International Conference “Global FDI and Responses of FDI Enterprises in Viet Nam in The New Context”

The world has been experiencing drastic changes with intensive impacts on all socio-economic aspects. The outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic on the global scale has disrupted production, trade and investment as well as global supply chains. Consequently, the world economy has encountered the worst recession since World War II. Besides, the degree and approaches of interaction among economies have been affected by other factors such as the strategic competition between powerful countries to strengthen their global positions, the digital transformation in the pandemic and Industry 4.0, the green economic development to cope with the climate change towards sustainable development, the US-China trade war and new protectionism in some countries, etc. These incidents have had multi-dimensional impacts on the economic growth, especially the global FDI flows. In addition, there exists the shift of FDI projects to cope with the disrupted supply chain of essential goods to developing countries.

Vietnam’s economy has also experienced a lot of effects from the global context. The International conference themed “Global FDI and Responses of FDI Enterprises in Viet Nam in The New Context” was organized to provide a forum for scientists, researchers, managers and scholars to conduct research, analyze and evaluate the impacts of the new context on the global FDI and responses of FDI enterprises in Viet Nam, then produce forecasts on the prospects and implications on policies on FDI attraction to Vietnam in the coming time.

 

 

Attending the conference, from Thuongmai University, there were A/Prof. Dr. Nguyen Hoang – Deputy Party Secretary, University President; A/Prof. Dr. Do Minh Thanh – Vice President; A/Prof. Dr. Nguyen Thi Bich Loan – Vice President; A/Prof. Dr. Nguyen Viet Thai – Head of Department of External Affairs and Communication; A/Prof. Dr. Nguyen Thi Minh Nhan – Dean of Faculty of Human Resource Management; Dr. Nguyen Duy Dat – Dean of Faculty of International Economics and Business; Dr. Tran Thi Bich Hang – Head of Department of Scientific Administration and staff of Department of Scientific Administration. Online participants include Head (Deputy Head) of Faculties, Institute, Departments; article authors; registered lecturers.

 

From VNU University of Economics and Business, there were A/Prof. Dr. Nguyen Truc Le – President, A/Prof. Dr. Nguyen Anh Thu – Vice President. From Haiphong University, there was A/Prof. Dr. Nguyen Hoai Nam – President; Prof. Friedrich Naumann – Director of Friedrich Naumann Foundation; representatives of Management Board of Haiphong Economic Zone and over 300 international policy makers, specialists and scholars, Ph.D. candidates and students from state agencies, universities and institutes in Vietnam and foreign countries. 

The conference consisted of two sessions with presentations from universities, FNF and FDI enterprises. At session 1, Prof. Andreas Stoffers presented “Roles of EVIPA in expanding FDI from EU to Vietnam”. First, the presenter introduced an overview on Vietnam’s economy in 2021 and Vietnam’s free trade agreements as well as investment protection policies. He then evaluated the roles of EU in Vietnam’s economy through EVFTA and EVIPA and some recommendations for Vietnam. The second presentation was given by A/Prof. Dr. Ha Van Hoi on “Overview on global FDI and orientations to attract new generation FDI in the context of declining world economy”. The presentation indicated the large-scale recession in the world economy in 2020 and the current situation of FDI flows. In this context, the presenter assessed the situation of FDI attraction in Vietnam and made some suggestions on attracting new generation FDI in Vietnam. The third presentation “Analyzing the relation between foreign direct investment and economic growth in Vietnam during 2010-2020” was made by Dr. Nguyen Thi Thuy Ha and Doan Thi Oanh, M.A. In the presentation, presenters used the autoregression distributed lag model to indicate the roles of FDI in economic growth, investment and structure transition, human resource quality improvement as well as export, technology and productivity.

 

 

In the second session, presenters focused on the overview of FDI enterprises in the new context. A/Prof. Dr. Nguyen Thi Bich Loan and A/Prof. Dr. Nguyen Thi Minh Nhan made a presentation on “Solutions for FDI enterprises in exercising corporate social responsibility to employees in the context of Vietnam joining new-generation FTAs”. The presentation stated that the implementation of corporate social responsibility in enterprises had become a significant factor to achieve the sustainable development goal of the national economy. However, problems with employees in foreign-invested enterprises, especially small FDI enterprises in labor-intensive industries were huge challenges to the implementation of corporate social responsibility under FTA commitments. The presenters made some implications on improving the situation. The fifth presentation was given by Mr. Ou Yang Feng Fei – Vice President, Regina Miracle Internation Vietnam CO.,Ltd on “Changes in business plans and strategies in the new context”. The last presentation by Mr. Pham Huy Hung – Director of Retail Division, Shinhan Bank, Haiphong Branch on “Impacts of Covid-19 pandemic on business operations” indicated the significant effects of Covid-19 pandemic on FDI enterprises in Vietnam and approaches to respond to the difficulties in the new context.

In the end, on behalf of Chairing Board, Dr. Pham Hung Tien – FNF representative in Vietnam and A/Prof. Dr. Nguyen Anh Thu – VNU University of Economics and Business concluded the Conference. The International conference themed “Global FDI and Responses of FDI Enterprises in Viet Nam in The New Context” closed with great success. It provides participants with comprehensive scientific evidence and practices to promote FDI attraction to Vietnam and the international economic integration. By connecting domestic and foreign experts, scholars, lecturers, learners and enterprises, the Conference contributes to promoting the reform, development and improvement of training quality in economics and business at universities.