The U.S Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Vietnamese Government Office and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs July 4 jointly signed a Memorandum of Intent (MOI) on an exted project &ldquoin Support for Trade Acceleration&rdquo (STAR) for the 2010-11 period, local media reported.
The signing took place on the occasion of USAID Director Henrietta H.Fore&rsquos on-going visit to Vietnam.
The project, which was first launched in 2001, has helped promote bilateral economic relations with focus on Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) commitments, World Trade Organization (WTO) commitments and Vietnam-U.S. Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA), Minister, Director of the Government Office Nguyen Xuan Phuc said.
With an annual budget of some US$3 million to be fully covered by USAID, the STAR project has also exted assistance in law making, administrative reforms, implementation of intellectual property and human resource development, Phuc added.
The MOI, with higher financial commitments and broader goal, is expected to enable the two parties to better implement the project in the next stage, thus contributing practically to the Vietnam-US relationship in the interest of the two peoples.
Speaking at the signing ceremony, Henrietta H.Fore described STAR as the outcome of increasingly stronger and deeper relations between the US and Vietnam.
She also said that with stronger financial commitments from the USAID, the MOI would help expand STAR projects in Vietnam.
STAR is a program of cooperation between USAID and the Government Office which represents almost 40 ministries, organizations and local administrations in Vietnam.
In the afternoon of the same day, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung highly appreciated the signing of the MOI on the exted STAR project as a practical contribution to the Vietnam-U.S. relationship while receiving USAID Director Henrietta H. Fore.
The cabinet leader pledged that the Vietnamese Government would do its utmost to fulfill its commitments to the U.S. as reflected in the Joint Statement released at the of his recent visit to the U.S.
This year, Vietnam is fore to obtain a slight export increase to the U.S. to US$11 billion from US$10.3 billion in 2007 despite the worry about the U.S. economy&rsquos recession, said MoIT.
The country is estimated to sp US$1.7 billion on imports from the U.S., down 10.52 per cent on-year.
The U.S. is now Vietnam&rsquos largest export market while the ASEAN country has been listed among 30 biggest exporters to the U.S. in 2007, according to a report by the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC). (Youth, VNA)
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