Hanoi (VNA) – At the invitation of Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum (WEF) Klaus Schwab, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, his spouse, and a high-ranking delegation of Vietnam are going to attend the 55th WEF Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland.
Crucial foundation for promoting Vietnam – WEF cooperation
Since Vietnam and the WEF set up their relationship in 1989, bilateral cooperation have been promoted by both sides’ leaders and developed across multiple areas.
At the PM level, Vietnam attended the WEF Annual Meeting in Davos in 2007, 2010, 2017, 2019, and 2024. In addition, a Vietnamese PM participated in the WEF Annual Meeting of the New Champions in Tianjin and Dalian cities of China in 2023 and 2024, along with the WEF on ASEAN Meeting (which was the WEF on East Asia Meeting before 2016) in 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2017. In other years, these meetings saw the presence of Vietnamese Deputy PMs.
Leaders of the two sides have also stepped up high-level meetings and exchanges, especially those between PM Chinh and WEF Founder and Executive Chairman Klaus Schwab at the WEF meeting in Tianjin in June 2023, the 41st ASEAN Summit in November 2022, and the 43rd ASEAN Summit in September 2023, along with Schwab’s visit to Vietnam in October 2024.
Vietnam and the WEF coordinated to organise the first country strategic dialogue on October 29, 2021, in a hybrid format under the theme “Public - Private Partnership – The Key Driver for Comprehensive Recovery and Sustainable, Resilient and Innovation-Driven Growth.”
That event was considered the most successful country strategic dialogue that the WEF had held in coordination with a country, in terms of the level of participants, content, time, and organisation.
At the WEF meeting in Tianjin in 2023, PM Chinh co-chaired the second country strategic dialogue, themed “Promoting new growth drivers to create the future of the country”, on June 26, 2023.
Present at the WEF Davos meeting last year, he presided over the third country strategic dialogue, themed "The next development horizon: Promoting transformation, opening up new growth drivers in Vietnam", on January 16, 2024.
Vietnam hosted the WEF on ASEAN Meeting in Hanoi from September 11 to 13, 2018, the first WEF on the Mekong Region Meeting in Hanoi on October 25, 2016, as well as the WEF on East Asia Meeting in Ho Chi Minh City on June 6–7, 2010.
On June 26, 2023, within the framework of the WEF meeting in Tianjin, the two sides inked a memorandum of understanding on cooperation for 2023–2026 in the presence of PM Chinh and Prof. Schwab, serving as an important foundation for them to bolster ties in the new period.
The MoU focuses on innovation in the food sector; green transition skills; orienting industrial clusters towards net zero emissions; promoting actions on plastics, including the Global Plastic Action Partnership (GPAP); finance for renewable energy transition; and cooperating in digital transformation and the establishment of the Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution (C4IR).
PM Chinh attended the inauguration ceremony of the C4IR in HCM City on September 25, 2024. This is the WEF’s 19th C4IR in the world and its second in Southeast Asia.
Addressing the ceremony, the Government leader affirmed that the centre came as a result of the implementation of the Party and State’s guidelines on the Fourth Industrial Revolution (Industry 4.0), meeting national development requirements in the new era.
The centre also demonstrates Vietnam’s intensive integration into the world and participation in global efforts to boost science, technology, and innovation. It shows HCM City’s pioneering role in this regard, reflects Vietnam’s mettle, wisdom, pride, and aspirations in Industry 4.0, and also affirms the close relations between Vietnam and the WEF in the spirit of “doing as they say and achieving practical results as they pledge.”
PM Chinh asked the HCM City-based C4IR to base on its functions, tasks, and authority to bring into play its self-reliance and creativity to promote cooperation, connectivity, digital transformation, and green transition to secure practical results and create spillover effects for the sake of the country and people.
Collaboration for the intelligent age
The WEF’s continual invitation of the Vietnamese PM to take part in its global meetings demonstrates the country’s growing role, stature, and prestige in the world.
Meanwhile, Vietnam’s participation in WEF events also reflects its efforts in maintaining peace, promoting development, resolving global issues, and sharing viewpoints on the global development and governance mindset amidst a profoundly changing world economy.
![vietnam-wef-4.jpg](https://mediaen.vietnamplus.vn/images/3ce06c6eb7f427ada213a8bd125598b594d28cdb165d8e1244ddfd62b25f0dfbad0063b261ddce4c373f40e8744d17d9/vietnam-wef-4.jpg.avif "PM Pham Minh Chinh chairs the WEF’s country strategic dialogue with leading enterprises of the forum. The event, themed "The next development horizon: Promoting transformation, opening up new growth drivers in Vietnam", takes place in Davos, Switzerland, on January 16, 2024. (Photo: VNA)")
Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Nguyen Minh Hang noted that PM Chinh’s participation in this year’s 55th WEF Annual Meeting, themed “Collaboration for the Intelligent Age” is highly anticipated by the WEF leadership and global businesses. This is a great opportunity for the international community and major businesses to directly talk to the PM and leaders of ministries, sectors, localities, and enterprises of Vietnam about development orientations, priorities, and chances that the country can give businesses in a fast changing world at present.
The PM will convey important messages about Vietnam’s determination, aspirations, and vision towards the strategic development goals for the next 20 years.
Through in-depth discussions at the meeting, which will see the presence of over 3,000 leaders from various countries, international organisations, and major enterprises, Vietnam can grasp development trends of the intelligence age to build mechanisms, policies, and measures for seizing opportunities and minimising adverse impacts of new trends.
The PM will also chair many discussions on practical issues linked with national development requirements, especially the Politburo’s Resolution No. 57 on making breakthroughs in science – technology development, innovation, and national digital transformation.
The trip will open up many chances for Vietnam’s cooperation with other countries and leading businesses in key areas such as artificial intelligence (AI), innovation, high technology, AI application to smart manufacturing, health care, and pharmaceutical production, along with the development of an international financial centre in HCM City.
Deputy Minister Hang went on to say that PM Chinh’s participation in the WEF Davos meeting marks the start of a busy year of multilateral diplomacy of Vietnam.
Through the meeting, the country will continue to demonstrate itself as a trustworthy partner and an active, responsible, and highly potential member of the international community in the intelligent age, working towards a prosperous and sustainable future for humanity.
The World Economic Forum (WEF) is a non-profit organisation operating in the form of public – private partnership. Founded by Prof. Klaus Schwab in 1971, it is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland.
The WEF currently has about 700 partners who are leaders of the world’s top businesses in different fields.
As one of the first forums to touch upon Industry 4.0, it is implementing some concrete and substantive initiatives such as the C4IRs in the US, India, and Japan, and the Centre for Cybersecurity with the engagement of 92 partners.
The WEF’s most important event is the annual meeting held in every January in Davos. In addition, there are regional forums such as the WEF meeting in Tianjin or Dalian (China) and the WEF on ASEAN Meeting.
WEF events draw the world’s leading politicians, entrepreneurs, scholars, academicians, as well as those from cultural and social areas to identify agenda at the regional and global levels./.
