Hanoi (VNA) – Prime Minister Pham MinhChinh affirmed that businesses and entrepreneurs play a crucial role in the cause of national construction and development when he chaired a hybrid meeting between permanent cabinet members and outstanding businesspeople in Hanoi on October 11.

Speaking at the meeting, held on the occasion of the VietnameseEntrepreneurs' Day (October 13), the PM said Party General Secretary Nguyen PhuTrong, on behalf of the Politburo, has signed to issue a resolution datedOctober 10 on developing and promoting the role of Vietnamese entrepreneurs inthe new period.

He praised the businesses and entrepreneurs who haveworked to advance the positions of Vietnamese products in the internationalmarket, thereby enhancing the national economy’s self-reliance.

The leader stressed that Vietnam is home to nearly900,000 operating businesses, about 14,400 cooperatives and more than 5 millionbusiness households. The business circle contributes more than 60% of thenational GDP, and about 30% of the total workforce.

Notably, after more than 36 years of reform, the country's GDP stoodat about 409 billion USD last year, up 51 times. In the 1986 – 2022 period,Vietnam was among the five countries with the highest economic growth in theworld. It has become the 4th biggest economy in ASEAN and the 40th largestin the world. Vietnam is in the top 20 economies in terms of internationaltrade.

The Government and the PM will continue to support thebusiness community, stabilise the macroeconomy, control inflation, promotegrowth, ensure major economic balances, maintain security and social order, theleader stressed.

At the same time, the Government will further improvethe business environment, remove unnecessary business conditions, raisenational competitiveness, streamline administrative procedures, and build thedigital economy and the digital government, he went on.

The Government leader also pledged to removebottlenecks in resources mobilisation, production and business, and furtherfacilitate credit access of people and businesses.

He urged ministries, agencies and localities to reviewobstacles facing businesses, and set out plans to quickly and effectivelyhandle them, noting great efforts are needed to speed up public investmentdisbursement.

PM Chinh urged stepping up the application ofscientific-technological advances, startup ecosystem building, personneltraining, national digitalisation, and the formation of domestic andinternational supply and value chains.

He laid emphasis on policies in support ofenterprises, especially in recovery and innovation based on the trends ofdigital transformation, energy transition, green transition, and inclusive and circularbusiness models.

The PM asked the business community to constantly raisetheir competitiveness, reform production and business models, expand the markets,and diversify products and supply chains, while showing their social responsibilityand playing a more active role in poverty reduction.

At the meeting, Minister of Planning and Investment NguyenChi Dung reported that the total revenue of non-state firms in the first halfof this year reached over 11.8 quadrillion VND (482.61 billion USD), anincrease of 16.17% from the same period last year. Meanwhile, the revenue fromstate-owned enterprises was nearly 690 trillion VND, equivalent to 50% of the plan.

Representatives from businesses and associationslauded efforts by the Government and the PM in instructing ministries, agenciesand localities to drastically implement policies and solutions in the newsituation, helping to untangle knots for enterprises in a timely fashion./.