1
8
e
has prevented passangers from departing as quickly as they might.
The Vietnamese authorities have recently informed us that these
passengers may now be booked on other airlines. We are also
hopeful that a portion of the passengers will be able to travel
inaugwat directly from Ho Chi Minh City to Manila, and the first flight is
now scheduled for December 19, under the new air agreement
concluded between Vietnam and the Philippines.
As the volume of
departures grows, increased cooperation, coordination and
long-range planning will be necessary to prevent an excessive and unwelcome
backlog of approved people not being able to depart in a timely
fashion.
Over the years, we have repeatedly made the point that we
could further improve the efficiency of ODP and, thus, increase
the rate of departures by including more persons from U.S. lists
on the lists of those the Vietnamese authorities propose for
in was envisaged in interview Because these cases are relatively complete, they can
be interviewed without delay and adjudicated quickly.
By scheduling persons from our lists for interview, the
Vietnamese authorities would also demonstrate their commitment to
the principle of reciprocity as envis
envisaged on the 1979 Memorandum
of Understanding between the SRV and UNHCR.