Socialist Republic of Vietnam

VNA - The US-Vietnam Dialogue Group on Agent Orange/Dioxin achieved “very good” results at its fourth meeting in Washington on June 2, said a senior Vietnamese official.
Ambassador Ngo Quang Xuan, Vice Chair of the National Assembly’s External Affairs Committee, stated this after their talks had closed, evaluating that the meeting was extremely significant in the context the two countries were strengthening ties.
At the meeting, the group, divided into three sub-groups, discussed ways of cleaning up the environment, issues related to people with disabilities and human health and the partnership and policies regarding public and private sectors.
They also debated issues that will be presented at the June 4 hearing on issues related to Agent Orange/dioxin to be held by the Committee for External Affairs from the US House of Representatives.
The US and Vietnamese officials discussed ways of cooperating in order to carry out projects and programmes that remain unfinished, as well as approaches that would draw more interest from US legislators on Agent Orange/dioxin issues related to Vietnam.
According to Ambassador Xuan, this meeting was larger than the previous three meetings in terms of the content brought to the table for discussion and the attendance of various US senior officials, individuals and politicians.
Regarding US President Barack Obama signing a bill to add an additional 3 million USD to treat dioxin-contaminated areas and related health services in Vietnam, Ambassador Xuan said that was an important move though the sum is only symbolic. He added that it will be a costly and time-consuming process in order to solve all the consequences of the AO issues.
According to Susan V. Berresford, President of the Ford Foundation, the US and Vietnamese officials at the meeting also discussed ways and means of raising the public’s awareness of AO/dioxin issues in Vietnam, measures to step up cooperation and future training programmes.
Both parties shared the view that a series of pilot projects on health and the environment and exchanging expertise regarding AO/dioxin issues should now be deployed on a larger scale.
Walter Isaacson, CEO and President of the Aspen Institute, who headed the US delegation, noted that both the US and Vietnamese had outlined what they need to do in this meeting.
He added that relations between the US and Vietnam have been going very well so far except for this unsettled issue which needs to be finished.
The US-Vietnam Dialogue Group on Agent Orange/Dioxin, established in February 2007 under the auspice of the Ford Foundation, is comprised of Vietnamese and US policy makers, scientists and leaders of non-governmental organisations and businesses.
The group, co-chaired by Ambassador Ngo Quang Xuan and Walter Isaacson, has been tasked to identify effective measures to tackle the severe consequences to human beings and the environment left by the US army’s defoliation campaign./