Attending were Mr. Nguyen Van Loc - Member of Provincial Standing Party Committee, Chairman of the Provincial People's Council; Mr. Nguyen Van Danh - Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee (PPC); leader representatives of provincial departments, committees, branches, industry associations and enterprises in the province.
Enterprises face many difficulties
Information at the conference, Ms. Nguyen Thanh Ha - Deputy Director of the Department of Industry and Trade said that in the first 9 months of 2023, the complicated world situation has affected the production and business activities of enterprises. The Russia-Ukraine conflict caused increasing oil prices, inflation increased sharply in many countries, and the economic recession caused consumer demand to decrease, affecting major markets such as the US and Europe, orders decreased by more than 40% over the same period. Enterprises' working capital is seriously lacking due to late payment by customers, or orders have been completed but customers request delivery after the initial expected time, causing enterprises to have a lot of inventory. Loan interest rates have increased, access to loan capital is difficult, because enterprises no longer have collateral assets, credit limits have been reduced because assets secured by real estate are priced lower, making unsecured loans for business plans even more difficult, only large enterprises could access them, besides, enterprises also do not have a good business plan because they do not have export orders.
Overview of the conference
At the conference, representatives of industry associations and enterprises in the province specifically stated the difficulties being encountered and proposed solutions. Mr. Hoang Kieu Phong - Member of Binh Duong Furniture Association said that currently, wood industry enterprises are having difficulty finding orders. Most markets reduced orders for imported wood products, with the US market seeing the sharpest decrease, from 30% to 40% compared to orders in the same period in 2021.
Mr. Hoang Kieu Phong - Member of Binh Duong Furniture Association expresses his opinion at the conference
According to Mr. Hoang Kieu Phong, enterprises still have to try to retain workers by rotating production shifts. Because if workers are laid off, they will find another job or go back to their hometown. When orders come back, there will be no production workers. Recruitment is very difficult and takes a lot of time, especially skilled workers. Faced with the above situation, he requested the province to support the Association in promoting trade promotion to find markets and orders.
Mr. Nguyen Tien Thanh - Chairman of Binh Duong Ceramics Association shares the enterprise's current difficulties
Mr. Nguyen Tien Thanh - Chairman of Binh Duong Ceramics Association also shared the enterprise's current difficulties. That is the relocation of ceramic enterprises to the Northern region according to the province's policy. Mr. Thanh said, this is a concern of ceramic enterprises, due to the characteristics of the "hereditary" ceramic profession, having lived and worked at the current facility for many years, if it is relocated to another location, the enterprises would face many difficulties. Besides, the current work of training ceramicists and recruiting personnel in the ceramics field is not easy. The current scale of ceramic enterprises is mostly small-scale production, so they do not have large capital resources to build new facilities. Without specific policies, directions, and specific mechanisms, it is difficult to maintain the operations of ceramic enterprises. He proposed that the province need to consider and have a "favorable" mechanism for ceramic enterprises, such as those that perform well in environmental protection and fire prevention, so they may not have to relocate, etc. For enterprises that do not meet the criteria, they will be relocated. Researching and planning areas with favorable locations for raw materials, transportation and labor to relocate to; developing policies to support land, rent land, convert functions, etc. for effective relocation.
Mr. Tran Thanh Trong - Chairman of the Provincial Electromechanical Association again mentioned difficulties in accessing loans. He emphasized that "borrowing capital has never been as difficult as it is today" because it must be based on unsecured assets. He hoped that banks can base loans on enterprises' revenue instead of unsecured assets. At the same time, he hoped that the provincial leaders will pay attention and create conditions for enterprises to contribute opinions on policies related to enterprises.
Ms. Truong Thi Thuy Lien - Vice Chairman of the Leather and Footwear Association said that currently, enterprises are affected by conflicts, political competition, climate change, etc. The international integration of domestic enterprises faces difficulties because they are not beneficiaries of the policy; State policies have not really been effective. Ms. Lien said that in order for enterprises to survive, they must restructure production and reduce costs, so the State needs to support reducing compliance costs. She highly appreciated the province's policy of relocating enterprises outside industrial zones and clusters in the South to the North. But at the present time, enterprises cannot do it because they are still facing many difficulties. Therefore, it is recommended that the province extend the relocation time until 2030. During the extension period, no additional extension procedures will arise.
Support enterprises in economic recovery and development
Faced with the above difficulties, Ms. Nguyen Thanh Ha - Deputy Director of the Department of Industry and Trade said that following the Government's direction as well as realizing the urgency of solving difficulties for enterprises regularly in the context of economic difficulties like today, the province has established a Steering Committee and Assisting Team to regularly listen and proactively grasp information about the production and business situation of enterprises and investors. In addition, the province also directed the Department of Planning and Investment to establish a Zalo group with the enterprise community and coordinate with relevant units to answer and respond to 180/189 feedback and recommendations from enterprises, the most reflected and recommended contents are administrative procedures; finance, taxes, customs; employment, labor; land, construction, environment, fire prevention and fighting.
In addition, in order to improve the ability to receive and process feedback and recommendations from the enterprise community, the province is building an application to receive and process feedback and recommendations from the enterprise community on the "Binh Duong Digital" app; build Zalo Official Account for the Department of Planning and Investment, through this, Zalo OA is the official social network channel to more widely deploy the work of grasping and removing difficulties and obstacles of the enterprise community in the province.
Implementing Resolution No. 01/NQ-CP dated January 06, 2023 of the Government, the PPC issued Plan No. 282/KH-UBND dated January 19, 2023 on implementing Resolution No. 01/NQ-CP, including many preferential policies to promote production and business development, especially the PPC directs departments and branches to continue to remove difficulties and obstacles for enterprises, simplify administrative procedures, create many advantages for enterprises to stabilize and develop production, business and export. In the time since Covid until now, according to enterprises and associations, enterprises and associations have always received attention, guidance and support with many useful information from the PPC and departments, committees and branches as well as support in overcoming difficulties to create favorable conditions for enterprises and associations in production and business.
In the coming time, the province will continue to grasp the production and business situation and remove difficulties and obstacles for enterprises.
Responding to the province's regime and policy of relocating enterprises to the North, Ms. Nguyen Thanh Ha shared with the difficulties of enterprises, and also acknowledged the opinions of enterprises. She said that the province will consider specifically reviewing policies and roadmaps to suit the situation of enterprises; review enterprises according to the given criteria to implement accordingly. The Department will study the enterprises' recommendations to advise the PPC to create the most favorable conditions for enterprises to relocate.
Ms. Phan Thi Khanh Duyen - Deputy Director of the Department of Industry and Trade responds to the enterprises' recommendations
Informing about solutions to promote trade promotion, Ms. Phan Thi Khanh Duyen - Deputy Director of the Department of Industry and Trade said that during the past time, the Department has coordinated to develop services to support enterprises in finding business partners, expanding markets, and improving production and business capacity. Supporting enterprises to take advantage of commitments in FTAs, especially CPTPP, EVFTA, UKVFTA to promote exports, through guidance on applying rules of origin and granting preferential Certificates of Origin to exploit opportunities from the Agreements. Strengthening domestic and foreign trade promotion activities; diplomatic activities to consolidate and restore traditional export markets (European - American market, Northeast Asia, Southeast Asia, China, etc.); expanding and diversifying new export markets such as India, Canada, and the Americas; Middle East, Eurasian Economic Union, etc. Coordinating with the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Planning and Investment to maintain activities of organizing promotion conferences and learning about export market information (periodically held once a month) for the Associations, enterprises through Viet Nam Trade Office work abroad; organize connections to help domestic enterprises participate in the supply chains of FDI enterprises, especially large global enterprises, participating in overseas distribution systems.
Mr. Vo Dinh Phong - Director of the State Bank of Viet Nam - Binh Duong branch informs about solutions to overcome difficulties for enterprises in getting credit loans
Regarding recommendations related to enterprise loans, Mr. Vo Dinh Phong - Director of the State Bank of Viet Nam - Binh Duong branch said that to support enterprises in accessing credit loan packages, the State Bank of Viet Nam - Binh Duong branch is continuing to direct branches of credit institutions in the area to implement the interest rate support program to create conditions for enterprises to access the interest rate support loan package 2% to serve production and business. In addition, banks in the province are continuing to implement many other solutions to enhance people and enterprises' access to credit, specifically: Regularly directing credit institutions in the area to continue to review and simplify internal processes and procedures to facilitate customers' ability to access capital; proactively developing credit programs and products with reasonable interest rates, meeting the needs of many subjects and customer segments; promoting the implementation of the bank-enterprise connection program for direct dialogue between banks and customers. In addition, the State Bank of Viet Nam - Binh Duong branch continues to advise the PPC to implement solutions to remove difficulties and obstacles for people and enterprises in all sectors and fields in accessing bank credit capital, serving socio-economic development in the area.
Speaking at the conclusion of the conference, on behalf of the provincial leaders, Vice Chairman of the PPC Nguyen Van Danh shared with the difficulties and problems enterprises are facing. Acknowledging the opinions and recommendations of representatives of domestic industry associations, enterprise community, and entrepreneurs, the Vice Chairman of the PPC requested departments and branches to respond and explain to the heart of the problem, to promptly resolve difficulties and problems for industry associations, enterprise community and entrepreneurs during production and business activities in the province.
Vice Chairman of the PPC Nguyen Van Danh speaks to conclude the conference
In the coming time, the provincial leaders, along with the leaders of the provincial departments, committees and branches, will continue to focus on reviewing and removing difficulties and obstacles in production and business activities; at the same time, promote the implementation of solutions to support small and medium-sized enterprises in the province, continue to strongly improve the business investment environment, and improve the Provincial Competitiveness Index (PCI). Always accompanying the enterprises; strengthening coordination and directing exchange between departments, branches, localities and the enterprise community in resolving administrative procedures; completely resolving tasks, difficulties and problems, especially long-standing backlogs.
The Vice Chairman of the PPC hoped that industry associations, enterprise community and entrepreneurs will continue to be the center and subjects in the province's socio-economic recovery and development in the coming time; have frank comments to reduce and reform administrative procedures; increase investment to increase labor productivity, digital transformation, strongly participate in the technology transfer process, strengthen medical capacity, etc. to proactively respond to all situations. At the same time, the enterprise community and entrepreneurs across the province need to be proactive and have long-term solutions to adapt, transform management methods, and promote highly effective production and business.
On the occasion of Viet Nam Entrepreneurs' Day October 13, on behalf of the provincial leaders, the Vice Chairman of the PPC wished the enterprise community and entrepreneurs in the province to continue to operate effectively and develop sustainably and prosperously.