Consulate Highlights
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SSI Speaker’s Workshop on Economics and Environmental Reporting  | | Professor Rusty Todd with the participants of theworkshop in front of the Saigon times building |
From June 23-26, the Ho Chi Minh City Public Affairs Section and the Saigon Times Group co-organized a four-day workshop on economic and environmental reporting for 30 economic reporters and editors from Ho Chi Minh City and key industrial provinces of Southern Vietnam. Hosting the workshop was the Saigon Economic Times, a renowned economic newspaper based in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam’s business and economic center. Introducing himself as an ex-reporter, the University of Texas Professor and former Asian Wall Street Journal reporter Rusty Todd provided Vietnamese reporters with up-to-date knowledge on economic and environmental reporting that included New Models for Writing Business Journalism, Basics of Business Journalism and Environmental Economics, Dominant Issues—Globally and in Southeast Asia, The Financial Crisis and the Environment in Business Journalism, International Regulation and Data Sources, Covering the International Economy, Covering International Capital Markets, and Writing About Companies. Participants asked Professor Todd a range of challenging questions about economics in general, as well as his experience reporting on economic, business, and environmental issues. The speaker’s lectures generated sustained interest and enthusiasm over the four days of training. This program promotes U.S.-Vietnam cooperation in assessing and reporting economic and environmental issues stemming from rapid economic growth as well as the global financial crisis. Reporters Get Up-Close Look at Underwater Recovery Missions
 | | Reporters learn about the technology aboard the USNS Heezen |
On June 24, 2009, Vietnamese and international reporters were invited aboard the USNS Bruce Heezen, an oceanographic survey ship conducting search operations for American servicemen missing from the Vietnam War. Manned by a civilian crew, the USNS Bruce C. Heezen provides oceanographic capabilities in coastal and deep ocean waters and is ideally suited to detect aircraft crash sites on the ocean floor. The USNS Heezen was in Vietnamese territorial waters June 11-25 for the 95th search mission of the U.S. Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) and the Vietnam Office for Seeking Missing Persons (VNOSMP. During the media tour, reporters heard from scientists and technicians about the ship's capabilities and some of the information gathered by the team in the areas along Khanh Hoa, Phu Yen and Quang Nam, where many American aircraft fell during the war. The United States and Vietnam have cooperated during POW/MIA accounting missions since the 1980s, with both countries recently recognizing the 20-year anniversary of regularly scheduled joint search operations.
Acting Consul General Participates in Opening Ceremony: Institute on Social Work
 | | Seated, starting second from left Professor Emeritus Dr. Vo Tong Xuan, Acting Consul General Angela Dickey, Rector and vice-chairman of the People’s Committee Mr. Le Ming Tung, and Neal Newfield, Associate Professor. AGU and WVU students and faculty and a Pacific Links representative are among others joining the opening ceremony |
On May 25, Angela Dickey joined An Giang University Rector and vice-chairman of the People’s Committee, Le Minh Tung, Rector Emeritus Dr. Vo Tong Xuan, and others for the opening of the fourth summer institute on social work organized by An Giang University and West Virginia University. Along with Dr. Neal Newfield, associate professor of Social Work at West Virginia University, and faculty and students from WVU as well as An Giang University, Ms. Dickey and Rector Tung celebrated the launch of the three-week “Social Work and Community Health Summer Institute” at AGU. The workshop is also sponsored by Pacific Links Foundation. Rector Tung described social work as “a meaningful task,” and Ms. Dickey applauded this example of international cooperation on health issues.
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Southern Central Coast Provinces Plan an Alternative Energy Future
 | | Pham Thanh Nhan and Doug Sonnek, along with GreenEnergy’s David Granger, visiting a GreenEnergy Jatropha plantation |
From biofuel stock plantations growing in otherwise barren Ninh Thuan soil to 85-meter wind turbines just waiting to harness the coastal Binh Thuan breezes, alternative energy projects are popping up throughout the southeast coastal provinces. Given the long coastline, creative minds also suggest that tidal power may one day thrive here as well. From June 16 to 18, government officials, non-governmental organizations, farmer cooperatives and joint-stock companies all told U.S. Consulate Economic Specialist Pham Thanh Nhan and Economic Officer Doug Sonnek that alternative energy plays to the region’s strengths: sun, wind and surf. Many more alternative energy projects have been licensed or are in development. In the meantime, agriculture and agriculture industry will remain the primary engine of the region’s economy. Ozomatli Rocks Vietnam, Offers Message of Tolerance
 | | Ozomatli musicians Ulises Bella and Justin Porée bring new beats to VietnamPhoto courtesy of Alan Nguyen |
From May 10-15, three-time Grammy award-winning band Ozomatli visited Vietnam for a heavy schedule of concerts and outreach events sponsored by the Consulate General in Ho Chi Minh City. At the band’s first concert, held May 11 at the My Phuoc Theater in neighboring Binh Duong province, more than 4,000 people, mostly local university students and factory workers, made up the cheering, dancing crowd. The Ho Chi Minh City concert on May 13 has continued to make waves in the South—with ecstatic reviews appearing in blogs and in the media. At both concerts, Ozomatli was joined on stage for several numbers by Vietnamese traditional musician Ho Nga; the Ho Chi Minh City show also featured a group of talented young hip-hop dancers, as well as opening performances by young people from the Hy Vong Center for the Deaf and the Thien An Shelter for the Blind. In addition to the public shows, the band conducted three meaningful outreach events. On May 12, Ozomatli visited the District 3 Vocational Training Center for the disabled, a government facility which schools, houses, trains, and provides job placement for people with physical and/or developmental disabilities. The program started off with songs, dances, and a fashion show by young people at the Center. Ozomatli then took to the stage, immediately captivating the audience of 400. At the Thien An Shelter for the Blind, Ozo held an intimate outreach program with 25 young blind music students. Finally, on May 14, the band performed for 600 orphans, street children, people living with HIV/AIDS, and the disabled. The Industrial College of the Armed Forces Visits Shipyards  | | Economic specialist Tran Ha Nguyen (left) and Economic officer Dovas Saulys at the Vinashin Saigon Shipbuilding Enterprise. Located on the Saigon River, this shipyard is equipped to build vessels of up to 15,000 dead weight tons. |
To better understand Vietnam's growing role in the global shipbuilding industry, sixteen students and faculty of the National Defense University's Industrial College of the Armed Forces visited shipyards in HCMC and neighboring Ba Ria Vung Tau province May 5 through 8. Accompanied by Economic specialist Tran Ha Nguyen and Economic officer Dovas Saulys, the group met with members of the Vietnam Shipbuilding Association and toured state-owned as well as private domestic and foreign-owned shipyards.
Ambassador Michael Michalak Attends Saigon Tech Ceremony
 | | Ambassador Michalak presents his remarks |
Invited by Saigon Tech and Houston Community College to the May 6 opening ceremony of a new building at the Saigon Software Park, Ambassador Michael Michalak addressed President of Vietnam Nguyen Minh Triet and distinguished guests from Ho Chi Minh City political, educational, and business communities. Ambassador Michalak expressed appreciation for the success of these two partners in delivering American-quality, American-accredited education to young Vietnamese facing today’s challenges in the job market. He also reiterated his goal of promoting the exchange of students between the two countries, noting that the number of Vietnamese students in the U.S. has almost doubled since his arrival in Vietnam. Workshop on English teaching issues  | | ELF Toni Hull interacting with participants |
On April 18, English Language Fellow (ELF) Toni Hull conducted a workshop titled “EFL [English as a Foreign Language] or EIL [English as an International Language]: One little letter can make all the difference” at the Southeast Asia Ministers of Education Organization-Regional Training Center (SEAMEO RETRAC) in HCMC. The workshop exposed participants -- 80 English teachers, all members of the Ho Chi Minh City TESOL Association -- to theoretical and practical issues that can help them improve their classroom performance. In the afternoon, Ms. Hull also led a discussion with 40 participants on “Issues in Testing & Assessment.” The discussion offered insights on English-language testing and assessment. Ms. Hull, currently teaching at Hue College of Foreign Languages, is in Vietnam as part of the USG-funded English Language Fellow Program, a program managed by Georgetown University to help enhance teaching skills and class performance for non-native teachers of English around the world. Vietnam Stations to Air Documentary about US Support for HIV/AIDS Projects
 | | A cameraman films at Pham Ngoc Thach Hospital |
Through the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the United States is helping to turn the tide against the global HIV/AIDS pandemic. Currently, PEPFAR is providing life-prolonging anti-retroviral therapy (ART) to two million people, including more than 18,000 people in Vietnam. Recently, O2TV, a cable television network, recognized the PEPFAR program’s efforts with a documentary depicting the delivery of anti-retroviral therapy and other services at PEPFAR-supported HIV-outpatient clinics around Vietnam. Outpatient clinics featured in the show include Pham Ngoc Thach Tuberculosis and Lung Diseases Hospital and Binh Thanh District Outpatient Clinic in HCMC. The documentary will air on O2TV cable channel on April 12 at 21:00 p.m., April 13 at 12:40 p.m., April 14 at 13:10 p.m., April 15 at 12.40 p.m. and April 17 at 7:00 a.m. Viewers can also catch the show on VTV2 at 20:45 p.m. on April 13, 10:45 a.m. on April 14 and 14:45 p.m. on April 14.
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