Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung held a meeting with the international media on January 29 to talk about Vietnam ’s ASEAN chairmanship, hosting of the World Economic Forum on East Asia this year and its socio-economic development.
PM Dung, who has been in Davos , Switzerland , to attend the annual World Economic Forum (WEF) 2010, praised the topics discussed at the meeting to recover growth and foster sustainable development of the world economy in the post-crisis period and following years.
The attendance of leaders from countries around the world, internationally-acclaimed scholars, and executives of world leading corporations, affirmed the prestige and success of the WEF over the past four decades, he said.
PM Dung told reporters that the WEF on East Asia 2010 will be organised in Ho Chi Minh City – a big, friendly and dynamic city with a high economic growth rate.
The Government of Vietnam is working closely with the WEF to work out an agenda that is extremely useful to businesses, leaders, scholars and the international media, he added.
While talking about Vietnam’s assumption of the rotating ASEAN chair in 2010, the PM said Vietnam chose the theme “Toward an ASEAN Community: From Vision to Mission”, reflecting the bloc’s action motto during the year.
Accordingly, Vietnam will focus on implementing the ASEAN Charter and building the ASEAN Community, strengthening cooperation in coping with global challenges, and expanding and deepening the group’s partnerships in the spirit of promoting its role in international issues.
The government leader took this occasion to call for joint efforts and support from the international community for peace, stability and development in the ASEAN region and the world as a whole.
PM Dung noted with pleasure that amid the world economy’s negative growth, Vietnam was one of only a few countries that recorded rather high growth rates in 2009, with 5.32 percent.
Vietnam also proved to be successful in ensuring macroeconomic stability and social security, maintaining political and social stability, accelerating external relations and international economic integration, and reducing the rate of poor households to 12 percent.
To turn it into an industrial nation by 2010, Vietnam is actively improving market economy institutions, creating an equal competition environment for all economic sectors, speeding up and increasing the efficiency of economic integration internationally, and mobilising all available resources to upgrade and build modern infrastructure, the PM said.
He added that Vietnam will also pay due attention to developing its human resources, especially high-quality personnel, stepping up the application of scientific and technological advances, promoting administrative reform and restructuring the economy, strengthening protection of the environment, effectively coping with climate change and preventing and controlling natural disasters and epidemics.
Asked about the country’s forecast growth in 2010, PM Dung said Vietnam posted a growth rate of 6.9 percent in the fourth quarter of last year and “we have enough grounds to predict that Vietnam would achieve a growth rate of around 7 percent in 2010 and between 7-8 percent in 2011-2012.”
Regarding inflation, the PM said Vietnam will strive to keep inflation below 7 percent this year and continue implementing financial and monetary tools, which were launched in 2009.
Also on January 29, PM Dung received leaders of a number of world leading corporations, including Metro, Prudential and Holcim.