On November 8-9, 2010, Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) received and discussed with Mr. Marcel Engel, Managing Director of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) in order to gather his advisory ideas for the operation of Vietnam Business Council for Sustainable Development (VBCSD) to be launched in coming time.
On the occasion, Vietnam Business Forum has a talk with Mr. Nguyen Quang Vinh, Director General of the Office of Sustainable Development for Business.
Could you introduce something about WBCSD?
WBCSD is an association of CEOs of about 200 large-scale corporations from 35 countries and 20 industries, with the focus on sustainable development issues. WBCSD mission is to orient the business community to lead to sustainable development, and support enterprises to operate and develop with a deeper understanding of sustainable development.
WBCSD has cooperated with VCCI for more than 4 years, provided technical support to VCCI to set up VBCSD in Vietnam, and helped VBCSD connect to the network of sustainable development offices in 60 countries.
Can you show the targets of the working visit of the CEO of WBCSD?
This is the second visit of Mr. Marcel Engel to Vietnam. He discussed the mode of cooperation in details with VBCSD which got the permission from the Government in September 2010 to be set up. The first priority of the cooperation will focus on improving the awareness, training and international cooperation to apply the international sustainable development practices in Vietnam.
At the meeting with Dr. Vu Tien Loc, VCCI President, and Dr. Doan Duy Khuong, VCCI Vice President, the two sides agreed to continue cooperation conditions under the MoU signed between VCCI and WBCSD in 2007. In the long run, VBCSD will closely cooperate with WBCSD and its network in 60 countries to carry out its activities and share experience to support Vietnamese enterprises to successfully integrate into the world economy and enhance their competitiveness.
More importantly, Mr. Marcel had a meeting with Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Thien Nhan who is also Chairman of National Council for Sustainable Development. The Deputy Prime Minister appreciated his working visit and the cooperation between WBCSD and VBCSD in conducting activities to help Vietnamese enterprises in the international integration and sustainable development in the 21st century which is dealing with global challenges such as climate change, environment, poverty, and food security.
Mr. Marcel worked with members of VBCSD in Vietnam, including Tata Steel, Standard Chartered Bank, Holcim, FPT, Unilever, and HiPT, to discuss orientations for carrying out VBCSD activities in propaganda to enhance the awareness of sustainable development, training for capacity building, international cooperation, and research. He also discussed VBCSD’s operation over the next five years with the priorities in the fields of the efficient use of energy, climate change, environment protection, education, and corruption prevention.
What are outcomes from the working visit?
Mr. Marcel highlighted the visit’s results withdrawn from working sessions with the leaders of the Government, VCCI and enterprises. This means the Government and the Vietnamese business community are ready for a new journey with great efforts to a sustainable world.
WBCSD commits to help VBCSD by calling for support and contributions from its members operating in Vietnam, sharing information, experience, and documents, connecting to sustainable development networks of other countries, as well as providing professional experts if required.
The first models WBCSD proposed to be applied in Vietnam are the Sustainable Cement Project which has been conducted successfully by 15 companies for 10 years, and the project on energy and recycle energy in buildings. VBCSD will apply the models in Vietnam in the years to come.
Can you brief some ideas of Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Thien Nhan on Vietnam’s sustainable development orientation in the near future?
Deputy Prime Minister proposed two important tasks. Firstly, the Government is building up the sustainable development strategy in 2010-2020 which needs to have clear, strong contributions of the business community to the progress. The Government wishes to call for businesses to participate in the strategy via the coordination of VBCSD.
Secondly, the Deputy Prime Minister wants to disseminate more important international best practices in Vietnamese related to sustainable development to the local business community such as Vision for Business by 2050, Energy Efficiency in Buildings, the initiative on water protection, or establishment of sustainable cities in the future.
Reported by Nam Pham
Vietnamese
