(July 17, Hanoi) – The Boston Global Forum Leaders met with Vietnamese leaders, economists, and scientists during their visit to Khanh Hoa and Hanoi, Vietnam in July to discuss important issues about economic and research development in Nha Trang – Khanh Hoa.  Human brain research in Vietnam was also discussed.

On July 11, Khanh Hoa Provincial Government in collaboration with Boston Global Forum (BGF) hosted the “Peace and Innovation” conference in Nha Trang to celebrate the 20 years of diplomacy and friendship between the United States and Vietnam. The event was a featured activity in the framework of Nha Trang Sea Festival 2015.

Attending as key speakers were BGF leaders including Harvard’s Bradlee Professor of Government and the Press and BGF’s Co-Founder and Member of Board of Directors, Professor Thomas Patterson; Harvard’s Charles Edward Wilson Professor of Business Administration and BGF’s Co-Founder and  Member of Board of Directors, Professor John Quelch; BGF’s CEO and Editor-in-chief Nguyen Anh Tuan; MIT’s Doris and Don Berkey Professor of Neuroscience and BGF’s Member of Board of Thinkers, Professor Robert Desimone.  The discussion was centered on the development of the economy of Khanh Hoa and identifying strategies to make it become an innovative centre of technology and culture in East Asia. This is an ambition that was shared by Khanh Hoa’s Governor Nguyen Chien Thang in his speech at the Boston Global Forum conference at Harvard Faculty Club on June 10, 2015.

Photo: BGF leaders and Vietnamese scientists attending the Peace and Innovation Conference

New fresh ideas made by Professor Thomas Patterson and John Quelch suggested concrete changes by Khanh Hoa’s administration as well as a call for freedom of thought and communications and creation of a community of scholars in Nha Trang. This generated ebullient discussions by several Vietnamese leaders, economists, and scientists who are enthusiastic in finding solutions to make Nha Trang prosper as well as to build a long-term strategy for maintaining peace and security in the South China Sea where Vietnam is a claimant.

BGF’s Chairman, Governor Michael Dukakis, and its member of Board of Thinkers, Professor Joseph Nye, who could not attend due to their tight schedules, also sent theirs congratulatory videos to that added to the event. This was highly appreciated by Khanh Hoa’s leaders and attending delegates. Governor Dukakis believed that Nha Trang has an opportunity to become an innovative zone in East Asia and hoped the U.S will be extremely helpful in this project.  Professor Nye expressed his appreciation of Governor Nguyen Chien Thang’s valuable idea of creating a tightened relationship between Nha Trang and Boston and his idea of building Nha Trang into an innovative centre of technology and culture in East Asia. He also believed in a more comprehensive cooperation between Vietnam and the United States.

BGF leaders were important elements of the conference and made special remarks in tightening the Vietnam- U.S relation as well as bringing resolutions for building Nha Trang – Khanh Hoa into an innovative and creative center of East Asia as well as maintaining peace and security in the South East Asia.

Mr. Shubhranshu Choudhary, Founder & CEO, CGnet Swara; Foreign Policy’s 2014 “Top 100 Leading Global Thinkers”; Michael Dukakis Leadership Fellow, Member of Young Leaders Network for Peace and Security, Boston Global Forum delivered a speech in the conference on July 11.

They were also invited as distinguished guests by Khanh Hoa’s Governor, Dr. Nguyen Chien Thang, to the Nha Trang Sea Festival’s opening ceremony which was held on the evening of July 11 in Nha Trang City.

Meeting of Vietnam’s Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam and BGF’s Member of Board of Thinker Robert Desimone (the Director of MIT’s McGovern Institute for Brain research)

On July 16, BGF’s CEO and Editor-in-Chef Nguyen Anh Tuan and Member of the BGF Board of Thinkers, Professor Robert Desimone (the Director of MIT’s McGovern Institute for Brain Research) met with Vietnam’s Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam and Minister of Technology and Science Nguyen Quan to discuss how to develop neuroscience research in Vietnam.

Two sides had an open talk on how Vietnam could involve in neuroscience research. 

Scientific research is still a matter of concern in Vietnam due to its insufficient government funding as well as lack of capable scientists in conducting relevant and high quality research. In the meeting, Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam expressed his ambition in developing technologies advances and bio-science in Vietnam as well as in neuroscience. Because America is the leader in these areas, he hoped for a closer collaboration between Vietnam and the U.S in these fields.

(Source: Boston Global Forum)