Socialist Republic of Vietnam

Ha Noi, Dec. 14 (VNA) -- The Consultative Group (CG) for Viet Nam opened its meeting in Ha Noi this morning, Dec. 14.

Participants at the two-day meeting include Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dzung, and representatives of the World Bank (WB), 41 bilateral and multilateral donor organizations and nations, and many observers.

This year's CG Meeting is the eighth of its kind since Viet Nam resumed its relationship with the international donor community in 1993. It is an opportunity for the donor community and the Vietnamese Government to assess and exchange views on Viet Nam's socio-economic development in the past year and development plans for the coming time. Donors' policies and views will be presented to the participants.

Discussions at the meeting will focus on an economic framework and an institute for rapid and sustainable development in Viet Nam until 2010, development of human resources, infrastructure, rural and environmental development, partnership relations in the coming decade, and official development assistance (ODA) demands and commitments.

In recent years, ODA to Viet Nam has risen each year despite a fall in ODA around the world. In the last seven years, the world community has pledged ODA worth USD 15.4 billion. In the 1996-2000 period alone, Viet Nam disbursed more than USD 6 billion to develop its socio-economic infrastructure and implement its poverty alleviation and hunger elimination programme.

Addressing the meeting, Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dzung said that Viet Nam has devised a five-year plan (2001-2005) and a socio-economic development strategy for the coming decade, and was determined to continue accelerating economic renovation and realising national industrialisation and modernisation in a bid to avoid being left behind in the regional and global development process.

He asked the meeting to spend proper time discussing Viet Nam's socio-economic development strategy for the next decade (2001-2010), and its five-year plan (2001-2005).-- VNA