Institutional reform accelerated to support enterprises

Dung noted that the Government is shifting to serving businesses instead of managing them, and Resolutions No.19-2016/NQ-CP and No.35/NQ-CP were issued to enhance businesses’ competitive capacity as well as remove obstacles to business and production activities.

The minister stressed that while the economy is on path to recovery with robust signs seen in economic results in the first half, the main workload to fulfill 2016’s targets remain to be done in the last six months of the year, requiring considerable efforts from localities and enterprises.

According to Nguyen Mai, Chairman of the Vietnam Association of Foreign Invested Enterprises (VAFIE), foreign investment businesses have taken note of the support from the Vietnamese Government and relevant authorities, including the completion of institutions and legal framework. Many foreign companies are arriving to look for opportunities, proving the rising attraction of the country’s business environment.

Meanwhile, Warrick Cleine, Chairman and CEO of KPMG Limited in Vietnam and Cambodia, recommended that Vietnamese Government should be more open-minded in its economic policies, particularly the assistance offered to investors.

Experts said that foreign-invested sector play a crucial role in the Vietnamese economy. It accounts for more than 70 percent of foreign trade revenue and creates jobs for 3.5 million labourers while promoting national economic restructuring process and the transfer of modern technologies and management skills.

Statistics from the Ministry of Planning and Investment’s Foreign Investment Agency reveals that total foreign direct investment (FDI) capital poured into the country totalled at nearly US$11.3 billion in the first six months of the year.