Corporate Social Responsibility Awards 2012

On March 30, 2013 in Hanoi, the Vietnam Business Council for Sustainable Development (VBCSD) and the Office for Business Sustainable Development (SD4B) under the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), in collaboration the Ministry of Planning and Investment, the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, and international organisations, held a solemn ceremony to present the 2012 Corporate Social Responsibility Awards (CSR Awards). The award aimed to honour and praise enterprises with good corporate social responsibility and attaining excellent achievements in labour and environment aspects from 2010 to 2012.

In the current context of international integration, exercising corporate social responsibility is a critical requirement for Vietnamese enterprises as it helps them satisfy increasingly stringent requirements of their partners and enhance competitiveness in domestic and international markets. Voluntary CSR implementation is a measure to ensure sustainable development, and a clear expression of the award’s objective: “Sustainable enterprises, prosperous society.” Exercising CSR in Vietnam has just started but this will be a long-term matter. Awareness of corporate social responsibility will be translated into all activities.

Speaking at the ceremony, Dr Vu Tien Loc, VCCI President, affirmed that the CSR Award 2012 is not only a driving force for businesses to strive for protecting the environment and improving working and living conditions of workers, but also an encouragement for workers to get involved in meeting their social responsibility. This helps increase the reputation of companies among customers, improving their competitiveness. In addition, the CSR Award 2012 also motivates enterprises to carry out national strategic objectives recently approved by the Government, like the National Strategy for Green Growth in the 2011 - 2020 period, with a vision to 2050, the Vietnam Sustainable Development Strategy in the 2011 - 2020 period, the National Strategy on Climate Change to 2050, and vision to 2100.

 

He added that winners have a high consensus from executives to the entire staff in applying corporate social responsibility. In the coming time, VCCI, as a representative for employers, will support the business community to enhance competitiveness in the integration process, step up sustainable development and exercise corporate social responsibility. Last year, despite economic difficulties, many companies spent enough funds for social responsibility and were recognised as examples of the movement. Hopefully, the award will receive wider support and participation of more companies with good CSR programmes.

Mr Pham Minh Huan, Deputy Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, said the CSR Award 2012 has proven its prestige and importance in honouring and praising companies doing CSR well, as well as encouraging them to apply it on a wider scale. Meeting their social responsibility is also an investment for the long-term future strategy of each enterprise.

 

Being a representative of the Organizing Committee, Nguyen Quang Vinh, Director of the Office for Business Sustainable Development (SD4B), VCCI, said, “Practising CSR is not new in the world, but it has been in Vietnam for just two decades. VCCI is one of vanguard units over the past two decades in supporting the Vietnamese business community to implement CSR. Now, many companies have clearly understood that their profitability is integrated with human resource development and environmental protection towards sustainable development."

 

VCCI presented the CSR Award 2012 to 41 winners in total. Each category has one first-prize winner, two second prize winners, three third prizes and 14 - 15 encouragement awards. Typical CSR 2012 winners included FPT Corporation, First Hotel, Hoa Sen Group, and Soc Trang Power Company.