Ms

Vietnam

Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow

I talked with my advisor, Dr Ching-Yaw Chen, the other day about future plan. He said that today is the result of what you had done 5 years ago, and Tomorrow will be the result of what you are doing now. His point is that you need to plan at least 5 years earlier if you want that to actually happen. One simple but touching example is that if you want to be healthy in the next 5 years, you need to take care of your health from now on. Being healthy for any person is a long process just as being successful in any areas. Back to our topic, Vietnam has today because of its yesterday. What is its yesterday situation? What is today situation? And what will today situation lead Vietnam to?

The most important incidents that I think changed Vietnamese economy so significantly are the emergence of free market trade in 1986 and the lifting of the U.S. trade embargo in 2001. Since then, Vietnam economic structure has been shifted under direction of industrialization and modernization. Percentage of the value of the industry and construction in GDP has unceasingly increased. It was 36,73 % in 2000, 38,13% in 2001, 38,55% in 2002 and 40% in 2003, particularly the development of non-state economy was pushed to account for 48 % in GDP [http://english.vietnamnet.vn/politics/2005/11/515174/]. The country aims to become an industrialized country by 2020. In spite the rapid economic boom, Vietnam still faces several big challenges as such corruption, the legal system, social issues, and so on. Personally speaking, I think political structure is another issue for Vietnam to overcome. Also, this too rapid boost in economy results in many social and cultural unrests.