The main thrust of the Decree 56/2009/ND-CP is to resolve outstanding difficulties for enterprises.

According to Nguyen Trong Hieu, Deputy Head of the Enterprise Development Department under the Ministry of Planning and Investment, under the decree, the government will build mechanisms to encourage commercial banks to lend capital to SMEs, meeting their demand for operating funds, which is one of the largest obstacles for SMEs at present.

Technical assistance programmes will be built to help credit officers and enterprise owners improve their skills in building and managing projects in order to maximise the effectiveness of investment.

In addition, a fund to boost SMEs will be established with the aim of helping enterprises develop products that are highly competitive, upgrade their technology, improve management, and provide capital for projects in priority fields. At the moment, the Ministry of Planning and Investment and the Finance Ministry are coordinating in building the fund.

SMEs will also receive preferences in land and public services. Under the decree, localities will allocate land in industrial parks and public service packages for SMEs.

The decree also asked local agencies to link with relevant central agencies while compiling policies relating to SMEs. According to the Enterprise Development Department, this will help ensure synergy for programmes and avoid overlapping and wasted resources.

By the end of 2008, the country had about 350,000 enterprises, 90 percent of them SMEs. In the first six months of the year, nearly 40,000 enterprises were set up, a year-on-year increase of 14 percent.