The Straits Times of Singapore on January 28 ran an article that views 2021 as a year of opportunity for Vietnam while the Australian Financial Review (AFR) said Vietnam has become an essential cog in the global supply chains.
The Australian Financial Review said Vietnam has become an essential cog in the global supply chains (Photo: VNA)
Singapore (VNA) – The Straits Times of Singapore on January 28 ran an article
that views 2021 as a year of opportunity for Vietnam while the Australian
Financial Review (AFR) said Vietnam has become an essential cog in
the global supply chains.
The Straits Times wrote that the ongoing 13th National Congress of
the Communist Party of Vietnam is to pick new leaders and chart its next course
with a strong tailwind from its recent successes.
It said in his opening speech of the
congress on January 26, Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong hailed the
country's economic development and its containment of the COVID-19 pandemic as
twin major achievements. Southeast Asia's rising star does have bragging
rights, the paper noted.
This year can be Vietnam's breakout
moment after having controlled the COVID-19 pandemic ahead of economies in the
region. It can steal a march on the others, as it is probably already doing,
taking up the slack as factories in the region stay shuttered while demand for
tech, medical and other products surge.
The new leaders it selects and the
new course it sets will determine how well it does this and what role it can
carve for itself in the region, according to The Straits Times.
In addition, the newspaper added, it
is also mindful of the domestic challenges and external uncertainties that
could thwart its ambition to become an upper-middle-income country by 2025 and
an industrialised economy by 2030.
The article cited Party General
Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong as admitting that there are shortcomings, including
an economy that is not yet highly resilient. While Vietnam has privatised many
state-owned firms, which make up nearly a third of economic output, are low in
efficiency and account for many bad loans. The economy remains dominated by
low-end assembly work rather than high-end manufacturing. The outdated higher
education system also cannot turn out enough highly skilled workers.
In its article on the 13th National Party Congress, the AFR said domestic tourism and everyday
life are largely back to normal.
It noted Vietnam’s leaders are focused on attracting more
foreign investment as the country has become an essential cog in the global
supply chains.
Low labour costs and negligible barriers to entry that
initially attracted multinationals such as Unilever and Pepsico in the 1990s
and early 2000s remain a drawcard. More recently, electronic
giants such as Apple-supplier Foxconn have become keen for opening
manufacturing establishments here.
The article added that the World Bank describes Vietnam as
one of the most dynamic emerging countries in East Asia.
The AFR also quoted Francis Wong, senior adviser to the
Australia-Vietnam Business Council, as saying that one of the keys to
successful economic policies for Vietnam is stable and predictable succession
in the government that’s driving the push towards an open economy, and that
this creates confidence for investors both within the country and foreigners./.