Important Cooperation Opportunities for Vietnam Businesses

Vietnam Bussiness Forum has an exclusive interview with Mr Hoang Van Dung, Vice President of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) and Chairman of APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC Vietnam), who, along with the Vietnamese business delegation, will accompany State President Nguyen Minh Triet to attend the APEC Summit 2010 and the Vietnam - Japan Business Forum in the Japanese port city of Yokohama.

The largest-ever Vietnamese business delegation will accompany State President Nguyen Minh Triet to attend the APEC Summit 2010. Could you give some details about this trip?
The business delegation accompanying President Nguyen Minh Triet to the APEC Summit from November 11 to 16 in Yokohama, Japan consists of more than 100 businesses. Prior to the business forum, Japan will host the 4th Meeting of the 4th APEC Business Advisory Council from November 8 to 10, the 22nd APEC Ministerial Meeting on November 10 and 11, and the APEC CEO Summit on November 12 and 13. One of President Triet’s most important activities during the trip will be direct bilateral meetings with Japanese leaders.

This large business delegation representing companies with business affairs with APEC will also attend the APEC Small and Medium Sized Enterprises Summit, and meetings on finance, energy and food safety, in addition to its main attendance to the business forum.

About 500 leading corporations from the Asia - Pacific region will attend APEC 2010. Thus, Vietnamese companies will have the opportunity meet and exchange information with business leaders in the region. This is a great opportunity for Vietnamese enterprises to seek measures promoting economic and trade relations with companies in the Asia-Pacific region.

As Chair of ASEAN 2010, what activities will Vietnam have at the APEC Summit this year?
Vietnam will report to APEC the results and recommendations of the 17th ASEAN Summit held in Hanoi. (Seven ASEAN members are also APEC members, excepting for Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar). In this process, Vietnam will present to APEC the problems and proposals of ASEAN businesses for APEC enterprises to refer to when building regional mechanisms and policies.

Introductory issues include trade liberalisation, capital flows, migration, food security, energy security, human resource training, natural disaster and disaster prevention coordination and support. All these matters are closely related to enterprises. Particularly, this year's topic will focus on the construction of Trans-Pacific agreements, food security and energy security.

What recommendations will APEC Vietnam Business Advisory Council contribute to this year’s APEC meetings?
The APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) was established in 1996 and each member country assigns three representatives to this group.  The Vietnamese Government assigned me - a VCCI official and the ABAC Vietnam Chairman - and two business leaders, namely Mr Dang Thanh Tam, President of Saigon Invest Group, and Mr Nguyen Thanh Hung, President of Sovico Group. Three other alternate members will also attend these meetings and contribute their ideas to ABAC Vietnam.

Vietnam joined APEC in 1998. Vietnam has sent recommendations to APEC leaders to further strengthen economic, trade and investment cooperation in the region. APEC now accounts for 50 percent of global GDP and 60 percent of global trade and investment. APEC can work with Vietnam for mutual development.

This year, the long-awaited main topic is suggestions for the construction of the Asia - Pacific Free Trade Area Programme. Currently, the Asia - Pacific region has a large capital flow; thus it has a high demand for investment, while Vietnam has young human resources, a stable political system, a dynamic force of entrepreneurs, and high demand for investment capital. Vietnam is considered a good business environment and APEC businesses are interested in building investment cooperation with Vietnam.

This is an opportunity for Vietnam to bring its image to the world.

What is your assessment of the economic cooperation between Vietnam and Japan?
In Asia, Japan has become a strategic partner with Vietnam and the two countries have already signed the Vietnam - Japan Free Trade Agreement. Currently, Japan is the third largest economy in the world and the second largest in Asia. This country also has a very high scientific and technological level and excellent governance level. The Japanese Government has also provided a lot of incentives for Vietnam, especially ODA aid.

Vietnamese companies attending this Vietnam - Japan Business Forum in Yokohama, Japan will have good opportunities to promote business ties with Japan, to learn about techniques and bring economic and commercial ties to a new high.

What do Vietnamese companies need to pay attention to when they do business with Japanese partners?
When doing business with Japanese partners, Vietnamese enterprises need to undertake careful business planning and build up cooperative ties on the basis of mutual trust, cooperation and long term vision. Japanese people are typically careful, honest and loyal. They loathe scams, thus your business will fail if you do not keep your promises.

Reported by Mai Anh