Vietnam shares experience in public administration to achieve impressive growth

The event featured the participation of representatives of various diplomatic agencies of nine national members of EROPA, along with about 300 international delegates and 200 delegates who are scholars, managers, and leaders of ministries and agencies.

In her opening speech, Minister of Home Affairs Pham Thi Thanh Tra expressed her expectation that the event will provide profound and comprehensive insights into public administration reform and civil service reform.

Furthermore, the occasion also aims to supplement and further develop the philosophy of public administration in a multivariate environment, while together finding breakthrough solutions in civil service reform as a means of promoting sustainable development.

The Minister of Home Affairs stated that Vietnam, like many other countries, is facing many consequences moving into the post-COVID period, directly impacting growth and sustainable development.

Therefore, the choice of public administration with the goal of socio-economic recovery and development is the major theme of the EROPA Conference, showcasing the role and responsibility of EROPA amid issues on regional and global development that must be resolved.

Minister Tra clearly stated that sustainable development is now becoming an overarching trend in the world, whilst the digital economy, circular economy, and green growth are the development models chosen by many countries.

As a means of creating sustainable development, the role of public administration and civil service in each country needs to be affirmed and expressed more fully, she went on to say.

The Vietnamese Minister commented that the efforts of the civil service and public administration in the nation have been demonstrated by achievements in maintaining growth over a long period of time, with the nation enjoying an impressive growth rate of 8.02% last year.

From being put into practice in Vietnam, it shows that in order to promote sustainable development, the country's public service must truly be a driving force for development, she added.

“The civil service needs to be able to identify development opportunities and deeply recognize potential risks that can harm sustainable development, and make policy choices to harmonise economic, cultural, social and environmental goals.

The civil service also needs the ability to create an attractive investment environment to attract investment projects with advanced technology, new technology, high technology, modern management, innovation, and global supply chain connection in order to boost rapid and sustainable growth," Minister Tra said.

Upon addressing the opening session, Alex Brillantes JR., secretary general of EROPA, also said that the world is facing plenty of challenges in many aspects, from the public health crisis to environmental concerns and social inequality. As a means of solving these challenges, the role of public administration becomes increasingly important and urgent.

Accordingly, Brillantes affirmed that with more than 150 research documents focusing on socio-economic recovery and development, innovating public administration, and improving public administration capacity, the knowledge and experience presented at the conference will certainly open the door to further opportunities for knowledge creation for comprehensive development.

As the host, Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Ba Chien, director of the National Academy of Public Administration and head of Vietnam's EROPA state-level member delegation, emphasised the message of the conference and the positive role of EROPA in terms of accelerating the effective implementation of governance in member states.

“We believe that the spirit of cooperation and unity of will will be a solid basis for EROPA's practical actions, aiming to realize important goals towards building a sustainable, peaceful and prosperous world,” Dr. Chien said.

The EROPA 2023 conference is getting underway from October 16 to October 20, with a specific focus on in-depth discussion on three sub-topics, including "practices of socio-economic recovery and development: issues raised and requirements for management innovation", "Innovating public administration to promote socio-economic recovery and development", and "Building public administration capacity to boost socio-economic recovery and development".