Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh delivers a speech at Harvard Kennedy School. (Photo: VNA)In the speech, PM Chinh stressed the importance of independence laid out in theUS’s Declaration of Independence “All men are created equal. They are endowedby their Creator with certain inalienable rights, among them are Life, Liberty,and the pursuit of Happiness,” and the spirit of which had been echoed inVietnam’s Declaration of Independence penned by the late President Ho Chi Minh.
The Vietnamese founding father since the very beginning of the modern Vietnamhad expressed the desire to set up equal, comprehensive relations with the USin his letter sent to US President Harry Truman in 1946.
The Vietnam-US relations have gone through so many vicissitudes andbreakthroughs to achieve so much since the two nations officially normalisedtheir ties in 1995. In the 27 years since then, four successive US presidentshad visited Vietnam, PM Chinh said.
Vietnam and the US have overcome their differences and reached fundamentalprinciples for their relations, as affirmed in the Vietnam-US Joint VisionStatement issued when General Secretary of the Communist Party of VietnamNguyen Phu Trong made an official visit to the US in 2015, which emphasisedrespect for "each other’s political institutions, independence,sovereignty, and territorial integrity,” PM Chinh noted, adding that Vietnamhighly appreciated the US’s support for a strong, independent, and prosperousVietnam over the years.
The Government leader affirmed Vietnam's consistent policy of reform, ‘opendoors’, active, extensive, effective and practical international integration;facilitating and protecting the rightful interests of long-term, effective,sustainable businesses and trade partners in the spirit of ‘harmonisedbenefits, shared risks’ and observance of the laws.
Vietnam wants to be a good friend, a reliable partner, and a responsible memberin addressing regional and international issues for the sake of globalprosperity, PM Chinh stressed.
Thanks to these policies, Vietnam’s economy has witnessed astoundingachievements from its low starting point. In 2021, Vietnam’s GDP reached 362billion USD, compared to the mere 4.2 billion USD in 1986 when the Doi Moi(renewal) process began. The country has become the fourth biggest economy inthe Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), one of 20 countries withthe largest trade volume in the world, the biggest exporter of rice and otheragricultural products, and has 15 active free trade agreements with othercountries and regions in the world.
Speaking on the reasons why there is a need to build an independent,self-reliant but deeply integrated economy, PM Chinh said that recently therehave been a lot of complicated unpredictable developments in the world likeintensifying strategic competition, financial and monetary risks anddisruptions to the supply chains, the negative reactions to globalisation, andother traditional and non-traditional security issues such as climate change,pandemics, ageing population, depletion of natural resources, energy and foodsecurity, cybersecurity, and human security, etc.
These issues put countries at a place where they need to focus on boosting theself-reliance and independence of their economies to lessen the impacts ofexternal shocks, but this should not mean a total close-off from the world, butit should go in tandem with an open-door policy and international integration,PM Chinh said.
Vietnam, like other developing countries, wants to build an independent,self-reliant economic foundation, step up industrialisation and internationalintegration to overcome the middle-income trap to become a developed nation, hesaid.
According to the PM, to succeed, each country will have different suitablemethods, roadmaps, and steps with consideration of their own characteristicsand conditions, but special attention should be paid to some universalrequirements. Accordingly, economic independence and self-reliance areassociated with independence and self-control in terms of politics, foreignpolicy, and international integration. The respect for differences inconditions and characteristics of politics, economy, history, culture, andsociety will contribute to the diversity and richness of the global economy andnational advantages, but along with that, there must be respect for the legitimaterights and interests of countries based on the UN Charter and internationallaw.
The PM stated that Vietnam has both engaged in extensive internationalintegration and made great efforts to improve its internal capacity, flexiblyand effectively respond to external shocks such as the 1997-1998 Asianfinancial crisis, the global financial crisis in 2007-2008, and the globalCOVID-19 pandemic from 2020 to now.
In the current context, Vietnam needs to continue to promote the building of anindependent and self-reliant economy associated with proactive and activeinternational integration due to three main reasons: the first is to resolveVietnam’s major challenges; the second is to ensure independence, sovereignty,and national interests; the third is to improve the country’s capacityand potential for and effective integration into the global economic system,and effective implementation of international commitments.
Measures to realise development goals
According to PM Chinh, the concept of building an independent and self-relianteconomy, associated with proactive and active international integration, hasbeen clearly defined and a consistent goal in Vietnam’s 2013 Constitution andthe Party’s resolutions and national development platforms.
PM Chinh emphasised Vietnam’s strategic national development goals – to becomea developing country with modern industry and high middle income by 2030, andto become a developed, high income country by 2045.
To realise these development objectives, the main goals of building anindependent and self-reliant economy associated with proactive and activeinternational integration are: building an effective, sustainable economy withreasonable structures; improving resilience and competitiveness; adaptingflexibly and effectively to changes in international, regional, and domesticsituations; taking full advantage of opportunities from internationalintegration to create a driving force for rapid recovery in the short term andsustainable development in the medium and long term.
At the same time, special attention should be paid to social progress andjustice, ensuring social security, and people’s lives, as General SecretaryNguyen Phu Trong has pointed out: “We must not sacrifice social progress andsocial equality in the pursuit of economic growth,” PM remarked.
Regarding the core thoughts, the PM stressed that building an independent andself-reliant economy associated with extensive, practical and effectiveinternational integration, is based on three pillars: Building aSocialist-oriented market economy, building a Socialist rule-of-law State, andbuilding a Socialist democracy.
To realise these objectives, PM Chinh mentioned a number of missions andmeasures that need to be done.
First of all, the maintenance of independence, sovereignty, territorialintegrity, socio-political stability, in order to have an environment conduciveto the development of the economy is needed.
The second is to perfect the Socialist-oriented market economy institutions ina synchronous, modern and integrated manner, in line with internationalcommitments.
The third is to maintain macroeconomic stability, ensure major balances anddeepen practical international integration.
The fourth is to focus on restructuring the economy in association withprofound renewal of growth model that will gear the economy towards thedirection of science and technology, innovation, resource efficiency, and greengrowth.
The fifth is to mobilise all social resources, to promote the important role ofdomestic and foreign enterprises.
The sixth is human resource development and modern national governance.
Concluding his speech, PM Chinh highly appreciated the positive results ofFulbright University and the Vietnam Executive Leadership Programme (VELP) thatis jointly implemented by the Harvard University and Vietnamese Governmentagencies, expressing the wish to replicate this model with other famousuniversities of the US and the world.
After the PM’s presentation, ministers and members of the delegation spoke andparticipated in a discussion with Harvard University professors on Vietnam’sdevelopment orientations./.
VNA
