SME PARTNERSHIP GROUP

Upon instruction of the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI), the Agency for SME Development, Japan and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) act as co-chairs of the “SME Partnership Group” in Vietnam, a joint initiative which provides a platform of exchange between the Vietnamese Government and the donor community, aimed at strengthening the effectiveness of ODA in the field of SME promotion and private sector development. After each meeting, the proceedings of the SME Partnership Group are consolidated in the World Bank’s Vietnam Partnership Report to be discussed at the Consultative Group Meeting

On April 2000 Japan and UNIDO co-chaired the preparatory donor meeting and the first meeting of the Partnership Group where the terms of reference of the group were adopted. In its initial scope, the Partnership Group would gather before the Consultative Group meeting to review the status of Action Plan for Private Sector Promotion (APPSP) and of SME policy (decree on SME promotion), and to deepen the donors' support for implementing SMEs promotion policy measures.

The SME Partnership initiative leapt forward on 9 April 2003 at the “SME Cooperation Enhancement Meeting” that was addressed to developing the cooperation in the future and building up the cooperation plan for the promotion of SMEs,
Meanwhile a number of parameters have changed both within the Government - Decree # 61 of June 2003 "prescribing the functions, tasks, powers and organizational structure of MPI" has strengthened the mandate of the Department for SME Development, while a Director-General was appointed to head the institution - and amongst donors - several multi-lateral and bi-lateral agencies have progressed in their formulation of aid programmes addressing various constraints of business development in Vietnam.

To this respect, the 7 November 2003 Partnership Group Meeting was aimed at further enhancing the cooperation and coordination in the donor community, with the attempt to articulate strategically the latest information on current and future SME sector activities.
To address these issues, the agenda included a presentation by the new management of the Department for SME Development of the enlarged institution, its vision and programmes; the introduction of an interactive matrix of donors' involvement in the SME and PSD arenas, allowing for easy search-and-sort operations; a presentation by donors of their on-going or planned programmes geared to SME promotion or private sector development.

The SME Partnership Group gained new impetus at the meeting of 20 May 2004 hosted by the Embassy of Japan. On this occasion H.E. Truong Van Doan, Vice-Minister of MPI delivered an opening address underlining the crucial role played by the SME sector in Vietnam’s remarkable economic growth, and at the same time pointing out that further commitment to help the Government face the SME industry’s emerging challenges was needed to achieve a better coordination and utilization of resources.
With several projects and programmes in hard pipeline and some already underway, the meeting stressed the need to take steps to delineate potential fruitful areas of cooperation and coordination amongst donors. As an action-oriented measure to gauge the effectiveness of the Partnership, it was suggested to establish five sub-groups where a limited number of actively-engaged donors could realize cooperation opportunities (BDS, Policy, Enterprise Law, TBT, Local government and decentralized activities).

On 19 November 2004, a vibrant gathering of the SME Partnership Group was held; in his opening address, MPI Standing First Vice-Minister Mr Tran Dinh Khien stressed the important role that the SME sector plays as engine of economic growth. In the concluding remarks the SME Partnership co-chairs noted with appreciation the rapidly expanding resources available to the SME sector: financial resources such as the Government’s recent appropriation of VND 119 billion for human resource development, the EC’s SME Development Fund and Asia Invest window, the ADB’s SDPL and JBIC’s forthcoming sector loan, but also research on the investment climate, regulatory framework, competitiveness, access to land, capital and technology etc.

On 15 June 2005, the SME Partnership members convened at the Embassy of Japan drawing an attendance of over 70 participants from both Government agencies and donor community.Three topics shaped the agenda of the meeting: ASMED's report to donors on the first draft of the SME Development Plan 2006-2010, the establishment of technical sub-working groups under the Partnership, and the presentations of current and planned projects and programmes in the SME field.