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About 500 Vietnamese and foreign delegates have gathered in Ho Chi Minh City for a two-day international forum to discuss Viet Nam's regional economic status and development.
The forum, entitled Regionalism and Modernisation of Viet Nam, is being organised by the Ministry of Planning and Investment in coordination with Vietnam News Agency and the Asia News Network.
Speaking at the opening session on Apr. 23, Permanent Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Sinh Hung said that international media agencies present at the forum serve as an important bridge linking Viet Nam and the region and the world. The forum will include discussions useful for Viet Nam's economic development, integration and industrialisation and modernisation.
Deputy PM Hung said that the Vietnamese government and people has chosen the way of renewal and creative labour for economic development in combination with environmental protection and resolving social matters, thus driving the country out of the state of underdevelopment. He said the government and people of Viet Nam assure investors of the country's continual and stronger renewal.
In his speech, Minister of Planning and Investment Vo Hong Phuc said that Viet Nam, with a population of over 84 million people, is a potential market. The Vietnamese government places great importance to promoting and expanding international cooperation, particularly relations with regional countries in the spirit of mutual benefit and being trust partners with other countries on the basis of mutual respect and equal cooperation for development.
He said that thousands of businesses, including major transnational groups, from 77 countries and territories, have directly invested in Viet Nam with a total registered capital of more than 70 billion USD, including 20 billion USD of FDI registered in 2006.
Viet Nam has established trade relations with more than 200 economies, and fetched an import-export turnover of over 85 billion USD in 2006, including an export value of nearly 40 billion USD.
Speaking about the master plan to modernise Viet Nam's administrative and legal system, former deputy Prime Minister Vu Khoan said that Viet Nam has carried out a great bundle of work in a short period of time, while is still have much to desire pertaining the legal system, cumbersome administrative procedures, civil authorities' overlapping tasks and responsibilities, and poor capacity of public employees. These shortcomings are hindering the country's development and integration, he noted.
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