The Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) has worked out an action plan for the implementation of the Resolution No. 19/NQ-CP dated March 18, 2014 of the Government on primary tasks and solutions for improving business environment and enhancing national competitiveness. Accordingly, VCCI has assigned many tasks to the Vietnam Business Council for Sustainable Development (VBCSD).Vietnam Business Forum interviewed Mr. Nguyen Quang Vinh, Director of the Office for Business Sustainable Development (SD4B) and General Secretary of VBCSD, on this content.
Mr. Vinh said the Resolution 19/NQ-CP assigns four tasks to VCCI: (1) Performing periodically independent researches and surveys on the quality of administrative procedure reform and sending recommendations to the Government; (2) Periodically reporting to the Prime Minister and publicising the contents to the business community and citizens; (3) Considering the business community’s credit ratings for ministries, sectors and localities; grasping problems, difficulties and shortcomings in administrative procedures relating to investment, land and construction; setting up business support programmes, building effective competitive strategies, applying science and technology, building brand name, exercising corporate social responsibility in order to gradually improve business levels and competitiveness of the business community; (4) Collecting feedbacks of enterprises on policies of ministries, sectors and localities, and sending reports to the National Council for Sustainable Development and Competitiveness Improvement and the Office of Government.
Among VCCI tasks assigned by the Government, many contents are related to SD4B and VBCSD. How will VBCSD perform these tasks?
To comply with the direction of the Prime Minister, VCCI President delegated SD4B and VBCSD to coordinate with the VCCI Legal Department to carry out the programme. So far, apart from joint action plans deployed by VCCI like provincial competitiveness index (PCI) survey, business remark research and credit ratings for governmental agencies, SD4B and VBCSD cooperated with other VCCI units to create action plans, including scientific and technological application, branding development, market development and corporate social responsibility exercising to enhance corporate competitiveness. Taking scientific and technological application by enterprises as example, we will organise training courses on cleaner production for businesses and support them to apply technologies to adapt to climate change. In corporate branding support, the Council will assist the construction and diffusion of "Made in Vietnam" brands for agriculture, forestry, fisheries, food and other potential sectors. Regarding inclusive business activities, we will pilot new production models for milk, tea and coffee industries by approaching industry-specific value chains and increase incomes and livelihoods for farmers. In addition, the Council supports businesses to use the Sustainability Reporting as a tool to improve corporate competitiveness and implement the “Integrity in business" project.
Recently, the Prime Minister also approved the National Action Plan for Green Growth in the 2014 - 2020 phase in which VCCI is assigned some certain tasks. How will these tasks influence operation strategies of VBCSD in the coming time?
Among 66 tasks that the Prime Minister assigns to ministries and agencies, VCCI is allocated three: Carrying out the ‘sustainability-standard businesses’ campaign on a wide scale to perfect the institution and raise the perception; Building the capacity of technical consultancy and management of green growth, supporting businesses to develop cleaner production and green business; Raising the awareness of businesses and sharing domestic and international experiences in green growth in the 2013-2020 period.
Currently, the VBCSD is assigned to be the lead agency that coordinates other VCCI units to build and implement the contents of the National Action Plan for Green Growth. Accordingly, VCCI will push business associations and professional associations to build action programmes for green growth and green production, study cleaner production supports; raise the awareness about green growth, apply science and technology, share experiences which are the weak points of Vietnamese businesses.
One of VBCSD’s strengths is its membership: multinational corporations with extensive experience in sustainable development and green growth. With its roles, what will VBCSD do to make multinational corporations promote experience sharing with Vietnamese businesses?
VBCSD currently has 56 members. It operates on the basis of consensus of all members and is an address for businesses, especially big corporations and multinational corporations, to share experience in international practices. For example, Unilever shares experience in inclusive business model. The company has created tea-growing models for 23,000 farming households in six provinces. Dow Chemical shares experience in technical support for Vietnamese companies deploying cleaner production, economising energy and protect environment. Friesland Campina Vietnam, the owner of Dutch Lady milk brand, shares inclusive business programme by supporting dairy farmers in Vietnam.
With such objectives, since the start of this year, VBCSD has carried out many business support activities. Particularly after the Vietnam Business Forum for Sustainable Development 2014, the Council has sent reports on four contents to Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam, Chairman of the National Council for Sustainable Development and Competitiveness Improvement: Sustainability Reporting; Energy Efficiency and Climate Change; Social Enterprise development; and Inclusive Business.
Besides the above tasks, in the coming time, particularly in the last six months of 2014, the Council will cooperate with Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia and other nations to build action plans to move towards business sustainability vision for ASEAN business communities towards 2020. This is a huge task, with a broad coverage and within the framework of the ASEAN economic community formulated in 2015. This is also a very practical issue for the Vietnamese business community.
Source: The Vietnam Business Forum Magazine
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