An assembly line of home electronic appliances at LG Electronic Việt Nam in the port city of Hải Phòng. Experts say foreign organisations have urged the Vietnamese Government to make private firms central to the country’s economic development. — VNA/VNS Photo Lâm Khánh

HÀ NỘI — The Vietnamese economy will grow faster if private companies thrive, but development should be sustained, transparent and secure, heard a meeting on Wednesday.

The meeting, named Midterm Vietnam Business Forum 2019, was organised by the Ministry of Planning and Investment and the World Bank in Việt Nam.

According to the European Chamber of Commerce in Việt Nam (EuroCham), Việt Nam is a very attractive destination for both domestic and foreign investors. Many European companies have chosen to come to Việt Nam and expanded their operation as much as they can.

As global trade tensions have continued longer than expected, many global companies are considering putting their factories in only one location. Việt Nam is in a good position to take advantage of the situation, but it needs a good investment and business environment to help investors maximise their potential.

EuroCham expects unclear and unnecessary preconditions to doing businesses to be removed or simplified in the third quarter.

The American Chamber of Commerce in Việt Nam (AmCham) expressed its desire for a highly standardised, transparent and stable business environment so all investors are treated equally.

Concerns were also raised by the Korea Chamber of Commerce in Việt Nam (Kocham) and the Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Việt Nam (JCCI).

The two organisations said the business environment has been damaged by short-term changes and inappropriate implementation of regulations. There must be an improvement in the policy-making process so businesses are prepared for the implementation of new laws, they said.

According to JCCI Chairman Nobufumi Miura, Việt Nam has remained an attractive destination for global investors because of its low labour cost and good demographic features, which often offset challenges faced by investors.

Now, the nation is aiming not only to improve productivity, attract more foreign investment and join more free trade agreements, but also to lure capital into technological development.

It was for this reason that foreign organisations have urged the Vietnamese Government to improve the business climate and make private firms central to the country’s economic development, he said.

In order to boost the Vietnamese economy, the Japanese expert urged the Vietnamese Government to hasten the development of the part-supply industry, which has been under-developed.

Risks faced by private firms in private-public-partnership (PPP) projects were also a challenge, he said. The Government needs to clarify how much risk it is willing to bear to make sure private firms are protected.

Innovation

According to AmCham Chairwoman Amanda Rasmussen, encouraging local companies to be more creative is essential to the future development of Việt Nam.

The development of the science and technology sector requires more efforts by the Government to resolve ongoing problems.

The Vietnam Business Forum’s investment and commerce working group reported at the meeting that a lack of instructional documents had made it difficult for local fintech and peer-to-peer lending (P2P) firms to develop. There was no official classification for these types of companies in the current laws.

The limit of foreign ownership in local financial firms has also prevented fintech and P2P firms from calling for foreign capital, making them unable to hire talent and keeping their businesses less competitive.

Responding to recommendations and opinions at the meeting, Deputy Prime Minister Trịnh Đình Dũng said sustainable development is the path forward for Việt Nam to narrow its gap with regional economies.

The Government would continue restructuring the economy to improve Việt Nam’s competitiveness in the global market and raise the quality of its products, he said.

Priority would be put on restructuring State-owned enterprises and improving the banking sector, the part-supply industry and renewable energy, he said.

Việt Nam would also work to improve infrastructure, enhance the quality of the education and training sector, make the business environment more transparent and continue cutting business and administrative conditions, Dũng said. — VNS