To achieve the target, Mr Phuc said the Vietnamese Party and Government are determined to comprehensively renew socio-economic institutions with a special focus on the reform of the monetary-financial and services system, social issues and State-owned enterprises (SoEs).

Dr Dinh Van An, Director of the Central Institute for Economic Management (CIEM), said that the basic initial infrastructure for the market economy has been established during the past 20 years. Building and finalising the framework of these institutions for the socialist-oriented market economy will continue to be one of the major tasks of the Vietnamese Government, he said.

The goal is to use the advantages of the current market economy as a tool for developing the national economy while the socialist orientation will guide enterprises in obtaining socio-economic development targets, Mr An said.

During the two-day forum, delegates from China, Indonesia, Laos, Cambodia, and Uzebekistan and representatives from the United Nations Development Programme, the International Monetary Fund and the Asian Development Bank discussed institutional development and economic growth in the context of globalisation and the progress of SOEs reform. They also discussed improvement in the investment environment for private sector development, financial sector reform and financial integration strategies for Asian economies, public sector reform and strategies for sustainable growth and poverty reduction.

The forum was jointly organised by the CIEM, the China Institute for Reform and Development and the German Technical Co-operation (GTZ).

VOVNews/VNA