VGP – Despite tremendous achievements, Viet Nam needs to take actions with assistance from international community to fix burning issues in order realize development goals through 2045. 

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc (standing) at the Viet Nam Reform
and Development Forum 2019 in Ha Noi on September 19, 2019.
Photo: VGP

 The Government chief stressed the point while addressing the Viet Nam Reform and Development Forum 2019 in Ha Noi on Thursday.

From a war-ravaged country, Viet Nam has made it among 45 largest economies in the world with GDP totalling over US$250 billion last year.

Viet Nam has been an attractive destination for foreign investors as evidenced by rapid growth of foreign investment inflows, which reached US$ 200 billion between 2011 and 2018.

Poverty reduction was still very high, standing above 53% in 1992 or nearly 20 years after the national liberation and reunification, however, thanks to the introduction of the reform policy in 1986, the poverty rate fell down to 5.23% in 2018, making it one of the great poverty reduction stories around the world.

According to Prime Minister Phuc, the middle income accounts for 15% of the total population and is rising fast.

Last year, the country’s Global Innovation Index ranking jumped three places to 42nd among 129 countries, ranking first among 26 low-middle-income countries, and ranking third in the ASEAN region, after Singapore and Malaysia.

The Government chief, however, pointed out the spate of the existing challenges that must be frankly discussed and resolved, including weak capacity to respond to external impacts and to access to digital economy, slowdown GDP growth.

Other challenges are weak competitiveness, low productivity, and incomplete economic institutions.

According to World Bank Country Director Ousmane Dione, scientific and technical achievements play an important role for Viet Nam to overcome challenges like the very fast population ageing, poorly performing investments, unskilled human resources, and the unbridged technical gap separating it from the developed world.

Thereby, Dione highlighted that finding a new engine for growth based on innovation, and improving productivity, and reforming the market economy are all needed for a breakthrough in Viet Nam’s development./.