1.

You have your point in saying that AEC could bring about many
opportunities for countries like ours. However, I believe that we
should all accept that along with opportunities, AEC can also bring
up many challenges for not only our government but for every
Vietnamese citizen and the economy. And that is exactly what I wish
to prove to you all in this speech.
Most Vietnamese enterprises are small- or medium-sized with lower
capital level, market control level and are more fragmental than
foreign businesses in this case, ASEAN businesses. For this reason,
it is fair to say that Vietnamese businesses would struggle when
having to compete with others.
Take the case of Big C for example. After it has been sold to Central
Group from Thailand, up to 50% of Vietnams retail market is now in
the hands of the Thais. One of the four pillars of AEC is the free flow
of good. This policy makes it easier for produce from one country to
be exported to 9 others countries within ASEAN where they can be
imported without taxes. Without a doubt that these Thai companies
will take advantage of this AECs policy to export their products to
Vietnam. The Chairman of Hanoi Supermarket Association said that
Thai products are going to be on the shelves of 43 stores and 30
shopping centers of Big C Vietnam. Obviously, this will severely
affect our producers and even consumers.
It will be almost impossible for Vietnamese businesses to compete
with companies like that of the Thais
2. That is a very good point for you to say. However, I do believe that
we should also take our labor force into consideration. With a
population of more than 54 million people, which is about 58% of
the population of Vietnam. Most of them are semi-skilled workers.
Our labor force requires a massive number of available jobs. As I
have mentioned before, there are 4 pillars of AEC and one of them is
the free flow of skilled labors. This can lead to the fact that the labor
standard would be raised much higher and the requirements will be
more demanding. Three things stand between Vietnamese workers
and their ability of finding jobs: their team-work skill, their
understanding of technology and their discipline. These and the
more demanding requirements will without a doubt prevent
Vietnamese labor from finding a suitable job.
Now, if the infrastructure of production line is to be improved,
machines will soon replace people. This can be a good news for
businesses but for our labor force, not so much. This may result in
unemployment for assembly line workers. These unemployed people
will surely become burdens for our country.
3. I have to agree with you on the fact that AEC provides member
countries with better job opportunities. The possibility for a

qualified, not to say a skilled worker, in a member state to work in

other ASEAN countries is high. However, to semi-skilled workers
(which is the majority of labor force in Vietnam), chances are not as
available.
Yes, AEC creates jobs, but Im not 100% positive that Vietnamese
labors can be able to take much of it.
Chances are Vietnamese unskilled and semi-skilled workers would
hardly have the opportunity to work in any ASEAN country at all or
to find jobs in their own country since many fellow ASEAN citizens
are glad to take their places. This can lead to something even bigger
than unemployment itself, and that is the increase of wealth gap.
Rich people will get richer and richer while the poor struggles to
feed themselves. And that, to me, is something that the government
of developing countries such as Vietnam should really pay attention
to.
4. I appreciate your opinion.
As this is getting to the end, I myself want to sum up some of the
points that I am concern about.
1. Along with opportunities, AEC brings about many challenge. One
of them is the struggle of Vietnamese businesses when
competing with other businesses within the ASEAN region.
2. With the development of machinery, Vietnamese workers might
face the threat of losing their jobs.
3. The gap between the rich and the poor can dramatically increase
since semi-skilled workers might have difficulties competing with
the rest of the regions labor force.
To decrease the disastrous effects of these three points on
Vietnams economy, Vietnam government should pay more
attention to small businesses or household businesses, take good
care of workers and create more job opportunities.