State-owned enterprises must become a constructive force, leading development
Speaking at the opening of the seminar "To let the State economy lead and pave the way in the new era" organized by Tien Phong Newspaper on February 6, 2025, journalist Phung Cong Suong - Editor-in-Chief of Tien Phong Newspaper - said that on January 6, 2026, the Politburo issued Resolution No. 79-NQ/TW on state economic development.
The Resolution affirms that the State economy is the main driving force in a socialist-oriented market economy, playing a role in ensuring macroeconomic stability, major balances of the economy, and at the same time emphasizes the requirement to become a constructive force, leading development, paving the way for new growth drivers.
Representing state-owned enterprises, Mr. Nguyen Tai Anh - Deputy General Director of Vietnam Electricity Group - said that under the direction of the Party and Government, EVN is always ready to undertake difficult tasks, from bringing electricity to islands to mountainous, remote and isolated areas. According to him, Resolution 79 is a guiding principle for state-owned enterprises in general and EVN in particular in the new development stage.
After the resolution was issued, implementing the direction of the Government and the Ministry of Finance, EVN has developed a deployment plan and at the same time adjusted the development strategy according to the direction of leading and opening the way. The focus is on the requirement to operate according to market principles, on the basis of an increasingly complete legal framework, including the Electricity Law, government decrees and guiding circulars of the Ministry of Industry and Trade.
Mr. Nguyen Tai Anh emphasized that the electricity price mechanism will be gradually improved in the direction of transparency, harmonizing interests between the State, businesses and electricity users, ensuring energy security and encouraging economical and efficient electricity use.
Mr. Tai Anh also said that in the coming time, EVN has a number of recommendations: Continue to have a mechanism to improve to adjust costs to be transparent and harmonize adjusted benefits; consider market prices to ensure energy security; build electricity prices to ensure efficient and economical electricity use.
Over the past time, images of electricity industry workers repairing incidents in hot weather, storms, floods, and natural disasters; images of EVN's completed projects have helped customers feel more sympathetic and love, sharing difficulties with the electricity industry.
Strong enough mechanism for key infrastructure
Regarding the infrastructure sector, Ms. Duong Thanh Ha - Deputy Head of the Inspection and Audit Board, Vietnam Railways Corporation (VNR) - said that Resolution 79 continues to affirm the foundational role of the State economy in ensuring the autonomy and competitiveness of the economy. In the field of essential transport infrastructure and services, state-owned enterprises play an important role in ensuring socio-economic security and sustainable development.
According to Ms. Duong Thanh Ha, the railway industry is facing an urgent requirement to modernize the infrastructure system, improve service quality and competitiveness in the context of increasing pressure of innovation. Over the past time, VNR has implemented organizational restructuring, innovated management methods and applied information technology in operation, but the current mechanism is still a major barrier to both infrastructure investment and operation organization.
She believes that, despite the State's major policies, including the orientation of developing high-speed railways, the implementation process in reality still faces many obstacles. The birth of Resolution 79 and the State's companionship in synchronously implementing solutions are expected to create momentum for businesses to break through and increase the contribution proportion of the transport sector to the economy. To achieve this goal, the State needs to have strong enough mechanisms, suitable to the specific characteristics of the key infrastructure sector.
Positioning national investors, towards international standards
Sharing about the role of State capital, Mr. Le Thanh Tuan - Deputy General Director of the State Capital Investment and Trading Corporation - assessed that Resolution 79 is a special milestone in the approach to the State economy and state-owned enterprises. For the first time, the concept of "national investment fund" is clearly stated in a resolution of the Politburo, posing new requirements for SCIC when positioned as a national investor.
According to Mr. Le Thanh Tuan, after 20 years of operation with the role of separating state management and capital ownership function, SCIC has achieved many results, with a total state budget contribution of about 140,000 billion VND and an investment portfolio of more than 100 enterprises. However, the current model also reveals limitations, requiring strong transformation to meet new expectations.
In the strategy for the next period, SCIC focuses on the fields of innovation, technology and digital transformation, and at the same time researches participation in the establishment of venture capital funds to create spillover effects for the economy. Learning from the experience of national investment funds around the world, including the Temasek model of Singapore, is identified as a direction to approach international standards, operate according to market principles and increase the value of national assets.
