Vietnam’s Communist Party Courts Entrepreneurs, Follows China

Vietnam may officially allow private business owners into the Communist Party for the first time, a move that could boost the country’s image with foreign investors a decade after China adopted similar measures.

The party will vote on and approve the measure on Jan. 18, three delegates said in interviews on the sidelines of the National Congress in Hanoi. The change would build on a policy approved at the previous congress in 2006 that allowed existing party members to run private businesses.