DAI Honors Vietnam Business Leader and Project Partner

October 15, 2013

Dau Anh Tuan of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) won a Development Leadership Award from DAI for his “exemplary leadership in making Vietnam a stronger economy and society for businesses and the Vietnamese people.”

Jim Winkler, DAI’s Vice President of Solutions, worked closely with Tuan on the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)’s [Vietnam Competitiveness Initiative (USAID/VNCI).][1] Dr. Winkler, the project’s former Chief of Party, said, “Tuan has been a tireless proponent of reform and saw the potential for the PCI to bring evidence-based measures to improve economic governance during a period when little evidence was available in Vietnam.”

Since 2004, VCCI and DAI, in cooperation with The Asia Foundation from 2004 to 2008, worked hand-in-hand to create the groundbreaking Provincial Competitiveness Index (PCI). The index provides an annual measure of the business friendliness of the country’s 63 provinces and cities. The nine PCI indicators are tailored to the regulatory issues most pertinent to enterprises in Vietnam, providing a transparent, evidence-based ranking and analysis of the regulatory environment and economic governance.

“The PCI report and findings that augment the voice of an average of 8,000 domestic enterprises and 2,000 foreign enterprises annually through the most comprehensive firm survey in the country are widely referenced in policy dialogue by the Prime Minister, the U.S. Ambassador, members of the National Assembly, ministers, provincial leaders, academics, bilateral and multilateral donor officials, and journalists,” said Dr. Winkler.

The PCI is now solely managed by the VCCI through a USAID grant. According to Tuan, other government ministries have adapted the methodology to measure their own performance.

(Tuan is pictured with DAI’s Dan Rathbun, the leader of the USAID Vietnam Support for Trade Acceleration Project (USAID/STAR Plus); Helle Weeke, DAI’s General Counsel and former COP of USAID/VNCI; Jean Gilson, DAI’s Senior Vice President, who opened USAID’s mission in Hanoi when she worked for the agency; and Jim Winkler, DAI’s Vice President of Solutions and former leader of the USAID/VNCI project.)