VIETNAM

Major U.S. Firms to Open Offices: Several big U.S. companies--Citibank, General Electric, tobacco giant Philip Morris, IBM and lawyers Baker Mackenzie--will soon receive licenses to open offices in Vietnam, government officials said. Their applications are part of a growing wave of U.S. business interest in the country despite a U.S. government economic embargo. Vietnam, seeking to adapt its communist economy to market principles, has welcomed U.S. firms despite the embargo, which it hopes President Clinton will soon lift.