Besides, many traditional handicraft villages such as Bat Trang ceramics, Co Nhue garment and My Ha handicraft products have little by little recovered and developed.
In 2007, the city’s GDP per capital income reached VND31.8 million, while the whole country’s average figure was just VND13.4 million. Hanoi was among the most attractive destinations in Vietnam to attract foreign investors with US$1.68 billion with 290 projects in the year. The city was also home to 1,600 representative offices, 14 industrial parks and 16,000 industrial production bases. Besides state-owned companies, private ones also played an important part in the municipal economic development. In 2003, with nearly 300,000 laborers, the private sector accounted for up to 77% of the local industrial production value. In addition, 15,500 industrial production bases created 500,000 jobs. Private enterprises made up 22% of the city’s total investment, 20% of the GDP, 22% of the state budget and 10% of export revenue.

After being expanded, Hanoi has more than six million people, including 3.2 million at working-gate. However, the city is still in need of qualified laborers. Many graduates need retraining, while labor quality and structure cannot meet the economic structure. Hanoi has faced many other difficulties. Competitiveness of many products and services as well as attraction of investment environment remains low. Besides, the economic transition process is still slow, particularly industry and service sectors and key products. Meanwhile, the planning quality for economic development remains limited, failing to fully tap local people’s potential.