On the afternoon of March 24, in Hanoi, the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Government Office, and the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union coordinated to organize the Program “Prime Minister’s Dialogue with Vietnamese Youth 2025” with the theme “Vietnamese Youth Pioneer in the Development of Science and Technology, Innovation, and National Digital Transformation,” in celebration of Youth Month 2025 and the 94th Anniversary of the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union (March 26, 1931 – March 26, 2025).
The Dialogue Program was an opportunity for the Prime Minister to listen to the legitimate aspirations of young people in studying, starting careers, and their desire to take control and contribute to the country’s development.
The event demonstrated the responsibility, affection, and deep concern of the Party, State, and the Prime Minister himself for the youth, aiming to further promote the spirit of pioneering and creativity among young people in the cause of building and defending the Fatherland.
Attending the event were: General Luong Tam Quang, Politburo Member, Minister of Public Security; Bui Thanh Son, Party Central Committee Member, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs; leaders of ministries, central agencies; and 300 youth delegates representing more than 20 million young people across the country.
In her opening remarks, Deputy Minister of Home Affairs Nguyen Thi Ha stated that the year 2024 has witnessed the strong development of science and technology, innovation, and digital transformation, laying a solid foundation for the digital economy, artificial intelligence, big data, and blockchain technology, which have been widely applied across many sectors, helping improve efficiency and optimize work processes.
The government and businesses have accelerated digital transformation, integrating digital platforms into management and service production, contributing to increased labor productivity and improved quality of life. The startup and innovation ecosystem has expanded, attracting the participation of many young talents with breakthrough ideas. These achievements contribute to driving economic growth and enhancing national competitiveness in the digital era.
In response to a question from Bui The Quyen, Chairman of the Digital Platform Trade Promotion Club (EPC), regarding the government’s solutions to double the number of science and technology enterprises and innovative startups compared to 2020 as set out in the Science, Technology and Innovation Development Strategy, Deputy Minister of Finance Tran Quoc Phuong shared that Vietnam’s 2024 innovation and technology index has risen by two ranks, reaching position 44.
The Deputy Minister emphasized: Compared to countries with similar levels of development and lower-middle-income economies, Vietnam ranks second after India. In ASEAN, Vietnam ranks fourth after Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand. This shows the foundation, opportunities, and conditions for Vietnam to rapidly increase the number of innovative enterprises, including those led by young people. According to the Deputy Minister, the most fundamental and core solution is for youth to truly participate in this process.
The first solution is to improve the institutional framework, considered the “breakthrough of breakthroughs.”
Currently, in the context of a strong institutional reform process, many laws are being studied, amended, supplemented, and completed. The completion of the institutional framework for innovative enterprises will act as a liberating and encouraging force for these businesses.
The second solution is to increase investment in information technology infrastructure, science and technology, and digital transformation, especially shared infrastructure through public-private partnerships.
The third solution concerns human resources. According to the Ministry of Finance representative, human resources training consists of three main pillars: cooperation in training; attracting overseas talent to work in Vietnam; and domestic training in combination with businesses to develop skilled and technical labor ready for deployment.
The fourth solution is to promote and encourage innovation in the business sector, which has the potential and significant resources to invest in science and technology.
The fifth solution is to create an enabling environment, particularly through encouraging and building incubators, R&D centers, and innovation hubs to foster a conducive environment for youth in this sector. Additionally, policies that prioritize and facilitate the commercialization of startup products are also essential.
Continuing the dialogue with youth, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh affirmed that to strongly develop science and technology enterprises and innovation, it is first necessary to develop the ecosystem to support their growth, focusing on three strategic breakthroughs:
Transparent institutional framework: promote decentralization, delegation of power, and reduction of administrative procedures; reorganize administrative structures to cut intermediary steps; simplify business registration procedures; and reduce compliance costs.
Development of strategic infrastructure: both to create new development spaces and new added value from land use, invest in new industrial-urban-service-tourism zones; especially digital infrastructure, scientific and technological infrastructure, and energy infrastructure to reduce input costs, enhance product competitiveness, and stimulate enterprise development.
Training of high-quality human resources: improve labor productivity and adapt to emerging sectors such as the digital economy, green economy, circular economy, sharing economy, and knowledge economy.
In addition, the Prime Minister stated that Vietnam is developing a private sector development project based on the view that the private sector is the most important driver of economic development. It is necessary to “liberate” the private sector and institutionalize policies and mechanisms.
Discussing the important role of students and postgraduate-level personnel in mathematics, physics, biology, chemistry, engineering, and key technologies in contributing to science and technology development, innovation, and digital transformation, Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Kim Son affirmed that each human resource group plays its own role and makes important contributions.
According to the Minister, the number of personnel in STEM fields is growing strongly and holds great potential. However, to ensure rapid and sustainable development, and to attract both FDI and domestic enterprises in science and technology, particularly in high-tech fields, the demand for high-quality STEM human resources—including science, technology, engineering, and mathematics—must increase both in quantity and especially in quality to meet the country’s development needs.
The Minister also stated that the Ministry of Education and Training is developing investment directions for universities and many policies to encourage youth to study in these fields, including scholarship support for learners, incentive quotas, and policies to attract foreign experts to work in Vietnam.
Frankly acknowledging that Vietnam has not yet comprehensively developed scientific fields, especially the basic sciences, to meet national development requirements and global trends, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh emphasized the need for preferential mechanisms and policies, such as recognition and scholarship programs for students and researchers pursuing their passions. The same applies to social sciences and humanities, sports, culture, and the entertainment industry.
Moreover, the Prime Minister emphasized the importance of training a team of educators with the mindset that schools are the foundation, teachers are the motivation, and students are the center. “If I am passionate about basic science but face difficulties, I will easily switch to studying other fields,” the Prime Minister noted.
Regarding international cooperation, the Prime Minister stated that Vietnam is promoting deep, substantive, and effective integration, including in science and technology, innovation, and digital transformation, by attracting FDI with suitable mechanisms and policies, in combination with capital investment, technology transfer, human resource training, infrastructure development, and improved governance capabilities.
Notably, as Vietnam has risen 8 places in the World Happiness Report to rank 46th globally—the highest position ever and the second highest in Southeast Asia—the Prime Minister affirmed that our Party and State have two major goals: safeguarding national independence, sovereignty, unity, and territorial integrity; and improving the material and spiritual lives of the people so they may live in greater prosperity and happiness.
Source: National Agency for Science and Technology Information and Statistics
