Australia supports economic reform in Vietnam

Australia supports economic reform in Vietnam

On 1st June 2018, under the program "The Australia Supports Economic Reform in Vietnam Program" (Aus4Reform Program) funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), Central Institute for Economic Management Join with the Australian Embassy in Vietnam to organize a workshop on "Assess progress and orient cooperation in the next phase of the Aus4Reform Program".

This Australian support program is expected to help Vietnam have an additional 1 million registered private enterprises by 2020, increasing the proportion of women-led businesses and boosting employment growth in the region. private sector.

Improve competitiveness

Mr.Le Dang Doanh, former director of the Central Institute for Economic Management, assessed: During the first year of implementation of Aus4Reform, the project deployed many activities focusing on 4 objectives and achieved positive contributions recognized by public opinion.

The project has organized many activities on the business environment, pointing out the restrictions on licensing and recommendations for reduction through Resolution No.19-NQ /CP 2017 and 2018, Resolution No.35, many ministries have reduced significant number of sub-licenses. The number of registered enterprises increased to 127,000 new registered enterprises,and  the number of enterprises returned to operation, reached 153,000 enterprises in 2017 and continued to increase in 2018.

In agriculture there have been positive changes, the number of farms has increased rapidly, farmers have been actively exchanging land plots, many private enterprises have invested in modern agricultural farm.

Farms open up new directions for agriculture, boosting exports of vegetables, fruits , fresh flowers increased by 30%, surpassing both crude oil in the first four months of 2018.

Improving the competition mechanism

According to Truong Dinh Tuyen, former Minister of Trade, the project has supported the practical implementation activities, focusing on a number of key outputs such as: Technical assistance for the development of the competition law (amended) and the implementing guidelines in accordance with the requirements of Vietnam's economic development and international commitments; Strengthen the capacity of the competition authority to enforce competition law and protect consumer rights.

Therefore, in order to ensure the sustainability of the project activities as well as to meet the needs in the new context, Mr.Tuyen said that the legal framework for competition should be improved such as: Assess the impact of the competition commitments in The CPTPP and the Vietnam-EU FTA on the competitive Vietnam’s enviroment in the context of the enforcement of the Competition Act (amended); Formulate research and support activities for the development of The decree on the National Competition Commission. Through its support activities including research, workshops and conferences; The program has contributed to the development of research reports for the revision of the Competition Law and the development of Decrees guiding the implementation, the development of in-depth research reports on current issues relevant to compete in multi-platform business areas, solve cross-border disputes of consumers.

In addition, the capacity of law enforcement to compete and the face of National Competition Commission should be strengthened such as: Organizing communication activities on important new points of the Competition Law (amended) as well as commitments on Competition in The CPTPP Agreement extends widely to the business community and relevant regulatory agencies; Implement training activities to improve the capacity of law enforcement to compete for new staff of the Department and relevant agencies such as the court, the sector management agency with the participation of international experts and experienced in the country;

Develop a competitive assessment in a number of priority / key sectors to contribute to the competitive agency's voice on the enforcement of competition in sector management;

Assist in reviewing and evaluating (fair handling) of competition and economic concentration cases since the Competition Law 2006 is valid.