|
OPINION
From the December 24, 2004 print edition
Guest Opinion
Vietnam shakes off 'American War,' moves forward
Ed Carroll
The
people of Vietnam will soon celebrate the 30th anniversary of the
end to the Vietnam War. (In Vietnam, the war is referred to as the
American War.) Things have changed here in the last 30 years. Vietnam
today is a country the size of Italy with a population the size
of Germany -- and has one of the most enviable economic growth rates
in the world.
Interestingly, more than 60 percent of the population
is under the age of 30, which means that most of the people living
in Vietnam today are too young to remember the fighting.
With the
characteristic energy of youth, this young nation is pushing hard
to build a future where Vietnam is a global competitor and America
is a top trading partner. One area in particular is in providing
outsourcing services to American businesses looking for faster,
better, cheaper ways to make their products. Hanoi is a bustling
city of 3.5 million, where the mixture of old
Hanoi is a bustling city of 3.5 million, where the mixture of old and new is in constant evolution. One of the first sights to strike the first-time traveler here is the amount of rubble piled in seeming random patterns around stacks of new brick -- the amount of new growth construction can only be described as astounding.
New streets, new office complexes and new homes are going up everywhere one looks in this key industrial and government center. Vietnamese tend to invest in land becauseof an old wariness of banks, which drives up land prices and is fueling a building boom.
To see more please click
here. The document requires pdf
reader
|
