Supporting small and medium-sized enterprises to gradually grow stronger
According to Mr. Nguyen Huu Nam - Deputy Director of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) Ho Chi Minh City branch, the biggest expectation of businesses in 2026 is that administrative procedures will be truly lighter and more convenient.
Reality shows that most Vietnamese businesses are small and medium-sized enterprises - the group most vulnerable to market fluctuations. While FDI businesses often have "shields" from diplomatic missions and strong associations, many domestic small and medium-sized enterprises still have to fend for themselves, causing their competitive advantages to be narrowed.
Mr. Nguyen Huu Nam said that the urgent requirement now is to realize Resolution 68-NQ/TW of the Politburo on private economic development with specific, practical support policies and focusing on vulnerable business groups.
Accordingly, the understanding and service attitude of the team of officials, civil servants, and public employees directly working with businesses plays a key role. All procedures need to be seen as tools to support private economic development, not become barriers.
In the long term, Mr. Nam believes that key industries such as electronics, garment, and footwear will still be dominated by FDI enterprises. However, the real benefits returning to the Vietnamese economy from these industries are still modest due to mainly processing. Therefore, the core problem is not only in attracting FDI, but in building a system of consistent and streamlined policies and orientations from the Central to local levels, in order to create conditions for Vietnamese enterprises, especially small and medium-sized enterprises, to gradually grow stronger, increase value and master the supply chain.
Promoting domestic consumption helps businesses expand their scale
Mr. Nguyen Quoc Khanh - Chairman of the Vietnam Timber and Forest Product Association (Viforest) - said that it is time for domestic wood businesses to proactively switch to exporting high value-added products, increase intellectual property content, promote marketing, design and increase localization rates. According to him, with the leading role and the focus of about 70% of wood furniture exporting businesses, Ho Chi Minh City is qualified to form a high-value wood furniture brand, along with a synchronous human resource, management, technology and logistics ecosystem, effectively connecting with the global market.
From a business perspective, Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Hoa - Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City Business Association (HUBA) expressed his full agreement with the solutions that the Ministry of Industry and Trade is implementing to promote domestic consumption, considering this an important driving force to help businesses expand their scale and maintain stable production.
To make the pillars effective, according to him, it is necessary to synchronize three key requirements including promoting institutional reform, soon promulgating mechanisms for the International Finance Center and the State Economic sector; improving implementation capacity, decentralization, and clear delegation of power...
From a research perspective, Dr. Tran Quang Thang - Director of the Institute for Economic and Management Research of Ho Chi Minh City, said that in 2025, the health of the business sector in the city has improved significantly. Ho Chi Minh City achieved GRDP growth of about 8.3%, inflation is controlled, showing that the economy is gradually regaining its pace after a period of many difficulties. However, this recovery process has not taken place uniformly.
Over the past time, Vietnam has issued many policies to support businesses, from credit, production space, human resource training to administrative procedure reform and shortening inspection and examination time. However, the number of businesses that actually have access to these policies is still very limited, only about 11 businesses with a total support capital of 4,270 billion VND.
To create a spillover effect, Ho Chi Minh City needs to expand the scale of support, with the goal of at least about 1,000 businesses benefiting" - Mr. Thang proposed. He also expects that in 2026, when Resolution 260 (amended Resolution 98) is implemented, Ho Chi Minh City will have more initiative in planning, policies and revenue sources. This will be an important basis for the city to concretize solutions to support businesses more effectively.
