December is a month of year-end celebrations in the Gregorian calendar, but it also marks an important historical milestone for Vietnam: the passing of another year since the initiation of Doi Moi (Renovation) reform in 1986 by the Vietnamese Communist Party (VCP), which aimed to revamp the economic and political situation in Vietnam after the failure of Soviet Union-style central planning.

Like China with its market reform era, the Doi Moi reform transformed the country into what we know today as one of the most promising rising economies in Asia. While the extent of Doi Moi’s positive impacts on the livelihood of the Vietnamese people is debatable, it is nevertheless credited with transforming the country from a war-torn economy to a new “economic dragon” with the potential of following in the footsteps of other East and Southeast Asian countries such as Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore.