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MANILA : Ramos Starts Year Two

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President Fidel V. Ramos is to open a joint session of the Philippine Congress next Monday with a state-of-the-nation speech expected to dwell on his plans for economic growth in this impoverished country.

Ramos will outline what he considers his chief achievements during his first year in office: peace talks that have sharply reduced armed conflict, the fragile start of an economic turnaround after two years of flat or negative growth, and a continuing purge of crooked cops and soldiers from the scandal-ridden armed forces.

Most important, Ramos is expected to announce detailed plans for a vision he calls the Philippines 2000. The ambitious goals include raising per-capita income, now about $750 a year, and substantially increasing the rate of investment and industrialization by the turn of the century.

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