VIETNAM: GVN Agrees to WTO Bilats June 13-16

UNCLAS HANOI 001092 SIPDIS STATE FOR EAP/BCLTV AND EB/TPP/BTA/ANA STATE PASS USTR FOR EBRYAN AND GHICKS USDA FOR FAS USDOC FOR 4430/MAC/ASIA/OPB/VLC/HPPHO E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ETRD WTRO VN WTO SUBJECT: VIETNAM: GVN Agrees to WTO Bilats June 13-16 REF: STATE 79775 ¶1. The Ambassador received a fax copy of a letter (in English) dated May 10 from Vice Minister of Trade Luong Van Tu accepting the U.S. proposal for another round of WTO bilateral negotiations in Washington June 13-16 (reftel). According to the letter, VM Tu plans to lead the GVN delegation for this round of bilateral talks. Text of the letter follows. ¶2. Begin text: Hanoi, May 10th, 2005 H.E. Mr. Michael W. Marine Ambassador U.S. Embassy to Vietnam Your Excellency Mr. Ambassador, Thank you for your letter dated May 4, 2005 inviting us to Washington, D.C. for the next round of WTO accession bilateral negotiations on June 13-16. We are pleased to inform you that this timing is agreeable to us. Bearing in mind that the U.S. negotiation schedule this year is tight, we thank you for your efforts in making this round happen. We highly appreciate your commitment to work constructively and creatively on Vietnam's accession. On our side, Vietnam has paid serious attention to pushing up negotiation with the United States. Thus, I will myself lead the delegation this time to take the opportunity of discussing with the U.S. counterparts. We would like to thank you for your careful consideration of our market access offers and for identifying existing issues for the next round. We would appreciate it if you could provide us with an official response to our offers. This will facilitate us to better prepare for the negotiation. We believe that both Vietnam and the United States attach importance to this round of bilateral negotiation, which takes place on the threshold of an outstanding historical event of our two countries - the official visit of our Prime Minister to the U.S. We hope that with the efforts and flexibilities extended by both sides, we would be able to achieve a breakthrough in the June meeting. We are also pleased to know that the United States will take part in the Working Party in May. In this meeting, Vietnam wishes to inform the Working Party of our progress in complying with WTO agreements, especially in pushing up our legislative program. We hope to receive your strong support for the efforts made by Vietnam, so that we can make a substantial progress in the Draft Report of the Working Party. Yours sincerely, (signed) Luong Van Tu Vice Minister of Trade Chief Negotiator of the Government End text. MARINE NNNN