VIP reception department: Hotel stay 5.5 million/day, food 1.2 million/day

The Ministry of Finance is seeking comments on the draft Circular regulating the regime for receiving foreign guests working in Vietnam, the regime for international conferences and seminars in Vietnam, and the regime for receiving domestic guests. This Circular regulates the regime for receiving foreign guests working in Vietnam and receiving domestic guests.

Accordingly, regarding accommodation rental for foreign guests working, the draft stipulates: For special guests, hotel room rental standards are approved by the head of the agency or unit assigned to receive them.

For the Group Leader who is a Class A guest, the maximum hotel room rental is 5.5 million/person/day. The rest are Deputy Group Leaders and members, from 3.5-4.5 million/day. For Class A guests, the maximum meal cost is 1.2 million/day/person.

Every year Vietnam welcomes many international delegations to work.

For B-class groups, the Head and Deputy Head of the Group are arranged to stay in rooms with a maximum price of 4.5 million VND/person/day, while group members are allowed to rent rooms with a maximum price of 2.8 million VND/person/day. Meal expenses for B-class groups are a maximum of 900,000 VND/day/person.

For group C guests, the group leader is arranged to stay in a room with a maximum price of 2.8 million VND/person/day; other members of the group are 2 million VND/person/day. Meal expenses for group C guests are 700 thousand VND/person/day.

In case of special foreign affairs requirements requiring room rental at a higher standard than the maximum level specified above, the head of the agency or unit hosting the reception shall decide on the room rental level in a spirit of savings and must arrange within the budget estimate assigned by the competent authority for implementation.

The above daily food expenses include drinks (wine, beer, and drinks produced in Vietnam).

The draft also provides regulations on reception of delegations. Specifically, for special guests, the Head of the agency assigned to receive them must approve the program and plan for welcoming the delegation.

For class A, class B, and class C guests, each group is allowed to have a reception once. The maximum amount of reception expenses must not exceed the daily meal allowance of the guest as prescribed in this Circular.

The above hospitality expenses include drinks (wine, beer, and drinks produced in Vietnam) and are applied to both Vietnamese delegates and interpreters participating in the reception (the list of Vietnamese delegates is based on the program and plan to welcome the delegation approved by the competent authority).

In addition, the draft also requires gifts for foreign delegations to be products made in Vietnam and reflect the national cultural identity. The spending level is from 400,000 to 1.3 million VND/person.

For domestic guests, the cost for a meal is 300,000 VND/meal and for refreshments is 30,000 VND/session (half a day)/person.

The subjects invited to dinner are the People's Committees of provinces and centrally run cities. Based on the actual situation and local budget capacity, they shall specify the subjects invited to dinner; the level of expenses for dinner; the level of expenses for refreshments (higher or lower than those prescribed in this Circular) for each type of provincial agency, and submit it to the Provincial People's Council before promulgation. Similarly, the Minister, head of a ministerial-level agency, or agency under the Government shall specify the subjects invited to dinner; the level of expenses for dinner; the level of expenses for refreshments in accordance with the operational characteristics of the agencies under the Ministry and branch to ensure savings and efficiency.

In case the Ministries, branches and localities have not issued specific regulations, the heads of agencies shall base on the spending framework prescribed in this Circular to specify the types of guests invited to dinner and the appropriate spending levels. Agencies may only use the allocated budget to implement the autonomy regime and other legal sources of revenue to pay for dinner, and these must be stipulated in the internal spending regulations of the agency, ensuring savings and efficiency.

According to Vietnamnet.vn