 |
| U.S. Ambassador Raymond Burghardt:
Arrived on the post together with the BTA. |
| Courtesy U.S. Embassy |
The U.S. envoy on Hanoi, just like his predecessor,
is no novice to the country. Ambassador Raymond
Burghardt has been to the south of Vietnam when
it was still a divided country. He first worked
for the Agency for International Development and
then as a political officer at the U.S. Embassy
in Saigon.
His mission today is dramatically different. He oversees
U.S. assistance in implementing a historic trade agreement
between the two erstwhile foes, and directs a program
that is designed to prepare Vietnam for entry into
the World Trade Organization, preferably by 2005.
And although he thinks that in some areas relations
could still improve – law enforcement cooperation
being an important one – he also realizes that
the Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) – Burghardt
arrived in Hanoi five days after the signing ceremony
– has put the two nations onto a special track.
Referring to the doubling of bilateral trade in 2001,
a rough year for the world economy, he joked at the
Asia Society meeting in Washington this January that
“this may be the only trade relationship that
is growing in the world today.” But he concluded
in all seriousness: “Free trade is obviously
good for both sides.” Burghardt spoke again at
the Annual Meeting the Asia Society held in Hanoi
in March, another sign of Vietnam’s growing importance
in Asian affairs.
Burghardt is quick to point out that where liberalization
has been immediate, progress is fastest. Trade surged
as the BTA opened both countries’ borders. Service
provisions are being phased in, as are those on investment,
and progress is much slower.
The Vietnamese negotiators, says Burghardt, who tried
to protect their own service industries for as long
as they could, did not realize how important the service
industry is to the creation of a good environment
for manufacturing. It is clear that the negotiators
underestimated the key role that certain services
play in Vietnam’s continued economic growth and
its ability to compete in attracting quality manufacturing
investment in such a competitive regional and global
environment, he told the Asia Society.
Key examples, according to Burghardt, are capital
markets, telecom services and transportation infrastructure.
These areas are critical for Vietnam’s economic
growth and without further liberalization, Vietnam
will continue to lag significantly behind its neighbors.
But that also means these areas present a great opportunity
for Vietnam to attract high quality investment in
those sectors.
Moreover, there are still some laws related to
foreign investment that need to be revised. But,
the real challenge is to ensure the laws are applied
consistently at the national, provincial, and local
level.
Sober assessment
There is a tendency in Vietnam, says Burghardt, to
look at trade issues as political issues. A trade
dispute is seen as negative political intent, or that
there should be positive political interventions in
support of Vietnam. But in trade negotiations, it
does not work that way, he says. In a market system,
it is important to stick to the commercial facts.
Thus, the Vietnamese side has to look at the two most
heavily publicized trade rows, over catfish and the
imposition of textile quotas, in a sober, factual
way. The catfish issue reflects that the BTA does
not do away with domestic legislation, and each party
will continue to do what is in its interest.
On textiles, the U.S. Congress passed the BTA with
a clear understanding that quotas would be imposed
as soon as practical, while still giving the Vietnamese
industry time to build an export record. Anyway, says
Burghardt, once Vietnam joins the World Trade Organization,
quotas will be a thing of the past.
In the end, these positive interventions the Vietnamese
leadership is expecting do exist. The $8 million STAR
Project is providing technical expertise to the government
of Vietnam on BTA implementation issues throughout
the country. Vietnam is the biggest recipient of bilateral
HIV-prevention aid, and the Vietnam Education Fund,
created by Congress, allows significant exchanges
in science training.
Overall, Burghardt concludes, “this is a picture
of a healthy relationship.” |
