Dear achternaam,

BBGV attends special business discussion with Ho Chi Minh City Party Secretary Dinh La Thang

Chairman’s Message:

It’s not every day someone has the privilege of meeting with a member of the Vietnam Politiburo to discuss trade and business challenges in Vietnam. Last week I was honored to represent British Business Group Vietnam in a very personal meeting with HCMC Party Secretary Dinh La Thang. Joining me were BBGV Vice Chair, Chris Jeffrey (British University Vietnam), Rick Yvanovich (TRG), and Jonathan Workman (GSK) as well as BBGV staff.

In our one hour meeting with the Party Secretary, I raised some issues that our members feel are important to improving the business climate not only here in Ho Chi Minh City but throughout the country. British business is challenged in many areas. Below are the main items raised with Mr. Thang:

Visa and Work Permits

UK has a strategic partnership with Vietnam yet visa exemptions are limited to 15 days and this may end at the end of June.

Can the Government please give priority to extending the visa exemptions for a period of 30 days to facilitate more tourist travel and make life easier for business visitors. Also, the requirement for work permits seem to be always changing and there seem to be different interpretations. UK businesses do not generally employ expats when they can find local staff with the requisite skills and qualifications. A good example of this is HSBC.

Previously the law was changed requiring either a degree or 5 years work experience but more recently it has changed again to a degree and 5 years’ experience. This is causing our members a lot of problems because in many professions such as Hoteliers and accountants young people start in the industry straight from High School to gain professional or vocational qualifications e.g. ACCA. We asked that these requirements to be reviewed ASAP.

Party Secretary Answer:

HCMC agrees with BBGV that visa exemption period should be extended to 30 days. However, this matter is in charge by MOFA, HCMC will send recommendation to MOFA on this. As an important opinion contributor to the central government, this would be positive for HCMC to raise this issue to MOFA.

For work permits: Since 1st July 2016, new regulations will be effective. The HCMC Party Committee will pass this to HCMC People’s Committee to study and answer BBGV later.

Rule of Law and arbitrary decisions

There are often cases where local people who are well connected with the administration try to frustrate legitimate business for personal gain. In one example I wrote to the Party Secretary in April and in another case the company was forced out of a factory because of a false environmental emission inspection.

The company in the latter case had no real recourse as there is no representative body that could hear or adjudicate on commercial matters unless they directly relate to a contract between two parties.
We asked the Government to please consider the establishment of an independent body which could hear and adjudicate on commercial disputes where there is no other channel for hearing these disputes.

Rule of Law and difficulty appealing department decisions

Similar to commercial disputes we often have members with complaints about the way tax inspections are conducted and where there are disagreements they left with one of two options which are to agree with the minutes or have their bank accounts frozen and lose the right to leave the country.

We asked Mr. Thang to please consider to have a body to which appeals can be made and adjudicated on matters between commercial enterprises and Government departments.

Party Secretary Answer:

Business can send feedbacks to relevant authorities in HCMC. If the solutions drawn from the government departments are unsatisfactory, businesess can bring their issues to HCMC People’s Committee and further to HCMC Party Committee in cases where the HCMC People’s Committee fails to provide a proper measure.

Increasing Trade and Investment between UK and Vietnam

The BBGV have set up a Business Centre which is a not for profit division assisting UKTI with trade and investment promotion.
As part of our Strategic Partnership Agreement we believe the BBGV can enhance the amount of interest from British Companies by being able to represent them for an initial period of 12 months facilitating their market entry by allocation of staff resources to facilitate research and following up on business leads prior to the company establishing their own operations in Vietnam. We asked the Party Secretary to support such an initiative.


Party Secretary Answer:

We would fully support your business incubator idea and await to hear more detail.

Pharma Law

We are very pleased with the progress the Vietnamese government has made in this area and we look forward to the release of the implementing guidelines – and our industry would welcome the opportunity to consult and provide comment on the proposed draft. In line with this, we proposed to the party secretary that pharmaceutical FIEs implementing the import right be issued no later than 1st January 2017 in order for the EUFTA commitments and rights to be operational. This also takes into account Vietnam’s WTO commitments which has recorded the import rights of FEIs for pharmaceutical products since 2007.

Party Secretary Answer:

HCMC will study the new Law on Pharmacy and respond to BBGV


Green Energy and Solar Power

The “solar power initiative’’ has been successfully implemented by Dept of Science & Tech in 2015 and 2016. Can the Government expand and provide more funding for the programme in 2017 and 2018?

Awaiting response.

Encouraged further collaboration on industry specific developments 

There are a number of significant changes in legislation at present due to the EUFTA and TPP, and industry-specific developments such as the new Pharma Law. We welcomed the Party Secretary to share his thoughts on how businesses in HCMC can collaborate with the government to enable consultation, as this would allow businesses to contribute to building an environment conducive to foreign investment.

The Party Secretary answer:

HCMC always aims to create convenient, fair and transparent business environment for investment and business activities among investors and enterprises.

The city is currently implementing meetings between the city’s leaders and foreign business associations on a periodical basis, in which concerns from business are listened and resolutions are initiated, making way for improvements which in turn, will encourage business to operate in HCMC.

Overall the meeting was constructive and opened some good dialogue. We expect this to develop into round table meetings to further cover the points above and other pertinent issues affecting businesses and trade within HCMC.

Regards, 

Ken Atkinson

BBGV Board Chair

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