VZCZCXRO3437
RR RUEHAG RUEHBZ RUEHCHI RUEHCN RUEHDT RUEHGI RUEHHM RUEHMR RUEHPA
RUEHPB RUEHPOD
DE RUEHHI #0483/01 1470354
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 270354Z MAY 09
FM AMEMBASSY HANOI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 9667
INFO RUEHHM/AMCONSUL HO CHI MINH 5873
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 1264
RUEHZS/ASEAN REGIONAL FORUM COLLECTIVE
RUCNWTO/WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION COLLECTIVE
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHINGTON DC
RUEHRC/DEPT OF AGRICULTURE WASHINGTON DC
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHINGTON DC
RUEAUSA/DEPT OF HHS WASHINGTON DC
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC
RHEHNSC/NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHINGTON DC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 HANOI 000483 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
SIPDIS 
 
USTR FOR USTR RON KIRK 
USTR FOR WEISEL, BISBEE, O'CONNOR 
USDA FOR SECRETARY VILSACK 
USDA FOR US MILLER, DUS PHILBROOK 
USDA PASS TO FAS (OA, OSTA, ONA, OCRA) 
USDA PASS TO APHIS (PPQ, IS, VS) 
USDA PASS TO FSIS 
HHS/OSSI/DSI PASS TO OGHA (JKULIKOWSKI/ACUMMINGS) AND FDA 
(MLVALDEZ/RCAMPBELL/MECKEL) 
TREASURY FOR OASIA 
USAID FOR ASIA (MELLIS, DSHARMA, CJENNINGS) AND GH (GSTEELE, 
DCARROLL) 
STATE FOR EEB/TPP/ABT/ATP RYAN, AND EAP/MLS BROWN 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ETRD WTRO TBIO EAGR PINR SOCI USTR EAID VM
SUBJECT: VIETNAM'S AGRICULTURE MINISTER DISCUSSES BEEF ACCESS, NEW 
U.S. CATFISH REGULATION AND TECHNICAL COOPERATION IN MEETING WITH 
AMBASSADOR MICHALAK 
 
REF: DEC 29. 2008 LETTER FROM AMBASSADOR MICHALAK TO USDA SECRETARY 
SCHAFER 
 
HANOI 00000483  001.2 OF 003 
 
 
This cable is Sensitive but Unclassified.  For official use only, 
not for dissemination outside USG channels or posting on the 
Internet. 
 
¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY.  On May 19, Ambassador Michalak met with 
Vietnamese Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development Cao Duc 
Phat to discuss the Minister's recent visit to the United States. 
The Minister said he was pleased with the visit.  It gave him a 
great opportunity to interact with his U.S. counterparts on issues 
of trade as well as science and technology.   The Minister gave the 
Ambassador a copy of the Vietnamese risk assessment that addressed 
USDA's request for increased beef access and indicated that he 
looked forward to a U.S. response.  He also made a point of noting 
commitments received from USDA Secretary Vilsack and USTR Kirk that 
the new catfish food safety regulation would not disrupt trade.  The 
Minister reiterated his gratitude for U.S. pledges to support next 
year's proposed influenza ministerial in Vietnam.  He also said he 
greatly appreciated visits during his U.S. trip to biotech research 
facilities at U.C.-Davis and Monsanto.  He hopes to expand both 
private and public biotechnology cooperation with the United States. 
 END SUMMARY. 
 
MINISTER PROVIDES BEEF ACCESS RISK ASSESMENT 
 
¶2. (SBU) Although the Minister had indicated during his trip to the 
United States that in principle Vietnam was open to imports of 
boneless U.S. beef from over-30-month old cattle, his meeting with 
Ambassador Michalak was the first time the GVN has presented the 
United States with the risk assessment supporting this. [NOTE. The 
assessment recommends that Vietnam comply with World Organization 
for Animal Health (OIE) guidelines for U.S. beef imports.  However 
it notes that U.S. Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS) definitions 
for BSE specified risk materials (SRM) from cattle over 30 months 
old are not consistent with OIE definitions. The assessment 
therefore recommends only allowing boneless beef from U.S. cattle 
over 30 months until the two countries can agree on SRM definitions. 
 The risk assessment does not specifically talk of meat from cattle 
under 30 months old, but it would seem to recommend that Vietnam 
accept the OIE SRM for cattle under 30 months rather than the more 
restrictive SRM list that Vietnam is currently using for 
under-30-month cattle.  The assessment also recommends without 
explanation that Vietnamese officials pre-inspect any U.S. plant 
that ships beef from animals of all ages.  Currently no 
pre-inspection is required for any meat shipped from the United 
States to Vietnam. END NOTE.] 
 
¶3.  (SBU) The Minister did not indicate that the Vietnamese 
government has finally decided to accept the risk assessment's 
recommendations.  However, as he noted during his trip, it is 
tending toward allowing boneless beef imports.  He hoped this 
decision would be made in June.  Vietnam would like U.S. comments on 
the risk assessment recommendation as soon as possible to facilitate 
quick agreement between the United States and Vietnam on a new 
protocol for beef imports. 
 
COUNTING ON U.S. ASSURANCES ON CATFISH 
 
¶4. (SBU) On another issue, the Minister noted that during his U.S. 
trip he had frequently raised the issue of the new catfish 
regulation and whether FSIS would define Vietnamese pangasius 
(commonly known as basa an tra) as catfish.  The Minister said that 
he understood that USDA needed to fulfill the congressional mandate; 
 
HANOI 00000483  002.2 OF 003 
 
 
however he also took very seriously Secretary Vilsack and USTR 
Kirk's assurances during his trip that the new regulation would be 
transparent and would not disrupt trade.  When Ambassador Michalak 
noted that he would travel to the United States in June and hoped to 
meet with Secretary Vilsack, the need for fair treatment of 
pangasius was the only issue the Minister suggested he discuss. 
 
¶5. (SBU) COMMENT. Post notes that Minister Phat has consistently 
expressed his hope that FSIS not define Vietnamese pangasius as 
"catfish" in its new regulation. His emphasis during this meeting 
with Ambassador Michalak on Secretary Vilsack and USTR Kirk's 
pledges that the new catfish regulation will be transparent and not 
disrupt Vietnamese trade to the United States serves to reiterate 
the Vietnamese government's worries. As already stated in the 
December 29, 2008 letter Ambassador Michalak sent to Secretary 
Schafer, Post is very concerned that this new regulation could harm 
long term U.S. trade relations.  The perception in Vietnam is that 
the mandate for FSIS to cover catfish has not been done with 
adequate scientific justification or consultation with trading 
partners.  If the essentially lexical decision were made to define 
the pangasius family of fish as catfish when earlier U.S. 
legislation specifically excluded them from this definition, it 
would add to this sense of unfairness.  The regulation could very 
well do great harm to the United States' image as a fair trading 
partner and give Vietnamese officials much wider latitude to adopt 
questionable sanitary and phytosanitary measures that significantly 
hinder U.S. exports to Vietnam.  Particularly vulnerable would be 
very promising markets that are developing here for U.S. meat, 
poultry and dairy products. END COMMENT 
 
PENDING A DECISION ON THE INFLUENZA MINISTERIAL 
 
¶6. (U) As he did during his trip, the Minister expressed his 
appreciation for USAID's commitment to provide up to USD 500,000 for 
next year's proposed worldwide ministerial on influenza to be held 
in Vietnam.  The Minister relayed that he had officially requested 
the Prime Minister's approval for Vietnam to host the conference. 
He noted, however, that the Prime Minister had not yet signed off on 
the meeting, nor could he give a date when he expected the Prime 
Minister's approval.  Related to this, the Ambassador told the 
Minister that the USG had invested USD 4.8 million in U.S. influenza 
vaccine development in Vietnam and urged that the Minister encourage 
wide Vietnamese government participation in a June 8 meeting that 
the Ministry of Health will stage to review progress on vaccine 
development. 
 
BIOTECHNOLOGY COOPERATION 
 
¶7. (U) The Minister also noted how much he appreciated his visits to 
biotechnology research facilities at the University of 
California-Davis and at Monsanto Corporation operations in 
California.  He realizes that Vietnam is far from achieving the 
level of biotechnology he saw during his trip, but he hoped that the 
two countries could increase private and public cooperation on 
biotechnology.  He believed there was a need for less theoretical 
and more practical exchanges than what his Ministry had previously 
envisaged.  He also felt that there was no need for Vietnam to 
quickly develop the very high-end research he saw in the United 
States, but instead when practical, Vietnam could rely on advanced 
biotech research in other countries to meet its needs.   The 
Minister also noted that USTR had during the TIFA talks in 
Washington recommended a biotech working group, but he felt it would 
be better to have an agricultural working group with biotechnology 
as one among a number of important issues that could be discussed. 
 
 
HANOI 00000483  003.2 OF 003 
 
 
Michalak