Vietnam

Vietnam, a one-party Communist state, has one of south-east Asia's fastest-growing economies and has set its sights on becoming a developed nation by 2020.

It became a unified country once more in 1975 when the armed forces of the Communist north seized the south.

This followed three decades of bitter wars, in which the Communists fought first against the colonial power France, then against South Vietnam and its US backers. In its latter stages, the conflict held the attention of the world.

The US joined the hostilities in order to stem the "domino effect" of successive countries falling to Communism.

The jungle war produced heavy casualties on both sides, atrocities against civilians, and the indiscriminate destruction and contamination of much of the landscape.

A visit to Vietnam by US President Bill Clinton in November 2000 was presented as the culmination of American efforts to normalise relations with the former enemy.

Vietnam struggled to find its feet after unification and tried at first to organise the agricultural economy along strict collectivist lines.

Economic reform has challenged Communist Party ideology

But elements of market forces and private enterprise were introduced from the late 1980s and a stock exchange opened in 2000.

Foreign investment has grown and the US is Vietnam's main trading partner. In the cities, the consumer market is fuelled by the appetite of a young, middle class for electronic and luxury goods. After 12 years of negotiations the country joined the World Trade Organization in January 2007.

But the disparity in wealth between urban and rural Vietnam is wide and some Communist Party leaders worry that too much economic liberalisation will weaken their power base.

Vietnam has also struggled to restrain its trade and budget deficits, as well as the inflation rate, which was in double digits at the start of 2010.

Despite pursuing economic reform, the ruling Communist Party shows little willingness to give up its monopoly on political power.

Vietnam has been accused of suppressing political dissent and religious freedom. Rights groups have singled out Hanoi's treatment of ethnic minority hill tribe people, collectively known as Montagnards.

Full name: Socialist Republic of Vietnam Population: 89 million (UN, 2010) Capital: Hanoi Largest city: Ho Chi Minh City Area: 329,247 sq km (127,123 sq miles) Major language: Vietnamese Major religion: Buddhism Life expectancy: 73 years (men), 77 years (women) (UN) Monetary unit: 1 dong = 100 xu Main exports: Petroleum, rice, coffee, clothing, fish GNI per capita: US $1,010 (World Bank, 2009) Internet domain: .vn International dialling code: +84

President: Nguyen Minh Triet

Parliament confirmed the Communist Party's nomination of Nguyen Minh Triet, the party chief in Ho Chi Minh City, as president in June 2006. He was reconfirmed in the office in January 2011.

A native of that city, and therefore a rare southerner in the Communist leadership, he acquired a reputation for fighting corruption as local party chief especially in the case of gangster Nam Cam.

He is seen as an advocate of continuing economic reform.

Secretary-general of the Communist Party: Nguyen Phu Trong

Nguyen Phu Trong is seen as a party conservative

The Communist Party holds the real power in Vietnam. It appointed Nguyen Phu Trong as its secretary-general in January 2011, replacing Nong Duc Manh, who retired after 10 years in the post.

He took over as Vietnam faced mounting economic problems, including rising inflation, a growing trade deficit and a weakening currency.

For the previous five years Mr Nguyen had been head of the National Assembly, using the post to raise the profile of the parliament, traditionally a rubber-stamp body. Born in 1944, he also previously served the Communist Party's chief political theorist.

Mr Nguyen is seen as a conservative, and as favouring close ties with China.

Analyst say he was promoted as a compromise candidate and is expected to play the role of consensus-builder rather than drive policy.

Mr Nguyen's predecessor, Nong Duc Manh, was seen as a moderniser, and sought to speed up economic reforms and to tackle bureaucracy and deep-rooted corruption.

The Communist Party leadership recommends candidates for the posts of president and prime minister.

The Communist Party has a strong grip on the media. The Ministry of Culture and Information controls the press and broadcasting.

The government has closed publications for violating the narrow limits on permissible reporting. Journalists can be fined for transgressions which include denying revolutionary achievements and spreading "harmful" information or "reactionary ideology".

There are hundreds of newspapers and magazines, but TV is the dominant medium. State-run Vietnam Television (VTV) broadcasts from Hanoi. There is a growing pay TV industry; the K+ satellite platform launched in early 2010.

State-run Voice of Vietnam (VoV) has six radio networks, including VoV 5 with programmes in English, French and Russian.

There were around 23 million internet users by late 2009 (InternetWorldStats). Providers face fines or closure for breaking the rules, and cyber dissidents have been imprisoned. Filtering of "obscene" content, and of opposition websites, is in place.

Vietnam is an RSF "Enemy of the Internet" (2010) and one of the Committee to Protect Journalists' "10 worst countries to be a blogger" (2009).

The press

Television

News agency

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