The Republic of Korea (RoK) has shared its experience in developing the local economy by promoting co-operatives and social enterprises during a conference in the central city of Da Nang on January 20.

Lessons learnt by the RoK during their implementation will be used to improve upon Vietnam’s models, making them more effective and sustainable for future development, said Nguyen Manh Toan, Headmaster of the University of Economics at Da Nang University – one of the organisers of the event.

Dr. Bui Quang Binh from the University of Economics pointed out that many co-operatives have not remained active in developing production and business plans, while workforce quality remains low with only 11.2 percent having received formal training leading to difficulties in developing co-operatives.

Meanwhile, Professor Dr. Seungkwon Jang from the RoK’s Sungkonghoe University asserted that co-operatives and social enterprises in Vietnam have failed to tap the full potential of their locality.

The majority of the production facilities are small-scale without efficient connections to the tourism and service sectors, he contended.

Assistant Professor Dr. Sangsun Bak from Sungkonghoe University noted that Vietnam is strong in trade village tourism; as such it would be wise to drive the development of co-operative and social enterprises towards tourism-service orientation.

He suggested that Vietnam design additional policies to enhance training for local labourers and form close links among localities and regions.

During the conference, Vietnamese and RoK specialists also discussed a number of examples of effective implementation of the model in both countries, including the RoK’s Jeju eco-tourism area and Buljeong agriculture co-operative, as well as Vietnam’s Thanh Ha-Hoi An trade village model in Quang Nam.-VNA