The New ‘Battles’ and ‘Once-in-a-Lifetime Opportunities’ from the North-South High-Speed Rail Project

Proposal to Resolve Obstacles for Businesses

On the morning of May 31st, in Hanoi, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh hosted a dialogue with businesses and business associations to effectively implement Resolution 68-NQ/TW of the Politburo on private sector development.

At the dialogue, Mr. Nguyen Van Than, Chairman of the Vietnam Association of Small and Medium Enterprises, acknowledged that Resolution 68 of the Politburo on private sector development demonstrates unprecedented breakthroughs in concepts and thinking about private enterprise growth.

To encourage household businesses to transform into enterprises, Mr. Than proposed applying robust incentives, including: Tax exemption for corporate income tax in the first three years after transformation, reducing financial burdens and creating momentum for household businesses; supporting costs related to business establishment procedures, such as legal consulting and business registration…

Ms. Mai Kieu Lien, CEO of Vinamilk, affirmed that the government’s resolutions and policies are very clear. The question is how do we implement them? According to Ms. Lien, for businesses, when there is an opportunity, they can move quickly ahead by 5 or 10 years, but if they miss the opportunity, they will be left behind for 50 years.

“Regarding our company, when an issue arises and is brought to the attention of the CEO, we require that it be resolved within 48 hours. For the government, I hope that a timeline can be set for how long it takes for an issue to reach the Prime Minister for resolution? It could be 7 days, 15 days, or any other specified timeframe. This would ensure that businesses’ obstacles are addressed in a timely manner,” Ms. Lien emphasized.

Formulating a Battle Plan for New “Campaigns”

At the dialogue, Mr. Truong Gia Binh, Head of the Research Group for Private Sector Economic Development under the Advisory Council for Administrative Procedure Reform, mentioned that some entrepreneurs likened the implementation of Resolution 68-NQ/TW of the Politburo to “a drought meeting a downpour.” Businesses view this “downpour” as a new hope and expectation of trust from the Party, Government, and State.

According to Mr. Binh, we need to come together to formulate a battle plan for 2025 – 2030 with new “campaigns” such as developing the North-South high-speed railway, establishing global transportation hubs, building a world-class financial center, and promoting technology, tourism, and agriculture…

“To win these ‘campaigns,’ we need the unity and collaboration of the entire country. With the trust and support of the Party, Government, State, and local authorities, we, the business community, pledge to dedicate ourselves and fight together for the socio-economic development of our country,” expressed Mr. Binh.

Sharing a similar concern, Mr. Tran Dinh Long, Chairman of Hoa Phat Group, emphasized the prerequisite of protecting and promoting domestic production. He highlighted the high-speed railway project as a “once-in-a-millennium opportunity.” If we want to expedite the project, we can simply outsource it to foreign contractors. However, if we want to foster our domestic railway industry, we must support local production.

“Here, I also represent many enthusiastic entrepreneurs from the North to the South. We propose that all government resolutions clearly specify the percentage of domestic production in public investment projects and include this in the documents. I boldly suggest that for all public investment projects, such as highways, the percentage of domestically produced materials should be at least 70%. This is a decisive condition,” stated Mr. Long.

Following this statement, the Prime Minister expressed his agreement with the perspective on the importance of business and investor experience. He acknowledged that there are cases where investors are required to have experience in a particular field to participate in certain projects.

The Prime Minister emphasized that state management agencies must clearly distinguish between the conditions and standards for investors and those for contractors. Investors bring capital to the table and can invest in any field where they see potential for profitability, so they should not be constrained by experience requirements.

The Prime Minister gave an example, “We can set a requirement that investors in casinos must have a minimum of 2 billion USD to enter the Vietnamese market, but we should not demand that they have prior experience in this industry. They can organize their business operations, hire experienced contractors, and appoint managers as they see fit. This is an administrative hurdle that needs to be addressed.”