Without these programs, U.S. companies are often at a disadvantage in competing with foreign firms in the Vietnamese market. Associated waivers of Foreign Assistance Act provisions are prerequisites for most U.S. assistance to Vietnam. An exception is humanitarian assistance to Vietnam, which has been provided for prosthetics and rehabilitation services to war victims and to displaced children and orphans. A broader U.S. assistance program, among other things, will help the U.S. influence Vietnam's progres toward an open economy. It will focus largely on the transfer of knowledge to serve as a catalyst for further structural and institutional change.
Human rights is an important component of our relationship with Vietnam.
We have made clear to Vietnamese leaders that progress in this area will be necessary for our relationship to fully develop. Although there has been a modicum of improvement in the area of personal freedoms, including reduced government interference in daily life, Vietnam's overall human rights record has been poor. There have been credible reports that local Vietnamese officials have denied ethnic minorities, including the Montagnards, access to education, employment and other services. We have initiated a formal human rights dialogue in which we have conveyed our concerns about human rights in both general and specific human rights cases. Secretary Albright raised these issues prominently with Vietnamese leaders during her visit last June to Vietnam.