Economic Growth Must Bring Benefit to All People

This is the recommendation of Ms Pratibha Mehta, United Nations Resident Coordinator in Vietnam to the Vietnamese government before the current developments of the economy.

 

On the occasion of United Nations Day, 24 October, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung met with the leaders of the United Nations in Vietnam. Speaking at the meeting, Ms Pratibha Mehta, on behalf of the UN congratulated Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung on the occasion of the 35th anniversary of Vietnam's accession to the United Nations.

 

Ms Mehta also appreciated Vietnam's achievements in poverty reduction work and that the country is on track to achieve most of the Millennium Development Goals by 2015. However, she noted that in the recent years, economic growth has decreased and had less impact on poverty reduction speed compared to the previous period. Business sector is affected by the economic downturn, resulting in a huge number of people losing their jobs or switching to unstable jobs. In addition, other forms of poverty are emerging and inequality is growing.

 

Ms Mehta also mentioned the problem of the accession to social services, including health services and education. People increasingly have to pay for this service from their pockets. This puts an extra burden on the shoulders of the poor and the vulnerable.

 

"We would like to emphasize the need to focus on economic growth beneficial for all and sustainable human development. In addition, it’s necessary to improve the efficiency of public spending and investment in the social sector, skills development and social protection. These are prerequisites for economic growth in the future and are the basis to solve deep-rooted poverty and vulnerability, "said Ms Mehta.

 

At the meeting, Ms Mehta also mentioned the discussion around the development strategy after 2015. She stressed that since 2000, the Millennium Development Goals is always the target of the national action. Only three years before the time limit for implementation of the Millennium Goals, UN Secretary-General began seminars on building development agenda for the period after 2015. UN Secretary-General has established a high-level advisory board for him in this regard.

 

To gather the opinions of the people, especially the poor and near poor, the UN launched a referendum campaign in 50 countries. This referendum phase towards the group of poor and vulnerable groups, to ensure that their voices and concerns are reflected in the global development agenda in the period after 2015.

 

 Ms Mehta said: "With the impressive achievements of Vietnam in implementing the Millennium Development Goals and in the process rose to become a middle-income country, Vietnam was selected as one of the operating phases of this referendum."

 

 According to Ms Mehta, the year 2012 is an important year for the United Nations to the Rio +20 Conference on Sustainable Development, the ongoing session of the UN General Assembly to review the activities of development, and the launch of the coordinate discussion around the development agenda in the post-2015 period. In Vietnam, the UN continued to achieve progress in the implementation of the initiative "Delivering as One" - began implementing the plan period 2012-2016 and the Green One UN House is about to begin construction up. Initiative "Delivering as One" UN in Vietnam is increasingly strengthened.

 

Ms Mehta said: "The plan is to become a middle-income country so Vietnam’s development needs are changing. Thus, the UN focuses on supporting Vietnam during this economic transformation of society and will provide policy advice based on the specific research and experience success in the world."