Ha Noi, 13 December 2022 – “The key to balancing Viet Nam's economic growth with sustainable development is promoting responsible business practices. Currently, corporate social responsibility (CSR) is understood as encouraging; while responsible business practice (RBP) is mandatory, demonstrating the responsibility of businesses to stakeholders, such as employees, consumers, and communities affected by the enterprise’s activities; in which compliance with relevant laws is the minimum requirement only”.

This is the message of Deputy Minister of Justice Mr. Mai Luong Khoi at the consultation workshop "Draft National Action Plan on solutions to improve policies and laws to promote responsible business practices in Viet Nam". The workshop was organized by the Ministry of Justice in collaboration with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), and the Embassy of the Kingdom of Sweden in Viet Nam.

Deputy Minister Mai Luong Khoi said responsible business practices will contribute to: (i) improve the competitiveness and reputation of enterprises and the whole country; (ii) minimize risks, especially legal risks for businesses and countries in the context of international integration; (iii) create consistency and synergy in the system of policies and laws related to enterprises.

Responsible business practice requires businesses not only to comply with the law, but also to implement risk assessment measures for human, social and environmental factors, and at the same time address potential threats, such as: prevent, reduce or take appropriate remedial action when violations occur. This is the main responsibility of the business; however, the State and society also have a responsibility to promote and ensure compliance.

In recent years, with the support of UNDP and the Embassy of the Kingdom of Sweden in Viet Nm, the Ministry of Justice has actively coordinated with ministries, branches and localities, to conduct many research activities, reviews, consultation workshops to develop a draft a National Action Plan on solutions to improve policies and laws to promote responsible business practices in Viet Nam. This draft focuses on 3 major orientations, associated with specific tasks and solutions for implementation, including:

• Raising awareness and capacity on responsible business practices for state agencies, businesses and the society.

• Completing policies and laws on responsible business practice; and

• Promoting the efficiency and quality of the implementation of relevant policies and laws.

“Businesses that deviate from what is the international practice with regards to human rights and sustainability, will eventually face challenges in retaining increasingly demanding customers and accessing foreign markets,” said Swedish Ambassador to Viet Nam Ann Måwe. “Therefore, I am very happy to note that Vietnam is closing in on adopting its National Action Plan in 2023, forming part of a new era of how to do business in this country – focusing on responsible business practices as the new norm”.

UNDP Resident Representative Ramla Khalidi congratulates the Ministry of Justice for its leadership and commitment to formulate the first National Action Plan on Solutions to Improve Policy and Legal Framework to Advance Responsible Business Practice In Viet Nam.

“Having a National Action Plan in place would not only demonstrate Viet Nam’s commitments to human rights protection and sustainable development, but also a vivid attestation of how the country is ready, or even ahead of the game, in being a responsible player in the global market, and demonstrating once again to other countries in the region and beyond a path towards a more sustainable, equitable and inclusive future,” said Ms. Khalidi.

She highlighted three of the essential criteria for an effective National Action Plan according to the UN Guidance on National Action Plans on Business and Human Rights: (i) a National Action Plan must be founded on the UNGPs; (ii) a national action plan should provide implementation, monitoring and evaluation mechanisms; (iii) the development and implementation of NAP should be done in an inclusive and transparent manner.

The consultation workshop will help the Ministry of Justice to finalize the draft National Action Program on solutions to improve policy and legal framework to advance responsible business practice in Viet Nam for submitting to the Prime Minister in 2023.

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For more information, please contact:

Nguyen Viet Lan, UNDP Communications Lead, nguyen.viet.lan@undp.org. Phone: 0914436769