Prof. Dr. Nguyen Thi Doan, Honorary President of Vietnam Association of Information Technology, spoke at the closing ceremony of APNN 2024

Speaking at the Conference, Prof. Dr. Nguyen Thi Doan, former Vice President of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, President of the Vietnam Association for Promoting Education, Honorary President of the Vietnam Association for Intellectual Women (VAFIW), affirmed:

Hosting APNN 2024 is a great success for VAFIW, a clear demonstration of VAFIW’s dynamism, creativity and vision. The success of the Conference not only demonstrates the important role of female intellectuals in society but also affirms Vietnam’s position in the international arena in the field of science and technology.

APNN international delegation leaders and representatives of VAFIW, the host, took a souvenir photo.

The conference brought new ideas and advanced technologies, contributing to promoting innovation in the fields of science and technology, especially urgent issues such as “ Gender and STEM ”, “ Health and Environment ”. The conference is also an important bridge for Vietnamese female scientists and engineers to exchange and learn experiences with international colleagues, thereby promoting research cooperation, technology transfer and enhancing the competitiveness of Vietnamese female intellectuals.

This is the second time VAFIW has hosted APNN (the first time was in 2018). In addition to the urgent issues shared, this second conference also had a particularly important event: Outstanding female intellectuals attending INWES-APNN 2024 had the honor of meeting Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh. At this meeting, after listening to the report on the role and achievements of the Vietnam Association of Women Intellectuals, the Prime Minister affirmed that the APNN 2024 event hosted by VAFIW is even more meaningful when Vietnam has just organized the National Innovation Day 2024 and at this conference, the Prime Minister announced that October 1 is Vietnam’s Innovation Day.

The Prime Minister said that throughout the thousands of years of history of building and defending the country, Vietnam has always valued intellectuals, considering “Talented people are the vital energy of the nation. When the vital energy is prosperous, the country is strong and becomes greater. When the vital energy is weak, the country is weak and becomes more degraded.”

Resolution No. 45-NQ/TW, dated November 24, 2023, the 8th Conference of the 13th Party Central Committee on continuing to build and promote the role of the intellectual team to meet the requirements of rapid and sustainable national development in the new period, determined: “Building a comprehensively strong intellectual team is an investment in building and nurturing national vitality”.

Over the past decades, Vietnam has consistently pursued the goal of sustainable development, identifying science and technology as a top national policy. At the same time, it has always promoted the role of women, made continuous efforts to promote gender equality and develop a team of female scientists, creating the best conditions for women to develop their talents, surpass themselves, and contribute to the country, the region and the world.

After nearly 40 years of innovation, under the leadership of the Communist Party of Vietnam and thanks to the solidarity and unanimity of the entire nation and international friends, including the important contributions of intellectuals in general and female intellectuals in particular, Vietnam has achieved many great and historic achievements.

National gender equality goals are always focused on implementation. In 2023, Vietnam achieved and exceeded 11/20 targets of the National Strategy on Gender Equality for 2025. Vietnam’s gender equality index in 2023 ranked 72/146 countries, up 11 places compared to 2022.

Female intellectuals take souvenir photos with Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh

The Prime Minister assessed that today, in the context of increasingly deep globalization and international integration; the fourth industrial revolution impacts all aspects of social life; the world is facing many major challenges such as natural disasters, epidemics, climate change, population aging, resource depletion and gender inequality…

These are both global and national issues, requiring not only technical solutions but also close cooperation and great efforts from countries, communities and especially from the scientific community. It is female scientists and engineers with their intelligence and acumen who are and will continue to contribute to finding creative and effective solutions to overcome these challenges.

The Prime Minister affirmed that the Vietnam Association of Women Intellectuals has gradually demonstrated its core role in gathering solidarity and promoting the creativity of female intellectuals, contributing to the socio-economic development of Vietnam as well as to the activities of the Conference of the Network of Women Scientists and Engineers in the Asia-Pacific region.

The Prime Minister affirmed that the Vietnamese Government highly values ​​and strongly promotes international cooperation in research, transfer and application of modern technology for national development. The Vietnamese Government creates all favorable conditions for intellectuals, including female intellectuals, to maximize their capacity and enthusiasm, creating favorable conditions for female intellectuals and female scientists to participate in start-up and innovation activities; through continuing to improve mechanisms and policies; investing heavily in scientific and technological research, infrastructure for green transformation, digital transformation; prioritizing financial resources, focusing on training high-quality human resources, improving modern management capacity for scientific and technological research and development; encouraging creativity and application of science and technology in production and life…

Affirming the role and important achievements that Vietnamese female intellectuals have achieved, the Prime Minister expressed his wish to “have more and more practical and meaningful achievements of the International Network of Women Scientists and Engineers in general, and of the Vietnam Association of Intellectual Women in particular, making greater contributions to the development of the country and the construction of the Asia-Pacific region, as well as to a world of peace, justice, humanity, compassion, civilization and sustainable development”. Regarding VAFIW’s proposal on the establishment of a Fund to support young female scientists, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh assigned the President of the Vietnam Women’s Union to coordinate with the Minister of Finance to study the establishment in accordance with the provisions of law.

The “Hanoi Recommendation” was adopted immediately after the closing of APNN 2024 with very concise and meaningful contents. In this Recommendation, the delegates attending the Conference:

Expressing  gratitude to the Vietnam Association of Intellectual Women for hosting the INWES APNN Asia-Pacific Regional Conference in 2024 and the strong support from the leadership of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, including the Vietnam Women’s Union, for the Asia-Pacific Regional Conference and the Network”

Welcome  the participation of all delegations from INWES – APNN and other observers;

Recalling  the outcomes of the 2023 Regional Conference hosted by WSTEM in Mongolia and congratulating the achievements and best practices in the region, both collectively and individually, in implementing the outcomes of the 2023 Conference;

Expressing  concern that women have been under-represented in STEM for many years, both in universities and in industry in the region and the growing impacts of climate change and conflict, which are causing devastating impacts globally and have serious health and socio-economic impacts on people in Asia-Pacific;

Emphasizing  that the INWES – APNN network has become an important forum for female scientists and engineers to share their experiences, best practices and work together to address common challenges; reaffirming that progress and achievements always come from collective efforts and respect; focusing on cultural awareness and societal expectations.

Recognizing  the importance of gender equality and gender action plan to promote capacity building initiatives in women’s inclusive participation and leadership in science, technology, research & development and Integration for Sustainable Development; the importance of women in general and women scientists and engineers in particular in decision making, leadership.

Recognising  that  we are now living in an era of increasing climate risk and are already experiencing the impacts in our communities and the Asia Pacific region through land sharing, sheep wool, agriculture, traditional building, land, mid-life counselling, practical health issues and many more.

In line  with our focused discussions on how to bring about gender equality in STEM and R&D as well as International Integration for Sustainable Development.

The recommendation also states that members actively participating in INWES – APNN 2024:

Agree that  we must work together to find solutions and put into action women’s empowerment, especially in promoting women in STEM through increasing opportunities for continuous knowledge and skills development for women and girls, and creating opportunities for them to engage in cooperation and collaboration;

Reiterate  commitment to ensuring INWES – APNN are diverse and inclusive organizations with a particular focus on women’s empowerment.

Emphasize  the importance of policy support to create an inclusive environment that promotes diversity and fosters innovation in science and technology. Gender diversity, as mentioned in the presentation, is important for social equity and economic growth, benefiting both individuals and society.

Providing  mutual support in sharing and discussing knowledge and experiences through peer-to-peer sharing and networking to expand regional cooperation and collaboration, ensuring accountability, transparency and continuity; Encouraging more space for creativity and leadership support networks is crucial to women’s success in STEM.

Proposal  INWES – APNN considers raising funds to conduct research on gender equality, focusing on women’s participation in science and technology activities as well as promoting the development of out-of-school science and technology education for women in the Asia-Pacific region, implemented by INWES, with the support of all member countries, especially a model story like Her Story project so that different regions can share the same goals.

The conclusion of the Hanoi Recommendation states:

We,  the Member States of INWES – APNN, agree to prioritize the implementation of the Hanoi Recommendation, taking into account the diversity of the region and ensuring its effective implementation.

We agreed that the 2025 Regional Conference will be hosted by KWSE in Seoul, Korea.