Private economy - the pillar of national strategy in the new era

That was the affirmation of Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh at the Conference to disseminate and implement Resolution No. 68-NQ/TU of the Politburo on private economic development, which took place on the morning of May 18 in Hanoi.

Removing institutional bottlenecks, "unleashing" the private sector

According to the Prime Minister , private sector is an effective channel to mobilize social resources, create jobs, increase people's income, ensure social security and promote international integration.

Practice has proven that from 5,000 enterprises in 1990, up to now, Vietnam has nearly 1 million private enterprises, employing more than 43.5 million workers (82% of total employed workers), contributing 50% of GDP and more than 30% of state budget revenue.

Delegates listen to the resolution. Photo: Viet Thanh

However, the Prime Minister also frankly pointed out persistent and systemic shortcomings. That is, the goal of reaching 1.5 million private enterprises and contributing 55% of GDP by 2025 has not been achieved. Nearly 98% of small and medium enterprises, of which 70% are micro, have low competitiveness and limited ability to participate in the supply chain.

Some businesses are not transparent, lack long-term strategies, violate the law, and have weak business ethics. Smuggling, tax evasion, market manipulation, hoarding, price gouging, etc. still occur. The management of individual businesses is still loose, causing tax losses and difficulty in quality control.

According to the Prime Minister, institutions and laws are still bottlenecks. Many unnecessary business conditions have not been abolished; administrative procedures are still cumbersome and lack transparency; Vietnam's business environment index in 2023 only ranked 70/190 countries, far behind countries in the region, such as Singapore, Thailand, and Malaysia.

A deep-rooted cause is limited awareness of private sector; the "ask-give" mindset still exists among a number of officials and civil servants. The situation of harassment, abetting group interests, corruption, and waste has not been completely overcome.

The Prime Minister warned: "If we do not change our thinking and take drastic actions, we will lose the opportunity to promote the private economy to become a real driving force of the economy ."

Breakthrough thinking and institutions

To overcome bottlenecks and promote private sector development, the Politburo issued Resolution No. 68-NQ/TU, which clearly stated: The private sector is one of the most important driving forces of the national economy, and needs to be developed quickly, sustainably, effectively and with high quality.

The Resolution sets out five breakthrough guiding viewpoints, including eliminating prejudices about private enterprises, considering entrepreneurs as soldiers on the economic front, affirming equal rights in accessing resources, creating an open and transparent business environment, enhancing the leadership role of the Party and the creation role of the State.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh. Photo: Viet Thanh

In addition, Resolution No. 198/2025/QH15 of the National Assembly is considered a specific "institutional arm" for Resolution No. 68, which for the first time issued special mechanisms to support the development of the private economic sector, from access to land, credit, tax, to innovation, bidding, financial incentives, and support for medium and large enterprises to develop globally.

The Prime Minister affirmed that the Government will not stop at political declarations, but will resolutely implement the motto of "6 clear": Clear people, clear work, clear responsibility, clear authority, clear time, clear results.

The Prime Minister also emphasized that the action plan to implement Resolution No. 68-NQ/TU and the Plan to implement Resolution No. 198/QH15 have assigned 117 specific tasks to each ministry, branch and locality with 8 groups of breakthrough solutions.

Including innovation in thinking; promoting reform, perfecting institutions and policies, ensuring and effectively protecting ownership rights, property rights, freedom of business, and the right to fair competition of the private economy.

The Prime Minister also emphasized the need to innovate the thinking of building and enforcing laws; remove administrative barriers, the "ask-give" mechanism, the "can't manage, then ban" mindset, and the State must proactively create.

The Head of Government also mentioned many important regulations, such as prioritizing the application of civil, economic, and administrative measures first, allowing proactive remedy of violations and damages. In cases where the practical application of the law may lead to criminal prosecution or not, criminal prosecution will definitely not be applied. In cases where criminal prosecution is required, priority will be given to measures to remedy economic consequences first and this will be an important basis for considering subsequent remedies.

In particular, the Prime Minister emphasized that Resolution No. 68-NQ/TU clearly states that legal regulations should not be retroactively applied to handle disadvantages for businesses.

Another solution mentioned by the Prime Minister is to facilitate private enterprises to access resources such as land, capital, and high-quality human resources; promote and diversify capital sources for private enterprises...

Share business concerns

In order for Resolution No. 68-NQ/TU and Resolution No. 198/QH15 to soon come into effect, the Prime Minister said that the Government is assigning the Ministry of Home Affairs to develop a scenario to launch a nationwide movement to compete to get rich right after the resolutions on private enterprises are implemented.

"If we want a strong country, the people must be rich and businesses must be strong. Developing the private economy is the inevitable path to unlock all potentials, mobilize people's strength, promote innovation and integration," the Prime Minister emphasized.

Delegates listen to the resolution at the Hoan Kiem District Party Committee bridge. Photo: Thu Trang

Expressing his joy and excitement right after the Prime Minister's speech, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Geleximco Group Vu Van Tien said: "Enterprises with Resolution No. 68-NQ/TU are like droughts meeting showers. For many years, private enterprises have been frustrated and annoyed, wanting to contribute but not being able to, and sometimes being tied up, but now the Politburo and the General Secretary have freed them from this."

Mr. Vu Van Tien also proposed that the Government assign an independent agency to monitor and evaluate the competitiveness index, compliance index and implementation of ministries and local branches. This will also become a channel to receive recommendations from businesses to send to the General Secretary and Prime Minister.

Representatives of the Vietnam Young Entrepreneurs Association proposed that the Government accelerate the digitalization roadmap so that businesses can easily monitor the resolution of legal issues. Meanwhile, Chairman of Lan Hung Real Estate Group Vuong Quoc Toan proposed that the Government build industrial parks to serve small and medium-sized enterprises with land for lease of several thousand square meters, ensuring environmental conditions, fire prevention and fighting, thereby helping small businesses have the opportunity to access land for production.

Delegates listen to Resolution No. 68-NQ/TU at the Buoi Ward bridge, Tay Ho District. Photo: Hong Nhung

Directly responding to each business's petition, the Prime Minister expressed his sympathy for the businesses' concerns and said that the resolution has a separate section on land and capital support for small and medium enterprises.

The Prime Minister affirmed that the policies and guidelines are open, and the implementation will be assigned and reviewed specifically; at the same time, he hoped that management agencies and enterprises themselves would be determined, that what they promised they would do, what they committed they would do, and what they did they would have specific results, thereby contributing to the development of the private sector to be worthy of being a strategic pillar of the national economy.

Source: https://hanoimoi.vn/kinh-te-tu-nhan-tru-cot-chien-luoc-quoc-gia-trong-thoi-ky-moi-702650.html