China resumed outbound group tours to Vietnam on Wednesday by sending a group of 38 Chinese tourists to Vietnam through the Mong Cai-Dongxing international border gate linking the northern Vietnamese province of Quang Ninh with Guangxi Province. 

The group will participate in a four-day-and-three-night tour in Ha Long City under Quang Ninh Province and Hanoi.

In total, 632 Chinese tourists entered Vietnam through the border gate on Wednesday.

Positive signals from Chinese guests

To facilitate the immigration process, several additional officials have been detached to the border gate.

Nguyen Thu Huong, vice-chairwoman of the People’s Committee of Mong Cai City in Quang Ninh Province, said that the arrival of the first group of Chinese visitors to Vietnam is a positive signal.

The city has asked relevant agencies to review infrastructure, equipment, and processes at the border gate, while working with their Chinese counterparts to prepare for the influx of Chinese tourists.

The People’s Committee of Mong Cai City also asked travel companies to prepare to welcome groups of Chinese visitors via Mong Cai International Border Gate.

Mong Cai City has improved the quality of its existing tourism products and launched new ones, such as border tourism activities, shopping, and food tours.

Nguyen Van Thanh, head of the Bac Luan border station at Mong Cai International Border Gate, said that more border guards were dispatched to the crossing when the resumption of immigration and import-export activities between Vietnam and China was announced.

A tour guide for China’s Shenzhou Travel Company, which organized the tour for the first Chinese tourist group to Vietnam since the pandemic, said the company plans to take tourist groups to other localities in the Southeast Asian country, such as Da Nang and Khanh Hoa on the central coast.

On Wednesday morning, authorities in Mong Cai City offered flowers to the first group of Chinese visitors to enter Vietnam through Mong Cai International Border Gate.

Trade resumes

China relaxed its COVID-19 restrictions on January 8, but trade through the Mong Cai-Dongxing international border gate was not resumed until February 21.

Pham Duc Huyen, director of Ngan Minh Ngoc Co. Ltd., a company in Quang Ninh Province, said that import-export activities at the border gate have been ramped up since vehicles from both countries were permitted to travel through Mong Cai again.

Hundreds of trailer trucks have passed through the Bac Luan II Bridge border gate each day since COVID-19 restrictions were relaxed.

According to a report by the management board of Mong Cai International Border Gate, over 234,200 metric tons of goods passed through the Bac Luan II Bridge border gate during the first week of this month, surging 108 percent over the same period last year.

Mong Cai City generated a trade turnover of US$244.64 million in the first two months of the year, inching up three percent year on year, including $153.06 million in exports and $91.58 million in imports.

China last week added Vietnam to a list of countries where its tour agencies are allowed to organize group tours to.

This is the second phase of the northern neighbor’s pilot program for resuming outbound group tours.

According to the General Statistics Office, Vietnam welcomed 5.8 million Chinese tourists in 2019, or some 30 percent of the country’s international tourist arrivals.

The Southeast Asian country set a target to welcome eight million foreign travelers this year.

Like us on Facebook or  follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!

Thirty-six renewable power investors have petitioned the prime minister to consider addressing pricing-related inadequacies in renewable power development that left 34 solar and wind power plants unable to sell their electricity to state-owned Vietnam Electricity Group (EVN).

These investors, in a petition recently sent to Vietnam’s Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, said that the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in 84 renewable power projects, with a total capacity of some 4,600 MW, lagging behind schedule to achieve commercial operation.

Among these, 34 projects, comprising 28 wind farms and six solar plants with a total capacity of more than 2,000 MW, are eligible to connect to the national power grid, but their investors have had to wait for a new pricing mechanism, which provides a foundation for renewable power investors and the national electricity buyer EVN to process power purchase agreements.

Six solar power projects have been waiting for a new pricing mechanism for more than 26 months, while 28 wind farms have been waiting for around 16 months. 

The total investment for these 34 projects, which have reached completion but have yet to connect with the national grid, amounts to an estimated VND85 billion (US$3.6 billion), with VND58 billion ($2.45 billion) borrowed from banks.

Therefore, the investors said they are facing a risk of financial woes, adding that corporate debts would rise and banks would find it hard to recover capital.

If the pricing mechanism for solar and wind power projects remains ineffective in the long run, the development of such projects could grind to a halt, thereby resulting in energy insecurity and a lower chance of fulfilling the government’s commitments on energy transformation and carbon dioxide emission reduction.

Direct power purchase mechanism proposed

To remove obstacles facing the 34 projects, renewable power investors proposed the government leader ask the Ministry of Industry and Trade to study and introduce a new pricing policy for them.

In addition, the investors suggested hiring independent consultants to work out a price bracket for renewable electricity, strictly following requirements of an advisory council and the Ministry of Finance to ensure transparency.

Also, the price bracket must be worked out based on the internal rate of return of 12 percent as stipulated in the Ministry of Industry and Trade’s Circular 15 issued on October 2, 2022.

As for power purchase contracts, the investors of these 34 wind and solar farms suggested keeping policies to encourage the development of renewable energy that the government had issued previously.

According to the investors, the pricing policy for the projects should remain in place for 20 years. They sought the prime minister’s nod for the conversion of prices into U.S. dollars or for regulations on slippage in power generation.

They also proposed the prime minister direct relevant ministries and agencies to complete and issue a direct power purchase mechanism which would allow renewable power investors to sell their electricity to those in need.

Like us on Facebook or  follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!