APO and Vietnam Sign Strategic Partnership Program Primer

The APO and Vietnam officially formalized their Strategic Partnership Program (SPP) Primer on 30 January 2026 through an online signing ceremony. The event marks a significant milestone in the evolution of their cooperation toward a strategy-driven partnership.

APO Secretary-General Dr. Indra Pradana Singawinata highlighted the signing of the SPP Primer as both timely and significant, taking place as Vietnam advances its ambitious development vision through the resolution of the recent 14th National Party Congress and as the APO shifts its collaboration model from project-based engagement to member-driven strategic partnerships. He emphasized that Vietnam's sustained productivity progress provides a strong foundation and momentum for this transition.

Echoing this view, APO Director for Vietnam Dr. Tran Hau Ngoc, Deputy Director General of the Commission for Standards, Metrology and Quality of Vietnam, described the SPP Primer as more than a cooperation document. He characterized it as a strategic framework to better align productivity initiatives with Vietnam's socioeconomic development strategies, such as innovation-driven growth, digital transformation, green growth, and sustainable development. APO Director Dr. Ngoc reaffirmed Vietnam's commitment to working closely with the APO to effectively implement the SPP Primer, which is built on the four pillars of the APO Vision 2030: (1) catalyzing and enabling stakeholder collaboration, (2) strategic planning support, (3) capacity empowerment, and (4) knowledge creation and information support.

Building on Vietnam's National Productivity Master Plan and related policies, the APO-Vietnam SPP Primer articulates a shared vision to accelerate Vietnam's transition to an innovation-driven, higher-value-added economy by 2030. It focuses on two key areas. The first is priority sector upgrading for value creation, supporting electronics and ICT, textiles and garments, food processing, agriculture, and logistics sectors in moving up value chains through innovation, standards adoption, and supplier development. The second is the development of a tripartite coalition between government, enterprises, and universities and training institutions to strengthen skill development, technology diffusion, and enterprise upgrading, particularly for small and medium-sized enterprises. The Primer outlines major activities to be implemented in 2026-28, including strategic productivity planning, targeted capacity building, practical small and medium-sized enterprise toolkits, and technology transfer mechanisms. Productivity indexes and a national productivity training database will also be developed to support evidence-based decision-making.

With the formalization of the SPP Primer, the APO and Vietnam expressed confidence that their partnership will deepen substantively, deliver meaningful outcomes, and contribute to Vietnam's national development goals and to productivity advancement across the Asia-Pacific region.