Deputy Prime Minister Truong Hoa Binh speaks at the closing ceremony of the WEF ASEAN 2018 on September 13 (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – The World EconomicForum on ASEAN (WEF) 2018, themed “ASEAN 4.0: Entrepreneurship and the FourthIndustrial Revolution”, wrapped up on September 13 after three working dayswith nearly 60 discussions.
Addressing the closing ceremony, VietnameseDeputy Prime Minister Truong Hoa Binh said the WEF ASEAN 2018 gave in-depth andmultidimensional assessment of issues important to ASEAN countries’ developmentin the context of Industry 4.0. Many new and good ideas, experiences andpolicies to inspire businesses and people’s entrepreneurship and innovationwere shared.
He affirmed that only innovations withmultidimensional visions can push countries and businesses ahead in the worldtoday. Therefore, the governments and enterprises of ASEAN need to continuepromoting their internal strength, creating a favourable environment forinnovations and new things, and creating new growth momentum for prosperousdevelopment in a fast changing world driven by new technologies.
The Vietnamese Government is creating agrowth-enabling environment and strongly encouraging businesses and people,particularly the young, to bring into play their innovative capacity and startupspirit, and contribute to the country’s dynamic development.
Building open and smart education for all is afoundation and an important way to boost innovation so as to ensure that allpeople can gain from opportunities and benefits of technological advances, Binhnoted.
The Deputy PM welcomed many recommendations madeat the WEF ASEAN on how to equip people, especially the young, with skills,including digital skills, to master new technologies and meet new jobs’requirements. This is also a chance for companies to increase investment insmart education in ASEAN countries.
He said the world’s swift changes have generatedbig opportunities for ASEAN to realise the ASEAN Community Vision 2025. Asidefrom enhancing solidarity and consensus and promoting internal strength andresilience, the bloc is opening the door for cooperation with partners in theregion and around the world.
Expressing his high expectation of futurecooperation, he asked the WEF to work closely with ASEAN members in translatingpractical ideas and initiatives suggested at this forum into concretecooperation plans and programmes, and to bolster extensive cooperationrelations for a Southeast Asia of peace, stability and prosperous development.
At the closing ceremony, Kevin Sneader, Global ManagingPartner of McKinsey & Company, voiced his belief that ASEAN countries willjoin hands to overcome difficulties and increasingly attain prosperousdevelopment despite numerous challenges. To reach this, an important solutionis that they need to boost investment in the workforce and increase labourproductivity.
Optimal conditions for expanding trade marketswill appear more and more, so to minimize trade barriers, ASEAN countries needto keep pursuing and maintaining trade agreements with countries and regionsaround the world, he added.
Accordingto Kevin Sneader, ASEAN is strongly attracting investments from developedcountries, but competition from emerging markets with visible impacts requiresthe grouping’s early adaptation to better deal with challenges.
ASEAN countries should increase cooperation and experience sharing on measuresto address issues such as budget deficit, domestic market support andspeculation in order to have bright prospects in the future, he said.
Assessing Vietnam as a country with strong development potential, he said his companyhad worked with some Vietnamese partners in Hanoi and HCM City to deliver commitmentsto continued working, consultancy and support to further develop models servingdomestic consumers and ensure growth level.
Anne-Birgitte Albrectsen, Chief Executive Officer of Plan International, saidthat activities during the WEF ASEAN 2018 offered chances to discuss openly awide range of issues of concern of the ASEAN governments as well as private andsocio-political organisations, especially the inclusion of adaptation amid digitaleconomy and creating conditions for all people to engage in the fourthIndustrial Revolution for “no one is left behind”.
One cause for great optimism, she elaborated, is ASEAN’s “phenomenal investmentin education”, and one that should translate into greater gender equity in theregion’s future workforce.
“As education has become more and more inclusive, as girls are superseding boysin attaining high levels of education, the economies are still not taking fulladvantage of that really fantastic resource: well-educated young women in theirworkforce,” she noted.
Meanwhile, Vietnamese Acting Minister of Information and Communications NguyenManh Hung stressed the need for “smart governance” and the willingness ofgovernments, businesses and societies to collectively adapt to rapidtechnological change.
“Technology can change very fast but the people and governments cannot changeso fast and this will be our biggest challenge. So what do we need to do?” heasked. “We have to train people so they are adept at change, not onlytechnological training, but soft skills too. I think the Fourth Industrial Revolutionis more about a mindset revolution.”
🔜 Saying that competition is an essential driving force to enhance development inthe era of Industry 4.0, Nazir Razak, Chairman of CIMB Group of Malaysia,stressed that increasing the effective participation of businesses willencourage optimistic changes to create a premise for ASEAN to become a regionof booming development during the international integration in the comingtime.-VNA
