Joining
the World Trade Organisation (WTO) has offered Vietnam a wealth of opportunities
to speed up economic development, boost its exports and attract more foreign
direct investment (FDI).
However,
according to economic experts, Vietnam
still has weaknesses such as poor quality growth, outdated infrastructure,
inadequate human resources and a low competitive capacity. Therefore, in order
to take advantage of any opportunities, it is essential to improve the quality
of growth and FDI, increase the efficiency of investments, stabilise the
financial market and introduce policies to stabilise the macroeconomy in a
flexible and reasonable manner.
Impact on economic
growth
The
Head of the Central Institute for Economic Management (CIEM), Le Xuan Ba said
that international economic integration and admission to the WTO has a positive
impact on Vietnam’s
economic growth for the past three years.
Despite
the price hikes in the world market putting more pressure on the input costs of
domestic products, Vietnam
still reached a GDP growth rate of 8.5 percent in 2007.
In
2008, the country’s economic growth suffered due to the soaring prices of
materials, high inflation and its major partners facing an economic downturn.
However,
sharp increases in the price of key exports, including crude oil and foodstuffs
and an expanded export market have had a positive impact on the country’s
economic growth. Because of several difficulties, Vietnam’s economic growth rate only
reached 6.2 percent in 2008.
A
CIEM report said that if international economic integration does not go
further, Vietnam’s
economic growth will slow down. In 2009, the negative effects of the global
financial crisis and the positive effect of international economic integration
resulted in Vietnam’s
GDP falling to 5.3 percent. However, this growth rate is still higher than that
of many other countries in the world.
Choosing suitable
development model
In
2010 the world’s economy is forecast to recover despite a number of
difficulties still lying ahead. Economists have noted that in the post-crisis
period the world economy will be restructured more robustly and if Vietnam fails
in this process it will find itself lagging behind other economies.
Vietnam is not only a member of
the WTO but many other economic institutions, such as the ASEAN-China
commitment, and the agreement between ASEAN-Japan,
Australia and New Zealand in
the next few years. Therefore, the country needs to be aware of the impact of
these commitments to introduce suitable measures to cope with them.
Former
Deputy Prime Minister Vu Khoan said that the State and the business community
will face several conflicting relationships, such as speed and the quality of
growth, growth and macro-stability, the balance between domestic and foreign
markets and State interference in the market. Therefore, it is very important
to choose a suitable model of development.
Professor
Nguyen Mai said it is high time the Vietnamese people realised that the country
has an important position in Southeast Asia and an increasingly growing
position in Asia and the world.
As
a WTO member, the State needs to set up a team of experts for each sector to
take part in the Doha round of negotiations to
bring more benefits to developing countries, including Vietnam, said
Mr Mai. The country should do its utmost to persuade other countries and
economic institutions to recorgnise Vietnam’s full market economy
because this will help domestic businesses deal with anti-dumping lawsuits.
“Vietnam is
determined to develop into an industrialised country, but which development
model will be chosen and which industries will be the key sectors?,” said Mr
Khoan. Choosing a proper model will help Vietnam to develop strongly and
sustainably and it is also an important factor that will help the economy
integrate more successfully in the future.
