VOV: 2006 marked a new development era for Vietnam. What is your evaluation of the country’s achievements in 2006?

President Triet: Vietnam obtained significant achievements in all fields last year. The country became one of the world’s fastest-growing economies which was deeply integrating into the international economy. There was significant progress in cultural and social issues, especially in poverty reduction. Security and politics remained stable. In external relations, Vietnam’s image was further enhanced in the international arena. The country became an attractive destination for foreign investors.

By successfully organising the APEC Year and APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting, Vietnam won trust from many Asian countries and was nominated as a sole candidate in the region for a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council in the 2008-2009 term. Most recently, Vietnam officially became the 150th member of the WTO.

Achievements in 2006 were attributed to the great efforts of the entire Party and people. On the occasion, I would like to express sincere thanks to our people and overseas Vietnamese for their great contributions to national development in the past year.

VOV: Fighting corruption has drawn much attention. What measures will the Government take to fight corruption more effectively in the future?

President Triet: The Party, the National Assembly, and the Government have shown high determination to fight corruption where early results have been recorded. I would like to take this opportunity to say that corruption cannot be solved overnight. What we need to do is to build a strict management mechanism so that nobody can be corrupt. Simply speaking, corruption comes from a loose and weak management mechanism. Therefore, in order to make the fight against corruption more effective, we have to make greater efforts in combating and eliminating corruption while improving our management mechanism at the same time.

VOV: Apart from trying to cleaning up corruption, what will we do to fulfil socio-economic development tasks for 2007?

President Triet: In my opinion, we have to continue to promote our image and create a good investment environment with simple administrative procedures for investors. Second, Vietnam will continue to build open policies to lure more investment and show investors that they will make a profit while doing business in the country. Third, focus will be on staff training. After all, staff is a decisive factor. The Party and State have already set guidelines for staff training.

In addition, we should bring into play people’s strength of mastery and create favourable conditions for people to get involved in building the Party and Government, in order to generate consensus that will help overcome challenges and win greater successes in 2007.

VOV: Thank you very much.