The event was a chance for Vietnam's partners to contribute to its development plan for the near future. Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung chaired the forum.
At the start of the event, Minister of Planning and Investment Bui Quang Vinh welcomed comments and opinions from Vietnam's development partners. These contributions supplement documents that will be submitted to Vietnam's 12th National Party Congress and the socio-economic development plan for 2016 - 2020.
World Bank Country Director for Vietnam Victoria Kwakwa also addressed the forum, hailing Vietnam’s socio-economic development achievements during the 2011-2015 period, including the fact that the country’s average growth rate reached 6 percent in comparison with the regional average of 5.6 percent. She stated that one of the big challenges facing Vietnam in the next five years will be finding resources for development programmes in the context of narrowed preferential loans.
Regarding this issue, PM Nguyen Tan Dung said that a good solution would be the full and effective implementation of the market economy’s regulations.
"When we implement the market economy effectively, we can mobilise society's resources. We have 92 million Vietnamese citizens here and over 4 million Vietnamese people overseas. We should focus on the development of the private sector, paying close attention to small and medium sized enterprises. They are Vietnam's main domestic resource", Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung said.
The Prime Minister added that Vietnam can fully benefit from its global integration by perfecting the mechanism of the market economy as well as regulations that comply with international practices.
"I should stress that Vietnam will keep public debts within safe limits and improve the efficiency of their usage. Moreover, we will focus on restructuring public investment and state owned enterprises. State owned enterprises will compete fairly, in line with market economy mechanisms", Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung added.
The forum attracted key development partners for Vietnam, including the United Nations, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and the Global Green Growth Institute. Most of Vietnam's major partners pledged to maintain support for Vietnam to help it effectively realise socio-economic development goals for 2016 and the years to come.
