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WASHINGTON: US President George W. Bush unveiled new aid for the typhoon-battered Philippines and praised Vietnam's "noteworthy" progress on religious freedoms in talks on Tuesday with their visiting leaders.
Bush offered "deep condolences" to Philippines President Gloria Arroyo over devastating Typhoon Fengshen and said he was sending a US aircraft carrier, the USS Ronald Reagan, and other US Navy assets to help with relief efforts.
"This is a time where America needs to step up, and we will," he told her as they met in the Oval Office. "We are happy to do it, we want to help our friends in a time of need."
Arroyo, whose popularity is the lowest in three years as soaring prices slowed growth and slashed incomes, spoke in Filipino, which was not translated. Afterwards, Bush joked: "I couldn't have said it better myself."
Later, he met with Vietnamese Premier Nguyen Tan Dung, praising Vietnam's "noteworthy" progress on religious freedoms amid a flurry of US-Vietnam trade deals and vows of closer cooperation on issues like climate change.
"We talked about freedom, religious and political freedom," Bush said. "And I told the prime minister that I thought the strides the government is making towards religious freedom is noteworthy and I appreciated the efforts that he and his government are making."
Dung, speaking through an interpreter, made no mention of rights among the issues they had discussed and said Bush had "reiterated his support for Vietnam's sovereignty, security, and territorial integrity."
Bush's upbeat tone seemed to clash with the US State Department's assessment on the human rights picture in Vietnam in 2007, which cited reports of limits on religious meetings and celebrations or the publication of religious texts.
"Overall respect for religious freedom improved during the year, but the government persisted in placing restrictions on the political activities of religious groups," said the report, which was published in March 2008.
Dung said he and Bush had agreed to bolster cooperation on economic, education, environment, science, defence and security issues as well as issues left over from the war between the United States and Vietnam.
That included de-mining programs in Vietnam, efforts to counter long-term effects of the Agent Orange chemical defoliant, and a quest to determine the fate of an estimated 1,353 US citizens still unaccounted for in Vietnam.
"Also, the two sides agreed to commence negotiations on a bilateral investment treaty," even as Washington considers whether to designate Vietnam a market economy, lifting Cold War-era curbs on economic ties, said Dung.
"I hope that, with the fruitful outcomes of my visit, the Vietnam-US relationship will be elevated to new heights in the interest of both peoples of peace, stability and development cooperation in the region and the world," he said.
Earlier, US Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez and Dung presided over the signing of contracts and other agreements, including some by US aluminium giant Alcoa, electronic communications manufacturer Motorola Inc. and travel technology firm Sabre Holdings with their Vietnamese counterparts.
The Commerce Department said the new business deals support jobs in the United States and further increase US exports to Vietnam, which grew almost 73 percent in 2007 and more than 133 percent year in April from a year ago.
White House spokeswoman Dana Perino had said Bush would use both meetings to discuss the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which Washington has pushed to take a harder line on member nation Myanmar.
The talks came as Bush prepared for what could be his two final trips to Asia - in Japan for the Group of Eight industrialised nations summit in July and to China for the Olympic Games in August, as well as other possible stops. - AFP/de
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