Remarks by Ambassador Michael W. Michalak

The U.S. – Vietnam Relationship: Why It Matters
By Michael W. Michalak
United States Ambassador to Vietnam

 

June 20, 2008

For the fourth year in a row, we will witness an official exchange between top leaders of the United States and Vietnam when President George W. Bush welcomes Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung to the White House on June 24. The two leaders have a great deal to talk about; our ever-growing bilateral ties, shared interests in regional peace, prosperity, and security in the Asia Pacific region, and increasing cooperation on a range of common concerns. Like any meeting between friends, the two may not agree on everything, but the relationship is such that they can discuss anything. This simple fact alone shows how far our two countries have come since normalizing relations just thirteen years ago.

Against a background of ever expanding trade and investment activity, which will be a key focus for our leaders, the Prime Minister’s discussions with a remarkably wide range of my nation’s top political, academic and business leaders marks a significant broadening and deepening of our relationship. In that spirit, I’d like to focus on just three areas that demonstrate the expansion of the bilateral relationship and also illustrate why this relationship matters to the United States, to Vietnam, in the region and around the globe. These are education, the environment, and regional security.

Education is the key to any nation’s future growth and success, and Vietnam is of course no exception. The Prime Minister has made deepening our bilateral education ties an explicit objective of his government, and the United States is a willing partner in this effort. We already have many multi-faceted cooperative partnerships working towards shared goals of increasing the number of Vietnamese studying in the United States, of deepening exchanges between schools and of helping American companies train skilled workers to advance their commercial interests here. The Prime Minister’s visit will include a number of high-level and substantive meetings, discussions and agreements on education. His visit will offer the opportunity to encourage public-private partnerships which have been so important to successful academic infrastructure development in other ASEAN nations. We are also looking for better channels to discuss deepening cooperation in the field of education, including among the educational institutions on both sides. I will participate in both the Prime Minister’s meetings on education in the United States, and I will continue to act as a leader in bilateral discussions after the visit.

Recognizing that Vietnam will be among the countries most severely impacted by climate change, President Bush and Prime Minister Dung will lay out plans to promote Vietnamese climate change adaptation and mitigation efforts, including the formation of a new subcommittee under our bilateral Science & Technology Agreement to help discuss and coordinate joint initiatives. Additionally, I am very pleased with ongoing cooperation between the United States and Vietnam to address environmental contamination near former dioxin storage sites, particularly the implementation of $3 million in U.S. funding for environmental remediation and health projects. Notably, USAID just issued a call for innovative thinking to strengthen services for the disabled in Danang. I am confident that these expanded efforts will encourage other donors to join a broad, multilateral effort to address the impacts of dioxin. The same energy and commitment that Vietnam brings to working with us on these important issues will also, I believe, inform its efforts to balance environmental protection with continued economic growth. The United States remains committed to doing all we can to assist Vietnam to industrialize and modernize in an environmentally sustainable manner.

Finally, The President and Prime Minister share a vision of peace, prosperity, and security in Southeast Asia and the Asia-Pacific region, and we look forward to strengthening cooperation bilaterally and multilaterally to promote these goals. While in Washington, we look forward to discussing how Vietnam will expand its contribution to bilateral, regional and global efforts to ensure that we can all continue to develop and gain prosperity through trade. Vietnam’s membership on the UN Security Council is extremely significant in this regard, as are its membership in ASEAN, APEC and other fora.

In closing, the people of the United States and Vietnam are becoming better friends day by day through a process of opening and exchanges in all fields. As our relations become broader, they also become more complex, extending well beyond our already robust economic interactions. My country is enriched through these exchanges. I salute the Prime Minister for his initiative in calling for broader engagement between the nations. We see this as strongly in our mutual benefit. Our nations have their differences, but the obvious benefits of increased contact, enhanced understanding and deepened partnerships in many areas will help us maintain and further develop our flourishing bilateral relationship.