General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong's imprints in three economic resolutions

The resolutions on the development of the private economy, selective foreign investment, and the establishment of the Vietnamese entrepreneur team in the new age indicate the Party's strategic vision and direction for national growth. The imprints of General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, who signed the three resolutions on behalf of the Politburo and the Party Central Committee, are very obvious.

Making the private economy an important driving force

Faced with the demands of national development, after the 5th Central Conference of the 12th Party Central Committee, General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, on behalf of the Party Central Committee, signed Resolution 10-NQ/TW on June 3, 2017, on the development of the private economy as an important driving force of the socialist-oriented market economy.

Resolution 10 opened a new development space for the private economic sector, whereby the Party identified: “The private economy is an important driving force for economic development. The state economy, collective economy, and private economy are the backbone for developing an independent and autonomous economy. Encourage and create favorable conditions for the private economy to develop rapidly, sustainably, and diversely, with high growth rates in quantity, scale, quality, and contribution ratio in GDP.”

In Resolution 10, the Party also set specific goals for the development of the private economic sector. These include focusing on improving the quality and efficiency of the private economic sector; striving to have at least 1 million enterprises by 2020, over 1.5 million enterprises by 2025, and at least 2 million enterprises by 2030.

The growth rate of the private economy should be higher than the overall economic growth rate; striving to increase the contribution ratio of the private economic sector to GDP to about 50% by 2020, about 55% by 2025, and about 60–65% by 2030.

To develop the private economic sector, the Party has proposed various solutions to create a favorable investment and business environment for the private economy, focusing on perfecting mechanisms and policies to attract private investment and ensure the operation of the private economy according to market mechanisms.

It is needed to fully institutionalize and ensure the strict implementation of freedom of business, property rights, and civil rights and obligations of organizations and individuals according to the law.

There are mechanisms and policies to encourage the establishment of private enterprises, narrow the fields of conditional business, and create conditions for the private economy to invest, develop production, and conduct business in industries, fields, and localities not prohibited by law, in line with socio-economic development strategies for each period.

At the same time, encourage and create conditions for household businesses to expand their scale, improve operational efficiency, and voluntarily link to form cooperative organizations or transform to operate according to the enterprise model through corporate income tax exemptions and reductions, land use fee exemptions in the early years of operation.

As of mid-2023, the country has more than 800,000 operating enterprises, with about 7 million entrepreneurs, the private economic sector contributes nearly 45% of the country's GDP, one-third of the state budget revenue, over 40% of total social investment capital, and creates jobs for 85% of the country's labor force. The private economy plays an important role in international trade activities, accounting for 35% of total import turnover and 25% of total export turnover.

Building national entrepreneurial team as a core force for economic development

To develop an independent and autonomous economy, in the first year of his first term as the highest leader of the Party, on December 9, 2011, General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, on behalf of the Politburo, signed Resolution No. 09-NQ/TW of the 11th Politburo on building and promoting the role of the Vietnamese entrepreneur team in the period of accelerating industrialization, modernization, and international integration.

Following this spirit, 12 years later, the Politburo, under the leadership of General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong issued Resolution 41-NQ/TW on October 10, 2023, on building and promoting the role of the Vietnamese entrepreneur team in the new period. Resolution 41 was born with very new, very strong views on developing our country's entrepreneurial team.

In Resolution 41, for the first time, the entrepreneur team was affirmed to have a position and role as "one of the core forces contributing to promoting the cause of industrialization, modernization of the country and international integration, building and developing an independent and autonomous economy, and ensuring national defense and security."

The Party sets the task of creating a favorable, safe, and equal investment and business environment for entrepreneurs and enterprises to develop and contribute. For the first time, the elements of “safety and equality” were included in the requirements for building a business environment, which were warmly welcomed by the business community. Particularly, the solution to "supplement appropriate economic sanctions to handle violations, not criminalize economic relations..." shows the vision of the General Secretary and the Politburo thoroughly understanding the practical needs and aspirations of entrepreneurs and enterprises.

Resolution 41 sets out the requirement to "issue a strategy to develop the national, sectoral, and local entrepreneur teams associated with the overall goals, targets by 2030 and vision to 2045," while "having breakthrough policies to form and develop national enterprises." These are very new, very strong directions and solutions, consistent with the Party's goal of forming a Vietnamese entrepreneur team by 2030 with scale, capacity, and level to meet the goals of industrialization and modernization of the country. We are striving to have more and more enterprises reaching regional levels, some reaching global levels, some large enterprises playing leading roles in key industries and fields, some having important positions in global supply chains and value chains, mastering some industrial and agricultural value chains, and international competitiveness in key, priority, and spearhead industries.

After the Party issued Resolution 41-NQ/TW, the Government issued Resolution 66/NQ-CP with the specific goal of having at least 2 million enterprises nationwide by 2030. Among them, 70 enterprises with a capitalization of over 1 billion USD, 120 enterprises with net revenue of over 1 billion USD, 100 enterprises with pre-tax profits of over 100 million USD, 10 Vietnamese entrepreneurs entering the list of USD billionaires globally, and 5 globally powerful entrepreneurs. The private enterprise sector contributes 65-70% of the national GDP.

By 2024, Vietnam had six entrepreneurs entering the list of USD billionaires globally, owning private corporations operating in various fields such as real estate, automobile manufacturing, aviation business, steel production, banking, mining, and retail.

Additionally, according to the report by Henley & Partners in collaboration with New World Wealth, Vietnam currently has about 19,400 millionaires with assets over USD 1 million, nearly 58 millionaires with assets over 100 million USD. From 2013-2023, the number of USD millionaires in Vietnam has increased by 98%, nearly doubling. This growth rate surpasses even China (92%), India (65%), and the US (62%).

The rapid growth of the Vietnamese private sector and the rapid increase of successful entrepreneurs from 2011 to now have confirmed the correct direction of the Party, headed by General Secretary Nguyễn Phú Trọng, in supporting and opening development space for the private economy, aiming towards a prosperous, independent, and autonomous economy.

Selective FDI Investment

Recent successes in attracting FDI investment also show the clear policy of the Party, headed by General Secretary Nguyễn Phú Trọng, in directing selective FDI investment.

In 2017 - 2018, registered FDI capital into Vietnam reached record levels of 35.88 billion USD and 35.46 billion USD respectively, but many issues related to outdated technology and environmental pollution arose. On August 20, 2019, General Secretary Nguyễn Phú Trọng, on behalf of the Politburo, signed Resolution No. 50-NQ/TW on the orientation of completing the institution, policies, and improving the quality and efficiency of foreign investment cooperation until 2030.

Resolution 50-NQ/TW can be considered a strategic change in attracting FDI, as Vietnam transitioned to a phase of selective FDI attraction, proactively attracting, and selectively cooperating with foreign investments, focusing on quality, efficiency, technology, and environmental protection as the main evaluation criteria. Priority is given to projects with advanced, new, high-quality, and clean technology, modern management, high added value, spillover effects, and connections with global production and supply chains.

At the same time, the Party also identifies the foreign-invested economic sector as an important component of Vietnam's economy, encouraging and facilitating long-term development, cooperation, and healthy competition with other economic sectors. The state respects and protects the legitimate rights and interests of investors; ensures harmonious benefits between the state, investors, and workers in enterprises.

This is the foundation for numerous technology giants to come to invest in Vietnam in recent years, gradually forming a domestic semiconductor industry ecosystem. The role of the foreign investment sector in Vietnam's economy is increasingly significant, with foreign investment being a crucial economic growth driver.

It can be seen that the key growth drivers of Vietnam's economy today, such as exports, attracting foreign investment, and the strong development of the domestic private sector from 2011 to now, demonstrate the correct development direction of the Party, in which the important role of the head is General Secretary Nguyễn Phú Trọng.

Thanks to the correct orientation and timely direction of the Party, the country's economy has achieved high growth rates in recent years, with GDP size reaching 435 billion USD by early 2024, ranking 35th in the world. Vietnam has and continues to be an attractive investment destination for leading global technology corporations, and Vietnam's international standing is increasingly being enhanced, as the General Secretary has repeatedly affirmed: “Our country has never had the potential, position, and international prestige as it does today.”

The Vietnamese business community will never forget General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong's concern. At the beginning of his first term as General Secretary of the Party, after signing Resolution No. 09 on December 9, 2011, on building and promoting the role of the Vietnamese entrepreneur team, General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong visited the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry on December 17, 2011, met with representatives of the national business community, and directly disseminated Resolution No. 09. With Resolution No. 41, I still remember the Politburo meeting to discuss and comment on August 18, 2023, when the General Secretary requested to  complete and issue it early before Vietnam Entrepreneurs Day to encourage entrepreneurs. When asked if the VCCI President had any additional comments before the meeting ended, I boldly suggested inviting the General Secretary to meet with the national business community on Vietnam Entrepreneurs Day. Knowing the health condition and busy schedule of the General Secretary, I was deeply moved and surprised when the General Secretary simply agreed: “If invited, I will attend.” On the morning of October 11, 2023, the National Meeting of Business Associations and Vietnamese Entrepreneurs was organized by VCCI in Hanoi, although for objective reasons, the General Secretary could not attend, the entrepreneurs still felt the deep affection and concern of the General Secretary when they were delighted to receive two major gifts: a congratulatory flower basket and Resolution 41, signed by the General Secretary less than 24 hours before the opening of the meeting! Now the General Secretary has passed away, but the memories, affection, warm concern, and mark left by the General Secretary will remain forever in the Vietnamese business and entrepreneur community.