Vietnam to host regional IT meet
Technology experts from the Asia-Pacific, Europe and the United States will gather in the Vietnamese capital in November for Asia's largest computing industry conference, organisers announced.
More than 700 participants, including senior executives from technology multinational chief executives and government ministers, are expected at the November 27-30 Asian-Oceanian Computing Industry Organisation (ASOCIO) summit in Hanoi.
"This is a major regional forum providing a platform for governments and industry to exchange information, develop closer relationships and identify new business opportunities," said Tran Doan Kim of the Vietnam Software Alliance.
Established in 1984, ASOCIO's mandate is to promote trade between its 18 member states and develop the computing industry within the region.
The grouping is made up of Australia, Bangladesh, Japan, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, New Zealand, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, South Korean, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.
The United States, Britain,
Canada, France and Spain are guest members.
Agence France Presse - June 24, 2003.
Work to begin on Vietnam's first mobile plant
HANOI - Work will begin in August on Vietnam's first mobile-phone manufacturing plant at Da Nang, with the first phone to hit the market next June.
Le Huy Hoang, director of the Hue-Da Nang Service Center (HDC) that will own the US$3.5 million factory, said the phones will carry the HDC brand name.
They will also have 50 percent local content, and will retail at VND1 million to VND3.5 million (US$64-$226), or 75 percent that of imported products with the same technical specifications.
He said initially HDC will itself make about 30 percent of the components, including covers, chargers, antennas and buttons. Later it will also make batteries, main boards and display panels.
Hoang said a factory to manufacture these components will begin operations next April. Eighty percent of the handsets will be sold locally, with the Vietnam Post and Telecommunication Corp (VNPT) expected to be the company's major customer, while the rest will be exported to Thailand, Cambodia and Laos, he said.
HDC is set to import assembly lines for the plant from leading global mobile-phone makers such as Motorola, Nokia and Siemens.
The factory will be in the central coastal city's Hoa Khanh industrial zone.
Vietnam has about 1.6 million mobile-phone subscribers out of a population of 80 million, with the figure predicted to cross 7 million by the end of 2005, according to VNPT.
Last year, 700,000 handsets were sold, of which 75 percent were smuggled in from outside Vietnam.
Vietnam News Agency - June 24, 2003.
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