The trio of resolutions on the development of the private economy, selective foreign investment, and the building of a team of Vietnamese entrepreneurs in the new era in recent years demonstrates the Party's strategic vision and orientation for national development.

Among these, the hallmark of General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, who signed the three resolutions on behalf of the Politburo and the Central Committee, is very clear.

In his 13 years in the highest leadership position of the country, General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong has left significant and important orientations in the development of the business community and the national economy.

General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong thoroughly grasped Resolution No. 09-NQ/TW of the Politburo on "building and promoting the role of the Vietnamese business community in the period of accelerated industrialization, modernization, and international integration" at the VCCI office in 2011.

Making Private Economy a Key Driver

In response to the demands of national development, following the 5th Central Committee Plenum of the 12th Party Congress, General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, on behalf of the Central Committee, signed and issued Resolution 10-NQ/TW on June 3, 2017, concerning the development of the private economy as a key driver of the socialist-oriented market economy.

Resolution 10 has opened up new development space for the private economic sector. The Party has thereby identified: "The private economy is an important driver for economic development. The state economy, the collective economy, along with the private economy, are the core pillars for developing an independent and self-reliant economy. Encourage and create favorable conditions for the private economy to develop rapidly, sustainably, and diversely, with high growth rates in terms of quantity, scale, quality, and contribution to GDP."

In Resolution 10, the Party also set specific goals for the development of the private economic sector. These goals include focusing on improving the quality and efficiency of business activities in the private economic sector. The targets are to have at least 1 million enterprises by 2020, over 1.5 million enterprises by 2025, and at least 2 million enterprises by 2030.

The growth rate of the private economy should be higher than the overall economic growth rate. The aim is to increase the contribution of the private economic sector to GDP, reaching about 50% by 2020, approximately 55% by 2025, and around 60-65% by 2030.

To develop the private economic sector, the Party has proposed various strategic solutions, including creating a favorable investment and business environment for the development of the private economy. This involves focusing on perfecting mechanisms and policies to attract private investment and ensuring that the private economy operates according to market mechanisms.

General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong and other Party and State leaders met with the delegation of the Vietnam Young Entrepreneurs Association and representatives of outstanding young entrepreneurs. Photo: DNT.

Fully institutionalize and ensure the strict implementation of the right to freedom of business, property ownership rights, and the civil rights and obligations of organizations and individuals as prescribed by law.

Establish mechanisms and policies to encourage the creation of private enterprises, reduce the number of sectors with business conditions, and create conditions for the private economy to invest and develop production and business in sectors, fields, and localities that are not prohibited by law, in accordance with the socio-economic development strategy for each period.

Encourage and create conditions for business households to expand their scale, improve operational efficiency, and voluntarily link to form cooperative organizations or convert to business operations under the enterprise model through policies of corporate income tax exemptions and reductions, and land use fee exemptions in the initial years of operation.

As of mid-2023, the country had over 800,000 active enterprises, with approximately 7 million entrepreneurs. The private economic sector is contributing nearly 45% to the national GDP, one-third of the state budget revenue, more than 40% of total social investment capital, and creating jobs for 85% of the country's workforce. The private economy plays an important role in international trade activities, accounting for 35% of total import turnover and 25% of total export turnover.

Building a Team of National Entrepreneurs, the Core Force for Economic Development

To develop an independent and self-reliant economy, in the first year of his first term as the highest leader of the Party, on December 9, 2011, General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, on behalf of the Politburo, signed and issued Resolution No. 09-NQ/TW of the 11th Politburo on building and promoting the role of the Vietnamese entrepreneur team in the period of accelerated industrialization, modernization, and international integration.

Continuing this spirit, 12 years later, the Politburo under the leadership of General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong issued Resolution 41-NQ/TW on October 10, 2023, on building and promoting the role of the Vietnamese entrepreneur team in the new era. Resolution 41 was introduced with very new and strong views on developing our country's entrepreneur team.

In Resolution 41, for the first time, entrepreneurs were affirmed to have a position and role "as one of the core forces contributing to promoting the cause of industrialization, modernization, and international integration, building and developing an independent and self-reliant economy, and ensuring national defense and security."

General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong visits THACO - Trưong Hai Group Joint Stock Company.

The Party has set the task of creating a favorable, safe, and equal investment and business environment for entrepreneurs and enterprises to develop and contribute. This is the first time the factors of "safety and equality" have been included in the requirements for building a business environment, which has been warmly welcomed by the business community. Notably, the solution of "supplementing appropriate economic sanctions to handle violations without criminalizing economic relations" demonstrates the vision of the General Secretary and the Politburo, which has thoroughly understood the practical needs and aspirations of entrepreneurs and businesses.

Resolution 41 sets the requirement to "Issue a strategy for developing the national, sectoral, and local entrepreneur teams linked to general objectives, goals for 2030, and a vision for 2045," while also establishing "breakthrough policies to form and develop national enterprises." These are very new and strong orientations and solutions, aligning with the Party's goal to form a Vietnamese entrepreneur team by 2030 with the scale, capability, and level required to meet the industrialization and modernization objectives of the country. The aim is to have an increasing number of enterprises reaching regional levels, some achieving global standards, and some large enterprises playing leading roles in key industries and sectors. Additionally, some enterprises should hold important positions in global supply chains and value chains, master certain industrial and agricultural value chains, and have international competitiveness in foundational, priority, and cutting-edge industries.

After the Party issued Resolution 41-NQ/TW, the Government issued Resolution 66/NQ-CP, which outlines an action plan with specific goals. By 2030, the aim is for the country to have at least 2 million enterprises. This includes 70 companies with a capitalization of over 1 billion USD, 120 companies with net revenue exceeding 1 billion USD, 100 companies with pre-tax profits over 100 million USD, 10 Vietnamese entrepreneurs on the global billionaire list, and 5 globally influential entrepreneurs. The private enterprise sector is expected to contribute 65-70% of the national GDP.

As of 2024, Vietnam has 6 entrepreneurs on the global billionaire list, owning private conglomerates involved in various fields such as real estate, automobile manufacturing and assembly, aviation, steel production, banking, mining, and retail.

Additionally, according to a report by Henley & Partners in collaboration with New World Wealth, Vietnam currently has approximately 19,400 millionaires with assets over 1 million USD and nearly 58 billionaires with assets exceeding 100 million USD. Between 2013 and 2023, the number of USD millionaires in Vietnam increased by 98%, nearly doubling. This rate surpasses that of China (92%), India (65%), and the USA (62%).

The growth of Vietnam's private sector, along with the rapid increase in successful entrepreneurs since 2011, confirms the Party's correct orientation, led by General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, in supporting and expanding development space for the private economy, aiming towards a prosperous, independent, and self-reliant economy.

Mr. Pham Tan Cong, Secretary of the Party Delegation and Chairman of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), spoke at the conference on briefing and implementing Resolution 41-NQ/TW on October 10, 2023.

The Central Propaganda Department, in coordination with the Central Economic Commission and the Party Delegation of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), organized a conference on May 10, 2024 to brief and implement Resolution 41-NQ/TW, dated October 10, 2023 of the Politburo on building and promoting the role of the Vietnamese entrepreneur team in the new era.

Selective FDI Investment

Recent successes in attracting Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) also highlight the Party's clear policy, led by General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, on the direction of selective FDI investment.

In 2017-2018, when the registered FDI inflows into Vietnam reached record levels of 35.88 billion USD and 35.46 billion USD respectively, but encountered issues such as outdated technology and environmental pollution, on August 20, 2019, General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, on behalf of the Politburo, signed and issued Resolution No. 50-NQ/TW on the orientation for improving institutions, policies, and enhancing the quality and effectiveness of foreign investment cooperation up to 2030.

Resolution 50-NQ/TW can be seen as a strategic shift in attracting FDI, with Vietnam moving to a phase of selective FDI investment. The focus is now on proactively attracting and cooperating with foreign investment selectively, with quality, efficiency, technology, and environmental protection as the primary evaluation criteria. Priority is given to projects with advanced, new, high-tech, and clean technologies, modern management practices, high added value, and those that have a widespread impact and integrate into global production and supply chains.

At the same time, the Party has also identified the foreign-invested economic sector as an important component of Vietnam's economy, to be encouraged and facilitated for long-term development, with a focus on cooperation and healthy competition with other economic sectors. The state respects and protects the legitimate and lawful rights and interests of investors, ensuring a balance of interests between the state, investors, and workers in enterprises.

This has provided the foundation for a series of technology giants to invest in Vietnam in recent years, gradually forming a domestic semiconductor industrial ecosystem. The role of the foreign-invested sector in Vietnam's economy is growing stronger, with foreign investment becoming an important driver of the country's economic growth.

The key growth drivers of the Vietnamese economy today, such as exports, foreign investment, and the robust development of the domestic private sector since 2011, highlight the Party's correct development orientations, with a significant role played by General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong.

Thanks to the Party's correct orientation and timely direction, the country's economy has consistently achieved high growth rates in recent years, with the GDP reaching 435 billion USD by early 2024, ranking 35th in the world. Vietnam has become and is continuing to be an attractive investment destination for leading global technology corporations, and Vietnam's international standing is continually rising, as General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong has frequently affirmed: “Our country has never had as much wealth, potential, status, and international prestige as it does today.”

Vietnamese entrepreneurs will always remember the care shown by General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong. At the beginning of his first term as General Secretary of the Party, after signing and issuing Resolution No. 09 on December 9, 2011, regarding the development and promotion of the role of Vietnamese entrepreneurs, Mr. Nguyen Phu Trong visited the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) on December 17, 2011. He met with representatives of the business community nationwide and directly disseminated Resolution No. 09. Regarding Resolution No. 41, I recall that the Politburo met to discuss and provide feedback on August 18, 2023. At that time, the General Secretary requested that it be finalized and issued before Vietnamese Entrepreneurs' Day to encourage the business community. When the General Secretary asked if the VCCI Chairman had any additional comments before the meeting ended, I boldly suggested inviting him to meet with entrepreneurs nationwide on Vietnamese Entrepreneurs' Day. Knowing the General Secretary's health condition and busy schedule, I was deeply moved and surprised when he agreed simply: "If you all are there, I will come too." On the morning of October 11, 2023, there was the nationwide meeting of business associations and Vietnamese entrepreneurs organized by VCCI in Hanoi. Although, for objective reasons, the General Secretary could not attend, the entrepreneurs still felt the deep affection and concern of the General Secretary when they were warmly presented with two significant gifts: a congratulatory flower basket and Resolution 41, which had been signed by the General Secretary less than 24 hours before the meeting! Now that the General Secretary has passed away, the memories, affection, simple warmth, and lasting impact of his care will forever remain in the Vietnamese business community.