Traditional marine exploitation
The Resolution of the 4th Conference of the 10th Party Central Committee on Vietnam’s Marine Strategy to 2020 has set a target that by 2020, the marine and coastal economy will contribute about 53-55% of the country’s total GDP. After 2020, the maritime economy must become the leading economic sector among the five marine economic sectors. An important solution to implement this strategy is to develop the maritime transport economy and the shipbuilding and ship repair industry.
Discussing this issue, Associate Professor Dr. Tran Dinh Thien said that although Vietnam has a very clear maritime advantage in terms of both resources and position, it has not yet fundamentally formed a development mindset with an overall strategy for the marine economy.
“Our way of thinking mainly focuses on exploiting what is available, not improving capacity and added value. Advantages are probably not enough for development, but this must go hand in hand with methods, which we have not been able to do so far,” said Mr. Thien.
Mr. Thien believes that the way to exploit the advantages of the sea is still mainly traditional, so it does not create competitiveness, so to exploit the sea effectively, it is necessary to have strong corporations. From this reality, it is necessary to promote restructuring to build and develop Vietnam National Shipping Lines (Vinalines), Shipbuilding Industry Corporation (SBIC) as the core in the field of maritime transport and shipbuilding and ship repair industry.
At the same time, learning from the experiences of the countries that have gone before is very necessary. Mr. Thien cited examples of many large economies in the world and the region, from the UK, the US, Japan, and near Vietnam, Singapore and South Korea, all of which have risen with the maritime economy, with the core being the shipbuilding, shipping and seaport industries.
For Vietnam, Mr. Thien believes that the marine economy is only at the level of aspiration. “I think there is no marine strategy through strong corporations, and there are also problems with governance. I think the way coastal countries develop by building corporations is a great lesson at the macro level that we need to learn,” Mr. Thien emphasized.
Priority should be given to developing maritime economy.
From these realities, according to Mr. Thien, in the strategy of developing the marine economy, the maritime industry will play an important role, being the main artery in the domestic and international traffic system. With that role, prioritizing the development of the maritime economy will create a strong driving force, promoting the rapid and sustainable development of marine economic sectors, effectively connecting the Vietnamese economy with the world economies. Along with that, for the shipbuilding industry to develop, there needs to be specific incentive policies to support, specifically a well-designed, visionary shipbuilding and maritime industry development program.
Above all, Mr. Thien noted that businesses that master marine strategies must have an early strategic approach with the Government. “I think that the marine strategy will be restarted in a very systematic way during the discussion of the next 10-year strategy this year, not like the past time we discussed, but because of many problems, we could not do it,” Mr. Thien affirmed.
Along with that, Mr. Thien said that this is also an opportunity to discuss the story of mechanisms and policies for large state-owned enterprises and corporations, and it cannot be prolonged forever. “If we do not do it thoroughly, we will continue to get stuck, and it is still the same idea that cannot be solved. I think it is time for a change. Many problems are complicated, but if we keep fixing each policy one by one, how can we solve them? Here, there needs to be synchronous coordination in the spirit of a better big vision,” Mr. Thien emphasized./.
According to Mai Dan
Source: http://thoibaotaichinhvietnam.vn
