University of Economics and Business
 
Seminar “Regional Cooperation in East and South East Asia: The role and participation of Vietnam and Taiwan”

On July 29th 2013, within the framework of National Project “ASEAN Economic Community in the global context and the participation of Vietnam”, University of Economics - Vietnam National University (UEB-VNU) held the seminar entitled “Regional Cooperation in East and South East Asia: The role and participation of Vietnam and Taiwan”.


The project is led by Assoc.Prof.Dr. Nguyen Hong Son - Rector of VNU-UEB, implemented from May 2013 to Octorber 2014.
In the seminar, Assoc.Prof.Dr Nguyen Hong Son and Prof. Len-kuo Hu, President of Chung Hua International Trade Association (Taiwan) were chairpersons. 
Attending the meeting were 30 representatives of professors in Chung Hua International Trade Association, Dr. Nguyen Manh Hung - Institute of World Economics and Politics, Dr. Nguyen Huy Hoang - Deputy Director of Institutes for Southeast Asian Studies - Vietnamese Academy of Social Sciences, Assoc.Prof.Dr Nguyen Hong Son - Rector of UEB-VNU, representatives of Dean of Faculty of International Economics and Business, Faculty of Development Economics, and many lecturers of UEB.
At the beginning, Assoc.Prof.Dr Nguyen Hong Son had an opening speech welcoming scholars from Taiwan delegation and guests attending the seminar, he also affirmed the significance of the cooperation between University of Economics and Business - VNU and Chung Hua International Trade Association in organizing the seminar, contributing to the academic exchange and economic cooperation in the East and South East Asia. The Rector of UEB emphasized that the seminar is an opportunity for experts to discuss regional economic issues with the participation of Vietnam and Taiwan, the factors affecting FDI inflows in ASEAN, trade liberalization and investment by Taiwanese companies in Vietnam.
The opening speech indicated that the progress of Vietnam’s international economic integration has been marked in three milestones: (i) Vietnam became a member of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) in 1995 and then has participated in negotiation and signing a number of FTAs with other ASEAN’s key partners such as China, Japan, Korea and India; (ii) the ratification in 2000 and implementation of Vietnam - United States Bilateral Trade Agreement (US - VN BTA) since 2001; and (iii) Vietnam became an official member of WTO after more than 10 years of preparation and negotiation (CIEM, 2010; MUTRAP III, 2011c). Besides, Vietnam has strengthened its economic integration bilaterally through signing Vietnam - Japan Economic Partnership Agreement (VJEPA) in 2008 and enthusiastically negotiating Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and a FTA with the EU. At the same time, Taiwan cannot stand apart from the important regional economic integration. President Ma Ying-jeou said at Taiwan Economic Summit, that the Taiwanese government would continue to pursue a policy of embracing the rest of the world, by signing the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement with China in 2010, an investment pact with Japan in 2011, and is currently negotiating economic pacts with Singapore and New Zealand (both members of TPP)…The economies of Vietnam and Taiwan share similarities and are strongly emerging in the regional and world economy.

 

Assoc.Prof.Dr Nguyen Hong Son - Rector of UEB - VNU and Prof. Len-kuo Hu, President of Chung Hua International Trade Association (Taiwan) chaired the seminar with the participation of many Vietnamese and Taiwanese researchers and experts.

Following the opening speech of Rector of UEB - VNU, Prof. Len-kuo Hu introduced the scholars in Taiwan delegation coming from a variety of Taiwanese and Chinese universities, such as National Taichung University of Education, National Chengchi University, National Taichung University, Takming University of Science and Technology, Minghsin University of Science and Technology, Hsing Wu University, Ling Tung University, Feng Chia University, University of International Business and Economics (China), Chinese Culture University and Glory Group. Prof. Len-kuo Hu hoped that the seminar would be a precious opportunity to exchange and strengthen the cooperation and understanding of scholars from two countries.


Dr. Nguyen Quoc Viet

 

Dr. Nguyen Quoc Viet started the discussion by a presentation about the factors for attracting FDI inflows with some empirical findings in ASEAN countries. In recent years, ASEAN gained important development towards common FDI policies with the foundation of ASEAN Investment Area (AIA) Agreement signed in 1998, transforming ASEAN into the most competitive and attractive region for doing business and investment. The paper shows that factors affecting FDI inflows in ASEAN includes traditional factors such as cheap labor force, economic growth, population size and politic stability, and other factors such as institutional quality (control of corruption). The findings indicate that the traditional factors positively affect FDI in the region, at the same time, those countries need to pay more attention to institutional quality in the long-term because level of corruption negatively impacts FDI inflows.


Mr Chaang - Yung Kung

 

Next, Prof. Chaang - Yung Kung (National Taichung University of Education) presented about exploring Foreign Direct Entry (FDE) model in FDI theory in the Vietnam-Taiwan bilateral relationships. This research assesses the 4 pillars of marketing including product, pricing, place and promotion (4P) strategies based on the survey of Taiwan companies investing in Vietnam. The study shows the significant impact of marketing factors on the investment options of Taiwan enterprises. At the end of the presentation, he emphasized the opportunities of bilateral cooperative research programs in the future between the National Taichung University of Education and University of Economics and Business - VNU.


Dr. Nguyen Anh Thu

After tea break, Dr. Nguyen Anh Thu gave a presentation on assessing the impact of Vietnam’s integration under AFTA and VJEPA on Vietnam’s trade flows using gravity model approach. Her findings indicate that VJEPA has shown not clear impact on Vietnam’s trade flows, while AFTA shows positive impact on export of Vietnam to ASEAN but not clear impact on import of Vietnam from ASEAN. Meanwhile, GDP, distance and real exchange rate has impacts on trade flows, as expected by the model and it is expected that tariffs will be significantly reduced along VJEPA roadmap.


Mr. Kun - Ming Chen

The last presentation was presented by Prof. Kun- Ming Chen, discussing the impact of trade liberalization across the Taiwan Strait. The study focuses on the changes in the world and Taiwan’s trade relations where United States and Japan has become the most important trade partners of Taiwan, while China has now become the most important export market and FDI destination of Taiwan. Prof. Kun - Ming Chen also emphasized the movements in regional economic integration and impacts of FTAs on the economic relations in East Asia, especially the increasingly important role of China’s economy will bring rapid economic integration in this area.
During the seminar, scholars from both countries had enthusiastic and meaningful discussion and idea exchange around the theme of cooperation in the region, raising insightful questions and future research directions.
At the end of the seminar, Assoc.Prof.Dr. Nguyen Hong Son gave a great thank to the delegation of Chung Hua International Trade Association, confirmed the long-term cooperation between the scholars of Vietnam and Taiwan in the future, contributing to the economic-social development of the two countries in particular, in East and Southeast Asia in general.


Thu Huyen (Faculty of International Economics and Business)