Newsgroups: bit.listserv.seasia-l
Date:         Wed, 16 Dec 1992 11:51:07 -0500
From:         Nhan Tran <tran@PEORA.SDC.CCUR.COM>
Subject:      NEWS/VN: VN praises US embargo move, but urges more

12/15

VIETNAM PRAISES U.S. EMBARGO MOVE, BUT URGES MORE

    By Kathleen Callo
    HANOI, Dec 15, Reuter - Vietnam said on Tuesday a U.S. decision to ease its
economic embargo was an encouraging move towards normalising relations but
urged Washington to do more.
    The United States, in its biggest gesture towards Hanoi since the Vietnam
War ended in 1975, announced on Monday that U.S. firms could now open offices
in Vietnam, hire staff and sign contracts that would take effect if and when
the embargo was lifted.
    "This is an active step towards the normalisation of relations between
Vietnam and the United States. However, Vietnamese companies find it difficult
to really expand relations with U.S. companies if contracts they sign... do not
take immediate effect," the Hanoi Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
    "Vietnam hopes the U.S. government will take further steps to create
conditions for American companies to move truly into the Vietnamese market.
That would not only benefit U.S. companies, but would also be in the interest
of the people of both countries."
    Washington said its move was in response to increased Vietnamese help in
determining the fate of American servicemen unaccounted for from the war.
    Ho Xuan Dich, a senior foreign ministry official, said earlier on Tuesday a
lifting of the embargo and normalisation of relations would help resolve the
Missing In Action (MIA) issue faster.
    "If the two sides normalise ties, it would create favourable conditions for
solving the MIA issue," said Dich, who heads the Hanoi office helping U.S.
experts search for remains of, or clues to the fate of, missing Americans.
    He spoke to Reuters at Hanoi airport before handing over to U.S. servicemen
the remains of Americans killed in the war.
    American and foreign businessmen and Vietnamese on the street welcomed the
news that Washington had eased the embargo.
    "I'm excited that finally American firms will be able to be competitive
with firms from other countries," said Eugene Matthews, the American president
of Ashta International, a U.S.-based investment and consulting firm.
    Former Australian prime minister Bob Hawke, in Hanoi heading a foreign
business delegation, said the move was a welcome step towards lifting the
embargo.
    He said the United States seemed to have recognised what other nations
already acknowledged -- that Vietnam was helping a United Nations peace plan in
Cambodia and on the MIA issue.
    Washington has made cooperation in those areas conditions for lifting the
embargo and normalising relations.
    "I welcome the decision. I think it recognises the realities of the changed
relationship," said Hawke.
    Washington imposed the embargo on Hanoi in 1964 and extended it in 1975
after the communists reunified Vietnam.
    Bill Cameron, head of the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation's
office in Vietnam, said foreign firms were waiting for the United States to
stop denying Vietnam access to loans from the World Bank and International
Monetary Fund.
    Vietnam needs those loans to rebuild its infrastructure and encourage
foreign investment. It also must normalise its relationship with international
financial institutions before banks will lend substantial sums to investors
here.