Socialist Republic of Vietnam

Right after the official signing of the Vietnam-US Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) on July 13, 2000, Vietnam has attached importance to its implementation. Since the end of 2000, Vietnam began reviewing its current laws, comparing them with the BTA. In November 2001, Vietnam established the Steering Committee on Technical Assistance for BTA implementation to assist the Prime Minister, coordinating Vietnamese Ministries and agencies as well as between Vietnam and the US in implementing the BTA.

In March 2002, the Vietnamese Government approved the BTA Implementation Action Plan. So far, Vietnam has carried out various programs to:

(i) propagate, publicize and explain about the BTA;

(ii) review, amend its laws, put forth the roadmap for opening its market in accordance with its commitments under the BTA and enhance its competitiveness;

(iii) monitor the quality of its export products, protect intellectual property rights (IPRs);

(iv) step up trade, investment and tourism promotion activities as well as human resource development to meet the requirements of the BTA implementation.

The specialized agencies of both sides have coordinated with one another to organize workshops for the implementation of the Agreement.

Vietnam has sent high-level delegations like ones headed by Standing Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dzung, by Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Manh Cam and several ministerial-level delegations to the US in order to promote trade and economic relations between the two countries.

The two sides have cooperated well in successfully holding the first meeting of the Joint Commission for Development of US-Vietnam Trade-Economic Relations, the results of which includes the approval of the Regulations and Program of actions of the Commission for the implementation of the BTA.

On the immigration issue:

A/ The cooperation between Vietnam and the US and other involved countries on this issue started very early, in the early 80s. By late 1999, most questions were settled and hence, all the programs were then scaled down. Our data show:

- In 2000: 7101 individuals departed and resettled aboard, including 5,328 in the US

- In 2001: 6,286 resettled aboard, including 4,396 in the US

- Through May 2002: 2,495 resettled abroad, with 1,321 in the US.

Overall, since early 80s, Vietnam has cooperated with the US to allow 514,329 individuals to go to the US for resettlement under the ODP, HO, AC and ROVR programs.

B/ The U-11 program: At the request of the US, and prompted by a humanitarian policy, Vietnam agreed to reopen this program early this year. Up to now, US INS personnel have interviewed all potential U-11 applicants that the US itself had requested before, that means 940 households with 990 applicants. But under various US laws, accepted were only 205 households or 449 individuals.

C/ Emigration by ethnic minority people: Over the past years, at the request of the US Govt, Vietnam has been cooperating with the US in allowing ethnic minority people from the Central Highlands, who associated with the US during the wartime, to emigrate to the US under the various programs agreed upon by the two Govts. In this process, the Vietnamese Govt adopts a non-discriminatory policy, that means ethnic minority applicants have to meet similar requirements as majority applicants.

However, the percentage of acceptance by the US remains low. According to US INS officials working in Vietnam, that is because the bulk of the applicants did not meet the requirements set forth by US laws.

On March 31, 2002, Vietnam allowed those Montagnards who illegally crossed the border into Cambodia to go to third countries for resettlement.

On the MIA/POW issues:

Resolving this is our consistent humanitarian policy, which starts right after the war ended. Since 1988, Vietnam has conducted 70 Joint Field Activities with the US (JTF-FA), including 22 iterations of unilateral investigations. In this process, we have jointly conducted 2801 investigations, 416 excavations, and handed over to the US 795 sets of remains.

Also, we have also cooperated with Laos and Cambodia to investigate cases that occurred in Laos or Cambodia with Vietnamese witnesses. Under the Oral History Program (OHP), US personnel have been able to interview up to 300 Vietnamese officials believed to have MIA/POW-related information.

Last but not least, the two sides have conducted short-notice investigations on over 130 reports of