VRDF suggests reforms for sustained development

Minister Nguyen Chi Dung talking at VRDF

With global political and economic complications arising, Vietnam needs to take a comprehensive and deep look at global trends and their implications to the country. Global GDP growth is decelerating, while global trade is slowing down at triple the speed. Experts over the world also said that FDI flows are decreasing.

However, not all of this is a disadvantage and Vietnam can avoid much of the negative impacts if it acts smart. According to Prof David O. Dapice from the US' Harvard University, only about 50 per cent of the whole world will slip into recession. Vietnam will probably avoid calamity, but its growth momentum will slow down.

"Vietnam should strengthen its advantages in FDI mobilisation, along with building infrastructure and developing human resources," the professional said.

However, a year of low growth can delay the country's target of prosperity by several years. Based on the country's achievements over the past years, Vietnam should highlight some factors as motivation for a breakthrough.

Jan Rielander, an economist from the OECD Development Centre, said that the Vietnamese economy needs to build its resilience and its domestic economy to withstand global changes. In addition to its already strong export economy, it is necessary to develop various resources to improve national resilience and mitigate overseas impacts.

At present, global trade is focusing on information and data. According to the UNIDO, Vietnam spends only 0.2 per cent of its GDP on research and development, while it is 2 per cent in China and 3 per cent in Japan.

As the organiser of VRDF, Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung said that the reform and development of Vietnam need to be brought up to speed with new global trends.

"Promoting the private sector as well as improving the performance of the public sector and state-owned enterprises should be based on innovation and science-technology. This will be key for a breakthrough in the time coming," Minister Dung said.

The 10-year socio-economic development strategy for 2011-2020 has come to the end, and we are seeing the dawn of a new decade and a new era with a fresh set of opportunities and challenges. The reform is also set forth more strictly to welcome integration and development.

VRDF 2019 is the continuation of the previous Vietnam Development Forum (VDF), but aims to be more inclusive by covering the development issues of Vietnam with the participation of policymakers, development partners, domestic and foreign experts, and private sector representatives.

The forum aims to collect comments and recommendations from domestic and international experts for the next 10-year socio-economic development strategy (2021-2030) and collect orientations and tasks for the next five-year socio-economic development plan (2021-2025), which will be submitted to the 11th Central Party Committee in October.