Central Theoretical Council of Communist Party of Vietnam consulted with Fulbright experts

On the afternoon of November 4, 2020, delegates from the Central Theoretical Council led by Dr. Dang Kim Son, Member of the Council and Director of Vietnam National University of Agriculture’s Institute of Market Research and Agricultural Institutions, visited and consulted with faculty members of Fulbright School of Public Policy and Management.

The discussion’s main purpose was to outline proposals for the reform of Vietnam’s growth models, leveraging Science and Technology innovation.

The Vietnamese government has been urging for a transformation of the growth model to improve growth quality and growth rates. The main growth drivers in the previous model consist of population growth, capital, and natural resources, while the reformed model requires greater application of science, technology, and innovation as applied to economic development. A few relevant issues have been identified.

First, the growth in urban areas fails to permeate through rural areas. Another observed reality is that Vietnam is heavily dependent on two major economic drivers located in Red River Delta and the Southeast Region, which respectively contributed 32% and 42% to total revenue. This exhausted these two industrial regions and constrained the spill-over effects to surrounding regions.

From these analyses, the Council convened with Fulbright experts to look for breakthroughs in mindset and identify the key characteristics of a new growth model.

Dr. Dang Kim Son highly appreciated the objective, critical and evidence-based insights provided by Fulbright faculty members concerning areas of improvement, as well as strategies that would allow the successful development of a new growth model, bringing Vietnam out of the middle income trap.

• Quynh Chi