The authorities in Vietnam are starting to release nearly two-thousand prisoners as part of an amnesty to mark the fifty-fourth anniversary of the country declaring independence.

More than four-thousand other prisoners will have their sentences reduced.

In similar moves to mark independence day in 1998, the Vietnamese authorities set free about a dozen political prisoners: it's not clear whether dissidents will be freed this year.

The decision to begin an amnesty now comes ahead of a visit to Vietnam next week by the United States Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright.

She is expected to discuss Vietnam's human rights record as well as trade issues.