VN news (June 12)

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

New leaders on the cards in Vietnam
Teenagers rescued from mining slavery in Vietnam
UN poverty report says Vietnam making progress
Vietnam says UN report not politically correct
Hanoi hosts Asia-Pacific congress of solidarity with Cuba
Vietnam traffic surge raises accident death toll
Vietnam's population growth rate falls
General Zhang Wannian meets Vietnamese Army delegation 
Israeli communications minister visits Vietnam
Vietnam suffering nuclear brain drain
Harrison Ford admits he dodged Vietnam war draft
Vietnam to revamp import duty structure: report
Government bodies linked to 320 million dollar Vietnam corruption case
Oil refinery project remains on hold: Hanoi continues to rebuff eager bidders
Vietnam gives priority to Statoil/BP gas plans
  _________________________________________________________________

New leaders on the cards in Vietnam

HANOI, June 12 (Reuter) - Vietnam's septuagenarian president and prime
minister have so far not registered for election to the National Assembly
next month, raising the likelihood that they will step down in September,
sources said on Thursday. 

Communist Party Secretary General Do Muoi, 80, has not registered for the
July 20 poll either -- although unlike the president and premier, the
party chief is not constitutionally required to be a member of the
legislature. 

A final list of candidates for election to the assembly must be lodged
with the central election council 30 days before the vote. 

In theory, 76-year-old President Le Duc Anh and 74-year-old Prime Minister
Vo Van Kiet could still put their names forward in the few days that
remain before the list is finalised. 

But sources said there was an extremely slim chance that they would do so
because mandatory discussions about candidates nominated by central-level
organisations had already finished. 

Anh, Kiet and Muoi had been expected to step down at the mid-1996 party
congress, but last-minute manoeuvring saw their terms in office
effectively extended. 

However, Anh suffered a stroke the following November and although he has
recovered sufficiently to make some brief public appearances, analysts
believe he is not fit enough to stay on. Sources quote Kiet as saying he
is tired and ready to go. 

Constitutionally, the posts of president and prime minister must be
considered at the present time because their five-year terms come up for
renewal by the new National Assembly, which will meet for the first time
in September. 

Analysts said Muoi, who is seen as a balancing influence between
reform-minded Kiet and conservative Anh, would stay on for some time after
the president and prime minister have stepped down. 

Sources said the question of who would succeed Anh and Kiet would be
discussed at a 10-day party Central Committee meeting, which began last
Monday. 

Political sources and diplomats said Foreign Minister Nguyen Manh Cam, 67,
and National Assembly Chairman Nong Duc Manh, 56, were likely candidates
for the presidency, although Defence Minister General Doan Khue, 73, has
also been mentioned as a possible successor to Anh. 

Phan Van Khai, 63, currently one of three deputy prime ministers, is
believed to be a likely successor to Kiet. 
  _________________________________________________________________

Teenagers rescued from mining slavery in Vietnam

HANOI, June 12 (Reuter) - Fifteen teenage boys have been rescued from
slavery at an illegal gold mine in a remote area of central Vietnam,
officials in Quang Nam province said on Thursday. 

The boys, aged between 13 and 15, were released from hard labour after a
raid on the mine by border guards and soldiers about two weeks ago and
returned to their families in various areas of the country. 

They had been lured to the mine, which is in a jungle area near the border
with Laos, by promises of handsome wages. They were never paid for their
toil, which for one boy had lasted two years. 

"They suffered a lot," the official said. "Their feet and their hands were
covered with pustules, their clothes were torn and they had no change of
clothing," he said. 

None of them was found to be suffering from serious illness, but they told
the authorities that one boy had died at the mine before the rescue. 

Officials said four people had been arrested in the case. 
  _________________________________________________________________

UN poverty report says Vietnam making progress

HANOI, June 12 (Reuter) - A United Nations report praised Vietnam on
Thursday for its efforts to overcome poverty and said the country was
successfully translating the benefits of economic growth into improving
the lives of its people. 

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) 1997 annual human
development report said that Vietnam's decade-old "Doi Moi" reform process
had been "quite successful" in helping the poor, emphasising supportive
development for the non-poor and providing some social assistance. 

However the report said the government needed to work harder to strengthen
the economy and human resources. 

The UNDP's 1996 report ranked Vietnam 121 out of 174 countries on a human
development index. Its position in this year's table of 175 countries was
unchanged. 

But the UNDP said a significant finding of the 1997 survey was that the
country's measurement on a human poverty scale was much higher -- 33 out
of 78 -- indicating that overall progress in human development was well
geared towards helping the poor. 

But the report was not entirely positive and warned that Hanoi would have
to do much more to improve the choices and opportunities for the poor, and
focus efforts towards improving the lot of the country's ethnic
minorities. 

It said earnings among these people were on average only 60 percent as
much as members of the majority Kinh population. 

Vietnam is one of the world's poorest countries with a per capita income
of around $300 a year. Life expectancy is 66 years, access to health
services is available to 90 percent of the population and adult literacy,
at 93 percent, is on a par with Hong Kong and Singapore. 
  _________________________________________________________________

Vietnam says U.N. report not politically correct

HANOI, June 12 (Reuter) - Vietnam objected to an assertion in the United
Nations Human Development report that the fall of communism had left only
one prevailing economic ideology -- but too late to prevent publication
and world-wide distribution of the report. 

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) said in a statement on
Thursday that the communist country did not "endorse the terminology" in
two paragraphs of the 245-page report. 

The first stated that "the transition from socialism to democracy and
market economies has proved more difficult and costly than anyone
imagined". 

UNDP said that Hanoi, which embarked on reform along market lines a decade
ago, would like to have changed that to read that the "transformation of
the centrally planned and subsidised economic mechanism" had been more
difficult and costly than anyone imagined. 

Despite its step-by-step rejection of Soviet-style economics and the
collapse of communism in eastern Europe, Vietnam regularly argues that
socialism is only in temporary regression and will eventually make a
comeback. 

"Socialism will definitely replace capitalism in the end," the official
Communist Party daily Nhan Dan said this week. 

That would explain why Vietnam would like to have seen UNDP's assertion
that "the fall of communism has left only one prevailing economic ideology
in the political marketplace" expunged from the report. 

UNDP said its administrator, Gustave Speth, had personally acknowledged
Vietnam's concerns, fully respected its point of view and wanted to point
out that the references were not directed at any specific country. 

"...the report had regretfully already been printed when UNDP was notified
of the government's concerns," it said. 

Vietnam is one of five surviving Communist-ruled countries along with
China, Cuba, Laos and North Korea. 
  _________________________________________________________________

Hanoi hosts Asia-Pacific congress of solidarity with Cuba 

Hanoi (AFP) - A two-day Asia-Pacific congress opened here Thursday to
express solidarity with Cuba which has been hit by US-led economic
sanctions, official sources said. 

About 100 delegates were to discuss "ways to reinforce actions of
solidarity with Cuba," at the congress titled "Rejection of the (US) Helms
Burton law," the Vietnamese News Agency said. 

The Helms Burton law was passed in 1996 in an attempt to choke all foreign
investment in Cuba, and further tighten the 35-year US-imposed economic
sanctions on the communist state. 

Delegations from Australia, Bangladesh, Burma, China, Cuba, India, Japan,
Laos, Malaysia, Mongolia, Nepal, North Korea, Pakistan, the Philippines
and Sri Lanka were taking part in the congress. 

The Cuban representatives were led by the president of the Friendship with
the People Institute, Sergio Corriere, a member of the Communist Party's
Central Committee in Havana. 

The congress is the second of its type following a gathering organised by
India last year. 

Vietnam and Cuba are close allies ideologically. Hanoi backs Havana in
international forums and regularly supplies aid to Cuba especially
supplies of rice. 
  _________________________________________________________________

Vietnam traffic surge raises accident death toll

HANOI, June 12 (Reuter) - An average 16 people die every day on the
country's roads, official media reports said on Thursday. 

Vietnam News Agency said that 2,463 people died in traffic accidents
between January and May -- equivalent to the number that lost their lives
in the first half of 1996. 

VNA said the rise in the number of accidents, to an average of 54 a day so
far this year, was due to an increase in the number of vehicles on the
road and careless driving. 

Bicycles are still the most popular form of transport. But swarms of
motorbikes and, increasingly, cars have arrived on the nation's chaotic
and potholed streets since economic and social reforms were launched in
the late 1980s. 

Traffic rules are lax and motorbike riders spurn helmets on grounds of
cost and fashion. 
  _________________________________________________________________

Vietnam's Population Growth Rate Falls

Hanoi (Xinhua News Agency) - Vietnam reduced its birth rate to 22.8 per
thousand in 1996 from 30.1 per thousand in 1989, according to an official
report released here today. 

On average, Vietnam's birth rate has dropped nearly 0.1 per cent per year
and the average number of children born by a woman in the reproductive age
group went down to 2.7 in 1996 from 3.8 in 1989. 

However, figures released by the Health Ministry showed that each year
about one million abortions are performed and that a woman has on average
two abortions during her reproductive age. 

In its strategy of population for the 1996-2000 period, Vietnam strives to
achieve the objective that the average number of children born by a woman
in the reproductive age group are 2.5-2.6. 

In the year 2000, Vietnam will reduce its population growth rate to
1.5-1.6 per cent and will have a population of 81 million. 

As an immediate step, the government will strive to slash the birth rate
by 0.8 per thousand in 1997, increase the number of contraceptive users to
58.6 per cent or 7 million. 
  _________________________________________________________________

General Zhang Wannian Meets Vietnamese Army Delegation

BEIJING (Xinhua News Agency) - Zhang Wannian, vice-chairman of the Central
Military Commission, met here today with a delegation from the General
Political Department of the Vietnamese People's Army, led by its deputy
director Le Hai. 

Zhang said that leaders of the two countries have had frequent exchanges
of visits since the normalization of relations between the two nations,
thus spurring bilateral ties to grow in a sound and steady manner. 

He noted that with the steady expansion of Sino-Vietnamese ties, the armed
forces of the two countries have also scored progress in their
relationship. 

He expressed the belief that the delegation's current China visit will
certainly push forward the growth of relations between the two armed
forces. 

Zhang also briefed the delegation on the situation in China. He noted that
the purpose of the delegation's visit is to learn from the experiences of
the Chinese People's Liberation Army in the political work, saying that
the delegation will try to enhance friendship between the two armed
forces. 
  _________________________________________________________________

Israeli communications minister visits Vietnam

HANOI (AFP) - Israeli Communications Minister Limor Livnat was due on a
visit to Vietnam on Thursday to discuss telecoms cooperation the Israeli
embassy said in a press statement. 

Livnat is visiting Vietnam as a guest of the Department General of Posts
and Telecommunications (DGPT) the body charged with overseeing the
communications sector. 

She is expected to stay in Vietnam until June 16. 

Also travelling with the Israeli delegation is the managing director of
the Israel Foreign Trade Risks Insurance Corporation who will ways of
boosting two-way trade. 
  _________________________________________________________________

Vietnam suffering nuclear brain drain

Hanoi (dpa) - A brain drain of qualified staffers is accelerating at
Vietnam's sole premier nuclear research facility, mostly due to low pay,
said an official report Thursday. 

More than 30 scientists have deserted the National Institute for Nuclear
Research since 1991, leaving just 18 technoloigcal experts among a staff
of over 200, according to the report. 

Nine of those have left the U.S.-built facility, located in the central
highland resort city of Dalat, in the first three months of this year, the
official Vietnam News reported. 

Authorities were alerted to the problem in 1995 but there is no solution
in sight, acording to the Institute's director, Dr. Tran Ha Anh. 

"Two years have passed, almost to the day, and we still haven't received
an answer [from the central government]," he complained. 

Salaries - which are as low as 30 dollars a month and just 63 dollars a
month for staff with more thn 20 years experience - seems to be the main
issue. 

Many of those who have left opted to work in better paid jobs with foreign
joint ventures in nearby Ho Chi Minh City or in state energy firms, the
report added. 

Another problem is that the staff is not getting younger and there are no
new recruits to replace retiring staffers, it said. 

The facility, which is also known as the Atomic Research Centre, is the
key institute in Vietnam's ambition to develop nuclear power. 

The long-neglected centre splashed into the news earlier this year when
U.S. officials disclosed that Washington had left behind 80 grammes
(roughly three ounces) of plutonium, a key ingeredient for making nuclear
bombs. 

Previously classified documents detailed a bungled covert U.S. operation
to spirit the deadly plutonioum out of the country in the final days of
the Vietnam War but operatives mistakenly took the wrong cannister. 

Vietnamese officials have said the amount left behind was less than 80
grammes and Washinton has asked that inspectors from the International
Atomic Energy Agency be allowed access to check themselves. 

Even 80 grammes would not be eough to make a bomb, it is generally agreed
and Vietnamese officials say they have never tried. 

"We have other problems to think about in Vietnam than making a bomb,"
French-educated Anh told reporters earlier this eyar. 
  _________________________________________________________________

Harrison Ford admits he dodged Vietnam War draft

LOS ANGELES, June 11 (Reuter) - In the "Star Wars" and "Indiana Jones"
movies, he played brave adventurers, but in real life Harrison Ford
avoided fighting in the Vietnam War by claiming to be a conscientious
objector, the actor said. 

In an interview in the July edition of "Movieline" magazine, Ford
acknowledged he dodged the draft during the late 1960s when he was a
struggling actor just out of college. 

Asked if he was classified as a "conscientious objector," he was quoted as
saying no. 

"I confused them (the draft board) so badly that they never took action on
my petition," he said. "My conscientious objection wasn't based on a
history of religious affiliation. 

"I went back to my philosophy training at college," he said, explaining
that he wrote a long thesis arguing about the concept of God as not a
being but rather the most meaningful thing in his life. 

"I always had trouble with the word or notion of God in a stand-up form.
So I developed that thesis and took the biblical injuction to love thy
neighbour as thyself as the central and most meaningful thing in my life. 

"I combined it all and typed for days and sent it off and never heard a
word," Ford told "Movieline." He said that more than two years later his
first wife became pregnant and he was granted an exemption from serving
his country. 
  _________________________________________________________________

Vietnam to revamp import duty structure: report

Hanoi (AFP) - Vietnam's government plans to revamp the way imported
assembly parts will be taxed, a local newspaper report said Thursday. 

According to a draft circular prepared by the Ministry of Finance, kits
imported for the assembly of electronic and mechanical goods will be
assigned tariffs on the basis of each separate item instead of according
to the final good, it said. 

For example, each component used in assembling a shock absorber would be
assessed at a different rate, whereas currently a uniform duty is assessed
for shock absorbers, the Saigon Times Daily reported Thursday. 

The circular is expected to come into effect in one month, and could cause
huge headaches for assemblers already baffled by Vietnam's byzantine tax
structure. 

The new regulations which are designed to encourage local production would
affect the assembly of motorbikes, automobiles and electronics components. 

But the problem was a lack of locally produced components, said Shunroku
Atarashi, general director of Vinastar Motors Corp., an auto assembly
joint venture in which Mitsubishi Motors and Proton of Malaysia have a
stake. 
  _________________________________________________________________

Government bodies linked to 320 million dollar Vietnam corruption case

HANOI (AFP) - A company at the centre of a 320 million dollar fraud,
potentially Vietnam's biggest scandal, rented government properties at
rock bottom prices and used the premises as collateral for loans, it was
reported Thursday. 

The Tuoi Tre youth newspaper said the Export Import and Tourist District 3
Co. (EPCO) rented properties from the Ho Chi Minh City police, the
prosecution office, the Woman's Union and the Fatherland Front. 

The newspaper questioned why the People's Committee of District 3, where
EPCO was headquartered, allowed the conglomerate to gain title to many
official properties below market prices. 

The revelation came as part of a widespread investigation in which 23
people have been charged in relation to an alleged fraud involving up to
320 million dollars, and in which one person has mysteriously died. 

The newspaper said that in addition to the government bodies, several
state-owned businesses and production enterprises were forced by the
People's Committee of District 3 to assign real estate to EPCO which then
used it as contribution to foreign joint ventures. 

Offices occupied by EPCO were used to secure loans to finance Minh Phung
Garment Co, whose finance vice director was found dead on a bank rooftop
two weeks ago. 

Ho Chi Minh City police contacted by AFP on Thursday said the results of
the autopsy performed nearly two weeks ago on the dead man were still not
available. 

Ming Phung's troubles first surfaced in March after EPCO, defaulted on an
18 million dollar debt to the Bank for Foreign Trade and Investment, or
Vietcombank, Vietnam's largest state-owned bank. 

Much of the investigation has focused on trying to assess a labyrinthine
company structure in which Minh Phung allegedly used more than 22
subsidiaries and associate companies to deceive bankers of its true
financial structure. 

Minh Phung is one of Vietnam's largest garment manufacturers with more
than 9,000 employees. Like many high-flying private joint stock companies
it diversified into imports and exports and several property deals which
have gone sour. 
  _________________________________________________________________

Vietnam: Oil refinery project remains on hold: Hanoi continues to rebuff
eager bidders

By Achara Ashayagachat
Bangkok Post

Hanoi - The stalemate over Vietnam's plans for its first oil refinery
remains as firm as ever. 

The government is maintaining a "do-it-ourself" stance despite keen
proposals from South Korea's Lucky Goldstar International Corp and
Malaysia's Petroleum Nasional Bhd (Petronas). 

No sooner had American consultants Foster Wheeler submitted their
re-evaluation of the Dung Quat refinery to the state conglomerate,
PetroVietnam, in March, than Lucky Goldstar lodged its proposals to take
part in the project. 

Petronas, Malaysia's national oil company, followed suit in April. 

The two companies are members of a consortium including Conoco and Stone
and Webster of the United States, and the Chinese Petroleum Corp and China
Investment and Development Co of Taiwan, which earlier made a feasibility
study of the US$1.25-billion project. 

But Hanoi turned down the group's proposal as the consortium had asked for
the right to run the project and to sell the refined products at a
subsidised price. To back its case, the group had pointed out that the
annual return on its investment would be 9%, which was below the 10-12%
sought by foreign banks to qualify for a syndicated loan. 

Explaining why Lucky Goldstar had since lodged an individual proposal,
regional director Sang-Mo Lee said: "We want to support the project which
is strategically important to Vietnam." 

The group already has 11 licensed projects in Vietnam and is planning
further heavy investment. Another 10 joint ventures were being finalised
this year or early next year and about 10 others were pending within two
years, Mr Lee said. "Our investment ranges from mining to pharmaceuticals,
power, telecommunications and electrical appliances." 

If its refinery proposal is accepted, Lucky Goldstar's commitments until
2000 will cost $2.5-3 billion. 

"A political decision is needed for this kind of project and details can
be discussed later at operational level," Mr Lee said, adding there were
many options in running the project. So far his proposal was matched the
government's guidelines. 

Malaysian expatriates of Petronas were unavailable for comment. 

A Vietnamese Government Office official said: "We are still negotiating
with the foreign parties to get a better offer. Hopefully, the final
decision should be made this year so the project will not be delayed too
much." 

But the two foreign companies were still pressing for the government to
subsidise the retail price of the petroleum products, said an official at
the Ministry of Planning and Investment. 

"We encourage foreign participation in the project to help shoulder our
financial burden. But their request for distribution and price guarantees
is impossible to meet," he said. 

Scaling down the project to cost $300 million, to raise the internal rate
of return to 19-20%, had been rejected, he said. 

According to Foster Wheeler's study, a smaller refinery would not greatly
enhance the investment, as this would depend on how far the government was
willing to meet the investors' requests. 

"We will build to the original capacity of 6.5 million tons per annum and,
if the decision is made now, by 2000 the refinery will be operational,"
the official said. 

Hanoi's refusal to meet the companies' demands means it is banking on
Japanese Overseas Development Assistance for the project if no other
foreign partners emerge with a better offer. 

"We may arrange soft loans or export credits for an EPC (engineering,
purchasing and construction) tender. In that case, 85% of the total
equipment cost will be financed by export credits," the official said. 

But a Japanese diplomat said Vietnam had yet to formally ask Tokyo for a
yen loan for the refinery. 

"If the project is feasible in terms of implementation and financing, our
position is clearly to support it. But private interests looking at
downstream business possibilities have said some important details are
still missing," a Japanese embassy source said. 

Apart from Japan's Ministry of International Trade and Industry, the
project would need support from Japan's foreign and finance ministries
before it could ve eligible for yen loans, he added. 
  _________________________________________________________________

Vietnam gives priority to Statoil/BP gas plans

OSLO, June 12 (Reuter) - Den norske stats oljeselskap AS (Statoil STAT.CN)
said on Thursday that its and British Petroleum's gas development plans in
the Nam Con Son Basin off Vietnam had been ranked by the Vietnamese
government among the country's top five national projects. 

"This is a breakthrough for us," Tore Sund, head of Statoil's Vietnamese
operations, told Statoil's newsletter Status Weekly. "We are seeing
specific results every week." The Statoil-BP alliance is planning to
invest $1.5 billion in an offshore development, a pipeline to land with an
associated terminal, a fertiliser plant and a power station. 

The four other projects given priority by the authorities are construction
of a motorway from Hanoi in the north to Ho Chi Minh City in the south,
tree planting nationwide, construction of the first oil refinery south of
Da Nang in central Vietnam and dykes to control flooding in the Mekong
Delta. 
  _________________________________________________________________