Decision 52 of VIOIT General Director
On 21 February 2022, General Director of VIOIT, Dr. Nguyen Van Hoi, signed Decision No. 52/QD-CLCT establishing the VIOIT’s International Cooperation Team (ICT - whose official name is “International Cooperation Promotion Board”). The establishment of ICT is based on Dr. Hoi’svision that VIOIT needs to “internationalize” to provide the Government and the Party with useful research findings and sound recommendations for Viet Nam’s policymaking with a better understanding of the industry and trade-related strategic issues in the context of rapidly globalizing Viet Nam’s economy.
It is widely recognized that the challenges Viet Nam will face in implementing the new generation of free-trade agreements (FTAs), adopting aggressive strategies to realize Viet Nam’s “Nationally Determined Contribution”under the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, and achieving the vision for sustainable development to become an upper-middle-income country by 2030 as set forth under the new Socio-Economic Development Strategy 2021-2030 adopted by the 13th National Congress of the Communist Party of Viet Nam, all require Viet Nam to formulate new strategies and policies in the area of industry and trade. And for this task, “business as usual” will not be acceptable, and VIOIT will need to promote innovative “out-of-the-box thinking” inspired by international research and lessons from abroad.
Decision No. 52/QD-CLCT establishing the VIOIT’s International Cooperation Team
International Cooperation Team (ICT)
ICT is expected to become VIOIT’s “focal point” in expanding its networks with foreign and international organizations and individuals. ICT’s specific mandates are to (i) help support the organization of international events such as conferences, workshops, and seminars in collaboration with the relevant VIOIT Departments and Centers; (ii) plan and organize VIOIT’s business trips overseas; (iii) act as the counterpart for incoming overseas visitors and missions to VIOIT; (iv) develop and negotiate relevant agreements with external organizations to promote collaboration, and (v) work on resource mobilization from foreign and international sources and help manage the utilization of such external resources including reporting.
ICT is headed by Mr. Nguyen Van Hien of the WTO Reference Center, and his deputy is Mr. Dang Hoang Mai of the VIOIT Office, supported by myself as an advisor. Its members include seven relatively young but talented staff in various parts of VIOIT, who have a good command of English. While all ICT members are expected to work on ICT-related assignments part-time, Dr. Hoi made it clear in Decision 52 that relevant VIOIT Departments and Centers should facilitate the ICT members to prioritize ICT-related tasks. We sincerely hope that all the supervisors of ICT memberssupport this arrangement.
The establishment of ICT follows the pilot initiative of “VIOIT Dialogue,” which we launched in October last year. We have already conducted five very successful sessions of “VIOIT Dialogue” with the participation of many international and domestic experts, most of whom are new to VIOIT activities.
The discussions at “VIOIT Dialogue” have been somewhat“provocative” as they are carried out under a clear understanding of “anonymity.” It is understood that participants will share their knowledge and ideas as individuals and not as representatives of any organizations, and they will not be quoted for what they have said. At the same time, everyone is encouraged to learn new ideas from different perspectives. The VIOIT Dialogue so far covered themes such as “new law on industrial development,”“approaches for the formulation of new import/export strategies of Viet Nam towards 2030,”“development of automobile industry,” “Green Recovery from COVID-19,” and “Industrial Revolution 4.0 and Digital Transformation of Viet Nam in the industry and trade sectors.” The theme of the 6thsession of the VIOIT Dialogue scheduled for 22 March is “SME and supporting industries’ development.”
“Internationalization” of VIOIT
While I wholeheartedly congratulate VIOIT for establishing the ICT, I would like to make it clear that the “internationalization” of VIOIT is not something ICT can achieve alone. It needs to be recognized that what ICT can do is only to “help” VIOIT internationalize. Theprimary responsibility to “internationalize” VIOIT rests with all the Departments and Centers of VIOIT.
Most importantly, all the Departments and Centers of VIOIT need to “re-think” their research activities with a different mindset. It is essential to continue questioning “how other countries have handled this type of issues and what are the lessons learned?” The preparedness to analyze the pertinent issues objectively and question if the approach Viet Nam hasbeen adopting in handling similar problems in the pastis still relevant or not is also critical.
For example, in developing a new import/export strategy, it is tempting to say that since the past “net trade surplus,” i.e., the export minus import,was X%, we would like to set (X+α)% as the new target. But if we are to recognize that FDI companies produce a large portion of Viet Nam’s manufacturing export, for Viet Nam to increase export substantially may require an additionalvast FDI inflow. We may end up seeing a net trade deficit for several years due to enormous imports of equipment for the new FDI factory before starting to realize additional export earnings. Then what we may need to look at will not be the annual movement of net trade balance but the “moving average” for many years.
Another example may be the issue of “supporting industries.” While in the past, the discussion on supporting industries tended to talk about the deepening of the value-chain within Viet Nam, with the implementation of the new generation of FTAs, what we may need to look at more closely today may be the potential regional and global value-chains as the tariffs for may intermediary manufacturing products are substantially reduced or eliminated. This situation suggests the possible need to promote parts exports by Vietnamese manufacturers.
For Viet Nam to develop a new industrial development strategy, global standardsand handling of environmental aspects with “international norms” will also be essential. It will become challenging to export any industrial products unless we can provide the information on how much CO2 was emitted in producing each and every product, with internationally acceptable certification.
In other words, the essential ingredient of VIOIT’s “internationalization” is the diversification of the research methodology. In addressing Viet Nam’s development challenges, you may need to consider various external factors overseas in addition to pertinent domestic factors.As each VIOIT Department and Centers embark on such cultural change to become “outward-looking,” ICT should provide effective support.
It is NOT about English
Many VIOIT officials often say that “I am interested in supporting VIOIT’s internationalization, but my English is not good enough.” I would like you to know that although I agree that good English capability is helpful, it is not “essential” in supporting the internationalization of VIOIT.
The key for VIOIT’s internationalization is actually the mindset of its staff, i.e., if you are interested in paying more attention to what is happening in the world and question if the “traditional thinking” is still relevant.
Last year, I saw that many young VIOIT staff who are very good in English have struggled in “translating” trade-related research papers from Vietnamese to English. Part of the problem was that their understanding of the pertinent trade issues was not sufficiently deep, particularly in the international context. Another problem was that even if a specific sentence in Vietnamese was “translated” almost perfectly word by word, it still did not make much sense in English because the primary “logic” used in the original sentence was not something that could be understood easily by non-Vietnamese-speakers.
Against this background, ICT’s work program will include “staff development” as an essential element. In fact, ICT will continue supporting VIOIT’s efforts to facilitate its staff’s professional growth. Our sincere hope is to make sure that the capacity development of ICT staff will benefit not only ICT but the entire VIOIT community.
Step by Step
Even before the establishment of ICT, we appreciate that many VIOIT Departments and Centers had international contacts and organized meetings involving international partners from time to time.
ICT needs to take full advantage of all such efforts by pulling knowledge and contacts together so that your connections will become the common asset of the entire VIOIT community.
As people say, a journey of 1,000 miles needs to start with the first step. And VIOIT has taken an important first step of its internationalization journey with the establishment of the ICT. I look forward to working with ICT and relevant Departments and Centers of VIOIT with the hope of contributing to Viet Nam’s sustainable development through the evolution of VIOIT.
Ayumi KONISHI (Mr.), Senior Advisor, VIOIT