Photos: Vietnam confabs mix tech fever with restraint

The hammer-and-sickle flag outside this sports stadium in Vietnam may seem a contrast to the Electronics Communication Information Technology (ECIT) trade show held inside earlier this month. The event took place in Ho Chi Minh City, which most people still call Saigon.

Vietnam's communist government has increasingly welcomed international trade and investment since the doi moi reforms in 1986. The nation entered the World Trade Organization in January and is poised to become an outsourcing hotspot. Economic growth has surpassed a rate of 8 percent so far this year. The youthful population of 85 million is overwhelmingly literate and tech savvy.

Caption text by CNET's Elsa Wenzel