Continuing to bring the OECD - Southeast Asia partnership into reality and effectiveness

Deputy Minister Nguyen Minh Hang gave opening remarks at the Forum.

The Forum was attended by OECD Secretary General Mathias Cormann, Thai Foreign Minister Maris Sangiampongsa, Lao Foreign Minister Thongsavanh Phomvihane, Australian First Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Robyn Mudie, SEARP Co-Chair for the 2022-2025 term, Ambassadors, Heads of Delegations of member countries to the OECD and in Thailand, and leaders representing OECD member countries and Southeast Asia.

Speaking at the Opening Session, the OECD Secretary-General highlighted the increasingly important role of Southeast Asia in the global economy and regional architecture, emphasizing the remarkable progress of the Southeast Asia - OECD partnership in recent times; sharing the vision of building the OECD into an influential and inclusive forum for global policy-making and governance, with the participation and contributions of Southeast Asian countries. The Thai Foreign Minister reaffirmed the importance of multilateral cooperation, emphasizing that Thailand attaches importance to cooperation with the OECD and is actively implementing the roadmap to join the OECD.

Speaking at the opening of the Forum as Co-Chair of the OECD Southeast Asia Partnership Program (SEARP) for the 2022-2025 term, Deputy Foreign Minister Nguyen Minh Hang shared her assessment of the volatile and uncertain international and regional context, which has had a multi-dimensional and profound impact on multilateralism, globalization and socio-economic development of countries; emphasizing that the Southeast Asia - OECD partnership, with the SEARP program as its focus, has achieved many positive achievements, contributing to the process of economic reform, regional integration and sustainable and inclusive development.

Deputy Minister Nguyen Minh Hang attended the OECD Southeast Asia Regional Forum 2025 as Co-Chair of the Southeast Asia Program for the 2022-2025 term.

The Deputy Minister made three proposals on the direction of cooperation between the two sides in the coming time, including: First, the SEARP program needs to focus on supporting the economic reform process of Southeast Asian countries, promoting new growth drivers, especially digital transformation, green transformation, innovation, science and technology, through providing research, policy recommendations and capacity building programs specific to each country, aiming at OECD governance standards.

Second, it is necessary to create opportunities for Southeast Asian countries to strengthen cooperation with the OECD to contribute to building a global governance system that is fair, transparent, effective and future-ready. Third , promote a two-way approach, bringing the region closer to the OECD and vice versa to strengthen mutual trust and understanding through substantive dialogue, aiming to comply with OECD governance standards that are suitable to the actual conditions and implementation capacity of Southeast Asian countries, facilitating some countries in the region to implement the roadmap to join the OECD.

At the Forum, delegates enthusiastically discussed measures to strengthen and deepen the partnership between OECD and the region, including increasing the region's participation and substantive contributions to policy-making and formulation discussions within the OECD framework.

Bilateral contact

Within the framework of the Forum, Deputy Minister Nguyen Minh Hang had bilateral meetings with OECD Secretary General Mathias Cormann, First Assistant Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Australia Robyn Mudie, and Ambassador, Head of the Japanese Delegation to the OECD Jun Shimmi.

The OECD Secretary-General highly appreciated Vietnam's socio-economic achievements and development strategy, affirming his readiness to cooperate and support Vietnam in the new era of development. First Assistant Secretary of the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade Robyn Mudie highly appreciated Vietnam's initiative to organize the annual Regional Ministerial Forum as well as Vietnam's leading role in the SEARP Program over the past three years.

Deputy Minister Nguyen Minh Hang chaired the Consultation Meeting on the Vietnam Economic Report at the OECD Headquarters in Paris, France.

The leaders congratulated Vietnam on its excellent performance as Co-Chair of the OECD's Southeast Asia Program during a period when the world and regional economies faced many challenges, in which Vietnam promoted its role as Co-Chair to successfully promote the three priorities of the program, including supporting Southeast Asian countries in economic recovery after the Covid-19 pandemic, supporting the promotion of legal policy reform in countries, and bringing regional countries closer to the OECD with the notable result that Thailand and Indonesia have initiated the negotiation roadmap towards becoming members of the OECD.

Deputy Minister Nguyen Minh Hang thanked the OECD Secretariat, Australia, Japan in particular and OECD member countries in general for their valuable support and companionship in the recent past; affirmed that Vietnam is committed to continuing to participate and actively contribute to the SEARP program and the partnership between OECD and Southeast Asia, as well as further enhancing the Vietnam - OECD relationship, focusing on building the Vietnam - OECD Country Program and actively participating in OECD mechanisms.

On this occasion, Deputy Minister Nguyen Minh Hang asked the OECD Secretariat and OECD member countries to continue supporting Vietnam in the new strategic development phase, especially in perfecting institutions and policies, improving the investment environment to increase the attraction of high-quality investment, promote innovation, science and technology and develop the private economic sector.

Deputy Minister Nguyen Minh Hang met with OECD Secretary General Mathias Cormann.

Consultation on Vietnam Economic Report

Previously, also within the framework of cooperation with OECD, from April 29 to May 1, a consultation meeting on the Vietnam Economic Report took place at the OECD Headquarters (Paris) with the direct participation of the Vietnamese delegation led by Deputy Foreign Minister Nguyen Minh Hang and the online participation of Deputy Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam Pham Thanh Ha, representatives of the leaders of the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Agriculture and Environment, Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Government Inspectorate.

Speaking at the meeting, Deputy Minister Nguyen Minh Hang emphasized that the cooperation in developing the Vietnam Economic Report 2025, together with the Multidimensional Assessment Report 2025 and the FDI Quality Review Report, is a clear demonstration of the increasingly substantive partnership between Vietnam and the OECD. The Deputy Minister shared Vietnam's development orientations and priorities in the coming time, emphasizing that the Report needs to outline a suitable roadmap, ensuring close adherence to Vietnam's development conditions, fully reflecting Vietnam's strategic orientations in the coming time, including steadfastly implementing the growth target of over 8% in 2025 and double digits in the next period, promoting three strategic breakthroughs in institutions, infrastructure, human resources, strongly developing science - technology, innovation and digital transformation, making the private economic sector the most important driving force of the economy, continuing to integrate deeply and comprehensively into the international community, etc.

Deputy Minister Nguyen Minh Hang met with Ambassador, Head of the Japanese Delegation to the OECD Jun Shimmi.

In a lively and constructive atmosphere, OECD member countries highly appreciated Vietnam's socio-economic development achievements, development potential and investment attraction in the coming time, and at the same time made many substantive recommendations, closely following Vietnam's development practices in the context of a deeply transforming global economy.

The Economic Survey is periodically developed by the OECD for member countries and some important partners. The Vietnam Economic Report 2025 conducted by the OECD aims to update a comprehensive assessment of all aspects of the economy and make specific recommendations on promoting macro foundations for growth, towards inclusive development, unlocking low-carbon economic growth, and promoting trade and investment flows to boost productivity. The report is highly valued and appreciated by many countries and is considered a useful reference source for orienting and developing economic and social management policies.

Source: https://baoquocte.vn/tiep-tuc-dua-quan-he-doi-tac-oecd-dong-nam-a-di-vao-thuc-chat-hieu-qua-313032.html