~ Le Viêt Nam, aujourd'hui. ~
The Vietnam News

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[Year 1999]
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Hanoi cautious on economy, wants integration

HANOI - Vietnam Prime Minister Phan Van Khai painted a cautious picture of the country's economic prospects on Thursday, pointing to signs of improved growth despite a variety of woes.
Khai said the government wanted to accelerate integration with the world economy, and would seek to finalise a landmark trade deal with the United States that has been delayed since the pact was agreed in principle last July.

He said the communist leadership would boost Vietnam's economic growth and competitiveness partly by dismantling state monopolies and creating more than one million jobs in 2000, but he gave few specific details. Foreign donors said that notwithstanding the government's best intentions, as usual in Vietnam the devil would be in the implementation of policies through an unwilling bureaucracy.

``The government is well aware that many tough challenges lie ahead,'' Khai said in a speech at the opening of the current session of the National Assembly, Vietnam's legislative organ. ``However,...we still have great potential. Our country is strong and we have material, spiritual and intellectual resources everywhere, but we must use these.''

National Assembly sessions, which occur twice a year for a month each, generally arouse little interest. But during the current session delegates are expected to sack Deputy Prime Minister Ngo Xuan Loc for mismanagement and may also appoint a new central bank governor. Loc has already been censured by the ruling Communist Party. Delegates will also debate a number of laws, including amendments to the Penal Code and the Land Law.

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Khai said Asia's economic crisis and many natural disasters had put a heavy burden on Vietnam over the past two years. Economic growth this year -- which the government expects to be about 4.7-5.0 percent -- would be the lowest since 1990, the reformist prime minister from southern Vietnam said.

He said despite poor consumer demand, mounting stockpiles of goods and increasing inefficiency among state-owned firms, Hanoi had targeted economic growth in 2000 at 5.5-6.0 percent.
Indeed, Khai said stronger export and agricultural growth indicated that the target could be met. Growth from quarter to quarter had risen recently, he added, without giving details. One key item on the 2000 agenda would be to finally open a stockmarket after years of delay, Khai added.

He also expressed concern over a fall in foreign investment but offered little solace to businessmen who frequently moan about Vietnam's red tape and high-cost economy. Khai did not say when he believed Hanoi and Washington would sign a trade deal that would open Vietnam's economy, but he made clear the country's 79 million people needed to feel the heat of foreign competition.
He complained that many companies preferred to shelter behind protection, a mentality that needed to change if the country was to catch up with its more nimble neighbours.

President Tran Duc Luong, speaking during a break in the assembly session, said Hanoi would study China's deal with the United States on joining the World Trade Organisation.
``Vietnam and China along with many countries in the world understand the need to promote international economic exchange and integration,'' Luong told reporters. More conservatives members of the Communist Party have expressed concern over opening too much to the world economy, saying this would place one party control at risk.

Reuters - November 18, 1999.


Vietnam assembly to consider government changes

HANOI - Vietnam Prime Minister Phan Van Khai will seek approval from the National Assembly next month to change some senior government personnel, official media reported on Thursday.

The Tuoi Tre (Young People) newspaper said Khai would submit the proposed changes to the current session of the assembly, Vietnam's legislative body, on December 6. It gave no details and officials were not available to comment, but one proposed change will likely be the appointment of Le Duc Thuy, currently permanent deputy central bank governor, to head the institution.

Officials have said governor Nguyen Tan Dung was too busy for the post. Dung is a deputy prime minister in charge of the economy and also sits on the elite Communist Party politburo. Bankers have said Thuy, who is well-regarded by the foreign banking community, was already running the central bank on a day-to-day basis.

It was unclear if Khai's proposed changes would include the ruling Communist Party's request that another deputy prime minister, Ngo Xuan Loc, be sacked for mismanagement. The party said last week it would seek Loc's removal, and the rubber-stamp assembly is unlikely to reject the motion.

According to Vietnam's constitution, all top government appointments must be approved by the assembly, which meets twice a year, but it rarely raises much opposition. Analysts have previously cautioned that any ministerial reshuffle would likely mean little change in policy direction in a country where the ultimate source of power is the secretive 19-member politburo.

Reuters - November 18, 1999.