Raising the Vietnamese youth’s awareness and responsibility towards defence-security consolidation and the Homeland protection is one of the eight action programmes of the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union for the Resolution of the 13^th National Party Congress. Therefore, all-level youth unions should grasp and effectively realise this action programme to make contributions to translating the Party’s Resolution into life.

With their dynamism, creativity, enthusiasm, and burning desire for devotion, Vietnamese youths have been asserting their pivotal role and acting as future masters of the country and a decisive factor in the country’s industrialisation, modernisation, international integration, and socialism construction, while playing a vanguard role in defence-security consolidation and the Homeland protection. At the 11^th National Youth Union Congress for the 2017-2022 tenure, the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union Central Committee launched the movement titled “youth pioneer to defend the Homeland,” with emphasis placed on performing defence-security task, ensuring security and order within residential areas, and taking part in building revolutionary, regular, elite, gradually modern armed forces.

All-level youth unions have frequently carried out the work of propagation and education to encourage youth union members and young citizens to actively implement the Strategy for the Homeland protection in the new situation, protect the Party’s ideological foundation, and enhance the fight against wrong, hostile viewpoints. All-level youth unions have proactively maintained coordination to encourage youths to attend medical check-ups for military service and stepped up the Campaign of “attachment to borders, seas, and islands” via diverse activities towards sacred national sovereignty over borders, seas, and islands. Notably, to celebrate the 60^th founding anniversary of the Ho Chi Minh Sea Trail, the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union Central Committee cooperated with the Naval Command in developing an online voyage management system, organising a media product designing competition, and holding an online knowledge contest on the history of the Ho Chi Minh Sea Trail and the No Number Naval Ships in the resistance war against the U.S., for national salvation.

Via movements and campaigns, young staff members of the armed forces have promoted their core role in maintaining national security, ensuring social order and safety, and defending the Homeland. Since the outbreak of COVID-19, tens of thousands of cadres, youth union members, and young staff members from the Military, the Public Security Force, and the Militia and Self-Defence Force have played a vanguard, pioneering role in providing support for local authorities and citizens in COVID-19 epicentres, patrolling borders and border markers, preventing and combating crime, and ensuring security and safety within social distancing and lockdown areas.

All-level youth unions have actively participated in new-style countryside construction, volunteer campaigns, and projects for social security and environmental protection. They have encouraged their cadres and members and young citizens to promote technical initiatives and actively undertake scientific researches to increase productivity with new practical, effective models, thereby contributing to realising national target programmes and settling pressing issues within society. Typical example was the Summer Youth Volunteer Campaign of 2021 which was organised extensively with the participation of nearly 25,000 youth teams and more than 1,002,000 youth union members and young citizens. The Youth Union Central Committee has continued implementing socio-economic development programmes and projects, such as Youth Village and Youth Island. Youth unions within border localities have actively cooperated with competent offices in patrolling border lines and markers and controlling border trails. Many youth unions have directed their affiliates within secondary and high schools to organise emulation movements with respect to drug prevention and combat and the building of a healthy lifestyle amongst youth union members and young citizens.

However, the awareness and responsibility of a section of youth union cadres and members and young citizens towards defence-security consolidation and the Homeland protection have been still limited. More seriously, several young citizens have been incited to go against the Party’s guidelines and the State’s laws and policies by hostile forces. That situation derives from negative impacts made by the dark side of the market economy and the hostile forces’ severe sabotage via the “peaceful evolution” strategy. Besides, a number of party committees and authorities have yet to be fully aware of the role of young people and youth work; they have yet to pay due regard to educating young citizens. The efficiency of education work for youth union members and young citizens by all-level youth unions has yet to be high.

Young citizens of Can Tho City ardently joining the Military

To meet the requirements of national construction and protection in the new situation, it is necessary to further raise the awareness and responsibility of youth union cadres and members and young citizens towards defence-security consolidation and the Homeland protection. To that end, all-level youth unions should focus on effectively implementing several main measures as follows.

First, step up the work of propagation and education to raise the youth’s awareness and responsibility towards defence-security consolidation and the Homeland protection. To that end, it is important to renew youth unions’ contents and methods of education in order to improve the youth’s political zeal and arouse young citizens’ patriotism, revolutionary ideal, and aspirations for devotion to the Homeland construction and protection. In the education process, it is essential to persistently and opportunely renew the dissemination and study of political theories, the Party’s guidelines, and the State’s laws and policies amongst the youth. Measures should be intensified to grasp and orientate the youth’s ideology against complex, controversial issues. Great value should be attached to frequently, opportunely providing official information for each youth union member and young citizen so that they will convey positive messages. It is necessary to actively apply information technology and maximise social networks and the Youth Union’s press agencies in political and ideological education for youth union members and young people. Significance should be attached to disseminating typical examples, “good people, good deed” examples, and noble actions. Consideration should be given to developing tools, products, and applications of propagation on the Internet, social networks, and smart devices in accordance with youth union members and young citizens’ taste.

Second, promote the role of youth union cadres and members and young people in performing defence-security task. All-level youth unions should concentrate on raising the youth’s awareness and knowledge of traditional and non-traditional security threats and especially improving young people’s “immunity” against the hostile forces’ sabotage. Due attention should be paid to encouraging youth union members and young citizens to take part in defending the Party’s ideological foundation and fighting against wrong, hostile viewpoints, particularly in cyberspace. To that end, it is necessary to frequently consolidate all-level Steering Boards 35 of all-level youth unions and hold refresher courses to improve professional competence and skills of cadres in charge of combating wrong, hostile viewpoints within localities, offices, and units. Besides, it is essential to develop a pool of experts and collaborators and maintain the exchange of information and reports on a weekly basis for the fight against wrong, hostile viewpoints.

To enable the youth to self-consciously prevent and combat the hostile forces’ distortions, all-level youth unions should proactively provide official information and equip young people with necessary knowledge and skills in ensuring information safety, ideological security, and cultural security in cyberspace. Due regard should be paid to maintaining and developing pieces of software connecting youth unions’ community websites with social networks from central to grass-roots levels. At the same time, all-level youth unions should raise a sense of responsibility amongst their members and young citizens for military service so that those people will act as a vanguard force in building a firm “posture of people’s hearts and minds” as the basis for making the all-people national defence and the people’s security increasingly strong.

Third, encourage the vanguard role of young staff members of the armed forces in building revolutionary, regular, elite, gradually modern People’s Army and People’s Public Security Force. It is important to continue stepping up the youth’s revolutionary action movements in accordance with the armed forces’ particularities. Emphasis should be placed on volunteer activities to give assistance to the people in isolated, remote, border, sea, island areas and organising the “Green March” Campaign in order to cement the solidarity between the Military and the people. In the “Creative Youth” Movement, it is necessary to promote and employ initiatives and researches by the youth within the Military and the Public Security Force to master new materiel and fulfil their assigned tasks. More movements should be well organised to encourage the participation of the youth in building revolutionary, regular, elite, gradually modern People’s Army and People’s Public Security Force, with several services, corps, and forces moving straight to modernity. At the same time, due attention should be paid to bringing into play the core role of the armed forces’ young staff members in the Homeland protection, natural disaster and epidemic prevention and control as well as search and rescue.

Fourth, participate in implementing programmes, projects, and campaigns towards the Homeland’s borders, seas, and islands. To that end, it is necessary to effectively execute the youth’s programmes and projects for socio-economic development in border, sea, island areas, with emphasis placed on the Campaign of “attachment to borders, seas, and islands” and the Programmes, namely “students with the Homeland’s seas and islands” and “youth for the Homeland’s seas and islands.” All-level youth unions should focus on maintaining coordination to give assistance to standing militia squadrons, implement policies for the Military’s rear and the Public Security Force’s rear, and provide support for families and relatives of cadres and soldiers performing their tasks in border, sea, island areas.

Furthermore, it is essential to give instructions to youth union cadres and members and young citizens on cooperation with the armed forces’ young staff members in performing the Homeland protection task, maintaining national security and social order and safety, and taking part in natural disaster and epidemic prevention and control. At the same time, due attention should be paid to enhancing the fight against violations of law and social evils, particularly drug use amongst the youth, and multiplying twinning programmes between youth unions within the armed forces and within residential areas, schools, and sectors to well educate young people.

Raising the Vietnamese youth’s awareness and responsibility towards defence-security consolidation and the Homeland protection represents a routine, continuous task. Therefore, it is vital to encourage all-level party committees and authorities’ close leadership and direction, the participation of the entire political system, and efforts made by all-level youth unions and each youth union member and young citizen to contribute to firmly protecting the country’s independence, unification, and territorial integrity and building a prosperous Vietnam.

By ceaseless innovation, each individual and country can sustain development as we are living in a fast-changing world in which the fourth industrial revolution has created profound changes in all aspects of life.

 Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh made the above statement on Saturday while addressing a youth startup and innovation event in the northern province of Vinh Phuc, which was held on the occasion of the 91^st founding anniversary of the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union (March 26).

Last year, Viet Nam was ranked 44th out of 132 economies and maintained its position (34th) among low-middle income economies in the global innovation index, Pham said.

The Southeast Asian country is home to more than 1,000 organizations capable of supporting startup activities, he added.

Pham cited a report by the World Bank that says Viet Nam is one of few Southeast Asian countries spending on research and development at or above expected levels.

Innovation gap

Though entrepreneurial spirit is thriving among the youths, there is startup ecosystem gap between Viet Nam and many other countries, including legal framework.

In addition, the number of startup projects and investment capital remain modest and incommensurate with the country's potential while the education sector still pays inappropriate attention to skills, innovation and aspirations.

Given the situation, Pham entrepreneurship must be considered a central task of the whole political system which is responsible for designing a favorable environment for accelerating startup and innovation.

Fostering entrepreneurship requires innovative authorities, innovative society, innovative education, and innovative individuals, emphasized the Prime Minister.

He tasked the Ministry of Education and Training to put forward mechanisms and policies to promote entrepreneurial spirit among students.

The Ministry of Planning and Investment was asked to assist the Ministry of Education and Training and the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs in develop incubation and startup activities in education establishments./.

 The situation in Ukraine is first and foremost a humanitarian crisis, and the food security and wellbeing of the people of Ukraine should be our immediate concern. However, because of the dominant roles of Russia and Ukraine in global food, fuel and fertiliser markets, there are also massive knock-on effects for people around the world. This is particularly true for the supply and cost of food. Here are three ways that the invasion of Ukraine leads to potential risks to food security in other countries.

1. Decline in global food availability

Ukraine is known as the breadbasket of Europe, and Russia and Ukraine have both become major food exporters in recent years. In 2020 these two countries accounted for one third of the world’s wheat trade and one quarter of the world’s barley trade. Ukraine alone exported 15 percent of the world’s maize and half of all sunflower oil traded globally.

Two likely consequences of the ongoing crisis are reduced exports from Ukraine due to disrupted production and trade, and reduced exports from Russia, due to economic sanctions designed to harm the Russian economy. Commercial exports from major ports in Ukraine like Odessa have already been suspended. So there will be less wheat, maize, barley, and cooking oil available on world markets for the foreseeable future.

50 countries depend on Russia and Ukraine for 30 percent or more of their wheat. Many of these are low-income food deficit countries in North Africa, the Middle East and Asia – such as Bangladesh, Egypt, Nigeria, Sudan and Yemen, which is currently on the brink of famine.

2. Rising food prices

Reduced food supplies will cause food prices to rise. This is in addition to the fact that food prices were already rising before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. In February, the FAO Food Price Index reached a new all-time high, partly due to recovery in global demand post-COVID-19, and partly reflecting expectations of imminent disruptions to wheat and maize exports from Russia and Ukraine.

Rising oil, gas and petrol prices will drive food price inflation even further, since food and fuel price movements tend to track each other closely. Because poor households spend a higher proportion of their income on food, higher food prices will affect low-income consumers and low-income countries worst. Bread prices are already rising in countries around the world. In Iraq, poor communities already staged protests about food prices in early March following spikes in the prices of flour and cooking oil in local markets, which officials attributed to the conflict in Ukraine.

3. Food production declines in low-income countries

Russia is the largest global exporter of fertilisers and fertiliser ingredients such as potash, ammonia, urea, and natural gas for making nitrogen-based fertilisers. On 2 February, Russia suspended its exports of fertiliser, ostensibly to protect its farmers. Belarus is also a major exporter of potash fertiliser. On 2 March, the European Union sanctioned Belarus for supporting Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. These sanctions included a ban on all imports of potash from Belarus.

Dozens of countries depend heavily on imports of nitrogen and potassium fertiliser from Russia and Belarus. Many of these are low-income food deficit countries in West and Central Africa. But reduced fertiliser supplies and higher fertiliser prices will also impact negatively on middle-income and high-income countries that import large amounts of fertiliser, such as Brazil, India, the United States and much of Western Europe. Fertiliser prices in the United States have already jumped by 10 percent. Food production could therefore be compromised in many countries across the world.

How bad will it get?

Just how badly global food security will be affected depends on several things that are not yet known at this time. For now, we are left with several short and longer-term questions – many of which governments and global leaders should be considering as part of food security crisis preparation and response.

Firstly, how bad will the war get, and how long will it last? How badly will Ukrainian exports be disrupted? Will sanctions be applied against Ukrainian exports if Russia eventually assumes power over Ukraine, and when will sanctions against Russia be lifted?

Secondly, how high will food and energy prices rise? For how long will the prices remain high? At what new baseline levels will they stabilise after the conflict?

Thirdly, how resilient are global and national food systems? A resilient food system has the capacity to sustainably provide sufficient, appropriate, safe, and accessible food to all people over time, even in the face of shocks and stressors. Can households and nations afford to pay higher prices for food and energy? How quickly can households and nations diversify away from Ukraine and Russia for food, energy, and fertiliser?

Finally, what actions will governments and international agencies take to mitigate the effects? Governments are already scrambling to reduce their dependence on imports from Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. What social protection measures will governments offer to affected farmers and consumers? Will countries aim for food self-sufficiency, and reduced dependence on fossil fuels and chemical fertilisers? This could be one positive side-effect.

We don’t yet know the answers to these and related questions. But one thing is certain: sadly, it will get worse for Ukraine and the world before it gets better.