The two-day workshop was the first collaboration between the Party Committee’s Commission for Communications and Education (CCCE), the Viet Nam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), and the international wildlife trade monitoring network TRAFFIC.

Business representatives drew lessons from the experience of non-governmental organisations and other companies with conservation strategies, and discussed with State managers preferential policies for enterprises contributing to environmental protection.

"More than ever, we recognise that businesspeople play an extremely important role in the effective implementation of environmental policies and wildlife protection," said VCCI Vice President Doan Duy Khuong.

During a survey conducted by TRAFFIC in 2005, business and government officials were the two groups found to be Ha Noi’s biggest consumers of wildlife, and have since become the focus of a campaign funded by the Royal Danish Embassy to change attitudes and behaviour regarding the consumption of wildlife.

"Unsustainable wildlife trade is one of the greatest threats to biodiversity in Viet Nam and the region. Raising businesspeople’s awareness and developing strategies for reducing consumption is an important initiative to conserve valuable wildlife," said Thomas Osborn, co-ordinator of TRAFFIC Greater Mekong Programme.

The trade in wild plants and animals for food, medicine and luxury goods has caused a significant decline in wildlife in Viet Nam and throughout Southeast Asia, the workshop heard. The result is that many unique and rare species found only in the region are now seriously threatened with extinction.