Prime Minister: If electricity prices are too expensive, people cannot afford them.

"If you lose something, you have to find something else to make up for it."

Speaking to the investor community at the 25th annual Vietnam Business Forum organized by the Ministry of Planning and Investment, the World Bank (WB), and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) on March 19 in Hanoi,Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinhaffirming that it is impossible to separate the specific electricity price of 4-5 cents/kWh and buy solar power at a price of more than 8-9 cents/kWh, it is necessary to find price harmony.

"I have reminded the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Mr. An.(Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Dang Hoang An)always receptive, listen to the losses and failures of othersbusiness, only then can there be appropriate solutions. There needs to be sincerity and trust," said the Prime Minister.

The Prime Minister shared the investors' concerns and frankly pointed out that "there are things that investors are not doing right". "The policy is only that far, it cannot be extended. Therefore, for projects that have already been invested but have not recovered capital, we must negotiate with each other, if we lose something, we must find something else to compensate".

According to him, recently there have been a number of pilot policies, some suitable and some not, we need to continue sitting together to find solutions suitable to each side's conditions.

"Competition is expressed externally in price. If supply and demand are unreasonable, then price is the solution. Therefore, we need to negotiate prices with each other in the spirit of not letting anyone suffer, together overcoming difficulties and risks, moving towards the long term," he emphasized.

The Prime Minister also told investors that business has times of profit and times of loss, the most important thing is to calculate the long-term profit. "We do not want anyone to come here to invest and do business and lose, there must be profit, the higher the profit, the more, the better," he said.

Answering investors' questions about energy and electricity policies, the Prime Minister said that the difficulty in making the 8th power plan was that when making the 7th power plan, the trend of developing thermal power was not as it is today.

"There are about 6,000 - 8,000 MW committed to coal power, now investors must share, join us in cutting coal power and stop suing, otherwise we will have to go to court. Together we will cut coal power, together we will switch from investing in coal power to investing in wind power and solar power," said the Prime Minister.

Regarding wind and solar power investment in Vietnam in the coming time, the Prime Minister reminded investors that Vietnam's GDP per capita is more than 4,000 USD/year, which cannot be compared with developing countries with income of 50,000 - 60,000 USD/year. Therefore, prices must be appropriate, input production costs must be appropriate, including bank loans.

"I call on developed countries to help Vietnam to ensure fairness and justice in energy transition. For example, investment projects in Vietnam must have lower interest rates and longer loan terms to match the electricity price and income of Vietnamese people," he said.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh attended the 25th annual Vietnam Business Forum in Hanoi on the morning of March 19. Photo: VGP

Regarding the proposal related to the direct electricity purchase and sale mechanism of the investor community, the Prime Minister affirmed that the Government encourages this mechanism and has recently piloted it for Lego investors to invest and implement.

At the forum, the Prime Minister assigned ministries to urgently resolve business recommendations and strengthen dialogue with businesses in the spirit of companionship and sharing.

Seven green growth orientations of the Government

Speaking on the topic of green growth at the forum, the Prime Minister said that the Government has issued a strategy based on three main pillars: economy, society, environment, and seven major orientations.

That is, Vietnam chooses to develop rapidly and sustainably, without sacrificing progress, fairness, social security, or the environment, pursuing mere development. Taking people as the goal, the subject, the center, the driving force, and the resource for development. From there, we develop while protecting the environment, develop today but must think about the future for our children and grandchildren, both increasing people's income and ensuring people's health.

The Prime Minister also affirmed that although Vietnam is a developing country with a transitional economy, it is committed to achieving zero net emissions by 2050, like a developed country.

The second is to focus on restructuring the economy associated with growth model innovation, including exploiting and economically using resources, using science and technology foundations for development, focusing on three strategic breakthroughs to develop the economy.

Third, green economic development must be implemented at all levels, sectors, localities, national, regional and international levels, linking national green development with regional and international development. The motto is to transform thinking and approaches to respond to green economic development tasks at each stage. At the same time, it is necessary to improve institutional capacity accordingly, and promptly study standards for green construction and projects.

Fourth is to take people as the center, subject, goal, and resource for development, avoiding the situation of growing first and cleaning up later.

Fifth, green growth requires a suitable roadmap, taking into account different conditions and capacities, ensuring feasibility in each region, locality and enterprise. Vietnam upholds its sense of responsibility in fulfilling its commitments, but also needs the help of the international community regarding finance, technology, human resource training, governance and markets.

Sixth, encourage the participation of all social actors, especially businesses and people, through public-private partnerships.

Seventh, mutual respect for common interests, in the spirit of harmonious benefits and shared risks, there are specific issues that must be persistently resolved. For example, the issue of renewable energy, Vietnam has the conditions for renewable energy, especially sun and wind, no one takes it away from Vietnam, nor does it have to be bought and sold, so we must develop the renewable energy industry.