ABSTRACT

The Vietnamese Communist Party guided and directed the government, which therefore was no more than an agency for the implementation of the party's policies. The 1992 constitution retained the leadership role of the party, leaving the routine administration to an executive branch headed by the prime minister. In September 2005, as part of the liberalization process, Vietnam privatized all five state-owned banks. Vietnam's wars with Cambodia and China in 1978–1979 cost Vietnam dearly. The Provisional Revolutionary Government was formally dissolved after the National Assembly elections and formation of the new government in mid-1976. The reunification process was formally launched in November 1975 with a Consultative Conference on National Reunification in Saigon. Further progress toward political and economic reform was somewhat stymied by the dramatic developments leading to the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union.