On December 5th, 2018, the Vietnam Reform and Development Forum (VRDF) 2018 was held in Hanoi with the theme of “New vision, new drivers of economic growth in the new era”, was held in Hanoi. The Forum was co-chaired by Minister Nguyen Chi Dzung of the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI) and Mr. Ousmane Dione, the World Bank Country Director in Vietnam.
Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc attended and delivered a keynote speech at the VRDF 2018. From the line ministries and agencies, the participants included Deputy Governor Nguyen Thi Hong of the State Bank of Vietnam. In addition, the VRDF 2018 was also attended by more than 500 representatives from the embassies, diplomatic missions in Vietnam; the chief representatives of the development partners, the international organizations, the international non-governmental organizations in Vietnam; representatives of various research institutes, leading economic experts from both Vietnam and abroad; representatives of the business associations and investors; and nearly 100 international and Vietnamese correspondents.
Instead of a dialogue between the Government of Vietnam and the development partners as before, at the VRDF 2018, not only the development partners but also the representatives from the private sector, academics, researchers, the media, etc. came together to learn from one another, to share their knowledge and experiences, to present their researches, ideas and recommendations to the Government.
According to MPI Minister Nguyen Chi Dzung, in reality, natural resources are getting exhausted and cheap labor is unlikely to continue to be a driver of economic growth. Therefore, economists believe that there are four important drivers that need to be considered. They are the development of the private sector, the innovation capabilities, the development of the infrastructure system, and the development of a modern and effective institution. Of these, two new growth drivers are particularly emphasized: innovation on the basis of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and the strong development of the private sector. These are also the focuses of discussion by the experts, the development partners, the private sector and the policymakers at the VRDP.
Overview of VRDF 2018
The first VRDF, entitled “New vision, new drivers of economic growth in the new era”, was divided into three main sessions. During the first session, MPI Minister Nguyen Chi Dzung and World Bank Country Director in Vietnam Ousmane Dione delivered speeches and introduced the new Vietnam Economic Policy Framework. This is a comprehensive document of the Party's and State's policies, updated with new developments in the world and made references to Vietnam 2035 Report, in order to introduce Vietnam's development policy in the medium and long term. At the same time, it can answer the question of "Where is Vietnam, what to do and how".
The development of the Vietnam Economic Policy Framework has been launched since the late of 2017. Following the results of the Vietnam 2035 Report published by the Government of Viet Nam and the World Bank in February 2016, the research team, which included representatives from the MPI, in coordination with the relevant agencies, domestic and international experts, studied and updated the orientations, guidelines and policies of the Party and State and presented in this publication.
During the second session entitled “Vision for Vietnam in a fast changing world”, the speakers discussed the opportunities and challenges facing Vietnam in the new international context of global megatrends and the actions Vietnam needs to take to overcome the challenges and achieve its aspirations.
Participants attend the VRDF 2018
The third session included 2 main topics, entitled “New drivers for growth: Innovation based on Industry 4.0” and “Private sector development”. Accordingly, the speakers presented on the barriers, indicating the technological gaps between Vietnamese manufacturing sector and the Industry 4.0 level; setting out policies and promoting science, technology and innovation in the context of the Fourth Industrial Revolution in Vietnam; innovation through collaboration between the industry and the academia.
The private sector development was also a highlight of session 3. The speakers analyzed the potentials, identified the barriers of the private sector development in Vietnam and recommended policies for promoting the private sector development in the coming periods.
During these sessions, the discussions were exchanged in an open and frank manner about the reform and development issues of the country, thereby creating a consensus among the community and society and proposing short-term and long-term solutions with an aim to bringing about visible and fundamental changes in the policy actions towards a rapid and sustainable development of the country.
VA