A New Year firework show in HCM City, one of the major economic hubs of Vietnam (Illustrative image. Photo: VNA)

It spotlighted Vietnam's efforts in maintaining economic activities amid the pandemic, which made the country one of the Asian economies recording the highest growth in 2020.

The article noted that in 2020, Vietnam signed three free trade agreements (FTA), and saw the introduction of another airline, while rising to the sixth position in Southeast Asia in terms of per capita income.

It noted that Vietnam grasped the greatest opportunity in decades to become one of the countries with the highest GDP growth in the world with an expansion of 2.9 percent and an expected rate of 6.5 percent in 2021.

The article cited a report by Euromonitor as saying that Vietnam is forecast to be one of the markets with the busiest merge and acquisition (M&A) activities and the most potential M&A market only after the US.

In 2020, Vietnam joined three FTAs – the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), the EU-Vietnam FTA, and the UK-Vietnam FTA, it said. A report by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) showed that the GDP of Vietnam surpassed that of Singapore and Malaysia, making it the fourth largest economy in Southeast Asia for the first time.

With a lower risk of COVID-19 spreading, Vietnam is focusing on economic development, it said, noting that Vietnam aims to become a high middle-income country in 2025. The country received a large investment from Pegatron, a supplier of Apple and Samsung.

Meanwhile, domestic tourism activities almost saw no decrease, creating favourable conditions for Vietravel Airlines to launch in December 2020 and become the sixth airline of Vietnam. However, domestic airlines still suffered a drop in revenues because there were no international flights, forcing them to seek support from the Government.

In order to speed up recovery, the Vietnamese Government approved a 2.7 billion USD package, while cutting taxes and fees, providing more soft loans and increasing public spending, including investment in infrastructure, the article noted.

It underlined that Vietnam has stayed transparent about the pandemic and shared information about COVID-19 prevention and control measures. UNDP representative in Vietnam Caitlin Wiesen said that experience in transparency, accountability and social connectivity will help the country overcome all crises in the future.

In the article, the author expressed belief that after COVID-19 is completely controlled, Vietnam will gain more achievements. Do Ventures co-founder Vy Le held that Vietnam should take advantage of the current situation to move forwards./.VNA