Aspiring Goals Require Bold Strategies

Vietnam is setting its sights on a future of rapid economic expansion, aiming for double-digit growth to bridge teh progress gap with leading nations. This ambition, though, requires a fundamental shift in strategy, moving beyond traditional growth engines to embrace innovation, technology, and strategic reforms.

A recent high-level workshop, attended by over 200 delegates including government officials, scientists, and economic experts, served as a platform to discuss and formulate a roadmap for achieving this ambitious goal. The discussions centered on key pillars for sustainable and high-paced growth,addressing critical issues and proposing actionable solutions.

Key Pillars for Economic change

The workshop highlighted several crucial areas for reform and development, essential for propelling Vietnam towards its economic objectives:

• Institutional Reform: Emphasizing the need for a modern, transparent, and accountable institutional framework that fosters healthy competition and supports innovation. This includes reforms of legal frameworks and transitioning to “post-inspection” models.
• Human Capital Development: Recognizing the critical role of education and talent management in the era of science, technology, and innovation. Proposals included educational reforms and integrating digital technology and AI into the civil service system.
• Private Sector Empowerment: Identifying private enterprises as a core engine of growth,advocating for self-governance,a favorable legal surroundings,access to funding,and connections to international markets.
• Financial Resource Mobilization: Improving public fiscal regulations and strengthening mechanisms for macroeconomic stability to effectively mobilize and distribute capital.
• Embracing the Fourth Industrial Revolution: Leveraging digital technologies, artificial intelligence, and the green and circular economies to fundamentally transform production and consumption patterns.

The Urgency of Change: Avoiding the Middle-Income Trap

Dr. Zanzantan, Vice President of Vietnam Social Sciences, emphasized the critical juncture Vietnam faces. The nation’s 13th National Party congress set clear objectives: to become a developing country with high average income and modern industry by 2030, and an advanced, high-income state with a socialist orientation by 2045.

Though, Vietnam faces critically important headwinds, including slowing global economic growth, trade and technology fragmentation, and intensifying strategic competition among major powers. Traditional growth drivers are losing steam,and without rapid innovation and economic restructuring,Vietnam risks falling into the middle-income trap.

The most urgent thing to realize that desire is that Vietnam must achieve high, stable and sustainable economic growth in the next decades.

Dr. Zanzantan, Vice President of Vietnam Social Sciences

The world Bank estimates that only a small percentage of middle-income countries have successfully transitioned to high-income status, highlighting the challenges involved. This transition requires sustained productivity growth, innovation, and diversification of the economy.

Six Focus Areas for Policy Transformation

The workshop identified six key areas where policy changes are crucial to unlock Vietnam’s growth potential:

1. New Growth Model: Shifting from a quantity-based to a quality-based growth model, focusing on efficiency, resource utilization, labor productivity, science, technology, innovation, and high added value.
2. Institutional Overhaul: Establishing a modern, transparent, and accountable institutional framework that promotes healthy competition, supports corporate innovation, and effectively attracts social resources.
3. identifying New Growth Areas: Discovering and developing new growth spaces, sectors, and regions that have not yet been effectively utilized.
4. human Resource Development: Prioritizing the cultivation and effective utilization of human resources, notably talent, in the era of science, technology, and innovation.
5. Private Sector as Growth engine: Fostering a strong and competitive private sector, capable of driving innovation and creating vietnamese brands with global reach.
6. Diversifying Financial Resources: Exploring new avenues for financing the enormous investment demands and overcoming the limitations of domestic resource mobilization.

Moving Forward: From Discussion to Action

Participants at the workshop agreed that Vietnam must move decisively towards a growth model based on innovation, creativity, and high productivity. Key enablers include institutional reform, a thriving private sector, leveraging the Fourth Industrial Revolution, and strengthening national governance.

The organizing committee will now synthesize the presentations and discussions into a thorough policy recommendation report, which will be submitted to the government and relevant organizations. This report will serve as a blueprint for realizing Vietnam’s ambitious double-digit growth aspirations.