Ho Chi Minh's Ideology Long Lives with Vietnamese Entrepreneurs

Late President Ho Chi Minh remarked on the importance of the business circle very soon, about 40 days Vietnam proclaimed independence. Since then, he always took special care of enterprises and entrepreneurs and treasured their roles to the national reconstruction.

 

Today, October 13 is the Vietnam Entrepreneur Day. According to Dr Bui Dinh Phong, Ho Chi Minh and Party Leaders Institute under the Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics and Public Administration, this is an honour but also a great responsibility, not only of entrepreneurs and enterprises but also of the entire society. Because the cause of national renovation is to make the people rich and the country powerful but this is built on an aspiring, brave, enterprising and venturing businesspeople who have a high sense of law observance, strategic visions and creative business philosophies. The spirit of those contents is found in Ho Chi Minh’s legacy.

Dr. Vu Tien Loc, President of VCCI, said: The objectives to be achieved in the coming period are to build a strong entrepreneur force with sufficient capacity and level to lead and operate a system business with high competitiveness, national spirit, social responsibility, coherence and active participation in global production networks and global value chains to play decisive roles in the cause of national industrialisation and modernisation and international integration. By 2020, the entrepreneur force will have a long stride in business quality and structure, with higher proportion of large and medium enterprises. Many companies will reach regional and international scales.

 

Mr. Loc added the First Draft Party Document clearly states that the private sector is one of the motive forces of the economy in addition to other sectors like the State sector and collective. This is an enormous and meaningful change for the private sector and the business community in Vietnam.

 

Most participants to the conference were confident that, with the thoughts of President Ho Chi Minh, the Party's resolutions will open a new era breakthrough entrepreneur development in the cause of fighting against poverty and enriching the nation.

The business circle said that the Draft Socioeconomic Development Strategy for the 2011 - 2020 period mentioning the implementation of national business development programmes in association with the process of corporate restructuring is very praiseworthy. In fact, the Party and the State have acknowledged and created favourable conditions for entrepreneurs and the private sector to play their roles. Recently, Secretariat of the Party Central Committee issued the Conclusion No. 64-KL/TW on further innovation of mechanisms and policies, and encouragement and facilitation of private sector to develop. The Secretariat raised its advocacy to a mechanism which allows private enterprises to approach official development aid (ODA) as the state-owned enterprises do. This advocacy has received strong support of businesspeople.

 

However, Mr Vu Quoc Tuan, Chairman of Vietnam Handicraft Village Association, said, in reality, there are behaviours of inequality and discrimination to the private economic sector. So, Mr Tuan pointed out that the Draft Political Document needs to define that the private sector is the "main force" instead of "one of the driving forces" of economic development, and the private sector development is a strategic task.

 

Dr Nguyen Minh Phong of Hanoi Institute for Socioeconomic Development Research noted that amongst three strategic breakthroughs stated in the draft Socioeconomic Development Strategy for the 2010 -2020 period, the change in economic regime has the greatest significance in creating motive forces for economic development in the decades to come.

 

According to Dr Vu Tien Loc, in addition to the national business development programme, Vietnam needs to have programmes and strategies to build the entrepreneur force in the new era. “The Politburo has been assigned VCCI to draft a resolution on this issue and the draft is in the process of appraising," said Loc.

Many participants also said the Draft Strategy needs to define more clearly, sufficiently, thoroughly, specifically and scientifically the leading roles of the State economy, collective economy and the public ownership of production materials. They expected to see proper roles of private economic sector in the Draft Document.