INNOVATING THINKING, PROMOTING PRIVATE ECONOMY AND ETHNIC ENTERPRISES DEVELOPMENT

Dr. Nguyen Bich Lam: We believe that the private economy and national enterprises will quickly become a powerful economic force, successfully playing the role of leverage for a strong and prosperous Vietnam.

Private economy and national enterprises play an important role in national development.

The world economic and political situation is changing rapidly, complicatedly, unpredictably, with many uncertain risks, but also bringing many new opportunities for development. Currently, the Fourth Industrial Revolution (Industry 4.0) along with the globalization and international integration process deeply influence the development process of all countries. The world is entering a new era, establishing a new world order, with breakthroughs and epochal changes.

The new context with new challenges and new opportunities poses new requirements in determining the viewpoints, goals and solutions for the country's socio-economic development. We must not only strive to achieve high economic growth but also green and sustainable growth; not only maintain existing growth drivers but also create new growth drivers based on science, technology and innovation. In particular, we must restructure the economy, create a new, superior growth model that is consistent with the development trend of the world economy, and improve productivity, quality, efficiency and competitiveness of the economy.

Our country's economy is highly open, depending heavily on imported raw materials and external consumption markets. To overcome difficulties and challenges, grasp and take advantage of opportunities in a timely and effective manner, we must mobilize the participation of all economic sectors, especially the private economy.

Looking back at the private economy over the past century, a group of Vietnamese businessmen knew how to seize opportunities and made important contributions to the economic development of the period of resistance against French colonialism, such as: Businessman Bach Thai Buoi in the construction and water transport sector; Businessman Nguyen Son Ha in the paint sector; Businessman Trinh Van Bo in the textile and real estate sectors...

Since 1964, the market economy has officially been operating in the South, the private economy began to play an important role in South Vietnam during this period.

After the country's reunification, for many historical reasons, the implementation of a centrally planned, bureaucratic, subsidized economy; with the view that the state economy is the main one, allocating all resources to state-owned enterprises... has partly eliminated the private economy, the economy has declined...

In that context, with the spirit of "Looking straight at the truth", the 6th Party Congress put forward the policy of comprehensive national renewal, first of all, the renewal of thinking and economic management mechanisms. The Party advocated transforming the centrally planned economy into a multi-sector commodity economy operating under a market mechanism with state management. The Party re-perceived the role and importance of the private economy, gradually creating conditions for the private sector to re-establish.

At the 11th Congress, the Party affirmed: " The private economy is one of the "the driving force of the economy ". The role of private enterprises and entrepreneurs was first recorded in the 2013 amended Constitution: "The State encourages and creates conditions for entrepreneurs, enterprises and other individuals and organizations to invest, produce and do business; the legal assets of individuals and organizations investing, producing and doing business are protected by law and are not nationalized."

Innovation in thinking requires a process of awareness. The 5th Central Conference of the 12th tenure issued Resolution 10-NQ/TW on developing the private economy into a important motivation of the economy socialist-oriented market. The Resolution determines: "Developing a healthy private economy according to the market mechanism is an objective requirement, both urgent and long-term in the process of perfecting institutions and developing a socialist-oriented market economy in our country. It is an important policy to liberate productive forces, mobilize, allocate and effectively use development resources."

Although the business environment is not favorable, facing discrimination in land, capital, market; facing disadvantages in tax, customs between private enterprises and state-owned enterprises and FDI enterprises; with the will to rise, the desire to affirm the position of Vietnamese enterprises, in recent years, the private enterprise sector has grown rapidly in quantity; has built a number of large private enterprises, with technological and management qualifications, brands, reaching regional and world level... contributing to enhancing the position and prestige of Vietnam in the international arena.

Some large private enterprises have been flexible and proactive in transforming and investing in new industries; innovating production models towards green, circular and sustainable trends; gradually leading, spreading and promoting the development of industries and sectors in the economy, increasingly affirming their important role and contribution in the process of building, protecting and developing the country. If the country did not have these large private corporations, what would the Vietnamese economic picture be like? What would the Vietnamese economic landscape look like in the world and regional economic picture?

Currently, the private economic sector is generating about 51% of the economy's GDP, contributing about 30% of the state budget revenue, attracting 85% of the labor force, and is the main growth driver of the economy. In the context of a stable economy, not affected by external shocks, the growth rate of the private economy is higher than the growth rate of the entire economy.

Investment capital from the private economic sector accounts for over 50% of total social investment capital. In terms of efficient use of production and business capital, private enterprises need 1.61 dong of capital to generate 1 dong of net revenue, while state-owned enterprises need 2.66 dong.

The business community is dynamic, creative, self-reliant, self-reliant, and dedicated to the nation. Many businessmen have developed long-term, sustainable business strategies to build, develop, and strengthen their brands. This is an important factor for the rapid, sustainable development of businesses and the economy.

The important contribution and role of the private economy has been clearly pointed out by General Secretary To Lam: " The private economy has made remarkable progress and growth, making great contributions to the economy and the process of innovation and development of the country despite many difficulties and shortcomings in its operations ." The General Secretary affirmed: " Our country's private economy has become one of the leading important pillars of the economy and is increasingly showing itself to be the most important driving force to promote national economic growth ."

The private economy is facing many policy barriers.

In recent years, although there have been breakthroughs in institutional reform and improvement of the legal environment for business investment with many encouraging results. However, the private economy is still facing many barriers in policies and policy implementation. The legal system and law enforcement are still lacking in transparency, specificity, and stability; institutional problems and shortcomings have not been amended and supplemented in a timely manner to suit the reality and development requirements; low predictability leads to increased risks for the private economic sector.

In the article: "Private Economic Development - Leverage for a Prosperous Vietnam", General Secretary To Lam pointed out the current shortcomings that the private economy is facing: " The legal system still has many shortcomings and overlaps, the business environment has many obstacles, administrative procedures are complicated, time-consuming, costly and potentially risky. In many cases, the right to freedom of business and property rights are still violated by the weakness or abuse of power of some civil servants in the performance of their duties ."

Inadequacies in the legal environment, difficulties in accessing credit capital, land, along with bureaucracy and harassment by a part of civil servants in the public apparatus have led to an unreasonable industry structure of the private enterprise sector. The number of enterprises in the service sector accounts for 66.8% of the total number of enterprises in the entire economy, which is a huge barrier to building and developing a network of supporting industries and participating in the global supply chain.

Private enterprises are numerous but most of them are small and medium-sized enterprises with low survival capacity and competitiveness; outdated technology and production methods. Currently, the processing and manufacturing industry basically stops at the assembly level - the lowest level of the four levels of industrialization.

Renewing economic thinking, creating a private economy and national enterprises to become the lever for a prosperous Vietnam

Looking back at the ups and downs of the private economy over the past century; identifying the subjective causes of difficulties, challenges, and shortcomings for the economy, especially for the private economy; when determining that the private economy has become one of the most important pillars of the economy and is increasingly showing itself to be the most important driving force to promote national economic growth, the Party and the State need to renew economic thinking, realize the viewpoint of treating all economic sectors fairly, operate the economy according to the market mechanism, and eliminate the monopoly of state-owned enterprises in a number of fields.

In the article: Private economic development - Leverage for a prosperous Vietnam, the General Secretary proposed 7 groups of solutions to orient, support and encourage the development of the private economic sector and national enterprises, creating a breakthrough momentum, opening an era of private economic development. The General Secretary oriented the viewpoints, principles of management and operation of our country's economy in the new era with important contents:

One is to create a complete market economy that operates according to market principles and signals. This is a necessary condition, a prerequisite to create fairness between the private economy and other economic sectors; to liberate and make the most effective use of the country's resources for development; to create opportunities for the private economy to access and effectively use credit capital, land, science and technology, and quality labor. To eliminate the ideology of "public over private" and the "monopoly" of state-owned enterprises in a number of fields.

To implement this viewpoint, the State needs to manage according to market principles, use market tools to regulate the economy; clearly define the role of the State, minimize intervention and commands, and remove administrative barriers and the mechanism of asking and giving.

Second , the state ensures that the legal assets of individuals and organizations investing, producing, and doing business are protected and not nationalized. Once the state commits to effectively protecting property rights, ownership rights, freedom of business and ensuring contract enforcement of private enterprises, this commitment will build trust, arouse and encourage the will of self-reliance, self-reliance, and the spirit of dedication to the nation of the Vietnamese business community. This is the important internal strength for the business community to improve productivity, promote innovation and increase national competitiveness in the context of the rapid and strong Fourth Industrial Revolution, which determines the success or failure in the country's development.

Third , innovate thinking, make breakthroughs in institutional reform, create and operate an effective and efficient national governance state, serving businesses, serving the country, and putting national interests above all. Institutions are now the bottleneck of bottlenecks. At this time, if there is no innovation in thinking and breakthroughs in mechanisms and policies, the private economy will find it difficult to overcome difficulties, stabilize and develop.

Therefore, the General Secretary directed : " It is necessary to drastically reform institutions on the basis of innovative thinking in strongly reforming the administrative system towards serving people and businesses ."

The General Secretary's direction demonstrates the viewpoint of transforming from a rigid management state to a connected and effective national management state, in line with the new management trend, in which the application of modern technology of the 4th Industrial Revolution is promoted to serve businesses and people, and the country.

To make institutions and policies practical and feasible, the Government needs to establish an effective policy dialogue and criticism mechanism, creating conditions for the private business community to participate in giving opinions on the process of law making and economic policy planning.

Fourth , consolidate, create and develop national enterprises of regional and world stature as economic levers and drivers for a prosperous Vietnam .

Vietnam's economy is currently over 98% small and medium enterprises, with an unreasonable business structure; weak supporting industry, production materials dependent on foreign sources; low labor productivity, and limited competitiveness.

National interests and security are shaping all economic policies globally, reshaping supply chains. Protectionism and tariff policies can cause trade wars between countries and regions.

The domestic economic situation and the international economic context urge Vietnam to build an independent and self-reliant economy, associated with proactive and active international integration, in a deep, substantial and effective manner. An independent and self-reliant economy is the basis for the economy to develop rapidly and sustainably, thereby enhancing internal strength; effectively handling internal issues and emerging challenges, and at the same time enhancing Vietnam's position in the international arena.

One of the important solutions to build an independent and self-reliant economy is to create, nurture and develop national enterprises. This solution has been clearly stated by the General Secretary: " Form and develop large, strong private economic groups with international competitiveness, with the mission of leading and supporting other domestic enterprises to participate deeply in the global value chain ".

International experience shows that successful industrialized countries are all associated with the leading role of "leading enterprises" and "national enterprises" to create an ecosystem that leads the development of small and medium enterprises participating in domestic and international production and value chains. National enterprises always play a central role in implementing development policies and are the locomotives in many important sectors and fields of the economy. National enterprises are enterprises that fully promote internal strength, play a strategic role, are pillars in the economy and are closely associated with the identity of each country.

What should be done to develop the private economy and national enterprises?

In order for the private economy and national enterprises to become the lever for a prosperous Vietnam, it is necessary for the Party and the State to clearly define the role of the State in legalizing policies, perfecting the legal system, creating a foundation to stimulate and promote the private economy to make a breakthrough, develop rapidly and sustainably.

The Government needs to urgently and proactively reform institutions, review and amend, and make the legal environment transparent. Complete the system of legal documents to create trust, motivation, and dynamism for the private economy.

Institutional breakthroughs must begin with breakthroughs in economic management thinking, accepting change, being different, and being bold. At the same time, it is necessary to build an open society, welcoming change, and preparing carefully for what will happen in the future.

To respond to and keep up with the rapid development of the 4th Industrial Revolution and avoid falling behind the region and the world, the Government needs to seize opportunities and create new driving forces for development. In particular, the Government needs to improve national leadership capacity, have long-term thinking and vision, train and promote capable, dedicated and action-ready technocrats; nurture and encourage innovative thinking, eliminate bureaucracy, and resolutely say no to corruption.

The business community must be committed, dare to face difficulties, dare to endure and rise from failure, be proactive and flexible in all situations.

In the context of the business community not meeting In response to the requirements of the new era, performing the role of a creative state, the Government needs to seek, guide, and support the private economy to expand its development space; participate in new industries and fields of the world economy so that the Vietnamese economy can quickly integrate into the flow of the global economy, not be slow and left behind.

The Government needs to implement preferential fiscal and monetary policies, support capital, technology and skilled labor, suitable for the private economy to conduct production and business in new industries and fields.

Building and implementing the National Strategy for developing ethnic enterprises

Urgently develop and implement the National Strategy for the development of ethnic enterprises in line with the trend of reshaping and shifting the global supply chain. Ethnic enterprises must be Vietnamese enterprises, with products of high localization value and added value, bearing the mark and identity of Vietnamese culture, and the business owner must be Vietnamese.

The national strategy needs to be innovative and flexible in terms of institutions, policies, and capital sources to create, nurture, and develop national enterprises in order to build an economy that harmoniously combines internal strength, self-reliance, and self-reliance with external strength. The national strategy for developing national enterprises needs to specifically mention the following contents:

One is , attaching ethnic enterprises to the implementation of the country's socio-economic development goals . The goals in the 5-year socio-economic development strategy and plan approved at the Party congresses need to be detailed by industry and sector. On that basis, the Government selects a number of ethnic enterprises with the potential to implement these goals with state support and incentives such as low-interest loans and tax reductions. In particular, assigning ethnic enterprises to participate in large projects and works, new fields that require financial resources and use of new technology. Assigning ethnic enterprises to carry out production and business in sectors in the export-based growth strategy, construction, and leading supporting industries to gradually replace imported raw materials and goods, enhancing the independence and autonomy of the economy.

Along with preferential policies for ethnic enterprises to conduct production and business in the direction of socio-economic development, the government must carry out financial supervision of preferential loans. In addition, the State also needs to have monitoring and sanctioning measures to prevent "crony" relationships between public agencies and ethnic enterprises to intervene in the process of policy formulation and implementation, forming group interests, distorting business performance measures, causing negative socio-economic consequences. Strictly prohibit and strictly handle all forms of bribery and forms of influence on the policy decision-making process.

On the other hand, the State also needs to have a strict monitoring system to warn and prevent ethnic enterprises from borrowing capital to invest in many areas without concentrating their strength on a few key areas, leading to spreading out their forces, ineffective investment, and bankruptcy.

Second , Building and implementing solutions to capture new markets . The government supports information and negotiations at the state level and works with national enterprises to build and implement solutions to capture new markets. This is a very important content in implementing the Export-Based Growth Strategy and realizing the industrialization goal of the economy.

Third , Linking national enterprises with the Strategy of accessing new technology effectively in each stage . In the early stages, due to the lack of research and development of technology, local enterprises bought copyrights and foreign technology to produce similar goods but at a lower cost. When they developed to a higher level, enterprises innovated and created new technologies and products that were competitive enough with traditional manufacturers bearing the Vietnamese mark.

Four is , Training a team of talented and skilled businessmen, a team of skilled and knowledgeable workers. The government and businesses need to pay special attention to training a team of talented and skilled entrepreneurs; training human resources suitable for the process of the 4.0 Industrial Revolution and restructuring the economy, creating a new, superior growth model. In the structure of human resources, the team of key entrepreneurs plays a key role. National enterprises cannot succeed without talented CEOs.

Reality shows that the success or failure of a business does not stem from whether it is state-owned or privately owned. The poor business results of state-owned enterprises are due to the inability to find good managers and business operators, and the lack of a mechanism to regularly monitor and evaluate the results of production and business management activities.

Five is , To develop national enterprises in the context of a fragmented and fiercely competitive world economy, the business community and the Government must create a system of satellite economic entities of national enterprises , including: enterprises, research institutes, training facilities, management teams, and leading experts to accompany national enterprises.

The satellite system aims to develop a network of connections in all areas related to the activities of ethnic enterprises, develop supporting industries, and enhance the independence and autonomy of the economy.

Japan emphasizes the role of business networks made up of companies in different fields, including: Manufacturers, supply chain partners, distributors operating in many industries, especially banks and trading companies play an important role in this network.

Along with policies and solutions to create and develop ethnic enterprises, the Government needs to issue and implement a number of regulations to ensure that ethnic enterprises have a healthy financial foundation, such as: Establishing and controlling financial ratios to ensure financial security for ethnic enterprises; making transparent the results of production and business activities, accurately and publicly announcing financial reports, financial information and business information.

With the spirit of innovation in thinking and economic viewpoints; implementing the revolution of streamlining the apparatus, shifting from state management to state management with effective and efficient links, serving enterprises and the country of the Party and the General Secretary, we believe that the private economy with the leading role of national enterprises will quickly become a powerful economic force, successfully performing the role of leverage for a strong and prosperous Vietnam, bringing prosperity and happiness to the people./.

Former Director General of General Statistics Office

Source: https://baochinhphu.vn/doi-moi-tu-duy-thuc-day-kinh-te-tu-nhan-doanh-nghiep-dan-toc-phat-trien-102250327072328178.htm