Vietnam Ensures Safety for Foreign Businesses

He said some riotous demonstrators in some localities like Ha Tinh, Binh Duong, Dong Nai and Ho Chi Minh City were instigated by bad persons to destroy factories and worsen social order and security there. These spontaneous activities undermined the investment environment and stained the image of Vietnam.

 

Immediately after riotous demonstrations occurred, the Government of Vietnam organised hosts of meetings with relevant units and localities to take measures to prevent similar occurrences and discuss solutions to resume normal operations of affected companies. Dr Loc said, as of May 19, riotous protest rallies were brought under control. Companies stabilised and restored production. On the morning of May 19, 80-90 percent of the affected enterprises resumed their normal production and business activities. Vietnamese authorities actively supported subrogated enterprises to revive operations.

 

At the meeting, Ms Liu Mei The, Chairwoman of Council of Taiwanese Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam, said she was very moved to the efforts of the Government of Vietnam to address our damages. Although the Taiwanese business community faced big losses, many still wanted to stay in Vietnam. But, the Government of Vietnam needed to quickly solve very urgent problems facing Taiwanese businesses, she added.

 

The Government of Vietnam needed to plan solutions to deal with wages for labourers in industrial parks destroyed in the past disturbance and loosen regulations on licensing procedures and conditions for foreigner employment. Besides, it needed to establish a liaison unit in charge of handling all issues arising from the riotous demonstrations, measure the status of damage and resolve emerging issues to ease investors and assist them to resume operations soon.

 

The South Korea Business Association in Vietnam said the Government of Vietnam should take measures to prevent similar incidents in the future and extend tax deadlines for the affected companies.

 

Representatives from AmCham, EuroCham, AusCham and representatives of Japanese businesses suggested the Government of Vietnam to take proper steps to resolve these incidents because they are indirectly affected, citing the suspension of their supply chains or passive import of input materials. They hoped that Vietnam would have rapid and transparent actions to thoroughly address the above incident and assure investors of a safe and friendly business environment.

 

Mr Pham Thanh Binh, Deputy Director of North East Asia Department under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said the Vietnamese authorities clearly expressed the stance. At first, the Government will support enterprises to overcome difficulties and will then have long-term policies and solutions to restore investor confidence.

 

Mr Luong Duc Huy, Deputy Director of the Tax Policy Department under the Ministry of Finance, said, to implement urgent measures to address this situation, the Ministry of Finance issued the Official Document No. 01/CD-BTC on guarantee of normal business operations for enterprises and stabilisation of labours’ livelihoods to related localities, urging the rapid support for investors to deal with difficulties. Particularly, the Ministry of Finance told the Head of the General Department of Taxation and the Head of the General Department of Customs to keep track of the situation to provide support for enterprises with damages to information technology systems, accounting data and documents in order to minimise effects on taxation operations like tax declaration, tax settlement and tax refund.

 

A representative of the Foreign Investment Agency said that the Ministry of Planning and Investment contacted the provincial/municipal departments of planning and investment and management boards of industrial parks and export processing zones to develop security measures.

 

Major General Nguyen Hong Linh from the Ministry of Public Security said the ministry timely sent police forces to riotous areas and worked out plans to prevent similar incidents from occurring in the future. The ministry increased security operations in 63 cities and provinces to protect foreign-invested companies. It also instructed the police force to increase security in industrial zones to protect foreign investors.