Laos Sets Economic Growth Rate at 7-8 Percent HANOI (Nov. 11) XINHUA - Laos expects its gross domestic product (GDP) to grow by 7-8 percent in the coming 1997- 1998 fiscal year while stabilizing the economic, financial and monetary situation, local report said. Meanwhile, the inflation rate will be kept at 11 percent, Finance Minister Saysomphone Phomvihane was quoted by the country's official news agency KPL as saying at last week's national conference on finance. Saysomphone said that budgetary revenues will increase by 32 percent, accounting for 14 percent of the GDP. The gross expenditures will rise by 20 percent while budgetary deficit will not exceed eight percent of the GDP. The total public investment will rise by 15.2 percent, the report added. U.S. Official Sees Laos Bomb Legacy By JERRY HARMER, Associated Press Writer PLAIN OF JARS, Laos (AP) -- The highest-ranking U.S. official to visit Laos since 1975 inspected unexploded bombs scattered across the countryside Monday -- a legacy of Washington's Vietnam-era bombing campaign. Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott watched a U.S.- aided project remove some of the unexploded ordnance from land in Xiangkhouang province, calling the experience "sobering" and "vivid." Hundreds of Laotians are killed or injured every year by explosives left over from the U.S. bombing campaign in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The United States' so-called "secret war" in Laos was aimed at preventing North Vietnam from using Laotian territory as a transit point for its soldiers and supplies during the Vietnam War. The campaign failed, and the communists took power in Laos in 1975, the same year South Vietnam fell to the communist North. Talbott, who is making a two-week visit to seven East Asian and Pacific nations, arrived in Laos on Sunday and met with Foreign Minister Somsavat Lengsavat. He said the human rights climate in Laos was among subjects they discussed. In Xiangkhouang, Talbott was given a tour Monday by the Mines Advisory Group, a British organization that helps train Laotians to remove land mines and other unexploded ordnance. Talbott was shown a small cache of rocket-propelled grenades and mortar shells, and inspected a "bombie" -- a baseball-sized weapon dropped in canisters by U.S. planes that sprayed hundreds of lethal pellets upon explosion. Shielded behind an old Russian-made truck, Talbott turned a plunger that exploded some of the old weapons. He then went to the Plain of Jars, where he was shown one of the numerous craters left by the American bombing campaign. A battered wooden sign at the bottom read, in Laotian and English, "U.S. bomb." Asked later by reporters if he thought the United States should apologize for its actions in Laos, Talbott said he believed it was the "time and place to look to the future, not rehash the past." He said his talks with Laotian officials indicated they felt the same way. Talbott said the United States has spent more than $4 million on training and equipment for Laotian programs to help remove unexploded ordnance. "I am proud of what we have done so far and expect it would be increased in the future on the basis of what I have seen," he said. Talbott met Laotian President Nouhak Phoumsavan late Monday in Vientiane, the capital. He said that meeting would include talks on economic cooperation, U.S. servicemen still missing from the Vietnam War era, assistance to combat narcotics and regional security. Clinton removes Syria, Lebanon from drug list WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Clinton announced Monday that he has dropped Syria and Lebanon from the annual U.S. list of major drug trafficking countries, eight months after citing them as problem nations. The decision drew fire from Iowa Republican Sen. Charles Grassley, who questioned how Clinton could move so quickly to change Syria's designation. "From all accounts, Syria remains a major drug trafficker," said Grassley, chairman of the Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control. In a letter to relevant members of Congress, Clinton said he removed Syria and Lebanon from the list because they had jointly begun a campaign to eradicate about 8,400 acres of opium poppy cultivation in the Bekaa Valley. "I have removed both countries from the majors list this year and have placed them on the watch list, with the understanding that they will be once again listed as major illicit drug producers or transit countries, should the evidence warrant," Clinton said. It was a victory for Syria, which has been on the list every year since 1992 based on what the United States said was evidence that Syrian troops were protecting drug cultivation and transportation. In theory the decision would open Syria up to U.S. aid and American support for international loans to the government of President Hafez al-Assad. But Syria remains on the U.S. list of countries believed responsible for international terrorism and thus still remains ineligible for U.S. assistance. Just last March the State Department cited Syria as a major transit country for hashish leaving Lebanon and for opium and morphine entering Lebanon from Iran, Afghanistan and Turkey. Clinton was required to give his list of major drug trafficking countries by Nov. 1 but missed the deadline over what Grassley called an internal debate over Syria. The nations he did list as major drug trafficking countries were: Afghanistan, Aruba, the Bahamas, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Burma, Cambodia, China, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Haiti, Hong Kong, India, Iran, Jamaica, Laos, Malaysia, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Taiwan, Thailand, Venezuela and Vietnam. On March 1 Clinton must list the countries officially certified as helping the United States fight drug trafficking. Governments that do not pass muster are cut off from most U.S. aid and face Washington's negative vote when they request loans from development institutions like the World Bank. Foreign officials complain it is ironic that the United States, the world's top drug-consuming nation, should judge others.