PM Visit to Enhance Vietnam - US Relations

PM Visit to Enhance Vietnam - US Relations

Vietnam's Prime Minister Phan Van Khai will make a historic trip to the United States from June 19-25, becoming the first government's leader to the country since the end of the Vietnam War in 1975, and marking the 10th anniversary of diplomatic ties between the two nations in 1995. The visit is expected to give a boost to the bilateral relations, especially trade and investment ones.

The prime minister will meet with US President George Bush on June 21 to explore ways of strengthening cooperation on bilateral, regional and international issues, announced Vietnam's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Besides, he will meet with Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice and other US senior officials during his visit.

Khai will be accompanied by about 200 officials and representatives from the ministries of Trade, Planning and Investment, Finance, Transport, Science and Technology, Foreign Affairs, Education and Training, and Justice, the State Bank, and some 80 Vietnamese large enterprises. The firms, which mainly operate in the fields of coal, electricity, garment, textile, farm produce, service, tourism, shipbuilding, post and telecommunications, hoped the trip would offer more substantial and greater cooperation opportunities, making the business community of Vietnam an actual strategic partner of that of the United States.

Pham Gia Tuc, General Secretary of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), said the Vietnamese business delegation is scheduled to meet with such US trade agencies as the US Chamber of Commerce and US leading companies in big cities, including Washington D.C, New York, Seattle and Boston. Vietnam-US business forums will be held in Washington D.C and New York to introduce investment and business climate of the two countries, especially to attract both direct and indirect investment from US companies in various fields, including hi-tech and technology transfer.

During Khai's visit, Vietnam and the United States are expected to ink some important deals, including agreements on maritime and technical and economic cooperation, and a memorandum of understanding on agricultural cooperation. Besides, Vietnamese enterprises will sign large contracts, including those on purchasing Boeing 787s, launching international telephone services, and exporting such Vietnamese items as garments, seafood and software to the United States.

More significantly, Vietnam hopes to finish bilateral negotiations with the United States on its accession to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) during Khai's visit, because the early conclusion with one of main figures in the global club will help speed up negotiations with other partners of Vietnam which has so far wrapped up bilateral negotiations with the European Union, Cuba, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Singapore, Uruguay, South Korea and Japan. Foreign experts said the next logical step following Vietnam's entry to the WTO would be to open negotiations on a Vietnam-US free trade agreement.

Concerning trade, Vietnam and the United States have seen remarkable improvements since their bilateral trade agreement took effect in late 2001, a milestone marking the full normalisation between the two countries, with two-way trade surging to US$6.4 billion in 2004 from US$1.4 billion in 2001. The United States was Vietnam's biggest export market with export turnovers of US$4.2 billion in 2004.

Khai's trip will not only beef up trade and investment relations, but also political and military ties, by speeding up process of dealing with issues left by the war, including Agent Orange victims, mine and bomb clearance and US soldiers missing in action (MIA), and enhancing military exchange. The military relations have gradually improved. Inreciprocating the trip to Vietnam by US Secretary of Defence WilliamCohen in March 2000, Vietnamese Defence Minister Pham Van Tra visited the United States in November 2003. Three US navy ships have called at Vietnam's ports in the southern and central regions since November 2003.

Vietnam and the United States have actively cooperated in sharing information to combat terrorism and resolve MIA issues. Vietnam has asked the United States to bear responsibility for local Agent Orange victims. The war ended 30 years ago, but 4.8 million Vietnamese people have been exposed to Agent Orange, of whom some 3 million are victims, said Dang Vu Hiep, President of the Vietnam Association for Victims of Agent Orange/Dioxin.

"We'll keep on pursuing the lawsuit until justice for our victims is served. It is not only for the life of Agent Orange/Dioxin victims in Vietnam, but also the legitimate rights of all Agent Orange/Dioxi victims in many other countries, including the United States," he stressed.

Some challenges to the Vietnam-US ties have remained. "The most difficult challenging issue has been to get both sides to forget the past and move on to the future. That will continue to be a problem to forget the fact that we had a conflict. We can't forget it but we can forgive it. And we have to allow those experiences to only strengthen us and to increase our resolve to overcome that past, to make sure that we continue to work towards the improvement of the quality of life for every Vietnamese citizen and every American citizen. Those are our responsibilities and I think that's clearly the biggest job," Peter Peterson, the first US Ambassador to Vietnam, on the sidelines of a forum christened "Vietnam-US Relations: The Way Ahead" held in early June in Hanoi.

The former ambassador advised Vietnam, for the time being, to center on the accession to the WTO, saying the organization will permit the country to "get to that next economic plateau and give it much greater world independence in the process of trade and that is what it has to have to make essentially the next step to making Vietnam a real power house economically".

• Dong Phong