Amid political instability

Speaking at the Theoretical Council’s meeting in Hanoi, the Party leader highly valued the council’s work during 2016-2021.

He also suggested some issues needing attention in the time ahead and asked for thorough understanding of the requirements in the political theoretical work in the new period.

The leader told the council to study new theoretical issues in the world, experiences of developed countries, along with scientific – technological revolutions.

General Secretary Trong also asked the council to improve the quality and effectiveness of political theory-related advice to help the Party Central Committee , the Politburo, and the Secretariat direct national development and defence efforts./.

To better understand this concept, VietNamNet talks with Dr. Nguyen Van Dang, an expert on public Administration and policy from the Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics.

Dr. Nguyen Van Dang. Photo: Pham Hai

The media is familiar with the concepts of corporate governance, urban governance, global governance. Is this the first time the documents of the Party Congress have used the “national governance” concept?

It is true that this is probably the first time the Party documents have mentioned the concept of “governance”. More specifically, in the Political Report of the 12th Party Central Committee presented at the 13th Party Congress, in the section “The key tasks and strategic breakthroughs of the 13th term”, the Party advocated: “Changing national governance in the direction of modernity and efficiency”.

This concept is also used with the same connotations in the “Lessons from experience” section of the 2016-2020 socio-economic report; Resolution of the 13th Party Congress; Socio-economic development strategy for the period 2021-2030. Thus, the concept of “national governance” has been used four times in the documents.

When did the concept of “governance” appear and what does it mean?

The concept of “governance” originated in the ancient Greek as “kubernan”, meaning control/guide. Later, Plato used the word with the connotation of “designing a ruling system”. In the Middle Ages the word “gubernare” appeared in Latin, which also implied to guide/control or rule through law. Until the 1970s, “governance” was still commonly used in the same meaning as “government”.

In the early 1980s, the concept of “governance” became more common and used with a broader meaning.

Government not only refers to the activities of the state, but also extends to non-state subjects. This diverse network of actors gradually reduces the notion of boundaries between units in government, between public – private sector, or domestic – international.

So far, there still exist different interpretations of the concept of “governance” among the sciences. In terms of solving common problems of the community, “governance” or “public governance” is generally understood as the establishment, application, and enforcement of “rules of the game”.

More specifically, it is a set of principles for collective decision-making in multidisciplinary contexts, and there is no formal system of control between them that governs the terms of the relationship between the subjects participating in the governance system.

The difference between “state management” and “national governance ”

What are the key features of national governance?

The first is the multi-subject feature. The governance system will include not only the government, laws, principles and administrative regulations and state agencies, but also private subjects and non-profit organizations, as well as the more active role of every citizen.

Therefore, the public interest is no longer the only basis for governance decisions. In the framework of a multi-subject relationship, the interests of different subjects must be respected. Consequently, policies or management decisions tend to be dominated by diverse interests, not just public interests.

Second, reduce the gap and narrow the public-private boundary. The governance system integrates administrative systems with market and non-profit mechanisms, thereby narrowing and blurring the boundaries between the state and society.

Third, the cooperation between partners will gradually replace the imposed relationship in order as in the traditional government model. Due to the participation of diverse subjects in governance relationships, the form of those relationships will gradually change to a horizontal relationship, which is more collaborative, cooperative, and equal.

Fourth, governance is interconnected – governance models and paradigms that include institutions and people at all levels of government as well as different policy areas, and are not limited by the local territory border.

So, what is the most fundamental difference between “state management” and “governance”?

Management, whether at the organizational, local or national level, always has a subject that controls relationships and decision-making (government, board of directors, administrators…). However, when it comes to governance, such a central subject does not exist.

The 13th National Party Congress. Photo: Pham Hai

Therefore, the most fundamental difference among management systems is that there will not be a single subject that can fully control the collective decision-making process in multi-subject governance relationships.

Good sign

How will the role of the government be in the national governance system?

Governance systems require the government to gradually adapt to its role of coordinating the differences in expectations and interests of subjects of governance. It also means that the government cannot easily impose its will on related parties as in a traditional governance model.

How do you evaluate the emergence of the concept of “national governance” in the documents of the 13th Party Congress?

First of all, I think it is a good sign because it shows the change in the Party’s perception. However, the limited use of this concept also proves a certain caution of the Party towards this new concept.

In your opinion, why is there such caution?

In my opinion, “governance” is a concept of Western origin so it reflects tradition and reality in Western societies. This concept, thus, will still be very strange to many Vietnamese people.

In addition, the tradition and reality of the political – administrative system in Vietnam and many East Asian countries in general are also very different from the West. Therefore, we cannot rush to use arbitrarily foreign concepts.

Building a national governance model

What is your opinion about the future of “governance thinking” in Vietnam?

We live in a rapidly changing and interdependent world. Therefore, since the late 1990s, management thinking has been an increasingly popular trend in the world.

At home, reforming the political – administrative system towards respecting and promoting the people’s mastery has been a consistent policy of the Party in many recent congresses.

The reality also shows the limitations of the state’s ability and resources in solving community problems. Therefore, we are witnessing the increasingly active participation of businesses, social organizations and individual citizens, working side by side with the government to solve collective problems.

What are the challenges in the process of building “national governance” in Vietnam?

“Governance” is an exotic concept so the first challenge is that we must define this concept associated with the actual context in Vietnam today. This has not been shown in the documents of the 13th Party Congress.

On that foundation, the next step is to build a national governance theory and model, which can catch the world’s movement trends and reconcile with the traditional and current characteristics of Vietnam.

I think that this is a theoretical challenge that the Party should be concerned about in coming years.

Hien Anh

The event was held amid the Vietnamese Government is building important documents to submit to the National Assembly for approval, related to socio-economic development orientations, fiscal management and public debt and public investment for the 2021-2025 period.

The webinar also aims to promptly and accurately provide investors information on the country’s socio-economic development and the Government’s decisions related to the investor community.

According to the MOF, Vietnam joining the group of middle-income countries marks an important milestone, opening new possibilities for proactive and effective debt management, while offering the country an opportunity to access a large commercial capital market, allowing for more proactive and flexible capital mobilisation with appropriate borrowing costs amid Vietnam’s positive economic development.

Increasing contact and maintaining relations with investors is an important task to ensure the timely and accurate transmission of information on the macro scale, socio-economic development of the country and Government’s policies to investors.

At the forum, the IMF’s representatives offered suggestion on the objectives and principles of investor relations, focusing on the transparency of data and decisions, the ability to connect with the local authorities to further clarify public information and the accuracy of data.

In addition, IMF experts also offered ways to facilitate investor relations, including setting up website debt management, organising market consultations, phone talks, seminars and conferences, and especially setting up institutional tools to better perform the investor relations function.

Domestic experts at the event discussed the current practices in implementing the investor relationship, the coordination process among agencies, and regulations on reporting data.

The MOF also said that the goal of the series of cooperation activities with the IMF is to help the relevant agencies to strengthen their staff’s capacity in relation to practices of the international capital market, facilitating them to be more proactive in accessing the market and allowing them to conduct transactions immediately at the most favourable times.

In addition to mobilising international capital, the task of contacting and providing accurate information to investors must become a regular task, thereby contributing to promoting the image and reputation of the country to international friends.

children explore the digital library at the Book Festival.2021. Photo dangcongsan.vn

HÀ NỘI  Many activities and programmes to promote reading culture have been organised nationwide for the framework of Book Festival 2021.

The highlight of the event is an exhibition with the theme “Books — Mission to develop reading culture” at the National Library of on Tràng Thi Street, Hà Nội.

Speaking at the opening of the exhibition, Kiều Thúy Nga, director of the National Library of Việt Nam, said that the National Book Festival, which has been held annually at the library since 2006, has helped to arouse passion, excitement in reading, cultivate knowledge and contribute to the development of  the country.

“Via the activities of National Book Festival 2021, we want to convey the message that each book is a wonderful picture of life,” Nga said .

“Books are not just pages but also contain the world that people always crave to explore. Picking up a book and reading, you will see a whole new world open up.”

The exhibition displays 800 books divided into four categories: Books — Path to knowledge; Books — Gifts nourishing the soul; Reading skills and methods; and Enjoying reading passion. It will last until Wednesday.

In addition, a seminar titled Youth with Reading Culture was organised within the exhibition with the participation of many experts and representatives of publishing units on April 16.

Like previous book festivals, a number of activities for children are being held along, such as drawing illustrations for books, parents’ reading books for children and exploring digital library of over 2,000 books in more than 20 different languages.

Meanwhile, Việt Nam Book Day 2021 kicked off in HCM City yesterday on the city’s book street in District 1.

A symposium on the development of a reading culture amid digital transformation was held on yesterday while the launch of book collections on the implementation of the resolution from the 13th National Party Congress, HCM City and digital transformation will take place on the street today at 3pm

Book lovers can also join a fan meeting with prolific and children’s favourite authors like writer Nguyễn Nhật Ánh or poet Thụy Anh, which will be held tomorrow.

To book lovers who cannot attend the festival in person could check in a national online book festival that will run until May 15 at book365.vn . The theme of this year’s festival, which is the second of its kind, is “Books for All Families”.

The national online book festival take place on the website book365.vn. Photo courtesy of the organisers.

Following the success of the first festival in 2020, the national online book festival 2021 will offer tens of thousands of books with 50-70 per cent discount and free shipping with the support of Vietnam Post.

The online book festival allows participants to discuss the development of a reading culture and gain an insight into digital transformation in the publishing industry, as well as how to access books in the context of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

Its organisers revealed that they will sponsor readers in remote and disadvantaged areas with a discount of up to 80 per cent to many good books.

Last year, the online book festival gathered 49 publishers and introduced about 10,000 print books and up to 10,000 e-books.

April 21 was designated as Việt Nam Book Day by the then Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc on February 24, 2014 with the aim to encourage a reading culture among the public. VNS

Novaland Investment Group’s head office in Nguyen Du Street, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City. — Photo vinhomecitys.com

Some analysts from securities firms expected that the market’s bullish trend will continue this week, while others were more cautious and see a downward trend dominating the market.

The market benchmark VN-Index on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE) fell 8.54 points, or 0.68 per cent, in Friday’s trade to 1,238.71 points. The index hit a record high of 1,255.87 points on Wednesday.

For the week, the index still rose slightly by 0.57 per cent, while foreign investors net sold a value of over VND2.4 trillion.

Analyst from Saigon – Hanoi Securities JSC (SHS) said that the third straight weekly gain of the market and a new record in liquidity showed investors’ big interest during this period. However, based on Elliott Wave Theory, the index was likely at the end of wave 5 last week and is about to turn to corrective waves with a closest target being around 1,135 points.

Therefore, a downward trend might influence the market this week, SHS added.

The index struggled and strongly fluctuated around 1,250 points, but failed to break through the level in the last session. The market breadth, besides some blue-chip stocks in real estate sectors and steel stocks, was negative last week.

Tran Xuan Bach, a senior stock analyst from Bao Viet Securities Company, also expected that the market might continue to be weighed by selling pressure this week.

“The VN-Index still receives support from the zone of 1,225 – 1,232 points in some early sessions this week,” Bach wrote in a daily report to customers.

“The market is likely to be influenced by some large-cap stocks, as well as a strong division of stock groups during this period.”

Meanwhile, analysts from Viet Dragon Securities Corporation (VDSC) were more optimistic about the market as large cash inflows into the market in the last session limited the losses.

Sharing the positive view, MB Securities JSC (MBS) said that the last session’s steep fall has boosted cash flows into the market for bottom fishing, creating a notable recovery.

On the technical front, the upward trend, which has extended over the last two months, will continue with the support territory in the short-term being 1,220 points, MBS added.

The HNX-Index on the Ha Noi Stock Exchange (HNX) also declined 1.02 per cent on Friday to 293.11 points. For the week, the index fell 0.23 per cent.

Real estate stocks posted outstanding performance last week as it went against the market’s trend in most sessions. Followed by material stocks.

Of which, Vingroup JSC (VIC), Novaland Investment Group Corporation (NVL) and Hoa Phat Group (HPG) contributed the most to help the market cap losses. These stocks climbed 16.29 per cent, 4.73 per cent and 4.46 per cent, respectively.

On the contrary, top three stocks influencing the market’s trend were Vietnam Rubber Group JSC (GVR), JSC Bank For Investment and Development of Vietnam (BID) and Vietnam Dairy Products JSC (VNM).

In general, Viet Nam’s stock market was not so positive last week despite the benchmark increasing slightly as selling pressure spread to all sectors and foreign investors net sold a value in the trillions of dong. — VNS