The country is seeking APO support to strengthen its macro policy development and overall strategy for increasing productivity.

Vietnam is strengthening its ties with the Asian Productivity Organization (APO) and looking forward to its policy advisory services on the national productivity movement. In a message to APO Secretary-General Santhi Kanoktanaporn after their meeting earlier this month in Hanoi, Vietnam’s Minister of Science and Technology (MOST) Chu Ngoc Anh said that the country was looking forward to cooperating with the APO to strengthen its macro policy development and overall strategy for increasing productivity.

Highlighting that Vietnam has been reforming its growth model and improving quality, productivity and competitiveness of the economy, the minister said that the Government of Vietnam was looking forward to cooperate with the APO on three aspects. Minister Anh pointed out that the country was keen to get APO support on strategic issues to develop resources who can drive the country’s productivity programs like establishing the benchmark database, Smart Cities, productivity promotion for organic farming, Green Productivity, and capacity building of resources for adopting the Industry 4.0 framework.

Vietnam, an APO member since 1996, authorized the Directorate for Standards and Quality (STAMEQ) to serve as the permanent representative for the country in the APO. The country has been actively involved in APO programs and projects under which participants from management agencies, economic sectors, organizations, and enterprises have been trained in various productivity tools, processes, and approaches.

“This has contributed immensely to the nation’s overall success, not only in driving productivity growth in general but also helping push the national program for enhancing the productivity and quality of Vietnamese products and goods by 2020,” the minister said in his message. “Vietnam was seeking APO support for capacity building on productivity sustainable development compliance with new trends of the world,” he added.

Vietnam’s 2020 national program for enhancing the productivity and quality of products and goods is targeted at increasing the country’s labor productivity by 5.5% per year during 2016–2020. It aims to establish and develop the quality movement in all provinces and cities and increase the share of total factor productivity in the GDP growth rate to a minimum of 35% by 2020. The program targets 100% implementation of productivity and quality enhancement tools by all enterprises producing key products and commodities in the country.

Sharing details of the meeting, APO Secretary-General Santhi said that the discussions with Minister Anh on increasing collaboration between Vietnam and the APO had been very successful. “In a message following the meeting in Hanoi, Minister Anh highlighted three key areas where Vietnam is looking at cooperating with the APO. These are aligned with the APO strategic directions and Roadmap to Achieve Vision 2020 of improving labor productivity in member countries and pushing for Sustainable Productivity,” Dr. Santhi reported.

The Secretary-General pointed out that the APO would be collaborating with other renowned institutions for a research project on Sustainable Productivity and developing suitable new indicators that better capture actual outcomes of economic activities and productivity growth. He stated that the APO had adopted a new approach to align its programs with the long-term development goals of member economies.

“Our APO Strategy Development Approach incorporates foresight capacity building to help member countries plan complex scenarios caused by unpredictable social, political, technological, environmental, and economic conditions around the world. The approach, along with the strategic foresight capability that the APO is building, will be very helpful in addressing Vietnam’s need to enhance productivity and quality and meet its 2020 goals,” Dr. Santhi concluded.