VN news (June 19)

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

Five Vietnamese workers burned to death in cement plant accident
Vietnam police break up major illegal logging ring, arrest 16
Vietnam's Communist Party Third Plenum Ends
Vietnam Says To Steer Clear Of Cambodia Conflict
Iranian vice president in Vietnam to build trade links
Vietnam's Do Muoi rails against party decadence
Japan's telecommunications minister visits Vietnam
Australian foreign minister to visit Vietnam July 3-6
Agent Orange talks likely at Hanoi conference: retired US general 
McNamara Re-Examines Vietnam War
Hanoi and Washington still caught up by the Vietnam War
23 people held in HK with forged Vietnamese documents 
Vietnam: Goodwill visit by British frigate 
Put ideology first, Viet media told 
Vietnamese Parlimentary Delegation Visits House Speaker 
  _________________________________________________________________
         
Five Vietnamese workers burned to death in cement plant accident

Hanoi (dpa) - Five workers at a Vietnam state-owned cement plant were
burned to death when searing clinker dust burst into their control room,
company officials said Thursday. 

The incident ocurred Tuesday at the state Hoang Thach Cement Company, in
Hai Duong town located 60 kilometres east of the Vietnamese capital Hanoi. 

More than 20 tons of dust - heated to temperatures of between 400-600
degrees celsius - filled the third floor, where the control room was
located, following a mechanical breakdown in the drying process, officials
said. 

Nguyen Quang, a senior executive of the General Cement Corporation, a unit
of the Ministry of Construction, which owns the Hai Duong plant said the
accident was being investigated. 

The Hoang Thach plant is one of two largest cement plants in northern
Vietnam and is at least ten years old. 

There are increasing reports of occupational accidents in Vietnam as the
country's ageing industrial stock continues to deteriorate. 

Families of those dying in the cement plant accident were expected to
receive insurance payment of five million dong (430 dollars) per person
and some additional amount from the company, officials said. 
  _________________________________________________________________

Vietnam police break up major illegal logging ring, arrest 16

Hanoi (dpa) - Vietnamese police have arrested 14 people in breaking up an
illegal logging ring which involved forest rangers and high-ranking
Communist Party officials, authorities said Thursday. 

It is the biggest known bust of its kind and seems to give credence to a
recent prime ministerial initiative to crackdown on the rampant
destruction of the country's forests. 

Over the last four years the logging operation has destroyed a significant
part of the forest area protecting a key reservoir in the southern part of
the country. 

The Tri An reservoir in Binh Thuan province also provides water for
southern Vietnam's two largest hydroelectrical power plants. 

Despite complaints for years about the blatant logging that has turned the
forested watershed into barren land, nothing was done because of the
extensive involvement of local officials, said local press reports. 

Provincial and central-level were brought in recently to investigate the
case and the alleged ringleader, Dinh Manh Ho, who owns a private
construction company, was arrested June 11, reported the official Vietnam
News Agency. 

In subsequent days current and former forest rangers and four party
leaders in the Tanh Linh district were also arrested. 

"We have arrest warrants for 16 people but so far we have only arrested 14
people, including four party members," said district police lieutenant
Tran Van Tuoi in a telephone interview. "The investigation is still going
on." 

Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet recently banned the export of all processed
wood products, as part of an effort to save Vietnam's fast dwindling
forests. 

The Tri An power plant, which became operational in 1981, is still the
largest in southern Vietnam and the reservoir feeds into another dam still
under construction. 
  _________________________________________________________________

Vietnam's Communist Party Third Plenum Ends 

Xinhua English Newswire
06/19/97

The third plenum of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of
Vietnam (CPV) closed here Wednesday after approving two resolutions. 

A press communique released by Vietnam News Agency Wednesday night said
the plenum, which was opened on June 9, discussed and approved two
important resolutions, namely "promoting the people's authority and
continuing the construction of a strong and pure state of the Socialist
Republic of Vietnam" and "strategy for human resources in the period of
national industrialization and modernization." 

According to the communique, the plenum made deep analysis and assessment
of the renovation process in state building and personnel training over
the past ten years, affirming the major achievements made in these fields. 

It also reviewed the overall situation, pointing out "mistakes and
shortcomings which require urgent resolution, especially corruption,
wastefulness, bureaucratic style, and violations of the people's authority
by several levels of authorities and economic organisations, by officials,
eroding the people's confidence and holding back the country's progress." 

The conference unanimously approved the orientation and tasks, and worked
out major solutions to continue promoting the people's authority,
strengthening the state, building a contingent of officials who are
qualified morally and proficiently to meet requirements of the country in
the period of industrialization and modernization, said the communique. 

In his opening and closing speeches, CPV's General Secretary Muoi stressed
that the most important is to attract people, especially workers, farmers,
intellectuals and the armed forces, to join in state management and
exercise their rights. 

The building up of the contingent of cadres and the personnel work must be
based on "maintaining and strengthening nature of the working class of the
party," implementing a policy of solidarity to bring together all cadres
and put talented persons in important positions, the party leader said. 

He added that educating, training and managing the staff is the most
important measure to protect the party, the regime, and the revolutionary
cause. 

The general secretary noted that in implementing the market-oriented
economy and broadening external exchanges, the party must "pay attention
to educating and fostering the quality, virtues and healthy lifestyle of
the cadres, upholding solidarity, protecting internal political security
and fighting against embezzlement and bureaucracy, corruption, smuggling,
bribery and other social evils." 
  _________________________________________________________________

Vietnam Says To Steer Clear Of Cambodia Conflict 

Hanoi, June 19 (AP)--Vietnam expressed concern over neighboring Cambodia's
escalating tensions, but vowed to remain neutral in the developing dispute
between rival Cambodian factions. 

A Foreign Ministry spokesman on Thursday said Vietnam 'always regards
political conflicts in Cambodia as that country's internal affairs.'

Vietnam, however, in 1978 invaded Cambodia and ousted the murderous Khmer
Rouge regime.Vietnamese troops did not withdraw from Cambodia until 1989. 

'Regarding the political conflicts in Cambodia, Vietnam always considers
these to be internal affairs of the Cambodian government,' Foreign
Ministry spokesman Tran Quang Hoan told a twice-monthly press conference
in Hanoi. 

Political tensions between co-premiers Hun Sen and Norodom Ranariddh
erupted into a gun battle in the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh, on
Wednesday, leaving at least two people dead. 

Analysts believe the already tense situation may worsen as rival
government factions vie for support from defecting Khmer Rouge guerrillas. 

The loyalties of several thousand Khmer Rouge cadres may be up for grabs
as they turn against their infamous leader, Pol Pot, who is on the run in
northern Cambodia. 

Hoan said political tensions in Cambodia will not adversely affect an
earlier decision to admit that country as a member of the Association of
Southeast Asia Nations. 
  _________________________________________________________________

Iranian vice president in Vietnam to build trade links 

HANOI, June 19 (AFP) - Iran's first vice president Hassan Ibrahim Habibi,
arrived here Thursday on a three-day official visit aimed at boosting
economic ties, officials said. 

Habibi was due to meet Vietnamese Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet later
Thursday to seek ways to expand the limited economic cooperation between
the two countries, foreign ministry sources said. 

He is also due to hold talks with Communist Party Secretary General Do
Muoi, President Le Duc Anh and General Vo Nguyen Giap who masterminded
Vietnamese resistance against French and US forces. 

Habibi is being accompanied on the trip by high-ranking Iranian economic
strategists, including the ministers for agriculture, industry and
officials from the central bank. 

He is due to travel on Saturday to Ho Chi Minh City -- the powerhouse of
Vietnam's emerging economy. 

Iran is hoping to improve ties with Vietnam in industry, construction and
in the trade of oil exports, cement, grain, fertiliser and rubber. 

Between 1991 and 1996, Iran imported more than 700,000 tonnes of
Vietnamese rice, and this year wants to buy a further 500,000 tonnes of
rice, tea and rubber. 

But strengthening cooperation is still hampered by disagreements over
methods of payment, the Vietnamese press reported Thursday. 

No bilateral accords are expected to be signed during the visit, but
Vietnam and Iran are already parties to a series of agreements on
economic, commercial, cultural and scientific cooperation. 

They were signed during the visit of President Le Duc Anh to Tehran in
1994 and that of his then counterpart Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani to
Hanoi in 1995. 

Habibi is due to return home on Sunday. 
  _________________________________________________________________

Vietnam's Do Muoi rails against party decadence

HANOI, June 19 (Reuter) - Vietnam's Communist Party chief upbraided the
country's pantheon of officialdom in a speech published on Thursday,
warning that public confidence was being eroded by graft, bureaucracy and
heavy-handed authoritarianism. 

The rousing address by Secretary General Do Muoi was delivered at the
start of a top-level party meeting, during which possible leadership
changes were debated behind closed doors. 

"Apart from the achievements of building the state, we have to admit
frankly that there have been many mistakes, and many problems remain which
are making people worry -- especially corruption, wastefulness and
bureaucracy..." the 80-year-old leader said. 

Muoi, whose speech to the Central Committee of the party was carried in
full in official dailies, warned that the problems were denting public
confidence and discouraging foreign investors. 

Political sources say there have been more than 30 public protests in
northern Vietnam and in areas around Ho Chi Minh City in recent weeks
against corruption, disputes over land and authoritarian attitudes. 

The country's tightly controlled media have not reported any of these
incidents, though eye-witness accounts of a drawn-out demonstration by
some 3,000 villagers in the northern province of Thai Binh emerged last
week. 

Analysts say the party is worried that a gap between public sentiment and
the arcane world of Vietnamese politics could undermine its popular
support, which explains the recent spate of showcase trials to bring
corrupt officials to justice. 

It is also keen to freshen up the image of an administration which now
faces new and more complex policy choices after cruising through a decade
of economic reform along market lines. 

Speculation about leadership changes later this year has mounted in recent
days because the president and prime minister are not yet known to have
registered for next month's parliamentary elections. 

That means President Le Duc Anh, who suffered a stroke just before his
76th birthday last year, and 74-year-old Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet are
likely to step down when the newly elected National Assembly holds its
first session in September. 

The question of who would be promoted appears to be unresolved. Kiet's
reform-minded deputy, Phan Van Khai, is seen as a possible candidate for
the premiership while three senior Politburo members appear to be in the
running for the presidency. 

Under the constitution, the president and prime minister must be members
of the legislature, but the secretary general of the party is not bound by
the same rule. 

Seen as a balancing influence in the leadership troika between Kiet's push
for reform and Anh's instinctive conservatism, Muoi could stay on for some
time after a reshuffle. 

Official reports on the nine-day meeting of the Central Committee made no
mention of debate about leadership changes, a taboo subject for local
journalists. 
  _________________________________________________________________

Japan's telecommunications minister visits Vietnam 

HANOI, June 19 (AFP) - Japan's minister of posts and telecommunications,
Hisao Horinouchi, Thursday began a four-day visit to Vietnam, the Japanese
Embassy said. 

Horinouchi is to meet with his Vietnamese counterpart, Mai Liem Truc,
general director of the department general of posts and
telecommunications, and Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Khanh, according to
an embassy statement. 

Topping his agenda will be negotiations between Japan's Nippon Telegraph
and Telephone (NTT) and state-owned Vietnam Post and Telecommunications
(VNPT). 

Talks on a business corporation contract to install between 250,000 and
500,000 fixed phone lines in Hanoi have dragged on for more than three
years and are well behind schedule, an industry source said. 

Vietnam has ambitious plans to quadruple the number of phone lines by
2000. There are currently about 1.5 lines per 100 people. 

Other Japanese interests in Vietnamese telecoms include a 15 million
dollar joint venture between NEC and VNPT to build a switch board assembly
plant. 

Fujitsu of Japan has also teamed up with Alcatel of France to build a 150
million dollar optical fibre cable link between Vietnam, Thailand and Hong
Kong. 
  _________________________________________________________________

Australian foreign minister to visit Vietnam July 3-6 

HANOI, June 19 (AFP) - Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer will
visit Vietnam from July 3-6 a Vietnamese Foreign Ministry spokesman said
on Thursday. 

Downer will hold meetings with his Vietnamese counterpart Nguyen Manh Cam
and will open the new premises of the Australian embassy in Hanoi, the
spokesman told a regular press briefing. 

Downer will also launch construction of the My Thuan bridge in the Mekong
Delta in southern Vietnam, an embassy official said. 

Australia is providing about 47 million dollars in non refundable aid
towards construction of the 70 million dollar project to build an 800
metre (2,650 foot) bridge spanning a river where only ferry crossings are
now available. 
  _________________________________________________________________

Agent Orange talks likely at Hanoi conference: retired US general 

HANOI, June 19 (AFP) - Participants at a key seminar on missed
opportunities for peace in the Vietnam War in Hanoi will likely discuss
the devastating effects of the defoliant Agent Orange, a former US general
said Thursday. 

The general, who served in the air force during the 1960s, told AFP "we
are bound to talk about that." 

When asked if the subject was officially tabled for discussion, he said
"We don't know how these people think. That's what we are here to talk
about." The historic four-day conference opens here Friday, when key
players, including former wartime US Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara
will discuss missed opportunities for peace. 

McNamara, who arrived in Hanoi on Wednesday, declined to comment on Agent
Orange in advance of the formal meetings. 

"I don't want to talk about sensitive issues now," he told AFP. Of all the
participants, McNamara is likely to be the most willing to discuss his
mistakes. 

In 1995 he published his memoires "In Retrospect: The Tragedy and Lessons
of Vietnam," detailing how a mass of misconceptions entangled the United
States in a war abroad and tore it apart at home. 

McNamara admits it was "terribly wrong" for the United States to pursue a
war that by 1967 he had concluded was unwinnable. 

McNamara served as secretary of defense from 1961 to 1968, a period during
which US planes sprayed millions of litres of the defoliant Agent Orange
to flush out communist troops under protective forest cover. 

In the lead up to Friday's conference and the expected arrival of US
Secretary of State Madeleine Albright who will visit from June 26-28, the
Vietnamese press has published a flurry of articles about the devastating
effects of Agent Orange. 

Some two million Vietnamese are believed to have been affected by the
chemical, including 50,000 severly deformed infants born to parents
exposed to Agent Orange. 
  _________________________________________________________________

McNamara Re-Examines Vietnam War 

HANOI, Vietnam (AP) Just three months after the first American combat
troops waded ashore in Danang in 1965, a covert peace initiative between
Washington and Hanoi was edging toward success. 

But the secret talks between a former State Department negotiator and a
North Vietnamese diplomat unraveled, and the United States became
hopelessly entangled in a losing conflict that cost millions of lives. 

Why did those promising talks dubbed the XYZ Affair fail? 

Former Defense Secretary Robert McNamara and a range of Vietnam War-era
policy makers hope to find the answer this weekend, during a conference
exploring missed opportunities for peace. 

"This is a rare opportunity to let the policy makers from both sides of
the Vietnam War sit down together and remake their decisions in
hindsight," Vietnam War scholar Bob Brigham said today. 

McNamara, whose hawkish approach to the conflict was key to Washington's
military involvement, arrived in the capital, Hanoi, on Wednesday to meet
with wartime adversaries. 

The former defense secretary under Presidents Kennedy and Johnson has said
the war was a grave error and is eager to explore why peace efforts
failed. 

His memoirs, published in 1995, contended that U.S. forces at that point
only military advisors should have been pulled out of Vietnam as early as
1963, when American casualties stood at only 78. 

"Although we sought to do the right thing and believed we were doing the
right thing in my judgment, hindsight proves us wrong," he wrote. 

Veterans denounced McNamara for his belated confession, saying he had been
wrong to keep sending soldiers to die in a war he considered unwinnable. 

McNamara first came back to Vietnam in 1995 to meet his wartime adversary,
Gen. Vo Nguyen Giap, and to open a dialogue on the war that cost the lives
of 58,000 Americans and more than 3 million Vietnamese. 

On Friday, McNamara will begin four days of meetings and seminars with his
Vietnamese counterparts to look at the war in hindsight. 

In addition to the XYZ Affair, scholars and policy makers will examine why
six other secret peace initiatives failed, often resulting in an
escalation of U.S. bombing campaigns over North Vietnam and Hanoi's
increased infiltration into South Vietnam. 

Among the theories the conference will examine are: 

How the war could have been cut short through better diplomacy and
communications; 

How the Kennedy and Johnson administrations misjudged communist North
Vietnam's ambitions in Indochina; 

How prevailing Cold War doctrine in the 1960s masked the true nature of
the conflict in Vietnam a nationalist uprising and not part of a global
communist conspiracy. 
  _________________________________________________________________

Hanoi and Washington still caught up by the Vietnam War 

HANOI, June 19 (AFP) - More than 22 years after the Vietnam War, the
spectre of the bitter conflict still haunts Hanoi and Washington, despite
declarations by the former enemies that it is time to turn a page on
history. 

Beginning Friday, Hanoi will host an historic conference attended by the
key players in the War, including former US secretary of defense Robert
McNamara, who will discuss missed opportunities for peace in the conflict
which left more than three million Vietnamese and nearly 58,000 Americans
dead. 

In his memoirs entitled "In Retrospect: The Tragedy and Lessons of
Vietnam" published in 1995, McNamara admits it was "terribly wrong" for
the United States to pursue a war that by 1967 he had concluded was
unwinnable. 

Yet the soul-searching over whether the war was justly fought is far from
over. In Washington, recovering the remains of US servicemen still missing
in action (MIA) dominates every political debate over Vietnam. 

The four-day conference will open against the backdrop of a recent flurry
of articles chronicling the devastating effects of US chemical warfare,
particularly the 42 million litres of Agent Orange sprayed over South
Vietnam by the US Airforce to defoliate forests hidding communist
soldiers. 

Diplomats say extensive media attention paid to the horrific impact on
more than two million people affected by chemical warfare is no accident. 

Although, Vietnam has never sought compensation for the Agent Orange
victims, the conference could help pave the way for Hanoi to make an
official request to Washington, observers say. 

"This is just too good an occasion to let slip by. They want some money
and there is an atmosphere of bargaining between the two countries at the
moment," one diplomat said. 

The 2,124 MIAs in Indochina will also be at the top of the agenda for the
visit of US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, who will also discuss
human rights and a trade agreement from June 26 to June 28. 

And although Agent Orange is not officially on the programme, observers
say it is likely to come up, as it did during a meeting between Communist
Party General Secretary Do Muoi during the April visit of US Treasury
Secretary Robert Rubin. 

Indeed, despite official pronouncements by both Washington and Hanoi that
it is time to bury the past, the war chapter is far from being closed. 

"It is neither a declassified topic in the United States nor in Vietnam.
It is going to take many more years," said one Western diplomat. 

The conference will be opened by Washington's first envoy to Hanoi,
Ambassador Pete Peterson, a former prisoner of war of more than six years
who took his post last month. 

He will read a message from President Bill Clinton, who has openly
supported many of the conclusions of McNamara's book. 

The Vietnamese delegation headed by former foreign minister Nguyen Co
Thach, will include several generals. 

Vietnam's greatest wartime hero and chief architect of the communist
victory over the French and later, South Vietnam, Vo Nguyen Giap, will not
be participating in the conference, though he will meet McNamara at the
end of the seminar. 

The talks could make a valuable contribution to the body of research on
the war, thanks to historians, legal experts and thousands of pages of
documents, some of which have recently been declassified or have come from
previously inaccessible Chinese or Russian sources. 
  _________________________________________________________________

23 people held in HK with forged Vietnamese documents 

HONG KONG, June 19 (AFP) - Police in Hong Kong have smashed a forged
Vietnamese document syndicate, arresting 23 people, a police spokesman
said Thursday. 

More than 100 forged Vietnamese documents were seized late Wednesday
during a series of raids in the territory. 

"We believed that the operation has smashed a forged Vietnamese document
syndicate," the spokesman said. 

Hong Kong authorities have issued documents to Vietnameses refugees in the
territory awaiting resettlement in third countries. 

The forged documents were seized at a residential flat in the central
district of Wanchai, resulting in the arrests of four men and two women,
all Vietnamese nationals. 

At a raid at a photographic shop, also in Wanchai, police officers
arrested a man and a woman, who were both locals. They also seized
equipment used to make forged Vietnamese cards. 

A futher 15 Vietnamese illegal immigrants with forged documents were held
in follow-up raids. 

The Hong Kong government has urged Hanoi to stem the flow of illegal
immigrants into the territory, with figures so far this year already above
the 1,000 arrested last year. 

Since 1975, following the communist vistory in the Vietnam War, more than
200,000 asylum seekrs have made the trip in rickety boats or by land to
Hong Kong. 

The total remaining, two weeks before Hong Kong's return to Chinese rule,
is 2,339, according to the UN refugee commission's head here Jean-Noel
Wetterwald. 

China has made it clear that it does not want any Vietnamese boat people
remaining in Hong Kong after the handover of the territory from Britain on
July 1. 
  _________________________________________________________________

Vietnam: Goodwill visit by British frigate 

South China Morning Post 06/18

More than 250 Royal Navy sailors arrived in Ho Chi Minh City last night as
HMS Beaver became one of the first Western warships to visit modern
Vietnam. 

The Beaver, a frigate, is believed to be the first British warship to
enter Vietnamese waters since the end of World War II and its arrival
marks the biggest step yet in a British drive for closer defence ties with
Hanoi. 

In a break from naval tradition, the Beaver agreed to fly the Vietnamese
flag as well as the Union Jack. The French refused in 1991 to fly the
Vietnamese flag for a naval visit to Haiphong which was later aborted. 

Diplomats and officers will meet Vietnamese naval officials, while ratings
have been told be on their best behaviour given the rarity of the visit. 

"This is an important first friendship visit and not an `R and R' stop,"
one British diplomat said. "I'm sure the men will act accordingly." 

The Beaver will stay in port on the Saigon River until Friday when it will
rejoin other Royal Navy vessels as part of its biggest regional deployment
in several years. 

Britain has been keen for some time to boost military relations with
Vietnam, particularly since Hanoi joined the Association of Southeast
Asian Nations two years ago. 

London sells weapons and equipment to every other nation in the regional
grouping. 

A defence attache was accredited to Hanoi this year, while several
military officials have visited Britain for defence exhibitions. 

It is understood possible sales of military equipment to Vietnam are now
under consideration in London as Hanoi seeks new buyers away from
traditional sources India, China and Russia. 

France and the United States are the only other two Western states with
defence staff in Vietnam, but unlike the US, there would little political
baggage to stop any deal between London and Hanoi, diplomats said. 

The means and method of payment would be the main hurdle, one analyst
said. 

Vietnam's military has been hard hit in recent years by mass
demobilisations and a shortage of funds for equipment. 
  _________________________________________________________________

Put ideology first, Viet media told

HO CHI MINH CITY -- A senior Vietnamese military official yesterday spelt
out his vision of the future for the country's state media, saying
journalists should remain a vanguard of socialism. 

Lieutenant-General Le Kha Phieu, one of the most senior members of the
elite politburo and a contender for a future leadership role, said in an
interview that Vietnam's journalists would be required to place ideology
above all else. 

He said the past decade of reforms had seen the development and maturation
of a media born out of the suffering of war. 

He added that the new post-renovation period would present Vietnam's press
with more complex challenges. 

"My wish is that you will always be vanguard soldiers in the political and
ideological front," he told the Ho Chi Minh City Police newspaper in an
interview to mark this week's Vietnam Journalists' Day. 

His comments about the media come in the run-up to an expected policy
meeting about the future role of the media in Vietnam. 

Vietnam's media remains under state control, despite a big increase in the
number of newspapers and periodicals since capitalist-style reforms were
launched in 1986. 

A major Communist Party congress last year defined its continuing and
primary role as being a propaganda tool for the state. 

Since then, government officials have called for measures aimed at
enhancing its accuracy, presentation and readability. 

State control of what the media reports is partially defined through
secrecy laws. 

But a range of other topics are also considered sensitive and, therefore,
off-limits, including contradictions between Vietnam's communist ideology
and its free-market economy. -- Reuter. 
  _________________________________________________________________

Vietnamese Parlimentary Delegation Visits House Speaker

Jakarta, June 17 (ANTARA) - A 10-member Vietnamese parliamentary
delegation paid a courtesy call on House Speaker H Wahono here on Tuesday. 

Wahono told his guests that Indonesia and Vietnam shared the same
experience in struggling against colonial rulers to defend their
independence. 

"In implementing development, we could not work individually, but have to
cooperate with other nations," he said. 

Wahono, accompanied by Deputy House Speakers H Ismail Hasan Metareum and
Soerjadi, and Chief of the Interparliamentary Cooperation Board (BKSAP)
Theo L. Sambuaga praised Vietnam for its success to become the world's
third biggest rice exporter. 

Phan Minh Tanh, who led the Vietnamese parliamentary delegation meanwhile
said his country now produced nearly 29 million tons of rice annually. 

Wahono said Indonesia had always supported Vietnam's admission into ASEAN
and the ASEAN Parliamentary Organisation (AIPO). 

ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) now groups Brunei,
Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. 

Wahono expressed the hope that Vietnam would attend the forthcoming AIPO
meeting to be held in Indonesia in September this year. 

Phan Minh said Indonesia, which played an influential role in the
Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) and ASEAN had helped Vietnam to join ASEAN. 
  _________________________________________________________________