Speaking at the 33rd Diplomatic Conference on foreign affairs orientation serving national development, General Secretary and President To Lam pointed out: "Science and technology are changing production methods, governance and strength correlation. Artificial intelligence, semiconductors, biotechnology, digital infrastructure, new energy both open up great opportunities and create new risks. A country that masters high-quality technology, data and human resources will have an advantage; a country that is slow to transform may fall further behind.
In his speech, the General Secretary and President requested: "Science and technology diplomacy must become a regular task. Building a network of technology partners, connecting research institutes, universities, businesses and experts; monitoring trends, standards, and new policies; bringing appropriate knowledge and technology back to the country. Diplomacy must not only seek capital but also seek knowledge, talent and good practices.
At the Meeting "Science and technology diplomacy contributes to building national development capacity" within the framework of the 33rd Diplomatic Conference, Politburo Member, Minister of Foreign Affairs Le Hoai Trung - Member of the Central Steering Committee for Science, Technology, Innovation and Digital Transformation emphasized that science and technology diplomacy and innovation are becoming an important pillar of diplomacy serving development, playing a role in paving the way, connecting and creating favorable international conditions to improve science, technology, and innovation capacity; promoting mastery of strategic technology, ensuring technological security and enhancing national position in the new technology order.
The Minister emphasized that the requirement is not only to seek more opportunities or sign more agreements, but to clearly identify the development problems of the country, choose the right partners, the right technology and the right cooperation methods to turn international commitments into the internal capacity of the economy.
Regarding science and technology diplomacy, Member of the Party Central Committee, Minister of Science and Technology Vu Hai Quan said that in the coming time, to master strategic technology, we need to shift from an approach to proactively creating. The Ministry of Science and Technology proposed to cooperate with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, especially with Vietnamese representative agencies abroad to implement 5 key tasks.
That is to proactively advise on international experience in science and technology policies, innovation and digital transformation. According to the Minister, Vietnam cannot master all technologies in one morning or one afternoon, so finding research cooperation opportunities with international partners, while promoting technology transfer, must be an important strategic task.
In addition, the Ministry of Science and Technology wishes to coordinate with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to promote the search for strategic partners who need to invest in technology in Vietnam, especially in the field of deep technology.
Minister Vu Hai Quan emphasized the desire to unlock capital from international investment funds, in which the focus is on approaching and calling for technology investment funds to establish operations in Vietnam. In particular, the minister identified attracting science and technology talents globally as an important task, in which the State does not directly recruit but plays a role in creating mechanisms, entrusting initiative to research institutes, universities and business networks in attracting and using talents.
Minister Vu Hai Quan stated clearly that in the new development stage, science and technology diplomacy should not only stop at establishing cooperative relations but also need to shift to creating specific results in technology transfer, attracting investment, developing high-quality human resources and improving the national autonomy capacity.
