Investment in Vietnam

GUIDEBOOK ON BUSINESS AND INVESTMENT IN VIETNAM BERLIN, 2011 FOREWORD Over the past two decades, Viet Nam’s economy has bee n developing rapidly owing to its â€Å"Doi moi† (Renovation) policy and activeness to integrate itself into the global economy. W ith its enormous efforts and determination, and effective cooperation with international partners and friends worldwide, Viet Nam is taking firm steps towards industrialization and modernization.With a stable political environment and great economic potentials, Viet Nam is an attractive destination for doing business and investment. The Government of Viet Nam has been ceaselessly endeavoring to improve the investment climate with the aim at creating an increasingly business-friendly environment in Viet Nam. Germany is the biggest economic partner of Viet Nam in Europe. The economic cooperation between the two countries has been fruitfully burgeoning.In an effort to further strengthen the economic cooperation between Vie t Nam and Germany, t he Embassy of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam in coordination with the relevant ministries of Viet Nam to publish the Guidebook on Business and Investment of Viet Nam, which is expected to provide German businesses with an overview of the Viet Nam’s economy and its business and investment climate.We are confident that German businesses can find helpful information and guidelines on investment and doing business in Viet Nam from the Guidebook, and thereby have a deeper understanding of the Viet Nam’s economy, a dynamically emerging and reliable destination for international investment flows. We deeply thank the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Planning and Investment of Viet Nam for their kind support and assistance. We would like to express our sincere thanks to Dr.Andreas Stoffers, Board Member of German Business Association Vietnam and Member Executive Committee Euroean Chamber of Commerce Vietman for reviewing this book. W e al so heartedly thank Marktforschung und Kommunikation GmbH for her great cooperation and excellent coordination in publishing the Guidebook. Dr. Do Hoa Binh Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of the S. R. Viet Nam to the Federal Republic of Germany 2 ABBREVIATION ASEAN BCC BOM BOT BT BTO CEPT CIT CPC DOLISA DPI EIAR EL EPC EPZ EU EZ FIC FOB GDP HTZ IL IZ JVC LTT LUR LURC MFN MOIT MOLISA MONRE MOST MPI NOIP ODA PCT PIT PPP RO SBV TTC USD VAT VCAD VNDW TO Association of Southeast Asian Nations Business co-operation contract Board of Management of IZs, EPZs, HTZs and EZs Build-operate-transfer (including its derivative forms, BTO and BT) Build-transfer Build-transfer-operate Common Effective Preferential Tariff Scheme Corporate income tax Civil Proceedings Code Provincial Department of Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs Provincial Department of Planning and Investment Environmental impact assessment report Enterprise Law Environment protection commitment Export processing zone European Union Economic zone Foreign-invested company Free on board Gross Domestic ProductHigh-tech zone Investment Law Industrial zone Joint venture company Law on Technology Transfer Land use rights Certificate of land use rights Most Favoured Nation Ministry of Industry and Trade Ministry of Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment Ministry of Science and Technology Ministry of Planning and Investment National Office of Intellectual Property Official development assistance Patent Cooperation Treaty Personal income tax Public Private Partnership Representative Office State Bank of Vietnam Technology transfer contract United States of America dollarValue-added tax Vietnam Competition Administration Department Vietnamese Dong W orld Trade Organisation 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS FOREWORD †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢ € ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 2 VIETNAM AT A GLANCE †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 5 I: KEY FACTS †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 5 II: POLITICAL SYSTEM †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ III: ECONOMY †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 6 IV: INFRASTRUCTURE †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 13 V: VIETNAM- GERMANY ECONOMIC RELATIONSHIP†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 21 LEGAL GUIDE FOR INVESTING AND DOING BUSINESS IN VIETNAM †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 24 I: INVESTMENT REGULATIONS †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 24 II:TRADE REGULATIONS â € ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 30 III: TAXATION †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 35 IV: CUSTOMS REGULATIONS †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 42 V: LAND LAW †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 44 VI: FOREIGN EXCHANGE AND LOANS †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 9 VII: EMPLOYMENT †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 52 VIII: COMPETITION LAW †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 58 IX: ENVIRONMENT †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã ¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 62 X: INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 64 XI: TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 1 XII: DISPUTE RESOLUTION †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 73 BUSINESS TRAVEL GUIDE TO VIETNAM †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 77 APPENDICES APPENDIX 1: LIST OF SECTORS ENT ITLED TO INVESTMENT INCENTIVES †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 80 APPENDIX 2: LIST OF GEOGRAPHICAL REGIONS OF INVESTMENT INCENTIVES †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 84 APPENDIX 3: USEFUL CONTACTS AND ADDRESSES IN VIETNAM †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 87 4 VIETNAM AT A GLANCE I: KEY FACTS ? Official name: The Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Capital: Hanoi. ? Largest city: Ho Chi Minh City. ? Administrative subdivisions: 58 provinces and 5 municipalities (Hanoi, Hai Phong, Da Nang, Ho Chi Minh and Can Tho). ? Official language: Vietnamese. ? Location: In the center of Southeast Asia, neighboring on China to the north, Laos and Cambodia to the west, and the East Sea and Pacific Ocean to the East and South. ? Area: 331,690 km2. ? Coast line: 3,260 km. ? Climate: tropical in south; monsoonal in north with hot, rainy season (mid May to mid-September) and warm, dry season (mid-Octobe r to mid-March). Population (2010): 86. 9 million, by area (urban: 30% and rural: 70%) and by age (less than 15 years old: 24. 7%, 15 -64 years old: 68. 5% and more than 65 years old: 6. 8%). ? Population density: 262 people/km2. ? Literacy: 93. 7%. ? Natural resource: Energy resources (oil, gas, coal, hydropower and wind power); minerals (bauxite, iron ore, lead, gold, precious stones, tin, chromate, anthracite, construction materials, granite, marble, clay, white sand and graphite); sea and tropical forestry resources and agricultural potential. ?Currency: Vietnamese Dong (VND). ? Exchange rate (April 2011): 1 USD = 20,725 VND. ? GDP (2010): 104. 7 billion USD. ? GDP per capita (2010): 1,204 USD. ? GDP real growth rate (2010): 6. 78%. ? GDP by sector (2010): Agriculture (20. 6%), Industry (41. 1%) and Service (38. 3%). ? Exports: Crude oil, garments, shoes, marine products, electronic products and components, funitures, rice, coffee, rubber, tea, pepper. ? Major export markets: US A, Japan, China, Australia, Singapore, Germany, South Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, Netherland. ?Imports: Machinery & equipment, petroleum products, pharmaceuticals, fertilizer, steel products, metal, textile, garment and shoe inputs, vehicles. 5 ? II: Major import markets: China, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Thailand, USA, Malaysia, India, Germany. POLITICAL SYSTEM The current Constitution was adopted in 1992 and amended in 2001. It clearly indicates that the State is â€Å"of the people, by the people and for the people†. The people access the State power through the National Assembly and People's Councils, which are composed of elected representatives who represent the people's will and aspirations.The Constitution endows all citizens, men and women alike, with equal rights in all political, economic, cultural and social spheres as well as in family affairs, the right to and freedom of belief and religion and the right to choose and practice a religion, the r ight to and freedom of movement and residence in Vietnam, and the right to go abroad and return home as stipulated by laws. The National Assembly is the highest representative body of the people, endowed with the highest State power of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.It governs constitutional and legislative rights, decides fundamental domestic and foreign policies, socioeconomic tasks, and national defence and security issues, etc. It exercises the right to supreme supervision of all activities of the State. The State President is the Head of State, elected by the National Assembly from among its deputies to represent the Socialist Republic of Vietnam in domestic and foreign affairs. The term of office of the President is the same as that of the Chairman of the National Assembly.The Government is the executive body of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. It has the same term of office as the National Assembly and administers the implementation of State affairs in the fields of poli tics, economics, culture, society, national defence and security and foreign relations. The government is headed by the Prime Minister and comprises Deputy Prime Ministers, Ministers and other government members. The Supreme People's Court is the judicial body of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.It supervises and directs the judicial work of local People's Courts, Military Tribunals, Special Tribunals and other tribunals, unless otherwise prescribed by the National Assembly at the establishment of such Tribunals. The Supreme People's Procuracy oversees the enforcement of the law and exercises the right to prosecution, and ensures serious and uniform implementation of the law. III: ECONOMY Since the Doi moi (reforms) were introduced in the mid-1980s, Vietnamese economy has changed rapidly.Replacing the old centrally-planned economy, Vietnam has shifted to a new economic structure namely a socialist-oriented market economy, and has gained significant success. Today the aim of Vietnam is to become a basically industrialized country by 2020. 6 Overall achievements Vietnam embarked on Doi moi in 1986 and the country has seen many dramatic changes since. Over the last decade it has recorded an average GDP growth rate of 7. 3 percent per annum, ranking it second in the region after China. Its economy suffered from the 2008-09 economic crisis but recovered rapidly, with GDP growth rate of 6. 78 percent in 2010.ADB forecasts that the economy of Vietnam will increase by 6. 1 and 6. 7 percent in 2011 and 2012 respectively. Vietnam already became a lower middle income country with its GDP per capita of 1,204 USD in 2010. To a large extent, Vietnam has successfully transformed from a centrally-planned economy with heavy bureaucracy and subsidies to a socialist -oriented market economy characterized by strong dynamism and rapidly growing entrepreneurship. The country's economy has integrated deeply into the global and regional economies, bringing about a sharp rise in trad e volumes as well as an influx of foreign investment.The economy is well on the way to being a multi-sector model operating according to market mechanisms. The private sector has enjoyed very favourable conditions created by the Enterprise Law of 2000, which institutionalizes the freedom of all individuals to conduct business in areas not prohibited by law and removes a large number of administrative obstacles that hampered enterprises. With a view to raising the efficiency of the state -owned sector, the government has adopted assertive policy measures to reorganize the sector through equitization.As a result, more than 3,970 state-owned enterprises were equitized by the end of 2010. GDP of Vietnam, 2000-2010 120 9. 0 8. 0 7. 0 80 6. 0 5. 0 60 4. 0 40 3. 0 2. 0 20 1. 0 0 0. 0 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 Year GDP GDP growth rate Source: General Statistics Office 7 GDP growth rate (%) GDP (billion USD) 100 Progress in particular sectors As Vietnam's GDP con tinuously increases the country's economic structure has also seen notable changes. From 1990 to 2010 the share of the agriculture sector reduced from 38. 7 percent to 20. percent, while that of industry and construction increased from 22. 7 percent in 1990 to 41. 1 percent in 2010. The service sector remained relatively constant: 38. 6 percent in 1990 and 38. 3 percent in 2010. Agriculture still plays a critical role in Vietnam's socio-economic life since it generates about 57 percent of total employment and makes important contribution to the expansion of the country's foreign trade. Vietnam are among the leading countries in terms of agricultural exports such as rice, coffee, cashew nuts and aqua-products, etc.Industry continues to grow rapidly in terms of gross output, at an average rate of 10-15 percent per annum. Besides state enterprises, foreign-invested and the private enterprises play an increasingly important role in industrial development and exports. Services are growin g at an average rate of 7-8 percent. In 2010 the value added of service sector grew 7. 52 percent with good performances being recorded in the trade, finance, and hotels and restaurant sub-sectors as consumption and tourism remained buoyant. Industry and services continue to increase their sha re in the economy.This reflects market oriented reforms, a gradual reduction in barriers to competition and to private sector development, and improvements in physical infrastructure. Greater diversification in industrial production and services lays the foundation for further sustained growth in output and employment. VA growth rate by sector of Vietnam, 2000-2010 12. 0 10. 0 Percent 8. 0 6. 0 4. 0 2. 0 0. 0 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 Year Agriculture Industry Source: General Statistics Office 8 Service International economic integrationVietnam has made major steps forward in its commitments to regional and international economic integration. Following the introduc tion of Doi moi it signed an economic and trade cooperation agreement with the EU in 1995, joined ASEAN in 1995, adhered to CEPT/AFTA in 1996 and became an APEC member in 1998. The Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) with the United States was signed in 2000, which resulted in a dramatic increase in the trade volume between the two countries. Vietnam became the 150th member of the World Trade Organization on January 11, 2007.Vietnam's commitments in the WTO increase market access for exports of goods and services of WTO's members and establish greater transparency in regulatory trade practices as well as a more level playing field between Vietnamese and foreign companies. Vietnam undertook commitments on goods (tariffs, quotas and ceilings on agricultural subsidies) and services (provisions of access to foreign service providers and related conditions), and to implement agreements on intellectual property (TRIPS), investment measures (TRIMS), customs valuation, technical barriers to tra de, sanitary nd phytosanitary measures, import licensing provisions, anti-dumping and countervailing measures, and rules of origin. At present, Viet Nam has established diplomatic relations with 172 countries and signed 55 bilateral investment agreements and 58 double taxation agreements with countries and territories including Germany. It has economic and trading relations with about 165 countries and territories. Vietnam holds membership in 63 international organizations and over 650 non-governmental organizations.The policy of â€Å"multi-lateralization and diversification† in international relations has helped Vietnam to integrate more deeply into the global and regional economies and increase trade and investment ties with nations all over the world. More importantly, Vietnam has improved its enable business friendly environment over time. World Bank recognized that Vietnam is one of the 10 most-improved economies in ease of doing business in 2010. Currently, its ranking is 78 and even higher than other Asia countries such as Indonesia, Philippines, China, India. Vietnam’s rankings according to various indices Index 2011-2010 rank 2010-2009 rankWorld Bank’s Ease of doing business 78/183 88/183 World Economic Forum's Global competitiveness index 59/139 75/133 12/top 20 12/top 25 (*) ATKEARNEY' FDI confidence index Note (*) data for 2007 9 International trade Total export volume of Vietnam increased by 18 percent per year on average in the last decade and its import volume also did so by 19. 2 percent per year. In 2010 its total trade volume reached $155. 6 billion ($71. 6 billion of export and $84 billion of import), equal to 149 percent of its GDP. Both the composition and quality of exports have improved significantly. The proportion of industrial products has risen considerably.The five biggest export items include oil, textiles, footwear, seafood and wood products. Vietnam is in the early stage of the industrialisation and modernis ation process and receives a large inflow of FDI therefore it relies largely on the imp orted equipment and materials. Trade relations with foreign countries, especially other countries in the region, have expanded over time. The biggest trading partners of Viet Nam include China, America, ASEAN, EU, Japan and South Korea. International trade of Vietnam, 2000-2010 160 70 140 60 120 50 100 40 80 30 60 20 40 10 20 0 0 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010Year Export Import Trade in goods as % GDP Source: General Statistics Office 10 Trade in goods as % GDP (percent) 180 80 Trade (billion US$) 90 Top 10 export and import items of Vietnam, 2010 Garment Machinery & equipment Footwear Steel products Seafood Petroleum products Crude oil Fabric Electronic products Electronic products Furniture Vehicles Rice Platics Machinery & equipment Garment and shoe inputs Precious stone & metals Metals Rubber Animal feed 0. 0 5. 0 10. 0 15. 0 0. 0 5. 0 10. 0 15. 0 Import volume (billio n USD) Export volume (billion USD) Export item Import item Source: General Statistics OfficeForeign direct investment Since the introduction of the Law on Foreign Investment in 1987, by the end of 2010, 12,236 foreign investment projects were licensed with total registered capital of $193. 4 billion and total disbursed capital of over $61 billion. The investors from 92 countries and territories have committed investments in Viet Nam. Most of them are from Asia, Europe and America. Taiwan, Republic of Korea, Singapore, Japan and Malaysia and are the top five countries and territories investing in Vietnam. The next five countries and territories are British Virgin Islands, America, Hongkong, Cayman Islands and Thailand.These â€Å"top ten† countries and territories account for over three quarters of the total licensed projects and foreign registered capital in Viet Nam. Since 1996 there has been a tendency towards investment in producing goods for export, infrastructure constru ction, producing import substitutes and in labour intensive industries. There are more than 8,327 projects in the manufacturing and processing, real estate and construction industries with a total capital of about US$153,5 billion, accounting for nearly 80% of the registered capital.While there are foreign invested projects in all provinces and cities in Viet Nam, most investment has been in the key economic areas in the South including Ho Chi Minh City, Dong Nai, Binh Duong, Ba Ria, Vung Tau, and in the North including Hanoi, Hai Duong, Hai Phong and Quang Ninh. The foreign invested sector has increased rapidly, gradually asserting itself as a dynamic component of the economy, and has made an important contribution to enhancing the competitiveness and efficiency of the economy. In 20 10, the foreign invested sector has accounted for 21. 5% of the country's total investment, contributed 18. percent to GDP, 54. 2 percent to export volume (crude oil included), 44. 4 percent to industr ial gross output and employed 1. 6 million persons. 11 FDI Inflow of Vietnam, 2000-2010 Project number Registered capital Service, 10. 7% Telecom. & transportation 4. 1% Service, 19. 2% Processing & manufacturing 48. 7% Agriculture, 1. 6% Processing & manufacturing 59. 8% Agriculture 3. 9% Telecom. & transportation 7. 7% Real estate & construction 30. 8% Power, water, gas, 2. 5% Mining, 1. 5% Real estate & construction 8. 4% Power, water, gas, 0. 5% Mining, 0. 6% Source: Ministry of Planning and Investment FDI of Vietnam by sector, 2010 600 60 1400 1200 50 1000 40 800 30 600 20 400 10 200 0 0 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 Year Disbursement Total investment Note: Accumulated inflow of FDI by the end of 2010 Source: Ministry of Planning and Investment 12 No. of project 1800 70 FDI inflow (billion US$) 80 Top 10 destinations and investors of Vietnam, 2010 Top 10 FDI receiving provinces Top 10 investing countries and territories Ho Chi Minh City Chinese Taipei B a Ria – Vung Tau Korea Republic Ha Noi Singapore Dong Nai Japan Binh Duong Malaysia Ha Tinh British Virgin Islands Phu Yen America Thanh Hoa Hong Kong Hai Phong Cayman IslandsQuang Nam Thailand 0. 0 10. 0 20. 0 30. 0 Total registered investment (billion USD) 0. 0 5. 0 10. 0 15. 0 20. 0 25. 0 Total registered investment (billion USD) Note: Accumulated inflow of FDI by the end of 2010 Source: Ministry of Planning and Investment IV: INFRASTRUCTURE ? Road network: – ? 171,392 km country-wide. 2 North-South pivot routes: (i) the 1A National Highway of 2,260km in length from Lang Son to Ca Mau and (ii) the Ho Chi Minh Highway of 3,167km in length from Cao Bang to Ca Mau. Railway network: – ? Total length of 2,632 km. 278 stations country-wide. Hanoi – Ho Chi Minh City line: 1,726 km (it takes 29. hours for express train). – Linked to China railways in two directions, one from Lao Cai province to Yunnan province and one from Lang Son province to Kwangsi p rovince of China. – Planned to construct the railway lines connecting with Laos and Cambodia. Inland waterway: – More than 2,300 rivers and canals with total length of 198,000 km. – Inland waterway system of 35,386 km. 13 ? Sea ports: – – ? Vietnam has 3,260km coastline, a strategic position close to international shipping routes and favored natural conditions of foundation, sea depth, current, tidal, sedimentation and channels for developing seaport business. 7 national level sea ports, 23 provincial level sea ports and 9 offshore oil and gas sea ports. Current major important ports include Cai Lan and Hai Phong in the North, Da Nang and Quy Nhon in the Centre and Sai Gon and Cai Mep in the South. Airports: – ? 8 international airports: Cam Ranh (Nha Trang), Cat Bi (Hai Phong), Da Nang (Da Nang), Lien Khuong (Lam Dong), Noi Bai (Ha Noi), Phu Bai (Hue), Tra Noc (Can Tho), Tan Son Nhat (Ho Chi Minh City). In 2010, Tan Son Nhat Airport receive d 15. 5 million passergers and Noi Bai airport did 9. 5 million passengers. 14 domestic airports: Buon Ma Thuot (Dac Lac), Ca Mau (Ca Mau), Chu Lai (Quang Nam), Co Ong (Ba Ria – Vung Tau), Dien Bien Phu (Dien Bien Phu), Dong Tac (Phu Yen), Dong Hoi (Quang Binh), Gia Lam (Ha Noi), Na San (Son La), Pleiku (Gia Lai), Phu Cat (Binh Dinh), Phu Quoc (Kien Giang), Rach Gia (Kien Giang), Vinh (Nghe An). Business development zones: – ? 3 high-tech zones (Hoa Lac, Da Nang and Ho Chi Minh City) with total area of 3,509 ha of land. ? 260 industrial zones and export processing zones with total area of 71,394 ha of land. 15 economic zones located along sea coast with total area of 638,633 ha of land.Energy: – Electricity output reached 92. 7 billion kWh. – Crude oil and gas exploited 23 million ton. – Coal exploited 44 million ton. Telecommunication: – 26. 8 million Internet users. – 153. 7 million mobile subscriptions. – 16. 4 million fixed phone subscriptions. 14 15 Vietnam rail network 16 National seaports of Vietnam No. Seaport Province Current capacity of ship (DWT) 1 Cam Pha Quang Ninh 50,000 2 Hon Gai Quang Ninh 40,000 3 Hai Phong Hai Phong 20,000 4 Nghi Son Thanh Hoa 20,000 5 Cua Lo Nghe An 10,000 6 Vung Ang Ha Tinh 30,000 7 Chan May Thua Thien Hue 30,000 8 Da Nang Da Nang 30,000 9 Dung Quat Quang Ngai 0,000 10 Quy Nhon Binh Dinh 30,000 11 Van Phong Khanh Hoa 50,000 12 Nha Trang Khanh Hoa 20,000 13 Ba Ngoi Khanh Hoa 30,000 14 Ho Chi Minh City Ho Chi Minh City 30,000 15 Vung Tau Ba Ria – Vung Tau 50,000 16 Dong Nai Dong Nai 20,000 17 Can Tho Can Tho 10,000 Source: Decision 2190/QD-TTg dated 24/12/2009 17 Number and size of IPs and EPZs in Vietnam 300 71,394 70,000 60,000 40,000 150 26,971 260 100 183 11,830 50 50,000 43,687 200 300 1 2,370 12 30,000 20,000 130 10,000 65 0 1991 1995 2000 2005 2007 Year Number of IPs Size (ha) Source: Ministry of Planning and Investment 18 2010 Size of IPs (ha) Number of IP s 250Economic zones of Vietnam 19 SWOT Analysis of Vietnam Strengths Weaknesses ? One of fastest growing economies ? Few skilled professionals in Asia with average GDP growth of available; 7. 2% per year over the last decade; ? High bureaucratic barriers; ? Stable political and social security; ? Weak infrastructure (power, ? Abundance of human resources transportation); (labour force of 46. 2 million people; ? Underdeveloped supporting young, motivated and educated industries. workforce; 60% of population under 35 years old); ? Competitive business and production costs (cost labor, industrial land rent, energy cost, elephone cost, marine transportation, taxation); ? Available mineral and natural resources (coal, oil & gas, iron ore, bauxite, rare earth,.. ); ? Central location in South East Asia, long distance coast. Opportunities Threats ? Global integration (ASEAN, APEC, WTO membership); one of the world’s most open economies; ? High inflation; ? High trade deficit; ? Deva luation of VND; ? Higher demand for consumer goods and capital goods with better ? Banking and finance sector in infant stage; quality because of being a lower middle income country, aiming at ? Low national reserves. an industrialized country and ncreasing urban population; ? Export oriented and labour intensive industries; ? Infrastruture (road, railway, seaport, airport, power) projects funded by international donors or foreign investors. 20 V: VIETNAM- GERMANY ECONOMIC RELATIONSHIP Trade Germany is the biggest trade partner of Vietnam in Europe. In 2010, despite the global economic downturn, bilateral trade reached nearly USD 6 billion, a substantial increase over the previous year. Total export value of Vietnam to Germany reached nearly USD 4 billion, accounting for 19% of total Vietnam’s export to the EU while its import value from German amounted to USD 2 billion.Vietnam’s main export items to Germany are garments, footwear, coffees, furnitures, see foods, leath er and leather apparel, office machinery, iron, metal products, articles of plastics, ceramic products, crude rubber. Germany is the second-largest market worldwide for robusta coffee and black pepper of Vietnam. Main import items from Germany to Vietnam include: machines (in mining, construction and civil engineering, textile, food and beverage,†¦), aircraft, units for electricity generation nd distribution, passenger cars, chemical products, pharmaceutical products, measurement, control and regulation technology products, industrial plants, plastics, lifting and handling equipment, medical equipment and orthopedic appliances, engines, iron, metal products, elec tronic components†¦ After WTO accession, Vietnam is becoming an emerging and lucrative market in Asia. As Vietnam is accelerating its industrialization process to become an â€Å"industrialized country† by 2020, the trend towards sophisticated production facilities is evident and it is likely to result in i ncreased demand for hi -tech machinery made in Germany.Investment There have been over 230 German companies operating and investing in Vietnam, including many Germany’s leading groups such as Siemens, Deutsche Bank, Mercedes, Metro, Bosch etc. By the end of April 2011, German companies have invested in 163 projects with registered capital of USD 825 million in Vietnam. Three fourths of total investment projects and two thirds of investment capital of Germany mainly concentrate in manufacturing, processing, technique services, information and communication technology, banking and finance services.Although German investment projects have been located in 26 locatio ns in Vietnam, most of them have been implemented in Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Binh Duong and Dong Nai. In the upcoming time, the active implementation of mega infrastructure development and energy projects partially funded by German ODA such as the metro line No. 2 Ben Thanh – An Suong in Ho Chi Minh City (with length of 11 km and total investment capital of USD 1. 25 billion), O Mon IV thermo power, Phu Lac wind power, Vietnamese Green Line,†¦ will have positive impacts on promoting German investment flow into Vietnam.German foreign trade and investment promotion is well positioned in Viet Nam. German companies and investors can access to supports and advices from AHK Vietnam, German Business Association (GBA), a correspondent of Germany Trade and Invest (GTAI) in Vietnam. 21 Development cooperation Vietnam is an important partner of Germany in development cooperation. As one of the biggest donors among the EU members, Germany has provided Vietnam with more than EUR 1 billion in ODA since 1990. During 2011 – 2012, Germany committed nearly EUR 300 million for Vietnam. This is a clear evidence for strong support by Germany to the development of Vietnam.German-Vietnamese development cooperation focuses on the three priority areas: (i) Sustainable economic development and vocatio nal training; (ii) Environmental policy, conservation and sustainable use of natural resources; (iii) Health. German development cooperation has been utilizing effectively and contributing positively to socio-economic development of Vietnam, especially in vocational training, human resource development, infrastructure, clean energy source. During the visit of German Chancellor Dr. Angela Merkel to Viet Nam in October 2011, Hanoi Declaration was signed by Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and Chancellor Dr.Angela Merkel. It is the start of the strategic partnership between Vietnam and Germany. Export and import between Vietnam and Germany, 2007-2010 4000 3500 Value (USD million) 3000 2500 2000 1500 1000 500 0 2007 2008 Export from Vietnam to Germany 2009 2010 Year Import to Vietnam from Germany Source: German Federal Statistical Office 22 Gernam investment flow into Vietnam by sector, 2010 Registered capital Service, 10. 5 Agriculture, Telecom. & 5. 4 transportation 0. 4 Real estate & c onstruction 1. 0 Project number Processing & manufacturing 53. 6 Processing & manufacturing 46. 7 Service, 34. 2 Agriculture 2. 0 Power, water & gas, 29. Telecom. & Mining, 0. 7 transportation Real estate & 10. 5 construction Power, water & gas, 2. 0 3. 9 Mining, 0. 0 Source: Ministry of Planning and Investment 23 LEGAL GUIDE FOR INVESTING AND DOING BUSINESS IN VIETNAM I: INVESTMENT REGULATIONS On 1 July 2006, the investment regime comprised of a unified Enterprise Law (â€Å"EL†), which regulates corporations, and a common Investment Law (â€Å" IL†), which regulates investment, came into effect. The promulgation of these two important legislations is considered a significant watershed for improvement of the legal environment on investment activities and corporate governance in Vietnam. . Overview To do business under the IL and EL, foreign investors are required to obtain investment certificates from an appropriate Licensing Authority. Under the IL, investors may inv est in all sectors not prohibited by law. prohibited by law include: Areas ? Investment projects detrimental to national defence, security, and the public interest; ? Investment projects detrimental to historical and cultural traditions and the ethics or customs of Vietnam; ? Investment projects harming people’s health or destroying natural resources and the environment; and ?Investment projects treating toxic waste imported to Vietnam and investment projects manufacturing toxic chemicals banned by international law. 2. Licensing Investors shall follow the licensing and registration steps depending on the size and the sector of the investment project. Investment Certification Process 24 Conditional sectors: Investment projects in conditional sectors shall satisfy certain conditions in order to be licensed. Conditional sectors include: ? Broadcasting and television; ? Production, publishing and distribution of cultural products; ?Exploration and exploitation of minerals; ? Est ablishment of infrastructure for telecommunications network, transmission and provision of internet and telecommunications services; ? Establishment of public postal network and provision of postal services and express services; ? Construction and operation of river ports, sea ports, terminals and airports; ? Transportation of goods and passengers by railway, airway, roadway and sea and inland waterways; ? Catching of aquaculture; ? Production of tobacco; ? Real estate business; ? Import, export and distribution business; Education and training; ? Hospitals and clinics; and ? Other investment sectors in international treaties of which Vietnam is a member and which restrict the opening of the market to foreign investors. Investment Registration: Foreign investment projects with a total invested capital of less than VND 300 billion (US$ 15 million) and not falling in a conditional sector are subject to â€Å"investment registration† and foreign investors of such projects shall carry out the procedures for investment registration in order to be granted an investment certificate.The investment certificate also serves as the business registration of the corporate entity. Enterprises can subsequently register additional investment projects without the need to create a separate entity. The investor should submit application documents for investment registration to the Licensing Authority. The Licensing Authority shall check the documents and issue the investment certificate to the investors within 15 workin g days of receiving the valid application.Investment Evaluation: Any investment project with a total invested capital of VND 300 billion (US$ 15 million) or more or investment projects falling in conditional sectors shall undergo â€Å"an investment evaluation† by the Licensing Authority and other relevant authorities. There are two different types of evaluation: ? evaluation for investment projects regardless of total invested capital falling into c onditional sectors; and ? evaluation for investment projects with total invested capital of VND300 billion or more that do not fall into conditional sectors.For the evaluation of investment projects with total invested capital of VND 300 billion or more, along with the application documents, the applicant must also submit an â€Å"economic – technical explanation† of the investment project to the Licensing Authority. This covers the economic – technical explanatory statement, 25 objectives, scale, location, investment capital, implementation schedule, land use needs, and technological and environmental solutions of the investment project.For the evaluation of investment projects falling in conditional sectors, in addition to the application documents, the investor shall also demonstrate compliance with requirements specific to that conditional sector. When assessing the application documents, the Licensing Authority may liaise with other relevant Ministries and authorities in evaluating the proposed investment project. Items to be evaluated shall comprise: ? compliance with master planning/zoning for technical infrastructure, master planning/zoning for land use, master planning for construction, master planning for utilization of minerals and other natural resources; land use requirements; ? project implementation schedule; ? environmental solutions. The time-limit for evaluation of investment shall not exceed thirty (30) days from the date of receipt of a complete and valid file. In necessary cases, the above time -limit may be extended, but not beyond forty five (45) days. Applying for Construction License Filing for Investment Certificate Applying for the approval of Report on environment effects evaluation Agreement on land/building/office renting Evaluating preliminary technical design Environmental protection ommitment Land/building/office renting contract 26 Projects subject to Projects subject to environmental protection constructi on license commitment †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ Investment Certificate Projects subject to Report on environmental effects evaluation To-Do List for Investors 3. Licensing Authority Licensing Authority 3. 1 The Board of Management (â€Å"BOM†) of industrial zones (â€Å"IZs†), export processing zones (â€Å"EPZs†), high-tech zones (â€Å"HTZs†), and economic zones (â€Å"EZs†) are responsible for licensing foreign investments within their zones. 3 . 2National important BOT projects and PPP projects are licensed by the Ministry of Planning and Investment (â€Å"MPI†). Oil and gas projects, credit institutions, insurance projects and law firms are licensed by Ministry of Trade and Industry, State Bank of Vietnam, Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Justice respectively. 3 . 3 The Provincial People’s Committee is the authority responsible for all other foreign investments. Licensing applications shall be su bmitted to these bodies, who will consult with other relevant governmental authorities (where so required) before issuing final approval. . 4 The Prime Minister will approve the following investment projects (unless they are not included in the approved master plan): (a) The following investment projects, irrespective of the source of investment capital and scale of investment: – construction and commercial operation of airports; air transportation; – construction and commercial operation of national sea ports; – exploration, mining and processing of petroleum; exploration and mining of minerals; – radio and television broadcasting; – commercial operation of casinos; – production of cigarettes; – stablishment of university training establishments; and 27 – establishment of IZs, EPZs, HTZs and EZs. (b) The following investment projects, irrespective of the source of investment capital but with a total invested capital of VND 1,5 00 billion or more in the following sectors: – business in electricity, processing of minerals, metallurgy; – construction of railway, road and internal waterway infrastructure; and – production and business of alcohol, beer; (c) The following projects with foreign-invested capital in the following sectors: – commercial operation of sea transportation; – onstruction of networks for and supply of postal and delivery, telecommunications and internet services, construction of wave transmission networks; – printing and distributing newspapers and printed matter, publishing; and – establishment of independent scientific research establishments. 4. Forms of Investment and Enterprise Under the â€Å"Law on Investment† and the â€Å"Law on Enterprises† foreign investors may choose the following forms of investment in Viet Nam: Investment forms: – Invest in business development; – Establish economic organizations (1 00% capital of foreign investors or joint venture); Purchase shares or contribute capital to participate in management of investment activities; – Invest in contractual forms of BBC, BO, BTO, BT, PPP; and – M of enterprises. While foreign investors are allowed to buy shares in many domestic companies without limitation, there are ownership limitations for certain companies listed on the Vietnam stock exchange and financial sectors. Foreign ownership cannot exceed 49 percent of listed companies and 30 percent of listed companies in the financial sector. Forms of enterprises: – Limited liability company (with one member or more than one member);

Great Depression vs Great Recession

The United States of America has gone through many different economic ups and downs, two of the most horrific downturns would be the current recession and The Great Depression though out 1929 to 1939. The cause of these two economic events cannot be blamed on one single person or a group, but on the United States as a whole who neglected to perform their economic duties. While these two deflationary periods in our economy have several differences, they have many similarities as well, such the difficulty in receiving money from bank banks but they differ in that the Great Depression was much more difficult to go through.These two economic hardships have very similar beginnings. In the 1920’s it was known as installments, today it is known as the credit. Both are the same concept, and then you pay back the original price along with a certain amount of interest. It is a great concept since the companies are earning money on the interest but when too much credit is given out it ca n adversely affect the economy. During the Great Depression everyone began buying stocks with money that was loaned out by banks.While the Great Recession the banks were lending too much money for mortgages. Eventually when the stock market and housing markets crashed, the banks didn’t have any money because all of it was given out on loans. What differs though between these economic time periods, would be that the Great Depression was significantly harder to live during. The Recession only lasted for 2 years while the Depression was throughout the entire 1930s. Also during this time, the center states were dealing with a severe drought.Unemployment rate was also much higher at 25% compared to the 8% to 9% now. Social security, medicare, variety of public assistance programs like unemployment payments and food stamps were largely non-existent in the 1930s. These two time periods of economic downfall were horrible times for people. While these two periods in our economy have s everal differences and many similarities as well, such the difficulty in receiving money from bank banks but they differ in that the Great Depression was much more difficult to go through.

The Illinois Supreme Courts Health Care Ruling Assignment

The Illinois Supreme Courts Health Care Ruling - Assignment Example Many retirees, especially those with many dependants cannot afford high-quality healthcare after retiring. The new reform in the constitution will be helpful to them. By implementing the changes, the government claims that it is fulfilling its obligation of protecting its citizens. It is the government’s obligation to protect the health and safety of its people. The state government officials also claim that the implementation of the new reforms may increase the government spending. However, it is a long-term solution to the problems facing the pension systems (Plume 1). Some people claim that the new reform will have more harm than benefits to the economy of the state (Job 1). They claim that the new pension system will increase the cost of living for citizens in Illinois. This is because the pension plan will increase pressure on the government budget. As result, the government will respond by increasing taxation that will, in turn, increase inflation rate. Others also claim that the new reforms do not effectively address the pension problems previously experienced by state workers. For instance, in the year 2012 retires complain of delayed pension. According to critics of the new ruling, including free healthcare in the pension system will only make the problem worse (Job 1). This is because the pension problem was caused by underfunding of the Illinois retirement system. They think that instead of including free healthcare in the system, the government should focus on improving the funds of the existing retirement system. In addition, they claim that the new system will lead to the increase in the monthly premiums of state workers in order to compensate for the free healthcare after retirement. Instead of protecting workers, the critics claim that the ruling will make their lives more difficult. This will worsen the premium issue that was facing the government the previous year (Olsen 1). The new court ruling is an effective way of protecting and improving the lives of retirees in the state.  Ã‚  

Various Religious Restrictions in Many Forms of Art Assignment

Various Religious Restrictions in Many Forms of Art - Assignment Example It does not add anything foreign to its shape because the religion believes that the work of man is never equal to God’s art. To add to this, focus on the Quran brought about illustration and calligraphy. The Quran also makes explicit and various prohibitions on figurative imagery like bowing to gods as well as prohibit iconography. Unlike in Islamic art, Christian art is extraordinary because it does not illustrate the particular style of art, region, or period, but rather a specific choice of purpose, which entails extensive styles and forms. Getlein (378) also explains that Christian art touches on subjects like theology, politics, history, and philosophy. Having started with the minority groups, who had singled out their beliefs, it started having a universal occurrence in both private and public buildings to what was referred to as Christendom. Christian art was seen in great churches, abbeys, royal palaces, and cathedrals. It was also seen parishes, small churches, and private residential. The imagery of Christian was also evident in mosaic and wall-paintings in the walls of churches. What impacted the nature and creation of Christian was the decision of Paul to spread the gospel and when Constantine embraced Christianity. Christian art can also be traced towards the beginning and end of both second and t hird century. In the Old Testament, there are prohibitions of images, which are graven, families would be buried in tombs that were carved with marble and outside the walls of Rome, and the Romans would dig catacombs to bury their family members (Getlein 15). In chapter 21 of The Living Art, different works of arts have been exhibited from writers and artists who found it thrilling and overwhelming because they recognized art as modern. Getlein (506) argues that modernity is said to have developed a new type of society in the wake of revolution from diverse art movements like an American, Industrial, and  the French revolution.

Rational in Buying Research Proposal Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Rational in Buying - Research Proposal Example Harrison-Walker (1995) states that it appears that age demographics receive 'scant' attention in the marketing communications literature. Figure 11 shows a general outline of the overall research process as well as a guideline on the structure of the project itself. Due to the rapidly changing environment that is the industry of clothing and grocery, any company needs a clearer understanding of the nature of purchasing varying by age category. This would enable a successful and efficient segmentation and differentiation of its products to the different age groups. With this mind, here is a list of objectives to be accomplished during the process of the research as well a general guideline and outline throughout the research: - Review the findings on the basis of comparison and contrasting and analysis of the results for the different groups, tracing and identifying the differences and similarities and make the final conclusions and recommendations. The brand name of any product has always been considered essential and vital as it was something, which once attached to an ordinary product, made it extraordinary or special. A key function of brands is quality certification. Brand reputation has considerable value more so where consumers find it difficult to judge quality for themselves. Often connected by the price, Premium Branding has enabled producers to establish consumer loyalty, increase consumer and customer awareness and develop and establish extensions of the brand. This makes branding a paramount element of the Marketing Strategy. Although, it was always demanding 'a great deal of long-term investment, especially for advertising, promotion and packaging' (Phillip Cotter 2003). The Image of a Brand, in the eyes of the consumer, may also act as a so called filter or perception of 'good or bad' products. This is easily influenced by marketing variables and/or other social influences over which the commercial marketer has limited control. Although commercial marketers tend to say they have ultimate and very strong control, the reality is slightly more fickle combined with the changing environment and ultimately customers' tastes, wants and needs. However, Marketers anticipating this turbulent environment learned to segment markets, so to focus their time, effort and energy toward a particular

Linked -- The New Science of Networks by Albert-Laszlo Barabasi Essay

Linked -- The New Science of Networks by Albert-Laszlo Barabasi - Essay Example The nodes are identified using links that allow us to move from one web page to another with every click. Web pages act as switches that keep the society up to date with current information. Barabasi and his research team realized that in the World Wide Web exist connector nodes, which somehow assemble many more links than other nodes. These connector nodes are often referred as hubs and have a wider range of connection links. Barabasi and his coworkers realized that the structure of World Wide Web is composed of highly interlinked hubs. The topology of the Internet restricts its users’ ability to see everything out there. The World Wide Web contains a number of small scale structures that limit the level to which it can be explored. The internet comprises both hardware and software, and other sub-systems. All these work together with the World Wide Web, establishing a connection that makes it possible to share information. People in this diverse system are by no means insigni ficant. It is because of the genius minds of many scientists that the web exists today. Millions of people work to maintain and monitor components of the system round the clock. DNS server, giant routers and switches, protocols, web browsers are just some of the vital components and elements of the World Wide Web. Terrorist Network The tragic terrorism events of September 11, 2001, caught people’s attention worldwide. Barabasi describes terrorist groups as webs without spiders. A network of terrorists is often small and has few resources; it tends to rely on other means such as the hit-and-run acts of violence. Al-Qaeda, the terrorist network held accountable for many terrorist attacks, was created over a long period. Driven by religious thinking and intolerance to the social and political system, many were attracted to the radical organization over the years. The network extended bit by bit to become a large web without a spider. Al-Qaeda is so well spread and self-sustainin g that even removing Osama bin Laden might not eliminate the danger they create. The terrorist network has become a diverse network that constantly changes its system as per its current plans. It has many secretive nodes that are hard to trace; it is quite challenging to identify the people who comprise its various nodes. Terrorist networks have objectives and links to social networks, which qualifies them to be called systems. Hollywood and Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon network Barabasi describes hubs as connectors in scale free networks. The Bacon factor is a popular bit of entertainment trivia, which demonstrates how any Hollywood star can link to actor Kevin Bacon and other actors within six â€Å"moves† between people. This network consists of nodes, actors, producers, animators, writers and other related groups. A link is created every time a new video is produced. The Hollywood network thus offers a clear demonstration of a web, with different hubs and nodes, mostly repre sented by human beings, and links represented by the human relationships. Can we say that human beings are components in some way and that they satisfy a stated idea? The principle of the Hollywood network is to produce films. The public continuously demands new films from Hollywood. However, this seldom happens because the characters rarely act together in all movies. Many work independently minding their own business without affecting other movie productions. The Hollywood ne

Origin of flight of dinosaurs Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Origin of flight of dinosaurs - Research Paper Example These factors will all be discussed with reference to Archaeopteryx lithographica, a species generally regarded as being the common ancestor to modern birds and the primary source of information about the development of flight mechanisms. Archaeopteryx A brief discussion of Archaeopteryx litographica (commonly known as Archaeopteryx) is necessary to understand how instrumental this species is to discovering the mechanisms of flight evolution. Various Archaeopteryx specimens have been found in the south of Germany, well-preserved due to the qualities of the limestone in which they were found. The Archaeopteryx is commonly described as being the size of a raven and having several features that make it identifiable in the context of modern-day birds – feathers and a wishbone, for example (Ostrom, 1975). Several of these features suggest that the Archaeopteryx was capable of flight, although, as with many things in evolutionary biology, this is something that can never be ascertai ned. Archaeopteryx also shared several features with dinosaurs, such as having chevrons of increased length in the tail and a specific shape of ankle bone (Ostrom, 1975). This bird-dinosaur morphology is the principle reason for thinking that the species is the missing link. The way that Archaeopteryx specimens are conserved in limestone has resulted in the preservation of feather imprints, allowing paleontologists to ascertain that this species may have used feathers in the development of flight mechanisms. This is particularly good evidence of some aerial motion because the feathers found show characteristics of flight feathers, meaning that feathers had previously began to evolve for a purpose other than flight (Paul, 2002). Finally, it is important to note that it has not been proven whether Archaeopteryx had the power of full flight or could simply glide (Padian & Chiappe, 1998). Arboreal Hypothesis The arboreal hypothesis (also known as the ‘tree down’ hypothesis) refers to the idea that dinosaurs first gained flight by jumping from trees and acquiring flight as an evolutionary mechanism to avoid fatal accidents from this method. This hypothesis seems ‘intuitive’ because ‘flight evolving from an arboreal gliding stage would seem to be relatively easy’ (Padian & Chiappe, 1998, p15) and because the force of gravity ‘helps rather than hinders’ (Lewin, 1983, p38). Some studies, such as that of Feduccia (1993) suggest that the shape of the manus (the ‘hand’ portion of the forelimb) and the pes (the ‘foot’ portion of the hindlimb) of the Archaeopteryx exhibit evidence of perching, tree-dwelling and trunk-climbing due to the curvature of these anatomical elements. However, since this paper was published, another specimen of Archaeopteryx has been discovered (known as the Thermopolis specimen) which has almost complete pes, and thus there is now mounting evidence that the hallux (first digit of the pes) did not display curvature necessary for perching (Mayr et al., 2007). If we consider the Archaeopteryx as arboreal, it is important to understand how and why flight would have developed in this way. The original theory as stated by Othniel C. Marsh in the late 19th century was that Archaeopteryx

Strategic objectives for a business Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Strategic objectives for a business - Essay Example Its mission is offering excellent hair services and beauty products, to its customers. Its values include respect, leadership, integrity, diversity, and accountability. The paper will look at the business objectives in relation to the four pillars of balanced scorecard including the financial pillar, customer pillar, internal operations pillar, and employees’ pillar. One of the key objectives as far as the financial pillar is concerned is coming up with an effective internal control environment. Such an environment would prevent financial crimes such as fraud or embezzlement of the business’ financial resources. The second key objective is ensuring stability in revenue and profitability. This is important as far as growing the shareholder wealth. For example, ensuring profitability stability contributes to the stability of the shares’ prices, which is in the best interest of the shareholders. The third key strategic objective is maximizing the shareholder wealth. This would happen, for example, by a business operating at optimum level would maximize the shareholder wealth. One of the key strategic objectives as far as customer pillar is concerned is enhancing customer satisfaction. Since the business is offering both services and products, customer satisfaction is extremely important. It helps in ensuring that the customers make repeat visits in the business, which helps in growing the market share. A key metric for this objective is the number of absenteeism within a given period. The second key strategic objective is offering high quality services and products to the customers. The customers expect value for money when they purchase the beauty products (Chia-Chen, 2006). The hair services should be excellent, which would translate into increased customer satisfaction. An effective metric for this objective is the number of repeat customers per a given period. The third strategic

MHE512 - Disaster Relief Module 4 - SLP Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

MHE512 - Disaster Relief Module 4 - SLP - Essay Example nt has made it possible to predict accurately the oncoming of such disaster, as we cannot prevent the damage caused by such tragedies in terms of human losses and property damages. Nevertheless, several disaster relief plans have been formulated to tackle the after-affects of these natural calamities. This paper will give a short introductory detail on various aspects of Disaster Relief Plans (DRP), with emphasis on the training and management of human resources to make the relief plans most effective, strength and weakness of a DRP and its concerns with the funding of different projects. This enables the volunteer or the relief worker to use chain saw and other equipment efficiently and safely. While this type of training will discuss the brush pulling and cutting techniques, it can also provide information on the maintenance of such equipment. This will include training on rebuilding, which enables the worker to close holes in houses or roofs, after the removal of any fallen trees etc.. Similarly, training on fueling, and load handling operations of forklift equipment is also very useful. This would impart training on the use of radio equipment and setting of antennas and other vital gadgets in the disaster area. While this is required for every field worker, amateur radio licensees can pick up the relevant tricks more easily. This type of training is to enable the relief staff for analyzing the disaster data correctly so that a proper assessment of damage can be undertaken and decisions reached based on such information. While these will affect the recovery plan, they will also assist in the knowledge of impact from disaster and weather conditions, on the local community.....(DR training facts) There is saying which goes like†you cannot dig a well after the fire has engulfed your place†. The gist of the story is that disaster preparedness is an exercise that should be undertaken during the times of peace when there is no threat to the atmosphere, where

Is Advertising a Barrier to Male Movement toward Gender Change Coursework

Is Advertising a Barrier to Male Movement toward Gender Change - Coursework Example Recently, while watching a TV daily, I have come across an advertisement that details about a perfume. Specifications, detailing that a perfume is for female or male has become quite prominent in the context of promoting the brand. The advertisement was appealing for men as usual so long as women are used as props for developing the quality of the advertisement. The advertisement, as I presume to be prompting men to use a particular product and restricting the women to conduct the same. The advertisement clearly captioned that the particular perfume that was being introduced in the market was solely meant for men and not for women (Bettany, Dobscha, O’Malley and Prothero 3-5). It is often noted that people are more interested in the body languages of other people, as it prompts them to decide about the probable mode of action or the needs of justification for an action they want to continue. Body languages even help in depicting the level of participation that is reflected through the movement of body parts as well as postures for standing and sitting. Furthermore, non-verbal communication is often assisted by the use of body postures that play an important role in developing various interpretations about the communicator. Additionally, the perceptions of people about another individual often get developed based on their respective body languages. Even in the 21st century, when people comment on providing equal rights for both men and women, women still fail to obtain equal standards to that of men depending on the patriarchy system that is apparently evident at the various social levels. Specifically, gender discriminations are not apparent within the social standards but are somehow still in practices. To be mentioned, the age-old dogmatic social system has been playing a crucial role in framing the mental state of society to have separate perceptions for men and women based on their gender roles.  

Creating Sustainable Workplace Essay Example for Free

Creating Sustainable Workplace Essay Thinking more broadly about sustainability (see above), reflect on your personal life. How sustainable is your life style? What can you do to make it more sustainable? Write your responses to these questions. Based on the aforementioned definitions and descriptions of sustainability, it is important to put emphasis personal sustainability for it is the aspect that lacks attention. As for my own assessment of my personal sustainability, my life is quite on the right track. I practiced habits that promote health and wellness. However, I admit that I have some lapses in my behavior that I need to improve. I tend to push myself in doing things without thinking the consequences in my health. I spend some time working and studying until the morning which I know is very unhealthy. I also like fast food and eating out for it is convenient for me, which I know have negative impacts on my health and on the environment that eating organic. I need to change some of my attitudes and behavior in order to attain personal sustainability. I need to set limits and improve my time management skills to effectively manage my life. Assignment #3: Observe practices of sustainability at your internship location. Interview 2 people and ask them what the organization does to promote sustainability. What practices do you see and hear that support sustainability? Think broadly here; providing livable wages is as much a sustainable practice as recycling! Discuss what you saw and heard in your interviews that tell you how well the organization is supporting sustainability practices. What thoughts do you have for what the can do to enhance its practices? The company I am working as an intern promotes sustainable practices and inculcates them to their employees as part of their corporate social responsibility. The company provides appropriate and proper wages on their employees as well as medical benefits. Also, the work hours are convenient to promote personal sustainability. As part of their corporate social responsibility, they practice waste segregation to help the environment. They also try as much as possible to minimize their wastes or garbage in the office. For example, the used papers are used as scratch papers to take notes. This is done to help reduce pollutants and to promote environmental sustainability.

Curriculum Design Essay Example for Free

Curriculum Design Essay Chapter 7 ASCD Yearbook Fundamental Curriculum Decisions, 1984 People cannot intelligently discuss and communicate with others about curriculum without first making very clear what their interpretation of a curriculum is. In this chapter, we will be thinking of a curriculum as a written plan for the educational program of a school or schools. Curriculum design them will consist of those considerations haying to do with the contents, the form, and the arrangement of the various elements of a curriculum. We distinguish between curriculum planning and instructional planning with curriculum planning being the antecedent task. Curriculum planners are forced to make design decisions almost from the outset of their work. The design decisions revolve around three important considerations: (1) the range of school levels and schools to be covered by the curriculum, (2) the number of elements to be included in the curriculum, and (3) the nature and scope of each of those elements. Each of these requires additional explanations. Decisions about the range of school levels and schools to be covered by the curriculum normally are mot very complicated, and the range usually coincides with the sphere of authority of the board of education. Districts may elect to plan a curriculum from kindergarten through grade 12; they may elect to plan one curriculum for the elementary schools and one for the secondary schools; or they may elect to direct each school unit to plan its own curriculum. Planning groups will have to decide about the number of elements to be included in the curriculum. Among the options for inclusion are: (1) a statement of goals or purposes, (2) a statement of document intent and use, (3) an evaluation scheme, and (4) a body of culture content selected and organized with the expectancy that if the culture content is judiciously implemented in classrooms through the instructional program, the goals or purposes for the schools will be achieved. To this list, some would add suggested pupil activities, instructional materials, and so forth, but these matters belong more rightfully in the domain of instructional planning and we will not consider them here. A few comments about each of these four elements will be helpful to the reader in understanding their import for curriculum decisions. Most curriculum writers would agree that it is desirable to include a statement of goals or purposes to be achieved by schools through the implementation of the planned curriculum. They may disagree as to what the goals ought to be, or they may disagree about the degree of specificity of the statements to be included. The most famous statement of goals or purposes for schools became known as the Seven Cardinal Principles of Education as formulated by the Commission on the Reorganization of Secondary Schools in 1918. They were health, command of the fundamental processes, worthy home membership, vocation, civic education, worthy use of leisure, and ethical character. There is less consistency among curriculum writers in terms of their insistence upon including a statement of document intent and use in a curriculum, and, in practice many curricula do not contain such statements. Curricula have, in the past, contained statements intended to reveal the philosophy or point of view of the planners but this is not what we mean by a statement of document intent and use. A statement of document intent and use should be forthright and direct about such matters as: (1) how teachers are expected to use the curriculum as a point of departure fur developing their teaching strategies, (2) the fact that the curriculum is the official educational policy of the board of education, (3) the degree of universality in expectancy with regard to the discretion of teachers in implementing the curriculum, and (4) the degree to which teachers are to be held accountable for the implementation of the curriculum. These are illustrative of the kind of statement that may be formulated, but each planning group will have to decide on the number and character of such statements. With the amount of emphasis put upon curriculum evaluation in recent years, some mandate with respect to the curriculum evaluation is a very reasonable option for inclusion in a curriculum. The most common method of pupil evaluation used in the past has been the standardized (norm referenced) achievement test. In most cases, there were no deliberate attempts to relate published curricula to the test batteries. Therefore, any leap in assumption about the directness of the relationship between curriculum content and whatever was measured by the tests was likely to be untenable. All the more reason for formalizing an evaluation scheme by including it in the curriculum. In one form or another, a curriculum must include a body of culture content that has been deemed by the planners and directing authorities to be important for schools to use in fulfilling their roles as transmitters of culture to the oncoming generations of young people. The basic curriculum question is, and always has been, that of what shall be taught in schools, and a major function of a curriculum is to translate the answer to that question into such forms that schools can fulfill their commitment and demonstrate that they leave done so. Most of the remainder of this chapter is devoted to discussion of this element of a curriculum; so we will leave it at this point. But it should be made clear that from these options as potential elements of a curriculum, there emerge two dimensions of curriculum design. One is the choice of and the arrangement of the elements to be included in the curriculum. The other is the form and arrangement of the contents of each of the elements internally. The design problem is greatest in the case of the form and arrangement of the culture content and it is the one most frequently discussed under the heading of curriculum design by curriculum writers past and present. . Culture Content-Knowledge-Curriculum Content A curriculum is an expression of the choice of content selected from our total culture content and, as such, it is an expression of the role of the school in the society for which the school has been established to serve. A word needs to be said here about the meaning associated with the expression culture content. Ralph Linton provided us with a classical and very useful definition of culture. He stated: A culture is the configuration of learned behavior and results of behavior whose component elements are shared and transmitted by the members of a particular society (1945, p. 32). The term society is ordinarily used to refer to a group of individuals who live together with common norms and shared frames of reference. Societies tend to generate their own culture and to transmit that culture to oncoming generations within that society. So long as societies and their cultures remained in a primitive state, their cultures were simple and could be transmitted to oncoming generations by direct contact between the young and the older members of the society. But as societies became more complex and the scope of their culture content increased so that the transmission of the culture content to the young could no longer be accomplished by direct contact in daily living, societies were forced to create institutions to take on the responsibility for all or part of the cultural transmission task. The school is one of those institutions. The church is another. Both of these institutions have unique roles to play in society, and they tend to transmit different culture conten t to the young. Parochial schools tend to do both. As Smith indicated in Chapter 3 of this Yearbook (not in this reading – JG), the culture content selected to be included in the curriculum of the school may be thought of as equivalent to the knowledge to which school students are to be exposed. In any case, it is critically important to be aware that not all culture content, or knowledge, accumulated by society comes under the purview of the school; curriculum planning is a process of selecting and organizing culture content for transmission to student by the school. The process is very complex, involving input from many sources, but the organized end-result of the process is the design of the curriculum. The most sophisticated mode of organization of culture content for purposes of teaching is reflected by the various disciplines such as history, chemistry, or mathematics. In addition to the established and recognized disciplines, school subjects have been created out of conventional wisdom m the applications of selected portions of the disciplines to applied areas of our culture such as vocational subjects, social studies, or reading and handwriting. In general, the separate subject organization of culture content has predominated in curriculum design. Another way of speaking about curriculum content is to refer to cognitive content, skill content, and value or attitudinal content. As Smith discussed more fully in Chapter 3, all three types of content represent knowledge in some from either in the form of direct knowledge or a knowledge base. The three forms have been used as a classification schema or a taxonomy for curriculum content formulation. Historic Curriculum Design Conflicts One must realize that tire basic curriculum question is, and always has been, one of what shall be taught in the schools. An immediate corollary to that question has been that of how shall what has been chosen to be taught in the school be organized so as to best facilitate the subsequent decisions about teaching and learning. Those two questions are the primary curriculum questions, and the organized decisions made in response to them culminate in a curriculum design. A few reflections about our curriculum past will illustrate settle of the conflicts in curriculum design that have taken place. In her study, Sequel observed that curriculum as we use the term today was not a subject of professional discussion until after 1890 (1966, p. 1). Rugg contended that decisions about curriculum content prior to the 20th century were decided primarily by textbook writers and textbook publishers (1926, Pp. Ill-11). It was not until 1918 that Bobbitt wrote the first definitive work on curriculum and since that time curriculum writers have directed their attention to the substance and organization of curriculum content (curriculum design) and to the processes of curriculum planning, implementing, and evaluating. By the early 1900, the stage had been set for the separate subjects organization of the culture content to be used in schools. In our very early elementary or primary schools, for example, pupils were taught to read, to write, and to compute; the subjects were called reading, writing, and arithmetic. Much later such subjects as geography, history, and civics were added to the curriculum. In our early secondary schools, pupils were taught a selection of subjects (disciplines) that were directly associated with the disciplines taught at the college or university. Even though the separate subjects organization of culture content was used before curriculum became an area of professional study, it is still with us. True, subjects have ben added and others altered, but it remains the dominant approach to curriculum design. The separate subjects mode of curriculum design has been significantly challenged only once in our history. That challenge came with the advent of the Progressive Education movement. A principal belief of the Progressive Education movement was its dramatic emphasis on the learner in school settings. A substantial portion of the Progressive emphasis on the learner was stimulated by John Deweys (1916) call for more active and less passive learning in schools. This focus on the learner when applied to the organization of curriculum content led to endeavors remove away from the separate subjects organization of tire curriculum content. The movemen away from the separate subjects organization (sometimes called subject-centered) was toward the integration, or fusion, of subjects under the assumption that such integration would not only facilitate learning on the part of pupils but would additionally make the knowledge, skills, and attitudes more easily available to the pupils in post-school life (the transfer problem). The basic process involved here was the fusion of the contents of two or more of the separate subjects into another organization in which the individual subjects lost their separate identities. As one might expect, names were associated with the various integration or fusion attempts. Figure 1 adapted from Hopkins (1941, p. 18) illustrates the variety of names associated with curricula resulting from integrative or fusion processes. Hopkins here polarized the subject curriculum and the experience curriculum. The broad fields curriculum was placed in the center so as to show that it had a reasonable num ber of the characteristics of the two extremes. Others as indicated on either side depending on emphasis. Space in this volume will not permit extensive description of curricula developed as part of the efforts to move away from separate subjects organization. The best we can do here is to identify some of them and cite sources for further investigation on the part of the reader. For example, in their hook The Child-Centered School, Rugg and Shumaker (1928) presented brief descriptions of the curricula of the Lincoln School, The Frances Parker School, and others of that time. In most cases, the curricula were built around child-centered units of work, but attention was focused as needed on such basic subjects as reading, mathematics, history, geography, and so forth. One of the most extreme departures from separate subjects organization was proposed by Stratemeyer and others (1957). The authors proposed the persistent life situations concept as a basis for dealing with the curriculum building issues of scope, sequence, continuity, balance, and depth. At the junior and senior high school levels, special mention should be made of the core curriculum. The core curriculum idea was to get away from nothing but the discipline-centered curriculum. Most core programs were organized around larger and more flexible blocks of time, and the content was generally centered on personal and social problems and problems of living. In many respects the core curriculum idea was an attempt to solve the general education problem in our upper schools. It is important to note that in practice in schools, curriculum design failed to get very far away from the subject- or discipline-centered design. The most lasting effect of the movement was the broad fields idea as represented by social studies, language arts, and general science, and they have persisted mostly in curricula for elementary and junior high schools. Contemporary Arguments About Curriculum Design Probably the most persistent movement in curriculum design in recent years has been the proposed use of specific behavioral objectives as a basis for curriculum organization. Curriculum writers have long proposed that curricula ought to contain statements of goals or objectives, but not as the only content of a curriculum. Some contemporary writers have proposed that curricula should be thought of in terms of the anticipated consequences of instruction, or intended learning outcomes. (For example, see Popham and Baker, 1970; Johnson, 1977). The culture content in such cases would either be implied in the objectives or be considered as an instructional decision. A distinct advantage of this type of curriculum design is that supervision of the implementation and of the evaluation of the curriculum is simplified and facilitated. Such proposals are in direct contrast to a proposal that a curriculum should he composed in four parts: (1) a statement of goals, (2) an outline of the culture content that has the potential for reaching the goals, (3) a statement of the intended use of the curriculum, and (4) a schema for the evaluation of the curriculum (Beauchamp, 1981, p. 136). They are in even greater contrast to those who would include instructional considerations such as suggested activities for learners and instructional materials to be used. Curriculum planners should be warned that the inclusion of all of these things produces fat and unmanageable curricula. With respect to the culture content of curricula, two organizational concepts persist both in the literature and in the practice of writing curricula. The first is the tendency to continue with the basic framework of the subjects, or disciplines, that are to be taught. The second is to break the subject areas down into three identifiable components: (1) cognitive, (2) inquiry and skill, and (3) affective (value, moral, attitudinal). Curriculum planners will probably wish to begin their thinking about design with the familiar, which will unquestionably be the conventional school subjects. They will consist of mathematics, social sciences (including social studies as a subject), the natural sciences, fine and applied arts, health and physical education, communications, and other languages. At the secondary school level, planners will add to these whatever vocational and technical subjects they may wish to offer. Some planners will wish to add an area that may be termed social problems, molar problems, or problems of living that may call for applications of elements learned in various conventional subjects. Curriculum planning is an educative process. For this reason classroom teachers should be involved in the undertaking. A very important reason for their involvement is that the process of curriculum planning presents an opportunity for them to engage in analysis of the culture content so that they may be more effective in their classrooms at the level of instruction. The analytic process of breaking down the culture content into cognitive, affective, and inquiry and skill components is one way that teachers may become mote knowledgeable about what they do. Also in this process of analyzing the culture content, the content is more specifically related to goals and at the same time it fosters better curriculum implementation. For these reasons, teachers participation in curriculum deliberations has been proposed frequently as a needed dimension of continuous teacher education. In Chapter 3, Smith raised the very important question of the utility of the culture content selected to be part of the curriculum content, and he posed several ways in which the utility of knowledge can be emphasized. In a more specific vein, Broody, Smith, and Burnett (1964) suggested on, potential uses of learnings acquired in school to he taken into consideration. They are the associative use, the replicative use, the applicative use, and the interpretive use (pp. 43-60). Very briefly, the associative use of knowledge refers to the psychological process of responding to a new situation with elements of knowledge previously acquired. The replicative use refers to situations that call for direct and familiar use of schooling such as when we read a newspaper, write a letter, or balance a checkbook . The applicative use occurs when an individual is confronted with a new problem and is able to solve the new problem by the use of knowledge acquired in the study of school subjects through previous experience in solving problems demanding similar applications. The interpretive use of schooling refers to the orientation and perspective the individual brings to new situations because the individual has acquired ways of conceptualizing and classifying experience. Much of the discussion about uses of schooling (especially use external to the school) is an elaboration of the transfer problem that has plagued educators ever since Edward Thorndike first set forth his theory of transfer through the existence of identical elements in 1908. The most easily explained is the replicative use as described above because of the direct similarity between the use external to the school and the mode of learning and practice in school. Take reading for example. Reading from school materials is directly similar to reading of materials outside the school. But when it comes to applying knowledge or making new interpretations or associations between knowledge required in school and life situations external to schools, a more complicated transfer situation exists. Unfortunately, many of the questions raised about utility and uses of schooling have not been answered through curriculum design. Nor are they likely to be because so much is dependent upon classroom teaching technique and the design of instructional strategies. The best efforts in curriculum design have been through the generation of new courses (subjects if you please) in which the content is purportedly more like life external to the school. Reference here is made not only to specialized courses such as technical, vocational, commercial and occupational courses but also to courses designed around molar problems, problems of living, and core programs. In many respects, the broad fields courses were designed for purposes of saving time during the school day and to facilitate the transfer of knowledge acquired. But whatever the curriculum design, if teachers are not aware of and sensitive to the kind of analyses of the content to be taught as we have been discussing it, the uses of schooling will not be maximized. All the more reason why teachers should be part of the curriculum planning effort and participate in the required dialogue. In summary, then, what courses of action with respect to curriculum design appear to be the most appropriate for todays curriculum planners? The most important aspect of curriculum design is the display to be made of culture content once the content has been selected. The total amount of culture content is constantly growing thus making the problem of selection for curriculum content more difficult as time goes on. Unquestionably, the role of those schools (elementary and secondary) that operate under compulsory school attendance laws must constantly be examined in terms of what they should or should not offer in their curricula. The elementary school curriculum has always been designed with general education in mind. In our contemporary society, the secondary school seems to be moving in that same direction. Both, however, have seen fit to divide the content selected into realms or courses as appropriate. Scope and sequence have long been two major problems in curriculum design. The display of course content into topical outline is one way planners can watch for discrepancies in scope and sequence. It also helps with horizontal articulation among the various subjects. To help teachers generate greater insight into the content outline, it is desirable that the curriculum design reveal the expected cognitive, inquiry or skill, and affective outcomes. These are conventionally arranged in the design of the content in parallel with the topics in the outline. flow behaviorally the outcomes are to be stated is optional to the planners. These outcomes should also be thought of in terms of any goals or purposes that may be stated in the curriculum. What else to include in the design is optional to the plan. It has become quite conventional to think of goals or purposes first and then to select the content. Such procedure is quite arbitrary because all content is selected with some purpose in mind. Nonetheless, a statement of goals and purposes is a useful element in curriculum design. I would add to the topic outline and the expected outcomes a directive statement about the intended use to be made of the curriculum and a statement outlining a scheme for evaluating it.

Professional Development in Nursing | Reflection

Professional Development in Nursing | Reflection In order to enhance knowledge, skills, values and attitudes needed for a safe and effective nursing practice, this reflective piece aims to demonstrate the author’s commitment to the need for professional development contribution and personal supervision activities. Through leadership, peer support, supervision and teaching this account will further enhance the professional development and safe practice to others. To achieve these aims, backed with supportive evidence, the author shall use a case study to enable him make discussions and debates. To maintain confidentiality, names of people and places mentioned in this account has been anonymised in accordance to NMC code of professional conduct (NMC, 2010). During the mid-point of his final placement, Bruce was instructed by his mentor to assume the primary nurse role for 73 year old Alice who was detained in an inpatient psychiatric unit under section 3 of the Mental Health Act. Alice was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease dementia with a history of falls, self-neglect and aggressive behaviours toward staff and fellow patients. Following Alice’s CPA review, additional medication was prescribed to her after a mutual agreement between Alice, her family and the MDT as rapid deterioration in her mental state was a concern. CPA (2008) recommends that patients, family and carers should be involved in decision making in regard to their care plans. To promote medication adherence, NICE (2009) declares that, patients should be involved in decisions about prescribed medication to enable them to make informed choices. Bruce was not aware of Alice’s new prescribed medication because he had 2 days off from work. Upon return to work, Bruce volunteered to be the nurse in charge of the shift to enable him gain more confidence and build his leadership skills. Whilst Bruce was being supervised during the morning medication rounds as guided by (NMC, 2010). Alice noticed that there was a new medication so she asked Bruce purpose of the additional medication. Bruce could not confidently explain the purpose of the medication so he asked Dora his mentor who stood by to explain to Alice. Alice became extremely angry and agitated, hostile and physically aggressive towards Bruce accusing him of wanting to kill her however, staff intervened and managed to de-escalate the situation. NICE (2005) recommends that at the first signs of agitation or violent behaviour, staff should first try to calm the patient down using de-escalation methods. Taking the above scenario into consideration one can say that Bruce acted proactively by volunteering to co-ordinate the shift. However, Bruce should have been more concerned to find out the outcome of Alice’s CPA meeting as her acting primary nurse. NMC (2008) asserts that the care of people should be your first concern, treating them as individuals and respecting their dignity. Since Bruce volunteered to coordinate the shift, he could have delegated some of the task i.e. medication rounds to other qualified nurses to enable him to catch-up with what happened at the ward during his absence. Delegation of task enables the team leader to be able to devote more time to those tasks that cannot be delegated. With more time available, the leader can invest time and energy into developing practice, improving standards and influencing decisions that affect their service (Garland and Sullivan, 2010). It was a bad practice for Bruce to administer medication without knowing it purpose as a nurse. NMC (2010) affirms that, nurses must know the medicine’s therapeutic use, its normal dosage, side effects, precautions and contra-indications before administering it. Bruce should have checked the use of the newly prescribed medication in the British National Formulary (BNF) before administering it to Alice (NMC, 2010). Bruce could have also asked Dora about the purpose of the newly prescribed medication when he realised he was not familiar with it even before dispensing it into the pot for Alice. However, one can say that Bruce acted professionally by acknowledging his limitations and therefore asked Dora to explain the use of the newly prescribed medication to Alice. NICE (2009) recommends that as a good practice, nurses should provide patients with verbal and written information regarding their prescribed medication to promote medication concordance. Bruce in a meeting with Dora identified the need for developing his medication administration and management skills and agreed on an action plan under his mentor’s supervision. Care Quality Commission (2013) affirms that supervision provides opportunity for staff to review their performance, set objectives in line with the organisation objective and service needs, and identifies training and continuing developing needs. Bruce further identified the need for research on medication administration, management and medication training all these shall be accomplished under the supervision of Dora. Bruce also has requested to be more involved in medication administration and did a research and found out that, patients must always understand the reason for taking a particular drug. NICE (2009) recommends that, at intervals agreed with the patients, staff should review patients’ knowledge, understanding and concerns about medicines, and patients view of their need for medicine b ecause these may change over time. Bruce had the opportunity to learn how to write CPA reports, tribunal reports and continued to build his confidence in writing plans of care and risk profiles by assuming the primary nurse role for Alice. Bruce also seized the opportunity by being the primary nurse to Alice to gain a better understanding of the MDT working. DOH (2004) ten essential shared capabilities recommends that professionals, patients, family and carers should work in partnership to provide quality care. By volunteering to coordinate the shift gave Bruce the insight of the responsibilities and what to expect from a qualified nurse. Coordinating the shift enabled Bruce to research more about his leadership styles, improved on his communication and delegation skills and his management. Bruce also had the opportunity as the shift coordinator, to do an incident report about Alice’s physical aggression towards him under Dora’s supervision. It can be argued that Alice was not supposed to behave that way however, she could forget about her CPA meeting and the newly prescribed medication because of the symptoms of her illness. Wrycraft (2009) declares that, typical symptoms of dementia are loss of memory, confusion and a change in personality, mood and behaviour. NHS (2012) confirms that, common symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease include memory loss, especially problems with memory for recent events, such as forgetting messages, remembering routes or names, and asking questions repetitively. Based on the above account, a nurse should always reflect and evaluate his or her practice then plan future practice areas for development.