What do you think about sustainable development?

Sustainable development globally, as placed in the “2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development” adopted by the United Nations General Assembly at its 70th Meeting from September 25-27, 2015 in New York, is an action plan for people, planet and prosperity that places humans at the heart, leaves no one behind and acts for generations today and beyond. This is also my point of view. Having 10 years of experience in researching and teaching at Saitama University of Japan where development outruns the region and the world, working in a well-cultured and modern economic environment, traveling to more than 60 countries and territories and conducting more than 50 scientific research projects published in international journals and conferences, I am well aware of sustainable development. After returning to Vietnam, I led a leading construction consultant company with nearly 1,000 leading architects, engineers and industry experts. Our business is indirectly related to many aspects of construction environment, climate change, energy and quality of life. We always take people as the center, the core and the driving force of sustainable development. Sustainable development must be built on economic growth, human security, social security and ecological security. Doing business for people, for social responsibility and for the global ecosystem is CONINCO's approach to sustainable development strategy.

How is CONINCO applying its strategy to achieve sustainable development, boost the brand name and successfully integrate with the world, especially regarding its investment in developing human resources and applying science and technology to accelerate digital transformation in business?

We understand that the working environment is the first factor to awaken the hidden potential in each person whose dedication, honesty, and in-depth experience are decisive to the most sustainable success. CONINCO TOWER crystallizes the quintessence of all CONINCO people and makes you feel comfortable, energetic, enthusiastic and creative. The business principle of CONINCO during the past 45 years is providing employees with the best working environment with a professional and flexible governance system; solidifying the brand foundation; modernizing facilities for more than 1,000 employees to work creatively and devotedly for the development of themselves, the company and partly the society. This environment creates a “RELIABLE and SUSTAINABLE CONINCO”. Since then, CONINCO has designed and constructed green, environmentally friendly buildings for a sustainable future of the country.

With its pioneering aspirations and investment strategy for sustainable development, CONINCO constantly strives to create breakthroughs in technology and administration that represent the knowledge and wisdom of the Vietnamese people. The company, at the same time, cooperates closely with top universities in Vietnam and overseas to improve the quality of human resources. One of CONINCO's outstanding successes is its international cooperation, featuring successful cooperation with hundreds of customers and partners in many countries in the world. This has spread the name of CONINCO far and wide and made CONINCO a prestigious address for companies around the world to come to find cooperation opportunities.

What solutions did CONINCO adopt to overcome the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic?

Going through four outbreaks of the COVID-19 pandemic with prolonged social distancing, many Vietnamese businesses have gradually exhausted both finances and human resources. This has exerted a huge impact on the economy. CONINCO has been considerably affected by the pandemic when construction was halted, and trade and cooperation were restricted. Fortunately, its approach to sustainable governance enabled CONINCO to address pandemic challenges, maintain stable operations, harmonize economic benefits with employee interests and environmental protection. CONINCO determines that its key tasks are ensuring the safety of employees and taking care of their life and health and, at the same time, maintaining the quality of important projects under construction amid the pandemic.

As Vietnam's economy is adapting to the so-called 'new normal', restructuring and reforming resources are prerequisites and solutions for CONINCO to work effectively, improve competitiveness, respond promptly to external influences, prepare for future crises, find differences in the value chain, train employees for the new context, raise awareness, conduct international cooperation research and foster partnerships to further sustain its development in a deeply integrated economy.

In addition to the working philosophy of “Assurance for the future", “Share to connect” is an innovative philosophy of CONINCO development. CONINCO defines sustainable development as the harmony of not only economy, culture, society and environment, but also common interests, common values, shared benefits, shared values ​​and risks. CONINCO has actively taken part in volunteer activities like supporting flood-affected people, building schools for children in mountainous areas and joining hands with the country in the fight against COVID-19. All is for a united, developed, safe and compassionate Vietnam.

What do you think about VCCI’s cooperation with central agencies and other stakeholders to launch the “Program on Benchmarking and Ranking Sustainable Businesses in Vietnam”? Do you think we will need to do more for businesses to properly understand and perform their corporate social responsibility towards sustainable development?

The Program on Benchmarking and Ranking Sustainable Businesses in Vietnam is particularly meaningful for domestic enterprises. It not only honors businesses with humane business thinking, and balances economic benefits with social development and environmental protection, but also raises awareness and inspires the business community to adopt sustainable corporate governance. Its Corporate Sustainability Index (CSI) measures the sustainable development of companies in many aspects, helps them shape and build business strategies and plans in line with their current capacity and future outlook. This helps them save a lot of time and resources in corporate governance towards sustainability, helps them increase their revenue, stabilize and increase income for their employees, increase their resilience against difficulties, maintain supply, production and business chains and foster faster recovery capabilities. Therefore, choosing sustainable development is vital for businesses.

The COVID-19 pandemic having lasted for two years has made us understand that economic wealth alone is not enough for sustainable development and human security, but that social security and ecological security are becoming increasingly important for sustainable development. Therefore, building and adopting an economically, culturally, socially, environmentally and ecologically sustainable institution is an urgent and important issue; people must truly be placed at the heart of development.

With the working philosophy of "Assurance for the future" coupled with its dedication and professionalism, CONINCO proudly wins customer trust and confidently supports them towards prosperous development. All is for a sustainable community.