In recent years, Vietnam has been on record as one of the countries with a high economic growth rate. From 2001 to 2006, the country hit an annual economic growth rate of 7.5 percent on average and by the end of August in 2007, the figure was approximately 8 percent. In particular, the country has attracted a huge volume of foreign investment capital with the 2006 level reaching nearly US$60 billion. However, experts said that the growth in recent times has neither matched the country’s economic potential nor showed sustainability.
Although leaders affirmed that Vietnam would become an economic power in the next two decades, whether or not this goal is reached depends on appropriate policies. Over recent years, special attention has been paid to investment, which has obtained satisfactory results but little or no regard has been given to other areas, which can have immediate and long-term impacts on economic development.
The following are the two typical areas.
The first is administrative reform. It is untrue to say that the Government gives no attention to administrative reform. In fact, it has spared no effort to conduct administrative reform many times but this work is still making no headway.
Despite winning the World Trade Organisation (WTO) membership, Vietnam’s administrative system remains unlike others. Most campaigns for administrative reform are still a formalistic “one stop-shop” model without actually launching a genuine revolution to change the ideology of an administrative foundation.
Administrative reform is a support not management. It is understandable that in order to serve as a sharp tool for economic development, administration must be an accelerator pedal not a brake.
The second is human resources. Vietnam prides itself on its illiteracy eradication to have 90 percent of the population literated. It is regrettable that the education sector still has to overcome its weaknesses. During the past three decades, educational quality has not been much been improved while a developing economy requires a lot of highly skilled labour. The higher numbers of drop-outs in remote and mountainous areas have caused difficulties to the training of qualified human resources for the next two or three decades. Therefore, the country will have to import highly skilled workers in the face of growing unemployment as Vietnamese workers fail to meet required standards. This will cause social instability and economic loss, not to mention that the use of unqualified staff in positions that need highly professional skills has become a common occurrence in the country.
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