Recently, authorised by the Prime Minister and directed by the Standing Committee, Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry has established a Vietnam- Latin America Business Council, which officially went into operation in 2013. This is one of the recognised activities of VCCI in 2013 to support Vietnamese companies in seeking investment opportunities and trading with foreign markets.
In face with the difficulties of the world and Vietnamese economies, the numbers of international delegations to Vietnam and numbers of overseas field trips for Vietnamese businesses in the first months of 2013 have decreased significantly. Under these circumstances, VCCI has actively focused on the trade promotion activities in the domestic market by organising conferences and seminars to support businesses to access the new policies of the Government and ministries on foreign trade, creating opportunities for Vietnamese businesses to research foreign markets and communicate with experts, foreign associations in Vietnam and foreign embassies in Vietnam for advices on international business, and organising business meetings directly to facilitate cooperation between Vietnamese businesses and foreign businesses for trade promotion and investment opportunities .
Besides, VCCI also received many business delegations that accompany the government leaders of the countries to visit and work in Vietnam as well as commercial business delegations to seek investment and business opportunities in Vietnam and organized seminars, presentations, bilateral business forums, and training courses.
In particular, VCCI organised business delegations accompanying State President Truong Tan Sang to Indonesia on June 27-28, 2013. Under the framework of the trip, VCCI successfully organised business seminars between Vietnam and Indonesia.
Besides the business delegations accompanying the Party and Government leaders, VCCI has also actively developed and implemented plans at the beginning of the year for business delegations to survey the market, consisting of an official business delegation led by the President of Vietnam- India Business Forum to visit and work in India and attend the conference in India on March 22-27, 2013 and a field trip to research markets in the United States, Argentina, and Chile from May 23 to June 2, which includes 16 businesses to explore the market and partnership opportunities with Latin American businesses.
Besides, for the first 6 months, VCCI has been actively cooperating with local governments to boost up cooperation and investment opportunities in the provinces such as Yen Bai, Lao Cai, Hoa Binh, Phu Tho, Bac Giang, and Lang Son in order to attract foreign investment and enhance provincial competitiveness index (PCI).
In addition, the representatives of VCCI's Standing Committee have attended and contributed comments at regional and international meetings under the cooperation framework of international and regional organisations such as ABAC I in the Philippines, ABAC II in Singapore, GMS- FRETA capacity-building conference and Business Connection among Logistics Enterprises conference, ACMECS Summit, ACMECS Business Forum and a dialogue of business and ACMECS leaders, collaborated with the Secretariat Committee of ASEAN BAC to organise the ASEAN Business Award in 2013, attended the ASEAN-Russia Business Forum, and attended the conference to prepare for the ASEAN Business and Investment Summit in China and the 5th East Asia Business Forum on June 18-19 in Tianjin.
In particular, VCCI continued promoting efficiently the activities of the business forums: Vietnam - China, Vietnam - Africa-Middle East, Vietnam - Japan, Vietnam - EU, Vietnam - U.S, Vietnam - India, Vietnam South Korea, Vietnam- Russia Business Council, Vietnam- Saudi Arabia Business Council. The forums and business councils aim to strengthen broader partnership between the Vietnamese business community and foreign business community in various fields of trade, investment, scientific exchanges, technique, and culture and tourism. These forums have created an effective dialogue between businesses and government agencies to maintain communication channels with the diplomatic missions, foreign trade consulates in Vietnam through the active participation of the ambassadors and counselor in economic activities.
However, because the information about business delegations of the Party and Government leaders is often announced urgently, the logistics activities face many difficulties. In addition, due to the limited access to information resources from ministries, agencies, and member businesses, VCCI has not made best performances on providing information to businesses in general and supporting for member businesses in particular.
In the rest of the year, to continue the foreign affairs activities, VCCI will focus on a number of major and potential markets for trade and investment cooperation with Vietnam, including Japan, China, Russia , India, EU, US, Latin America, Africa, and Middle East. At the same time, VCCI continues implementing the activities under the framework of the forums on the basis of the approved budget, which focus on organizing trade promotion delegations to visit and make researches on foreign market; building, completing and updating information on e-commerce portal of the forum; releasing publications to introduce foreign markets; and organizing conferences and seminars to promote foreign trade on occasions of field trips of foreign countries to Vietnam or Vietnamese business delegation and field trips abroad. At the same time, VCCI continues promoting intensively and extensively the activities of the forum and Vietnam - Latin America Business Council, accelerating the integration and trade and investment activities within the international and regional organizations such as WTO, APEC, ASEAN, CACCI, GMS, ACMECS and PECC.
Quynh Chi
Vietnamese
