[7 Feb 2020]— Việt Nam is keen to develop supporting industries and the Government has been working towards the goal of having 1,000 enterprises operating in this sector that are capable of supplying assembling enterprises and multinational corporations in 2020, Deputy Prime Minister Vương Đình Huệ said.

The Deputy PM made the statement at a conference on Tuesday in the northern province of Hải Dương to launch a consultation programme for local enterprises involved in supporting industries. Hải Dương is the first locality in the country to implement this programme, which is a joint effort by the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Hải Dương People’s Committee and Samsung Group of the Republic of Korea.  

Huệ said Việt Nam also aims to raise supporting industries’ share in the entire industrial sector’s production value to 14 per cent by 2030.

Deputy PM Huệ stressed that supporting industries are the main factor in raising the value of the process-manufacturing industry, the driver of Việt Nam’s economic growth in recent years. However, it is still difficult for local enterprises in these industries to join the global supply chain due to their small scale, low technology and a lack of linkages, among them as well as between them and foreign-invested enterprises.

To facilitate the development of supporting industries, the Government leader required the Ministry of Planning and Investment to continue improving the investment and business environment, and the Ministry of Industry and Trade to review and devise development orientations for several key supporting industries.

He also asked the State Bank of Việt Nam to consider designing more preferential credit packages for supporting industries, and instructed Hải Dương authorities to quickly adopt a master plan for developing supporting industries to 2025.

The Deputy PM asked the Samsung group to continue coordinating with the Ministry of Industry and Trade and local authorities in providing consultations to Vietnamese enterprises and assisting them in participating in global supply chains.

He pledged that the Vietnamese Government will create favourable conditions for Samsung to start its project to build a Research & Development Centre in Việt Nam.

Minister of Industry and Trade Trần Tuấn Anh informed the conference that his ministry and Samsung have organised many courses to train consultants in enhancing production capacity of supporting enterprises. He said this year, the ministry will work with a number of localities to build policies and implement measures to develop supporting industries in those localities, adding that local administrations should invest in human resources for the industrial sector in general and supporting industries in particular.

Secretary of Hải Dương province’s Party Committee Nguyễn Mạnh Hiền said the province is focusing on developing local supporting industries into a key link of global supply chains of multinational groups.

He reported that Hải Dương is home to 454 foreign-invested companies with total registered capital of US$8.4 billion.

According to the official, the province has many advantages regarding infrastructure and human resources in industrial development. It now registers 15,000 domestic firms with total capital of VNĐ164 trillion (over $7 billion).

Director General of Samsung Vietnam Choi Joo Hoo pledged to enhance collaboration with the Vietnamese Government to expand training activities and share experience with Hải Dương in order to help the province’s supporting firms achieve global production standards. He said Samsung will coordinate with the Ministry of Industry and Trade to train 200 experts in moulding from this year.

At the conference, the Hải Dương People’s Committee, the Ministry of Industry and Trade and Samsung Vietnam signed a Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation on a consultation programme targeting Hải Dương-based enterprises operating in supporting industries.  

Under the deal, Samsung will select at least 15 enterprises to benefit from a three-month training programme on enhancing competitiveness — VNS.