Ms. Victoria Kwakwa, Country Director of the World Bank Vietnam. Photo credit: Nguyen Khanh

Understanding aspirations, hopes and expectations of Vietnamese citizens is extremely important for the development of the country in the future.

Please write with your own heart

Future of Vietnam predominantly will be decided by the youth. Therefore, understanding aspirations, hopes and expectations of Vietnamese citizens is extremely important for the development of the country in the future.

It is also essential to listen to the young generation who are the future leaders and main workforce of the country in the coming decades. I think this competition is a good opportunity to learn the aspirations of young people in Vietnam, future generations of the country.

I was surprised by the openness of Vietnamese youth. They are very active, curious and eager to accompany with the development of an increasingly integrated world. Curiosity is very important because it helps you to look for new things, new ideas from the world around them. The main evidence for this trend is that many young people wish to learn English and study abroad. They attempt to study and work hard. These are valuable qualities to create intellectual property for the future. In addition, young people are also very dynamic on social network, demonstrated by their contributions to the debate in many areas.

I think this competition is an opportunity for Vietnamese citizens to ponder what they want to see in the future. In addition, it helps raise awareness and interest among young people, thereby building the seed for the future.

If you do not think about what you want for the country and what you want your country to be, you will not feel the responsibility to turn these into reality. If you was thinking about these questions, you will desire more involvement in serious issues of the country, in order to develop your own country.

I can tell you a lot about issues in Vietnam for your writing, but it is better to hear young people speak. We listen to their share of what is important to the future of the country, the serious challenges that the country faces, and what they want to see in the future. That's all what we want to hear. I expect the written submissions will be written in the truest way. It will be great if they are written with your own heart .

I think when you put all the passion and enthusiasm to the writing, you will truly believe what you will write about. I expect the article that after reading it, the judges will comment: " This article is interesting. The author really has ideas on specific issues".

Dr. Tran Dinh Thien(Director of Vietnam Institute of Economics)

Await for bold ideas

Talking about an image of Vietnam in 20 years, we may feel far-fetched. But each citizen as participants of the contest, will turn those dreams and expectations of Vietnam in 2035 into a feasible project by persuasive arguments, or outlines for the path to those dreams.

This is a contest with a very broad topic, and unlimited theme, which encourages creativity without borders for dreams and expectations for their country. Participants can write from the economic issues, social life such as GDP growth, innovative solutions for economic management, how to take advantage of opportunities from the important international commitments Vietnam has signed, to structure of political system, corporate innovative capacity, etc. Or even simple things like a happy, prosperous, or creative country, in which people live in harmony, and love each other.

Future of Vietnam is not only generally portraited, the picture of the next 20 years is also compiled from daily concerns of every person. For example, how Saigon River will be like in the next 20 years? How is Ly Son island? What is necessary to do that each person can do to make Vietnam become more complete in 2035.

The contest will see the aspirations of every citizen to his homeland and the country and the contributions, which they wish to recommend to the leaders. Each submission is a puzzle piece to create portrait of Vietnam, with longing for a more complete life. But the contest is also waiting for bold ideas and suggestions to change the situation of Vietnam.

The diversity of perspectives will help each article create a portrait of Vietnam in their own way. They do not stop at encouragement, but they are also realistic and highly feasible. I would be interested to hear the opinions of young people who are in the most beautiful age of their life, to see what they imagine and expect in Vietnam in the next 20 years, where they put Vietnam in the overall development of the world.

Source: Tuoi Tre Newspaper