Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh attends high-level dialogue at ASEAN Business and Investment Summit

Photo caption — Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh attends the High-Level Dialogue at the ASEAN Business and Investment Summit (ABIS). Photo: Duong Giang/VNA

Taking place on October 25-26, with the theme “Single Market - Towards Shared Prosperity”, ABIS 2025 brings together over 1,500 delegates, including ASEAN heads of state and senior leaders, CEOs of leading corporations and international economic experts. The conference focuses on innovative measures by the private sector to promote policy reforms and enhance ASEAN’s role in the global economy.

At the dialogue session, answering the Program Coordinator's question about Vietnam's key economic priorities in the future and how to balance growth with sustainable development, autonomy and integration, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh said that in recent years, despite many difficulties and challenges, the world economy slowing down, multilateralism facing many challenges, and supply chains being broken, Vietnam has maintained economic growth, while stabilizing the macro-economy, controlling inflation, and ensuring major balances of the economy.

In the coming time, Vietnam will continue to promote growth drivers, including renewing traditional drivers including investment, export and consumption and promoting new growth drivers such as green economy, digital economy, circular economic growth, sharing economy, creative economy, etc. The Prime Minister stated that Vietnam determines to grow rapidly but must be sustainable and inclusive, that is the consistent ideology; balancing between promoting self-reliance and self-reliance and deep, substantive and effective international integration.

In response to the Coordinator's proposal to shape Vietnam's next development program in the field of innovation and digital transformation, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh said that Vietnam identifies digital transformation as an objective requirement, a strategic choice, and a top priority, both in thinking and in action.

Digital transformation plays a very important role in society as well as in economic development, especially in economic connection between countries, connecting people, connecting businesses, connecting regions and cultures.

In digital transformation, Vietnam prioritizes the development of artificial intelligence, semiconductor chips; e-commerce, logistics; digital transformation of services in healthcare, education, culture, human exchange, and tourism.

According to the Prime Minister, digital transformation must create a movement, a trend, and to build a digital government, develop a digital society and a digital economy, there must be digital human resources and digital citizens. Therefore, Vietnam has launched and resolutely implemented the "Digital Education for All" movement under the direction of General Secretary To Lam, so that all citizens can learn, participate in the digital transformation process and enjoy the results of this process.

Regarding the Coordinator's question about the role and contribution of ASEAN and Vietnam in restoring the supply chain while keeping the market open; what Vietnam and ASEAN do to always be a reliable partner for the global business community, the Prime Minister said that life always has difficulties, and so do the economies of countries in the current context.

With the viewpoint that “resources originate from thinking, motivation originates from innovation, strength originates from the people”, leaders facing the storms of the economy must be extremely calm, persistent, steadfast in major principles but extremely flexible in solutions; perceive and evaluate the situation and the world objectively, comprehensively, comprehensively, not pessimistic, confused, wavering when facing difficulties and challenges and not too optimistic when there are opportunities and advantages.

The Prime Minister said that what the world admires about ASEAN is the principle of solidarity, unity in diversity, the spirit of self-reliance, the role of the growth focal point, the goal of inclusive development, placing people at the center, the subject, the resource, and the driving force of development; therefore, it is necessary to continue promoting ASEAN's central role, placing ASEAN's role in the world as a whole, and then based on ASEAN's specific conditions to determine guidelines, visions, actions and coordination between economies in a way that is appropriate to the actual situation.

The head of the Vietnamese government gave an example: when the global supply chain is broken, ASEAN countries must strengthen the connection of the intra-bloc supply chain. Or when the policies of external countries cause impacts, ASEAN countries must improve their self-reliance, support, and increase the opening of their economies to compensate for the impacts and losses.

The Prime Minister suggested that ASEAN countries increase exchanges, build, harmonize and improve the quality of institutions, turning institutions into competitiveness; at the same time, connect comprehensive infrastructure including hard infrastructure, soft infrastructure, cultural infrastructure, social infrastructure, transportation, digital transformation, etc.

Along with that, promoting high-quality human resource training to adapt to the new situation, with the transformation, promoting resources from ASEAN's large population and young population, this is a competitive advantage that ASEAN needs to promote to the fullest. Support each other for smart governance, including national governance, corporate governance; build good institutions to call for and attract foreign investment, harmoniously and effectively combine internal and external resources, in which internal resources (people, nature, cultural and historical traditions) are fundamental, strategic, long-term, decisive, external resources are important, breakthroughs in capital, investment, technology, governance, institutions...

According to the Prime Minister, these are very important orientations and pillars on the foundation of ASEAN's solidarity and unity in diversity, but implementation must be very flexible to connect economies and develop self-reliance, quickly and sustainably.

Appreciating the Prime Minister's comprehensive approach, in the final question, the Coordinator said that Vietnam has affirmed its strong support for multilateralism and regional integration, and asked the Prime Minister to tell about Vietnam's role in ASEAN in the coming time when ASEAN outlines the next economic agenda.

The Prime Minister emphasized that ASEAN is a community, an ASEAN family, and when each country is stronger, the bloc becomes stronger. And conversely, when ASEAN is stronger, each country benefits from the strength of the bloc. Therefore, each country needs to harmonize its development process, both maintaining its independence and autonomy and contributing to the common development of ASEAN countries; building each country's economy to be independent and self-reliant, but also contributing to building an independent and self-reliant economy of ASEAN.

The Prime Minister affirmed that Vietnam is ready to contribute all issues related to institutions, infrastructure, human resource training, and governance, especially in priority areas such as digital transformation, green transformation, circular economy, creative economy, science and technology development, and innovation, which are the foundation for rapid and sustainable development.

Countries need to share experiences, learn from each other, promote each other in the development process and this has the role of businesses in connecting businesses, connecting economies, connecting people and cultures.

At the end of the dialogue, when the Program Coordinator assessed that the contents that the Prime Minister shared about Vietnam's development priorities, innovation strategy and commitment to sustainable and comprehensive growth were very suitable for ASEAN and very useful for all delegates, the Prime Minister hoped that the delegates would come to Vietnam with the spirit of sharing vision and action, growing and developing together, enjoying the results together, sharing joy and happiness when working together.

Source: https://baotintuc.vn/thoi-su/thu-tuong-pham-minh-chinh-du-doi-thoai-cap-cao-tai-hoi-nghi-thuong-dinh-kinh-doanh-dau-tu-asean-20251026132519453.htm