This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 HANOI 003355 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EAP/MLS AND EB/TPP/BTA/ANA GOODMAN AND WICKMAN 
STATE PASS USTR ELENA BRYAN AND GREG HICKS 
USDOC FOR 4431/MAC/AP/OPB/VLC/HPPHO 
TREASURY FOR OASIA 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ETRD PREL OREP VM WTRO AFLU HIV AIDS WTO IPROP BTA
SUBJECT: CODEL SMITH MEETS WITH DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER NGUYEN 
TAN DZUNG 
 
SENSITIVE - DO NOT POST ON INTERNET 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary.  A delegation of seven U.S. Senators, led 
by Senator Gordon Smith (R-OR) and accompanied by the 
Ambassador,  met with Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Tan 
Dzung.  Dzung warmly welcomed the senators and thanked the 
United States for its assistance in the fights against 
HIV/AIDS and Avian Influenza and for its support for 
Vietnam's accession to the WTO.  The senators stressed that 
support in the Senate for Vietnam's WTO accession would 
depend on a strong record on economic reform and 
democratization.  They also stressed the need for better 
protection of intellectual property rights, full 
implementation of the U.S.-Vietnam Bilateral Investment 
Agreement, and effective measures to combat corruption.  End 
Summary. 
 
¶2.  (SBU) A delegation of seven senators led by Senator 
Gordon Smith (R-OR) met with Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen 
Tan Dzung on December 12, 2005 for over an hour to discuss 
trade and economic issues.  Apart from Senator Smith, the 
U.S. delegation consisted of Senator Trent Lott (R-MS), 
Senator Robert Bennett (R-UT), Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR), 
Senator Jim Bunning (R-KY), Senator John Cornyn (R-TX), and 
Senator Mike Crapo (R-ID), as well as staff and spouses. 
The Ambassador also attended the meeting. 
 
DPM Dzung's Vision 
------------------ 
 
¶3.  (SBU) DPM Dzung warmly welcomed the senators on behalf 
of the Government of Vietnam and Prime Minister Phan Van 
Khai.  He emphasized that Vietnam had come a long way in the 
past few years.  Average real GDP growth for the past five 
years was 7.5 percent and this year had reached 8.5 percent. 
The number of poor households had been reduced by 10 percent 
in the same period.  Nevertheless, Vietnam is still a poor 
country with an average per capital GDP of only USD 640 and 
it is still among the 40 lowest income countries.  In its 
next five year plan, the GVN aims to double Vietnam's GDP to 
USD 1,000 per person.  (Note:  The GDP per capita figure of 
USD 640 is new, up from the World Bank number of USD 543, 
and may reflect a GVN prediction for the 2005 number.  End 
note.)  The first step is to push forward on market reforms 
in order to mobilize domestic and foreign resources; second, 
Vietnam will deepen its integration into the world and 
regional economy.  Third, parallel with economic 
development, the GVN will pursue social justice and reduce 
the number of poor households.  Fourth, Vietnam will build a 
democratic government "by the people, of the people and for 
the people." 
 
¶4.   (SBU) Vietnam will also pursue a foreign policy of 
independence and self-reliance and diversify its relations 
in the region and in the world.  In that spirit, Dzung 
welcomed the senators and emphasized that bilateral 
relations with the United States were on the rise.  The 
Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) was being implemented 
successfully and the United States had become Vietnam's 
number one export market.  He thanked President Bush for 
effective and timely assistance to help Vietnam combat 
HIV/AIDS and Avian Influenza.  He was also grateful to the 
President for his support for Vietnam's bid to join the WTO. 
Vietnam has wrapped up most of its bilateral negotiations 
and is working to do so with the United States.  President 
Bush sent a letter to the Prime Minister reiterating that 
support.  Dzung thanked the Senators for their support and 
said that he believed their visit would contribute much to 
warmer relations. 
 
"Help Us Help You": Address IPR Concerns 
---------------------------------------- 
 
¶5.  (SBU) After thanking the Deputy Prime Minister for his 
welcome, Senator Smith emphasized that after completing the 
bilateral WTO negotiations, the U.S. Senate would have to 
approve the agreement, which was why it was so important for 
Vietnam to continue the path of economic reform.  He 
welcomed Dzung's words on democratic reforms.  Economic and 
political reforms "help us to help you," Senator Smith said, 
adding that it was important to put a difficult history 
behind us.  The United States does not want to put all its 
"eggs in the Chinese basket," and the purpose of this visit, 
which is focused primarily on trade, is to welcome Vietnam's 
emergence from the third world to the first world.  He 
expressed appreciation for Vietnam's responsiveness on the 
POW/MIA issue and for its constructive response to the State 
Department's decision to keep Vietnam as a "country of 
particular concern."  The Senator noted the significant 
contribution to Vietnam's economy made by the Nike 
Corporation, an Oregon-based firm, and said that he hoped 
that Vietnam would negotiate hard against restrictions on 
textiles and would improve its infrastructure, especially 
ports, so that companies like Nike could continue to export 
and prosper.  Finally, the Senator said that he continued to 
hear from his constituents about the importance of 
intellectual property rights (IPR) for the U.S.-Vietnamese 
bilateral relationship and for the growth of business in 
Vietnam. 
 
¶6.  (SBU) Senator Cornyn congratulated Vietnam for its 
liberalization policies and reinforced Senator Smith's point 
on IPR, which is necessary to foster innovation and 
investment.  Senator Wyden remarked that he was one of the 
few Democrats to support free trade and quipped that he had 
"the scars on my back to show it."  He said that he 
understood that Vietnam had strong IPR laws on the books, 
but that enforcement was weak.  Improving IPR enforcement 
would make it easier for the Senate to approve the WTO 
agreement and support permanent normal trade relations 
(PNTR) for Vietnam.  Senator Bunning added that Vietnam was 
the fifth country on the Senators' trip and in each country 
the delegation heard concerns from U.S. firms about IPR 
enforcement.  The United States wants to support Vietnam to 
join the WTO, but it will need assurances that Vietnam will 
observe its commitments. 
 
¶7.  (SBU) Senator Crapo stressed that he hoped to work with 
Vietnam to achieve an early WTO accession.  The goals that 
the DPM had expressed are shared by the United States and 
achieving them would help both countries.  Senator Lott 
congratulated Vietnam on the new offers it had made to the 
United States in our bilateral negotiations.  These offers 
should help move the negotiations forward.  He emphasized 
that the way Vietnam dealt with U.S. companies already doing 
business with Vietnam would be very important and urged 
Vietnam to grant U.S. companies full trading and 
distribution rights.  On a personal note, the Senator said 
he was from a state that had been hit hard by Hurricane 
Katrina; his own house had been destroyed, and he thanked 
DPM Dzung for Vietnam's help to hurricane victims. 
 
¶8.  (SBU) Senator Bennett noted the changes in Vietnam since 
he and his wife had visited twelve years ago.  He said that 
he was heartened to hear the Deputy Prime Minister quote 
Lincoln's phrase "government by the people, of the people 
and for the people."  He noted that during the Codel's trip 
to Asia, they had found that the problem of corruption was 
still pervasive.  He urged Vietnam to work to combat 
corruption. 
 
Wrap-up by DPM Dzung 
-------------------- 
 
¶9.  (SBU) DPM Dzung thanked the Senators for their candid 
and straightforward comments.  He reaffirmed Vietnam's 
intention to move forward with economic reforms.  These 
reforms are not just an international requirement, but also 
the desire of the Vietnamese government and people.  If 
Vietnam succeeds in making the transition to a market 
economy, it will make a small contribution to the prosperity 
of the world.  He assured the Senators that Vietnam would 
observe all its commitments and cited Vietnam's efforts to 
fulfill all its obligations under the BTA.  On IPR, he noted 
that Vietnam had started from a point where people were not 
aware of IPR and the country lacked a legal framework for 
IPR.  He admitted shortcomings in current enforcement of 
IPR, but said that the GVN is committed to enforce strictly 
the new IPR law, which will also benefit Vietnam's 
innovators. 
 
¶10.  (SBU) He reminded the Senators that Vietnam, despite 
its economic achievements, was still a poor country.  WTO 
membership presents challenges as well as opportunities. 
Vietnam's recent offers in bilateral negotiations represent 
difficult decisions by the GVN.  Therefore, he sought the 
Senators' understanding and sympathy and hoped for their 
support.  Prosperity and democracy are the GVN's "raisons 
d'etre," he said.  The democratization process will be  long 
because it depends on the level of economic and educational 
development.  However, democracy is both an objective and 
the dynamic of development.  To this end, the GVN must be 
both more powerful and more transparent and must combat 
corruption.  He mentioned that in its last session, the 
National Assembly had passed a new law against corruption. 
The government is committed to fight against corruption and 
if it fails, it cannot survive.  Once again, he thanked the 
senators for their candid comments and said that he thought 
the visit would contribute to cooperation and development of 
bilateral relations. 
 
¶11. Codel Smith cleared this cable. 
 
MARINE