Role of Entrepreneurs in National Development Highlighted

Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong paid a working visit to the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) and held a meeting with Vietnamese businesspeople on December 17, 2011. He was accompanied by Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai and leaders of many ministries and central agencies.

 

The meeting with the business community came after the Politburo issued the Resolution 09 on building and promoting the roles of Vietnamese entrepreneurs in the process of national industrialisation and modernisation and international integration. The Resolution 09 and Mr Trong’s visit inspired the business community in the context of economic slowdown.

 

The report represented by VCCI President Vu Tien Loc to the Party chief portrayed the overall picture of the Vietnamese business community: A rapid growth in quantity and quality. According to the report, Vietnam now has more than 600,000 companies. If a company generally has 2 - 3 entrepreneurs and each business household or farm has an entrepreneur, the country will have 2 million businesspeople or so. The business sector contributes 70 percent of the State Budget revenues and generates jobs for 7.4 million workers.

 

 

Vietnamese businesspeople are playing a more active role in promoting the comprehensive international economic integration process by means of introducing products and services to the world market. Besides, they are an important force to implement growth and poverty reduction strategies and are an important advisory channel for policymaking of the Party and the State.

 

However, the report also pointed out that the scale and competitiveness of Vietnamese enterprises are still low in relation to the region and the world. VCCI President Vu Tien Loc said that Vietnam’s labour productivity is 10 times lower than Malaysia, 30 times lower than Thailand, and 130 times lower than Japan. Although the number of newly established enterprises has increased rapidly, only some 446,000 companies are actually operating and bringing incomes for the society, accounting for 74 percent of the total number of enterprises registered for operation. The average growth rate of micro enterprises was 25 percent a year in the 2000 - 2009 period while the number of medium-sized and large-sized enterprises was 12 percent and 7 percent, respectively. This showed that business conditions of Vietnamese enterprises are getting increasingly difficult while institutions and policies on enterprises are inconsistent, interest rates are exorbitant, capital channels for enterprises are narrowed and industry development planning is unclear.

 

After listening to the report, General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong highlighted four issues for entrepreneurs to discuss and share. First, who are Vietnamese entrepreneurs and how are they different from businesspeople in other countries? Second, is the development of the entrepreneur force in the past time fast, slow or normal? Third, what difficulties are entrepreneurs and enterprises facing with? And finally, how are the role and position of VCCI in the business and entrepreneur community? These issues become hot topics of discussion at the meeting.

 

Nguyen Hong Son, Chairman of the Hanoi Business Association, said: 2011 is a very difficult year and Vietnamese companies are now striving to complete their objectives. He proposed business and industry associations need to have better operating mechanisms and organisational model to provide updated information for enterprises and strengthen cooperation. He recommended that [the State] should collect land tax on the annual basis while support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to access capital sources more easily.

 

Mr Huynh Van Minh, Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City Business Association, said: A company needs to have at least three conditions to exist: human resources, finance and good mechanism. “If we have money but we do not have good personnel to use it or if we have good personnel but we do not have a good mechanism, we can do nothing. At present, many inactive companies are the result of tightened credit policy. Therefore, the State needs to pay more attention to providing financial support for this group of companies. Besides, administrative procedures should be made simple and convenient.

 

A representative from An Giang Plant Protection Company said: To be successful in business, enterprises must rely on their own advantages and bear the spirit of soldiers to live through difficulties. But, we should not be regarded the market as a battlefield where the loss of one side is in exchange for the existence of the other. It should be a win-win mechanism.

 

At the meeting, many attendants requested the State and the Party to take more care of private sector. Even, some proposed granting the Party memberships to private business leaders for what they have done, proven and contributed. Besides, some suggested forming an entrepreneur training school, aiming to uphold the vital role of businesspeople.

 

The Politburo’s Resolution 09 on enterprises and entrepreneurs affirms the ultimate determination of the Party and State to the role of this circle and serves as the groundwork for specific mechanisms and policies in the coming time. Listening to candid opinions from enterprises, General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong underscored ideas about the four issues raised for discussion. Vietnamese entrepreneurs must have the spirit of warriors on economic front, have the determination and willpower of warriors to do the jobs that the society entrusts, and contribute to the national socioeconomic development. That is the difference of Vietnamese businesses from the world. Besides, Vietnamese businesspeople must be patriotic, not trample on others to exist or enrich by all means, and ensure social security.

 

The General Secretary added that enterprises’ opinions about difficulties are very justifiable but, in the context of our national economic conditions, we need to put them on an overall picture. The business circle has its own arguments but workers and farmers who give up their land for industrial and urban development also have their own reasonable grounds. Therefore, Vietnamese enterprises need to pay high attention to this issue to harmonise employer - employee interests. Besides, the General Secretary reconfirmed that the Vietnamese market economy model was essentially tied to socialism and national independence, adding that the Party will continue supporting enterprises to develop production and business.

 

Giving reasons for why only 74 percent of enterprises pay taxes to the State Budget, Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai said Vietnamese enterprises are confronting tremendous difficulties in capital, mechanism and technology. Vietnam's technological growth is just 13 percent while the rate in countries with the same conditions and circumstances is 23 percent. Therefore, right in 2012, the Government will continue to take measures to support enterprises. Accordingly, it will create breakthrough in three aspects: Infrastructure improvement, legal institutional building, and bank restructuring.

 

Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai noted that the care of the entire society to the entrepreneur force is not adequate. The excessive predilection for foreign goods has impinged on the development of Vietnamese enterprises and entrepreneurs. Besides, the formation of a labour market where the commodity is businesspeople and the Government can hire excellent ones for its apparatus is also not properly cared.

 

In response to tax break request, Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai said the Government is dealing with this. “The Prime Minister has met with concerned agencies to discuss this content and other measures to remove difficulties for enterprises. The Government always accompanies the business community."

 

As regards the role of VCCI, General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong concluded that the Resolution 09 underscores the need to promote the role of organisations representative of business communities and businesspeople. The position of VCCI will be uplifted to strengthen cooperation and consultation with the State management agencies. It will have a better mechanism for enterprises to join to raise opinions about industry, economic and locality construction, development and planning. It will organise programmes to support entrepreneurs to improve competitiveness and integration and honour entrepreneurs. It will develop business associations and effectively represent employers.