Prime Minister: "If you can't manage, then close" is an outdated view

On the evening of January 23, local time (early morning of January 24, Vietnam time), Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc had a dialogue with leaders of global corporations about the Vietnamese economy with the theme "Promoting dynamism and creativity in the 4.0 revolution".

Also attending were WEF Managing Director Olivier Schwab, leaders of several Vietnamese ministries, sectors, corporations and 30 international corporations.

Opening the dialogue, raising the issue that many investors are interested in, which is the cause of Vietnam's strong development in recent times, the Prime Minister said that, first of all, Vietnam has stable politics and society, "with a spirit of drastic innovation in the past 30 years". The macro economy is basically good. GDP has increased continuously, an average of nearly 6.7%/year. In 2018, economic growth reached 7.08%. Average GDP reached 2,600 USD. Vietnam has institutions and policies to facilitate development, remove difficulties for production and business. The business environment has improved strongly. The competitiveness of the Vietnamese economy is demonstrated through the total trade turnover in 2018 reaching nearly 480 billion USD, with a trade surplus of 7.4 billion USD.

Vietnam has become one of the world's factories for supplying consumer electronics, textiles, footwear, and mobile phones. Vietnam produces 50% of Samsung smartphones consumed globally, and by December 2018, it had produced over 1 billion phones.

Vietnam has 26,000 FDI projects in operation with a total registered capital of nearly 350 billion USD, including many projects of large corporations such as Siemen, Novatis, Carlsberg, Mitsubishi, Toyota, Samsung, LG, Exxon Mobil, Ford, GE...

“I asked the Vietnamese business people present in this hall today, “What difficulties do you have?” and everyone said, everything is going very well,” said the Prime Minister. “We always listen to the opinions of business associations from other countries, including the European Business Association.” The Prime Minister affirmed that Vietnam is shaping a transparent legal framework, increasingly approaching advanced international standards. Strongly promoting the private sector.

Vietnam is an open country and a reliable partner in the international community. The openness of the economy is increasing, with economic and trade relations with more than 220 countries and territories, and trade turnover reaching 185% of GDP. Informing that Vietnam and the EU are also actively completing legal reviews to be able to soon sign and ratify the Vietnam-EU Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA), the Prime Minister hopes that EU businesses at the dialogue will strongly promote the early signing of the EVFTA.

According to the Prime Minister, the 4.0 industrial revolution is “knocking on the door” of every business, bringing about profound changes that no country can stand outside. By striving to overcome difficulties, limitations, and challenges, Vietnam considers this a great opportunity when countries compete through innovation, not just through traditional factors such as free trade, scale, experience, labor, and investment capital.

In addition, Vietnam has become one of the countries with the largest fiber optic network coverage in the world with nearly 1 million km connected to villages, communes and districts nationwide, the rate of Internet users is 60%, the rate of population covered by 3G and 4G mobile coverage is up to 98%.

To prepare for the 4.0 industrial revolution, Vietnam will test the 5G network in 2019 and commercialize it in 2020, making Vietnam one of the leading countries in the world in 5G deployment.

The fourth industrial revolution is not only about technology but also about policy. Vietnam has launched the “Made in Vietnam 4.0” program. This is an initiative to promote industries based on new policies, new management thinking and new technologies.

The Prime Minister asked international businesses: "Come and create 4.0 products in Vietnam".

“Vietnam is ready to facilitate and work with you to realize strategies, programs, and plans to promote development in the digital transformation process, building an Industry 4.0,” the Prime Minister emphasized.

By action, on January 24, Vietnam and WEF will sign the Cooperation Agreement on the Center for the Fourth Industrial Revolution in Vietnam and will be connected with the WEF's Centers for the Fourth Industrial Revolution in the United States and the EU. Through this cooperation, Vietnam will be the focal point for the region's 4.0 policy. Vietnam will take the lead in building a policy framework that accepts and allows testing of new technologies, strongly applying the public-private partnership model to create breakthrough, environmentally friendly services and products in the Fourth Industrial Revolution, with the focus being young businesses with a desire to innovate, not afraid of falling to move forward strongly.

Believing that Vietnam is one of the best investment “shelters” in the volatile world, the Prime Minister hopes investors will come to Vietnam. “Vietnam is always open to welcome you.”

"If you can't manage it, close it" is an outdated view.

At the dialogue, “impressed” and “amazed” were the emotions that investors, including those who have been operating in Vietnam for more than 20 years, expressed about Vietnam's development in recent times.

Ariston Group leaders said that Vietnam is currently one of the company's important markets and production sites and revealed plans to open more facilities in Vietnam. Sharing the same view, a representative of Heineken Group expressed, "Vietnam is the most innovative production base among our production facilities" and the company will continue to invest in Vietnam in a sustainable manner.

The corporations also affirmed their support for the EVFTA Agreement, hoping that the Vietnamese Government will create favorable conditions for investment and business.

Grab Taxi's founding CEO, Mr. Anthony Ping Yeow Tan, said that Vietnam is the second country the company has invested in, more than 5 years ago with a capital of over 100 million USD. "The results are very good, we are very satisfied. We have developed technology centers with hundreds of engineers," Mr. Anthony Ping Yeow Tan said and wanted to know the Government's perspective on a new business model like Grab.

Responding to investors' questions, Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Manh Hung acknowledged that Grab is a new business model that has a strong impact on traditional business models. The Vietnamese government sees the 4.0 revolution as more policy-based than technological. Therefore, government policies tend to support new business models based on new technology. The story of Grab and similar models will be addressed positively by the Vietnamese government.

Regarding this issue, the Prime Minister said that the view that if you cannot manage, then close is outdated, and affirmed that the Vietnamese Government is ready to support breakthrough ideas and business models, not only supporting businesses but more importantly supporting creative values, innovation, entrepreneurial spirit, supporting progressive trends, helping to bring benefits, conveniences and comforts to the people. That is the sustainable aspect of the economy, an element of the digital economy.