~ Le Viêt Nam, aujourd'hui. ~
The Vietnam News

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[Year 2001]

Official: More Trade Talks Needed

HANOI - A trade deal between Vietnam and the United States, which seemed so close when a draft agreement was reached last July, has bogged down, with a top Vietnamese official saying today more talks are needed. U.S. officials have indicated they are unwilling to reopen negotiations, although they say they are willing to ``clarify'' some issues.

The two sides face pressure to get the deal finalized before the U.S. presidential election campaign swings into high gear, shrinking the prospects of U.S. congressional approval this year, and before Congress starts work on the recently negotiated trade pact with China. According to officials who have seen or discussed the contents, the deal could add more than 10 percent - some $800 million - to Vietnam's annual export earnings. U.S. firms hope for access to now-protected Vietnamese industries. The two countries announced in July that they had reached the framework of a deal. Since then, they have been working on details of the plan.

Dao Duy Quat, deputy head of the Communist Party Central Committee's Commission on Culture and Ideology, told reporters that a detailed proposal that the United States sent several months ago has a number of key differences from the draft. Quat gave only one specific example, saying both sides agreed they would grant most-favored nation status to each other unconditionally, while the U.S. proposal says annual approval would be needed.

U.S. officials, who have refused to divulge details of the proposal, have said the provision is necessary because of requirements that Congress must give an annual waiver of the Jackson-Vanik amendment, which imposed trade restrictions on communist governments as a penalty for limiting emigration. Quat also indicated that Vietnam should get special consideration because of its economic difficulties, saying some requirements in the U.S. proposal ``are even higher than the standards'' of the World Trade Organization, which Vietnam is seeking to join.

``Vietnam is still a poor, developing country,'' he said. ``We are still suffering from the heavy consequences left over from 30 years of war.'' Quat did not specify the sort of special consideration. Many analysts say Vietnam is concerned that the market-opening provisions in the trade pact would hurt its state-run industries, many of which are inefficient and unable to compete abroad. Quat denied suggestions that work on the deal has become entangled in internal debates by government ministries balking at the sweeping changes that would be forced upon them.

``When it was initialed, time was needed for Vietnamese agencies and authorities to look into the details and implementation,'' Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Phan Thuy Thanh added. ``This process is being undertaken very quickly and urgently.''

Associated Press - January 27, 2000.