Delicate Task for Vietnamese Delegation : Trade: Officials welcome U.S. investment but seek to avoid demonstrators.

Vietnamese government and business leaders visiting Southern California last week had a delicate task: Without calling too much attention to themselves, they needed to get the word out that the communist nation--now taking tiny steps toward applying free-market principles to its economy--is eager to do business with Southern California companies.

With antipathy toward the Hanoi government still strong among Southern California Vietnamese immigrants, the seven members of delegation--who were making their first trip to the United States--feared being met with angry demonstrators.

The Orange County city of Westminster, for example, has been the scene of several demonstrations against the United States’ February decision to lift its long-standing economic embargo against Vietnam.

After tiptoeing quietly through a crowded schedule of meetings with eager California business owners, the delegation departed without incident.

The six-day trip served its purpose of establishing relationships and developing leads on further business negotiations, delegation leader Ngo Thi Chi Thanh, manager of the foreign trade section of the Hanoi People’s Committee (the city’s ruling governmental body), said in an interview Friday.

Earlier in the week, she declined interviews for herself and other delegation members. The delegation also had its first public appearance on Friday.

“We welcome all foreigners to invest in Vietnam to improve our economic situation,” she said. “It is a good chance for Vietnam to encourage relations with both countries and to move both countries closer and closer toward opening a new chapter of history.”

Although Vietnam has received some $8.8 billion in foreign investment since economic reforms began in 1988, the country still needs investment in basic infrastructure, the Vietnamese officials said.

Residents of even the largest cities such as Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City are still drinking dirty water, they said. Vietnam needs American investment to help build water purification and drainage control systems, the development of telecommunications and transportation and to develop its natural resources.

Vietnam can meet its development goals faster with America’s help, Ngo said.

Vietnam also welcomes many other types of business investment, the delegation stressed.

“The aim of the trip is to research the market and to make acquaintances with the people,” Ngo said. “Businessmen in America are eager to do business in Vietnam because for America, Vietnam is a huge new market.”

With a population of 73 million, a number that rivals that of Mexico, Vietnam offers American companies tremendous potential for new markets in an economy that has been growing at a rate of 7% to 8% annually.

The Vietnamese delegates highlighted the government’s economic reforms, saying that Vietnam has an open-door policy for any business interested in setting up shop.

Some Vietnam experts have expressed skepticism about the degree that foreign investors can operate successfully in the still tightly controlled country, but many Americans eager to do business in Vietnam have been less concerned about the risks, said the owner of a Santa Ana-based trade, development and finance corporation that assists Americans interested in investing in developing countries. He met with the Vietnamese delegation but did not want to be identified for fear that his business would be subject to boycotts and demonstrations.

Vietnam “now has diplomatic relations but not many people have taken advantage of that,” the Santa Ana business owner said. “There are good opportunities for growth and business there.”

The Vietnamese delegates outlined a flexible process for American companies to begin looking at Vietnam for opportunities. Interested businesses should contact either the American Chambers of Commerce in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, the Vietnamese Department of Foreign and Economic Relations, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or a Vietnamese company they might be interested in pairing up with.

“The door is open,” said Pham Ngoc Phi, the managing director of Union of Export and Import Company, which specializes in the distribution of textiles and agricultural products. “The companies now need to move in.”