Remarks by Ambassador Michael W. Michalak

Ambassador Michael Michalak
Press Conference
Agent Orange/Dioxin Joint Advisory Committee Results
The American Center
Hanoi, Vietnam

September 16, 2008

Ambassador Michalak: Good afternoon everybody. I’m very pleased to be here with you today to discuss the third annual meeting of the Joint Advisory Committee, or JAC, on Agent Orange and its contaminant dioxin. At the same time I hope to discuss broader U.S. engagement on this issue and the progress that we have made with the government of Vietnam and other partners in responding to environmental and health concerns associated with Dioxin.

I’d also like to welcome Office 33 Director General, Dr. Le Ke Son, who will provide the government of Vietnam perspective on these topics. I’d also like to congratulate Dr. Son for his recent promotion to Deputy Director General of the new Environmental Directorate within MONRE (Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment). Despite his many new responsibilities, I know that Dr. Son remains committed to encouraging ongoing U.S.-Vietnam dialogue on dioxin and I’m proud of the close and cooperative ties that have developed between the U.S. Embassy and Office 33. These are relationships that have helped both sides advocate within their governments to continue and expand our efforts. Dr. Son has played a key role in fostering these strong relationships and in helping to make the JAC a success.

The JAC helps our governments better understand the scientific dimensions of dioxin and its valuable science-based advice is essential to policymakers. This year’s JAC built upon the successes of 2006 and 2007’s meetings to provide useful scientific and technical advice that will enhance the cooperation we have developed to address the effects of dioxin contamination.

I think the growing importance of the JAC was evidenced by opening remarks from the Minister of Natural Resources and Environment, Dr. Nguyen Khoi Pham, and Vice Minister Dr. Tran Hong Ha and the participation by Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Scot Marciel, the U.S. Ambassador to ASEAN.

This year’s JAC moved from talking to action with a focus on interactive discussions leading to concrete recommendations. JAC members from both countries left feeling energized and committed to working together throughout the next year.

One primary result of this JAC was the creation of environmental and health task forces that will advise the two governments on a road map for the way ahead, detailing joint actions while incorporating work funded by other donors.

As you know, the United States government through its implementing agency, USAID, has begun to implement the $3 million appropriated by the U.S. Congress in 2007 for dioxin mitigation and health activities and is already finalizing its first grants to strengthen disability services in Danang. I’m very happy that Office 33 participated in the review of these projects about which I hope to provide more detail in the coming days. U.S. and Vietnamese JAC members also reviewed ongoing funding and agreed to carry out assessments related to technical remediation and health issues.

Finally, in recognition of the important role that other donors now play in this increasingly multilateral effort, the United States and Vietnam invited several key donors with ongoing projects to participate in several JAC sessions with the explicit goal of better linking our efforts. I note that Charles Bailey from the Ford Foundation happens to be here as well, and I thank him again for the very constructive role that the Ford Foundation plays here.

Additionally, following the JAC the U.S. Embassy hosted a briefing for the broader donor community at which Dr. Son and Kevin Teichman, the U.S. JAC co-chair, reviewed the JAC. Our USAID Mission Director Roger Carlson invited this cross-section of bilateral donors and international organizations to start a dialogue on how they might become involved in dioxin-related efforts along with broader public health initiatives.

At this time I would like to give Dr. Son the opportunity to make his statement before we take your questions.

Dr. Son: Mr. Ambassador, dear guests. On behalf of the Vietnamese delegation to the Joint Advisory Council or JAC I would like to thank the Ambassador and the U.S. Embassy Hanoi for having facilitated members of the American delegation in JAC to come to Vietnam so that they can work with us to carry out the third meeting of JAC.

I also would like to thank Mr. Ambassador and the U.S. Embassy for holding this press conference and for his fine comments on the JAC meeting.

We noted that the third meeting of JAC was better prepared with richer content and lasted four days. We invited some American scientists and Vietnamese scientists to make presentations on the consequences of Agent Orange/dioxin in Vietnam and measures to mitigate contamination. We also invited representatives of international organizations, non-governmental organizations and government organizations who spoke about what they have done in Vietnam and what proposals they have for future action.

We also held meetings with foreign donors so that they could be briefed on our efforts and could share with us their recommendations. It was a special opening session for this JAC with Dr.Pham Khoi Nguyen, Minister of the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources of Vietnam and the Ambassador of the United States being present and making remarks. We all appreciated the remarks made by the Minister and the Ambassador.

Ambassador Scot Marciel, the Deputy Assistant Secretary for South East Asia also attended a session as part of his Vietnam visit and the Deputy Chief of the U.S. Mission in Vietnam also attended a session. All this demonstrates that the governments of our two countries are paying attention to the activities of the JAC. All these were the elements that ensured the JAC meeting was a successful one.

With such a rich program the members of JAC had an excellent opportunity to better understand the consequences of Agent Orange/dioxin on the environment and humans in Vietnam. The JAC also had the opportunity to understand more about research activities, mitigation activities that have been implemented by the government, by the people of Vietnam, by international organizations and governmental and non-governmental organizations in the past several years.

Of course the JAC also reviewed the cooperation and activities between Vietnamese and American government agencies over the past several years. And I believe that JAC members have drawn lessons from the meeting. The JAC noted that there are many things that need to be done immediately, and others to be done over the long term, in the areas of environment and human health, to increase the capability to prevent exposure to dioxin.

I would like to inform the Ambassador that a memorandum has been signed by the heads of the two delegations. This illustrates our consensus about the meeting and its results.

As the Ambassador has noted, the JAC has seen that there is a need to build a program framework with a list of priority actions in the environment area. In that list we will identify actions that need to be given higher priority. That means it is necessary to identify the level and the scale of contamination and choose appropriate techniques to clean up and develop a master project as well as individual projects so that we can effectively solve the environment contamination problems in Danang, Bien Hoa, and Phu Cat.

With regard to human health, JAC also realized that it is necessary to build a program framework also with a list of priority actions. Taking care of people with disabilities including Agent Orange/dioxin victims should be considered a priority action. JAC paid attention to reproductive and genetic consultations so that we can prevent deformities in unborn children.

In order to develop such programs, the JAC agreed to establish task forces with the participation of some members of the JAC as well as scientists. These programs will require input from experts in Vietnam and foreign experts as well as from donors. Office 33 and the JAC will work on this soon in order to speed up activities to mitigate the consequences of Agent Orange and dioxin.

In parallel with the activities that we have been implementing we also would like to ask the U.S. Agency for International Development to implement the funding of $3 million which was allocated by the U.S. government for Agent Orange/dioxin mitigation in Vietnam. Part of that money will be spent for health care for people living near the areas contaminated with dioxin in Danang and part of the money will be spent for environmental mitigation in Danang airport.

As you know, that sum of money is not enough to solve the consequences of Agent Orange in Danang. So we would like to ask the U.S. government and other organizations to continue to provide assistance to help us to deal with the issue in the years to come.

I would like to take this opportunity to confirm that we always welcome and create favorable conditions for all organizations and individuals interested in joining us in our efforts to deal with Agent Orange dioxin consequences in Vietnam. We would like to applaud the efforts and activities of Ford Foundation, UNDP, UNICEF, the Greek Embassy, the Czech Republic Embassy and other foreign organizations over the course of the past several years.

Mr. Ambassador and guests, in our efforts to deal with the consequences of Agent Orange in Vietnam, Vietnam and the U.S. have gone through the initial process. But ahead of us there is a very long road. I think that conscience and responsibilities for the consequences of Agent Orange/dioxin in Vietnam will help us move more quickly and more effectively. I would like to affirm with Mr. Ambassador and our guests here that although I am promoted to a new position, I remain committed and I will always work with JAC to promote effective cooperation between us in this work.

I also would like to say the same thing to Mr. Bailey of Ford Foundation and Mr. Carlson of USAID.

Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Ambassador and our guests.

Question: My first question to the U.S. Ambassador. Sir, you mentioned a road map. What exactly is that road map? What will be its timing exactly?

Ambassador Michalak: The road map, we hope, is going to be a road map that will talk about exactly what the dimensions of the problem are, what the desired solutions are as recommended by the JAC, by the Vietnamese government and ourselves, what the costs involved are going to be, and what method we should use to carry out the program. So the JAC’s road map is exactly that. It is something that defines the problem and then provides us with a plan to resolve the problem.

Question: Do you have a time table, sir?

Ambassador Michalak: I expect that it would have a timeline of some type, yes.

Question: But not yet?

Ambassador Michalak: No, because the road map isn’t written yet.

Question: I’m Dinh from Vietnam-U.S. Magazine.

My question is for Dr. Son. I would like to ask with regard to the contamination in Danang, what survey has been done with regard to the profile, the depth of the contamination in the soil. And what biological decontamination measures have been suggested?

Dr. Son: With regard to research on the consequences of Agent Orange/dioxin there have been things that we have done, there are things that we have not done, and there are things that we need to consider.

With regard to Danang, the Ministry of Defense conducted research and they have identified the dimension, the scale of the contamination. They also have recommended a solution. Recently we detected a new spot of contamination in the southern area of the airport but we have not identified how bad it is.

In parallel with efforts to stop the spread of the contamination as well as to isolate the problem, we still need to continue with research. The measure of using concrete to fill or bury the contaminated area and then to use composite plastic has been chosen, but we are also conducting research to consider how to combine the concrete isolation method with an active landfill approach. We appreciate the recommendation by Dr. Allen of the U.S. EPA and we will consider active landfill to deal with the problem.

Question: Ben Stocking with the AP.

A year ago, more or less, you guys had a press conference and said that you needed to work together to study the scope of the problem and steps to contain it. Here we are a year later, and I know you’re still working hard together, but it seems like the essential message of this press conference is the same as the last one, that you’re working hard together and you need to agree on the scope of the problem and steps for dealing with it. I’m wondering in the year that’s passed, what were the two or three most significant findings and most significant actions that have already been taken to deal with it?

Ambassador Michalak: Boy, just two or three? We could probably name four or five.

One important step was that we announced the allocation of $3 million and we now have the projects selected. They’re going through the final project negotiation in order to begin implementation quite shortly. So that’s one thing.

Another thing, which complements the presentation that Dr. Son just made, is the work that’s going on in Danang. At our recent JAC meeting, Dr. Allen entered into a great discussion with the Ministry of Defense on certain ways of mapping the exact contamination area which he believes will result in significant savings of money, in the millions of dollars, to both of our governments. So I think those are two pretty significant developments that have occurred just very recently.

What Dr. Allen was talking about were ways in which you can actually map the contaminated area and reduce the amount of dirt that you have to move in order to clean up the area.

I’ve got three or four more things, but I’ll let Dr. Son talk.

Dr. Son: A very important cooperative effort was the funding the Ministry of Defense has used to develop a project to prevent the spreading of dioxin in Danang airport. Experts from the U.S. EPA also participated in the designing of the projects. We had a number of discussions and shared information as well as using their experience in order to find a suitable solution for the problem in Vietnam.

Ambassador Michalak: Just one more thing that I might add, since you mentioned last year’s press conference that Ambassador Marine and Dr. Son gave last year. There’s one more point I’d like to make.

At last year’s press conference it was brought to the attention of Ambassador Marine that there was additional information that the U.S. Department of Defense could provide to the Vietnamese to help in mapping out the contaminated areas at these former air bases. In May of this past year DoD conducted another two or three day seminar with the members of MOD (the Ministry of Defense) and Office 33 during which they looked through something like 10,000 pages of documentation and actually heard oral histories from people who were involved in those operations to gather further information on what the possible hot spots could be.

But I think the major success of this whole past year has been the excellent cooperation between Office 33, the U.S. government, and NGOs like the Ford Foundation and others who are all cooperating to make this a multilateral effort that we hope is going to benefit the people of Vietnam.

Dr. Son: Mr. Ambassador will be here for two more years, so we hope that next year also in the summer we will have another press conference and we will have many answers for our AP reporters.

Ambassador Michalak: And if Dr. Son is here, I will be here. [Laughter].

Question: I’m from Tuoi Tre Newspaper.

My question is about the task forces. What areas will they work on and what are the resources for them? How about funding, technical facilities?

Ambassador Michalak: I know that one of them will concentrate on the environmental issues involved and one will concentrate on health issues. I know that the Ford Foundation has actually offered a grant to help to fund the work of these task forces. But I think Dr. Son is probably better able to share more of the details than I.

Dr. Son: With regard to your question, this is the first thing that we will do after the JAC meeting. Office 33 will be the leading organization of this. We will coordinate with the U.S. Embassy, with the JAC and with other organizations to establish these task forces. We will share information with our donors including USAID, Ford Foundation and others. People who will participate in the task forces must be those with experience and knowledge about this type of work. They should know the role of the Vietnamese government, the U.S. government, and the NGOs in this kind of work. I can have a better answer for you in several months, not now.

Ambassador Michalak: I just want to add that yes, the U.S. government, through USAID will also be providing funding for the operations of the task force.

Question: The package is $3 million?

Ambassador Michalak: I think it will be part of the $3 million at this stage.

Question: I’m from Reuters. My question is for Dr. Son. Earlier you said that scientists and environmental workers have detected a new area of contamination in the south. My question is, do you mean the south of Danang airport or the south of Danang city? Will that area affect tourism in the city?

Dr. Son: I would like to say first that the area is south of Danang airport area, within the airport area. It was the outcome of Pacer Ivy Operations in which U.S. troops removed and destroyed Agent Orange materials there. The other point I would like to make is that this is pretty far from residential areas. It is inside a military area under the management of an Air Force division in Danang. We have issued a warning to soldiers who are stationed there, that they should pay attention to measures necessary to protect themselves from exposure to toxic substances.

I also would like to affirm with you that the environmental pollution inside the Danang airport, whether it is in the north or the south side of the airport, does not affect tourism in Danang City. Only people who violate prohibition measures and fish and eat the fish in some lakes in the airport area will be exposed to dioxin. I think that tourists are not among them.

Question: I’m from VietnamNet. I have one question for the Ambassador and one question for Dr. Son. First, when our two countries first normalized their relations, Vietnam immediately showed its goodwill in cooperating with the U.S. by working to solve MIA cases. The cooperation in the MIA area has been very successful. Although Vietnam has talked for a long time about efforts to deal with dioxin contamination, only recently have the two countries begun to have good cooperation, broad cooperation and high level cooperation in this area.

So I would like to ask the Ambassador to comment on this.

And the second question. About one year ago I visited Danang airport and I noted that many people still tried to fish in lakes around the airport area. Are there any programs, education, communication programs to tell people about the danger of fishing in those lakes? I could see that every afternoon people still went there and fished and took the fish home and ate it with their meals.

Ambassador Michalak: Sure, I think that we’ve had excellent cooperation ever since we established bilateral relationships in the mid ‘90s. In fact the United States has been helping people with disabilities in Vietnam since 1989 and we have spent over $46 million on that effort to date. We started working with the government of Vietnam in the early part of this decade to work on dioxin in particular, and to further continue our work on disabilities.

At the end of this week I will be going to Pleiku to help open up a school which has specifically been built to serve ethnic minorities with disabilities in that part of the country. I have visited our projects in prosthetics and in other areas of assistance for the disabled down in the south, up in the north, and around the country.

So I believe that our cooperation has been very good throughout the entire period of our relationship, starting with the MIA cooperation, going through and including dioxin, unexploded ordnance, and other issues that affect the Vietnamese people, and I know we’ll continue that cooperation into the future.

I do think it’s very true that when we resumed bilateral relations, we enjoyed a certain level of cooperation, but over the years as our relationship has become deeper and broader we have expanded those areas of cooperation to the point where today I think the U.S.-Vietnam relationship is the best it’s ever been. We intend to continue to work to make it even better.

I know Dr. Son is very worried about those same fishermen trying to take fish out of that lake, and he’s been working hard to stop them.

Dr. Son: First I would like to point out that last year and this year are very different. The walls surrounding the lakes have been built higher. And people who try to infiltrate, to steal the fish cannot climb over the wall as easily as before. People who once lived near the lakes have been moved, have been relocated. We also put signs that say ‘Eating the fish here means you may be exposed to dioxin.’

The other point I’d like to make is that now in Danang there are education programs and campaigns that are designed to raise public awareness about dioxin exposure. We understand that those actions are not yet sufficient and we still need to do more to make people understand better and take more active steps with regard to dioxin exposure.

Question: I am from Lao Dong Newspaper and have two questions. I would like to ask Mr. Son to update us on the field trip by JAC members to Bien Hoa airport. The second question is with regard to human health issues. What are the JAC’s priorities in this area? For example, will there be activities to take blood samples from people who are suspected to have been exposed to dioxin during the war time, or people living in the airport area?

Dr. Son: One of the activities of the JAC was a field trip for American members of the JAC to visit Bin Hoa. They visited the general hospital, the rehabilitation center, and the local Department of Health. They held working sessions with the Department of Natural Resources and Environment. They also visited several ponds and lakes contaminated by dioxin near Bien Hoa airport. The chairman of the Provincial People’s Committee also met with the delegation.

With regard to caring for people who were exposed to dioxin during the wartime or people who are exposed because they live near former airports, there are many things we can do for them.

The first thing that we should do is to care for people with disabilities, such as providing them with prosthetics, conducting operations and providing them with rehabilitation treatments. These are our highest priority.

It is also extremely important to provide reproductive consultation, genetic consultation, so that we can limit the number of children who are born with deformities. These are very difficult activities but we can still do them.

With regard to people who are exposed to dioxin we have programs to monitor and assist them as well. We also conduct more research because we know that there are people who have very high levels of dioxin in their blood. This kind of work is very costly. I think what we can effectively over the long term is to raise the capability of the local health care facilities and have programs to raise the public awareness about exposure to dioxin.

Question: I’m from Health and Life. My question is for Dr. Son.

Will you please tell us with regard to the $3 million, does the JAC have any specific programs to provide health care to people who were exposed to dioxin during the war? Especially Vietnamese veterans? Will the money be used for people in different provinces or just for the three provinces that were mentioned in your remarks earlier?

Dr. Son: I can answer the question, but I would like to point out that the organization that has the highest responsibility regarding the use of the money is USAID. We provide information to them and we give advice to them, but the specific steps will be for them to decide. If the Ambassador gives me permission I would like to ask Mr. Carlson to answer the question. [Laughter].

Ambassador Michalak: Sure.

Mr. Carlson: I’m being put on the spot, I see. [Laughter].

The initial $3 million that has been talked about quite a bit will go primarily for health and environmental remediation activities in the Danang area at this point. A number of the assessments in both the health and the remediation area that have been carried out and that will be carried out will have benefits across the board in other areas as well. But the primary use of the money initially will be to help improve the health of those communities that are closest to the areas that have been mentioned as hot spots, and then expanding out from there in the general Danang area.

On the environmental remediation side, we’re listening very carefully to the recommendations of the JAC and we will work together with Office 33 in putting together the response that would be most effective. Our assistance will be in helping with the cleanup that will be undertaken around the airport itself and other steps that are needed to implement the environmental remediation side of the work.

Ambassador Michalak: Thank you all very much for coming today.

Thank you, Dr. Son.

Dr. Son: Thank you very much.

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