Hanoi (VNA) - Renovating thegrowth model and raising productivity are the key tasks to develop Vietnam’seconomy, said Vu Tien Loc, chairman of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce andIndustry (VCCI), at a conference held in Hanoi on January 22.

The issue of competitiveness isincreasingly receiving the attention of governments in many nations. Raising Vietnam’scompetitiveness is also a major concern of the Vietnamese Party and the State.

A country’s overall competitiveness isaffected by many factors, such as the brands, market share, productivity,living standards and institutional quality.

However, according to VCCI’s researchresults, productivity is the core driving force that accounts for thedifference in competitiveness among nations, Loc said.

Despite the increase in its competitivenessranking, Vietnam’s labour productivity is only equal to 87 percent of that in Laos.In addition, exports of Vietnamese rice are lower than in Cambodia, althoughLao and Cambodia are two of the least developed countries in the region. Locsaid this situation is a big problem for Vietnam.

Because many criteria affect the economy’scompetitiveness, VCCI proposes to formulate an analytical framework for Vietnam’snational competitiveness, including economic factors and the strengths of thecountry. This framework will aim not to create a new ranking but to providesolutions to promote the productivity and competitiveness of Vietnam, Locadded.

VCCI’s chairman also proposed to conductresearch on six issues to improve productivity for the national economy.

The first issue is policy. Currently, theGovernment has taken drastic action on legal reform and reform ofadministrative procedures.

The second area is industrial policy andthe development of markets, which are ineffective and unable to lead theeconomy at the moment.

The third topic is the transfer of publicservices. Fourthly, the equitisation and restructuring of State-ownedenterprises (SOEs) is an important issue because SOEs are currently notoperating effectively.

Fifth, shifting agricultural activities toindustry and service is a key factor because 40 percent of GDP and 60 percentof labour is in agriculture. If the shift is to be successful, it is importantto promote productivity.

The sixth issue is the transformation ofindividual business households into enterprises, as this could help improvelabour productivity in the country.

Loc also suggested training programmes toenhance the management capacity of the leaders of small and micro businesses,as such enterprises will be the drivers of the world economy, especially withthe development of the Industrial Revolution 4.0.

The event was organised by VCCI incooperation with the Central Theoretical Council.- VNA