[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 36, Number 47 (Monday, November 27, 2000)]
[Pages 2905-2907]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks to the Vietnamese Business Community in Ho Chi Minh City, 
Vietnam

November 19, 2000

    Thank you very much. Ms. Liu, thank you for your remarks and for 
your introduction--and for your excellent English, much better than my 
Vietnamese. [Laughter] I thank Secretary Mineta and the other members of 
the American delegation. And thank you, Flemming Jacobs, for making us 
feel welcome in this magnificent port. I would also like to thank the 
members of the Vietnamese Government and the government of Ho Chi Minh 
City who are here. I thank you all for the time that we have had 
together these last few days.
    I wanted to come here today to this remarkable place, which 
symbolizes Vietnam's gateway to the future, to say that one of the 
things I have learned in the last 3 days is that Vietnam has an ancient 
history, but it is still a very young nation. Over half your people were 
born in the last 30 years. And your best days clearly lie ahead, as you 
continue to find the means to release the skills and the ingenuity of 
your people.
    Over the last decade, Vietnam has taken positive strides toward 
economic and social reform. In less than a decade, you have seen income 
per person rise almost 70 percent. You have lifted more than 15 million 
people out of poverty. You have eradicated polio. And this container 
port is an astonishing example of how Vietnam is seizing the new 
opportunities of the 21st century.

[[Page 2906]]

    You should be very proud of what you have built here. I can tell you 
that any nation in the world would be happy to have a facility like 
this. And it should cause you to imagine just how much more you can 
achieve.
    Already in the last decade, Vietnam's exports to the world have 
increased by 6 times over. You will grow even more as your economy 
becomes more open and the rule of law develops. More investment will 
come when people see Vietnamese entrepreneurs creating companies like 
APL. And many more companies like APL will be created if foreign and 
domestic investors see barriers to investment fall in a more business-
friendly Vietnam.
    Already the people of Vietnam have the highest rate of literacy in 
Southeast Asia. Imagine how much more you will achieve as even more 
young people gain more freedom to shape the decisions that affect their 
lives if vigorous competition and innovation bring down the cost of 
using the Internet for all your school children and all your 
entrepreneurs, so that all Vietnamese people can benefit from the free 
and open exchange of ideas.
    Another of your great strengths is the burst of ambitious young 
people who enter the job market every year, about 1.4 million of them. 
Your country's leaders have acknowledged that state-owned enterprises 
alone cannot create enough good jobs for all of them. But Vietnam's 
young people have the talent and ideas to create the jobs of the future 
for themselves in a new era of entrepreneurship, innovation, and 
competition. That must be the future for Vietnam and its young people.
    Among those who are ready to work with you to build that future are 
Vietnamese living abroad, including about one million in the United 
States. With us here today are two Vietnamese-American sisters, their 
names are Nguyen Cao Thang and Truong Bich Diep. They run a 
pharmaceutical company named OPV. It was one of Vietnam's most 
successful companies in the early 1970's, and now our Government has 
given them a loan to build a new manufacturing plant just outside this 
city.
    Overseas, Vietnamese want to invest in your country, not only with 
their money but with their hearts. We are glad to be helping them to 
return, and we thank you, the people and the Government of Vietnam, for 
welcoming them home.
    The trade agreement the United States has signed with Vietnam will 
help even more investors come to your country. It will also help to 
develop a more open, sophisticated free market, based on international 
rules of law. And that will bring more rewards for the creativity and 
initiative of the remarkable Vietnamese people. Both our nations should 
ratify this agreement and implement it. The changes it will bring should 
be embraced, not feared.
    I told your leaders in Hanoi a couple of days ago that the United 
States is committed to providing assistance to Vietnam to help to 
implement this trade agreement. Among other things, we will establish a 
$200 million line of credit to support U.S. investment in Vietnam, and 
we and your Government have agreed to begin an economic dialog to 
discuss how we can work together to grow our economies in ways that 
truly improve people's lives.
    I believe you can avoid some of the mistakes that the United States 
and other industrialized countries made on their way to prosperity, 
thanks to the revolution in information technology and in the economics 
of energy. For example, we know today that protecting the environment is 
actually good for the economy. It preserves natural resources and helps 
to prevent natural disasters like the terrible flooding Vietnam has 
experienced these last 2 years. We now know that the more you invest in 
workers, raising their skills and protecting their rights, the more 
productive they will be and the more profitable companies will be, and 
the stronger national economies will grow.
    I am very pleased that on Friday we signed an agreement with the 
Vietnamese Government to begin a dialog on labor issues, on safety and 
standards in the workplace and on the skills workers need for this new 
information economy, as well as the protections they will need from its 
disruptions. No one can deny the importance of these issues as we work 
together for a better future. But no one should deny Vietnam the 
opportunity to grow. That is the meaning of our trade agreement; that is 
the meaning of this port. The

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workers here at this port know better than anyone that trade lifts 
wages, raises standards, opens opportunities.
    It has been a great privilege for me to see today and over the last 
few days what the Vietnamese people have accomplished. I have been 
deeply moved by my visit here. I came here, in part, because I believe 
that America and Vietnam are linked not just by a shared and often 
tragic past that must be honored and remembered, but that we have a 
bright future that we can build together to liberate our people and 
their potential.
    The years of animosity are past. Today we have a shared interest in 
your well-being and your prosperity. We have a stake in your future, and 
we wish to be your partners. We wish you success.
    Chuc cac ban suc khoe va thanh cong.
    Thank you very much.

Note: The President spoke at 1:35 p.m. on the dock at the Vietnam 
International Container Terminals. In his remarks, he referred to Le Thi 
Hai Lieu, director, Duc Thanh Company; and Flemming Jacobs, chief 
executive officer, Neptune Orient Lines, Ltd. (NOL Group) and its 
subsidiary, APL. A tape was not available for verification of the 
content of these remarks.