Keys to Accessing the EU
The seminar ‘EU trade policy and Vietnamese business associations’ took place in mid January 2010 in HCM City. It was the first under EuroCham’s trade policy assistance project targeting Vietnamese business associations which is funded by the European Union. The seminar attracted more than 150 participants which consisted of senior experts from Europe, partners and EuroCham members who are advisors to Project 30 under the Government Office, and diverse business associations and their member companies.
During the seminar, EuroCham chairman Alain Cany related that not only the Vietnamese Government, but also business associations and enterprises are required to implement projects commensurate with WTO and bilateral trade agreement policies. He emphasized the importance of this as local companies have shown increasing involvement in cross-border trade. The ambassador of the EU Delegation Mission to Vietnam Sean Doyle said deeper involvement of domestic enterprises in the global supply chain and international markets requires more capacity building by the government, business associations and enterprises at both the central and local level. However, the reality is that many local business associations are undereducated and uninformed about regulations, policies and other information related to EU trade for supply to their member businesses. Moreover, business associations are also limited by too few qualified staff and too small budgets for market survey programs.
In the words of Sean Doyle, the project’s objective is to help Vietnam avoid “the medium income trap” – a lack of professionalism in developing enterprises – which many countries fall into during the development process. If they fall into this, businesses that only emphasize the local market are incapable of going beyond that into the world market. To avoid this, businesses must thoroughly understand their advantages and disadvantages in commercial markets, and have a thorough grasp of global business practices. Currently, the State takes responsibility only for supervision and oversight to ensure stability at the macro level. This fails to support small, private companies (small and medium-sized) that are essential to pushing economic growth.
To ensure the success and efficiency of the project, EuroCham experts will evaluate the training demands of particular Vietnamese business associations toward developing suitable training materials based on actual requirements. The eight selected associations are the Vietnam National Textile and Apparel Association (VITAS), the Vietnam Leather and Footwear Association (LEFASO)), the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP), the Ho Chi Minh City Artwork and Wood Processing Association (HAWA), the Ho Chi Minh City Young Business Association (YBA), the Can Tho Business Association (CBA), the Hanoi Small an Medium Size Enterprises Association (HASMEA) and the HCMC Branch of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
After completing the survey, EuroCham will conduct a series of workshops and high-quality training for the associations featuring senior experts from the EU that will focus on EU trade policies and regulations, provide training to representatives from HCM City business associations, and host seminars in key cities across the country. EuroCham will also establish an EU information center that will supply trade information to HCM City businesses. The project will be further benefited by the active support of advisors under Project 30 that is aimed at helping the Vietnamese Government cut unnecessary administrative procedures, by up to 30 percent, by late 2010./.
VEN
Tags: Vietnam EU business forum, Vietnam EU cooperation
Posted by VBN on Jan 27 2010. Filed under Int'l Cooperation. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry
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