APEC delegates talk on the sidelines of an APEC meeting in Ho Chi Minh City (Photo: VNA)HCM City (VNA) – Vietnam is working towardsbecoming a destination for startup businesses in the Asia-Pacific EconomicCooperation (APEC) region.
The Vietnamese Government has set a target of having onemillion effective enterprises by 2020.
Adrian Tan, Programme Director of the Vietnam InnovativeStartup Accelerator (VIISA), said “The Vietnamese Government has beenvisionary in setting such an ambitious goal. It certainly has encouragedVietnamese people to look to creating startups.”
The country’s Ministry of Science and Technology has alsobeen proactive in engaging the startup community and investors about how theycan support startups, such as the “The Speedup” programme, he added.
To realise the aforesaid goal, Aslam Perwaiz, head of the DisasterRisk Management System under the Asian Disaster Preparedness Centre, suggestedVietnam focus on its already competitive areas such as garment-textile and riceproduction as well as other fields which would give a lot of competitiveness.
“I would rather recommend that Vietnam’s government should beinvesting a lot in information technology, digital transformation, and helpsmall-and medium-sized enterprises access those things”, he said.
[Joint Statement on promoting startups in APEC issued]
Vice President of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce andIndustry (VCCI) Vo Tan Thanh said Vietnam is evaluated as one of the mostentrepreneurial countries in the world, adding that the country is engagingvery strongly in promoting entrepreneurship nationwide and offering a number ofnew policies to support startups.
VCCI Secretary General Pham Thi Thu Hang said Vietnam is onits way to become a startup destination since it has a promising market andgrowing population.
With the spirit of “dare to think, dare to act”, Vietnameseyoungsters are definitely capable of creating a startup community in the regiondespite external competitiveness, she said, referring to the significant roleof policy makers in building a dynamic and innovative startup ecosystem.
Established in 1989, APEC comprises 21 economies, includingAustralia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong (China), Indonesia, Japan,the Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru,the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Chinese Taipei, Thailand, the US andVietnam.-VNA
VNA
