The U.S. Provides $1 Million in Technical Assistance to Help Vietnam Locate and Identify Soldiers Missing in Action

November 19, 2010

HANOI, November 19, 2010 – Over 35 years since the war ended, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and Vietnam’s Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs (MOLISA) today formally agreed to work together to locate and identify Vietnamese persons missing in action.

Under the memorandum of understanding, the two governments will collaborate on a two-year, $1 million program of technical assistance, including training, exchange of information and experiences, provision of equipment and transfer of technology.

“In providing our assistance through this USAID program, our goal is to strengthen the scientific capacity of Vietnamese entities and improve the ability of Vietnamese authorities to search for, identify, and document those Vietnamese people missing since 1975,” said U.S. Ambassador to Vietnam Michael W. Michalak, at the signing ceremony on November 19, 2010. “We believe that this will further strengthen the U.S- Vietnam relationship in the area of humanitarian assistance.”

The signing took place exactly 10 years after a USAID office was first opened in Hanoi, in the presence of U.S. President Bill Clinton and USAID’s Assistant Administrator for the Asia and the Near East Bureau, Robert C. Randolph. Since that time, USAID has contributed more than $330 million in support of Vietnam’s development and relief activities.