Many activities were organised to welcome New Year and New Millennium in
Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and localities.
2,001 selected young people representing millions of young Vietnamese from
Hanoi, gathered in the historic Ba Dinh Square, in front of Uncle Hoıs
Mausoleum last night, December 31, 2000, before the time struck the spanning
time of the new century and the new millennium, to report to him the
achievements they recorded in 2000-the Year for Youth, the year that ends a
century of brave struggles and glorious victories all through the four
thousand years of the national building and defence of Vietnamese people and
that confirms their determination to advance to a brighter future.
The start of the festival to report the success of the Year for Youth is the
performance of drums and brass bands from 12 groups of 12 Hanoi districts
with the participation of 1,200 members representing 260,000 members
selected from 467 unions and 29 groups of unions to welcome the new
millennium with dragon dances and dances among young people.
When time clocked to 0 hour, January 1, 2001, 2,001 young people of Hanoi
held a ceremony to salute the flag and to pay tribute to Uncle Ho at his
Mausoleum and performed cultural activities.
The ceremony ended at 1 am on the first day of the new millennium to the
tune of the song Nhu co Bac Ho trong ngay vui dai thangı or As if we have
Uncle Ho in the joy of the triumphant.ı
In the evening of December 31, people flew to cultural places in front of
the August Revolution Square, the State Bank Square, the Dong Kinh Nghia
Thuc Square, the Ba Kieu Temple Stage, the Lenin Statue areas, the Lenin
Park, the centres of urban districts. The cultural programme to welcome the
new century was organised by the cityıs Department of Culture and
Information in the State Bank Square.
On behalf of the Party Committee and the people of the capital, chairman of
the Hanoiıs People Committee, member of the Central Committee of the
Communist Party of Vietnam, Hoang Van Nghien, made a speech to welcome the
new year, highlighting the achievements of Hanoi in the past year and the
pledge of Hanoi to forge ahead with the industrialisation and modernisation
work.
The people of Ho Chi Minh City welcomed the new millennium with a festival
night that lasts from the sunset of the old millennium to the dawn of the
new millennium.
At four major places including the Cityıs Theatre Square, Pham Ngoc Thach
Street and many other places, the festival attracted tens of thousands of
people, most of them young people, to take part in many cultural activities
and art performances.
Haiphong city organised many activities to welcome 2001 and the 12th
congress of the cityıs Party Committee. Many cultural and sport activities
took place at the Le Chan flower garden in the centre of the city on the
occasion of the inauguration of the statue of the female general. The city's
department of culture and information of the city organised an exhibition to
display the achievements of Vietnam on the road of doi moi, or renovation.
With more than 200 pictures displayed, the exhibition brought a vivid image
of changes of the country in general and Haiphong in particular in the
process of doi moi to move the country to modernisation and
industrialisation.
Hue art troupes organised many special artistic performances on the
afternoon of December 31, at the cityıs children palaces and in the Nghinh
Huong Dinh ground, to welcome the new millennium and the 12th congress of
the provinceıs Party Committee. The performance drew tens of thousands of
audience. The Department of Culture and Information of the province
organised a sport and culture week to welcome the new millennium on December
30.
Welcoming new millennium in Hoi An and Phu Tho.
>From the afternoon of December 30, at the September 2 Square and in many
districts of Da Nang, the information and culture branch organised many
cultural and entertainment activities to entertain the people. The Da Nang
Port held a joyful ceremony to welcome the first shipment in 2001 and the
new millennium.
>From 7am to the middle of December 31, all districts and villages in Can Tho
province held various ceremonies to welcome the new millennium. In Can Tho
city, the province set up five ceremonial places for cultural and sporting
activities to welcome the new millennium and the 9th congress of the
provincial Party Committee.
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Major achievements in 2000
- GDP growth rate: 6.7% (previously planned from 5.5% to 6%)
- Food production equivalent to rice: 35.7 million tonnes (previously
planned from 33.5 million tonnes to 34 million tonnes)
- Agricultural production growth: 4.9% (previously planned from 3.5% to 4%)
- Industrial production growth: 15.7% (previously planned from 10.5% to 11%)
- Services growth: 6% (previously planned from 5% to 5.5%)
- Total export value: US $14.3 billion, an increase of 24% (previously
planned from 11% to 12%)
- Inflation reduced to 0.6% (previously planned 6%)
- Budget deficit: 4.9% (previously planned no more than 5% DGP)
- New jobs: 1.3 million (previously planned from 1.2 million to 1.3 million)
- Vocational training provided to 792,000 people (previously planned
780,000)
- Birth rate down by 0.05% (planned 0.05%)
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Major targets for 2001
- GDP growth rate: 7.5%
- Agriculture, forestry, and fisheries growth increase: 4.5%
- Industrial production increase: 14%
- Services increase: 7%
- Total export turnover: 16%
- Total investment of the whole society: 30% of GDP
- Inflation: no more than 5%
- Job creation: 1.4 million new jobs
- Providing vocational training to 840,000 labourers
- Poverty rate reduced to 16% (according to the new standards)
- Birth rate reduced to 0.05%
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Ten international events in 2000
President Tran Duc Luong welcomes
US President W J Clinton.
PM Phan Van Khai (fourth right) attends 4th ASEAN Informal Meeting in
Singapore.
1 - United Nations Millennium Summit
2 - Vietnam holds ASEAN Standing Committee's chairmanship
3 - North-South Korean Summit
4 - Russian Federation's presidential election
5 - US President W J Clinton visits Vietnam
6 - US's presidential election on December 11
7 - Yugoslavia Federation's presidential election
8 - The worst violence wave in the Middle East in the past seven years
9 - Discovery of man's gene map
10 - Sharp increase of oil price
