Vietnam top news 2002
  1. Provincial Court in Vinh, Nghe An gave Nguyen Duc Luong and his team of heroin traffickers 6 dead penalties, 6 January.
  2. Chinese Party General Secretary and President Jang Zi Min visited Vietnam 27 Feb - 1 March.China agreed to give VN RM50 million softloan and 50 million grant aid.
  3. Land fever continued to spread from Hanoi and Hochiminh City to outskirts and other cities. A house in business district of Hanoi priced 20 taels/m2, living districts 12 taels/m2, suburb 4-6 taels/m2. 1 tael = 6 million VND = 400 USD.
  4. General Van Tien Dung died 17 March.
  5. Russian PM Kasianov visited Vietnam 26 March.
  6. Mekong Delta and Central Highlands suffered severe drought. U Minh Thuong and U Minh Ha melaleuca forests were seriously damanged by fires in April and May.
  7. Russia returned Cam Ranh naval bay to Vietnam 2 May.
  8. Nam Cam mafious led to the arrest of Thuyet who in turn led to accusation of Tran Mai Hanh, director of Voice of Vietnam, of taking bribes from Cam to use mass media campaign for Cam's release in 1996.
  9. National Election Committee dismissed Tran Mai Hanh, Tran Trung Am and Mr. Minh, the secretary of Quang Binh party committee from the list of candidates, 12/5. Nguyen Si Chien, deputy general procurator was also dismissed from his post for connection to Nam Cam mafia.
  10. General Election took place 19/5, no surpises.
  11. Police Lieutenant General Bui Quoc Huy, Major general Hoang Ngoc Nhat were requested by Politburo to review their work during Nam Cam investigation.
  12. Export turnover for the first 6 months was US$ 7.25 billion, 5% lower compared to the same period of 2001. Crude reached $1.4 billion (8.2 million tons).
  13. Vietnam has gained the world record for posting the highest percentage of new HIV cases. In the past year 9,024 people tested positive for the virus, a 57 % increase over the same period last year. The total number of people infected in the country stands at 52,434. Tuoi Tre - July.
  14. Long An province discovered lottery fraud with officials pocketing billions VND by fixing lottery results.
  15. National Assembly on 5 Aug. approved three new ministries: Min. of Natural Resources and Environment, Min. of Post and Telecommunications, Min. of Home Affairs. Government committees reduced from 23 to 13. National Assembly 8 Aug approved list of new ministers.
  16. Lt. Gen. Tran Do died 9/8. Maj. Gen. Vu Ngoc Nha, super spy during VN war, died 7/8.
  17. Northern provinces were hit by heavy floods during 10-20 August. Mekong delta experienced early flood in August. September 20 Ha Tinh experienced the worst flood in 60 years. Road No. 8 was cut for a month. Uncompleted HCM highway sustained heavy damages.
  18. General Secretary Nong Duc Manh visited Japan, 1-2 October 2002.
  19. Short of sparred parts due to strict import quota revealed in September, Honda, VMEP and other brand name motorbike manufacturers have to stop production. Late October the Government gave additional quotas of 450000 units.
  20. Government proposed to ban new motorbike registration from 1 Nov in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh city in a desparate efforts to solve traffic problem (the proposal was revoked). Public buses got higher popularity and doubled the number of passengers compared to 2001.
  21. Fire destroyed 6-floor International Trade Center (ITC), Nam Ky Khoi Nghia, HoChiMinh city, killing 61 people and injuring more than 100, 29 Oct 2002. It was blamed on three welding workers who caused the fire during the repair work at the discoteque at the second floor. Fire protection and rescue were criticized.
  22. Russian Zarubezhneft withdrew from 1.3 bld USD refinery joint venture. Other giants declined in 1995 to join because of no profit prospection. Petro Vietnam decided to go alone. Nov 2002.
  23. Poet To Huu died 9/12.
  24. Snow fell in Lang Son, 27 Dec.
  25. GDP growth reached 7%, lower than planned but looked good in a global slowdown. Export grew 10%, mostly thanks to crude high price (>$26).

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