U.S., Vietnam agree on liaison offices

U.S., Vietnam agree on liaison offices

HANOI (Agencies): The United States and Vietnam have agreed to establish diplomatic liaison offices in each other's capitals in "an important step towards normalization of relations", Vietnam announced yesterday.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Winston Lord and Vietnamese Deputy Foreign Minister Le Mai exchanged letters agreeing on the move last Friday and Saturday, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

They had been discussing details after agreeing in principle to set up the offices when U.S. President Bill Clinton lifted a 30-year-old economic embargo against Hanoi last February.

Neutral diplomatic sources with knowledge of the negotiations said it would be several weeks before the United States set up its liaison office in Hanoi, its first official diplomatic presence in the city for 40 years.

It still needed to sign contracts on a building for the bureau, likely to be the same size as an embassy with 10 to 20 diplomats, they said.

"It will be some time yet," one source said.

The offices will be headed by diplomats with the title of "chief of liaison office" and they will operate under the 1963 Vienna convention on consular relations, the ministry said.

"The establishment of the liaison offices in the two capitals constitutes an important step towards normalization of relations between Vietnam and the United States of America, providing both governments with favorable conditions to continue the resolution of issues of common concern, in the interests of the two peoples and of peace, stability and development in the region."

They are expected to establish diplomatic relations and exchange ambassadors within a few months.

U.S. embassy

Announcement of the agreement on liaison offices indicated the two sides had agreed on the return of diplomatic premises, including the old U.S. Embassy in Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon, and the old South Vietnamese Embassy in Washington.

Vietnam took over the U.S. Embassy in Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam, when communist forces won the war in April, 1975. Part of it is occupied by a Vietnamese oil company.

The United States closed its last diplomatic mission in Hanoi, a consulate, after French colonial rule ended following the 1954 battle of Dien Bien Phu.

However, as relations warmed last year, Washington assigned three middle-ranking officials to work on consular issues out of the U.S. military detachment in Hanoi, nicknamed "The Ranch".

The three officials from the State Department currently work in Hanoi without diplomatic status to help in the search for U.S. servicemen still missing in action (MIA) from the conflict here.

Vietnam's cooperation in the search for the 2,234 MIAs has been a key concern in the U.S. decision to lift the embargo and move towards normalizing ties with Hanoi and Washington is still demanding the "fullest possible accounting".

U.S. businesses -- a driving force behind pressure to lift the embargo -- are now clamoring for full diplomatic ties, which would ease the negotiation of aviation and trade agreements, including Most Favored Nation tariff status for Vietnam.

Some 60 American firms have opened offices in Vietnam, investing more than US$20 million since February.

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