§ Mrs. Bridget PrenticeTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what is his most recent assessment of the economic and political situation in Vietnam.
§ Mr. GoodladThe new constitution adopted on 15 April 1992 retained the primacy of the Communist party of Vietnam, but modified the Government structure to make it more accountable to the National Assembly, elections for which were held on 19 July 1992. Since 1986, Vietnam has pursued a programme of economic restructuring, aimed at moving to a free-market system. The IMF consider this an exemplary effort at economic reform.
§ Mrs. Bridget PrenticeTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many Vietnamese boat people, in total, have appealed against repatriation from Hong Kong to Vietnam; and how many of these appeals have been successful.
§ Mr. GoodladAs at 31 December 1992, 30,971 appeals had been heard by the Refugee Status review board. Of these 1,855 were successful.
§ Mrs. Bridget PrenticeTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what monitoring has taken place to date of those Vietnamese boat people who have been repatriated from Hong Kong to Vietnam to ensure that they do not face persecution on being returned to Vietnam; if such monitoring is continuing; and what the results of the monitoring reveal.
Mr. GoodlandMonitoring has been and will continue to be carried out by the staff of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the British embassy in Hanoi and non-governmental organisations working in Vietnam.
There has been no evidence of ill-treatment by the Vietnamese authorities in more than 31,000 cases, including returns from first asylum countries in the region other than Hong Kong.
§ Mrs. Bridget PrenticeTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the current state of relations between the United Kingdom and Vietnam.
§ Mr. GoodladThe development of our relations with Vietnam has been given greater impetus by progress towards a political settlement in Cambodia and a solution of the problem of Vietnamese migrants in Hong Kong. Our aid programme to Vietnam was resumed in 1990. Bilateral trade is increasing rapidly and the United Kingdom is now the fifth largest foreign investor in Vietnam. The Vietnamese Foreign Minister paid a successful visit to the United Kingdom in June 1992, and Sir George Young, Lord Caithness and I all visited Vietnam last year. We are also at the forefront of efforts to expand relations between the EC and Vietnam, and to normalise Vietnam's relations with the international financial institutions.
§ Mrs. Bridget PrenticeTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many Vietnamese boat people have, in total to date, been repatriated from Hong Kong to Vietnam.
§ Mr. GoodladAs at 31 December 1992, 26,753 Vietnamese migrants had been repatriated.
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§ Mrs. Bridget PrenticeTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many Vietnamese boat people currently remain in Hong Kong awaiting repatriation to Vietnam.
§ Mr. GoodladAs at 31 December 1992, 22,118 Vietnamese migrants had been found not to be refugees and were awaiting repatriation. A further 20,599 were awaiting refugee status determination.