[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 36, Number 28 (Monday, July 17, 2000)]
[Pages 1637-1639]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks on Departure for Camp David, Maryland, and an Exchange With 
Reporters

 July 13, 2000

 Vietnam-U.S. Bilateral Trade Agreement

     The President.  Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Just a few 
moments ago, Ambassador Barshefsky and Minister Vu Khoan signed an 
agreement between the United States and Vietnam that will dramatically 
open Vietnam's economy, further integrate it into the international 
community, and increase trade between our two nations. And so from the 
bitter past, we plant the seeds of a better future.
    This is another historic step in the process of normalization, 
reconciliation, and healing between our two nations. Improvements in the 
relationship between the United States and Vietnam have depended from 
the beginning upon progress in determining the fate of Americans who did 
not return from the war.
    In 1994, with the support of the Members of Congress standing with 
me here and others, I lifted the trade embargo on Vietnam in response to 
its cooperation on the POW/MIA issue. A year later I normalized 
diplomatic relations between our two nations to further this goal. As 
further progress was made in 1996, I appointed former Congressman Pete 
Peterson, himself a former prisoner of war, to be our United States 
Ambassador in Vietnam.
    With the indispensable help of key congressional allies, especially 
Senator John Kerry and Senator John McCain, Senator Bob Kerrey and 
Senator Chuck Hagel and Senator Chuck Robb, Representative Rick Boucher, 
Representative Reyes, who is here, Representative Manzullo, 
Representatives Lane Evans, Kolbe, Bereuter, and McDermott, this process 
has worked.
    Since 1993, we have undertaken 39 joint recovery operations with 
Vietnam, and the number of 40 is underway as we speak. One hundred and 
thirty-five American families have received the remains of their loved 
ones, and we're in the process of identifying another 150 possible sets 
of remains. Time and again, the Vietnamese people have shared their 
memories with Americans. And we, too, have sought to help Vietnam in its 
own search for answers.
    Our Nation has also felt a special sense of responsibility to those 
people in Vietnam whose families were torn apart during and after the 
war. In the last few years, we've made tremendous progress in resettling 
tens of thousands of Vietnamese refugees in the

[[Page 1638]]

United States, closing yet another painful chapter.
    And Vietnam has done much to turn its face toward a changing world. 
It has worked to open its economy and move into the mainstream of 
Southeast Asia as a member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations 
and APEC. Our trading relations have also grown. When I took office, our 
exports to Vietnam totaled just $4 million. Today, they stand at $291 
million.
    The agreement we signed today will dramatically open Vietnam's 
markets on everything from agriculture to industrial goods to 
telecommunications products, while creating jobs both in Vietnam and in 
the United States.
    With this agreement, Vietnam has agreed to speed its opening to the 
world, to subject important decisions to the rule of law and the 
international trading system, to increase the flow of information to its 
people; by inviting competition in, to accelerate the rise of a free 
market economy and the private sector within Vietnam, itself. We hope 
expanded trade will go hand in hand with strength and respect for human 
rights and labor standards. For we live in an age where wealth is 
generated by the free exchange of ideas, and stability depends on 
democratic choices. By signing this agreement, Vietnam takes an 
important step in the right direction.
    We've been working on this agreement since 1996, and there are many 
people who deserve recognition. I want to say a special thanks to our 
Trade Representative, Ambassador Barshefsky; our Deputy USTR, Richard 
Fisher; Joe Damond, of USTR, for working so hard in the last 4 years to 
turn this agreement into reality.
    I would also like to thank their Vietnamese counterparts, Trade 
Minister Vu Khoan, Chief Negotiator Nguyen Dinh Luong. And I want to say 
a special word of thanks also to Vietnamese Ambassador Le Van Bang and 
to our Ambassador, Pete Peterson, who have worked so hard to build ties 
among our nations and our people.
    And let me say again, it is my opinion that none of this would have 
been possible had it not been for the visionary and brave and 
reconciling leadership of the Americans in the United States Congress 
who served, many of whom suffered, in Vietnam; especially those who are 
here with me and the others whose names I mentioned earlier. Our debt to 
them as a nation is immense.
    This agreement is one more reminder that former adversaries can come 
together to find common ground in a way that benefits all their people, 
to let go of the past and embrace the future, to forgive, and to 
reconcile. As all of you know, that is what we are now trying to achieve 
at Camp David, in what many believe is the most difficult of all 
historical circumstances.
    This day is encouraging to me, and I will take the energy I feel 
here from all these people back to Camp David and make the argument that 
they should follow suit.
    Thank you very much.

 Possible Visit to Vietnam

     Q.  Mr. President, you've talked about going to Vietnam. Are you 
planning to go to Vietnam after the APEC ministerial in November?
     The President.  I haven't made a decision yet.

 Philadelphia Police Incident

     Q.  Mr. President, have you seen the videotape of the beating that 
a suspect apparently took at the hands of the Philadelphia police 
yesterday, and are you concerned about it? Have you asked any of the 
authorities to look into it?
     The President.  No, I haven't seen it, because I've been pretty 
isolated in the peace talks, but I've been briefed about it. The Justice 
Department is looking into it. And when I was in Baltimore on the way 
down here today, I spoke briefly with Mayor Street. And he assured me 
that he was going to go home and handle it in the appropriate way, and I 
trust him. He's a strong man and a good man, and I think he will do what 
is right.

Middle East Peace Summit

     Q.  Sir, is any substantial progress being made at Camp David? And 
there seems to be some confusion about whether you will allow the 
Palestinian opposition figures to come in to see Chairman Arafat.
     The President.  I think I should say nothing about what's going on 
at Camp David.

[[Page 1639]]

 The less I say, the greater our chances of success.
    Thank you very much.

Note: The President spoke at 4:10 p.m. in the Rose Garden at the White 
House. In his remarks, he referred to Joseph Damond, Acting Director of 
Asia Pacific and APEC Affairs, Office of the United States Trade 
Representative; and Mayor John F. Street of Philadelphia, PA. A reporter 
referred to Chairman Yasser Arafat of the Palestinian Authority.