Vietnam to create favourable conditions for private firms

Van Don International Airport, developed by private Sun Group, was put into operation on December 30, 2018

The country targeted to have one million firms by 2020, of which, there would be a lot of large private corporations who were arising strongly in both domestic and international markets in key sectors like manufacturing, aviation, finance and banking, agriculture and telecommunications.

According to Nguyen Xuan Thang from the Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics, the private sector was still facing difficulties in accessing resources, market opportunities and advanced technologies.

President and CEO of Vietjet Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao said at the Vietnam Economic Forum 2019 that Vietnam in recent years had sent a strong message about building a constructive government with open mechanisms for the private sector.

However, Thao said it was necessary to speed up the privatisation of State-owned enterprises (SOEs) and the restructuring of the banking sector to minimise the negative impacts on macro-finance and growth prospects.

She also urged the Government to develop mechanisms and policies to exploit resources of the private sector for infrastructure development and enable them to grasp opportunities from Industry 4.0 to enhance productivity.

The private sector should be encouraged to participate in what they could do well, Thao said, stressing that private firms expected to have a fair playground with other economic sectors.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said in a dialogue at the World Economic Forum in Davos that the private economic sector was an important driver for growth of Vietnam amid an anticipated slow-down of the global economy.

The PM added that attracting foreign direct investment together with enhancing linkage with the domestic sector also played a significant role in promoting economic development.

According to Ousmane Dione, World Bank Vietnam’s Country Director, Vietnam faced a significant opportunity in upgrading its domestic value contribution to capture the benefits of FDI inflows and global value chains.

This required enhancing linkages with the domestic economy, he stressed.

Vu Dai Thang, Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment, said that the goal of having one million firms by 2020 was within reach, given the efforts of improving the business climate.

The Ministry of Planning and Investment recently made public a draft law to amend the Law on Investment and the Law on Enterprise, which aimed to create favourable conditions for the businesses and private sector to develop.

Vietnam set goal of increasing the contribution of the private sector to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) to 50 percent by 2020, 55 percent by 2025 and 60-65 percent by 2030.

Every year, the private sector generated 1.2 million jobs and contributed 43 percent to GDP.