With an average economic growth rat

A local official told the BBC's Vietnamese service on Wednesday that the authorities had tried to negotiate with the demonstrators. But several officials had been taken hostage by the protesters, he said. It is unclear whether they have been released. A military source quoted by the AFP news agency said the army had sent reinforcements and "had to disperse the crowd by force". He said there had been "minor clashes", but did not say whether there had been any casualties. "The situation is still being resolved by all levels of party and government so that the lives of the compatriots there can return to stability at an early time," foreign affairs spokeswoman Nguyen Phuong Nga told Reuters.





Smuggled African elephant tusks seized in Vietnam

DPA 6 May 2011


Vietnamese customs discovered nearly 600 kilograms of African elephant tusks hidden in a shipping container of rubber from Tanzania, authorities said Friday. The authorities made the haul on Thursday after receiving a tip. "Smuggled elephant tusks were hidden in a very sophisticated way," Vu Hoang Duong, head of customs at the port of Hai Phong, told the German Press Agency dpa. "They cut open tanks for holding rubber, filled them with elephant tusks and soldered them shut again." Duong said the container had been labeled for temporary import, and was already registered for re-export to China by a Vietnamese company in the neighbouring province of Quang Ninh. But the company refused delivery of the container after the customs inspection, saying the contained goods were not what it had ordered.



According to the World Wide Fund for Nature, most elephant ivory smuggled into Vietnam is ultimately destined for China, but some is sold locally for 770 to 1,200 dollars per kilogram. The biggest recent tusk haul in Vietnam was in March 2009 when customs agents in Hai Phong found more than six tons of elephant tusks in a container shipped from Tanzania. International trade in ivory has been banned since 1989 with the exception of occasional auctions from stockpiles.





It is all about logos in Vietnam’s aviation

By Luc Citrinot, ETN, 7 May 2011



With an average economic growth rate of 8% a year and a population of 80 million individuals, Vietnam is an increasingly attractive place to do business. And with the perspective of the ASEAN single market in 2015, more and more investors are also looking at Vietnam. IATA in January indicated that Vietnam air transport is poised to be the third fastest-growing market in terms of international passengers by 2014 with an average rate estimated at 10.2%, twice the world average. The country will also turn into the second fastest-growing market for domestic passenger traffic at the same time. According to data released by the Vietnam Civil Aviation, passenger traffic in 2010 surged by 20% to reach 21 million, while international passenger volume reached 10.7 million, also up by 20%. The largest carrier is Vietnam Airlines, which had a market share of 58.6% of all passengers’ movements. Vietnam Airlines carried last year 12.3 million passengers, up by 33.7% over 2009.
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