General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam, To Lam, has penned a statement published in Vietnam’s official Government of Vietnam newspaper in which he outlines a private sector led development trajectory for Vietnam moving forward.
This is important in that the General Secretary is generally seen as the most powerful position in Vietnam’s political system and therefore the views expressed are very likely to inform government policy moving forward.
That said, the statement is very wide ranging and lacks specific details, however, there is a clear narrative around growing the private sector with the leader arguing many state-owned enterprises with access to resources and capital have failed to use them effectively. More or less, he seems to be suggesting that whereas in the past the government has focused on supporting state-owned enterprises, that focus is set to shift to the private sector.
What all of these means on a practical level, if anything, is hard to say. Privatising Vietnam’s state-owned enterprises is not a new concept; it has been around for decades but has just been a very slow process which seems to stem from complicated networks of vested interests in said enterprises.
That is to say, the emphasis should be not on what is being said but who is saying it and if the relatively new General Secretary can push this agenda forward.