The COVID-19 pandemic has severely impacted businesses in Vietnam in general and foreign direct investment (FDI) businesses in particular, causing difficulties in accessing customers, disrupting the supply chain and use of labor workforce, incur additional costs for COVID-19 prevention. According to research by the World Bank and VCCI, in the FDI sector, 26% of medium-sized enterprises and 32% of large-scale enterprises had to give up a certain number of employees. Among the most affected sectors are information and communication, Manufacture and Processing of leather and wood products, mechanics and machinery.
Therefore, in the evening of October 28th, 2021 at Press Club Hanoi, Delta E&C Vietnam and the Italian Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam (ICHAM) organized the event “EURASIAN ENTERPRISES’ MEETING IN VIETNAM 2021” to create space for leaders of FDI companies to share their experiences in handling crises and stabilizing production activities during the pandemic. This meeting was attended by the Director General of Local Diplomacy Facilitation Department of Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) – Mr. Tran Thanh Huan, Mr. Antonino Tedesco – Head of Economic and Commercial Section of the Italian Embassy in Hanoi, representatives of business associations: EuroCham, CEEC (Central and Eastern European Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam), ICHAM, Korcham, IBCham, Association of Women Entrepreneurs of Small and Medium Enterprises in Vietnam, and senior leaders of FDI enterprises such as LG Vietnam, Cosmos Japan Creation.
According to Director General of Local Diplomacy Facilitation Department of Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) – Mr. Tran Thanh Huan, it has been a difficult year for everyone, the epidemic situation has become complicated, put business activities to a halt. The Vietnamese government have been trying to find measures to stabilize the pandemic situation and help businesses return to normal operations.
At this meeting, Mr. Antonino Tedesco – Head of Economic and Commercial Sector of the Italian Embassy in Hanoi said that currently, more and more Italian and European projects are investing into Vietnam in particular and Southeast Asia in particular. Therefore, the Embassy as well as the Italian business community in Vietnam hope that the Vietnamese government will implement the vaccine strategy in the best way so that investment and trade activities can be carried out smoothly.
Representatives of the Eurocham, ICHAM and the Korean Business Association in Vietnam (Korcham) all shared the same opinion: in order to overcome the pandemic crisis and to not leave behind heavy economic consequences, instead of implementing a large-scale blockade, Vietnam should prioritize the direction of vaccination to avoid production stagnation, disruption, and supply chains, as well as to avoid losing opportunities to attract foreign investors to Vietnam.
At the event, Marketing Director of LG Group said: The past two years have been difficult for both Vietnam and other countries around the world due to the outbreak of the COVID-19. In Vietnam, we have also faced many difficulties in production and operation because of the social distancing situation due to the epidemic. However, we still decided to stay in Vietnam and continue to expand our investment here because we hope Vietnam will soon stabilize the situation and return to normalcy.
Finally, Mr. Steve Bui – President of Delta E&C Company – the main organizer of the event shared: “During this event, we shared, contributed ideas and together came up with initiatives for organizations and businesses; understand and build a cross-organizational information network and support businesses in the new normal. The event marked important milestones in the successful exchange of Meet Europe programs in November 2021, and it is hoped that many more meetings between the parties will be coordinated with the Local Diplomacy Facilitation Department – Ministry of Foreign Affairs during the year 2022.”
ICHAM E-NEWSLETTER
