Canada signs cooperation agreement with Vietnam

JAKARTA (JP): Canada has formally recognized Vietnam as the seventh member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), giving Hanoi access to Ottawa's development aid.

Canadian Foreign Minister Lloyd Axworthy and his Vietnamese counterpart Nguyen Manh Cam signed the agreement on the sidelines of the ASEAN Post Ministerial conference yesterday.

The agreement on accession of Vietnam to the ASEAN-Canada agreement on economic cooperation was part of the process to normalize Canada's relationship with Vietnam and to recognize Vietnam's 1995 entry into ASEAN, Axworthy said in a statement issued at the ceremony.

"As an ASEAN dialog partner, Canada hopes that Vietnam's inclusion in the existing agreement would help improve stability in the region and strengthen our relationship with this country," he said.

Now Vietnam has the access to an ASEAN-Canada cooperative program on marine science and regional training program.

The marine science programmer seeks to establish a network of research facilities to monitor pollution levels in coastal waters throughout the Asia-Pacific region.

ASEAN and Canada also signed three documents respectively on the amendments to the memorandum of agreement on cooperative program on marine science phase II and amendments to the memorandum of understanding on the Canada-ASEAN regional training program.

The regional training program is aimed at upgrading the skills of public officials in such areas as telecommunications, banking, finance, customs and tax administration. (pan)