VZCZCXRO5677
PP RUEHCHI RUEHDT RUEHNH RUEHPB
DE RUEHHM #0587/01 1530808
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 020808Z JUN 06
FM AMCONSUL HO CHI MINH CITY
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0924
INFO RUEHHI/AMEMBASSY HANOI PRIORITY 0675
RUCNARF/ASEAN REGIONAL FORUM COLLECTIVE
RUEHHM/AMCONSUL HO CHI MINH CITY 0968

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 HO CHI MINH CITY 000587 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM PREL ECON EAID KWMN TIP SOCI PGOV VM
SUBJECT: DEVELOPMENT IN THE NORTHERN MEKONG DELTA:  AMBASSADOR'S 
VISIT TO TIEN GIANG, BEN TRE AND TRA VINH PROVINCES 
 
REF: 05 HCMC 891; B) HCMC 447 
 
HO CHI MIN 00000587  001.2 OF 004 
 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary: The Ambassador visited Tien Giang, Ben Tre and 
Tra Vinh provinces May 3-5.  All three neighboring provinces 
face similar challenges in improving transport infrastructure, 
boosting competitiveness and finding new sectors for growth. 
Ben Tre appears to have progressed furthest, largely because of 
the leadership of its People's Committee Chairman.  Tien Giang 
officials described their efforts to contain the spread of Avian 
Influenza and to combat trafficking in persons.  The Ambassador 
cautioned against trying to copy HCMC and urged provincial 
leaders to seek their own areas of competitive advantage.  He 
also warned provincial leaders not to take for granted recent 
relatively fast GDP growth; they will continue to export people 
rather than goods, unless they grow faster than HCMC.  The 
Ambassador also urged the provinces to begin teaching about sex 
and HIV prevention in the secondary schools, lest they lose the 
war against HIV/AIDS.  End Summary. 
 
Visiting the Northern Mekong Delta 
---------------------------------- 
 
¶2. (SBU) From May 3 to May 5, the Ambassador visited Tien Giang, 
Ben Tre and Tra Vinh provinces, three poor and densely populated 
provinces in the northern Mekong Delta. Although they have 
enjoyed above-average growth in recent years, Tien Giang, Ben 
Tre and Tra Vinh have annual per capita GDP well below the 
national average of USD 640, at USD 475, 450 and 400 
respectively.  (The poorest, Tra Vinh, lies furthest from the 
bright lights and booming economy of HCMC.)  In addition to 
meeting with the People's Committee Chairmen, the Ambassador met 
with education, health and development experts and visited 
state-owned and private businesses.  In Ben Tre, the Ambassador 
toured a USAID-funded cocoa development project and visited an 
orphanage. 
 
Tien Giang - Banking on Proximity to HCMC 
----------------------------------------- 
 
¶3. (SBU) Tien Giang People's Committee Chairman Nguyen Huu Chi 
told the Ambassador that he is shifting Tien Giang's economic 
focus from agriculture to industry, tourism and education.  The 
Chairman believes this change will allow the province to take 
advantage of soon-to-be completed transportation links with HCMC 
that will cut travel time from two hours to forty minutes. 
(Centrally-funded infrastructure improvements scheduled for 
completion in 2007 include one of the longest bridges in Vietnam 
and a new express highway.)  The province is developing a second 
industrial park to take advantage of the new infrastructure. 
Tien Giang plans to launch tourism campaigns to attract domestic 
and foreign visitors. 
 
Avian Influenza in Tien Giang 
----------------------------- 
 
¶4. (SBU) The Chairman and health officials reviewed the 
province's efforts to control Avian Influenza (AI). Tien Giang 
was one of the hardest hit provinces during the AI outbreak of 
2003-04.  Under a Prime Ministerial directive in 2005, Tien 
Giang was one of two provinces in Vietnam to pilot poultry 
vaccination (ref A).  Following a 70 percent cull of poultry 
stocks, the province vaccinated remaining chickens and ran a 
public outreach campaign on AI (partially funded by USAID). 
There have been no confirmed cases of AI in poultry in Tien 
Giang since April 2005.  However, health officials said they are 
fighting complacency among small poultry growers and remain 
concerned that blood samples for potential AI cases need to be 
sent to the Pasteur Institute in HCMC.  The province has only 
1,000 tablets of Tamiflu on hand to administer to health workers 
and patients in the initial phase of an emergency. 
 
HIV/AIDS and Trafficking in Persons 
----------------------------------- 
 
¶5. (SBU) The Ambassador urged Chairman Chi to focus education on 
HIV/AIDS in secondary schools and to combat personally 
discrimination of people with HIV.  Chairman Chi said that most 
HIV positive victims in Tien Giang contracted HIV working in 
HCMC and then returned to Tien Giang for treatment. 
 
¶6. (SBU) In response to a question about trafficking in persons 
(TIP), the Chairman said that in 2003 and 2004 "large numbers" 
of women from Tien Giang married Taiwanese men.  While marriage 
is a personal decision that does not involve the province, he is 
keen to avoid "troubling cases such as Vietnamese girls marrying 
old and infirm wheelchair bound Taiwanese men."  To help prevent 
trafficking, the province has launched an information campaign 
for women.  The province also has focused on developing 
vocational skills to reduce the economic necessity of Vietnamese 
marrying foreigners or moving overseas to work.  The Ambassador 
warned the Chairman that as Tien Giang is drawn closer into 
 
HO CHI MIN 00000587  002.2 OF 004 
 
 
HCMC's economic orbit, the province will face greater exposure 
to "big city problems" such as HIV/AIDS, sexual exploitation and 
TIP. 
 
Tien Giang University 
--------------------- 
 
¶7. (SBU) Acting Rector of Tien Giang University, Ngo Tan Luc, 
told the Ambassador that the school was founded in June 2005 to 
help the province to develop its local talent and to attract 
students from other provinces.  The school has 4,500 students 
enrolled and plans to increase enrollment to 10,000 by 2015. 
The Ambassador held a question and answer session with 300 
enthusiastic students.  In addition to answering their 
well-informed questions about the bilateral relationship, he 
urged them to study English as a key to the world economy and 
for future study opportunities in the United States. 
 
Ben Tre: Most Enlightened in the Mekong? 
---------------------------------------- 
 
¶8. (SBU) Ben Tre People's Committee Chairman Cao Tan Khong, is a 
former professor with a doctorate in economics.  He told the 
Ambassador that his principal focus is to increase wealth and 
eradicate poverty in the province.  Khong wants to use market 
mechanisms to attract foreign investment.  By the end of 2006, 
all state-owned enterprises in the province will be equitized, 
he declared.  The one exception will be the provincial lottery 
company, which the chairman plans to keep as an SOE to prevent 
excessive gambling. 
 
¶9. (SBU) The Chairman stressed his attention to combating 
corruption and making investment transparent.  Calling 
corruption "a disease that will cause the people to lose faith 
in government," the Chairman has directed all provincial 
government agencies to make transparent to the public how 
revenue is collected and used.  The head of every provincial 
agency is required to document how the agency is using its 
money.  To show the province that he is  putting the public 
interest at the top of his agenda, the Chairman has publicized 
his personal phone number so that investors and the public can 
contact him.  The Chairman also stressed his support for the 
USG-supported cocoa-sector development project and said that he 
wanted Ben Tre's cocoa output to grow as quickly as possible. 
 
¶10. (SBU) As in Tien Giang, Ben Tre is developing its transport 
infrastructure to better link it with HCMC and the rest of the 
Mekong Delta.  Two major bridges are under construction at a 
projected final cost of 1,100 billion VND (USD 69 million). 
Sixty percent of the cost will be borne by the national 
government, with Ben Tre, Tien Giang and Tra Vinh provinces 
sharing the rest.  In preparation for the expected increase in 
traffic, the province has paved an additional 800 kilometers of 
local roads and built over 1800 small bridges. 
 
¶11. (SBU) Chairman Khong said he is focusing on creating jobs, 
improving education, and attracting talented people to the 
province.  The province has an English teacher training school 
and also sends teachers to Singapore for further training. 
According to Khong, Ben Tre has the highest percentage of 
university students in Vietnam.  With more than 80 percent of 
its university-bound students studying in HCMC, the province 
used its own money to build a dormitory for its students there. 
It also provides academic stipends for many poorer students. 
Khong claimed that Ben Tre has successfully attracted young 
people with bachelor's degrees from the rest of Vietnam. 
 
Cocoa: A Big Part of Ben Tre's Future 
------------------------------------- 
 
¶12. (U) In Ben Tre, the Ambassador visited a cocoa project run 
by U.S. nonprofit ACDI/VOCA under a USAID-funded public/private 
partnership program (ref B).  Ben Tre ranks second in Vietnam in 
cocoa with 27 percent of total production.  International 
confectionary companies have targeted Vietnam as a major new 
source of cocoa.  ACDI/VOCA projects that, by 2010, Vietnam will 
export over 14,000 tons of cocoa beans. 
 
¶13. (U) ACDI/VOCA representatives said the average participating 
farmer invests USD 850 over the first two years and begins to 
break even in year three when the plants mature.  Each hectare 
of cocoa yields USD 2,000 per year at current market prices, and 
the plant grows well under the shade of coconut trees.  In 2005, 
1,680 farmers participated in the project and ACDI/VOCA believes 
this will double in 2006.  Ben Tre has a high water table which 
should allow year round production; an advantage over other 
cocoa producing areas. Commercial harvest in Ben Tre should 
begin later this year. 
 
¶14. (U) The Ambassador also toured a Cargill cocoa bean buying 
 
HO CHI MIN 00000587  003.2 OF 004 
 
 
station.  Although Ben Tre is not yet producing cocoa beans 
commercially, Cargill opened the facility in 2004 to send a 
message to farmers that there would be a real market so they 
could invest.  Cargill officials noted that the beans they have 
already purchased in Vietnam (12 tons - from Dak Lak province) 
are a very high standard and they are ready to purchase whatever 
is produced in Ben Tre.  Cocoa beans purchased by Cargill in 
Vietnam are shipped to a Cargill facility in the Netherlands 
where it is processed into cocoa butter and cocoa powder.  These 
products are then sold to Masterfoods Inc. (a division of Mars 
Inc.), the world's largest cocoa buyer. 
 
Tra Vinh: Baby steps 
-------------------- 
 
¶15. (U) Tra Vinh People's Committee Chairman Tran Hoan Kim said 
that aquaculture is the fastest growing sector in his province. 
Tra Vinh has about 40,000 hectares of water surface in use for 
aquaculture, including 20,000 ha at the Dinh An seaport which 
Chairman Kim called the largest shrimp plain in the Mekong 
Delta.  Tra Vinh estimates that it can expand aquaculture to 
70,000 ha.  Kim added that he is seeking to diversify from rice, 
coconuts, sugar cane and fruit into large-scale commercial 
animal husbandry.  The province is promoting production of beef 
cattle and currently has 120,000 head of cattle and 400,000 
pigs.  The province has created preferential policies for large 
farms, hoping to generate sufficient animals for processing and 
exporting.  Kim also told the Ambassador that Tra Vinh would 
like to develop its tourism industry.  In addition to the 1,000 
year-old Ang Pagoda and other historical sites, he believes that 
the province boasts a number of potential beach and island sites 
suitable for ecotourism.  The province is also seeking investors 
to develop two tourist resorts. 
 
¶16. (U) Transportation remains a significant challenge for Tra 
Vinh.  Although only 200 kilometers from HCMC, the region's 
narrow congested roads and many ferry crossings make the journey 
to Tra Vinh a four-hour trip by road.  The province has been 
pushing the national government to upgrade its three national 
highways.  Recent press reporting indicates that the work, 
managed by the corruption-plagued PMU-18, may be substandard. 
 
¶17. (SBU) The Ambassador emphasized that improving 
infrastructure is vital and a prerequisite for Tra Vinh to seize 
other opportunities.  He urged Chairman Kim to focus on areas in 
which Tra Vinh has a competitive advantage, such as in 
aquaculture and animal husbandry.  By becoming a market leader 
in these promising areas, Tra Vinh should also be able to 
attract investors in food processing and related fields.  The 
Ambassador also urged Chairman Kim to focus on attracting 
Vietnamese domestic investors from HCMC and Hanoi, or Viet Kieu 
with ancestral ties to Tra Vinh, and not try to compete with 
Hanoi, HCMC or Danang to attract foreign investors. 
 
¶18. (SBU) Comment:  All three provincial leaders sought to 
portray themselves as reformers and welcoming of foreign 
investment.  However, only Chairman Khong from Ben Tre was able 
to talk in detail - and back up with specifics - about his plans 
for administrative reform and the introduction of market 
principles.  While Chairman Khong would like to assistance from 
central government, he appears to recognize that his province 
must first help itself.  End Comment. 
 
Bio Notes 
--------- 
 
¶19. (U)   Tien Giang People's Committee Chairman Nguyen Huu Chi 
was born in 1957 in My Tho City, Tien Giang.  He holds a 
bachelor degree in economics and finance and an advanced degree 
in politics.  Before becoming Chairman in 2002, he was Manager 
of the Planning Department of Tien Giang Vegetables and Fruits 
Company; Deputy Director of the Trade Department of Tien Giang 
Province; Deputy Head of the Provincial Party Committee's 
Commission on Organizational Affairs; Secretary of My Tho City 
People's Committee; and Chairman of the Provincial People's 
Committee.  Chi was re-elected Deputy Party Secretary in 
December 2005.  He is married and speaks English.  Chi told the 
Ambassador that he regularly listens to VOA in English. 
 
¶20. (U) Ben Tre Chairman Cao Tan Khong was born in 1958 in My 
Thanh Commune, Ben Tre Province.  He holds a Ph.D. in economics 
and an advanced degree in political science.   Khong was 
promoted to Chairman in 2003.  Before that, he was the First 
Vice-Chairman in charge of economic affairs.  Khong was 
re-elected Deputy Secretary of Ben Tre Province Party Committee 
in November 2005.  Chairman Khong is married and speaks some 
English. 
 
¶21. (SBU) Tra Vin Chairman Tran Hoan Kim was born in Long Toan 
Commune, Tra Vinh in 1952.  He was re-elected Deputy Secretary 
 
HO CHI MIN 00000587  004.2 OF 004 
 
 
by the provincial Party Congress in November 2005.  He was first 
selected Deputy Secretary and People's Committee Chairman in 
¶2003.  He has a bachelor's degree in economics from the Economic 
University in HCMC and an advanced degree in politics.  Prior to 
his promotion to Chairman, Kim was First Vice-Chairman of the 
Tra Vinh Province People's Committee in charge of economic 
affairs, finance, commerce and foreign economy. 
Winnick