On 8th November 2012 the Institute of Labour Science and Social Affairs (ILSSA)with support from theHanns Seidel Foundation organized a seminar on inclusive social protection in Vietnam to facilitate an exchange of international experiences and provide guidance to policy decisions in this field in Vietnam.

In the past decades Vietnam has gone through a process of rapid development and has achieved high economic growth. VN has reduced poverty rapidly, has raised income for the poor and has improved living conditions for a broad section of the population. In this regard Vietnam has made significant progress in terms of the UN Millennium Development Goals. Vietnam is however still lacking a right-based social protection system that includes the entire population. A functioning social protection system for all members of society is an integral part of a modern society and one of the key responsibilities of government. In Vietnam the social protection system is already very well developed in the formal sector, nearly 80% of the population however work in the rural and informal sector with little social protection so far. Measures have been taken to improve the social security system and to develop a concept to cover all groups of society. Adapted social protection policies – targeted at workers in the informal sector and at the informally employed – are crucial for implementation of key goals of the Socio-Economic Development Strategy. Earlier this year Hanns Seidel Foundation and ILSSA agreed to carry out further research which focuses on social protection for workers in the informal sector and the informally employed. In this manner, the existing knowledge gaps concerning social protection for informal sector workers and the informally employed shall be closed.

The seminar was another opportunity to review measures taken so far and to discuss necessary steps for an inclusive social security system for the whole of Vietnam’s population. Dr. Bui SyLoi, Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Committee of Social Affairs, affirmed that the policy recommendations will be passed on to the National Assembly and that the seminar will strengthen the policy coordination in the field of Social Security Policies in Vietnam.