Evaluating Vietnam's Changing Comparative Advantage Patterns (Report‪)‬

I. Introduction In more than two decades since its economic reform began in 1986, Vietnam has expanded its export sector enormously. The country has moved from trading largely with a handful of former socialist countries of the Soviet bloc in the 1980s to dealing with almost 200 economies at present. Export volume has increased from less than US$800 million in 1986 to almost US$63 billion in 2008 (IMF). Vietnam joined various regional and multilateral trade and economic schemes such as AFTA, APEC and WTO, signed bilateral trade agreements with the U.S. and many other nations, and has duly implemented its commitments under these treaties.