Vietnam Communist Party to hold plenum end-January
HANOI - Vietnam's ruling Communist Party will hold
the second session of a crucial plenum by the end of the month, the
Foreign Ministry said on Thursday.
Foreign diplomats have said they expected the powerful central committee
to focus on leadership changes and other internal party matters during the
secretive meeting.
Diplomats and other sources have predicted a significant reshuffle within
the elite 19-person politburo that would lead to changes within the
government at ministerial level.
The first session was held in October and focused on the country's
economic woes.
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Phan Thuy Thanh declined to give a date
for the plenum's second session, saying only that it would be held in the
last weeks of January.
The second session had been initially expected to be held in December,
then in mid-January.
``The plenum will focus discussions on the improvement and construction
of the party,'' Thanh told Reuters.
Some 170 members from the central committee generally hold a plenum
around every six months in secret. Official media usually do not report on
the meetings, that can last from one to two weeks, until they have
concluded.
Earlier this month the party expelled General Tran Do, an ageing but top
revolutionary, because of his vocal calls for political change.
Reuters - January 21, 1999.
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