Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính (third, right) discusses with representatives from foreign-invested enterprises. — VNA/VNS Photo Dương Giang

HÀ NỘI — Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính urged breakthrough solutions to create favourable conditions and reduce costs for enterprises amid increasing global uncertainties while meeting with foreign-invested enterprises at a conference held on Saturday in Hà Nội.

He stressed that difficulties and challenges continued to outweigh opportunities and advantages, inserting multi-dimensional influences on countries, including Việt Nam.

Of note, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's (OECD) plan to adopt a global minimum tax from 2024 would affect foreign direct investment (FDI) on a global scale.

In that context, Việt Nam has been consistent with the goal of controlling inflation, stabilizing the macro-economy, promoting growth, and ensuring major balances of the economy, thereby creating a solid foundation and favourable conditions to attract investment.

Chính said that drastic actions would be taken to remove difficulties for production and business, improving the business environment with the spirit of harmonizing benefits and sharing risks to create favourable conditions for investors to do business efficiently, long-term and sustainably in Việt Nam.

Stressing that FDI was an important resource to contribute to promoting growth, ensuring jobs for the people, Chính said Việt Nam would continue to the effort to build a safe, transparent, and highly competitive business environment so that enterprises could feel safe and secure to invest in Việt Nam for mutual benefit, ensuring social responsibility and environmental protection.

Việt Nam was now selective in attracting FDI with the focus placed on quality, efficiency, technology and environmental protection, Chính stressed, adding that priorities would be given to projects in high technology, innovation, research and development, projects which enabled Vietnamese enterprises to participate in value chains, and projects which promoted digital economy, green economy, circular economy and sustainable development.

Chính, at the conference, pledged to create the best business environment for investors in line with OECD standards, including maintaining socio-political and macroeconomic stability, removing bottlenecks and difficulties in terms of legal institutions, infrastructure and human resources, developing supply chains, reducing transaction costs, and developing a stable, predictable policy environment with high transparency and accountability.

He asked relevant ministries, agencies and localities to focus on improving the institutions and policies for foreign investment cooperation with high competitiveness.

“Listen to enterprises to understand what difficulties and problems they are encountering. Don’t say no. Don’t say difficult. Say and do,” Chính stressed.

The private-public partnership must also be promoted to open up and efficiently use all resources for development. He added that preparations must be taken in terms of legal framework, land fund, infrastructure, and energy and labour to be ready for new investment inflows, especially FDI projects which would bring spillover effects.

He also urged enterprises to develop long-term business strategies in Việt Nam with a focus on sustainable development, environment protection and emerging sectors including digital transformation, green transition, circular economy, innovation, knowledge economy and climate change adaptation.

“The success of investors is the success of Việt Nam. Việt Nam always welcomes and creates favourable conditions for investors to win and develop together with Việt Nam,” Chính stressed. “Let’s unite, by practical and effective actions, to create a world of peace, stability, cooperation and development where no one is left behind.”

Regarding the global minimum tax, Chính said that the Government asked for an evaluation to raise solutions other than tax supports to attract investment on the basis that it was not contrary to international regulations and commitments, harmonizing benefits among parties and ensuring fairness among businesses to encourage existing investors and new investors.

The focus would be on improving institutions and building a roadmap for adoption of a global minimum tax.

At the conference, Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyễn Chí Dũng said that creating a fair, open and transparent business environment was an important solution in the long term, together with improving capacity of domestic enterprises, to promote investments.

According to Hong Sun, Chairman of Korean Chamber of Commerce in Việt Nam, many Korean enterprises investing in Việt Nam were considering increasing their investments and making new investments here if the investment environment remained stable, especially enterprises operating in high technology, finance and energy.

To attract more investment, it was necessary for Việt Nam to make foreign investors feel that Việt Nam was making significant improvements in administrative reforms and providing broader incentives, he said.

Greg Testerman, Chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in Việt Nam (Amcham), said Amcham highly appreciated the Vietnamese Government’s effort in improving the policy environment and simplifying administrative procedures.

He expected Việt Nam to promote investments in wind power and offshore solar power as well as battery systems.

However, Amcham member enterprises were worried about the lack of stability in the power policies of Việt Nam, expecting that Việt Nam would speed up the process of granting licences for clean energy projects, which would bring a positive impact and increase the competitiveness of Việt Nam’s power industry, he said.

He added that it was necessary to approve the Power Development Plan for the 2021-30 period as foreign investors were waiting for the plan to be approved to make their investment decisions.

In the healthcare sector, Amcham proposed procedures licensing food and medicine products to be adjusted in line with global standards, including the amendments to the Law on Pharmacy.

According to Preben Elnef, director general of Lego Manufacturing Việt Nam, Việt Nam should continue to invest in infrastructure because it was the backbone of the economy. He stressed that an efficient transport system would contribute significantly to promoting socio-economic development and growth.

In addition, it was important to invest in education to develop human resources for the country’s development, he said.

Deputy Minister Lê Minh Khái said that three enterprises worked with the Ministry of Planning and Investment at the conference, pledging to invest US$3.7 billion this year, including one from Germany, one from the Republic of Kore and one from Japan, in green production, renewable energy (around $1.5 billion), medical equipment production ($600 million) and energy and logistics ($1.6 billion). — VNS