Vietnam must embrace IT, says Wolfensohn

Business Asia, March 3, 2000

World Bank president James Wolfensohn has warned that it is essential for Vietnam to fully embrace information technology and it cannot become a serious player in a globalised world if it continues to censor the Internet.

Wolfensohn told a business gathering in Hanoi it was crucial Vietnam and its aid donors gave priority to IT and communications in their development plans.

"We had the agrarian revolution, we had the industrial -- do not underestimate the technological one," he said. "Countries that grab this opportunity can jump a generation; countries that do not will fall back."

Asked in a later interview if communist Vietnam could expect to become a global player if it continued censoring politically sensitive material on the Internet, he replied: "Well, I don't think so, but that's for the Vietnamese to decide. I don't think Vietnam is a place where you can or should dictate to the government what they do."

"I think this is a country that will make up its own mind and when they see realistically that open access to the Internet is in the country's interest, they will do it.

"My guess is that competition will force them to reach that decision some time and when they do, they will probably do it very well."

Wolfensohn said he thought there would be "great moves" in Vietnam within five years in technology and education that would allow it to compete globally. "Certainly, Vietnam can benefit from globalisation and should not pull away from it."

He said Vietnam needed to build a knowledge-based economy.

"Global trends are such that today it's impossible to consider being a competitive country without adjusting to the technological revolution because knowledge will be transfered by technology and rich and poor will be empowered by technology."

Vietnam officially hooked up to the Internet in late 1997, but high charges in what is still one of the world's poorest countries have kept the number of subscribers low.

Access to many websites -- such as those operated by anti-communist overseas Vietnamese groups -- is blocked by means of "firewall" software.

Wolfensohn appeared unperturbed by negative assessments of Vietnam's economic reforms by disgruntled foreign investors.

"This is a process that goes on between people who want to make investments and a government that wants to have investments but needs to adjust its regulatory framework to make it more palatable," he said.

"The government, from what I see of them, is trying to adjust (and) my prediction is that inside 12 to 18 months you will see a change in the tone and each will adjust to the other."

He rejected the idea that recent sharp declines in foreign investment followed by new aid pledges indicated a growth of a dependency rather than an enterprise culture.

"I think this is one country in the world that is least likely to have aid dependency. People do not want charity. They want an opportunity and a chance to do things themselves. That is clearly a national characteristic."