Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung held a dialogue with hundreds of Vietnamese and Australian business representatives in Sydney on March 17, committing all possible support to them in accordance with the law.

The Government of Vietnam will continue running the market economy in a way that ensures fair, open and transparent competition between domestic and foreign businesses, he assured participants.

The PM reiterated Vietnam’s commitment to integrate into the world economy by fully delivering on its World Trade Organisation commitments and other bilateral and multilateral free trade agreements (FTAs).

With eight FTAs already in effect and others under discussion, a legal business framework in line with international practices is taking effect Vietnam, the leader emphasised.

He updated attendees on Vietnam’s focused efforts in three strategic areas to facilitate investment, including fine-tuning market economy regulations, ramping up infrastructure and training a high-quality workforce.

The country is also working hard to sustain socio-political stability, protect the legitimate rights and interests of investors at home and abroad, continuously refine the law-governed State and uphold citizens’ rights to freedom and democracy politically and economically, viewing it as a goal and motivation for sustainable economic growth.

From its humble beginnings as an underdeveloped country, Vietnam has grown into a middle-income and vibrant economy with nearly 6 percent growth in 2014, partly driven by 300 billion USD in 18,000 projects from over 100 countries and territories worldwide. More than 100 high-profile conglomerates have also been present in Vietnam.

On the occasion, the PM answered questions regarding the deepening of the Vietnam-Australia comprehensive partnership, primarily in competitive edge areas such as mining, energy, chemicals, agriculture, finance-banking, education, and high-quality services.

He made it clear that the Government backs Australian firms in Vietnam’s economic restructuring process, particularly in the Australian strength of energy, telecommunications infrastructure, education-training, sustainable agriculture and finance.

Regarding bad debt trading, he said Vietnam highly encourages investors to join the market, especially purchasing debts in real estate or business projects, given that many investors yielded positive outcomes.

The goal is to bring the rate of non-performing loans in commercial banks to below 3 percent from the current 5 percent, he added.

At the end of the dialogue, Vietnamese and Australian firms reached a number of deals in workforce training, container export, farming materials supply and farm produce trading.

The firms wished the two governments work out a concrete action plan to foster the bilateral comprehensive partnership and open up new businesses opportunities.-VNA