Vietnam, UNDP Launch Project on Renovation

Vietnam, UNDP Launch Project on Renovation

The Vietnam Academy for Social Science (VASS) and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) pledged their support on March 25 for the “Assistance to the 20^th year review of renovation in Vietnam” project in Hanoi.

The research project will provide new information for the Academy and for high-level policy discussions on the process of economic reform, according to a joint UNDP-VASS press release.

The four-year projects will assist the academy with its review of the first 20 years of renovation, often called doi moi, and its implications for the future of economic reform. The review will be part of wider consultations launched by the government and the Party in all provinces and major cities to gather perspectives nationwide on the renovation process.

“Doi moi is not just about economies,” said Jordan Ryan, UND resident representative for Vietnam, as quoted in the press release. “The term itself suggests an enthusiasm for policy experimentation, innovation and improvement. The success of doi moi is due in large part of gradual but unmistakable changes in the role of government and the relationship between the State and society.”

The project’s organizers said the study would complement the national consultation process by supporting the academy in three areas. First the project will initiate new research on critical aspects of doi moi and other related policies. Second, the project will help to widen participation in the national consultation on doi moi to include all interested sectors of society.

Third, the project will strengthen the national capacity in research management, applied polity research and policy advocacy.

Research supported by the study will focus on aspects of the development of the market economy, proactive international integration, politics and the State, and culture and society.

VASS President Do Hoai Nam stressed that the Vietnamese government is keen to consider the views of international scholars and organizations on the project.

“Although many of the factors that have made doi moi a success relate to specific conditions in Vietnam, we can also learn a great deal, both positive and negative, from comparative analyses of international and national scholars,” Nam said.

The renewal process was launched in Vietnam in 1986, marking the transition from central planning to the market economy and a range of other social and political changes.

Investment, VNS