Vietnam to Face Difficulties in Enforcing Environment Policies: Experts

Vietnam will find it hard to enforce policies and laws on environmental protection, especially in industries seeing strong growth once the country becomes a member of international trade packs, both domestic and foreign experts have said. Nick Thorpe from the People and Nature Reconciliation (PanNature) centre said at a seminar themed “Free trade: investment movement and environmental issue in Vietnam” held in Hanoi on May 27 that Vietnam will meet difficulties in abiding by environmental standards regulated in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement, and those concerning land compensation at the local level. He stressed that there are loopholes in Vietnam’s policies on environmental management for businesses. Le Dang Doanh, former Director of the Central Institute for Economic Management (CIEM), said Vietnam, by joining free trade agreements (FTAs), has to commit to ensuring regulations related to indicators on ozone-depleting substances, pollution at sea, transparent cooperation in protecting the environment, and reduction of fishing activities detrimental to fisheries resources. For better implementation, ministries and agencies need to timely issue regulations guiding the legal enforcement. He made special note to the importance of supervising environmental protection among foreign-invested enterprises. According to Do Thanh Bai from the Chemical Society of Vietnam, industries that will most benefit from TPP such as textiles, footwear, and electronics are the most prejudicial sectors to the environment because they use many toxic and persistent chemicals. Bai underlined the need to carefully select investors, aiming to seek those using environmental friendly technologies. Vietnam has so far joined and negotiated 15 FTAs, including the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). The trade pact is said to give Vietnam the chance to upgrade its investment and business environment, attract foreign investment, speed up its restructuring process and shift its growth model. Earlier, local experts have warned that more and more foreign-invested enterprises (FIEs) invest in polluting industries in the Southeast Asian country, triggering concerns about low value-added manufacturing and environmental protection. In reality, many FIEs have been fined for their violations in environmental protection but the recurrence remains. Worse still, fines for violating activities remain modest. (Vietnamplus.vn May 31)