Vietnam to grow genetically modified crops: reports

Cao Duc Phat

HANOI (AFP) — Vietnam plans to test genetically modified (GM) agricultural crops from now until 2010 and then grow them on a large scale, media reports in the communist country said on Thursday.

Agriculture Minister Cao Duc Phat announced the plan in a National Assembly session this week, said the state-run Vietnam News Agency.

Under the government plan, Vietnam would from 2011 plant GM species of maize, cotton and soybean, said the news site Vietnamnet quoting experts attending a recent biotechnology workshop.

The Ho Chi Minh City Biotechnology Centre plans to grow a GM maize variety from the Philippines on a trial basis, the report said.

GM technology has been highly controversial, praised by some for increasing yields and improving varieties, and condemned by others for creating “frankenfoods” that pose dangers to the environment and people’s health.

Environmental group Greenpeace has called for a worldwide recall of GM foods, with a spokesman saying this week that distributing them was “like playing Russian roulette with consumers and public health.”

AFP: Vietnam to grow genetically modified crops: reports

Vietnam PM pledges more rate cuts, tight check on inflation

People watch a live broadcast of Vietnamese prime minister Nguyen Tan Dung speaking at the national assembly

HANOI (AFP) — Vietnam will keep lowering interest rates next year to free up credit and stimulate the economy, but without allowing inflation to flare up again, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung said Thursday.

There will also be a more flexible exchange rate mechanism for the dong, which is allowed to trade within a narrow band against the US dollar, Dung said in a televised National Assembly address.

Vietnam has scaled down its annual economic growth forecast to around 6.5 percent for this year and next, from 8.5 percent last year, as it battles economic problems including double-digit inflation and a large trade gap.

“Interest rates remain high and lending has slowed down, so businesses and producers have faced difficulties,” Dung said. “Inflation and the global downturn have clearly had a negative impact on our economy in late 2008.”

The premier said that in 2009 “we will continue to reduce interest rates” after the central bank this month cut the benchmark rate to 12 percent, the second drop in two weeks, in order to stimulate the economy.

But Dung said the government would also keep a close eye on inflation, which has caused public anger and driven labour unrest this year, and would tighten monetary policy if necessary to control it.

The consumer price index fell to 26.7 percent in October against the same month last year, from 27.9 percent in September, as global energy and commodity prices have dropped off.

“We will closely follow upheavals in domestic consumer prices and developments and movements in international markets, to respond appropriately and not allow inflation to increase again,” Dung said.

He also promised more flexible forex management after the central bank last week widened the dong’s trading band, effectively allowing the currency to fall against the greenback to make Vietnamese exports cheaper.

“We will manage the foreign exchange rate more flexibly to more efficiently react to turbulence in capital flows, to support exports, to contain the trade deficit, to maintain the stability of the balance of payments, and to maintain the necessary foreign currency reserves,” Dung said.

The assembly heard this week that the State Bank of Vietnam has foreign currency reserves of 22 billion dollars.

Dung also pledged to step up “monitoring of banks and financial services and real estate trading,” after rampant credit growth and skyrocketing property prices contributed to Vietnam’s economy overheating this year.

“In 2009, we have to continue to contain inflation, prevent a recession and maintain sustainable growth, while fiscal policies must more efficiently support monetary policies,” said Dung.

Next year “the government will continue to suspend projects that are not truly necessary, or inefficient … and closely control the investments of state-owned enterprises,” the premier added.

The assembly last week approved a 2009 government budget projecting spending of 491.3 trillion dong, which would allow for a budget deficit worth 4.82 percent of gross domestic product, state media reported.

AFP: Vietnam PM pledges more rate cuts, tight check on inflation

Vietnam PM pledges to probe Japan graft case

A man watches a live broadcast of Vietnamese prime minister Nguyen Tan Dung speaking at the national assembly

HANOI (AFP) — Vietnam’s premier pledged Thursday to probe a corruption case in which Japanese businessmen have admitted bribing a Vietnamese official in the latest scandal involving a foreign aid-funded road project.

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung was answering a question in the National Assembly on whether his government had taken any action so far in the graft case involving Tokyo-based Pacific Consultants International (PCI).

Former PCI executives facing a Tokyo court earlier this week admitted paying 820,000 dollars in bribes since 2002 to Huynh Ngoc Sy, the head of Ho Chi Minh City’s project management unit, the Yomiuri Shimbun daily reported.

Dung said that, following the reports, Vietnam had requested details on the case but that “it took a long time” for Japan to send the file, which he said “does not have proper legal grounds.”

Speaking in a legislative question-and-answer session, Dung said “we have asked our investigators to cooperate and receive (the file) to clarify this. And we will deal with the case in accordance with Vietnamese laws.”

The Japanese newspaper reported this week that PCI and four of its former executives are on trial in Tokyo, charged with violating the Unfair Competition Prevention Law that bans paying bribes to foreign government officials.

The defendants were named in the report as former PCI president Masayoshi Taga, 62, former managing director Kunio Takasu, 65, former board director Haruo Sakashita, 62, and former Hanoi office chief Tsuneo Sakano, 59.

Prosecutors claimed PCI had promised Sy 2.6 million dollars for favours in awarding consulting contracts to the firm in connection with overseas development assistance (ODA)-financed road projects in 2001 and 2003.

They also charged that the executives had padded expenses for the projects to ensure profits after paying the bribes, and that they paid the Vietnamese official a total of 820,000 dollars between 2002 and 2006.

Vietnam was rocked by another major graft scandal in 2005 and 2006 when officials pilfered funds from the transport ministry’s infrastructure division PMU 18, which had received funding from the World Bank, Japan and other donors.

Several PMU 18 officials later went to prison, and the government of Dung pledged a major anti-corruption crackdown that was welcomed by donors and foreign business groups who have long complained of graft in Vietnam.

However, last month, a court in Vietnam jailed a journalist and a police source who had helped expose the PMU 18 graft case, on charges of “abusing democratic freedoms to infringe upon the interests of the state.”

Dung, speaking on the PCI case, said “the responsible agencies are working on this, and we have established a joint committee to fight and prevent corruption in the use of ODA, and Japan appreciates this.”

AFP: Vietnam PM pledges to probe Japan graft case