Dal New York Times June 21, 2005
Prime Minister Phan Van Khai, whose visit to the White House today was the first by a Vietnamese leader since the end of the Vietnam War, said relations between the two nations have "entered a new stage of development."
Mr. Khai and President Bush announced at the meeting that Mr. Bush will visit Vietnam next year for an Asian summit meeting. He would be only the second president, after Bill Clinton, to visit the country since the end of the war in 1975.
The prime minister's meeting with the president marked the 10th anniversary of normalized relations between the longtime combatants. The United States has become Vietnam's biggest trading partner, with $6.4 billion worth of goods traded in 2004.
"We believe that America can find in Vietnam a potential cooperation partner," Mr. Khai, 71, said through an interpreter. "We have a population of 80 million people, which means a huge market for American businesses, and these people are also very hard-working, creative and dynamic. And they are now working very hard to achieve the goal of building Vietnam into a strong country with wealthy people and a democratic and advanced society."
The two leaders announced that their nations had signed a treaty that will make it easier for Vietnamese to worship freely. Vietnam is seeking to join the World Trade Organization, a move supported by Mr. Bush.
"We discussed a wide range of subjects," Mr. Bush said. "We discussed our economic relations. And I noted that the Vietnamese economy is growing quite substantially. We talked about our desire for Vietnam's to join the W.T.O. We talked about security issues and the mutual desire to coordinate in the war on terror."
The two leaders also discussed efforts to fight the spread of AIDS in Vietnam and efforts to help find the remains of American service members who died during the war.
"It's very comforting to many families here in America to understand that the government is providing information to close a sad chapter in their lives," said Mr. Bush.
Mr. Khai said the leaders agreed to disagree on some topics as well, though he did not go into detail. But Senator John McCain, among others, have called for Vietnam to hold fair democratic elections. Mr. McCain was a prisoner of war in Hanoi for more than five years.
And during Mr. Khai's visit this morning, about 200 people protested outside the White House about the lack of democracy and freedom in Vietnam.
"Mr. President and I also agreed that there remain differences between our two countries due to the different conditions that we have, the different histories and cultures, but we also agreed that we should work together through constructive dialogue based upon mutual respect," said Mr. Khai.
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