1.
GV Motorcade arriving & Nguyen Luu Vien out of car & talks to newsmen
0.14

2.
CU Cameraman
0.16

3.
CU Nguyen Luu Vien raises hat to the camera & walks away
0.35

4.
SV Mr. Hieu arrives by car & talks to newsmen
1.50


SOF STARTS: "Comme vous le savez..."



SOF ENDS: ".. etc, etc."


5.
MV Officials
1.52

6.
GV Motorcade into grounds of country house
2.02



Initials ESP/0149



Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: The South Vietnamese Government proposed a new agenda on Thursday (April 12) for the Paris talks with the Viet Cong to try to get discussions on the political future of South Vietnam moving again.

The Saigon proposal, made in Paris, suggested that all the outstanding problems facing the two sides should be solved as a whole. The agenda should consist of two parts. One would deal with the elections to be held in South Vietnam, and the other the setting up of a National Council of Reconciliation and National Concord which is to supervise the voting.

But the Viet Cong delegation leader Nguyen Van Hieu said the proposed agenda was only a re-arrangement of the problems already put forward. It was an attempt to avoid the urgent problems which were now posed, he added. The main question, he said, was the guaranteeing of democratic freedoms in South Vietnam. The meeting at the La Celle St. Cloud Castle on Thursday was the sixth between the two sides.

In what was called counter proposal, the Viet Cong delegate said the two sides should discuss such concrete issues as ending Unite States' military involvement in South Vietnam and an end to "American interference" in the country's internal problems.

The Viet Cong delegation said there had been no progress in the talks so far. Both sides agreed to meet again on Wednesday (18 April). Before going into the talks, the Viet Cong delegate Nguyen Van Hieu spoke to newsmen in French.

The following is a translation of the French on film:
"As you well know, according to the Paris agreement, the internal problems of South Vietnam will have to be solved without any foreign interference. The events of the last days show that the United States has not yet decided to stop their policy of interference in our internal politics. As you know, there was a trip by Thieu to the United States and the common communique in which the United States expressed their desire to go on with their intervention and an escalation of war in Cambodia and the threat etc, etc, etc.".

SYNOPSIS: A motorcade approaches La Celle St. Cloud Castle near Paris on Thursday for the sixth session of talks between the South Vietnamese and the Viet Cong. Mr. Nguyen Luu Vien, the Saigon delegate, brought a proposed new agenda with him.

The suggestion was designed to get the talks on South Vietnam's political future moving. The Saigon proposal suggested that all outstanding problems facing the two sides should be solved as a whole. The two-part agenda should deal with elections and the setting up of a National Council of Reconciliation.

But the Viet Cong delegation leader Nguyen Van Hieu said the proposed agenda was only a re-arrangement of problems already put forward. The main question was to guarantee democratic freedoms in South Vietnam. Then Mr. Hieu spoke to newsmen about, what he called, continued United States' interference in South Vietnam. According to the Paris agreement, the internal problems of South Vietnam would have to be solved without any foreign interference, Mr. Hieu Said. The events of the last few days had showed that the United States had not yet decided to stop its policy of interference in Vietnam's internal politics. There had been the trip made by President Thieu of South Vietnam to the United States. There was also the common communique issued after the visit. In this the United States had expressed the desire to go on with their intervention, and to escalate the war in Cambodia, he added. Mr. Hieu said the two sides in the Paris talks should be talking about concrete measures. They should be discussing the ending of United States military engagement is South Vietnam.

The Viet Cong delegation said there had been no progress in the talks so far. The South Vietnamese, however, said the Viet Cong were refusing to enter concrete discussions.