The opening ceremony was attended by Deputy Director General Nguyen Duc Hoa, Mr. Csaba Feher - Head of the expert delegation - Csaba Feher, representatives from various units under VSS, IMF expert lecturers, and trainees from the VSS's social and health insurance fund calculation team.

Overview of the opening ceremony

At the opening ceremony, Deputy Director General Nguyen Duc Hoa stated that the social insurance fund has become the largest social security fund, operating on the principles of contribution-enjoyment and sharing among workers of the same generation and across generations participating in the social insurance scheme. Additionally, the health insurance fund has also played an important role in paying for legitimate healthcare expenses and contributing to the well-being of the people.

"Based on the guidelines of the Party's Resolutions and the government's direction and management, in recent times, the VSS sector has made good efforts to implement social and health insurance policies in general and to manage and use the social and health insurance funds in particular, contributing to ensuring social security and serving the people better, leading to rapid and sustainable development of the country," emphasized Hoa.

According to Hoa, in addition to the achieved results, the management and use of the social and health insurance funds are facing several difficulties, requiring the development of balanced predictions and risk calculations for the funds' future. In response to this need, the VSS has decided to establish a fund calculation team consisting of 17 members, who are also the main trainees in the IMF training course.

Appreciating the IMF's training model highly, Deputy Director General Nguyen Duc Hoa hopes that the IMF will continue to support the VSS in building balanced prediction models for other funds, especially the health insurance fund, in the future. "Currently, the scope of payment coverage of the health insurance fund is expanding, but the contribution rate has not been adjusted accordingly. Therefore, we greatly need support in calculating, balancing, and expanding the fund to ensure the benefits of the people," shared Hoa.

In order to have an effective training course, Deputy Director General Nguyen Duc Hoa suggested that the trainees need to study seriously, regularly exchange lesson content with the instructors, and take advantage of opportunities to exchange knowledge and professional experiences with international experts, in order to confidently apply the knowledge gained to the process of building and developing the VSS sector.

Illustrative image (VSS)

Sharing at the opening ceremony, Mr. Csaba Feher, the head of the IMF expert delegation, stated that the training course aims to build a model that can be used for mandatory social insurance, which helps predict the consequences of changes in the socio-economic situation, and speeds up the decision-making process regarding policy changes and adjustments. It is also a good basis for developing additional systems, such as voluntary social insurance. Particularly, after the training course, the IMF will support the VSS in establishing and developing a team of experts who can operate and develop the model without the need for outside assistance.

The IMF representative also suggested that the leaders of VSS pay attention and provide guidance and support for the training course, while the trainees need to study seriously, invest time, and effectively apply the knowledge gained to practice. "IMF support activities are not fish, but a fishing rod - a tool for social security officials to independently implement. Therefore, the requirement after the course is that the trainees need to master the tool," emphasized Mr. Csaba Feher.

Earlier, on March 2nd, General Director Nguyen The Manh also received and worked with the IMF delegation on the implementation of technical support activities for the VSS. Specifically, the two sides agreed on IMF support for evaluating and expanding social insurance coverage, and for building, training, and transferring a balanced calculation model for the pension fund of the VSS. According to the plan, the training course will take place from March 10th to 14th in Hanoi./.