TOUR D'HORIZON WITH VIETNAM'S MFA

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 HANOI 000104 SIPDIS STATE FOR EAP/MLS E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/10/2019 TAGS: AMGT ECON KIRF PGOV PREL VM SUBJECT: TOUR D'HORIZON WITH VIETNAM'S MFA REF: A. A) HANOI 101 ¶B. B) STATE 10965 Classified By: DCM Virginia Palmer for reasons 1.5 (b) and (d) ¶1. (C) Summary: At a February 9 lunch with MFA Americas Director General Nguyen Ba Hung, DCM covered a full range of bilateral issues including senior-level GVN visits to the U.S. for the coming year, the requested visit to Vietnam by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, and the consular district issue. Ba Hung anticipated a lower level of trade interaction in the coming year, and held out little hope for the GVN legislative changes that would make possible progress on a New Embassy Compound (NEC) in Hanoi. End summary. Vietnamese Visits to U.S.... -------------- ¶2. (SBU) In his first meeting with DCM after Vietnam's Tet New Year, Ba Hung noted that in the coming year Vietnam is looking at visits to the U.S. by the Ministers of Public Security and Defense, and by the Deputy Prime Minister/Foreign Minister as well as possible visits by the Minister of Agriculture and Chairman of the National Assembly, all in hopes of building toward an exchange of very high level visits in 2010. ...But Still No Word on USCIRF Visit to Vietnam -------------- -- ¶3. (SBU) In response to DCM,s push for permission for the visit to Vietnam by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF),Ba Hung said the issue is still being worked between the relevant ministries and a final decision has not been made. DCM noted that a decision one way or another would be appreciated as soon as possible for planning purposes. Ba Hung said U.S.-Vietnam relations cannot be &held hostage8 by USCIRF and said many in the GVN feel that after the group,s 2007 visit it was clear they would draw negative conclusions about Vietnam no matter what the GVN did and what they saw. ¶3. (SBU) Turning to Vietnam,s final year on the UN Security Council, Ba Hung said Vietnam is focused on &self-interest and not ideology.8 We will &do better8 and work more closely with the U.S., he said. &Of course we are not quite like-minded,8 he said, but at least through consultation we can have a better level of mutual understanding (see Ref A). Consular District Conundrum -------------- ¶4. (C) On the consular district issue, Ba Hung asserted again �A;that permission for Vietnam to begin issuing visas in New York was a deal breaker for resolution of the HCMC consular district,s boundaries and reiterated his pledge to facilitate travel, even to areas not included in the new consular district. (We called Ba Hung on this assertion by telephone and e-mail after hearing that several HCMC travel requests had been denied.) If we could not accept the proposed 22-province offer, Ba Hung said, &we will just have to wait.8 He pledged, nonetheless, to work hard to make A/S Jacobs, upcoming visit a success in other areas, recognizing the significance of the first high-level visit under Secretary Clinton. ¶5. (C) Parenthetically, Ba Hung indicated that MFA pressure for resolution of the issue may ease as a number of other Vietnamese ambassadorships were opening up. Erstwhile Houston CG Le Dung may now be tapped to be Vietnam,s Ambassador to Germany. Ba Hung noted that the upcoming personnel changes would represent a sea change in the MFA's leadership, with younger, more flexible officers taking senior posts. Economic Issues -------------- ¶6. (SBU) Ba Hung said he anticipated a lower level of economic and trade interaction between the two governments this year given the global economic downturn and the possibility of increased protectionism with the Democratic Party in power in Washington. ¶7. (SBU) In response to questions about prospects for the major pending AES project in Vietnam, Ba Hung said it may take more time to resolve the issues. The Ministry of Planning and Investment is very positive about AES, but they are not the only ministry with a say and there are provincial and other country interests involved, Ba Hung said, hinting HANOI 00000104 002 OF 002 of Russian and Chinese involvement. ¶8. (SBU) On U.S. beef access to Vietnam,s markets, Ba Hung said we are near agreement with only &technical issues8 to be worked out. DCM pointed out that the issue has been pending for 18 months and pushed for timely action by the GVN. On a civil nuclear agreement too, Ba Hung cited technical issues and said a GVN response is in the works. NEC News -------------- ¶9. (SBU) DCM also laid out the USG position (Ref B) on the New Embassy Compound (NEC); Ba Hung held out little hope for legislative changes which would make a longer-than-99 year lease possible, but hinted that if it were to have any chance we would have to push for something multilaterally rather than an accommodation for the U.S. &We can,t say we love America more than China, Russia, or India who were here even during the U.S. embargo,8 he asserted. He indicated that there were on-going negotiations on land issues with all three of these countries, some of which were far tougher than those with the USG. MICHALAK