This is the story of alumna Nguyen Thi Thu Ha, Master of International & Development Economics, the Australian National University.
Ms. Nguyen Thi Thu Ha is currently the Head of Division, Department of National Economic Issues – Ministry of Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI) which is a government agency performing the state management function on planning and strategising, socio-economic development plan, development investment and statistics. The Department of National Economic Issues is tasked to prepare 5-year and annual socio-economic development plans, monthly, quarterly and annual reports on socio-economic situation; develop plans for public investment, establish a statistical indicators system for the planning and investment sector; recommend socio-economic and public investment solutions to the Government and National Assembly.
Ms Nguyen Thi Thu Ha working at her office at the Department of National Economic Issues. Photo credit: Aus4Skills
After completing her Master’s program at the Australian National University in 2012, Ms. Thu Ha returned to Vietnam and actively contributed to the MPI in improving the business environment for the private sector, including:
Developing and completing the Law on Supporting Small and Medium Enterprises in 2017: Ms. Thu Ha participated in the development and completion of the Law on Supporting Small and Medium Enterprises in 2017 – a Law project on principles, contents, resources to support small and medium enterprises, responsibilities of organisations and individuals related to supporting small and medium enterprises. In addition, she also contributed to Decree drafts and related resolutions for building and developing businesses and creating a developed and healthy competitive environment for the private sector.
Assessing the impact of the Covid epidemic on the socio-economic development plan in 2020: The Department of National Economic Issues had coordinated with departments, agencies, and businesses to collect feedback, and evaluation on the impact of Covid-19 on the business community, then prepared an assessment report and submitted it to the Government. The recommendations in this report were used as a basis for the Government to issue resolutions for specific and timely actions, including: supporting people affected by the pandemic; tasks and solutions to further address challenges facing businesses and workers; promoting disbursement of public investment capital, and ensuring public safety.
Developing a post-COVID-19 economic recovery scenarios: The Department was in charge of developing scenarios of economic recovery and growth promotion. They were continuously updated to closely follow the developments of Covid-19 pandemic. In preparation for this task, the Department consulted with many experts and business associations, including the Australian Embassy. In this process, Ms. Thu Ha coordinated consultation meetings with stakeholders, analysed and compiled suggested solutions that aimed to promote production and business across the country. Subsequently, the report was submitted to the Government and the National Assembly.
Developing Industry 4.0 Strategy in Vietnam: MPI was assigned by the Prime Minister to develop Industry 4.0 Strategy in Vietnam, in which Ms. Thu Ha contributed her ideas to the draft content, as well as to the draft for National Innovation Centre (NIC) establishment. NIC, established by the MPI in 2019, is a unit that connects scientific and experimental facilities, and apply practical ideas to promote economic development. This centre was established as a way to implement economic restructuring and growth model renewal strategies in Vietnam.
Building a database on businesses: Ms. Thu Ha also worked very closely with the Business Registration and Management Agency (BCA), the unit responsible for monitoring business registration issues of businesses, building a database to monitor and update data on enterprises, thereby developing a mechanism to report data on businesses to the BCA, and proposing a review to simplify administrative procedures in business registration.
Ms. Thu Ha shared: “I believe that it was a smart decision to study abroad in Australia. I learned a lot of academic knowledge. I have learned both academic and practical knowledge, such as public policy analysis, reporting work and provision of critical perspectives on policy development. In particular, I was able to establish great connections with Australian partners, especially the network of Australian alumni working in different ministries and departments, who now support each other very well in our work.”
