Like other developing countries, the poor qualifications of human resources are a large barrier to Vietnam’s economic growth.

According to Deputy Director of the Dinh Vu Port Joint Venture Company Carlos Nascimenton, young people aged below 30 account for 70 percent of Vietnam’s population. However, the country will continue to miss good opportunities for development in the near future if such great potential is not tapped effectively. The Vietnamese Government should take drastic measures to invest and improve the quality of education and training, particularly at universities and vocational training centres.

Apart from increasing the quality of human resources, poor infrastructure is hindering the inflows of FDI into the economy with many projects, which have large volumes of capital invested but have failed to disburse.

Judging from experiences from developed countries, a nation, which wants to maintain a rapid and sustainable growth, needs a plan for infrastructure development, which is one step in the strategy for socio-economic development.

Over the past few years, despite remarkable progress, Vietnam’s infrastructure has failed to keep pace with economic growth due to its outdated road, seaport and power supply systems. This has led to concern among foreign investors even before they have analysed investment opportunities in the country. Therefore, the Vietnamese Government needs to create favourable conditions for attracting domestic and foreign inflows of investment capital by dealing with unresolved issues in 2007 as soon as possible.

However, Chief representative of the US Fina&Sipc Financial Group in Southeast Asia Lowell Gettman says that weaknesses in Vietnam’s infrastructure development offer an opportunity for foreign business groups to invest in this field. In spite of some shortcomings, there is no denying that the Vietnamese economy has proved to be extremely attractive. The country is considered as an ideal destination for foreign investors through an impressive figure of approximately US$20.3 billion in FDI attraction in 2007 and the figure is predicted to be even higher by the end of this year after major projects are implemented.

To make this come true, relevant agencies need to develop planning and forecasting work. According to Director of the Northern Investment Promotion Centre under the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI) Hoang Van Huan, localities are still in a difficult position to manage land funds and resolve land acquisition-related issues. He says the important task for them in 2008 is to adopt bold measures aimed at harmonising the interests of investors and localities.

2008 is seen as a pivotal year in the 2006-2010 plan for socio-economic development. Therefore, administrations at all levels need to boost close and flexible cooperation in facilitating the attraction and effective use of FDI.

Source: VOV