The 19th World Economic Forum (WEF) on East Asia under the theme "Rethinking Asia 's Leadership Agenda" opened in Vietnam's southern Ho Chi Minh City on Sunday.
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| Vietnamese PM Nguyen Tan Dung delivering a keynote speech at the opening ceremony Photo: DTiNews |
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| Speakers at the event Photo: DTiNews |
Chaired by Klaus Schwab, WEF founder and executive chairman, the opening ceremony drew foreign leaders including Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, Lao Prime Minister Bouasone Bouphavanh, Myanmar Prime Minister U Thein Sein, and Vice Chairwoman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference Wang Zhizhen.
"The theme of rethinking Asia's leadership of this conference is very appropriate to our regional context", said Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung in a keynote speech at the opening ceremony.
Dung said global financial crisis has revealed some of the shortcomings of the international financial-economic system, while East Asian countries have dealt with these difficulties quite effectively, eventually becoming a leading point of world economic recovery.
"With a strong shift in the balance of power and post-crisis economic power, the global responsibilities undertaken by East Asia needs to be recognized and re-evaluated adequately", said Dung.
"East Asia is well-positioned to make active contributions to the development of a new, more effective and democratic structure of global governance," said Dung.
Vietnam’s economic growth may accelerate this year, enabling the Southeast Asian country to attract investment from overseas as the global economy rebounds from the worst recession in more than six decades.
The country will grow between 6.5 percent and 7 percent this year, Dung said. The economy expanded at a 5.3 percent pace last year.
“Vietnam has become an attractive and safe destination for international investors,” Dung said. “Foreign investment capital has constantly risen over the years in Vietnam and plays an important role in the economic success of the country.”
Economic growth may further gain momentum to between 7 percent and 8 percent from next year to 2020, Dung said. The global recovery from last year’s recession has boosted Asian exports and lifted economic growth from Thailand to Malaysia.
“After the strongest crisis since the Second World War, Asia has been surprisingly very stable and is bouncing back very fast,” said Frans Muller, a member of the management board of Germany’s Metro AG, the country’s largest retailer. He spoke at the same conference.
Earlier this month, Dung asked the central bank to implement measures to reduce interest rates and help the country achieve economic growth of 6.5 percent this year. The country has tried to bring down borrowing costs that climbed to as high as 20 percent this year after a link was severed between the central bank’s benchmark and commercial banks’ interest rates.
More than 400 leading government leaders and officials, leading scholars and entrepreneurs from over 50 countries and regions took part in the conference.
During the two-day conference, participants will discuss four major topics including Asia's leadership Agenda, global risks, sustainability and green growth, and regional competitiveness in a global economy.
The World Economic Forum, based in Geneva, Switzerland, is an independent and non-profit international organization committed to improving the state of the world by engaging leaders in partnerships to shape global, regional and industry agendas.
WEF on East Asia is a regional event of WEF except annual Davos. It is held annually in Asia.