US, Vietnam reach cargo open skies accord
11-OCT-2008 Intellasia | Saigon Times Daily page 1
Oct 11, 2008 - 6:58:00 AM
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The United States and Vietnam have agreed to liberalise their bilateral civil aviation relations through an Open Skies arrangement for all-cargo services, the US embassy said on Wednesday.
Lai Xuan Thanh, deputy director general of the Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam (CAAV), confirmed the news when reached by the Daily on Wednesday. He said the agreement was initialled on Tuesday.
The two countries reached the agreement after two days of talks in Hanoi between a Vietnamese delegation led by Thanh and officials from the US departments of transportation and commerce.
"The agreement will strengthen and expand our already strong trade and tourism links with Vietnam, and provide benefits to American and Vietnamese cargo carriers and to shippers, while preserving our commitments to aviation safety and security," the US embassy said in a statement.
The statement says US and Vietnamese cargo airlines would enjoy the benefits of liberalisation on the basis of comity and reciprocity, pending the formal signing and entry into force of the agreement.
"The two sides agreed to meet within two-years to discuss further liberalisation of air services," says the statement, adding this important accord was based on the 2003 Air Transport Agreement between America and Vietnam.
Thanh of CAAV said the cargo Open Skies accord would create favourable conditions for the US and Vietnam to sign an overall agreement. He said the next step for the two sides to prepare all the required procedures before signing of such an agreement.
CAAV will draft an overall cargo Open Skies agreement with the US and then send it to ministries and agencies for comment before submitting to the prime minister for approval.
Thanh said the US and Vietnam were also in talks for renewal of the US-Vietnam Air Transport Agreement, which came into force in 2004 based on the demand to exploit the potential of the Vietnam-US aviation market and the demand for development of economic relations and travel between the two countries.
The agreement has paved the way for American airlines to tap Vietnam's growing aviation market. United Airlines is the only US carrier to operate a daily direct flight between Vietnam and the US via Hong Kong.
However, Vietnam Airlines has had to delay its long-conceived plan to fly stateside in late this year until next year as this national flag air carrier needs more time to solve technical issues. Thanh confirmed Vietnam Airlines would not be able to launch flights to the US by then because of the Vietnamese side rather than the US. He said the local civil aviation authority should improve safety oversight capacity to meet international standards and criteria for the air route.
Last July, officials of the US Trade and Development Agency came to Hanoi to ink new pacts for the next phases of an ongoing project aimed at enhancing the Vietnamese civil aviation authority's safety oversight capacity, as the first phase of the 'project had been completed.
Thanh said the US government was providing US$1.4 million to assist in implementing the project in three phases.
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