This is believed to be a great opportunity for Vietnam to become an important link in the global supply chain to take shape after Covid-19.

The US, Australia, Japan and India, the members of Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad), have begun discussing the current issues including Covid-19 and the ways to prevent the spread of the epidemic, with the participation of three invited countries – Vietnam, South Korea and New Zealand.

According to Reuters, the key topic of the Quad-plus’s discussion is how to minimize the impact on the global economy through the ‘economic prosperity network’ initiative.

It is still unclear which countries will belong to the network, but the US administration is cooperating closely with Vietnam, South Korea, New Zealand, Australia, India and Japan, and these are countries targeted by the US in its plan to restructure the global supply chain.

It is still unclear which countries will belong to the network, but the US administration is cooperating closely with Vietnam, South Korea, New Zealand, Australia, India and Japan, and these are countries targeted by the US in its plan to restructure the global supply chain.

Dr Phung Duc Tung, director of the Mekong Development Research Institute, said the weakness of multi-national groups has been exposed in Covid-19: they concentrate production and depend too heavily on the Chinese market.

Covid-19 was the ‘final straw’ that forced the US and European countries to think of measures to ease or stop reliance on the Chinese market.

There are two more reasons for multi-national groups to advocate the Quad’s initiative: the production cost in China is increasing, while there are risks in doing business there because of intellectual property right protection problems.

Where will the groups go after leaving China? Vietnam and India are two good choices. And Vietnam has proved that its enterprises are capable of making high-technology products.

Tung said this is a great opportunity for Vietnam to join the world’s supply chain thanks to a series of advantages, including the labor force. Around 64 percent of Vietnam’s population is working age, while the labor cost is lower than China.

Vietnam’s great advantage that the US and western countries saw during the pandemic is political stability and the Vietnamese people’s confidence in the government in the fight against Covid-19.

Sharing the same view, Le Xuan Nghia, a member of the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council, said this is an opportunity for Vietnam to recover its important strategic position to the US in Southeast Asia.

He believes that FDI, especially from the US, to Vietnam will increase after the dialogue and Vietnam will have good position on the map of FDI attraction.

Kim Chi 

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