Vietnam's WTO Bid Will Bring Corporate Market

Economists are preparing for the possible results of Vietnam's desire to join the World Trade Organization, cautiioning against a hasty decision before considering the long-term effects of the drastic market change. One of the country's major cities, Hanoi, is mainly composed of small, local retail and an atypically moderate pace for an urban center. Membership in the WTO is sure to bring the corporate interests of such chains as Starbucks and McDonalds, two giants currently foreign to Hanoi.

"Hanoi is an Asian city that has elegantly accepted its European heritage. And yet it remains a place where foreign retail giants, fast food restaurants and land speculators have yet to reach. Still, that is likely to change soon, with Vietnam pressing for entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO). The country wants to participate in the rat race of globalization. However, in its rush to find profits, the country may be running blind to the costs involved."

"Hanoi is striving for a post-socialist 'capitalism with a human face.' But the heralds of the new age are faceless: functionalist architecture scattered randomly on the outskirts of the city, arterial roads already dominated by cars and not by bicycles and mopeds. Outside Hanoi's city center, you'll find the first supermarkets and a retail store the size of a train station, filled with international goods that compete unnecessarily with local products. Frozen chicken from Brazil, which has travelled halfway around the world to reach a country with 8 million small chicken farmers, lies stacked on a refrigerated shelf. But how many of those farmers will be left tomorrow?"