Clinton Hails Vietnam Trade Pact As 'Major Step'

WASHINGTON - President Clinton Monday hailed a landmark U.S.-Vietnam trade agreement as a major step forward for the former enemies and said he hoped that it will be completed ``very soon.''
The tentative accord announced in Hanoi Sunday would free up trade between the two countries and signaled communist-ruled Vietnam's intent to integrate itself with the world economy.

U.S. officials called the agreement a historic event for the two nations, combatants in the Vietnam War that ended in 1975. Hanoi and Washington normalized diplomatic ties in 1995 and negotiated the trade agreement for three years.

``This provisional arrangement is a major step forward for both countries,'' Clinton said in a statement released by the White House.
``I will review the agreement carefully and consult further with the Congress and the government of Vietnam in the hope that we will be able to move on to finalization, formal signature, and the establishment of normal trade relations very soon,'' he added.

A senior U.S. official said Sunday he hoped the agreement could come into force by the end of the year after some technical issues were resolved and the U.S. Congress and Vietnam's National Assembly approved the pact.

Once approved by Congress, Clinton would grant Vietnam U.S. Normal Trade Relations status, which would allow Vietnamese goods to enter the United States at the same low tariff rates accorded most countries.
The agreement also was expected to help Vietnam, which embarked on market-oriented reforms in the late 1980s in its bid to join the World Trade Organization (WTO), which sets global trading rules.
The pact also was expected to ease access to the Vietnamese market for U.S. goods and services, including farm products as well as telecommunications and financial services.

Clinton said the pact would advance other U.S. interests, including getting the ``fullest possible'' accounting of U.S. soldiers missing in the Vietnam War as well as encouraging freedom of emigration and improving human rights in Vietnam.
``Since the United States normalized relations with Vietnam in 1995, we have made steady progress in each of those areas,'' Clinton said. ``A bilateral trade agreement with Vietnam constitutes one more positive step.''

The trade talks and the generally improving ties with Hanoi have sparked speculation Clinton may visit Vietnam before his term ends, possibly making a trip next year, a quarter century after Vietnam War's end.

White House spokesman Joe Lockhart earlier this month declined to comment, joking that the president wanted to go ''everywhere'' before his term runs out in January 2001.

Reuters - July 26, 1999.

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