The PM, speaking on January 15 at the ministry’s conference to implement 2018 tasks, urged the ministry to closely watch socio-economic developments to raise measures to meet growth targets this year.
Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung said that the socio-economic development in 2017 would create the impetus for the country to enter a new period of growth, one more efficient, sustainable and inclusive.
The ministry was striving to enhance public management and improve the investment climate to promote production and efficiently attract private and direct foreign investment resources, he added.
In 2018, the ministry would focus on the compilation of laws to submit to the National Assembly, such as the Law on Special Administrative-Economic Units, the amended laws on public investment and enterprise as well as the law on investment under public-private partnership practice, Deputy Minister Nguyen Van Trung said.
This year, the Vietnamese economy was expected to face a lot of difficulties from the uncertainty in the global economy, the return of protectionism, climate change, international integration and the fourth industrial revolution, Trung said.
However, opportunities abound, given the Government’s efforts to promote innovation associated with the industry 4.0 and enhance productivity and national competitiveness, he added.
The core is maintaining macroecnomic stability and taking advantage of every opportunity to create breakthroughs, Trung stressed. He also stated that his ministry would focus on studying policies to effectively raise every resource for development investment, as well as solutions to hasten economic restructuring in line with renovating the growth model and enhancing growth quality.
Nguyen Dinh Cung, Director of the Central Institute for Economic Management, said that Vietnam was a developing country and it was pressing to narrow the gap with developed economies in the region and in the world. To achieve this goal, Vietnam must achieve an annual GDP growth rate of at least 8-10%, he stated, adding that the ministry must do more in its role as the economy’s conductor.
