Top Vietnam communists begin crucial plenum
HANOI - Vietnam's top communist
leaders gathered amid tight security on Tuesday for a
meeting expected to focus on dimming economic
prospects and deepening political concerns.
Police blocked off city centre streets near the
mausoleum that houses the embalmed remains of
President Ho Chi Minh, causing bottlenecks in the
morning rush hour.
The roughly 170 members of the Communist Party
Central Committee gathered at a meeting hall in the
nearby party headquarters for their sixth plenum since
July 1996.
The meetings have been shrouded in secrecy, there has
been no mention of the current plenum in official media,
no agenda has been made public and it is unclear how
long it will last.
Economists and diplomats said the plenum would focus
on the economy ahead of the next session of the
country's legislature -- the National Assembly -- which
meets in Hanoi from October 28, as well as mounting
concern over corruption.
Government ministers are expected to make individual
reports, and the plenum is likely to endorse lowered
economic targets for 1999 and the period up to 2001,
which would then be adopted by the assembly.
``The main topic really is going to be the economy once
again,'' said a Western diplomat.
``An understanding seems to be dawning that the (Asian)
crisis really is hitting Vietnam as well, particularly with
the fall in the level of trade and the fall in the level of
direct investment,'' he added.
The diplomat said it remained difficult to gauge political
concerns within the party, but that corruption --
particularly at higher levels of government -- needed to
be discussed.
``I think they really need to focus on (high-level
corruption) but (the question is) whether or not they will
be able to make any public statements when the
cohesion of the leadership is so important at a time like
this,'' he said.
Under Vietnam's political system, the government is
responsible for day-to-day management of the country,
but party members hold many key posts and major
decisions are approved by the elite politburo or central
committee.
Jean-Pierre Verbiest, the Asian Development Bank's
resident representative in Hanoi, told Reuters that while
Vietnam had yet to plunge into an economic crisis,
problems were deepening and urgent action was
needed.
``This is a new situation, and it is something Vietnam has
not known since the collapse of the Soviet Union,'' he
said.
He added that Vietnam had to embrace solid reform for
its inefficient and cumbersome state-owned enterprises
combined with banking and financial sector restructuring.
``Reform will have to be done at one time or other if
Vietnam wants to remain competitive with other Asian
countries,'' Verbiest said.
World Bank officials said recently that in the absence of
solid reform Vietnam's economic situation would worsen
through the last quarter, and that this year's gross
domestic product growth could be as low as 3-5
percent.
Official figures show GDP growth at 8.8 percent in
1997. Hanoi revised downwards in July targets for this
year to 6-7 percent.
Export growth this year had plunged to its lowest level
for seven years, Prime Minister Phan Van Khai said in a
hard-hitting speech last month.
He also warned that mounting rural discontent could
cause unanticipated difficulties. Since early last year rural
unrest and discontent has spread with people often
protesting against official corruption and other
graft-related issues.
By Andy Soloman - Reuters - October 13, 1998.
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