A business forum was held in Hanoi on December 17 by Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) to assess the strategy for sustainable development in the past 5 years and approve the plan for the 2011-2020 period.

In the past 5 years, under the strategy, Vietnam has made important progress in hunger elimination and poverty reduction as well as population control, reducing unemployment and increasing access to, and quality of healthcare and education.

As of the end of 2010, more than 8 million people have been provided with jobs and the poverty rate has been reduced by 10 percent. Vietnam human development index (HDI) has continuously increased and is ranked 105 out 177 countries.

The assessment also gave much attention to natural resources and environment protection. The environment quality in some localities has improved which helped to raise people’s living standards.

Nguyen Tien Loc, VCCI Chairman said business development is at the core of sustainable development. “It is necessary for government agencies and research institutes to be involved in this process. The issues of energy, climate change and environment will be the focus in the future”, he said.

In addition, VCCI established the Business Council for Sustainable Development at the forum.

Source: VOV