Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao, president and CEO of Savico, in the current context of challenges, it is necessary to help aviation industry development to attract tourism, trade and international investment.

“We need to turn Vietnam into a regional and the world’s aviation center. With advantageous geographical position, we need to increase investment and upgrade the international airport network to become an international passenger and cargo transit center like Bangkok, Singapore and South Korea,” Thao said.

She said that Vietnam is a human resources and aviation technology training center. Vietnam has every condition and capability to build a hangar system which serves as infrastructure for regional aircraft technique service center at airports in Vietnam. Vietjet is using 100 aircraft, but its hundreds of technicians now have to conduct technical maintenance in Vientiane in a joint venture with Lao Airlines, which costs a lot of money.

Vietnamese enterprises have begun manufacturing aircraft parts. With the high number of orders for aircrafts, Vietnam has conditions to become an aircraft component manufacturing and assembling center like China which is manufacturing Boeing parts and assembling Airbus.

Manufacturing cars for international corporations

Tran Ba Duong, chair of Truong Hai Group, said there are now big changes in technology application, with automobile manufacturing technology striving for green and clean standards.

Truong Hai is pursuing a strategy to become a center that manufactures automobiles for international corporations in Vietnam and the region, especially ASEAN countries.

Regarding the investment in supporting industries, this requires huge output and high technology. Supporting industries exist in many fields. 

“We are developing an industrial zone specializing in mechanical engineering products in Vietnam. Foreign countries tend to allocate their assembly centers to Vietnam. About 35-40 percent spare parts and components are made in Vietnam,” Duong said.

In terms of automobile parts, Truong Hai has sold $13 million worth of products to domestic automobile manufacturers and assemblers, while the figure is expected to be higher next year.

He called for government attention to supporting industry development. This is a great opportunity to develop this fundamental industry in Vietnam.

Free trade model

Dang Minh Truong, president of Sun Group, thinks that it is necessary to institutionalize the process of choosing strategic investors by assigning tasks to private enterprises for key projects important for the socio-economic development. And there should be specific mechanisms associated with the process.

Truong proposed a free trade model in localities with great sea and island tourism potential like Phu Quoc in order to attract investment.

“With a mechanism following the free trade model, Phu Quoc will surely become a new tourism destination of the world,” Truong said.

Regarding the inbound tourism market, Truong proposed that ministries and branches continue implementing the Prime Minister’s instructions on expanding the list of unilateral visa waivers and short-term visa waivers for tourists from markets with large scale and high-spending travelers. 

Vietnam also should consider granting long-term visas for multiple entries to travelers from India, China, the US and Europe. 

Make in Vietnam products

Le Van Kiem, chair of the board of directors of KN Group, said his business is planning to build a new-generation industrial center, modern and well equipped for workers and specialists working in IZs. He hopes that with the government’s support, there will be more and more hi-tech 'Make in Vietnam' products reaching out to the world market.

“We want the government to lay down groundbreaking investment encouragement policies, competitive with other regional countries in order to attract multinational strategic investors, especially in hi-tech fields such as semiconductors and AI,” Kiem said.

Social housing development

Pham Nhat Vuong, president of Vingroup, the largest Vietnamese real estate developer, said the biggest problem hindering the development of social housing is the regulation on 10 percent profit. The business community hopes the government applies an investor appointment mechanism to shorten the time to follow administrative procedures.

Realtors cannot develop social housing projects with a profit of 10 percent because they would take a loss if the products sell slowly for one or two years.

Duy Anh