VIETNAM

Country to Gain ASEAN Membership: Vietnam will be officially admitted to the Assn. of Southeast Asian Nations trade group on July 22, 1995, the Hong Kong-based Far Eastern Economic Review reported. The weekly says the induction will take place at a meeting of ASEAN foreign ministers in Brunei and that the decision was made in September. The Southeast Asian group, established in 1967 as an anti-communist front, now includes Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. Vietnam has been seeking closer economic cooperation with its neighbors since it began economic reforms in 1986.