The government will accompany and provide support for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to develop, according to Deputy Prime Minister Le Minh Khai.

Speaking at a meeting of the Vietnam Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (VINASME) in Hanoi on March 23, Deputy Prime Minister Khai said the government, ministries, sectors, and localities will create a favorable business and investment environment for the business community and SMEs to develop more effectively and strongly.

He directed SMEs to modernize their production and business models and expedite restructuring in line with emerging trends in the green economy, the digital economy, and the circular economy.

SMEs should strive to overcome the difficulties and challenges and develop specific solutions to expand their scale and improve their competitiveness, he said.

Vietnam currently has nearly 900,000 enterprises, over 25,000 cooperatives, and 5 million business households. SMEs account for 97 per cent of the total number of enterprises.