Gaining common wealth through economic transition

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), by 2026, Vietnamese people, especially those at risk of being left behind, will contribute and benefit equitably from the transition to a sustainable, inclusive, and gender-responsive economy based on innovation, entrepreneurship, productivity enhancement, competitiveness, and decent work.

To that end, change paths must stem from national capacities that are strengthened to formulate and implement evidence-based policies and strategies, and enhance enabling ecosystems for inclusive, transformative, and sustainable agriculture, industry, and service sectors for decent work; sustainable, inclusive, and responsible business models and practices, including micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) and cooperatives, are promoted to increase productivity, trade development, and innovation, and improve working conditions and compliance, with special focus on economic empowerment of the poor, ethnic minorities and women; and appropriate technologies, digital tools, and platforms are accessible and adapted to facilitate a smooth and inclusive transition to Fourth Industrial Revolution.

United Nations with Vietnam's economic transformation roadmap

The UN's strategic interventions will include enhancing the institutional management capacity of heritage and cultural resources; reinforcing development strategies at the level of cities and encouraging public-private sector dialogues; strengthening institutional capacity in governance and financing modality of technology business incubators; strengthening and promoting linkages and synergies between food processing, handicraft, tourism and the creative industries for local economic development and women’s economic development.

In addition, strengthen integrated urban policies with interrelated socioeconomic, environmental, and cultural strategies to promote national and local economic growth and prosperity.

The UN will seek to prioritize vulnerable MSMEs and informal sector employment (especially those led by women, people with disability, and ethnic minorities) to enable a bounceback from the impacts of COVID-19 and to enable Viet Nam to build resilience to other shocks.

At the same time, directing to build a greener and more energy-efficient Vietnam; enhance domestic value-addition and productivity; grow domestic markets and consumer demand; connect firms to domestic and global value chains, while alleviating other bottlenecks for the development of Vietnam's small and medium enterprises, cooperatives and household economy.

The UN intends to provide solutions that increase access to Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) services, expanding access to 4G and 5G technology and raising ICT capabilities among MSMEs, cooperatives, and disadvantaged groups.

The UN will also focus on innovative approaches to improve inclusion, such as developing strategies to mainstream digital services across all sectors as part of broadening the digital economy; promoting e-commerce adoption among MSMEs and cooperatives; developing innovative platforms for children and young people, particularly girls and young women, to learn and improve their skills for future employment; and developing and enforcing labor market policies for re-skilling of migrant and informal workers, particularly female workers in a digital economy.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) contributes to the development of a Strategy for Vietnam's socio-economic development for the period 2021-2030

FAO highly appreciates the Strategy of “Restructuring agriculture and rural economy in the period 2021-2030”, considering the great progress of Vietnam in poverty reduction, ensuring food security as well as promoting economic growth and socio-economic development.

However, it cannot be denied that “rural and agricultural communities remain one of the poorest and most vulnerable populations, especially in remote areas” and that “significant growth in agriculture has been achieved” at the expense of the natural environment, especially the depletion of natural resources, which increases greenhouse gas emissions, as well as causes people to migrate from rural to urban areas. Implementing UN activities in support of Vietnam's economic transformation, FAO and other members have proposed many recommendations to the Government of Vietnam, which focus on specific topics:

• Enhance agricultural communities' resistance to climate change and natural disasters
• Reversing the ongoing rural-to-urban migration by making rural and agricultural environments more appealing to young people
• Transform agriculture and food systems to be healthier, more environmentally sustainable, and more equitable
• Address concerns regarding malnutrition, dietary modifications, and food safety
• Reduce land disputes and convert agricultural land to urban and industrial uses
• Strengthen and improve water management – governance and security
• Consolidation of rural economic organizations and commercial cooperatives
• Encourage private sector investment in value chain development and trade in agricultural products.