Yearbook 2006
 Vietnam. At the beginning of the year, Vietnam received
praise from the World Health Organization (WHO) for
successfully stopping the spread of avian influenza.
According to
CountryAAH, the
emergency slaughter of millions of birds, extensive poultry
vaccination programs and information campaigns aimed at the
Vietnamese public was the recipe for success. During the
year, Indonesia ranked Vietnam as the worst affected country
in this context. No new cases of sick people have been
documented since the end of 2005, when Vietnam had 93 of the
world's 169 cases of people infected with bird flu and 42 of
the 92 deaths from the disease.
In December, bird flu broke out again among poultry in
southern Vietnam, but no known cases of infected people
occurred.
At the ruling Communist Party congress in April, party
members elected new members to the Central Committee, which
in turn appointed new representatives to the fourteen-strong
Politburo (the powerful Communist Party's powerful executive
committee). The congress also elected a new president,
Nguyễn Minh Triễt, former party leader in Ho Chi Minh City
(Saigon), as well as new Prime Minister, Nguyễn Tân Dung,
former Deputy Prime Minister. All appointments were expected
and neither the one-party political or economic course would
be altered by the change of person. Both the new president
and the prime minister had previously made themselves known
as successful reformists on the economic level. The
Communist Party Secretary-General said at Congress that
three priorities should be made: continuing the fight
against corruption "that threatened the survival of the
regime";
In May, Vietnam and the United States signed a bilateral
free trade agreement, which included This meant that foreign
ownership in Vietnamese banks would increase and that the
country opened its other financial markets to the outside
world. On the other hand, the US removed restrictions on
Vietnamese clothing imports into the US market. The Free
Trade Agreement removed the last obstacle on Vietnam's path
to the coveted World Trade Organization (WTO) membership,
and in November the country became the 150th member of the
WTO.
Doi Moi
Van Linh made a proposal for a "complete and radical
renewal" of the economic and political system. The same
year, a renewal and restructuring of the government was
carried out, prior to the publication of a series of
economic reforms, which included allowed free market
formation for agricultural products and the establishment of
private commerce. At the same time, laws were opened which
opened up foreign investment and provided guarantees against
the nationalization of the foreign companies. Furthermore,
private ownership of agriculture was allowed, more freedom
in the arts was introduced, while the VKP declared that it
would pay more attention to the needs of the entire
community, thus curbing the corruption that had invaded the
whole party during that period., where it had been led by Le
Duan.
In late 1988, the government implemented a series of
crisis measures to combat inflation - including the
devaluation of Vietnam's currency - Dong - against the
dollar. At the same time, a number of companies had to
close. The demilitarization had already greatly increased
unemployment, which now reached as much as 30%. At the same
time, the severe food situation led to protest
demonstrations. However, the good rice harvest in 1988-89
allowed an improvement in the living conditions of the
population, and at the same time enabled Vietnam to re-join
the group of rice exporting countries. At the end of 1989,
the country exported about 1 million tonnes of rice, worth
approx. $ 250 million. Exports went mainly to West Africa,
the Philippines, India, Sri Lanka and China.
The political upheavals in Eastern Europe. In the late
1980s, the CCP was not welcomed as it led to internal
demands for political pluralism. In the absence of a
multi-party system, the critical voices manifested from the
end of 1989 within the Communist Party. Some sectors
advocated a transition to a politically pluralistic and
parliamentary system. A group called the "Club of Resistance
Fighters" made up of revolutionaries from the South who had
fought against both French and North Americans expressed
their dissatisfaction, especially with the government's
economic policy. The club characterized itself as a pressure
group within the party, demanded by its leaders greater
momentum on the implementation of reforms and the
introduction of political freedoms. The appearance of this
group shed light on the country's economic and social
reality.
|
