Opening of the Economic Forum

National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue delivered the opening speech at the Forum.

The forum was jointly organized by the National Assembly's Economic Committee, the Central Economic Committee, the Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics and the Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences.

The Forum was chaired by Politburo members: National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue; Director of the Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics, Chairman of the Central Theoretical Council Nguyen Xuan Thang; Head of the Central Economic Commission Tran Tuan Anh; Permanent Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Tran Thanh Man.

Party Central Committee Secretary, Deputy Prime Minister Le Minh Khai; Party Central Committee member, Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Nguyen Duc Hai co-chaired the Forum.

Attending the Vietnam Socio-Economic Forum 2023 were invited guests who are leaders and former leaders of the Party and State: Former Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee Nguyen Thien Nhan; Deputy Prime Minister Le Minh Khai; Vice President Vo Thi Anh Xuan. The program was attended by members of the Party Central Committee, alternate members of the Party Central Committee, Heads of Committees, Ministers, Heads of central agencies, leaders of committees, ministries, branches of central agencies, Secretaries of provincial and municipal Party Committees, National Assembly delegations of provinces and centrally run cities.

On the side of international organizations, there were Chief Representative of the International Monetary Fund in Vietnam and Laos Jochen Schmittmann, Senior Economist of the United Nations Development Program Jonathan R. Pincus; representatives of the International Labor Organization for the Asia-Pacific region; the World Bank; Ambassadors of the Russian Federation, Indonesia, Myanmar, the Philippines, and Singapore.

Held annually, the Forum is an important way to gather and widely promote the intelligence, enthusiasm and responsibility of National Assembly deputies, people, voters, experts, scientists, domestic and foreign enterprises and businessmen to contribute to important national issues and decisions of the National Assembly.

Scene of the opening session of the 2023 Socio-Economic Forum

Speaking at the opening of the Forum, National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue assessed that the 2021-2025 term has passed halfway in the context of complex and unpredictable developments in the world. Many countries in the world recorded negative growth, and Vietnam's GDP growth in 2021 was also at its lowest level in many years.

In that context, the National Assembly Chairman said that at the 2021 Socio-Economic Forum, the National Assembly agencies coordinated with relevant agencies to clearly identify the current situation, forecast risks and promptly submit to the National Assembly for promulgation Resolution No. 43/2022/QH15 on Fiscal and Monetary Policies to support the Socio-Economic Recovery and Development Program.

Along with that, the Resolutions approving the investment policy for 6 important national projects in the first year of the 15th National Assembly's term have created momentum, strengthened confidence, and added strength to realize the Party's wise policies and guidelines, contributing to Vietnam's strong recovery in 2022.

“The macro economy is stable, inflation is under control, GDP growth in 2022 is expected to reach 8.02%, the highest in over 10 years. Production and business activities are recovering positively in all three economic sectors…”, the National Assembly Chairman summarized.

Following the success of the 2021 Forum, many proposals and policy suggestions at the 2022 Socio-Economic Forum have been researched and selected promptly in the process of policy development and completion.

Discussion session at the Forum

“Thanks to the correct, timely and unprecedented policies and solutions in recent times, under the strong, synchronous and effective leadership and direction of the Party Central Committee, the Politburo and the Secretariat, together with the support and supervision of the National Assembly and the strong management of the Government, looking at the whole of the past half-term, Vietnam has basically firmly overcome difficulties and challenges in the face of “headwinds” and achieved many important and quite comprehensive results,” the National Assembly Chairman affirmed.

According to the National Assembly Chairman, the economy maintained its growth momentum and was a bright spot "in the gray picture" of the global economy.

Acknowledging the important results achieved in recent times, the National Assembly Chairman realized that the economy is still facing many difficulties and challenges.

Economic growth in the first 6 months of 2023 reached only 3.72%, nearly the lowest in the past 12 years, creating great pressure on GDP growth for the remaining 2 quarters of the year. "Achieving the growth target for 2023, the 5-year period of 2021-2025 and the entire strategic period of 2021-2030 has become extremely difficult," said the National Assembly Chairman.

Notably, many of the economy's main growth drivers in the first eight months of 2023 are showing signs of slowing down, even declining, and are under great pressure from the outside.

“The country is facing many difficulties and challenges, in which many new developments are emerging, more severe and severe than predicted,” the National Assembly Chairman warned.

Domestically, the resilience of many businesses has been eroded, many orders have been cut, production and business activities have encountered difficulties, especially in terms of output markets. Cash flow, capital mobilization, administrative procedures and pressure from market and partner requirements for sustainable development are increasing.

The labor market is facing difficulties as businesses have to reduce working hours and shifts. There are not many strong, large-scale economic groups in the country that play a leading role, leading and organizing supply chains and domestic production ecosystems.

Enterprises are mainly medium, small and micro-sized, have low production technology and are heavily dependent on imported inputs.

The endogenous capacity, autonomy, and resilience of businesses and the economy are still limited and have become more evident than ever before in the face of the adverse impacts of the world economic and political situation since the beginning of the term.

National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue and delegates visit the exhibition booth introducing the Socio-Economic Forum.

Emphasizing that the above issues are both fundamental and long-term, as well as topical and urgent, the National Assembly Chairman said that there must be immediate short-term response solutions and fundamental solutions with long-term strategic vision.

From reality through crises, difficulties and challenges, the National Assembly Chairman affirmed the importance and decisive role of internal strength and autonomy in economic development.

The National Assembly Chairman stated that strengthening endogenous capacity and creating growth momentum are objective, inevitable and urgent requirements to ensure continuity, stability and sustainability, helping the country take advantage of opportunities, overcome challenges, unleash resources, withstand external shocks and crises, and at the same time help the economy grow towards sustainable development.

“One of the most important lessons is to build and promote strong internal strength to cope with challenges and uncertainties of external factors” – the National Assembly Chairman reiterated and said that we need to strengthen and promote “internal strength”, effectively apply and exploit “external strength” to adapt and develop, this is considered a top and continuous task, especially in the new context and situation with many fluctuations and increasing risks.

The National Assembly Chairman asked speakers and delegates to exchange and discuss briefly and focusedly, going straight to the core and central contents, and proposing specific and practical solutions.

Suggesting discussion, the National Assembly Chairman noted that the discussion sessions at the Forum need to focus on solving three major issues, specifically forecasting the context of the regional and global economic and financial situation, opportunities, risks, and challenges for the Vietnamese economy in 2023, 2024 and the next period?

Second, what is the current socio-economic situation, the main difficulties, challenges, bottlenecks and resilience of the economy, businesses and workers? What is the forecast for 2023, 2024 and the entire 5-year period of 2021-2025?

Third, what are the endogenous capacities, driving forces and fundamental solutions to remove bottlenecks, unblock resources, strengthen internal strength, and create momentum for socio-economic growth and development in 2023, 2024 and for the entire 2021-2025 term?

Continuing the program, the Forum conducted the first Topic with the theme "Strengthening internal strength, unleashing resources, supporting businesses to overcome difficulties", under the co-chairmanship of Chairman of the National Assembly's Economic Committee Vu Hong Thanh and Deputy Director of the Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics Le Van Loi. The discussion focused on removing difficulties for production, business, and businesses, with special attention to the difficulties of businesses, capital absorption capacity, fiscal policy, monetary policy and other policies to help businesses overcome difficulties and strengthen internal capacity, etc.

According to the program, the 2023 Socio-Economic Forum takes place in one day with an opening session, a plenary discussion session and two thematic sessions.

In addition to the main bridge at the National Convention Center (Hanoi), the 2023 Socio-Economic Forum is also connected online to six bridges nationwide including: Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics and five schools: Fulbright University Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh City University of Economics, Foreign Trade University, Academy of Finance, National Economics University, and Danang University.

TUNG QUANG; photo: XUAN TRAN

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