Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh chaired a meeting with State-owned enterprises (SOEs) on September 14 to discuss solutions to improve production and trade and development investment.

SOEs hold a key position and are an important force in the economy, making important contributions to stabilizing the macro-economy and boosting socio-economic development, he said.

In order to help strengthen their leading position, Prime Minister Chinh asked relevant ministries and agencies to tackle the difficulties and obstacles they are currently facing and suggest new orientations and solutions to help raise the efficiency of resource use at SOEs.

“We need to hear enterprises’ voices and put ourselves in their position to remove the difficulties and promote production and trade,” the Prime Minster said.

In the current context, he went on, it is necessary to focus on boosting the three growth drivers of investment, exports, and consumption; promote agriculture, services, and industry, especially manufacturing and processing; deal with difficulties in the market; and restore supply chains.

Boosting production, trade, and development investment by SOEs must contribute to implementing agreements reached between Vietnam and other countries and partners, he said.

There are nearly 680 SOEs in Vietnam at present, 478 of which are wholly State-owned. Total capital stands at over VND3.8 quadrillion ($158 billion), of which State capital is nearly VND1.7 quadrillion ($70.8 billion), according to the Ministry of Planning and Investment.