New PM to hold first talks with business community

April 21, 2016 | 10:59

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Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc is going to meet with domestic and foreign business leaders on April 29, to discuss improving Vietnam’s business environment.

The Ministry of Planning and Investment is going to work with the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) to prepare the list of at least 50 representative of foreign invested enterprises (FIEs) to take part in the meeting. This is PM’s first official meeting with the business community since the start of his term. Besides, the meeting will see the participation of 20 representatives from associations and 300 representatives from Vietnamese companies.

The meeting aims to convey the PM’s message that the government is going to create the most conducive conditions to facilitate starting up a business and to enable companies to grow not only in terms of number but also of quality. At the conference the PM will discuss ways to build an institutional setting that facilitates the operation of companies and answer questions and proposals posed by participants.

Phuc has request the ministries and the people’s committees of cities and provinces to report on their progress in resolving the issues that companies meet and suggest ways to improve the business environment.

Furthermore, the VCCI is also going to work with the people’s committees of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City to draft a guarantee to create the best business environment for companies in the two cities. The two committees are going to sign the guarantee in front of the prime minister.

Le Phuoc Vu

Vietnamese companies urgently need government support: Le Phuoc Vu - chairman of Hoa Sen Group

Foreign invested enterprises are growing strongly, contributing 70 per cent of the country’s export turnover while domestic companies are only contributing about 30 per cent, and mostly in the agriculture sector.

In some cases Vietnamese companies are losing in the domestic market. For example, Thai companies have acquired many Vietnamese retailers and some production companies have reported being unable to get their products to be distributed in this channel. Vietnamese companies need the government to make policies that enable them to compete fairly.

The Vietnamese economy is like a body, with the left leg being foreign invested companies and the right leg being domestic companies. Only when the right leg is strong and can walk with the left leg can the body be strong. It seems that now the right leg is atrophied.

If macroeconomic policies are not conscious of this, it’s going to be more and more difficult for Vietnamese companies to catch up with foreign invested companies. All countries need foreign direct investment for economic growth and Vietnam is not an exception. Never have Vietnamese companies needed the government as now. We want to have freedom and not be chained by the current administrative institution.