Vietnam top news 2005
  1. 1 Jan Hanoi bans motorbike registration in three more districts totalling 7 districts. The no-bike future was cheered by all deputies but not by a million of motorbike owners who could not afford to buy cars.
  2. New ceiling for land prices is effective in Hanoi 1 Jan. Prices are not falling but there are no buyers. New electricity price put the household consumption at 300 KWh for a fare price. If a household comsumes more than 300 KWh it should pay high price around 1200VND/KWh.
  3. Bird flu breaks out in southern provinces killing a few people.
  4. Chines sea border patrol boats opened fire at the Vietnamese fishing boats 10 miles inside Vietnamese waters according to agreed China Sea division line, killing 9 fishermen and wounding a dozens from Hau Loc, Thanh Hoa province. The incident sparked a anti-chinese feelling and an attempt to boycot Chinese goods.
  5. A military helicopter (Soviet made MI-8) crashed on the route from Hon Me to Hon Mat, Nghe An, 26 Jan 05. All 16 people onboard were killed including lietenant general, command in chief of military district 4, his staff, an army reporter and the crew of 3 persons. The reason was taking off in poor visibility.
  6. The Prime Minister scrapped EVN proposal for new electricity pricing where EVN would charge household consuming more than 300 kWh per month a much higher charge compared to normal progressive tarrif.
  7. Small hail fell in Hanoi and Son Tay amid an abnormal thunder storm just before Tet, 6 Feb. Ice size was of a corn grain.
  8. Vinashin ship building company started the building of 53000 WDT ship for a British shipping company.
  9. North-south trail derailed at Lang Co between Hue and Da Nang, 13 killed and 30 seriously wounded, 12 March.
  10. 14 March Vietnam, China and the Philipines signed an agreement for joint seismic exploration of an "overlapping" block at Bien Dong sea (aka. South China Sea).
  11. Tax Department orders singers to register for "High income person" tax, the first attemp to make personal income tax personal. Few singers registered by deadline 31/3.
  12. Hanoi raised bus fare from unified 2500 VND to 3000 and 5000 VND per ride. Water tarrif raised from 2000VND/m3 to 2500-6000 VND/m3 (1 USD=15800VND), effective 1 April.
  13. Petrol A92 price was raised to 8000 VND effective 12:00 28 March. Government gave oder to other sectors not to raise prices to keep the annual inflation below 8.5%. Medicine companies have to get approval for each increase. That reflects confusion in the mind-set of old command-economy echelon. Reformers weakly protested such control siting objective to join WTO this year.
  14. A bus carrying 30 war veterans from Kim Lien ward, Hanoi, on the way to visit Sai Gon crashed in Kon Tum province killing 31 people including the driver, 21 April.
  15. Hail fell in Hanoi evening 25/4, size up to 1cm3.
  16. VN applies visa exemption for scandinavian countries for entering upto 15 days, effective 1/5/05.
  17. Children under 6 have free hospital treatment, effective 1/5/05. This puts super high pressure on overcrowded paediatric hospitals, triggers more bribery.
  18. Director general of PJICO Insurance was arrested 12 May for asking 1,8 billion VND bribery to order payment for a policy signed after the accident involving 1600 tons of shrimp happened in 2002.
  19. Northern provinces experience load shedding few hours per day 23-25 May. Water level at the Hoa Binh reservoir fell below the dead mark of 80m.
  20. Hai Van tunnel opens 3 June for traffic. The 6.3km tunnel funded by Japanese soft loan will replace famous Hai Van pass.
  21. Hanoi raided karaoke bars and night-club in a campaign against amphetamine and other social evils. Korean-only Cheers bar in Heritage hotel was raided with several "prostitutes" arrested in different hotels. The bar owner, a Korean, was arrested at the airport trying to board a plane to Korea. May-June.
  22. National Assembly ended summer session, having passed a number of laws and gave second green light to Dung Quat refinery after bitter debates.
  23. Prime Minister Phan Van Khai made an official visit to US 19 June, met President Bush in White house, first high-level meeting after the war. Main target of the visit is the US support for Vietnam to enter WTO.
  24. UK stopped granting visa to Vietnamese workers from 1 July, as well as other non-EU nationals. Intimidation of Vietnamese female workers in Taiwan and high ratio of workers breaking labor contract Taiwan stopped accepting Vietnamese labor.
  25. Petrol price was raised to 8800 (RON 92 unleaded) and diesel to 6500VND, still lower than in neighboring countries 3 July.
  26. President Tran Duc Luong made an official visit to China, 17 July 2005. Contracts worth more than 1 billion USD were signed.
  27. The Power Company in Ho Chi Minh City accepted to replace 260,000 electronic (digital) electric counters by normal mechanic counters after households in the city complained that the counters gave higher records than actual consumption.
  28. A joint circular between Ministry of Culture and Information, Ministry of Telecommunication, Ministry of Planning and Investment... forces Internet shops to register ID of customers, not to operate between 0-6 am, serve children under 14 only if accompanied by parents...
  29. Vietnam started to vaccinate all poultry to avoid another bird flu breakout, 9 Aug.
  30. Basic salary was raised from 290,000 VND to 350,000 VND, effective 1 Oct.
  31. Doctor of Philosophy Hoang Minh Chinh, 86, went to US for cancer treatment, delivered anti-government speeches.
  32. Vietnam sold government bonds worth 750 million USD, at the rate of 7.3%/year at NY stock exchange. Government claimed as success but many economists consider the rate too high to earn any profit from the loan.
  33. Chinese President and Party Secretary General Hu Jin Tao visits Hanoi, 31 Oct 05.
  34. Bird flu broke out in many provinces, one person in Hanoi died of H5N1.
  35. Mid November, under pressure from National Assembly the Police Ministry had to abolish the un-constitutional regulation limiting the registration of only one motorbike per person. Hanoi hesitated to abolish the ban of motorbike registration. The effect of the ban on traffic was zero while the negative impact was abvious at the new black market of "number plates".
  36. Hanoi people's committee issued a decision to allow people 7 inner district to register motorbikes again after more than 2 years of ban, 14 dec.
  37. Top young footballists Van Quyen and Quoc Vuong were arrested for reportly match fixing during Vietnam-Mianmar match in Seagames 23.
  38. Vietnam GDP grew at 8.4% in 2005. At the same time the inflation reached more than 8.4%.

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