Many reforms and innovations are needed to avoid "wasting" the quantity and quality of businesses. Photo: H.Diu

Platform for the "game" of globalization

From the perspective of manufacturing and exporting enterprises, Mr. Ngo Sy Hoai, Vice Chairman of the Vietnam Association of Wood and Forest Products (VIFOREST) said that the export of wood and wood products in the first 3 months of 2024 reached USD 3.4 billion, an increase of 18.9% over the same period last year. Wood products alone are a group of deeply processed products with high added value, reaching USD 2.3 billion, an increase of 22.9%. To achieve this result, Mr. Hoai highly appreciated the policies created by the Government and many ministries and branches, from mechanisms to simplify administrative procedures to incentives on credit and finance...

But according to Mr. Ngo Sy Hoai, there are still some institutional steps and law enforcement costs that are still problems. The representative of VIFOREST stated clearly that export enterprises are only participating in the international market as individual businesses and entrepreneurs, not yet as national industries, so their competitiveness is low, which leads to export growth to mainly rely on a number of comparative advantages such as input costs, low labor... Therefore, this person proposes a mechanism for businesses to cooperate together, link to create strength within the bloc, avoid risks from disputes or trade defense.

Also talking about policy support, Mr. Nguyen Manh Than, Chairman of the Board of Directors and General Director of Ao Vua Joint Stock Company said that businesses need many factors to survive and develop, in which businesses need government policies to remove difficulties in business and investment, such as reducing the time to carry out project investment licensing procedures. Mr. Than said that there are projects that have not been licensed for 5-7 years because many regulations still make it difficult.

Representing the capital's small and medium-sized business community, Dr. Mac Quoc Anh, Vice President and General Secretary of the Hanoi Association of Small and Medium Enterprises, Director of the Institute of Economics and Enterprise Development, said that according to the Association's statistics, currently, small and medium enterprises are facing five difficulties, including lack of orders, lack of access to capital, cumbersome administrative procedures, concerns about criminalization in economic activities, and lack of high-quality human resources, especially in field of science and technology.

Therefore, Mr. Mac Quoc Anh said that it is necessary to expand export markets to facilitate orders; Unlock capital sources by solving problems of bonds, bank capital, and ineffective capital sources from funds. At the same time, review and remove cumbersome administrative procedures; take measures to further strengthen the confidence of the business community and private investors...

Mr. Mac Quoc Anh said that the Law on Support for Small and Medium Enterprises was promulgated in 2018, but provinces and cities have not implemented it effectively. Although Hanoi and a number of centrally run provinces have acted quickly to implement this Law, the entire country still needs to be involved. The government also needs to build a team of large leading enterprises into power to enhance competitiveness, create a support platform, and lead domestic small and medium-sized enterprises to participate more strongly into the "game" of globalization.

Institutional reform is “the key”

Through the first months of 2024, the economy has shown many signs of positive growth, but there are still many difficulties related to business activities. In particular, the number of 74,000 businesses withdrawing in the first quarter of 2024, more than the number of nearly 60,000 businesses returning and newly established, is a noteworthy sign. According to experts, although most businesses withdrawing from the market are small and micro-scale, making it difficult to cope with current difficulties, it also shows that there is a need for reform and innovation to avoid "wasting money" quantity and quality of business.

According to Dr. Tran Thi Hong Minh, Director of the Central Institute for Economic Management (CIEM), the foundation for Vietnam to maintain macroeconomic stability in recent times is thanks to effective solutions from fiscal and monetary policies. In the recent years, the National Assembly and the Government have fiercely accompanied and removed many institutional and policy barriers to expand economic space and reduce unnecessary costs for businesses, therefore, with this foundation, Vietnam needs to be more drastic in institutional reform to help promote the internal strength of the economy more effectively. "Institutions are a resource, even an important "key" for growth," CIEM Director said.

Dr. Tran Thi Hong Minh also emphasized the importance of accelerating business environment reform, simplifying business conditions and administrative procedures; Complete regional linkage institutions to create motivation for links between localities and businesses according to value chain thinking to cooperate together and get success together. Along with that is completing and effectively implementing the policy framework to improve labor productivity, associated with promoting innovation; focus on removing difficulties in accessing export markets, accelerating trade facilitation...

Also on this issue, Mr. Hoang Quang Phong, Vice Chairman of the Vietnam Confederation of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), commented that institutional reform, accelerating business environment reform, and perfecting the policy framework for the new economic model... not only promotes new and traditional growth drivers but also regains and builds trust for the business community, thereby boldly seeking opportunities of market expansion, trade, import-export, investment...