Speeches Shim
Cat Lai Port, Vietnam’s largest port, handles about 60 percent of the country’s total shipping container volume and serves as the country’s main gateway to international trade. However, increasing container volumes has led to congestion at the port, which can cause delays in customs clearance. To address this, on September 15, the USAID Trade Facilitation Program and HCMC Customs Department organized a workshop to present findings from an initial assessment of congestion at the port, including an overview of demand forecasts, port and shipping systems, customs procedures, and information and communications technology systems.
While assistive technologies are an important resource for PWDs to perform their daily life functions, they are often not readily available, are too expensive, or are not personalized enough to address specific disability needs. As a result, in many situations, PWDs, their family members, or caretakers develop more affordable, in-house or locally made inventions or adaptations. In order to identify and share such solutions, in June, USAID’s Advancing Medical Care and Rehabilitation Education project launched a national contest called 'Homemade with Heart' in which professionals and non-professionals participate.
The availability of rapid and accurate testing is critical to control the spread of COVID-19. Vietnam has successfully established a network of laboratories to perform quality testing, but further decentralization is needed to improve accessibility. The National Tuberculosis Control Program (NTP) previously established a national network of more than 200 GeneXpert machines which can provide accurate molecular testing for tuberculosis in less than one hour and which, with proper cartridges, can be adapted for COVID-19 molecular testing. USAID’s Infectious Disease Diagnosis and Surveillance project has partnered with NTP to develop an operational plan and provide essential supplies to make this possible.
Vietnamese small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are the largest contributor, as a sector, to the country’s employment and GDP growth. Understanding and addressing major barriers limiting SME growth while developing their manufacturing capacities helps Vietnamese SMEs integrate into supply chains, accelerates domestic SME growth, and promotes private sector-led growth in Vietnam. The USAID Linkages for Small and Medium Enterprises (LinkSME) project recently assessed more than 100 Vietnamese SMEs to better understand the major constraints they face in joining supply chains.
Supported by USAID, Fulbright University Vietnam (FUV) is the country’s first independent, private and nonprofit liberal arts university. On August 29, Ambassador Daniel Kritenbrink helped launch the FUV 2020 Convocation in a ceremony held at the university’s temporary campus in Ho Chi Minh City. While this year’s target was an incoming class of 120 students, FUV decided to open up more than 60 additional spaces for students who were prevented from going overseas for their studies due to the COVID-19 pandemic. During the ceremony, incoming student Tran Viet Hoang delivered the keynote address. He described how he lost his sight at the age of five, learned Braille, and went on to become one of the top performing students in his village. Later on, he learned English and was accepted at FUV.
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