Experts and scientists were invited to contribute their opinions to draft documents of the upcoming 13th National Party Congress at a meeting chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam on January 7.
Prof. Dang Nguyen Anh (standing), Vice President of the Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences, speaks at the meeting on January 7 (Photo: Baochinhphu.vn)– Experts and
scientists were invited to contribute their opinions to draft documents of the
upcoming 13th National Party Congress at a meeting chaired by Deputy
Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam on January 7.
The documents put up for
discussion were the draft report reviewing the implementation of the 10-year
development strategy for 2011-2020, the draft 10-year socio-economic development
strategy for 2021-2030, the draft report assessing socio-economic development
during 2016-2020 and outlining directions for 2021-2025.
Prof. Dang Nguyen Anh, Vice
President of the Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences (VASS), noted the lack of
awareness about the importance of social issues, saying that many localities
only laid emphasis on economic development without paying due attention to impacts
on the environment and society. Many social problems are only noticed after
they already happened and even then they are not addressed in a thorough
manner.
“Many countries’ experience show
economic development alone cannot solve social issues. Economic gains will not
be sustainable if social issues are not properly settled,” the professor said.
Associate Professor Luong Dinh
Hai, director of the Institute of Human Studies under the VASS, voiced concern
that society is facing the degradation of morality, drastic changes in values
and the loss of trust.
“We should change our way of
thinking, paying more attention to developing the physical fitness, way of
thinking and aesthetic sense of the Vietnamese people,” Hai said.
Vice President of the Vietnam Academy
of Science and Technology Prof. Nguyen Dinh Cong said science and technology
have not received due attention in accordance with the viewpoint that “science
and technology is the top national policy.”
He said
the management of budget for science and technology still follows administrative
principles and refuses to accept any risks in research. The country also lacks
economic incentives in the form of tax or land to encourage enterprises to
invest in science and technology.
The
professor said he hopes those limitations will be addressed in documents to be submitted
to the 13th National Party Congress.
Director
of the Vietnam Institute of Science Technology and
Innovation (Ministry of Science and Technology) Hoang Minh proposed that the
development strategy for 2021-2030 should define the sciences that Vietnam should
develop in the Fourth Industrial Revolution, along with key products of the
country.
Deputy PM Dam, who is standing
member of the sub-committee on economic-social matters of the National Party
Congress, affirmed that the sub-committee will carefully study the opinions in
order to further refine the draft documents./.