IBLF and Pentland Group PLC Consecutively Invest Euro111,000 in VBLI

In the second phase of the Vietnam Business Links Initiative (VBLI) of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), the project will receive an investment of £111,000 (US$129,685) from the Prince of Wales International Business Leader Forum (IBLF) and Pentland Group PLC (UK). In the first phase (2000-2005), it received US$500,000 from these two donors. This project is part of VCCI’s programme to help footwear and textile enterprises to improve their Coporate Social Responsibility (CSR) standard.

 

At the 11^th Management Board Meeting on March 9^th 2006 in Hanoi, Director of IBLF, Mr. Peter Brew has assessed that optimistic achievements of the first project phase should be a good experience for enterprises all over the world. According to VBLI’s director Mr. Nguyen Quang Vinh, in 2005, VBLI has cooperated with GTZ and SAI to successfully organise many round table conferences on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) then together with UNIDO to develop database for CSR – a supporting activity afterwards; delivered training for textile enterprises in Haiphong; drafted the Code of Conduct (CoC) for textile enterprises; participated in the consultant and assessment council of the first CSR prize of textile industry, etc. Those activities have brought realistic results for hundreds of enterprises in improving social responsibility, creating close attachment with labourers and raising their production and business capacity.

 

About the future plan, Mr. Vinh said that VBLI would enlarge scale and strengthen impacts made by project’s standard of hygiene and safe working; support the institutionalising process of hygiene and safe working standard in Vietnam, apply knowledge and experience of footwear enterprises for textile and garment enterprises. In which VBLI will specially focus on commitment of effective impact through implementing models in four selected footwear and textile factories then building action programme to improve and supervise the process.