Establishing a trade office for a state government rather than a national government presented a unique set of challenges. Below is the story of how Acclime Vietnam got the job done.
Global Victoria is the State Government of Victoria’s (Australia) premier trade facilitation agency and gateway to global economies and communities. Through their network of international offices, Global Victoria promotes Victoria to the world, and encourages trade and investment with Victorian businesses.
Global Victoria had made a decision to expand their South East Asian footprint and establish a formal office in Vietnam to take advantage of the opportunities and growth that Vietnam presented.
Although Vietnamese laws permitted trade offices of foreign governments to be established, the vast majority of offices that existed were established at a national level through embassies and similar. There were very few examples of trade offices for State or Provincial authorities, such as the State of Victoria. There was the further issue that the ministerial and departmental structure of the Victorian Government did not fit the structure envisaged within the Vietnamese legislation permitting the establishment of foreign trade offices.
Acclime Vietnam was engaged to assist Global Victoria to understand the Vietnamese requirements, determine the path the establish the trade office, and to act on behalf of Global Victoria to formally establish the office.
We worked with the Vietnamese Ministry of Trade and Investment throughout the process to reach an agreement on required documents and, more importantly, how to align the different legal structures in order to meet the legislative provisions in Vietnam for establishment of the foreign trade office.
In 2020 we successfully registered the establishment of the Global Victoria office in Vietnam, the 23rd office in their portfolio.