Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung approved automobile industry development planning by 2020 with a vision towards 2030 in late July. Director General of the Heavy Industry Department under the Ministry of Industry and Trade Nguyen Manh Quan talked with the Vietnam Economic News about the issue.

*The automobile industry has not yet achieved set targets. What is your point of view?

Vietnam ’s automobile industry has achieved encouraging results after nearly 20 years of construction and development. The country has formed the assembly industry with a production capacity of about 460,000 cars per year.

Together with the assembly industry, Vietnam has also formed support industries in order to offer a number of spare parts for the automobile industry.

However, the automobile industry has not achieved set targets. The localisation rate has remained low and support industries have remained weak. Vietnam has also failed to make good connectivity among enterprises and has not formed the supply chain.

*Could you tell us more about the automobile industry’s advantages?

In addition to a large population, people’s living standards and transport infrastructure have gradually been improved. These crucial factors would contribute to an estimated demand for 400,000 cars by 2020 and about 2 million cars by 2030. Experts said that it would be a boom phase for Vietnam and neighboring ASEAN countries’ automobile industry between 2020 and 2030.

After nearly 20 years of construction and development, Vietnam has accumulated experience with good technical infrastructure for the industry. In particular, Vietnam ’s automobile industry could deeply participate in the ASEAN and Asia supply chains after 2018.

Component and spare part manufacturers should take advantage of opportunities from automobile industry development planning and strategy to promote production, contributing to reducing costs and improving the competitiveness in order to be able to compete with imported cars.

*Which innovation and breakthrough will the development planning and strategy offer?

The approval of development planning and strategy is an important premise for the development of Vietnam ’s automobile industry in the coming time.

We hope that the automobile industry will create a breakthrough in the time to come thanks to the Government’s strong support. This is an important industry serving the country’s industrialisation and modernisation. In addition to the development of transport infrastructure, the Government committed to adopt clear and open mechanisms and policies.

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has also approved action plans to implement Vietnam ’s industrialisation strategy within the Vietnam- Japan cooperation framework by 2020 with a vision for 2030. This will also offer development opportunities for the automobile industry. According to the strategy, Vietnam will focus on six industries, including the automobile industry.

*Which key solutions will be implemented to promote the development of the automobile industry?

In addition to agreeing solutions and adopting clear and open mechanisms and policies, the Government should soon issue a decree in order to encourage the development of support industries.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade will host and coordinate with relevant ministries and departments to submit to the Prime Minister for approving a decision on specific mechanisms for the automobile industry.

The Government should promote links among enterprises, contributing to improving the competitiveness.-VNA