On the afternoon of October 11 at the Presidential Palace, General Secretary and President To Lam met with a delegation of outstanding businessmen from the Vietnam Federation of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) and the Vietnam Association of Private Entrepreneurs on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of Vietnamese Entrepreneurs Day (October 13, 2004 - October 13, 2024).
According to the report of the Vietnam Federation of Commerce and Industry, after the Politburo issued Resolution No. 41-NQ/TW dated October 10, 2023 on building and promoting the role of Vietnamese entrepreneurs in the new period, the Federation has coordinated with the Party Executive Committee, Party Delegation, Provincial Party Committees, and City Party Committees to organize the implementation of the Resolution according to assigned functions and tasks and is gradually bringing the Resolution into life, improving the business and investment environment, promoting the development of the national business community, building business ethics, business culture, etc.
Over 60 years of establishment and development in all periods of the country's development, the Federation has always successfully completed all tasks assigned by the Party, the State and the business community, making important contributions to the development and integration of our country's economy, the growth of the business community and the Vietnamese business community. From 93 initial members (in 1963), to date, the Federation has a large network of members nationwide with more than 200 business associations and more than 200,000 member enterprises in all fields, all industries, all economic sectors. The Federation has close cooperative relations with nearly 200 chambers of commerce and international organizations around the world.
With the attention and support of the Party and the State, the business community and entrepreneurs have grown in both quantity and quality. After 40 years of implementing the Doi Moi process, Vietnam now has more than 930,000 operating enterprises, of which 98% are small and medium-sized enterprises, about 14,400 cooperatives and more than 5 million business households.
In 2023, the private economic sector will contribute about 60% of GDP, generate 30% of state budget revenue, and attract 85% of the workforce. In addition to its role as an important driving force of the country's economy, the private economic sector also makes active contributions to effectively implementing the Party and State's policies on social security, preserving traditional cultural identity, overcoming the consequences of natural disasters and epidemics, and caring for the material and spiritual life of the people.
At the same time, it contributes to ensuring energy security, food security, strengthening national defense and maintaining the independence and autonomy of the economy in the trend of globalization and increasingly deep international integration. The private economic sector has seen the emergence of a number of large corporations with strong potential, advanced technology and management capacity, national brands and international prestige, courageously competing in the region and the world.
At the meeting, General Secretary and President To Lam recalled President Ho Chi Minh's letter to the industrial and commercial community on October 13, 1945, which included the passage "A prosperous national economy means the business of industrialists and commercialists is prosperous", thereby encouraging, motivating and affirming the dedicated support of the Government, the people and Uncle Ho for the business community.
The General Secretary and President affirmed that the birth of Vietnamese Entrepreneurs Day exactly 20 years ago (October 13, 2004) marked the recognition of the Party and State, as well as the recognition of society for the role and great contributions of the Vietnamese business community.
Looking back on the past, the General Secretary and President expressed his joy and pride that our country has a large and strong team of entrepreneurs, affirming their role and making great contributions to the cause of innovation and economic development of the country. Entrepreneurs, with creative ideas and the ability to accept risks, create businesses that act as the driving force for growth, create many jobs, pay taxes to the state, improve the living standards of workers, and promote social progress. Many talented entrepreneurs have led businesses to overcome difficulties, becoming pillars in a number of 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 and business models, grasping and mastering the achievements of the 4.0 industrial revolution applied to production, bringing efficiency and competitiveness to the economy, improving the quality of life of the people. Many Vietnamese branded goods and services have reached the global market, affirming the Vietnamese brand reaching the regional and world level.
The General Secretary and President pointed out that entrepreneurs play an important role in promoting economic reforms, shaping development policies, improving the business environment and innovating the State's economic management; promoting competition, being the driving force for mutual advancement, promoting innovation, increasing productivity, reducing costs, and benefiting consumers. Along with that, exemplary entrepreneurs always pursue ethical standards, practice the principles of fair competition and set standards for society.
In addition to economic contributions, Vietnamese businessmen have also actively participated in hunger eradication, poverty reduction, temporary housing, helping the disadvantaged, making great contributions, sharing difficulties and losses of people during the COVID-19 pandemic, the recent super typhoon Yagi and many other natural disasters.
On behalf of the Party and State leaders, the General Secretary and President respectfully acknowledged and commended the important achievements and results of the business community for the country's development; as well as the contributions to building a strong business community of the Vietnam Federation of Commerce and Industry and business associations and enterprises.
In addition to the great achievements that the business community has achieved, the General Secretary and President also pointed out a number of difficulties and limitations, including that the business community is still small, with weak financial potential, limited management capacity, and not many businessmen have reached regional and global competitiveness. The ratio of the number of businesses and businessmen 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, and the capacity of management agencies, and the team of officials and civil servants that have not met the needs and development requirements of entrepreneurs.
Sharing the recommendations and proposals of enterprises, the General Secretary and President affirmed that from the perspective of state management agencies, in recent times, the awareness of the position and role of the business community has had positive changes. The legal system, mechanisms and policies have been gradually improved; property rights, freedom of business of the people, and economic activities of organizations have been institutionalized and protected by law. The State's management methods are more suitable to the market mechanism; the investment and business environment has been gradually improved; the viewpoint of not criminalizing economic relations reassures investors, businesses and businessmen.
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 sectors, or is heard but not significantly or substantially absorbed. Difficulties in legal institutions and the business environment are slow to be amended, including overlap, ambiguity, and lack of practicality in 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.
To achieve 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 entrepreneurs in the new period in accordance with the spirit of Resolution 41 of the Politburo.
The General Secretary and President said that the future of Vietnamese entrepreneurs is very promising but also full of challenges. Technological advances, globalization, along with rapid and dynamic development, along with institutional and business environment reforms will create new opportunities for development, especially for those who are not yet entrepreneurs to have the opportunity to start a business and become successful entrepreneurs. 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 nation'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. 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.
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 team 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; fulfilling social responsibility, ethics and business culture. At the same time, he affirmed that in the future, whether our country can become a developed industrial country with high income or not depends on the responsibility of today's and future entrepreneurs.
The General Secretary and President asked Vietnamese businessmen to promote national spirit, patriotism, uphold business ethics, have great ambitions and aspirations for development, become models of entrepreneurial spirit, conduct business with integrity, humanity and responsibility; always maintain faith in their own career, the country's future and future.
The General Secretary and President hopes that entrepreneurs will promote the spirit of self-reliance, solidarity, cooperation and development; the spirit of innovation, creativity and the art of product marketing; promote corporate governance and technology application, implement fair labor policies, and focus on brand building.
The General Secretary and President also believes that the Vietnam Federation of Commerce and Industry and business associations and enterprises will improve their operational efficiency, make practical contributions to the policy-making and law-making processes, and contribute to the development of a team of businessmen and enterprises to meet the requirements of national development in the new era. At the same time, he emphasized that the State will continue to have policies to support, facilitate and promote the role of the Vietnam Federation of Commerce and Industry and business associations and enterprises to operate effectively according to their principles and goals.
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