Vietnam web site scores big hits, but no ads planned
HANOI - Vietnam said Monday the ruling Communist Party's
Web site had scored nearly 1.5 millions hits in the past year, but it has
no plans to capitalize on this with advertising.
The English- and Vietnamese-language site (www.cpv.org.vn) was
officially launched on April 10 to herald the Ninth Congress of the ruling party due to start this
Thursday, but has been on a trial run since February 2000.
As well as background articles on the congress and party, the Web site features selected works by
communist heroes like Marx, Engels and Lenin and Vietnam's own revolutionary leader, Ho Chi Minh.
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Phan Thuy Thanh said the site had received nearly 1.5 million visits
from all over the world since then.
``As far as we know, there is no plan to post advertisement pages on the Web site,'' she said in
response to a question.
The Internet has made a slow start in Vietnam with only about 121,000 subscribers as of January,
despite Hanoi's ambition to make the country an information technology hub.
The government blocks access to sites it considers subversive or damaging to public morals through a
system of firewalls, but these have become less and less effective.
Reuters - April 16, 2001.
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