Policy Brief 03: Strengthening Governments, Universities, and Businesses Cooperation in the Implementation of International Commitments on Trade and Investment

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Nguyen Huong Giang

Hoang Thi Minh Hang

 

Keywords: Cooperation, Implementation, Trade and Investment, Universities

Abstract

Recent FTAs have mentioned many emerging issues of sustainable development, such as climate change, the protection of labor rights… in which EVFTA, CPTPP seemingly are agreements has the highest level of mention of these issues. Specifically, the EVFTA addresses environmental issues specific to a developing country like Vietnam, such as biodiversity, fishing subsidy, renewable energy, etc. Notably, opening up to investment requires a significant improvement in the legal basis for dispute settlement. To strengthen the implementation of the dispute settlement mechanism, intergovernmental working groups, consisting of members of the leading agency, the legal representative body and other relevant stakeholders to provide expert opinions under their state management functions; other experts if necessary. Intergovernmental working groups help provide multi-dimensional views on the dispute to provide a reasonable and fair solution for the parties. The role of cooperation between the three most important actors of the economy, the State – Universities – Enterprises, becomes even more critical in effective policy implementation. Specifically, training institutions play an intermediary role in imparting knowledge on new commitments and agreements and also advise the government in formulating sound policies. For example, educational institutions contribute to the development of databases and sets of indicators to help assess the potential and impact of trade agreements. Through it, government bodies and businesses can have a better overview of the impact, depth and other related issues that need to be kept in mind to make better use of the trade agreements. Contributing criticism, suggestions and exchange among stakeholders help policies to be effectively implemented as well as help businesses reduce the cost of meeting and complying with international standards.

Policy Brief 03 (full): Policy brief 03_3BEN