Domestic businesses, especially small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) need further support from state management agencies to better compete in the context of deep global integration, said Chairman of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) Vu Tien Loc.

Production inside a small business (Photo: VNA)

Loc said up to 67,000 new businesses were established and 21,600 companies resumed operations in the first six months of the year, stressing that the figures were upbeat signs in the economic development in the period.

Although several new-generation free trade agreements like the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) have pushed domestic institutional reforms in the past time, many businesses said the progress still lags behind expectations, and overlapping of and even conflicts in regulations and jurisdiction of state management agencies, and different laws such as the Investment Law, Land Law, Construction Law and Environment Law has hampered their operations, he said.

Loc affirmed “transparency” is the best measure to protect SMEs and micro enterprises, and firms with less competitive advantages.

Meanwhile, Director of the Central Institute for Economic Management (CIEM) Nguyen Dinh Cung said the management capacity of Vietnamese firms is not as good as that of companies in other ASEAN countries.

The World Economic Forum ranked Vietnam at the bottom in the corporate governance index of listed companies in six ASEAN member states. Meanwhile, the competitive capacity of Vietnamese firms was placed 104th among 140 economies in the region. This means, the Vietnamese business community needs more assistance to improve their competitive edges, thus better integrating into the global economy, he stressed.

As the CPTPP, EVFTA and many other free trade agreements offer good opportunities for Vietnam to open door wider to international trade, VCCI will help local firms take full advantage of the pacts, Loc said.

According to Loc, VCCI will continue national programmes on supporting businesses to enhance capacity to compete, integrate into the global economy, and develop sustainably. 

Besides, it will accelerate the implementation of bilateral cooperation agreements in trade and commerce with strategic partners, while improving the quality of business forums with key markets.