Tin mới
Input and influence (25/05)
06/08/2010 - 17 Lượt xem
Private enterprises are participating more actively in policy dialogue and
development through enterprise associations. According to incomplete figures,
there are around 400 enterprise associations in Vietnam, including those at
national and provincial levels, and they are becoming important and regular
partners of State offices in policy dialogue.
More active and efficient
The survey “A quick assessment of the quality of private enterprises in Vietnam” was conducted by a group of independent economists led by Mr Le Duy Binh from Economica Vietnam - a private company in economic surveys and policy consultancy - under a project funded by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and released in March. It pointed out that not only the quantity of policy dialogue has increased but also its quality. “Policy dialogue is conducted regularly with the participation of enterprises, particularly private enterprises, which has contributed to changing economic policies ... The quality of policy dialogue and development has also gradually improved due to an increase in the quality of research, professionalism in associations and the requirements of association members ... Opinions from the private sector contribute positively to the early stages of legal regulation development, thus contributing to improving the quality of laws and legal documents,” reads the report.
At the highest level, the Prime Minister holds an annual meeting and discussions with representatives from the enterprise community, co-organised by the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) and the Government Office. Associations talk directly with the PM about issues and hurdles in the business environment and the economy. Another prestigious forum is the bi-annual Vietnam Economic Forum, organised by the World Bank, the International Finance Corporation and the Ministry of Planning and Investment, where representatives from enterprises are given the opportunity to meet with ministry officials.
Representatives from associations also directly participate in drafting and discussing many legal documents with State bodies. Some also actively invite representatives from State bodies to attend their meetings to discuss issues or forward their suggestions to State bodies. They also actively publish their opinions on their websites as a new way of policy advocacy.
According to Mr Pham Dinh Doan, Vice Chairman of the Vietnam Young Entrepreneurs Association and CEO of the Phu Thai Group - the biggest domestic wholesale distributor - the blossoming of enterprise associations stems from the needs of both enterprises and the State. Enterprises need to gather together in associations to have a better chance of having their opinions heard by the State and also to discuss business cooperation activities. The State, meanwhile, wants associations to act as a bridge for gathering opinions and reactions from enterprises about policies.
More significantly, owners of private enterprises are increasingly present in the National Assembly (NA). Of the 493 NA delegates, 26 are entrepreneurs, including 15 from private and joint stock enterprises. Their voices are breathing fresh life into law development and policy dialogues. “Delegates from enterprises have played their role efficiently with high levels of responsibility,” said Ms Nguyen Thi Nguyet Huong, an NA delegate and Chairwoman of the Vietnam Investment Development (VID) Group, which invests in industrial park development. “Coming from the real world, their opinions and suggestions have often heated up the atmosphere in the NA chamber. More importantly, with frank and serious discussions based on thorough research and consideration, these delegates have persuaded the NA to reach consensus in law development.”
Room to improve
But both analysts in policy advocacy and the entrepreneurs acknowledge that there is still much room for improvement in the policy advocacy activities of enterprise associations. “In many cases associations only pursue their own interests in policy dialogue without considering the greater interests of the country,” said Mr Doan. “And in many cases, State offices simply listen to representatives from associations without providing feedback or reaction.”
According to Mr Binh, who has several years experience with domestic and international organisations in consulting and training enterprises on policy advocacy, the quality of policy dialogue has not improved significantly in the past few years, after making great strides forwards in the early 2000s. “The quality of dialogue reached a plateau [in the last decade],” he said.
The “Enterprise associations with the role of policy advocacy” research from 2007, co-funded by VCCI and the German Technical Cooperation Organisation (GTZ), pointed out that hurdles in making improvements to policy dialogues come from both sides. On the State side, several offices still lack transparency when forming policy development, consulting associations is a nominal manner rather than seeking quality input. When associations come to them to present their opinions they are rarely given an audience.
On the associations’ side, the main problems are shortages in finances and human resources, which prevent them from extending and improving their operations in general and in policy advocacy in particular. “Some 72 per cent of surveyed associations said that lack of finances is one of the main difficulties in their operations ... 52 per cent of associations pointed to shortages of qualified human resources as their main difficulty,” according to the research report. Many associations also have overly close relationships with State offices, such as having State officials within their management or having members that are large state-owned enterprises. In such cases the associations do not fully represent the independent interests of their industry, including private enterprises.
The research also identified some worrisome trends in the development of enterprise associations. These include policy manipulation by large associations, the vicious cycle of finance-human resource difficulties and poor-quality operations, and selfishness by associations in policy advocacy without considering the general interests of society.
“In both number and ratio [of total NA delegates], representatives from enterprises cover a small figure. [However], their opinions in law development have been listened to and analysed seriously and carefully. The real world has been reflected in legal regulations.”
Ms Nguyen Thi Nguyet Huong, Chair of the Vietnam Investment Development Group and NA delegate
“In many cases associations only pursue
their own interests in policy dialogues without considering the greater
interests of the country. And in many cases, State offices simply listen to
representatives from associations without providing feedback or reaction.”
Mr Pham Dinh Doan, CEO of the Phu Thai Group and Vice Chairman of the Vietnam Young Entrepreneurs Association
Source: VNEconomy.
