Between 1990 and 2005, Vietnam achieved an average annual growth rate of 7.5 percent in gross domestic product (GDP). The industrial sector was the most significant driver of this economic expansion with an annual growth of rate of more than 10 percent, at a time when agriculture, forestry, and fisheries grew at an annual average rate of less than 4 percent. Such structural shift is in line with the National Socioeconomic Development Plan 2006-2010, which calls for an annual growth of 10 percent for the industrial sector (with a particular focus on the manufacturing sector, where a sustained annual growth of 15 percent is expected) and with international good practice in industrialization and modernization policies. This report was originally initiated under the concept of a country environmental analysis for Vietnam
however, during its development, and in consultations with Vietnamese counterparts, it was decided to limit the focus of the report to trends in industrial development, with particular attention to the environmental challenges of manufacturing industries, and the existing regulatory and institutional framework for environmental management including issues relating to decentralization and policy coordination. The environmental challenges deriving from the accession to World Trade Organization (WTO) are also an important focus. As such, this report is intended to be a contribution to a general countrywide environmental analysis but not constituting one of its own.