This report considers some of the key strategic issues facing Viet Nam as the economy recovers from the Covid-19 recession and resumes its high growth trajectory. The main include:

• The role of growth of manufactured exports in sustaining productivity and income growth and the role of government in supporting the ability of national champion firms to compete in export markets;
• ·The high cost to the economy of fragmentation in the formulation and implementation of economic policy across sectors and between national and local institutions;
• Sustaining a high rate of public and private investment to drive productivity growth and develop infrastructure, including adaptation to climate change and investment in renewable energy;
• Improved coordination of public investment at the national and regional levels, reducing fragmentation and duplication and aligning public investment with economic strategy;
• Closing the gap between the supply of and demand for long term, VND-denominated finance for slow-gestating public and private sector projects;
• The role of the national innovation system in promoting the competitiveness of national firms, especially in export manufacturing.