In 2010, in capacity as Chairman of ASEAN Chambers of Commerce and Industry (ASEAN CCI) and Chairman of ASEAN Business Advisory Council (ASEAN BAC), VCCI in conjunction with related parties, has organized several ASEAN meetings and events and those between ASEAN and partners in Vietnam. Those activities have heightened Vietnamese role among ASEAN and increased cooperation between Vietnamese businesses with ASEAN and foreign businesses.
ASEAN CCI together with ASEAN BAC have increased cooperation and promoted dialogue with the governments in the region. As a result, several “hot issues” have been discussed and solved promoting trade as well as competitiveness of each member country.
Potentials not fully exploited
Experts have concluded that potentials have not been fully exploited by ASEAN businesses and economic cooperation of ASEAN business community falls short of the expectation and conditions created by their governments. 2010 marks an important milestone in the process of establishing ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), however business community fails to create a synergy of the regional comparative edge for development.
Meanwhile, weaknesses in experiences and linkage continue to be “barriers” making it impossible for ASEAN intra-cooperation which all ASEAN CCI members want to achieve. VCCI President Vu Tien Loc, ASEAN CCI Chairman, said that in the recent past, ASEAN CCI has coordinated activities with ASEAN BAC to increase dialogue with the governments in the region.
ASEAN CCI has increased intra-regional cooperation in main exports such as rice, coffee and promoted competitiveness for regional products. It also called for exchange of experiences and PPP cooperation by advanced countries in the region. In particular, ASEAN CCI has proposed that each member should establish an ASEAN Trade Promotion Centre to promote trade, investment and tourism in the region and to exhibit products and provide information among ASEAN members. To ensure success of those activities, VCCI believes that ASEAN CCI should have a mechanism to develop together with related governments plan and policy regarding regional cooperation so as to increase consensus in policy-making.
Linkage chain Beside ASEAN CCI activities, VCCI has also increased ASEAN BAC activities to enhance the linkage and cooperationof the ASEAN business community. As representative of big companies in PPP relationship, ASEAN BAC has initiated strong and effective activities, developing dialogue mechanism and linkage chain among ASEAN business community, for instance, the cooperation between ASEAN CCI and ASEAN to initiate the programme of “ASEAN green lane” to promote the flow of commodities in the region.
Commenting on the programme, VCCI Vice-President Doan Duy Khuong and ASEAN BAC Chairman said that due to the development gap between six ASEAN old members and four new members (Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam), in the mean time, the four new members could not benefit directly from the green lane, but they can learn the experiences and apply it in the future. VCCI will serve a bridge for Vietnamese businesses engaging in logistics sector, supporting industries and transport associations to participate in ASEAN projects of logistics capacity building with partners as JETRO, ASEAN and East Asia Economic Research Institute (ERIA).
According to experts, linkage chain of ASEAN business community once established will create value chains in the region and by the region with the key role played by regional businesses, surmounting trade barriers and assisting late comer businesses with access to new markets and in trade protection.
In 2010, with the theme “Towards the ASEAN Community – From vision to action” in the interest of business community and the establishment of ASEAN Economic Community in 2015, VCCI and ASEAN BAC will organize ASEAN-BIS in October. It will be an important event during ASEAN Summit to enhance the importance of the exchange of knowledge and develop cooperation between businesses in the region and the world over.
Quoc Anh
Vietnamese
