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The Vietnam News

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Int’l donors talk corruption in Vietnam

Vietnam's must curb corruption in several sectors, not the least of which is education, according to international donors at a conference in Hanoi Monday. Entitled “Dialogue on Anti-Corruption,” the conference was a pre-meeting leading up to the Consultative Group (CG) meeting Thursday and Friday in Hanoi. The meeting included representatives from Vietnam's international donors and foreign embassies.

Denmark's Ambassador to Vietnam, Peter Lysholt Hansen, said it would be virtually impossible for Vietnam to immediately implement a decree ordering around 250,000-300,000 public officers to declare their earnings and assets as planned by the government. Hansen suggested that the government should focus on asset declaration in corruption-prone sectors first. He also stressed that the asset declaration results must be made public otherwise the process would be of no avail.

Ajay Chhibber, Country Director for the World Bank in Vietnam, hailed the asset declaration plan. Country Director for the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in Vietnam Ayumi Konishi warned that the flip side of Vietnam's high economic growth rate could create an environment conducive to corruption if the benefits were not divided fairly. He voiced concern over loopholes in land regulations and inefficient policies on equitization and stock market management. He said he was looking for an official report expressing the government's views on the botched Project 112, a failed computerization initiative that is thought to have misspent millions of dollars. “We want to know how much further the government will go in the fight against corruption,” he said.

Jairo Acuna Alfaro, policy advisor of the United Nations' Development Program (UNDP), pointed out that the education sector was among the most vulnerable to corruption. Alfaro said educational corruption could badly affect the national economic growth rate. “Vietnam has paid little attention to the fight against corruption in the education sector,” he said.

Dr. Nguyen Dinh Cu of the Institute for Population and Social Affairs agreed, saying inefficient management would lead to the siphoning-off or misappropriation of educational funds. He cited recent scandals in the education sector like budget misspending and bribery, stressing it was vital that citizens and the media create a strong and effective anti-corruption forum.

But Tran Ba Giao, vice inspectorate chief of the Education Ministry, denied the fact that corruption has become rife in the education sector. He argued that such goings-on like budget misappropriation or embezzlement were committed by people outside the education sector. The skimming of the budget meant for purchasing school equipment and facilities was mostly committed by a handful of education officials, not the entire sector, he said.

Later this week

The CG for Vietnam will hold its annual meeting on December 6 – 7, 2007 in Hanoi, with deliberations expected to focus on sustained development in Vietnam. The CG for Vietnam consists of representatives from the Vietnamese government, bilateral and multilateral donors, and non–governmental organizations. The government delegation is expected to be led by Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, and will include senior representatives from key ministries and governmental bodies. The meeting provides a forum for a frank discussion on the opportunities and challenges facing Vietnam. The previous CG Meeting was held in Hanoi December 14-15, 2006.

Donor countries and international development organizations committed a record amount of US$4.44 billion in support of Vietnam's poverty reduction and development agenda at the meeting. Ahead of the CG, a separate Vietnam Business Forum with the private sector – domestic and foreign – will be held today in Hanoi by the World Bank Group's International Finance Corporation and the Ministry of Planning and Investment.

By Manh Quan - Thanh Nien - December 4, 2007