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.
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