Vietnam’s
Ambassador champions improved relations
Nguyen
Tam Chien represents Vietnam’s new face in Washington
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Ambassador
Nguyen Tam Chien.
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Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and U.S. Senator John
McCain.
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“Now
twenty-six years after the war, our ties have matured enough for the two
countries to sort out their differences through cooperation and
dialogues,” said Ambassador Nguyen Tam Chien at a recent Asia Society
function.
These
remarks reinforce the successfully signed U.S.-Vietnam Bilateral Trade
Agreement. The Agreement is a key step in the normalization process
launched by President George H.W. Bush some ten years ago and continued
through President Clinton’s administration.
Vietnam’s
willingness to move forward with a new relationship with America was
demonstrated by Vietnam’s National Assembly’s passage of the bill
and subsequent signing by their president, Tran Duc Luong. Vietnam’s
president stated that the agreement will have a “lasting and profound
impact on the economy, culture, society, security, and even defense of
Vietnam.”
The
U.S. support for the trade deal was largely made up of a bipartisan
coalition of congressional leaders including Senators John McCain and
John Kerry. Both served honorably during the Vietnam War. During last
fall’s US. Senate debate on the trade bill, Senator McCain, stated,
“ I supported normalization of our relations with Vietnam for a number
of reasons, not the least of which was that I could no longer see the
benefits of fighting about it. America has moved on as has Vietnam.”
In
this spirit of cooperation and inevitable healing of old war wounds,
America and Vietnam are building new economic and even cultural bridges
of understanding. Ambassador Chien expresses his firm belief and
confidence that the relations between the two countries will continue in
areas of economy, trade, science, technology, education and training.
Others
involved in the BTA negotiations, including United States Trade
Representative, Robert B. Zoellick commented, “We hope that the
agreement will help speed up Vietnam’s integration into the economy of
the Asia-Pacific and the world.”
In
Hanoi, the government has pledged to issue foreign licenses in the
shortest possible time, reduce the application costs, and help new
business develop as fast as possible, according to Planning and
Investment Minister Tran Xuan Gia. He added, “there’s the need to
speed up administrative reforms to help save foreign investors’ time,
money and energy.”
Last
year the U.S. exported over $368 million of goods, including industrial
machinery, fertilizers, and semiconductors to Vietnam. The same year,
Vietnam exported $821 million worth of goods to the United States. With
the lower tariffs that will go into effect under the BTA, trade flow
will benefit both countries.
As
the voice of Vietnam in Washington, Ambassador Chien, has met with
President George W. Bush and reaffirmed the country’s friendship and
cooperation in all matters.
Bush
has publicly acknowledged Vietnam’s record of cooperation in
accounting for the American servicemen missing in action during the war.
While
there is a renewed spirit born out of commerce and opportunity, it may
be too easy to assume that Vietnam is poised to become another true
Asian tiger or baby dragon. The gloss of the immediate post-doi moi
years dulled several years ago, and many businesses which invested than
still face the same concerns today that they addressed in the early
years, when the foreign press touted the future of this nation.
“The lesson we have drawn
from the BTA process is that only by working together can we both win
and can we build a good future. I fervently believe that the more
Vietnam and the United States cooperate, the more we gain in
understanding,” added Ambassador Chien.
© InternationalReports.net / The Washington Times 1994-2002
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