The Vietnam Business Forum (VBF) on competition and sustainable development opened in Hanoi on December 2 by the Ministry of Planning and Investment, the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) on the threshold of the Consultative Group (CG) Meeting 2010.
Participants discussed challenges that Vietnam is facing and proposed solutions for a more efficient business and investment environment.
Representatives from organisations and domestic and foreign businesses associations gave optimistic assessments of what Vietnam achieved in 2010 and said that it has been successful in rising itself from a low-income country to a middle-income one.
According to a survey of Vietnam’s business environment conducted in September 2010, the level of optimism increased over 2009 with brighter business prospects for the following years. 75 percent of the businesses polled, plan to expand their business in the next three years.
The delegates also heard reports on banking activities, the capital market, production, distribution and exploitation of minerals, seaport development, tourism and telecommunications. They asked the Government and relevant agencies to help businesses iron out snags to create a better business environment.
The Chairman of the European Chamber of Commerce, Alain Cany, said the key to long -term and steady development is to shift export from low value added products to those with high added value and produce more refined products, especially those creatively applying high-technology.
