Foreign CEOs urge Vietnam to tap internal strengths

Vietnam needs to muster all of its internal forces to remain competitive, especially in the transport sector, to attract more foreign investors.

The remark was made at the Vietnam Manufacturing Summit in Ho Chi Minh City on March 31, which drew the participation of over 100 Chief Executive Officers (CEO) from foreign groups and companies operating in Vietnam.

According to Mike Gildea, a CEO from Agiliti South East Asia Company, investors in Vietnam have to pay a higher cost for the transport of goods compared with that paid in other countries in the region due to poor traffic and infrastructure systems and other obstacles caused by its human resources. This chips away at Vietnam’s key advantage in terms of cheap and abundant labour.

Small-and-medium-sized enterprises in Vietnam have shown a shortfall in unity coupled with a limited financial budget and poor access to modern science and technology as well as global economic information, said Nguyen Tri Dung, a senior expert in Japan, who is also head of Tri Dung Business School.

He suggested that Vietnam’s CEOs concentrate on concrete measures to help their enterprises survive and develop in the midst of the global economic and financial crisis.

A small exhibition and exchange of opinions on the top ten issues in manufacturing also took place as part of the event.

VNA/VOVNews

Tags: Vietnam transports sector