This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 10 HANOI 003337 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EAP/MLS AND EB/TPP/BTA/ANA GOODMAN AND WICKMAN 
STATE PASS USTR ELENA BRYAN AND GREG HICKS 
STATE PASS USAID FOR ANE/AA KUNDER/KENNEDY/WARD 
AMEMBASSY BANGKOK FOR RDM/A 
USDOC FOR 4431/MAC/AP/OPB/VLC/HPPHO 
TREASURY FOR OASIA 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: EAID EFIN ETRD ECON PREL VM AFLU HIV AIDS SOE WTO FINREF
SUBJECT: VIETNAM'S 2005 BUSINESS FORUM AND CONSULTATIVE 
GROUP MEETINGS 
 
¶1. Summary:  The 2005 Vietnam Business Forum and Vietnam 
Consultative Group Meeting took place December 5-7, 2005 in 
Hanoi.  Minister of Planning and Investment Vo Hong Phuc and 
World Bank Country Director for Vietnam Klaus Rohland co- 
chaired the meetings, in which a wide range of donors and 
Vietnamese Government officials participated.  The 
Ambassador and Regional Development Mission/Asia USAID 
Mission Director Tim Beans co-chaired the U.S. Delegation. 
Donors called on the Government to address the spread of 
HIV/AIDS, improve its ability to respond to diseases and 
other health issues like Avian Influenza, speed up financial 
sector and SOE reforms, improve transparency and 
accountability, reduce corruption, and improve social and 
health services in rural areas.  While donors and business 
representatives expressed a number of concerns, there was 
also broad recognition at the meetings that Vietnam is 
maintaining its impressive economic performance while still 
dealing effectively with the issues of equitable growth and 
poverty alleviation.  As Vietnam continues its development, 
it will be challenged by a number of issues, including human 
resource problems, the fight against corruption, and the 
need for growth in capital markets.  Donors observed that 
addressing these and other problems is critical to Vietnam's 
long-term success, especially to its goal of integrating 
with the global economy and joining the World Trade 
Organization.  All of these changes will bear watching. 
Past performance is no guarantee of future performance, but 
compared to many other developing economies, Vietnam has 
demonstrated the capacity and 
political will to carry out an aggressive economic reform 
agenda.  End Summary. 
 
THE VIETNAM BUSINESS FORUM (VBF) - OVERVIEW 
------------------------------------------- 
 
¶2. (U) On December 5, the Ministry of Planning and 
Investment (MPI) and the World Bank hosted the Vietnam 
Business Forum (VBF), an event held annually on the margins 
of the donor Consultative Group meeting to allow foreign 
investors and business associations the opportunity to 
discuss investment and economic issues with Vietnamese 
officials and international donors.  The 2005 VBF focused on 
two major topics: improving the investment climate and 
developing infrastructure in the power sector, 
telecommunications, and ports.  By coincidence, this VBF 
took place a few weeks after the Vietnamese National 
Assembly passed several major laws affecting the investment 
climate in Vietnam, including a new Common Investment Law, 
Enterprise Law, and Intellectual Property Law (septel). 
This VBF also took place during the month Vietnam had 
originally hoped to conclude WTO negotiations, making the 
discussions on past and future economic reforms particularly 
focused and pointed.  Deputy Prime Minister Vu Khoan, WB 
Country Director Klaus Rohland, MPI Minister Vo Hong Phuc, 
and International Finance Corporation (IFC) Country Manager 
Sin Foong Wong each presented brief opening remarks 
emphasizing the importance of improving Vietnam's business 
environment and praising the GVN's efforts to do so, and 
then invited the business community representatives to 
comment. 
 
VBF: THE INVESTMENT CLIMATE 
--------------------------- 
 
¶3. (U) The most vocal of the business association 
representatives present were from Europe, Australia and the 
United States.  Though each had their own specific concerns, 
they all raised the following two issues: 1) the importance 
of human resource development to Vietnam's medium- and long- 
term economic transition, including better training and 
higher education opportunities, and the business community's 
willingness to help contribute to strengthening these 
resources; and, 2) the need for a more streamlined, user- 
friendly investment process that made foreign investors 
equal under the law with domestic investors and helped 
encourage new foreign investment.  Participants all noted 
that recently passed legislation and reforms undertaken by 
the Government of Vietnam (GVN) were important, but still 
not adequate to support healthy, long-term economic 
development. 
 
¶4. (U) After the business representatives concluded their 
remarks, the USAID-funded Vietnam Competitiveness Initiative 
(VNCI) presented the results of VNCI's evaluation of the 42 
most economically developed of each of Vietnam's 64 
provinces.  The evaluation uses a careful scoring and survey 
system to rank each province and city by a specific set of 
economic criteria, the results of which illustrate how much 
provincial leadership and good governance can positively 
affect the investment climate in an individual province. 
According to VCCI, Binh Duong Province is the most 
competitive province and Ha Tay the least.  Hanoi was ranked 
fourteenth out of the 42 regions measured and HCMC 
seventeenth.  More information on the index can be found at 
http://www.vnci.org/Xportal/Upload/File/EN_Su mmary_PCI_Distr 
i26May.pdf 
 
¶5. (U) In response to the presentations made by the business 
sector and donors, MPI Minister Phuc stressed how quickly 
Vietnam has achieved its socio-economic development.  With a 
projected 2005 GDP growth of 8.4 percent, 4.4 percent 
increase in agriculture and forestry industries, 10.7 
percent increase in construction, and 8.4 percent increase 
in services, Vietnam has made rapid strides in development, 
said Phuc.  Phuc recognized the important role that foreign 
investors play in these achievements, but added that the 
GVN's efforts to respond to issues raised at last year's VBF 
had also been critical.  Specifically, he cited the GVN's 
improvements to the legal system and legal infrastructure, 
establishment of new capital, real estate, and labor 
markets, public administration reform, and integration of 
regional and bilateral policies as examples of how the GVN 
had improved the business environment in Vietnam. 
 
VBF: INFRASTRUCTURE - THE POWER SECTOR 
-------------------------------------- 
 
¶6. (U) Following MPI Minister Phuc's remarks on the GVN's 
achievements in creating a better environment for 
investment, Industry Minister Hoang Trung Hai began his 
presentation on the power sector by noting that demand for 
power in Vietnam is growing steadily, and will reach 88-93 
billion kWh in 2010 and 201-250 billion kWh by 2020.  The 
GVN has an ambitious plan for hydroelectric, thermoelectric, 
gas-fuel and recycled-fuel plant development, which will 
require an investment of USD 19.5 billion by 2010.  Minister 
Hai said that the Government is discussing the future of 
Electricity of Vietnam (EVN), as it is clear that GVN's 35 
percent equitization opportunity only provoked a limited 
response from investors. 
 
¶7. (U) Representatives from the private sector said that 
while the GVN wants to attract foreign investment in the 
power sector by establishing joint ventures, businesses do 
not see this as an attractive mechanism.  The GVN should 
consider allowing build-operate-transfer (BOT) investment, 
for which a good model exists internationally, or Individual 
Power Plants (IPP).  Businesses will also continue to seek 
Government guarantees as a risk reduction measure as well as 
reasonable tariff rates before investing. 
 
VBF: INFRASTRUCTURE - TELECOMMUNICATIONS 
---------------------------------------- 
 
¶8. (U) The representative from the Ministry of Posts and 
Telematics stated that Vietnam will encourage all forms of 
investment in the telecommunications sector, including 100 
percent foreign-owned firms in the IT sector.  Business 
representatives commented that they do not see Business 
Cooperation Contracts (BCC) as successful ventures, since 
the local partner controls the assets and management of the 
company.  They also voiced concern about one recently 
expired BCC, there has been no extension or conversion to a 
joint venture, as was required by the agreement. 
 
VBF: INFRASTRUCTURE - PORTS 
--------------------------- 
 
¶9. (U) Vietnam's rapid economic development has put 
tremendous strain on the nation's port infrastructure, the 
representative of the Ministry of Transportation said.  The 
Government plans to attract foreign investment to expand the 
port system.  The draft decrees related to the Maritime Law 
do not set ratios for ownership in joint ventures or wharf 
size.  The Government will also provide port-related 
infrastructure outside the facilities.  Business 
representatives stated that administrative inefficiencies 
drive up the cost of Vietnamese ports compared to others in 
the region and encouraged the Government to address these 
issues. 
 
OVERVIEW:  THE CONSULTATIVE GROUP (CG) MEETING AND THE SEDP 
--------------------------------------------- ------------- 
 
¶10. (U) The 2005 Consultative Group (CG) meeting began on 
December 6 with opening remarks from MPI Minister Phuc, WB 
Country Director Rohland and Deputy Prime Minister (DPM) Vu 
Khoan.  All emphasized the unique opportunity before the 
2005 CG: the chance to discuss and comment on exactly how 
Vietnam's 2006-2010 Socio-Economic Development Plan (SEDP) 
could be implemented and on what issues it should focus 
first.  MPI presented the donor community with a draft of 
the SEDP in September and solicited suggested revisions. 
MPI incorporated many of those suggestions, and used the CG 
as a last opportunity to focus on specific areas of concern 
to the donor community before a final draft of the SEDP is 
prepared and presented to the Government of Vietnam (GVN) in 
March 2006.  The 2006-2010 SEDP will be voted on by the 
National Assembly in May or June 2006. 
 
¶11. (U) This SEDP is the first five-year plan ever made 
public by the GVN, and it is also the first ever to be 
presented for comment and review by the donor community. 
This act alone is significant, as noted by MPI Minister Phuc 
in his introduction.  However, since MPI had not yet shared 
its revised draft with the donors, the extent to which donor 
review affected the GVN's planning was not yet known at the 
time of the conference.  The CG discussions, however, were 
still able to focus on specific areas which will need 
careful GVN attention to implementation, no matter what the 
final language of the SEDP:  how to encourage good growth 
and improve the business climate, how to reduce poverty and 
increase social equality, how to reform legal and 
institutional foundations, how to plan for the reforms 
Vietnam must implement after joining the WTO, and how to 
harmonize and disburse donor aid in the most effective 
manner.  The CG also held a brief session focused on GVN and 
donor efforts to combat avian influenza. 
 
ECONOMIC GROWTH AND BUSINESS CLIMATE 
------------------------------------ 
 
¶12. (U) DPM Vu Khoan began the first session by putting the 
2005 CG in the larger context of the political and economic 
challenges that Vietnam will face in 2006.  He noted that 
the eighth session of the National Assembly had just 
concluded and passed several significant pieces of 
legislation aimed at furthering Vietnam's economic 
integration with the international community.  The upcoming 
meeting of the tenth National Party Congress, he said, will 
determine the path of future development in Vietnam. 
Vietnam will also serve as host to the 2006 Asia Pacific 
Economic Cooperation meetings, presenting the country, and 
Hanoi in particular, with a chance to show the Asia Pacific 
community the extent of its potential and achievements. 
Finally, Vietnam hopes to join the World Trade Organization 
in 2006, an aspiration that will require continued attention 
to reform and integration.  These are the themes that will 
be in the air during the CG and for all of 2006, the DPM 
stressed. 
 
¶13. (U) The SEDP being discussed in this CG is "the plan of 
the whole people," meaning that the contributions of local 
authorities, donors, NGOs, overseas Vietnamese, diplomats 
and the business community made this SEDP the most inclusive 
to date.  DPM Khoan offered three examples of the growth and 
targets this SEDP sets for Vietnam.  The target GDP per 
capita for 2010 is USD 1,000. (Note: The DPM defined 2005 
GDP per capita as USD 640.  Most internationally accepted 
measurements of GDP put Vietnam's 2004 GDP per capita at USD 
544 and its potential 2005 GDP per capita as USD 596.  We 
continue to research the exact sources for this higher 
number.  End note.)  By 2010, the GVN also wants to have 
completed a full transition to a market economy as well as 
full integration with the international economy.  Vietnam 
will also pay more attention to sustainable [emphasis added] 
development and the quality [emphasis added] of 
development.  This kind of development, the DPM underscored, 
needs capital, specifically USD 840 billion over the next 
five years.  He expects this capital to come from six 
different sources: domestic capital, private sector capital, 
State-owned Enterprise (SOE) equitization, sovereign and 
corporate bond sales, foreign capital, including overseas 
development assistance (ODA) which the DPM said he hopes 
will increase from 30 percent (over the past few years) to 
35 percent (for the 2006-2010 period, an amount equivalent 
to USD 11 billion), and portfolio investment.  ODA should 
target four areas: improving the socio-economic 
infrastructure, increasing electric power generation 
capacity, poverty reduction and ethnic minority rights, and 
public administration institutions.  Post-WTO accession will 
also create some new problems Vietnam must prepare for now, 
added Khoan.  Specifically, Vietnam will have to improve its 
legal framework, human resource capabilities at the local 
level, and mechanisms to address new social problems such as 
unemployment.  DPM Khoan concluded his remarks by noting 
that Vietnam will also focus on social issues (poverty, 
minority and gender rights), education and health services 
(increasing the budget share for these services from 17 
percent to a target of 27 percent for 2010), and 
environmental protection. 
 
FINANCIAL SECTOR ISSUES 
----------------------- 
 
¶14. (U) The discussion then turned to the financial sector, 
fiscal policy, and monetary policy in Vietnam, with the 
International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank, and State 
Bank of Vietnam (SBV) exchanging pointed remarks about 
structural problems Vietnam has not yet addressed in these 
areas. 
 
¶15. (U) The IMF representative named Vietnam's fixed 
exchange rate (which operates within a government-set band 
known as a crawling peg) as a looming problem, especially 
with increases in prices and wages building an instability 
into the Vietnamese currency in an economy that permits 
significant financial transactions to take place in both 
Vietnamese dong and USD.  The IMF representative praised 
Vietnam's efforts to make the SBV more independent and more 
focused on monetary policy rather than bank administration. 
However, he noted that private capital is being crowded out 
by sovereign lending (lending through sovereign bonds to 
SOEs, which increases the deficit) and that the quality of 
SOE investments is also problematic.  The reforms undertaken 
so far for State-owned Commercial Banks (SOCBs), while 
significant, are not enough to either remedy the situation 
or to address the problems SOCBs will face in the medium 
term.  More stringent financial standards, better 
measurement, improved reporting and auditing, a fairer and 
more transparent banking and reform policy, faster and more 
comprehensive equitization (for SOCBs and SOEs), and more 
autonomy for outside investors and managers are all critical 
for Vietnam's financial sector to survive and thrive in the 
next few years, he concluded. 
 
¶16. (U) The WB economist took a more positive approach, 
noting that while there are some problems in the medium 
term, the GVN had shown that its growth rate could resist 
significant stress, including those from supply shocks in 
the oil price (which affects items across the price basket) 
and natural disasters (including destructive hurricanes and 
floods).  The WB representative defined the GVN's primary 
2006-2010 challenge as meeting growth targets (set around 8% 
for the next five years) without sacrificing public 
services.  He agreed that monetary policy and exchange rate 
policy should, indeed, be tightened, especially in light of 
the estimated 37 percent credit growth Vietnam experienced 
in 2005.  He urged the GVN to take measures to avoid a stock 
market bubble and to reduce not just the number of SOEs but 
the amount of capital the State controls after equitization. 
(Note:  The GVN rarely lists all, or even the majority, of 
the shares of a company for sale when "equitizing" it.  End 
note.)  Moreover, the GVN should do a better job of 
mobilizing domestic resources, and improving the quality of 
the tax system to raise revenues, which will suffer a 
relative drop of five to seven percent from inflation if not 
made more efficient.  Improving transparency and decreasing 
corruption, the WB representative concluded, are also major 
issues that will be critical to Vietnam's ability to reach 
those growth targets. 
 
¶17. (U) The SBV Vice Governor countered that SOCBs have been 
significantly restructured already and that they are using 
new technology and credit manuals to improve their 
operations.  They are also applying international audit 
standards now and have been internationally audited in the 
past. (Note: These results have not been made public nor are 
the audits regularly scheduled. End Note.)  The SBV Vice 
Governor added that policy lending is now separate from most 
banking institutions and that Joint Stock Banks (JSBs) have 
also been given more freedom.  The number of non-performing 
loans (NPLs) has been reduced and SOE reform has continued 
at a rapid pace.  He said by 2010 the SBV will establish 
itself as a fully independent institution, improve the 
rights for foreign banks, create more banking sector 
investment incentives, eliminate domestic subsidies and 
incentives, equitize all SOCBs and recapitalize them, and 
strictly limit intervention in credit institutions.  He 
emphasized that Vietnam has made tremendous progress in its 
reforms, improving autonomy for the banks, removing 
Communist Party involvement in the SOE equitization process, 
establishing stock exchanges in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi, 
and rapidly equitizing thousands of SOEs.  The SOEs 
remaining will be sold, transferred or declared bankrupt by 
¶2010.  The SBV will also improve the legal framework in the 
banking sector and limit 100 percent State ownership to 
public security and national defense sectors. 
 
¶18. (U) The SBV representative and donors also discussed the 
newly passed Common Investment Law (CIL), which was 
initially drafted as an effort by the GVN to control 
business registration and licensing more carefully.  Both 
the donor community and the VBF business representative made 
clear that their primary "lesson learned" from the CIL 
process was that the GVN needs to involve the international 
community earlier in the drafting process for these kinds of 
laws.  (Note: The GVN limited access to initial drafts of 
the CIL and the timeline for its submission to the National 
Assembly, meaning donors and businessmen were not able to 
review the law until the end of the drafting process 
(versions 14, 15, and 16) beginning about one month before 
it was submitted to the National Assembly.  After a sharply 
worded intervention from the American, European and 
Australian Chambers of Commerce and meetings with foreign 
government officials, the Vietnamese interagency drafting 
committee added many of the critical changes the 
international community had requested.  Further review by 
Vietnamese businessmen in the National Assembly eliminated 
some of the remaining contentious parts of the CIL, 
producing a final piece of legislation that greatly improves 
the business environment for foreign investors.  It does 
not, however, do as much for the domestic private sector, 
which is playing critical role in the shift away from State- 
owned enterprises (SOEs) and towards a healthy market 
economy.  Donors and officials at the CG also stressed that 
while the caps in the registration process (companies 
investing in projects with a value less than USD 20 million 
must file a notice of their intended project without having 
to wait for permission or approval, while companies 
investing in projects whose value is greater than USD 20 
million must both file notice and petition for approval) are 
less onerous than those originally proposed, attempts to 
regulate business through administrative processes are 
neither efficient nor effective in the long-term.  Despite 
its contentious drafting process and the hindrance it 
presents to the domestic private sector, the new CIL is a 
major improvement over the existing system, offering much- 
needed incentives and guarantees to foreign investors.  The 
donors and the private sector representatives present at the 
CG and the VBF agreed that how the GVN actually implements 
these requirements will be the true test. 
 
¶19. (U) In response, the CIL drafters highlighted the 
benefits of the CIL, which include a reduction in subsidy 
requirements, a more level playing field for domestic and 
foreign investors, reduced discrimination in access to 
credit, guaranteed access to either Vietnamese or 
international arbitration in business disputes, more diverse 
forms of investment, and a streamlined registration 
process. 
 
¶20. (U) In response to these comments, the French Ambassador 
summed up the GVN's attitude towards the (foreign) private 
sector as having shifted from considering business "an 
outcast" to "a member of the family," albeit only a distant 
relative.  He stressed the importance of remembering in 
these conferences that equitization does not mean 
privatization, and that the GVN should not be given credit 
for having privatized its SOEs.  He concluded by urging the 
GVN to float its currency.  The Australian Ambassador echoed 
these concerns, and added that the way in which the CIL was 
drafted and debated, while successful in the end, was a 
cause for some dismay.  Greater consultation and early 
transparency in the drafting process of any future laws will 
be critical, he noted, to Vietnam's ability to attract and 
maintain foreign investment.  MPI Minister Phuc concluded 
this session by noting that the National Assembly had set up 
a committee for interest groups to express their views on 
the 2006-2010 SEDP, which will be given to them for review 
and vote in May or June 2006. 
 
POVERTY REDUCATION AND SOCIAL INCLUSION 
--------------------------------------- 
 
¶21. (U) According to MPI, the Comprehensive Poverty 
Reduction Growth Strategy (CPRGS) has been integrated into 
the 2006-2010 SEDP, and that the budget reflects this.  The 
2006-2010 SEDP includes poverty reduction measures, and 
calls for improving the living standards of ethnic 
minorities, promoting religious freedom and gender equality 
and protecting the rights of children.  In 2005, the poverty 
rate was reduced to 27 percent (using the GVN poverty 
standard), and the Government anticipates it will be reduced 
by a further four percent by 2010.  Malnutrition among 
children has been reduced, and maternal health has improved. 
While the Government has been working to promote the 
awareness of CPRGS goals on a national scale, the capacity 
of Ministries and local authorities to implement these has 
been inadequate. 
 
¶22. (U) The Ministry of Education and Training 
representative said that although 94 percent of the 
population over age 15 is literate, significant challenges 
in education remain.  The overall quality of education is 
low, and regional gaps exist, especially in remote areas. 
Government education priorities include promoting secondary 
education, especially for underprivileged groups, improving 
training to meet the demands of an industrializing economy, 
reforming curriculums and increasing connectivity. 
 
¶23. (U) Donors stressed that poverty reduction must include 
minority groups, who are disproportionately represented 
among the poor, and whose access to education is inadequate. 
Growth alone cannot deliver poverty reduction for ethnic 
minorities, so development efforts need to be decentralized 
and planned with local input.  While the Government plans 
for gender and social equality at the broad policy level, 
there is little discussion of how to address specific 
problems such as domestic violence. 
 
¶24. (U) The World Bank economist said that the quality of 
human resource capital has to be raised for economic 
development to continue.  While constraints on access to 
capital hamper domestic business development, Vietnam's 
stability serves to attract investment. 
 
¶25. (U) In response to concerns raised by the donors, DPM 
Khoan stated that in addition to ethnic minorities, many 
people in deltas and in the sandy areas between rivers live 
in poverty.  New government strategies include expanding 
infrastructure to villages, and replacing temporary shelters 
with permanent structures.  A number of education incentives 
exist for ethnic minorities, he said.  Developing bilingual 
education programs for these groups can be difficult, as 
several do not have a written language.  Boarding schools 
have been an efficient way to provide education to children 
living in remote areas, he noted. 
 
HIV/AIDS 
-------- 
 
¶26. (U) The Ministry of Health (MOH) representative reported 
on the status of HIV/AIDS.  The GVN is concerned about 
evidence that the disease is spreading to the general 
population, particularly among pregnant women and military 
recruits.  Recent accomplishments have included the drafting 
of the Law on HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control (not yet 
passed), the establishment of the Vietnam Administration for 
HIV/AIDS Control (VAAC), and increased responsibility for 
program management at the provincial level.  Shortages of 
staff and anti-retroviral medicines remain acute challenges. 
There is need for increased coordination among donors, as 
currently 14 provinces have not received any international 
assistance and NGOs are not able to focus their assistance. 
He said that Vietnam would need USD 500 million to fund the 
programs outlined in the national strategy to fight 
HIV/AIDS. 
 
¶27. (U) Donors agreed that there needed to be more 
harmonization, but noted that a lot remains to be done on 
the policy level.  There continues to be an association 
between HIV/AIDS and "social evils," which propagates 
stigma.  The number of HIV/AIDS cases continues to rise, 
with an average of one hundred new infections daily. 
Prevention strategies need to target young men who use drugs 
and now sexually transmit the majority of infections.  While 
the VAAC has a new structure, it needs additional support at 
the national and local levels.  Eighteen months on, the 
national strategy remains unfulfilled.  The Government needs 
to strengthen capacity and management coordination. 
 
¶28.  (U) Ambassador Marine pressed the point that the GVN 
was losing the battle for prevention.  A successful HIV/AIDS 
prevention program will require both a high-degree of inter- 
ministerial coordination and the sustained attention of 
senior government leadership.  He urged the GVN to shift its 
prevention programs away from their exclusive focus on drug 
users and sex workers and start to also educate young, 
heterosexual males, who have one of the fastest growing 
infection rates.  He added that the stigma associated with 
HIV/AIDS in Vietnamese society remains strong, and he 
encouraged the GVN to take more aggressive action to reduce 
discrimination against people living with HIV/AIDS. 
 
LEGAL AND INSTITUTIONAL FOUNDATIONS 
----------------------------------- 
 
¶29. (U) The Ministry of Finance representative reported that 
the state budget has been developed to address SEDP targets. 
High priority expenditures for the Government include: 
investment projects critical to economic growth; poverty 
alleviation and job creation, especially in agricultural, 
rural, and mountainous areas; education and training; and 
health care.  Efforts are being made to develop a budget 
that reflects available resources, and to expand the scope 
of the Public Finance Management Project (funded by the 
World Bank and the United Kingdom), which focuses on medium 
term budget planning. The MOF hopes to introduce a plan in 
2006 to implement a personal income tax system, and will 
need technical assistance on tax and customs issues. 
 
¶30. (U) The Government Inspectorate of Vietnam (GIV) 
representative said that corruption at all government levels 
remains a problem despite the passage of a new anti- 
corruption law and a number of decrees.  In order to address 
the problem, the GIV is charged with inspecting and 
monitoring adherence to the anti-corruption law, maintaining 
anti-corruption databases, and serving as a focal point for 
international cooperation.  Long-term measures include 
implementing further transparency in the budgeting process 
and increasing public servants' salaries.  Donors praised 
the GVN for passing the law, but stressed that 
implementation will be the real challenge.  The United 
Nations Development Program (UNDP) representative added that 
while the law focuses on the public sector, the private 
sector is also vulnerable, and urged the Government to 
consider applying the same principles to business. 
 
¶31. (U) The Ministry of Justice representative reported that 
judicial and legal reforms have been crafted along the Party 
Politburo's broad policy directives to develop a law-based 
socialist nation with a socially oriented market economy. 
In sessions held in 2005, the National Assembly passed tens 
of laws and many more implementation guidelines.  Procedures 
for law drafting and approval have been improved, however, 
more specific laws are needed, and implementation remains a 
challenge.  Building an adversarial system and increasing 
judges' accountability are primary goals for judicial 
reform.  Justice Minister Uong Chu Luu said that Vietnam 
needs more assistance to continue with the reform agenda. 
 
¶32. (U) New laws and ordinances have contributed to Public 
Administration Reform (PAR) by clarifying the functions of 
implementing government agencies, the Ministry of Home 
Affairs representative reported.  Transparency has improved 
with the publication of new laws and procedures in the mass 
media and public postings.  The Prime Minister established 
an interagency group, to resolve administrative obstacles in 
five provinces.  The implementation of "one-stop" shops at 
the local level has resulted in marked administrative 
procedure improvements, though much work remains, especially 
in the area of employee training. 
 
¶33. (U) Ambassador Marine said that the legal and judicial 
reforms need to be broadened.  These reforms are critical, 
as the current system constrains economic growth.  He also 
urged the Government to allow for more participation by 
NGOs, the private sector and civil society. 
 
INTEGRATING WITH THE GLOBAL ECONOMY 
----------------------------------- 
 
¶34. (U) The Ministry of Trade (MOT) representative 
discussed the status of Vietnam's WTO accession 
negotiations, and the challenges to implementation and 
expected impacts after membership.  The balance of trade 
will be affected; Vietnam will need to address labor 
redundancy; and, SOEs will face outside competition and 
fewer subsidies and protections. 
 
¶35. (U) The Oxfam Country Director, who was serving as the 
International Non-governmental Organization representative 
to the CG, was the first of the donors to respond.  He 
launched into an impassioned speech asserting that the 
primary goal of WTO accession is that it should lead to 
economic development to benefit the poor.  He urged the 
remaining five Working Party members still negotiating to 
use this goal to guide their WTO negotiation processes.  The 
power of accession lies in their hands, he added.  He 
stressed that Vietnam is still a very poor country with a 
per capita GDP between USD 450 and USD 500.  He reminded 
donors of the Doha principle, which says that developing 
countries should get special and differential treatment.  He 
appealed to the donors, saying that Vietnam should be 
allowed to join the WTO with access to all available 
instruments for developing countries, with no greater 
commitments required of them in terms of phasing out export 
subsidies, and with permission to maintain their export 
management controls on rice.  Noting that Vietnam should not 
suffer non-market economy provisions, he added that the 
United States should also abolish its textile and clothing 
quotas and that Vietnam should receive large amounts of 
technical assistance to implement its WTO agreement, 
especially for sanitary and phyto-sanitary matters. 
 
¶36. (U) In response to these comments, observers, including 
many representatives, burst into applause, though whether 
this was in response to his emotional appeal for economic 
development to assist the poor or to his specific ideas on 
WTO negotiations was hard to discern.  After the applause 
subsided, the Australian Ambassador noted that some of the 
Oxfam Country Director's characterizations of the WTO 
negotiating process were more familiar to him than others, 
but he stressed that Australia was committed to helping 
Vietnam implement its agreement. 
 
¶37. (U) Other donors then chimed in, expressing support for 
Vietnam's WTO accession and agreeing on the need to provide 
technical capacity building assistance to aid Vietnam with 
its implementation and transitions.  The Swiss Ambassador 
elaborated more than others, noting that although donors 
welcome the passage of the new Intellectual Property Rights 
(IPR) law and look forward to seeing the final language, 
implementation will remain a challenge, and said that 
Switzerland would like to develop a program for potential 
Vietnamese rights holders. 
 
¶38. (U) Ambassador Marine began his remarks by emphasizing 
that the United States remains deeply committed to Vietnam's 
accession.  He commended the Government and its negotiating 
team on the tremendous amount of work that they have done to 
date.  He said that the United States will be prepared to 
provide assistance after accession, as was the case 
following the signing of the U.S.-Vietnam Bilateral Trade 
Agreement (BTA).  Ambassador Marine added that when the BTA 
was signed, some people similarly doubted whether or not it 
would have a beneficial impact on Vietnam's development. 
 
¶39. (U) Following Ambassador Marine's comments, the World 
Bank representative agreed, noting that based on Vietnam's 
experience with the BTA, WTO accession will bring positive 
economic impacts and poverty reduction, as long as Vietnam 
has mechanisms through the SEDP to ensure that economic 
development includes the poor. 
 
¶40. (U) DPM Khoan thanked the donors for their support and 
said that now is a critical moment for WTO accession for 
several reasons.  Public consensus for accession is 
currently high, while the National Assembly is keeping up 
the lawmaking momentum to meet WTO requirements.  The GVN 
has developed the SEDP with the assumption that Vietnam 
would become a WTO member in the very near future.  He 
called for developing country treatment for Vietnam in the 
accession negotiations, as it is important that WTO 
membership bring economic development and not prevent the 
growth of the private sector.  Turning to TRIPS and IPR, 
Khoan said the Government is concerned about IPR enforcement 
for Vietnamese as well as for foreign rights-holders.  He 
praised the assistance that Vietnam has received from the 
United States for BTA implementation through the Support for 
Trade Acceleration (STAR) project, and said this could be 
used as a model for post-WTO accession capacity building 
efforts. 
 
HARMONZATION, DISBURSEMENT AND AID EFFECTIVENESS 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
 
¶41. (U) Donors complimented the GVN on its progress in 
improving aid effectiveness and endorsed the importance of 
the Hanoi Core Statement, which implements the Paris 
Declaration on AID Effectiveness.  The Government noted that 
the core statement is based on government ownership, 
alignment of donor support, harmonization and specific 
targets.  As one step in improving aid effectiveness, the 
Government announced that it is now revising the basic 
ordinance governing foreign assistance. 
 
¶42. (U) Despite good progress, especially when compared to 
other developing economies, donors noted that a number of 
challenges remain.  Despite a target of zero project 
management units by 2010 for donor-funded projects, some 440 
are still in place.  Additionally, while 50 percent of 
project procurement should be done via government systems, 
only 15 percent is presently host country contracted. Donors 
pointed out that a number of development problems where 
harmonization has already begun, including HIV/AIDS, anti- 
corruption and post-WTO accession policy issues, should be 
further addressed.  Most importantly, they also noted that 
for the targets to be met, the Government would have to 
concurrently strengthen its own administrative and financial 
systems particularly in the areas of corruption, financial 
management and procurement.  MPI Minister Phuc acknowledged 
that fact and noted that the GVN is completing a new 
procurement law, recently passed the Anti-Corruption Law and 
would be working to implement both.  Continued meetings of 
the Government/Donor Partnership Group on Aid Efficiency, of 
which USAID is a member, would continue and progress would 
be reported at the mid-term CG in June. 
 
MARINE