Friday November 23
HANOI (Reuters) - Vietnam's National Assembly heard on Friday that Washington would use human rights issues to pressure Hanoi after a landmark trade agreement takes effect, state-run Voice of Vietnam (VOV) radio reported. It quoted Do Van Tai, head of the Assembly's External Relations Committee, as calling on delegates to consider how the pact would influence "the important issues in Vietnam's bilateral and international ties". The United States' Jackson-Vanik amendment, passed in 1974, rules out certain commercial relations with any country that prohibits or severely restricts the emigration of its citizens.
Vietnam denies restricting human rights, but is regularly criticised by international rights groups for its curbs on freedom of expression and religious worship. Tai said the Vietnam-U.S. trade pact would create chain effects on agreements Hanoi had signed with other countries which would ask Vietnam to grant them the most favoured nation status. VOV said President Tran Duc Luong and Minister Khoan had delivered reports on Friday explaining the benefits and urging ratification. Working groups of the assembly were to spend the day discussing the agreement. While some vested interests in Vietnam oppose market opening, the trade agreement has the strong backing of the communist leadership and it is expected to pass without a hitch. It will grant Vietnamese exporters access to the world's biggest market at the same low tariffs enjoyed by most other countries and gradually open up Vietnam to U.S. service providers in a wide range of fields like telecommunications and banking. If properly implemented, diplomats say the pact should ease Hanoi's eventual accession to the World Trade Organisation.