The private sector in Vietnam should receive support to become a pillar of the national economy, said Nguyen Thi Nga, Chairwoman of BRG Group.

A worker operates a yarn processing line at Best Pacific Vietnam Co. Ltd at
the Vietnam-Singapore Industrial Park (VSIP) in the northern province of Hai Duong.
(Source: VNA)

Nga spoke at a forum on how to develop private enterprises in Vietnam in the capital city of Hanoi on December 19. The forum was jointly held by the Party Central Committee’s Economic Commission and the Vietnam Association of Private Entrepreneurs.

Nga, who is also the standing vice president of the association, said: “Vietnam should be developed as a regional financial and industrial centre. It is time to take advantage of capital flows from China due to trade tensions between the US and China.”

To do that, Nga said: “The Government should ensure fair competition among economic sectors in Vietnam.” 

Nga asked the Government to increase protection for private enterprises and allow them to participate in railroads, electricity transmission and aviation infrastructure, which remain State monopolies.

The BRG chairwoman said: “Private enterprises have enough experience and resources to develop large projects, which can help the Government reduce public debt.”

The digital economy was also a major topic discussed at the forum.

Nguyen Thanh Luu, head of Marketing Communications at the CMC Group, thought IT was key for Vietnam to develop faster.

As a private firm in the technology sector, CMC’s leader proposed that the Government should encourage private businesses to develop Vietnam as a digital country and a digital hub for the region.

Luu said: “The Government should create policies to develop the local IT industry. For example, there should be policies to encourage the local use of Vietnamese IT products.”

Luu wanted the Government to help the private sector expand into the international market and take part in big projects in Vietnam.

Nguyen Mai, Chairman of the Vietnam Association of Foreign Investment Enterprises (VAFIE), said to achieve the goal of becoming a high middle-income country by 2030 with a per capita income of 10,000 USD, Vietnam should support the private sector.

Mai gave the example of brands such as Apple, Google, Microsoft and Facebook in the US, as well as Samsung, Hyundai and LG in the Republic of Korea (RoK), saying that the US and the RoK developed into big economies thanks to their supporting policies to develop private enterprises in IT.

He added that the digital economy was a driving force for development in the US, but only accounts for 9.2 percent of the economy in Vietnam.

Mai suggested the Government should invest more in IT and human resources for the private sector so they could do similar things.

So far, the private sector, with more than 700,000 firms, has generated 40 percent of GDP and created 1.2 million jobs. In the first nine months of 2019, the sector’s investment hit 624.6 trillion VND (27.1 billion USD), up 16.9 percent on-year, and also the highest investment level compared to the State-owned and the foreign-invested sectors.