Hanoi (VNA) - Outcomes of the 2015/16 ꧃Knowledge Sharing Programme (KSP) launched by the Republic of Korea (RoK) to share experience in socio-economic development with Vietnam were announced at a conference in Hanoi on March 30.

The Knowledge Sharing Programme (KSP) Reporting Workshop was coorganised by the Institute for Development Strategy under Vietnam’s Ministry of Planning and Investment, the Korea Development Institute (KDI) and several other agencies of the RoK. In his speech, Vice Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen The Phuong said the KSP was the result of practical cooperation between the two countries. “KSP helps build and upgrade the capacity of Vietnamese governmental officials and agencies in policy management and design by giving consultations and support for the implementation of the policies,” Phuong said. The 2015/16 KSP is titled “Fostering Sustainable Development and High Value-Added Industries in Vietnam” with specific policy consultation topics launched, including “Improving the Vietnamese Technology Evaluation System as a method of financing innovative small and medium size enterprises (SMEs)” and “Vietnam’s Electronics Industry Development Strategy through the Establishment of Industrial Cluster in Hanoi Metropolitan Area”. Kim Jonghyun, Senior Manager of Korea Technology Finance Corporation (KOTEC), said in Korea the SME policies that are carried out by several national organisations and a technology-based financing system is being put into practice to develop technology-oriented innovative SMEs for global competitiveness. Jonghyun said Vietnam should cooperate more with relevant authorities, especially in finance, to develop the Research and Development (R&D) acitivities in the country, as well as build up a concept of technology finance that covers the broad topics of economic development, technological innovation, promotion of innovative SMEs and technology appraisal in Vietnam. He said in the future, Vietnam should enact a basis law to establish a dedicated institution, and then polish up the legal grounds to enable the institution to play specialised roles in or based on technology appraisal. "For its part, KOTEC will keep working with Vietnam for financial support for innovative SMEs based on the policy and programme recommendations made in this report," Jonghyun said. The establishment of an electronic industry cluster in the future in Hanoi was also a topic of the conference. Nam Sang-Woo, programme manager for 2015/16 KSP, said Vietnam should conduct a plan for the establishment of an innovation park in the electronic industry cluster if it is built. Innovation park can be defined as a congregate system of lands, buildings and facilities in which colleges, companies, research institutions as well as government organisations jointly perform their functions of technology developments and transfer, information exchanges, business start-ups, test productions and so on. As the innovation park needs to be located on a college campus, this research has tried to differentiate the innovation park from a techno park in the perspectives of innovation centre build-ups focusing on R&D, start-ups and business incubating centres, Sang-Woo said. RoK’s Former Minister of Policy Co-ordination Yoon Dae Hee said Vietnam is one of the best case story of KSP projects, adding that it is time for RoK and Vietnam to share knowledge and experiences on specific economic development projects. “To Korean businessmen and finance specialists, Vietnam is termed as the 'Next China’ and in the face of promising opportunities, they are eagerly preparing to initiate aggressive investments in the region,” Dae Hee said. He also said that knowledge sharing is paving an innovative road toward sustainable global development and cooperation. To a developing country like Vietnam, the most effective methods to mobilise development resources is to increase the domestic resources through reformation of tax policy, reinforcement of tax management and promotion of international tax cooperation, Dae Hee said. Attracting private capital through fostering the capital market such as improving the financial system and establishing financial infrastructure is also an important pillar in the mobilisation of development resources, he added. Launched in 2004, the KSP is a knowledge-intensive development and economic cooperation programme designed to share the RoK’s development experience with partner countries. It offers comprehensive policy consultations tailored to the needs of partner countries encompassing in-depth analysis, policy consultation, and training opportunities.-VNA