Vietnam Development Report 2019 : Connecting Vietnam for Growth and Shared Prosperity
Globally, Vietnam is among the most open economies with a trade-to-GDP ratio of 190 percent in 2018. Through the removal of both tariff and non-tariff barriers and fulfilling its commitment in several regional trade agreements, the country has made...
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| Language: | English |
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Hanoi: Hong Duc Publishing
2020
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/590451578409008253/Vietnam-Development-Report-2019-Connecting-Vietnam-for-Growth-and-Shared-Prosperity http://hdl.handle.net/10986/33139 |
| Summary: | Globally, Vietnam is among the most open
economies with a trade-to-GDP ratio of 190 percent in 2018.
Through the removal of both tariff and non-tariff barriers
and fulfilling its commitment in several regional trade
agreements, the country has made remarkable achievements in
trade liberalization. Vietnam’s major trade partners located
in East Asia, North America, and Europe are reached mostly
by sea or air. Trade with bordering neighbors is limited and
thus trade across border-crossing points is minimal except
for northern borders with China, which has seen growth in
recent years. The country’s trade flows are concentrated at
twelve of its 48 border gates—two airports, five seaports
and five border crossing points—which collectively handled
86 percent of total trade value in 2016.1 As the trade
grows, congestion at and near these international gateways
and border-crossing points has also increased. In addition
to the current major trade partners, various regional trade
relations and connectivity initiatives are relevant to
Vietnam, including with Southeast Asian neighbors, and South
Asia—particularly India—over land, given the rapidly growing
trade relationships. In the meantime, Vietnam’s transport
network has undergone a significant expansion over the past
decades. The most remarkable development in network
expansion has occurred in the road sector. As of 2016 the
total length of the road network, excluding village roads,
reached over 300,000 km, including about 1,000 km of
expressways—a fully access-controlled toll road system.
Vietnam is endowed with an extensive network of natural
waterways, including nearly 16,000 km of managed navigable
routes carrying significant traffic around the Red River
Delta and Mekong Delta areas. However, only about 2,600 km
of the waterways can reliably handle barges greater than 300
deadweight tons, with rudimentary terminal infrastructure at
most of its numerous river ports. Vietnam's century-old
railway system is mostly single-tracked and non-electrified,
which has remained unchanged over the past decades with very
limited capital investments |
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