Report: Promoting industrial cluster development in Vietnam
By the Central Institute for Economic Development

According to Dr. Le Xuan Ba President of the Central Institute for Economic Management, "With worldwide competition increasing and a global financial crisis and economic recession in place, there is a pressing need for Vietnam to focus on enhancing its competitiveness and limiting its persistent macro-economic instability. To partly resolve such weaknesses and shortcomings, establishing and developing an effective network of industrial clusters are a crucial task for Vietnam and are consistent with the common development trend in the world over the last two decades.

In Vietnam, theoretical and practical issues of industrial cluster development have only been discussed in the last few years. Public awareness regarding their significant role and how to develop industrial clusters effectively remains limited and biased. There is still much confusion and misunderstanding about definitions and the role of industrial clusters, industrial clumps, and industrial parks in Vietnam. A system of industrial linkages and supporting industries is only in the early stages of development. Policies and a legal framework for the development of industrial parks and supporting industries have been promulgated, but those for the development of industrial clumps have only been introduced in recent times".

The Special Issue is published with financial support of the project SME Cluster Development (Ministry of Planning and Investment - UNIDO).

27 July 2012