The People’s Committee of Vietnam’s central Quang Nam province on May 29 hosted a reception for a delegation of the Vietnam Veterans of America (VVA) led by Chairman of its Prisoners of War and Missing in Action (POW/MIA) Committee Grant Townsend Coates.
Tran Anh Tuan, Vice Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee, said Quang Nam is among the localities severely hit by wars, with 6,300 victims of Agent Orange (AO)/dioxin.
Up to 226 communes in Quang Nam, which make up 34.6% of the provincial area, have been affected by war-left unexploded ordnance, he added.
The official attributed contributions of U.S. investors to the province's socio-economic development, saying Quang Nam is now home to eight US projects with a total investment capital of nearly $21 million, mostly in electronics, garment-textile, education and catering services.
Notably, during the 2016-2020 period, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) funded about $15 million to help Quang Nam roll out the Truong Son Xanh project on climate change response, he continued.
Besides, 21 U.S. organisations are also helping Quang Nam with projects and programmes on agricultural and rural development, health care and education with accumulative funding of more than $3 million, Tuan said, highlighting a project on bomb and mine clearance in the province.
The official expressed his hope that the VVA will continue its assistance to Vietnam in the implementation of humanitarian projects relating to the settlement of war consequences, particularly the support to AO victims.
For his part, Coates pledged that his committee will work harder to collect information about Vietnamese soldiers and victims who died during the war, and propose the US government pay more attention to AO victims, helping heal war wounds and bring the two countries closer. (VietnamPlus [1])