Speaking at the opening of the "Business Development Forum: Overcoming Challenges to Create New Development Space for Enterprises," Mr. Hoang Quang Phong, Vice Chairman of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), highlighted that in recent times, the complex fluctuations in global geopolitics as well as the significant impacts on our country's economy and business production indicators have been caused by major markets in Vietnam.

The forum "Business Development: Overcoming Challenges to Create New Development Space for Enterprises" was organized by the Business Forum Magazine on the morning of July 19, 2023, in Hanoi.

According to this, the economic landscape of Vietnam during the first 6 months of the year continued to face unfavorable conditions that persisted from the end of 2022. During this period, the GDP for the first 6 months only increased by 3.72%, which is a low growth rate compared to the GDP of the same period in the past 10 years (only higher than the growth rate of 1.74% during the same period in 2020 – due to the strong impact of Covid-19 at that time).

Overall, in the first 6 months, Vietnam maintained a trade surplus of $12.25 billion USD. However, both export and import turnover significantly decreased compared to the same period, with a decrease of 12.1% and 18.2% respectively, due to the reduced demand from key markets for Vietnam such as the United States, ASEAN, the EU, and some East Asian countries. Exports to the US market saw the most significant decrease at 22.6%, while imports from South Korea witnessed a reduction of 25.6% – the largest among the key markets. This also led to a sharp decline in the output of some of Vietnam's main industrial products compared to the same period in 2022.

The business and production situation in the coming period is expected to face numerous difficulties: the lingering impact of the COVID-19 pandemic; issues related to climate change, abnormal occurrences of droughts and floods; strategic competition among major powers; the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict; inflation concerns in various countries; high prices of oil, gas, and raw materials; slow and challenging recovery of major trading partners, and more. Additionally, factors like the shift in value chains, partner requirements, markets moving toward sustainable production and consumption, the trends of green and digital economies, and the ongoing Industrial Revolution 4.0 are all strong forces shaping the current economic landscape.

"VCCI Vice Chairman Emphasizes: Vietnamese Businesses Need to Innovate to Keep Up with New Trends, Otherwise They Will Lose Competitiveness and Miss Opportunities to Deepen Integration into the Global Value Chain.

"This is posing a demand on Vietnamese businesses to innovate in order to keep up with the new trends, otherwise they will face reduced competitiveness and miss opportunities to deeply integrate into the global value chain," emphasized the Vice Chairman of VCCI.

Furthermore, he mentioned that in order to support Vietnamese businesses in actively adapting, recovering swiftly, and achieving sustainable development in both quantity and quality, becoming a crucial force to ensure the self-reliance of the economy, the government, ministries, agencies under ministries, government-affiliated bodies, and People's Committees of provinces and centrally governed cities have effectively implemented numerous focal solutions to support and develop enterprises.

>>>>> Creating a new development space for businesses

For VCCI, in order to continue facilitating the recovery and development process of businesses in the final months of 2023 and the upcoming years, VCCI has proposed several major solutions that need to be implemented.

The forum will listen to various opinions and contributions from experts and businesses.

Specifically, first, it will focus on refining the legal framework for business investment. Second, it will continue to implement solutions to reduce costs for businesses and enhance their ability to access resources from government support packages.

Third, there is a need for timely solutions to support industries that are experiencing strong recovery, such as tourism and services, which are currently facing challenges due to a shortage of manpower.

Fourth, to create a favorable legal framework for the emergence and development of business models based on innovation and creativity.

Fifth, to strengthen the program for improving the business environment and enhancing national competitiveness.

However, Mr. Hoang Quang Phong affirmed that only businesses know what they need the most. It is the business community itself that needs to identify challenges and opportunities in order to discuss solutions that will help businesses achieve sustainable success.

In order to clearly identify the difficulties and challenges faced by the business community, discuss proposed solutions, and support businesses in accessing recovery support policies, the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) has directed the Business Forum Magazine to collaborate with relevant agencies to organize the "Business Development Forum: Overcoming Challenges, Creating New Development Space for Enterprises."

The forum "Business Development: Overcoming Challenges to Create New Development Space for Enterprises" has attracted the attention of a large number of participating businesses.

The Vice Chairman of VCCI expects and hopes that the delegates in attendance will engage in candid discussions and share proposals for economic institutional reform, policy improvement, and the promotion of effective production and business activities for enterprises. Additionally, he hopes for solutions to enhance competitiveness, strengthen connections towards efficient productivity, and foster business autonomy. I also anticipate that from the recommendations of experts, we will further share new trends and opportunities from the global economy in the final months of 2023 and the beginning of 2024, enabling businesses to grasp, adapt, recover, and develop.

According to THY HANG - Photos: ANH NGOC (Business Forum Magazine).