Vietnam is one of Asia's fastest-growing economies and gross domestic product increased 8.2 per cent last year. Admission to the World Trade Organisation has been a key development.

But former deputy prime minister Vu Khoan told the business and economic summit there were many challenging problems that required solving quickly. These included an inadequate and inconsistent legal system, complex administrative procedures and an incompetent and corrupt civil service. Khoan is now a special envoy for Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung. He was among several government ministers and 450 local and international delegates at the conference. It is co-organised by Asia News Network, a grouping of 16 regional newspapers.

Khoan said the government's 10-year plan to reform public finance, the legal system, administration and bureaucracy kicked off in 2001.

Vietnam votes for a new parliament next month. The National Assembly has passed 84 laws in the past five years. Government bodies have been slashed to 39 from 70, Khoan told the meeting.

It is vital education reform is implemented because it produces the human resources vital for development, according to Education and Training Minister Nguyen Thien Nhan.

He said the workforce was perceived as hard-working but poorly trained. Skilled workers make up just 30 per cent of the labour pool, he said.

Education's biggest challenge is increasing standards to international levels, Nhan explained. To achieve this, Vietnam will start training the trainers and between this year and 2010 overhaul teacher training.

In addition, it is aiming for 20,000 doctoral graduates over the next 13 years with half of those trained abroad, he said. Vietnam welcomes foreign investment in education, Nhan added.

Emphasising economic growth must not blind Vietnam to inequality of income, University of Naples scholar Pietro Masina warned. Excessive "income polarisation" threatens national solidarity, he added.

"Equitisation of state-owned enterprises might allow some individuals to reap huge profits.

"But employees may be persuaded to sell their shares at prices lower than those eventually traded on the stork market, thereby creating conditions for frustration and mass discontent," Masina said.

Masina has written a book on development in Vietnam. He said Vietnam shared many reform features with China, which was experiencing serious income polarisation. The income ratio between the richest and poorest 10 per cent is practically two times higher in China than Vietnam, he said.

Supalak Ganjanakhundee

The Nation

HO CHI MINH CITY