Communist Tax Lawyer

As financial institutions across the world take a dive and luxury goods become less affordable, simple commodities like rice continue to be in high demand. Vietnam, the world’s second highest exporter of rice (behind Thailand), has already earned US$268 million this year in the industry.

The country has already exported 373,760 tons of rice this month alone and expects its year-end total to be in the range of 4.5 to 5 million tons – or almost US$3 billion in earnings.

In an effort to provide a stable source of energy, the Vietnamese government is conducting negotiations with Westinghouse Electric regarding the production of two 2,000 megawatt nuclear power plants.

If approved this spring, construction on the two plants would begin in 2015 and would take five years to complete. The country currently relies primarily on hydro and gas-fuelled power plants.

A diplomatic delegation from the Holy See arrived in Hanoi, Vietnam yesterday for the Vatican’s 16th annual visit to the country. Their arrival, however, comes at a time of discord between the Vietnamese government and the Catholic Church – a result of recent protests by Catholic followers regarding the confiscation of Church property.

“Many properties that once belonged to the Church have been administered by the State on the grounds that they were needed for social purposes. Even when their purposes are no longer met, the buildings are seldom returned to their owners,” said Fr. J.B. An Dang.

Yesterday and today, the delegation from the Vatican will be meeting with government authorities at the Foreign Ministry and the Central Committee on Religious Affairs to discuss future diplomatic relations between the two parties.

Lay Catholic activists in Hanoi are expressing outrage that the government has honored two media outlets for their coverage of property disputes with the Church. The awards to the New Hanoi newspaper and VTV1 television station came after the two outlets flagrantly distorted their coverage of the December trial of several Catholic activists on charges of destroying state property.

The poverty rate among ethnic minority groups reduced sharply, from 60.7 percent in 2004 to about 43 percent by the end of 2008. The Vietnam News Agency reported that the average per-capita income of ethnic people is about VND500,000 per month, almost 30 percent up against 2006.

Asia is Vietnam’s largest investment destination, with 257 projects worth US$2.85 billion, followed by Europe, America and Africa.

Trade between Viet Nam and Cambodia came close to US$1.7 billion in 2008, a 31 percent year-on-year increase, according to sources from the Vietnam Commerce Bureau in Cambodia.

According to state news, Vietnam exported more than $1.45 billion worth of goods, including construction steel, farm machinery, fertilisers, plant protectants, consumer goods, processed agricultural produce and seafood, dairy products and re-exported oil and gas.

Two Vietnamese Catholic women filed a legal case against state media outlets over their coverage of a recent trial stemming from a tense land dispute with the church.

For the first time in its 156-year history, the New York Philharmonic will perform in Vietnam, according to the orchestra’s executive director Zarin Metha.

“This is a country that we felt as Americans that we owed a visit to,” said Metha. “We had a big war with them. The country was coming back, and we felt it was a good thing to reach out to the people there.”

The NY Philharmonic made headlines last February for its Pyongyang performance.

Vietnam wants to boost visitors from last year’s 6 million to 23.5 million, reports Vietnam News. The regional tourism industry was urged to on low-budget package tours such as the “Three Countries One Destination” program for travellers interested in visiting Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam.