The country joined the WEF in 1989, and senior leaders of the country have attended both the Davos meeting and the WEF on East Asia. WEF Managing Director Philipp Roesler visited Vietnam in 2014, 2015 and 2016.
Recently, Vietnam has engaged in activities of the WEF on East Asia. In 2012-2014, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung attended the WEF on East Asia in Thailand, Myanmar and the Philippines. The country hosted the WEF on East Asia in 2010 with the participation of about 450 delegates.
On October 25, 2016, Vietnam coordinated with the WEF to hold the first WEF on Mekong Region to introduce the Mekong sub-region to world leading companies, on the occasion of the eighth Cambodia-Laos-Myanmar-Vietnam Cooperation Summit and the seventh Ayeyawwady-Chao Phraya-Mekong Economic Cooperation Strategy Summit.
Vietnam and the WEF have also shared close ties in agriculture, as the country is one of the key partners of the forum within the framework of the “new vision for agriculture” initiative.
The country’s Minister of Industry and Trade has been serving in the coordination committee of the WEF’s project on the future of production system since 2016 and is expected to join the ASEAN Regional Strategy Group in 2017.
Currently, 11 Vietnamese major enterprises are members of the WEF, including military-run Viettel Group, FPT, VinGroup, VinaCapital, VNPT and Vietcombank.
Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc’s attendance at the WEF annual meeting in Davos from January 17-21 is a chance to introduce Vietnam’s economic prospects and promote the APEC Year that the country will host this year.
Under the theme “Responsive and Responsible Leadership,” WEF 2017 is expected to draw about 3,000 delegates. More than 40 leaders of countries, international organisations and world leading businesspeople and scholars will join the event.
The event is scheduled to have discussions on various matters, including the enhancement of global management, response to security instability and crisis, speeding up inclusive and sustainable growth, economic restructuring and social reform and the development of industrial systems and new business models in the context of the fourth industrial revolution.
Participants are also scheduled to discuss the implementation of WEF initiatives in consumption, digital economy and society, economic growth, energy, natural resources-environment security, finance-banking, food and agriculture security, health care, investment, international trade and infrastructure.
The annual WEF is among the most prestigious global forums that draws leaders of almost all world powers, international organisations and world leading firms.
Along with the Davos meeting in late January each year, the WEF also holds regional meetings, including the WEF on East Asia, Latin America and the Middle East, allowing participants to discuss regional development.
