ABSTRACT
In mid-1990s Vietnam seemed to be blessed by a benign fate and was looking forward to a prosperous future. Mter decades of war and international isolation, the country was restoring and enhancing relations with neighbours and the rest of the world. The economy was striving with the GDP growing at more than 9 per cent per year; the flow of foreign direct investment was accelerating. The country could jump from rice importer to a position as the world's second largest exporter of the product. The poverty rate was declining. All these positive achievements were considered as a result of doi moi-the process of economic reform - and of the successful cooperation between the country and the international financial institutions. And Vietnam, like other countries in the region, was embracing the dream of becoming the 'fifth tiger', Le., joining the club of the fast-growing newly industrializing economies (NIEs).
