Minister of Science and Technology of Vietnam Huynh Thanh Dat attended the Conference of Science and Technology Ministers
On October 2, 2021, Vietnam's Minister of Science and Technology Huynh Thanh Dat attended and spoke at the 18th Science and Technology Ministers Roundtable, on the sidelines of the Annual Meeting of the Forum on Science, Technology and Society in online form.
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Minister Huynh Thanh Dat was at the Conference
The event was hosted by Mr. Inoue Shinji, Minister in charge of Science and Technology Policy, Cabinet Office of Japan. As an annual activity held in Kyoto (Japan) since 2004, the Conference has attracted the participation of a large number of ministers, leaders and scientific advisors from many countries around the world, to discuss challenges, prospects and visions for science and technology in the future.
At the Conference, the delegates focused on discussing issues related to solving global challenges in parallel with promoting socio-economic growth and sustainable development based on the important role of science and technology, technologies and innovation; share lessons from each country's experiences in COVID-19 prevention and control, in which, emphasizing the importance of international cooperation in disease response in order to have quick and equitable access to vaccines, drugs, treatments at the global level as well as the possible risk management of the new wave of COVID-19 variants.
In addition, the delegates also focused on discussing issues of climate change and biodiversity degradation, global warming, large-scale natural disasters with increasing frequency and severity; poses threats, thereby, together overcoming challenges, in which, information about related research results is of interest to many delegates.
Participating in the discussion at the Conference, Minister Huynh Thanh Dat emphasized the importance of strongly renewing thinking in science and technology management because the COVID-19 pandemic puts humanity in front of a life-and-death problem. There is no precedent, so special and exceptional solutions are required. From Vietnam's experiences, the Minister said that, to ensure everyone has equal and earliest access to a vaccine against COVID-19, it is necessary to shorten the time and order of proposals and reviews and approve research mandates, encourage experimentation and acceptance of failure, and at the same time, promote open science and innovation.
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18th Science and Technology Ministers Roundtable
At the same time, the Minister also called for support for the abandonment of intellectual property rights for COVID-19 vaccines in order to expand and increase vaccine production on a global scale. The Minister proposed the formation of platforms for sharing patent information, data, scientific publications and research facilities to help less developed countries access and keep up with the development trend of world science and technology.
In particular, the Minister emphasized the issue of choosing priorities and balancing economic growth with ensuring safety and security for the people. In which, it is necessary to put people and people at the center of all development policies.
At the end of the session, Minister Inoue Shinji affirmed that Japan will continue to promote cooperation in science, technology and innovation with other countries towards common interests around the world, expressed his wish to continue to welcome the Ministers at the Roundtable Conference scheduled to be held directly in Japan in 2022.
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