Eyeing WTO Membership, Vietnam Girds for Change

HANOI — Vuong Cam Van, a marketing manager at a private food company here, could receive four months' paid maternity leave after giving birth in a few weeks.

But the 28-year-old says she will rush back to her job after a month.

Blame it on the WTO.

With Vietnam expected to join the World Trade Organization in the fall, companies and individuals are scrambling to prepare for economic upheaval. Some enterprises, such as Vietnam's state-owned telecommunications giant, are gearing up for mass layoffs.

But many Vietnamese see a golden opportunity ahead. They are polishing up their resumes and taking crash courses in hopes of contending -- and perhaps flourishing -- in a more open economy.

Vuong's employer, Trung Thanh Co., for the first time sent managers abroad to learn how Chinese and Japanese companies distribute their food products nationwide. Vuong recently completed six months of studies on business law.

There's too much to do to take a longer leave, Vuong said. "The WTO forces us to compete," she said, moving gingerly in the company's office on the southern outskirts of the city.

For this nation of 84 million people, the WTO could provide the biggest economic test since Hanoi introduced \o7doi moi \f7in 1986. That policy of "renovation" dismantled collective farms and opened up trade, setting the socialist country on a path toward market reforms much like those of its northern neighbor, China.

Vietnamese leaders want to secure their WTO bid by November, when they host President Bush and Asian leaders for this year's gathering of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum. Together, APEC and WTO are seen here as Vietnam's coming-out party.

Although membership in the 149-nation trading body will open up markets for Vietnam, it also will require the nation to remove barriers to foreign companies in banking, retail and other industries.

"My single biggest fear is Vietnamese competitiveness," said Tran Dinh Thien, associate professor at the Vietnam Institute of Economics, a state-run think tank. "The problem is, how do we compete with other, stronger countries? How do we take advantage of the opportunities?"

Vietnamese, young and old, regard entry to the WTO as a source of national pride, evidence that the country has emerged from its colonial and war-torn past.