Further improving the business environment and facilitating the private sector’s development were part of the focus at the Vietnam Business Forum. 

In his speech at the forum, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said the Government will prioritise investment in infrastructure towards smart and efficient connectivity to improve transparency, and help businesses cut cost and boost competitiveness, while encouraging capital flow into education and technology.

David John Whitehead, Chairman of Mavin Group told the reporter that the Government's effort to facilitate is remarkable, and that he had faith on the Prime Minister's words for the sake of foreign businesses in Vietnam.

 Investors and experts called for closer and more effective coordination between the private and state sectors. They said in the context of limited capital, it is necessary for Vietnam to set up an obvious legal framework for public private partnership.

They said the country also needs a financial market which is strong enough to mobilize capital from the private sector for infrastructure development.

Pham Hong Hai, CEO of HSBC Vietnam said: "Normally, many countries introduce risk sharing policies so that investors do not have to take risks for the entire project. The success in one project will increase their confidence to invest in other projects with higher risks. Moreover, allowing investors to join in a project will increase its transparency."

The Vietnam Business Forum, which opened in Hanoi on December 12, is an annual dialogue between the Government and business community.

Apart from financial issues, participants at the forum gave recommendations relating to the auto, pharmaceutical and cigarette production. Their proposals will be submitted to the Government for consideration.

PM highlights productivity’s role in sustainable development

Productivity improvement plays an increasingly decisive role in Vietnam’s GDP growth as it contributed up to 89 percent to national GDP growth this year, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has said.

Speaking at the Vietnam Development Forum 2017, themed “Leveraging productivity growth for sustainable development”, in Hanoi on December 13, the Government leader said Vietnam needs support and policy consultation from development partners, business communities as well as domestic and foreign experts to seek measures to increase productivity.

“Improving productivity means not only increasing the productivity of workers but also enhancing the efficiency of capital use”, he said, adding that in the context of globalisation, productivity improvement is the cornerstone for enhancing the competitiveness of every country. 

Regarding key solutions to productivity improvement, the PM stressed that it is necessary to strongly reform the banking system and financial markets in the direction of increasing scale, transparency and fair competition, while improving access to capital resources of small and medium sized enterprises, farmers and ethnic minority groups. 

He applauded recommendations by experts that Vietnam needs drastic reform of the state-owned enterprises which hold a large amount of capital of the economy, but do not use money effectively. 

To increase labour productivity, the Vietnamese Government always gives priority to allocating budgets for and encourage enterprises to invest in training and education in order to improve labourers’ skills and creativity, he stated. 

Attention has also been paid to reforming salary and wage regime and caring for the material and spiritual lives of workers in businesses, especially those in concentrated industrial zones, he added.

Vietnam will drastically restructure the economy and shift labour from the low-productivity agricultural sector to the industrial and services sectors, towards more sustainable national productivity and higher-value production with fewer resources. 

The Government is also paying heed to improving the total–factor productivity (TFP) by increasing investment in scientific research, application of advanced technologies, infrastructure development, and smart connection; while promoting regulatory reform, bettering State governance capacity and improving business climate, he said.

On the basis of the TFP improvement, Vietnam will get an opportunity to overcome the middle income trap, he stressed. 

For successful productivity improvement, Vietnam has actively promoted international integration and effectively tapped opportunities brought by free trade agreements (FTAs), especially new-generation ones such the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), he said. 

The leader affirmed the Government’s standpoint of maintaining socio-political stability, consolidating the macro economy, promoting democracy for all people, stepping up anti-corruption fight and making every effort to realise 17 UN sustainable development goals.

VNA