VN Bus. News (May 15, 1997)

[Vu Thanh Ca <vuca@envi.env.civil.saitama-u.ac.jp>]

May 15: U.S. investment officials to visit Vietnam 
May 15: Vietnam concerned about competition level in WTO, APEC 
May 15: Asian Cash Rice Mixed; Vietnam 5% Brokens Dn, Pakistani Up 
May 15: Hanoi Office Rental Decreases Due to Increased Supplies 


U.S. investment officials to visit Vietnam 

Hanoi (Reuter) - A delegation from the U.S. Overseas Private
Investment Corporation (OPIC) will visit Vietnam later this month for
preliminary talks on strengthening investment ties between the former
foes.

Foreign ministry spokesman Tran Quang Hoan said the delegation,
accompanied by U.S. labour officials, would arrive on May 26 for talks
over a week about an eventual OPIC agreement with Vietnam.

An accord -- part of the process of full economic normalisation
between Washington and Hanoi -- would give American investors here
access to loans and insurance guarantees which they have so far been
denied.

``When it (an agreement) will be signed will depend on a number of
problems,'' Hoan said. ``But I hope that both sides will try to get on
with the negotiations so that the signing of that treaty will be
soon.''

Hoan added that the delegation would be accompanied by U.S. labour
officials.

OPIC is a U.S. government agency whose primary mission is to insure or
guarantee American private capital investments in developing
countries.

It is prohibited from supporting activity in nations that fail to meet
international labour standards by guaranteeing the right of
association, the right to organise and bargain collectively, a minimum
age for child labour, prohibition of forced labour and certain wage,
health and safety standards.

U.S. officials say no date is yet in sight for an OPIC accord to be
signed with Vietnam. Both an OPIC treaty and a full trade agreement
are expected to require a presidential waiver of the Jackson-Vannick
amendment.

Jackson-Vannick blocks the awarding of Most Favoured Nation trading
status for communist countries that deny their citizens the right to
emigrate.

According to Vietnamese government figures produced in April, the
United States is the country's seventh largest investor with some $1.1
billion pledged towards 68 projects.
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Vietnam concerned about competition level in WTO, APEC 

Japan Economic Newswire

TOKYO -- Vietnamese Foreign Minister Nguyen Manh Cam expressed concern
Thursday about Vietnam's ability to compete on a global level should
it be accepted into the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum.

"Entry into these organizations will place us under strong pressure of
acute competition while our position and resources are both
constrained and limited, and our country is still in the process of
transition," Cam said at an international conference on Asia's future
at a Tokyo hotel.

Joining the two groups, however, are "inevitable steps" after becoming
a member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in July
1995, Cam said, citing the WTO's role as a forum for resolving trade
disputes and APEC members as major investment and trading partners.

"In this connection, we are willing to seriously look and learn from
the experiences of other countries, first of all the regional
countries, and apply them in a selective way, consistent with
Vietnam's specific conditions," Cam said.

Vietnam formally applied to become a member of the 18-member APEC
forum last June. It can become a formal member in 1999 at the
earliest, after the grouping last year lifted a three-year moratorium
on membership in effect since 1993.

Some advanced member economies had advocated the ban to keep new
members from hindering APEC's march toward free trade and investment
by 2010 for developed economies and 2020 for developing economies.

As for the WTO, which Vietnam applied to join in January 1995, the
country would have to offer equal access to its own markets, lowering
tariffs on imported goods and eliminating some nontariff and legal
barriers.
                 ___________________________________


Asian Cash Rice Mixed; Vietnam 5% Brokens Dn, Pakistani Up 

SINGAPORE (Dow Jones)--Asian cash rice offers are mixed late Thursday
as Vietnamese rice offers, already the lowest in Asia, retreat in the
face of ample supply while Pakistani offers rise on tighter supply,
they said.

Offers for Vietnamese 5% broken rice are heard at $225/ton, down from
$230/ton, while Vietnamese 25% brokens are offered steady at $195/ton.
Though offers for 25% brokens are heard as low as $190/ton, trades are
unlikely to be concluded at that level, sources said.

'There's a lot of rice in the Mekong River Delta and many farmers want
to sell the rice,' said a trade source in Ho Chi Minh City. Harvesting
of the winter-spring crop in the Mekong River Delta ended sometime
late April or early May, he said.

Amid lesser supply, Pakistani 25% brokens are offered at around
$230/ton, up from $225/ton while offers for the basmati 385 are fairly
stable at $450/ton.

'Some people are hesistant to sell. They are holding the rice to sell
in June or July at higher prices,' said a trade source in Karachi.

He said Pakistani prices are likely to continue edging higher in the
coming months until the arrival of the new non-basmati crop in
October.

The Karachi trade source said Nigerian buyers are likely to be in the
market now, while there has been talk of possible rice exports to
Belarus.

In India, owing to continued dull demand, some exporters have stopped
following up on rice offers. Indications for the 25% broken rice are
around $260/ton while offers for the Thai grade are steady at
$265/ton.

-By Joyce Teo 65-421-4825
                 ___________________________________


Hanoi Office Rental Decreases Due to Increased Supplies

Hanoi (Xinhua News) - Office rentals in Hanoi, the capital city of
Vietnam, Dropped 15-20 percent this year to 30 to 35 U.S. dollars per
square meter a month due to increased supplies, according to reports
today.

Higher office rentals in Hanoi in the past years led to a booming in
the construction of high-rise buildings.

The Vietnam News said newly-inaugurated downtown buildings are all
operating with occupancy rates at 70 percent.

Tung Shing Square, some minutes walk from the State Bank, has rented
out less than one third of its space since its opening six months ago.

The report expected that rentals will drop dramatically when the
construction of another 40,000 square meters of office space is
completed in at least three major central city projects.