Hanoi (VNA) - The State Capital Investment Corporation(SCIC) on March 29 introduced two publications on corporate governance for thebenefit of its representatives in State-owned companies.

The two publications, “Voting instruction manual” and “Corporate governancecode”, were released at a workshop that aimed to improve the quality ofcorporate governance in companies invested in by the State. The SCIC representsthe State in managing capital investments.

SCIC deputy general director Nguyen Hong Hien said at the workshop that theywant to improve transparency and the logic of decision making processes incompanies that are in SCIC’s investment portfolio.

The voting manual will help the SCIC representatives in those companiesunderstand the firms’ reports better and improve the quality of their decisionmaking, he said.

The corporate governance code will help SCIC and its representatives in thebusinesses participate in the business governance activities on more advancestandards, Hien said.

Deeper participation of SCIC in the companies will improve their operationefficiency, raise the business values in the market and increase the value ofthe State capital in those businesses, he added.

In an attempt to link governance of the State-invested companies withinternational practices, the SCIC has worked with the Japan InternationalCooperation Agency (JICA) and global audit group PriceswaterHouse (PwC) todevelop the Corporate Governance Code.

Some salient features of the new code include shareholders’ rights and equaltreatment of shareholders.

Phan Duc Hieu, Deputy director of the Central Institute for Economic Management(CIEM), said the release of the manual and code shows SCIC’s determination toimprove corporate governance, for itself and for the companies in itsinvestment portfolio.

Hieu said that the two publications reflect good international practices oncorporate governance based on the latest recommendations from OECD and G20 andthey will be very useful if they are included in the legal policies.

Le Thi Hoai Thu, general director of the ACS Vietnam Joint Stock Company, saidthat the publications would be very helpful in improving the quality ofcorporate governance in Vietnam.

They can improve business transparency and raise the confidence ofshareholders, investors and the community in the companies’ operations, shesaid.

SCIC also introduced at the workshop some international practices on thecorporate governance, including a financial monitoring mechanism via aninternal auditing sub-unit in the business.-VNA