preserved in a northern village.

Music researchers believed the traditional art of Co Bo drumming, used to serve the last monarchy in Vietnam, died out in the central ancient capital of Hue. But this echo from the past has resurfaced and is being preserved by people in a northern village, 750 km from Hue. The sound is enthralling, as a group of men passionately play drums. A man who stands in the middle plays a pair of cymbals, while the other four men play on drums that hang in front of their stomachs. These drums, 40 cm high and 25 cm wide, carry images of dragons and clouds. Co Bo music, which once graced the courts of the kings of the Nguyen Dynasty (1802-1945), can now be found in Thi Cau Ward, in the northern province of Bac Ninh. In ancient scripts, Co means drum, and Bo means Ministry. Co Bo means “drums of Ministry of Rites” (one of the six main ministries of the feudal dynasties). Researchers thought the ancient art form of drumming was truly lost to time. “In 1996, while I was studying Hue’s royal music, I searched for information on the Co Bo drum but I found no answers,” said Bui Trong Hien, an ancient music researcher. The town that’s preserving Co Bo has a musical history. Thi Cau Ward used to be the village famous for quan ho (traditional northern folk songs) of Bac Ninh Province. Local elders said the drumming skills came into the town through an instrumentalist whose family name was Hoang. He served as a member of a music band in Hue’s Royal Citadel. When Hoang returned to his home village, he passed on his drum playing skills to local villagers. He taught them 12 compositions of drum performance, but today people only remember six. Tran Anh Tu, local cultural official, said people taught the drumming skills orally and through listening to each other. “The band often performs their drum playing during annual ceremonies to worship village gods and other local festivals,” he said. “In addition, most local families have their own drum bands, who perform in their own family ceremonies and funerals.” Tu said the local authorities have encouraged people to preserve the art and to find a better way to teach the skills. “Oral transference is not safe enough, so we need scientists and music researchers to do official studies and make recordings on this art of drumming,” he said. “We are asking the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to have a specific plan to help us maintain this ancient art.” Researcher Bui Trong Hien said these drumming pieces were used regularly to serve the kings and their royal family. “The drums were used to welcome the kings, when the kings met envoys from other countries, and when the kings prayed during the Nam Giao ceremony,” Hien said. “The drums were also used while servers brought the kings tea, wine and offerings.” But in Thi Cau, local musicians perform them in ceremonies to worship the village gods. It’s a skill that others from nearby villages have tried to learn, but haven’t completely mastered. Most people do not have access to this tradition early on, said Nguyen Van Cau, 76, a well-known drummer from Thi Cau. “We’ve heard these drum sounds since we were very little children,” he said. “We have practiced drum beating since childhood and we have been attached to the art for many years.” Cau said the drum sound can sometimes be heard nearly every day around this area. The lengths of the drum pieces are short, he said. “All six drum pieces can be performed in 30 minutes,” he said. “Each is then repeated again and again.” The lone cymbalist in the group of drummers controls the rhythm of the group, he said. The cymbalist must be aware of each stage of the worship ceremonies to lead the drummers into a new composition. Currently, Cau is the only person who has mastered all the drumming compositions and performance skills, along with knowing the stages of the worshipping ceremonies. He now teaches other men in the area. With Cau’s help, people in the nearby Thanh Phuong Village, in Vu Ninh Commune, have also established their own drum teams: one team with older men and another of younger players. They can perform the six drumming compositions fluently. Reported by Hoang Trung Hieu

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The go-getter spirit and “people skills,” such as networking and the ability to cooperate, are the keys to business success, said participants at an international conference in Ho Chi Minh City Friday.

Addressing the 19th Asian Corporate Conference, Henry B. Nguyen, managing general partner of IDG Ventures Vietnam, said a solid definition of the “entrepreneurial spirit” was not prevalent in Vietnam. He said it was this lack of clarity that led many small- and medium-sized enterprises to collapse in their early years. He said Vietnamese were not as good at networking and cooperating as their overseas counterparts. “This must change as cooperation and networking help us create synergy, especially in the economic crisis,” he said. “In the end, people drive business.” Government support is also essential, he added. Just do it Ly Qui Trung, founder and CEO of Pho 24 Corporation said, “I had the idea for Pho 24 on a flight from Vietnam to Australia several years ago. I was sitting next to an Australian man who said Vietnam always reminded him of the pho and vice versa. “My wife asked if I have a mental problem when I first mentioned pho business to her,” he said. But now Pho 24 now has an extensive network of about 70 outlets across Vietnam, Southeast Asia with future plans for the European and US markets. “If you really want to start a business, write out and outline your idea on paper and ask for advice from experts,” he said. Cutting red tape Hoang Van Dung, standing vice chairman of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), said his organization had been working hard to remove all obstacles to entrepreneurship in Vietnam. Dung said, “About 96 percent of Vietnamese firms are small- and medium enterprises and they typically face capital shortages and problems with red-tape.” At last month’s meeting held in Ho Chi Minh City to review Vietnam’s two-year WTO membership, former Minister of Trade Truong Dinh Tuyen said the country had reformed bureaucracy but that slow administrative procedures still added extra costs to the opening of any business here. The legal system is also inefficient, he said, and a confusing legal framework creates liabilities for people and business. Dung said VCCI had worked with the US government to launch the Vietnamese provincial competitive index program to rank local authorities’ support for business communities. “The program aims to bring about better business legislation,” he said. Reported by Vinh Bao

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A project to construct 600 apartments for low-income earners underway in Ho Chi Minh City’s District 7. Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung said Tuesday that supporting agricultural production is vital for tackling the economic downturn, as it would affect industrial production and exports.

At a government session in Hanoi Tuesday, the Ministry of Planning and Investment reported a growth of 3.1 percent in the first quarter, much lower than last year’s 7.49 percent. Dung also instructed concerned agencies to prevent plant and animal diseases, and better manage agriculture production to avoid situations where farmers suffer losses from bumper crops. Farmers should make a 30 percent profit on their investment, he said. The Prime Minister also wanted low-interest or no-interest loans given to farmers for purchasing farming equipment, televisions and motorbikes, and to build houses. To boost industrial production, Dung said administrative procedures have to be simplified and the policy to apply peak-hour prices for electricity consumed by the sector reconsidered. The disbursement of official development assistance (ODA) and foreign direct investment (FDI) should be expedited and the government would issue more bonds to raise funds to meet the capital needs of the production and commerce sectors, he said. Dung hailed the management of the financial sector but recommended that the State Bank carefully consider its policy to maintain inflation at around 6 percent. Small- and medium-sized enterprises will also be offered a 4 percent interest subsidy on two-year loans taken for new investment projects. Social housing At the session Tuesday, the government discussed projects to construct more houses for workers and low-income earners, and dormitories for university students. Earlier, the government had approved a plan to build dormitories to accommodate 60 percent of total students nationwide by next year. The Construction Ministry reported that only around 20 percent of between 2.2 million and 2.5 million workers in industrial parks nationwide had stable accommodation. Meanwhile, only one third of nearly two million civil servants own a house. The ministry proposed an VND8 trillion (US$469.42 million) plan to build housing for university students, workers in industrial parks and low- income earners in urban areas by 2015. Under the proposal houses would be built and leased to low-income earners at favorable rents, or sold with the help of low-interest bank loans. The government has allowed the municipal administrations of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City to start building this year projects to provide accommodation for 200,000 students by 2010 and the second quarter of 2011, construction Deputy Minister Nguyen Tran Nam said. More stimulus packages The Ministry of Planning and Investment is considering another stimulus package of VND20 trillion ($1.14 billion) to spur investment and consumption, Deputy Minister Cao Viet Sinh said at the press briefing. He said government bonds worth VND36 trillion ($2.1 billion) had been sold in 2008. Recently, Le Duc Thuy, chairman of the National Finance Supervision Committee, had called for further stimulus packages to prevent the economy from slowing down and help it recover soon. It is now using VND17 trillion ($970 million) from a stimulus package to provide a 4 percent interest subsidy on loans to companies that export, import or produce essential goods. An official from the Ministry of Industry and Trade said his ministry will propose a plan for not reducing state budget spending so that social welfare projects and other government activities have adequate funds. Reported by Bao Van – Xuan Toan

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Vietnam may export as much as 2.8 million metric tons of rice in the first half of this year, Thoi Bao Kinh Te Viet Nam reported, citing an estimate by the Vietnam Food Association.

Around 2.4 million tons of rice have already been contracted for sale, with more than 900,000 tons scheduled for shipment in January and February, the paper said. The newspaper did not provide year-earlier comparisons. Vietnam, the world’s second -biggest rice exporter after Thailand, shipped 4.7 million tons last year, the association said January 6. The group plans to ship at least four million tons of the grain in 2009. Source: Bloomberg

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Foreign ministry spokesperson Bui Le Dung on his way to a press briefing. Dung says the job is about the art of balancing both calmness and frankness. Foreign ministry spokesperson shares his thoughts on a job where every word has to be weighed carefully before it is uttered.

Twenty years ago, a 28-year-old graduate of the then Institute of International Relations was excited about heading to New York City as part of the country’s entourage to the United Nations. At the time, Bui Le Dung was the youngest member of the delegation. “That was a very difficult period for us,” Dung recalled in a recent conversation with Thanh Nien. “We were still under the embargo of the United States, and at that time, the American public and its media weren’t leaning towards us.” Now, as the spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the 48- year-old is virtually the spokesperson for the country, a very familiar face for both international and domestic reporters, doing a job where, he joked, he “would get fired if one word went wrong.” Dung says his official brief is to explain and clarify issues relating to Vietnam that the public and other countries are interested in. In a country where there is no tradition of having spokespersons at every government office at all levels, the job is even tougher and doesn’t begin or end with appearing twice every month in front of the media. “For that five to ten minutes, we have to prepare for weeks and must be able to update information until the last minute,” Dung says. “And by the last minute, I mean from the moment I leave the office to the moment I enter the briefing room.” Dung says he never stops learning something new, and sticks to a longstanding habit of noting down everything he feels necessary. When the former Foreign Affairs Minister Nguyen Co Thach once requested the staff to find a sentence in a speech by the Cambodian King Sihanouk, no one was able to find it except Dung, who happened to have written the sentence down in one of his notebooks. “For me, this job isn’t much different from a soldier entering a battle,” he says. “There have been many times when I’ve had to face provoking questions and the only way you can do it is by staying calm.” And that holds true even when he is frustrated that the facts have been twisted. Speaking for the nation, according to Dung, is really the art of balancing both calmness and frankness, meaning one has to phrase things in a way that addresses the reporters’ questions but also “directs” the news issues. “You have to be flexible in all situations. That’s the trick. Your gestures must reflect what you want to say and that takes a lot of practice.” Dung says he tries to pack his answers with diverse information, though for some issues considered “sensitive,” he must stay very focused and accurate with every single word. Sometimes, this is criticized by reporters as providing “same-same” answers. “I know the White House spokesperson often make jokes during briefings to make things less stressful. I do it as well, but not often. Our culture is different and that doesn’t allow me to go beyond the limit.” Dung says he tries his best not to avoid a single question. “The worst thing you can do in a press briefing is not answer questions.” At home? “The spokesperson is my wife. “She understands my job. Sometimes, I have to wake up at midnight to answer phone calls from reporters but I don’t mind. For reporters, information is like their food. I want to help them provide accurate and fair stories.” Reported by Xuan Danh

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Director Dang Nhat Minh on the set of his latest film Dung dot, trong do da co lua (Don’t burn it, it’s already on fire) Now 70, renowned Vietnamese filmmaker Dang Nhat Minh intends to keep using cinema to tell stories about human fate.

No matter how popular an idea, People’s Artist Dang Nhat Minh will turn it down if he doesn’t like it. This, he feels, has set him apart from his colleagues and has been a factor in his being one of the few Vietnamese directors who have successfully introduced Vietnamese cinema to the outside world. He doesn’t make many films but his work has won rave reviews from critics and audiences alike. He is widely hailed for his innovative body of work and skilful depiction of a wide range of subject matter, with war-related suffering and the torment of love in wartime standing out in particular. “I can make films on any subject that interests me, as long as it depicts human fate,” he said. “I once considered quitting the industry. But I then thought I could still make films as long as I wrote the scripts and feature subject matters I’m interested in,” Minh said. In 2000, Minh was invited by Australian Phillip Noyce to join him as a second unit director in the remake of “The Quiet American,” starring Hollywood legend Michael Caine and movie star Brendan Fraser. The film, which cost more than US$30 million then, was listed in the top 10 best films of 2002 by the American Film Institute and earned Michael Caine Best Actor nominations at both the Academy Awards and the Golden Globes. According to Minh, funding is the biggest difference between American cinema and Vietnamese films, which are all state-funded. Hollywood directors, such as Noyce, are able to get their ideas put into action with independent funding, he said. “I have to persuade the film crew, especially the film overseer who manages state funds, to help me,” he said. “No member of a state-hired film crew is dismissed for a lack of responsibility.” Therefore, Minh said he rarely watches his movies. Watching them just makes him see where he and the film crew could have done better. Minh has written the scripts of eight of his films and adapted a short story into another. He said the scriptwriter’s creativity plays an important part in both kinds of scripting. “I have no regrets at all about being a film director as it is destiny. But if I could choose again, I would rather be a doctor and follow in my father’s footsteps.” “A medical career and a filmmaking career, however, have one thing in common: their prime focus is humans.” He only regrets not being able to make as many films as he wished but he said he will continue to make more films in the future. The talented director, who received no professional training in filmmaking, learned from famed foreign directors, including influential Japanese filmmaker Yasujiro Ozu. “It makes no difference to me whether a person is professionally trained or not. Whatever the training, it is good if it is effective,” he said. The film that is most often associated with Minh’s name is Bao gio cho den thang muoi (When the tenth month comes). The film, which Minh also scripted, depicts the anguish suffered by his own martyred family and many other Vietnamese families whose dearest ones died in the war. The film is considered by many foreigners to be the country’s iconic post-war work and is a lyrical vision of the endurance of Vietnamese women from one of Vietnam’s most renowned directors. America’s CNN channel last September honored Bao gio cho den thang muoi as one of the top 18 Asian films of all time. The 90-minute feature, shot in 1984, winner of the Special Jury Awards at the 1985 Hawaii International Film Festival and the 1989 Asia Pacific Film Festival, depicts a haunting portrait of a young widowed woman’s struggle with loss and personal sacrifice during the war. In the final days of the war, a beautiful young woman, Duyen, struggles to take care of her young son and ailing father-in-law, all the while hiding the fact that her husband was killed in battle. Keeping the secret burden to herself, she is befriended by the village schoolmaster, Khang, who agrees to fabricate letters from her dead husband to spare her family from sorrow. Duyen and Khang then find themselves drawing closer together as a result of their shared secret. The movie’s title refers to the month in which the “Day of Forgiveness” occurs, a time when it is said that departed souls can visit their counterparts on earth. For the past two years, Minh has been busy making the film Dung dot, trong do da co lua (Don’t burn it, it’s already on fire), based on the war diary of the martyred female medic Dang Thuy Tram, which has been published in 15 different countries and read by millions. Dang Thuy Tram was a Vietnamese military surgeon who worked for the liberation forces during the Vietnam War and she kept a detailed account of her thoughts during the war. She was just 27 when killed by US forces after running a mobile hospital for three years. In the film, Minh juxtaposes the beautiful scenery in Vietnam with the brutal reality of war to condemn the cruelty while praising the humanity and the dream of peace. Dung dot, trong do da co lua, produced by the Movies Association’s Film Studio, has one of the state’s largest film budgets of $500,000. MAKING OF AN AUTEUR Dang Nhat Minh was born into a family of scholars and patriots in the ancient imperial capital of Hue in 1938. His father, professor and wartime martyr Dang Van Ngu, was a well-known doctor who was honored with the Ho Chi Minh Award for his great medical contributions. Last year, Minh was also bestowed the same award for his contributions to the arts. Minh translated Russian films before starting as a documentary filmmaker in 1965. He has also worked as a journalist, writer and served as the general secretary of the Vietnamese Cinema Association for 10 years from 1989. He has won three Gold Lotus and four Silver Lotus awards for his films at the Vietnam Film Festival and many other prizes at other national film festivals. He was the first Vietnamese director to win the prestigious Nikkei Asia prize for Culture in 1999. Minh also received the Lifetime Achievement Award for his outstanding contributions to the Asian film industry at the fifth Gwangju International Film Festival in South Korea in 2005. Reported by Nguyen Le Chi

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The focus of the government’s $1 billion economic stimulus package announced earlier this month would be interest rate subsidies for small and medium businesses like the cooking oil factory pictured above, Minister of Planning and Investment Vo Hong In the face of a dramatic global slowdown and raging inflation earlier in the year, Vietnam’s economy has proved resilient.

Vietnam posted an “impressive” economic growth rate of 6.23 percent this year despite the dramatic global events, Planning and Investment Minister Vo Hong Phuc said Wednesday. The full-year economic growth rate just missed the government’s most recent target of 6.7 percent – lowered from an original target of 7 percent – and was slower than last year’s 8.5 percent growth rate. Phuc told a press conference in Ho Chi Minh City the nation’s 2008 year-on-year inflation rate was 19.9 percent, significantly lower than the 30 percent touted earlier this year by some economists. Foreign investment pledges to Vietnam this year exceeded US$60 billion, with around $10 billion disbursed, Phuc said. Phuc said he hoped even more foreign investment would be pumped into Vietnam next year as a result of the favorable investment environment the government had rolled out. The trade deficit this year stood at $17 billion, compared with the government’s target of $20 billion, Minister of Industry and Trade Vu Huy Hoang said. The value of exports this year is expected to hit $63 billion, a 29.5 percent increase on last year, Hoang said, while the value of imports are estimated at $79.91 billion for the year, up 27.5 percent from last year. Small, medium enterprises targeted Phuc used the press conference to reveal more details of the government’s $1 billion economic stimulus package announced earlier this month. The focus on the package would be interest rate subsidies for small and medium businesses, Phuc said. The subsidies would represent a 4 percent discount on the current commercial bank loan interest rates, he said. Proposals to set the interest rate subsidies at 5 percent will be examined by the ministries of planning and investment and finance, Phuc said. The stimulus package will also include funding for unemployment reduction programs and support for housing development. The government plans to expand the package to $6 billion, including $1.2 billion to be raised by the sale of government bonds. The extra spending will be directed to tax exemptions and rebates or credit guarantees for offshore loans. Phuc said in case of an emergency, the package could be funded by Treasury reserves. He stressed any drawing on the reserves would be fully transparent. The National Assembly (NA) will decide whether the income tax law, set to take effect on January 1, will be delayed, Minister of Finance Vu Van Ninh said. The government has referred the proposed delay to the NA Standing Committee, which is now in session, for a final decision, Ninh said. PRIME MINISTER’S 2008 CONCLUSIONS At the press briefing, Government Office Chief Nguyen Xuan Phuc conveyed Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung’s conclusions after a two-day cabinet session that wrapped up Wednesday. In the context of the economic slump and a series of natural disasters, the government has steered the economy in an active, flexible, determined, timely and comprehensive manner. The government has succeeded in keeping a close eye on macroeconomic management in the sectors of national foreign currency reserves, government debt and national debt. Social welfare policies have also benefited poor and low-income people. The country is considered safe and secure by other countries. The government took responsibility for the lower-than-targeted economic growth rate of 6.23 percent this year as well as the high trade deficit in the first quarter of this year. Reported by An Dien

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