Forum of 600 seek ways to sustain VN economic growth

They will discuss how to help navigate economic fluctuations and keep on track with long-term growth targets.

 Under the theme of Sustaining the Growth, about 600 participants will analyse ways to deal with major problems obstructing the Vietnamese economy in the context of the world's financial market turmoil, organisers said at the event's launch.

Permanent Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Sinh Hung is scheduled to address the forum before Doctor Supachai Panitchpakdi, Secretary General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, who will shed light on the implications in trade and investment of the US subprime mortgage crisis on Asia, in which Viet Nam is an integral part.

The forum will also be attended by Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Thien Nhan who will make public his new initiatives in human resources training - a session in which Singapore Education Minister Ng Eng Hen is expected to share his country's experience.

Vietnam News Agency's executive deputy general director, Tran Mai Huong, co-head of the forum's organising board said he expected the event to be a bridge for Viet Nam to expand its trade relations to a wider Asia and seek more interested foreign investors.

Phan Huu Thang, Director of the Foreign Investment Agency, under the Ministry of Planning and Investment, said this could be an opportunity for potential investors to know more about the Viet Nam Government's investment policies and the local business environment as well.

Despite whopping inflation and the tottering stock market, registered foreign investment pumped into Viet Nam in the first eight months of this year topped a record US$47.2 billion, more than four times last year.

The two-day Vietnam Economic Forum 2008 is co-organised by the Ministry of Planning and Investment, the Asia News Network (ANN) and the Vietnam News Agency.

Arun Senkuttuvan, the ANN representative at the conference, said ANN saw Vietnam as a country of great potential even in the context of regional economic downturn.

At the forum, Vietnam's Finance Minister Vu Van Ninh will illuminate the latest strategies to stabilise the financial markets which, like other Asian countries, have been indirectly affected by the US crisis over the past year.

Two major issues also on the agenda are the financing of Vietnam's infrastructure and the training of skilled and educated workers vital to the country's long-term development.

In the infrastructure development section, Minister of Transport Ho Nghia Dung will detail Vietnam's road-map in the next phase. Chief executive officers from leading international and Vietnamese companies such as Siam Cement, Siemens and Viet Nam Post & Telecommunications (VNPT) will join the debate.

The forum also includes a tour to industrial parks and export processing zones for international participants in the northern province of Hai Duong on September 20. This visit will help potential investors examine typical investment models in Viet Nam, get in touch with local authorities and mull over future business plans.

The Asia News Network, established in 1999, is now a network of 19 Asian daily newspapers from the 17 Asian countries of Bangladesh, Brunei, Cambodia, China, Japan, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, Singapore, Republic of Korea, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Viet Nam. The network has a readership of 50 million.

Vietnam's representative in the Asia News Network is the Viet Nam News newspaper, published by the Vietnam News Agency.