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ii. Weaknesses
Corruption among government officials poses a major threat to the legitimacy of the ruling Communist Party.
There is increasing public dissatisfaction with the leadership's tight control over political dissent.
iii. Opportunities
The government recognizes the threat that corruption poses to its legitimacy, and has acted to clamp down on graft among party officials.
Vietnam has allowed legislators to become more vocal in criticizing government policies. This is opening up opportunities for more checks and balances within the one-party system.
iv. Threats
The sharp slowdown in growth expected in 2009 is likely to weigh on public acceptance of the one-party system, and street demonstrations to protest economic conditions could easily develop into a full-on challenge of undemocratic rule.
Although strong domestic control will ensure little change to Vietnam's political scene in the next few years, over the longer term, the one-party-state will probably be unsustainable.
2.6 Legal Framework
Following the open-door policy of 1986, Vietnam has enacted its Constitution in 1992 to strengthen legal institutions and to pave the way for its party-led economic reform. Vietnam improve its legal system in order to create a favorable environment for the development of a multi-sector market economy as well as a more open and stable investment environment. During recent years, many laws and regulations have been enacted to establish the legal framework for the open-door policy and to comply with the integration requirements of international agreements, of which the most important laws include:
the Civil Code (2005);
the Labor Code (1994, as amended in 2002 and 2006);
the Commercial Law (2005)
the Law on Enterprises (2005)
the Law on Investment (2005)
the Law on Credit Institutions (1997, as amended in 2004)
the Land Law (2004)
the Law on Accounting (2004)
Law on Real Estate (2006)
Law on Tax Administration (2006)
Law on Social Insurance (2006)
Law on Personal Income Tax (2007, effective as 1 January 2009)
Law on Corporate Income Tax (2009)
Law on Value Added Tax (2009
2.6.1 Main legislation for FDI
The main legislation governing foreign direct investment (FDI) activities are the Law on Investment and the Law on Enterprises in Vietnam.
With a view towards creating a comprehensive legal framework for FDI activities in accordance with international standards, Vietnam has signed and acceded to various bilateral and multilateral arrangements on investment, such as agreements for the promotion and protection of investment with 46 countries and territories, Framework Agreement on the ASEAN Investment Area (AIA), etc. The international agreements contain provisions inconsistent with the provisions of the legal instruments on FDI, the provisions of the international agreements shall be applied.
2.6.2 Court System
Vietnam has a two tier court system, including courts of first instances and courts of appeal. The judgments are then susceptible to further reviews under special circumstances. The court system consists of the Supreme Court, the provincial People’s Courts and the district People’s Courts. There are specialised courts at the Supreme Court and at the provincial level. These include the Criminal Court, Civil Court, Economic Court, Administrative Court and Labour Court.
The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court is elected by the National Assembly, has the term corresponding to the term of the National Assembly and can be re-elected. Other Justices of the Supreme Court are appointed and removable by the President and have the term of 5 years. The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court appoints and removes judges of the inferior courts.
Under the law, Vietnamese courts render their judgments independently. However, there are still many concerns on the independence of the courts.
The tribunal panels at the first instance are composed of both judges and people’s jurors (usually one judge and two people’s jurors). People’s jurors at each level are lay people elected by the People’s Council of the same level at the recommendation of the Vietnam Fatherland Front and could be re-elected. The participation of these jurors who are not qualified legal expert and who are elected by the local government raises questions on their capacity and on the influence of the local government on the court’s activities.
The law in 2002 centralized the appointment of the judges by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court instead of appointment by the local People’s Council. The budgeting of the local courts, previously decided by the provincial Departments of Justice, is now decided by the National Assembly. This hopefully will make the local courts more independent from the local government.
Another factor leading to the concerns on the independence of the courts is the unwritten practice of the local court requesting for opinion from the superior court in complex cases.
Judgments in Vietnam are not publicly published and it is difficult to get access to past judgments.
3.0 Economy analysis
Vietnam's economy has expanded rapidly since the Communist Party of Vietnam turned away from the communist economic policies in the 1980s. A sustained growth rate of around 8% for over 15 years shows great progression and has increasingly attract numbers of foreign investors. Vietnam received over US$20 billion of foreign direct investment in 2007, and there are almost 1,500 new projects licensed in the same year. Although the economy is developing at a rapid rate, entry costs for investors are still low, and cheap labor costs coupled with a young, literate workforce make business investment a very attractive and lucrative prospect.
The Vietnamese government has shown their commitment to economic liberalization and international integration. Structural reforms needed to modernize the economy have been implemented, helping to produce more competitive, export-driven industries. Vietnam joined the WTO in January 2007. This should give a major boost to Vietnam's export led economy and should spur on the country's economic liberalizing reforms.
However the recent global recession has hurt Vietnam's export-oriented economy with GDP growing less than the 7% per annum average achieved during the last decade. In 2009 exports fell nearly 10% year-on-year, prompting the government to consider adjustments to tariffs to limit the trade deficit. The government has used stimulus spending, including a subsidized lending program, to help the economy through the global financial crisis, and foreign donors have pledged $8 billion in new development assistance for 2010. Domestic investment grew 16% while committed foreign direct investment fell 70%, a steep reduction after 5 years of growth. Nevertheless, the weaker economy, current account deficit, and subdued foreign investment environment means Vietnam's managed currency, the dong, faced downward pressure through 2009, leading the government to devalue it by more than 5% in December. Initially from 2003 to 2006 Vietnam GDP real growth rate had gradually increased, which is 6%, 7.2%, 7.7%, 8.5%, respectively. However until 2009, the growth rate was fell dramatically from 8.5%(2008) to 6.2%.
3.1 Infrastructure of Vietnam
Highway system
The road system consists of over 200,000 km network including over 10,000 bridges. However road conditions are not ideal, less than half of the national highways have two lanes or more. In addition, road congestion is increasing in major cities. In recent years, the Government has mobilized a significantly large amount of capital to upgrade the highway system with financial support from international lending agencies.
Railway
The rail network consists of about 2,600 km of single–track line covering several routes. There are about 260 stations in the network. The longest and most important route is the Hanoi – Ho Chi Minh City line, which stretches for 1,730 km. This line is now serviced by an express train, which makes the journey in approximately 29.5 hours. The lines connecting Vietnam to China were re-opened a few years ago.
Inland Waterways
Often overlooked by foreign investors, the inland waterway system offers a cheap and flexible mode of transport. Vietnam has more than 2,300 rivers and canals with total length of 198.000 km. Currently, the inland waterway has a system of over 61,000 km.
The two major inland waterway systems serve as major transportation outlets. The first major inland waterway system is in the Red River area in the north which stretches for approximately 2,500 km. Along this system there are five main ports, of which Hanoi is the largest. The second major inland waterway extends 4,500 km along the Mekong River and its tributaries in the South and boasts about 30 ports, including Ho Chi Minh City. |
