The Prime Minister's 'no-nonsense' dialogue

The Government's issuance of a directive right during the dialogue session was a major highlight at the "Dien Hong Conference" of private enterprises.

Lasting nearly an hour longer than expected, the conference on the morning of May 17 in Hanoi between Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and the business community was considered less tense than the dialogue more than a year ago. Instead of the pent-up frustrations sent to the newly-elected Government at Thong Nhat Hall (HCMC) last year, there were suggestions and policy proposals from the business community. Government leaders considered this a mark of governance, and also gave specific messages for the coming time.

New position for private economy

Taking place right after the 5th Central Conference with the resolution on developing the private economy into an important driving force in the economy, the dialogue between the Prime Minister, 4 Deputy Prime Ministers, many leaders of ministries, localities and more than ten thousand enterprises nationwide is truly a forum for this economic sector.

Right in his opening speech, the Prime Minister borrowed the words of national capitalists like Bach Thai Buoi or patriots like Luong Van Can to talk about the role of private enterprises in the country's economy.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc (center) and Deputy Prime Ministers (from left) Trinh Dinh Dung, Truong Hoa Binh, Vuong Dinh Hue, and Vu Duc Dam chaired the conference. Photo: VGP

Unlike previous meetings when most of the opinions were from large corporations and state-owned companies..., the voices from not-so-famous units such as Kossy, BMG... were an important highlight, bringing a breath of fresh air to the business community.

However, after the opinions were given by businesses, most of the applause still erupted because of the sharing about inequality between the public and private sectors. For example, the Chairman of the Vietnam Private Hospital Association - Nguyen Van De expressed his frustration that the Government should not allow the construction of private hospitals within the premises of public hospitals. "Whatever the private sector can do, the State should not do anymore. We must create an equal mechanism between public and private hospitals. Avoid the situation where the public sector does what is easy and pushes the difficult things to the private sector," said Mr. De.

Despite being warned for speaking beyond the allotted time, Chairman of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) - Vu Tien Loc still expressed the concerns of the business community. According to Mr. Loc, one of the biggest concerns is that the cost of doing business in Vietnam is the most expensive in the world. This concern was also reinforced by Chairman of the Association of Small and Medium Enterprises - Nguyen Van Than with his opinion about the situation of businesses having to compete unfairly due to hidden costs, kickbacks, etc.

* Mr. Vu Tien Loc: Boeing also cannot meet business conditions in Vietnam.

Representatives of the business community expect that institutional and business environment bottlenecks will be further untied by government leaders so that direction will be "not just empty words but practical actions".

Conference of commitments

The desire of the business community to immediately become the Government's action was also a highlight of this conference. As soon as he began his concluding speech, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc received applause from the audience when he held in his hand a directive with his signature still on the ink. The document requires ministries and local authorities not to inspect enterprises more than once a year, and not to expand the content if there is an unexpected inspection...

* Prime Minister announces Directive No. 20 and concludes the Conference

Hopefully, the business community will see the Government's efforts after a year of implementing Resolution 35, but the Prime Minister also acknowledged that there are still points that the operator has not been able to do. That is, the inconsistency between sub-law documents, taxes and fees are still a burden for businesses, the ability to access social resources is still poor...

The Prime Minister emphasized that 2017 will be the year of reducing fees for businesses, from official to unofficial fees. The government will eliminate public-private favoritism, reclaim resources that are being wasted and reallocate them to improve social productivity. Resources will be transferred to economic sectors for optimization, not just prioritizing state-owned enterprises.

"It is necessary to build a good business environment with high competitiveness. It must not only have freedom of business and freedom of creativity, but also safety. It must not only have low costs but also low risks. Ensure fair and healthy competition. The business environment creates high reliability and stability, so that people can continuously invest and expand production," the Prime Minister emphasized.

Following the message of the head of the Government, a series of commitments were also made by leaders of ministries, branches and localities. From the affirmation of "not criminalizing civil economic relations" by the Chief Justice of the Supreme People's Procuracy - Le Minh Tri, to the promise to abolish a series of procedures in the fields under their management by the Minister of Industry and Trade - Tran Tuan Anh, Minister of Science and Technology - Chu Ngoc Anh. These promises as well as the commitment to eliminate the problem of envelopes and extra costs "torturing" businesses by the Permanent Deputy Prime Minister Truong Hoa Binh... all received applause from the businesses attending the conference.

'Businesses don't count meetings, they count whether costs are reduced or not'

However, the government leaders also clearly realize that what the business community expects is not just promises but concrete actions. “They do not need to count how many meetings there are, but measure whether costs are reduced and how to avoid missing business opportunities,” said Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam. He emphasized that each meeting needs to solve specific problems, not listen to general reports.

* Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam requested ministries, branches and localities to take substantive actions.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc emphasized that in the coming time, the Government will focus on creating a transparent and favorable business environment for enterprises; seriously performing public duties, not causing trouble for enterprises. He also emphasized the responsibility of leaders, from local Party Secretaries, Chairmen, Ministers, and heads of sectors, to change, not to harass or cause trouble for enterprises.

“Ultimately, the Chairmen, Secretaries of provinces and cities, and Ministers must directly take care of this work according to their functions and duties as prescribed by law. The Government will pursue institutional reform to the end, creating opportunities for all sectors of the economy,” the Prime Minister affirmed.

Need more space for dialogue

Considered the largest business meeting ever with more than 2,000 delegates participating in the hall and about 10,000 other units from provinces and cities via videoconference, in addition to opinions gathered via text, the time for direct dialogue between businesses and leaders of the Government, ministries, and localities is still quite limited.

In the total duration of 360 minutes of the discussion, after the first 90 minutes for reports, in reality, business representatives only had about 120 minutes to present problems and propose solutions... According to the summary of Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung, during the above time, 16 opinions were expressed, while at least 30 other registrations have not had the opportunity and will be sent to the Government Office in writing.

Along with the small number, the dialogue on specific issues between enterprises and authorities right at the forum is still limited. The exchange of opinions like that between Chairman of the Board of Directors of Hop Luc Company - Nguyen Van De and Secretary of Hai Phong City Party Committee - Le Van Thanh is quite rare. According to Mr. De, enterprises have encountered indifference when they want to resolve business difficulties in the locality. Meanwhile, Hai Phong leaders affirmed that they have never received phone calls or messages from this unit, but they also know the situation very well. Local authorities said they always want to dialogue and cooperate with enterprises.

* Mr. Nguyen Van De expressed the problems he encountered with public authorities.

In their responses, most of the Ministers tried to answer both the issues that VCCI had previously collected in writing and the content that businesses had directly raised on the forum. However, there were still leaders who spent a lot of time citing regulations, statistical reports, etc., affecting the quality of the responses as well as causing the Deputy Prime Ministers in charge to have to remind them many times about the time.

Speaking near the end of the conference, the first point of note given by Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam to leaders of ministries, branches and localities was "it is very necessary to increase dialogue with businesses".

"Dialogue is talking back and forth. I have directly participated in dialogues that ministries and sectors have done before but businesses are still upset. Of the 14 issues raised, in the end, there were 3 issues that the ministries and sectors were wrong and had to be corrected according to the businesses. After listening to the explanations of the remaining issues, businesses all clapped and followed the State. It was very comfortable because there was a back and forth exchange, not a one-way imposition," the Deputy Prime Minister recounted.

Commenting after the conference, Mr. Dau Anh Tuan - Head of VCCI Legal Department highly appreciated the organization of dialogue between management agencies and business community."The Government has listened to the business community more. The fact that Government leaders work from morning until nearly 2pm without a lunch break has had a positive impact on leaders of ministries, sectors and localities," he said. The decision to choose 2017 as the year to reduce fees is also considered very practical because this is currently the main burden for businesses.

According to Mr. Nguyen Duy Hung - Vice President of Dong Nai Import-Export Association, the Government has increasingly shown its determination in management with the determination to change the institutions and business environment for enterprises. This is also what Mr. Hung, as well as the majority of Vietnamese enterprises, are waiting for.

Representatives of many businesses appreciated the meeting with the Prime Minister, but still wanted more opportunities to dialogue with management agencies. Photo: VGP

According to this person, the gift the Government brings to businesses is nothing greater than creating a transparent business investment environment, accompanying businesses and being demonstrated through specific actions. "Businesses do not need support and assistance like milk, but need a good institution and environment to do business", Mr. Hung expressed.

On the contrary, in his closing speech, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc also expressed his hope that businesses would make more efforts to overcome difficulties, quoting the late General Secretary Nguyen Van Linh: "Save yourself before God saves you." At the same time, he also expressed his expectations for the role of businesses, especially private businesses, in economic development.

"I think dawn is coming to our country. I believe that you, the businesses, will contribute to the bright dawn in the Fatherland of Vietnam," said the Prime Minister.

According to VNE