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THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release November 7, 1995

STATEMENT BY THE PRESS SECRETARY

Lake Meets POW-MIA Representatives on Relations with Vietnam

Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs Anthony Lake and several other senior Administration officials met on November 2nd with representatives of the American Legion, Disabled American Veterans, Veterans of Foreign Wars, American Veterans of World War II, Korea and Vietnam, Vietnam Veterans of America, and the National League of Families of American Prisoners and Missing In Southeast Asia to review the issue of POW/MIAs and the current state of economic relations between the United States and Vietnam.

Mr. Lake underscored to the representatives of the veterans and families that achieving progress on the fullest possible accounting of our POW/MIAs remains the highest priority in our relations with Vietnam. They discussed the Presidential delegation, led by Deputy Secretary of Veterans Affairs Hershel Gober, which will travel to Vietnam later this month to press for further progress.

Mr. Lake also briefed the representatives on the tasks and goals of an inter-agency fact-finding delegation that will travel to Hanoi this week to discuss the economic relations between our two countries. The delegation will gather additional information on the economic situation, freedom of emigration, labor rights, bilateral debt and other issues important in our bilateral relationships. It will also explain our statutory requirements of the various economic programs. Mr. Lake agreed to stay in close contact with the representatives as we work through these issues.

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