Chairing the working session on February 24 with the Central Policy and Strategy Committee on the growth target for 2025 at 8% or more, General Secretary To Lam requested units to study the formation of a Tax-exempt Port model to turn Vietnam into a strong logistics center. At the same time, develop a national one-stop-shop portal to increase attraction for foreign investors.
This is a strategic orientation in the context of increasingly fierce regional and global trade competition.
In fact, countries with favorable geographical locations and great potential for seaports such as Singapore have implemented free trade zone (FTZ) or "free port" models very early, turning themselves into bustling logistics and cargo transit centers.
Tax exemption ports are a concretization of the free trade zone model, where goods exported - imported, stored, produced or processed are all entitled to maximum tariff incentives, accompanied by a streamlined procedures.
The formation of a National One-Stop Investment Portal is a parallel solution, helping to speed up the approval process, connecting ministries, branches and localities on a common platform, creating the most favorable conditions for investors.
In reality, Da Nang, Ba Ria - Vung Tau, Hai Phong... are localities with great potential to develop this model. However, policy mechanisms are still the biggest bottleneck. If local authorities are not given enough authority or there are still barriers to procedures, businesses will find it difficult to enjoy full incentives.
Lessons from Singapore show that, to build the first National don Accounting Office, they have shifted from a controlling mentality to creating conditions. This requires reforming the entire apparatus, thinking and administrative capacity, not stopping at creating a technology platform.
Obviously, the Tax-Exempt Port model that General Secretary To Lam is oriented to be the key and a breakthrough direction to elevate Vietnam's value chain, no longer stopping at the ambition of becoming a labor-intensive workshop.
Combined with the National One-Stop Investment Portal, planners will have the opportunity to remove a series of procedural barriers, making Vietnam increasingly attractive to investors.
If implemented drastically and synchronously, we can completely reach the growth target of over 8% by 2025 and move towards maintaining double-digit growth for the following years.
This is not only an expectation of quantity, but also a desire to bring Vietnam to the regional and world level in the logistics sector, marking a turning point in sustainable and modern development.
