The Quang Ninh Cooperative Alliance and Business Association has effectively exercised its role of supporting enterprises and cooperatives in Quang Ninh province, its members in particular, to develop. On the occasion of Quang Ninh province hosting an investment promotion conference, Vietnam Business Forum interviews Mr Nguyen Luong Ta, President of Cooperative Alliance and Business Associations and President of Quang Ninh Small and Medium Enterprise Association. Le Sang reports.
How have the Alliance’s members performed been in the past time? Could you talk about the positive and negative sides of this?
As you know, Quang Ninh is an economic engine of northeast of Vietnam and it contains many opportunities for development and investment. The province is well known for vast reserves of coal, clay, forest, sea and particularly tourism. It also has a prime geographical location as it shares the borderline with China with three border gates and deepwater seaports. These factors provide very good conditions for industrial, commercial and tourism development. However, I also admitted that enterprises in Quang Ninh have focused on extensive, not intensive, investment in recent years, leading to difficulties in environment, infrastructure and human resources. In the development process, many resources have not been effectively exploited and extractive operations are mainly focused on non-renewable resources. This will do more harm than good.
What are the factors that help companies and Quang Ninh economy in general to develop sustainably and effectively?
Sustainable development is always a big issue, not only for Quang Ninh province but also for the country as a whole. In Quang Ninh, in recent years, factors driving development like infrastructure, human resources and development strategy have been focused on and improved. However, in general, the issue of sustainable development in Quang Ninh needs more coherent and strategic solutions. The infrastructure system of Quang Ninh is not invested in advance to spur economic development. Besides, enterprises lack business knowledge and a high-quality workforce. The second challenge, then, is high-quality human resource training.
At present, apart from large State-owned enterprises like coal, electricity and cement producers which extract non-renewable resources, businesses are mainly medium and small-sized enterprises operating in the fields of tourism, services, trade and ground levelling. The number of enterprises with high-end industrial products remains very small. Thus, it looks like Quang Ninh province is very developed on the surface, but it is weak in nature.
From that reality, sustainable development is specifically built on renewable resources like forests, sea, natural and cultural heritages. Hence, the province needs specific policies and methods to tap these resources to promote economic development. In a broader view, creating a favourable business environment is the main engine for economic development. Therefore, the province needs appropriate localised policies. And, the biggest challenge is human factors, from human resources to policymakers.
What policy or recommendation does the Alliance propose to support its members to develop?
In the coming time, the Alliance will continue exercising its functions and tasks of representing and protecting legitimate and legal rights and interests of businesses and cooperatives. With the operating motto “Always listening to and taking timely action for the sake of business and cooperative development," the Alliance will continue stepping up cooperative and business development support like providing business administration and legal knowledge for businesspeople, transferring and applying science and technology to businesspeople and businesses, supporting fundraising, trade promotion and market information activities, strengthening cooperation with businesses, organising dialogues, and consulting businesspeople in the process of policymaking and lawmaking.
In addition, the Alliance will propose that the Provincial People’s Committee set up an SME Development Support Fund and Cooperative Development Support Fund, carry out village development programmes in rural areas, launch vocational training programmes for rural workers, build model cooperatives, cooperative - company cooperation models, support cooperatives to build up brands, and enhance competitiveness.
Vietnamese
