Hanoi (VNA) – Japan's Nikkei newspaper has run astory highlighting the opportunity for Vietnam to rise stronger afterthe COVID-19 pandemic is completely controlled.

It spotlighted Vietnam's efforts in maintaining economicactivities amid the pandemic, which made the country one of the Asian economiesrecording the highest growth in 2020.

The article noted that in 2020, Vietnam signed three freetrade agreements (FTA), and saw the introduction of another airline, while risingto the sixth position in Southeast Asia in terms of per capita income.

It noted that Vietnam grasped the greatest opportunity indecades to become one of the countries with the highest GDP growth in the worldwith an expansion of 2.9 percent and an expected rate of 6.5 percent in 2021.

The article cited a report by Euromonitor as saying that Vietnam isforecast to be one of the markets with the busiest merge and acquisition (M&A)activities and the most potential M&A market only after the US.

In 2020, Vietnam joined three FTAs – the RegionalComprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), the EU-Vietnam FTA, and theUK-Vietnam FTA, it said. A report by the International Monetary Fund (IMF)showed that the GDP of Vietnam surpassed that of Singapore and Malaysia,making it the fourth largest economy in Southeast Asia for the first time.

With a lower risk of COVID-19 spreading, Vietnam is focusingon economic development, it said, noting that Vietnam aims to become a highmiddle-income country in 2025. The country received a large investment from Pegatron,a supplier of Apple and Samsung.

Meanwhile, domestic tourism activities almost saw nodecrease, creating favourable conditions for Vietravel Airlines to launch inDecember 2020 and become the sixth airline of Vietnam. However, domesticairlines still suffered a drop in revenues because there were no internationalflights, forcing them to seek support from the Government.

In order to speed up recovery, the Vietnamese Governmentapproved a 2.7 billion USD package, while cutting taxesand fees, providing more soft loans and increasing public spending, including investment in infrastructure, the articlenoted.

It underlined that Vietnam has stayed transparent about thepandemic and shared information about COVID-19 prevention and control measures.UNDP representative in Vietnam Caitlin Wiesen said that experience intransparency, accountability and social connectivity will help the countryovercome all crises in the future.

In the article, the author expressed belief that afterCOVID-19 is completely controlled, Vietnam will gain more achievements. DoVentures co-founder Vy Le held that Vietnam should take advantage of thecurrent situation to move forwards./.