Viet Nam aspires to become a strong maritime nation

Vietnam Agriculture and Nature News recently had a conversation with Dr. Nguyen Chu Hoi, former Deputy Director General of the Vietnam Administration of Seas and Islands, where he shares his vision and aspirations for Vietnam to become a strong maritime nation.

A new mindset is needed

With its unique natural conditions and geographic position, Viet Nam is closely linked to its seas and islands. The marine economy has always played an important role in the country's development, particularly since the launch of Doi Moi and the start of Viet Nam's international integration.

However, Vietnam's marine economy has yet to live up to its potential, advantages, and development requirements. Perhaps that’s why, in early June this year, General Secretary and State President To Lam, while working with relevant agencies on the review of eight years of implementing Resolution No. 36-NQ/TW, described the resolution adopted by the 12^th Party Central Committee as “a very sound and strategic policy” while also stressing the need for a comprehensive review.

The emphasis placed by the State President offers an important direction for scientists, policymakers and advisory agencies to conduct further research and provide recommendations to the Party Central Committee for a new resolution featuring a new vision:

"Sustainable economic development cannot accept sacrificing the environment and people's welfare at any cost. It must also prioritize national maritime security and human security by properly balancing the relationship between development and stability, in line with the spirit of the Resolution of the 14^th National Party Congress."

Looking back at recent developments, although Viet Nam has consistently advocated sustainable marine economic development, it has yet to fully realize the meaning of sustainability. In practice, too much emphasis has been placed on conventional economic development, while the scientific and technological content of marine products remains limited. There remains the habit of exploiting marine resources at any cost, using outdated and inefficient equipment that is not suited to the characteristics and potential of marine resources.

One reason for this situation is that development remains sector-based and fragmented, with weak intersectoral coordination. Meanwhile, a marine resource system, a marine area or even a marine ecosystem can simultaneously support multiple economic sectors. Since these sectors share the same benefits, their interests must therefore be harmonized.

Developing marine space

With a sector-based approach, each sector tends to prioritize its own interests and those of its locality, without adequately considering the interests of other sectors or localities. As a result, conflicts over interests and development space within the same marine area have not diminished. Instead, they have tended to increase and become increasingly complex.

Such an approach can no longer ensure sustainability. This is why the State President has emphasized the need to view the issue through a new lens: developing the marine economy rapidly and sustainably within an integrated, intersectoral, interconnected and coordinated marine space.

Economic activities must also be appropriately arranged within marine space to balance the interests of different sectors and their respective spatial needs. Only through this approach can Vietnam use its marine space rationally and effectively.

Sustainable development of Viet Nam's seas and islands should not simply be understood as a balance among the three traditional pillars of the economy, society and the environment. Two additional pillars are needed: maritime security and governance.

The concept of marine space today must also encompass multiple interconnected and interactive layers, including the space above the sea, the sea surface, the water column, the seabed and the subsoil beneath the seabed. Adaptive governance, sustainable exploitation and effective management of these different layers will enable Vietnam to exercise greater control over its maritime domain and strengthen its strategic autonomy in maritime affairs and the marine economy.

Aspiration for prosperity

Despite its limitations, the marine economy has made a major contribution to Vietnam's economy. Sea-related activities, including those in coastal areas, generally account for around 42-58% of the national economy, while activities taking place directly in marine space account for approximately 6-7% of GDP.

The target is to raise this latter share to around 10% by 2030, while the 21 coastal provinces and cities are expected to contribute approximately 70-75% of national economic output. These figures demonstrate the critical role of the sea in the country's development.

Looking at current marine spatial development and governance, it is clear that several bottlenecks remain to be addressed. These include fragmented, overlapping and divided marine governance institutions; slow progress in establishing effective intersectoral coordination and spatial approaches to marine governance; and fragmented maritime human resources that lack the professionalism required to meet new demands.

Alongside institutional and policy reforms, stronger application of marine science and technology, digital transformation and AI in marine spatial development and governance will help Vietnam make breakthroughs and rapidly overcome its technological and governance gaps across the maritime sector.

Beyond marine space, there is another highly important domain: Viet Nam's island system, comprising more than 3,000 islands of various sizes distributed across different island groups and chains. They are concentrated in shallow coastal waters and in the two offshore archipelagos of the Hoang Sa and Truong Sa special zones.

These islands are important not only economically but also in determining whether Viet Nam can become a prosperous and powerful maritime nation. From an economic perspective, each island is like a “green gold nugget”. From a sovereignty perspective, each island is a natural marker of national sovereignty. From a defense and security perspective, each island is like an “unsinkable warship” at sea.

In the future, Viet Nam will build a rapidly growing, green, efficient and sustainable marine economy. It must be an economy built on mastery of the science and technologies brought about by the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

Viet Nam's maritime potential can only truly be unlocked and brought into full play when the country has a strong development ambition, the entire nation stands united, and there is a firm determination to pursue the orientations and objectives set out in the Resolution of the 14th National Party Congress.