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

[Year 1997]
[Year 1998]
[Year 1999]
[Year 2000]
[Year 2001]

Japanese Miyazawa Plan factfinders to visit Hanoi

HANOI - A team of Japanese government experts will arrive in Hanoi on Friday to assess whether communist-ruled Vietnam qualifies for assistance under Tokyo's $30 billion Miyazawa Plan.

``It depends on the results of this mission whether Tokyo will consider making concrete (offers),'' said a source close to the negotiations.
He pointed out that Tokyo has repeatedly said that it was willing to consider supporting Vietnam in the context of the extension of the Miyazawa Plan
Japan is Vietnam's largest bilateral donor, but Hanoi has yet to receive pledges of assistance under the Miyazawa Plan which is specifically aimed at supporting crisis-hit Asian economies.

The Miyazawa Plan, unveiled last October and named after Finance Minister Kiichi Miyazawa, is intended to lead Asia back to economic health. It comprises $15 billion in short-term aid and $15 billion in long term financing.
Vietnam Prime Minister Phan Van Khai, on a visit to Tokyo last month, repeated Hanoi's request for a slice of the funds, whose beneficiaries include Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and South Korea.
Vietnam, which does not operate a stock market or have a tradeable currency, escaped the worst of the Asian financial conflagration which began in July 1997.

But the country's main economic indicators have worsened -- economic growth has slowed, export growth is now negative and import growth has stalled -- partly as a result of the ongoing squeeze felt by its main trading partners and investors from Southeast Asia.
Foreign donors to Vietnam have become increasingly critical of what they see as a stalled economic reform process in the communist country.

In Japan, Khai said he understood the demands from groups such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund for Vietnam to deepen reform, but he stressed that if things moved too fast there would be problems.

Reuters - April 19, 1999.