Administrator Power at a Press Gaggle Following the Bien Hoa Handover

ADMINISTRATOR SAMANTHA POWER: Thank you everybody for being here today and helping us all mark what is a very significant milestone between the United States and Vietnam. The relationship between our two countries is founded on the recognition that we have to address the legacy of war that has caused so much pain. Over decades, we have worked together to identify and recover the remains of those who have died in the war, both Americans and Vietnamese. USAID is very proud to support Vietnamese with disabilities here in this country, including to support their ability to advocate for their rights for inclusion. 

We, also, have worked very closely with the Vietnamese authorities [inaudible] and our own Department of Defense to identify and unexploded ordnances and remove those ordnances, so as to reduce the risk of the war legacy remains of unexploded ordnances causing further damage. And of course, we have worked together to remediate dioxin-contaminated land from the remnants of Agent Orange. And here today, we are at Bien Hoa Air Base, and this of course is an area that has been remediated that now is back in the possession of the Vietnamese Ministry of National Defense. This land is now clean – it is safe, it is healthy. It is land that Vietnamese citizens can walk on and take pride in. It is restored in a fashion that I think befits the commitment between our two countries to set the relationship on an ever brighter and deeper course.  

I was joined today, of course, by our Ambassador here, as well as Vice Minister General Chiến, to further take this work ahead. I announced that USAID will work with Congress to provide up to $73 million to remediate the dioxin contamination at Bien Hoa Air Base. This will fund the next stage of this joint project. So to be clear, today, some land was handed over that had been remediated that is clean and safe but our work is not done. And this next phase is extremely important to getting rid of the dioxin contamination that persists in this area. This is a long-term commitment by the United States. We recognize that it will take up to 10 years to fully decontaminate this area.  

I want to just pay a special thanks to the Ministry of National Defense for their partnership. In order for USAID and our local partners to be able to do this remediation work, our defense colleagues had to clear the land of unexploded ordnance. They also were continually checking the land to be sure that it is decontaminated. So, this is a true partnership and reflective of what the United States and Vietnam can do together when we work together.  

With that, I'll take your questions.

REPORTER: Please explain what dioxin remediation work at Bien Hoa Air Base means to the United States and to Vietnam, respectively.

ADMINISTRATOR POWER: Well, as I described in my remarks, marking this milestone, the United States and Vietnam took some time after the war ended to come together and talk about all the issues that divided us – and all of the open wounds that remain. And what this dioxin decontamination effort together represents is our recognition that in order to get the most out of this long-term partnership between the United States and Vietnam, we must deal with legacy issues like contamination. And I think already the Vietnamese people have seen at Da Nang Air Base how important this partnership is. They have seen that Air Base decontaminated in just the way we intend to do together with our Vietnamese partners at Bien Hoa.  

This effort to deal with war legacy issues like Agent Orange contamination is one that has broad support in the United States, not only from Senator Leahy – who the park bench is named for over there – but also, of course, Senator McCain, Senator Kerry. There is broad support among Republicans and Democrats alike to deal with these legacy issues because it's the right thing to do, but also because the United States and the American people value the partnership with Vietnam so much. And we know in order to get the most out of that partnership, in a spirit of mutual respect, that taking responsibility and completing projects like this one is incredibly important to take the relationship where we know it can go, and where I think both the American people and the Vietnamese people would like to see it go.

REPORTER: What has been achieved since the start of Bien Hoa dioxin remediation work?

ADMINISTRATOR POWER: We have already removed more than 60,000 cubic meters of contaminated soil and sediment. And again, today, we have handed that decontaminated area over to the Vietnamese. Previously, USAID returned another part of the base to the local authorities, and now this is the southwestern area of the Air Base. So, now, the Ministry of National Defense is able to do with it, what it chooses. So, I think these are very significant.  

But the other aspects of war legacy, I think, also deserve mention. We continue to work with the Vietnamese people and the Vietnamese authorities to also do DNA analysis, to continue to recover and identify the remains of those who are missing. We know how much pain it causes Vietnamese families when mothers, or siblings, or the children of lost soldiers, still have not been able to have those remains returned to them. So, we are working very energetically in that domain as well and want to continue to see progress there, which means so much to families.  

Again, with regard to decontamination, we are about two years into this effort. It is likely to occur over – around a 10-year period – we know how much contamination, how much dioxin there is. So, at the same time we do this work, we also want to increase our support for people with disabilities in this country. Because again, we know how difficult it is for the families who have suffered disabilities here in Vietnam.

REPORTER: What is the plan and goals for the project next year?

ADMINISTRATOR POWER: Well, what we are designing now with our Vietnamese Partners is a treatment facility. As you know, one of the reasons we were able to decontaminate the Da Nang Air Base was not only storage, long-term storage of contaminated soil – taking it away from where people were living and active – but also what was very important at Da Nang was the treatment facility, which is what I've described earlier, you know, in a sense, a very large oven, and a very sophisticated thermal conductive heating mechanism to take that soil, which is identified to have a high concentration of dioxin and put it through that treatment. And so, what we need to build together here on this Air Base is a very large facility in order to treat the soil, and to make sure that it is decontaminated so that the solution here for full decontamination will be both storage and the use of this very, very large thermal heating oven. And so that is something that – we have learned the lessons of Da Nang, about how to communicate to the people who are involved in the project, how to share information with the public, but also how to make use of a facility like this one, in a manner that will expedite the treatment and the remediation that we know the Vietnamese people are waiting for.

REPORTER: What lessons learned from Da Nang are being applied here at Bien Hoa?

ADMINISTRATOR POWER: I think I addressed that. One of the things that is very important in a project like this is to work very closely with the Ministry of National Defense. This would have been impossible without this close partnership between our U.S. Defense Ministry, the Vietnamese Ministry of National Defense and USAID. So, we have to continue the partnership here, which I have every expectation we will do.  

But also, the public in Bien Hoa has a lot of questions about what is going on with this remediation, how long is it going to take, where is the dioxin-contaminated soil going? And so, sharing that information in a timely way, making sure that citizens know what is going on here on the Air Base, and beyond. And then lastly, making sure that we view this comprehensively – that we also look at other war legacy issues in the area, whether that is people living with disabilities, that is people still pining for loved ones whose remains they have not been able to recover. So, to see the decontamination and remediation efforts as part of a comprehensive war legacy partnership that we think is only going to grow stronger as we develop this experience of working together. And in addressing war legacy issues, I mean the main point that I want to stress is that that puts us in a position to unlock even greater potential – to partner on catalyzing job creation, economic growth, addressing outstanding public health challenges, as we did in a crisis situation on COVID. But we know there are long standing health issues that USAID is very eager to partner with the Vietnamese Health Ministry and the Vietnamese people to address.  

Vietnam is on a path to adopt many more renewable energy sources, and to become a greener economy – that is something that USAID and the American people are very interested in doing more on together. So, this comprehensive partnership between us is about to be 10 years old. We know that that partnership is just going to grow deeper, we're going to be working together in more and more sectors – in a spirit of mutual respect, a spirit of friendship and a spirit of peace. Thank you.