Newsgroups: bit.listserv.seasia-l
Date:         Tue, 15 Dec 1992 10:35:04 -0500
From:         Nhan Tran <tran@PEORA.SDC.CCUR.COM>
Subject:      NEWS/VN: US permits firms to open offices in VN

12/14

U.S. PERMITS FIRMS TO OPEN OFFICES IN VIETNAM

    By Laurence McQuillan
    WASHINGTON, Dec 14, Reuter - Moving closer to normalising relations with
Vietnam, the United States on Monday allowed American firms to open offices and
sign contracts in preparation for ending the trade embargo on its former enemy.
    White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater issued a statement saying the step
was taken in response to Vietnam's cooperation in determining the fate of
Americans unaccounted for in the Vietnam War.
    The embargo was imposed against Hanoi in 1964 and extended to all of
Vietnam in April 1975, after the Communist victory over the U.S.-backed
government in Saigon.
    "Effective today, the United States will permit U.S. firms to sign
contracts to be executed should the embargo with Vietnam be lifted," Fitzwater
said.
    "To assist U.S. firms, we will also begin implementing a decision that
permits a liberal licensing policy allowing commercial transactions relating to
contracts," he said.
    He said the action gives American firms permission to open offices in
Vietnam, hire staff and conduct feasability studies and engineering and
technical surveys.
    "Other than these actions, the embargo with Vietnam remains in effect,"
Fitzwater said.
    Washington has refused to restore relations with Hanoi until a full
accounting has been made for the 2,264 Americans missing or unaccounted for in
Southeast Asia.
    "We look to Vietnam to intensify efforts to achieve the fullest possible
accounting of all our POWS/MIAS," Fitzwater said.
    He said the action was taken "in keeping with the established 'roadmap'
policy" of moving towards normalisation of relations by offering enticements to
Hanoi for its cooperation on the MIA/POW issue.
    "We are prepared to consider additional 'roadmap' steps of our own,"
Fitzwater said without elaboration.
    The United States announced in the spring of 1991 that it would begin
normalising relations with Vietnam on a gradual basis to ensure Hanoi's
cooperation.
    Vietnam recently turned over extensive and detailed files and artifacts on
captured Americas.
    Members of a special Senate committee that visited Vietnam recently warned
that Hanoi might abruptly end its cooperation with the United States unless
Washington send a clear signal that it intended to normalize relations.
    In addition to the embargo, the United States has blocked Hanoi's access to
loans from the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
    Virginia Foote, director of the U.S.-Vietnam Trade Council, welcomed the
easing of the embargo as both a symbol and a substantive decision that could
held mend fences.
    "It tells the Vietnamese that we're serious about normalisation, instead of
maybe not serious, which has always been the suspicion," she said.
    "It begins to signal an end to the war era. It means that we are aware that
Vietnam is an interesting market for both American companies and non-American
companies," she said
    But Bill Herod of the Indochina Project, a privately funded research group,
said the move fell short of what should have been done so that U.S. companies
could compete with foreign firms already active in Vietnam.
    "Lifting it in stages is a negative factor for American businesses. You
can't lift it in stages," Herod said. "It makes it difficult to compete."
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