USAID STAR Plus Monthly Report for June 2012

The workshop focused on free trade agreements with the United States and the potential benefits and challenges of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). The National Assembly plans to publish the material in a new booklet, which will cover the basics of free trade agreements and highlight the potential benefits and challenges of the TPP. The booklet will be printed by the end of June and distributed to every member of the National Assembly. The Ministry of Justice, with assistance from USAID STAR Plus, held a workshop on June 15 to explore the idea of combining the Law on Laws and the Local Law on Laws. This would help ensure that laws at all levels are subject to the same terms of issuance. The workshop was attended by 50 people from the Office of the Government, the National Assembly, issuing agencies, and the Ministry of Justice. The participants agreed that the concept of legal normative documents (LNDs) needs to change, but there was no agreement on what should be done. USAID STAR Plus and the Ministry of Science and Technology's Directorate for Standards and Quality (STAMEQ) held a 2-day training program on transparency and rulemaking procedures for Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) regulations in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. The training covered transparency requirements, the TBT master plan recently approved by the Prime Minister, and good regulatory practice. The participants actively participated in case studies and group exercises to improve analytical and soft skills in commenting on draft regulations. The Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) requested support from USAID STAR Plus in conducting the 2012 Ministerial Effectiveness Index (MEI). USAID STAR Plus agreed to provide support, and VCCI increased their contribution to over one-third of the total estimated cost. The target date for release of the third edition of the MEI is November 2012. USAID STAR Plus, in coordination with the US Foreign Commercial Service, held a workshop on franchising in HCMC. The workshop covered laws and regulations in franchising, comparison of Vietnam laws and regulations to international laws and regulations, and international best practices. The workshop was attended by approximately 100 people, including regulators and businesses. The training program for personnel from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and staff of the Central Committee of the Communist Party began the second phase of their training on the campus of Connecticut College. The US portion of the training will last three weeks and will include field trips to New York City and Boston. The schedule for the first few days includes intensive training in writing in English, a lecture on the US Presidential election in 2012, and a lecture on International Environmental Challenges. USAID STAR Plus conducted a teleconference on Government Procurement with Jean Grier of USTR. The discussion focused on the need to revise the laws relating to Government Procurement to reflect TPP requirements. The revised WTO GPA and the US-Peru Free Trade Agreement are much closer to the TPP text than the US-Korea Free Trade Agreement. Four possible next steps were agreed upon, including preparing a gap analysis on Government Procurement and organizing visits by OMB and others to explain the concepts of Government Procurement. Professor Jim Riedel and Professor Pham Tra presented a paper titled "Growth Slowdown and What to Do About It: Myths and Realities" on June 22 at the Ministry of Planning and Investment. The attendees included Former Minister of Trade Mr. Truong Dinh Tuyen, Pham Quy Tho, Dean of the Academy of Policy and Development, and Dr. Nguyen Dinh Cung, Vice President of the Central Institute for Economic Management (CIEM). The discussion focused on dynamic comparative advantage, the need for a new growth model, and reform of State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs). The State Bank of Vietnam officially released a set of current financial data on the macro economy for the first time. USAID STAR has encouraged this move through various activities, including a study mission to New Zealand and Malaysia in 2009 and various papers by Peter Nicholl to the State Bank. USAID STAR Plus has begun to review and comment on the draft Law on Plant Protection at the request of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD). The law is of major importance to US agricultural exporters who exported $1.7 billion of agricultural products to Vietnam in 2011. The Food and Agriculture Export Alliance, a consortium of the largest US agricultural exporters and a USAID STAR Plus partner, will also provide comments. Professor David Gantz of the University of Arizona Law School submitted two reports on Effective Techniques for Resolving State-to-State Disputes and Investor-State Disputes to the Ministry of Justice. These reports will be the subject of workshops in July 2012. USAID STAR Plus was invited to comment on a project proposal to improve law implementation by the Ministry of Finance.