To: GOVERNMENT’S PRIME MINISTER NGUYEN XUAN PHUC

The Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Vietnam (VCCI) would like to report on the implementation of the tasks assigned in Resolution 35 / NQ-CP dated 16 May 2016 by the Government on supporting and developing enterprises to the year of 2020, solving difficulties and obstacles as well as recommendations of enterprises in July 2017 as follows:

I SUMMARY OF RESPONSES ON RECOMMENDATIONS OF ENTERPRISES UNDER RESOLUTION No. 35 / NQ-CP OF MINISTRIES OF JUNE 2017.

     1. The Ministry of Transport

     1.1- An Official Letter No.7454 / BGTVT-TC of the Ministry of Transport responded to the proposal of Quoc Hung Production Co., Ltd for the unreasonable fee collection in the project of investment in construction, regeneration and upgradation the National Road Km14 – Km 50 section +889 in the form of a BOT contract (BOT project Q191) under the direction of the Directorate for Roads of Vietnam to work with investors, BOT project enterprises and People's Committees of An Giang, Kien Giang and Can Tho cities as well as agencies related to the project to unify the discount list at the receiving station of the BOT QL91 project submitted to the Ministry of Transport for consideration and decision as a basis for the investor to complete the procedures as prescribed to apply road service discount for BOT QL91 project. (In reply to the Official Letter No. 6266 / VPCP-DMDN dated June 16, 2017 of the Government Office).

      1.2- Official Letter No. 7394 / BGTVT-VT dated July 7, 2017 responding to 4 recommendations of the Vietnam Maritime Agents and Brokers Association relating to Decree 146/2016 / ND-CP stipulating listing price, surcharge in addition to the cost of container shipping services by sea, service charges at seaports, and Decision No. 3863 / QD-BGTVT promulgating service charge rates for container handling and towage service at Vietnamese seaports.

    1.3- An Official Letter No. 7408 / BGTVT-KHCN dated July 7, 2017 responded to the request of WKK Vietnam Co., Ltd on the import of equipment and machinery of customs declaration No. 662 / NDDT08 dated February 22, 2013 under WKK Ltd., in its agreement No. 01/2017 / WKK dated May 29, 2017, "receive these equipment for re-production in order to reduce financial difficulties". Meanwhile, recommended to the Government to consider and direct the reduction of storage costs from 2013 up to now as proposed (in reply to the Official Letter No. 6161 / VPCP-DMDN dated June 14, 2017 of Government Office).

     1.4- An Official Dispatch No. 7841 / BGTVT-KCHT dated July 17, 2017 responded to 79.1 Mechanization Co., Ltd on the procedures and procedures for connecting the bypass of Vinh City, Nghe An to National Highway 1 (in reply to the Official Letter No. 6967 / / VPCP-DMDN dated July 5, 2017 of the Government Office) .

     1.5- An Official Letter No. 7918 / BGTVT-VT dated July 18, 2017 responded to Hopon-Hopoff Vietnam Co., Ltd (second time) on the pilot implementation of passenger transportation by car to promote tourism development (in reply to the Official Letter No. 7003 / VPCP-DMDN dated July 5, 2017 of the Office of the Government).

    1.6- An Official Letter No. 8104 / BGTVT-KCHT dated July 27, 2017 responded to 2 recommendations of GLT Co., Ltd on the axle load limit, limit the total weight of vehicles allowed to circulate on the road; Administrative penalties for axle load exceeds the allowable tonnage of bridges and roads (in reply to the Official Letter No. 6963 / VPCP-DMDN dated July 5, 2017 of the Government Office).

    1.7- An Official letter No.8254 / BGTVT-VT dated July 26, 2017 responded to 2 recommendations of the Hanoi Taxi Association including the authority to decide on the number of vehicles under 9 passenger seats using electronic contracts and the authority to regulate the size, color, position of the display for the under-9 passenger car using electronic contract (in reply to the Official Letter No. 7548 / VPCP-DMDN dated 19/7/2017 of Government Office).

     1.8- An Official Letter No.8205 / BGTVT-KCHT dated July 25, 2017 responded to the second recommendation of Tung Ho Steel Vietnam Co., Ltd. Related to the import of trucks, type of 60 tons, transport slag at the factory in the direction of identification of vehicles marked with grating marks, erase at the position of frame number, so they are the goods that be subject to import prohibitions as prescribed. (Reply No. 7606 / VPCP-VI dated July 19, 2017 and Official Letter No. 6852 / VPCP-DMDN dated July 3, 2017 of the Government Office).

     2. Ministry of Industry and Trade

     2.1- An Official Letter No. 6028 / BCT-QLTT dated July 6, 2017 responded to the recommendation of Mrs. Ha Thi Thuy Lieu on some inappropriate contents of the Decree No. 67/2017 / NĐ-CP dated May 25, 2017 providing on sanctioning administrative violations in the field of gas, petroleum and in the direction of receiving recommendations to review and report to the Government’s Prime Minister the amendment of the Decree or rectification (in reply to the Official Letter No. 6311 / VPCP-DMD dated June 22, 2017 of the Government Office).

     2.2- An Official Letter No. 6046 / BCT-QLCT dated July 7, 2017 responded to the request of Viet Duc Welding Joint Stock Company for refunding self-defense tax on imported wire rod for welding materials No. 6356 / VPCP-DMDN dated 20 June, 2007 of the Government Office).

    2.3- An Official Letter No. 6332 / BCT-CNNg dated July 17, 2017 responded to 2 recommendations of the lawyer, Mr. Tran Dinh Thu to comment on the draft decree of the Government stipulating the conditions for production, assembly, import and trading automobile warranty and maintenance services: Cars should not be considered as ordinary goods and conditions for trading enterprises on automobile import in the direction of receiving comments on the draft of decree (in reply to the Official Letter No. 6168 / VPCP-DMDN dated June 14, 2017 of the Government Office).

     2.4- An Official Letter No. 6379 / BCT-QLCT dated July 18, 2017 responds to 3 recommendations of Thien Nam Joint Stock Company that include: Allowing the company for using waste dumps of the coal industry in Quang Ninh Province; Publicly announce the source of origin, quality and cost of inputs for construction materials and supply friendly environmental construction materials for works funded by the state budget. Document No. 35 / TN dated July 20, 2017 of Thien Nam Joint Stock Company).

     2.5- An Official Letter No. 6435 / BCT-HC dated July 19, 2017 responds to 2 recommendations of Mr. Nguyen Bao Tri - Sales Manager of Sheng Chang Co., Ltd on regulations and policies of import- export market management for specialized batteries for electric bicycles, electric scooters (in reply to the Official Letter No. 6591 / VPCP-DMD dated 26/6/2017 of the Government Office).

   2.6- An Official Letter No. 6606 / BCT-XNK dated July 25, 2017 of the Ministry of Industry and Trade responded to Cannon Marketing Vietnam Co., Ltd. (in reply to Official Letter No. 7362 / VPCP-DMDN dated 25 July, Government Office).

     3. Ministry of Finance

     3.1- An Official Letter No. 9364 / BTC-QLCS dated July 18, 2017, responded to the recommendations of Gia Bao Investment Development Joint Stock Company, International Traffic Congestion Control Joint Stock Company, Budget for reviewing some articles of Decision No. 23/2015 / QD-TTg and Circular No. 183/2015 / TT-BTC (in reply to the Official Letter No. 6068 / VPCP-DMDN dated 12/6/2017 of the Government Office).

     3.2- An Official Letter No. 9876 / BTC-TCDN responds to Mr. Huynh Que on July 26, 2017 provided detailed guidance on bad debts that after the lawsuit, there are court judgments that require customers to repay debts, but this can not be enforceable. (in reply to Official Letter No. 6965 / VPCP-DMDN dated July 5, 2017 of the Government Office).

     3.3- An Official Letter No. 3373 / TCT-TTg dated 28/7/2017 of the General Department of Taxation, Ministry of Finance responded to the recommendation of Mr. Nguyen Bao Tri - Sales Manager of Sheng Chang Co., Ltd for the protection of legal rights of domestic battery companies in tax administration (in reply to the Official Letter No. 6591 / VPCP-DMDN dated June 26, 2017 of the Government Office).

     4. Ministry of Construction

     4.1- An Official Letter No. 1579 / BXD-VLXD dated July 14, 2017 responded to the recommendations of Thien Nam Joint Stock Company on avoiding tax loss, prevention of pollution, environmental degradation and incidents with the contents of the Ministry of Construction An official letter was sent to the local People's Committees requesting the restriction of local sand exploitation and especially, the use of artificial sand for concreting and mortaring, replacement of natural sand. The Ministry of Construction also supported and encouraged the project to produce crushed sand from stone and discharged sand from coal mining activities of Thien Nam Company. (In reply to the Official Letter No. 6700 / VPCP-DMDN dated 28/6/2017 of the Government Office).

  4.2- An Official Letter No. 71 / BXD-KTXD dated July 28, 2017 responded to Mr. Lam Vu Bao's recommendation on the use of contingency expenses in construction investment projects (in reply to the Official Letter No. 6846 / VPCP-DMDN dated July 3, 2017 of the Government Office).

     5. People's Committee of Hai Phong City

     5.1- An Official Letter No. 4003 / UBND-KTDN dated July 7, 2017 responded to the recommendation of Hong Bang Shipbuilding Industry and Construction Joint Stock Company to sign the lease contract of 16,140.0 m2 of land in Minh Duc Town, Thuy Nguyen District, Hai Phong City in the orientation that the City shall recover the land in accordance with the law due to the joint venture project of the company with foreign entities lost, not operated and has temporarily closed the tax code. The Department of Planning and Investment of Hai Phong has also requested to carry out procedures for termination of investment and liquidation of investment projects (in reply to the Official Letter No. 5685 / VPCP-DMDN dated July 1, 2017 of the Government Office).

     5.2- An Official Letter No. 4228 / UBND- GT dated July 17, 2017 responded to the recommendations of Hai Phong Metal Investment and Development Joint Stock Company on the transfer and arrangement of streams, routes and means of transport at the port of Hai Phong. Tam and Thuong Ly bus Station, Hai Phong City. (According to the transferred note No. 559 / PC-VIC dated June 13, 2017 of the Government Office)

     6. Some other ministries, branches and localities:

    6.1- An Official Letter No. 5408 / BKHDT-PTDN dated July 4, 2017 of the Ministry of Planning and Investment responded to the recommendations of Homart Co., Ltd. Ho Chi Minh City on the scheme of building supermarket chain of the company aimed to develop environment, protect people's health and for the sustainable development of Vietnam. (in reply to Official Letter No. 5804 / VPCP-DMD dated 5 June, 1977 of the Government Office)

     6.2- An Official Dispatch No. 4148 / BYT-KHTC dated July 24, 2017 of the Ministry of Health responded to 4 recommendations from Euro Cham sub-committees on: Medical equipment and diagnostic bio-products; Establishment of a regular dialogue forum between the Ministry of Health, Social Insurance, the Ministry of Planning and Investment; Ministry of Industry and Trade to policies direction for  Viet Nam’s development into a center of high quality and inventive pharmaceuticals in the ASEAN region; Removing sub-licenses, simplifying pre-inspection and post-inspection on nutritious foods as stipulated in Decree 38 on nutritious foods; The tax policy to  excise tax of wines, brandies  and Alcoholic beverage products in general (in reply to Official Letter No. 5406 / VPCP-DMD dated May 25, 2017 of the Office of the Government).

     6.3- An Official Letter No. 5684 / NHNN-QLNH dated July 19, 2017 of the State Bank of Vietnam responded to Nguyen Hong Nhung's recommendation regarding the direct investment account (in reply to Official Letter No. 7060 / VPCP-DMDN dated 19/7/2017 of the Government Office).

    6.4- An Official Letter No. 2418 / BTP-PLQT dated July 12, 2017 of the Ministry of Justice announced the response of the application of TRADE BGM Joint Stock Company regarding the issuance of the fifth Investment License of Quang Binh Department of Planning and Investment dated March 13, 2012 for Kaolin Quang Binh Co., Ltd in the direction of transferring the application to the high-level court in Da Nang City that is handling the case of the company.

     - An Official Letter No. 1144 / UBND-KTN dated June 28, 2017 of the People's Committee of Quang Binh Province responded to the recommendations of TRADE BGM Joint Stock Company with the content of: The high-level people's court in Da Nang has issued an appellate decision recognizing and enforcing Decision No. MSPH 93 INS 4348 dated July 22, 2015 of the People's Court of Prague City, Republic of Sec stated on the bankruptcy of TRADE BGM Joint Stock Company. June 6, 2017, the authorized representative of Mr. Osef Cupka (The bankruptcy administrator was appointed by the Praha City’s Court to handle the assets of TRADE B.G.M. Joint Stock Company at Quang Binh Kaolin Company Limited) has conducted take over  the Kaolin Quang Binh - Bohemia factory according to the decision of the Praha City‘s Court.

     6.5- An Official letter No. 1396 / ĐTKDV-DT3 of State Capital Investment Corporation (SCIC) on July 17, 2007 responded to the proposal of Mrs. Vo Thi Mai Nhung to complete the procedure of receiving the whole transfer SCIC's share capital at Quang Ngai Transportation Construction Joint Stock Company (in reply to the Official Letter No. 6849 / VPCP-DMDN dated July 17, 2017 of the Government office).

   6.6- An Official Letter No. 2094 / UBND-XD dated July 6, 2017 of People's Committee of Tuyen Quang Province on handling recommendations of Eastern Infrastructure Construction Joint Stock Company on the amount of approximately VND 56 billion. The company believed that the project investor on construction of the Tuberculosis Hospital and Tuyen Quang Lung Disease still owes the company and requested adjusting prices of materials, labor and construction machines. According to the above letter, the investor did not owe the contractor about VND 56 billion (in reply to the Official Letter No. 6265 / VPCP-DMDN dated June 16, 2017 and Document No. 6955 / VPCP-V.I dated July 5, 2017 of the Government Office).

     7. Answering VCCI’s recommendation submitted to Government Office in May and June 2017:

     In May 2017, VCCI gathered 24 recommendations from enterprises to the Government Office. On June 23, 2017, the Government Office issued an Official Letter No. 6544 / VPCP-DMDN announcing the opinions of Government’s Deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue to the concerned ministries, branches and localities for study and settlement until July 31, 2017, VCCI received the following response documents:

     1. The Official letter No. 1870 / LDTBXH-LĐTL of Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs dated May 16, 2017 responded to the proposal of Japan Business Association about the minimum wage in enterprises in 2018.

     2. An Official Letter No. 2972 / TCT-CS dated July 6, 2017 of the General Department of Taxation, Ministry of Finance to follow the recommendations of the group of enterprises exporting construction materials in Nghe An about the refund of VAT, However, the contents of the answers only explained the law without answering directly the recommendations or proposals of the enterprises.

     3. An Official Letter No. 6471 / VP-KT dated July 112017 of the People's Committee of Hanoi Office informed the opinion of Vice Chairman Nguyen Doan Toan assigned Hanoi Tax Department and Department of Natural Resources and Environment to answer 2 recommendations of the enterprises before July 15, 2017. However, VCCI has not received written response yet.

   4. An Official letter No. 1218 / UBND-KTN dated July 11, 2017 of Quang People's Committee of Binh Provincial responded to the recommendation of Song Da Corporation for disturbing security and safety in BOT tunnel road project through Ngang Pass. 

    5. An Official Letter No. 3086 / TCT-DNL dated July 12, 2017 of the General Department of Taxation, Ministry of Finance responded to the recommendation of difficulties of Song Da Corporation when paying full VAT immediately after issuing invoice while the owner delayed payment.

   6. An Official Letter No. 5804 / NHNN-VP dated July 25, 2017 of the State Bank of Vietnam responded to 2 recommendations of the enterprise including:

     - The recommendations by the Vietnam Association of Contractors for Housing Guarantees to be established in the future.

     - The recommendations of the hotel business group in Da Nang City about the difficulty in accessing banking capital in the hotel business due to the impact of Decision 53 / QD-NHNN dated November 11, 2013.

    7. An Official letter No. 2784 / BNG-THKT dated July 27, 2017 of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs responded to 2 recommendations of Song Da Corporation on investment in Laos and support enterprises to take part in bid projects abroad.

    8. An Official Letter No. 10055 / BTC-QLG dated July 31, 2017 of the Ministry of Finance responded to the proposal of Vietnam Airlines regarding the regulation of the aviation service charge bracket.

     Thus, on July 31, 2017, VCCI received 8 official documents responding to 9 recommendations of enterprises. Written responses to these recommendations are posted on the VCCI website and conveyed to the recommended enterprises. There were still 15 recommendations that have not received written replies.

     In June 2017, VCCI assembled 12 recommendations submitted by enterprises to the Government Office (Report No. 1680 / PTM-VP dated July 14, 2017 by VCCI). On August 1, 2017, the Government Office issued Official Letter No. 8014 / VPCP-DMDN announcing the opinions of the Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc to the concerned ministries, branches and localities for study and settlement. By the end of July 31, 2017, VCCI received 3 Official Documents from Ministry of Transport and People’s Committee of Hanoi City and of Thua Thien Hue Province assigned research units to respond to enterprises but there were not any recommendations responded.

     - In June, VCCI received 99 recommendations received by the Government Office via the system of receiving and responding to recommendations of enterprises on the government's E-Portal. So far, there were 26 recommendations that have not been responded (see attached list). It was proposed that the Government Office continue urging ministries, branches and localities to respond to enterprises. Some ministries, branches and localities did not inform the VCCI, so it was difficult to monitor VCCI's handling of the recommendations.

II. VCCI’S IMPLEMENTATION OF RESOLUTION No 35 / NQ-CP

     In July 2017, VCCI carried out the following tasks:

     1. Implemented activities that contributed to the administrative reform, created favorable conditions for enterprises; created a favorable environment to support start-up and innovative enterprises; ensured business rights, equal accessed to resources and business opportunities of enterprises; reduced business costs for enterprises and protected the legitimate rights and interests of enterprises.

     - During the month, VCCI completed the comments and continued to comment on drafts: Law on physical training and sports; The Decree replaces Decree 174/2013 / ND-CP on sanctioning administrative violations in the field of post and telecommunication, information technology and radio frequencies; the Decree amends Decree 109/2010 / ND-CP on rice export; Decree on sanctioning administrative violations in the maritime field; Decree on sanctioning administrative violations in press and publishing activities; Decree amends and supplements Decree 37/2006 / ND-CP on trade promotion activities; Circular No. 17/2016 / TT-BTTTT regulates in detail the content of information services on mobile telecommunication network; Circular on the management of sand and gravel of the riverbed, to protect the riverbed and riverbanks; Operational Statute of the Council for Evaluation of the Project for the Closure of Mineral Mines; The Government's Action Program on Anti-Corruption up to 2020

     - Collaborated with the Lam Dong Business Association to organize a Seminar on the methodology for developing competency indicators at the district and provincial levels (DDCI), and shared best practices in implementation of DDCI in some localities, representatives of some provincial level leaders and business associations of Lam Dong, Dong Nai, Binh Thuan, Binh Phuoc and Gia Lai Provinces. The workshop listened and focused on assessing and analyzing the practices of DDCI assessment in Quang Ninh, Bac Giang, Bac Ninh, Vinh Phuc and Tuyen Quang Provinces, in which some of them were evaluated by the Enterprises Association such as Vinh Phuc and Tuyen Quang Provinces; There were some other provinces that be evaluated by provincial departments such as Bac Ninh, Bac Giang and Quang Ninh Provinces. Most of the provinces were directly surveyed and evaluated by the chair units, but they have recruited independent consultants to conduct surveys and develop reports such as Quang Ninh Province. Although there were different models of implementation evaluation DDCI, but the general results in the provinces that were implemented DDCI assessment is the Provincial Competitiveness Index (PCI) has improved significantly. The support and facilitation of enterprises to carry out investment, business and quality activities for enterprises of functional agencies have been gradually improved each year. Since then, the business environment in general in these provinces has been improved in line with the Government's policy set out in Resolution 35 / NQ-CP dated 16 May 2016 of the Government on support and development by the year 2020 and Directive No. 26 / CT-TTg dated June 6, 2017 of the Prime Minister on the effective implementation of Resolution No. 35 / NQ-CP dated may 16, 2016 in the spirit of the Government to accompany with enterprises.

     - Organized the seminar "The remarkable changes in the Mekong Delta economy in the first 6 months of 2017, the trend changed before the industrial revolution 4.0". Evaluation workshops in the Mekong Delta are facing many challenges, including slowed economic growth, limited investment in transportation infrastructure and seaports. Specifically, in the years 2001-2005 the regional economic growth rate was over 10%, the period 2011-2015 was only over 8% and in 2016 fell below 7%. In particular, the basis of economic growth of the Mekong Delta is agriculture that has been very strong decline. By 2014, the Mekong Delta's agricultural growth rate was be around 6%, while the growth rate for 2014-2015 was 3% and 2016, respectively was only 0.6%. On the other hand, the transport infrastructure of the region is rather weak. With 40,000 km2 of the Mekong Delta, there are only 40 km of expressways which were built 10 years ago and there has been no significant change in highway construction since 2010. The lack of traffic, there are not any regional logistics centers that be large enough to make the competitiveness of the region's products much weaker; It does not support new industries and services, and it certainly constitutes a significant constraint in the development of e-commerce, which is becoming an international trend. To resolve the challenges outlined above, the workshop assessed that it needs to have sufficient financial resources to invest in the region. However, the allocation of resources to the Mekong Delta in the past 20 years has always been the lowest in the country's five remaining economic regions, including the South East, the Central Highlands, the Central Coast, the Red River Delta and the mountain north area. Therefore, the workshop also recommended that a policy advocacy process be undertaken to show that the Mekong Delta has more resources for development than it currently is.

     - Continues coordinating with local organizations to organize post-PCI activities: PCI Diagnostic Workshop in Ninh Thuan and Cao Bang Provinces...

     + Organize sa training course on: Exploiting and using PCI and survey data for improvement of local business environment and legal development.

     - Updated information and consultancy on trade remedies in the world and in Vietnam, updated the situation and made recommendations regarding the negotiation of the Transpacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) and FTAs Other Vietnam (FTA Vietnam - EU, FTA Vietnam - Korea ...), RCEP

     - Implemented Action Program to Promote Integrity in Business:

     + VCCI sent 02 proposals for funding from the Small Grant Fund of the ASEAN CSR Network and the British Embassy in Hanoi from the General Prosperity Fund of The United Kingdom about a new approach orientation towards supports capacity building for enterprises, particularly enhancing business co-operation with the Government in building a transparent business environment that facilitates for Business operation of enterprises.

     + Sufficiently completed E – information website (kdlc.vn) about instructing enterprises in implementation of the toolkit for preventing corruption, an online channel allows users to learn how to prevent risk, self-up management of a business management that and interactive sharing of ideas, lessons learned about the benefits of participation in the corruption prevention and the price to pay for abetting bribery and corruption.

     - Continued monitoring and guiding the professional activities of the employers’ 'representatives to the local VCCI’s branches, the employers' councils at the local business associations when participating in the three sides mechanism of the industry relations, especially involved in the settlement of labor disputes and cases of strikes that are not according to the provisions of law. At the same time, organized training courses on labor protection, occupational safety and hygiene in the provinces.

     + Attended the second session of the National Salary Council to discuss the 2018 minimum wage increase on July 28, 2017. There were many different wage increases offered for discussion by the parties. The Footwear Association proposed a 5% increase, while the Small and Medium Business Association offered two suggestions: first was no increase; the second was a 4% increase. The VCCI’s point of view was that it needed to share because enterprises were facing difficulties, especially those in the textile and garment, footwear, aqua-products and electronics industries. Therefore, if it was necessary to adjust the regional minimum wage increase, it must raise appropriately. If highly increased, the risk that enterprises had to adjust the structure, reduced the labor force, leaded to unemployment, so VCCI proposed the minimum wage increase in the region in 2018 was only 1-2%. Meanwhile, the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor proposed increase at least 7.7% more than the increase in 2017 (7.3%), particularly was 8%. The payroll council will hold its third meeting to discuss and agree on a minimum wage increase in 2018.

     - Coordinated organizing the conference on dissemination and dialogue with enterprises on new policies in the field of taxation, customs 2017 in Lam Dong Province. There were more than 100 enterprises in Lam Dong attended the conference. At the conference, enterprises also raised questions around the issues of tax policies, customs, effective investment from July 1, 2017 and the practical application in Lam Dong. The dialogue helped enterprises better understanding the state policies and helped the management agencies find effective solutions to guide, remove difficulties ,help enterprises in sustainably development and contribute to the local economic and social development.

     2. Carried out trade and investment promotion activities as well as programs and projects to support the raising of the competitiveness of enterprises and business associations:

     - Organized a business delegation that accompanied with the Government’s Prime Minister to visit, work and attend the G20 summit in Germany and official visit to the Kingdom of the Netherlands. In Germany, VCCI co-organized a Vietnam-Germany Business Forum with the theme "Vietnam - a destination for German businesses", attracted the participation of more than 650 local business representatives. In the Netherlands, VCCI co-organized the Vietnam Business Forum with the theme "Towards a sustainable future", attracted the participation of nearly 300 local enterprises. The two business forums held during this trip of the Government’s Prime Minister that attracted the special attention of local businessmen in the process of finding and developing partnerships with Vietnamese enterprises in the fields of electrical, electronic, electrical and electronic goods, general consumer goods, petroleum, power, textiles, finance, banking, general merchandise, logistics, medical equipment and services, general import and export, electrical and electronic equipment and consumables,, tourism, investment, construction and infrastructure development…

     At the Forum, German enterprises, the Netherlands introduced about the business environment, and policies to attract investment in Vietnam. At the same time, enterprises participated in the Forum had the opportunity to meet directly and learn about opportunities for cooperation with Vietnamese partners. Also at the Forum, the Government’s Prime Minister witnessed many cooperation agreements, economic contracts between the two parties were signed, there were many contracts worth several hundreds million euros: business strategic partnership agreement in the field of renewable energy of The Central Group and Enercon Group, Germany worth 800 million euros in 5 years was signed; Vietjet Air signed an aircraft financing agreement with German aircraft leasing company GOAL German Operating Aircraft Leasing GmbH & Co.KG for 4 A321CEO aircraft valued at $ 464 million; the contract of "Waste treatment complex and garbage plant in Da Nang city" between VIDEBRIDGE (Viet Duc bridge), Empire Group Da Nang and Intec & Juvema; worth € 214 million, including 4 child contracts; Joint Venture contract between Gen TRO Technology Import Export Service Co., Ltd (GENTROTECH) and partners WIBACON - BioVEE and MAC established a joint venture to build a 2,000 ton waste treatment plant day and night in Hiep commune Phuoc District, Cu Chi District, Ho Chi Minh, worth 282 million euros; The cooperation agreement between Plastic Chemical Joint Stock Company and Starlinger & Co. German GmbH for the simultaneous supply of industrial tarpaulin and geotextile production lines to the Plaschem Group, worth € 80.5 million; Memorandum of Understanding on high-tech agriculture with AGRIMENT Group (the Netherlands) worth $ 20 million....

     - Coordinated with the Turkish External Economic Relations Council (DEIK) and the Turkish Embassy in Vietnam to hold the Vietnam-Turkey Business Meeting 2017 within the framework of the 7th Session of the Commission Vietnam - Turkey. Turkish enterprises attended the meeting mainly in the fields of tourism, construction materials, food, chemicals, energy, infrastructure, packaging, services. warehousing, spare parts ... in order to understand the business investment environment in Vietnam and to seek Vietnamese partners for investment and business cooperation. Representatives of the two sides exchanged information on the potential for cooperation as well as the need to expand the market. Some other commodities such as agricultural products, textiles and garments, consumer goods processing chains ... are also interested in two sides, exchange information and discuss the possibility of cooperation.

     - Organized the "Business Matchmaking Day" within the framework of the Small and Medium Enterprise Development Scheme (SMEDP) to develop sectoral clusters in the rural agricultural value chain while supporting enterprises  seeking partners to join and develop affiliate network in production, sales and service. Attended the program that there were more than 300 SMEs operating mainly in the fields of agriculture and food. Through exchanges and connections, some SMEs had access to financial packages as well as appropriate interest rate loans from banks for their investment projects.

     - Other activities: Continued preparing activities for APEC 2017; Organized workshop on "Quality of Services and Business Costs in International Logistics Operations" (14/7); Organized workshops to improve the human resource management capacity of SMEs in handicraft village (12/7); Organized business workshops with Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan (13/7); Co-ordinated with China Business Association in Vietnam to organize the Vietnam Household Appliances Dialogue - Zhanjiang China (19/7); Organized the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Taiwan Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam and VCCI in Ho Chi Minh City (July 25); Organized the Conference "The Role of Associations in Supporting Members in addressing International Trade Disputes" in Binh Dinh; Conference "Branding and protection of intellectual property in trade: the issue for enterprises with associations"; Organized the workshop "Promoting start-ups and restructuring enterprises: From the orientation of the State to the role of business associations”...

     3. Summary of difficulties and problems of enterprises:

     In July 2017, VCCI continued coordinating with ministries, localities and business associations to bring together new business proposals. The list of new recommendations were presented in the attached appendix.

     In addition, VCCI also aggregated and monitored the recommendations submitted by the Office of the Government as well as sums up the resolution of these requests by ministries, sectors and localities. The summary table in Annexes 2 and 3 was attached to the report.

     The Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Vietnam is pleased to report to the Goverment’s Prime Minister.