US ambassador champions human rights, press freedom
Source: 25-SEP-2007 Intellasia | Bloomberg
Sep 25, 2007 - 7:10:00 AM US ambassador to Vietnam Michael Michalak comments on human rights, press freedom and economic ties. Michalak spoke at his first press conference in the Vietnamese capital Hanoi after becoming ambassador to the Southeast Asian nation in August. "There are three priorities that I would like to work on. First, I will continue to press the government of Vietnam to make progress on human rights, including religious freedom and freedom of the press.

"In order to tell the world the story of Vietnam, it's better to have freedom of the press. For instance, international news agencies are not allowed to open reporting offices in HCM City. That doesn't seem to be a good idea at all. Half the exciting stories in Vietnam are in HCM City.

"Second, I would like to improve the economic relationship between the US and Vietnam. I would like to work very hard to continue to improve our economic relationship in any way.

"I want to make sure that Vietnamese and American companies take advantage of the WTO status of Vietnam and continue to work on a trade-facilitation agreement. I will also work very hard on trying to attract more American investments to Vietnam.''

"The final of the three major priorities is education. I would like to help the Vietnamese government improve the educational structure. I will also try very hard to double the number of students receiving visas to go to American schools.