These challenges have a disproportionate impact on micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and, relatedly, women-led and owned businesses, given women’s predominance in smaller scale enterprises.
Vietnam and Australia will undertake practical initiatives to promote awareness and uptake of opportunities in each other’s markets, streamline regulatory and investment frameworks, and improve the ease of doing business to increase two-way trade and investment, including prioritising MSMEs and women-led/owned businesses.
Increase awareness and take-up of opportunities among business in each other’s markets
Promote increased awareness and uptake of opportunities in each other’s markets
Key initiatives- Vietnam and Australia to increase trade missions, business matching and trade and investment promotion activities, including establishing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for referrals between respective Trade Promotion Agencies.
- Vietnam and Australia to support deepening of appropriate trade and investment relationships at the sub-national level, such as between the northern Australia and Vietnamese provinces and cities.
- Vietnam and Australia to establish a Business Champions initiative, where leading business CEO equivalents are appointed by both countries to serve as public champions for Australia-Vietnam trade and investment.
- Australia and Vietnam to support the establishment of a Vietnam-Australia Business Council, as a partnership between the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Australian Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam.
- Australia to host three Australian CEO Roundtables on Vietnam to share lessons learnt and identify opportunities for Australian businesses in or entering the Vietnamese market.
- Australia to develop a report, in partnership with Vietnam, that identifies opportunities for Vietnamese business for trade and investment with Australia, to complement the existing Australian-focused report.
- Australia to establish an Australia-Vietnam Opportunities and Markets Insights bilingual website, to provide an easy reference point for Australia and Vietnamese businesses alike, populated with findings from the CEO Roundtables and the opportunity reports outlined above.
- Australia to deliver sectoral training and education for Australian business to support selected partnerships on industry growth sectors in Vietnam.
- Australia to support the development of an Australia-Vietnam Global Engagement Roadmap to support Australian small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to diversify and expand supply chains in partnership with Vietnamese SMEs, and accordingly integrates gender.
Support Vietnam’s economic governance and reform efforts
To support Vietnam to continue to improve its business enabling environment and to strengthen reforms towards a more market-based economy, including to improve the ease of doing business for Australian investors and traders, Australia will provide technical assistance through new and ongoing development cooperation.
To ensure transparency, stability, and sustainability in financial markets, and promote greater two-way investment, Australia and Vietnam agree to renew cooperation under the MoU between the Australian Treasury and Vietnam’s Ministry of Finance, with a focus on:
- Sharing experiences on budget management and fiscal policy;
- Sharing Australian expertise on financial market regulation;
- Macroeconomic and budget forecasting; and
- Macroeconomic stability and other economic reform policies.
Vietnam and Australia will continue economic cooperation to facilitate investment, including through activities that strengthen capacity and awareness of international trade agreements (such as AANZFTA, CPTPP and RCEP) and improve relationships with foreign investors. This will include, as part of the Australian-funded, Mekong Foreign Investment and Critical Infrastructure Initiative, support to Vietnam’s efforts to attract productive Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) through:
- Sharing experiences in attracting and retaining productive FDI and addressing possible national security risks of foreign investment;
- Enhancing the technical skills of officials involved in reviewing foreign investment proposals and investment policy-making;
- Providing advice on policy and regulatory reform to better address risks of strategic investment; and
- Fostering stronger institutional ties with Australia on issues relating to foreign investment.
In addition, Australia will continue to collaborate to further develop capital markets in Vietnam, in partnership with the World Bank Group through the Joint Capital Market Program, currently funded until 2023.
Support Vietnam’s broader economic governance and reform efforts to improve trade and investment enabling environments
Key initiatives- Technical assistance to support Vietnam’s broader economic governance reform through Australia’s new and ongoing development cooperation, with gender equality and social inclusion being mainstreamed.
- Vietnam and Australia to renew cooperation under the MoU between the Australian Treasury and Vietnam’s Ministry of Finance to ensure transparency, stability and sustainability in financial markets.
- Australia to support Vietnam’s efforts to attract productive FDI through technical assistance under the Mekong Foreign Investment and Critical Infrastructure Initiative.
- Australia to continue economic cooperation to facilitate investment and further develop capital markets in Vietnam, in partnership with regional and multilateral partners.
- Vietnam to ease restrictions on expatriate workforce ratios.
Streamline customs procedures for business including through digital transformation
To support Vietnam in digital transformation and technological applications of its customs procedures, and to enhance risk management and supervision, information exchange, and streamlined administrative procedures for businesses of the two countries, Vietnam and Australia agree to implement a program of practical customs cooperation by upgrading the MoU on Cooperation Mutual Assistance in Customs Matters. This will include activities to support Vietnam to increase its acceptance of electronic documents, certification, and signatures for customs procedures and facilitate more timely processing at borders.
Streamline administrative procedures for businesses through support for digital transformation of Vietnam’s custom procedures
Key initiatives- Vietnam and Australia to upgrade the MoU on Cooperation and Mutual Assistance in Customs Matters as a framework to implement a program of practical customs cooperation.
Strengthen competition policy and consumer protection
To improve competitiveness, support businesses and protect consumers' interests in trade and investment activities, Australia will support Vietnam to strengthen its competition policy and consumer protection through a program of bilateral cooperation activities between Vietnam’s Competition and Consumer Authority (VCCA) and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC). This builds upon earlier technical assistance provided by the ACCC to VCCA. The work program, subject to mutual agreement, may include a focus on the consumer law supplement and amendment process, research and publications, and consumer education and empowerment.
Support to strengthen Vietnam’s competition policy and consumer protection to support businesses and protect consumers' interests
Key initiatives- Vietnam and Australia to strengthen cooperation in competition and consumer protection through a program of bilateral cooperation activities between VCCA and ACCC.