Together with the attendance of the President of VASS, there were Assoc. Prof. Dr. Dang Nguyen Anh, Vice President of VASS; Dr. Nguyen Thang, Director of Centre for Analysis and Forecast; MA. Nguyen Thanh Ha, the Heda of the International Cooperation Department.
In the meeting, representing as the head of VASS, Prof. Dr. Nguyen Quang Thuan congratulated Mr. Kamal Malhotra on his duties in Vietnam and greeted him in his business trip to VASS. The President introduced missions, functions and organizational structure of VASS and emphasized that the current main mission of VASS was deploying the content of the Document of the 12th National Party Congress, implementing the plan to hold the workshop “The completion of socialist-oriented market economy mechanism in a new context” on the 15 February 2017 (The results of the workshop will contribute to policy advising activities to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam held in May 2017).
In addition, the President of VASS – Prof. Dr. Nguyen Quang Thuan highly appreciated the close relationship between VASS and UNDP over the past several years through coordination activities, supporting research between the two sides, especially the Human Development Report, which had made a significant contribution to policy consultation for the Communist Party and Vietnam Government through different channels. At the same time, in his capacity as UN Resident Coordinator in Vietnam, Mr. Kamal Malhotra would inherit the achievements of the cooperation relationship between VASS and UNDP in the past, and directly apply to the deployment of VASS’ missions in a new context.
Discussing about the issues that the both sides should cooperate closely in the coming time, on the basis of assessing the situation of Vietnam in the current context of changing world, the President proposed directions for policy studies which focused on solutions for Vietnam to achieve the goals including improving labor productivity and competitiveness in the context of complicated situation in the region and worldwide (the US, China, The Europe); to overcome the lag of the country in the strong impact of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, in particular, emphasized the essential roles of VASS in implementing the Fourth Industrial Revolution report, contributing new findings in scientific research in policy advice to Vietnam Government; to respond to global climate change to enhance Vietnam’s competitiveness in the region and worldwide.
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In response to Prof. Dr. Nguyen Quang Thuan, Mr. Kamal Malhotra expressed his pleasure for the welcome of VASS and showed his gratitude for the cooperation between UNDP and VASS for several. Also, he expected that the two sides would continue to strengthen the relationship on the basis of close cooperation in the long run, especially focus on the topics that had been already identified and mentioned in the Human Development Report on comprehensive growth.
Before coming to Vietnam, Mr Kamal Malhotra was on duty in Turkey, Malaysia,… hence, he hoped to bring his work experience in those countries to provide advice and suggestions to Vietnam, especially the focus was on improving productivity, competitiveness and avoiding the middle-income trap. At the same time, through the assessment of development trends in the next 5 years as well as the potential and advantages of Vietnam, Mr. kamal Malhotra hoped that the two sides would intensify the cooperation on the issues mentioned above in a higher level in the next stage. Accordingly, the UN and UNDP were ready to collaborate with VASS in researching, supporting, cooperating and organizing forums; scholar exchange; sharing experience and connecting businesses, law enforcement agencies to transfer policies into practical actions to enhance research capability as well as strengthen the relationship among VASS, Northeast Asia and ASEAN.
At the end of the meeting, Prof. Dr. Nguyen Quang Thuan expressed his gratitude for the contribution of Mr. Kamal Malhotra and emphasized his hope that the UN Resident Coordinator in Vietnam, Mr. Kamal Malhotra, would always support and collaborate with VASS, which would contribute to develop a better relationship between VASS, UNDP and UN in the future.
Nguyen Thu Trang
