On the occasion of Vietnamese Entrepreneurs Day (October 13), on the afternoon of October 11, 2023, under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, the Government Standing Committee met with representatives of Vietnamese entrepreneurs. The meeting took place at the Government Headquarters and connected online to the headquarters of the People’s Committees of provinces and centrally run cities.
Businessman Dinh Hong Ky – Chairman of Secoin, Vice Chairman of Ho Chi Minh City Business Association, was honored to be one of the representatives of Vietnamese businessmen attending the meeting and giving a speech to the Prime Minister.
In 2022 and 2023, due to the continued impact of the COVID-19 pandemic combined with the negative impacts of geopolitical fluctuations and armed conflicts in the world, the operations of Vietnamese enterprises have been facing many difficulties, and the country’s economic growth has been affected. The international market has declined, credit interest rates have increased, exchange rate fluctuations have occurred, and many important markets such as the domestic real estate market have fallen into a very difficult situation, creating great pressure on businesses.
In his speech, Businessman Dinh Hong Ky shared Secoin’s practical experiences on how to overcome that common difficult context.
Speech by Businessman Dinh Hong Ky
“Dear Prime Minister,
Let me introduce myself, I am Dinh Hong Ky, Vice President of Ho Chi Minh City Business Association, Chairman of Secoin Company.
Our company Secoin was established 35 years ago, is the leading manufacturer of unburnt bricks and tiles in Vietnam with a system of 9 factories in all 3 regions of the country. Secoin products are supplied to key projects across the country and exported to 60 countries on 6 continents. Secoin has been recognized by the Government as a National Brand of Vietnam for the past 8 years.
Over the past 35 years, our company’s development has gone through many ups and downs along with the country’s development. However, in the past 3 years, our production and business situation has faced many disadvantages due to the general economic difficulties of the world. Export output has decreased, the consumption of construction materials in domestic projects due to frozen real estate and tight credit has led to to the construction and building materials industry is seriously affected. To overcome the difficult context, our enterprise must restructure the production scale and focus on internal management towards sustainable development, focusing on developing new products towards the circular economy.
I would like to report to the Prime Minister and the entire conference some of our practical experiences in recent years:
1. Secoin has continuously transformed and improved to meet the requirements of the global green supply chain in Europe and applied 3 programs:
– Positive Products: a multi-criteria approach (5 criteria): (1) Safe products; (2) Renewable materials; (3) Human rights; (4) Durable products; (5) Environmental performance design.
– Carbon Footprint (CO2) measurement: an approach focusing on carbon emission criteria
– Solar Impulse: promoting innovation and creativity to find solutions to protect the environment
2. Global business standards are changing, forcing businesses like us to either step up to the next level or eliminate ourselves from the playing field. Secoin has implemented programs such as: ICS Assessment – the French standard system; implementing ESG (environment – society – governance), LCA (life cycle assessment), EPD (environmental product declaration) according to the latest European standards; overcoming CBAM (carbon border adjustment mechanism) barriers of Europe and green customs barriers of the US; using renewable energy (solar energy systems) at Secoin factories and offices.
3. Our construction and building materials sector plays a very important role in the mission of Sustainable Development: Lessons from developed cities around the world moving towards net zero, how to avoid the situation of building buildings and then forcing them to renovate. Regulations are needed from now on so that only green buildings can be put into operation. Therefore, We are actively developing cooperation programs with international organizations to build green, carbon-neutral buildings, using sustainable, renewable materials in line with the circular economy.
4. Our business always accompanies management levels to participate in Government-business programs, such as the program of the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee’s leaders and business delegations to survey the US, Canada, the Netherlands, etc. on green economic development. Most recently, the Ho Chi Minh City Economic Forum 2023 together aims for the common Net zero goal of the whole country.
We hope that the difficulties of real estate and construction materials in Vietnam are at the bottom and next year the market will recover with the efforts of businesses and the joint efforts of the Government to help the industry get out of the difficult period and move towards sustainable development.
We would like to sincerely thank the Prime Minister and the entire Conference for listening!”
Also through the report to the Prime Minister, Businessman Dinh Hong Ky continued to affirm Secoin’s efforts and determination in taking the lead in sustainable development and towards the Net Zero goal by 2050 as committed by the Government.
