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Vietnam PM to visit US
05/05/2005 09:17 - (SA)
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| Flowers and a "Fall of Saigon" cap rest at the base of the Vietnam Memorial in Washington in Washington, commemorating the 30th anniversary of the fall of Saigon. (Adele Starr, AP) |
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Canberra - Vietnam's prime minister announced on Thursday plans to visit the United States next month in what would make him the first Vietnamese leader to travel to the United States since the end of the war between the two countries 30 years ago.
Prime Minister Phan Van Khai said arrangements were being made for him to visit Washington in June to strengthen co-operation with the United States. It was not immediately clear whom he would meet in Washington.
"Thirty years have passed since the end of the war; this is the first ever visit by a leader of a unified Vietnam to the United States," Khai told reporters on the first day of a visit to Australia.
During the visit, Khai will likely hit on Vietnam's strong desire to join the World Trade Organisation. The former foes are currently involved in bilateral negotiations that would help pave the way for Vietnam's entry to the global trade body.
Communist Vietnam recently marked the 30th anniversary of the war's end with a colourful parade of floats - some emblazoned with American business logos - down the same boulevard where North Vietnamese tanks rolled to victory against a US-backed government.
Khai would be the most high-ranking leader to visit Washington since the Vietnam War ended on April 30 1975, when former US-backed South Vietnam surrendered to communist forces.
In addition to Khai, Vietnam's other top leaders include President Tran Duc Luong and the powerful head of the ruling Communist Party Nong Duc Manh.
Landmark aviation deal
In November 2003, Vietnam's defence minister Pham Van Tra met with secretary of defence Donald H Rumsfeld in Washington, becoming the first senior military official of Hanoi's government to visit the United States.
Vietnam's deputy prime minister Vu Khoan travelled to Washington a month later to sign a landmark aviation deal between Vietnam and the United States to allow passenger and cargo flights between the two countries for the first time since the end of the Vietnam War in 1975.
Deputy prime minister Nguyen Tan Dung was in Washington in 2001 for a ceremony for the landmark bilateral trade agreement between the US and Vietnam.
Questioned by a reporter in Canberra, Khai rejected suggestions that his plan to visit the United States was aimed at strengthening defence and strategic ties as part of a wider policy of containing the power and influence of China.
"The purpose of my visit to the United States is to elevate our relationship to a higher plane in a new situation and we don't take into consideration as such the factor of China," he said.
"We need to strengthen the comprehensive relationship and cooperation with the United States," he said, adding that Vietnam continues to develop its relations with China.
- AP
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