On the afternoon of October 7, in Hanoi, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and Professor Klaus Schwab - Founder and Chairman of the World Economic Forum (WEF) visited Hanoi National University (VNU) and interacted with students from several universities in Hanoi with the theme "Positioning Vietnam in the smart era - Vision for the young generation". Also attending were leaders of ministries, departments, branches and central agencies.
This is an exciting event, marking the return of Professor Klaus Schwab - Founder and Chairman of WEF - to Vietnam after 15 years, to encourage and motivate the spirit of creativity and determination to overcome difficulties of Vietnamese students and youth. Accordingly, the exchange focused on trends shaping the intelligent era of humanity; opportunities, challenges and positioning of Vietnam in the new era of development; requirements for the young generation to grasp the trends of the times, promote the pioneering role to contribute to the development of the country.
Speaking at the program, Director of Hanoi National University Le Quan Share: We are living in an era where new technologies and artificial intelligence have fundamentally changed the way we live, learn and work. Vietnam, under the direction of the Government, is gradually affirming its position on the world map in this era. We are facing a great opportunity to comprehensively transform the economy, improve the quality of education and position Vietnam as a center of innovation in the region. That requires us to have a young, creative and enthusiastic workforce, always ready to face the challenges of the new era.
VNU is always proud to be one of the country's leading educational and research institutions, taking the lead in implementing the Party and Government's policies and strategic orientations in the fields of education and science. In accordance with the spirit of the Resolution of the 13th National Party Congress, VNU has been actively participating in the national digital transformation process, making a strong contribution to the training of high-quality human resources, meeting the country's development requirements in the context of the 4.0 Industrial Revolution.
VNU constantly innovates training programs, improves teaching and research quality, pioneers in developing educational programs to meet the needs of the digital economy, and implements interdisciplinary research projects, aiming to solve national and global issues on sustainable development, technology application and environmental protection.
In the program, Professor Klaus Schwab shared an overview of the forces shaping the world, with more complex and changing factors, bringing both challenges and opportunities to all countries, including Vietnam. These include: the transition from a stable global order to a multipolar world, with frequent conflicts; the transition from the industrial age to the smart age; and the increasing polarization in society.
The WEF President emphasized that young people are the future of Vietnam and the changes discussed are the factors that will shape their careers, opportunities and lives. The smart age is not just an abstract concept, it is a reality in which young people of Vietnam will live, work and study.
Professor Klaus Schwab also offered suggestions on how Vietnam can seize the opportunities ahead to create a prosperous, sustainable and inclusive future. Through initiatives such as the Fourth Industrial Revolution Hub, WEF is working to provide the resources and connections needed for countries like Vietnam to develop innovation hubs, invest in digital infrastructure and prepare their workforces to adapt to the challenges ahead.
But beyond technology, the real opportunity lies in the human factor. According to the Professor, Vietnam’s real advantage will depend on building a knowledge economy, which includes not only skills and professional capacity but also environmental, social and geopolitical advantages – all of which are important factors for a prosperous and inclusive society.
Speaking at the event, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh expressed his appreciation for the affection that Professor Klaus Schwab and his wife have for Vietnam in general and VNU in particular; was happy that the relationship between Vietnam and WEF is growing closer; was moved that the Professor always has affection for Vietnam: always invites Vietnam to attend WEF; spends time for Vietnam to share experiences with the international community; always gives the Vietnamese delegation meetings and work sessions with large corporations in the world to exchange and learn experiences.
Recently, Professor Klaus Schwab and the Prime Minister agreed to have specific solutions to help Vietnam, which is the inauguration of the Industrial Revolution 4.0 Center in Ho Chi Minh City. That is the Professor's feelings for Vietnam.
The Prime Minister expressed his impression of the speech with profound and meaningful sharing of Professor Klaus Schwab, which motivated and inspired the young generation of Vietnam. The Prime Minister shared to help students understand more about Professor Klaus Schwab and WEF: as the Founder and Executive Chairman of WEF (from 1971 to present), the strategic vision of the Professor and WEF has been affirmed by the world in more than 50 years of WEF development and has been increasingly affirmed in capturing new global trends and proposing solutions for the future.
As President of WEF for more than 50 consecutive years, the Professor has led WEF to pursue a multilateral approach, public-private partnership, multi-stakeholder cooperation, contributing to solving many global problems in 3 aspects:
Firstly , representativeness, WEF has identified a region, the world, and a nation;
Second , the connectivity between peoples, cultures, young generations, similarities, even challenges and conflicts.
Third , pioneering creates transformation; strategic vision must be pioneering, leading, if skillful, know how, then there will be no failure. But "failure is also the mother of success". Pioneering in the young generation is indispensable. Pioneering is demonstrated through the WEF's network of Centers for the Fourth Industrial Revolution; including the Center for the Fourth Industrial Revolution in Ho Chi Minh City, which was inaugurated last September; public-private partnership initiatives in various fields...
The Prime Minister said that Professor Klaus Schwab has chosen the theme for the upcoming WEF Davos Conference 2025 in Davos (Switzerland) as “Shaping the Smart Era”. This is a content of the times, because everything is associated with the word “smart”.
Regarding the “smart era”, the Prime Minister agreed with Professor Klaus Schwab on the comprehensive and inclusive approach, reflecting the development trend of the new era when mentioning the “smart era”. Accordingly, intelligence is not simply the explosive development of new technology but also connects and resonates in many other broad aspects:
From an economic perspective: intelligence must truly transform into productivity improvements, becoming a new growth engine for the economy. Production forces must also transform into intelligence. They are still means of production, but they must be intelligent; the distribution of labor must also be intelligent.
From a social perspective: intelligence must make society more equal, freer, more inclusive, and leave no one behind. Our Party has no higher goal than bringing independence, freedom, prosperity and happiness to the people.
From the environmental perspective: intelligence must go hand in hand with efficient use of resources and sustainable development of economies; in the current context, it is necessary to use the smartest energy sources effectively.
From a geopolitical perspective: it is wise to promote the creation of an environment of peace, cooperation and development, and to prevent war, conflict and division. We have gone through the struggle for national independence, which was to bring independence and freedom, to bring about a bright future like today.
Above all, the Prime Minister believes that the smart era must be an era of development for people, serving people, taking people as the center; building a socialist rule-of-law state, building socialist democracy, building a socialist-oriented market economy.
Regarding challenges, the Prime Minister shared that the world in general and Vietnam in particular always face many difficulties and challenges, especially in recent years, we have had to face the Covid-19 pandemic; the impact of conflicts in the world; climate change and severe natural disasters. The Prime Minister stated that current global issues cannot be solved by a single country alone, but must strengthen international solidarity, multilateralism, and people-centered and subject-oriented.
Regarding challenges, the Prime Minister pointed out three major challenges: Technology gap, infrastructure shortage; Modest economic scale, limited resources, developing country, economy in transition; Climate change, natural disasters, and epidemics are increasingly complex and unpredictable, threatening food security - water resources - energy;
However, we also have opportunities that developing countries can seize, which are opportunities from latecomers (with the conditions to go straight to the latest technologies and solutions); abundant human resources; international cooperation and multilateralism. The problem is to have Vietnamese mettle, to confidently move forward because this is the glorious historical tradition of our nation "turning nothing into something, turning difficult into easy, turning impossible into possible", sometimes surpassing one's own limits.
Regarding Vietnam's position on the world's development map in the smart era, the Prime Minister stated that, first of all, we must be brave and confident to enter the smart era because we have a glorious cultural history of more than 4,000 years; we must have the aspiration to rise up; we must perfect our institutions; we must have human resources; we must have infrastructure for smart development such as digital infrastructure, electricity, and telecommunications. According to the Prime Minister, investment resources also come from thinking, from mechanisms and policies; there must be technology transfer for smart development; there must be smart governance to create new impulses and motivations.
The Prime Minister shared that Vietnam has risen from an underdeveloped economy to a middle-income developing economy, ranked 34th among the world's largest economies, and we are striving to increase the size of the economy to 32nd-33rd. Regarding the vision in the new era of development, the Prime Minister stated that for the young generation, the country's innovation originates from the spring of youth. Students and young people will be the owners of the Smart Era, and they will be the driving force for the nation's rise. The young generation must pioneer in renewing old growth drivers, promoting new growth drivers, emerging fields such as circular economy, sharing economy, knowledge economy, cloud computing, artificial intelligence (AI), using English as a second language; combining national strength with the strength of the times, combining internal strength and external strength; Promote the synchronous implementation of three strategic breakthroughs in institutions, human resources and infrastructure.
Emphasizing that beloved President Ho Chi Minh said, “A year begins in spring. A life begins in youth. Youth is the spring of society,” the Prime Minister believes that students will have ambitions, aspirations, dreams, dare to face challenges, be confident, brave, overcome difficulties and challenges, have the mindset, methodology and approach to solve problems.
The Prime Minister expressed his gratitude to Professor Klaus Schwab and the WEF for their attention and contributions to very specific and practical cooperation results for Vietnam; suggested that the Professor and the WEF will have more initiatives to support and create conditions for students and young people in developing countries, including Vietnam, to have more opportunities to access and master advanced technologies through WEF programs and projects, especially supporting the Industrial Revolution 4.0 Center in Ho Chi Minh City to develop strongly, helping Vietnam access the world's development achievements, thereby contributing to supporting Vietnam to pioneer in the smart era in which the young generation is the core of this work.
During the Q&A session with students, Professor Klaus Schwab also helped clarify the role and responsibility of young people in the smart era, emphasizing the importance of the young generation of Vietnam contributing to the country's development.
For his part, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh clearly stated about Vietnam's development vision after 2045, the whole nation must make great efforts and determination to achieve this goal, must industrialize and modernize the country, mobilize resources to do this with endogenous resources, that is, effectively exploit natural resources, cultural traditions, history, and people; promote 3 strategic breakthroughs; combine national strength with the strength of the times.
The Prime Minister advised students to promote the nation's glorious historical and cultural traditions, overcome any difficulties with patriotism and self-confidence; have ambitions, dreams, and aspirations with the nation; do anything as long as you develop your full potential; make the best use of your own unique potential, outstanding opportunities, and competitive advantages; and determine your correct position in line with the trends of the nation and the times.
Sharing about the approach, the Prime Minister stated that we rely on the country's historical and cultural traditions, creatively apply them to the country's circumstances and the trends of the times, and from there, we institutionalize that approach to focus on developing emerging industries. The Government has just issued a strategy for developing the semiconductor industry, training high-quality human resources in this field; developing digital infrastructure, information technology, telecommunications, promoting the innovation movement, creating opportunities for young people to demonstrate their thinking, vision, and capacity.
The Prime Minister also asked young people to strive to be self-reliant, self-reliant, and excel in their studies, absorbing the world's best knowledge; clearly stating that there must be mechanisms and priority policies to attract resources; and maintaining a peaceful, stable, cooperative, and developing environment. The Government is planning to implement a training program for engineers in the fields of semiconductor chips, software, and artificial intelligence (AI) to develop with the world...
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