The Vietnam Weekly Podcast

Today’s guests are Thomas Jakobsen, Managing Director at Indochina Energy Partners; and Angus McEwin, Managing Director at Monsoon Carbon. We discussed the key points of revised PDP; progress on transmission and the national grid; LNG development; current issues and opportunities around solar and onshore wind; Renewable Energy Certificates and voluntary carbon credits and their place in Vietnam’s energy market; Vietnam’s efforts to launch a domestic carbon trading system; the revival and formalization of nuclear energy plans; and what to look out for in the coming years. Related link:Vietnam’s Energy Plans & RealitySubscribe to the Vietnam Weekly here.Support the podcast by Buying Me a Coffee. Get full access to Vietnam Weekly at thevietnamweekly.substack.com/subscribe

Today’s guest is Minh Nguyễn, curator at Dogma Collection in Ho Chi Minh City. We discussed what Dogma Collection is, the socioeconomic context of socialist realism propaganda created from 1945 to the mid-1980s, the use of digitally rendered versions of this art for the upcoming reunification anniversary, the state of the contemporary art scene in HCMC and Vietnam more broadly, the exhibition ‘A Radial System’ and its presentation of war imagery from different viewpoints, and more. Follow Dogma Collection on InstagramReframing War Memories via the Western-Vietnamese Photographic Perspectives (Saigoneer)Subscribe to the Vietnam Weekly here.Support the podcast by Buying Me a Coffee. Get full access to Vietnam Weekly at thevietnamweekly.substack.com/subscribe

Following the announcement of President Donald Trump’s shocking 46% reciprocal tariff rate on Vietnam, I wanted to get a quick initial reaction from return guest Kyle Freeman, a Partner at Dezan Shira & Associates who leads the International Business Advisory team and the firm's North American client services desk in Asia.Kyle was on the show in January when the trade situation between Vietnam and the U.S. appeared to be much warmer. With the caveat that this is a very fluid situation, we discussed the tariff announcement, why Vietnam got hit so hard, and what we might expect moving forward.Editor’s note: In the episode, there’s a mention that the tariff rate imposed on Vietnam is the second-highest of any country. It is the fourth-highest.Subscribe to the Vietnam Weekly here.Support the podcast by Buying Me a Coffee. Get full access to Vietnam Weekly at thevietnamweekly.substack.com/subscribe

Neal Bermas is founder and chairperson of STREETS International, a social enterprise based in Hoi An that offers a fully-supported 14-month culinary and hospitality training program to disadvantaged and vulnerable youth living in povertyWe discussed STREET’s focus on the hospitality sector, its functioning as a social enterprise, the demographics of the young people who receive support and the challenges they face, how the pandemic somewhat diminished the appeal of working in the hospitality sector, STREET’s success in placing program graduates in a job, and a digression into Vietnam’s tourism sector more broadly.Subscribe to the Vietnam Weekly here.Support the podcast by Buying Me a Coffee. Get full access to Vietnam Weekly at thevietnamweekly.substack.com/subscribe

Today’s guest is Nguyên Lê, an entertainment writer, copy editor, translator, and occasional screenwriter. He’s written for publications including /Film, The Houston Chronicle, Film Threat, and Paste Magazine. He’s also a member of both the Houston Film Critics Society and the Hollywood Critics Association - one of the few Asian members in their ranks.We discussed how Nguyên got into movies, the evolution of Vietnamese cinema over time, censorship, steps the industry could take to improve its standing both here and internationally, and his current screenplay work.Nguyên’s recommendations for essential contemporary Vietnamese movies:* The Rebel (Dòng máu anh hùng - 2007)* Song Lang (2018)* The Moon at the Bottom of the Well (Trang noi day gieng - 2008)* Three Seasons (Ba mùa - 1999)Related Links:Vietnam’s box office sets new record at $184mn (Tuoi Tre News)Subscribe to the Vietnam Weekly here.Support the podcast by Buying Me a Coffee. Get full access to Vietnam Weekly at thevietnamweekly.substack.com/subscribe

Today’s returning guest is Nguyen Khac Giang, a Visiting Fellow at the Vietnam Studies Programme under the ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore. He was on the show in March for a conversation about the anti-corruption campaign, and he’s one of my go-to voices for insight into Vietnamese politics.We discussed the legacy of arguably the most consequential political year in modern Vietnamese history, Tô Lâm ’s strong performance as General Secretary so far, the dramatic streamlining of both government and Party being planned for 2025, what this could mean for the National Congress in early 2026, and what to look out for in the coming months.Subscribe to the Vietnam Weekly here.Support the podcast by Buying Me a Coffee. Get full access to Vietnam Weekly at thevietnamweekly.substack.com/subscribe

Today’s guest is Katie Nelson, a climate change researcher at the International Rice Research Institute - or IRRI - in Hanoi.We discussed the role of agriculture - and particularly rice farming - in Vietnam’s greenhouse gas emissions, the importance of reducing methane emissions to reach international climate change goals, efforts to mitigate methane production in the country’s rice sector, the alternate wetting and drying farming method, and more.Related Links:In Vietnam, farmers reduce methane emissions by changing how they grow riceHow to stop rice fields producing so much methaneSubscribe to the Vietnam Weekly here. Support the podcast by Buying Me a Coffee.Get in touch with comments, feedback, or guest ideas: matatarski@gmail.com. Get full access to Vietnam Weekly at thevietnamweekly.substack.com/subscribe

Today’s guest is Jason Lusk, Managing Partner at Clickable Impact and co-author of the recently released Vietnam Climate Tech Funding Ecosystem Report 2024.We discussed why Clickable Impact and New Energy Nexus created this first-of-its-kind report, what ‘climate tech’ means in the Vietnam context and why funding for it has lagged behind the country’s other tech sectors, areas of climate tech poised for expansion, and what stakeholders in this space can do to ensure further growth. Download the Vietnam Climate Tech Funding Ecosystem Report 2024 here.Subscribe to the Vietnam Weekly here. Support the podcast by Buying Me a Coffee.Get in touch with comments, feedback, or guest ideas: matatarski@gmail.com. Get full access to Vietnam Weekly at thevietnamweekly.substack.com/subscribe