Vietnam has little track record working with foreign investors . And its military involvement in neighboring Cambodia adds an element of uncertainty. That uncertainty is compounded by the fact that the United States has urged economic isolation of Vietnam until its troops are out of Cambodia. In the Indochinese countries, almost all factors are unpredictable. Japanese businessmen who have dealt with the Vietnamese, he says, have the impression the Vietnamese are rigid and bureaucratic, and that it is very hard to get them to understand the concept of economic efficiency.
Optimistic promises can vanish in a bureaucratic maze.
Its electric supply is inadequate, there are few good roads, and port facilities are limited. One way to minimize these problems, Vietnamese planners believe, is to set up export processing zones in areas where facilities are relatively good. Dang mentions the port cities of Hai Phong, Danang, Vung Tau and Ho Chi Minh City as well as Phu Quoc Island in the Gulf of Thailand. While it waits for investment from the capitalist world, Vietnam is gaining some experience in producing goods for the world market through joint ventures with the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. At the Hanoi Leather Shoe Factory, on the outskirts of the Vietnamese capital, most of the 2,000 workers are busy cutting and sewing the tops for sports shoes.