Socialist Republic of Vietnam

Congressman Paul Gillmor who is leading a delegation of seven US congressmen on a visit to Vietnam Tuesday expressed a favorable impression of the progress made by Vietnam over the past four years.
"The last time I was here was 4 years ago and I have been very impressed by the progress in those 4 years," said Gillmor, chairman of the Subcommittee on Environment and Hazardous Materials under the Energy and Commerce Committee.

During their three-day visit, the delegation is expected to hold talks with officials from the Vietnamese National Assembly and Government and meet American entrepreneurs doing business in the country.

Gillmor said the main purpose of the US delegation's visit was to create better relations between the US and Vietnam.

"We have made great progress in recent years toward working together and we want to continue that process and make it a good long-term relationship," he affirmed.

Regarding negotiations on Vietnam's WTO accession, Gillmor said the two countries were “not at that point of agreement yet.”

But he noted that “significant progress has been made.”"Parliaments can be a good means of developing those closer ties between us, particularly as the Vietnamese parliament begins to assume more responsibility,” he said.

“We hope that it will be possible to work out the differences in the agreement so that we can move forward on it,” Gillmor said.

The congressman also praised the role of parliaments in strengthening relations between the two countries.

"Parliaments can be a good means of developing those closer ties between us, particularly as the Vietnamese parliament begins to assume more responsibility,” he said.

“We currently have a Vietnam-US caucus in our parliament and I think that is a good step for better relations," he added.

Source: Vietnam News Agency
Story from Thanh Nien News
Published: 17 January, 2006, 21:54:59 (GMT+7)
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