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Vietnam Promises More Social Development
Vietnam will continue to give high priority to social development when defining its economic strategy for the years 2001-2010, Vietnamese deputy Prime Minister Pham Gia Khiem told the General Assembly Special Session yesterday. Hanoi says it raised social expenditures by 25 percent this year as compared to 1999. Due to the government’s efforts, the number of ‘extremely poor’ people dropped from 20 percent of the total population in 1995 down to 11 percent this year, according to Khiem. However, he conceded that Vietnam remains a poor country with unbalanced budget.
With an average annual per capita income of 360 dollars, Vietnam is a poor nation indeed. Those who are living on less than 10 dollars a month are considered ‘extremely poor’ there. And there are millions of destitute people notably in Tay Bac and Tay Nguyen mountains as well as central Ha Tinh and Quang Binh provinces.
Nonetheless, Vietnam’s population of 78 million, the second largest in South-East Asia, is well educated - the literacy rate is 88 percent – hard working and wage rates are very low, even by Asian standards.
But by the mid 1980s, over-centralisation, the legacies of the war and increasing isolation put Vietnam in a very precarious position. The ruling Communist Party introduced a policy of 'doi moi', or renovation, in 1986, which aimed to transform Vietnam into a market economy.
By 1996, foreign direct investment had reached 8.3 billion dollars a year, a third of Vietnam's GDP. But in recent years, many foreign investors have been pulling back and economic growth has fallen to 4 percent.
Analysts argue the problem is that the talk of renovation has turned out to be little more than talk. Vietnamese authorities now prepare to hold a key congress of the Communist party in March 2000, which will set the economic framework for the next five years.
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Has the world lived up to its 1996 commitments..?
Solidarity 2000 starting 17th of June!
MS's big summer event Solidarity 2000 will start very soon now, with a week-long variety of debates and arrangements. The activities range from encounters between young people from Balkan, Africa and Central America to big conferences on the planet's social development and environment.
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The 1996 Copenhagen Social Summit final report in English, French and Spanish.