Vietnam PM meets Microsoft's Bill Gates
Tue Jun 21, 2005
By Michael Kahn
SEATTLE (Reuters) - Vietnamese Prime Minister Phan Van Khai pledged to combat software piracy during talks with Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates on Monday as he became the most senior official of the communist state to visit the United States since the Vietnam war ended 30 years ago.
Khai signed two agreements committing Vietnam to work with Microsoft in curbing theft of intellectual property rights and removing licensing barriers for used computers donated to schools, said Microsoft spokeswoman Tami Begasse.
The Business Software Alliance, a Washington-based lobby group, estimates that 92 percent of the software used in Vietnam in 2004 was pirated, the highest rate in the world.
Gates said users in Vietnam had downloaded a Vietnamese language package to work on Windows XP and Office 2003 more than 18,000 times since its introduction in March -- something he said made Microsoft rededicate its commitment to Vietnam.
Khai's stop in Seattle was the first in a four-city tour that includes a meeting on Tuesday with President Bush in Washington.
In Washington the White House said the United States was eager to advance Vietnam's bid to join the World Trade Organization. Hanoi's goal is to join the WTO at the group's next ministerial meeting in December 2005 in Hong Kong.
"The United States strongly supports Vietnam's integration into the world economic community and its bid to join the World Trade Organization," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said.
Since Washington and Hanoi restored diplomatic links in 1995, two-way trade has rocketed from just $451 million to $6.4 billion in 2004. The United States became Vietnam's most important commercial partner after the signing of a bilateral trade pact in 2001.
Hundreds of demonstrators rallied in Seattle against Khai's visit Sunday to protest against Vietnam's human rights record. Vietnamese exiles, religious activists and ethnic minority opponents of Hanoi also plan rallies in Washington.
Microsoft spokeswoman Begasse said there were no protests at the software maker's campus.
Khai will also travel to Boston and New York on a trip that coincides with the 10th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic ties frozen after the end of "The American War," as it is known to Vietnamese.
Vietnam is also expected to sign a contract to buy four Boeing 787 "Dreamliner" planes, worth around $500 million, during Khai's visit.
Despite growing commercial ties, differences remain between the two nations, in particular over U.S. criticism of Vietnam's record on human rights and religious freedom, and Washington's refusal to compensate thousands of Vietnamese victims of wartime chemical weapons such as Agent Orange.
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