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Viet Nam Finalising Its Handbook for Implementing International Investment Commitments

3 November 2021

The Ministry for Planning and Industry of Viet Nam organised its second framing workshop on 27 October 2021 with 190 relevant officials from central and local government across Viet Nam virtually attending. The workshop was part of the “Handbook for Implementing International Investment Commitments – Stage One: Pilot in Viet Nam” project.

During the workshop, Professor N. Jansen Calamita, Head of Investment Law & Policy, Centre for International Law, National University of Singapore, engaged in this project, presented the summarised the structure and content of the Handbook, including how it would fit into Viet Nam’s dispute prevention strategy. He also elaborated on how Viet Nam’s competent authorities can use this Investment Handbook to implement Vietnam’s international investment treaties and address investors grievances, using the examples of issues in areas where disputes and grievances arise most frequently, such as incentives and taxation, selection of investors in land-using investment projects and land-related issues.

National experts, including Ms Dinh Anh Tuyet, partners of IDVN law firms and officials from the Ministry of Planning and Investment, and the Ministry of Finance, also presented Viet Nam’s experience in defending investor-state disputes, addressing land and tax grievances.

The Handbook will be finalised and targeted for completion by the end of 2021. It is aimed to (i) teach officials about the practical application of the governments’ treaty and obligations; (ii) improve the quality of government decision-making process; (iii) strengthen the effectiveness of other policies and procedures for effective treaty implementation; and (iv) help officials make better use of government legal resource.

The project will continue with a series of training to relevant Vietnamese government officials involved with the day-to-day management of foreign investment (including the screening and monitoring of investments). The training series and Handbook dissemination seek to improve on-the-ground implementation and awareness of Viet Nam’s specific international investment commitments and minimise the risk of investor-state disputes arising from frontline errors in administration and treatment of investors.

The first framing workshop was held on 15 January 2021 in Ha Noi, Viet Nam.

The pilot project to develop a Handbook for Implementing International Investment Commitments for Viet Nam aims to (i) enhance the awareness and understanding of Viet Nam’s investment treaty commitments among the country’s government officials and (ii) establish a model for future investment handbooks in the other ASEAN Member States.

For more information on this project or the AECSP, please contact the AANZFTA Support Unit at aanzfta_inquiry@asean.org.

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