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Prof.Dr. Nguyen Xuan Thang, member of the Central Committee of the Vietnamese Communist Party, President of VASS presides the conference |
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Prof.Dr. Nguyen Xuan Thang, member of the Central Committee of the Vietnamese Communist Party, President of VASS, had been assigned as Chair of the conference. In attendance at the conference were: Prof.Dr. Nguyen Quang Thuan, Vice President of VASS; Mr. Truong Dinh Tuyen, ex-minister of Ministry of Trade; and more than 40 participants including scientists, economic experts, and leaders of specialized institutions within VASS, Central Theoritical Council; Institute for Development Strategies, Central Institute for Economic Management (Ministry of Planning and Investment); Institute of Labor Science and Social Affairs (Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs), Vietnam Economic Association, UNDP’s representative in Vietnam, and several independent economic experts.
In his keynote address, Prof.Dr. Nguyen Xuan Thang emphasized that this conference was a continuation of a series of conferences discussing the outline of the Mid-term Progress Report on Implementation of the Socio-Economic Development Plan for 2011-2012 recently held by VASS in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi. The difference in this conference was its focus on issues raised in the Summary Report and Mid-term Progress Report on Implementation of the Socio-Economic Development Plan for 2011-2012 as relevant factors and inputs for the 2014 Human Development Report. The President of VASS suggested that the conference should analyse and classify the situation and implementation of socio-economic development policy to determine whether any difficulties had been encountered, with a particular focus on objective and subjective causes of microeconomic instability, inadequacies of the growth model, economic reconstruction, and current institutional principals of development. For social problems, special attention had to be given to evaluating social beliefs, social structure, income and employment issues, and social services and social security. In-depth analysis of the impact on human development of factors such as inequality, social security, social services, and social stratification was necessary. Forecasts of new internal and external conditions impacting on our economy had to identify new opportunities and challenges, particulary challenges related to the improved instituonal development. Proposed solutions should include short-term, medium-term, and long-term outlooks, and it was necessary to seek break-though solutions, as resources are limited, giving priority to solutions that put humans at the center of development.
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With almost 50 presentations and expressions of opinion, scientists, economic experts and managers had a lively discussion in the spirit of frankness and social responsibility. Participants also highlighted inadequacies in social and economic development within the last period; at the same time, they proposed new ways of thinking aimed at solving problems of development for the country in the period of 2013-2015 and devising long-term solutions for the Mid-term Progress Report Outline on Implementation of the 2011-2015 Socio-Economic Development Plan. Several experts emphasized that existing shortcomings such as macroeconomic instability and social unrest were partly consequences of past programs, policies, actions and conditions. Almost all participants said that every obstruction or positive change in the development process came from the actions of an institution, and therefore institutional solutions needed to be regarded as the most important. The content of the 2014 Vietnam Human Development Report needed to focus on clarifying the country’s pattern of growth over the last period, and ascertaining whether it had achieved the two important goals of serving the people and enhancing people’s opportunities for equality. Some participants suggested that attention should be paid to analysis of development traps; issues of access to social services and social inequality; the emergence of new groups of poor who are very vulnerable to the processes of industriualization, urbanization and integration; and the ability of disadvantaged groups to absorb shocks, especially among the rural population. On the basis of clarifying the analytical framework, selecting appropriate assessment criteria, combining quantitative and qualitative analysis, and examining and selecting case studies for demonstration, scientific and suitable suggestions needed to be made in order to have real innovation in policy making while still always placing humans at the center of development.
Speaking on behalf of the conference organizers, Prof.Dr. Nguyen Xuan Thang sent a special thank you to the participants for their active involvement in the conference and said the conference had received good suggestions from scientists, economic experts and managers. With its duty and function as a scientific research institution, VASS is approaching and building up to the Mid-term Progress Report Outline by way of summarizing practices with reference to other countries and clarifying economic and political issues of development. The solution would focus on break-through developmental thought, growth models and institutons linked to summarizing 30 years of Vietnam’s socio-economic development. The 2014 Vietnam Human Development Report would focus on growing to serve people and enhancing equal opportunities. The President of VASS asserted that the conference organizers would integrate the results of talks and conferences in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang to build a report of high quality.
Dr. Vu Hung Cuong
