Bush to host Vietnam president in historic visit (Reuters)

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

Bush to host Vietnam president in historic visit
Fri Jun 22, 2007 2:18AM EDT

By Caren Bohan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush, hosting
Vietnam's head of state in a historic visit, will welcome
robust trade ties the United States has developed with a
former enemy but will also push concerns on Hanoi's human
rights record.

Vietnamese President Nguyen Minh Triet is making the first
U.S. trip by a head of state from his country since the
Vietnam War ended in 1975.

Triet's meeting with Bush is another step by both countries
to move beyond the painful history of the war.

The Vietnamese president is especially keen to bolster a
growing trade relationship with the United States, Vietnam's
biggest export market.

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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSN2139538520070622

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Source: Agence France-Presse

Vietnam signs trade pact with US, faces rights pressure

by P. Parameswaran
Thu Jun 21, 4:36 PM ET

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The United States and Vietnam signed a trade
and investment pact Thursday during a landmark visit by Vietnamese
President Nguyen Minh Triet, under pressure from US lawmakers to
address human rights abuses in his country.

The two former battlefield enemies inked the trade and investment
framework agreement or TIFA, prelude to a full blown free trade
agreement, on the eve of Triet's talks with US President George W.
Bush at the White House on Friday.

"The TIFA signing marks another important step forward for both
countries in the steady expansion of our economic relations," said
deputy US Trade Representative Karan Bhatia, who signed the pact
with Vietnam's vice trade minister Nguyen Cam Tu in Washington.

The agreement came six months after Washington restored normal
trading ties with its former enemy, paving the way for Vietnam to
join the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in January.

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Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070621/wl_asia_afp/usvietnamdiplomacy_070621203321