15 Years of Vietnamese-American Relations and Business Cooperation
It is really special when at the 15 year anniversary of the normalization of Vietnam-U.S. relations, the U.S. Secretary Hillary Clinton visited Vietnam and toasted with Vietnam Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs Pham Gia Khiem to congratulate the fine development of Vietnam-USA relations during past 15 years.
In celebration of this event at Melia Hanoi, U.S. Secretary Clinton recalled event of her husband - former U.S. President Bill Clinton normalized relations with Vietnam 15 years ago, as well as her deeply impression with the warmth and friendliness from the Vietnamese people during her and her daughter Chelsea visit 10 years ago. U.S. Secretary Clinton attracted people not only by her very fine speech (she has particularly high IQ score of 140), but also because of her sincere sentiments for Vietnam "35 years ago we terminated a war ... Despite this painful, we trying all our best to build peace... We could not change the past, but we can forward to the future ... "
The business cooperation between two countries in economic fields have playing an important role in the development of good relations between two countries, as well as playing an important role for the development of Vietnam economy. United States has become one of the big customer and investor, and an important development cooperation partner of Vietnam.
Trade between two countries before 1995 was less than $ 50 million but so far have reached nearly $ 15 billion, with 506 FDI projects (as of 31/12/2009). In 2009, despite the global economic crisis, the United States rose to become number one investor in Vietnam with 43 new projects, and increasing capital for 12 projects, with total investment capital up to $ 9.8 billion. Many leading American corporations including Microsoft, IBM (information technology), Chevron (oil), Abbott, MSD (health care) are operating effectively in Vietnam, providing science measures, advanced products and technologies for Vietnam.
On the occasion, Mr. Vincent, Vietnam Chief Representative of Abbott Laboratories (voted by Fortune magazine as No. 1 worldwide most admired pharmaceutical company in 2010) happily shared that as one of leading US corporations, Abbott has been actively involved in the process of normalizing relations between Vietnamese-American, and was one from American companies presented soonest in Vietnam right from the time of normalized relations in 1995. For 15 years, Abbott has become a famous name in Vietnam, specializes in providing high quality nutritional and pharmaceutical products, contributes to improve nutritional status and health of Vietnamese people. Abbott also actively participating in education programs, scientific research, and charitable activities in Vietnam, such as donated $ 1 million to establish research centers of clinical nutrition at Bach Mai Hospital, donated millions of dollars by cash and products to the Operation Smile Program, Vietnamese Children Protection Fund, etc.
Secretary Clinton has praised the investment activities of the US companies which contributed to the rapid development of Vietnam. She also praised the extraordinary and dynamic of Vietnamese people and said that Vietnam "is on the way to becoming a great country with an unlimited potential”.15 year anniversary of Vietnamese-American relations marked a new development for the relations between the two countries. Tightening the Vietnamese-American relations is an important factor in helping Vietnam economy continues develop strongly, in which the participation of the companies from both countries played a crucial role.
Uy Nguyen – Thi Van
Vietnamese
