Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc’s presence at the annual conference of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland from January 22-25, will be a chance to propagate the country’s socio-economic development and international integration achievements in 2018.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc

His attendance at this important event will also deliver Vietnam’s major policies, orientation and measures on socio-economic development in 2019, thus encouraging leading partners and groups to continue intensifying cooperation with Vietnam, thus consolidating a favourable international environment for the implementation of the country’s socio-economic development targets this year.

Since joining the WEF in 1989, Vietnam’s relations with the high-profile forum have developed rapidly in various aspects. WEF has become an important dialogue forum for Vietnamese Government leaders with their counterparts from nations around the world and leading groups, opening up many investment and development opportunities for the country.

Vietnam’s senior leaders regularly participate in annual conferences of the WEF in Davos and East Asia. Attending the annual conference in Davos in 2017, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc delivered a strong message on the country’s economic prospects as well as its commitment to comprehensive reform and active international integration. Also at the event, Vietnam became the first country to sign a cooperative agreement on Public – Private Partnership (PPP) with the WEF on the development of Vietnam's self-reliant economy in the future.

In recent years, Vietnam has proactively taken part in the WEF on East Asia. The 2010 WEF on East Asia was held in Ho Chi Minh City on 2010, drawing about 450 delegates from regional countries, international organisations and multi-national companies. 

Last year, Vietnam again organised the WEF on ASEAN, themed “ASEAN 4.0: Entrepreneurship and the Fourth Industrial Revolution,” in Hanoi from September 11-13, which was assessed by WEF Founder and Executive Chairman Prof. Klaus Schwab as the most successful regional meeting of the WEF.

The country has also hosted regional conferences of the WEF, notably the WEF on the Mekong Region in October 2016 on the occasion of the 7th Ayeyawady-Chao Phraya-Mekong Economic Cooperation Strategy Summit (ACMECS 7) and the 8th Cambodia-Laos-Myanmar-Vietnam Summit (CLMV 8) to promote the image of the Mekong sub-region to the world’s leading groups.

Vietnam and the WEF have expanded their partnership to other areas such as increasing national competitiveness and in industry and agriculture. The country has actively joined in WEF initiatives such as “New Vision for Agriculture”, “Grow Asia”, and “Green Growth Action Alliance”.

Over the past years, Vietnamese enterprises such as Viettel, FPT, VinGroup, VNPT, Vietcombank have also participated in activities of the WEF, using these opportunities to boost collaboration and exchange experience in business development.

The WEF was established in 1971 as a not-for-profit foundation and is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. It now engages the foremost political, business and other leaders of society to shape global, regional and industry agendas

This year’s forum will be themed “Globalization 4.0: Shaping a Global Architecture in the Age of the Fourth Industrial Revolution”.-VNA