Opening Ceremony of the Training Course “Enhancing Leadership and Management Capacity to Promote Local Competitiveness and Sustainable Development” Ba Ria

Opening Ceremony of the Training Course “Enhancing Leadership and Management Capacity to Promote Local Competitiveness and Sustainable Development” Ba Ria - Vung Tau Province, 2025

02 Jun, 2025

On the mornings of May 8 and 29, 2025, in Ba Ria City, the University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City (UEH) in collaboration with the People's Committee of Ba Ria - Vung Tau Province (BR-VT) solemnly held the opening ceremony of the training course “Enhancing Leadership and Management Capacity to Promote Local Competitiveness and Sustainable Development.”

Panoramic view of the Opening Ceremony

In attendance at the opening ceremony, representing Ba Ria - Vung Tau Province were Comrade Dang Minh Thong – Member of the Provincial Party Standing Committee, Vice Chairman of the BR-VT People’s Committee; Comrade Duong Trong Hieu – Member of the Provincial Party Standing Committee, Head of the Provincial Party Committee’s Organization Commission; Comrade Pham Thanh Chung – Provincial Party Committee Member, Director of the Department of Home Affairs; Comrade Nguyen Thi Ngoc Yen – Deputy Director of the Department of Home Affairs; along with 56 participants of Class 1 and 69 participants of Class 2, who are key provincial leaders.

Representing the University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City were Dr. Dinh Cong Khai – Vice President of UEH; Dr. Nguyen Kim Duc – Deputy Director of the Institute for Regional Development Research and Consulting (UEH); MSc. Nguyen Thanh Su – Deputy Director of the Institute for Regional Development Research and Consulting (UEH); and experts from the Institute.

Delivering the opening remarks, Dr. Dinh Cong Khai – Vice President of UEH – emphasized that both global and domestic contexts are presenting numerous challenges for local development, particularly the demand for innovation in management thinking, adaptation to digital transformation, and the enhancement of competitiveness to implement and execute the nation’s four key Resolutions. Dr. Dinh Cong Khai also shared that this training program offers the Province an opportunity to review its development journey for the 2020-2025 term, identify bottlenecks affecting competitiveness and sustainable development, and, from there, generate ideas, initiatives, and solutions to address difficulties in preparation for the new term – especially breakthrough, regionally linked solutions in the context of institutional innovation, improved transport connectivity, and resource synergy following provincial mergers. This is particularly significant for implementing the resolute directives of the General Secretary on rebuilding the political system under the theme: “Lean – Cohesive – Strong – Efficient – Effective – Productive,” ensuring the successful realization of growth strategies oriented toward sustainable development and regional linkage in accordance with Resolution No. 24 of the Politburo.

The program is designed and implemented using a blended teaching approach that combines theoretical foundations with case studies, especially in-depth discussion sessions on practical issues and “bottlenecks” in the Province’s development process. This helps participants not only acquire knowledge but also develop analytical and problem-solving thinking.

Dr. Dinh Cong Khai – Vice President of UEH delivering the opening speech

Through the program, Dr. Dinh Cong Khai also shared that UEH has officially entered the Top 501-600 universities worldwide in the 2025 Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings, announced at the end of 2024; notably, in April 2025, the organization also ranked UEH at 136th among the best universities in Asia for 2025. This is the highest achievement among Vietnamese higher education institutions evaluated in the same period. This accomplishment once again affirms the multi-disciplinary, multi-field, and sustainable development strategy that UEH has been pursuing, marking an important step forward and serving as evidence of the university’s quality in training, research, and policy consulting.

In his directive speech at the opening ceremony, Comrade Dang Minh Thong – Member of the Provincial Party Standing Committee, Vice Chairman of the People’s Committee of Ba Ria - Vung Tau Province – emphasized that, as the Province is actively implementing major policies on administrative reform, restructuring of provincial-level administrative units, and promoting regional linkage, enhancing the system-thinking capacity, interregional management, and practical governance skills of the leadership team is an urgent requirement. He requested that participants engage in the course with a spirit of openness, actively exchange, learn, and creatively apply knowledge to their practical work, thereby contributing to improving the quality of management and administration at their units and in the locality.

Comrade Dang Minh Thong – Member of the Provincial Party Standing Committee, Vice Chairman of the People’s Committee delivering the directive speech to Class 1

Comrade Duong Trong Hieu – Member of the Provincial Party Standing Committee, Head of the Organization Commission delivering the directive speech to Class 2

Dr. Nguyen Kim Duc – Deputy Director of the Institute for Regional Development Research and Consulting announcing the Decision to open the course

Comrade Hoang Vu Thanh – Provincial Party Committee Member, Director of the Department of Finance representing Class 1 participants delivering remarks