Viewpoints of the Communist Party of Vietnam on Industrialization, Present

Human civilization moves from industrial civilization to intellectual civilization.

So what is a knowledge economy? There are many different definitions, but the most accepted one today is the definition given by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in 1995: a knowledge economy is an economy in which the production, dissemination and use of knowledge plays the most decisive role in economic development, wealth creation and improving the quality of life.

With the above definition, it can be understood that knowledge economy is a high level of development of social productive forces, in which in the labor process of each worker and the entire social labor, in each product and in the total national product, the content of muscular labor and the cost of muscular labor decrease while the content of knowledge and the cost of intellectual labor increase.

At the level of knowledge economy, industries based on knowledge, based on new achievements of science and technology have a great impact on social development. For example, information technology, biotechnology , etc.; but it can also be traditional economic sectors (such as agriculture, industry, services) that apply science and high technology.

An economic sector is considered to have become a knowledge-based economy when the value created by knowledge accounts for an overwhelming proportion (about 70%) of the total production value of that sector. An economy is considered to have developed to the level of a knowledge-based economy when the total output of knowledge-based economic sectors accounts for about 70% of the gross domestic product (GDP).

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In the world today, in OECD countries, knowledge-based economic sectors have contributed over 50% of GDP (US 55.3%, Japan 53%, Canada 51% ... ). Many new industrial economies and developing countries are also strongly oriented towards knowledge-based economy, focusing efforts to rapidly develop a number of knowledge-based economic sectors, such as information technology, Internet, e-commerce, software technology ...

Through practical development, the main characteristics of the knowledge economy can be summarized as follows:

- In the knowledge economy, knowledge becomes a direct productive force, the most valuable capital, the leading important resource, determining economic growth and development.

- In the knowledge economy, the organizational structure and economic operation methods have profound and rapid changes; in which economic sectors based on knowledge and the latest achievements of science and technology are increasing and occupying the majority.

- In the knowledge economy, information technology is widely applied in all fields and establishes multimedia information networks covering the whole country, connecting most organizations and families. Information becomes the most important resource of the economy.

- In the knowledge economy, human resources are rapidly intellectualized; creativity, innovation, and learning become constant requirements for everyone and development.

People become the central task of society.

- In the knowledge economy, all activities are related to the issue of economic globalization, which has profound positive or negative impacts on many aspects of social life in each country and around the world.

With the characteristics and increasingly important role of the knowledge economy, the Political Report at the 10th National Congress of the Party emphasized: "Taking advantage of favorable opportunities created by the international context and the potential and advantages of our country to shorten the process of industrialization and modernization of the country in the direction of socialism associated with the development of the knowledge economy, considering the knowledge economy as an important factor of the economy and industrialization and modernization"1.

2. Goals of industrialization and modernization

The long-term goal of industrialization and modernization in our country is to build the material and technical foundation of socialism based on advanced science and technology, create new productive forces with increasingly progressive production relations, suitable to the development level of productive forces, improve material life, realize a rich people, strong country, fair, democratic and civilized society.

To gradually and successfully implement the above long-term goal, the general goal of our country's industrialization and modernization was determined by the Communist Party of Vietnam at the 8th Congress and continued to be affirmed at the 9th and 10th Congresses as: "to soon bring our country out of underdevelopment... Promote industrialization, modernization and development of knowledge-based economy, creating a foundation to basically turn our country into a modern industrialized country by 2020" 2.

In the spirit of the 10th National Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam, we must strive to basically turn our country into a modern industrialized country by 2020.

Here, an industrial country should be understood as a country with an economy in which industrial labor becomes common in industries and sectors of the economy. The proportion of industry in the economy, both in terms of GDP and labor force, is superior to that of agriculture.

To achieve the above general goal, in each stage of economic development, industrialization needs to achieve certain specific goals. In the coming years, under the conditions of limited capital capacity, urgent demand for jobs, many difficulties in people's lives, unstable socio-economic development and growth, we need to focus on efforts to promote agricultural and rural industrialization, rapidly develop industries and construction.

1. Communist Party of Vietnam: Documents of the 10th National Congress of Delegates, National Political Publishing House, Hanoi, 2006, p. 87.

2. Ibid, pp. 185 - 186.

and services, regional economic development, marine economy...

3. The Communist Party of Vietnam's viewpoint on industrialization and modernization

modernization in Vietnam today

- Maintaining independence and self-reliance while expanding international cooperation, multilateralizing and diversifying international economic relations. Relying mainly on domestic resources while maximizing external resources on the basis of building an open economy, integrating with the region and the world, focusing on exports while replacing imports with effective domestic products.

- Industrialization is the cause of all people, of all economic sectors, in which the state economic sector is the leading one.

- Taking the development of human resources as the basic factor for rapid and sustainable development. Encouraging the entire population to be frugal in building the country, constantly increasing savings for investment and development. Economic growth is linked to people's lives, developing culture, education, and implementing social progress and equality.

- Science and technology are the driving force of industrialization; combine traditional technology with modern technology. Take advantage of quickly applying modern technology at decisive stages.

- Take socio-economic efficiency as the basic criterion to determine development plans, select investment projects and technologies. Invest in depth to maximize existing production capacity. In new development, prioritize small and medium scale, advanced technology, create many jobs, and recover capital quickly. At the same time, build some large-scale projects that are really necessary and effective.

- Closely and comprehensively combine economic development with consolidating and strengthening the country's national defense and security.

III- Contents of industrialization and modernization in Vietnam

1. Basic contents of industrialization and modernization in the transition period to socialism in Vietnam

a) Developing productive forces, building material and technical foundations for socialism - on the basis of mechanizing social production and applying modern scientific and technological achievements

The process of industrialization and modernization is first of all the process of transforming backward manual labor into machine labor, that is, mechanizing the national economy. That is a very fundamental transformation from an agricultural economy to an industrial economy.

Along with mechanization is the gradual electrification and automation of production throughout the entire national economy. The industrialization and modernization process requires the building and strong development of industries, of which the key is the manufacturing industry.

means of production. This is because, according to the Marxist-Leninist viewpoint, the expanded reproduction of the means of production sector, especially the means of production industry to produce means of production, determines the scale of expanded reproduction (or growth rate) of the entire economy. The development of the means of production manufacturing industries is the basis, the "lever" to reform and develop the national economy, develop the agricultural - forestry - fishery sector. The above analysis shows us that the objects of industrialization and modernization are all sectors of the national economy, but first and foremost is the means of production industry.

At the same time, the goal of industrialization and modernization is to use increasingly advanced techniques and technologies to achieve high social labor productivity. All of these can only be achieved on the basis of a science and technology that has developed to a certain level.

When the world's science is developing rapidly, science is becoming a direct productive force; when technology is becoming the decisive factor in product quality, production costs... that is, in terms of the competitiveness of goods, the efficiency of production and business, science and technology must be the driving force of industrialization and modernization. Therefore, the development of science and technology is of special importance in the cause of industrialization and modernization.

Developing science and technology in the current conditions of Vietnam needs to pay attention to the following issues:

Firstly , it is necessary to determine the right directions for the development of science and technology. The reason is that science and technology is a very large field; meanwhile, the team of science and technology staff in our country is still small and of low quality; our country's capacity in terms of capital, research facilities... is very limited. Therefore, we cannot invest in developing all fields of science and technology at the same time, but must choose certain fields to invest in. If the choice is correct, it will create conditions for science and technology to develop and vice versa, if the choice is incorrect, it will not only negatively affect the development of science and technology but also negatively affect industrialization and modernization. The general direction for the development of science and technology in our country is: to promote the country's advantages, take advantage of all capabilities to achieve advanced technology levels, especially information technology and biotechnology, to apply more and more, at a higher level and more widely, new achievements in science and technology, and gradually develop a knowledge-based economy.

Second, it is necessary to create the necessary conditions for scientific development.

- technology. Determining the right directions for the development of science and technology is necessary but not enough, and science and technology can only develop when the necessary socio-economic conditions are ensured. Those conditions are: a sufficiently large and high-quality team of science and technology staff; investment at the necessary level; the

appropriate economic and social policies...

In the process of industrialization and modernization, workers - the leading productive force - must not only have their cultural and scientific-technological level improved but also be equipped with advanced material and technical facilities. They are both the result of the development of productive forces and the creators of that development.

b) Building a modern and reasonable economic structure

The process of industrialization and modernization is also the process of economic restructuring. The structure of the national economy is the structure or composition of the economy, including economic sectors, economic regions, economic components... and the organic relationship between them. In the structure of the economy, the structure of economic sectors is the most important, determining other forms of economic structure. A reasonable economic structure is a condition for economic growth and development. Therefore, industrialization and modernization require the construction of a modern and reasonable economic structure.

The economic structure is constantly moving and changing (also known as shifting) due to the movement and change of the productive forces and production relations. The trend of economic structural shift is considered reasonable and progressive, with the proportion of the industrial and construction sectors, especially the proportion of the service sector, increasing; the proportion of the agricultural, forestry, fishery and mining sectors decreasing in the total value of social products.

The process of formation and development of economic sectors, especially those with high scientific content; the emergence of concentrated specialized production areas... is not only a manifestation of the development of productive forces, the development of material and technical facilities in the process of industrialization and modernization, but also makes the economic structure change progressively.

A reasonable economic structure in a modern market economy requires strong, reasonable and synchronous development of industry - agriculture - services. The service network as a newly developed economic sector can serve well the strong development of industry and agriculture.

Building an economic structure is an objective requirement of each country in the industrialization period. The important issue is to create a reasonable economic structure. In our country, an economic structure is called reasonable when it meets the following requirements:

- Agriculture must gradually decrease in proportion; industry, construction and services must gradually increase in proportion.

- The technical level of the economy is constantly improving, in line with the trend of scientific and technological progress that has been taking place like a storm in the world.

- Allows for maximum exploitation of all potentials of the country, industries, localities and economic sectors.

- Implement international division of labor and cooperation according to the trend of economic globalization, due to

So the economic structure created must be an "open structure".

In our country, since the 6th National Congress of the Party, under the light of the renovation policy, economic restructuring has achieved important results.

Through the scientific and technological revolution and the redistribution of labor with its inherent laws, adapting to the conditions of our country, our Party has determined a reasonable economic structure whose "skeleton" is the industrial - agricultural - service economic structure associated with the division of labor and extensive international cooperation.

The economic restructuring in our country during the transition period to socialism is carried out according to the motto: combining multi-level technology, taking advantage of cutting-edge - advanced technology to both take advantage of abundant labor resources, shorten the backwardness gap, and be suitable for limited domestic capital; taking medium and small scale as the main scale, taking into account large scale but it must be reasonable and conditional; maintaining a reasonable growth rate, creating a balance between industries, economic sectors and regions in the economy... The economic restructuring in our country in the coming years needs to be carried out according to the following general orientation: shifting economic structure, investment structure based on promoting the country's strengths and comparative advantages, increasing competitiveness, linking with domestic and foreign market needs, people's living needs and national defense and security. Creating more purchasing power in the domestic market and expanding foreign markets, boosting exports.

2. Specific contents of industrialization and modernization in our country in the coming years

a) Special attention is paid to industrialization and modernization of agriculture and rural areas.

Comprehensively develop agriculture, forestry and fishery close to the agricultural, forestry and fishery processing industry to effectively exploit the diverse potential of agriculture, forestry and fishery, firmly ensure food safety requirements for society; create a source of raw materials with large volume, high quality, low cost, meeting the standards of the processing industry; increase the value and volume of exported goods; increase jobs and income for workers; redistribute social labor, form industrial points associated with on-site urbanization, expand the market for products and services for industry.

To carry out the task of industrialization and modernization of agriculture and rural areas, it is necessary to focus on the issues of strongly shifting the structure of agriculture and rural economy towards industrialization; implementing mechanization, electrification, irrigation, rapidly applying scientific and technical advances and biotechnology into production, effectively and synchronously developing aquaculture and fishing associated with the processing industry of agricultural, forestry and aquatic products.

b) Industrial and construction development

The priority directions for industrial development in our country are: encouraging the development of high-tech industry, manufacturing technology, software technology and supporting technology with competitive advantages, creating many export products and attracting many workers, developing a number of open economic zones and special economic zones; encouraging the development of industries producing consumer goods and export goods; producing important means of production in a modern direction. Urgently attracting domestic and foreign capital to implement a number of important projects on oil and gas exploitation, oil refining, petrochemicals, metallurgy, and mechanical engineering.

c) Renovating, expanding, upgrading and building new key infrastructure of the economy

In the market mechanism, infrastructure plays a very important role in the development of production, business and people's life. From a poor, backward economy to socialism, the infrastructure of our economy is very poor, not meeting the requirements of production, business and people's life. Therefore, in the coming years, the construction of economic infrastructure is considered a part of industrialization and modernization.

Due to limited financial capacity, in the coming years, it is necessary to mobilize domestic and foreign resources to build socio-economic infrastructure. Complete the transportation network, irrigation, water supply and drainage... Rapidly increase capacity and modernize post and telecommunications. Infrastructure construction must focus on renovation, expansion and upgrading. New construction must only be limited and must focus on key stages that are important to the economy or economic region. Only then can we create conditions for expanding investment and development, especially attracting investment capital from outside.

d) Rapid development of tourism and service industries

In the coming years, it is necessary to create a breakthrough development of service industries, especially those with high quality, great potential, and competitiveness such as aviation, maritime, post and telecommunications, finance, banking, auditing, insurance, etc. to increase the growth rate of service industries higher than the GDP growth rate. Strongly develop and improve the quality of some industries: transportation, trade, services , etc.

The development of the tourism industry, on the one hand, allows the exploitation of tourism potentials, increases income, creates jobs for the population... On the other hand, the development of the tourism industry also contributes to expanding exchanges, developing foreign economic relations, and opening up the economy. Therefore, the rapid development of the tourism and service industries is considered a part of the industrialization and modernization of our country in the coming years.

d) Reasonable development of territories

Shifting the economic structure of regions and territories on the basis of fully exploiting the advantages and potentials of each region, linking and supporting each other, making all regions develop together. In the coming years, there must be appropriate mechanisms and policies for regions across the country to develop together, at the same time creating connections between regions and within regions.

Promote the development of key economic regions, create momentum and spillover effects to other regions; at the same time create conditions for faster development of economic regions that are still facing many difficulties, especially border regions, islands, Central Highlands, Southwest, Northwest, etc.

e) Expanding and improving the effectiveness of foreign economic relations

In the globalized economy, opening the economy is necessary for all countries. Therefore, industrialization and modernization cannot be successful without opening the economy. After a long period of closure, opening the economy is now an urgent need for our country's economy, a part of industrialization and modernization in our country in the coming years. However, how to open up for integration also needs to be carefully considered in order to take advantage of the positive impacts and limit the negative impacts of this process on the growth and development of the economy.

In opening up and integrating, we must promote exports, considering exports as a priority and a key point. Changing strategies and building an open economy requires adjusting the economic structure to integrate both regionally and globally.

IV- Premises for successful implementation of industrialization and modernization

Industrialization and modernization are a revolutionary transformation from an agricultural society to an industrial society. It is also a revolutionary transformation in all areas of social life. Therefore, to smoothly deploy and successfully carry out this cause requires the necessary premises.

Based on the economic, cultural and social reality of our country, to promote the cause of industrialization and modernization of the country requires constantly creating the following premises:

1. Mobilizing capital and using capital effectively

Industrialization and modernization require huge capital. Therefore, expanding the scale of capital mobilization and effectively using capital sources is an important condition and premise for successful industrialization and modernization.

Capital for industrialization and modernization has two sources: domestic capital and foreign capital. Domestic capital is accumulated from within the national economy based on production efficiency, which is surplus labor of workers in all economic sectors. The basic way to solve the problem of domestic capital accumulation is to increase social labor productivity based on the application of scientific and technological advances and production rationalization.

In our country today, to increase social labor productivity to create capital for accumulation, first and foremost, we must exploit and make good use of the labor fund, focus on developing agriculture, consumer goods industry and export production...

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