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November 30, 1999 Web posted at: 10:37 a.m. EST (1537 GMT) by David Legard

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(IDG) -- The Vietnamese government has announced late that critical sectors of the country's economy have been made year 2000-compliant and that standby procedures are in place to deal with any computer failures.

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"Up to this moment, almost all pivotal sectors have completed overcoming Y2K and mapped out standby plans," the government said in a statement. "The remaining sectors are urgently overcoming Y2K and expect to complete it before November 30, at the latest December 15."

The Y2K problem mostly affects older software programs which use a two-digit data field instead of today's four-digit data field. Computer programs using a two-digit date field may not know whether "00" means 1900 or 2000, which could cause them to malfunction or shut down on Jan. 1, 2000.

The economic sectors covered by the statement include power generation and transmission; oil and gas; telecommunications; transportation; healthcare; police; and national defense.

The content of the compliance statement was broadly endorsed at a meeting in Ho Chi Minh City, where the consuls general of the U.S., Canada and Australia briefed local businessmen on potential Y2K fallout in Vietnam, observers at the meeting said.

The consuls general were more concerned about a lack of clear information from the Vietnamese authorities about standby procedures than any specific areas of weakness. The foreign consulates will closely monitor the situation and ensure that consular services remain available, the observers said.

Standby procedures for the aviation sector involve the grounding of all Vietnam Airlines flights over the millennium changeover period, according to the observers.