Party General Secretary and State President Nguyen Phu Trong, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, and Chairwoman of the National Assembly Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan attend the opening ceremony of the 37th ASEAN Summit. (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – Foreign media view 2020 as a truly special year for Vietnamas the country has not only performed the dual role of ASEAN Chair and anon-permanent member of the UN Security Council (UNSC) but also done a good jobof concurrently containing COVID-19 and sustaining economic growth.
Ina year full of challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has still beendeveloping complicatedly and changing the whole world, Vietnam, as Prof. CarlThayer at Australia’s University of New South Wales said, has shown its mettle,promoted its stature, and won over trust in the region and the world.
During2020, the name “Vietnam” has repeatedly appeared on international media outletsand been frequently mentioned by foreign officials, experts, and scholarsthanks to its achievements in domestic and external affairs.
Withthe motto of “leaving no one behind” and highly effective disease containmentmeasures conducted at minimum cost, international experts and media considerthe country as a model and an example for others to follow.
Effortsby the Government to realise the twin target of fighting the pandemic andensuring social security and obtaining the best possible economic growth canmake Vietnam “an economic highlight” in a year the global economy fell into theworst recession since World War II.
Manyinternational financial institutions have shared the view that Vietnam, postinga growth rate of 2.91 percent in 2020, is one of the 10 countries with thefastest GDP growth. The Economist listed it among the 16 most successfulemerging economies this year.
Prof.Vladimir Mazyrin from the Centre for Vietnam and ASEAN Studies at the Institutefor Far Eastern Studies, the Russian Academy of Science, called this anextraordinary economic success amid the common recession and crisis, and itwill help Vietnam gain a higher position in world rankings in the time ahead.
TheManila Times of the Philippines wrote that: “Theonly seeming bright spot in Asia is Vietnam, which ably balanced public healthand economics right from the onset of the pandemic.”
TheBusiness Times of Singapore and the Reuters news agency noted strict quarantineand tracing measures have helped Vietnam quickly curb outbreaks and recovereconomic activities faster than many other Asian countries.
Meanwhile,Indonesian Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said Vietnam is one of thetwo countries, the other is China, sustaining positive economic growth amid theCOVID-19 pandemic. She held that the successful containment of the disease hassupported the country to maintain growth momentum in 2020.
A border guard in Thua Thien - Hue province distribute leaflets on COVID-19 prevention and control. (Source: VNA) Inan article titled “Learning from Vietnam onhow to handle COVID-19” on Jakarta Post, Indonesia’s senior journalistVeeramalla Anjaiah wrote that: “Vietnam is adynamic country with so many success stories: Be it economic growth, exports,investments or tourism, you name a sector, there’s a success story. Its latestsuccess story is in the health sector.”
Regardingeconomy, Vietnam has been ranked among countries recording highest growthworldwide given negative global impacts of the pandemic. The InternationalMonetary Fund (IMF) predicted a strong economic recovery in 2021 for thecountry, with macroeconomic stability seen in all aspects including growth,current account deficit, and employment. IMF said the economy is diverse enoughto withstand the downturn caused by COVID-19 and achieve positive growth.
TheUK-based Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) projected thatVietnam’s economy will move to the 19th places in the rankings of the WorldEconomic League Table in 2035, overtaking Taiwan (China) and Thailand. It saidthat the nation’s annual rate of GDP growth is forecast to pick up to anaverage of 7 percent between 2021 and 2025. Over the subsequent ten years, theeconomy will expand by 6.6 percent on an annual average.
Fromother perspective, the UK-based Financial Times said Vietnam is emerging as aprominent link in the global supply chain. Multinationals are looking forbuilding up their supply bases here as a result of the country’s solid recordin making products to global standards, and to a widening network of free tradeagreements, including recently with the EU and the UK, it said.
Echoingthe view, an article on seekingalpha.com said Vietnam has the potential tobecome a manufacturing destination of the world. The article noted the countryis going into demographic dividend era where more than 70 percent of itspopulation will be below 35 years of age. With a population of about 100million as of 2019, there are only about 13 percent who come under the middleclass/income category. This is slated to double by 2025/2026 to 26 percent.This will give a big boost to their consumption story and push growth rateshigher from the current 6 percent average. Many companies will want to takeadvantage of this consumption boom and take a leap to invest further in thiseconomy, it said.
Interms of external relations, Vietnam has recorded outstanding marks in its roleas the Chair of ASEAN and of the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly, as well asa non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council.
ASEANSecretary-General Lim Jock Hoi commended Vietnam’s exemplary chairmanship roleby providing strong leadership in keeping the region cohesive and responsive tonew challenges, particularly the COVID-19.
Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, Chair of ASEAN in 2020, attends the signing ceremony of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership. (Photo: VNA) Meanwhile,the Sputnik news agency of Russia emphasised that the most remarkable featureof ASEAN 2020 was online conferences. Vietnam quickly adapted to the situation,applying cyberspace to organise conferences set in the plan of the ASEANChairmanship Year in the online format. This was warmly responded by all ASEANcountries as well as the bloc’s partners. It proved that the COVID-19 pandemiccould not break the cohesion of the entire ASEAN.
HiroyukiMoribe, Director of the Vietnam Economic Research Institute (VERI), saidVietnam successfully accomplished its role as ASEAN Chair 2020 in the contextof COVID-19’s impact being beyond imagination. As ASEAN Chair, it assumed the burden of responsibility for leading thebloc in outlining measures to address a wide range of important issues, hesaid, adding that many countries have lauded Vietnam’s coordination capacity inorganising the summit, which involved the participation of powerful nationssuch as China, Japan, and the Republic of Korea.
Sharingthe same view, Prof. Carl Thayer from the University of New South Wales saidVietnam actively affirmed its strong will and special leadership role in thefields of uniting ASEAN member states together in response to COVID-19 pandemicand recovery, creating consensus on neutral stance and ASEAN’s central roleamid competition among major powers, successfully completing negotiations onthe Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, and consolidating ASEAN’sstatement on the East Sea by underlining the importance of international law,including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
Asa non-permanent member of the UNSC, Vietnam was hailed for reflecting itsactive, balanced and responsible role, most recently pushing forward the UN’sadoption of the Resolution on the establishment of International Day ofEpidemic Preparedness (December 27).
Foreign Ministerof Mozambique Verónica Nataniel said Vietnam made active and effectivecontributions to the UNSC’s operations, including practical initiatives topeace and security in Africa.
PermanentRepresentative of Belgium to the UN, Ambassador Philippe Kridelka said Vietnamhas raised a strong voice and won trust of the world. He expressed his beliefthat Vietnam could serve as an effective bridge among nations, thus helpingpermanent member states such as Russia, the US and China more understand eachother.
AmbassadorDian Triansyah Djani, Permanent Representative of Indonesia to the UN,expressed his belief that Vietnam will continue upholding its contributions invarious areas in the UNSC, particularly bringing peace to the Middle East andAfrica when Vietnam will undertake the role of UNSC Chair in April 2021 for thesecond time.
On January 21, 2020, Ambassador Dang Dinh Quy, head of the Vietnamese mission to the UN, chairs an open discussion of United Nations Security Council on the Palestine-Israel situation. (Photo: VNA) VicePermanent Representative of France to the UN, Ambassador NathalieEstival-Broadhurst, for her part, lauded Vietnam for fulfilling itsresponsibility, including successfully holding an open discussion on the UNCharter and connecting ASEAN with the UNSC.
Shedescribed Vietnam as a strong partner in the UNSC and a traditional partner ofFrance in the Francophone community.
Russia’snews agency Sputnik also said Vietnam could beconsidered a role model in 2020, and the challenges that the country has facedand weathered have illustrated its people’s steadfastness and theclear-sightedness of its leaders./.
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