VZCZCXRO4252
OO RUEHDT RUEHPB
DE RUEHHM #1092/01 3590743
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O P 240743Z DEC 08
FM AMCONSUL HO CHI MINH CITY
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 5247
INFO RUEHHI/AMEMBASSY HANOI PRIORITY 3493
RUEHHM/AMCONSUL HO CHI MINH CITY PRIORITY 5477
RUCNARF/ASEAN REGIONAL FORUM COLLECTIVE
RUCPDOC/USDOC WASHDC PRIORITY 0099
RUEHRC/DEPT OF AGRICULTURE USD FAS WASHINGTON DC
RUEHRC/DEPT OF AGRICULTURE WASHINGTON DC
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHINGTON DC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 HO CHI MINH CITY 001092 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EAP/MLS, USAID/ANE, EEB/TPP/BTA/ANA, OES/STC 
USDOC FOR 4431/MAC/AP/OPB/VLC/HPPHO 
USTR FOR BISBEE 
TREASURY FOR CHUN 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ECON EAGR ETRD EFIN SOCI PGOV PREL OTRA OVIP VM
SUBJECT: CODEL BAUCUS SCORES POINTS WITH HCMC AND CAN THO LEADERS 
 
HO CHI MIN 00001092  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
¶1.  (SBU) Summary.  Political, business and civil society 
leaders in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC), Can Tho City and Long An 
Province all warmly welcomed Senator Max Baucus during his 
December 18-20 visit to promote bilateral relations, advance 
U.S. trade policy and increase educational cooperation.  Ho Chi 
Minh City offered up the Reunification Palace -- an honor 
normally reserved for visiting heads of state -- as the venue 
for the Chairman of the Finance Committee to meet with HCMC 
People's Committee Chairman and Central Committee member Le 
Hoang Quan.  The Senator encouraged Vietnam to lift restrictions 
on U.S. beef and to improve intellectual property rights and 
labor rights quickly, as clear progress would support the 
country's applications for generalized system of preferences 
(GSP) and market economy status as well as its participation in 
the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).  The Senator also 
challenged southern leaders to find ways to cooperate with U.S. 
universities, especially the University of Montana, to improve 
Vietnam's education system.  Southern provincial leaders said 
new U.S. regulations for imported "catfish" could seriously harm 
Vietnam and called for the garment import monitoring mechanism 
to end.  End Summary. 
 
HCMC Rolls out the Red Carpet... 
-------------------------------- 
¶2. (SBU) Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) warmly welcomed the December 
18-20 visit of Senator Max Baucus and his delegation.  People's 
Committee Chairman Le Hoang Quan hosted the Senator in the 
Reunification Palace's "Golden Room", once the receiving room 
for the Vice President during the building's time as the 
Presidential Palace of the Republic of South Vietnam.  Chairman 
Quan lauded the senator's leadership role in granting permanent 
normal trade relations (PNTR) to Vietnam, which paved the way 
for its accession to the WTO.  Quan asked the Senator to once 
again support Vietnam, this time in its applications for 
generalized system of preferences (GSP) and market economy 
status, ending the Vietnam garment import monitoring mechanism 
and guarding against rules that would arbitrarily close the U.S. 
market to Vietnamese "catfish" (pangasius).  The Chairman also 
noted the importance of ongoing bilateral investment treaty 
(BIT) and Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) discussions. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Senator Baucus said that as Vietnam's financial and 
commercial center, HCMC's economy stands to benefit from 
improving worker rights, specifically by accelerating GVN plans 
to meet International Labor Organization standards.  Similarly, 
improving intellectual property rights is important to 
modernizing the city's economy.  In addition to adopting a trade 
policy consistent with World Organization for Animal Health 
(OIE) standards, opening Vietnam's market to U.S. beef from 
cattle older than 30 months old would benefit consumers in HCMC. 
 In closing, Chairman Quan wished the delegation "a merry 
Christmas" and invited the Senator to visit the city center now 
decked out with Christmas lights and nativity scenes. 
 
...and Saigon Pulls out All the Stops 
------------------------------------- 
¶4. (SBU) The Senator hosted a roundtable with economic, civil 
society and media representatives.  The American citizen deputy 
managing director of one of the largest investment funds in HCMC 
said that the global economic downturn is driving down demand 
for Vietnamese exports and that foreign direct investment in 
Vietnam is slowing as well.  Dr. Mai Hong Quy, Rector of the 
HCMC Law University, emphasized the importance of improving 
education to professionalize Vietnam's legal system and 
suggested partnerships between HCMC Law University and 
continuing education programs at U.S. law schools as one way 
forward.  The pioneering owner of Vietnam's first private media 
company, Ms. Le Thi Phuong Thuy, explained that her Tri Viet 
Media company now concentrates on developing partnerships with 
foreign companies to provide content to Vietnamese television 
audiences, with plans to develop local content in the future; as 
a result IPR protection and understanding GVN sensitivities are 
key to her company's future. 
 
¶5. (SBU) The HCMC American Chamber of Commerce echoed political 
and civil society leaders, saying that labor issues (e.g., the 
rise in the number of "illegal strikes"), the global economic 
downturn (especially its impact on tourism and investment) and 
the GVN's inclination to interpret its WTO commitments as "a 
ceiling rather than a floor" all give American businesses in 
HCMC heartburn.  Nevertheless, the USAID-funded Support for 
Trade Acceleration (STAR) program has given U.S. companies 
 
HO CHI MIN 00001092  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
amazing opportunities to review and comment on draft 
legislation, and to participate in Vietnam's ongoing economic 
reform. 
 
Can Tho and Long An Focus on Education and Trade Rules 
--------------------------------------------- --------- 
¶6. (SBU) Making his way off the beaten track, Senator Baucus 
took his message of increasing education cooperation to Can Tho 
University in the Mekong Delta.  Representatives of the 
University's 35 thousand-strong student body turned out to 
welcome the delegation to Can Tho University.  The Senator told 
the students that the United States is the best place in the 
world to study and challenged them to find a way to study at an 
American university.  We want more Vietnamese to come study in 
the United States, he told the students, adding that the USG is 
working to streamline visa procedures for students.  Students 
and faculty alike stayed late into the evening to ask the 
Senator and his delegation questions especially about the 
election of Barack Obama as president of the United States and 
what this means for U.S. foreign policy. 
 
¶7. (SBU) Also in the Mekong Delta, General Manager of Long An 
Foods (rice processing and export) Mr. Truong Van Anh and Chief 
Executive Officer of Hiep Thanh Foods (rice and pangasius 
processing and export) Nguyen Van Phan said that Vietnam's 
agriculture and aquaculture industries benefit from trade with 
the U.S. markets, both importing from and exporting to the 
United States.  Both urged the United States to regulate the 
quality and safety of imports in ways that do not disrupt trade, 
adding that the modest gains to per capita income in the Mekong 
Delta (still less than Vietnam's average of 825 dollars per 
year) could be lost if the U.S. closes its markets to Vietnamese 
aquaculture (primarily pangasius and shrimp) exports. 
 
Comment: 
-------- 
¶8. (SBU) When the highest city official in HCMC wishes his 
high-ranking American guest "a merry Christmas" it is clear that 
Vietnam is changing, even on issues the GVN once considered 
sensitive.  Senator Baucus is widely regarded as a friend of 
Vietnam because of his support for Vietnam's WTO accession and 
PNTR.  As a result, southern provincial leaders from various 
facets of Vietnamese society were keen to meet him.  While there 
is much economic anxiety in Vietnam, especially over the future 
of pangasius exports to the United States, the Senator's message 
on the need to improve trade rules, intellectual property and 
labor rights was well-received.  End comment. 
 
¶9.  (U) This cable was coordinated with Embassy Hanoi and 
cleared with the delegation. 
DICKEY