General Assessment of Sustainable Development Index and Some Recommendations

Vietnam's main export markets are the US and EU (accounting for nearly 50% of total export turnover) - the economies that have fallen into the most severe recession, so exports have shrunk.

In contrast to 2008, in 2009 the Government implemented stimulus packages that created a certain recovery in international economic relations as well as kept the consumer price growth rate within a single digit (thanks to the use of a package of solutions to control inflation, the policy of implementing a tight monetary policy), but caused a decrease in the indicators of the contribution of TFP to the overall growth rate and the State budget deficit. In particular, the negative growth rate of TFP in 2009 (-0.34%) caused a general economic downturn. That shows that no matter how high the economic growth rate is, while other economic indicators are low, the economy cannot be maintained sustainably.

Thus, to ensure sustainable development, the development process cannot give more importance to any of the economic, social, and environmental fields. In each of these fields, it is also impossible to give more importance to any indicator because every small change in each indicator has a certain impact on sustainable development. The sustainable development process in Vietnam still faces many difficulties, requiring appropriate reform policies and gradual improvement.

3.3. General assessment of sustainable development index and some recommendations

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3.3.1. General assessment of sustainable development index

From the results of the experimental calculation of the sustainable development index in Vietnam in the period 2001 - 2010, the author will return to evaluate the suitability of the system of sustainable development statistical indicators as well as the calculation formulas proposed in chapter 2.

First , about the system of sustainable development statistical indicators:

- The number of indicators is still quite large, making the process of calculating the general index cumbersome.

- Some indicators do not ensure consistency in calculation methods, data sources and reporting periods, making data collection very difficult, affecting the accuracy of calculation results.

- There is overlap between the environmental sustainability index and some indicators.

in the group of natural resources and environment indicators, leading to double counting for the sustainable development composite index.

Second , about the proposed calculation formulas. The proposed steps for calculating the sustainable development composite index are a general methodology for determining the general index based on the sustainable development indicator system. With the change in the sustainable development statistical indicator system later, the above research and analysis still have certain theoretical significance.

The indices calculated in the same period must have a unified scope and calculation method to ensure comparability. However, for each different development stage, there may be different changes. Specifically:

- Determining the maximum and minimum values in the separate index calculation formula mentioned above is only relative. Because there is no complete information about the development goals set by the Government for each indicator in the 2001-2010 development period, the maximum and minimum limits are selected according to the largest, smallest or trend values. In addition, the group of centripetal indicators also has some indicators whose optimal values have not been determined, making it difficult to calculate. The author has consulted various documents to come up with reasonable numbers. However, to have the most accurate assessment of sustainable development for the following stages, the management agency needs to set specific goals to aim for, which is the basis for determining reasonable maximum and minimum values.

- The importance of each indicator in the group of economic, social or environmental resource indicators is historically specific. Due to different development goals and strategies, the importance of each indicator in different development stages may also change. Therefore, it is necessary to re-determine the importance of each indicator in specific groups of indicators in future studies.

- Regarding the formula for calculating the composite index of sustainable development, in the case of missing data such as the period 2001 - 2010, calculating the average directly from the separate indexes will bring more accurate results. However, in the case of having complete data, it is necessary to calculate the general index from the component indexes, ensuring compliance with the content of sustainable development: harmonious development, balancing the three aspects of economy, society and environment.

Thus, depending on the correlation of collected data of each group of indicators, the most suitable formula is selected.

3.3.2. Some recommendations and solutions on sustainable development statistics in Vietnam

Through analysis, the system of sustainable development statistical indicators in Vietnam still has certain limitations in terms of quantity, content, calculation methods and data sources of indicators. That greatly affects the results of the calculated sustainable development index. In order to be more complete, there needs to be unification and division of tasks among relevant agencies.

3.3.2.1. Recommendations

The system of sustainable development statistical indicators is a system of macro indicators, under the management of state agencies, including many indicators reflecting different areas of the national economy. Based on the aggregated data from the system of sustainable development indicators, each country can have the most general view of the development status of its country in order to propose appropriate development policies. Therefore, to ensure the feasibility of the proposed system of sustainable development indicators, it is necessary to have the attention of state agencies at different levels. Specifically:

- For the National Sustainable Development Council: The National Sustainable Development Council needs to organize a specialized department to analyze the synthesized statistical indicators, thereby assessing the sustainable development status in Vietnam in each period. On that basis, the National Sustainable Development Council proposes to the Government orientations, policies, and sustainable development goals for the following years. These development goals will be the practical basis for determining the maximum and minimum values in the proposed separate index calculation formula.

- For the Statistics sector: The Statistics sector in Vietnam is organized vertically from the General Statistics Office, Provincial and Municipal Statistics Offices and District Statistics Offices...

+ The General Statistics Office is the highest agency of the Vietnamese statistical sector, and needs to review the indicators in the sustainable development statistical indicator system.

sustainable to have the best system of indicators to evaluate the development process in Vietnam. From there, the General Statistics Office also needs to research to come up with a specific and unified calculation method for the sustainable development index, helping the National Sustainable Development Council in assessing and analyzing the country's development status.

The specialized departments in the General Statistics Office are responsible for making periodic reports, following the process of unifying sustainable development indicators according to the Government's regulations. Indicators that do not have a methodology or determination method also need to be unified to have accurate data, serving the management and operation of the Government, for example, the green GDP indicator, the Environmental Sustainability Index, the efficiency of capital use... This is an important task, having a great influence on the accuracy in calculating the synthetic sustainable development index as well as assessing the fluctuation trend of this index over time.

+ The Provincial and Municipal Statistics Offices are responsible for synthesizing reporting documents of the District and County Statistics Offices, and at the same time, conducting surveys and collecting information within the scope of local management. Periodically, the Statistics Offices will report to the specialized Departments under the General Statistics Office to ensure the progress of synthesizing data for the whole country.

- For relevant Ministries and ministerial-level agencies:

+ Coordinate with relevant agencies to agree on methods for calculating some new indicators, for example the indicator of the percentage of communes recognized as meeting new rural criteria,...

+ Perform management functions, request subordinate Departments to periodically report on local data to promptly synthesize sustainable development statistical indicators in their fields.

+ Understand and periodically report required statistics, promptly serving the data synthesis, processing and analysis stages.

Particularly for the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment with a sustainable development office, it is necessary to assign the responsibility of synthesizing, providing information and data to this specialized department to carry out the most effective statistical reporting.

3.3.2.2. Solution

With the requirements to ensure the feasibility of the statistical indicator system for development

sustainable development as mentioned above, it is necessary to clearly define the appropriate statistical reporting model and regime. Below are some specific solutions proposed:

- About statistical reporting model at different levels:

In the process of building and implementing the 21st agenda on sustainable development, information is collected from different sources. This information is individual in nature, belonging to the national information system that each agency is responsible for reporting to the competent authority. In order for the proposed system of sustainable development statistical indicators in Vietnam to be applicable in the current conditions, there needs to be a unified statistical reporting model at each level, convenient for synthesis and management.

Below is a proposed statistical reporting model for indicators in the sustainable development statistical indicator system from local to central levels:

The Departments have

relate to

Ministries and ministerial-level agencies

General Statistics Office

Provinces,

City

Specialized Departments - General Department

Statistical

PTBV Office

nation

PTBV Council

nation

Main

cover

Figure 3.1. Statistical reporting model by levels

The highest authority to direct and approve national programs and strategies is the Government. Therefore, all information, after being fully compiled and collected, must be reported to the Government so that this agency can perform its management and leadership functions, and approve policies and strategies for national development.

To help the Government uniformly direct the implementation of the strategic orientation for sustainable development in Vietnam nationwide, the National Sustainable Development Council was established under Decision No. 1032/QD-TTg of the Prime Minister.

Government. Information on sustainable development in general and the system of sustainable development statistical indicators in particular must be reported to the highest authority, the National Council for Sustainable Development, so that this agency can provide the most comprehensive report to the Government on the process of implementing sustainable development in Vietnam.

Assisting the National Sustainable Development Council is the National Sustainable Development Office, abbreviated as the Agenda 21 Office, international transaction name is Vietnam Agenda 21, symbol is VA21. This office was established under Decision No. 685/QD-BKH dated June 28, 2004 of the Ministry of Planning and Investment to implement Agenda 21 on sustainable development in Vietnam. This is the agency responsible for monitoring and evaluating the results of sustainable development activities nationwide as well as coordinating with ministries and branches to develop policy mechanisms and propose solutions to promote the implementation of Agenda 21 on sustainable development in Vietnam. Therefore, the system of sustainable development statistical indicators in Vietnam needs to be synthesized and unified in this agency.

The National Office for Sustainable Development is responsible for synthesizing and unifying data on sustainable development statistical indicators from relevant agencies. These are the General Statistics Office (under the Ministry of Planning and Investment) and the ministries and branches responsible for synthesizing information on sustainable development reports according to Decision No. 432/QD-TTg dated April 12, 2012 of the Prime Minister).

To obtain the synthesis documents and report to the higher levels, the Ministries and General Statistics Offices cannot collect them themselves. These agencies must rely on the reporting documents of each locality. According to the vertical sector, each Province/City will have corresponding Departments and Statistics Offices. These are administrative agencies responsible for collecting documents in the management field, calculating necessary indicators in the national sustainable development statistical indicator system. With this data, the agencies will report to the direct management level to synthesize for the national sustainable development statistical indicator system. In addition, the Sustainable Development Office in each locality also uses the data of these agencies to evaluate and outline orientations and policies for sustainable development for their locality.

- About statistical reporting mode:

The system of sustainable development statistical indicators is compiled and reported vertically by localities. However, to avoid overlap, after building the statistical reporting model, it is necessary to establish and regulate the reporting regime with data sources specifically prescribed for each indicator.

According to Decision No. 43/2010/QD-TTg dated June 2, 2010 of the Prime Minister on promulgating the national statistical indicator system, most of the indicators are synthesized and reported periodically every year. Sustainable development is also a macro issue and needs to be accumulated quantitatively over a long period of time. Therefore, data on sustainable development statistical indicators also need to be synthesized by responsible agencies on a yearly basis.

CONCLUSION OF CHAPTER 3

The main content of chapter 3 is to collect data of indicators in the sustainable development statistical indicator system, from which to apply the calculation process mentioned in chapter 2 to calculate the sustainable development composite index. With different formulas, the author calculates many different results for the sustainable development index. In order to choose the appropriate method, the author used statistical graphs and statistical tables for comparison and analysis.

With the available analysis, the author chose the most suitable calculation formula for the data conditions of the period 2001 - 2010. Although it is only relative due to the limited number of indicators and inconsistent data sources, the sustainable development index has partly reflected the development process in Vietnam in the 10-year period, from 2001 to 2010. That proves the feasibility of the thesis research.

Through calculation and graphical analysis, the sustainable development index shows that Vietnam's development results are not really stable and sustainable as desired in the socio-economic development strategy for the period 2001 - 2010. The economy is not developing stably due to the influence of the general context of the world, as well as related policies. Although people's lives have improved,

still quite low, just average.

In the final part of the chapter, the author returns to evaluate the system of indicators as well as the proposed formulas based on the results of calculating and analyzing the sustainable development index in the period 2001 - 2010 in Vietnam. From there, the author makes a number of recommendations and proposes solutions to improve statistical work in building a mechanism for collecting, synthesizing and publishing data on sustainable development in the future.

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