Saigon, 4 May 2009 - U.S. Ambassador, the Honorable Michael Michalak, accompanied by Mr. Douglas Sonnek, economic attaché at the U.S. Embassy, has paid a visit to Dr. Nguyen Dan Que at his house on Nguyen Trai St. in Saigon, Vietnam.

The visit took place at 4:30 p.m., May 4th, 2009, and lasted for about an hour, before which Ambassador held a meeting with American businesses at the Intel Corp. office.

After personal greetings, Ambassador Michalak informed Dr. Que about his activities during his past two years as U.S. ambassador to Vietnam.

Both sides also exchanged opinions about the following topics:

-          Investment and trade between the two countries;

-          Inflation, price fluctuations, unemployment, corruption in Vietnam;

-          Education cooperation, especially the U.S. efforts in helping Vietnam reform her educational system through bilateral collaboration among universities, increasing the number of Vietnamese students in America, and encouraging American businesses to contribute to education and training activities …

Both sides also reviewed the weak conditions of human rights in Vietnam, the grievances of people, lack of the right to strike by Vietnamese workers, religious freedom, etc. Dr, Que expressed his special concerns about the regime’s continuous harassment, suppression, detainment and imprisonment of people who voiced their views peacefully. Ambassador indicated that he has, on many occasions, raised with Vietnam’s communist authorities the issues of press freedom, freedom of Internet access, and demanded release of political and religious prisoners. The Ambassador also indicated that he would continue to firmly support freedom of information and freedom of expression.

Dr. Que then expressed his opinion that Vietnam must have political changes once economic and educational developments and Vietnam’s integration with the outside world have changed the infrastructure of the Vietnamese society. 

Ambassador Michalak completely agreed with Dr. Que that change is inevitable but he emphasized that all changes must reflect the aspirations of the Vietnamese people and must be initiated by the people. The U.S. always wishes to have good reliable relations and effective cooperation with the people of Vietnam.