With a vibrant, young and educated workforce, availability of natural resources, and it geographical advantages, the country has the necessary ingredients to join the world economy. Through its political stability, Vietnam is able to replicate, in part, the China model of pursuing a socialist market economy.

The country's willingness to open up and integrate with the world is evidenced by its recent accession as the 150th member of the World Trade Organization and Vietnam's success in being elected to the 15-member United Nations Security Council.

Vietnam's impressive GDP growth rates is a phenomena that has replayed itself over the past ten years. During this period, the government has been very proactive in instituting policies and programs to achieve its annual GDP growth targets.

As illustrated above, within the recent past, the actual GDP growth rates have either exceeded government forecasts or are within 25 basis points of such outlooks. For fiscal year 2008, the Vietnamese government forecasts that GDP will grow 8.5 to 9 percent.