In the context of Vietnam urgently preparing for the 14th National Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam, the draft documents submitted to the Congress have attracted widespread attention not only domestically but also from international scholars.
In order to clarify the new points as well as the strategic significance of this draft document for Vietnam's development path, reporters had an exchange with Professor Shimizu Masaki, University of Osaka.
According to Professor Masaki, if the 13th Congress is "creative" with a long-term vision to 2045, then the draft 14th Congress shows a "breakthrough" and higher urgency.
The most prominent new point is the determination that Vietnam is entering a "new era" - the era of national rise. In the socio-economic development orientation, growth thinking also has a clear shift, from prioritizing speed to focusing on quality, in which completing institutions to remove bottlenecks is considered a key breakthrough to release development resources.
Referring to the fact that the draft document emphasizes contents such as innovation, green economy and digital transformation, Professor Shimizu said that this reflects Vietnam's increasingly clear awareness of the risk of falling into the middle-income trap and the determination to change the growth model.
According to him, in the new development model, Vietnam's competitive advantage is no longer mainly based on cheap labor or natural resources, but shifts to relying on "gray matter" and "data" as strategic resources.
This approach, if effectively implemented, will help Vietnam participate more deeply in the global value chain instead of just stopping at the processing stage. However, the major challenge posed is the ability and speed of training high-quality human resources to meet the new requirements of the economy.
Regarding foreign affairs, Professor Shimizu said that the steadfastness with the "Tree Diplomacy" policy in this draft reflects Vietnam's great confidence.
From an academic perspective, he believes that Vietnam is no longer just playing the role of a "balanced" country between major countries, but is transforming into a "constructive partner" and "connection center" of the region.
Maintaining independence and self-reliance in the current complex geopolitical context shows that Vietnam wants to affirm its role as a responsible member, a reliable bridge for peace and stability in Southeast Asia.
Assessing the prospects for Vietnam - Japan cooperation in the coming time, especially in the context of Vietnam promoting deep international integration in the spirit of the draft documents of the 14th National Congress, Professor Shimizu said that the relationship between the two countries is entering a stage of "substantial cooperation and joint construction" on the foundation of the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.
He said that Japan has strengths in source technology and management experience, while Vietnam possesses a dynamic market, along with strong transformation aspirations. In fields such as digital transformation and green technology, Japan can support Vietnam in infrastructure and standards.
In particular, human resource development cooperation needs to be elevated, towards training a team of high-quality engineers and experts, instead of just focusing on the skill trainee model as before.
According to the Professor, the two countries can completely solve common challenges such as energy security or population aging together, thereby forming a typical cooperation model in the region.
The exchange with Professor Shimizu Masaki brought in in-depth and objective analyses from an international academic perspective on strategic updates in the draft document of the 14th Party Congress.
These assessments not only contribute to clarifying the meaning of the draft, but also show the interest and expectations of the foreign academic community for the future development of Vietnam in the new period.
