On the morning of April 3, 2025, the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry Ho Chi Minh City Branch (VCCI HCM) held a ceremony to announce and award new membership certificates to 90 enterprises.

Speaking at the ceremony, Vice Chairman of VCCI, Mr. Vo Tan Thanh, on behalf of the VCCI leadership, sent congratulations and warm greetings to all new members.

Mr. Vo Tan Thanh sent a warm welcome to the new members

After reviewing some major milestones in the history of formation and development of VCCI over 60 years, Mr. Thanh reiterated that VCCI's mission is to support the business community, contributing to promoting the country's economic development and international integration. During the development process, VCCI plays an important role as a bridge between the business community and state agencies, actively participating in the reform process and improving the business environment. VCCI also supports businesses to improve their competitiveness and protect their rights.

Mr. Thanh emphasized the positive contributions of VCCI in many fields. In terms of institutions, VCCI is one of the pioneering organizations advising the state on economic institutions, especially in the period of renovation since 1986 and international economic integration since 1990. VCCI participates in the process of promoting reform and advising the government in negotiating and signing free trade agreements, as well as promoting businesses to take advantage of opportunities from these agreements. In terms of improving the business environment, VCCI also plays an important role, demonstrated through the annual publication of the Provincial Competitiveness Index (PCI), helping to assess the business environment and economic management capacity of local leaders, thereby promoting the improvement of the business environment nationwide. In terms of business support and international integration, VCCI organizes many effective business connection activities between domestic and international enterprises, creating opportunities for direct meetings, helping businesses find partners and expand markets through fairs, exhibitions and market surveys. VCCI also contributes to connecting foreign enterprises with each other.

Regarding management capacity improvement, VCCI organizes training activities, seminars, and classes for tens of thousands of students, helping to improve the management capacity of enterprises.

Regarding sustainable development, VCCI is a pioneer organization promoting sustainable development for enterprises and has programs to evaluate and rank sustainable enterprises.

Mr. Thanh also mentioned the increasing opportunities and challenges in the context of deep international integration and fierce competition. He paid special attention to the new tariff policy of the US President, imposing import tax rates of up to 46% on some goods from Vietnam (although this number may change during the negotiation process). In this situation, VCCI will promote connection and market expansion to help enterprises overcome difficulties and diversify markets outside of traditional markets such as the United States. He also noted that FDI enterprises are taking advantage of free trade agreements better than Vietnamese enterprises, so VCCI and the government need to support small and medium enterprises to take better advantage of these opportunities.

VCCI will continue to contribute to strongly improving the business environment, aiming to reduce compliance costs by at least 30% and bring Vietnam into the top 3 ASEAN countries in terms of a favorable business environment for enterprises.

Mr. Thanh also mentioned the trend of green economic development, digital transformation, circular economy and sustainable development in the world, while emphasizing the need for Vietnam to comply with environmental requirements and clean green production to meet the requirements of importers and consumers.

“If our products are harmful to the environment and are not produced cleanly and greenly, foreign importers will not sign contracts,” Mr. Thanh emphasized.

Faced with these challenges, Mr. Vo Tan Thanh called on member businesses to actively contribute to the development of legal policies to improve Vietnam's general business environment. He hoped that the development of businesses would contribute to the growing strength of VCCI and wished all businesses to overcome difficulties and succeed.

Mr. Tran Ngoc Liem, Director of VCCI HCM, also sent his best wishes to representatives of businesses and organizations that have become members of VCCI at the ceremony. He emphasized that they are currently working with VCCI towards the common goal of a strong business community and a prosperous country.

Mr. Liem noted that in the recent important changes and transformations of the country, including the streamlining of the government apparatus from the central to local levels, towards the national growth target of 8%, businesses are the key factor in achieving these goals. Because businesses are the units that create material wealth and promote economic expansion.

He emphasized the importance of digital transformation and the application of information technology in state administration and business management to avoid falling behind. The rise of new business models, especially in e-commerce, has contributed significantly to state budget revenue. The increasing application of artificial intelligence (AI) and other technologies in business operations has also been noted.

HBCV representative pledges to enthusiastically support the connection of Vietnamese-Japanese enterprises

Mr. Minamigawa Kazuaki, General Director of HBCV, a new member of this batch, shared that he has received many requests from Japanese companies to find OEM partners and outsourcing companies to cooperate in Vietnam. And last year, HBCV successfully connected about seven Vietnamese enterprises with Japanese companies. HBCV believes that this demand will continue to grow in the coming time. He pledged to support and enthusiastically advise if Vietnamese enterprises have a need to cooperate with Japanese enterprises, export products to Japan or produce OEM for Japanese companies.

New VCCI members in the first batch of 2025

“We look forward to accompanying businesses and together promoting development and business activities in Vietnam,” said Mr. Minamigawa.