Vietnam Thundering Into World Economy

Huge Investment By Intel, WTO Invite Are Clear Signs Of Vietnam's Economic Awakening

(CBS/AP)  Vietnam is Asia's best-performing economy after China, and the Asian Development Bank in August projected its economy would expand by 7.8 percent this year.

With a population of 84 million, it also is the second most populous country behind Russia still outside the WTO.

Membership of the global trade body will give Vietnam increased access to foreign markets and the opportunity to take trade grievances to a neutral arbiter, strengthening its hand against nations that accuse Vietnam of illegally dumping goods on their markets.

In return, the country will be required to drop its high tariffs on foreign imports and eliminate subsidies for state-owned companies.

Tuesday's developments come just days before Vietnam hosts the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, which will draw heads of state and business executives from around the globe, including President George W. Bush.

Unlike other foreign companies, American businesses may not be able to take advantage of the WTO agreement immediately because the U.S. Congress has yet to grant Vietnam "permanent normal trade relations" status.

Mr. Bush hopes a PNTR bill will be passed before he visits Hanoi for the APEC summit Nov. 18-19, but that looks unlikely.

Among other obstacles, Sen. Mel Martinez, a Florida Republican, has been blocking consideration of the bill due to concerns about a Florida pro-democracy activist who is being held in a Vietnamese jail, suspected of plotting against the Vietnamese government.

The PNTR bill is expected to be approved eventually. But without it, U.S. companies will not be able to enjoy the benefits of the WTO agreement — unless Vietnam decides unilaterally to treat them like other member countries.

Foreign investment in Vietnam has surged ahead of Tuesday's vote, rising 41 percent in the last year.

Foreign firms have been encouraged by Vietnam's market reforms, which began tentatively in the late 1980s, moved in fits and starts during the 1990s and greatly accelerated over the last three years.

[cathaleen]

I saw Merrill Lynch run out of Hanoi when our troops were going into Vietnam. I knew that someday they would be back. Just check around the world.
Someday they'll be in Baghdad.

[sharncedar]

It seems only communist countries who kill all their rich people are getting rich these days, they are getting all the investments instead of the US, they are seeing all the growth and hype.

Maybe we should start some communism and purge our rich here in the US, so the international banking community will give us some money, too.

[marcelde]

"Mission Accomplished!"

Unlearned HISTORY LESSON OF VIETNAM

George Bush's triumphal announcement of "Mission Accomplished" could be viewed as correct if we agree that the mission was to kill thousands of our troops, uncounted civilians, destroy the infrastructure of Iraq, erode any residual respect of the rest of the world for us, and set the stage for a bloody civil war in Iraq. ===

In accomplishing that "mission" we have already lost over 2,800 U.S. military, diverted critical funds from the War on Terror, and, TO QUOTE RUMSFELD, %u2026 %u201CSTILL HAVE NOT LEARNED HISTORY%u2019S LESSONS%u201D ===

THE HISTORY LESSON RUMSFELD SHOULD BE LEARNING is THE TRAGIC LESSON OF VIETNAM where an unpopular "police action" was fabricated to stop the "domino effect" of spreading Communism. === Those who suggest we "still have not learned history's lessons" ignore 58,249 soldiers that needlessly died there. THAT WAR LEFT VIETNAM A COMMUNIST COUNTRY, LIKE CHINA, BUT OUR TRADING PARTNER. Those who objected to that war want to Support Our Troops" by bringing them home out of harm's way. We need to actively resist mindless leaders who suggest that Weapons of Mass Destruction, never found in Iraq, are the cause of 911, and that every culture is eager to embrace our form of democracy. Our soldiers who are dying in Iraq are another "Inconvenient Truth" just as those in 1970 whose names are engraved on the Vietnam War Memorial.

[marcelde]

"Mission Accomplished!"

Unlearned HISTORY LESSON OF VIETNAM

George Bush's triumphal announcement of "Mission Accomplished" could be viewed as correct if we agree that the mission was to kill thousands of our troops, uncounted civilians, destroy the infrastructure of Iraq, erode any residual respect of the rest of the world for us, and set the stage for a bloody civil war in Iraq. ===

In accomplishing that "mission" we have already lost over 2,800 U.S. military, diverted critical funds from the War on Terror, and, TO QUOTE RUMSFELD, %u2026 %u201CSTILL HAVE NOT LEARNED HISTORY%u2019S LESSONS%u201D ===

THE HISTORY LESSON RUMSFELD SHOULD BE LEARNING is THE TRAGIC LESSON OF VIETNAM where an unpopular "police action" was fabricated to stop the "domino effect" of spreading Communism. === Those who suggest we "still have not learned history's lessons" ignore 58,249 soldiers that needlessly died there. THAT WAR LEFT VIETNAM A COMMUNIST COUNTRY, LIKE CHINA, BUT OUR TRADING PARTNER. Those who objected to that war want to Support Our Troops" by bringing them home out of harm's way. We need to actively resist mindless leaders who suggest that Weapons of Mass Destruction, never found in Iraq, are the cause of 911, and that every culture is eager to embrace our form of democracy. Our soldiers who are dying in Iraq are another "Inconvenient Truth" just as those in 1970 whose names are engraved on the Vietnam War Memorial.