Vietnam has engaged in a growing number of bilateral and multilateral trade agreements, as well as regional economic integration arrangements, which contain social and labour provisions related to workers' rights.

Under Article 3, Chapter 15 of the EVFTA, "Trade and Sustainable Development", Vietnam has made such a commitment in accordance with its obligations as a member of the ILO and the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work and its follow-up.

Following guidance from the ILO Tripartite Declaration of Principles concerning Multinational Enterprises and Social Policy (ILO MNE Declaration, 2017) and the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises (2011), the "Responsible Supply Chains in Asia" (Vietnam) project, implemented by the ILO and the OECD and funded by the EU, will promote Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Responsible Business Conduct (RBC) in relation to human rights, labour and environmental standards by businesses engaged in wood and seafood processing supply chains in Vietnam.

In addition to focusing on trade advocacy, EuroCham is also focused on advocating Socially Responsible Business Practices. This tentative fact-finding workshop, co-funded by the RSCA (Vietnam) project and EuroCham, aims to:

• Raise awareness of the ILO MNE Declaration 2017 as the only ILO instrument in the world which offers guidelines to multinational enterprises, governments, employers' and workers' organisations in such areas as employment, training, work and life conditions, and industrial relations.
• Assess awareness of European MNEs on CSR, their requirements on CSR toward national counterparts, their willingness for supporting the CSR implementation at national enterprises which are involved in the supply chains.
• Provide information on existing policy frameworks to work on the labour and social dimensions of CSR.
• Identify challenges and opportunities for European MNEs and their national suppliers in supply chains in Vietnam, viewed from labour-related aspects of CSR in the context of EVFTA.
• Identify opportunities and likely mechanisms for cooperation with ILO's RSCA project for promoting the socially responsible labour practices in supply chains in Vietnam.