A solid 'economic shield' in volatile times

Photo caption — Mr. Harry Hoang OAM - Chairman of the Vietnamese Business Association in Canberra, Chairman of the Vietnamese Association in Canberra, answered an interview with a VNA reporter. Photo: Van Linh/VNA reporter in Australia

Mr. Harry Hoang OAM is also the founder of Tailored Accounts - a company that was honored in the Top 100 Best Organizations in Australia in 2015. He was awarded the Order of Australia (OAM) by the Governor-General of Australia - one of the noble awards for individuals with outstanding contributions to the community.

Speaking to a VNA reporter in Australia, Mr. Harry Hoang OAM shared many perspectives on Vietnam's path to self-reliant and self-reliant economic development in a volatile world today. According to him, since joining the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2007, Vietnam's economy has officially integrated and complied with multilateral and bilateral trade agreements. In essence, these agreements are designed to create equality and fairness among participating parties.
However, in the past 1-2 years, the world has continuously witnessed many major changes such as the conflict in Ukraine, tensions in the Middle East or the tough tariff policy of the US President Donald Trump's administration. Countries are increasingly putting their own interests first because of concerns about the risk of regional conflicts escalating and spreading. "Therefore, Vietnam's development of a self-reliant and self-reliant economy is not only an objective requirement of the country's development process but also a prerequisite for protecting independence, sovereignty and national interests," he emphasized.

According to Mr. Harry Hoang OAM, Vietnam is still a developing economy, in which the state sector plays a leading role. The private economic sector only accounts for about 50% of GDP, the number of enterprises with global brands is not many, and international competitiveness is limited. Therefore, it is inevitable that Vietnamese enterprises will be acquired or influenced by large foreign enterprises. He noted that up to now, Vietnam has not really mastered any supply chain on a global scale.

Contributing to the drafting of the Party's 14th National Congress Documents, Mr. Harry Hoang OAM said that in the context of international law - including WTO regulations - being affected and possibly shaken, Vietnam needs to develop a strong enough domestic legal corridor to protect the economy from trade challenges.

The Chairman of the Vietnam Business Association in Canberra proposed that Vietnam should establish a foreign influence review committee to review pre- and post-transaction activities, ensuring that national interests are not negatively impacted. He cited: when a domestic enterprise reaches a certain scale (for example, revenue over 200 million USD) and is acquired by a foreign investor, this committee will be a "shield" to protect the interests of domestic enterprises, preventing early actions that may cause impact.

In addition, Mr. Harry Hoang OAM also mentioned the need to tighten the legal corridor and apply technology in preventing and combating transnational money laundering, because international criminal syndicates can be backed by political forces, disguised as global enterprises or technology enterprises, making it difficult to control transactions.

Sharing about the explosion of artificial intelligence (AI), Mr. Harry Hoang OAM warned that businesses are massively applying AI to improve productivity, but the legal corridor has not kept up. He also expressed concern about the import of smart electric vehicles from abroad into Vietnam when there is no clear control mechanism for storing user data or the risk of technology being exploited to cause insecurity. According to him, AI brings many benefits but also raises global concerns when user ethics have not kept up and the law is not strong enough. This requires the early construction of a complete legal corridor on AI.

He emphasized that developing a legal corridor in parallel with digital technology is an extremely important factor. Investment capital for these two areas should be increased in proportion to the annual GDP growth rate. He said: “When the defense system is strong enough, able to calculate and anticipate situations from good to bad, Vietnam can confidently continue on the path of deep integration.”

According to businessman Harry Hoang OAM, Vietnam's private economic sector is forecast to reach a size of about 60% of GDP by 2045 - this will be the pillar of the economy in the future. He recommended that Vietnam should consider establishing an Export Fund to support businesses to reach international markets, because only when participating in the global game, businesses will have the necessary lessons to prepare for a deeper integration period.

Mr. Harry Hoang OAM said that he has lived in Australia for 20 years, and on average each year he meets about 1-2 Vietnamese business delegations coming to study the market, often accompanying events between the two countries. The question he asked was why Vietnam has not yet had an annual exhibition for Vietnamese businesses in Australia. According to him, businesses participating in the exhibition can receive support from the aforementioned Export Fund; this fund can be drawn from export tax revenue. Sharing that practical experience, he said that organizing annual trade promotion activities in Australia will create a "bridge" for trade and investment cooperation between the two sides and help Vietnamese businesses penetrate the market more effectively.

Mr. Harry Hoang OAM emphasized that for the country to be self-reliant and self-reliant, the business community needs to grow in both capacity and image, to be able to negotiate on equal terms with international corporations with hundreds of years of development history. This is also the content he wants to contribute to the Draft Documents of the 14th National Party Congress.

Responding to the opinion that Vietnam can hardly build a successful self-reliant economy without high-quality human resources and endogenous science and technology capacity, the Chairman of the Vietnam Entrepreneurs Association in Canberra affirmed that human resources are the most important resource in any economy and education must be given top priority.

He cited the example of Singapore: when this island nation chose English as its main language, they had looked 20 years ahead to prepare for the globalization trend. According to him, “English is a necessary condition, while science and technology are sufficient conditions.”

He expressed his wish that the State invest more in science and technology education, exempt tuition fees for key sectors such as medical technology, educational technology, computer technology, agricultural technology, etc. to create high-quality human resources to serve economic development. According to him, the Draft Document of the 14th National Party Congress needs to emphasize this content, put people at the center of development and take advantage of scientific and technological advances to innovate and promote the economy.

Businessman Harry Hoang suggested that in the strategy for science and technology development, it is also necessary to focus on training a team of research human resources - the current generation of middle and high school students, who will decide the future of Vietnamese science.

According to him, developing a self-reliant economy does not mean closing the door or separating from globalization. Since the birth of the Internet, no country can separate itself from the world. Vietnam can completely choose its own path in the process of integration and international expansion.

Source: https://baotintuc.vn/kinh-te/la-chan-kinh-tevung-chac-trong-thoi-ky-bien-dong-20251112141001688.htm