Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnam will continue to build asafe, transparent and highly competitive business and investment environment,enabling businesses and investors, including foreign ones to operate for a longterm in the country, stated Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh while chairing aconference with foreign direct investment (FDI) firms in Hanoi on October 16.

The conference, which drew representatives from 15associations and 180 FDI firms, follows the PM’s meeting withforeign investors held in April, affirming the Government's special attention to and companionshipwith the business community and foreign investors.

Highly valuing foreign businesses’ selection of Vietnam astheir investment destination and their contributions to the country’ssocio-economic development, PM Chinh vowed that the Government of Vietnamalways protects the legitimate rights and interest of businesses in anycircumstances, and accompanies businesses to overcome difficulties andchallenges for their long-term and stable operations in Vietnam under the motto of“harmonious interest, shared risks”.

Vietnam will not criminalise economic and civil relations, and will work to ensure a healthy, stable and sustainable business investmentecosystem, he said.

The Government leader affirmed that the Party and State ofVietnam define the foreign-invested sectoras an important component of the Vietnamese economy, and provide optimal conditions for the sector to develop in a long-term manner,cooperate and healthily compete with other economic sectors. The State respectsand protects the legitimate and legal rights and interest of investors, heunderlined.

Highlighting Vietnam’s special attention to creating driving forces for growth, especially emerging industriessuch as semiconductor chips, artificial intelligence (AI), big data,e-commerce, green energy, green economy, circular economy, and sharing economy,the PM said that Vietnam advocates selective investment cooperation, takingquality, efficiency, technology and environmental protection as the mainevaluation criteria. The country commits to creating the best business environmenttowards OECD standards, he added.  

PM Chinh asked ministries, sectors and localities tocontinue effectively implementing policies and laws regarding the improvementof investment and business environment, while reviewing, adjusting andsupplementing foreign cooperation policies to suit the reality, and listeningto the ideas of businesses and investors, including foreign ones, to settle allarising problems.

He proposed that the business community continue to build long-term, sustainable and environmentally-friendly business strategies,reforming their production and business models towards greeneconomy, digital economy, circular economy, knowledge economy, and climatechange response.

The success of investors is the success of Vietnam itself, everyone wins and no one is left behind, he stressed.

It was reported at the conference that in the first nine months of thisyear, Vietnam showed strong socio-economic performance, with a growth rate of4.24%, average consumer price index rising 3.16%. State budget collectionreached 75.5% of the yearly estimate, while the exemption, reduction, extensionof taxes, fees, charges, and land rent worth 152.5 trillion VND was implemented.

In the January-September period, Vietnam’s exports rose 4.6%and imports increased 2.65% year on year, with a trade surplus of 21.68 billionUSD.

In the period, Vietnam drew 20.21 billion USD of FDI, up7.7% year on year, while 15.91 billion USD of FDI capital was disbursed,representing a rise of 2.2%. As of the end of September, 144 countries andterritories had invested in Vietnam with more than 38.3 trillion projects worthover 455 billion USD, generating jobs for millions of labourers.

The US-based Heritage Foundation placed Vietnam at the 72ndposition among 176 countries and territories in its Index of Economic Freedomrankings for 2023 with 61.8 points, 1.2 points higher than that recorded lastyear. Meanwhile, Financial Times magazine identified Vietnam as one of theseven outstanding economies in a world full of change. Vietnam's national brand value is the fastest growing in the world in the period 2019 - 2022, reaching 431billion USD in 2022.

At the conference, FDI firms pledged to continueaccompanying Vietnam in promoting business and investment in line with the country’spriorities such as science-technology, innovation, digital economy, circulareconomy, sharing economy, green and sustainable growth, and climate changeresponse.

They proposed solutions to rapid recovery and sustainable, and shared their plans on investment and expansion in Vietnam.

Chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam(AmCham Vietnam) John Rockhold said that the upgrade of the US-Vietnamrelations is an ideal opportunity for Vietnam to improve the policy frameworkand investment environment to draw new investment inflows and support investorsand businesses operating in Vietnam.

AmCham will coordinate with the Government of Vietnam tobuild a legal environment to global standards, he said, expressing hope for theVietnamese Government’s support in administrative procedure and access to powersupply, especially renewable energy.

Representatives from foreign business associations and FDIfirms gave some proposals to the Government regarding many issues of their interest, includingtax and emission reduction policy./.