Vietnam to test plan to streamline UN agencies

HANOI, Dec 8 (Reuters) Vietnam, a developing country with one of the world's fastest growing economies, will be first to test a United Nations plan to better coordinate the world body's myriad aid agencies, officials said today.

The announcement follows renewed efforts globally by the UN to cut duplication and turf battles that waste money and resources for the poor, refugees, victims of natural disasters, food, health and environmental programmes.

''We have to make it work in a country to show people that there are real benefits and take some cuts and hits ourselves,'' United Nations Development Group chair Kemal Dervis said in an interview in the Vietnamese capital, Hanoi.

In Vietnam, there are 11 UN agencies housed in 10 separate buildings in Hanoi. Officials said the UN was working with the government of the Communist-run Southeast Asian country to create ''One UN House'' premises.

''Next year we will have a harmonised management under the 'One U.N. Initiative' and there will be lessons drawn for application in other countries,'' Vietnam's vice minister of Planning and Investment Cao Viet Sinh said at a press conference.

Agencies such as the UNICEF, UNDP, UNFPA, UNIFEM, UNV and UNAIDS plan to have the first joint programme running by the end of January in Vietnam.

Later this month, six other countries will be named to join Vietnam in piloting the UN plan.

Vietnam's economy, still small by global standards with a 61 billion dollar GDP, is growing at about eight per cent a year. The annual per capita income of its 84 million people was about 720 dollars this year.

Dervis, who heads the UN Development Programme chairing the streamlining effort, said any savings made should not go back to rich countries but to increase efficiency in the UN system.

The UN has 17 specialised agencies, 14 funds and progammes and 17 departments or offices of the UN Secretariat.

Globally, the UN channels on average 25 billion dollars over three years for for such issues as fighting HIV and AIDS, avian flu, supporting elections and micro-credit activities, cultural heritage, the environment and other development projects.

REUTERS AB KN1623