(VOVworld) – A symposium was held in Hanoi on Tuesday to discuss ways to avoid the middle-income trap in Vietnam and help the country become a high income earner in the future. Head of the Party Central Committee’s Economic Commission Vuong Dinh Hue said that although Vietnam’s growth rate has been 7% a year, the country could fall into the middle-income trap, which would reduce economic competitiveness and hinder national development. He said: “The middle-income trap happens when a nation’s development slows or even stalls as the middle income level is achieved. If often happens in developing countries when salaries rise while the competitiveness of goods and prices can hardly compete with that of developed nations. Therefore, to avoid this trap and to turn Vietnam into a high-income nation in the future, policy-makers and scientists should join hands with the Party and the State.”