New York Times, HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam, Monday, Nov. 20 — President Bush ventured into this booming, wildly capitalist commercial center of an ostensibly Communist Vietnam on Monday morning, speeding off to the stock exchange to talk with local business leaders before preparing for a quick visit to Indonesia.
His visit here, where he was also to tour the government-run Pasteur Institute to highlight work on avian flu and AIDS prevention and treatment, concludes three days in the country that have been dominated by his efforts to hold together reluctant partners — notably China, South Korea and Russia — to step up pressure to dismantle the nuclear programs of Iran and North Korea.
In both cases, he found progress agonizingly slow, though there was more evidence of unity in dealing with North Korea.
On Sunday, Mr. Bush formally signed an agreement that paves the way for Russia’s entry into the World Trade Organization, a step that China took years ago and that Russia has long struggled to match.
As he has throughout his trip, Mr. Bush has avoided dwelling on America’s past with Vietnam, though it is difficult in a city like this one, filled with so much potent symbolism of American defeat.
For many Americans, the imagery of this teeming, chaotic place is fixed in 1975, when the last Americans were evacuated by helicopter. Mr. Bush sped past the evacuation spot on his arrival here, but made no stops that would invite comparisons to the current debate over whether the United States should stay or retreat from Iraq.
He steered clear of the other sites that so dominated American politics in his youth, and spent the night at one of the gleaming new hotels that dot the skyline, rather than one of the old haunts, like the Continental, the Rex and the Caravelle (LOL!), where official Washington once struggled to manage a losing effort.
Instead, he made an unannounced stop for dinner with Prime Minister John Howard of Australia at a trendy restaurant in a neighborhood that symbolizes the new Saigon — the name local people insist on using for a city that was renamed immediately after the Communist victory.
After dinner, Mr. Bush mounted the running board of his waiting limousine and waved to a crowd of curious, mostly younger Vietnamese who jammed the streets as news of his arrival spread. There were muted cheers (LOL).
In a trip that has focused relentlessly on the future, Mr. Bush urged China’s leader, Hu Jintao, to create “a nation of consumers and not savers, which will inure to the benefit of our manufacturers, both large and small, and our farmers, as well.” It was an echo of what Mr. Bush’s father used to urge in his visits to Japan, in hopes of closing the trade gap.
At the meetings of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Hanoi over the weekend, Mr. Bush talked about exploring new free trade arrangements for Asia — a long-sought but still distant goal — and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice used the case of Vietnam as an instructive example of economic reform.
In a speech in Hanoi, she said that “20 years ago the leaders of Vietnam took a hard look at their isolated economy, and they made a strategic choice to begin reforms.” In fact, they have turned to serious reforms only in recent years.
Mr. Bush’s spokesmen said that he and the leaders of Japan and China saw “eye to eye” on steps needed to press North Korea.
But the spokesmen did not use those words to describe talks with the South Koreans, who have been particularly reluctant to fully join efforts to intercept suspected illicit shipments of arms, or to cut off economic links after the North’s nuclear test.
Christopher R. Hill, the chief American negotiator with North Korea, is to fly to Beijing this week to try to work out a mix of incentives for the North and to persuade the Chinese to push for a symbolically important dismantling of part of North Korea’s weapons complex. That last step is one the North Koreans have not yet indicated they are ready to take before negotiations resume.
Russia has continued to balk about imposing major sanctions against Iran, which has continued to defy a United Nations Security Council call for full suspension of its enrichment of uranium.
Rather than dwell on those differences in public, Russian and American officials celebrated an agreement to allow Russia to enter the W.T.O. after 10 years of stop-and-go negotiations, and talks that began shortly after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
“We support Russia’s accession into the W.T.O.,” President Bush announced in Hanoi after a meeting with President Vladimir V. Putin on the outskirts of the Asia-Pacific meeting.
American officials said the agreement with Russia was reached in principle more than a week ago, after the two countries gradually worked out nagging disputes on issues like agriculture inspections, chicken exports to Russia and intellectual property protection.
Susan C. Schwab, the United States trade representative, said the pact should bring a significant increase to global trade.
Her Russian counterpart, Economy Minister German Gref, was equally effusive at the signing ceremony on Sunday. “Undoubtedly, this agreement is a very substantial milestone in the full integration of Russia into the global economy,” he said.
Mr. Putin has repeatedly said that joining the W.T.O. is a major foreign policy goal, although Russia’s oil-driven economy will get few direct gains from membership in the organization, which sets the ground rules for globalization. But joining would give Russia a voice in world trade talks, with the potential to help set future trade policy.
The agreement with the United States means that Russia has passed the last major barrier to its entry into the 149-member world trade entity.
But Russia still must win approval from Moldova and Georgia, countries with grievances over a Russian ban on importing wine. Those countries could further delay a final deal on W.T.O. membership, although trade officials have said they expect that Russia will manage to find a way to resolve the issue.
