Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - Five Vietnamese think tanks have been ranked inthe top 100 think tanks in the Southeast Asia and Pacific region inthe 2017 Global Go To Think Tank Index Report.

The five think tanks are Vietnam’s Institute of WorldEconomics and Politics (30th), the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam (40th),the Vietnam Institute of Economics (42nd), the Vietnam Institute for Economicand Policy Research (VEPR - 56th), and the Vietnam’s Institute for AmericanStudies (97th).

The VEPR held a ceremony on February 2 to announce the report and resultsrelated to Vietnamese think tanks.

This was the 11th report conducted by the Think Tanks and Civil SocietiesProgram (TTCSP) of the Lauder Institute atthe University of Pennsylvania, the US on more than 6,500 out of7,815 think tanks recognised in the world.

Among the 140 best Domestic Economic Policy Think Tanks, Vietnam has onerepresentative, the Central Institute for Economic Management, ranking69th out of 140.

VEPR ranks 123rd out of 132 top International Development Think Tanks.

Two governmental think tanks of Vietnam - Vietnam’s Institute of WorldEconomics and Politics under Vietnam’s Academy of SocialSciences and the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam – are ranked among the 75Best Government Affiliated Think Tanks at the positions of 24th and 40th.

The Center for Health System Research under Hanoi’s Medical University isamong the Top 55 Domestic Health Policy Think Tanks and Top 35 Global HealthPolicy Think Tanks.

Dr Le Dang Doanh, economic expert and former head of the Central Institute forEconomic Management, said that Vietnamese think tanks have made greatcontributions to Vietnam’s reform and international integration. However,there has not been a proper legal framework for Vietnamese think tanks.

Economic expert Pham Chi Lan, former deputy director of the Vietnam Chamber ofCommerce and Industry, said that think tanks are no longer only organisationsunder State management but many independent think tanks have played a veryimportant role in policy advocacy.

The lack of legal framework for think tanks has limited their capacity, shesaid.
“In the context of the fourth industrial revolution, Vietnamese think tanksneed to be more open and connective with the world for further development,”she said.

As Vietnam is no longer a low-income country, financial assistance for Vietnam hasdried up. This is a big challenge for Vietnamese independent think tanks, saidPhung Duc Tung, head of the Mekong Development Research Institute.

As an independent Vietnamese think tank, the Mekong DevelopmentResearch Institute has difficulty recruiting high-quality employees, hesaid.

Facing these difficulties, Tung said that it was necessary to make connectionsbetween think tanks to create group power.

More than 170 host and partner institutions around the world including VEPRhave agreed to host events in approximately 75 countries and 100 cities toannounce the report’s results.

This was the first time the report has been published in Vietnam. In 2009, onlyone Vietnamese think tank was ranked in the report. 

Think Tank of the Year 2017 is the Brookings Institution,a Washington think tank.

According to the report, think tanks are organisations thatgenerate policy-oriented research, analysis and advice on domestic andinternational issues, thereby enabling policy makers and the public to makeinformed decisions about public policy. Think tanks may be affiliated orindependent institutions that are structured as permanent bodies, not adhoc commissions. - VNA