Committee Reports > List of Committees > Joint > 2007 > Committee on Foreign Affairs > Report No. 05 - Project Vietnam

HOUSES OF THE OIREACHTAS

Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs

PROJECT VIETNAM

TITHE AN OIREACHTAIS

An Comhchoiste um Ghnóthaí Eachtracha

TIONSCADAL VÍTNEAM

Chairman’s foreword

The Oireachtas Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs has taken an increasing interest in developments in Asia, and especially in South East Asia, in recent years. This is a dynamic region of the world but it is also a region with areas of severe underdevelopment. Our interest follows on from the Government’s decision to expand its development work into the region. An important part of the Committee’s work is to monitor and examine how Ireland’s development cooperation programmes are working around the world.

In 2003 Timor-Leste was designated as Ireland’s first programme country in Asia and last year we published an important project report on Timor-Leste. In 2004, Vietnam was designated as a programme country. This report is the outcome of the Committee’s interest in what Irish Aid can achieve in Vietnam and in other countries in the region such as Cambodia and Laos where it is becoming increasingly active.

Irish Aid’s decision to become active in Asia is a welcome one. Its reputation in Africa is second to none. In visits to a number of African countries, the Joint Committee has seen the outstanding development work that Irish Aid is doing there. Asia is a different development environment that will present new challenges. These challenges will require new and distinctive responses. This report highlights some of the new challenges that Irish Aid will face in the rapidly changing countries of South East Asia and points up some of the new competencies that will be required to the meet the development needs there.

Vietnam is a country which has undergone major economic and social change in the past decade. It is now beginning to show many of the features which became familiar in the rapid economic growth of the Asian Tiger economies from the 1970s onwards. The explosive economic growth seen in such countries as South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia in those years is now, to some degree, being replicated in Vietnam. Our own Celtic Tiger development over the last decade now puts us in a position to assist in the development of some of those South East Asian countries that missed out in the original wave of rapid growth that we associate with the Asian Tiger economies.

Like today’s Vietnam, the expansion in the Asian Tiger economies was based on export-led growth largely built on foreign investment attracted by a plentiful supply of low cost labour. Since the coming into force in 2001 of a trade agreement with the United States which lowered US tariffs, exports from Vietnam to the US have increased dramatically. They have been the driving force of the country’s rapid economic expansion.

Despite this positive picture the government in Hanoi still maintains a belief in a centrally controlled economic system. As a result, even after twenty years of economic reforms, the national economy is still dominated by large state enterprises which account for almost 40% of gross domestic product. Vietnam’s recent membership of the WTO may be an incentive to the government to face the challenge of longer-term reform which would include more liberalisation and privatisation. The continued growth of the Vietnamese economy may well depend on how the government handles the dilemma it faces between on the one hand continued state control of large sections of the economy and on the other greater liberalisation and privatisation.

Ireland’s relationship with Vietnam has developed rapidly in recent years. Following its designation as a programme country, Ireland opened an Embassy in Hanoi in 2005. These developments brought a new dimension to the relationship and it was for this reason that the Committee decided that it was now appropriate to prepare a report on Vietnam, a developing country with a growing economic and political importance both in its own region but also in the broader Asian context.

The report gives a comprehensive picture of Vietnam today. A core chapter details Ireland’s development relationship with Vietnam and with the countries of the region. The report makes a number of recommendations to help policy makers in Irish Aid identify and develop a distinctive Irish focus in Vietnam drawing on what Ireland does best in development. For this to be realised in full, I believe our government departments, agencies and state bodies should work closely with Irish Aid in identifying areas and sectors where our national experience and specific expertise can best be harnessed for the benefit of Vietnam’s development. Acting together would be the best approach. I trust this report will stimulate work in this regard.

I have no doubt that Vietnam will continue to develop economically in the years ahead and that its profile and economic influence both regionally and internationally will continue to grow. How the internal political situation in the country develops remains to be seen. Nevertheless, whatever happens in that regard, this report shows that Ireland can play a role in Vietnam’s development. Given the scale of our commitment I believe Ireland can make a modest but valuable contribution to Vietnam’s development. We can also contribute to the development of other countries in the region such as Cambodia and Laos.

_________________________________________________

Dr. Michael Woods T.D.

Chairman.

Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs

Members of the Joint Committee

Deputies:

Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs

Acknowledgements

The Joint Committee wishes to thank all the representatives who contributed to this review including:

In addition to the above submissions to the Joint Committee, the Chairman held meetings with Mme. Ninh, Vice Chairperson of the National Assembly Foreign Affairs Committee and with Ngo Anh Dung, M.P. and Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Foreign Affairs Committee in Dublin and New York respectively.

The Committee wishes to acknowledge the particular input and contributions of the following in the formulation of Project VIETNAM:

The secretariat of the Joint Committee and Brian Arnold of Agenda Consulting,

Michael Baylor, Policy Advisor to the Joint Committee,

Paul Kelly, Clerk to the Joint Committee.

Photographs courtesy of Action Aid.

Contents

Acronyms

Chapter 1 Project Vietnam

This report forms part of a series of reviews undertaken by the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs on Ireland’s development aid work. The designation of Vietnam as new Programme Country in 2004 constituted an extension of Ireland’s development programme in Asia. It also put in place a framework for the creation of a Southeast Asia Regional Development Programme with a focus on Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.

Vietnam is approximately five times the size of Ireland, while its population of 84 million is over twenty times that of Ireland’s. While the comparisons in terms of size and population are very different to that of Ireland, Vietnam shares some historical similarities in terms its rural agricultural profile and its rapid economic development in recent years.

Vietnam is strategically positioned in Southeast Asia, with an extensive coastline with the South China Sea. It is bordered by China to the North and Lao PDR and Cambodia to the West. (Chart 1)

Chart 1 Ireland and its Programme Countries

Table 1 details some overview facts about Vietnam.

Table 1 Summary profile information on Vietnam

Source European Union, 2005 data & APEC, General Statistics of Vietnam

Vietnam is ranked as 109 out of 177 countries under the United Nations Human Development Index. Relative to other Programme countries, Vietnam has the highest adult literacy rate as outlined in Table 2.

Table 2 Human Development Index Ireland and Programme Countries

Source: UNDP Human Development Report 2006

Chart 2 Map of Vietnam

Chapter 2 Introduction to Vietnam

Background

Vietnam is a country undergoing rapid economic growth and social change but whose political system remains that of a one party state firmly under the control of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV). At the same time, while there have been some moves towards economic liberalisation, the government remains formally committed to what it calls “a socialist-oriented market economy” which in practice gives a leading role to state-owned enterprises in the economic life of the country. Against this background, for the future leaders of Vietnam an important challenge will be the difficult one of seeking to maintain the communist political system and state control of large parts of the economy in the face of rising expectations from a young population whose increased prosperity and future prospects are increasingly the result of an economic model that is based more on economic liberalisation and less on state control.

Two major events shaped Vietnamese history over the past 150 years. The first was the French colonial occupation of the country from 1860 to 1954 which ended in the division of the country through the 1954 Geneva Accords along the 17th parallel between the communist North Vietnam and the pro-western South Vietnam. The second major event was the Vietnam War which ended in 1975 with the withdrawal of US forces from South Vietnam and the unification of the country under the victorious nationalist/communist government of North Vietnam led by Ho Chi Minh.

On taking complete control of the country in 1975 the Communist Party of Vietnam banned all other political parties and embarked on a campaign of collectivisation of farms and factories. The process of reconstruction after the devastation of war was slow and the regime faced major humanitarian and economic problems.

Political life and political activity in Vietnam takes place within the framework of a single-party socialist republic. Vietnam’s constitution of 1992 confirmed the central role of the Communist Party of Vietnam in politics and society while the unicameral National Assembly is the highest representative body of the people and the only organisation with legislative powers. The country is governed through a highly-centralised system dominated by the Communist Party with government policies determined by the 14 member Politburo, to which the most recent elections took place in April 2006.

Recent Economic Policy

In the economic field, a pivotal event for Vietnam was the decision taken by the CPV in 1986 to introduce free-market reforms known as Doi Moi (Renovation). This began to move the country away from the Soviet-style command economy and terminated the economic stagnation which had prevailed since the ending of the Vietnam War. Under Doi Moi, the authority of the state remained unchallenged but the private ownership of farms and companies was permitted and deregulation and foreign investment were encouraged. The Doi Moi measures initiated a period of rapid economic growth and expansion in agricultural and industrial production and housing; exports rose as did the inflow of foreign investment. Land reform measures were introduced. However, as production in other sectors of the economy increased, agriculture’s share of economic output as a percentage of GDP declined from as much as 42% in 1989 to 26% in 1999 and continues to fall. The decrease in agriculture’s role in Vietnam’s economy is likely to have far reaching social, and possibly, political implications as millions of peasants leave the countryside and seek work in the urban areas.

A further important step for the development of Vietnam’s economy was the decision by the Clinton Administration in 1994 to lift the US trade embargo that had existed since the end of the Vietnam War. This was followed in 1995 by Vietnam submitting its application for formal membership of the WTO.

Over the past decade Vietnam has made enormous gains in the economic area leading to a significant rise in national prosperity, albeit from a very low base, with a per capita GDP now of €492. The main driver of economic growth has been exports, particularly to the United States and this has come about largely as a result of a trade agreement concluded between the Vietnam and the United States in 2000, which reduced US tariffs on Vietnamese exports. That trade deal opened the way for many large companies to invest in Vietnam and avail of its abundant and literate young workers.

International Relations

Following the initiation of economic reforms the Vietnamese government also began the process of bringing the country out of its international isolation and moving towards greater integration with the global community. Throughout the nineties, Vietnam expanded its diplomatic relations and joined the major international organisations such as the World Bank, the IMF and the Asia Development Bank. In 1995 the country took an important step towards regional integration by joining the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) followed in 1998 by membership of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum (APEC).

In May 2006, Washington and Hanoi reached agreement on WTO accession. Subsequently, the US Congress backed the establishment of permanent trading relations between Hanoi and Washington. In November 2006, WTO membership was approved by WTO members and Vietnam’s National Assembly ratified the country’s membership by a vote of 443 — 3. At the same time Vietnam successfully hosted for the first time the Asia-Pacific Economic Summit. The final step in its integration into the global economy came on January 11, 2007 when Vietnam formally joined the World Trade Organisation becoming the 150th member of the organisation. WTO membership is expected to act as an additional stimulus to the Vietnamese economy leading to more inward investment attracted in particular by a literate labour force which is cheaper than those of China or India.

Agricultural workers in rural uplands (Photograph Action Aid)

A Developing Country.

Despite its recent rapid economic growth, Vietnam remains a developing country with many of the characteristics and economic and social problems associated with that status. It has a rapidly rising population now numbering some 84 million, has a poor human rights record, no political opposition and little freedom of expression. The fact that there is an estimated one million new entrants into the labour force each year poses a real challenge to the government to deliver jobs. Increased foreign investment is therefore likely to remain a top priority for policy planners in Hanoi. The large state sector may also come under privatisation pressures even though for the government they represent the core of communist economic orthodoxy. In this context, how the government handles the future role of the major state-owned enterprises will be a test of whether it proposes to move further on economic liberalisation or not.

Despite its recent rapid economic progress, Vietnam remains well down the list in a range of international rankings. In the Index of Economic Freedom it ranks 142 out of 157; in the UN’s Human Development Index is ranks 109 out of 177; in the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report it ranks 77 out of 125. In Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index it ranks 111 out of 163.

Chapter 3 Vietnam - Economic Profile

Introduction

Vietnam’s economy has undergone phenomenal change since the introduction of Doi Moi⁵ reforms in the 1980’s. Current economic performance continues to be robust, with growth accelerating above 8% in 2005, fuelled by surging private investment and strong domestic demand. The economy has benefited from higher global oil prices in recent years, resulting in increased value of its crude oil exports, but inflation has accelerated. The current account deficit remains manageable, with strong inflows of remittances and tourism receipts. The Government is targeting continued high growth performance in line with the steady transition to a market-based system and closer integration with world markets. While these factors are likely to continue to underpin reforms and high rates of expansion into the future, they will also create many challenges for the country. ⁱ

Vietnam is still highly dependent on agriculture and 90% of the poor live in rural areas. (Photograph Action Aid)

The recent accession of Vietnam to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) is a turning point on the road of transition to a market-based economy. The General Council of the WTO approved Vietnam’s membership on 7 November 2006. Vietnam became the WTO’s 150th member 30 days after it had informed the WTO that it had ratified the accession package domestically. The decision ends over 11 years of preparation, including eight years of negotiation. The working party of members negotiating with Vietnam was set up on 31 January 1995 and met 14 times between July 1998 and October 2006.ⁱⁱ

The Asia Development Bank projects GDP growth to consolidate at around 8% in the next 2 years. The momentum for domestic demand is likely to be maintained through sustained growth in FDI inflows, private remittances and tourism receipts.

Chart 3 outlines the composition of debt in Vietnam highlighting the significant role that World Bank /IDA finance plays in the country.

Chart 3 Composition of Debt (US$ mill.)

Source: The World Bank

Trade Data

Tables 3 and 4 detail the main areas of importance for Vietnamese imports and exports. After oil exports, garments, footwear and marine products constitute the main areas of export for the country.

Table 3 Merchandise Imports by Commodity (in percent of value of imports)

Source: IMF Country Report No. 06/423 Vietnam: Statistical Appendix, November 2006

Table 4 Merchandise Exports by Commodity (in percent of value of imports)

Source: IMF Country Report No. 06/423 Vietnam: Statistical Appendix, November 2006

Trade between Ireland and Vietnam is relatively small at ~ €50 million.

Sector Developments

The share of agriculture in the economy has continued to decline (Chart 4), to about 20% of GDP in 2005, although it still accounts for the majority of employment. Agricultural production rose by an estimated 3.7% in 2005, held back somewhat by drought and avian flu. Nonetheless, buoyant prices supported production with further diversification and commercialisation. Production and exports of coffee, rubber and cashews, as well as fisheries products, recorded strong growth.

The changing agricultural sector generally sees men move out of agriculture to off-farm employment away from home. This has the effect that women work more in agriculture and household activities resulting in often a higher workload for women. Women are also very active as entrepreneurs in the informal sector.ⁱⁱⁱ

On the production side, industry and services will continue to drive activity with projected growth rates of 10% and 8%, respectively. An increasing share of industrial production comprises higher value-added goods, including computers and other electronic products for export markets. The textile and clothing sector will continue to face strong competition from the People’s Republic of China and other competitors. However with its accession to the WTO, Vietnam will no longer be subject to quota restrictions on exports to the US, thus providing a fairer basis for international competition. Construction is likely to record strong growth with continuing high levels of investment in industrial, tourism, and real-estate developments as well as in infrastructure.^iv

Chart 4

Source: General Statistics Office of Vietnam

A recent Investment Climate Survey^v of a representative sample of domestic private businesses, State Owned Enterprises (SOEs) and foreign companies has identified the constraints that the companies perceive to doing business in Vietnam (Chart 5). The most important constraint is access to and cost of finance for doing business, while access to land is listed as the second most important issue. Interestingly corruption does not rank high in the survey and is ranked 10^th.

The next five years will see Vietnam move much closer to its targeted transition to an open market economy and towards a middle-income country status. The focus must remain on ensuring that ongoing economic progress will benefit the country at large. The structural changes which are taking place between agriculture, industry and the service sectors will continue to translate into a double mobility,(1) occupational, from agricultural jobs to non-farm employment; and (2) geographical, from rural to urban areas. This raises the challenges of disparities in earnings between regions, earnings gaps between men and women, the need for a social protection system as well as the needs for enforceable environmental standards.^vi

Chart 5 Investment Climate Survey Results

Source: World Bank, Vietnam Business Vietnam Development Report 2006

Recent research by Action Aid^vii has highlighted the problems surrounding migrant workers in Vietnam. The research quantified the movement in 2001 as:

“… 6.5% of Vietnamese, or roughly 5.2 million people, had relocated in the previous five years. Half of this total migrated to another province, particularly to the south-eastern region near Ho Chi Minh City or to the Central Highlands.”

The research concentrates its focus on the garments and footwear industries which are very labour intensive, with State, private sector and foreign ownership (Table 5).

Table 5 Structure of enterprises in Garment and Footwear Industries

Source: Viet Nam Garment, Textile and Footwear Association (2003)

The research highlights the range of issues facing migrant workers in terms of working hours, salary, benefits, contracts and recruitment processes, working conditions in factories and how workers are organized and represented by unions and local labour authorities. It also highlights ‘out of factory’ living conditions and social problems for migrant workers.

An International Labour Organisation (ILO) initiative in Cambodia, the Better Factories Cambodia^viii, is monitoring and reporting on working conditions in Cambodian garment factories in order to develop and maintain working standards for employees and their employers in line with national and international standards. The project grew out of a trade agreement between the United States and Cambodia. Under the agreement the US promised Cambodia better access to US markets in exchange for improved working conditions in the garment sector. The ILO project was established in 2001 to help the sector make and maintain these improvements. This Cambodian initiative is addressing some of the issues being targeted by Action Aid in Vietnam. While NGO involvement in this area of development is welcome, there remains a need for engagement at multilateral and Government levels if working standards are to comprehensively addressed into the future.

The Garment, Footwear and textile industries have become significant employers in Vietnam (Photograph Action Aid)

Chapter 4 Vietnam and Asia

ASEAN

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was established on 8 August 1967 in Bangkok by the five original Member Countries, i.e. Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand. Brunei Darussalam joined on 8 January 1984, Vietnam on 28 July 1995, Lao PDR and Myanmar on 23 July 1997, and Cambodia on 30 April 1999.

The ASEAN region has a population of about 500 million, a total area of 4.5 million square kilometres, a combined gross domestic product of almost US$ 700 billion, and a total trade (Imports and exports) of about US$ 850 billion.

The aims of ASEAN are to:

1.To accelerate economic growth, social progress and cultural development in the region and

2.To promote regional peace and stability through abiding respect for justice and the rule of law in the relationship among countries in the region and adherence to the principles of the United Nations Charter.

The Asean Member countries are outlined in Chart 6.

Chart 6 Asean Member Countries

APEC

Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) is a group of 21 Pacific Rim countries, which includes Vietnam, that work together to sustain economic growth through a commitment to open trade, investment and economic reform. By progressively reducing tariffs and other barriers to trade, APEC Member Economies have become more efficient and exports have expanded dramatically.

APEC operates as a cooperative, multilateral economic and trade forum. It is the only intergovernmental grouping in the world committed to reducing trade barriers and increasing investments without requiring its members to enter into legally binding obligations. The forum succeeds by promoting dialogue and equal respect for the views of all participants and making decisions based on consensus to achieve its free and open trade and investment goals. APEC Member Economies take individual and collective actions to open their markets and promote economic growth^ix. Vietnam hosted the most recent APEC Economic Leaders Meeting in Hanoi during November 2006 which focussed on the theme of “Towards a Dynamic Community for Sustainable Development and Prosperity.”

APEC works in three broad areas known as APECs ‘Three Pillars’ i.e.

▪Trade and Investment Liberalisation

▪Business Facilitation

▪Economic and Technical Cooperation

Table 6 outlines the Real GDP Growth rates in the member economies in recent years. It highlights the strong performance of the Vietnamese economy in APEC.

Table 6 Real GDP Growth in APEC Member Economies 2000-2005

APEC economies vary greatly in terms of income and poverty levels. Eleven of the twenty-one APEC members are considered to be middle or low-income economies and these economies comprise 79% of the people in the APEC region while accounting for only 17.2 % of APECs’ gross domestic product.^x While poverty remains a major problem in the APEC region, significant progress has been made in recent years with the proportion of population living on less than US$1 per day declining from 25% in 1990 to 10 per cent in 2000.

A recent APEC study highlights the importance of understanding behind-the border barriers to investment in order to maximise the amount and benefits to be derived from FDI. ‘Behind-the border barriers’ include:

▪Inadequate rule of law and property rights

▪Poor governance

▪Corruption

▪Overly restrictive labour market regulations

▪Overly restrictive product market regulations and lack of competitive markets

▪Policy uncertainty

▪Regulation and tax administration

▪Inadequate infrastructure

▪Inadequate skills/education

▪Political instability

▪Capital controls; and

▪Inadequate access to finance.

Vietnam’s easing of business regulations in 2000 is cited as a positive example of how reducing ‘behind-the-border barriers’ can boost enterprise activity. Under new laws that reduced the time and cost of starting up a new business, the number of new businesses established in Vietnam doubled in 2000 and more than tripled the 1999 level in 2001.

Chapter 5 Vietnam Policy Framework

Introduction

The Government of Vietnam has an impressive record in terms of policy development and implementation. This chapter considers some of the key policy documents and initiatives that have been undertaken over the last 20 years. The achievements of the Government are widely recognised by donors and the international community. This positive policy framework has resulted in a very positive climate for international donors and an increasing level of donor commitment.

Strategy for Socio-Economic Development 2001-2010

The 2001-2010 strategy followed on from a previous 1991-2000 Socio-Economic Strategy which proved successful, illustrated by the doubling of GDP over the life of the strategy. The current strategy aims to be a:

“Strategy for accelerated industrialization and modernization along the socialist line, laying the foundations for ours to become by 2020 basically an industrialized country.”^xi

Chart 7 outlines the relationship between that the 10 year strategy and the range of operational plans that interpret and implement the Government’s strategy.

Chart 7 GoV Policy Framework

Source: GoV, Comprehensive Poverty Reduction and Growth Strategy, 2003

Specific goals for the 10 year period include:

▪To ensure that by 2010, GDP will have at least doubled the 2000 level,

▪To raise substantially the country’s Human Development Index (HDI),

▪Develop endogenous scientific and technological capacities to ensure applicability of modern technologies, approach to world standards, and develop its own world standards in a number of fields,

▪The infrastructures are to meet demands of socio-economic development as well as of national defence and security, and to prepare for future needs,

▪The leading role of the State economic sector is to be enhanced, governing key domains of the economy; State enterprises are to be renewed and developed, ensuring production and business efficiency.

The strategy translates the broad goals into targets for sectors, regions as well as institutional reforms. The current focus of the long term strategy is presented in the five year Social and Economic Development Plan 2006-2010 (SEDP).

The Comprehensive Poverty Reduction and Growth Strategy (CPRGS)

The Comprehensive Poverty Reduction and Growth Strategy is a document that elaborates all general objectives, institutional arrangements, policies and solutions of the 10-Year Strategy and 5-Year Socio-Economic Development Plan into detailed specific action plans. This plan emphasises the strong linkage between poverty reduction and economic growth for Vietnam and highlights that addressing poverty encompasses far more than social policies.

The CPRGS is composed of six parts as follows:

1.Socio-Economic Setting, Current Poverty Situation, Achievements and Challenges

2.Create Environment for Rapid and Sustainable Growth, and for Poverty Reduction

3.Large-scale infrastructure development for growth and reduction of poverty

4.Major Policies and Measures for the Development of Sectors and Industries to Ensure Poverty Reduction and Sustainable Growth

5.Mobilization of Resources for Growth and Poverty Reduction.

6.Organizational Arrangements for and Monitoring and Evaluation of the Poverty Reduction and Growth Strategy

The definition of poverty in Vietnam is based on international standards jointly developed by the Vietnamese General Statistical Office and the World Bank and applied in the Living Standards Measurement Surveys in Vietnam (in 1992-93 and 1997-98). The lower line is the food poverty line⁶; the higher line is the total poverty line ⁷and includes both food and non-food commodities.

Poverty in Vietnam is characterised by:

▪The majority of the poor live in areas that have less natural resources and harsh natural conditions such as mountainous, remote and isolated areas, or in the Mekong River Delta region and the Central region where sudden weather changes (typhoons, floods, drought) make conditions for living and producing even more difficult.

▪Poverty is widespread in rural areas with over 90% of the poor living in rural areas.

▪A majority of the urban poor work in the informal economic sector with unstable jobs and low and unstable incomes.

▪Poverty has marked regional characteristics. The poverty rate is relatively high in the upland, remote and isolated areas and ethnic minority areas.

Table 7 outlines the most up to date national poverty rates for Vietnam.

Table 7 National Poverty Rates %

a Poverty rate based on the new poverty line, set by the Government in 2005.

b Internationally comparable measure of the percentage of the population that cannot afford a threshold consumption basket, which includes food (2,100 calories/day/family member) and non-food items.

c The percentage of the population that is too poor to afford the food part of the consumption basket, even if they did not purchase any non-food items.

— = not available

Source: The Government’s General Statistics Office data and the 2004 Viet Nam household and living standard survey report, May 2006.

Chart 8 presents an overview picture of the enabling environment which is envisaged for the creation of growth and the reduction in poverty in the CPRGS.

A recent annual review of the CPRGS by the IMF described the performance as follows:

“Overall progress over the period of the CPRGS has been impressive. Economic growth has averaged 7.8 percent per year between 2001 and 2005, increasing in each of the past three years. This strong performance has been accompanied by a continuation of Vietnam’s remarkable success in reducing poverty, which had declined to under 20 percent of the population in 2004, from 58 percent in 1993. There have also been strong and sustained improvements in human and social development indicators over the CPRGS period.” ^xii

Chart 8 Enabling Environment for Growth and Poverty Reduction

Social and Economic Development Plan 2006-2010

The GoV Social and Economic Development Plan (SEDP) for 2006-2010 reviews the achievements of the previous five year plan and maps the strategic direction for the country to 2010. The overall goal of the SEDP is to:

“Boost the economic growth rate, achieving important changes in the orientation of fast and sustainable development, quickly bringing our country out of the low development state. Significantly improve people’s material, cultural, and spiritual life. Create foundations to boost the industrialization and modernization process and gradually develop the knowledge-based economy. Stabilize politics, orders, and social security. Improve Vietnam’s status in the region and the world.”^xiii

This general goal is further defined by the following tasks:

1.Strongly liberate the labour force, utilising all potentials and resources…

2.Move more strongly into the market economy, execute market principles,…

3.Actively accelerate international economic integration, dramatically expand and improve the efficiency of foreign trade….

4.Strongly develop science and technology, education and training…

5.Create a strong move in building cultural foundation, knowledge, morality and lifestyles…

6.Realize social progress, equity and gender equality, create jobs, encourage people to get rich in legitimate ways, alleviate hunger and reduce poverty…

7.Enhance democracy; use the national solidarity as the driving force and the decisive factor in improving the efficiency of a socialist State ruled by law…

8.Strengthen national defence and security, firmly maintain peaceful environment…

The SEDP sets out clear targets in line with the MDGs across, to ensure sustainable development for the economy, society and the environment. A range of challenging targets has been set including:

Economic

▪GDP scale in 2010 to be equivalent to 94-98 billion USD and GDP per capita to be about 1,050-1,100 USD

▪Total export turnover to increase by 16% annually

▪Total social investment to be equivalent to 138.6 billion USD, accounting for 40% of GDP

Social Affairs

▪Complete the universalization of lower secondary school. By 2010 tertiary education to be provided to 200 per 100 population. Trained labour rate to reach 40% of the total social labour.

▪Create jobs for over 8 million labourers

▪Under 1 infant mortality rate is under 16% and under-five is about 25% and under-five malnutrition rate is under 20%

Children in Kindergarten school (Photograph Action Aid)

Environment

▪Increase forest cover to 42-43%

▪100% of industrial zones, export processing zones are equipped with centralized wastewater treatment systems, 90% of solid waste is collected and treated, 80% of hazardous waste and 100% of medical waste is treated.

▪Strive to reach 95% of urban population and 75% of rural population to have access to clean water.

Detailed targets are outlined for all sectors of the economy which will contribute to the overarching goals of the SEDP. Specific goals are also outlined on a regional basis as set out below:

The Northern Midland and mountainous areas

“Speed up socio-economic development of the Northern and Midland mountainous areas for hunger eradication and poverty reduction, narrow the disparities in terms of living conditions, and social progress among different regions nationwide; take advantage of each region’s strengths in terms of soils, climate, mineral resources, hydroelectricity, and proximity to border gates for economic development……”

The Red River Delta

“Build up the Red River Delta as a strongly developed region in terms of cultural, economic and social development, asserting itself as a focal point for regional and international exchanges and cooperation, helping other regions, particularly Northern mountainous and midland regions to develop.”

The Northern Central and Central coastal areas

“Speed up the socio-economic development of the Northern Central area, Central coastal area and key economic regions to soon catch up with development of other regions in the country and become one of the country’s focal points for international exchanges and cooperation; fundamentally improve local people’s material, cultural and spiritual life; minimise the effects of natural disasters; maintain political stability and social order and safety, ensure national security, and protect the eco-environment.”

The Central Highlands

“To make full use of its land, geological position and natural conditions, its strategic position, helping the Central Highlands to develop comprehensively and in sustainable manner in terms of economy, politics, culture, society, national defence and security; and gradually become the driving force region. Regard the development of forest and industrial crops in combination with effective and comprehensive processing industry as an important breakthrough in developing the region and strengthening the construction of national defence economic zones…”

The South-eastern region

“To mobilize all possible resources to make full use of its potentials and advantages, the South-eastern region will be a focal point of rapid and sustainable development and a leading region in industrialization, modernization in industry, trade, services and tourism sectors with high growth rates. There will social and cultural development with environmental protection, political stability, and ensured defence security. It will be a key economic region in the cause of national socio-economic development as well as the effective linkage in trading, economic cooperation with other countries in the region with widespread influences on other regions like Mekong Delta and Central provinces.”

The Mekong Delta

“To mobilize the most possible resources to make full use of its strategic location and advantages, promote industrialization and modernization in agriculture and rural areas to establish a large-scale and specialized commodity-producing region; develop Mekong Delta as a national focal economic zone with high, effective and sustainable growth rates; improve the socio-cultural conditions in line with the national average standards, improve the spiritual and material life of local people, especially Khmer people and people in flood-prone areas; socio-economic development is to be closely related to environmental protection, political stabilization, ensured social security and defence.”

Marine Economy Development

“Intensify developmental planning for coastal, marine areas and islands; ensure sustainable development for them; provide optimal conditions for the development of marine tourism. Consolidate existing marine enterprises and develop new marine economic sectors with focus on the quality of marine enterprises… Develop sectors which have been considered as focal marine economic sectors such as seaports and shipping enterprises, oil extraction and refinery, fishery and aquaculture, and sea based tourism…..”

The SEDP is a critical document in terms of international donor policies as it clearly defines the path which the GoV is pursuing. This framework provides the basis for aligning donor policies with the GoV strategic policy direction.

SEDP for Ethnic Minority and Mountainous Areas

Programme 135 Phase 2 (P135-II) is a specific programme which targets ethnic minorities and mountainous areas.⁹ It is a 5 year poverty reduction programme of the government of Vietnam to be implemented from 2006-2010. P135-II targets 1,644 poor and mountainous communes in 45 provinces which are home to the majority of Vietnam’s ethnic minorities. The programme budget is approximately $800 million financing activities grouped according to four broad components:

▪Basic infrastructure;

▪Improved and market-oriented agriculture production;

▪Improved socio-cultural livelihoods through better access to social services;

▪Capacity building for officials at all levels to better implement the program.

A number of multi-lateral and bi-lateral donor agencies have committed approximately $270 million in additional funds to supplement GOVs funding and aimed to strengthen capacity and promote policy and institutional innovations in the programme for improved performance. The Committee for Ethnic Minority Affairs (CEMA) is the lead agency assigned to coordinate and oversee programme implementation, with the participation of several ministries in different aspects of the programme. Actual programme implementation will be carried out by districts and communes under guidance from provinces.^xiv

Despite the attention and efforts made by the Government, 61 percent of ethnic minority people were still poor in 2004, while only 14 percent of Kinh and Chinese people were still living in poverty. The gap in welfare between the majority and minority groups has grown over the decade, resulting in a situation where ethnic minorities are 39 percent of all poor people, despite representing only 14 percent of the total population of Vietnam. This represents a near-doubling of the proportion of ethnic minorities in the poor population in eleven years.^xv

While significant progress has been made in addressing overall national poverty levels, reducing poverty levels of the ethnic minorities remains a significant challenge.

Doi Moi

The Government’s reform programme, known as “Doi Moi”, was officially launched in 1986 in order to revitalise the national economy. This reform process was characterized by:

1.Macro-economic stabilisation, market reforms, and a gradual move away from central planning; and

2.A gradual opening up to the rest of the world via a more “open door policy.”

The Doi Moi reform process, especially land policy reform and the considerable liberalization of agricultural prices in the latter part of the 1980s had a major impact on poverty reduction; land policy reform essentially transferred the management of agricultural land from large State cooperatives to farm families. As a result, Vietnam was transformed from a food deficit country and a rice importer in the mid-1980s, to a food surplus country and the world’s second largest rice exporter today. It is also one of the world’s largest exporters of Robusta coffee and a number of other cash crops.

The Doi Moi reforms had a dramatic impact on poverty, which declined from well over 70% of the population in the mid-1980’s to about 37% in 1998 and an estimated 32% today.^xvi

The 1989-1993 period was characterized by dramatic macro-economic reforms including: the liberalisation of most prices; a sharp reduction in monetary and credit growth; a major devaluation and unification of exchange rates; the elimination of direct budget subsidies to state owned enterprises (SOEs); the reduction of the number of SOEs from around 12,000 to around 6,000; the creation of a two-tier banking system; the increase and maintenance of positive real interest rates; and a widening of the “open door” policy.

The impact of these policies have brought about the: emergence from the socio-economic crisis of the 1980’s; a sharp increase in GDP growth (averaging close to 9% per annum during 1994-97); a major reduction in the inflation rate from triple digits to single digits; and a dramatic stabilisation of the economy.

Chapter 6 Vietnam & Ireland

Introduction

Ireland’s development relationship with Vietnam is very new. It is the second programme country (after Timor Leste) to be designated in Southeast Asia and forms part of a regional approach to development assistance in the area. While there are lessons to be transferred from Ireland’s African development work, the issues facing the region require new policies and programmes. Vietnam, Lao PDR and Cambodia therefore present new challenges and opportunities for Irish Aid.

The background to the inclusion of Vietnam as a programme country is set out below:

Recent meetings have taken place between the Chairman of the Joint Committee and Mme. Ninh, Vice Chairperson of the National Assembly Foreign Affairs Committee and with Ngo Anh Dung, M.P. and Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Foreign Affairs Committee in Dublin and New York respectively. While the Vietnamese representatives welcomed Ireland’s bilateral involvement with Vietnam, they also emphasised the need for Ireland to differentiate itself from other donors and to see their development work through on a sustainable and long term basis. The need to avoid a, ‘sprinkling of projects’, approach was noted, while the problems of underdeveloped mountainous areas and ethnic minorities were also highlighted.

Irish Aid Asia Country Programmes

ODA

While Ireland has been targeting the development of its trading relationship with Vietnam as part of Ireland’s ‘Asia Strategy’ since the 1990’s^xx, the development of a bilateral aid relationship is relatively recent initiative. In addition to Ireland, a wide range of donors are active in Southeast Asia. Table 8 details the top ten donors for Vietnam, Lao PDR and Cambodia.

Table 8 Top Ten Donors of Gross ODA for 2003-2004 (average)

Source: OECD, World Bank

Vietnam

Development context

Between 1993 and 2004, poverty in Vietnam was reduced from 58.1% to 19.5% while income per capita grew from $288 to $622. There has been a continued improvement in key human development indicators such as education, health and life expectancy and the country is on track to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) (see Appendix 2). The policy environment in Vietnam is conducive to effective development cooperation. The Vietnamese government has an impressive record of poverty reduction and successful macroeconomic management.

Irish Aid Personnel

The Irish Aid regional programme in South East Asia began in 2005. Establishing a presence on the ground was one of the initial tasks to be undertaken. The current Irish Aid team (February 2007), includes one Senior Development Specialist and four Vietnamese advisors who cover the following disciplines; economics, governance, social development and finance. While the skills base of the team is very comprehensive, the team is small in the context of the implementation of a strong regional programme.

An Irish Aid review has recommended that a development specialist should be posted to Hanoi in 2007 to support the programme, additional personnel will clearly be required if Irish Aid development support to Cambodia and Lao PDR is to be significantly expanded. The design of the most appropriate regional organisational model for South East Asia is still under consideration by Irish Aid. Defining the future organisational model is now a priority, in order to ensure that the roll-out of regional plans is aligned with appropriate personnel capacities.

Irish Aid Programme

The overall goal of the Irish Aid Programme for Vietnam is:

“To assist Viet Nam meet the Viet Nam Development Goals elaborating on the Millennium Development Goals, by 2015 by ensuring that the poorest parts of the population benefit from economic growth and development aid flows.”^xxi

While a new Country Strategy Paper is being developed and should be finalised in 2007, the components of the initial Programme consist of:

1.Support for a Pro Poor System of Planning and Budgeting

2.Support for Local Development at Provincial, District and Commune level

3.Governance - Support for increased transparency and accountability in Government

4.Assistance for the implementation of Vietnam’s Legal System Development Strategy

5.Strengthening the Capacity of People’s Elected Bodies in Vietnam

6.Strengthening the capacities of the national Assembly and People’s Councils in Vietnam in examination, decision and oversight of State Budget

7.Support for Private Sector Development

8.Supporting the Ireland Vietnam Blood-Borne Virus Initiative

The initial programme uses a range of existing agencies which are operational on the ground to implement the proposed activities. It is envisaged that the volume of the programme could increase from the current €4.5m in 2006 to around €17m in 2007, before levelling out at €21m over the period to 2010.¹⁰ The budgets for Vietnam are outlined in Table 9:

Table 9 Irish Aid Programme Budget 2005/2006

Source: Irish Aid

Note ** Includes financial allocation to Cambodia and Lao PDR

In financial terms the two largest projects are channelled through the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation. An outline of both projects is set out below:

Poverty Reduction Support Credit (PRSC V)

The PRSC began as a World Bank programme in 2001, but now has a number of donors co-financing the programme. Co-financiers are expected to contribute in excess of US$120 million to the fifth PRSC together with a World Bank loan of US$100 million.

The PRSC V provides direct support to the government budget and is seeking to maintain high growth and poverty reduction by improving efficiency and resource allocation in the economy. Funds are disbursed directly to the State Bank of Vietnam via a trust fund and are channelled to the state budget and are not earmarked under General Budget Support. The Programme has three objectives or “Pillars” i.e.

▪Transition to a market economy

▪Inclusive and sustainable development

▪Building modern governance

The Head of Development in Hanoi with the assistance of Embassy advisors manage the PRSV V involvement.

Risks associated with the ongoing rapid economic development have been identified as:

▪the drive to increasing the quantity of economic growth could reduce the overall quality of lending and undermine the banking reform agenda

▪risk of excessive and volatile foreign exchange inflows

▪increased inequality and environmental degradation

▪increasing rural-urban disparities

▪increasing disparities between the Kinh majority and ethnic minorities

▪risk of pollution and poor natural resource management

▪risks of increased corruption

These risks must be carefully monitored and guarded against as the next PRSC cycle VI to X is entered into.^xxii

Mekong Private Development Facility (MPDF 2)

The MPDF is a multi-donor funded initiative set up by the International Finance Corporation with support from the Asian Development Bank in Vietnam, Cambodia and Lao PDR with the aim of reducing poverty through sustainable private sector development.

The Facility works through six interrelated programmes that seek to improve the business environment; develop the financial sector; improve managerial capacity; and increase sustainable business practices in three sectors that are central to economic growth and poverty reduction — tourism, garments and agribusiness. The programmes encompass:

▪Business Enabling Environment

▪Financial Markets Development

▪Business Edge Management Training

▪Tourism

▪Garment

▪Agribusiness ^xxiii

The MPDF also implements cross cutting initiatives to promote high social and environmental standards, gender equality and corporate governance and undertakes research on a range of enterprise related topics.

The MPDF donors are the Asian Development Bank, Australia, Canada, Finland, IFC, Ireland, Japan, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. The budget for MPDF 2 covering the period 2003-2007 is $35 million.

Recent MPDF research on Vietnam noted that while there has been a significant level of new company registrations in recent years¹¹, the need to ensure that the environment for business is fostered and enabled remains a priority. The need for improved statistical profiling of the private sector was also highlighted. ^xxiv

A 2005 IFC evaluation^xxv of IFC supported facilities including the MPDF highlighted the need for environmental, health, safety, and social (EHS) to be more fully addressed. It noted that:

▪“facilities should bring their handling of EHS issues in line with IFCs policies and should increase their ability to influence client behaviour on these issues by:

▪Issuing policy statements and operating guidelines, approved by IFC and the other donors, calling for compliance with IFCs EHS safeguard policies; 5 and

▪Taking steps to improve the efficacy of their efforts on EHS issues in their firm-level activities.”

It is clear that the enterprise environment is rapidly developing in Vietnam and this pace of change creates many challenges as well as opportunities. MPDF research^xxvi into corporate governance highlighted the early stage of development of understanding and implementation of corporate governance principles in business.

Through the MPDF Technical Assistance (TA) programmes, Irish Aid has been working with international buyers in the garment industry to help improve labour conditions. It aims to introduce best practices, and use international buyers as a pressure for working condition improvements by local suppliers. In addition to TA activities around labour compliance issues, the programmes help local suppliers by introducing new activities to increase productivity and save operating costs.

In agribusiness projects, the main model is supply chain improvements with multi-stakeholder participation in order to get more value added for small producers and thus more income from the products they sell.¹²

Ireland-Vietnam Blood-Borne Virus Initiative

Irish Aid is providing support to a health sector project, the “Ireland-Vietnam Blood-Borne Virus Initiative”, which will bring Irish expertise to bear in helping to reduce the spread of blood-borne viruses including HIV and Hepatitis B & C which are most prevalent among the poorest and most marginalised sectors of Vietnamese society. €1m has been allocated in 2006.

The implementing partners for this project are the “National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology (NIHE) based in Hanoi and the National Virus Reference Laboratory based at University College Dublin. The budget for this project over a four year period is €5 million. Irish Aid and Atlantic Philanthropies¹³ are each providing 50% of the funding for the project. A sum of €1 million has been allocated by Irish Aid in the 2006 budget.

Lao People’s Democratic Republic (LAO PDR)

With an estimated per capita income of US$460 in 2005, Lao PDR is one of the poorest countries in East Asia. In 2004, 71 percent of its population lived on less than US$2 a day, and 23 percent on less than US$1 a day. A significant decline in poverty has been achieved however during the last decade using Lao PDR national poverty line (of approximately US$1.5 a day) the incidence of poverty has fallen from 46 percent in 1992/93 to around 33.5 percent in 2002/03. The social indicators have been improving too, but they remain among the worst in the region, and the quality of measurements remains low.^xxvii

Lao PDR is a post conflict country which has to address the legacy of war especially in terms of large amounts of war munitions especially landmines and Unexploded Ordnance (UXO). The conflict dates back to the Indochina War of the 1960s and 1970s when Laos experienced the heaviest aerial bombardment in history. US Congressional records show US aircraft averaged 176 sorties a day over nine years and dropped more than two million tons of bombs between 1964 and 1973.^xxviii

The Lao PDR Government has developed a national priority plan for clearing UXOs over the period 2003-2013, “The Safe Path Forward”. Irish Aid is supporting this plan by providing core funding to the National UXO Programme via the UNDP, which established and manages a Trust Fund on behalf of the Government to implement. Over 18 donor countries and multilateral agencies contribute to the fund. Irish Aid is supporting the Trust Fund for a three year period from 2006-2008 with annual funding of €0.5 million.

The second project assisted by Irish Aid involves additional support for the national UXO Lao programme administered by the British NGO Mines Advisory Group (MAG). MAG is administering all Irish Aid funds for the provincial UXO clearance operations in the Houaphan Province, the poorest province in Lao PDR. Irish Aid is contributing €1.5 million to this project over the period 2006-2009. Irish Aid is also providing funds to the NGO Concern (€385,339) under the Multi-Annual Programme Scheme.

Cambodia

Cambodia was devastated by political violence in the 1970s. Civil war ended in 1975 with the victory of a guerrilla movement (the Khmer Rouge) that sought to uproot all pre-existing social and political institutions in pursuit of a radical socialist revolutionary agenda. Driven from power by a Vietnamese invasion in 1979, the Khmer Rouge, together with two non-communist guerrilla movements, continued to fight the Government throughout the 1980s. Recovery was very slow. Military stalemate led to a ceasefire and UN supervised transition (1991-1993) from economic isolation, one party rule, and low-intensity civil war to rapid economic integration, a fragile multiparty electoral democracy, and with the surrender of the final Khmer Rouge elements in 1999, peace and territorial integrity.^xxix

Following lengthy discussions, a bi-lateral agreement between the UN and the Government of Cambodia was signed on 6 June 2003, on the prosecution of crimes committed between 1975 and 1979 in Cambodia. The agreement could only come into force in April 2005, when a donor’s conference received promises covering the quasi-totality of the necessary international contributions. The start of criminal investigations on 3 July 2006 represented the latest development in the laborious establishment of this mechanism of international criminal justice for war crimes in Cambodia.^xxx

Irish Aid’s involvement in Cambodia is focussed on a demining programme in areas which threaten human security. The Irish Aid project is supporting the demining activities of the HALO Trust. The HALO Trust is a UK and USA registered charity that specialises in the clearance of debris of war. It has been working in Cambodia since 1992 and is the second largest mine clearance operator in the country. Based in Siem Reap, HALO is the primary agency in the north of the country for mine clearance.

Cambodia has over 25,000 amputees - the highest ratio per capita of any country. Most of these casualties have been in the villages in the north-western provinces bordering Thailand, which had previously been the most populated and agriculturally productive, and where HALO has been working since 1991.^xxxi

Irish Aid is contributing €500,000 per year over a three year period 2006-2008 to this project. Irish Aid is also providing funds to NGOs (Concern, €725,915 and Trocaire €376,500) under its Multi-Annual Programme Scheme.

A new challenge and opportunity is now facing Cambodia with the recent discovery of significant oil natural resources.^xxxii Estimates of government share of oil and gas revenues from the first demarcated offshore zone are expected to between $700 million and $1 billion a year. The Government’s response to the management of future oil revenues will be an important factor in the future donor policies for Cambodia.

Mine Ban Convention

The issue of anti-personnel mines grew in importance in the international community during the beginning of the 1990’s when influential organisations and individuals such as the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), then UN Secretary General Boutros-Ghali, and then President Bill Clinton of the United States made appeals with respect to the importance of initiatives to address the issue of anti-personnel mines. With this impetus, the Anti-personnel Mine Ban Convention was examined through the Ottawa Process which originated at the Ottawa Conference in October 1996, and the convention was signed and released within the space of little more than a year. This convention, in principle, prohibits the use, stockpiling, production and transfer of anti-personnel mines. In addition, it imposes an obligation on signatories to abolish anti-personnel mines in their possession and to undertake the clearance of mines laid within a period of 10 years. It also stipulates that signatories shall provide assistance for mine clearance as well as victim assistance.^xxxiii Ireland ratified the treaty on 3^rd December 1997. ^xxxiv

The devastation to peoples lives and livelihoods associated with ‘cluster munitions’¹⁴ was recently highlighted to the Joint Committee by Pax Christi Ireland.¹⁵ The presentation sought that the Irish Government would:

1.Play an effective role towards securing a total prohibition on the production, stockpiling, transfer and use of cluster munitions by its active participation in international initiatives to address the issue comprehensively and effectively

2.Enact a national law prohibiting the production, stockpiling, transfer and use of cluster munitions

3.Support research, publication and awareness raising initiatives on this subject nationally and internationally

4.Increase support for the clearance of contaminated land by landmines, cluster munitions and other unexploded ordnance

5.Increase support for Mine Risk Education and

6.Increase support for rehabilitation of mine survivors and their socio-economic integration.

NGO Involvement

There is a small number of NGOs with an Irish base working in Vietnam. Two of these NGOs, ActionAid Ireland and Plan Ireland made presentations to the Joint Committee.¹⁶ Both Action Aid and The Christina Noble Foundation have received funds under the Irish Aid Block Grant and Civil Society Fund. An outline of the work of ActionAid Ireland and Plan Ireland is detailed below:

ActionAid Ireland

ActionAid Ireland is an independent Irish Non Governmental Development Organisation founded in 1984. ActionAid Ireland raises its own funds in Ireland principally through regular support from 7,500 donors via child and community sponsorship. The focus of its work is on poor people and fighting poverty. ActionAid implements a rights based approach to development where they enable poor people to fight for and gain their own rights and has been working in Vietnam since 1989. It now has circa 60 staff in Vietnam and works in 19 of the 64 provinces. It is the first International NGO to be given official Government permission to work in the Central Highlands, which is the poorest and most isolated part of the country.

While there is very impressive progress in Vietnam, ActionAid has identified that there are still significant groups of poor and excluded people emerging including women, children and ethnic minorities and there are widening disparities between rural and urban, rich and poor. It is these increasingly excluded groups that are the focus of ActionAid’s work in Vietnam.

ActionAid Ireland supports education for Ethnic Minorities in the Northern provinces of Ha Giang and Cao Bang, two of the poorest provinces in the country. The majority of Vietnamese people are known as Kinh and almost all of the trained teachers in the country come from this majority group. The problem in schools in the ethnic minority areas is that the children speak only their own ethnic language and the teachers speak only the majority language Vietnamese. ActionAid Ireland supports teacher training for teachers from ethnic minority communities, providing ethnic minority language training for teachers from the Kinh majority, providing in-service training for school assistants and providing teaching materials for poor schools.

Work with women’s rights sets out to raise women’s awareness about their rights, create structures for women and men to get support at the community level to deal with domestic violence, provide information about trafficking and give support to women who have been trafficked as well as to sex workers. Work with women factory workers has been very successful in raising the awareness of employers about workers rights.

ActionAid’s expenditure budget for its activities in Vietnam is detailed in Tables 10 and 11

Table 10 ActionAid -Block Grant Expenditure in Vietnam (Irish Aid)

Source: ActionAid Ireland

Table 11 ActionAid- Civil Society Fund (Irish Aid)

Source: ActionAid Ireland

The priorities that ActionAid highlighted included:

▪That Irish Aid should consider funding education in some of the Ethnic minority areas as education is a key priority in the fight against poverty. Education requires considerable investment, a lot more than an NGO can provide, therefore an Irish Aid input into this vital area of development would be desirable.

▪That Irish aid provide support to vulnerable women both women in poor rural areas and also migrant women who are forced out of rural areas to work in very harsh conditions in factories in the cities. ActionAid is currently working on employee conditions in factories in Vietnam.

▪Governance and public accountability is an important national issue and one which Irish Aid are well placed to engage with.

Plan Ireland

Plan Ireland was established in 2003 and it works in harmony with Plan Vietnam which was set up in 1993. The strategic focus of Plan is child centred community development. It aims to improve “Early Childhood Care and Development” (ECCD) in Plan supported areas.

This work seeks to:

▪Increase access of children from 0-6 to child friendly ECCD service

▪Improve the quality of ECCD services at centres

▪Improve the quality of home-based ECCD services

▪Improved quality of healthcare service for children under 6

▪Build Capacity for partners and stakeholders

▪Raise awareness on children’s rights

▪Improve Access to and Quality of Public Services to Children in Need of Special Protection

▪Improve child protection in Plan Supported Areas

The integrated educational approach of Plan is illustrated in Chart 9 while Chart 10 outlines the project locations in Vietnam.

Chart 9 Scope of Child Centred Approach

Source: Plan Ireland

Chart 10 Map of Locations for Plan Projects in Vietnam

Bóthar

Bóthar establishes families in micro-farming units by giving them the living gift of a farm animal. Villages and communities that wish to take part in a Bóthar project are asked to form a committee specifically for dealing with the Bóthar project. That committee must then decide which are the most needy families in their community and who should receive animals first. They also appoint the first ‘pass-on’ families at this time. In this way the community has ownership of the project from the beginning.^xxxv

Bóthar is undertaking the following projects in Vietnam.

Beef Cattle Production in the Mekong Delta (5 year)

This project, which is run in conjunction with “Heifer Viet Nam”, will provide 120 beef cows and four breeding bulls to 120 families in Mekong Delta. In addition to cattle production, the participating families also start vegetable gardening to increase income. Technical training and services are provided to the families to improve the livestock production. The families also plant trees to improve the environment. Bóthar works with Heifer Viet Nam via local farmer associations to implement, monitor and evaluate this project. Table 12 outlines the framework for the Beef Cattle project.

Table 12 Beef Cattle Project Outline

This project will assist 120 families in four villages in four provinces in the Mekong Delta. Each family receives one beef heifer of 12-14 months old and each village will be provided with one breeding bull. These families will be encouraged to set up family vegetable gardens to increase their income. Participating families receive US$40 to start the garden.

Bóthar and Heifer Viet Nam provide technical services including artificial insemination, animal feeding and health care to improve local beef production.

Training Centre for Orphans in Cantho

Bóthar supports several Agricultural Training Centres as a channel to help the growing population of marginalised, unwanted, often illiterate children to successfully enter community life as young adults by teaching them animal production skills. Each year training centre graduates, aged 14 to 20, will be better equipped to find employment, reunite with their families, and contribute to their communities by raising crops, poultry, swine, fish, and dairy and beef cattle.

Tin Gia Credit and Savings

This project will provide access to credit for thousands of poor women in seven communes of Hai Yen, Hai Chau, Truong Lam, Truc Lam, Anh Son, Thanh Son and Thanh Thuy. The women will invest their loans in raising animals. The project will be implemented by project partners, Quaker Service Viet Nam.

Training in crop and livestock production techniques will be provided to the participating families. The quality of livestock breeds will be upgraded and self-sufficient forage resources are being developed.^xxxvi

Chapter 7 International Donors

Introduction

This chapter outlines a sample of the organisations and policies being pursued by the international donor community. The donor profiles give a snapshot of the scope, scale and competencies that each donor is delivering in Vietnam. Vietnam has been the recipient of very high levels of ODA to date. Table 13 outlines the comparative ODA with neighbouring countries.

Table 13 2004 ODA Comparisons

Source: World Bank

European Union

The total disbursements of the European Union (EU) projects and programmes in Vietnam in 2003 amounted to €325 million. The EU as a whole (Community and Member States) is Vietnam’s third largest overall donor of development assistance. Of the total disbursements in 2003, grants accounted for around 76.8 % and credits and loans for 23.2 %. In terms of the provision of grant financing the European Union is Vietnam’s largest provider.

Cumulative commitments for on-going and pipeline EU projects amounted to €2,531 million in 2003. By this date the EU had disbursed (total cumulative disbursements) € 1,010 million representing approximately the 39.9 % of cumulative commitments.

In addition to bilateral ODA, EU Member States channel a considerable amount of ODA funds through the multilateral financial institutions and other agencies to Vietnam.

European Commission

Asia Strategy

The European Commission has prepared multi-country programme strategy^xxxviifor Asia which includes the following areas:

(1)Asia-wide programmes on trade and investment, on higher education, and on environment.

(2)A programme to support the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), focused on implementing the new strategy on South East Asia including issues such as deeper trade integration with EU and anti-terrorism.

(3)A programme to support the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), focused on trade integration among South Asian countries.

These programmes have been selected because they respond to specific EU sub-regional agreements with ASEAN and SAARC and/or because the support can best be delivered at the multi-country level.

Vietnam Strategy

The EC provides development assistance to Vietnam on the basis of the 1996 EC-Vietnam Cooperation Agreement. The overall aim of European Commission co-operation with Vietnam is to facilitate and accelerate the reduction of poverty in a sustainable manner. EC co-operation (for the period 2002-2006) with an indicative budget of €162 million and is focussed on the following priorities:

1.Enhancement of human development. This is focussed on integrated rural development, targeting some of the poorest provinces, and through support in the education field;

2.Integration of Vietnam into the international economy, by assisting reform towards a market oriented economy, and Vietnam’s integration into world and regional economic structures.

3.Crosscutting themes, as an integral part of EC-Vietnam co-operation, to include environmental protection, culture and education, gender equality, the promotion of human rights, and good governance.

The over-arching co-operative objective of the EC policy is to support Vietnam’s efforts to reduce poverty in an economically, socially and environmentally sustainable manner.^xxxviii The EC Country Strategy for Vietnam highlights the challenges facing the country in terms of:

▪Maintaining FDI and increasing domestic investments in enterprises

▪Private sector development through SMEs

▪The liberalisation of services

▪The need to focus on labour-intensive industries

▪To overcome shortages of specific qualified manpower

▪Reduce vulnerability of exports by broadening markets and diversifying export products

▪Rural migration linked to agricultural reforms

▪Environmental and natural resource pressures

▪Institutional reform and

▪Liberalisation of the political system

The Commission’s future bilateral co-operation with Vietnam under the Country Strategy Paper for 2007-13 will take account of Vietnam’s successes in socioeconomic development over the last decade. It will be informed by the importance of alignment to Government of Vietnam strategy, and entail a continued move towards forms of aid delivery such as sector approaches and budgetary aid.^xxxix

World Bank

Since re-engaging in Vietnam in 1993, the World Bank has supported 35 projects with total funding of over US$4 billion. The projects have helped fight poverty in Vietnam by providing financing for agriculture projects, infrastructure improvements, health programs, school repairs, and other essential needs. For example, World Bank-supported projects have helped many primary school-age children to go to school, reduced malaria and tuberculosis infections, connected villages with new roads, and increased incomes for the rural and urban poor.

Table 14 outlines the Country Assistance Strategy (CAS) Development Priorities.

Table 14 CAS Summary of Development Priorities for Vietnam

Source: World Bank, Country Assistance Strategy, 2002

The World Bank Group is now in the process of drafting a new CAS covering the period from FY07 to FY11. The new CAS will be in support of the SEDP for 2006—2010.

Table 15 details World Bank projects and costs for the financial years 2003-2006.

Table 15 World Bank Funded Projects in Vietnam 2003-2006

Source: IMF Country Report No. 06/421, November 2006

International Finance Corporation (IFC)

IFC supports Vietnam’s emerging private sector through investments and advisory services. Since 1992, IFC has provided $436 million in financing to 24 projects in the financial, funds, and information technology sectors in Vietnam. It has a strong presence in Vietnam, with efforts led by the Mekong Private Sector Development Facility. The IFC supports improvements in the business environment and offers advice to small and medium enterprises on an ongoing basis.

Vietnam continues to be a challenging environment for private companies in this state-dominated economy. IFC helps improve the environment by supporting the Private Sector Forum, which facilitates dialogue between the public and private sectors. It also provides leadership, such as country-specific studies and global benchmarking on business environment issues.^xl

Asia Development Bank

Asia Development Bank (ADB) is the third largest donor to Vietnam through a range of loan and grant financial instruments. It currently co-finances the portfolio of projects detailed in Table 16.

Table 16 ADB Vietnam Project Portfolio

Source: ADB

Ireland joined the ADB in 2006 and is one of the 19 members from outside Asian and Pacific region.

The Asian Development Bank’s goal is to help the Government reduce poverty incidence to 10—11% by 2010. Sustained economic growth, fuelled by entrepreneurship, investment, and increasing regional and international integration will be needed to generate self-employment and wage employment. The CSP results-based approach is directly linked to supporting the SEDP’s targeted outcomes. It is more selective, with a strong focus on removing bottlenecks to accelerate private sector investment. Support will also be directed at achieving social equity and balanced development, and improving environmental management. The policy of promoting good governance with zero-tolerance of corruption will be emphasised in all ADB operations. Opportunities to promote regional cooperation and a gender dimension will be sought in all relevant interventions.

The preliminary Asia Development Fund allocation for Vietnam for 2007—2008, based on the 2005 country performance assessment, has been set at $599 million.^xli

Japan

Since 2003, Japan’s development assistance for Vietnam has focused on the three priority areas of (1) growth promotion, (2) improvements in living and social conditions, and (3) institution building.^xlii

Important goals in the field of promoting growth include encouraging the development of the private sector, including businesses funded by foreign investment; establishing appropriate institutions and policies; and building the foundations of economic activity, such as economic infrastructure and human resources development.

To achieve these goals, the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) targets its assistance at improving the investment environment; promoting small and medium-sized enterprises and the private sector; putting in place economic infrastructure in the fields of transportation, electricity, and information technology; developing human resources that can support growth; and advancing economic reforms, including the reform of state-run enterprises.

Challenges in the field of improving living and social conditions, which are linked to the problem of poverty, were laid out in the Millennium Development Goals adopted at the United Nations Millennium Summit in 2000. These challenges are a manifestation of the lack of basic necessities that many people face. From the twin perspectives of human security - a concept focused on individual human beings - and poverty reduction, as well as from the standpoint of responding to humanitarian and social demands, JICA’s assistance in this area targets the sectors of education, health, agricultural and rural development, regional development, urban development, and the environment.

In the field of institution building, putting in place systems to serve as the social and economic foundations of a country is important not only to achieve growth but also to overcome challenges in living and social conditions. JICA’s assistance in this field focuses on the establishment of legal systems and on administrative reforms, including civil service and fiscal reform.

United Nations

Vietnam has been selected as the first “pilot” country in the UN’s effort to unify and make more efficient and responsive its work at the national level. The “One UN” pilot program will include at least five other countries and aims to move beyond coordination to consolidating a single presence in countries. The Vietnam pilot will comprise six participating agencies—UNICEF, UNDP, UNFPA, UNIFEM, UNV and UNAIDS—and commitments are expected from others to join or cooperate with the programme in the near future.

The “One UN” plan means agencies will work as one team, with the aim of avoiding fragmentation and duplication of efforts. The goal is to ensure a unity of purpose, coherence in management and efficiency in operations while maintaining the distinct personality, agenda, and purpose of the different agencies. ^xliii

The UNDP has been involved in Vietnam since the end of the war in 1975. Its presence has evolved with and helped to facilitate Vietnam’s many stages of transition. The current United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) sets out the following target outcomes:

1.Government economic policies support growth that is more equitable, inclusive and sustainable

2.The quality of delivery and equity in access to social and protection services improves

3.Policies, law and governance structures effectively support rights-based development to realise the values and goals of the Millennium Declaration

4.Cross cuttings outcomes include:

a.Equity and the Inclusion of Vulnerable Groups

b.Vietnamese Youth in Transition

c.Participation, Empowerment and Accountability

d.The Challenge of HIV/AIDS

5.Quality of growth

a.Responsiveness to disasters

b.Environmental protection

6.Quality of and access to social and protection services

a.Increased capacity of government and service providers to manage and deliver, and of people to use quality social and protection services.

7.Law, policies and governance for rights-based development

The United Nations Country Team estimates that approximately US$425 million is required for the United Nations contribution to the achievement of the UNDAF outcomes described above.^xliv

Sweden

Sweden has a long history of cooperation with Vietnam dating back to the 1960’s. It is currently implementing a 2004-2008 Country Strategy with the objectives of:

▪Promoting Vietnam’s ability to reduce poverty on a long-term and environmentally sustainable basis

▪Promoting openness and a development towards democracy and increased respect for human rights^xlv

Total Swedish support to Vietnam for the three year period 2004-2006 was budgeted at SEK 900 million (~€99 million) excluding possible budget supports, humanitarian aid and support to Swedish NGO’s. Sweden’s Strategy for cooperation notes that:

“Sweden is no longer a major donor to Vietnam. However, Sweden has some comparative advantages, such as Vietnam’s preparedness to cooperate in more sensitive and crucial areas of reform relating to democratisation, corruption, and human rights aspects of judicial reform. These comparative advantages should be used when choosing areas for assistance and dialogue.”

The Sub-goals guiding Swedish development cooperation for 2004-2008 include:

▪To promote an equitable, pro-poor and sustainable use of natural resources based on local initiatives

▪To promote a professional, transparent, accountable, service-oriented and non-discriminatory public administration

▪To contribute to increased respect for human rights and democratic access for poor people, with a special focus on development of the rule of law that ensures predictability, equality, non-discrimination and protection against abuse

▪To work to promote the right to adequate health care for all people, including improved access to health services for the poor

▪To work to promote pro-poor growth based on a dynamic private sector and open trade relations.

Table 17 outlines the 2005 development cooperation budget for Sweden.

Table 17 2005 Development Cooperation with Vietnam

Source: SIDA

USAID

USAID views Vietnam as a strategic location in the context of its potential role as a major trading partner and market for U.S. goods. In addition a growing, prosperous Vietnam is viewed as vital to maintaining regional stability in mainland Southeast Asia. USAID officially opened a branch office in Hanoi in September 2000 as part of its regional mission in Bangkok, Thailand. USAID’s country-specific activities in Vietnam focus on accelerating the transition to a more open, market-based economy while improving access to services for selected vulnerable groups. USAID’s programmes include:

▪Creating Better Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities and Ethnic Minorities

▪Stronger Economic Policies and Governance

▪Regional Health Programs Target HIV/AIDS, Malaria, Tuberculosis and Avian Influenza

▪Public-Private Partnerships Protect the Environment and Help Cocoa Farmers

2005 programme expenditure for Vietnam amounted to $5.9 million, down from $9.1 million in 2004.^xlvi

Chapter 8 Conclusions & Recommendations

Conclusions

Vietnam is a country undergoing rapid transition from a socialist to a more open market economy, from a low income to a middle income country and from being isolated to being international in outlook. For the international donor community, Vietnam portrays a progressive mindset for engaging with and has attracted very significant levels of development aid in recent years.

Vietnam’s economic transformation since the mid 1980’s has been the envy of many countries. The Government of Vietnam has prepared a comprehensive set of policies to drive the country forward. It has succeeded in developing strong working relationships at bilateral and multilateral levels. Its recent entry to the WTO represents a further milestone in the country’s transformation.

Vietnam is a highly populated country with over 80 million people and a predominance of rural agricultural communities. The economic growth of the country and the opening up to world markets is also bringing intense economic, social and cultural pressures which are now setting the new agenda for the country moving forward. Migration form rural to urban centres, the need to continue to create new areas of employment, the need to diversify exports, while also keeping inflation under control, are all major challenges. The pace of change in the country requires new ways of Government, administration and monitoring, all of which must be delivered, if the growth trajectory is not to falter.

Ireland’s involvement with Vietnam is relatively new with the announcement of programme country status in 2004. Vietnam is now positioned as a hub for Ireland’s Southeast Asia development strategy and the Embassy presence in Hanoi is also serving to develop and implement development policies in Lao PDR and Cambodia.

Southeast Asia presents new development perspectives for Ireland’s development programme, from that of Africa. While there are some shared experiences, Southeast Asia is very different in terms of development solutions. The region therefore presents a policy challenge to Irish Aid, which is currently evolving a new Country Strategy Plan for Vietnam.

The main areas of Irish Aid current activity in Vietnam are outlined in Chart 11.

Chart 11 Irish Aid Programmes in Vietnam

The channels for distribution of Irish Aid programmes are currently via partner organisations such as the World Bank, UNDP and the Mekong Private Sector Development Initiative. The Mission presence in Hanoi is currently quite small. However as the programme builds in size, an increase in the number of personnel on the ground will be needed if Irish Aid is to actively manage the expanded programme and develop new initiatives with NGOs and other development agencies. Developing new working relationships or partnerships with multilateral or bilateral agencies with similar objectives may also prove an efficient and effective channel for programme delivery in the region. However, maintaining a clear Irish Aid identity must be carefully evaluated in the development of any new partnerships.

Three Irish NGOs are also working in Vietnam in conjunction with local partners in the areas of rights-based development work with migrants, industrial workers, child education and development. Bothar is working on a livestock breeding project, as well as agricultural training and provision of micro-finance. There are many lessons to be learned from this NGO work which can be shared with Irish Aid.

The problems of migrant workers have been highlighted in the review as has the need to work with ethnic minorities as a key element of poverty reduction. Irish Aid is a relatively small donor in Vietnam in what is a crowded donor community. The need to differentiate its work and Ireland’s impact in Vietnam is important while also maintaining strong coherence of activities with the Government of Vietnam policy framework.

Irish Aid is rolling out a regional programme covering Vietnam, Lao PDR and Cambodia. These countries are very diverse in terms of development needs, governance and economic, social and cultural profiles. It is therefore unlikely that a standardised regional approach will provide the ‘best fit’ regional model. Each country will need to have programmes tailored to their individual development needs. However there are areas of focus which Irish Aid can bring to the region that will deliver a distinctive Irish regional programme, e.g. enterprise and business development; environmental, health, safety and social standards, working with ethnic minorities . This in turn may likely limit the scope of development activities while also leading to more streamlined programmes. Such areas may provide a basis for Irish Aid to develop a set of distinctive competencies which will set it apart from other donors.

It is clear that the development of a comprehensive South East Asia strategy will evolve over time and development priorities will shift from Vietnam to Cambodia and Lao PDR in line with the achievement of development targets. The dynamism which is reflected in the Vietnamese economy will drive a rapidly changing development agenda. The three year development planning cycle is therefore considered to be very appropriate in order to maintain development policies sharply focussed.

Recommendations

The Committee is fully committed to the expansion of Ireland’s development work in South East Asia. It recognises that the South East Asian development needs are very different from Ireland’s African development work. This new region presents an opportunity for new initiatives and different ways of implementing our development objectives. The following recommendations seek to develop and complement the work that has already been undertaken by Irish Aid in South East Asia.

In this light we recommend that:

1.Irish Aid designs its regional strategy with a view to actively developing a distinctive role and focus to its development work in the region. The Committee is conscious that there are a large number of international donors in Vietnam and Ireland’s programme, while well directed, is small relative to the overall donor community.

2.The South East Asia Regional Strategy be designed to provide a single point of reference, for strategy, operational plans, resource requirements and performance, to encompass Vietnam, Cambodia and Lao PDR.

3.The provision of future organisational capacity requirements is fully integrated into the Regional Strategy so as to ensure that Irish Aid strategic objectives are aligned with organisational capacities during the implementation of the Regional Strategy.

4.Irish Aid prioritises ethnic minority development issues as part of its programme for Vietnam. Ethnic minorities suffer the highest levels of poverty in Vietnam and have not progressed as well as other groups in terms of poverty reduction.

5.That Irish Aid continues to strongly support the work of NGOs in the areas of human trafficking, human rights, education and community development in Vietnam.

6.The South East Asia Regional Strategy should include development links with Irish government agencies in such areas as enterprise, education, governance and public administration.

7.The Irish Government ensures that its Departments, bodies and agencies, individually and collectively, support and promote the strategies of Irish Aid so as to ensure effective implementation of the South East Regional Strategy.

¹ Bernard Allen T.D. replaced Gay Mitchell T.D. by Order of the Dáil on 20^th October 2004

² Bernard J. Durkan T.D. replaced Michael Noonan T.D. by Order of the Dáil on 20^th October 2004

³ Michael Mulcahy T.D. replaced Dan Wallace T.D. by Order of the Dáil on 16^th November 2004

⁴ Joe Costello T.D. replaced Ruairí Quinn T.D. by Order of the Dáil on 18^th May 2006

⁵ A Government reform programme implemented from 1986 to revitalise the economy, see Chapter 4 for details

ⁱ Asia Development Bank, Vietnam Profile

ⁱⁱ World Trade Organisation, www.wto.org

ⁱⁱⁱ SIDA, Country Analysis, Vietnam, 2003

^iv Asia Development Bank, Vietnam Profile

^vWorld Bank, www.enterprisesurveys.org

^vi World Bank, Vietnam Business- Vietnam Development Report 2006, November 2005, Report No. 34474-VN

^vii ActionAid International Vietnam, Migrant Workers in Vietnam, A Summary Research Report, September 2005

^viii www.betterfactories.org

^ix APEC website www.apec.org

^x APEC, Reducing Barriers to Investment Across APEC, November 2006

^xi The Communist Party Of Vietnam Central Committee, Strategy for Socio Economic Development 2001-2010, April 2001

⁶ Average 2,100 cal daily calorie intake per capita. People whose expenditures are lower than this minimum level are considered poor in terms of food.

⁷ Add the costs of non-food to the minimum expenditures. By adding this amount to the amount for the food poverty line, generates the total poverty line

⁸ The Gini coefficient is used to measure income inequality. Here, 0 corresponds to perfect income equality and 1 corresponds to perfect income inequality

^xii International Monetary Fund, Vietnam: Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper Annual Progress Report-Joint Staff Advisory Note, September 2006 (IMF Country Report No. 06/337)

^xiii Ministry of Planning and Investment, The Five Year Socio-Economic Development Plan 2006-2010, March 2006

⁹ An INTER-MINISTERIAL CIRCULAR dated 8 August 2006 provides guidelines on the implementation of the programme for COMMUNES FACED WITH EXTREME DIFFICULTIES IN ETHNIC MINORITY AND MOUNTAINOUS AREAS 2006-2010.

^xiv Government of Vietnam, Socio-Economic Development Programme for Ethnic Minority and Mountainous Areas (Programme 135 Phase 2): Programme Overview

^xv World Bank Vietnam, Explaining Ethnic Minority Poverty in Vietnam: a summary of recent trends and current challenges, Draft Background paper for CEM/ MPI meeting on Ethnic Minority Poverty, Hanoi, 28 September 2006.

^xvi/United Nations Development Programme, www.undp.org.vn

^xvii The Department of Foreign Affairs, Report of the Ireland Aid Review Committee, 2002

^xviii Ireland Aid, Vietnam, Consideration as New Programme Country For Ireland Aid, (Internal document), February 2003

^xix The Government of Ireland, White Paper on Irish Aid, 2006

^xx The Government of Ireland, A Decade of the Asia Strategy 1999-2009,

^xxi Irish Aid, Country Programme Proposal Document, 2005

¹⁰ Presentation by Mr. Noel White, (Director, Programme Countries) Irish Aid to Joint Committee on 21^st November 2006

^xxii University of Birmingham, Evaluation of General Budget Support — Vietnam Country Report, May 2006

^xxiii International Finance Corporation, www.ifc.org

¹¹ New company registrations have grown from 59,413 for year ending 2000 to 128,490 for year ending 2003.

^xxiv IFC MPDF, Beyond The Headline Numbers: Business Registration and Startup in Vietnam, Private Sector Discussions Number 20, May 2005.

^xxv International Finance Corporation, A Synthesis Evaluation of Four IFC-Supported Small and Medium Enterprise Facilities: Africa Project Development Facility; African Management Services Company; Mekong Private Sector Development Facility; Southeast Europe Enterprise Development, January 2005

^xxvi IFC MPDF, Corporate Governance in Vietnam, Private sector Discussions Paper 22, October 2006

¹² Update supplied by Sean Hoy, Irish Aid, Vietnam.

¹³ Atlantic Philanthropies is an international charitable organisation established in 1982 by Mr. Chuck Feeney. It is dedicated to bringing about lasting changes in the lives of disadvantaged and vulnerable people.

^xxvii World Bank, Lao PDR Economic Monitor, November 2006

^xxviiiLandmine Monitor, www.icbl.org

^xxix World Bank, KINGDOM OF CAMBODIA 2005 CAS COMPLETION REPORT, March 30 2005

^xxxwww.trial-ch.org

^xxxiThe HALO Trust, www.halotrust.org/cambodia

^xxxiiwww.csmonitor.com Cash-strapped Cambodia eyes black gold, 30 August 2006

^xxxiii Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, Evaluation of Japan’s Anti-personnel Mine Action Assistance Policy - Summary Report—March 2005

^xxxiv International Campaign to Ban Landmines, www.icbl.org/tools/databases/country/ireland

¹⁴ Weapons in a container, containing from dozens to hundreds of sub-munitions, which can be dropped from the air or fired by artillery or rockets.

¹⁵ Presentation to the Joint Committee by Tony D’Costa, General Secretary, Pac Christi Ireland, Chair of Disarmament & Security Commission, Pax Christi International on 5th December 2006 on the topic “Towards a Prohibition on the Production, Stockpiling, Transfer and Use of Cluster Munitions.”

¹⁶ Presentations to the Joint Committee on 21^st November 2006.

^xxxv Bóthar, www.bothar.ie

^xxxvi Submission from Bóthar to Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs

^xxxvii European Commission, Strategy Paper and Indicative Programme For Multi-Country Programmes In Asia, 2005-2006

^xxxviii European Commission, EC-Vietnam Country Strategy paper 2002-2006

^xxxix European Union, www.ec.europa.eu/comm/external_relations/vietnam

^xl www.ifc.org

^xli Asia Development Bank, Country Strategy and Program, Viet Nam 2007-2010

^xlii Japan International Cooperation Agency, www.jica.go.jp/english/countries/sea/vietnam.html

^xliii United Nations, www.undp.org , Press Release 8th December 2006

^xliv United Nations, United Nations Development Assistance Framework for the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam 2006-2010, June 2005

^xlv Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Sweden, Country Strategy for Development Cooperation-Vietnam Jan 2004-Dec 2008,

^xlvi USAID, www.usaid.gov