Bill Gates to visit but early days for Vietnam IT [View All]

[JI7]

<HANOI - The world‘s biggest chip maker Intel (Nasdaq:INTC - news) is investing in Vietnam and Microsoft (Nasdaq:MSFT - news) chairman Bill Gates Bill Gates is due to visit this weekend, but the poor Southeast Asian country‘s IT industry has a long way to go.

Business analysts say that for the second time in a decade an array of foreign industries and services, including IT firms, have an eye on Vietnam‘s highly literate, young workforce.

"Don‘t take one announcement or two announcements to suggest Vietnam is there," cautioned Myron Brilliant, a vice president for Asia in the U.S. Chamber of Commerce U.S. Chamber of Commerce on a March visit. "There is a lot of competition in the region and globally."

Nevertheless, expectations are growing in the country where a quarter of its 83 million people are 14 years to 25 years old.

Annual per capita income is only $640 according to government figures, but foreign businesses, diplomats and aid groups see potential in an economy that grew 8.4 percent in 2005. The government projects growth over the next five years at 7.5 percent to 8 percent. >

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