Hanoi (VNA) – The upcoming World Economic Forum onASEAN (WEF-ASEAN) is expected to be a chance for Vietnam to affirm its role inand responsibility towards the ASEAN and the region and to promote thecountry’s growing cooperation with the WEF.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc will lead aVietnamese delegation to the WEF-ASEAN in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on May 11-12 atthe invitation of the Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen and WEFExecutive Chairman Klaus Schwab.

The WEF is a prestigious and efficient globalforum attracting leaders of almost all major countries, internationalorganisations, and businesses from around the world. It holds a number offorums at international and regional levels each year to discusseconomic-development issues and other global affairs.

Besides the most important WEF event which is the annualmeeting in Davos, Switzerland, other regional WEF events include the WEF onEast Asia, the WEF on Latin America, and the WEF on the Middle East, are alsoheld every year to assess and analyse development issues of the respectiveregions.

Vietnam and the WEF began their cooperativerelationship in 1989. Senior leaders of Vietnam have regularly attended the WEFAnnual Meeting in Davos and the WEF on East Asia. WEF Managing Director PhilippRoesler visited the country in November 2014, July 2015 and April 2016.

After nearly three decades, the WEF has become animportant dialogue forum between Vietnamese Government leaders and the world’sleading enterprises.

Aside from the attendance in WEF meetings,Vietnam and the WEF have expanded their cooperation to other spheres such asnational competitiveness improvement, agriculture and industry.

The country also initiated the organisation ofthe WEF on the Mekong Region so as to popularise the Greater Mekong Sub-regionto major businesses around the globe. The event in October 2016 drew nearly 200delegates, including leaders and economic ministers of the Greater MekongSub-region nations and over 100 representatives of WEF member businesses andregional enterprises.

There are 11 Vietnamese businesses which aremembers of the WEF, including military-run telecommunications group Viettel,FPT Corporation, VinGroup, VinaCapital, the Vietnam Posts andTelecommunications Group (VNPT), the Join Stock Commercial Bank for ForeignTrade of Vietnam (Vietcombank), and Saigon Invest Group. 

The WEF-ASEAN 2017, themed “Youth, Technologyand Growth: Securing ASEAN’s Digital and Demographic Dividends”, takes placeamid the 50th founding anniversary of ASEAN. It is set to attract more than 600delegates, including the Prime Ministers of Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam, and thePresident of the Philippines.

The event will focus on assessing ASEAN’sdevelopment and integration and problems the bloc will face in the time ahead.Other issues on the agenda are ASEAN’s position in the new global geopoliticaland economic context, the prospect of the ASEAN Economic Community, and impactsof the Fourth Industrial Revolution on ASEAN countries.

At the event, Cambodia will hand over thehosting of the WEF-ASEAN 2018 to Vietnam.-VNA