Special Workshop by MOI 30May2005 MOI Mission Purpose

Planning for Japan Mission (30May2005-4Jun2005)

The Planning Department of the Ministry of Industry (MOI) of Vietnam and the Vietnam Development Forum (VDF), a Japan-Vietnam joint academic project in Hanoi, are conducting research on the methodology of industrial policy formulation in a market-oriented economy under international integration. As a part of this effort, MOI and VDF are organizing an unofficial research trip to Japan. The main objectives of the mission will include the following.

•	To understand the methodology of Japan’s industrial policy formulation in the past (Japan’s current industrial issues may not be directly relevant to Vietnam).
•	To study information channels among government, business associations and private enterprises at present and in the past.
•	To receive experts’ advice on how to formulate industrial strategies and master plans in Vietnam.
•	To collect international industrial data needed to analyze proposed leading industries in Vietnam (garment and footwear, electronics, software, food processing, motorbike, automobile)

This is a research mission to improve the capability of MOI, not an FDI promotion campaign by the Vietnamese government. For this reason, Vietnam’s current economic situation and investment environment will not be the focus.

Proposed location:	Tokyo and other places in Japan

Proposed period:	May 30 to June 3, 2005 (5 full working days) Travel from/to VN during proceeding/following weekends

Proposed members:	Mr. Le Van Duoc (Director, Planning Dept., MOI)
	Dr. Cao Xuan Thanh (Dep. Director, Planning Dept., MOI)
	Prof. Kenichi Ohno (VDF/GRIPS)
	Mr. Pham Truong Hoang (NEU/YNU, join from Japan)
	(Other Vietnamese researchers in Japan may also join)

Proposed visits:	GRIPS (workshop to be given by MOI members)
	METI and other Japanese government organizations
	Business associations
	Research institutions (private or public)
	Headquarters of Japanese MNCs (global strategy; factory?)
(VDF/GRIPS/MOI will arrange and finalize these meetings later)

Background: About MOI-VDF Research

Vietnam’s economic growth is proceeding in the context of the market-oriented economy and international integration. To effectively promote industrialization, the Vietnamese government needs to improve the ability to (i) analyze and determine Vietnam’s global and regional positioning; (ii) move away from heavy reliance on quantitative targets; (iii) design, implement and revise industrial strategies and master plans; and (iv) build strong channels with the private and foreign business community. The general need to renovate Vietnam’s industrial policy formulation is recognized by MOI as well as the Japanese government and MPI . Official bilateral programs for this purpose are currently being prepared and implemented.

As an academic cooperation project between Vietnam and Japan, VDF also supports this effort through non-official channels. Since the establishment of VDF in Feb. 2004, MOI and VDF have cooperated closely and informally. More recently, the Planning Department of MOI (responsible for guiding and reviewing industrial strategies and master plans) and VDF are cooperating more formally through the following activities:

--	MOI officials participating in VDF’s research competition
--	Conducting a joint research project between MOI and VDF (this project)
--	Joint MOI-VDF research mission to Thailand (Feb.-Mar. 2004)

The Japan mission is part of this ongoing cooperation. Within this year, we also plan to study the Thai automotive master plan more deeply and organize a mission to Malaysia to study its industrial policy formulation.

Through these activities, MOI and VDF hope to investigate the following.

--	Experiences of East Asian neighboring countries (present and past)
--	Appropriate sequence, procedure and organizational arrangement for industrial policy making
--	Appropriate content of industiral strategies and master plans for Vietnam (including the possible use of numerical targets)
--	Building cooperation channels with the private sector (including designing incentive to work with government, outsourcing some works to the private sector)

For VDF’s activities in general, see www.vdf.org.vn