The affection, trust and position of a 'rising star' on the international forum

(Dan Tri) - "It is no surprise that Vietnam is a rising star, a great investment destination," said Mr. Joo-Ok Lee, highly appreciating the image of Vietnam through the message delivered by Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh.

Mr. Joo-Ok Lee (WEF Director for Asia-Pacific), who is the coordinator of the National Strategy Dialogue session in Davos, said that Vietnam's development is a matter of great concern at this world's leading economic forum. He also revealed that many business leaders came to see him and said that the Vietnam National Strategy Dialogue session was one of the best discussions they had ever had with a head of state or head of government.

The Vietnam National Strategy Dialogue is one of more than 30 activities with the participation of Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, within the framework of the 54th World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland. According to Mr. Joo-Ok Lee, the world's leading businesses consider this a "special opportunity" because they can directly listen to Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and many ministers and local leaders of Vietnam, share their vision and orientation for economic development. What is useful for many business leaders is to listen and truly understand the context, origin of Vietnam's economic development as well as future development orientation, according to Mr. Joo-Ok Lee. The messages that Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh brought to this Conference, Mr. Joo-Ok Lee said, have brought a positive image of a dynamic and innovative Vietnam. "It is no surprise that Vietnam is a rising star, a great investment destination," the WEF Director for Asia-Pacific emphasized.

At the dialogue session, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh affirmed that transforming, seeking and creating new growth drivers is an objective and inevitable trend. "No country or economy can develop quickly and sustainably if it maintains the old mindset, relying only on traditional growth drivers," he said. The Prime Minister called on investors to join Vietnam, increasing investment in priority areas such as innovation, high-tech science, including semiconductor technology and artificial intelligence. "Vietnam always accompanies and cooperates with investors in the spirit of mutual win-win and mutual benefit," the Prime Minister pledged.

Director General of the International Labor Organization (ILO) Guy Ryder assessed that the message delivered by the head of the Vietnamese Government at this year's Davos Economic Forum was very strong. He said that Vietnam has a relatively fast and sustainable economic growth, and that the cooperation between Vietnam and the ILO is one of the largest cooperations of this organization, not only in the region but also in the world. Therefore, he affirmed that he is always ready to promote cooperation and discuss with the Vietnamese Government, and jointly identify areas of cooperation between the two sides in the coming time. As a member of the Government accompanying the Prime Minister in many dialogues, seminars, and discussions at the Davos Economic Forum, Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam Nguyen Thi Hong said that Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, as the guest of honor, shared many major orientations of Vietnam in socio-economic development. In particular, the Prime Minister conveyed a message about a dynamically developing Vietnam, demonstrating breakthrough thinking and vision, ready to work with the world to solve global problems.

On the sidelines of the conference, the Governor of the State Bank said that the Prime Minister also had many meetings and discussions with the world's leading financial and economic groups on important cooperation topics such as cooperation in the fields of AI, semiconductor industry as well as financial issues, promoting the establishment of an international financial center in Ho Chi Minh City. Ms. Hong, as well as many other accompanying ministers, were asked by the Government leaders to directly share about cooperation orientations in the specialized fields of the industry. Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh successfully took advantage of important opportunities from the working trip to inform about Vietnam's achievements and orientations, strongly spreading the message, image and position of a Vietnam with new foundation, potential, stature and prestige. The activities of the Vietnamese delegation at the world's largest economic forum this time have created a new breeze for high-quality foreign investment cooperation, contributing to renewing traditional growth drivers and promoting new growth drivers.

As the keynote speaker at the Policy Dialogue "Vietnam: Shaping a Global Vision" within the framework of the 2024 WEF Davos Conference, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh received a rather straightforward question from famous commentator on international relations Thomas Friedman (New York Times), who moderated the Dialogue, about Vietnam's viewpoint on balancing relations with major countries. Mr. Thomas Friedman said that not many countries can balance and have good relations with both the US and China, while in just a short time, both US President Joe Biden and Chinese General Secretary and President Xi Jinping visited Vietnam. "So how did Vietnam do it? What is Vietnam's secret?", he asked the head of the Vietnamese Government.

Not avoiding this direct question, the Prime Minister shared that Vietnam is a country that suffered a lot of pain and loss during the war. He affirmed that he would not forget the past and that no one could distort, fabricate, or falsify history, but Vietnam determined to put the past behind, respect differences, exploit similarities, and look to the future. Therefore, Vietnam is considered a model for overcoming the consequences and healing the wounds of war. The Prime Minister affirmed that the US and China are both comprehensive strategic partners of Vietnam. "I have this assumption: In the past year, when President Joe Biden and General Secretary and President of China Xi Jinping visited Vietnam and if they both advised Vietnam to reduce the level of relations with the remaining partner, how would you respond?", commentator Thomas Friedman continued the dialogue. Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh affirmed that the greatest gain from the two recent visits by the leaders of the two superpowers was to strengthen political trust. Once there is political trust, all relationships are resolved through sharing, understanding and mutual respect.

"I have not heard the advice you asked, but if I were given such advice, I would affirm that we pursue an independent, self-reliant, diversified, multilateral foreign policy, being good friends and reliable partners with all countries in the world, for the goal of peace and development," the Vietnamese leader shared. In fact, the above question is not only Mr. Thomas Friedman's alone, but it is also a common concern of international public opinion. Before the visit, the Prime Minister also gave an interview to the Romanian media group Clever, and one of the questions was how Vietnam achieved its current position as one of the world's most important actors in international relations, having friendly relations with all superpowers and major countries.

Building an international financial center in Vietnam is one of the important contents mentioned by many experts and leaders in the discussion "Potential and investment opportunities in Vietnam's financial market" in Davos. Dr. Philipp Rösler (former German Vice Chancellor) commented that Vietnam is one of the fastest growing countries in the world in recent years. According to him, Vietnam is on the way to becoming a financial center and can completely make a leap in this field. Mr. Claudio Cisullo, representative of UBS Bank, said that Vietnam is one of the countries with very good conditions to develop a financial center. Vietnam also has a very special opportunity to transform itself through technology and can avoid the "mistakes" and wrong choices of previous countries. Stable macroeconomic and political situation; favorable geographical location, high connectivity; Having a different time zone from the 21 largest financial centers in the world, combined with a strategic geo-economic position... are Vietnam's own and special advantages to realize the aspiration of building an international financial center. Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee Phan Van Mai said that according to the plan, by 2030, the city will form a regional financial center and this year must submit to the National Assembly a legal framework for this center. "The city will also continue to improve infrastructure, especially in District 1 and Thu Thiem; train and attract high-quality human resources to meet the requirements of an international financial center," said Mr. Mai. Not only at the Davos Economic Forum, this issue is also of great concern to the Vietnamese community in Hungary.

During the meeting with overseas Vietnamese in Hungary by the head of the Vietnamese Government, Dr. Thieu Ngoc Lan Phuong, representative of the Association of Vietnamese Intellectuals in Hungary, wished to have a mechanism for this organization to participate in the construction of Vietnam's first international financial center in Ho Chi Minh City. Welcoming this proposal, Mr. Phan Van Mai said that Ho Chi Minh City has basically completed the Project to build an international financial center. The Prime Minister is assigning the Ministry of Planning and Investment to be the leading agency, coordinating with ministries and branches to collect expert opinions to submit to the Government, submit to the Politburo and then submit to the National Assembly, to have a legal framework for the international financial center in Ho Chi Minh City to operate. According to the advice of experts, Vietnam's economic locomotive needs to take the lead in a number of pillars, for example the capital market, the derivatives market, and Fintech. This locality also needs a number of specific mechanisms and policies, superior to the legal level of the whole country to attract strategic investors. Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh had previously agreed to establish a Working Group to research and advise on the construction of a financial center in Vietnam. The Working Group is chaired by Dr. Philipp Rösler, Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung, and Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee Phan Van Mai. With the proposed roadmap, Chairman of Ho Chi Minh City Phan Van Mai expressed his determination to complete the goal of establishing an international financial center in this term.

Hungary and Romania are the first two Central Eastern European countries chosen by Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh for an official visit in the new year 2024. These are also friends who have helped Vietnam throughout its 75-year history of fighting for national independence and building and developing the country. Winter in Europe, snow covers all the roads. But the weather, sometimes rainy, sometimes sunny, sometimes snowy, according to Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, is like the many emotions when visiting long-time friends. The two countries also gave Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, his wife and the high-ranking Vietnamese delegation a warm, sincere and warm welcome from close friends. During the visit, the Prime Minister had more than 30 meetings and exchanges with all senior leaders of the State, Government, National Assembly, and political parties of the two countries, delivered policy speeches at universities, attended business forums, met with friendship associations of the two countries with Vietnam, met with the Vietnamese community, and visited a number of economic, scientific and technical establishments.

The leaders of Hungary and Romania expressed their strong impression of Vietnam's socio-economic development achievements and highly appreciated the growing international position of Vietnam. The leaders of both countries affirmed that Vietnam is a leading important partner in the Asia-Pacific region. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban commented that Vietnam is developing remarkably and will be one of the leading countries in Asia. Romanian Prime Minister Ion-Marcel Ciolacu also recognized Vietnam as one of the most potential markets for Romania. He suggested that both sides take advantage of the opportunity to turn Romania into Vietnam's gateway to Europe.

Expressing gratitude for the support that Hungary and Romania have given to Vietnam over the past 75 years, the Prime Minister affirmed: "Everything may pass but friendship always remains. Everything is changing, only the feelings between people remain unchanged and are growing." A series of cooperation documents in the fields of security, diplomacy, economy, culture, labor, agriculture, information and communication, and local cooperation between Vietnam and the two countries were signed. Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Kim Son said that Hungary and Romania are two countries with long-term cooperative relations with Vietnam, have trained many high-quality human resources for Vietnam and also have many agreements on education and training of human resources for each country. The strengths of these two countries are training in basic sciences, technology, engineering, medicine, economics and many other fields.

Regarding Hungary, Minister Son said that up to 36 universities have accepted Vietnamese students, and the number of Vietnamese students studying in Hungary has reached more than 900. "This is an important educational cooperation with a country in the EU community," according to the Commander of the education sector. The Minister said that through meetings and conferences with Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, Hungarian leaders are very interested in creating conditions for Vietnamese students to study in Hungary. Currently, Hungary grants about 200 scholarships for Vietnamese undergraduate, engineering and postgraduate programs each year. On the Vietnamese side, in 2023, there will be more than 400 Vietnamese students applying to Hungarian universities. "That shows that Vietnamese students are very interested in studying at universities in Hungary. The government encourages it, and students are excited about this learning environment," said Mr. Son. Meanwhile, in Romania, the government annually grants scholarships to Vietnamese students, however, the number of Vietnamese students coming here is limited due to the "difficulty" of language.

Minister Nguyen Kim Son said that in this trip of the Prime Minister, there will be representatives of 8 Vietnamese universities in the technology, engineering, construction, hydraulic technology groups, etc. participating. He said that he will promote cooperation and development in the field of education and human resource training, especially in the fields of technology, engineering, medicine and pharmacy in which Hungary and Romania have strengths. The ministries and sectors of the two countries will also promote Hungarian and Romanian students to study in Vietnam, promoting cooperation in the field of education and training between the two countries in the near future. The official visit to Hungary and Romania by Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh at the beginning of the new year is an important milestone in the Vietnam - Hungary Comprehensive Partnership and the traditional friendship partnership between Vietnam and Romania, increasing political trust and comprehensively promoting bilateral cooperation in the new development stage.

Content: Hoai Thu

Photo: Doan Bac

Design: Patrick Nguyen

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