Speeches Shim
Through Vietnam’s Payment for Forest Environmental Services (PFES) system, designed with USAID support, downstream forest service users, including hydropower companies, pay upstream communities for protecting watersheds so that those companies have stable water supply to produce electricity. Since PFES was first piloted in 2008, it has generated approximately $600 million, and payments to rural forest owners have been primarily made in cash. Over the past two years, USAID’s Vietnam Forests and Deltas (VFD) program worked with ViettelPay and Vietnam’s Forest Protection and Development Fund to introduce e-payments via mobile phones to rural communities for protecting forests.
To help Vietnamese manufacturers overcome disruptions in global supply chains caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, on July 23, the USAID Linkages for Small and Medium Enterprises (USAID LinkSME) project and the Vietnam Association for Supporting Industries (VASI), a leading Vietnamese business support organization, held the “Manufacturing Matchmaking Event 2020” in Hanoi. The event served as a platform to strengthen linkages between lead firms sourcing in Vietnam and Vietnamese small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in local supply chains. Lead firms such as VinFast, Thaco, Panasonic Vietnam, Samsung Vietnam, Ford Vietnam, and Mitsubishi Motors Vietnam connected with more than 60 local SMEs in the metals, electrical, electronics, plastics, rubber, and automation sectors. Local suppliers marketed their products, built business relationships with lead firms, and shared information on new developments and technology in the manufacturing industry.
The United States continues to lead the world in the fight against COVID-19, with $20.5 billion now allocated from across the U.S. Government to benefit the global response. This incredible effort, made possible by the generous American taxpayers, includes funding for vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics; preparedness efforts; and State Department and USAID foreign assistance funding.
The U.S. government has donated a shipment of 250 state-of-the-art ventilators and other critical care equipment to assist Ethiopia with its response to COVID-19. The donation delivers on President Trump’s generous offer to Prime Minister Abiy of these critically needed supplies, in support of Ethiopia’s urgent and comprehensive response to the pandemic.
In support of the Ministry of General Education’s (MoGE) response to COVID-19, the U.S. Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Let’s Read project has developed audio-based “Tips for Teachers” and “Folktales for Students” to ensure continued literacy instructional and professional support for teachers and learners during the pandemic.
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