(VOVWORLD) -The business community has embraced the 12th Party Central Committee’s resolution on reforming and improving the efficiency of state-owned enterprises and the new Law on Support for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises. Economists say these will allow state-owned enterprises and SMEs to optimize their contributions to national economic development.
The Party guideline calls for reform of state-owned enterprises and the State’s managerial model.
Equitizing state-owned enterprises
The Party and State have acknowledged that if state-owned enterprises are not equitized, they will obstruct economic development. Tran Du Lich, former deputy head of the Ho Chi Minh City delegation to the National Assembly, said: “We’ve been fine-tuning conditions for enterprises to develop. State economic reform has been implemented for decades and now it’s time to reposition state-owned enterprises.”
Vietnam has 700 state-owned enterprises. Two plans for state enterprise equitization are to upgrade the State Capital Investment Corporation (SCIC) into a bigger corporation to manage state assets, and to form a government agency to manage other state-owned enterprises.
Vu Thanh Tu Anh, Director of the Fulbright Economics Teaching Program in Ho Chi Minh City, said: “The goal of equitizing state-owned enterprises is to reduce the number of enterprises. A managerial model is suitable for about 15, 25, or 30 state-owned enterprises. The state will decide to keep some enterprises and equitize the rest. Then we’ll create an equitization roadmap”
Economists say effective state-owned enterprises should review their management and organization to improve their efficiency.
Achieving the goal of 1 million enterprises in 2020
To Hoai Nam, Vice President and General Secretary of the Vietnam Association of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, said the National Assembly’s approval of the Law on Support for SMEs has realized the Party Central Committee’s resolution on the private economy. Businesses, particularly SMEs, need incentives to obtain the land and credit needed to expand production. Mr. Nam said: “We expect sectors and localities to quickly implement the Law. We hope the new law will help mobilize the social resources needed by businesses to reform and engage in production chains.”
Economists say the implementation of the Party resolution and the new law will help boost economic development and achieve the goal of having 1 million enterprises by 2020.