Steve Parker, DAI’s Senior Trade and Economics Advisor, recently returned from a West Coast speaking tour that played to packed houses reflecting a burgeoning interest in the emerging economy of Vietnam.

Between September 27 and October 2, Parker—formerly DAI’s Chief of Party on the Support for Trade Acceleration (STAR) Project in Vietnam—addressed audiences at the University of California at San Diego; the California Bar Association Annual Meeting in Anaheim; SterlingStamos, a private investment firm based in Menlo Park; and the Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center at Stanford University.

Parker’s presentations focused on the achievements of the U.S. Agency for International Development-funded STAR Project and on DAI’s recent “Report on the 5-Year Impact of the U.S.-Vietnam Bilateral Trade Agreement on Vietnam’s Trade, Investment and Economic Structure.”

Reflecting a strong interest in Vietnam, the university presentations played to overflow audiences, prompting numerous questions and lively interaction among the participants. Parker—whose leadership of STAR’s first phase was lauded by U.S. Ambassador Michael Marine—stressed the progress made by Vietnam in improving its business environment and strengthening the rule of law, particularly with respect to requirements in the U.S.-Vietnam Trade Agreement and World Trade Organization (WTO) accession. He underscored the link between normalizing economic relations and improved bilateral relations between the United States and Vietnam, and the resulting boom in bilateral trade and investment.

Questions ranged from how the Vietnamese were able to make so many legal and policy reforms in such a short time to what the remaining challenges were for Vietnam in a post-WTO environment and how economic reform will affect Vietnam’s long-term sociopolitical and economic development.