]As a representative of the business community in Vietnam, in more than a half of a century, the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) has always fulfilled its role as an effective dialogue channel between the government and the business community, and is an indispensable factor in the development of businesses. It has managed to build up confidence and connect businesses for the common target of economic development.
Set up on April 27, 1963, in the past 51 years, VCCI has attained important achievements and become the biggest trade - investment promotion agency in Vietnam, a reliable companion to enterprises, a trusted partner of the Government, and an important helper to national economic development. Every year, VCCI organises foreign market survey trips for thousands of Vietnamese enterprises and receives hundreds of foreign business delegations visiting Vietnam to survey markets and seek business - investment opportunities. In 2013 alone, the International Relations Department of VCCI received 52 foreign delegations, led 10 business delegations abroad, including two delegations accompanying Party and State leaders on State-level visits, and held 72 conferences and seminars on trade promotion, with more than 500 businesses attended.
Amid global economic slowdown, protectionist trend tends to be on the rise. VCCI has actively advised and supported Vietnamese enterprises overcome trade barriers, apply trade defence measures, settle disputes in international trade, protect legitimate rights and interests, and build business confidence in the integration process.
Dr Vu Tien Loc, VCCI President, affirmed that, in the past more than half a century, VCCI has made great contributions to the development of the economy, the business community and the entrepreneur force of Vietnam. VCCI has carried out many activities to help enterprises improve their competitiveness and expand their markets like investment and trade promotion programmes and projects. The agency provides information, consultancy, business matching, market research, exhibition, arbitration, representative of industrial property protection, and certificate of origin. The activities effectively support businesses in the process of international integration.
Besides, VCCI has focused on domestic trade promotion. Mr Tran Thien Cuong, Director of International Relations Department, VCCI, said, in 2013, the International Relations Department organised many conferences and seminars to support businesses to access new policies of the Government and ministries on doing business with foreign countries, create opportunities for Vietnamese companies to explore foreign markets and listen to advice from professionals and foreign associations in Vietnam. The Department also actively cooperated with localities namely Yen Bai, Lao Cai, Hoa Binh, Phu Tho, Bac Giang, Lang Son and other provinces to help introduce long-term investment cooperation opportunities. It also helped localities to raise the provincial competitiveness index (PCI).
In training, in the past 51 years, VCCI has been very active in building business support centre network in the country. VCCI regularly organises training programmes on basic business knowledge and skills as well as advanced executive training courses for corporate executives. Cooperation and connectivity programmes with prestigious foreign universities and training establishments have helped enterprises to raise their practical knowledge and exchange their experience with successful businesspeople in the world. Many business cooperation opportunities are found there.
Specially, the outstanding result of the 2008-2013 tenure is that VCCI proposed, built and submitted to the Politburo the Resolution No. 09/NQ-TW on building and promoting the role of entrepreneur force in the period of accelerating industrialisation, modernisation and international integration - the first Party document on entrepreneurs in more than 80 years of its history. This is a breakthrough step in thinking and affirms the role and position of Vietnamese enterprises and entrepreneurs in the cause of national construction and protection.
In international cooperation, VCCI has attended and contributed opinions to a lot of regional and international meetings in the cooperation framework of regional and international organisations like ABAC I - ABAC IV APEC CEO Summit, ABAC Dialogue with APEC Leaders in Indonesia, GMS - FRETA and ACMECS events. VCCI also coordinated with ASEAN BAC to present ASEAN Award 2013.
In the coming time, businesses of Vietnam and the world will still face with a lot of difficulties; thus, the number of foreign business delegations to Vietnam and the Vietnamese delegations abroad will decrease considerably. As organising overseas business survey delegations is quite difficult now, two core tasks of VCCI will be proposing the Party and the State on policy issues and institutions and supporting businesses to enhance competitive capacity, integrate effectively and develop sustainably.
In addition, VCCI will focus on foreign affairs, with priority given to major markets and areas with potential trade and investment cooperation like Japan, China, Russia, South Korea, India, the EU, the US, Latin America, Africa and the Middle East to create a bridge for enterprises to do business and expand the market.
Ha Vu
Vietnamese
