[NEWS] Vietnam To Repay U.S. $150M

[Dam Son <son@fermi.phys.washington.edu>]

Vietnam To Repay U.S. $150M

WASHINGTON (AP) - Vietnam's promise to start repaying the $150 million
owed the United States by the former South Vietnam offers the chance
for a fresh start in the two countries' economic relationship,
Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin said Wednesday.

Rubin, who is leaving on a five-day trip to Asia, including stops in
Japan and the Philippines, plans to sign a debt agreement in Hanoi on
Monday with Vietnamese Finance Minister Nguyen Sinh Hung.

"Conclusion of this financial agreement ... is an important and
meaningful signal to the international financial community that
Vietnam takes seriously its obligations and gives an important aspect
of our relationship a fresh start," Rubin said in a speech to the New
York Stock Exchange Board of Directors.

Rubin will be the highest-ranking U.S. economic official to visit
since the communists won the war in 1975. He also plans to meet Monday
with Vietnam's Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet.

He said Vietnam's commitment to resume regular payments to the United
States is a necessary step to its obtaining financing from the
Export-Import Bank and other U.S. agencies, which help countries   
finance development projects and purchases of U.S. goods and farm 
commodities.
  
Agreement on the debt moves the two countries closer to concluding a 
trade agreement, one of the final steps to resuming fully normal
relations. President Clinton lifted a trade embargo against Vietnam in
1994 and then moved to establish diplomatic relations in 1995.

Rubin said he would discuss with Vietnamese leaders steps they must  
take to reach a trade agreement. These include "substantial market
access and national treatment commitments," he said, meaning lowering
trade barriers to U.S. goods and treating U.S. companies operating in
Vietnam the same as local businesses.

These reforms "could provide the impetus for Vietnam's emergence as   
the next Asian tiger," he said in a reference to such Asian
high-growth economies as Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong and South Korea.

And the reforms would move Vietnam closer to membership in the World
Trade Organization, he said.

Rubin's trip to Asia is scheduled to end Tuesday after a stop in Ho
Chi Minh City, the former South Vietnam capital of Saigon. Before
that, on Saturday and Sunday, he is scheduled to attend the annual
meetings of finance ministers from the 18-member Asian Pacific 
Economic Cooperation Forum in the Philippine resort of Cebu.

The United States has been a Pacific nation since the Louisiana
Purchase extended its borders to Oregon in 1803, but until recently
most of its economic ties have been with Europe, Rubin said. Now, Asia
is the fastest-growing economic region on earth and the United States 
exports more to Asia than to Europe, he said.

Rubin will hold discussions on the sidelines of the APEC meeting with
Chinese finance officials and, he told reporters, U.S. concerns about
human rights will be discussed.

In his first stop, in Tokyo, Rubin is scheduled to meet Friday with
Japanese Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto and Finance Minister Hiroshi
Mitsuzuka to discuss Japan's economic prospects and efforts to
overhaul its troubled banking system.