The Emerging Legal Framework For Private Sector Development In Vietnam S Transitional Economy

Private (especially foreign) investors find Vietnam's legal framework the most serious impediment to investment. Policy changes to reverse the former command system may be enough to initiate the transition. But without an appropriate legal framework, they will be insufficient for long-term development.A major objective of Vietnam's transition to a market economy has been to reactivate the private sector in a mixed economy. Several new laws have been introduced in the past five years to implement this policy and to create an enabling environment for the private sector. Thuyet reviews some of the more important laws and regulations that affect Viet Nam's private sector activities, including laws on real property, intellectual property, companies, domestic investment, foreign investment, bankruptcy, contracts, and dispute resolution. Anti-monopoly law has not yet been introduced in Vietnam. The issue of competition is addressed in the context of trade law, the relative roles of the state and private sector, and restrictions in company law. These areas all establish the foundation of a legal framework for a market economy. Among Thuyet's conclusions:Vietnam's legal framework, like China's, is still influenced by ideology, which causes problems in such areas as private ownership of real property and with such fundamental legal concepts as due process of law.The private sector is constrained by the lack of an independent judiciary, the absence of private land ownership, other uncertainties in property law that limit the development of financial markets, and the inherent bias of the system in favor of the state sector (and collective ownership).A law-abiding attitude, equally important to development, has been slow to develop.Vietnam's foreign investment process is too complicated, and its company law too restrictive. A first priority should be to streamline regulations.Vietnam has been slow to privatize its state enterprises, another step essential for development. Trade policy also needs to be liberalized.Export processing zones may be a useful interim instrument to attract foreign investment but should be phased out over time. More important in the long term is a good investment climate resting on a strong legal foundation.This paper - a product of the Transition Economics Division, Policy Research Department - is part of a larger effort in the department to understand the legal and institutional requirements for transition from socialism to a market economy.

This book is the first comprehensive assessment of the mortality crisis which has affected most economies in transition but which has remained so far largely unexplained. It reconciles long-term and short-term explanations of the crisis and makes use of special micro data-sets never used before. By providing a rigorous multidisciplinary analysis of this upsurge in mortality rates, the book hopes to contribute to the launch of vigorous policies to tackle this societal problem.

The monograph covers the issues related to the evolution of land tenure systems, land reforms, the main features of formal land law that is in force in the various legal systems of the countries of South, East, and Southeast Asia, and customary land rights. The current state of land law in Asian countries: land rights, the provision and suspension of these rights, the relationship between formal law and customary land tenure systems, the problems of recognizing customary communal land rights are analyzed. For students, graduate students and teachers of law schools, employees of legislative, executive and judicial authorities, as well as for all those interested in issues of land, civil law and comparative jurisprudence.

This work examines the effects of financial liberalization of the more advanced economies in Southeast Asia and analyses the degree to which emerging and transitional economies in East and South Asia can benefit from this example.

Thirty years of Ä?ổi Má»›i (economic renovation) reforms have catapulted Vietnam from the ranks of the world’s poorest countries to one of its great development success stories. Critical ingredients have been visionary leaders, a sense of shared societal purpose, and a focus on the future. Starting in the late 1980s, these elements were successfully fused with the embrace of markets and the global economy. Economic growth since then has been rapid, stable, and inclusive, translating into strong welfare gains for the vast majority of the population. But three decades of success from reforms raises expectations for the future, as aptly captured in the Vietnamese constitution, which sets the goal of “a prosperous people and a strong, democratic, equitable, and civilized country.†? There is a firm aspiration that by 2035, Vietnam will be a modern and industrialized nation moving toward becoming a prosperous, creative, equitable, and democratic society. The Vietnam 2035 report, a joint undertaking of the Government of Vietnam and the World Bank Group, seeks to better comprehend the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead. It shows that the country’s aspirations and the supporting policy and institutional agenda stand on three pillars: balancing economic prosperity with environmental sustainability; promoting equity and social inclusion to develop a harmonious middle- class society; and enhancing the capacity and accountability of the state to establish a rule of law state and a democratic society. Vietnam 2035 further argues that the rapid growth needed to achieve the bold aspirations will be sustained only if it stands on faster productivity growth and reflects the costs of environmental degradation. Productivity growth, in turn, will benefit from measures to enhance the competitiveness of domestic enterprises, scale up the benefits of urban agglomeration, and build national technological and innovative capacity. Maintaining the record on equity and social inclusion will require lifting marginalized groups and delivering services to an aging and urbanizing middle-class society. And to fulfill the country’s aspirations, the institutions of governance will need to become modern, transparent, and fully rooted in the rule of law.