Vietnam marks opening to markets

By Bill Hayton
BBC correspondent in Hanoi

The change has brought about an economic transformation

Vietnam is marking the 20th anniversary of the meeting at which the Communist Party decided to gradually abandon state socialism.

Faced with the possibility of collapse, the party decided to introduce a market economy.

The policy, known as doi moi, was intended to reverse Vietnam's decline.

That decline had brought the country close to famine as it dealt with the consequences of war and a US-backed economic embargo.

Vietnam today is now a very different place.

Free markets

When Vietnam's Communist Party ended its Sixth Congress, on 18 December 1986, few could have imagined the transformation which would follow.

Over the previous four decades the communists had fought the armies of France, Japan, the United States, Cambodia and China but run the economy into the ground - food production had collapsed and industry was stagnant.

The Communist Party decided to give more freedom to the market - although not to political opponents.

The beginnings were small and at one point the reforms nearly collapsed.

But, particularly in the past 10 years, Vietnam has boomed.

It intends to become a middle income country in five years time - an extraordinarily rapid transformation.

Change is causing tension, particularly in the countryside which is doing less well than the cities. But there is still no let-up in political control.

Ironically, the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is becoming a capitalist playground with a well-educated and well-disciplined workforce.

More and more multi-national companies are trying to benefit from its young population and an economy currently growing at 8% a year.

Economic growth is creating a new middle class and privatisation is reducing the number of people dependent on the state for their livelihoods.

The Communist Party is having to work ever-harder to maintain loyalty and control.

But, so long as it continues to deliver on the economy very few are motivated to question its leadership.