According to VNA, within the framework of the 55th Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum WEF Davos and bilateral activities in Switzerland, on the afternoon of January 21 local time, in Davos, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh attended and spoke at the Seminar "Towards the 16th UNCTAD Conference: The future of global trade and development in the smart era".
The seminar was designed by WEF specifically for Vietnam to discuss global trade and investment trends, and to develop the agenda for the 16th United Nations Ministerial Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) hosted by Vietnam, scheduled for late 2025.
In her opening remarks, UNCTAD Secretary-General Rebeca Grynspan expressed her impression of Vietnam's growth achievements, reaching 7% over the past 30 years. The UNCTAD Secretary-General affirmed that the 16th UNCTAD Conference being held in a dynamically developing country thanks to successful openness and integration like Vietnam marks a significant turning point in the new phase of UNCTAD.
UNCTAD Secretary-General emphasized that trade is an important factor promoting growth; he stated that Southern countries will play an important role in global trade, accounting for 70% of total trade value in the next 5 years.
The UNCTAD Secretary-General said that global trade will face many risks, especially protectionism, competition and the risk of trade wars. Therefore, the UNCTAD Secretary-General and speakers at the Dialogue called on countries to strengthen cooperation, openness, integration, and strengthen multilateral trade for mutual development, reduce inequality, and leave no one behind.
At the Dialogue, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh stated that current challenges to trade and development are occurring on a global scale, affecting everyone, so a comprehensive and global approach is needed, so countries need to strengthen cooperation, join hands, fight protectionism and promote multilateral trade for development.
In particular, to face those challenges, the Prime Minister said that we must grasp the "smart era" comprehensively from four different aspects, including from the geopolitical and security aspects of peace and cooperation; from the economic aspect of rapid and sustainable development; from the environmental aspect of sustainable exploitation and use; from the social aspect of progress and social justice, leaving no one behind.
Vietnam must prepare resources for the new era with an approach to resources originating from thinking, vision, motivation originating from innovation, and strength originating from people and businesses.
The Prime Minister also agreed with the UNCTAD Secretary General, leaders of international organizations, experts and scholars in highly appreciating Vietnam's socio-economic development achievements in recent times, especially its effective participation in the global supply chain, effective implementation of the policy of "leaving no one behind", especially in the fields of agriculture, farmers and rural areas, efforts to rise to the top 15 in the Global Innovation Index, becoming an international model of innovation and the ability to respond flexibly and skillfully to many global economic fluctuations.
Emphasizing the Vietnamese spirit of “saying is doing, committing is implementing”, the Prime Minister affirmed that Vietnam attaches importance to hosting the 16th UNCTAD Conference to welcome delegates from all five continents.
