Vietnam-EU Business Forum: Useful Information Bridge

Vu Tien Loc, president of VCCI, said that the establishment of VEBF aimed to create opportunities for European and Vietnamese enterprises to make contacts with Government officials and provide information about the EU’s regulations, thus bridging a link between European and Vietnamese business communities. VEBF is co-chaired by VCCI and Eurocham with co-presidents Alain Cany, general director of HSBC and Vu Viet Ngoan, general director of the Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam (Vietcombank). VEBF’s activities will be based on plans of action agreed and developed annually by the two sides.

 

To increase the effectiveness of the Programme of Action, VEBF will have working groups on business, which will conduct an exploration of business administration in Vietnam and propose solutions for the issue; trade and investment, which will study trade and investment issues, and labour and social affairs, which will study the Labour Code and issues relating to the labour environment.

 

VEBF Co-president Ngoan said that in 2006, the first year of the forum, its agenda would concentrate on the following contents: Firstly, the forum will conduct studies and information exchange in the form of seminars and explorations to help enterprises understand further about investment and trade opportunities. Also, the forum will advise the Government about its policies, facilitating the exchange of goods and promoting Vietnam-EU investment relations. Secondly, the forum will study the landscape of business administration in Vietnam, based on which the forum will develop an business administration model in accordance with the international practice and propose the Government to adjust its legal framework, thus helping enterprises of Vietnam and the EU to improve its management capability and understandings in business and investment co-operation. Thirdly, exploration and studies on labour and the labour market, advantages and shortcomings of the issues from a point of view of trade and investment, will be conducted.

 

The EU accounted for 17 per cent of Vietnam’s total export turnover (in 2005) with main exports including footwear, garments, coffee, seafood and woodworks. The EU, in turn, exports machines, electric items, airplanes and accessories, pharmaceutical products and medical equipment to Vietnam. Markus Corano, ambassador and head of the EC delegation, said that in recent years, the two sides’ export turnover had dropped but it was not too serious both can improve the situation by promoting their co-operation. In terms of investment, the EU accounts for 15 per cent of foreign direct investment in Vietnam.

 

Corano added that the challenge for EU investors was that decrees providing guidelines on the implementation of the Common Investment Law and the Unified Enterprise Law, the Intellectual Property Law, and the legal framework for the implementation of Vietnam’s WTO accession had not been improved yet. Vietnam should improve its investment environment and increase competitiveness in technology transfer, income tax for contractors, open bidding, and promote the co-operation with the private sector in developing infrastructure facilities, fight against bureaucracy and corruption.

 

For Vietnamese enterprises, it is a favourable condition for them to learn about business opportunities in the EU via the 600,000 overseas Vietnamese in the region. At present, 60-70 per cent of Vietnam’s goods are exported to the EU via the overseas Vietnamese community.

 

Corano said that Vietnamese enterprises may get access to information about the EU market by making contacts with Vietnamese trade missions in the EU, finding information about programmes on bilateral trade promotion programmes implemented by the Vietnamese Ministry of Trade, such as the programmes on trade promotion, market exploration tours, trade fairs and exhibitions or making contacts with the business and industrial associations of the EU.

 

According to economic experts, the promotion of trade and information about the EU market, measures to help enterprises exporting to the EU, especially for goods of great potential and advantages, are necessary for Vietnam to maintain such a market of great potential.