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Press Release
For
Immediate Release
November 17, 2000
Contact:
Shannon Quinn (617) 496-9308
Adrianne Kaufmann (617) 495-8290
President Clinton Announces Science and Technology Program for Vietnam
CAMBRIDGE, MASS. President Clinton announced today an initiative that would
dramatically increase educational exchanges between the United States and
Vietnam in the areas of science, technology, math and medicine. The initiative
would establish a Vietnam Education Foundation that would award 100 fellowships
each year to bring Vietnamese students to the United States and to send US
teachers to Vietnam.
In his speech at the National University of Vietnam, Friday, Clinton praised the
efforts of Senators John Kerry (D-MA) and John McCain (R-AZ) and their four
senate colleagues, all of whom served in Vietnam, for developing the bill now
working its way though Congress. Clinton said the US. Government would put more
funding in the existing educational exchange programs with Vietnam in
anticipation of the initiative being passed by Congress.
Under the proposed bill, funding for the Vietnam Education Foundation would come
from debt payments Vietnam is making to the United States. The bill would
provide up to $100 million over 20 years to allow over 1,000 Vietnamese graduate
students to study in top colleges and Universities in the US, and also
strengthen science and technology teaching and research in Vietnam.
One of the leading centers for training in Vietnam, the Fulbright Economics
Teaching Program, was instrumental in helping develop the debt-funded education
and training trust fund. Located in Ho Chi Minh City, the eight-year-old
Fulbright-funded program is currently run by the Kennedy School of Government’s
Center for Business and Government at Harvard.
"We and our Vietnamese partners have come to appreciate that the most compelling
economic need in Vietnam today is to develop the capacity for innovation in
science and technology," said Program Director Thomas Vallely. "The program has
helped to build a fairly firm foundation in Vietnam. Several hundred
governmental officials from virtually every region and ministry have been
trained here and have gained an understanding of market mechanisms."
"Study tours that were organized by our program three years ago led to a common
understanding with policymakers in Vietnam about the necessary next steps in
promoting and sustaining long-term development," Vallely said. "Today’s
announcement by the President perfectly captures and advances that
understanding."
"It is extremely gratifying that we've been able to collaborate constructively
in helping to establish the necessary preconditions for this initiative and that
President Clinton has so vigorously embraced the concept of a
debt-for-technology exchange," said Ira Jackson, director of the Center for
Business and Government. "This initiative seems a particularly important,
appropriate and creative step in the reconciliation between our two countries."
"As a Center for Business and Government, we deeply believe that innovative
collaborations and partnerships of this kind, linking public and private sectors
with academic institutions, have the potential for adding significant value, for
accelerating economic progress, and for promoting deeper understanding and
mutual benefits as well," Jackson said.
One of the major initiatives to come out of President Clinton’s historic visit
to Vietnam, the Vietnam Education Foundation was proposed by Senators John
McCain, John Kerry, Bob Kerrey, Charles Robb, Max Cleland and Chuck Hagel. The
US set up a similar education trust fund after the Boxer Rebellion in China when
the Chinese overpaid compensation to the US. Those scholarships supported
studies of a whole generation of Chinese leadership.
For more information, contact Shannon Quinn, Center for Business and Government
at Harvard’s Kennedy School. tel: (617) 496-9308 e-mail:
shannon_quinn@ksg.harvard.edu
Or Brian Quinn c/o Anne Doyle, Fulbright Economics Teaching Program, 232 Bis
01/C Vo Thi Sau, Q3, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam phone: (011-848) 9325-102 fax:
(011-84-8) 9325-104 e-mail:
(brian_quinn@leland.stanford.edu).
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