Office set to boost U.S. business in Hanoi

Office set to boost U.S. business in Hanoi

HANOI (Reuter): The new U.S. diplomatic mission in Hanoi,
which starts work later this week, will help U.S. companies do
business in Vietnam, American residents said.

More than 100 Americans live in the Vietnamese capital and at
least a third of them turned out on Saturday to celebrate the
opening of the U.S. liaison office, which marked the start of
formal relations between Hanoi and Washington for the first time
since the Vietnam War ended in 1975.

Though the two governments do not yet have full diplomatic
relations and embassies, residents interviewed by Reuters saw the
liaison office as the next best thing.

"There was 20 years of nothing," said businessman James
Rockwell. "Now we've got relations with Vietnam. Psychologically,
it has massive significance."

Rockwell, whose Vatico company represents several U.S.
corporations, said the liaison office would ease passport and
visa matters and encourage U.S. companies to come to Vietnam.

"This takes away the stigma forever," he said.

"This is a very exciting day," lawyer Tanya Pullin said. "Up
to this point, Americans traveling or living in Vietnam did not
have consular services available. If we lost our passports we
were in big trouble. Now we can relax."

Business executives were upbeat, and some expected U.S.
government commercial officers to be assigned to Hanoi.

"It's a great day for the American community in Hanoi," said
Alfonso DeMatteis, who runs a construction firm and heads the
newly formed American Chamber of Commerce.

The chamber has 58 member companies in Hanoi and a similar
number in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam's business hub.

"You're going to have a full-sized embassy over here from all
the indications we hear," DeMatteis said. "This is what we need.
It tells people it's another shoulder to cry on in a hostile
(business) environment."

He said the liaison office opening would facilitate the start
of operations in Vietnam by the U.S. Export-Import Bank and the
Overseas Private Investment Corporation, another government
agency "and that would be a big help for us".

Vietnam and the United States opened liaison offices almost a
year to the day after President Bill Clinton lifted a U.S.
economic embargo against Hanoi.

The U.S. office, a nine-story, glass-fronted office block,
shut its doors after the opening party. James Hall, the head of
the office, said it would start work next Friday after Vietnam's
Tet lunar new year holidays.

Small and medium-sized U.S. businesses "who don't have any
route to come into Vietnam" would benefit from its presence, said
Kathy Charlton, managing director of investment and consultancy
firm Ashta International.

"If there is some sort of liaison here to answer questions and
help people find partners in Vietnam for certain areas of
business, I think that will be a help," she said.

Chuck Searcy of the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation
said opening the liaison office would help the U.S. drive to
account for servicemen still listed as missing in action from the
wars in Indochina.