In order to promote the sustainable development of the local economy as well as to improve the competitiveness of Vietnam with other countries in the region and the world, recently, the Ministry of Planning and Investment held a seminar consulting the draft construction of the index set and methodology of assessment of national competitiveness of Vietnam to find the most feasible and effective measures.
The scheme was built under the direction of Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Thien Nhan, Chairman of the National Council for Sustainable Development and Competitiveness Improvement.
According to Ms Nguyen Le Thuy, Deputy Director, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Office for Sustainable Development, Department of Science, Education, Resources and Environment, Ministry of Planning and Investment, in the past 20 years, Vietnam has made many great moves, going up from an economy with closed-door policy to a dynamic part of the global economy with strong growth in the region. This is clearly shown in the annual growth rate of Vietnam. Living standards and incomes have improved, poverty has decreased and Vietnam has become an increasingly attractive destination for investors. However, according to experts and enthusiastic leaders, although Vietnam has achieved many accomplishments in the process of making the country prosper, in the economy itself challenges still exist and competitiveness is still weak in many areas. Vietnam’s competitiveness is evaluated and ranked at a modest level, typically lower than that other countries in the region. Therefore, improving competitiveness and ensuring sustainable development are important issues for the development of Vietnam’s economy.
Facing those urgent requests, the Ministry of Planning and Investment has built the Scheme set and the index set on Vietnam’s national competitiveness evaluation method. According to experts in the area, the identification of indicators of Vietnam’s national competitiveness is to serve the annual assessment of national competitiveness, identify issues and challenges in competitiveness, thereby to propose policies to improve and enhance competitiveness.
Mr Nguyen Dinh Cung, Deputy Director of the Central Institute for Economic Management (CIEM), Ministry of Planning and Investment, shared that to build the index set and evaluation methods of Vietnam’s national competitiveness, the Ministry of Planning and Investment has referred to methods and systems of indicators of competitiveness of several national organizations and countries in the world, such as World Economic Forum (WEF), Swiss Institute for Development Management, the European Union and the Council of Competitiveness of Ireland. In addition, this approach is also consistent with the model of fundamental factors of competitiveness in the view of Professor Michael E. Porter, University of Harvard, and author of the Vietnam’s Competitiveness Report in 2010. The assessment method of the WEF suits Vietnam well.
Accordingly, the indicator set of competitiveness evaluation comprises of 12 indicator sets and is divided into three groups. The first group is basic indicator group which consists of institutions, infrastructure, macro-economy environment, health and primary education. The second one is to improve efficiency, including higher education training, goods market efficiency, labour market efficiency, financial market development, technological readiness and market size. The last one is of innovative and expertise index, including expertise in business and innovation in research and development.
From the perspective of researchers, he said that the construction of an in-depth report on Vietnam’s national competitiveness can be done in two schemes. Option one is based on a framework of assessing the competitiveness in the approach of the World Economic Forum, focusing on in-depth analysis of the present situation of the factor group of enhancing efficiency. Under this plan, there are six groups of factors enjoying in-depth analysis, including higher education training, goods market efficiency, labour market efficiency, development of financial market, technology availability and market size.
Option two is based on the framework of assessing competitiveness in the approach of the World Economic Forum and the indicator set of competitiveness. Information and data on the indicator set is collected by surveys on ministries, businesses and professionals. The survey was done to determine the 20 most important indicators that need to be improved. Thereby, competitiveness report focuses on in-depth analysis of the group of those 20 indicators and policy is proposed to improve the indexes.
According to the 2013-2014 Global Competitiveness Report of the World Economic Forum (WEF) released on 3rd September, the competitiveness of Vietnam has increased by 5 levels, ranking 70/148. Meanwhile, the world’s number one position still belongs to Switzerland. Commenting on this issue, the WEF said that with the increase of five levels, ranking 70th, Vietnam has regained half of the ranking lost last year. This remarkable step is thanks to the better macroeconomic environment of Vietnam (ranking 87th, up 19 levels). Specifically, after the "jump" up to 20 percent, inflation is back to single-digits in 2012. It is also thanks to the improvement in the quality of transport infrastructure, though still at a very low level (ranking 82nd, up 13 levels).
From the practice as well as the evaluation of the WEF, experts say that the construction of an indicator set and evaluation methods of Vietnam’s national competitiveness is not only a progress report on ranking, but also a support for macroeconomic governance, focusing on issues that need to be improved to enhance the competitiveness of Vietnam in the global marketplace.
Anh Phuong
Vietnamese
