Your Vietnam

Sean Doyle (C), ambassador and head of the Delegation of the EC to Vietnam, talks to speakers at the seminar in HCMC last week – Photo: Mong Binh

HCMC – The European Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam (EuroCham) is organizing a series of seminars and courses to assist Vietnamese business associations in building capacities for European and international trade policies and issues.

These activities are envisaged as part of a project called Capacity Building on Trade Policy for Vietnamese Business Associations that EuroCham introduced to the local business groups at a seminar in HCMC last week after it was assigned by the European Union (EU).

EuroCham chairman Alain Cany told the introduction seminar that all Vietnamese business associations involved in the two-year project would benefit by attending more training workshops and seminars across the country.

As part of the Mutual Trade Assistance Program III (MUTRAP III) by the EU and Vietnam, the project aims at providing members of local business groups with a better understanding of EU related trade matters and training them to become efficient consultation partners for the Vietnamese Government in this field.

EuroCham signed project partnership agreements with the Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association, the Vietnam Leather and Footwear Association and the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers at the seminar.

Other beneficiaries are the Hanoi Small and Medium-sized Enterprises Association, the HCMC Youth Business Association, the Handicraft and Wood Industry Association of HCMC, the HCMC branch of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) and the Can Tho Business Association.

Cany stressed the importance for the business groups to enhance their capacities when Vietnam is further integrating into the global market, especially after more than three years of Vietnam’s membership in the World Trade Organization.

“The implementation and application of WTO commitments and bilateral trade agreements is not only demanding for the Vietnamese Government, but in particular for the Vietnamese Business Associations as their members increasingly engage in cross-border trade,” Cany said.

“We are going to train representatives of Vietnamese business associations into professionals and know more about international trade policies. Therefore, they will be able to devise much better business strategies,” Cany told the Daily at the seminar.

Sean Doyle, ambassador and head of the Delegation of the EC to Vietnam, said Vietnam’s growing integration into global supply chains and international markets would require improved capacities of government and business associations.

“Some Vietnamese business associations are still lacking the means to provide advice on European trade rules and policies and to inform their members about the implications of trade integration, free trade agreements (FTAs) and business opportunities,” Doyle said.

Doyle added that the business associations also lacked professionally trained staff and funds to carry out their own research agenda that could be addressed through small grants.

Claudio Dordi, team leader of EU-Vietnam MUTRAP III, said after the seminar that the EuroCham project cost some 250,000 euro and was one of seven projects of the second component of MUTRAP III.

Dordi said the second component would be implemented within two years with a fund of 1.7 million euro and by a number of Vietnamese entities including VCCI.

Nguyen Thi Hoang Thuy, project director of EU-Vietnam MUTRAP III, said the second component focused on improving the Ministry of Trade and Industry’s coordination of business sectors as well as research and training institutions building consistent and sustainable trade policies for the country’s integration into the global economy.

Mong Binh – The Saigon Times Daily

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