Foreword by Le Dinh Tien

Le Dinh Tien
Vice Minister
Ministry of Science & Technology of Vietnam

Vietnam is currently going through a period of economic transition and international integration - a process which is accompanied by changes in public administration and public policy, in order to meet new demands arising from this transition and international integration. In parallel with the bilateral and multilateral negotiations to join the World Trade Organization (WTO), Vietnam is reforming its legal system and policies in an effort to harmonize them with international regulations and agreements. This requires policymakers and their think-tanks from central to grassroots levels to acquire and apply new analytical methods.

In this transition, research in public policy plays a vital role in orienting strategy, identifying policy issues, collecting information and building scientific foundations to support policy formulation.

However, public policy research in Vietnam has so far not been able to contribute to this transition in the best possible way due to a number of factors; among them the lack of well-coordinated linkages between public policy research institutes and policy- making authorities, and the lack of coordination between public policy research institutes themselves as well as limited skills of research staff. In addition, much of the research done by those institutes is too theoretical and impractical, thereby limiting on-time applicability of research results to meet the demand of policymakers.

It is also worth mentioning the weak linkages between public policy research institutes and public policy training institutions.

These weak linkages not only prevent contributions from the training sector from reaching policymakers but also prevent the application of high-quality research in training programs. In fact, only a small number of research results are being used in training programs at all. Moreover, universities are not actively participating in research activities, particularly in public policy research. At the same time, public policy training lacks unified curricula and training methods, and formulation of training content is not demand-driven.

Challenges arising from the new socio-economic context in Vietnam require to reform and upgrade public policy research and training systems. This book, entitled "Public Policy Research and Training in Vietnam", collects selected papers presented at the Roundtable on "How to Strengthen Public Policy Research and Training in Vietnam". The Roundtable was organized by the Asian Development Bank Institute's Japan Fund for Public Policy Training (JFPPT), the National Institute for Science and Technology Policy and Strategy Studies (NISTPASS), Central Institute of Economic Management (CIEM) and Institute for Policy and Strategy of Agriculture and Rural Development (IPSARD) in Hanoi on 31 August 2005. The Roundtable has been one of the first efforts to review systematically capacity of and linkages among public policy research, training and policy-making institutions in Vietnam.

Papers presented by Vietnamese researchers at the Roundtable gave detailed descriptions and provided reliable information on linkages among public policy research, training and policy-making institutions in Vietnam. Papers by international researchers presented theoretical perspectives and empirical experiences on linkages between research and policy-making institutions in countries under the transition process similar to Vietnam. In particular, we may learn the successful lessons from Korea, which show how research-policy linkages may contribute to strengthen economic growth and industrialization.

This book is an excellent reference for policymakers, public policy research institutes and training institutions in Vietnam, all of which are involved in the process of reforming administrative system, building up capacity and strengthening researchpolicy linkages.

I hope this book will receive attention and feedback from policymakers, managers and the research communities in Vietnam and abroad.

Comment(s)

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1. Rathindranath Pal
   (posted 23 April 2008 / 08:10:32 PM)
   
   It’s a good initiative and relevance to Viet Nam at this moment as its economy is quickly growing like China and India. Without strengthening the capacity of public policy and research it is difficult for a country to be on right track of development.