Expert In-Depth Interview Method

263. UNCTAD, 2003. New FDI pattern emerging, says UNCTAD . Available at: https://unctad.org/press-material/new-FDI-pattern-emerging-says-unctad_ accessed on February 3, 2021.

264. UNCTAD, 2003. New FDI pattern emerging, says UNCTAD . Available at: https://unctad.org/press-material/new-FDI-pattern-emerging-says-unctad_accessed February 3, 2021.

265. UNCTAD, 2012. World Investment Report 2012: Towards a new generation of investment policies . See at: https://unctad.org/system/files/official- document/wir2012_embargoed_en.pdf _ accessed September 8, 2020.

266. VCCI, 2015a. ASEAN Framework Agreement on Services (AFAS). Available at: http://www.trungtamwto.vn/chuyen-de/7178-hiep-dinh-khung-ASEAN-ve-dich-vu-afas_accessed September 12, 2019.

267. VCCI, 2015b. ASEAN Comprehensive Investment Agreement (ACIA). Available at: https://trungtamwto.vn/chuyen-de/7172-hiep-dinh-dau-tu-toan-dien-ASEAN- acia_accessed September 12, 2019.

268. VCCI, 2016a. Enterprises & Trade Liberalization. Available at: http://www.trungtamwto.vn/download/16529/Tom%20luoc%20-AEC.pdf_ accessed on March 2, 2020.

269. VCCI, 2016b. Summary of ASEAN Economic Community. Available at: http://www.trungtamwto.vn/chuyen-de/7658-tom-luoc-cong-dong-kinh-te-ASEAN-aec_ accessed on November 22, 2019.

270. VCCI, 2016c. Documents of the ASEAN Comprehensive Investment Agreement (ACIA) & summary . See at: https://aecvcci.vn/tin-tuc-n1638/van-kien-hiep-dinh-dau-tu-toan- dien-ASEAN-acia-va-tom-tat.htm_ accessed on March 2, 2020.

271. VCCI, 2017. PCI Report 2016. Available at: https://pcivietnam.vn/an-pham/bao- cao-pci-2016-ct170_accessed July 6, 2021.

272. VCCI, 2019. CPTPP Agreement Documents and Summaries. Available at: https://trungtamwto.vn/chuyen-de/10835-van-kien-hiep-dinh-cptpp_accessed February 3, 2021.

273. VCCI, 2020. Vietnam – EU . See at: https://trungtamwto.vn/fta/199-viet-nam-

-eu/1_accessed February 4, 2021.

274. VCCI, 2021. PCI Report 2020. Available at: https://pcivietnam.vn/an-pham/bao- cao-pci-2020-ct185_accessed July 6, 2021.

275. World Bank, 2021. Overview of Vietnam. Available at: https://www.worldbank.org/vi/country/vietnam/overview_accessed November 10, 2021.

276. World Development Indicators Database

277. WTO, 2019a. Index Scores for GATS commitments & PTA commitments, by PTA . Available at: www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/serv_e/dataset_e/dataset_e.htm_ accessed on 03/01/2021.

278. WTO, 2019b. The General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS): Objectives, Coverage & Disciplines . See at: https://www.wto.org/english/docs_e/legal_e/26-gats.pdf_ accessed October 19, 2020.

279. WTO, 2020. The General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS): objectives, coverage & disciplines . View at: https://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/serv_e/gatsqa_e.htm_ accessed March 15, 2020.

APPENDIX 1: EXPERT INTERVIEW

Appendix 1.1. Expert in-depth interview method

The purpose of the expert interview is to evaluate the contents including: commitments in AEC related to investment in the service sector, Vietnam's policy practices and factors affecting FDI attraction from ASEAN into service sectors in Vietnam in the context of AEC to supplement and clarify the results of qualitative research and quantitative modeling.

Interview method: semi-structured interview.

Selecting expert interview research samples: the thesis uses the following criteria to select interview participants:

(1) People with experience and understanding of investment and international economic integration;

(2) Have a Master's degree or higher or have at least 5 years of experience in the professional field;

(3) Be a Vietnamese or foreign citizen;

(4) Can communicate in Vietnamese or English.

Research participant invitation process: Researcher finds and invites interview participants through the following sources and methods:

(i) Send direct invitations to invite experts who meet the above criteria to participate in interviews.

(ii) Ask colleagues/acquaintances to forward the invitation to participate in the research to experts who can meet the above requirements.

Sample selection results: The interviewees in the thesis are experts with practical and in-depth knowledge of foreign direct investment from the academic sector (National Economics University, Foreign Trade University, Academy of Policy and Development), the policy-making sector (Central Theoretical Council, Institute for Strategy and Policy Research - Ministry of Industry and Trade, Foreign Investment Agency - Ministry of Planning and Investment, Department of Planning and Investment, Department of Industry and Trade). The interviewees for this research topic are completely voluntary and their personal and professional relationships do not affect their voluntary participation in the study. To select research participants suitable for the research sample, the author asked participants to answer some initial screening questions, including information related to the criteria of research participants, the interview process (for example: geographical distance, time of direct interview, consent to recording the interview).

Because some interviews took place during the pandemic, the author conducted online interviews through information technology applications.

Interview questionnaire: The questionnaire consists of 14 questions, in which in addition to questions about respondent information, the main content of the questionnaire is divided into 4 parts corresponding to the following contents: (1) Commitments in the AEC related to investment in the service sector, (2) Practice of Vietnam's investment policy, (3) Current status of attracting FDI from ASEAN into service sectors in Vietnam and (4) Factors affecting attracting FDI from ASEAN into Vietnam's service sectors in the context of the AEC.

Expert interview results: The interview results obtained are:

 Most experts believe that the ASEAN Framework Agreement on Services (AFAS) is the agreement that has an impact on investment activities in the services sector within the AEC framework. In addition, the Comprehensive Investment Agreement (ACIA) also has provisions that affect some service sub-sectors.

 The majority of experts assessed the level of commitment related to investment in the AEC service sector as Weak compared to other trade and investment agreements (8/12 experts assessed it as Weak , 4 experts assessed it as Equivalent ) . The level of implementation of Vietnam's commitments is also mainly assessed as Low ( 7/12 experts) and Equivalent (5/12 experts). The main reason is that the level of development of the countries is not equal, the service market of the CLMV group is still low compared to the group of 6 other developed countries of ASEAN)

 83% (10/12) of experts assessed that Vietnam's investment policies are still limited due to low effectiveness, low attractiveness compared to other countries, low competitiveness and inconsistent application by localities - the reasons are due to not paying attention to the ASEAN investment market, ASEAN partners do not have strong potential, the service industry is not developed, transparency is not high, service investment promotion is limited...

 91% (11/12) of experts believe that the investment situation has achieved certain achievements, there has been a gradual participation of ASEAN, especially in the retail and real estate business sectors, investment in the form of commercial presence, investors are also more interested in potential areas such as banking, education... However, the level of attraction is not strong, the ability to have a general attraction policy is not high, not yet linked to ASEAN characteristics, localities have not paid much attention to ASEAN partners. It is necessary to have policies suitable for ASEAN partners, strongly develop services and promote investment in service industries with each specific partner according to the service strengths of that country. However, due to research questions about the current situation and

ASEAN-related investment policies are relatively specialized, and some experts do not have answers regarding these issues.

 Most of the influencing factors are supported by experts, in which the three factors that experts believe have the most important level of influence are: Macroeconomic stability - Inflation (11/12 experts agree); Exchange rate policy (11/12 experts agree); Financial development (11/12 experts agree); Market potential (11/12 experts agree); Human resources (12/12 experts agree); AEC integration (10/12 experts agree); and Institutional - political quality (11/12 experts agree). Some factors received the agreement of a smaller number of experts, which are the factor of Infrastructure (08/12 experts agree), Trade openness (06/12 experts agree). This result is used to supplement the explanation for the analysis of the factors affecting NCS in Chapter 4.



Appendix 1.2. Interview questions

INTERVIEW QUESTIONS

ATTRACTING FDI FROM ASEAN INTO VIETNAM'S SERVICE SECTORS IN THE CONTEXT OF IMPLEMENTING AEC INTEGRATION COMMITMENTS

Dear Sir/Madam!

The research team would like to thank you for taking the time to answer the interview. The research team is conducting a research project on “ Attracting FDI from ASEAN to Vietnam’s service sectors in the context of implementing AEC integration commitments”. Therefore, the research team would like to ask for your opinions on the contents related to this content. Your opinions will be valuable information to help the research team complete the above topic.

All responses will be kept confidential. Interview responses will only be shared for research purposes and the research team will ensure that any information included in the product will not reveal information about the person who provided that information. For any questions, please contact: Nguyen Hong Hanh - Foreign Trade University, phone number: 0988.168.291, email: hanhnh@ftu.edu.vn.

Part 1: AEC commitments related to investment in the service sector

1. a. What are the main commitments in the AEC that affect FDI attraction from ASEAN into Vietnam's service industries?

b. What is the impact of those commitments?

2. How does the AEC’s commitment to services investment compare to other free trade and investment agreements? Please explain your choice.

Very low

Short

Equivalent

High

Very high

Maybe you are interested!

3. To what extent has Vietnam implemented its commitments under the AEC towards liberalizing investment in the services sector? Please explain your choice.

Very low

Short

Equivalent

High

Very high

Part 2: Vietnam's policy practices

1. How has Vietnam's policy practice changed towards liberalizing investment in the service sector in the context of the AEC?

a. Investment policies (laws and regulations, treatment principles, investment portfolios and forms, property rights protection, taxes and financial incentives...);

b. Policies on liberalization of trade in services (general policies and in specific areas);

c. Other policies (human resources, infrastructure, investment promotion...)

2. a. What are the limitations of Vietnam's policy practices (especially compared to the policies of other countries in the region)?

b. What are the causes of these limitations?

Part 3: Factors affecting FDI attraction from ASEAN to Vietnam's service industries in the context of AEC integration

1. In your opinion, which of the following macro factors affect FDI attraction from ASEAN to Vietnam in general and to the service sector in particular? Please explain your choice.

Market potential

Exchange rate	Human resources
Trade openness	Inflation - Macroeconomic stability	Infrastructure
Financial market development	Institutional quality	AEC

2. In addition to the above factors, do you think there are any other influencing factors?

3. Which factor do you think is the main factor?

4. Which influencing factors do you think should be given more attention? Why?

Part 4: Current status of attracting FDI from ASEAN into Vietnam's service industries

1. What are the highlights in attracting FDI from ASEAN to Vietnam's service sectors (in terms of number of projects, registered capital scale, project scale, investment structure, investment partners, and territorial structure)?

2. What achievements has Vietnam made in attracting FDI from ASEAN into service industries?

3. What are the limitations of the attraction results?

4. What solutions can help Vietnam improve its limitations and promote FDI attraction in the future?

Do you have anything to add?

The research team will analyze the information you provide and present it in a research product. We would be happy to send you a preview of the product if you are interested.

Thank you for taking the time to do this interview!

Appendix 1.3. List of interview experts

STT	Target group	Work unit	Academic title/Position
1	Academic Block	Academy of Social Sciences Vietnam	Associate Professor, Doctor of Science, Director
2			Associate Professor, PhD. Lecturer, Institute of International Trade and Economics
3			Associate Professor, PhD. Deputy Director of Center for Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation festival
4		Academy of Policy and Development	Dr. Director of International Training Institute
5		Foreign Trade University	Associate Professor, PhD. Director
6		Foreign Trade University	PhD. Lecturer of Economics and Management (former Department of Investment and Technology Transfer)
7	Policy planning management block	Central Theoretical Council nursery	Associate Professor, PhD. Former Vice President council
8		Ministry of Industry and Trade	PhD. Head of Department - Institute for Strategic and Political Studies industrial and commercial books
9		Ministry of Planning and Investment	MSc. Investment Promotion Department - Foreign Investment Agency
10		Ministry of Planning and Investment	Master/Department of National Economic Synthesis
11		Department of Planning and Investment 6	TS/Director of Department
12		Department of Industry and Trade 7	Director of Department