During a working visit to Canada, member of the Central Party Committee, Minister of Science and Technology, Nguyen Quan, on August had a meeting with representatives of Vietnamese intellectuals in Canada.
The meeting was attended by about 80 people, representing the successful Vietnamese intellectuals in Canada.
At the meeting, Minister Nguyen Quan introduced the development of science and technology in Vietnam. The minister stressed that the government of Vietnam considered science and technology as a leading national policy and had made great strides in developing the sector.
In 2013, the National Assembly passed the revised Law on Science and Technology. The latest point is to change the current thinking on the sources of investment in science and technology. Private sector and commercial businesses ought to become the leading investors with state-owned enterprises extracting part of the pre-tax profit to establish a science and technology development fund.
Secondly, the change is about the organizational mechanism for the operations of science and technology, relating to the provision of finance from building, to approval, to accelerated deployment, the application of science and technology meeting the needs of production, business and life. The allocation of money for science and technology operations has to pass the science and technology development fund system from the central to local levels, from the ministry to businesses.
Thirdly, the spending norm and settlement procedures for themes and projects have additional suitable contents. A mechanism of a lump sum is applied. The revised law also regulates that three objects are used and given priority by the state: leading scientists, scientists who are assigned national level tasks and young talent scientists.
According to the Minister, the government of Vietnam had also established the National Foundation for Sciences and Technology Development (NAFOSTED) to support basic research and the National Technology Innovation Fund to support companies to organize research and application.
Minister Nguyen Quan also said that Vietnam was leading in the field of endoscopic surgery, vaccine production, hydro power production in ASEAN. In addition, Vietnam is one of 10 countries producing self-elevating drilling platforms for the oil and gas industry.
On this occasion, the minister appreciated the achievements and contributions of overseas Vietnamese intellectuals in general and in Canada in particular. He expressed his desire of Vietnamese intellectuals in Canada returning to the homeland to contribute their knowledge and strength to the development of the country when Vietnam’s working conditions were suitable./.
via Minister of Science and Technology met Vietnamese intellectuals in Canada — Vietmaz.
