On the afternoon of July 29, the Institute for Economic and Financial Policy Analysis under the Viet Nam Economic Association held a workshop themed “Positioning the Leading Role of State-Owned Enterprises in the New Stage of Development.”
In his opening and introductory remarks, Assoc Prof, Dr Bui Quang Tuan, Vice Chairman of the Viet Nam Economic Science Association, referred to Politburo Resolution No. 79-NQ/TW on developing the state economy, which identifies the state economy as an especially important component of the socialist-oriented market economy, with a pioneering role in enabling development, leading, and paving the way.
Assessing the role of the state economy in leading and supporting the development of other economic sectors in the socialist-oriented market economy, Dr Nguyen Cao Duc, Deputy Director of the Institute for European and American Studies, pointed out six groups of functions that reflect this role: macroeconomic stabilisation, opening the way for key sectors, support and spillover, leading innovation, enabling linkages, and mobilising resources.
According to Dr Nguyen Cao Duc, the approach adopted is a functional one, viewing the state sector as an institution for regulation and development enablement, rather than merely as an ownership sector.
Duc emphasised that when the yardstick shifts from the scale of holdings to the quality of regulation, and from isolated intervention to the capacity to organise ecosystems, the state economy can truly fulfil its role in leading and supporting other economic sectors to develop together in the digital era.
At the workshop, Dr Pham Anh Tuan, Deputy Director of the Viet Nam and World Economy Institute, pointed out current limitations of the state economy, including state-owned enterprises. According to Tuan, state-owned enterprises have yet to match the resources they hold, as their efficiency, competitiveness, innovation capacity, and ability to lead key sectors and fields remain limited.
In this context, Assoc Prof, Dr Bui Quang Tuan, Vice Chairman of the Viet Nam Economic Science Association, said state-owned enterprises should be viewed not only as production and business entities, but also as development actors, capable of investing in foundational fields, creating new markets, and leading the process of accumulating the development capabilities that the economy needs for the future.
