Foreign press hails Vietnam’s economic stability during pandemic. (Photo: VNA)

Nikkei Asia Review noted that despite the pandemic, Vietnam’s manufacturing sector has shown its ability of recovering quickly and steadily. With the open nature of the market, the signing of many free trade agreements, especially the European Union and Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA), the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), promised to bring big growth opportunities. Vietnam, as well as other Southeast Asian countries like Thailand, stand out for success in preventing the pandemic.

However, the latest estimates from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) showed that Vietnam’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2020 increased by 2.9%, while the Thai economy declined by 7.8%. Due to its larger market size and cheaper labor costs, Vietnam has surpassed Thailand in terms of total foreign direct investment (FDI) and export value.

The Financial Express cited the Economist Intelligence Unit report, which notes that Vietnam has emerged as a low-cost manufacturing base in the Asian supply chain, outperforming India and even China in terms of numerous indicators, including FDI policies, foreign trade and foreign exchange controls.

The Star newspaper (Malaysia) ran an article reflecting that Vietnam successfully signed many contracts with European partners and RCEP member countries on rice supply.

Jakarta Post (Indonesia) highly hailed the rise of e-commerce in Vietnam during the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite the fact that cash is still as important as before, the number of mobile payments in the first eight months of 2020 increased 10 times compared to the whole of 2019./.

BTA