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Vietnam vows change to build modern economy
Vietnam’s leadership vowed Wednesday to overhaul its economic growth model in order to build an industrialized nation by 2020.
Two decades ago Vietnam was feted as the new "Asian Tiger" but it now faces troubles including soaring inflation, a struggling currency, a trade deficit and problems among its state-owned enterprises – a key pillar of the economy.
The nation must "renew the growth model and restructure the economy to speed up industrialization and modernization with fast and sustainable development," Party Leader Nong Duc Manh said.
"The strategy is to strive towards 2020 so that our country will basically become an industrialized nation," Manh told almost 1,400 delegates in a speech at the opening of the party's five-yearly congress.
The party outlined a series of measures, which analysts and foreign investors have also called for, to help the country realize its economic potential.
Vietnam's growth model has relied on natural resources and unskilled labor to achieve rapid growth, but Manh spoke of moving to a more advanced system of production based on science, technology and "high-quality human resources."
Manh, the party's general secretary, also called for a "knowledge-based economy" with reform in the education system, which experts have said is far from an international standard, unsuited for providing the skilled workforce the country needs.
Addressing a major concern of foreign investors, he said Vietnam must upgrade its transport infrastructure, including airports and seaports.
Manh touched only briefly on the country's immediate economic problems – such as soaring inflation and a weakening currency – noting a need to "stabilize the macro-economy."
Unlike many Asian countries, Vietnam spends more on imports than it earns from exports – a discrepancy that has to be financed. The trade deficit last year exceeded 12 billion dollars, official data showed.
Vietnam has enjoyed economic growth that ranked among the fastest in Asia since its policy called "Doi Moi" was introduced in mid-1980s.
Today Vietnam has a "socialist-oriented market economy" where the state sector maintains "the key role," said Manh.
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