Reuters : Vietnam PM calls for more trade talks with U.S.

[bich dao <daotb@yahoo.com>]

Vietnam PM calls for more trade talks with U.S.  05:07 p.m Sep 23, 1999
Eastern

By Adam Jasser

HELSINKI, Finland (Reuters) - Vietnamese Prime Minister Phan Van Khai
said Thursday that further talks with the United States were needed
before the two countries could sign commercial agreements they had
recently negotiated. 

Khai told a news conference during a visit to Finland that the pacts
were causing divisions in his country. 

``There are still different
views in Vietnam on this (the agreements) and there are areas which call
for further negotiations with the United States,'' he said through an
interpreter. 

``But this should not prevent us
from going further,'' he added, without elaborating on what the
problematic areas were. 

He declined to say when the agreements could be finally signed, but his
remarks indicated Vietnam's Communist leadership was split on the issue.
Vietnam is among few remaining nations in the world where Communist
regimes enjoy a monopoly on power. 

The agreements, which were due for signing already earlier this month,
would have paved the way to much-needed U.S.  investment and allowed
Washington to grant its former foe normal trade status. 

Finnish Prime Minister Paavo Lipponen, whose country is the current
European Union chairman, said he hoped the pacts could be signed soon,
and vowed to support Vietnam's pleas for better access to EU markets. 

``Finland is ready to take it up
with its EU partners,'' he told the joint news conference with Khai. 

But Lipponen also raised the issue of human rights, following reports
the Communist authorities were delaying release of some prisoners of
conscience and harassing monks. 

``Human rights, judicial
cooperation are key to relations between EU and Vietnam,'' Lipponen
said.  Officials later said he told Khai the EU expected to see better
treatment of dissidents. 

Asked directly about political prisoners, Khai recited the standard
Hanoi line that no such detainees existed in Vietnam, but he also said
``criminals'' who want to become
``good citizens'' will be offered a new
amnesty next year. 

Khai's visit to Finland is part of a tour of Nordic capitals, some of
which were very critical of U.S.  intervention in Vietnam in 1960s and
among the first to recognize the victorious regime, even before the
Vietnam War ended in 1975. 

Khai is heading a delegation of 19 businessmen hoping to forge ties with
Scandinavian companies. 

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