Making Vietnamese products instead of assembling would help Vietnam escape the middle-income trap, according to Nguyen Manh Hung, minister of Information and Communications.
 

Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Manh Hung.

For the first time, Vietnam holds a national tech forum to discuss the country’s future prospects with the slogan “Make in Vietnam”, Hung said at the national forum on developing Vietnam technology companies held on May 9.

“Make in Vietnam” means all processes from creation, design and production take place right in Vietnam, Hung added.

According to Hung, technologies would be instrumental for Vietnam to improve labor productivity. “Make in Vietnam” not only presents the country with direction towards prosperity, but also long-term peace through its contribution to the development of the defense industry.

Referring to a Chinese tech startup being the first private company manufacturing recycled missiles, Hung believed that young Vietnamese engineers could also do the same.

To develop a strong community of technology companies, Vietnam would need to create a market for it, Hung said. As the government is the largest spender in a country, a focus on buying tech products would play a big part in creating technology companies, he added.

Moreover, the national digital transformation process is expected to create a big market for local tech firms. In 2019, Vietnam would make public a national strategy for digital transformation, namely Digital Vietnam, aiming towards a digital economy and society.

Hung revealed the government would consider establishing special tech zones to pilot incentive policies for tech companies in the future, while calling on major corporations in Vietnam to invest in technology and become large scale tech firms.

A number of countries have succeeded thanks to strong foundation of large tech corporations. The government, therefore, could create conditions for the establishment of major tech giants.

In the long term, Vietnam would need a tech development fund with the contributor being the people and managed by the people, he proposed. Hanoitimes

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