Vietnamese President Nguyen Minh Triet concluded June 24 his official visit to the US, bringing about many important agreements and contracts worth up to US$11 billion, state media reported Monday.
Triet and his US counterpart, George W. Bush agreed at the White House June 22 to boost bilateral cooperation in trade, investment, science and technology, education, humanitarian issues, and in global issues such as anti-terrorism and disease and transnational crime prevention and fighting.
The two leaders agreed to hold more dialogues on human rights and religious issues for mutual understanding on the basis of mutual respect. They affirmed not to let differences in their stands on these matters badly affect the Vietnam-US relations.
The US will further help Vietnamese community in its states stabilize their lives, increase its assistance to Vietnam for fighting HIV/AIDS, and have suitable measures to help Vietnam overcome aftermaths of dioxin.
Vietnam will further cooperate with the US in the search for Americans Missing in Action (MIA) and create favorable conditions for US investors.
During Triet’s visit to the US from June 18-24, Vietnamese and US firms signed series of contracts with total value of up to US$11 billion, exceeding the initial target of merely US$4.5 billion.
Electricity of Vietnam (EVN), the Vietnam Oil and Gas Corporation (PetroVietnam) and the Chevron Group signed a letter of intent on a US$4-billion gas development project in Vietnam’s southwestern territorial waters, while Vietnam National Shipping Lines (Vinalines) and SSA Marine signed a US$500-million project to build wharves and supply multilateral transport services.
The Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development of Vietnam (Agribank) and the US’s Wachovia Bank signed a memorandum of understanding worth US$700 million on financial restructuring, commercial services support, foreign currency payments and human resources training.
Agribank also inked another worth US$500 million with UK-based Standard Chartered Bank on payment services, credit rating services and securities consulting and a US$350-million contract with Austrian Raiffeisen Banking Group (RZB) on providing capital for development and training human resources. An additional MoU was signed by Agribank with the University of Hawaii to help the bank develop its human resources.
Many US$100-million contracts were inked between Credit Suisse and Saigon Securities Incorporation, a Sacom affiliate and Wire & Plastic Corporation, Phong Phu Textile Company and WL Ross, and between Indochina Capital and Hoang Quan Real Estate Limited Company.
Deals were also reached between Microsoft and the Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development of Vietnam (Agribank), Microsoft and Finance Promotion Technology Corporation (FPT) and CMC, and Motorola and State-run Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group (VNPT).
One of the most important results of Triet’s visit was a bilateral trade and investment framework agreement (TIFA) signed between Deputy US Trade Representative Karan Bhatia and Vietnamese Deputy Minister of Trade Nguyen Cam Tu. TIFA is seen as a preparatory step toward the signing of a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the two nations
Through the first visit by a Vietnamese head of state to the US since the two former foes established diplomatic ties in 1995 Vietnam has sent to Vietnamese Americans and big US businesses messages calling for their contributions to Vietnam’s development. Triet pledged to create more favorable conditions for them to do business in Vietnam.
Triet also had working sessions with the leaders of the US House of Representatives and the Senate to seek further support for Vietnam-US relations.
The Vietnam-US relationship has grown closer in recent years. The two countries already signed a bilateral trade agreement, a scientific and technological cooperative agreement, an aviation pact, and a garment deal. The bilateral trade is expected to rise to US$15 billion in 2010 from around US$9.7 billion in 2006.
The US approved the permanent normal trade relations (PNTR) with Vietnam and took Vietnam off the list of countries of particular concern over religious freedom at the end of last year. (Local news sources)
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