World Economic Forum on ASEAN convenes plenary session

Attending the opening session were General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Nguyen Phu Trong, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc along with the participation of the ASEAN, WEF and international leaders. The prestigious forum in the region also brought together more 1,000 delegates who are WEF members, representatives from major international organizations, leading corporations, investment funds, IT experts, media firms around the world… Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) Le Minh Hung together with leaders of the relevant ministries also attended the opening session.

General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc take a photo with the leaders attended the conference

Under the theme “Entrepreneurship and the Fourth Industrial Revolution”, the WEF ASEAN 2018 is a large and prestigious platform in the region, gathering the attendance of more than 1,000 delegates, including heads of states, heads of governments, representatives from major international organizations, and leaders from the world’s leading groups. Especially, the event also brought together 80 leading ASEAN startups, mostly startup accelerators, venture capital funds, technology experts and media leaders.

With more than 50 sessions, leaders and leading regional and international businesspeople debated and shared policies, ideas and initiatives for startup development so as to make the most of opportunities for stronger cooperation in dealing with the 4th industrial revolution-related issues faced by ASEAN member states and beyond. Especially, the Viet Nam Business Summit was held within the framework of the WEF ASEAN 2018. PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc and WEF President Borge Brende attended and delivered keynote speeches and held a dialogue with the business community at the event.

In his opening remarks, Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc highlighted the fourth industrial revolution as a source of creativity, saying the Fourth Revolution would bring about a wealth of opportunity to ASEAN state members.

Firstly, it creates a breakthrough in productivity across the five major industries. Secondly, it promotes inclusive growth towards the UN goals of sustainable development, and thirdly, it boosts small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) that are the backbone of ASEAN, the Prime Minister said.

With a combined population of over 640 million accounting for 8.5% of the global population, ASEAN is now the third biggest economy in Asia and the fifth in the world. According to many experts, the Fourth Revolution will secure the livelihood of people, but the challenge of increasing income gap and the risk of social instability is also a matter of great concern, noting that ASEAN is proud to have a pioneering Singapore in the digital economy, which has recorded a lot of achievements over the recent past.

Amid the Industry 4.0 expansion and fierce regional and global competition, countries need to bolster cooperation and solidarity and bring into play the bloc’s internal strength to build a people-oriented and people-centerd ASEAN of peace, stability and resilience basing on rules. ASEAN has made and will continue making efforts to affirm its central role in the region and join partners to maintain peace and stability and ensuring freedom on air, on land and at sea, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc emphasized.

The Prime Minister also suggested a number of priorities targeting digital connectivity and cooperation on data sharing. He underlined the need to ensure the harmonization of the business environment, institutions and law, find talents and highly skilled technicians, and establish an ASEAN education network and lifelong education system. “In the context of the Fourth Revolution, we need to join hands for further development, placing people at the centre of development. ASEAN has affirmed its central role in the region,” Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc stressed.

WEF Executive Chairman Klaus Schwab said Industry 4.0 will bring fundamental and breakthrough changes in business models, economies and societies. Global competition will be shaped by competitiveness instead of cost factors. In this context, the countries succeeding in mastering Industry 4.0 will have innovation and entrepreneurial ecosystems.

To have successful directions in Industry 4.0, ASEAN governments need to create favourable conditions for start-ups as well as SMEs. The coordination between governments and businesses is very important to obtain progress in Industry 4.0, Mr. Klaus Schwab noted. He expressed his belief that ASEAN countries, with appropriate visions, the best policies, young population and high entrepreneurial spirit, will take the lead in this revolution.

The WEF ASEAN 2018 offers an opportunity to promote partners’ cooperation with Viet Nam, while encouraging the leading corporations with strong financial, technology and market potential to strengthen their investment in the country, thus contributing actively to helping Viet Nam expand the market, as well as taking advantage of high-quality capital and modern technologies, to serve the restructuring of the economy and the renewal of the growth model.

As the host country and co-organizer of the WEF ASEAN, Viet Nam has set its mark by bringing the issue of the Fourth Industrial Revolution into the topic connotations of the conference, as well as integrating many issues of Viet Nam and ASEAN countries’ concerns into the conference agenda, such as innovation, smart infrastructure and cities, labor-employment in the Fourth Industrial Revolution, human resources development, and hi-tech agriculture.

These are the practical topics that meet the common concerns of ASEAN countries and many other countries in the world, especially Viet Nam. Also, they are closely linked with ASEAN’s 2018 theme of building a self-reliant and innovative ASEAN Community. The WEF ASEAN 2018 will be a good opportunity for the parties to meet and share their experience, as well as to get best prepared to enter the Fourth Industrial Revolution in an effective fashion.

VA