Minister of Finance Ho Duc Phoc: conserving and developing every State capital at enterprise

Minister of Finance Ho Duc Phoc made a speech at the workshop. Photo: Đức Minh

Creating the best condition for State-owned enterprises development

Minister of Finance Ho Duc Phoc emphasized that the Party and State's policy is to build an independent and self-reliant Vietnamese economy with numerous strong domestic enterprises. However, currently, FDI enterprises account for approximately 73-75% of export turnover, necessitating the growth of Vietnamese enterprises, particularly state-owned enterprises (SOEs), to achieve breakthroughs in development and enter challenging and innovative fields.

To achieve this, legal policies must create optimal conditions to promote SOE development, autonomy, and accountability.

Minister Ho Duc Phoc pointed out that, in reality, SOEs face more difficulties than private enterprises in terms of technological innovation due to numerous regulations related to project investment, approval, and bidding processes. Moreover, the management mechanisms of many SOEs still involve multiple layers, and the allocation and arrangement of personnel remain challenging.

Therefore, in implementation of National Assembly Resolution No. 129/2024/QH15 on the Law Building Program for 2025 and the adjustment of the Law Building Program for 2024, the Ministry of Finance is drafting the Law on Management and Investment of State Capital in Enterprises, replacing Law No. 69 on Management and Use of State Capital Invested in Business Production at Enterprises, based on the summarization and evaluation of the implementation of Law No. 69 over the past period.

The draft law is currently being sent to ministries, agencies, enterprises, and relevant organizations for comments before being submitted to the Ministry of Justice for appraisal. At the 8th Session in October, the draft law will be submitted to the National Assembly for the first review, passed at the 9th Session (May 2025), and is expected to take effect from January 1, 2026.

The Minister of Finance emphasized that this is a very important law impacting SOEs, including defense enterprises. Therefore, widespread consultation and practical contributions will help complete the draft law in a manner that is both practical and conducive to future development.

However, Minister Ho Duc Phoc said that the Ministry of Finance has received many feedback from enterprises stating that the draft law is not comprehensive and overlaps, while the Party and State's policy is that enterprises are completely equal before the law, without any bias between enterprise types.

"Mechanisms and policies must ensure that when a state capital is invested in an enterprise, the business owner is facilitated to use it, but must preserve and develop the capital, create jobs, generate profits, and pay taxes to the state. This will help SOEs to grow and become more efficient," emphasized the Minister of Finance.

Sharing this view, Chairman of the National Assembly's Financial and Budget Committee Le Quang Manh stated that reviewing the legal system, mechanisms, and policies on SOEs, especially mechanisms related to state capital and asset management in enterprises, as well as restructuring, innovating, and improving SOE efficiency, is extremely urgent and necessary.

"Enterprises in a market economy always compete on an equal footing, in the same game, but SOEs have many binding regulations, so it is necessary to upgrade, innovate, and modernize enterprise management tools," said Le Quang Manh.

Need to align with the characteristics of defense enterprises

From the perspective of defense industry enterprises, Lieutenant General Vu Hai San, Deputy Minister of Defence, stated that the draft Law has inherited fundamental advantages and overcome difficulties after 10 years of implementing Law No. 69. Many policies have created changes, progress, and solutions to difficulties for enterprises, while simultaneously creating motivation for enterprise development.

The Deputy Minister of Defense said that the Ministry is developing a project to restructure military enterprises in the 2021-2025 period, with the expectation that the number of military enterprises will be reduced from 104 to 54 100% state-owned enterprises. Of these, about 40 enterprises directly perform military and defense tasks, while the rest are economic enterprises combined with defense...

Based on the proposed policy groups, representatives of many corporations and general corporations in the defense sector have highly appreciated the amendments of the draft Law. However, due to the specific nature of the defense and military sector, enterprises have requested the drafting board to pay attention so that the policies both ensure regulations on the management and use of capital in enterprises and meet the requirements and suit the practical operations of the military, contributing to socio-economic development and ensuring national defense and security.