Vietnam Praised for Economic Reforms

Craig Mundie, chief research and strategy officer of Microsoft Corp., makes an address at the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) CEO summit in Hanoi, Friday, Nov. 17, 2006. As a sideline of the annual Pacific Rim summit, business leaders discussed economic climate in the region under the theme of "Towards One Community." (AP Photo/Apichart Weerawong) (Apichart Weerawong - AP)

Salvaging the current Doha round of negotiations toward a global agreement on dismantling trade barriers has been a major focus of the APEC gathering, with the 21 members pledging to consider concessions on farm trade that left the talks in a deadlock in July.

The former head of the World Trade Organization, Supachai Panitchpakdi, on Friday urged trade negotiators to lower their demands and take small steps in a bid to break the deadlock.

"I don't think the (world) can afford to stand by and let the Doha round go down the drain," Supachai, now heads of the U.N. Conference on Trade and Development, told the more than 1,000 business executives.

"So let's do quiet diplomacy. Let's achieve a little bit and then move on, achieve a little bit and then move on," he said. "Development is the middle name of the Doha agenda, so don't shortchange the whole round of negotiations of development."

Spurred by exhortations from APEC, the WTO's 149 members met Thursday in Geneva for the first time in four months to discuss the possibility of resuming talks.

"Clearly, business and industry want the removal of obstacles, so with the Doha round, business is saying, 'Yeah, we're ready. We're just waiting for governments to get their act together,'" said DHL's Price.

While executives say regulations still slow down business in Vietnam, foreign investment is growing as the economy opens up.

Vietnam's thinnest times came after the Vietnam War ended in 1975 and the communists united the country. Cut off by an economic embargo, the economy stagnated under a rigid, centrally planned system. People lined up to wait for rice and other goods and faced police action if they sold anything on the free market.

The country still faces daunting obstacles, however, in building up infrastructure and training its workers for the newly capitalist-style economy.

"New challenges from terrorism, pandemics, natural disasters and technological inequality threaten the sustainability of regional prosperity," said Vu Tien Loc, president of the APEC CEO summit and chairman of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry. "We believe that worldwide prosperity can only be achieved through shared opportunities and shared development."