Saturday, April 1st, 2006

Vietnam Development Information Center to Accelerate Business Through TDLC

New Manager Visits Japan to Explore Opportunities

The Vietnam Development Information Center (VDIC), the GDLN affiliate in Hanoi, is ready for business — and its energetic new manager, Linh Hoai Nguyen, is exploring opportunities for collaboration with Japanese development agencies through the TDLC. Based on the cooperative relationship between the two centers, the TDLC invited Linh to visit Tokyo in April 2006 to accelerate business development between Japan and Vietnam.

Linh Hoai Nguyen

Together with TDLC Manager Ryu Fukui and Program Coordinator Eiko Wataya, Linh held meetings with TDLC partners such as JBIC, JICA and JETRO to jointly market GDLN services. “There was great interest in capacity building programs, providing training for counterparts and local staff” says Linh. WBI courses on sectors such as gender and environment were also in demand.

To follow up, the TDLC’s Ryu Fukui will visit Vietnam in May to facilitate specific programs with the VDIC. Linh has plans to host a “JICA Week” event at the VDIC, incorporating videoconferencing via JICA-Net and the TDLC to mutually promote JICA and GDLN activities to donors, government officials and Japanese business associations.

In booming Vietnam, opportunities abound for business - its economy continues to grow at a rate of 7-8%, creating huge demand for training and education activities. To meet these needs, a second GDLN center will open later this year in Ho Chi Minh City, which is expected to have a greater focus on business.

Linh has high hopes for the future of the VDIC, and believes that to succeed, activities need to be more demand-oriented. Of particular interest in Vietnam are issues with practical applications such as banking, finance, accounting, auditing, heath and education. In March 2006, the VDIC delivered a course on e-government provided by the government of Singapore, which was so popular that applicants had to be turned away for lack of space. “E-government may be one topic we can pursue with the Asian Development Banks’s Public Policy Training Center in Hanoi”. The Vietnamese government is also preparing to set up a network connecting core universities, which may provide another opportunity for the VDIC to provide its services.

“We need to demonstrate our capability and establish our credibility to become a bridge between providers and receivers of knowledge”. Linh is confident that in Vietnam, the time is right to do just that.