At the World Economic Forum in Davos from January 26-31, the talk entitled “Reshaping Global Governance” gathered leaders of many countries, including the Vietnamese Prime Minister.
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Via webcast at www.weforum.org, viewers could see that world leaders and international observers and commentators were very interested in Vietnam’s role as Chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
In his talk, Dr. Zakaria, sub-editor of Newsweek and CNN and also the coordinator of the talk, raised a tough question for PM Nguyen Tan Dung:
Zakaria asked: The South Korean President expressed his worry about trade protectionism at the extremely difficulty present day. Among factors related to that protectionism policy, I have a question for the Vietnamese PM: China is maintaining a high foreign exchange rate, which concerns China’s trade partners like the US and Europe. To balance the world economy, it is necessary to hold talks with China to promote a fairer and more liberal valuation of the yuan. Do you think that this goal can be achieved by unilateral or bilateral dialogues? I know that this question is not easy.
PM Dung answered immediately by explaining that Vietnam had spoken with China on this issue, but it is difficult so they are still in the process of discussion.
The audience (including Bill Gates) expressed their sympathy to the Vietnamese PM’s careful answer.
Dr. Zakaria continued:
Could you bring in optimism that your exchanges (with China) have progressed, because Western politicians’ efforts in this issue seem to be ineffective?
The meeting hall suddenly turned tense as this is a sensitive issue. The Vietnamese PM answered briefly:
I’ve had some discussions about this issue, but it is not very clear.
Dr. Zakaria seemed to agree with PM Dung’s short and direct answer, saying that nobody has an easy answer for it.
The audience laughed joyfully. Dr. Zakaria said “touche!”
Turning to the aspiration of aid providers to assist poor countries, Dr. Zakaria was very interested in Vietnam’s achievements in hunger eradication and poverty reduction by effectively using international aid and its own measures, such as the open door policy.
Hunger eradication and poverty alleviation is a long process, as the South Korean President noted: “The Republic of Korea took 40 years to develop from a poor country with per capita GDP of $50 to an aid-supplying country, thanks to our use of production, farming and management to use such aid the most effective way.”
The camera revealed the Vietnamese PM’s concentration, at times engaged in note-taking.
After the South Korean President discussed South Korea’s process of escaping poverty and the South African President spoke about the mechanisms of international aid groups, the Vietnamese PM said:
“I think that when we consider the hunger and poverty of a country, we need to look at it from both sides: the inner reasons and outside reasons. Vietnam is striving hard to escape from hunger and poverty, but the poverty in Vietnam is mainly caused by wars.”
He added: “So I think that there are injustices between rich, developed countries and poor countries. The current unfair global governance system needs to be reconsidered.”
“Solving hunger and poverty in a country must based on the internal forces of that country, but developed countries and those that caused hunger and poverty must take responsibility, the PM argued. “The recent crisis showed an urgent demand for generating expanded democratization in global governance to make it better reflect the role and interests of countries’ groups, notably the developing nations.”
VietNamNet/Tuoi Tre
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