France said in arms talks with former Vietnam foes
PARIS - France is engaged in arms sales
negotiations with communist Vietnam, whose forces defeated
French troops in a bloody 1946-1954 war of independence, the
respected defence newsletter TTU said on Thursday.
The weekly said a senior official of France's state DGA arms
authority recently visited Hanoi to discuss the possible sale of
light frigates, aviation equipment, radars and missiles.
The DGA press office was not immediately available for
comment.
TTU said Hanoi planned to send a delegation to France to study
high technology items it was interested in acquiring.
However, the publication reported that Colonel Bui Trong Nhu,
deputy head of the Vietnam Defence Ministry's foreign relations
bureau, had commented that French prices were high in view of
Vietnamese budget difficulties.
The Vietnamese delegation's initial visit will be followed in the
next few months by a separate trip to France by Vietnam's
armed forces chief of staff, TTU said.
Vietnam's armed forces were traditionally equipped by the
Soviet Union and its allies.
Reuters - December 23, 1999.
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