PM Phuc gives keynote address at Vietnam Business Forum

The overriding message from Prime Minister Phuc at the Forum is that Vietnam and ASEAN have a stake in each other’s success. Vietnam has one of the largest and most dynamic economies in the region.

For this reason, Vietnam helps set the stage for how the world sees and engages with the entire ASEAN region.

A strong, vibrant private sector is an essential ingredient of the country’s stability and prosperity—not only today but in the years ahead as well, he noted. On that scorecard, Mr Phuc said, he was proud to announce that today there are more than 600,000 private companies in Vietnam.

That is more than at any time in the country’s history, he continued, noting with delight that some brands such as Vietnam Airlines, FPT, Vinamilk, TH True milk, Bitis, VietJet Air, and Saigontourist are gaining a global mindset and high visibility profile.

The country has experienced a prolonged period of economic growth driven by the entrepreneurial spirit of brands such as these and foreign businesses investing in manufacturing within the country’s borders.

Vietnam is also blessed with large reserves of natural resources and geographically well-situated within the ASEAN region to meet the growing demands for those resources.

Notably, the country can be proud of its domestic private sector and its strong interest in working together with the public and social sectors of country and the ASEAN region to overcome the challenges they collectively face.

As a country, we cannot assume that prosperity in the past guarantees prosperity in the future. The Vietnam public and private sector need to offer secure, predictable environments to attract higher levels of foreign investment.

The country also needs to diversify its economy, and must do this now, to ensure returns for the future. This means that the country collectively must focus on developing infrastructure, education and services to broaden the base for economic growth.

The Vietnam government has entered fruitful trade negotiations with economies around the globe that will lift the both Vietnam and ASEAN more broadly, and intensify economic activity throughout the region, the cabinet leader said.

This creates jobs, brings people out of poverty, provides education and health care for people, and helps to meets growing infrastructure needs. By 2020 it is predicted that the country will have raised 3.5 million households out of poverty and into the middle income.

This is the reason it is so crucially important for the government in concert with domestic sector private businesses to ensure conditions are favourable to attract additional foreign investment and continue to boost economic growth and keep the country on the path to prosperity.

Foreign sector businesses, he emphasized, hold the keys for the domestic sector to unlock the doors to participation in the global production chain opening wide and great opportunities for the country’s future.

Therefore, domestic companies should seize every chance to improve themselves and learn from their foreign counterparts how to compete globally in an increasingly interrelated and challenging marketplace.