The workshop is an opportunity for Vietnam to learn from Sweden's experience to promote the role of social dialogue. (Photo: Nguyen Long).

Today (February 23), the Seminar "How dialogue at work contributes to sustainable business during and post pandemic" took place under the organization of the Embassy of Sweden, Vietnam Federation of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) and the Swedish Workplace Programme (SWP) jointly organized.

The VCCI Chairman Pham Tan Cong said that Vietnam and Sweden have a long history of cooperation and achieved remarkable milestones, especially in the private sector. In recent years, the business communities of Sweden and Vietnam have had many flourishing activities.

The signing of the Vietnam - EU Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) has brought a lot of added value to the activities of the business community in general as well as to the economies of the two countries in particular. After more than a year of EVFTA coming into effect, despite the COVID-19 pandemic still raging around the world, the two-way trade turnover between Vietnam and Sweden still maintains its growth momentum, specifically in 2021, reached about $1.52 billion, up 2.8% compared to 2020, of which Vietnam's exports to Sweden reached about $1.2 billion, increased 6%.

Mr. Pham Tan Cong said that, when joining the EVFTA, Vietnam commits to ratify all eight core conventions of the International Labor Organization (ILO) on Labor Standards. In particular, in 2019, VCCI supported and made efforts to promote the ratification of Convention No. 98 on the Right to Organize and Collective Bargaining.

“I can confirm that support in the field of labor rights is one of the important areas of the partnership between Vietnam and Sweden, and I believe that Sweden's deep experience in this field is very important. This sector will provide very effective support to Vietnam”, emphasized the VCCI Chairman.

The VCCI Chairman speaks at the Seminar (Photo: Nguyen Long).

The VCCI Chairman also assessed that this seminar is of great significance to the business community and Vietnamese workers. The year 2021 is a year full of challenges and unprecedented pressure for the Government and people of Vietnam due to the fourth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, in which employees working at businesses are also affected by many negative impacts: income decrease, job losses, and stressful mental pressures.

Social dialogue serves as one of the pillars to help recover and deal with negative impacts. As a national organization representing employers, VCCI has constantly promoted the development of industrial relations and built harmonious labor relations in enterprises. For example, at the central level, VCCI has participated as a member of the Labor Relations Committee, the National Wage Council, the Social Insurance Management Council, etc. The branches and representative offices of VCCI are members of the local Labor Arbitration Council, the Tripartite Advisory Council to handle issues related to labor relations at enterprises, in order to build and implement a harmonious labor relationship at enterprises in the area.

In 2021, VCCI quickly established the Business Cooperation Council in response to COVID-19. This is a special mechanism to connect businesses and business associations with central, local and international agencies and organizations to join forces to respond to COVID-19, limit losses, and maintain operations, protect employees, and provide guidance and support in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We meet here in an exciting atmosphere at the beginning of the new year, when the GDP growth for the whole year 2021 is estimated at 2.58%, the total import and export turnover of goods in 2021 reaches a record of 668.5 billion USD, ranked in the Top 20 in the world, the currency, credit, and exchange rate markets are stable ...", Mr. Pham Tan Cong shared...

Up to now, Vietnam has become one of the countries with the highest COVID-19 vaccine coverage in the world, creating a premise for Vietnam's economy to open up and cooperate in a new normal stage with the world. Time is the basis for businesses to restore production and business.

The Chairman of VCCI believes that businesses will only develop sustainably when they build a good and harmonious relationship between enterprises and employees. We affirm that we will continue to accompany our Swedish partners to build more effective and practical programs for the benefit of employees and employers as well as improve the sustainability of business operations, promoting international integration.