Deputy Minister of Science and Technology Nguyen Quan has put stress on the need to foster reform in financial mechanisms and promulgate policies to encourage investment from society and businesses in science and technology.

Vietnam has set a target for the 2011-2020 period to raise technology growth by 14-15 percent each year, a 10 percent increase over the present figures, Deputy Minister Quan said, adding that values of technology transactions have been set to grow 20-25 percent, four times higher than present.

Quan also underlined that investment of the whole society in science and technology needs to make up 1.5 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) by 2015 and over 2 percent of GDP by 2020. He added that non-state investment capital needs to double current figures, occupying a minimum of 60-65 percent.

Investment in the sector still remains low compared with other nations worldwide, Quan said, adding that the state annually injects only 2 percent of total budget spending into the industry, an equivalent of 0.5 percent of GDP. Investment capital from businesses is lower than 0.1 percent of GDP.

Thus, Quan said, apart from encouraging the involvement of society and businesses, the state needs to develop other policies, especially those regarding financial issues, simplify estimating procedures and increase disbursement for pilot projects.

In the next period, the Ministry of Science and Technology will focus on developing high-tech areas such as information technology, bio-technology, mechanical technology and automation. In the short term, the ministry will implement a number of projects to improve capacity for staff and conduct more research to serve the sector, Quan said./.