U.S. considers humanitarian aid

Press, 6 August 1987, Page 22

U.S. considers humanitarian aid

Hanoi The United States has agreed to take up “urgent humanitarian concerns of - Vietnam” in return for Hanoi’s help in speeding the tracing of 1776 Americans missing in action ;(M.1.A.) from the Vietnam •war. The agreement was reached at the end of three days of talks between United States presidential envoy, John Vessey, and Nguyen Co Thach, Vietnam’s Foreign Minister and one of its senior deputy Ministers. A terse joint statement said Washington and Hanoi had agreed on specific measures “to accelerate progress toward accounting for Americans

missing in Vietnam and to address certain urgent concerns of Vietnam.’’ Experts from both countries would hold two meetings in the near future, it added, one to discuss the next steps to satisfy American demands for information about its missing and another to discuss urgent Vietnamese humanitarian concerns. The statement called the talks candid, detailed and constructive, but neither side would discuss their substance. Mr Vessey seemed “upbeat” at the end of the last round of talks with Mr Thach, telling reporters he felt something had been achieved, but declining to say what