December 2, 2019 marked the seventh Vietnam Executive Leadership Program (VELP 2019) at Harvard University. This is a joint initiative by the Vietnamese government, the United Nations Development Program and the Vietnam Program at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation.
Launched in 2008, VELP is a high-level policy forum co-organized by the Harvard Kennedy School and Fulbright School of Public Policy and Management (FSPPM). VELP provides a forum for high-ranking policymakers and executives to deliberate on the most significant global socio-economic trends based on up-to-date practical research, and an opportunity to discuss policy challenges for Vietnam’s development.
The Vietnamese delegation attending VELP 2019 consisted of 15 delegates with Mr. Nguyen Van Binh, Member of the Politburo and Chairman of the Central Economic Committee, as Head of Delegation.
VELP 2019 welcomed a panel of world-renowned scholars from Harvard, like Professor Jason Furman, former chair of the Council of Economic Advisers under the Obama administration, and Professor Anthony Saich, Director of Ash Center, a leading expert on Chinese social policy. The roster of speakers also included leaders of American tech giants like Google, Facebook and Amazon, who came to present and analyze revolutionary trends in technology and digital transformation.
In the context of global socio-economic uncertainties, this year’s VELP focused on how to comprehensively enhance Vietnam’s political, economic and technological capacity, by discussing methods to attract foreign direct investments to technological sectors such as cloud computing, cyber security and computerized public service innovation. Experts provided Vietnamese policymakers with up-to-date analysis and practical outlooks in anticipation of future policy challenges.
More photos from VELP 2019:
