US embassy cable - 05HANOI1116

UNCLAS HANOI 001116 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV, PREL, SOCI, VM 
SUBJECT:  RESONSE TO DEPARTMENT COMMENTS ON VIETNAM FY 2007 
MP 
 
REF: A. STATE 58484 B. MOELING/DEHMLOW EMAILS 
 
1. (U) SUMMARY:  Post as reviewed the suggestions in ref A 
and made seeral revisions to the FY-07 Mission Performance 
lan.  In most cases, Post accepted Washington's 
uggestions.  END SUMMARY. 
 
Brief Overview and COMStatement 
-------------------------------- 
 
2.(U) Post appreciates the comments on the brief oveview 
and has simplified the personnel section tomake it easier 
to read.  This has required sacriicing some detail. 
 
3. (U) The Chief of Mission Statement has been revised, per 
reftel recommendations, to incorporate POW/MIA issues; 
describe increases in Foreign Operations spending requests; 
and, explain the replacement of the RS goalpaper with Trade 
and Investment.  Regarding the inclusion of POW/MIA staff in 
the Mission Performance Plan, it is our considered position 
that JPAC Detachment Two functions as an integrated part of 
this Mission, and that it is not possible to make a 
realistic strategic plan without considering the personnel, 
policy and resource impact represented by JPAC Detachment 
Two.  Consequently, we will continue to list JPAC in our 
MPP. 
 
Goalpapers 
---------- 
 
4. (U) Reftel asked why secondary schol enrollment was 
chosen as a performance indicato in goalpaper one (economic 
growth and developmet).  The strategic goal we are working 
towards i this area includes equitable distribution of 
ecnomic benefits.  The success of public education i 
directly related to a country's economic developent and 
growth and its ability to distribute thebenefits of that 
growth equitably.  Secondary school enrollment rates are one 
way to measure the health of the public education system; 
this metric is also used in assessing the International 
Development Goals of the Millennium Declaration (the so- 
called "Millenium Development Goals.")  We incorporated 
causal factors into this goalpaper related to improvements 
in the corruption index. 
 
5. (U) The Department of Labor does not have a 
representative in Vietnam; the labor portfolio is handled by 
the Economic Section.  Therefore we opted not to list DOL as 
an action office on any of the tactics in the MPP. 
Regarding the Mission's listing of position requests as 
tactics in the MPP, after consultation with RM (ref B) we 
have decided to retain these references.  Post understands 
that listing position requests as tactics within goalpapers 
will not have an effect on Washington's decision to support 
those position requests.  To strengthen that argument, we 
have refined and rewritten some of our position descriptions 
in Table C and revised the COM statement.  Our retention of 
the position requests within the body of the goalpapers (in 
the tactics section) is to improve the MPP's usefulness to 
the Mission as an internal planning document as well as a 
monitoring and evaluation tool. 
 
6. (U) Thank you for your recommendations regarding 
goalpaper two (human rights).  We have made an adjustment to 
the performance indicator. 
 
7. (U) Post accepts reftel A recommendation on changing the 
wording of the performance goal in the third goalpaper 
(global health).  In response to DOL's question about the 
focus of our efforts, this goalpaper reflects interagency 
consensus regarding the best approach to the HIV/AIDS 
problem in Vietnam: focusing on intravenous drug users (most 
of whom are men) and commercial sex workers. 
 
8. (U) We revised goalpaper four (mutual understanding) to 
clarify the purpose of American Corners in accordance with 
reftel A request. 
 
9. (SBU) The Mission determined this year that Trade and 
Investment, separate from Economic Growth and Development, 
represents a priority goal requiring substantial attention 
and resources.  There are significant linkages between the 
two goals, and we have adjusted the linkage sections of both 
papers to ensure they are communicated effectively.  The 
replacement of the Regional Security goalpaper with the 
Trade and Investment goalpaper in the FY 2007 MPP reflects 
the reality that a robust program of real bilateral security 
cooperation still remains a medium-to-long-term goal with 
relatively little chance of success in the short term, while 
increasing trade and investment is both a current reality 
and a prerequisite for progress in our other priority areas, 
notably Human Rights, Mutual Understanding and Economic 
 
 
Growth and Development.  This change does not reflect a 
reduction in the Mission's efforts to expand security 
cooperation. 
 
10. (U) We revised our statement of the performance goal in 
goalpaper six (visas/homeland security) so that it 
represents an end state rather than a description of our 
current efforts, but declined Washington's suggestion that 
repatriation of Vietnamese nationals be included in the 
performance goal.  As stated in the COM statement, the 
constraints of the MPP process prevent us from including in 
the MPP every activity the Mission carries out; instead, we 
have focused our efforts on the areas where we are devoting 
the most resources for the most potential gain in the 
timeframe of this MPP.  The repatriation issue does not meet 
that threshold.  We also declined to revise our priorities 
in line with CA's suggestion that adoptions be elevated 
higher than visas in accordance with adoptions' higher 
profile with the general public.  It is the Mission's 
position that effective visa services and homeland security 
are a higher priority than facilitating adoptions by 
American citizens, a position supported by the profile of 
resources devoted to both issues. 
 
MARINE 
 
 
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