From war ravaged to commercial haven
After the conflicts with colonial France and the United States in the second half of the twentieth century, by the mid 1980s the war-ravaged country faced famine, a decimated national infrastructure, and the prospect of its economy failing completely.
In the face of its major trading partner, the Soviet Union, collapsing, the Vietnamese government launched a renovation process (Doi Moi) in 1986, committing the country to increased fiscal liberalization and the type of structural reforms needed to modernize the economy.
Within the span of 23 years, Vietnam has transformed itself from a closed door on the world, a crushingly poor and underdeveloped nation, to an open and inclusive member of the international community. Foreign investment has grown substantially as the domestic entrepreneurial spirit has been unleashed.
Vietnam’s economy has expanded ...