This is the evaluation of Prof. Vu Tien Loc – Chairman of Vietnam Chamber of commerce and industry – VCCI (photo) about developing, supporting large private enterprises of Vietnam.

Mr. Vu Tien Loc

How do you evaluate the role of domestic enterprises in the development of the economy in particular and the development of the country in general?

The future and prosperity of the country depend on the prosperity of businesses. The key to hope for the Vietnamese economy is the development of enterprises. I still want to call domestic enterprises a herd of Vietnamese dragons, and only when the entire people do business, only when we have a herd of Vietnamese dragons doing business, will turn our country into a dragon. However, in the business investment environment, there was a time when we did not treat domestic firms equally, appreciate foreign enterprises, there were even localities that valued the projects of large/small foreign enterprises, high/low technology. In contrast, on the side of domestic enterprises, sometimes, "a prophet is without honour in his own country", even though their projects bring added value and greater jobs. Therefore, perception was something that needed to change. Building the herd of Vietnamese dragons, nurturing Vietnamese dragons so that they could become national enterprises, national entrepreneurs, and became the leading force to create solid development and autonomy of the Vietnamese economy. In particular, the autonomy of the economy is a very important issue in the current context. The Vietnamese dragons would be the solution to this problem, they would be the force that both bring prosperity and autonomy to the economy. The development of national businesses is not only an economic issue but also the colours and a sovereignty issue of Vietnam.

What does the State need to do to have more and more large enterprises, instead of most of them being SMEs like today?

We have a very large private sector, comprising businesses and household businesses. However, an important issue is not the number of firms, it is the quality of firms. We do not have many large enterprises, strong enterprises and lack medium enterprises. The problem is that we do not have to try to increase the number of enterprises, but must strive to upgrade the quality of enterprises and must support the growing number of large and medium enterprises. Policy orientation must improve the quality and scale of enterprises. Besides supporting the development of small businesses, supporting the formation of many large and medium enterprises is an important issue, because this is the force that would build and boost the economy. But how to support large enterprises? Definitely not like support for SMEs. Large firms have said that they do not need monetary support, but what they need most is support in institutions and the business environment.

Large entrepreneurs with many investment projects over the decades need a stable business environment, in which safety becomes the most important factor besides efforts to facilitate the production and business activities of the enterprise. We still say the "nest" for domestic "eagle", is to create an environment for businesses to feel favourable, equal in business and valued. I thought that, to create a nest for the domestic "eagle" or create a space for Vietnamese dragons, first of all, we must respect entrepreneurs, because entrepreneurs are the property of the country. I have said many times that if discriminating among entrepreneurs would be the failure of a nation. If you want to know whether a war is successful or a failure, you should look into the eyes of the mother sending her off to the battle. Nowadays, if you want to know if the process of conquering to transform to the dragon and whether or not to become a prosperous nation in 2045 will be successful or not, you must look at the State's attitude and the society's attitude towards entrepreneurs. If the State and society respect entrepreneurs, the country will flourish. This is the first foundation for the development of businesses.

So, according to you, what special mechanism is needed to support large private firms?

We recently questioned whether there may be special policies for large private enterprises. Personally, I think let's build a responsible community between private enterprises and the Government, and implement public-private partnerships in all areas of development. Private enterprises joining hands with the State to develop and build public-private partnership programs and projects, that is how we support private enterprises to develop, not making separate statements or policies for large enterprises because if we do so, we would seem to be going against the requirement of ensuring equality in the business between large enterprises and SMEs, domestic enterprises and foreign enterprises.

If we could build public-private partnership programmes and projects and bring large private enterprises here, at the same time, if we "pulled" the State to participate in the projects of private enterprises by many appropriate forms, this would be a very good support for businesses without going against the rules of integration or the principles of equality. For example, in 1960s-70s of the last century, the US semiconductor industry was led by the private economy, but when this industry was at risk of being destroyed by the competition of the Japanese semiconductor industry, the US government has supported by implementing a series of contracts with businesses in this industry via cooperation with the American Semiconductor Association to improve the competitiveness of companies in this industry. As a result, they regained the upper hand in the international competition. This method can be applied in all areas of development of the private economy. The State's involvement in public-private partnership programmes in industries such as automotive, aviation and other industries can all apply this formula. Quang Ninh province was a typical example in the development of public-private partnerships. Public-private cooperation was not only in the field of infrastructure construction or the development of public services, but was also applied in the construction of industrial platforms and key industries of this locality. Thus, the concept of public-private partnership needs to be expanded. Public - Private partnership is a symbiosis, a joint partnership of the State and private in the development of important industries and important service sectors for the development of the country. That is the formula that the VCCI is building.

I thought that this was the right time for us to re-examine the role of large private enterprises and build a companion and support programme for large private enterprises, find solutions to promote development of national enterprises in a fair game with foreign enterprises. We hope to have a harmonious dance between national enterprises and foreign "eagle" birds, bringing benefits for both sides.