An awards ceremony to honour 100 outstanding Vietnamese entrepreneurs in 2008 was held in Hanoi on October 11 by the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) to celebrate Vietnamese Entrepreneur Day, October 13.

Addressing the ceremony, Mr Triet praised the great achievements and contributions made by the business community to boosting the country’s economic development trend towards national industrialisation and modernisation.

Over the past few years, Vietnamese businesses have spared no efforts to boost production and business activities, expand investment, increase product quality and develop Vietnamese trademarks.

Vietnamese businesses have developed rapidly in terms of quality, quantity, structure and operational scale showing a clear growth trend in the industrial and service sectors, said Mr Triet.

The State leader said this was the third consecutive year the VCCI has organised such a ceremony to honour outstanding entrepreneurs from all economic sectors and recognised their business performance and contributions to the country’s socio-economic development.

On the same day, there was a gathering of more than 160 outstanding entrepreneurs in the southernmost province of Ca Mau. Provincial leaders highlighted the role played by local businesses in boosting local socio-economic development, especially by maintaining economic growth, increasing export turnover and budget collection and ensuring social welfare through job creation, poverty reduction and the development of rural infrastructure.

Recently, the number of dynamic, creative and productive enterprises has increased rapidly in Ca Mau.

The province now has 2,836 private businesses with a total registered capital of roughly VND10,000 billion as well as tens of thousands of individual business households.

On the occasion, the VCCI presented Certificates of Merit to three outstanding enterprises in Ca Mau: Quoc Viet Seafood Processing and Import-Export Company Ltd, Nam Suong Coffee Company Ltd and Ca Mau Electrical Construction and Installation Company.

Local businesses and entrepreneurs have so far donated more than VND6.3 billion to the Fund for the Poor in Ca Mau.