Over the past few years, the position and role of entrepreneurs has been increasingly recognised by society and their business and investment environment has been improved considerably. Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has many times demanded that the reform of policies and mechanisms be accelerated to ensure the best conditions for entrepreneurs to develop. As a result, Vietnam’s investment environment has become more favourable for both domestic and foreign businesses to operate efficiently.

The fact is that Vietnamese entrepreneurs have made full use of all the resources available to grow and flourish and many powerful business groups and their prestigious trademarks have come online. A number of strategic partnerships have been established and a host of big projects have been signed with foreign partners.

Vietnam is expected to attract between US$12-14 billion of foreign direct investment this year and pull in US$48.1 billion from exports, a year on year increase of 20.5 percent. These targets cannot be met without a joint effort from the Government and the business community.

Dr Vu Tien Loc, president of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry, says after Vietnam joined the World Trade Organisation, Party and State leaders carried out a number of important external activities, including working visits to key markets to establish partnerships. During these visits, they took with them representatives of many leading business groups to explore and sign a number of big contracts with their foreign counterparts.

Bui Ngoc Huyen, general director of the Xuan Kien Automobile Factory says that this year the State has paid a lot of attention to developing private enterprises.

“Several years ago, private enterprises in Hanoi found it hard to procure land and start up their own businesses,” says Mr Huyen. “But since early this year everything has changed for the better. For instance, now our enterprise can rent 20ha of land to build a sedan assembly plant. I think if Vietnam continues to improve its investment environment, it is likely to achieve an annual GDP growth rate of more than 10 percent in the coming years.”