"This country is not poor, 100 million people can do a lot of work"

(Dan Tri) - According to Dr. Vu Minh Khuong, when Vietnamese people are determined, they can do it because they are completely capable. With a population of 100 million, Mr. Khuong said, "this country is not poor."

The opportunities and challenges in economic development after the pandemic were pointed out by experts at a discussion on the afternoon of October 5 organized by the Government Electronic Information Portal, with the theme "Vietnam's economy overcomes headwinds". "Headwinds" are also an issue that Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has mentioned many times at ASEAN and United Nations forums. Vietnam is on the threshold of taking off to become a developed country. From the perspective of a researcher, Dr. Vu Minh Khuong (lecturer at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, Singapore) also shared his impression of the economic growth after the pandemic. "International researchers have observed and clearly seen that Vietnam has become stronger after the pandemic", Mr. Khuong highly appreciated the Government's management in recent times.

Dr. Vu Minh Khuong, lecturer at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, Singapore (Photo: Doan Bac).

Mr. Khuong emphasized that in the past 2 years, the confidence of businesses as well as localities has increased very strongly. The expert immediately cited the story of rice export. He assessed that Vietnam is very brave, not only for itself but for the whole world. "If Vietnam were also in chaos and banned rice export, it would definitely lose points. But Vietnam did it differently," Mr. Khuong assessed that this was the courage of the Government in management. Dr. Vu Minh Khuong said that the Government's management style in recent times has helped the spirit of localities to improve very strongly. "The decision to build 218km of subway, urban railway system in the next 12-15 years. Everyone sat in meetings day and night, I noticed a very special atmosphere. The Government absolutely supports it, the Politburo, the National Assembly support it, why can't we do it?", Mr. Khuong raised the question. Emphasizing the need to concretize the resolution for implementation, Mr. Khuong believes that "new horizons are opening up", Vietnam is standing on the threshold of taking off to become a developed country. Assessing the development opportunities, Dr. Vu Minh Khuong said that 2023 is a very good time for businesses to feel the need to survive. Citing the proposal to build a subway system, Mr. Khuong said that there needs to be a change in the current processes with 160 procedures and 10,000 details that "if wrong, you die immediately".

Overview of the seminar "Vietnam's economy overcomes headwinds" (Photo: Doan Bac).

"Should we simplify it to 3 points: Does the project have a lower investment level than the world average? Is the progress faster? Is the quality equal or better? If these 3 things are met, everyone will want to bid for the project, creating a "basket" for PPP projects to be completed very quickly," Mr. Khuong believes that this change can create a miraculous transformation in infrastructure in the near future. With an optimistic view, Mr. Khuong believes that Vietnam's future prospects are very bright. "Clearly, Vietnam has all the conditions to take off spectacularly in the near future. There are difficulties but also many opportunities," Mr. Khuong expressed his opinion. He highly appreciates the capacity of the Vietnamese people, because when discussing issues such as developing a green economy and a digital economy, Vietnam has made very impressive progress. For example, Vietnam is behind in the issue of automatic toll collection, but when TASCO came in, they came up with software that is "better than China". "That means when you are determined to do something, willing to do it, you can do it because you are completely capable. We do not lack resources, including building a subway. This country is not poor, 100 million people are enough to do a lot of things," said Mr. Khuong. Successfully coping with "headwinds" Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Tran Quoc Phuong reviewed many economic "bright spots" in the first 9 months of the year. "The GDP growth rate in the first 9 months reached 4.24%, of which the GDP in the third quarter reached 5.33% - a very positive number compared to the same period last year," said Mr. Phuong, saying that this growth figure is quite high compared to other countries.

Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Tran Quoc Phuong (Photo: Doan Bac).

Based on the results achieved, the Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment assessed that we have successfully responded to this year's "headwinds" thanks to the Government's flexible and timely direction. Also mentioning the "headwinds", Mr. Shantanu Chakraborty, Country Director of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in Vietnam, highly appreciated Vietnam's response. He said that the recent forecast of ADB released in September showed that Vietnam will still lead the growth in Southeast Asia at 5.8% for 2023, down from last year but still a remarkable figure.

Mr. Shantanu Chakraborty, Country Director of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in Vietnam (Photo: Doan Bac).

"This year, even though GDP did not reach expectations, it still shows a positive trend. With great efforts, the 6% growth target is completely achievable," said Mr. Shantanu Chakraborty. Although assessing that Vietnam has been very successful in its economic development strategy, Mr. Shantanu Chakraborty suggested that more attention should be paid to developing the private economy, a sector that plays a key role in the economy. "The current infrastructure gaps and shortages are still large, and ODA loans are limited. Therefore, it is necessary to mobilize more resources from the private sector for infrastructure and reform policies to encourage the private economy," said the ADB Country Director in Vietnam.

Dantri.com.vn