On December 26, 2018, the Executive Board of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) hosted the ninth regular meeting of the sixth term.
In 2018, VCCI has participated in drafting 16 important legal documents such as the Law on Tax Administration, the Law on Public Debt Management, Amended Decree on Business Legal Support; engaged in appraising and checking 26 draft legal documents; organised nearly 320 conferences and seminars on policy and law for 44,800 enterprises; and consulted the business community to complete comments on 120 draft legal documents.
In its efforts and actions for a better business environment and more effective administrative procedure reform, VCCI has closely followed the guiding spirit of Resolution 19/NQ-CP and Resolution 35/NQ-CP on “Business support and development to 2020”; carried out assigned tasks in Directive 26/CT-TTg; and continued to implement Project 12 on enhancing integrity in business: Coordinating with stakeholders to complete the report on conclusion the project on “Supporting SMEs to resist corruption in Vietnam” and the policy report on “Enhancing integrity in business in Vietnam: From awareness to action. VCCI has been also very active to execute Resolution 10-NQ/TW on private economic development; continued to enforce cooperation agreements and commitments signed in previous years and 20 new cooperation agreements signed in 2018 with agencies, localities, associations and international organisations.
Especially, 2018 is considered a year of great success for VCCI in trade promotion. VCCI has coordinated with relevant bodies to organise the GMS Business Summit on the sidelines of the GMS 6 Summit and the 10th CLV Conference, Vietnam Business Summit 2018 (VBS 2018) within the framework of the World Economic Forum (WEF) on ASEAN 2018. It attended second, third and fourth sessions of the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) in 2018 in Japan, Malaysia and Papua New Guinea. As the chair of ABAC Vietnam and co-chair of ABAC, VCCI President Vu Tien Loc co-chaired all meetings and sessions of the Chairs Council and plenary sessions; participated in thematic groups, breakout meetings of ASEAN members and key meetings on ASEAN Vision 2020.
In addition, VCCI has hosted 580 seminars, conferences and meetings attended by nearly 63,000 businesses; organised 1,350 training courses on various contents for nearly 73,000 managers and businesses; opened 10 specialised exhibitions in Vietnam which attracted more than 49,450 visitors and one international exhibition abroad.
As a representative of employers, VCCI has continued to contribute valuable ideas to building labour law policies, activities of the National Labour Relations Committee and the National Wage Council; and surveyed and built the 2019 minimum wage increase plan for employers.
Mr. Hoang Quang Phong, Vice President of VCCI, said, according the working plan for 2019, VCCI needs to complete key tasks such as completing and successfully defending State-level project “Competitiveness of our economy: Reality, issues and solutions” directed by Dr. Vu Tien Loc, part of the theoretical scientific research programme in the 2016 - 2020 period led by the Central Theories Council. The results of the project will be used as input to prepare documents of the 13th Party Congress. VCCI will continue to carry out Resolution 09/NQ-BCT on building and promoting entrepreneurs’ roles. At the same time, the agency will focus on reforming administrative procedures in the spirit of Resolution 19/NQ-CP and Resolution 35/NQ-CP in various areas like tax, customs, specialised inspection and business conditions; and carry out tasks assigned by the Prime Minister's Advisory Council for Administrative Procedure Reform.
According to VCCI President Vu Tien Loc, at the meeting with members of the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Group, the Prime Minister underlined VCCI’s tasks for the coming time: Better reviewing overlapping business regulations that trouble enterprises; reducing 50 per cent of these obstructive regulations; reducing business costs, thoroughly carrying out socialisation principle.
Mr. Tran Viet Anh, Vice Chairman of Ho Chi Minh City Business Association
The role and contribution of the private business sector is huge for the economy. According to statistics, by the end of November 2018, the city’s revenue reached VND1,330 trillion, compared with VND5,500 trillion of the whole country. The private sector contributed over 51 per cent to the city’s gross domestic product (GDP). The operating capacity and contribution of the private sector is huge but they are still suffering from some unreasonable regulations set by State management agencies. For example, Decree 34/ND-BTC specifies that companies operate where they locate their head office. This makes it difficult for textile and apparel enterprises because the city cannot arrange workplaces for thousands of garment companies in the city. But when they move to other areas, they are not entitled to tax reduction and subject to higher insurance premiums.
Ms. Nguyen Thi Thanh Huyen, General Director of Garment Corporation 10
Garment Corporation 10, set up 1956, has a more than 60 years of history. The firm always has a good remuneration policy for its employees and spares 5 ha of land of its 15 ha premise to build residences for its employees, a hospital with over 10 doctors, and a kindergarten for 350 children. However, this model is still subject to high land tax rates imposed by local authorities. As a garment manufacturer, it has a large workforce. Its salary, welfare and insurance policies seriously affect its operations. Therefore, in the coming time, as a representative of employers, the company expects that VCCI proposes reasonable salaries and wages to avoid pressures on the company.
Anh Phuong
Vietnamese
October 2024
Hanoi
