TEXT: INTERNATIONAL NARCOTICS REPORT -- VIETNAM
(Vietnam expects to ratify 1988 UN Drug Convention soon)

The State Department has just released its annual International Narcotics Control Strategy Report (INCSR), to accompany release of the president's drug certification decisions. Following is the section on Vietnam:

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STATEMENT OF EXPLANATION

VIETNAM

Vietnam's increased trade and tourism have opened new routes for Southeast Asian heroin shipments to such consumer markets as Australia, North America and Europe. The SRV continues to battle against narcotics trafficking but has yet to overcome problems of corruption within the military and police. The SRV does, nonetheless, appear to be actively engaged on the counternarcotics issue, conducting a demand reduction media campaign as well as police operations and crop eradication programs. SRV statistics reflect cultivation of 1800 hectares of opium poppy during 1995/96. USG estimates, however, place the cultivation level at 3,150 hectares.

Vietnam created a Drug Control Master Plan in 1995 which calls for the eradication of opium cultivation by the year 2000. In October of 1996, the SRV promulgated implementing regulations for articles of the criminal code related to narcotics. The new regulations permit asset seizures in narcotics cases. Vietnam joined the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Drug Control Cooperation Program in 1996. Vietnam has also stated that it expects to ratify the 1988 U.N. Drug Convention in 1997. It is currently drafting a comprehensive narcotics control law, based on the tenets of the 1988 Convention, which is expected to go before the National Assembly in 1997. The law will include statutes related to the control of chemical precursors and provide for controlled shipments as an investigative technique.

SRV interdiction efforts resulted in 6,000 narcotics-related arrests in 1996, twice as many as in 1995. SRV law enforcement agencies are working with the UNDCP to create special counternarcotics squads across the country. U.S.-SRV cooperation on narcotics issues expanded throughout 1996. Training initiatives included DEA training for Ministry of Interior narcotics control teams in Hanoi and U.S. Customs Service training for Vietnamese customs officers in Ho Chi Minh City. Several senior Vietnamese narcotics officers also traveled to the United States for consultations with U.S. counterparts. The U.S. hopes to increase the level of its assistance to Vietnam. To that end, it plans to engage the SRV in drafting a Memorandum of Understanding on counternarcotics cooperation; a successful outcome, however, will depend to a great extent on the SRV's coming to grips with the conditionality involved in any expanded U.S. assistance.

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