The Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) so far has almost 200,000 member businesses.

The Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), which so far has almost 200,000 member businesses, has accompanied the business community and become an important factor in the country’s economic development.

Although the number of VCCI members remains modest compared to the total 800,000 enterprises operating across the country, the VCCI's support for the business community has contributed to create the synergy of the nation and enhance the country’s international prestige.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has asked the VCCI to become a common home for more businesses, thus making the chamber’s proposals to the institutional reform more practical.

As an organisation gathering and representing the business community, the VCCI has shown strong performance in connecting and assisting enterprises, contributing to increasing their stature in the international arena.

Along with helping the business community integrate deeper into the world and representing them to give opinions for the building of a smoother international business environment, the VCCI has helped increase domestic firms’ opportunities to do business with their foreign peers through the International Chamber of Commerce – the world’s largest business organisation gathering more than 45 million companies from more than 100 countries.

VCCI President Pham Tan Cong said that amid COVID-19, the VCCI has keep updated on the situation of businesses through the formation of a Business Cooperation Council in Response to COVID-19, the launch of a virtual workplace platform named VCCI-Workplace and the organisation of various conferences and dialogues with the Prime Minister and the National Assembly Chairman as well as trade associations. The VCCI has conducted various surveys to gather businesses' requests and has sent more than 600 request to the PM as well as ministries, sectors and localities.

The VCCI has actively engaged in the building of directives and resolutions of the Government and the PM on supporting businesses, while monitoring the implementation of the policies to give feedback to authorised agencies, he said.

The VCCI leader said that the chamber also made it a priority to connect businesses through the settlement of difficulties facing them and submission of proposals to relevant agencies on solutions to support them.

At the same time, the VCCI has set up a central council of business associations to connect and support the improvement of capacity for more than 400 business associations and clubs inside and outside the country.

It has guided the formation and operation of 53 out of 63 business associations in cities and provinces nationwide, he said.

So far, the VCCI has established a network of organisations representing enterprises and conducting trade and investment promotion across the country as well as in other countries, including the US, the EU, Russia and Japan./.