Vietnam Gets Closer to USA
The United States and Vietnam have taken steps to promote closer economic
ties.
The two countries reached an agreement in principle to resume the activities
of a US agency which guarantees private American investments in developing
countries.
The move took place on Wednesday in Washington, during a visit of the
Vietnamese minister of planning and investment, Tran Xuan Gia.
The president of the agency the Overseas Private Investment Corporation
George Munoz, said, however, that before the agreement can be finalised
Vietnam will have to allow free emigration and show progress in protecting
workers' rights.
OPIC withdrew from Vietnam in 1975 after the end of the Vietnamese war.
The first US ambassador since the war arrived in Hanoi last May.
BBC, 7 Nov 1997
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