DPM Nguyen Van Thang. Photo: VNA

Speaking at the closing ceremony, Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Van Thang thanked the Weatherhead East Asian Institute, US experts and scholars, and others involved in the programme for their contributions, knowledge and experience, and warm welcome for the Vietnamese delegation.

The DPM shared the assessment of professors and experts that the world is at a critical turning point, with challenges increasingly intertwined with opportunities for countries seeking greater self-reliance and development.

To achieve its target of maintaining double-digit economic growth, Vietnam recognises the need to maintain macroeconomic stability, adapt to external shocks and leverage science and technology, innovation, digital transformation, AI and modern financial infrastructure as key drivers of growth.

Institutional reform, creating a favourable environment for innovation and strengthening national competitiveness will be crucial for Vietnam to participate more deeply in global supply and value chains, he said.

Thang expressed his confidence that the success of VLP 2026 would strengthen knowledge links between the two countries and contribute to deepening and making the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between Vietnam and the US more substantive.

Photo: VNA

At the closing session, Columbia University executive vice president Amy Hungerford spoke highly of the frank, substantive and multidimensional discussions held throughout the VLP.

She highlighted the university’s role in encouraging dialogue and connecting policymakers, academics and businesses, and reaffirmed Columbia University’s commitment to long-term cooperation with Vietnam.

The university hopes to expand teaching and research activities with Vietnam, while viewing VLP 2026 as the starting point for a sustainable dialogue and cooperation relationship between the two sides, she said.

During the discussion, US professors and experts highlighted Vietnam’s potential for a major economic breakthrough. They also said that mastering technology and developing modern digital financial infrastructure would provide important leverage for improving labour productivity and national competitiveness.

Against this backdrop, the scholars recommended that Vietnam apply AI and data technologies to strengthen its capacity for self-reliance.

They also called for the development of a forward-looking institutional framework to boost innovation, master foundational technologies and ensure the safe governance of technology-driven financial models.

Capital-market reforms should be pursued alongside the modernisation of the banking system to optimise resource allocation and support high growth while maintaining macroeconomic stability, the experts said.

Vietnamese delegation. Photo: VNA

During the discussions, the DPM and members of the Vietnamese delegation shared Vietnam’s perspectives, vision, development priorities and specific policy solutions.

They emphasised that strengthening domestic capacity and strategic self-reliance would play a decisive role, while Vietnam should make the most of international resources with breakthrough potential to maintain macroeconomic stability, improve institutions and boost new growth drivers. These efforts are expected to create a stronger foundation for Vietnam to achieve its national development goals.

The DPM asked ministries, agencies and members of the delegation to study the valuable recommendations from the VLP and use them to advise the government on macroeconomic management and socioeconomic development policymaking.

Vietnam and US Treasury deepen financial cooperation On June 15, at the headquarters of Vietnam’s Ministry of Finance, Minister of Finance Ngo Van Tuan received a delegation from the US Department of the Treasury, led by Robert Kaproth, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Treasury.

Vietnam and US launch real-time customs data exchange to enhance transparency Vietnam Customs and US Customs have signed an MoU on the electronic exchange of cargo manifest and shipment information.

UNICEF Vietnam recently brought together business leaders, investors, foundations, and philanthropists in Ho Chi Minh City for its Business Leadership Dialogue focusing on a fundamental recognition that Vietnam’s long-term prosperity will ultimately depend on the children who become tomorrow’s workforce, consumers, entrepreneurs, and leaders.

UNICEF’s representative in Vietnam Silvia Danailov connected economic development directly to the investment into children.

“While AI, infrastructures and investment will shape your businesses, what is really the most important is how we invest in people, how we invest in children growing up. They will become the workforce, innovators, entrepreneurs and leaders who define Vietnam’s next chapter. So it is about investing in Vietnam’s future through its children,” she said.

Silvia Danailov, UNICEF’s representative in Vietnam, shared remarks on the future of children in Vietnam. Photo: UNICEF Vietnam

The case has become more urgent as Vietnam enters a defining decade of demographic ageing, climate change and rapid digitalisation.

A smaller future workforce will need to be more productive, communities will require greater resilience to climate risks, and technological change will demand new skills.

The ability of children to grow up healthy, educated, protected and digitally capable will influence not only their individual prospects but also the strength of the economy they will manage.

This gives businesses a stake in children’s wellbeing that extends beyond philanthropy. Children are connected to the future availability of skilled employees, the resilience of communities and supply chains, and the long-term health of consumer markets.

The question for corporate leaders is how to turn that stake into action that is beneficial to both society and the business.

Turning purpose into a force for sustainable impact

The case studies shared at the dialogue suggested that credible action begins where a social need intersects with a company’s existing capabilities.

For Kimberly-Clark – a global consumer goods company best known for trusted personal care and hygiene brands, maternal health, newborn care and menstrual health are closely connected to the consumers served by brands such as Huggies and Kotex.

The company contributes knowledge of babies, mothers and women, while UNICEF provides technical expertise, public trust, government relationships and the ability to reach underserved communities at scale.

Nitish Gupta, managing director for Southeast Asia and general manager for Vietnam at Kimberly-Clark, argued that the value of the partnership rests on this combination rather than on funding alone.

“Coming together is about more than funding. It is the combination of shared purpose and complementary strengths that can create long-term impact for society,” he said.

According to Gupta, Kimberly-Clark’s investment of more than $2 million aims to provide direct health benefits to 1.3 million babies, children and mothers, while reaching another 2.5 million people through education and behaviour-change activities.

Sustaining that ambition requires companies to look beyond quarterly targets or a single annual programme and build partnerships that can develop knowledge, measure results and expand over several years.

Panellists spoke about business as a force for sustainable impact. Photo: UNICEF Vietnam

Biti’s offers a different route to the same destination. Children have been central to the Vietnamese footwear company’s customer base for generations, making the provision of affordable, quality school shoes one way its social purpose is expressed through everyday business.

Le Quyen Vuu, Biti’s CEO, explained that the company subsequently expanded this commitment into mental wellbeing.

Biti’s introduced its Happy Business programme for employees before working with a non-governmental organisation for approximately eight years to support Happy School initiatives at 16 schools in Hue and Hanoi.

“It’s very important to invest in the wellbeing of our children because Vietnam can only have sustainable success when we have new, healthy, happy and flourishing human capital,” she said.

From business leadership to family philanthropy

The move towards business-integrated purpose is also changing philanthropy. Ann Putnam Marks, UNICEF’s regional partnerships lead for Asia-Pacific, described a shift from one-off giving towards longer-term partnerships that combine private capital with expertise, networks and operating capacity.

Special guests Techajareonvikul family’s partnership with UNICEF Thailand demonstrates how family capital, corporate reach and UNICEF expertise can reinforce one another.

Through BJC Big C Foundation, the family has applied UNICEF’s knowledge of early childhood development across a major retail business.

Family-friendly workplace policies, office nurseries, breastfeeding spaces and children’s corners bring the partnership into the daily experience of employees and customers, while the Healthy Checkout Lanes initiative extends it to decisions about what shoppers see and buy.

The Techajareonvikul Family were special guests at the dialogue. Photo: UNICEF Vietnam

The Techajareonvikul Family’s special guests Thapanee and Aswin Techajareonvikul have extended the BJC Big C Foundation – UNICEF partnership into their family by involving their three children, in visits to UNICEF’s global supply, research and headquarters operations. Those experiences connect the values guiding today’s business leaders with the responsibilities that the next generation may inherit.

“Right now, our employees already have the knowledge of what we have learned and what we have appreciated from UNICEF’s guidance. They also know the importance of keeping family members and the family of the community in mind, and they also feel proud,” said Thapanee.

“I believe that this healthy environment is the heart and the core of being successful in business, and of being a part of society. And so, it’s really the legacy that we would leave to live on for generations to come, and also for our kids to continue, just like what we have learned from our parents: to give back to society.”

Examples shared in Ho Chi Minh City point to the same conclusion: purpose becomes credible when it changes a business decision. What companies sell, how they support employees, where investors place capital and what business families teach the next generation will help determine whether Vietnam’s present growth develops the human capability required to sustain it.

Government launches child protection programme for 2026–2030 The government has issued a national programme on child protection and the prevention of child labour for the 2026–2030 period.

Vietnam strives to build safer digital environment to protect children online The Ministry of Justice and UNICEF, with support from the European Union Delegation through the EU Justice and Legal Empowerment Programme, convened a policy dialogue on child protection in the digital environment on August 21.

Kimberly-Clark and UNICEF strengthen child and maternal healthcare Kimberly-Clark Vietnam and UNICEF renew partnership with a $2.05 million commitment to expand essential care for mothers, newborns, and girls nationwide.

Why child online safety is now a business imperative As Vietnam marks the Month of Action for Children under the theme “Happy, Safe and Confident Children in the Digital World,” Silvia Danailov, UNICEF Representative in Vietnam, shares her views on why child online safety is no longer just a social issue, but a core business responsibility in the digital age.

After a more than two month pilot, the centralised customs clearance model has reduced the processing time for a shipment by 12 per cent compared with May 2026 and by around 14 per cent compared with the first quarter of 2026, while also reducing direct contact between businesses and customs officials.

Every day, tens of thousands of customs declarations are processed at seaports, border gates and international airports across the country.

As cross-border flows of goods continue to grow, the customs authority is required not only to maintain strict controls to prevent fraud, but also to shorten processing times, reduce costs and facilitate trade as much as possible for businesses.

Centralised customs clearance model is bringing visible improvements to customs procedures processing. Photo: baodautu.vn

The shift from geographically decentralised management to centralised customs clearance based on a unified data platform is emerging as an important step in the development of digital and smart customs.

According to Dao Duy Tam, head of the Customs Control and Supervision Department under the General Department of Vietnam Customs, the centralised customs clearance is in line with the Party and state’s direction on digital transformation, administrative reform and the establishment of a unified focal point for administrative work.

The Customs Department began piloting the centralised customs clearance model at Customs Branch No. III from June 1, following the direction of the Ministry of Finance’s leadership set out in Notice No 710/TB-BTC dated September 12, 2025.

The pilot was also developed as part of the Customs Department’s broader programme to modernise customs procedures and boost digital transformation.

After the initial pilot period, the model has delivered a number of positive results. One of the most notable changes has been the digitisation of documents.

Customs declarants can submit dossiers in the form of data fields, with the support of AI tools to convert information. This enables businesses to avoid re-entering data, reduce errors and cut the costs of printing and storing paper documents.

More importantly, processing procedures under the centralised model establish a unified workflow, limiting differences in implementation among units.

This makes processing times more predictable for businesses, allowing them to organise logistics activities more actively and reduce compliance costs.

According to the Customs Department, the customs clearance time for a shipment after the introduction of the centralised model fell by 12 per cent compared with May and by around 14 per cent compared with the first quarter of 2026.

Another benefit of the model is that it promotes paperless administrative procedures.

As documents are digitised and processed centrally through the system, customs declarants have less need for direct contact with customs officials.

This not only saves businesses time but also helps eliminate intermediary stages in administrative procedures. The Customs Department has identified reducing direct contact between businesses and customs officials as one of the model’s key objectives.

However, according to the Customs Department, centralised customs clearance is not simply a matter of transferring existing procedures to an electronic system.

The core of the model is a change in management thinking: from processing procedures according to geographical areas to centralised, data-based management; and from a fragmented approach to a unified process across the entire system.

Dao Duy Tam said the Customs Department considers changing perceptions and mindsets a decisive factor, requiring a shift from manual management to digital thinking and from decentralisation to centralisation. This is intended to prevent different units from applying different approaches, reduce problems arising in practice, and improve transparency in the handling of procedures.

This also marks an important step on the journey towards building digital and smart Customs, as data is gradually becoming the foundation for both regulatory management and services for businesses.

Vietnam Customs signs cooperation deal with UK authorities Vietnam Customs has signed a Declaration of Intent with His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) of the United Kingdom, strengthening bilateral cooperation on trade and border management.

Tax and customs policies refined to support enterprise growth Vietnam is advancing tax and customs reform, with an October 16 dialogue creating a platform to refine laws, streamline procedures, and strengthen the Ministry of Finance’s efforts to back growth.

Data-driven risk management signals major shift in customs administration The Ministry of Finance has introduced a new circular transforming customs management through digital data-based risk assessment, easing border procedures while strengthening compliance and post-clearance oversight for import-export businesses.

Customs Law amendments to strengthen digital integration Vietnam’s proposed amendments to the Customs Law would expand automated data control, strengthen inter-agency data sharing, and establish a regulatory framework for the fast-growing cross-border e-commerce sector.