HANOI: Vietnam does not yet have a comprehensive and inclusive industrial development policy like developed economies do, according to Industry and Trade minister Nguyen Hong Dien.
At the minister’s questions and answers session last week, many National Assembly deputies asked about implementing incentives to draw investment into the industrial sector, including the supporting and mechanical industries.
Supporting industries are considered necessary to restructure the industrial sector and promote rapid growth in a period of new development.
At the same time, they will help create an ecosystem closely linking foreign direct investment (FDI) enterprises and domestic ones.
Minister Dien said that the processing and manufacturing sector, including supporting industries and the mechanical industry, has affirmed its leading role in industrial production growth.
The localisation rate has been increased in many industries. Textiles, garments and footwear have reached a 50% localisation rate, while mechanical engineering has achieved more than 30%.
Domestically-produced components and mechanical products have so far met 80% to 90% of local production needs in the motorbike industry, 15% to 40% of the automobile industry and 40% to 60% of the agricultural machine industry.
These results have contributed to gradually reducing dependence on imported materials and spare parts and have helped develop Vietnam’s industrial sector, Dien said.
“Many enterprises in supporting industries have become suppliers to multinational corporations, participating in the global production and supply chain.
“The development of this sector has contributed to attracting global corporations to invest in expanding factories and forming research and development centres in Vietnam,” said Dien.
However, the minister also frankly admitted that some domestically-produced industrial products have still achieved lower development than general growth targets.
These include electronics and telecommunications products, which have met about 15% of domestic demand, as well as high-tech products, which have met 10% of the demand.
A member of the National Assembly said that over the years, Vietnam has implemented many policies to improve the competitiveness of supporting industries, but currently Vietnam still depends on FDI enterprises, which account for over 70% of export value in the industrial sector.
Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha responded that after reviewing existing policies to attract foreign investment, technology transfer and development of ecosystems that help Vietnamese enterprises participate in this supply chain are still limited.
“We must seriously review this and find out the shortcomings.
When granting investment licences for foreign investors, we must also ask them to commit to using modern technology in projects in Vietnam, and must have a roadmap on technology transfer in Vietnam,” said Ha. — Viet Nam News/ANN
