More than 300 international and local company leaders, policymakers, experts, scholars and students gathered for a colloquium in Ho Chi Minh City to discuss the international business environment in Vietnam on Wednesday.
Among the attendees were Dr. Nguyen Sy Dung, former deputy head of the Office of National Assembly, Ha Thu Thanh, CEO of Deloitte Vietnam, and Blair Fowler, CEO of Renaissance Hotel Saigon.
The speakers addressed Vietnam’s current business environment, managing across cultures, business culture and ethics, free trade agreements, and other major international business themes relating to Vietnam.
The event, hosted by RMIT University Vietnam, aimed to explore different views from industry experts, policy makers, and academics on the issues and challenges facing international business in Vietnam, according to Dr. Nguyen Quang Trung, the event’s organizer.
“For the past two decades, Vietnam has been one of the fastest-growing economies in the world and has become increasingly attractive for foreign investment,” Trung, RMIT Vietnam’s discipline lead for the International Business Program, said in a statement.
“Understanding the domestic business and policy environment is crucial for both foreign firms seeking to invest and Vietnamese firms seeking to internationalize.”
Dr Trung added that RMIT Vietnam’s decision to establish a forum to discuss vital international business themes in Vietnam is meant to build a foundation for future annual events related to Vietnam’s economic integration and international business best practices.
“Vietnam has to continue improving the makeup of its economy and enhance its competitiveness and restructuring initiatives to be able to adapt and participate in the global value chain,” Dr. Tran Du Lich, an advisor to Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, said at the forum.
“What’s more important is that we must change our way of doing business.”
The colloquium, held at the university’s Saigon South campus, brought together stakeholders in international business, and improved inter-industry and inter-disciplinary networking and understanding, as well as enhanced government and industry engagement through dialogue.
A similar event will take place at RMIT Vietnam’s Hanoi campus on December 13, which will include a presentation by Truong Dinh Tuyen, a former minister of trade who served as director of several of Vietnam’s major free trade pacts.
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