Finals of the first integration competition for students - Economist Up 2023

The jury working in this year's Final Round includes: Dr. Nguyen Quoc Toan - Director of the Center for Digital Transformation and Agricultural Statistics, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development; Mr. Dang Khanh Linh - Deputy Director, Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Ms. Nguyen Thi Thu Trang, Director of the Center for WTO and Integration (Vietnam Confederation of Commerce and Industry - VCCI); Ms. Bui Kim Thuy - Member of HARVARD Advisory Board; Mr. Dam Manh Tuan - Director of Northern Operations - AEON Vietnam Group; Associate Professor, Dr. Dang Hoang Linh - Deputy Head of Training Department, Head of the Faculty of International Economics, Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam; MSc. Le Thi Thai Ha - Lecturer at the Institute of International Trade and Economics, National Economics University; Mr. Nguyen Tuan Hiep - Acting Head of the Department of Political Affairs and Student Management, Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam.

This year's competition aims to find out the most potential projects to export Vietnamese agricultural products to the Japanese market, substantively aiming to celebrate the 50th anniversary of establishing diplomatic relations between Vietnam and Japan (1973 - 2023).

After 6 months with 3 rounds: Preliminary, Training and Semi-finals round, on May 27, 2023, the Final round of the Contest with the theme Reach Out The Sea officially ended, marking an emotional journey of young people passionate about economics.

In the final round, The Flying Kite was one of the two most excellent names (along with Young Coco team) to enter the Top 2 and became the champion of the competition. The project presented by The Flying Kite received high appreciation from the Jury when providing important data on the feasibility of the Japanese market for green-skinned grapefruit, and at the same time introducing many groups of implementation solutions, taking advantage of digital technology and linking the production chains. This is a group of projects closely linked to reality when currently, the negotiation process of exporting Vietnam's green-skinned grapefruit to Japan is also being implemented. Supermarket, hotel chains, and retail systems are the main distributors of the project, including AEON Group, the main sponsor of the program.

After exciting rounds at the final night, the champion title was awarded to The Flying Kite and the project “Supporting businesses to export Ben Tre green-skinned grapefruit to the Japanese market”, and the team also won the Most Popular Team award. The runner up is "Young Coco" when choosing a coconut product for the project participating in the competition. The Third place position belonged to the competition team "The Diamond Fiber" with the product Dong Quan vermicelli.  At the same time, the organizing committee also awarded the sub-prizes "Team with potential project" went to "Elotus" and "S Material" respectively with the products being lotus root and grass straws. 

According to Associate Professor, Dr. Dang Hoang Linh - Head of the Competition Organizing Committee, "Economist Up" is a pioneering academic competition in the field of economics under the direction of "Economic Integration", organized by the Faculty of International Economics, Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam, is a playground for healthy exchanges, proactive learning as well as enhancing practical experience for students.

It is known that, following the success of the first year, Economist Up will continue to be held annually with the purpose of expanding the playing field and inspiring young people about economics and integration.