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

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Vietnam's new president pledges to fight corruption

HANOI - Vietnam's new president pledged to fight corruption in the communist country, speaking at the end of a six-week assembly session that confirmed him and a new government. "We are determined to fight corruption, but this task is extremely difficult and requires the determination of the whole party and all the people," Nguyen Minh Triet, the former Ho Chi Minh City party boss, told reporters.

"We need to strengthen management and make the state apparatus more effective," he said. "With good management we can prevent people from becoming corrupted. Other countries have done this better than us." Vietnam's one-party regime was hit by a major graft scandal early this year in which Transport Ministry officials embezzled millions of dollars, using some of it to bet on international football and to finance lavish lifestyles.

Triet -- who was chosen by the party and confirmed this week along with a new prime minister and cabinet -- in 2003 earned praise as party chief in the former Saigon during a crackdown on a major organized crime syndicate. The 63-year-old incoming state leader, an economic reformer popular with the foreign business community, also said Vietnam hoped to strengthen its economy as it readies to join the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

Vietnam, a low-income country with rapid economic growth, is expected to join the WTO this year, boosting trade and investment but also allowing foreign companies to take on its mostly state-run and inefficient industries. "We hope to increase our economy, so entering the WTO is necessary for Vietnam," Triet said. "At the same time we understand it is a very big challenge, so while preparing for the country's WTO admission we also need to correct our weaknesses."

Triet said his "first big challenge" as president would be to organize the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation ( APEC) summit Hanoi will host in November, with US President George W. Bush and China's Hu Jintao on the guest list. He said he would be very pleased to meet Bush, Hu and other state leaders and hoped to discuss bilateral ties "to make our relationships more solid and to develop together." He said his experience as party chief in the "very dynamic and creative" Ho Chi Minh City was useful for his new job but added that the metropolis was only one city in Vietnam, which is a country of 83 million people.

Agence France Presse - June 29, 2006.