History of a moving forward

ON OCTOBER 8, 2010 AT 4:05 AM (GMT+7)

My first trip to Vietnam was in 1989 and I came with my then boss, Ambassador Sullivan, who had been invited by your Foreign Minister, Mr. Nguyen Co Thach. 
So I came in 1989 when your government was reaching out to the US government to begin the process of normalization. With Ambassador Sullivan, who had been to Vietnam many times, I was learning through his eyes the history of Vietnam and really the optimism that Vietnam had about moving forward with Vietnam.

Virginia Foote, Chairwoman of US-Vietnam Trade Council Photo: Vietnam-USA Magazine

When we came here, the US and Vietnam had no relationship and really had had no interactions or very, very little interactions since the end of the war. There was a full embargo in place. The Vietnamese did not have embassies in Washington, we did not have an embassy in here. There was really no contact, and there were many layers of restrictions that were put on contact. So we started the process of looking at those restrictions and building the plan to get them removed.

I’m always delighted to see these photographs of signing ceremony. Some of the key players on both sides are in these pictures. You can start with Senators John Kerry and John McCain. The veterans in the US, at the very early stage, played a very important role in wanting to see a new future between the US and Vietnam. John Kerry and John McCain don’t agree on the war itself, but they did agree on what should happen in the future, and so building on that, they really took a leadership role. And also, they were members of the Vietnamese-American Community who saw that we can’t all agree about the past, but let’s try to build a new future. And then I think the third piece was the business community who felt a great opportunity here. There could be a good bilateral trade and investment climate, and they really worked and pushed to get normalization.

After BTA numbers are dramatic and impressive and continue to grow. Every year is better than the last. Foreign direct investment continues to grow. Now Vietnam is selling more to the US than is buying from the US. I think the flip side is to always be looking at projects that don’t happen or the people who come to Vietnam from the US and don’t stay. And one of the things that we try to do is to look at that and to understand why and to try to help improve the system or improve the process, so that more and more people when they come, they’ll stay. They don’t come and look, but they come and stay. And I think that’s where the growth is for Vietnam; it’s try to figure out how to attract more and more investors, more traders and expand what platform is already there.

In order to go into any market, investors have to do their homework. There are a lot of American, big American companies, who are quite familiar with global trends, global trade and global procedures. But there are many American companies who, maybe they trade with one of our immediate neighbors, so to come to a country like Vietnam is unique and different and something of a challenge. So it’s the question of “Is your business appropriate here?” “Do you have a very good counter-part in Vietnam?” “Do you understand what kind of product you’re trying to sell or what project you’re trying to develop?” I think I order to go into any country, you have to do your homework and be realistic about what your possibilities are.

I work for a company called “Vietnam Partners” now. We are trying to assist Vietnamese companies who are looking for partners or investors, or markets globally. We are also helping foreign companies would like to either expand their businesses here or develop a new market strategy, or expand their access to partners in Vietnam. So it’s really a service to help Vietnamese companies and foreign companies to make a match.

There are still things that need to be worked on as there are for every country. You can never get to a point where you say “We’ve done everything that need to be done and now we’re just implementing them.” I think the WTO and international trade agreements try to get the rules for what comes and goes between borders, but what has to happen within the border is an increased level of transparency. The accounting system in Vietnam is not the international standard, and companies sometimes don’t feel they understand the books, the tax system, the payment system of their counterpart. And that’s something I think Vietnam needs to continue to work on to go the next step in attracting partnerships.

Infrastructure development in Vietnam is a huge growth area and needs to grow quickly. That right now is something of a break on Vietnam’s ability to go forward much faster for domestic companies and foreign companies. So infrastructure is a big growth area. The other area though, I think is what we call “soft infrastructure”: education systems, technology, telecommunications. These are all areas that make a difference for domestic and foreign companies in their ability to grow. And I think the US has a lot to offer in terms of education system. So I think the soft infrastructure is also a very important part of Vietnam’s growth.

I’m delighted that last year, both Vietnam and the US decided to go into the transpacific partnership, which is the first real APEC countries agreement. The US and Vietnam have not been in the regional agreement with each other, so this is a very important next step. And I think the transpacific partnership, or TPP as we call it, will increase the horizontal harmonization, meaning that the way to do business in one country is not too different from the way they do business in another country.

* Chairwoman of U.S-Vietnam Trade Council

Source: Vietnam-USA Magazine’s special edition: Vietnam-US: New Chronicle published in July, 2010