PM Khai's visit to the US welcomed
06/22/2005 -- 17:39(GMT+7)
New York, June 22 (VNA) - Viet Nam-US relations will definitely improved as a result of Prime Minister Phan Van Khai's visit to the US, said Prof. Dr. Ngo Thanh Nhan of New York University.
Prof. Dr. Nhan has been selected for a list of 19 overseas Vietnamese who did an honour to Viet Nam in 2004 and is a member of the steering committee for the campaign of responsibility and justice for Vietnamese Agent Orange victims. He granted an interview to a Viet Nam News Agency correspondent in New York on the occasion of PM Khai's current visit to the US.
Asked what he thinks about the visit of PM Phan Van Khai to the United States at this moment, he said: "As a Vietnamese American who would like to see normalisation between the United States and Viet Nam on all levels, especially between the two peoples, I think the visit of a prime minister from Viet Nam is always important and most welcome. It signals an improvement in many aspects of the relationship between the two governments, and a significant step towards a better future.
"The visit helps to identify common interests and differences between the two countries. The strategy of identifying problems and initiating 'roadmaps' to solutions is, I think, a success in itself. It is also noted that problems between Viet Nam and anti-communist Vietnamese Americans as well as the MIA issues become less than expected."
Questioned how the visit will influence the relationship between the US and Viet Nam and what the most difficult challenge to improving the relations is, he said: "Since the US-Viet Nam diplomatic normalisation in 1995, there have been many positive developments in the two countries' relations in trade, tourism, investments, veterans, and people to people engagements. The visit of the PM at this point in time seems to highlight those positive developments, and to identify solvable differences for the near future."
"The relations between the two countries in the near future will definitely improve from the visit," he stressed.
Vietnam News Agency, June 22, 2005
