Economic activities in Vietnam, which was opened to international trade in 1986, are concentrated around the two competing centres of Hanoi, in the North, and Ho Chi Minh-ville (Saigon) in the South. Despite a number of mineral and energy resources, the centre of the country remains very underdeveloped.
See article by Philippe Papin,“Party versus state in Vietnam”, February 2000.
*Sources : *Vu Tu Lap and Christian Taillard, Atlas du Vietnam, GIP Reclus and La Documentation Française, Paris, 1994; Hugues Tertrais, Jean-Claude Promonti, Vietnam, communistes et dragons, Le Monde éditions, Paris, 1994.