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152632 MDLIAN 5111
THERE WERE 9361 RETURNEES TO VIETNAM. HAIPONG RECEIVED 5514 OF WHOM 291 HAVE BEEN GIVEN EC TRAINING PPLACES AND 856 HAVE RECEIVED JOBS GENERATED BY THE EC CREDIT SCHEME. QUANG NINH RECEIVED 2758 RETURNEES WITH 60 EC TRAINING PLACES ALLOCATED BUT NOT TOTALLY FILLED AND 151 JOBS BASED ON EC CREDIT. THE GENERAL RATE FOR UPTAKE OF CREDIT BY RETURNEES IS 58 PER CENT WITH 24 PER CENT OF THE TRAINING PLACES. HOWEVER THE COMPTROLLER (RECENTLY FIRED) TOLD US THAT THESE FIGURES WERE OPTIMISTIC.
4. UNTIL MARCH 1992 THE EC PROGRAMME WILL BE CONFINED TO QUANG NINH, HAIPHONG AND HO CHI MINH CITY. IN THE LATTER THE REGIONAL OFFICE AND ITS WORK MAY HAVE SUFFERED FROM STAFF CHANGES. IN MARCH THE PROGRAMME SHOULD BE EXTENDED TO AREAS OF THE CENTRAL PROVINCES AND THE DELTA (RETURNEES TO THE LATTER AREA ARE ESSENTIALLY FROM THAILAND WITH FEW FROM HONG KONG). IN THE CENTRE THE CRUCIAL PROVINCE WILL BE THUA THIEN HUE WITH ABOUT 7000 PEOPLE DUE TO RETURN.
5.
THE VIETNAMESE AT VICE MINISTERIAL LEVEL AND DOWNWARDS HAVE MADE A POINT OF STRESSING TO US THEIR DISAPPOINTMENT AT THE ACHIEVEMENTS SO FAR OF THE EC PROGRAMME. WE HAVE REMINDED THEM OF THE OBVIOUS PROBLEMS INVOLVED IN SETTING UP IN VIETNAMESE CONDITIONS A PROGRAMME SUCH AS THIS FROM SCRATCH AND THAT THE IMPLEMENTATION SO FAR IS IN THE CIRCUMSTANCES NOT UNIMPRESSIVE. IN REPLY THEY ARGUE:
THAT TOO LITTLE OF THE EC MONEY' IS ACTUALLY REACHING THE COMMUNITIES CONCERNED
A.
B. THAT THE GEOGRAPHICAL SCOPE CURRENTLY IS TOO LIMITED PARTICULARLY SINCE THE CENTRE IS NOT YET INCLUDED
THAT TOO HIGH A PROPORTION IS SPENT ON EXPATRIATE EXPERTS AND ADMINISTRATION
C.
D.
THAT TOO MUCH HAS BEEN SPENT ON INFORMATION ''PRESS CONFERENCES INSTEAD OF DOING THINGS''. (THE APPOINTMENT OF SAATCHI AND SAATCHI STILL RANKLES HERE.)
6.
I AM INCLINED TO THINK THAT THE VIETNAMESE WOULD, HOWEVER WELL THE EC PROGRAMME HAD PERFORMED, HAVE FOUND GROUNDS TO GRUMBLE THAT THE ASSISTANCE IT PROVIDED WAS INSUFFICIENT. I MUST ADMIT, HOWEVER, THAT I AM WORRIED THAT THE PROGRAMME, UNLESS THERE IS A RADICAL INCREASE IN EFFECTIVE OUTPUT ON THE GROUND, RISKS FALLING SHORT OF THE ESSENTIAL BACK-UP OPERATION NEEDED FOR
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