|
Living and
Working in Vietnam
A
guide with information and recommendations to help
you prepare your trip Political
Status Vietnam is a socialist republic with a
National Assembly. There is only one political
party.
The President (presently Tran Duc Luong) is elected
for four years by the National Assembly.
The General Secretary of the Party is Le Kha
Phieu.
There are 395 members in the Assembly, elected for
a 5 year term of office by general election,
executive power is held by the Prime Minister, who
is elected by the Assembly. The present Prime
Minister is Phan Van Khai.
Historical outline :
From 111 BC until 939 AD, Vietnam was annexed
by the Chinese Han.
Following the relatively solid dynasties of the
medieval period (the Ly, the Tran, the Lê),
the imperial state employed a policy of division
between the ruling lords.
In the 19th century, with the coming to power of
the Nguyen dynasty (1802), the Emperor was able to
assume his authority again and the Viet country was
again united.
In spite of a chaotic political history, Vietnam
was a real nation from a very early date, due to a
coherent social structure : the administrative
state was built on the Confucian model of the
Emperor, the family and the village.
Hoping to get a foot in Asia, France sent in troops
in 1843.
In 1867 the Mekong Delta became a French colony and
from there the French went on to occupy the whole
of the Indochinese peninsula.
In 1887 the Indochinese Union was created, uniting
the kingdom of Cambodia, Cochinchina (a colony),
the kingdom of Annam and Tonkin (protectorates),
and in 1892 Laos was incorporated.
Several
anti-colonial movements started up during the 20th
century.
In 1941 Hô Chi Minh founded the Viet Minh, a
Vietnamese communist party, which, with the support
of the rural populations, embarked on guerrilla
warfare.
In 1945 Vietnam was occupied by the Japanese who
declared the country independent under the Emperor
Bao Dai, in order to slow down the progress of the
allied troups of the Free French in Indochina.
From 1945 to 1954 the French tried to maintain
their authority over the country and fought the
Viet Minh who finally defeated them at the Battle
of Dien Bien Phu in May 1954.
The Geneva agreement marked the end of the
Indochina war, the French left the country and the
country was divided between the Democratic Republic
of Vietnam in the north, led by Hô Chi Minh,
and the State of Vietnam in the south, which became
the Republic of Vietnam in 1955 following the
overthrow of the Emperor Bao Dai by Dîem.
In the south the Viet-cong started guerrilla
operations which menaced the American interests in
the country, America then intervened with a
military force in 1965. They fought in Vietnam
until 1975, leaving the country after the overthrow
of Saigon which marked the final victory of the
Viet-cong and the
re-unification of the country.
Geographical situation
Vietnam is a long strip of mountainous land on the
edge of Indochina overlooking the China Sea.
It has a total surface of 331,114 square kilometers
and a population of 76,520,000 inhabitants, giving
a population density of 235 people per sq. km.
Vietnam is crossed by large hydrographical basins
which transform its two huge plains into rich
granaries: the Red River delta in the north,
irrigating Hanoi, and the Mekong delta in the
south, where Hô Chi Minh-Ville (ex-Saigon) is
situated.
- the Red River delta (the Bac Bo plain) covers a
surface of about 15,000 sq. kms. and is formed by
alluvium washed down by the Red River and the Thai
Binh River. It is the cradle of the ancient
Vietnamese civilization and of irrigated rice
cultivation.
- the Mekong delta (the Nam Bo plain) covers an
area of 36,000 sq. kms. and is very fertile with a
good climate. It is the biggest rice growing area
in the the country.
The Vietnamese territory is crisscrossed by
thousands of waterways, both big and small. A 20
kms wide rivermouth opens up along the coast,
permitting easy river navigation.
It is bordered on the west by Laos and Cambodia
with which it shares the benefits of the Mekong
River, on the north by China and on the east and
south is the Gulf of Tonkin and the South China
Sea. The coast stretches for 3,260 kms and the
interior boundaries for 3,700 kms. The country is
1,650 kms long, with a maximum width of 600 kms and
a minimum width of 50 kms. The centre is made up of
mountain chains which cover three quarters of the
country.
There are 4 main mountain regions :
- the north-east : from the valley of the Red River
to the gulf of Bac Bo. The highest peak in this
region is the Tay Con Linh (2,430 m).
- the north-west : from the Chinese borders to the
west of the province of Thanh Hoa. It is in this
region that there is the old battle field of Dien
Bien Phu, and also the Mt Phan Si Pan, which at
3,143 m is the highest peak in Vietnam.
- the Northern Truong Son range stretches from the
west of the province of Thanh Hoa to the mountain
region of Quang Nam-Da Nang. The Ho Chi Minh trail
goes through this region.
- the Southern Truong Son range is situated to the
west of the southern Trung Bo provinces.
As a continuation of the mountain ranges there is a
huge region called Tay Nguyen (the high plateaus of
the centre).
There are also archipelagos made up of thousands of
little islands spread from north to south, e.g.
Hoang Sa (Paracels) and Truong Sa (Spratley).
Economy
GDP per capita : 370 dollars
Purchasing parity : 1,400 dollars
Average salary in a Vietnamese company : 12 dollars
per month
The
Main Economic Indicators
|
|
1997
|
1998
|
1999
|
2000
|
|
economic
growth (%)
|
8.2
|
5.8
|
4.5
|
4,7
|
|
inflation
(%)
|
5.0
|
7.0
|
6.1
|
6.5
|
|
public
balance/GDP (%)
|
-2.4
|
-2.6
|
-
2.8
|
na
|
|
exports
(billions $)
|
9.1
|
9.4
|
10.7
|
12.5
|
|
imports
(billions $)
|
10.5
|
10.3
|
9.9
|
11.2
|
|
trade
balance (billions $)
|
-1.3
|
-1
|
0.8
|
1.3
|
|
current
balance (billions $)
|
-1.7
|
-1.1
|
0.8
|
0.8
|
|
external
debt (- the Russian debt) (billions
$)
|
9.5
|
10.2
|
10.0
|
10.3
|
Vietnam remains one of the poorest countries in
the world. Its economy is essentially rural and
agricultural, 80% of the population make a living
from the land. This causes enormous disparities
between the town and the countryside.
Until the Asian crisis, the 1987 'renewal' policy
(Doi Moi) was attracting foreign investment. The
country really needs this investment, but the
investors are discouraged by the lack of real
change in the legal and administrative sectors. As
there are so few local investors, the country
depends on foreign loans and investments and these
are unfortunately on the decline. In 1996 direct
foreign investment represented about 8 billion
dollars, in 1999 the amount dropped to 1.4 billion,
a drop which is not only due to the Asian crisis.
It is absolutely necessary to continue with the
reform policies (administrative, bank and
commercial regulations, privatizations, etc) and
the fact that they have bogged down recently is the
main reason for the disillusion of the lenders and
the investors.
The dual price system for Vietnamese and foreigners
is being brought to an end, the price of certain
services (e.g. telephone and electricity) and some
administrative charges have gone down, sometimes
considerably e.g. to open a sales office, the
charges are now 1 million dongs, which equals about
70 dollars, instead of the 5,000 dollars that it
cost before.
France is the sixth biggest investor (the leading
European one) and has invested over 1.7 billion
dollars. The big French groups are represented :
France Telecom, Vivendi, Suez-Lyonnais des Eaux,
Campenon-Bernard-SGE, Rhône Pouenc, Potasses
d'Alsace, TotalFina.
The State, the public sector and the banks have
major cashflow problems. The authorities are
determined to de-dollarize the Vietnamese
economy.
The low labour costs are good for competition but
the social inequalities are growing and so are the
troubles in some of the villages.
There are problems on the labour market, due mainly
to the rise in the the agricultural production,
which is more and more mechanized, but also to the
dismissal of administrative and public agents, as
well as the demobilization of about half a million
soldiers since 1989. The rate of unemployment is
estimated at about 20% of the working population,
and the rate of under-employment is 40%
Hopefully this excessive labour force will be
absorbed into the growing Vietnamese economy, into
the new industrial sectors which are opening up,
into the expanding service sector (a large
development in tourism) and by the starting up of
major infrastructural works, largely financed by
official development aid. This is however a long
term forecast, as the working population is
presently under-qualified for the new types of jobs
proposed.
The Vietnamese economy which is already not very
competitive and is handicapped by an inefficient
and debt ridden public sector has nevertheless
suffered from the reduction in the Asian demand and
the currency devaluations in the region. The
country has only been able to avoid payment
difficulties due to a combination of a drop in
imports, the recent starting up again of local
demand and the rises in the price of petrol.
Vietnam presents numerous possibilies : a market of
nearly 80 million consumers, a huge labour force
which is largely young and educated (the literacy
rate is comparable to that of developed countries),
a privileged geographical situation in the heart of
south-east Asia, with its thousands of miles of
coastline and its means of communication which are
constantly improving, an efficient agricultural
sector and large quantities of prime materials.
Agriculture In the autumn of 1999 the
country suffered from its worst floods since dozens
of years, washing away a large part of the
crops.
Normally Vietnam exports rice, rubber and
coffee.
The countryside is full of about 3.5 million
landmines (25 years after the end of the war),
which makes farming still very dangerous.
(livestock in millions of head, wood in millions of
m3, other products in millions of tons)
|
|
1997
|
1998
|
1999
|
|
timber
|
35.720
|
36.232
|
na
|
|
coffee
|
0.421
|
0.409
|
0.487
|
|
rice
|
27.524
|
29.142
|
31.394
|
|
sugar
cane
|
11.921
|
13.844
|
17.840
|
|
tea
|
0.052
|
0.051
|
0.062
|
|
cattle
|
3.905
|
3.984
|
4.064
|
|
pigs
|
17.636
|
18.132
|
18.886
|
Forests
cover a large part of the territory. National
reserves are protected by the State and follow long
term development plans for ecological tourism.
These forests are spread over the country : Ba Vi
(Ha Tay), Cat Ba (Hai Phong), Cuc Phuong (Ninh
Binh), Bach Ma (Hue), Cat Tien (Dong Nai), Con
Dao.
There are rich sources of mineral waters in Quang
Hanh (Quang Ninh), Hoi Van (Binh Dinh), Vinh Hao
(Binh Thuan), Duc My (Nha Trang), Kim Boi (Hoa
Binh)...
Industry The low labour costs have
attracted several industries to Vietnam which had
been less competitive elsewhere in Asia, capital
from Taiwan and Hongkong has also built facturies,
textile and shoes, for export. But the heavy
bureaucracy and the still weak opening up of the
economy discourages foreign investors from
developing heavier or more advanced industries. It
takes about three years to get an investment
project completed.
In the service sectors the authorities are
permitting more and more often the setting up of
subsidiaries with 100% foreign capital : market
studies, marketing, auditing, chartered
accountants, insurance.
In their development of the infrastructures, the
authorities often use the BOT formula (Built
Operate Transfer). After having handed over the
power stations to foreign companies, Vietnam is
about to give over the management and the
distribution of water as well as the treatment of
waste in the biggest towns in the country.
Vietnam has mineral resouces. There are precious
veins of tin, zinc, silver, gold, antimony,
gemstones and coal. Its continental plateau is rich
in petrol and natural gas.
|
