The forum attracted over 500 delegates fromGovernment agencies, ministries, sectors, educational establishments,businesses, and international organisations.
Over 20 presentations at the event focused on five mainfields: development of high-quality human resources, hi-tech agriculture andaquaculture, maritime economy – circulation economy, environment – naturalresources – climate change, and digital transformation.
Delegates affirmed that the Mekong Delta holds manyadvantages as well as opportunities to contribute more to the development ofthe country. However, climate change, degradation of environmental resources,saltwater intrusion, and quality of human resources are barriers to the developmentof the region.
Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Tran Duy Dong said that in a Prime Minister's decision earlier this year on the master plan for the MekongDelta region in the 2021 – 2030 period, with a vision to 2050, a special stress is laid on the need to invest in transportinfrastructure to facilitate inter-regional connectivity, boost administrativereform, and step up research and application of science and technology in production.
Participants also stressed that there should be groups of solutionsto strengthen coordination and resource sharing with international organisations,governments of other countries and foreign businesses to better support theregion.
It is also important to raise the quality of local humanresources, delegates said.
Expert Ho Thi Ha from the Can Tho University cited a 2019report as saying that the whole region had about 9.4 million workers aged 15and over, of whom only 5.2% has a Bachelor's degree./.