The Prime Minister's answer when asked about Vietnam's development experience

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh made two suggestions from Vietnam for developing countries when asked at the dialogue session that was the highlight of WEF Davos 2024.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh at the policy dialogue session at WEF Davos 2024 - Photo: DUONG GIANG

On the afternoon of January 16 (Switzerland time, the same day as Vietnam time), Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh attended and delivered a speech as the keynote speaker at the policy dialogue session "Vietnam: Shaping a Global Vision" within the framework of the 54th Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF Davos 2024). The dialogue session was attended directly by Professor Klaus Schwab - founder and executive chairman of VEF - and 100 leaders and representatives of countries, international organizations, corporations and businesses that are members of WEF. Famous commentator on international relations Thomas Friedman of the New York Times - author of the book The World is Flat - was the moderator of the event.

Vietnam stands out globally

In his sharing before the dialogue session, Professor Klaus Schwab was delighted to meet Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh again. He also assessed that Vietnam is not only a star in the East Asia region but has also risen to global stature, becoming an "important partner in the world economy". Professor Klaus Schwab also emphasized that Vietnam has truly become one of the pioneering countries in green and smart economic development. Sharing his views with the founder of WEF, Mr. Thomas Friedman said that Vietnam is a typical example of reform and development, internationally recognized as a model of rapid and sustainable economic development. As a moderator, he expressed his desire to listen to Vietnam's experiences, development orientations and contributions to the process of solving global issues. Speaking at the dialogue session, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh emphasized a number of orientations and consistent views of Vietnam in the process of building and developing the country. Highlighting the achievements after nearly 40 years of renovation, the Prime Minister said that there are five major lessons learned from that success. One is to firmly follow the path to socialism, persevere in the foreign policy of independence, self-reliance, multilateralization, diversification, being a good friend, a reliable partner, and a responsible member of the international community. Two is to consider the people as the ones who make history. Three is to promote the strength of great national unity. Four is to combine national strength with the strength of the times. Five is to promote the leadership role of the Communist Party of Vietnam.

The policy dialogue session of Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh was proposed by WEF and identified as a highlight session at WEF Davos 2024 - Photo: NHAT BAC

Two suggestions for developing countries

When asked by the moderator about Vietnam's suggestions for developing countries that want to achieve impressive growth rates like Vietnam, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh shared two suggestions for countries. First, identify resources starting from thinking, motivation starting from innovation and strength originating from the people. The Prime Minister emphasized the role of international solidarity and multilateralism in solving global issues. Second, take people as the center, the subject, the most important resource, the driving force and goal of development. Accordingly, people need to directly participate in and benefit from policies. Responding to commentator Friedman's question about Vietnam's perspective on balancing relations with major countries, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh emphasized that Vietnam is one of the countries that has suffered the most damage since World War II, continuously affected by war, siege and embargo. However, Vietnam has "put the past behind, overcome differences, promote similarities, and look to the future" to turn enemies into friends. The Prime Minister affirmed that the recent visit to Vietnam by General Secretary and President of China Xi Jinping and US President Joe Biden demonstrated the strong political trust between Vietnam and the two partners, demonstrating Vietnam's independent and self-reliant foreign policy for peace, cooperation, development and prosperity, multilateralization and diversification.

Vietnam's priorities

Strong messages about a dynamically developing and innovative Vietnam, an attractive investment destination, a responsible member and a role model in many aspects and fields of the international community were conveyed by Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh during the dialogue session - Photo: DUONG GIANG

Regarding some priority areas of Vietnam in the coming time, the head of the Government said that they include digital transformation, science and technology, artificial intelligence (AI), green transformation... and determined that this is both an objective requirement and trend, and a strategic choice. In the field of semiconductors, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh shared Vietnam's efforts in developing strategic infrastructure, especially information infrastructure, and is planning to train 50,000 - 100,000 engineers in the semiconductor field in the near future. Regarding AI, the Prime Minister assessed that every issue has two sides. He said that Vietnam will actively exploit the advantages and limit the negative effects of AI, starting with building a national database, in parallel with perfecting investment attraction policies and enhancing and improving the effectiveness of human resource training. In cooperation with enterprises, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh emphasized that the Vietnamese Government will continue to improve and develop three strategic breakthroughs in institutions, infrastructure, and human resources. Vietnam will also create the most favorable conditions for foreign enterprises to cooperate in business, on the basis of maximizing the trust, hope, and determination of both sides and wishing that enterprises link production and consumption with research and training. Regarding climate change, the Prime Minister said that Vietnam is one of the countries most severely affected by climate change, and has committed to achieving zero net emissions by 2050 at COP26. In recent times, Vietnam has proactively improved its ability to adapt to landslides, droughts, and natural disasters, while implementing a new initiative on sustainable development of 1 million hectares of high-quality, low-emission specialized rice. This is both in line with the trend of sustainable development and promoting Vietnam's important role in ensuring global food security.

The Prime Minister's message spread

The above policy dialogue session is one of eight dialogue sessions with heads of state and government held at WEF Davos 2024. The event demonstrates the positive assessments of WEF and its members on Vietnam's role, international position, achievements, vision and development prospects. Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh's messages at the policy dialogue session received high appreciation from the delegates attending. The event was organized in an open format, interacting directly with a world-leading international commentator and transmitted on many online media platforms. Thereby, helping to strongly and widely spread the message about a Vietnam with new foundation, potential, position and prestige.

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