Never before have expectations for entrepreneurs been as high as they are today. If the country’s economy wants to grow, it is indispensable for entrepreneurs to play a pioneering role, dare to think, dare to do, dare to innovate…

On the afternoon of October 16, Vietnam Economic Magazine/VnEconomy organized the New Economic Forum 2024, with the theme ” Creating a new economy: Revolution in digital transformation – green transformation and the pioneering role of enterprises “.

Speaking at the forum, Dr. Tran Thi Hong Minh, Director of the Central Institute for Economic Management (CIEM), emphasized that Vietnam is entering an important period in implementing the 5-year Socio-Economic Development Plan 2021-2025.

Recent figures show that we have achieved significant changes. Economic growth has recovered positively in the first 9 months of 2024, both compared to the same period in previous years and compared to other economies in Asia. Inflation and exchange rates are relatively stable, major balances are guaranteed. Vietnam’s exports and foreign investment have both “breakthroughs” in the context of global economic recovery and investment capital flows shifting to Southeast Asia.

However, the economy is still facing many risks and challenges in long-term development. Economic growth has recovered positively, but still depends significantly on foreign markets and the foreign-invested enterprise sector.

As of mid-July 2024, there were nearly 940,000 businesses operating nationwide, still far from the target of 2 million businesses by 2030. Most businesses are micro, small and medium-sized; the number of large-scale businesses with the capacity to participate and lead important stages in the supply chain is still relatively limited.

In that context, businesses are facing “more difficulties” as many markets are increasing regulations on sustainable development and data, such as the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) or regulations on personal data protection, thereby affecting import activities, including goods from Vietnam.

The CIEM Director added that we are facing new trends, associated with the Industrial Revolution 4.0, digital transformation and green transformation. Many countries, agencies and organizations have been very cautious when approaching policies for these areas, due to concerns about geopolitical issues, conversion costs for the business community, etc.

However, the period since 2021 has witnessed many efforts to “digitalize” and “green” life and production and business activities of enterprises. Right now, we have been hearing a lot about the “unprecedented” changes of new technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI).

In that context, Vietnam has made many efforts, especially in issuing policies for digital transformation and green transformation. The thinking and policy solutions for digital transformation, digital government, digital economy, and digital society have been built and concretized early.

As a result, since 2021, Vietnam has been ranked highest in the East Asia and Pacific region by the European Center for Digital Competitiveness (ECDC) in terms of changing mindset towards digital transformation. The policy and legal framework for green growth and circular economy has also been completed, from the Green Growth Strategy, the Law on Environmental Protection to the Circular Economy Development Project in Vietnam.

Not only stopping at domestic stories, Vietnam has proactively cooperated with suitable partners on digital transformation and green transformation. Vietnam and Singapore have established a Digital Economy – Green Economy Partnership since 2023.

However, it must be frankly admitted that the business community does not understand much, does not invest much, does not implement much, and does not benefit much from the digital transformation and green transformation process.

For policy-making agencies, this is a worrying reality, not only in terms of the quality of documents but also in terms of the lack of practices at the enterprise level to develop more specific, “close-to-home” policies. For example, without information and coordination from enterprises, officials and civil servants will never be able to research and specify their own standards for circular economy projects in a specific field.

Even though CIEM has a lot of experience in using quantitative models to assess the impact of policies, it still faces many difficulties in “quantifying” the impact of policy proposals for the circular economy, especially for businesses. Lack of information and sharing of lessons learned from successes and failures of previous businesses will also cause businesses to have to explore, spend money, and even hesitate to invest in transformation.

It is here that digital transformation and green transformation need to be viewed as a process, in which the prerequisite is to have a healthy, substantive and strong partnership between policy-making agencies, the business community and research institutes.

Today’s forum is held in the context of the 79th anniversary of Vietnam Entrepreneurs’ Day. Never before have expectations for entrepreneurs been as high as they are today. If the country’s economy wants to grow, it is indispensable for entrepreneurs to play a pioneering role, dare to think, dare to do, dare to innovate.

To that extent, digital transformation and green transformation are difficult requirements, but can also “give wings” to Vietnamese enterprises to develop in both international and domestic markets.

“With that in mind, I hope that today’s Forum will discuss, suggest important practices, experiences, lessons and recommendations from both a policy perspective and a business perspective to promote digital transformation and green transformation. Thereby, we hope to have more and more pioneering businesses implementing digital transformation and green transformation, in a favorable institutional environment for entrepreneurs to “want to grow, dare to grow, and be able to play big”, Dr. Tran Thi Hong Minh emphasized.