Narrowing development gap, Asia's biggest challenge: Deputy PM

Eliminating hunger and poverty, narrowing the development gap, and keeping up with the advancement of the knowledge-based economy, are the greatest challenges facing Asia in the era of information technology and globalisation.

So said Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Manh Cam at a plenary session of the first annual two-day meeting of the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) which closed on Saturday in the eastern coastal town of Boao on south China's Hainan island.

Mr Cam, who joined some 2,000 government officials, scholars and enterpreneurs from 48 countries and territories, and international organisations, including the United Nations, the World Trade Organisation, the World Bank, and the Asian Development Bank, noted that the biggest task for Asia in the 21^st century is to bridge the development gap among regional nations and turn itself into a place where everybody can enjoy equal opportunities to maximise their talent and the fruits of development.

Asia should approach the knowledge-based economy in its own way, that is to "take a short cut and advance to up-to-date technology" by bringing into full play its internal strength, the Vietnamese deputy prime minister also said.

He went on to say that Asia developing nations should carry out simultaneously the two tasks of shifting from an agricultural economy to an industrial one and then from an industrial economy to a knowledge-based one.

Mr Cam said he hoped that the BFA would provide an opportunity for governments and businesses, scientists and entrepreneurs, and scholars and economists to join together in a collective effort to solve newly-arising challenges, define new development paths, and build a new regional co-operation mechanism so as to boost comprehensive and sustainable development in each country as well as in the region as a whole.

By exercising a foreign policy of independence, self-reliance, multilateralisation and diversification in international affairs, Vietnam has always made active contributions to maintaining a peaceful and stable environment in the region, Deputy Prime Minister Cam affirmed.

He stressed the country's consistent policy to actively integrate itself into the regional and global economy by taking part in Asian and international organisations and institutions.

The Vietnamese leader also took this occasion to express thanks to BFA member countries for their support to Vietnam in its negotiation process to join the World Trade Organisation and the hope for further assistance in the future.

The annual meeting focused its discussions on strengthening regional economic co-operation and development and raising the competitiveness of Asia in the knowledge-based economy.

The Boao Forum for Asia, launched in February 2001, is a non-governmental, non-profit, regular and open international organisation established in China. It was created to provide a platform for high-level dialogues between Asian countries and territories, enabling them to review current economic and social challenges and to facilitate economic co-operation in Asia.