Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., gave MinnPost an early morning update today on her travels in Asia this week with Republican Sens. John McCain of Arizona and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina.

For Klobuchar, the focus of the trip so far has been on agriculture, climate change, adoption rules and making contacts with high level officials in Hong Kong, Vietnam, China and Japan, who will be key players on those issues.

“I am in Hanoi in the middle of a bunch of motor bikes,” said Klobuchar from Vietnam. “There is a lot of action here; there is a sense of entrepreneurship that we all found very surprising.”

On that note, Klobuchar added that getting in on all the burgeoning business action would be “very important for Minnesota.”

“There is so much potential here for investment and business,” she said.

Klobuchar said she just finished meeting with Vietnam’s prime minister and pushed for re-opening the adoption process between Vietnam and the United States.

“We had a very positive meeting,” said Klobuchar. “I specifically talked about adoption. We have had a lot of Minnesota families that were interested in adopting from Vietnam.”

Klobuchar said that Vietnam has decided to join the Hague Convention, and will presumably follow the Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Cooperation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption that established safeguards and a standard system for international adoptions.

“They want to normalize the adoption process between our two countries,” said Klobuchar, who cautioned that “they won’t be able to do it overnight.”  

Agriculture exports also topped the list as a topic of importance for Minnesota’s only senator.

Klobuchar said that she pushed for the need to increase U.S. agriculture exports to Vietnam and Asia and “break down the barriers for the export of beef.”

Vietnam, along with other Asian countries, banned U.S. beef in 2003 after mad cow disease was discovered in the United States. It later allowed young beef to be shipped into the country.

Since that time there has been an increase in U.S. agriculture exports allowed into Vietnam and other Asian countries.

But Klobuchar said: “We need to improve our relations, really on all of agriculture. Especially in Hong Kong. They have reached an agreement with Canada on Canadian beef. It is really getting a foot in the door.”

Traveling to Vietnam with McCain, who was held there as a prisoner during the Vietnam War, was also a poignant experience for the group.

“We were at the lake where Senator McCain was shot down,” said Klobuchar. “You see all the businesses that have sprung up and you think about the changes over that time. It is quite moving that he has continued to come back here.”

In China, where Klobuchar and the group will head next, they will focus on national security in the wake of North Korea’s attempted missile launch.

Earlier this week, McCain called for Asia’s compliance in stopping the export of weapons and luxury goods to North Korea.

“There will be a major focus on...the need for a strong response [in China],” said Klobuchar.