General Secretary and President met with a delegation of outstanding businessmen

The meeting demonstrates the Party and State's recognition and respect, and the General Secretary and President's affection for the contributions of the Vietnamese business community, including the team of businessmen and enterprises belonging to the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Vietnam Association of Private Entrepreneurs.

Also attending were members of the Party Central Committee: Tran Luu Quang, Head of the Central Economic Commission; Le Khanh Hai, Head of the Office of the President; Nguyen Chi Dung, Minister of Planning and Investment.

Speaking at the meeting, VCCI Chairman Pham Tan Cong expressed his deep gratitude and sincere thanks to the leaders of the Party, State and the General Secretary and President for always caring, supporting, creating and assisting the development of Vietnamese businessmen and enterprises.

VCCI Chairman Pham Tan Cong said that with the attention, leadership and facilitation of the Party and State, the business community and entrepreneurs have grown in both quantity and quality. If in 2004, there were about 92,000 businesses operating, after 20 years, there are more than 930,000 businesses operating; nearly 30,000 cooperatives and more than 5 million business households. In the first 9 months of 2024 alone, the number of newly established businesses reached nearly 122,000, the number of businesses returning to operation was more than 61,000; at the same time, more than 163,000 businesses withdrew from the market. It is forecasted that 2024 will be the third consecutive year setting a record for the number of newly registered businesses. The Vietnamese business community is eager and determined to overcome all difficulties to contribute to bringing the country into the "era of national growth", contributing to the implementation of national development goals under the leadership of the Party.

The General Secretary and President spoke at the meeting

Businesswoman Le Nu Thuy Duong, Vice Chairman of KN Holdings Group, shared that under the correct leadership of the Party and State in orienting sustainable economic development on the basis of digital economy, green economy, circular economy, and sharing economy, it has created opportunities for private enterprises to improve their competitiveness and production capacity. In particular, Resolution No. 41-NQ/TW, dated October 10, 2023 of the Politburo on building and promoting the role of Vietnamese entrepreneurs in the new period, after one year of implementation, the groups of tasks and solutions proposed by the Politburo have been effectively implemented by all levels and sectors from the central to local levels. This is an encouragement for private enterprises to be aware of and responsible for their role as pillars of the economy, contributing to making Vietnam rise strongly and develop sustainably in the integration period.

As one of the first private enterprises in Vietnam operating for more than 45 years, KN Holdings Group has always been a pioneer in investing in new areas such as: urban services, golf courses, resort tourism, renewable energy and has left many impressions with large-scale projects, solving thousands of jobs for workers and making positive contributions to the local socio-economy, typically: Long Thanh Urban Area and Golf Course, KN Paradise Resort and Entertainment Complex in Khanh Hoa and many domestic and foreign projects. To date, the total amount of money that the Group and its family have spent on social charity programs and gratitude is up to more than 2,700 billion VND.

Businesswoman Le Nu Thuy Duong

To continue developing businesses and entrepreneurs, Ms. Le Nu Thuy Duong recommends that all levels and sectors concretize the guidelines and policies set forth by the Party and the State, build breakthrough mechanisms and policies to develop national enterprises to reach international standards; have policies to promote the development of preferential sectors such as green industrial parks, renewable energy and circular agriculture; promote the administrative reform process by simplifying administrative procedures, allowing simultaneous implementation of licensing procedures to quickly deploy investments and put projects into operation early while still ensuring compliance with legal regulations.

Businesswoman Nguyen Thi Nga, Permanent Vice Chairman of the Vietnam Association of Private Entrepreneurs, Member of the Executive Committee of VCCI, Chairwoman of BRG Group, shared that in more than 30 years of establishment and development, BRG Group has developed with a team of more than 22,000 employees in an effort to become a model corporate citizen, making every effort with the goal of developing a sustainable business to contribute to creating a prosperous future not only for the current generation but also for many generations to come.

Businesswoman Nguyen Thi Nga

Businesswoman Nguyen Thi Nga affirms her commitment to promoting the highest spirit of self-reliance, self-confidence, self-reliance, and national pride to always be ready to accompany the Party and State to contribute to promoting the sustainable development and prosperity of the country.

Labor Hero Thai Huong, founder of TH Group, Chairman of the Vietnam Women Entrepreneurs Association, shared that the modern world has made enormous achievements in science and technology, management science, artificial intelligence, etc. To take advantage of these achievements, we need to have a number of decisions, appropriate policy mechanisms for each period, for each industry, to lead, encourage, and create leading birds in each field. It is necessary to build policy mechanisms suitable to the country's advantages, which are agriculture, including forest economy, marine economy, and delta economy; At the same time, there should be policies to attract entrepreneurs and enterprises with enough mind-power to enter this field, to build a closed value chain, bringing farmers into a link in the value chain, contributing to sustainable poverty reduction, moving towards getting rich, right on their own land, building national product brands, meeting international standards for each product.

Emphasizing the general principle that economic development in any field must comply with the green economic model, knowledge economy, circular economy on the basis of sustainable development, Hero of Labor Thai Huong proposed to interweave science and technology, management science to create high labor productivity, reasonable cost, international standard quality, changing production methods from fragmented, backward, small-scale to advanced, modern production methods, inheriting achievements in science and technology, management science, artificial intelligence in the world. It is necessary to create a legal corridor and have appropriate, unified, non-overlapping laws to create the best conditions to support business development.

Labor Hero Thai Huong spoke at the meeting

In order for our nation to enter a new era, an era of national growth, in addition to the economy, it is necessary to pay attention to the "growth" in height and stature of Vietnamese people. In recent years, Vietnam has achieved many successes in improving the nutritional status of its people, but many nutritional problems still exist, especially in preschool and school-age children. The founder of TH Group proposed that it is necessary to develop a School Nutrition Law to set standards for school meals, thereby protecting children and improving the stature and health of future generations.

Speaking at the meeting, General Secretary and President To Lam affirmed that the meeting aimed to honor and recognize the important contributions of the country's business community to the country's economic and social development on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of Vietnam Entrepreneurs' Day (October 13, 2004 - October 13, 2024). On behalf of the Party and State leaders, the General Secretary and President sent to the delegates and businessmen at the meeting as well as the business community and enterprises nationwide his warmest greetings and best wishes. Recalling that on October 13, 1945, President Ho Chi Minh wrote a letter to the business community, in which he stated, “A prosperous national economy means the business of prosperous businessmen”, thereby encouraging, motivating and affirming the wholehearted support of the Government, the people and Uncle Ho for the business community, the General Secretary and President said that exactly 20 years ago, the Vietnamese Businessmen’s Day on October 13 was officially born, marking the recognition of the Party and the State, as well as the recognition of society for the role and great contributions of the Vietnamese business community. Looking back on the past journey with joy and pride, our country has a large and strong business community, affirming its role and great contributions to the cause of innovation and economic development of the country.

The General Secretary and President emphasized that the great contributions of entrepreneurs to our State and society began very early, right from when our country had just gained independence, responding to the call of President Ho Chi Minh and the Provisional Government to launch the "Golden Week", many businessmen did not hesitate to contribute their wealth to the revolution. Looking back on the past with joy and pride, our country has a large and strong team of entrepreneurs, affirming their role and great contribution to the cause of innovation and economic development of the country.

The General Secretary and President emphasized that entrepreneurs, with their creative ideas and ability to accept risks, have created businesses that act as the driving force of growth, creating many jobs, paying taxes to the State, improving the living standards of workers, and promoting social progress. Many talented entrepreneurs have led their businesses through difficulties, becoming pillars in some key industries and sectors of the economy, with the ability to compete internationally. More and more entrepreneurs are turning to technology, innovation, participating in new economic sectors, new business models, grasping and mastering the achievements of the 4.0 industrial revolution applied to production, bringing efficiency and competitiveness to the economy as well as improving the quality of life of the people. Many Vietnamese branded products and services have reached the global market.

Entrepreneurs play an important role in promoting economic reforms, shaping development policies, improving the business environment and innovating the State's economic management. Entrepreneurs also promote competition, are the driving force for mutual advancement, promote innovation, increase productivity and reduce costs, benefiting consumers. In addition to economic contributions, the Vietnamese business community also plays an important social role, actively participating in hunger eradication, poverty reduction, temporary housing, and helping the disadvantaged.

On behalf of the Party and State leaders, the General Secretary and President acknowledged and commended the important achievements and results of the business community for the country's development; commended the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry and business associations and enterprises for their many contributions to building a strong business community.

Along with the development of the business community and entrepreneurs, the General Secretary and President also pointed out that our country's business community is still small, with weak financial potential, limited management capacity, and not many entrepreneurs have reached regional and global competitiveness. The ratio of the number of businesses and entrepreneurs to the population is still low compared to other countries in the region. In addition to the difficulties caused by the instability and decline of the global market, the business activities of large and small entrepreneurs also face many difficulties due to many barriers in mechanisms, policies, laws, the capacity of management agencies and the team of officials and civil servants have not met the needs and development requirements of the business community.

In recent times, the awareness of the position and role of the business community has changed positively; the legal system, mechanisms and policies have been gradually improved; the viewpoint of not criminalizing economic relations reassures investors, businesses and entrepreneurs. However, the business community still has few opportunities to directly participate in policy making; the voice of business people is still rarely heard at many levels and in many sectors, or is heard but not significantly and substantially absorbed; legal institutional and business environment problems are slow to be amended, including overlap, ambiguity, and lack of practicality of some legal documents. The country's resources are "stagnant" in large numbers in suspended planning, projects with procedural problems, public land assets, unused public headquarters, assets in disputes, lawsuits, assets in long-standing cases, etc., which are very slow to be processed and resolved.

The General Secretary and President emphasized that in order to realize the goal of turning our country into a developed country with high income in the next 20 years and building a green, inclusive and sustainable growth economy, the General Secretary and President said that it is necessary to continue to strongly reform the economy and laws, prioritize investment in developing high-quality human resources in key and spearhead industries and focus resources on investing in building strategic infrastructure such as electricity, transportation, irrigation, information technology, digital, etc. Determined to create a favorable, safe and equal investment and business environment towards international standards; promote the role of the business community in the new period in accordance with the spirit of Resolution 41 of the Politburo.

The General Secretary and President assessed that the future of the Vietnamese business community is very promising but also full of challenges. Technological advances, globalization, along with rapid and dynamic development, along with institutional reforms and the business environment will create new opportunities for development, especially for those who are not yet entrepreneurs to have the opportunity to start a business and become a successful entrepreneur. The business sector will play an even larger and more important role in the prosperity of the country.

Assessing that this is the time to reshape the role of business leaders and the mission of the business community, General Secretary and President To Lam believes that the business community and businesses will certainly play a particularly important role in the new era - the era of the Vietnamese people's rise.

The General Secretary and President said that the rise of the digital revolution, especially in areas such as e-commerce, financial technology (fintech), artificial intelligence (AI), cloud computing, etc., has opened up the potential to exploit global markets without facing significant geographical barriers and believes that this is an opportunity for Vietnamese entrepreneurs with a vision for technological innovation, establishing a "digital production method", taking shortcuts, anticipating world trends, creating a strong position and influence in a number of key industries, creating high added value, and bringing the national economy to higher levels of the value chain.

Delegates at the meeting

Looking back at the glorious history of the nation, the achievements of nearly 40 years of national renovation, the General Secretary and President expressed his joy that the country has an increasingly large and strong group of entrepreneurs like today. These are people with the desire to rise up to become rich legitimately, constantly learning to improve the competitiveness of enterprises; implementing social responsibility, ethics and business culture; affirming that in the future, whether our country can become a developed industrial country with high income or not by 2045 depends on the responsibility of today's and future entrepreneurs.

The General Secretary and President asked the Vietnamese business community to promote national spirit, patriotism, uphold business ethics, have great ambitions and aspirations for development, become models of entrepreneurial spirit, honest, humane and responsible business; always maintain faith in their own career, the country's foundation and future; We believe that VCCI and business associations will improve operational efficiency, make practical contributions to the policy-making and law-making processes, and contribute to the development of a team of businessmen and businesses to meet the requirements of national development in the new era.