Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - Vietnam needs to have a law on the supportingindustry to aid its development, according to the chairman of the VietnamChamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI).

VCCI Chairman Vu Tien Loc said new waves of foreign direct investment (FDI) to Vietnamwill focus on the supporting industries.

Therefore, if the domestic supporting industries are not developed to reach tohigher levels in the supply chains, other industries could not escape from theprocessing of goods, even though Vietnam can attract tens or hundreds ofbillions of US dollars in FDI.

Loc was informed by the Japanese Ambassador to Vietnam that many Japaneseenterprises have chosen Vietnam to move their production and business fromother countries. Meanwhile, Samsung Vietnam's representative also told him itslargest research and development centre in Southeast Asia is being built in Hanoi,reported Phap luat Vietnam (Vietnam Law) newspaper.

At the Indo-Pacific Business Forum held in Hanoi last month that drewparticipants from 50 countries and territories, Vietnamese and US businessessigned investment agreements worth more than 11 billion USD in total. Theinvestments were mainly in infrastructure development and renewable energy,said Loc.

There are many opportunities to attract investment to Vietnam in the future, hesaid.

Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh recently issued action plans ofthe ministry to implement solutions on promoting the development of thedomestic supporting industries, reported the Vietnam News Agency.

Accordingly, the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) requires agencies andenterprises of the industry and trade sector as well as departments of industryand trade of provinces and centrally-run cities to implement the action plans.

Specifically, the Department of Industry will work with agencies to build andefficiently implement synchronous mechanisms and policies on developing thesupporting industries and the processing and manufacturing industries,especially credit and tax policies.

The Department of Legal Affairs and agencies will study and build the Law onDevelopment of Manufacturing and Processing Industry and then submit the law tothe Government for approval.

In addition, this department will review current legal documents on industrialmanagement and supporting industries of the industry and trade sector to findproblems and overlaps. Then, it will propose amendments and supplements toimprove the quality of those legal documents and ensure their feasibility.

Besides that, the ministry will strengthen activities to attract foreigninvestment in the supporting industries as well as the processing andmanufacturing industries. It will also support businesses to take opportunitiesfrom free trade agreements to develop those industries.

The Department of Science and Technology will improve the science andtechnology ability of enterprises in the supporting industries, and theprocessing and manufacturing industry. That will facilitate technology transferand absorption of the supporting industries.

It will also strengthen domestic and international cooperation in research,development and application of science and technology as well as trading andtransfer of scientific and technological products.

The ministry will build and implement national programmes on developing humanresources and improving their skills for the supporting industries and theprocessing and manufacturing industries. It will promote links between traininginstitutions and enterprises.

The Department of Trade Promotion will develop a project to enhance trade andinvestment activities between Vietnamese enterprises producing industrialproducts and foreign-invested enterprises in Vietnam as well as foreignimporters and investors to build production chains in the industrial sector.

Meanwhile, the Trade Remedies Authority will assist domestic producers andexporters in the supporting industries and the processing and manufacturingindustry to deal with trade remedies imposed by importing countries./.