Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh visits the Harvard Kennedy School in Cambridge, Massachusetts. (Photo: VNA) Speaking at the dialogue, Vietnamese Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung said in 2019, he led a delegation of researchers to the Harvard School to listen to experts’ opinions about the development strategy for the country. The delegation then studied and presented information on sustainable development. Accordingly, in order to achieve sustainable development, it is necessary to achieve sustainability not only in the economy but also in culture, society and among human beings.
Vietnam defines the target of placing the people as the subject with all policies revolving around the people and benefiting the people, Dung said.
“Vietnam sees that rapid and sustainable development must be based on new motivations. Apart from mechanisms and infrastructure, it is necessary to supplement two new motivations in the three breakthroughs that are science and technology and innovation, and cultural value of Vietnamese people,” he said.
Professor David Dapice appreciated that the participation in international trade agreements is a wonderful success of Vietnam. Millions of agricultural workers have moved to work at factories. However, as the majority of the production materials of Vietnam are imported, the country’s export products were affected by the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic with borders closing or in case of trade tensions. Therefore, the professor said Vietnam needs to develop domestic inputs and diversify sources for export.
Professor Dapice evaluated that Vietnam’s trade surplus with the US could reach 100 billion USD this year. He said Vietnam needs to promote foreign direct investment (FDI) attraction, trade exchanges with other countries and education and training cooperation, in order to create competitive advantages in ASEAN.
In addition, the economy’s opening must be maintained, attracting more talents and creating favourable conditions for investors, he said.
Many localities of Vietnam are in remote areas without favourable infrastructure, making it hard for them to get access to and attract FDI so the professor suggested the country test the application of property tax, allowing localities to use property tax for investment without the use of State budget.
Speaking at the discussion, Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam Nguyen Thi Hong admitted that international integration brings many opportunities for Vietnam but the country also has to face many challenges. The bank must increase forecasts to put forward synchronous policies in line with the reality, and resolutely not use monetary policy to create competitive advantages in trade.
With that consistency, Vietnam has recorded impressive results in curbing inflation alongside a relatively high growth rate. The foreign exchange market is stabilised which is a bright spot to help improve Vietnam’s credit rating.
Medical professor David Golan spoke highly of Vietnam’s COVID-19 prevention and control measures. Since the first days of the pandemic, Vietnam decided to apply social distancing, limit travel and enhance the response of medical establishments. Doctors and nurses are the most vulnerable so Vietnam focused on equipping and protecting them to limit infections. The Ministry of Health mobilised final-year medical students to join the fight against the pandemic.
The Harvard Medical School donated 700,000 USD to help train 5,800 students who then were mobilised to pandemic-hit localities of Vietnam to help strengthen their medical systems. He proposed Vietnam set up a biomedical research centre to help transfer technology and build strategic biomedicine.
PM Pham Minh Chinh visits the Harvard Kennedy School. (Photo: VNA) The Government leader stressed the need to have an innovation ecosystem, initially having mechanisms, resources and human resources in order to encourage everyone to join innovation. He also said it is necessary to have international cooperation to create an innovation ecosystem.
Regarding the development of the digital economy, PM Chinh said cyber security is a global issue and Vietnam is boosting international cooperation and improving its own capacity to deal with emerging issues. He stressed that international experts could help to complete mechanisms and technology relating to cyber security, particularly in human resources training.
At the event, a representative from the Harvard Kennedy School announced that the school is cooperating with Sovico Group to build and sponsor an initiative on Vietnam’s climate policy. The project focuses on research and training to strengthen the recovery capacity of cities in Vietnam in response to climate change and to develop renewable energy./.
VNA
