Viet Nam should use modern technologies to develop Viet Nam's marine industry, experts said yesterday at a conference. — File Photo

HA NOI (Biz Hub) — Viet Nam should use modern technologies to develop Viet Nam's marine industry, experts said yesterday at a conference.

The conference atendees discussed strategies for ocean industry development between Norway and Viet Nam. There were suggestions that Norway share their best practices and expert experience as one of the biggest ocean-based economies in the world.

Torger Reve, head of the Centre for Maritime Competitiveness at BI Norwegian Business School, said that Norway saw a global race and competition between nations and regions to attract the biggest players in the world.

In Norway, ocean businesses such as offshore gas and oil, aquaculture and shipping contribute 80 per cent of the country's export. Norway last year recorded GDP of US$600 billion while Viet Nam's was $200 billion.

Therefore, Viet Nam should consider the ocean industry as a key to improve its economy as it has similar conditions as Norway such as a long coastline, a long history in the marine industry and larger human resources, Torger said.

He said that there were some issues that the Vietnamese Government could do to improve the country's ocean industry, such as encouraging more innovation and creativity in the country to improve productivity, and show some "entrepreneurship" spirit to create "crazy but efficient things" for this industry.

The country's public and private sector need to work in a smarter way, applying advanced techonologies and worldwide knowledge to reduce the development time and catch up with other countries in the world, he added.

Public and private enterprises as well as Government agencies should also improve business integration, not only inside the company but also between private firms and government organisations, he said.

He also suggested that private and public companies should work in a trust-based manner, which may help them keep loyal people and run the business more cost-effectively.

Viet Nam should develop its world-class industrial clusters or global knowledge hubs, which aim to attract talent, modern technologies and high-quality senior managers from all over the world, he said.

He also suggested that Viet Nam should combine research and development, innovation and education with other factors such as global environment and governmental policies to prosper in the ocean industry.

Tran Dinh Thien, Director of Viet Nam Institute of Economics, said that the country had great potential with many natural and geographical conditions to catch up with and even surpassed other marine-based economies such as Norway.

However, the country needs to improve its financial conditions and technological background as well as construct a good system of policies in order to improve the competitiveness for domestic marine businesses, he said.

He spoke of South Korea as an example for using advanced technologies in the ocean industry and having remarkable achievements in marine sectors, especially the energy sector.

Thien also said that the country should concentrate on developing marine industrial zones with good structures and qualities to attract highly skilled labourers.

"Ocean industry will play an important part of the global economy in the future," said Dilek Ayhan, State Secretary at Norway's Ministry of Trade and Industry.

However, Viet Nam's ocean industry would face a lot of challenges when it transformed from a traditional business to a green industry, which uses modern technologies to exploit and preserve marine resources. — VNS