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GV Independence Palace
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SV (INT.) Rogers and party greeted by Thieu
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SCU Rogers and Thieu seated (2 shots)
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Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: United States Secretary of State William Rogers on his arrival in Saigon on Saturday (July 4), said it was time for real negotiations to end the Indochina war. Soon after making the statement he conferred with South Vietnam's President Nguyen Van Thieu for over an hour.

Mr. Rogers, who was in Saigon for the two-day annual conference of countries whose troops are fighting in Vietnam on the side of the Saigon Government, discussed with the President whether it was desirable or possible to take new initiatives at the Paris Talks, U.S. officials said.

The talks also covered the effects of the recent incursions into Viet Cong sanctuaries in Cambodia.

At the end of his 48-hour stay, Mr. Rogers told an airport press conference prior to his departure for Japan, that he would not advise President Nixon to speed up or slow down withdrawals of American troops in Vietnam.

But he did say he would report to the President on the U.S. programme of turning over the war to the Vietnamese. He also said there was reason to think the United States would be able to provide a reasonable amount of economic aid and military equipment to Cambodia.