HANOI, VIETNAM – Media OutReach – 24 October 2022 – The Vietnamese government, industries and coastal localities have expressed their strong determination to remove the IUU yellow card in the near future.

On September 20, 2022, the National Steering Committee on Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) Fishing Prevention and Control held an online conference with the participation of all communes in 28 coastal provinces and cities across the country.

During the conference, Deputy Prime Minister Le Van Thanh, Chairman of the National Committee on Combating IUU Fishing, said that the removal of the IUU yellow card is exceptionally urgent and has great significance for the lives of fishermen and the seafood export industry as well as the reputation of the country.

He said that the leaders of the Party and the State have shown their deep interest in this issue and have attended many meetings and exchanges with high-ranking officials of the European Union (EU) and the European Commission (EC) on Vietnam’s commitment, efforts and determination in the prevention and control of IUU fishing.

Thanh said: “The Government and the Prime Minister have issued directives and directions on measures to solve this problem.”

The EU delegations highly appreciated Vietnam’s political determination to implement the recommendations. Vietnam has participated in and performed international agreements related to anti-IUU fishing, including the Agreement on Port State Measures of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (UN) and the United Nations Fish Stocks Agreement. The goal of the Agreement on Port State Measures, the first binding international agreement specifically targeting IUU fishing, is to prevent and eliminate IUU fishing by prohibiting IUU fishing vessels from using the port and docking their catch. Meanwhile, the United Nations Fish Stocks Agreement aims to ensure the long-term conservation and sustainable use of straddling fish stocks and highly migratory fish stocks within the framework of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

The Deputy Prime Minister requested the establishment of inter-ministerial delegations at the central level directed by the leaders of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and at the local level by the leaders of the provincial People’s Committees for specific inspection.

The Deputy Prime Minister also requested the related ministries, industries and localities to effectively implement the directives of the Government and the Prime Minister, especially the Project on prevention and control of IUU fishing by 2025, which has just been promulgated by the Prime Minister to develop safe and sustainable fishing, processing and export of Vietnamese seafood.

Tran Dinh Luan, Director General of the Directorate of Fisheries under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, said that the total number of fishing vessels nationwide is more than 90,000. Vessel Monitoring Systems (VMS) have been installed on 95% of fishing vessels.

The installation of VMS and inspection of fishing vessels have been promoted in the coastal provinces, especially Kien Giang, Ca Mau, Ben Tre, Binh Dinh, Binh Thuan, Bac Lieu and Ba Ria – Vung Tau.

There will be more coastal provinces and cities nationwide to monitor fishing vessels around the clock, and many teams in charge of fisheries supervision at the provincial and city levels shall be established.

The Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Phung Duc Tien, said that Vietnam’s legal framework on anti-IUU fishing has been relatively complete, clearly expressing Vietnam’s commitment to sustainable and responsible fisheries development following international integration.

However, due to the infrastructure limitation and the low education of some fishermen, the IUU yellow card has not been removed yet. Mr Tien noted that fishermen sometimes fail to meet the standards in terms of fishing logs, the disbursement of investment capital for fishing ports is still late, and the installation of VMS is delayed in difficult localities with many poor fishermen.

The Government has guided that all fishing vessels with a length of 15 meters or more will be inspected before leaving the fishing port to ensure complete documents and equipment as prescribed. In addition, by that year, they must be monitored via VMS while at sea and will be inspected upon arrival at the fishing port; all inland fishery production must be inspected and supervised when loading and unloading at the fishing port, and 100% of foreign-caught seafood arriving at Vietnamese ports must be checked and monitored following the Agreement on Port State Measures of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of United Nations 2009.

Moreover, Vietnam will improve the capacity and effectiveness of maritime patrols and inspections, strengthen law enforcement, trace seafood origins, and implement relevant international treaties and agreements.

At the end of 2021, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh presided over a remote meeting on the prevention and control of IUU fishing. He ordered the National Steering Committee to urge the ministries, industries and localities to execute the solutions effectively, decisively and synchronously.

The Ministry of National Defense was assigned to coordinate with relevant agencies, ministries and industries and the People’s Committees of 28 coastal provinces and cities to enhance the inspection and close monitoring of fishing vessels’ activities, especially on the seas which are not restricted clearly between Vietnam and other countries.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs was assigned to work with relevant parties, and advise the Government on negotiating plans with countries sharing the seas which are not demarcated clearly with Vietnam to identify boundaries for lawful activities of Vietnamese fishing vessels. The Ministry is also required to collect information and evidence in the countries that arrest violating fishing vessels of Vietnam.

The Ministry of Public Security was assigned to investigate and handle groups of brokers engaged in illegal fishing in foreign seas. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development was assigned to continue to revise the institutions and legal framework to manage fisheries strictly.

The Ministry of Planning and Investment was required to allocate a part of medium-term public investment capital for the 2021 – 2025 period and other capital to build and upgrade fisheries infrastructure, including fishing ports and anchorage areas and storm shelters for vessels, and develop fisheries management systems. In addition, the Ministry of Finance was requested to prioritize funding support for relevant ministries, industries and localities to perform programs and plans of IUU fishing prevention and control.

The Ministry of Transport was assigned to cooperate with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and related ministries to inspect seafood imported into Vietnam. Also, the Ministry of Labour – Invalids and Social Affairs was expected to join hands in organizing programs of vocational training and fisheries labour management in line with domestic and international labour regulations.

The US Global Policy Journal website stated that Vietnam might become a model for other Southeast Asian countries in anti-IUU fishing. Accordingly, Vietnam does not want to repeat the mistake of Thailand, which has a high percentage of fishing vessels unregistered and out of the Government’s control. Vietnam also does not want to follow in the footsteps of their neighbour Cambodia which is at a dead end with a red card from the EU and unable to export fish.

A senior Vietnamese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development official stated: “Vietnam will never tolerate or allow any activity related to IUU fishing.”

The LaoSafe website has seen unprecedented traffic in recent weeks as interest in Laos as an emerging destination continues to grow.

VIENTIANE, LAOS – Media OutReach – 24 October 2022 – The official website of the LaoSafe programme, which provides an improved digital experience for visitors to Laos, as well as for businesses certified under the national initiative, has experienced unprecedented surges in traffic over the past few weeks.

The latest promotional video released in August, has recently raked in over a quarter of a million views, making it one of the website’s most watched videos of the year. The video follows a couple as they journey through some of the varied attractions that the country has to offer: a stay a in a luxury 5-star hotel, a tranquil visit to an iconic Buddhist stupa, adventurous activities zip lining and kayaking through various karst rock formations, and, finally, a relaxing cup of freshly brewed Lao coffee surrounded by nature.

Department of Tourism Management Director General, Mme Darany Phommavongsa, of the Ministry of Information, Culture, and Tourism said of the website: “More and more visitors are arriving in Laos since the country fully reopened its borders in May. A good number of these are already aware of the LaoSafe programme and are interested to find out which businesses are LaoSafe certified.”

While navigating the website, users can view exciting tourism promotional videos, search for LaoSafe certified businesses, tour guides, and drivers, obtain information on trainers and assessors, or browse useful resources uploaded to the site, including standards guides and training materials.

Implemented by the Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism, and approved by the Ministry of Health, LaoSafe is a nationwide initiative designed to create a world-class health and hygiene system within the tourism and hospitality industry.

Sector-specific standards have been developed for accommodation, food and beverage, tour guides, and drivers, to raise the benchmark of hygiene provision throughout the country and to build international confidence in Laos as a safe tourist destination.

Mme Darany Phommavongsa noted that “increased traffic to the LaoSafe website can be traced to several different countries, primarily Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia and the USA. We are pleased to report that this programme is helping to promote Laos as a safe, secure destination for travellers in the region and around the world.”

The LaoSafe programme is supported by the Skills for Tourism Project (LAO/029), which is co-financed by the governments of the Lao PDR, the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and Switzerland, and implemented by the Ministry of Education and Sports of Laos and LuxDev, the Luxembourg Development Cooperation Agency.

For further information, visit https://laosafe.gov.la/

Hashtag: #LaoSafe

HONG KONG SAR – Media OutReach – 24 October 2022 – GS1 Hong Kong (GS1 HK) welcomes the launch of Commercial Data Interchange (CDI) by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) today. As the first batch of CDI participants, we fully commit to support the next generation digital trade finance services through the offering of trusted digital trade data from GS1 Hong Kong’s ezTRADE, a long-serving B2B order-to-cash platform.

As one of the first key collaboration partners in HKMA’s CDI pilot project since its inception in 2020, GS1 HK has successfully launched its ezTRADE Data Management Portal connecting to CDI as Data Provider.

GS1 HK has been digitising trade by connecting buyers and suppliers through ezTRADE for more than 20 years. It is being used by a range of industries like fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) and food and beverage (F&B) companies, including 95% of local supermarkets, 79% of hospital drugs supply chains and 70% of Hong Kong-styled fast food restaurant groups today.

GS1 HK has been partnering with banks to offer digital trade financing, which aims to help business get working capital easier and faster. The up-to-date and trusted transactional data such as purchase orders and invoices reflect the latest financial health of the borrowers. With the consent from the borrowers, banks can get the reliable data from ezTRADE as alternative data to accelerate the credit assessment and approval processes.

In addition, we have been helping banks to build a trade financing workflow system that bridges their own applications to CDI, saving their development efforts while facilitating secure sharing of data. As a data provider with expertise to support connectivity between banks and the CDI, GS1 HK plays a pivotal role in digitising trade and shaping the digital trade financing landscape.

“We are excited to have partnered with banks to offer new financial services to our ezTRADE suppliers community. Not only does this new offering speed up SMEs’ access to working capital, but as well provide banks with trusted up-to-date trade data to offer better loan facilities and continuously monitor the borrowers’ health. CDI provides an efficient and scalable ecosystem to collaborate with more financial service providers,” said Dr. Stephen Lam, Chief Operating Officer of GS1 HK.

Instead of multiple one-to-one connections between banks and sources of commercial data, CDI enables each bank and data provider to have a single connection to CDI, making data sharing more secure, efficient, and scalable.

“By providing alternative data for banks to enable more streamlined and hassle-free services to SMEs, we have been bringing great value to the SMEs in their continued digitalisation journey. We look forward to working with more banks, third party logistics providers, technology partners and other stakeholders in the digital trade financing ecosystem, empowering more innovative services to the SMEs,” said Anna Lin, Chief Executive of GS1 HK.

Hashtag: #GS1HongKong

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

About GS1 Hong Kong

Founded by the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce in 1989, GS1 Hong Kong (GS1 HK) is the local chapter of GS1^®, which supports companies’ digitalisation to enhance supply chain transparency and efficiency, ensure product authenticity, and facilitate online and offline commerce with global supply chain standards (product identification key and barcode) and a full spectrum of standard-based platforms, solutions and services.

Currently, GS1 HK has around 8,000 corporate members covering close to 20 industries including retail consumer goods, food and food services, healthcare, apparel, logistics as well as information and technology. By engaging with communities of trading partners, industry organisations, government, and technology providers, GS1 HK is fostering a collaborative ecosystem with the vision of “Smarter Business, Better Life”.

Headquartered in Brussels, Belgium, GS1^® is a not-for-profit, standards organisation that has 115 national chapters serving 150 economies globally. For more information, please visit www.gs1hk.org.

HONG KONG SAR – Media OutReach – 24 October 2022 – Leading UK developer London Square has opened an international headquarters office in central Hong Kong to showcase its range of outstanding residential schemes – demonstrating its commitment to a first-class customer experience for its purchasers across the East and South-east Asia regions.

London Square’s new office is located at the premium address of One Exchange Square, a 52-storey building in central Hong Kong.

The residential developer has already delivered schemes worth £1.8 billion across Greater London since its launch in 2010 and is committed to investing into the future of the capital and beyond, with a land pipeline worth £2.5 billion in gross development value. London Square’s renowned high-quality homes have always been a major hit with buyers globally, and it has now expanded its existing platform to offer an entire eco-system of tenures, reaffirming their position as a leading residential developer.

Connecting purchasers with a quality life in Greater London through the outstanding customer experience

To ensure a first-class experience for its overseas customers, the International Headquarters will provide in-person assistance for purchasers with their award-winning customer journey, whilst a bespoke service with a tour is given to each customer to get in touch with the most updated insights from the UK property market and experience London Square first-hand.

In-depth information on London Square and the high specification properties on offer will be available. This will allow customers to see and experience first-hand London Square’s exceptionally well-designed show kitchens and bathrooms, the carefully curated range of interior options tailored for each development, plus view the models, and use the interactive tools to get a detailed overview of London Square’s well-connected developments across Greater London.

Reflecting the company ethos and name, which was inspired by the UK capital’s famous squares, London Square is dedicated to exceptional placemaking, individually designing every scheme to reflect its location, creating new destinations, with garden squares and landscaped spaces, as well as commercial spaces to encourage thriving new communities in areas where those who live and work in London will choose to build a home.

Customers will also be invited to seminars, launches and VIP events that provide the latest property market insights including direct links to the on-site sales suites in the UK, as well as using augmented reality.

Showcasing the 4 amazing property projects catering to every customer’s pursuit of life

Among the first developments to be launched in the Hong Kong office will be London Square Nine Elms and London Square Croydon. The former a new residential landmark in the centre of the capital – part of the UK’s most exciting new destination on the South Bank, while the Croydon is a new apartment scheme in the south of the capital. According to research commissioned by London Square, Croydon is shaping up to have exceptional property price growth, fuelled by its status as a top 10 business location for tech company start-ups. A 14-minute train journey from Croydon to London Bridge or Gatwick makes it one of the best-connected commuter destinations.

Other schemes that will be available to view include London Square Watford, a stylish collection of one and two bedroom apartments in a gated development in a popular residential spot just two miles from the town centre – and with top ranking as one of the UK’s leading commuter destinations. The analysis by Dataloft, a leading property market intelligence company, examined the excellent lifestyle on offer, employment opportunities, quality education, extensive green spaces, and first-class transport links, in a research report commissioned by London Square.

Commuter hotspot Walton-on-Thames is just outside the capital – a popular riverside town in the highly desirable county of Surrey, which attracts families looking for good schools and a quality lifestyle. London Square Walton on Thames is in the coveted Ashley Park area, and features a collection of distinctive family houses, all with private gardens, reflecting the renowned Surrey Arts and Crafts style of architecture, and set in over five acres of gardens with mature trees and shrubs. The first residents have already moved in and there are just three family homes now available for sale in the final release.

London Square International HQ Hong Kong:
3406, 34/F One Exchange Square Central, Hong Kong

Hashtag: #LondonSquare

About London Square

Founded in 2010, London Square is a leading residential developer delivering a range of high-quality homes in well-connected locations across Greater London. London Square has expanded its existing platform to offer an entire eco-system of tenures – private for sale, for rent and affordable. The company’s divisions comprise London Square Developments, its private for sale arm, London Square Partners, set up to work with the public sector, London Square Works, which focuses on developing high quality space at its mixed-use developments, and London Square Living, its new Build to Rent division, which sources sites and develops the for rentals. Square Roots is an independent provider of affordable housing launched by London Square in 2021.

Official Website： https://londonsquare.co.uk/
Official Facebook： https://www.facebook.com/londonsquarehk/
Official Instagram： https://www.instagram.com/londonsquarehk/