The following is a second part of the interview with Tran Sy Chuong, a respected economist, who spoke to VietNamNet on the status of the economy and solutions for development.

Vietnam has become a comprehensive strategic partner with many powers and it has deeply integrated into the world. The country is in the ‘era of the nation’s rising’ with a lot of opportunities for development. What can you say about the role of businesses in the process?

Vietnam has never before been in such a good position as it is now. The remaining problem is how to take advantage of it. All opportunities only open for a while and then close. I think that Vietnam is currently grasping the opportunity well and must take full advantage of it in the next three years, or it will miss the opportunity.

Can we be together and determined to build internal strength to seize the historic opportunity that may not come again? How can domestic enterprises confidently build an international standard culture and gain confidence? This will be "the capital of the society" that creates limitless internal strength for the country to take off. Vietnam will be mentioned as a country with stable development, and by that time, the hope of turning Vietnam into a rich and powerful country will become realistic.

Do you think that the entrepreneurial spirit is extremely necessary for now?

Singapore in its early days in 1965 was very chaotic and divided because of many ethnic groups and different religions. Thanks to the brilliant leader Lee Kuan Yew, the country became what it is today.

At that time, he said entrepreneurs acted as the backbone of the nation, and the country needed only one thing from them – talking the talks and walking the walks. It was the saying which helped Singapore build the national culture and manage the country, create the lifestyle and confidence, and society’s capital. 

The saying also shaped the way of thinking of Singaporean people in both the private and public sectors. Singaporean businesspeople are trusted wherever they go and they have made a great contribution to the country's building and development.

However, the energy and society’s capital in Vietnam are low. Domestic businesspeople don’t trust each other, while Vietnam still cannot build a disciplined, trustworthy management system.

Therefore, business owners should show sincerity towards partners, employees, and the surrounding community.

You said that Vietnamese private enterprises should develop more strongly. Could you please elaborate on this?

Everyone bears the effects from the ecosystem where they are. A person is known by the company he keeps. Institutional regime determines businesses’ characteristics. In the common ecosystem, the State's job is to ensure policy predictability. For example, enterprises must be informed about the number of days they have to spend to apply for licenses. 

Many private enterprises dare not make big investment and dare not make commitments with partners in accordance with their real capability because of the ecosystem.

When we prepared a report for the World Bank 30 years ago, we cited difficulties and obstacles for the development of private enterprises. It is a pity that 70 percent of the difficulties cited at that moment now still exist, according to the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI).

Why can’t the problems be settled? Because the administration system remains overlapping and complicated and cadres fear responsibility. 

HCM City, a big economic center of the country, still has to send 600 documents to ministries and branches to ask about the applications of legal documents.

Constant high lending interest rates have been one of the biggest problems in the last many years. Are there solutions to the problem?

Global economic growth has slowed down, exports are on the decrease and markets have shrunk, so enterprises can hardly make a profit and dare not borrow money from the banks. The 15 percent profit would be considered a high profit in current conditions. If the interest rates are too high, they will eat into the modest profit.

I think that Vietnamese enterprises should do business and cooperate with more foreign invested enterprises to have more opportunities to access loans at lower interest rates. For example, if they do business with a Japanese enterprise, they can get loans at interest rates of just 3-4 percent.

Tu Giang - Lan Anh