Closing of the OECD Ministerial Council Meeting 2025

Ceremony of handing over the role of Co-Chair of the OECD Southeast Asia Program (SEARP) between Australia, Vietnam, Canada and the Philippines. (Photo: VNA)

Under the theme “Leading the way to sustainable, inclusive and resilient prosperity through rules-based trade, investment and innovation,” the countries attending the conference discussed and promoted cooperation in many key areas, including strengthening the rules-based global trading system; enhancing supply chain resilience and economic security; promoting innovation for sustainable development; and promoting fair competition.

The exchanges and discussions at the conference emphasized the central role of the OECD in promoting institutional reform, increasing productivity, accelerating green-digital transformation and narrowing the gender gap, building resilient, inclusive and sustainable economies in the face of global fluctuations, and affirming that in the context of complex geopolitical fluctuations, rapid development of science and technology and increasing environmental and social challenges as today, protecting and promoting effective multilateralism based on international law is more important than ever.

In that spirit, OECD is committed to strengthening cooperation with the United Nations and other important multilateral mechanisms such as the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum (APEC), the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the Group of Seven (G7), the Group of Twenty (G20)... and regions such as Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia.

Attending the conference as co-chair of the Southeast Asia Program (SEARP), the Vietnamese delegation made many important and positive contributions to the overall success of the conference.

Speaking at the Discussion Session on Promoting Investment in the Digital Economy towards Resilience, Inclusion and Sustainability, Minister of Finance Nguyen Van Thang shared Vietnam's experience in implementing the strategy on science, technology, innovation and national digital transformation development; recommended that the OECD promote the formation of a green digital economy and circular economy in the digital technology sector; encourage investment in smart digital infrastructure, develop technological solutions to reduce emissions and save energy, with priority given to supporting small and medium-sized enterprises, women-owned enterprises, startups, rural areas, remote areas.

Speaking at the Discussion Session on enhancing diversification and development level to better adapt to the ever-changing situation, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Nguyen Minh Hang shared Vietnam's policies in diversifying markets, products, supply chains, simultaneously promoting traditional driving forces such as trade, investment, consumption and new driving forces such as digital economy, green economy, promoting exploitation of the domestic market with over 100 million consumers combined with strengthening economic relations with all countries and territories, attracting investment in all industries, especially new fields such as semiconductors, artificial intelligence (AI)...;

Vietnam calls on countries to continue upholding multilateralism, promoting free, fair and equal trade, supporting developing countries to enhance their self-reliance, competitiveness and deeper participation in the global supply chain, thereby facilitating trade and investment diversification.

At the discussion session on promoting inclusive economic growth to advance the sustainable development goals of member countries, the representative of the Vietnamese delegation called on countries to promote financial flows for green growth, circular economy and climate change response through specific policies to support businesses, especially small and medium enterprises, to access green credit and green consumer markets, encourage public-private partnership models in green development, raise awareness and change the mindset of businesses and investors about the long-term benefits of sustainable development; affirm Vietnam's commitment to continue accompanying partners to build a more transparent, fair and effective green investment-finance ecosystem.

Within the framework of the conference, the Vietnamese delegation had bilateral meetings with the OECD Secretary General, ASEAN Secretary General, Israeli Minister of Economy and Industry, Japanese Deputy Foreign Minister, and Director of the OECD Development Center to promote cooperation within the OECD framework in particular and bilateral relations between Vietnam and its partners, especially in the fields of digital transformation and global economic integration, contributing to realizing the set sustainable development goals.

On this occasion, the partners once again acknowledged and appreciated the role and practical contributions of Vietnam as the Co-Chair of SEARP for the 2022-2025 term, contributing to making SEARP one of the most successful regional programs of the OECD, supporting countries in the region to quickly recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, promoting reforms towards increasingly approaching high standards of global governance; affirming to continue to coordinate, support and promote cooperation between Vietnam and OECD in the future./.

According to VNA

Source: https://baothanhhoa.vn/be-mac-hoi-nghi-hoi-dong-bo-truong-oecd-nam-2025-251042.htm