Sustainable and quality investment: New impetus for the OECD partnership

On the afternoon of October 26, 2023, in Hanoi, as Co-Chair of the Southeast Asia Program (SEARP) of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Vietnam coordinated with Australia and OECD to organize the 2023 OECD-Southeast Asia Ministerial Forum with the theme "Sustainable and Quality Investment: New Driving Force for the OECD-Southeast Asia Partnership". The Forum is the most important activity of the SEARP Program in 2023 and follows the success of the 2022 OECD-Southeast Asia Ministerial Forum.

Attending the Forum were Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang, OECD Secretary General Mathias Cormann, Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son, Australian Member of Parliament Alicia Payne and more than 200 delegates including Ministers, Deputy Ministers, Ambassadors and representatives from 48 OECD and Southeast Asian members, along with leaders of international organizations, experts, scholars and the business community.

Speaking at the Forum, Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang said that the world economy is witnessing strong changes and fluctuations, deeply affecting investment cooperation between countries. Southeast Asia, despite its outstanding advantages in attracting FDI capital and continuing to be a bright spot on the global FDI map, is still facing many challenges, especially in attracting quality and sustainable investment. The Deputy Prime Minister emphasized that the current volatile investment context further demonstrates the need to enhance linkages and effective and substantive partnerships between regions, between countries, between enterprises, etc.

Sharing about Vietnam's significant economic and social development achievements after nearly 40 years of renovation, the Deputy Prime Minister reaffirmed that foreign investment is an important component of Vietnam's economy. The Vietnamese Government is committed to standing side by side with investors to protect their legitimate rights and interests and create a favorable production and business environment.

The Deputy Prime Minister proposed five key cooperation orientations to further promote investment cooperation between the two regions. First, continue to strengthen policy advice, technical assistance and experience sharing with Southeast Asian countries in institution building and enhancing national governance capacity on sustainable investment. Second, create momentum for investment cooperation on sustainable development in emerging and key areas such as energy transition, green growth, digital economy, circular economy, and ecological agriculture. Third, support the establishment of foundations for sustainable investment in the region. Fourth, create models in sustainable and quality investment cooperation. Fifth, continuously strengthen the peaceful and stable environment for cooperation and development as a prerequisite.

Speaking at the Forum, OECD Secretary General Mathias Cormamn, Australian Member of Parliament Alicia Payne and Heads of Delegation highly appreciated the role of Vietnam as Co-Chair of the SEARP Program. Delegates emphasized the important significance of the Forum in promoting intergovernmental and inter-regional cooperation in implementing common development goals, while promoting the strengths of OECD countries and meeting the needs and concerns of Southeast Asian countries.

OECD countries reaffirmed the strategic importance of Southeast Asia in OECD's global policy, committed to supporting countries in the region to promote quality, sustainable and inclusive investment, and support Southeast Asian countries in their journey of green transformation and digital transformation, for the goal of sustainable and inclusive development.

Concluding the two discussion sessions and delivering his closing remarks at the Forum, Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son emphasized three important messages. First, promoting quality and sustainable investment should truly become a new driving force for the OECD-Southeast Asia partnership. Second, prioritizing new areas of cooperation such as green transformation and digital transformation, integrating them into an ecosystem from capital support, coordination, policy advice, technology transfer and labor training. Third, further enhancing cooperation between the two regions, linking the implementation of the OECD Strategic Framework on the Indo-Pacific with the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific.

The 2023 OECD - Southeast Asia Ministerial Forum was a great success, truly becoming an annual meeting place for ideas and initiatives connecting the two regions, an incubator for specific cooperation projects, opening up new cooperation opportunities in the field of quality and sustainable investment, for the SEARP Program in particular and the OECD - Southeast Asia partnership in general, making a substantial contribution to the economic development process in Southeast Asia.

Within the framework of the activities of the Southeast Asia Program in Hanoi, the 2023 Vietnam - OECD Investment Forum, jointly organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Planning and Investment and the OECD, will take place on the morning of October 27, 2023./.

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