VN news/business news (Apr 7)

[Dam Son <son@fermi.phys.washington.edu>]

Building collapse kills two in Vietnam soccer game 
Furore erupts over Vietnam's first gay wedding 
North Korean deputy PM to seek food aid on Vietnam visit 
U.S., Vietnam clear hurdle to closer economic ties
Vietnam Jan-March '97 Rice Shipments Down 19.8% On Year
Vietnam Acts On Poor-Quality Drug Imports
Japan's Kumagai Gumi Wins Vietnam Power Plant Order


Building collapse kills two in Vietnam soccer game 

Hanoi (Reuter) - Two teenagers died on Sunday and 15 others were
injured when a building overlooking a stadium collapsed during a
soccer match in northern Vietnam.

Hospital officials in Vinh City, some 300 km (200 miles) south of
Hanoi, said on Monday the victims had been standing on the roof of the
building where they had been watching a match between provincial teams
from over the stadium wall.

One person died immediately, the other died in hospital. The official
said the building had collapsed under the weight of spectators.
  ___________________________________

Furore erupts over Vietnam's first gay wedding 

Hanoi (Reuter) - Police and local authorities in Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh
City were up in arms on Monday over what was believed to be the
communist country's first known wedding between two men.

Shocked officials in the traditionally freewheeling southern
metropolis told Reuters the wedding, involving an
Australian-Vietnamese man and his Vietnamese boyfriend, took place
last week at a restaurant in front of more than 100 guests.

``It should be publicly condemned,'' said Nguyen Thi Thuong,
vice-director of the city's state-run Consulting Centre for Love,
Marriage and Families. ``Public opinion does not support this.''

Local newspapers said police were powerless to act.

``If we'd known about it we would have stopped it,'' a police official
was quoted by the Nguoi Lao Dong paper as saying. ``But we can't fine
them because we don't have any laws to punish them.''

Homosexuality is still widely viewed as an alien phenomenon in
Vietnam. State laws have no provisions referring to the possibility of
a marriage between two people of the same sex.

The couple could not be contacted on Monday and Australian diplomats
said they were not aware of the case.
  ___________________________________

North Korean deputy PM to seek food aid on Vietnam visit

Hanoi (AFP) - North Korean Deputy Prime Minister Kong Chin-The is due
in Vietnam Monday at the head of Pyongyang's highest-level mission to
Hanoi since the early 1990's, official sources here said.

During his week-long visit Kong would be requesting supplies of rice
from Vietnam to help combat North Korea's crippling famine. the
sources said.

Vietnam was last year reported to have turned down a plea for food aid
from the head of North Korea's Commission for Foreign Economic
Relations, Ri Ong-Dae.

Kong is expected to hold talks on Tuesday with his Vietnamese
counterpart, Tran Duc Luong, who is also a member of the Vietnam
Communist Party's politburo, the Foreign Affairs Ministry said.

The visit is also expected to include talks with Prime Minister Vo Van
Kiet and Communist Secretary General Do Muoi.

Relations between Vietnam and North Korea, two of the world's few
remaining communist states, soured between 1979 and 1991, largely due
to North Korea's support for Cambodia's Khmer Rouge guerrillas
battling to overthrow the pro-Vietnamese regime in Phnom Penh.

Tension was further heightened when Vietnam established diplomatic
links with South Korea in 1992, opening the way to trade links and
South Korean investment in Vietnam.
  ___________________________________

U.S., Vietnam clear hurdle to closer economic ties 

Hanoi (Reuter) - The United States and Vietnam agreed on Monday to
reschedule debts that Hanoi inherited from the Saigon government after
the Vietnam War, clearing a hurdle to full economic normalisation
between the two former foes.

Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin, the highest-ranking U.S. economic
official to visit post-war Vietnam, hailed the accord as a significant
step in bilateral relations and in Vietnam's integration into the
international financial community.

``The signal sent by this agreement will be important to the rest of
the world in building confidence in Vietnam in a way that will benefit
its economy,'' he said in a statement.

The roughly $145 million of debt, which became Hanoi's responsibility
after the war ended in 1975, stemmed from four development loans and
two food aid loans to the government of former South Vietnam.

Signed by Rubin and Finance Minister Nguyen Sinh Hung, the accord
implements a rescheduling of Vietnam's foreign debts that was decided
in December 1993 by the Paris Club of creditor nations.

Despite the fanfare, diplomats said the deal was little more than a
peg on which Rubin could hang a visit to discuss a comprehensive trade
agreement, which has eluded the two countries since they normalised
relations in 1995.

A trade deal is one condition needed for communist Vietnam to earn
Most-Favoured Nation (MFN) trading status. MFN, which guarantees
non-discriminatory tariffs on exports, would give Vietnam access to
the world's biggest consumer market.

Before it takes that step, Washington wants commitments that Hanoi
will open its markets further to imports and foreign investment.

Rubin told reporters he had discussed MFN in meetings with Hung and
Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet, but had not focused on the question of
when it would be granted.

He said Vietnam, which embarked on reforms along market lines more
than a decade ago, had made great strides but further progress on
opening its market would inevitably be slow.

``I was impressed with the commitments the finance minister expressed
this morning, and that the prime minister has expressed to move into a
market economy,'' he said.

``This ... has never been simple. If you look at the nations in
eastern Europe and the developing nations in other parts of the world,
there are a lot of things that have to be done and it is never a
simple process.''

Rubin said Vietnamese officials had expressed strong interest in
whether Washington was willing to make concessions such as a waiver of
its Jackson-Vanick amendment, which blocks MFN for communist countries
that deny their citizens the right to emigrate.

Rubin's visit is part of the sometimes painstaking process of mending
relations, which foreign affairs analysts see as being further
complicated by strategic and other factors in one of the fastest
developing regions of the world.

Earlier this year the U.S.-funded radio station Radio Free Asia began
beaming broadcasts into Indochina in Vietnamese, sparking outrage in
Vietnam's state-controlled media.

Delays over the appointment of a U.S. ambassador to Vietnam and
criticism of Hanoi's human rights record have also caused anger among
officials, some of whom remain suspicious that Washington is seeking
to gain in peace where it lost in war.
  ___________________________________

Vietnam Jan-March '97 Rice Shipments Down 19.8% On Year 

SINGAPORE (Dow Jones)-- Vietnam's rice shipments from January through
March 1997 fell 19.8% to 451,049 metric tons, from 562,749 tons over
the same period in 1996, according to statistics from the Overseas
Merchandise Inspection Co., Ltd., a Japanese cargo surveyor in Ho Chi
Minh city.

But, at 297,640 tons, rice shipments in March were up 65.66% from the
year-earlier month,, thanks largely to the Philippines which imported
115,726 tons and Indonesia which took in 73,523 tons, OMIC said..

The Philippines should remain a major importer of Vietnamese rice in
April, when it is expected to take in 70,000 tons, according to a a
trade source in Ho Chi Minh city.

-By Joyce Teo 65-421-4825
  ___________________________________

Vietnam Acts On Poor-Quality Drug Imports 

Marketletter

Vietnam now has an estimated 8,000 private drug stores and 2,300
traditional medicine stores, reports the Vietnam Courier. The drug
stores sell 8,000 types of western medicines, of which 3,000 are
imported and the rest are produced in Vietnam.

The good news for patients is that they can find almost any medicine
they need on drug store shelves. Drug stores comprise whole streets in
some parts of Vietnam; for example, Van Nieu, Ngoc Khanh, Quoc Tu Giam
and Lang streets in Vietnam's capital, Hanoi, sell drugs almost
exclusively. This helped to increase per capita medicine consumption
in Vietnam ninefold during 1990-95. However, some imported medicines,
mostly those of poor quality or past their sell-by date, are
concerning the authorities. To combat this problem, the inspectorate
of the Hanoi Medical Service last year inspected 3,000 private drug
stores, and ordered 165 of them to close down for failing to meet
necessary trading standards.

Many drug store owners, who are often not qualified pharmacists,are
spending large sums on advertising their products in the media. Market
"Saturated" With Imports The Vietnamese market is currently saturated
with imported medicines. French-made drugs account for 15% of all drug
imports, followed by products from the USA, Japan and Singapore.
Regarding medicine prices on the Vietnamese market, those imported
from Europe or the USA are the most expensive, followed by those
produced in Asia. Many doctors are said to be keen to prescribe
medicines, particularly those they may have had a hand in producing
themselves, for which they receive a commission for prescribing. At
the same time, many customers purchase such medicines over the
counter, simply asking the assistants which medicine they should take
for a particular medical condition or disease. Thus, medicines which
are totally unsuitable for a particular condition are being sold for
this purpose.

The Ministry of Health is considering issuing regulations stipulating
that before going to buy medicines, patients must first consult a
doctor and obtain a prescription. The Ministry will also monitor the
advertising of medicines to ensure that they do not make false claims,
and tighten its control over medicine imports to ensure that they are
of good quality.
  ___________________________________

Japan's Kumagai Gumi Wins Vietnam Power Plant Order 

TOKYO (AP, DJ) -- The Vietnamese government has awarded to a
consortium led by Kumagai Gumi Co. (J.KMG) an Y11 billion contract to
build a hydroelectric power plant in Vietnam, the Japanese
construction company said Monday.

The Ham Thuan Da Mi Hydropower Project is located about 200 kilometers
east of Ho Chi Minh City. Construction, funded with Japanese
government aid, is expected to be completed in January 2001.

The consortium comprises Kumagai Gumi, South Korea's Kukudong
Engineering and Construction Co., and Italy's Astaldi Spa.

Kumagai Gumi said it was the first major engineering contract that it
had won in Vietnam since setting up a Vietnamese office in 1994. The
company hopes to win a large amount of power plant business there in
the future, and will aim to obtain other public works contracts and
private sector business, it said.

Kumagai Gumi, a leading general construction contractor, is relatively
strong in civil engineering-related works and is known for its
overseas projects. Headquarters: 2-6-8 Chuo, Fukui City 910.

Significant developments: In April, Kumagai Gumi said a consortium led
by it had won an Y11 billion contract to build a hydroelectric power
plant in Vietnam.

In November, Kumagai Gumi revised upward its parent pretax profit
forecast for the full year ending March 31, 1997, on an expected
increase in private-sector capital outlays. Kumagai now expects
full-year parent pretax profit of Y11.00 billion and net profit of
Y1.00 billion yen on sales of Y890.00 billion. In June, the company
posted a consolidated pretax profit of Y9.53 billion on sales of
Y1.090 trillion for the year ended March 31, 1996.

All figures are in yen and for the parent only.

6-mo ended6-mo ended  FY ended  FY ended
 9/30/96  9/30/953/31/963/31/95
Pretax Profit3.34b  4.30b 14.48b20.45b
Net Profit 314m309m  1.09b 1.09b
Sales363.45b358.16b983.84b  829.24b
EPS 0.460.451.61  1.61
Dividend  omitted  omitted 3.00  3.00

Currency history (dollar v. yen)

  9/30/96  9/30/95  3/31/96  3/31/95
Tokyo Close:  111.09 98.40106.4589.13

  ___________________________________