Overcoming War Legacies: The Road to Reconciliation and Future Cooperation Between the United States and Vietnam

SOURCE: U.S. State Department and The United States Institute of Peace

***THE DAILY PUBLIC SCHEDULE IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE***

DEPARTMENT OF STATE
PUBLIC SCHEDULE
MARCH 26, 2019

DEPUTY SECRETARY JOHN SULLIVAN

12:00 p.m. Deputy Secretary Sullivan delivers remarks at the United States Institute of Peace event: “Overcoming War Legacies: The Road to Reconciliation and Future Cooperation Between the United States and Vietnam”, in Washington, D.C.
(MEDIA DETERMINED BY HOST)

Overcoming War Legacies
The Road to Reconciliation and Future Cooperation Between the United States and Vietnam
CENTER: Policy, Learning and Strategy Center

The governments of the United States of America and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, in partnership with the United States Institute of Peace, invite you to a landmark event examining the transformation from enemies to partners by the two countries since the end of the war in 1975.

This event is by invitation only. A webcast will be available the day of the event.

Forged in the effort in the 1980s to account for missing Americans and assist Vietnamese suffering from war-related disabilities, cooperation between the former adversaries to heal the devastating consequences of the war expanded to include locating and removing unexploded ordnance, remediation of dioxin (Agent Orange) contamination at former U.S. airbases, and supporting health and disability programs for victims of Agent Orange.

This decades-long, joint humanitarian effort to overcome the legacies of war has enabled the United States and Vietnam to achieve the normalization of post-war relations based on mutual respect. In recent years, it has expanded to shared interests encompassing diplomacy, trade, and regional security.

Please join American and Vietnamese leaders and experts to explore this historic cooperative effort and the lessons it offers the world, as well as to discuss the future of U.S.-Vietnam relations. Take part in the conversation on Twitter with #USAVietnam.

Agenda

8:30am – 8:35am – Welcome Remarks
Honorable Nancy Lindborg
President, U.S. Institute of Peace
8:35am – 8:50am – Remarks on behalf of the Government of Vietnam
Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Chi Vinh
Deputy Defense Minister; Permanent Member of Standing Committee 701
8:55am – 9:05am – Video
9:05am – 9:20am – Remarks by Senior U.S. Department of Defense Official
Dr. Joseph H. Felter
Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for South and Southeast Asia
9:20am – 9:30am – Remarks
Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT)
U.S. Senator, Vermont
9:30am – 10:30am – Panel 1: Foundations of US-Vietnamese Post-War Partnership
Kelly McKeague
Director, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency
Nguyen Huu Luong
MIA Agency Director, Ministry of Defense
Ambassador Pham Quang Vinh
Former Vietnamese Ambassador to the United States
Robert Destatte
Vietnam Analyst, Defense Intelligence Agency
Fred Downs
Former National Director, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Prosthetic and Sensory Aids Service
Ambassador, Charles Ray (Ret.), moderator
Former Consul General, Ho Chi Minh City
10:50am – 11:00am – Remarks
Honorable Bonnie Glick
Deputy Administrator, USAID
11:00am – 12:00pm – Panel 2: Healing from the Destruction of War
Minh Huu Doan
Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs of Vietnam
Thao Griffiths
Policy Advisor, Chairman of Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry; Former Country Director Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation
Christopher Abrams
Director, Environment and Social Development Office, USAID/Vietnam
Colonel Than Thanh Cong
Director, Office 701
Jerry Guilbert
Chief of Programs, Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement, U.S. Department of State
Charles R. Bailey, moderator
Co-author, “From Enemies to Partners: Vietnam, the U.S. and Agent Orange”
Former Director of Agent Orange programs at Ford Foundation & Aspen Institute
12:00pm – 12:10pm – Remarks
The Honorable John Sullivan
Deputy Secretary of State
12:10pm – 1:10pm – Panel 3: The Road Ahead: Building an Enduring Partnership
Ambassador Ha Kim Ngoc
Vietnamese Ambassador to the United States
Sr. Lt. Gen. Nguyen Chi Vinh
Deputy Defense Minister; Permanent Member of Standing Committee 701
W. Patrick Murphy
Acting Assistant Secretary, Bureau East Asia and Pacific Affairs, U.S. Department of State
Tim Rieser
Foreign Policy Aide, Senator Patrick Leahy
Elizabeth Becker
Former New York Times correspondent and author of “When the War Was Over: Cambodia and the Khmer Rouge Revolution”
Ambassador William Taylor (Ret.), moderator
Executive Vice President, U.S. Institute of Peace
1:25pm – 1:35pm – Remarks for Luncheon
Ambassador Ha Kim Ngoc
Vietnamese Ambassador to the United States
1:40pm – 2:30pm – Luncheon Conversation
Honorable Chuck Hagel
Former U.S. Secretary of Defense
Nancy Lindborg, moderator
President, U.S. Institute of Peace

https://livestream.com/accounts/13470315/events/8615040/player?width=960&height=540&enableInfoAndActivity=true&defaultDrawer=feed&autoPlay=true&mute=false