DAVOS — Deputy Prime Minister Vương Đình Huệ has urged the World Economic Forum (WEF) to work with ASEAN member countries to promote regional prosperity as challenges and changes face the region and the world. 

Huệ was delivering a speech at a meeting of the ASEAN Regional Strategic Group at the 48th annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland yesterday. 

He said the group should focus on strategic issues, such as maintaining dynamic development, competitiveness and self-improvement within the 10-member group, promote the equal development of the ASEAN Community, raise the central role played by ASEAN in co-operation mechanisms and regional security, and boost intra-bloc co-operation and connectivity. 

Việt Nam was always ready to hold dialogues and closely co-ordinate with other ASEAN nations, its partners and businesses, he said, noting that the country was closely working with the WEF in preparation for the WEF-ASEAN conference in September in Hà Nội 

Huệ met Johann Schneider-Ammann, a member of the Switzerland Federal Council, sharing his view that the Việt Nam-Switzerland economic relationship was encouraging. 

They agreed to step up bilateral co-ordination at multilateral forums while pushing negotiations for a free-trade agreement between Việt Nam and the European Free Trade Association, of  which Switzerland is a member. 

Huệ said he highly valued the Swiss Government’s commitment to maintaining official development assistance (ODA) to Việt Nam during 2017-20 and called on it to help develop a high-quality education system, combining it with scientific and technological research. 

He also met the vicer-president of the telecommunications group Qualcomm, suggesting it co-operate with Việt Nam in innovative start-ups in information-technology, share its experience in innovation, and boost collaboration in human-resources development in the telecommunications sector. 

Within the framework of the WEF, the Deputy PM on Monday had a working session with Zurich Airport, the world’s leading group in investment and aviation management. 

The group is interested in partnering Việt Nam in airport projects, including Long Thành International Airport, as well as in training and the transfer of managerial technologies. 

On the same day, the Vietnamese Ministry of Planning and Investment, the Vietnamese Embassy in Berne and Bell Capital co-organised a Việt Nam Investment Forum in Zurich. 
Themed “Creating a Shared Future in a Fractured World,” this year’s WEF Davos attracts more than 3,000 delegates, who are leaders of nations, international organisations and world leading groups and non-governmental organisations. — VNS