Socialist Republic of Vietnam

Vietnam provided the best possible care for the highlanders who had been repatriated from Cambodia, and helped them integrate into the community, an official at the UN refugee agency has said.

The country representative for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Vu Anh Son, said after a field trip to the Central Highlands province of Dac Nong October 5-6, where he met eight of the 13 returnees, that he and other members of the mission had directly talked with them.

A draft stock exchange strategy calls for efforts to increase Vietnam’s market capitalization to 10 per cent of GDP by 2010.

The draft, for the 2006-2010 period, was discussed at a forum in Hanoi Thursday and is expected to be submitted to the Government in October. The market capitalization, or the total value of shares and bonds listed on Vietnam's five-year-old stock market, is now a mere 0.9 per cent of the GDP.

Vietnam’s commercial hub Ho Chi Minh City has for the first time launched official customs clearance via the Internet with US$1.5 million worth of goods being cleared.

The HCMC Customs Department approved up to 30 online customs declarations of five local companies on Wednesday.

The department said it had to spend only 2 minutes to approve one declaration, while the time could reach seven or eight hours for normal clearance.

From now to September 10, about 11 companies will get their goods cleared by the department via the internet.

Statistics show consumer spending is on an upward trend in Vietnam, a favorable signal for foreign investment into the country.

Increased spending is one of the major factors drawing investors to Vietnam, with the large population and high growth also contributing to the country’s appeal. Vietnam has a population of more than 83.1 million for 2005, increasing by 1.35% year on year.