VIETNAM IN GENERAL

• WTO accession January 11, 2007
• Population: 87 Million
• GDP 2007: $70 billion US
• GDP Growth 2007: 8.5 %
• Literacy Rate: ~90%*

1. Overview of Vietnam’s economy

1.1 Overview

Vietnam has made progress over the past 10 years in moving from a planned economy to a market economy, opening up to foreign investment, maintaining consistent rapid growth and now targeting entry into the World Trade Organization in 2005. The shift away from a centrally planned economy to a more market-oriented economic model improved the quality of life for many Vietnamese.

Helpful sources

·         Central Economic Management Institute: Overview of Vietnam’s economy; Review on Vietnam’s economy 2007

·         World Bank: Vietnam Development Report

1.2   Vietnam’s major imports - 2007

At present, EU is our second import market behind U.S and o­ne of the Vietnam’s four biggest import markets. Major exports were remained such as garment-textile, aquatic and plastic products, wooden furniture, coffee, handicrafts. Vietnam has had trade surplus to EU for many years, demonstrating that EU is the major import market of Vietnam, helping Vietnam increase the export turnover in the following years.

Table 2: Key trading partners of Vietnam – 2007

Helpful source

·         General Statistics Office of Vietnam: Vietnam Development Report