Over the past few years, the Vietnamese economy has enjoyed impressive growth rates. The country issued its first sovereign bond in 2005 with a total face value of USD (United States dollars) 750 million (which was sold out in the US, having been over-subscribed by a factor of four times). The investment environment has been good with increasing interest in both direct and indirect foreign investment. This positive picture seems to have made people overly optimistic and insufficiently cautious about the risk of a potential downturn in the economy.

During the 1990s, a large number of countries embarked on fundamental economic policy reforms. Centrally planned economies in Eastern Europe and East Asia, as well as highly protected and inward-looking economies like India and Brazil, were eager to reduce government involvement in economic decision-making in order to ensure macroeconomic stability and open up to international trade and capital flows. Different countries adopted different approaches and sequences of reform, which led to different policy outcomes. These experiences provide fertile ground for the political economy studies of economic reform. They provide considerable material on critical factors, like the timing, economic necessity, and political challenges of reforms.

Rice production and prices appears in OECD-FAO Agricultural Outlook 2009.

Production rizicole et prix du riz est issu de Perspectives agricoles de l'OCDE et de la FAO 2009 (chapitre 6).

This publication presents the results of the first OECD investment policy review of Vietnam. It finds that the progress Vietnam has achieved in less than two decades in putting into place a legal framework and implementing policies that mobilise private investment, including international direct investment, to support economic growth and the prosperity of Vietnam’s citizens has been remarkable. Starting from a situation in which the economy was essentially closed to private and international investment, Vietnam is now considered to be one of the very attractive economies in the world for investment.

In the last few years, Viet Nam has emerged as one of the world’s leading destinations for foreign direct investment, fuelled by the country’s accession to the WTO in 2006, a strong and stable growth rate and an ambitious reform program, which is very much welcomed by foreign investors.

In 1987, early in the process of transition to a more market-oriented economy, the Vietnamese National Assembly adopted the Law on Foreign Investment. Follow-up steps have been taken in the past two decades to encourage, protect and improve the quality of foreign investment. Such efforts resulted in strong investment flows in the mid-1990s (see Figure 2.1). Due to the Asian financial crisis, net foreign investment inflows dropped significantly in 1997, but began to grow again in 2001. Since 2006, there has been a major increase in the level of FDI in Viet Nam. Disbursed FDI in 2007 totalled USD 8 billion, and estimates from Viet Nam’s Foreign Investment Agency show that disbursements totaled USD 11.5 billion in 2008. Foreign direct investment as a percentage of total investment has increased also recently reached and exceeded the pre-Asian financial crisis levels, as FDI accounted for 30% of total investment in Viet Nam in 2008. Registered FDI in Viet Nam in 2008 totaled USD 71.7 billion.

After more than two decades since the launch of the country’s renovation strategy (1986 – 2009), Viet Nam has made an extensive effort to establish its legal framework and implement policies to mobilise investment from the private sector, including international investment, to stimulate economic growth and improve the standard of living of the Vietnamese people. Throughout this period, the Vietnamese economy has been transformed from a centrally planned model to a market-based one, featuring a dynamic private economic sector developing side by side with the state-owned sector for the good of the economy. Huge domestic economic resources have been unleashed. The economy has gone through important changes, both in quantity and quality. It has led to impressive growth of the private sector and to large inflows of foreign investment. Viet Nam is now seen as one of the most attractive destinations for foreign direct investment (FDI) FDI in the world, particularly for FDI from Asian and most developed countries as the figures for 2007-2008 clearly show.

This section evaluates Viet Nam’s reform efforts and provides an anatomy of the regulatory framework for investment based on the general matrix of the Policy Framework for Investment (PFI) (see Box 3.1).1 This assessment, as a cooperative endeavour, builds upon Viet Nam’s self-evaluation under the PFI. It focuses on the first four chapters and part of Chapters 9 of the PFI relating to investment policies, investment promotion and facilitation, trade policies, competition policies, tax policies and development of the service sector.

This publication presents the results of the first Policy Framework for Investment assessment of Viet Nam. This assessment is the product of a joint collaborative effort between Viet Nam and the OECD. It particularly reflects contributions by an interagency team in the Vietnamese government under the leadership of the Ministry for Planning and Investment.

The position of Vietnamese women has improved since the 1950s. In 2006, the National Assembly passed the country’s first Law on Gender Equality. According to the US Department of State, this law aims to address a range of issues (such as wage gaps) and eliminate discrimination based on gender.