Celebrating dialogues between enterprises and ministries
Dialogues between enterprises and state agencies have highly been appreciated by business community for their higher effectiveness.
At these dialogues, enterprises had chances to directly present their urgent concerns, which were later realized by relevant authorities. These programs such as dialogues on tax and customs, land and insurance issues, salary, and labour have also drawn special public attention thanks to their direct impact on both enterprises and citizens’ interests. After each dialogue, the ministries of Finance, Environment & Natural Resources, and Labour-War Invalids-Social Affairs give out their solutions for all inquiries.
Vietnam-US Businesswomen’s Conference
The conference was held by the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) Women Entrepreneurs’ Council (VWEC) and Committee 200 (C200), organisation of successful American businesswomen, in Hanoi in April, 2005. Themed ‘Business opportunity – Family – Social position,’ the conference aimed to promote the exchange between Vietnamese and American businesswomen on business opportunity, management experience, negotiation skills, family and career balance, child education and co-operation plans. Around 100 Vietnamese businesswomen, representing over 800 businesswomen nationwide and 17 American colleagues attended the event.
PCI announcement
In May, 2005, VCCI co-operated with the Vietnam Competitiveness Initiative (VNCI) announced the provincial competition index (PCI), which attaches importance to local governance. Around 16,200 enterprises, mainly private enterprises which did not enjoy priorities and protection, in 42 provinces and cities were surveyed. Binh Duong, with the highest growth rate in industry, had the highest PCI in Vietnam. Ha Tay ranked 42nd of the 42 surveyed provinces.
The conference was held by the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) Women Entrepreneurs’ Council (VWEC) and Committee 200 (C200), organisation of successful American businesswomen, in Hanoi in April, 2005. Themed ‘Business opportunity – Family – Social position,’ the conference aimed to promote the exchange between Vietnamese and American businesswomen on business opportunity, management experience, negotiation skills, family and career balance, child education and co-operation plans. Around 100 Vietnamese businesswomen, representing over 800 businesswomen nationwide and 17 American colleagues attended the event. In May, 2005, VCCI co-operated with the Vietnam Competitiveness Initiative (VNCI) announced the provincial competition index (PCI), which attaches importance to local governance. Around 16,200 enterprises, mainly private enterprises which did not enjoy priorities and protection, in 42 provinces and cities were surveyed. Binh Duong, with the highest growth rate in industry, had the highest PCI in Vietnam. Ha Tay ranked 42 of the 42 surveyed provinces.
In 2006, VCCI is expected to continue to do a survey with 30,000 enterprises in 64 provinces and cities.
Trade promotion in foreign countries
2005 was possibly one of the most successful years of VCCI in trade promotion activities. VCCI, in particular, organised business delegation to accompany Vietnamese Party and State leaders in their visits to foreign countries. These included the visit to the US by Prime Minister Phan Van Khai in June, 2005, in which the biggest Vietnamese business delegation with representatives of 150 enterprises won main contracts. Also, during the visit to China with President Tran Duc Luong in July, 2005, Vietnamese enterprises signed many co-operation agreements with their Chinese partners. Enterprises, which accompanied National Assembly Nguyen Van An to North African countries in December 2005, had opportunities to explore a new potential market for Vietnamese goods.
Vietnamese Days in Germany and Singapore
Vietnamese Days in Germany and Singapore were two major programmes which were assigned by the Government to VCCI to organise in co-operation with ministries and agencies. The Vietnamese Days in Germany, held in Berlin from November 29 to December 1, 2005, were an important event marking the 30th anniversary of Vietnam-Germany diplomatic ties. It helped promote political, economic and cultural co-operation between Vietnam and Germany and the EU. The Vietnamese Days in Singapore were held from December 5-8, 2005 on the occasion of the signing of the Framework Agreement on Singapore-Vietnam Connectivity.
The two programmes consisted of trade-investment-tourism forums, the meetings of Vietnamese enterprises and their German and Singaporean partners, the ‘Specific Vietnam’ exhibition to introduce outstanding products by Vietnam to the German and Singaporean markets, showrooms to introduce images of the Vietnamese land and people. The two programmes ended in a great success and were highly appreciated by German and Singaporean investors.
Holding the First CIO Summit
In late May 2005, VCCI and IDG Vietnam jointly organized the Awarding Ceremony to announce list of 10 best Chief Information Officers (CIO) in the Indochina region for the first time. All the selected candidates came from both state and non-state sectors in three Indochinese countries of Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. Seven of them were from Vietnam, 1 from Laos and 2 from Cambodia. The event will be held annually to honour individuals contributing to the development cause of Information Technology (IT) in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. The event also aims to put all initiatives and successes of CIOs into effect and promote IT application in all economic sectors as well.
Participating into Law-making Process
VCCI has already arranged 16 seminars and symposiums in cooperation with relevant agencies to collect inputs and comments for Common Investment Law and Unified Enterprise Law. After nine months, the two law drafts were already ratified at the 8th session of NA XI Meeting. The two laws will take effect on July 1st this year. The enterprise community has pinned hopes on the two laws as they are expected to help improve the legal environment for business activities in Vietnam. In addition, VCCI also held several workshops to gather ideas for such laws as Law on Tourism, Law on Gender Equality, and Law on E-Transaction. Apart from gathering comments via seminars and symposiums, VCCI built a website (http://vibonline.com.vn) for enterprises and others to provide their ideas online.
Assisting Enterprises in IT Application
Regarding the fact that IT is a vital instrument for enterprises during WTO integration, VCCI has already boosted ties with both domestic and foreign organizations such as VNCI, ADOC, Intel, and FPT to equip Vietnamese enterprises with IT knowledge. Under such cooperation, VCCI has also launched e-transaction websites as
www.vnemart.com.vn and
www.vinafrica.com and issued books on supporting enterprises through IT and a Communication Handbook for Enterprises and a Handbook for Integration and Development.
Organizing cultural exchange programme to honour enterprises and entrepreneurs
The most outstanding events are activities to mark Vietnam Entrepreneurs Day on October 13, not only honour entrepreneurs but give opportunities to entrepreneurs to share their experiences in life and in business. VCCI also selected and rewarded top ten labour users in Vietnam last year.
VCCI created an online forum for enterprises and entrepreneurs at
www.doanhnhanviet.net.vn. Participants will have the chance to share experiences and get access to valuable news such as domestic and foreign investment opportunities on the website. Other business culture activities were also launched via national conferences on business and enterprise culture such as Vietnam Businessman Golf Tournament 2005 – VCCI Cup and Vietnam Businessman Tennis Tournament 2005.
Nguyen Thoa – Lan Anh
Vietnamese
