Word: minh
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Although Bush plans to visit the thriving stock exchange in Ho Chi Minh City--formerly Saigon--this country is still officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. As protocol demanded, he met with the General Secretary of the Communist Party and was photographed with a massive bust of the revolutionary leader Ho Chi Minh. The President said one of the most poignant moments of the trip was passing the lake that Senator John McCain, as a Navy pilot, was pulled from after his plane was hit while on a bombing run. "He suffered a lot as a result of his imprisonment...
...Some U.S. companies are already taking notice. Last week, Intel announced plans to invest $1 billion in building the world's largest microchip assembly factory in Ho Chi Minh City, formerly known as Saigon. Factories contracted by Nike employ 160,000 people, and recently increased their annual production to 70 million pairs of shoes, making Vietnam the world's second-largest source of Nike sneakers. (China is the largest.) The attraction for investors is obvious: Vietnam's labor force is educated, young and growing, while wages are even lower than in China's coastal cities. And the repressive political climate...
...larger "super-container" ships, most exports must first go to Singapore before shipping to the U.S. and Europe, meaning more expense and delay. "The system is definitely under strain," Tucker says, and with the expected post-WTO export surge, "it's only going to get worse." Le Cong Minh, general director of Saigon Port, says there are plans to spend $600 million for upgrades, including a deep-water port at Cai Mep on the southern coast, by 2010. But the project has yet to be approved...
...graft cases in the first nine months of this year. Some investors grumble the government is still apt to make sudden changes in taxes, for instance, without notice. "Information is a big issue," says Dominic Scriven, director of Dragon Capital, an investment-banking firm in Ho Chi Minh City. "What you thought was true in January, may no longer be true in December...
...Despite the uncertainties, optimism over Vietnam's economic prospects runs deep. Last week, Intel announced it would increase its investment in a planned computer-chip-assembly and testing plant to $1 billion, tripling the company's original commitment. Upon completion, the 500,000-square-foot facility in Ho Chi Minh City will be the largest of its kind in the world. "I think Vietnam is doing all the right things," says Rick Howarth, Intel's country production manager. Says Scriven of Dragon Capital: "This is one of the most pro-change places I've been in. But there is time...