VIETNAM TRIES TO MEND RELATIONS WITH CANADA

Hanoi Is Willing To Return The Remains Of An Executed Canadian Woman
To Her Family And Release Her Mother

HANOI - Vietnam is hoping to ease tensions with Canada by sending
back the remains of an executed Canadian woman and considering the
release of her sick mother, Vietnamese and Canadian officials said
yesterday.

Canada froze ministerial-level relations after Nguyen Thi Hiep, a
Canadian citizen, was executed on April 24 on a drug smuggling conviction.

Foreign Minister Nguyen Dy Nien sent a letter on Friday to his
Canadian counterpart, Mr Lloyd Axworthy, saying that Hiep's crime --
smuggling 5.45 kg of heroin -- was serious and that her execution was
"justified and correct".

However, Mr Nien said Vietnam was willing to exhume and return Hiep's
body to her family and strongly consider releasing her elderly mother
on humanitarian grounds.

Vietnam felt regret and surprise that Canada had restricted relations
and hopes normalisation will resume soon, said Foreign Ministry
spokesman Phan Thuy Thanh. "I am encouraged by the initial response,"
Mr Axworthy said in a statement. Hiep and her mother, Tran Thi Cam,
75, were arrested in 1996 when customs inspectors discovered the
heroin, worth about US$5 million (S$8.5 million) hidden in the panels
of a lacquer painting.

Hiep was sentenced to death and her mother life imprisonment.

Canadian authorities and rights groups had asked Vietnam to delay the
execution because of evidence the two women were duped by smugglers
into transporting the heroin.