Socialist Republic of Vietnam

Vietnam welcomes the US House of Representatives' support for President George W Bush's decision to renew the Jackson-Vanik waiver for Vietnam as a step in the right direction, said Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Phan Thuy Thanh in Hanoi on July 24.

Ms Thanh was answering a question raised by a correspondent from the Vietnam Investment Review about Vietnam's reaction to the July 23 US House's vote to renew the Jackson-Vanik waiver for Vietnam.

She said: "Under the context of the effective implementation of the Vietnam-US Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA), the US should look to terminate the Jackson-Vanik amendment at some point in the near future" because "it is not commensurate with the spirit of the BTA and poses no benefits to either Vietnam or the US."