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| Workers sort rice papers at Tan Nhien Co. Ltd. in Tay Ninh province__Photo: VNA |
With nearly one million enterprises currently in operation, 98 percent of which are small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), policies for private economy development must target proper beneficiaries, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Dinh Dung Sy said at a recent workshop.
The legal expert pointed to the need of reviewing and amending the laws that directly affect businesses, e.g., those on enterprises, investment, land, construction, and taxes.
In addition to removing barriers related to access to land, credit and investment opportunities, the legal reforms should incorporate policies that promote innovation and technology-based startups, and create favorable conditions for enterprises to pilot new business models, he emphasized.
This is one of the central issues debated at the scientific workshop titled “Identifying hindering factors and proposing improvements to institutions and laws to promote the development of the private economy”, held by the Ministry of Justice’s Journal of Democracy and Law.
In his opening remarks, Deputy Minister of Justice Nguyen Thanh Ngoc, who chaired the conference, emphasized that never before have the Party and the State paid such close attention to the private economy as they do today. Resolution 68, together with three other key resolutions, serving as the “four pillar” resolutions, has established a solid legal framework to drive national development. Resolution 68 affirms the critical role of the private economy in the current development stage and sets out clear objectives, including increasing the private sector’s contribution to 55-58 percent of GDP. It also calls for a comprehensive review and revision of the legal system to facilitate development.
Experts at the workshop agreed that prioritizing legal assistance is essential to achieve breakthroughs in development of the private sector, particularly for SMEs. This includes building a robust legal foundation that allows enterprises to effectively access key resources such as capital, land, technology, and high-quality human resources. Accordingly, the legal framework must evolve in a way that meets state management requirements while creating momentum for businesses to grow.
From the business community’s perspectives, Nguyen Duy Lam, Chairman of the Vietnam Business Legal Association, identified two major bottlenecks, i.e., limited capacity of enforcement officers and inadequacies in institutional frameworks. He stressed that, in addition to simplifying administrative procedures, greater emphasis must be placed on training, capacity building, and strengthening public service ethics in order to prevent practices that hinder business operations. These efforts, he noted, are essential for realizing legal reforms.- (VLLF)
