Some German newspapers recently ran articles hailing Vietnam’s economic
achievements and growth prospect as well as the active role played by
the country in the Association of Southeast Asia Nations (ASEAN).
The
Dusseldorfer Abendblatt newspaper and the website Pressportal.de took
note that Vietnam enjoyed a fast economic growth of 7-8 percent per year
after the country applied its renewal policy and shifted to a market
economy.
They said Vietnam also quickly recovered from the
impacts of the financial crisis in 2008-09 and over the last three
years, the Vietnamese government successfully made use of macroeconomic
stabilisation policy, thus keeping a high economic growth at 5-6 percent
per year, attracting 23 billion USD in foreign direct investment (FDI)
in 2013, contributing to promoting the national economic development.
Vietnam’s
inflation rate has dropped from over 20 percent in 2010 and 2011 to
only 6 percent in 2013, while its trade balance continued recording a
surplus, with export turnover hit over 132 billion USD and import
turnover was at 131.3 billion USD last year.
The articles also
highlighted Vietnam’s efforts to integrate into the global economy by
joining many economic organisations in the world such the World Trade
Organisation, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the ASEAN Free
Trade Area (AFTA).
The country plays a crucial role in ASEAN, a
region with a 560 million population and about 800 billion USD in GDP,
the articles said, adding that Vietnam along with other ASEAN member
nations agreed to accelerate regional economic integration through the
formation of a ASEAN economic community by 2015.
At the same
time, Vietnam is participating in negotiations of a Free Trade Agreement
with the European Union (EVFTA), which is expected to end late this
year or at the beginning of 2015. The country is also in the
negotiation progress of the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement with the
US and several other countries.
The der Focus – one of the largest newspapers in Germany- delivered assessments of Vietnam’s economic prospect in 2014.
The
article said economic index in the first nine months of this year
show positive prospects for Vietnam’s economy in 2014 as well as some
following years.
Thanks to flexible economic policies
and a stable political situation, Vietnam is now one of the leading
investment destinations in ASEAN, the newspaper said, noting that the
country needs to resolve several issues related to rising public debt
and bad debt in its financial and banking system.-VNA