Bush touts stock market

The Vietnamese want to promote American investment.
HANOI, Vietnam (AP) -- If he was a young businessman seeking his fortune today, he would come to Vietnam.
That's what President Bush told Vietnamese and American executives he met during a visit to the country's fledgling stock market, according to participants Monday.
Meeting with 10 business executives -- five Vietnamese, five American -- during a round-table discussion at the exchange, Bush said he was impressed with the communist country's emerging private sector and hoped to promote commerce between the two countries, they said.
"He told us that if he was young, and he wanted to make money, this is where he would come," said Sesto Vechi, an American attorney whose Ho Chi Minh City firm, Russin and Vecchi, represents many major U.S. companies.
According to Vecchi, Bush also asked them, "Are you making money?"
Their answer: Yes.
Summit participation
Bush came to Ho Chi Minh City -- the nation's commercial center -- after participating in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Hanoi this weekend.
He got a warm welcome of cheers from a crowd of about 100 Vietnamese gathered outside the stock exchange, and he smiled and waved back.
Vietnam's economy grew at 8.4 percent last year, one of the fastest rates in the world, and its fledgling stock market is booming.
It now has 53 listed companies and has seen its capitalization increase tenfold in less than a year.
Participants in the business round-table told Bush that Vietnam had a vibrant economy with great investment potential -- but that the country still needed to do more to improve its legal system and protect intellectual property rights.
"He listened to the positives and the things that need improvement," said Than Trong Phuc, country manager for Intel Corp., which is building a 1 billion chip testing and assembly plant in Ho Chi Minh City.
The executives expressed concern that it was very difficult for Vietnamese businessmen to receive visas to the United States, due to the country's tight post-Sept. 11 security procedures.
Dang Thanh Tam, chairman of Saigon Invest Group, said Bush was interested in participating in an APEC program that would allow registered businessmen from the other 20 APEC member economies to travel to the United States without a visa.
"We are very pleased with that," said Tam, whose company is Vietnam's largest developer of industrial parks and just listed on the exchange last week.
Tam said he told Bush that Vietnamese companies want him to promote American investment in Vietnam so that their economic relationship becomes as good as their political relationship, which has grown steadily closer in recent years.
Lagging investment
While the U.S. is Vietnam's biggest trading partner, U.S. investment in Vietnam lags behind that of Japan, Singapore, Taiwan and South Korea.
"He told us that he hoped his visit to the stock market would stir up more American interest in Vietnam's financial sector," Tam said.
The executives said Bush expressed confidence that the U.S. Congress would soon pass a bill fully normalizing trade relations between the United States and Vietnam.
Although the two countries have a bilateral trade agreement, U.S. companies cannot take full advantage of Vietnam's entry into the World Trade Organization unless the trade bill passes.
Walter Blocker, chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in Ho Chi Minh City, said the executives also asked Bush to make it easier for Vietnamese people to get visas to study in the United States.
University system
Vietnam's university system still needs major improvements, and making it easier for Vietnamese to study in America could help improve the quality of Vietnamese management, said Blocker, country manager for the Gannon Group, a packaging and logistics company.
"The president was impressed with Vietnam's entrepreneurial spirit and the growth of opportunity here," Blocker said. "He wants American companies to participate."