On the occasion of the 48th anniversary of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (April 27, 1963 - 2011), reporter Le Hien interviewed Mr Hoang Quang Phong, Head of VCCI Membership and Training Department, on its member development in recent years.
What are the most notable highlights of VCCI’s activities in the last year?
2010 was the year of great significance to Vietnam as it was the last period of implementing the 2006 to 2010 five-year Socioeconomic Development Plan and the 2001 to 2010 10-year Socioeconomic Development Strategy. VCCI also achieved many results important to the Vietnamese business community and promoted trade ties with many companies all over the world in 2010, while fulfilling its roles as the President of ASEAN Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
In addition, VCCI also excellently performed the roles as the President of ASEAN Business Advisory Council 2010 (ABAC), the host of the ASEAN Business and Investment Summit 2010 (ASEAN-BIS) on the sideline of the 17th ASEAN Summit held in Hanoi with the participation of many companies from ASEAN and elsewhere, which recommended proposals and initiatives for economic and business development in the environment of global and regional cooperation. In the framework of ASEAN BIS 2010, VCCI hosted the third ASEAN Business Award ceremony in honour of outstanding businesses in ASEAN member states, organised by the ASEAN Business Advisory Council.
2010 was the last year Vietnam implemented the five-year Socioeconomic Development Plan from 2006 to 2010 and the 10-year Socioeconomic Development Strategy from 2001 to 2010. The country’s economy expanded 6.78 percent, much higher than the growth rate of 5.32 percent in 2009 and higher than the initial target of 6.5 percent. Business in all fields developed significantly.
In 2010, VCCI outstandingly accomplished its main tasks and saw growth of 17.2 percent in comparison with 2009. The quality of activities continued to be improved, while new activities were introduced in addition to traditional ones. New factors brought in positive results.
VCCI has contributed its opinions and comments to some draft laws and other legal documents concerning the business community. Would you be kind enough to tell us more about this?
In recent years, especially in 2010, VCCI worked as a member of compiling boards to draft legal documents or directly sent comments and opinions about 45 draft legal documents; and organised 348 conferences and seminars with the participation of nearly 57,680 companies. It also finalised the Decree on “Promoting roles of Vietnamese entrepreneurs in the process of industrialisation, modernisation and international integration” to submit to the Politburo. VCCI continued adopting effective measures to improve the business environment and speed up public administration reform. It also conducted surveys and published a report on the 2009 provincial competitiveness index (PCI). 2010 was also the first year VCCI surveyed and released an assessment report of business-related legal development and enforcement by ministries (LDEA). LDEA, applied to law development and enforcement from 2005 to 2009, surveyed 124 business associations presenting approximately 77,000 companies all over the country. 14 ministries or equivalent agencies were surveyed, given their contacts with businesses.
Member development and training is one of activities that help companies a lot. Can you tell us the notable results in this area?
VCCI successfully organised many training courses. Last year, VCCI organised 1,257 training courses for 60,675 trainees coming from companies nationwide (a rise of 26.3 percent in classes and 16.7 percent in trainees compared with 2009). It met and arranged schedules for 368 foreign delegations with nearly 15,000 companies working in and visiting Vietnam, led 110 Vietnamese business delegations with 5,403 companies to search for investment and business opportunities in foreign nations. In 2010, VCCI admitted 586 new members. Through these actions, VCCI has helped companies in Vietnam to boost operating capacity and increase trade and investment opportunities.
In the coming time, what will VCCI focus on to strengthen support for enterprises?
In 2011, many important events in connection with Vietnam’s growth will take place. This is the first year of the five-year socioeconomic development strategy from 2011 to 2015, with vision spanning to 2020. World economies are forecast to face uncertainties that may cause adverse impacts on Vietnam's economy, particularly inflation, interest rates, exchange rates and energy insecurity. Besides, exporters are facing more difficulties like trade barriers, quality and diversity of exported products. Last but not least, companies have more difficulty accessing credit, due to high borrowing costs.
Given this economic context, VCCI has launched action plans and directions for its operations in 2011: Enhancing business support by strengthening regional links. Specifically, in the northern upland region, VCCI reached cooperation agreements with the People's Committees of Yen Bai and Lao Cai provinces on the establishment of VCCI branches and business associations there. By means of business associations, VCCI will support them with management training, technological applications and legal document introduction. VCCI will also help them reflect difficulties and solve problems, thus creating a fair business environment. In the coming time, VCCI will be determined to implement this approach and expand its scope of application in other provinces and cities in Vietnam. Only by doing that can VCCI promote the development of businesses and entrepreneurs in order to realise the target of having at least one million enterprises by 2015 and over 1.5 million by 2020. This means that the number of companies will increase at least three times from the current force. Many companies will reach regional and global scale by that time.
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