For foreign investors, his words were treated as a huge rubber stamp for Vietnam's economic modernisation. Since 1989, his group has invested over US$700 million (Bt24.3 billion) in various infrastructure projects. Currently, it is one of the largest foreign investors in Vietnam.

Vikrom Kromadit, CEO of Amata Group, was quick to second Ting's confident assessment of Vietnam and expressed his wish that Thailand would set forth policies similar to those in Vietnam. "Vietnam attracts foreign investors because people in the government are determined to do so. They welcome 100-per-cent ownership," said Vikrom, who is currently the largest Thai investor in Vietnam.

The Thai government is too bureaucratic and lethargic, he said. Vikrom told The Nation Vietnam would be able to catch up with Thailand very soon in every way. "Vietnam has offered better conditions and incentives for foreign investors than Thailand," he said. One vivid example he gave was the meteoric rise of Taiwanese investment in Vietnam, which has surpassed the $10 billion mark in only 10 years. The same amount of Taiwanese investment in Thailand took over four decades.

A senior Thai banker praised the openness of Vietnam's financial market, which has facilitated foreign investment since the doi moi (renewal) policy was announced 20 years ago. Vietnam now has a total of 38 private banks, and 33 foreign banks - impressive numbers in comparison to Thailand. Such sentiments are being expressed over and over again these days by foreign investors, academics and journalists.

On Monday, over 500 guests, including 70 Thai investors attended the one-day conference, known as the Vietnam New Economic Forum, to explore economic opportunities in Vietnam. Foreign investors and foreign exports who spoke at the forum were unanimously optimistic about the country's future economic growth. Last year, its economic index was second in Asia at 8.2 per cent and it attracted $10.2 billion in investments. Now, more investments are expected to come this year and in the future, taking advantage of Vietnam's having joined the World Trade Organisation in January of this year.

Indeed, the Vietnamese government is trying to do everything it can to attract foreign investors, including overseas Vietnamese, or Viet khieu as they are known in the country. To encourage these people to return to their homeland, Hanoi is planning a visa-free entry scheme for those planning to stay in Vietnam for more than six months each visit. With more than five million Viet khieu spread around the globe, Vietnam wants to garner their wealth of knowledge, experience and financial resources. Although the number of those returning to Vietnam has increased, the government hopes more will do so in the future. If they choose to stay longer and participate in nation-building, the country would benefit most from their investment and management skills.

To obtain a competitive edge and confront future challenges, Vietnamese leaders know well that there must be major changes in the country's education policies, especially in the fields of technology and English-language training. Listening to Nguyen Tien Nhan, Vietnam's education minister, one has the strong impression that Vietnam will emerge in the next years as Asean's leading nation because by that time there will be some 20,000 PhD students in the country, with half of them dispatched abroad for further education and training. For the next three years, at least one million teachers would be retrained with new teaching techniques, he said.

Vietnam, he said, needed to develop its human resources in radical ways to feed economic expansion and keep up with competition in the region and the world. Within months of resuming his position, Nhan came out with a new syllabus and educational innovations to be used to educate future generations of Vietnamese students. With over 53 per cent (some estimates say 65 per cent) of its population of 85 million under the age of 35, this was a sensible policy to execute. "The young generation will be speaking English and will be well versed in IT," he said.

Where is Vietnam heading? The Vietnamese Communist Party has made it clear that it wants the country to become industrialised by 2020 with a more egalitarian society. Ayumi Konishi, country director for the Asian Development Bank, said Vietnam had been successful in reducing its poverty level from 58 per cent in 1993 to nearly 28 per cent in 1996 and an estimated 18 per cent last year.

A reality check is needed. I asked a friend I've known for two decades to take me around to check out new things in Ho Chi Minh City. We stopped at the Ciao Cafe along Ngo Duc Ke Road in District One, which is equipped with free Wi-Fi Internet. It is a coffee shop with lots of books. Youngsters love this place, where a cup of coffee can be had for $2 and the Internet is free. We looked through commemorative books on the Battle of Dien Bien Phu, the Vietnam War (particularly works by Doan Con Tinh ) and old photos of Ho Chi Minh, which we knew full well were things of the past. They remind the people here of what they've been through. She said that nobody worried about the future. "We are making money so very few people are interested in politics. Why should they be? The economy is good - why let politics become a spoiler?"

One of the clearest signs that the economy is vibrant is the increasing number of home-grown restaurants. New local restaurants are mushrooming, trying to tap the pockets of growing numbers of middle-income families and tourists. Indigenous dishes have resurfaced with a longer list of fusion food from the East and West.

Not everything went smoothly though. Two brown outs occurred while we were taking a stroll at a local department store near the Opera House. This is common. My friend told me that there is one "electricity free" day per week in certain quarters within Ho Chi Minh. "It will rotate from one district to the other," she said.

Kavi Chongkittavorn

The Nation

Ho Chi Minh City