Viet Nam is piloting the development of State economic groups while preparatory work is also underway to promote their private sector counterparts. What do you think about this?
It is an objective, inevitable demand to grow from a small enterprise to a big one and then ultimately into an economic group. An enterprise will be a failure if it cannot grow.
Viet Nam should observe how foreign economic groups develop: they are self-invested, self-accumulated and concentrate capital.
It is essential to attract capital from outside and merge companies together to promote accumulation. To do so, the State must create a favourable legal environment to help businessmen accumulate, re-invest to develop while creating conditions to attract capital from outside and help enterprises merge together into larger economic entities.
Besides this, the State must protect investors so as they will be willing to contribute funds to enterprises. Enterprises must prove their competence to investors through their good management and skilled human resources.
Private enterprises are jealous of policies that have been granted to favour State economic groups. Yet there are no specific legal regulations relating to private enterprises yet.
The comparison is not accurate. It is necessary to make clear the Government's role in State economic groups. Here, its role is not only as a State administrative manager; State economic groups are also under its ownership.
The Government, also known as an owner, is able to merge enterprises within State economic group. Similarly, no one prohibits private owners from merging their affiliated enterprises into an economic group. There isn't an inequality between the two at this point.
Perhaps a misunderstanding lies in a fact that the Government has different roles in different areas simultaneously, so in some cases people have not understood the function of the State in a particular instance.
What should the Government do to support private economic groups to grow and increase efficiency?
Let's work equally and don't ask the Government to do anything. What we can do is to recommend that the Government creates the most favourable conditions in legislation, and protects the legal status of investors. Everybody wants the private economic sector to grow, the more they develop, the better it is, but its growth must be strong and sustainable.
What conditions need to be taken into account when making the decision to establish private economic groups?
State and private economic groups are equal in terms of law; the question is whether they are really interested in creating the necessary conditions for establishing larger economic groups. Are private enterprises good enough to attract external investors anyway? Is a family business willing to open its doors to an outside investor? In most cases, family businesses don't want outsiders in their business as they aren't sure of the results.
Is it now a suitable time to establish private economic groups?
We can't say whether it's a suitable time or not because the establishment of private economic groups is a natural proccess of development. It is private owners who will decide time to establish private economic groups and not the State.
The Government has already issued a decree on the management of State economic groups. Will it do the same for the private sector?
It won't happen.-VNS
