NY Roundtable on Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam

The Fund for Reconciliation and Development, the Global Business Roundtable, the Institute of International Education (IIE) and the National Association of Export Companies are sponsoring a series of lunches in April and May to initiate an ongoing opportunity for discussion and contact in New York on Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam. The three counties' Permanent Representative to the UN and the Indochina Desk Officer of the US Department of Commerce will address separate meetings.  A special meeting is being planned with US Ambassador to Vietnam Pete Peterson.

The lunches will be valuable in and of themselves but are also conceived as the launch of a long term NY Roundtable on Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam.   Roundtable meetings will be open to members of the business, education, NGO, and foundation communities, and other interested individuals.

The goal of the initial lunches is to provide an informal introduction of the Permanent Representatives and of the principal US government institutions involved with Indochina to key people in New York and vice versa.  The Permanent Representatives are a special resource.  Their work as Ambassadors focuses on the UN, but they are broadly gauged in their interests and are well qualified to represent their country to Americans.  The lunches will also offer an opportunity for US government officials whose work focuses on Indochina to establish personal ties with their constituency in New York.

The lunch schedule, to be held in midtown Manhattan from 12:30-2:00pm, follows. The cost for each lunch is $30, or $100 for the series of four.

• Thursday, April 26 _ Vietnamese Ambassador Nguyen Thanh Chau (co-sponsored by the US-Vietnam Trade Council)

• Thursday, May 3 _ Lao Ambassador Alounkeo Kittikhoun

• Thursday, May 10_ Cambodian Ambassador Ouch Borith

• Thursday, May 17_ Hong Phong Pho; Desk Officer, Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos, US Department of Commerce

For further information, please contact Tara McAuliff at email frdcorporate@mindspring.com or telephone 646-373-3143.

Opportunity Knocks Again?
Investment Opportunities in Vietnam

The Asia Society, in cooperation with the Fund for Reconciliation and Development, invites you to attend a breakfast meeting with Mr. Sesto E. Vecchi, co-founder and partner of the law firm of Russin & Vecchi (R&V). Mr. Vecchi will discuss the current foreign investment climate in Vietnam and the prospects of the US-Vietnam Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA).

The meeting will take place on Tuesday, April 24, 2001, from 8:30 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. at the Union Club, 101 East 69^th Street at Park Avenue, NY.

Mr. Vecchi co-founded Russin & Vecchi (R&V) in 1967 and has subsequently managed the firm's offices in Saigon, Bangkok, New York, Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi.

Pre-registration is required through the Asia Society Box Office (credit card orders only): Fax: 212/517-8555. or telephone: 212/327-9276. For program information only, call 212/327-9303. Admission is $25 if you are an Asia Society member or identify yourself as affiliated with FRD (i.e. are a contributor or represent an organization with programs in Indochina).

Archives of Admiral Zumwalt at Texas Tech

Texas Tech University's Vietnam Center has received the personal archive of Adm. Elmo R. Zumwalt, a former member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff who has been credited with visualizing and then building the modern Navy.

"He was very liberal and forward looking at a time when our Navy was remarkably conservative," reported Tech archive director James Reckner. "He was fond of saying during his term as chief of naval operations that he had created a long list of friends and a long list of enemies, and he was proud of both lists." Besides allowing the memorialization of the admiral, Reckner says Zumwalt's personal archive will provide a balance when it comes to the debate over Agent Orange, a defoliant that contained the toxic chemical dioxin.