[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 35, Number 30 (Monday, August 2, 1999)]
[Page 1494]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Statement on Vietnam-United States Relations

July 26, 1999

    I am pleased that the Office of the United States Trade 
Representative and the Vietnamese Trade Ministry reached an 
understanding in principle on the terms of a broad commercial agreement 
between the United States and Vietnam. This provisional arrangement is a 
major step forward for both countries, and I congratulate our American 
negotiators and those of Vietnam on their work. I will review the 
agreement carefully and consult further with the Congress and the 
Government of Vietnam in the hope that we will be able to move on to 
finalization, formal signature, and the establishment of normal trade 
relations very soon.
    In addition to promoting American commercial interests, enhancing 
our economic relations with Vietnam will also help advance cooperation 
with Vietnam on other issues of importance to our Nation. These include 
obtaining the fullest possible accounting of our missing from the war, 
encouraging continued progress in the freedom of emigration, and seeking 
improvements in the human rights situation in Vietnam. Since the United 
States normalized relations with Vietnam in 1995, we have made steady 
progress in each of those areas. A bilateral trade agreement with 
Vietnam constitutes one more positive step in that process.