The First Time: Government Officials Meet with Top Private Sector Enterprises

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh chaired a conference with large-scale private enterprises on September 21 with the attendance of Deputy Prime Ministers Tran Hong Ha, Le Minh Khai, and Ho Duc Phoc, along with leaders of ministries, sectors, and prominent private enterprises nationwide.

The private sector plays a crucial role in Vietnam’s economy, contributing nearly 45% of the country’s GDP, over 40% of total social investment, providing employment for 85% of the workforce, accounting for 35% of total import turnover, and 25% of export turnover. Some prominent groups have even expanded their reach internationally and established themselves globally.

The conference aimed to discuss and address the operational challenges faced by large-scale private enterprises. It also served as a platform to propose mechanisms and policies to leverage the strengths of these enterprises for the sustainable and robust socio-economic development of the country.

At the beginning of the conference, on behalf of the Government, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh extended his respectful greetings, cordial inquiries, and best wishes to the leaders of large private groups and enterprises present.

The Prime Minister emphasized that the Party and State consider the development of the private economic sector as an urgent and regular task in perfecting the socialist-oriented market economy. The private sector is recognized as an essential approach to unleashing labor productivity, production, and efficient mobilization, allocation, and utilization of resources for development.

He further mentioned that the Government and the Prime Minister had previously held several dialogues with private enterprises and small and medium-sized enterprises. However, this was the first time during this term that the Standing Government organized a meeting with large private enterprises, underscoring the Government’s attention and expectations regarding the pioneering, breakthrough, and leading role of these enterprises in the robust and sustainable development of the private sector.

However, since the beginning of 2024, the world’s economic and geopolitical situation has undergone complex and unpredictable changes, including a slow and fragile global economic recovery, declining economies in major countries, volatile prices, and persistent inflation in many large economies. Climate change, natural disasters, extreme weather events, and pandemics have also had significant impacts.

Domestically, opportunities and challenges are intertwined, but challenges outweigh opportunities. Operational difficulties persist for a significant portion of enterprises, inflationary pressures remain high, and natural disasters, such as the recent Super Storm Yagi (Storm No. 3), have caused severe losses of life and property in the northern provinces.

The Prime Minister shared the results of the 10th Plenum of the 13th Party Central Committee, emphasizing breakthroughs, especially in institutional reforms, improving social welfare, harnessing science, technology, and innovation for national development, and implementing programs and projects that adapt to nature, such as rearranging residential areas, combating saltwater intrusion, and developing iconic projects that inspire the nation, including high-speed railways, nuclear energy, and completing the expressway system.

The Prime Minister expressed his desire for private enterprises to pioneer and contribute to these strategic breakthroughs for national development. He highlighted four key points: First, fostering patriotism and love for the people, which are cherished traditions and cultural heritage, along with mutual support and solidarity. Second, promoting unity among the people, another valuable heritage of the nation. Third, harnessing the strength of the people and enterprises, with the belief that resources stem from thinking and vision, motivation from innovation, and power from the people. Fourth, he emphasized the need for breakthroughs and leaps forward in the remaining term, with just over a year left until the centenary of the Party’s foundation in 2030, and the desire to have remarkable achievements to commemorate this milestone.

With the motto of always accompanying and supporting the business community, including large private enterprises, the Prime Minister requested the enterprises to identify challenges and difficulties in their production, business, and investment activities, and propose specific solutions. He also urged the leaders of ministries, sectors, and localities to clarify the issues and propose short-term and long-term mechanisms and policies to adapt to the new situation, especially drawing on international experiences. For immediate concerns, he requested clear proposals with timelines for handling and regular reporting to the Government leaders to stay informed.

The Prime Minister expressed his hope that the conference would receive heartfelt, responsible, and constructive contributions from the delegates to advise the Government and the Prime Minister on policies to unlock resources, create breakthroughs, and promote the role of large private enterprises with the motto of “earliest – most effective” and “harmonious interests and shared risks.”

During the conference, the delegates focused on discussing fundamental issues, including assessing the position and role of large private enterprises in implementing the goals, tasks, and solutions outlined in Resolution No. 01/NQ-CP, towards completing the socio-economic development plan for the 2021-2025 period and the 2021-2030 strategy. This helped clarify the participation and responsibilities of large private enterprises in driving the economy.

The involvement of large private enterprises in significant, challenging, and breakthrough areas was emphasized to create momentum for socio-economic development, especially in new fields, keeping up with scientific and technological advancements, innovation trends, and the shift towards green, circular, and sustainable development, such as electric vehicles, semiconductor industry, artificial intelligence, and the more advanced field of artificial general intelligence (AGI), high-quality and low-emission agriculture, etc.

Recognizing their leading role in the private sector, large private enterprises shared their goals and tasks to promote effective production, business, and investment activities in 2024 and the following years.

The delegates also discussed the difficulties and proposed recommendations to the State policies, emphasizing the social responsibilities of enterprises, especially in supporting people affected by recent floods and natural disasters.

Regarding logistics, Mr. Tran Ba Duong, Chairman of THACO, shared that THILOGI’s current transportation through Chu Lai Port includes the following main routes: North Cambodia and Central Highlands – Chu Lai: 3,900 containers, of which THACO accounts for 2,100 containers (53%); South Laos & North Kontum – Chu Lai: nearly 4,700 containers and over 1 million tons of minerals, with THACO contributing 2,200 containers (46%); Quang Nam and neighboring provinces – Chu Lai: 46,000 containers and over 461,000 tons of bulk cargo, with THACO accounting for 33,000 containers (70%).

Mr. Duong attributed the lower-than-expected container volume through Chu Lai Port to the port currently only accommodating vessels with a capacity of 20,000 tons due to the suspension of the Ky Ha channel project since June 2022. THACO has proposed to the Ministry of Transport to approve their implementation of dredging works using enterprise capital, including the new Cua Lo channel project. However, they are still awaiting the Government’s approval of the detailed planning for the group of seaports, wharves, piers, buoys, water areas, and regions for the period 2021-2030, with a vision towards 2050.

Regarding National Highway 14D, Mr. Duong affirmed its significance for the East-West Economic Corridor and facilitating cargo transportation for southern Laos through Vietnam’s central region. He proposed that the Prime Minister instruct the Ministry of Transport to prioritize funding and accelerate the progress to complete this project by 2025. In terms of social welfare, the Chairman of THACO suggested considering forest plantation to prevent landslides and constructing resilient housing for people in flood-prone areas to ensure their long-term well-being.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao, Chairman of Sovico Group, expressed her hope that the Prime Minister would trust private enterprises and create favorable conditions by establishing regulations, laws, and mechanisms to foster the development of ethnic enterprises into national and international-standard groups, leading and promoting small and medium-sized enterprises, agricultural and rural areas, and startups.

She also suggested creating a legal environment to promote education, training, scientific research, and technological innovation, especially vocational training and labor productivity enhancement. Additionally, she proposed mechanisms to enable Vietnamese enterprises to proactively invest in building a strong fleet with a Vietnamese nationality, contributing to a robust Vietnam.

Ms. Thao proposed transforming Vietnam into a regional and global aviation hub. With its advantageous location, Vietnam should urgently invest in and upgrade international airports to become a transit hub for passengers and cargo, similar to Bangkok, Singapore, and South Korea. Vietjet has already facilitated passenger transit from India and Kazakhstan to Australia and Indonesia via Vietnam.

Vietnam can become a regional center for aviation training and technology. The Vietjet Aviation Academy is one of the most modern and well-equipped academies in the region, collaborating with Airbus to train 50,000 students annually. Vietnam has the conditions to establish a regional-scale aircraft maintenance service center. While operating more than 100 aircraft, Vietjet does not have a hangar in Vietnam. Hundreds of our technical staff are performing aircraft maintenance in Vientiane, Laos, through a joint venture with Laos Airline. Meanwhile, Vietnamese enterprises have started producing aircraft components. With a large number of aircraft orders, Vietnam has the potential to become a center for aircraft component manufacturing and assembly, similar to China’s production of Boeing components and assembly of Airbus aircraft.

She also proposed continuing to promote bilateral and multilateral negotiations and agreements with other countries to facilitate visa policies and support the opening of new air routes, making Vietnam an attractive international tourist destination. “We believe that the future holds great promise for Vietnam’s economy, with the pioneering spirit of aviation, tourism, and our ethnic entrepreneurs. Let’s take action to bring that future closer,” Ms. Thao added.