Vietnam emerges as a rising powerhouse in Asia: UAE paper

According to the Khaleej Times, through the leadership of the Communist Party of Vietnam, the country can be viewed as a global success story due to domestic economic growth being among the world’s strongest over the past decade.

Upon assessing Vietnamese economic achievements, the article states that many international organisations have recently praised the country for being "a legendary story", "a rising star", or "the brightest economy" in Asia.

These achievements have therefore been recognised and appreciated by members of the international community.

The UAE publication also quotes the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) as saying that Vietnam has created a ‘miraculous story’ in poverty reduction. The Southeast Asian nation recorded a human development index (HDI) of 0.63 in 2019, ranking 118th out of 189 countries worldwide, and among the group of countries with the highest HDI growth rate globally.

The article also outlines that Vietnam finished eighth in the list of the world's best economies to invest in back in 2019, a rise of 15 places compared to 2018. Indeed, its competitiveness ranked 67th out of 141 countries and territories by the World Economic Forum (WEF), a climb of 10 notches compared to 2018.

The media outlet notes that according to a recent report from the World Bank (WB), between 2010 and 2020 Vietnam’s human capital index increased from 0.66 to 0.69, a score which continues to be higher than the average rate of countries with the same income level.

The Khaleej Times also reviews the United Nations Sustainable Development Report 2020, which indicates that Vietnam is the only nation in Southeast Asia to meet the five UN action targets. This includes measures aimed at reducing CO2 emissions, promoting renewable power, and improving resilience to combat climate change. The nation’s annual average GDP growth reached 6% during the 2016 to 2020 period, along with achievements recorded in education-training, science-technology, culture and social affairs, with the local poverty rate dropping to below 3%.

“More importantly, in the context of a devastating pandemic throughout the world, 2020 witnessed Vietnam stand out as an outlier, praised globally for excellent pandemic control and keeping losses to the economy and human lives to a minimum. The country has been seen as a bright spot in a bleak picture of the world economy, becoming one of the 10 economies with the highest GDP growth in 2020”, the Khaleej Times reports.

“The story of Vietnam's successful COVID-19 fight is hardly a miracle, however, what it did was take some simple and straightforward measures like imposing travel restrictions, contact tracing and social distancing. But what made this work were the Communist Party of Vietnam's effective leadership and social unity and cohesion”, the article concludes.